Jan Brett Children's Author...

Savannah and I got to go to the Jan Brett book signing this Wednesday in Birmingham. We have been fans for quite some time and Savannah got to see her "in action" as she demonstrated an illustration of some of the characters from her new book. Savannah had a great question for her about how she uses watercolors. I think this experience will spur Savannah on in her love of art...

Overnight Hike...

We took our first family overnight hike this weekend at the Silent Trail on Cheaha Mountain. It was a nice trip - a little cool at night, but our mummy bags kept us all warm. Savannah enjoyed the fire and drawing with a stick and ashes...always the creative one - even in the woods! It is amazing what you can see when you take time away from the day-to-day hustle and bustle and just appreciate what God has given us.

Shakespeare Festival

The Wyatt girls, Savannah and Kelsey

CHEAHA homeschool group at the Shakespeare Festival for the play Charlotte's Web.

Savannah on the Capital winding staircase.

October 21st, our homeschool group went to the Shakespeare Festival and to the Capital in Montgomery. The girls in our carpool had a lot of fun on this field trip - not sure what they had the most fun with, seeing the play and Capital or chasing geese on the Festival lawn...

Hope everyone enjoys the pics.

Kelsey, Madison, Savannah, and Morgan in front of the Shakespeare Festival.

The girls had just about as much fun chasing the geese as they did watching the play and visiting the Capital.

Savannah's Birthday...

It is Savannah's seventh birthday, and I can hardly believe it...where have the past 7 years gone? It seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital - watching her learn to walk, talk, eat, etc. And now, we are watching as our little girl is growing into a beautiful young lady every day.

She decided this year that she wanted to have a "Girly Birthday" so we had it at Libby Lu's at the Riverchase Galleria in Birmingham. She and three of her best friends had a makeover and got to "strut their stuff" to their favorite music when it was all over. They had a great time, and I had a wonderful time just watching them enjoy themselves. Here is to another year - we praise the Lord for the years He has blessed us with and can't wait to see what He has in store for Savannah's life.

First Memory Passage from school...

This year in school, Savannah has Bible as one of her subjects - we are so greatful that God has given us this opportunityto teach her the way that He has. In this first six week period, she had to learn the 1st chapter of the book of Psalms. The last week as she was learning the very last verse, the curriculum stated that she would need to recite it in front of someone...that unnerved her a bit, so we decided to video it for our blog. You are her official audience. Thank you.

Fashionshow?????

Never thought we would be a part of something like this, but when Savannah and I went to get new ballet shoes and tights this year we were in for a big surprise. The dance store owner asked if she would model some dance clothes for her in a Benefit luncheon for the Exchange Club Family Skills Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse. Savannah was very honored to be a part of this, and we wanted to share her experience. It was nice to get to participate in something like this for such a great cause. Hope you all enjoy...

Carlos is GROWING...

Just wanted to show everyone the difference in how much Carlos has grown since we posted the early pictures of him at a few weeks old. He is kitten in the full sense of the word and full of life...hope you enjoy.

Science in Action!!!

It appears that Carlos, our kitten is just as interested in science as Savannah is!

I so love to watch Savannah as she learns new things, especially when she is getting to experiment hands-on. Today we were doing some experiments about water displacement, floating, and then our favorite - how submarines work. I love to watch her eyes light up when she "sees" for the first time how something works. It is totally amazing as a parent and adult to be able to relearn through your child's eyes - and in my case, sometimes, Learn for the first time - right along with her!!! More later...

Savannah doing her "Submarine Can" experiment...

In Full Bloom...

Today we finally reaped some of the "fruits" of our labor in our garden. As I went out to check the garden (a daily occurrence for me - I've been so excited), I noticed that one of our sunflowers that Savannah had planted from a tiny seed had finally decided to emerge from its safe haven and check out the sunlight. It was absolutely beautiful. I watched Savannah playing in the yard and thought that she was going to discover it on her own as she gently pulled each of the surrounding sunflowers down to her height so that she could see the potential blooms and would then, just as gently, release them to check the next in line. She never did go back over to the last little sunflower plant on the end, so before we started school today I told her that I had something special to show her. I took her (along with the trusty camera) out to the garden to show her the big "surprise." She was ecstatic! Of course, she also noticed that our watermelon plants had some little blooms on them as well, so I'm not sure which she was more excited about (she LOVES watermelon). Isn't it exciting to see what God can do with just a tiny little seed??? Imagine what He can do with us if we just let Him...

Crazy tired...

I guess this is the same story, different day. It seems that these days we just pack in too much into our days and keep plugging until we completely run out of steam. When will I ever learn to slow down??? Just wanted to update the blog and say that our garden is coming along great - little green sprouts everywhere! And, my best friend, Amanda had her precious baby boy - they are doing well with proud big sister, Bailey to help. I promise the next blog will be more detailed. We are planning a trip to Nashville next weekend for the Les Mills Quarterly event, and we are making a weekend out of it, so I should have some good pictures to share soon. Until then...

Too tired to try...

Ever felt too tired to try to do just one more thing??? That's how I feel at this moment - God knew what He was doing when He stopped at 24 hours for a day because if He had given me just one more minute, I would certainly have filled it to the brim with who knows what other activities I thought I might squeeze in...

When we finally settled in for the evening, I had the wonderful opportunity to sit down and listen to my daughter read me a bedtime story. These precious moments are what keep me going when the stresses of life seem to bog me down. I am so thankful to the Lord today that He has given me such a wonderful husband in whose arms I find refuge at the end of a long day and a daughter in whose eyes I discover unbiased, unconditional love for her mommy that refuels me and melts my heart all at the same time.

I will close for today before my eyes do...

How does your garden...grow???

As I write tonight, my brain is spinning thinking of all the things I've done today, would like to get done, and will probably do tomorrow...meanwhile, our garden (or what is hopefully to soon be a garden) continues to patiently wait on me. After digging, testing soil, digging some more, adding peat moss, digging some more, adding more peat moss and pitching out only God knows how many rocks from the plot of land, our garden is finally looking more like a place that plants might like to inhabit!!! Yes, I'm probably too particular about the way it "looks" and the seed is just waiting to get placed in the ground so that it can do its thing, but that's just me...wanting it to be PERFECT before I begin. Isn't it that way with everything I do??? And what is ever perfect in this world these days??? I know, I should give it a break and just do this and get it done - I will, but it will be as close to perfect as I can get it before I start planting those precious little seeds.
As I write this, my best friend Amanda is probably counting down the minutes between contractions and trying to figure out if they should go ahead and leave for Birmingham now or not??? That, to most of you, probably seems like something the farthest from a garden topic as you've ever heard - well, I'll have you know it's not. Amanda just so happened to have been in her garden last night hoeing until 8 PM. So, if you're having trouble getting your baby to decide to join you in this world, get out in the garden!!! They will make their grand entrance into this beautiful world sooner than you might think.

Pinhoti Trail Hike

Today we took a hike at the Pinhoti Trail, and what a beautiful day it was! Savannah never ceases to amaze us at how keen her eyesight is. I've added a picture of a tiny mushroom that she spotted underfoot that Sloan and I would have missed - I guess it's true that children know better than we do to "take time and smell the flowers." She also spotted a frog in the middle of the trail that blended so well into its environment that we would never have seen it. Whenever we take the time to get out into God's beautiful creation away from the day-to-day stuff that we're so accustomed to, I realize just how amazing He is. From the huge oak trees to the tiny lizards, craw fish, and butterflies, He blesses us so much if we just take the time to appreciate it. May we remember this as our week cranks up and we again become busy, so that we may slow down and truly take the time for the things that matter most in this life...

Kittens are crawling!!!!!

Today as we arrived back home from running some errands, Savannah and I realized that there were only two of the four kittens in their box and there was some VERY LOUD crying coming from the other two...but, where were they???

After some careful listening in the garage, we finally realized that their mommy, Heather had moved them behind one of Sloan's old kayaks...not sure why - maybe since they started crawling today, she thought that would make them stay put??? Who knows, but we turned the box right-side-up now so that they can't climb out and Heather can still climb in to feed them.

What we learn when we take on these endeavors!!!

Savannah's Butterfly Release

As I write this post, I am reminded of just how gracious our God is to us. Last Thursday as Savannah and I were doing our grammar lesson in school, we turned around and noticed that four out of the five of our butterflies had emerged out of their chrysalises and were waiting for their wings to dry so that they could try them out. Of course, we were concerned about the one "late bloomer" that failed to emerge, and then as we completed our lesson we noticed that silently and unnoticed by us, it had emerged. God is so patient with us, knowing what the "finished product" is going to look like, yet time and again we get impatient and wonder "when is this going to be done???"

Through the excitement of seeing this metamorphosis through Savannah's eyes in her science lessons, we have again realized the awesomeness of the God we serve and how he can bring something as strange looking as a caterpillar and turn it into something so beautiful and graceful as a butterfly! This gives me such hope!!! We'll close for the night with this thought..."This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

Ballet Recital

Savannah's end-of-the-year "Report of Progress" was yesterday, May 13th, 2008. We enjoyed having her grandparents there to celebrate this occasion with us. I don't think any of us will soon forget our waiter at dinner afterwards at the Macaroni Grill who told Sloan, "There is nothing better in this world than a banana sandwich with peanut butter!"

Savannah poses above with her teacher, Ms. Jenna and as she does a superhero stretch - I love that smile!!!

First Blog...

This is the first blog that I have posted, and frankly it is so late that my eyes are closing, but I wanted to get this started so that I could add to it and keep everyone posted on what is going on with the Bryan clan. Savannah had her ballet recital this afternoon to close out her 3rd year of ballet, so that was very exciting. I will post some pictures and video clips of that tomorrow when I can sit down and figure all of this out. I praise God that He has blessed us so much with a beautiful, healthy daughter who loves to exercise and dance. I will update everyone later on this and other events in the Bryan household. Until next time...