Enough of that...

Okay, so it was time to get past my last depressing blog and bring some smiles back to this page... We'll start with Ava's Valentines Day smiles! First, another chance to wear my red Christmas shoes.

Happy Ava... happy mommy! This was in my classroom before a basketball game. My team took her shirt literally and she gave out 22 big valentine hugs.

Ava's first photo shoot. Yes, I let her touch my camera and amazingly... here is her first photo. That's my girl! :)

Big hugs for daddy! Lately she isn't in to hugging him when he first comes in the door from work. She is learning that playing hard to get thing really early. When she doesn't hug him he acts sad and then she gets to make daddy "appy!" by giving him a big squeeze.

just need to talk

A student I had in class last year committed suicide this weekend. I'm struggling. Every time I talk about it I start crying and I don't know why. I had him for only a few short weeks before he was expelled from school for the last few weeks of his eighth grade year. One day in class he showed me his AA coin for having been 6 months sober as an 8th grader. He smiled a lot. He was smart... really smart. But he was expelled because he built a bong in my art class. Funny, right? He built a bong in art class. As a scene in a movie it would be hilarious. However, it ended up getting him kicked out of school (that and a list of many other problems he was having.)

I'm feeling heartbroken, but I don't think it's just about him. I've been thinking a lot lately about why I started teaching. It was about changing the lives of kids and though I know his death isn't my responsibility it has started me thinking about the students I have in class now. What are their lives like before they get to my classroom? What happens to them when they get home? Do they know that someone loves them? Is there someone telling them they are special and they have worth? Do they make me crazy most days? Most definitely. Do they make bad decisions most days? Oh yeah. But does that make them any less deserving of love? Some days I treat them that way. What happens to a kid who is never told that they are loved and who isn't told they have worth? I don't know, but I don't want to see it happen to another one of my students.

a little peace...

I have decided that there is nothing more peaceful in the world than holding a sleeping baby. Here are a few recent sleeping baby photos: Ava, Jacob (my cousin's son), Quincie (Tierny's daughter), and Ella (Katie's daughter). Mine isn't so little anymore is she? But still just as peaceful. When life is hectic... as mine usually is... just holding a little sleeping baby makes everything inside of me slow down. I can physically feel my heart beat slow and my muscles relax. Maybe it needs to be a new excercise... baby yoga. Hold a sleeping baby for an hour a day and feel the tension melt away. There have been more and more babies around these days... it as if God knew I needed a little peace.

Still more pictures...

More of the new baby...

Baby Girl Stump

Congratulations to Matt, Tierny and Emmerie on their new baby girl. She is perfect in every way! 6 lbs. 9 ozs. with 10 beautiful fingers and 10 beautiful toes: Quincie (spelling still up in the air) Mele Stump. Many, many, many more pictures to come. We are celebrating with you and your new miracle. All our love, the Meltons

My best friend...

The bathtub burritos

Splashing in the tub

On New Year's Day Ava needed a bath and whatever one does, the other must do as well. So here they are together. The love/hate relationship between these two is hilarious and exhausting. At least Greg and I will know what we are getting in to when we decide it's time for a second baby (no, don't get any ideas!) Every toy is a battle and Ava's new favorite word is 'mine!' So, that night, Ava went to mema and papa's house and Emme went to her mamaw and papa's house and we were free! We all went out to dinner and at the end of the meal I reminded us all to take a second and appreciate an entire meal without fussing, crying, throwing of food or crayons, no dumped water... AND we all got to eat our food while it was still hot! Having children makes you learn to appreciate the little things.

We Lov Miss Trish!

Faith (3), Colby (3), Ava (1 1/2) and Shelby(4). These are the kids Ava spends her days with. They are way more fun than mommy! There are also two babies - Gavin and Emerson who couldn't be in the picture. I took this picture in my classroom at school and we framed it and gave it to Miss Trish for her birthday! These kids are crazy about Trish and as a parent there is not a better feeling than being able to drop my daughter off with a woman who truly loves her. Thank you Miss Trish and I hope you had a wonderful birthday!

My girl...

Had to post this one - caught it today while she was hiding behind the curtains in the dining room. I think if I had to choose one picture that sums up the personality of daughter - this would have to be it. Mom and I took her to the mall yesterday and once we had her and our bags loaded in the car we both heaved a big sigh and looked at eachother and laughed. Where is all of that energy stored up in such a little body? She makes every day exhausting, but so much more fun!

Ava loves to dance!

Ava loves to dance. When? At 6:15 am this morning when we woke up and went downstairs. Or at 2:00 in the afternoon when she walked into the living room and remembered she could. Or at 8:00 at night when it was time to go up and take a bath... in fact, during the bath even seemed like a good time tonight. Anytime is really the answer to that question. To what? The "okey pokey" is a favorite... or wheel's on the bus... or Barney... or a commercial on the television. Anything will do! How? With every part of her body... every musle and bone moves, shakes, wiggles, jiggles and bounces. She has many moves and may decide to pull any one of them out at anytime. "da, da, da" does not mean daddy or dad... it means DANCE! and she means now!

Some Christmas moments....

Posing... she's moving out of the turning her head away from the camera phase and into the 'say cheese' phase. Can you tell?

Raggedy Ann doll from Granny and Papa (Greg's grandparents).

Kitchen set from Mama... with a frying pan the sizzles! I got this fantastic popcorn from Greg's parents and Ava, of course, helped herself to the peanut butter and jelly flavor. She would put in the pan and then fry it on the stove or cook it in the oven, yell "ready!' when it was done, and the blow on it to cool it off.

Mimi and Papa (mom and Eric, if you can't keep all the grandparent names straight - good luck!) got her a stroller and a baby doll that she can take in the bathtub. This picture was before she opened the baby doll for the bath - Raggedy Ann got one good ride. Once the other baby doll was opened Raggedy Ann was tossed on her head somewhere near the Christmas tree. Poor Raggedy!

Some Christmas moments...

Ava curiously watching the fire truck across the street and the fireman running like mad to hook up the fire hose. The neighbor boy was having a fit about his mom making him clean his room for company and knocked a night light of some kind off of his bookshelf and under a pile of clothes where it subsequently caught fire. Thankfully there was little damage ... his mom said she had to spend Christmas day washing all of his clothes and bedding as it all smelled like smoke. Thomas promised to clean his room calmly next time.

Papa, who is somewhere in the middle stages of alzeimer's, took a walk to have a 'sneaky' cigarette (he thinks none of us know he smokes) and got lost. A neighbor picked him up and drove him around the subdivision until he recognized our house.

Ava pretending to take a post Christmas dinner nap with her daddy. He was actually asleep... she was not.

Ava loves shoes... shocking, I know. She loves to trapse around the house in any pair of shoes that I leave laying around the house. Christmas eve day she realized that her baby dolls could wear her shoes - oh what fun!

Ho-ho-ho! Merry Christmas!!

Christmas cookies!

I know, I know, three blogs in one day is a lot, but I've taken a lot of pictures with us being holed up in the house with all this weather! So, to keep us busy in our house that is torn to smithereens because we are putting down flooring, Ava and I made Christmas cookies today. She is now napping in a sound sugar coma while I blog. I don't think it's necessary to write much about the experience however - as usual, the pictures tell the story!