It's T-ball time!!!

Brian said it best..."I've been waiting for this day for five years!" Sam did great at his first ever t-ball tryout. And now we're now fully stocked on all the "neccesities" to practice at home. After tryouts and lunch we went to Mercer's baseball double header and their basketball game. The ball-playing didn't stop there. We played more once we got home before we all devoured our supper and crashed! It was a FUN day.

fun times...random pictures...our life

Fun day...

My wonderful Aunt FiFi recently commented that she loved our blog, reading about our "perfect life". Well, as anyone who has two little kids and two fulltime jobs knows, life is FAR from perfect! If I blogged about the not-so-perfect times...I'd be blogging all the time. Today was a fairly close to perfect day for us. We had a quiet morning at home then went for a ride up the road to Jarrell Plantation Historic Site, www.gastateparks.org/Jarrell Plantation. My great-aunt Ruth was a Jarrell so I visited this place a lot as a kid. It was fun to go back with my boys and Brian to see how things had changed/improved. It was chilly but that didn't stop us from enjoying a tailgate picnic - with a kitty friend we pick up on the tour!

After such a fun day we were all glad to be home (and warm) for supper. The boys had another "picnic", this time on our bedroom floor where they enjoyed one of their favorites, Kid's Cuisine, while watching Speed Racer!

Brian and I enjoyed this...

I predict that we'll end up snuggled in our bed tonight watching a moving. Ok, so maybe it is (almost) perfect!

It's "official"

Sam is really five years old now. His birth DATE was Dec. 28 but not until the PARTY this past weekend did he really turn five - at least in his mind! And, this was a special one because it was his first party not at home and he got to invite a few classmates.




If I had to think of ways to describe Sam I'd say he's: smart, kind, witty and just a delight to be around. He's also one of the most sensitive kids, no matter the age, I've ever known. Just the other day one of those incredibly sad "adopt a child from the third-world country" commercials was on TV. Sam insisted that I not change the channel. He came to sit in my lap, got all teary-eyed and began to ask questions about the children and why they we in that situtation. He was broken hearted. Sam also asks lots of questions about God, death and faith - stumping me many times! I hope he'll always be this insightful and concerned about the needs of others.

He blew them all out (with a little help from Brice) on the first try!

Lots of gifts from Sam's sweet and generous friends.

The party was at the Museum of Arts & Sciences. In addition to the normal museum fun, the kids got to do a "Muddy Hands" activity. They made whatever they wanted and got to take it home. Everyone enjoyed it!

Brice's way of saying....HAPPY BIRTHDAY Sammy G!!!

The Reverend Sam Whitley

Something I've been meaning to blog about but forget, until I run across the note where I scratched it down, is a spontaneous prayer that came from Sam one pretty day when we took a drive through beautiful and historic Rose Hill Cemetery, here in Macon. We've driven through there before because several family members are buried there and quite a few famous folks, one in particular is Duane Allman. So, as we approached the entrance, out of Sam's mouth came this:

"Oh bless God! I hope these cemetery people be better and I hope they be strong and healthy when they start being alive again."

Needless to say, I grabbed any piece of paper I could find and jotted that down real quick-like! I was floored! He's never heard us, or anyone else that I know of, pray like that but I guess he was "filled with the spirit". We've also made it pretty clear that we believe that when you die your spirit goes to heaven. Sounds like ol' Sam has beliefs that lean a little more towards reincarnation.

Can I get an AMEN?!

Celebrations!

We've done lots of celebrating over the past few weeks....


It all began on Christmas Eve afternoon when we hosted Grammy, Beth, Emma and Avery at our home. All these little cousins together sharing in the excitment made for a VERY fun time. Afterwards we all headed to church for our annual Children's Christmas pageant...


...where our very own Sam was a fine shepherd!

After church we drove out to my parent's home, Pine Hill Farm, for supper and made sure to spread out lots of reindeer food so that Santa would be sure to make a stop in Macon!

Santa definitley found our house and how thrilling it was to wake up early Christmas morning to see what he left. Sam came in our room at 7:55 AM and told us that Santa had come! He began telling us what he saw as he darted from his room to ours and was a total chatter box in the few minutes it took us to climb out of bed and, at the very least, brush our teeth!

All of Christmas day was spent playing with the new toys.

The day after Christmas we went back to Pine Hill for Barfield Christmas. My parents were beside themselves to have all five kids, plus spouses, plus grands at home. Yes, that's 15 stockings! And it goes without saying that we were all very happy to be together.

Christmas and Sam's 5th birthday on the 28th brought a Lego explosion upon our house! We hope you've all experienced lots of joyful celebrations over the past few weeks. Happy New Year!

Ho, ho, ho!

Like everyone at this time of year - we've been BUSY! Here, in pictures, are the latest happenings in the wild & wonderful Whitley world...

A silly photo of Sam's class and teachers



































































Donuts with Dads, at Sam's school, was a fun treat in the first part of December.

St. Nicholas (aka: my Daddy, Sam & Brice's Papa) came to church for a visit, leaving oranges and golden/chocolate coins in all the children's shoes that were left in the breezeway.

Sam's Christmas program at school...

Brice's Christmas program at school, with lunch following. As you can see from the photos, I think he was much happier at lunch...

Begging for Momma...

And, last but not least, a trip to Bass Pro Shop to visit with Santa...and test out the ATVs!