March 19

Went to the park today to enjoy this gorgeous weather! I love love love when it starts getting warm out. Had some friends meet me there and enjoyed some mommy company. Here's Emily hanging out on the bench with "hers puppy" while I'm packing up to go. She is really tired, poor baby.

March 18

This is my dog Storm's left eye. I like it. The end.

March 17th

My baby is growing up. I have really enjoyed my last three years with her. I'm such a better mom then when my older three were little. It is so evident with her I've done that much better of a job. She really is a joy to be around everyday. She has a vivid imagination and is still clueless to the outside world. She is the epitome of childhood to me. Sweet, loving and carefree. This is her in her Belle princess gown spinning in circles in the front yard.


PS Happy Birthday Alicia. I would have taken a pic of you this morning but you were'nt feeling so well! ;)

March 16

With daylight savings time I am forced to see the sunrise every morning now. Not my favorite time of day but I'm trying to enjoy the beauty of it. Spring is beginning to bloom here and I love it. I'm ready for the warmth and beauty of the earth coming to life again. This is the morning light on the tree in front of my house ready to explode into pink flowers. :)

New Camera

Soooooo, I used to love photography. I took pictures all the time before things went digital. I FINALLY have a new digital camera that is as good as my old film one was. Soooo I would like to try the picture a day challenge. (thanks for the idea Krista! ) I want to get better at using my camera and get back to being creative with my blog instead of lame and boring! I'm really out of practice so hopefully we will see progress over the year. So that being said, "Here's the first one!"



One of my New years resolutions is to play the piano more. I have been doing pretty well. I'm currently trying to learn a David Glenn Hatch version of "Let us all press on". It is insanely HARD in some places. Hopefully i will get it to perfomance level and be able to play it at church. It's so powerfully written, I love it!

updating life

The last few months of my life have been consumed by teeball/baseball/softball. LOTS AND LOTS OF BALL!! Madison, Bryson and Natalie played. We were at a feild 5 nights of the week at multiple games and practices. They all had a lot of fun and my girls would both like to play again next year.

We also lost Nathan's mom suddenly at only 56 years old which was very sad for our family and my poor little Madison's heart was broken. She feels everything so strongly. Joy, excitment, anticipation, and sadness and heartbreak. My poor little girl is so sad to not see her mom-mom anymore and so worried about her pop-pop. We are all doing better now and are thankful for so many prayers on our families behalf. Thank you so much everyone.

Summer has hit and it's been the funnest one i've ever had with my kids. They are getting older and things have become easier and more enjoyable. We have been strawberry picking, to Sloan park, bought a puppy, spent endless hours at the pool,went to the zoo, played with friends and set off fireworks on fourth of july. We have gone to see family and had lots of family visit us. We have lots more adventures planned from lake outings and barbeque's and trying to sneak some beach time in. So we are staying busy and enjoying all our family time.

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Get your own

As far as just me is concerened my friend Alicia and I have been trying to paint once a month now so we can stay creative. I've been very busy with my house buiding a patio and the never-ending decorating bug. But that is my life in a nut shell these days!! One busy crazy mom!!

Myrtle Beach

Here's some pictures from our trip. It was cold until the last day but we made do with mini golf and magi-quest. I had fun with my camera i got for my birthday. I really enjoy photography but don't do enough to get better with it. Enjoy.





i'll add more ot my facebook page if your interested.

Emily is 2!!

It was a pretty quiet birthday for our house. We just had our neighbor come over and I made a rocket cake for her from her favorite show in the world little einsteins!! It came out pretty good considering I had no idea what to do till that morning. Emily got a couple of littl things and she was excited about them all. Her big present is this weekend going to build a bear with all her cousins. She keeps talking about it, it should be lots of fun. She keeps saying, " yeah mor couzin builabewa birday". Hope you enjoy these couple of pics.

Christmas in review

Christmas Eve every year we make Gingerbread cookies. I don't remember a Christmas eve with out gingerbread in my whole life!! This has become one of our families traditions. Here is a group shot with the rolling pin.

Later that night My mom and sister Meagan and our friends the Cummings came over and we had some fabulous food. I still need your recipe for your monkey bread Roger!! The kids went to bed pretty easily. They really love the Cummings! They all have such good imaginations and come up with fun games when they play together. One night at dinner they all broke into I want a hippopotamus for Christmas" it was so cute and funny, not many kids know that song these day's but apparently all 7 of ours do! so cute!!

Yummm, that food was all so good!!



I caught pictures of there biggest presents. Natalie got and I-pod,


Bryson got the lego Imperial starship. When asked who it was from he couldn't read the cursive writing and says "I don't know, Barrack O-BAMA!! Classic, hilarious!!

And Madison got roller blades.

After a couple of presents Emily figured the whole thing out and went and picked up the biggest present she could carry and said "i wan dis one!!" it was so cute!! This is her in her thinking chair. She loves Blue's clues!


We didn't get a picture of me opening it (i screamed) but here are my kids playing LOOPIN' LOUIE!!!!! One of my all time favorite games!! I don't know where he found it but thanks dad!! I played this for about 3 hours with my kids Christmas day! It rocks!!

My rock star

I know that you aren't supposed to do this. I didn't tape it or ask her (name not authorized) to. I'm not sad she did though. I'm ecstatic to have it and she did so awesome, she was the star of the program.




I'm sorry i know i'm her mom but she is the cutest thing ever!

Oh Christmas Tree, oh christmas tree

Going to pick out the Christmas tree was always my FAVORITE part of Christmas. We would jump out of the van (all 7 of us) running through the evergreen maze in search of the"perfect tree". I always seemed to have a good eye for it and found the one we brought home on many occasions. I remember my dad pulling them out as we would point to them and looking straight up thinking there couldn't be anything more tall or glorious in the whole world. There was just so much magic surrounding this tree that would umbrella my presents in just a few short weeks. The excitement was almost to much to bare back then.

My kids now ooze this excitement and nothing starts off the Christmas season for me than reliving this through them. Madison's second Christmas, "tis-mas twee" was one of her few words. When Christmas was over and we put the tree outside she stood at the door and cried and cried "bye bye tis-mas twee." Last year Emily's first words were, "dat's pwetty" while pointing at the Christmas tree. There is just some sort of magic in that tree. Yes, i still Believe!


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

One thing I have always wanted to do was go and cut down our own tree. The thought of it just seemed so romantic and exciting to me. Well Nathan and I found a place not to far from our house this year with the long needle pines (very hard to find here in the south) and I could hardly contain my excitement. The day was perfectly nippy with a cold December sky. The only thing that could have made it more magical would have been if it was snowing, but we live in Charlotte so let's be real here. We couldn't have asked for a better wintry day in this part of the country. The kids took off running through the Christmas tree forest (at least to them it felt like a forest). "What about this one!", "I like this one!" the kids are yelling. Madison screams at Nathan "Daddy I want a MON-STER TWEE!" (yup she still says twee, i know i should be concerned but it will be cute for another year or so). We all rounded a corner and I swear angels sang as we saw our tree-the perfect tree. A gorgeous color perfectly shaped - no holes and it was a !monster! standing at 9 feet tall. The funniest part was watching Nathan carry it out completely lost in it's branches to find out only 100 yards from the car that the man had a wagon to pull it out on. HA! He was pulling pine needles out of cracks and crevices for hours! Memories! I love this time of year!!

christmas pics

Awww, they still love their brother.

Emily is making a funny face.

Halloween!!

I lost my camera but finally found it this morning. Here are the pics from Halloween this year. Emily's favorite holiday for sure!! She is obsessed with candy so she figured out real quic that saying twi-o-twee meant candy in the bucket. She would follow with a quick teen-too (always the polite one around here) and hurried to the next door (or car) giving away candy.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Emily's first skunk!!

So as we were driving down the road two nights ago we came across a very freshly hit and extremely potent skunk. As we approach the smell Emily yells A MESS! The closer we get to the smell the more urgent her cry became...A MESS! A MESS! MOMMY MOMMY A MEEEEEESSSSSS!! A MEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!

As soon we were out of smells way her screams subsided. I laughed the rest of the way home!! sigh I love little kids.

Here is also a cute story about my little Madison:

She sung a solo at church today for the primary program. After we got home I was telling her how proud I was and how awesome she did even though she was scared. She said to me," I said a prayer and asked Jesus for help and he put his magic on me so i could remember all the words."

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Seriously one of the sweetest and proud moments/days of my life with her. It's nice to have days like these so full of joy and assurance that despite all my shortcomings, I might just be doing a good job. :)

SCREAMING LIKE LITTLE GIRLS!!!

It has been one screech filled week around this house. I know by the title you are probably automatically thinking of Natalie and Madison. I would be lying if I didn't admit to taking a HUGE part of the ear piercing screaming that has left my ears numb and my throat soar. Lets just start with the first toe curling experience:



HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Jenn and I and my girls went to see this opening night. We were there and in line about 20 min. early. Madison was all dressed up in her HSM cheerleader outfit. She turned every head in the house with "AWWWW's" and "soooo cutes" abounding. Then......the line moved.. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!


So the movie starts and we are going through the previews. Zac Efron has a new movie coming out.


EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!



A few minutes later the movie starts and of course it as an extreme close-up of Troy's face sweating and blue eyes gleaming. Forget about hearing anything for the next five minuets


EEEEEEEHHHHHHHAAHHHHHAHHAHAHAHHHHHHAAAAAAAAHHH

HHEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHWWEEEEEEEEEEEHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.(get the point)


My sister Jenn leans over to me and says that this wasn't what she expected it. I replied "Really? ....It's exactly what I expected." She just rolled her eyes playfully and replied "this is crazy" under her breathe. Well almost three hours and endless amounts of squealing later we made it safely home with great memories of the girls.




NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Take my little girls and age them about 20-25 years and you will have me and my sisters and friends Thursday night. (Although I must admit in fairness that my sisters and I took the cake on this one !!) My two friends Sheila and Alicia and then Jenn and Meagan and I all went to see NKOTB!!!! I was crazy OBSESSED with them when I was little. Joey was my Zac Efron. I WAS going to marry him one day. I drooled on his face on my pillowcase every night. I kissed his poster goodbye on my way to school in the morning. (I did say obsessed right?) I still actually have his and Jordan Knight's barbie dolls, my girls play with them all the time. Of course they don't know who they are, oh well.



So the night started with us driving around looking for cheap parking. I rolled down my window at a group of women walking towards the events center and screamed, "Oh-Oh-Oh-OHHHH-OH" to which they replied "OH-OH-OHHH-OH!!! It was so funny and just got me even more stoked for the night to begin.

When they came out I was 9 again.

(Combine all of the above screaming here.)

I was screaming, dancing, squealing, laughing, spinning in circles, yelling I love you Joey!! (I did mention obsessed earlier, just reemphasizing that.) At this point I lean over to Jenn and say "THIS IS CRAZY!!!!" a little excited! She didn't roll her eyes, I don't think she heard me... she was screaming too.

It was amazing! I didn't know that time could magically rewind itself 20 years but it did for me on Thursday. It was soooo much fun to be 9 again. The energy I had was something of a miracle. I had no worries of anything of adulthood from 8 till 12. It was just such a blast, I wish I could go again. The only part that sucked about it was walking out the doors and automatically being 20 years older.


Oh, and just to add one funny bit of info. All of the men's bathrooms were made women's bathrooms for the night. I found that to be hysterical!!