Getting Ready for a New Season

Summer is almost over and I, for one, am glad. Being pregnant during this miserably hot season has made me crankier and more sluggish than normal. I am definitely ready for some cooler weather so we can spend more time outdoors. Some days we don't even venture outside because it is too unbearable. Poor Kate, who loves the outdoors, has had to sneak out the door anytime I open it and run as fast as she can just so she can escape the house. I can't blame her. Being cooped up when the sun is shining and the day is beautiful is no fun. We try to go out early in the mornings to run our errands and play, but the majority of the day is spent inside.

The end of summer not only means the culmination of hot weather but also the beginning of new activities in the Tidwell household. Next week Kate will begin preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I have battled feelings of guilt about this decision. I know I am more capable of teaching my child what she needs to know than a stranger, but I also know that Kate loves being around other children and has very few opportunities for that right now. Plus, with a new baby coming very soon, it will be nice for her to have her own thing to focus on and take pride in, and I will need some one-on-one time with the baby that I know I won't be able to get with a toddler running around. Pray that Kate and I both adjust well to this new experience.

Also, in September, Community Bible Study will be starting back up, and I am so so so excited! After a riveting and intense study of Revelation last year, this year's study of Daniel, Colossians, and I Peter will be awesome I know. Plus, Kate will move out of the nursery and into the two-year-old class where she will learn Bible stories, sing songs and play with the friends she's made already! I wll be in the new mom's group since Baby will be here in October. It will be nice to be among other moms with babies again.

Daniel and I will also resume teaching the 4th and 5th graders at our church on Sunday mornings. I'm working on the curriculum for that right now and looking forward to a wonderful new quarter!

Within the first two weeks of October, we are expecting our new addition to arrive. October is rapidly approaching and I'm excited but very nervous about being a mom of two little ones.

Kate will turn 2 on October 28th, which is very hard to believe at times and yet at other times, it seems like she should be two already. She's very independent-minded and loves to ham it up in front of the camera. Her favorite expresssions right now are "don't like it," "no ma'am," and "no thank you." Notice all the negatives. She is very opinionated and stubborn as a mule.

Here she is using the potty like a big girl, something Kate will do whenever she feels like it. Most of the time she still prefers her diaper. See the pile of toilet paper on the floor.



Here Kate is helping Mama wash dishes although most of the water ended up on her and the floor! I have to give her credit though: she does love to help her Mama.



We're looking forward to some crisp fall weather and beginning a new season in our lives as a family of four. May God bless you and your families.

The Joys of Summer: Family, Fun & Sun!

Whew! June flew by like a whirlwind! Where has the summer gone? It is already July and in just three short months, we will have a new addition to the family. Poor baby, your room isn't even a room right now but more like a storage unit.

The first of June Daniel worked at Bonnaroo, selling ice and hanging out with hippies while Kate and I spent the week with Brian and Jen and the kids on Signal Mountain. There's just something special about having cousins nearby for your children to grow up with and Kate loves her cousins, especially Robbie!





After Bonnaroo we had Vacation Bible School at church, and I taught the 2 & 3-year-olds again, a position that I vowed last year NOT to take again because I think it requires a patient, creative person, someone I am not. Somehow, though, I managed to find myself there again. Don't get me wrong, I do love the children but you can't get a child that age to sit still in a chair for more than 10 minutes and our classes lasted for an hour! Needless to say, we played a lot of games, blew tons of bubbles, and chased a lot of balloons every night!

After VBS we headed to Charleston, SC, for a week at the beach--Folly Beach, that is--with Daniel's family! What a welcome respite from all the running around of the previous weeks! I wasn't sure how Kate would take to the beach: she hates anything dirty on her hands, and I didn't think she would like the sand. Boy was I wrong! She loved playing in the sand with her other favorite boy cousin, Zach (she has a distinct preference for boys), and couldn't get enough of the "ray-ray" (the ocean). She would drag Daniel and me out as far as she could into the water and waves would crash all around, knocking her down, but, undaunted, she got back up and forged onward. Definitely a beach baby!











We also did a fair amount of exploring downtown Charleston: visiting the Market and the beautiful old churches with their centuries' old graveyards as well as eating a good deal of seafood, probably my favorite part of the trip. Daniel went fishing a few times and we ate fresh shrimp, redfish, grouper (one night I ate an entire fish, minus the head, and I think I scared Daniel's brother by doing that.), flounder, and Mahi-Mahi. Yummy!

After being gone for a week and battling a sleep-deprived 20-month-year-old, I was ready to come home. Now we are getting back into our old routine and returning to our mundane but happy lives at home. I have always been a homebody but being a parent has really made me even more of one. As much as I love to travel and see new places, my house is my favorite place to be.



Thank you, Lord, for giving us all these exciting and fun opportunities, and thank you for the sanctity of the home we have where we can always find rest and comfort from our busy lives.