Happy Mother's Day

    Being a mom is definitely a hard job.  You think you know what you are getting into, you read all the books, you go to all the classes the hospital offers. You think you are ready.  But, nothing. Nothing can prepare you for being a mom.  It is the best, and hardest thing you will ever do!!
    I am blessed enough to have a great husband to raise my children with.  My mom wasn't.  She raised us on her own.  We didn't live a easy life, but she always made the best of it.  I don't know how she did it, I have help and most days i am counting the seconds until bedtime.  She went to college full time, and worked countless jobs to make sure we never did without.  I never understood how hard she worked until I had my own.  I am so blessed to have her as my Mom.  She is one of my best friends, and is always there to give me advice,  or just listen to me vent and complain.  She made me into the mom I am today!!  So Mom, thank you for all you have, and continue to do for me.  I love you so much!

    Without her guidance I don't know if I could ever keep up with my Fab Four.  They are beautiful, loving, energetic, artistic, and a little crazy some of the time.  But they are mine, and I am so proud to be their mommy.
    Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there today!!
   
   

Happy Birthday Daddy!

      Today the love of my life hit a little milestone know as the big  3 0.  Yes he is thirty, and that is very, very, old! (according to the kids)  All day they have asked him questions like, "Daddy are you really, really old now?", and "are you going to die cause you are so old?"  They have cracked me up, but with me turning 30 next year I know he is not going to let me enter my thirties gracefully!
      We made his favorite dinner, tacos of course, and then a red velvet cake complete with homemade cream cheese icing.  This year I let the kids make him a banner instead of buying him a card.  They loved making it, and he said he never want a store birthday card again, so I think he liked it as well.
      Happy birthday Jeremy, we love you!!

The kids and their banner.

The yummy cake!

UL Spring Sign

    Our entry table was looking a little lack luster, so since we had most of the material on hand, I decided to make a new sign for the it.  We had a whole box of document frames laying around from Jeremy's work, so I painted one Gloss White from Krylon, then did a little distressing.  I had a spring sign from Uppercase Living that I got for free, and I made a few rosettes to go on it.  I think it turned out pretty well.  It is amazing what you can do with a little fabric, spray paint, and of course, a glue gun!  ENJOY!

My first attempt at a rosette, not too bad.

The frame.

The finished product!

I love how it turned out, and it really brightened up the table!

Shane"s First T-ball game

    Today was also Shane's first game, so we rushed from the track to the field just in time for Shane's game.  He looked sooo cute.  His first time up at bat he did start to run to third instead of first (just like Kinley did, lol!) but he did great.  We were worried he would just stand there, like he did at soccer, but it was the opposite.  They put him on the pitcher mound and he pretty much got every ball that was hit in the first inning.  He played first base next, and he was so funny!  He would hold out his glove so they couldn't get on the base.  That is our Shane!!  He can always make us laugh :-)

Really......nothing cuter!!!!

Shane scoring his first point!

McKinley's first Track Meet

After many, many atempts at finding McKinley's sport I am so happy to say that track is his "thing."  After only two practices, he had his first track meet today.  He did amazing!  He won his first individual event, and his relay team won as well.  He also did really good on the 800 as also (which is two laps!) he only stopped for a few seconds and after I encouraged yelled at him to run again he did.  He came in 5th, I think on that one.  He also did the softball toss too.  There were two other events but I am not sure what they are.  I had to leave early to rush Shane off base to his T-ball game.  I am so glad he has found a sport he loves and is good at.  It was just what he needed!!

Getting ready to start his first event.

Look how far ahead he is!!

He did so good on the relay as well.

The softball toss.

Shane's First T-ball Practice

    Shane was so excited to get to start T-ball this week!  He was very nervous on Monday to meet all of his team mates but, by the second practice on Wednesday he was a regular pro.  He loves it, and we are glad to find a sport that he really likes (soccer was just too busy for him!)  I can't wait to post pics of his first game because, really, what is cuter than T-ball!!!

His fake smile becuase I was the only mom taking pics :-)

Learning to catch

Second pratice, playing outfield.

Getting ready to bat for the first time.

He reminds me of Chicken Little here, I don't know why!

He did it!!!

Run!

He was so proud of himself!

My One Year Blogaversary

One year ago today I started this blog as a way for our family and friends to keep up with our daily life, and watch our family grow.  I love blogging, I am just not the best at actually doing it.  I am making a huge effort to get everything all caught up so I can start posting about things as the happen!  In the past year we have had many activities at school sporting events, trips to see family, lots of holidays, and a big trip to Disney World.  So, keep checking in for more post, and my blog and my 5 loyal followers will keep the posts coming!!

Tiger Patch

Guess who is offically a Tirger Scout now......Shane!! We pinned on their new patches, then followed it up with an ice cream party. We are so proud of you Shane!!!!

Good Bye Starbucks, Hello Lent 2011

First off, no I am not Catholic, but i do observe Lent.  I have been asked a million time what it is, so if you don't know you can learn more here.  This year there was alot of discussion in our church group over what each of us wanted to give up.  Some of the things given up were online shopping, sugar, and any beverage other than water (ouch, that's a hard one).  v knew right away what I was supposed to give up.  I also knew how hard it would be.  I gave up coffee!  Whether you have know me for a year or a week you know that I love coffee.  But that is the problem.  I would wake up in the morning and my first thought would be how much I wanted coffee.  When the kids were stressing me out, I would go get a coffee.  Notice a pattern.  Anytime I get stressed, I use coffee as an escape instead of going to God with it.  I know this will be really hard for me, but I am excited as well to see how I grow spiritually in the next 47 (yes 47, NOT 40) days.  I will miss you Starbucks, but there are just some (alot) of things more important.  What are you giving up??

VA Bound

    We made it to Virginia safe and sound without too many melt downs, and in record time.  I was really anxious to get here because I had an adorable new niece who I hadn't got to hold yet.  I don't think I let her parents hold her at all tonight!!  The kids hadn't got to see Scotty since this summer so they had a great time playing together tonight.  I am looking forward to going to see my Mom tomorrow, and having dinner with all of the family at my favorite Richlands restaurant, Italian Village.  And guess what, they are predicting snow for Christmas!!!  The kids (me) are so excited!  Enjoy some pics of our first day.

Me and Hailey.

Bella loves her only girl cousin!!

Why yes that is Scotty with a crib toy as a backpack, lol!

Shane and Scotty riding a horse.

Noah's Christmas Show

    The fact that I am writing this post just breaks my momma heart.  I can't believe Noah is half way through PreK.  In just a few short months he will be in Kindergarden....all day.  I wish I could keep him this age forever!  He was so well behaved at the show, and did exactly what the teachers did.  On the videos I can even make out his little voice!  After the program Noah, Bella, and I all went out for a special lunch with Daddy to show him how proud we are of him.  Oh, check out those rossy little cheeks!!  So kissable!

Momma's little elf

So handsome.

Bella and Noah after the show.

Noah singing!!

Best Christmas Gift EVER!!!!!!

    Today was Jeremy Christmas party at work, and as usual I was not looking forward to it.  There are usually around 500 people there, and they get the food from the chow hall!!  Jeremy baited me with the promise of not having to cook, and well, I am always up for not cooking, so I put on my happy face and went.          

    They always give you tickets for door prizes when you come into the building, and they are usually pretty good.  This year the grand prize was good, I mean really good.  All night long we seen person after person win ipads, TVs, laptops.  Finally it was our turn and we won an amazing......birdhouse snow globe.  Yeah, a snow globe!  Beggars can't be choosers so I toldthe kids we were lucky to have one anything.  The kids were starting to get a little bored, so we decided to go see Gunny Clause, and visit the craft tables.  By this time a lot of people were leaving but the kids couldn't leave with out seeing santa.  As we waited in line we seen all kinds of tickets laying around were people had left, so we of course picked them up hoping to up our chances of winning something other than a snow globe.

    We all knew what the Grand Prize was, but it was the last drawing of the night. The kids had kind of started falling apart so Jeremy took everyone but Shane out to the van, but I refused to go until the last ticket was drawn.  Right before they anounced the number on the ticket Shane asked me if we were going to win.  My reply was something like, there are a lot of people here so we may not win and that is OK. Then they started calling out the number and to my extreme shock, it was our number, we won the grand prize!   What is it you ask...........A trip to DISNEY WORLD!!!!!!!!  I really don't know who is more excited, me or the kids.I think the best part was getting to go out to the van and tell Jeremy and the other kids that we won.  It is a moment I will never forget!  I can't believe we are taking our first real family vacation to Disney world, and it is mostly paid for!!!  We are so blessed!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Jesus

    So have I mentioned that we belong to an amazing life group at our church, and they all happen to have some adorable kids too!  We were so happy to have them all over for our monthly play date, and since it is so close to Christmas we decided to clelebrate by having a birthday party for Jesus. 
    To teach the kids that Christmas is not all about presents and sparkly lights, we decided to give Jesus a gift, since it is his birthday.  The kids all braught a donation for the Lottie Moon ofering, and we collected around $25.  We then made these really cute ornaments, that I totally forgot to take pics of, so here is the link.
   As usuall there was way to much food, and lots of smiling little faces!  These kids and their parents are one of the many gifts we have been blessed with this hiliday season.  I pray that we can keep the play dates coming, and keep surounding our kids with lots of godly love and laughter!!

Annsley, Sarah, and Hadley is in there too.

Avrey and Erin.

Tristan

Ethan

The kids singing happy birhtday to Jesus and bloeing out the candles.

Kristen

Me and Tiffany

Bella and Aunna, they are so beautiful!!!

Christmas Crafts With Noah

Today was craft day for Noah's Prek class.  I was so glad that I was able to get a sitter for Bella and go spend this special time with him.  I can't believe that he is half way through Prek, time is moving way too fast!

We made ice cream cone Christmas trees

Coffee filter Santa's

Popsicle stick reindeer

Christmas Bingo

He was so proud of himself, he won on his first try!

Me and my baby boy!

After all the crafts and games we set around and played a while.  I love that at this age you are cool if your mom comes to the school!