Notes From the Craddocks

HoW dOeS yOuR gArDeN gRoW?

2010-05-28T10:00:00.005-04:00

Mike has worked really hard to get our garden up and going this year. Last year was our first experience with this and I think the deer got the best of our garden. We got a good bit of cucumber and some squash, but the tomatoes went to the deer. Seems every time we would get one close to picking, the deer would visit and make a meal out of it themselves.

This year, we started off just as we did last year, only expanding the garden a little and growing some new things.

We're growing cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, bell pepper, okra, watermelon, cantaloupe, onion, and corn.

I think we may have even outsmarted the deer with this fence!

Our peaches and our squash are doing great!

The bees are working hard too

Sisters

2010-05-28T09:26:00.004-04:00

Oh how these girls love each other! I keep wondering when the jealousy is going to creep into their relationship. While I still think it could rear it's ugly head, right now these two are the best of friends!

Avery was giving Morgan a "pedicure" in the baby pool.

Avery doesn't like it when Morgan gets hurt or is left out of anything and Morgan always wants to know where Avery is. Last week Avery was gone all day on a field trip. Morgan asked me over and over "where my Avery go?".

It warms my heart to see the interaction between my girls.

One Year

2010-05-20T10:20:00.000-04:00

I've come here many times hoping to find some inspiration to update and it just hasn't happened. Days between posts turned to weeks and those weeks eventually turned to months. At that point, I figured what was the use. I was already so far behind. I also couldn't bear the thought of one more thing needing my attention and time. I just didn't have it to give. This year has been an overwhelming one to say the least. We've started homeschooling Graysen and Avery for 3rd grade and Kindergarten. If I did have a moment to spare, that has definitely filled it! This has also been a year of loss. Mike lost his grandfather and I lost my grandmother, Bubba. Ironically they both had Alzheimer's. Though it has been a crazy year for us, we've grown much closer as a family. However, here I sit, one year later and try to wrap up the last 365 days in a couple of posts.

Bear with me please. This isn't going to be an easy process! I'm putting one foot in front of the other and I'm trying to make it happen! There's a lot to fill you all in on. Brace yourself....it's gonna be a long ride :-)

Dance Recital 2009

2009-05-20T08:15:00.004-04:00

Avery is such a girly girl and loves to dance. It's so funny to watch the little ones at the recital. Miss Debbie is up on stage with them doing the dance off to the side. The 1st year, Avery looked at her pretty much the whole time to see what she was supposed to be doing. Last year she still looked at her a good bit. But, this year she actually did a bunch of the dance without looking. I was so proud of her. I don't think she has any concept of stage fright!

For ballet, they did a baby doll dance and for tap, they danced to the song Sugar Sugar. It was precious!

2009-05-19T08:00:00.004-04:00

I find myself playing a never ending game of catch-up with this blog. I started out updating daily. That moved to a couple of times a week. Not too bad for a mom of 3 kids I don't think. But, seriously, I looked at a friends blog the other day and it said mine was last updated over a month ago. What has happened to me. What has taken up my time so much that I can't even sit down and document our daily life? Then I remembered. Soccer practice, dance classes, homework, soccer games, awards programs, dance recital, 2 weddings (one that included a weekend away in Charleston!), and a garden project that ended up with my husband in the hospital for 3 days. That's what we've been doing and now I need to back up and document it all so that when I look back on this in a few years, I'll remember!

Graysen started soccer in March. I know I've mentioned before that I LOVE Upwards sports and my opinion still stands. It is such a great program for the kids. We started out the season with a bang winning the first game 11-4. Graysen and his buddy were talking big about being the best team and I think an undefeated season was even mentioned. The second game..... reverse those figures and chalk it up to a lesson in humility!

We finished up the season this past Saturday with a win. Soccer is definitely Graysen's sport. We've tried baseball, but it seems we always come back to soccer. I was happy to hear that this church will also be doing a fall season starting in August!

Happy Birthday Morgan!

2009-03-25T05:28:00.005-04:00

This time 1 year ago, I was heading to the hospital for a scheduled c-section and anxiously awaiting the arrival of my 3rd baby. I had been on bed rest for a couple of weeks for elevated blood pressure so I was ready to get the show on the road. Graysen and Avery were so excited to finally be meeting their baby sister. At 8:05 am, Morgan Claire was born. She was 8lbs 4oz of sweet baby girl. I can't complain about any of my babies. But, Morgan has by far, been the easiest one. She has slept through the night since she was 5 weeks old. And even before that, she was going 6 hours in between feedings. She rarely cried and was perfectly content sitting back and taking in all the action around our house. But, best of all, she slept in her own bed! Even if I screwed everything else up this time, I was determined that she would not sleep in the bed with me.

This year has flown by. I can't even believe that Morgan is 1 yr old. I have truly soaked in every minute of her 1st year. I have been there for every first and let many a chore go to get in some extra snuggle time with her. She is a bundle of joy with a sweet smile and the biggest blue eyes I've ever seen. She is saying simple words like mama and dada, dooce (juice), sasen (Graysen), nack (snack), piper (diaper), tanks (thanks), and pees (please). Much to my mom's disappointment, she still doesn't say Mimi. She is cruising all over the place on her hands and knees but hasn't quite gotten brave enough to let go to walk. She stands by herself for short periods of time and then plops down on her bottom. Best of all, she falls asleep by herself and sleeps in her own room!

She lives up to her nickname of "Peanut". I've called her that since she was in my belly and I first saw her on that 8 week ultrasound. At 1 year, she weighs 14lb 5 oz and is 27 in tall. Petite may be an understatement! The doctor isn't concerned, just says she's gonna be little. She loves to eat, so that isn't a concern and has met every developmental milestone that she should have met. I think it's funny that she started out as my biggest, yet has turned out to be the littlest.

Sharing some Apple Jacks with Daddy
Notice the big bruise on her forehead. It's hard learning how to stand up with out a few bumps along the way!

We had a fabulous time this weekend celebrating with family and friends. Morgan loved her cake and got some cute clothes and fun toys. Here are some pictures from the party...
Trying to be a lady while eating her cake
Still not so sure she was supposed to have it
Totally going at it with 2 hands
Maybe on a little sugar high about now. I love the look in her eyes!
All laid back smacking on her hands. What you can't see is that she had her foot pulled up into the seat and had been playing with the icing in her toes.

Thanks to everyone who was able to brave the nasty weather on Saturday and help us celebrate!

Long Time Overdue

2009-03-24T11:22:00.003-04:00

I have been horrible at updating this blog lately. I've sat down several times to do it, but seems I either have trouble uploading pictures or just a lack of enthusiasm to write anything. I guess I've just been in a blogging funk and let it slip to the back burner.

Life around our house has been at top speed for the past month or so. We always have a lot on our schedule, but seems it's gotten even crazier if that's possible. Spring soccer started last week so that's one more thing added into the mix. As much as I talk about how we're on the go so much, I wouldn't trade it for the world. Being a full time stay at home momma is right up my alley and I thrive off of the chaos that is our everyday life. I'm thankful for the normal things that fill up our schedule. I'm thankful that when my baby girl is up a bazillion times a couple of nights in a row that it's nothing but her being cranky from some 1 yr old shots or that she may possibly, hopefully, but probably not be finally getting a tooth or two. I'm thankful that I'm doing homework and running back and forth to dance and soccer and school. Because there is a momma out there who has been in a hospital for over a week now watching her precious baby boy lay in a bed with a heart rate that is totally out of control. Stellan isn't doing well at all. His family needs our prayers more than ever right now.

Praying for Baby Stellan

2009-03-23T08:14:00.000-04:00

Please keep this family in your prayers.

2009-03-02T11:49:00.002-05:00

Saw this on another blog and thought it was well worth posting. So true how fast these babies grow up. I'm savoring every moment and soaking in all I can.

Song for a Fifth Child.

Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,

Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,

Hang out the washing, make up the bed,

Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,

Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due

Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew

And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo

But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo

Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?

Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow

But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!

I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

2009-02-22T08:29:00.000-05:00

Avery: (just coming downstairs from a good night of sleep in her own bed) "Momma, is Graysen at school today?

Me: yes, he is.

Avery: Oh, who delivered him today?

History Fair Project

2009-02-18T14:18:00.003-05:00

They give the premise that these projects are "family" projects. I think it ends up being more of a momma project. Honestly, how is a 7 year old supposed to write a one page book report and do a display board and model all by himself. Graysen did help with the play doh ocean and the collecting of pine tree branches and tumbleweeds. He wrote his captions on the pictures, and he listened as I read him the story of The Lost Colony a couple of times. He now knows that Queen Elizabeth told Sir Walter Raleigh that he could start a colony in the new world and that the colony disappeared only leaving the name of an Indian tribe inscribed on a post. But other than that, the details are all a blur to him . Hopefully, he'll at least remember enough for his presentation to the class.

Picture Overload

2009-02-18T13:13:00.004-05:00

I took some pictures of my baby girl yesterday. She's been able to sport some hairbows lately and I thought she looked extra cute in this outfit.

Tooth Fairy Visits Again

2009-02-04T12:28:00.003-05:00

I know it's crazy for me to be a nurse and to have such a thing against teeth. I don't like them, can't stand to see them wiggle, and really don't like the squeaky, creaky sound they make when they wiggle.

Graysen lost 2 teeth within 2 days almost 18 months ago. I got lucky with those. The first one fell out in his bed during the night and the other my sweet friend April pulled for him in the parking lot at the water park so that he wouldn't lose it while we were there. I could have never done it myself. So, I've been in the clear for over a year.

No more my friends. He started bragging about a month ago that he had a loose tooth. Not one of them. 4 of them. 4. Ugh.

After a couple of weeks of not being able to bite into anything and more wiggling than I could stand (the kind where the tooth ends up sideways cause it's so loose) one of the teeth came out. Get this....Graysen pulled it himself.

My child who cries anytime there's blood on him pulled his own tooth. What's better than that? He thought it was cool that he pulled his own tooth and plans on pulling the rest of them when they're ready! Looks like I'm off the hook completely. Only problem, he informed me that he thought the tooth fairy might leave him a little extra for pulling it himself.

Four Alarm Fire

2009-02-01T12:11:00.003-05:00

at least I think that's what you call it when they respond with 4 fire trucks, right?

What seemed like a typical day in the neighborhood actually turned into quite the fiasco. We have this "ditch" behind our house. The kids love to go in there and play. Yesterday, Mike was in the backyard and heard someone holler "FIRE". We look out into the ditch and see lots of smoke and flames. Unfortunately, it was really windy yesterday which made the fire spread at an amazing rate. It took the fire department 10 minutes to respond and by that time, the fire stretched from our backyard up 6 houses. Luckily, it all stayed in the ditch and didn't harm any houses (except for a fence on the other side of the ditch). I was so thankful that my kids weren't back there playing yesterday. Seems the story is that a young boy was in there by himself and was experimenting with cigarettes. This isn't the first time that a fire was started back there, but hopefully, it will be the last. I've never had an uncontrolled fire that close to my family before. Scary stuff, but provided a good teaching moment for my kids not only about fire safety, but also why we shouldn't smoke!

10 Months

2009-01-25T10:53:00.005-05:00

So hard to grasp that my baby is 10 months old. It doesn't seem right. Everyday I look at her and see all the new things she's doing and I'm amazed at what she's figured out in just 10 months. This has been such an exciting month. Lots of things are changing around here. I officially had to baby proof part of the downstairs. I've got the kitchen and den blocked off from the rest of the house and she has free range in those 2 rooms.

Morgan loves playing with her toys. She knows where her toy boxes are and makes sure that all the toys are pulled out.

She's also mastered the art of crawling and boy can she move.

She occasionally stops to look back and make sure no one is coming after her.

I've found myself vacuuming multiple times a day. The dog gets most of the big pieces of food that drop to the floor, but Morgan can find even the tiniest piece of anything and it goes right in her mouth.

She's started pulling up on things. I'm sure we're not too far off from walking.

Morgan loves Sadie. She gets excited whenever Sadie is anywhere nearby. You can ask her "where's Sadie?" and she'll look all around until she sees her and then says "Sa".

Such a sweet baby girl. I wouldn't trade her for the world...orange nose and all!

Snow Day

2009-01-23T09:08:00.003-05:00

For those of us who live in the south, this is hardly the image you wake up to on a regular basis!

There was a surprise forecast of snow for us last week. We were supposed to get anywhere from a dusting - 2 in. My mom on the other hand was supposed to get 2-5 in. Being the responsible mom that I am, I loaded my kids up and headed to her house in hopes of getting to see a little more of the white stuff.

Turns out it did actually snow in our neck of the woods, but only a dusting...certainly not enough to play in, but enough to cancel school for Graysen. My mom ended up getting several inches and we had a blast playing in it. Daddy even left work early and took the next day off to come and play with us.

Graysen was even able to make a snowman

Guess that's probably the only winter weather we'll see this year. We ended up staying at my mom's an extra night. We figured if Daddy was missing work to play in the snow, it was okay for Graysen to miss a day of school.
It was TOTALLY worth it!

Princess in Training

2009-01-14T11:40:00.001-05:00

2009-01-12T11:19:00.002-05:00

Graysen's teacher has an old bathtub in her classroom. She fills it with pillows and the kids take turns reading in it during silent reading time. When we were at school for the Christmas party, Morgan had a grand time reading her book in the tub!

Christmas Catch-Up

2009-01-09T09:07:00.005-05:00

This update has been a long time coming. Just like me to be posting Christmas morning pictures a couple of weeks late! Christmas morning was so exciting this year. Graysen is at that curious age where he really wants to believe in Santa but he is also questioning his existence. Kinda sad that we're already at that age. We were actually watching The Polar Express a week or so before Christmas and at the end of it he says "wow, that movie really makes me want to believe!"

We got back to our house Christmas eve around 9. Avery had fallen asleep on the way home from Mike's parents house, so she was an easy one to get to bed. Graysen was a little more wound up, but went to bed without too much argument. If only Morgan could talk, the stories she could tell her brother! The cookies were laid out, the letters written and the stockings stuffed. Morning would come soon enough, I was sure.

A pleasant surprise was waking up at 8:30 to the sound of a very excited 7 year old!
It's hard sometimes to be patient. Christmas morning is one of those times! Bless his heart, he had to wait on his sister to come out of the bathroom.

Once allowed to come downstairs, Graysen ran into the den. Both of the kids had asked for a DS from Santa. But, I guess Santa was a little wiser and picked something else out for each of them. He was kind enough to leave a note explaining the reason for the substitute.

Graysen's note read....
Dear Graysen,
I know you asked for a Nintendo DS, but my elves suggested this DIDJ instead. We know how hard you are working to improve your math skills (especially with the Mad Minutes). Not only can you play games on this, but you can practice both math and spelling. It does much more than the Nintendo. Let me know how you like it when you write next year.
Merry Christmas
~Santa~
Avery's note read....
Dear Avery,
At my elves suggestion, I left Graysen a DIDJ instead of a Nintendo DS. I think you will enjoy this Leapster much more. Besides, this is special for you like the DIDJ is special for your brother.
Merry Christmas

~Santa~

Graysen loved the DIDJ and was happy when he read his note. Apparently one of the boys in his class has one and he thought it was great that Santa had left that for him. Avery on the other hand, was a little more disappointed. She pulled the drama card and sobbed. Keep in mind though that the only reason Avery wanted a DS was because that's what Graysen had asked for. The tears were short lived and she was all smiles as she continued to open her presents.

Morgan woke up Christmas morning with a fever, yucky eyes, and in not such a great mood. We found out the next morning she had an ear infection and since we do things all or nothing around here, it was BOTH ears.
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my kids in their Christmas PJ's!

Hope yall all had a Merry Christmas we sure did!

Wallace Family Christmas

2008-12-26T10:04:00.000-05:00

The Sunday before Christmas we got together with my mom's family. We've always had Christmas with them on Christmas night. With so many little ones now, it's been harder and harder to do this. So, this year we moved it to the weekend before and it was wonderful! The kids were all in good moods and not exhausted. We had a great time. Here are a few photos of the kids and my cousins kids.

Nicholas and his panda

Angie with her girls

We even made the kids take turns opening their gifts. Usually it's mass chaos and nobody knows who gave who what. It took a little patience, but most of the kids did great with it. It's always a risk to shake up traditions that have been in place for 30+ years. This time it turned out perfect and I'm looking forward to continuing this new tradition next year!

Merry Christmas 2008

2008-12-25T15:58:00.004-05:00

Merry Christmas!

Love,
The Craddock's

Christmas Eve

2008-12-24T23:03:00.000-05:00

This morning we were able to drive up and spend some time with Bubba. We picked up lunch and took it to the nursing home to eat with her and let her open presents.

After that, we headed to Mike's parents house and had Christmas with them.

We're back home. The kids are tucked in bed with visions of candy canes (according to Avery) dancing in their heads. The stockings are hung and the cookies laid out. We're heading to bed for a short little nap.

I'm sure we'll be up pretty early tomorrow and I'm betting momma's gonna be up with a little one who's not feeling so hot tonight.
Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Gettin ready for Christmas

2008-12-23T14:02:00.000-05:00

The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind! We've been busy with lots of holiday activities. We took a road trip to Sumter, SC to the Swan Lake Christmas lights. There were tons of light displays to look at and some festive music by a local church.

Santa was there to take pictures with

There was even a mailbox that would send our Santa letters straight to the North Pole.

We've made dough ornaments and painted them

and finally the 2nd grade class party

WHEW. It's been crazy around here for sure. Looking forward to Thursday. Waking up and seeing my kids so excited, spending the day with my family, but most importantly celebrating my Savior's birth. Merry Christmas!

Letters to Santa

2008-12-18T07:46:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, we got our pencils and paper and got busy writing Santa.

Avery had to consult with us a little on her spelling of words and had some tears because she "couldn't do it right." But, what would an activity in my house be without a little drama.

Morgan was up to total mischief. She's just starting to crawl a little and lunges herself toward her target. I busted her messing with the tree and I got the most precious little grin!

I've been trying to put her in all of her Christmas clothes, but it's kinda hard to wear them when it's 70+ degrees outside. Hopefully it'll cool off a little this weekend and we'll be able to wear all our winter stuff again.

GBCN Girls Christmas 2008

2008-12-15T08:01:00.000-05:00

A couple of weekends ago, Morgan and I left everyone else at home and headed to Georgia to see my GBCN girls. This was the 15th year that we have gotten together at Christmas time. It was a great 24 hour getaway. We sat around and talked and then ate and then talked some more.

We were able to (almost) surprise Becca with a little baby shower. She got some cute stuff for baby Amelia who will be our 15th baby in the group.

Leslie bought Logan and Morgan matching Christmas outfits so of course they had to model them.

We had a great time and I'm looking forward to seeing baby Amelia next month!

Prayer Request

2008-12-09T10:16:00.003-05:00

We've made some pretty big decisions in our house over the last week. The most important being that we've decided that I will homeschool Graysen and Avery next year. This is a huge decision and responsibility on my part. One that I'm excited about, but at the same time a little nervous about. I know we're going to have good days and even some bad days thrown in there too. But, there was much prayer involved and it's become clear to me that this is what we need to do. I've already begun the planning and get more and more excited with each new idea I come up with. I know deep in my heart that this is the right thing for our family at this point in our lives and can't wait to see how the Lord uses me as I teach them. Please keep us in your prayers as we begin this new adventure!

Tree Update

2008-12-09T10:08:00.003-05:00

Since several of you have asked about the backyard tree, I figured I would follow-up. First, and most importantly, my mom called with the report that ALL of the goodies have been eaten. The peanut butter was even cleaned off the pinecones. The kids were so excited that it was all gone! My parents want the kids to do it all again when we go up there before Christmas.

I also got a little more information on the book since we didn't actually read it yet. It's called The Night Tree by Eve Bunting (1991). I think we're going to make a trip to the library to check it out and read it. My dad is reading it to his 1st graders this week and they love it.

Bubba

2008-12-05T07:58:00.003-05:00

Last week when we were at my mom's we were able to go over and visit Bubba. The kids love going to the nursing home! Bubba has her own room, so we're able to close the door and let them visit without bothering anyone.

We took Bubba's Christmas tree to her and hung a wreath on her door. Seems she has a neighbor who likes to take her wreath down and hide it in funny places. Mom says it ends up in the bathroom all the time!

9 Names

2008-12-02T09:47:00.002-05:00

Saw this on my cousins page and thought it was pretty funny.

1. YOUR REAL NAME: Laura

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of real name plus izzle.) Lauiizzle

3. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color and favorite animal) Blue Koala

4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME:( your middle name and street you live: Elizabeth Bassett

5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 of your first) Crala

6. YOUR SUPERHERO/CRIMINAL NAME: (Your 2nd favorite color, and favorite candy). Purple Snickers

7. YOUR IRAQI NAME: (2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your
last name, 1st letter of your last name, 2nd letter of your moms maiden
name, 3rd letter of your dads name, 1st letter of a siblings first
name, and last letter of your moms first name). Aacaca

8. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (parents middle names). Jean Crawley

9. YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, and the name of one of your pets). Black Sadie

New Traditions

2008-11-30T21:12:00.005-05:00

My parents have started a new tradition. They've got an incredible backyard. It's full of water features, trees, and flowers. The little critters are spoiled rotten with bird feeders and even special nuts set out for the squirrels. Last year, they planted a Christmas tree in their backyard. We had high hopes for starting this tradition then, but never got around to it.

Seems there is this book about a family who goes into the woods each Christmas and picks out their tree. Not a tree to cut down and take home, but rather a tree to decorate in the forest for the animals. We were attempting the same thing only in the comfort of the back yard.

Friday morning we started stringing popcorn and cranberries.

The whole family worked together on it.

After we were done, we took the strings out to the tree and decorated.

We also made pine cone bird feeders with peanut butter.

The tree looked fabulous when we got through with it and we can't wait until the critters figure out it's there.

8 months

2008-11-25T22:47:00.001-05:00

Hard day at the office

2008-11-24T09:44:00.003-05:00

Living History Day

2008-11-24T09:13:00.003-05:00

Graysen's class is having a special day today. They are making ropes, corn husk dolls, and who knows what else and then finishing the day with their feast. My dad was kind enough to come and spend the day with Graysen. He's been put in charge of the rope making. Graysen was so excited that Grandaddy was coming to school with him. But, when he found out that Grandaddy was "dressing up" too, he was even more excited. So, this morning I sent my two pilgrims off to school.

If only...

2008-11-23T09:26:00.002-05:00

....it was like this all the time

The next picture on the camera showed us realizing we were sitting in an ant hill. And just like that, the moment was over.

2008-11-23T09:19:00.000-05:00

Notice anything unusual? Last week when we started getting all the Christmas decorations out, Avery asked me if I thought there were unicorns when baby Jesus was born. She asks stuff like this daily, so it didn't really phase me. I answered my standard answer, "I'm not sure, punkin." Seems my girl has decided that indeed there were unicorns there that night. They hung out with the donkey and sheep.

2008-11-22T11:51:00.002-05:00

Some of you may have already noticed the link on the sidebar to MckMama's blog. If you haven't had a chance to check them out, do it now! She's got a lot of things up her sleeve to thank everyone for all the prayers to get baby Stellan here safe and sound.

Lovin the Weather!

2008-11-13T09:53:00.005-05:00

Being off on the weekends has opened up a whole new world to us. We can actually all go somewhere in one car and not worry about me getting called out to work. It's been great. A couple of weekends ago, we took a road trip to the national park at Lake Wateree. Not a huge park, but enough stuff for us to have a good time.

We hiked the nature trail and made up our own scavenger hunt to do while we hiked.

We played on the playground

and even managed to get a cute shot of all 3 kids!
Mission accomplished!

Picking Apples

2008-11-10T21:10:00.001-05:00

We had a fabulous time in the mountains last weekend with my parents. We did a day trip to Sky Top Apple Orchard. It was perfect mountain weather with a nip in the air and the homemade apple cider warmed us right up.
The kids enjoyed playing on the playground after we got through picking and were able to burn off a little energy.

Morgan had her first taste of a real apple

Here's the best one out of about 40 that I took of all 3 of them. Wish it wasn't so hard to get a good one!

A Little Lesson

2008-11-06T17:57:00.004-05:00

Graysen has been very aware of the election this week. He's been talking about McCain and Obama for months leading up to this week. He also knows which candidate our family supported. At school on Monday, all the students were able to get on the computer and "vote". They even came home with little "I voted" stickers.

Tuesday night as he was going to bed, he asked us who was winning. We were able to tell him that McCain had won our state. He was so very excited! Aren't we all excited when we're in the lead?

But then came Wednesday morning. He woke up wanting to know who had won. I had to tell him that our candidate wasn't going to be the next President. Obama had won. In his sweet innocence he tells me..."It's OK momma. McCain will be our president because he won our state." Oh sweet boy. If only it was that easy!

Last night at dinner I had the privilege of talking to my boy about our new leader. An opportunity to teach about defeat. I encouraged him that although our candidate didn't win, we need to move forward and start to pray for our new leader. To pray for his heart and to pray for the decisions that he will make. As he said his prayers last night, he prayed for our new president!

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior... (1Ti 2:1-3)

Bye-Bye

2008-11-03T11:09:00.001-05:00

Morgan has learned how to wave and say bye-bye!

Tree Climbing

2008-11-02T11:09:00.000-05:00

Halloween....part 2

2008-11-02T10:06:00.000-05:00

This year we went trick-or-treating with some friends from our baseball team. The kids had a BLAST together. We were out for about 1 1/2 hours and came home with about 5 pounds of candy. Avery showed all the boys up. She was on top of the game and beat the boys to the door every time. At one point I heard her say "I just can't stop. I HAVE to get the candy"

All you could see of her was her pink glittery shoes glistening as she bolted from door to door in her pink fairy costume. Graysen was Darth Vader this year and Morgan was a little purple fairy.

We came back to the house afterwards and had some good chili to warm us up. It was a great time with some new friends!

Halloween...part 1

2008-11-02T09:39:00.000-05:00

My Avery loves her "friends". This year, she dressed all her Webkinz up for Halloween. One of them even went trick-or-treating with us. She's gonna be a great momma one day!

A Mermaid
A Policeman

A Nurse
A Genie
A Bride

She's got quite the imagination!

Tag your it...

2008-11-01T21:12:00.001-04:00

1. Where is your cell phone? On the bedside table
2. Where is your significant other? Sound asleep right beside me
3. Your hair color? Brown with blonde highlights and a little gray that needs covering up!
4. Your mother? Sylvia
5. Your father? Richard
6. Your favorite thing? A hot cup of coffee on a chilly morning
7. Your dream last night? Didn't have any. That would require deep sleep and that doesn't happen with a little one around
8. Your dream/goal? To be a momma...looks like that one has come true!
9. The room you're in? Bedroom
10. Your hobby? Photography, blogging
11. Your fear? Something happening to my kids or husband
12. Where do you want to be in six years? Right where I am
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. What you’re not? using my time wisely
15. One of your wish list items? some new clothes
16. Where you grew up? Charlotte, NC
17. The last thing you did? Gave my baby girl a bath and got her ready for bed
18. What are you wearing? My PJ's
19. Your TV? on in the background
20. Your pet(s)? Dog, Sadie
21. Your computer? HP and Toshiba
22. Your mood? Happy
23. Missing someone? My parents, they've been out of town
24. Your car? Toyota Sienna
25. Something you’re not wearing? socks
26. Favorite store? Target
27. Your summer? Too short
28. Love someone? My husband, my babies, our families, our friends
29. Your favorite color? Not one in particular
30. When is the last time you laughed? A few minutes ago...I've got 3 kids. We laugh a lot
31. Last time you cried? Saturday...I'd rather not talk about it

Alright, I tag April, Leslie, and Mandy. Have at it girls....

Look what I got

2008-10-31T09:47:00.000-04:00

Oh boy, did Mike do a good job this year or what! I've been wanting a new camera for awhile now and have even gone so far as to plot how I could mess up my old one in order to get the new one. I've hinted a lot and even the kids have known I wanted it. Well, the UPS man made a stop here on Friday and this is what he left for me! I'm on cloud nine and plan to spend the whole weekend playing with it!

Only a boy named David

2008-10-31T09:37:00.000-04:00

The kids in Kindergarten through 3rd grade always dress up as a bible character for Reformation Day chapel at school. We've managed to recycle the same costume for the 3rd year in a row! In Kindergarten, he was Daniel and took a large version of Simba with him to school. Last year we had just been to the mountains and Mike had bought him a slingshot. So for first grade, he was David. This year, Graysen plotted with one of his friends and decided they would be David and Goliath. Too cute!

2008-10-27T09:10:00.000-04:00

Sadie always likes to lay in the sunshine. Just so happens she found a softer spot than the kitchen floor

7 Months

2008-10-25T08:50:00.002-04:00

Our family through the eyes of a 5 year old

2008-10-24T15:56:00.000-04:00

I think this may be my most favorite that Avery has ever drawn.

The girls have earrings.

I'm holding Morgan.
But, the dog....

Avery drew humps on her back.

Mike asked her about it and she simply said

"That's her bones, Daddy"

Sitting Pretty

2008-10-23T15:50:00.000-04:00

A Lesson in Safety

2008-10-22T15:40:00.003-04:00

I was cooking some meat for chili .

I was informed by my 7 year old that "you should never have the handle pointed out that way. One of the kids may get hurt." Then he turned the handle around and showed me the correct way. Good grief.

Kids are Funny

2008-10-20T21:02:00.002-04:00

I sent the kids upstairs the other day to clean their rooms. It's funny to see what their version of clean is. I also think it's funny how they arrange their "friends"

Graysen had his all piled up as high as they would go Avery had hers arranged according to family. She had all the bunnies together, the puppies together, and the bears together. I didn't realize this until I found her dolphin in my room. I brought "Daphne" into Avery's room and told her she forgot one. She got a very concerned look on her face and said, "I don't know where to put Daphne. I only have one dolphin so there is no dolphin family for her to sit with."

Little Momma

2008-10-13T14:22:00.000-04:00

A good momma always tries to protect her babies. When we go to the ball field to practice, I always keep Morgan in the dugout behind the fence. That way we don't take a chance of her getting hit by a stray ball or anything.

Avery has several "babies" that she alternates taking with her on trips to the store, or restaurant, or even the ball field.

Just a little reminder to me that my kids are always watching me to see how I do things.

So, Morgan and Chiwah sat in the dugout together and watched us practice.

The Fair

2008-10-11T22:36:00.005-04:00

The fall is most definitely one of my favorite times of year. I love the cooler weather, the leaves changing, and the smell of apples and cinnamon. But beyond all that, it just wouldn't be fall without the state fair.When we lived in Rock Hill, we used to go to the York County fair. I remember one year in particular. It was 2000 and I was pregnant with Graysen. I've always been a fan of a candy apple, but this particular year was a little different. I NEEDED a candy apple. I could care less about actually going to the fair, but I wanted a little taste of the food. That baby growing in my belly was thinking about a candy apple and it wasn't going to stop until I had one. We happened to be hanging out with some friends that night. I'll never forget Mark parking the car across the street from the fairgrounds and going up to the gate to ask if he could just come in long enough to buy a candy apple for the pregnant lady in the car. They actually let him and he came back to the car with candy apples and cotton candy in his hands. It's been a tradition for several years now for us to go to the fair together! We've graduated from the county fair and started going to the State Fair a few years ago. Last year, Tonda and I took the kids by ourselves. Mike was sick and Mark was working. This year, Mike was able to go and we had a blast!

It used to be a pretty cheap night out for us. Admission and food. Now, there's no way out of there without riding the rides!
Avery and her Baileigh
The petting zoo
The Ferris wheel...umm, yeah, not so crazy about that one, but gave in anyways. Prayed the whole time they were on it.
That's my fella with his head poked out and all the way up at the top
My sweet baby girl
Oh, the candy apples....
Avery decided to get the dipped cone
Graysen shook it up a little with a blue candy apple
Mike and I on the other hand ventured even further out and went with this one....
A deep fried Snickers and Reese's Cup
The Reese's Cup, heaven. The Snickers, a little too rich for my liking. I shutter to even think about how many of my Weight Watchers points I blew on this one. Guess I've dipped into next months points too!

Road Trip

2008-10-05T13:16:00.007-04:00

There's been a nip in the air the last week or so and it's hard not to think about fall things. We took a little trip on Saturday to Monck's Corner, SC to the West Farm Corn Maze. We had a blast! They had a 6 acre corn maze, pumpkin patch (that included decorating), an apple slingshot contest, a petting zoo, and a haystack maze.

Mike was our fearless leader and took control of the map. The maze had 12 checkpoints that you had to find. If you found each one of them, you were entered in a contest for a bike.

We managed to find the first 11 without too much trouble. There was some backtracking, but I thought we were doing pretty well. I had only heard "my feet are tired" a couple of times and every one's spirits were still high.

But, that checkpoint #4 got the best of us. We walked forever, got turned around, and backtracked several times.
After what seemed like forever, we finally found #4 and went in search of the way out.
We celebrated getting through the whole thing with a hayride and a Coke. Morgan was eyeing my Dr Pepper the whole time!
The apple slingshot was a huge hit. We didn't win anything, but daddy came close to winning us a free t-shirt.

Avery thought the goat was funny. He was trying to eat her shoe.
Morgan was a trooper, but crashed soon after we took this picture.
Avery was right in her element. She loves anything that involves art.
What a lovely creation
This haystack maze wasn't quite as challenging as the corn maze. Matter of fact, Graysen was pretty bored with this one.

2008-10-03T12:54:00.000-04:00

Mike returned home this weekend after being gone for 2 weeks. He had to go to some training in Georgia. It was a very long 2 weeks, but with the help of my mom, we managed. Before he left, Avery gave him "Rosey" to take with him so that he wouldn't be lonely while he was away. She gave him specific instructions on how to care for her and what to feed her. She was insistent that he make pretend custard for her daily. Like a good daddy, he promised he would take good care of her.

Last weekend we packed up and headed to Georgia to spend the weekend with him. We were able to spend some time by the pool. Morgan and I didn't get in. It was way too chilly.
The kids had goose bumps all over, but played in the water anyways.

Perhaps my most favorite part of the trip, besides getting to see my honey was this...
I am such a huge fan of the Checkers fries. We don't have them here, so I always stop on my adventures to Georgia.

Got Gas?

2008-10-02T22:41:00.000-04:00

Backyard Guest

2008-10-01T22:27:00.000-04:00

The other day I was busy cleaning house and happened to glance outside. This is what I saw...

Poor little guy was going as fast as he could towards the hill in our backyard that leads to the woods. Earlier that morning I was putting some stuff out on the patio and heard something rustling in the pampas grass. I'm guessing this is what I heard.
the hill is pretty steep, but the little guy made his way to the top
He got up there pretty fast considering he's a turtle and all. Avery watched in amazement and Sadie was dying to get outside to eat it. She's all bark and no bite though.

Ripley's Aquarium

2008-09-30T21:59:00.001-04:00

Last week Graysen's class loaded up and headed to Ripley's Aquarium in Myrtle Beach. We had such a great time. My mom came to visit and keep the girls for me so that I could go and enjoy spending some extra time with Graysen. The kids did super on the 3 hour trip there and 3 hours back. I think Graysen enjoyed the sharks the most. Every time he would see one, he was insistent that I take a picture.

Mr. Muscles is my nickname for Graysen. Here's proof, he's pulling the sword out of the stone!
I forget what kind of crabs these were. Graysen never technically touched them, but spent some time swirling his hands in the water, making everyone think he was touching them.
The sting rays were a whole different story. At first he looked at them from the side. But, before I knew it, he was in up to his elbows trying his best to get one to brush up against his hand.
It finally happened and I actually got a picture of it.

The kids also went to the IMAX and saw a 3-D movie about whales and dolphins. Best field trip we've been on so far!

Family Night #3...Let's go to the Movies

2008-09-29T13:48:00.005-04:00

This family night was kind of last minute. I tried to think of something we could do that wouldn't be too hard to put together and wouldn't cost a lot of money. Avery got a couple of new movies for her birthday last month and we had bought a copy of Everybody's Hero a few weeks ago but never had a chance to watch it. So, all I had to buy was the movie candy.

We decided to make it a double feature. I didn't want to be in the middle of the "girl movie/boy movie" argument, so we picked one of each! Score one for mom. That one saved some tears.
We made our own tickets and used Barbie money and the Barbie cash register to pay for the tickets and the food.
We had a great (and inexpensive) night at home!

6 months

2008-09-25T22:07:00.002-04:00

The last month has been my most favorite so far. It's been a month full of firsts! Morgan rolled over, is pushing up on her hands when she's on her tummy, had her first fruits and veggies, and best of all is officially saying "mama"! Graysen and Avery both babbled dada and baba first, but I guess the 3rd time is a charm! She is truly intent on what she's saying and looks right at me when she's doing it. It melts my heart and I love it!

Gone Fishing

2008-09-22T21:42:00.001-04:00

Looks like this time the big one didn't get away!

Avery's Date

2008-09-20T21:26:00.002-04:00

A couple of weekends ago, my mom and I helped host a party for some friends of ours. Morgan went with us and Mike took Graysen fishing. While we were all gone, Avery got to have a date with Granddaddy. She took her date very seriously. She took a shower, put on nice clothes, fixed her hair and even put on some make-up. The whole time she was getting ready, she hid from my dad and didn't want him to see her until it was time to go. They had a great time. Avery came home with a new Webkinz and a halloween costume for her bear. No complaints from her!

That &!%# Dog

2008-09-17T10:33:00.002-04:00

This has been the scene at our house on more than one occasion lately.

I don't know what's getting into her. She has a thing for dirty diapers. We've had two occasions where she went after the kitchen trash and now she's moved to the upstairs. This bag had no food in it at all. It had paper towels with cleaning stuff on them, Clorox wipes, a Gain bottle, and some dirty diapers along with just regular trash. Needless to say, coming home to this at the end of a long day is not my idea of fun. I love her and all, but this is ridiculous.

A Barbie Party

2008-09-15T09:51:00.001-04:00

I've finally gotten around to putting some pictures of Avery's party on here. We were afraid that tropical storm Hanna was going to mess up our plans for a pool party. But luckily, the skies cleared that morning and it ended up being a HOT and SUNNY day.

The kids have always loved going down the slide

Even the big kids like going down the slide!

Big kids make BIG splashes

Here's the infamous Barbie Swan Lake cake. This isn't the Barbie from Swan Lake but it was good enough for Avery. Seems it's hard to find Swan Lake stuff right now. I happened upon this little Barbie at Wal-Mart. The only thing that Avery was adamant about was the swan. It had to be a real swan, not a goose, not a duck, and she didn't approve of the small pewter one that my mom had found for us. After a 3 county search for a swan, we had given up and decided I would just put the pewter one on there at the last minute and it would have to do. But, a friend's daughter told me to google swan lake images. It worked. We printed her out and taped her to a toothpick and stuck it down in the lake. Avery was a happy girl!

Morgan even did a little skinny dippin'

Turning 5 was a pretty big deal for Avery. She knew when she turned 5 that she had to stay in her bed all night and stop coming to get in bed with us. Well, she turned 5 almost 2 weeks ago and I can count on 1 hand the number of nights she's slept in her own bed. By that I mean she stayed in there past 5am. The other nights, we were at my mom's and she was sneaking downstairs to get in Mimi's bed. She's a tricky girl. She goes in stealth mode and you don't even know she's in your bed....... until you feel that little knee jabbing you in the back!

Swing Batta Batta Swing

2008-09-13T14:03:00.001-04:00

How cute does my boy look in his uniform! Baseball started a few weeks ago and these pictures are from his first game.
Fall Ball is apparently more of a learning experience than spring ball. We're thankful for that! Graysen has never officially played before so I didn't want him to be thrown on a team and expected to know all the rules and stuff. His coaches are wonderful and it's been a great time so far. This is another one of those things that make me feel more like a mom. I love being a "ball momma" whether it's soccer or baseball.
This league doesn't keep score with fall ball, so we don't officially have a record, but I will say that some of us momma's have been keeping score on the sidelines and the team is doing AWESOME!

Avery has already met a little girl whose brother is on our team. They play together and bring each other snacks and have a great time during practice and games.
We play through October so I'm sure I'll have a lot more baseball news to share

Long Time Overdue

2008-09-11T22:43:00.003-04:00

It's been one of those weeks at our house. The kind of week where you go and go and go and it seems like it's never going to end. I've got a million different posts that I've been thinking about this week and just haven't had the chance to sit down and do them. We were out of town this weekend, had 2 baseball games, a birthday party, and dance lessons, met my mom to get Avery back, been to the ENT for a consult, and been on call every night this week. On top of that, throw in a trip to the grocery store, carpool, and homework and it's a pretty tightly packed week.

Today was the first day that I've actually been home most of the day and could catch up on a few things. Of course, a couple of things took precedence over playing around on the computer. There was laundry to be done and lots of it, dishes to wash, bathrooms to clean, and floors to vacuum. My house has totally fallen apart this week and I needed one good day to get it somewhat put back together.

Even though it's been hectic around here, it's something I thrive off of. I love the things that make me feel more like a momma and trust me there were plenty of those things this week. It's what I live for and love doing. So, at the end of the day when I crash in my bed and enjoy the couple of hours before a certain someone comes in our room with her "friends" because she's scared and needs a "live body" to sleep with, I feel pretty good about myself. I know that I've done my job well. Everyone made it through the day, got where they needed to go, and went to bed knowing they were loved. It's a great feeling!

I've got lots of pictures to share, but they'll have to wait another day. I'm tired and Avery will be in here before I know it.

Quote of the Day

2008-09-06T07:52:00.000-04:00

Me: "Graysen, I put your permission slip and a check for your field trip in your homework folder."
Graysen: "No, momma. She means you have to send REAL money."

Sorry buddy, that's as real as it gets around here. Who carriers that much cash anymore? It's a field trip to Myrtle Beach that just happens to cost $53 for the two of us to go. Sorry lady, a check will have to do!

Happy Birthday Avery

2008-09-05T00:01:00.000-04:00

Because Graysen's birth story was a little more dramatic, Avery's isn't nearly as drawn out. In fact, it was pretty simple. I had a wonderful doctor that would do scheduled c-sections 10 days before your actual due date. So, on the morning of September 5th, 2003 at the ungodly hour of 4am, we woke up and headed to the hospital for a scheduled c-section. I was fairly calm while the nurses got me settled in and hooked up. I had said all along that the only thing I was nervous about was the spinal. I didn't have much time to worry about that with Graysen because by that point I was so ready for it, but with Avery, it was a different story. All of my concerns focused mainly on the spinal. I had a wonderful nurse that took my mind off of what was going on. Unfortunately, the first stick wasn't in the right spot and they had to do it again. Of all things that could have happened, it had to be with that blasted spinal. But, a few minutes later, I was on the table and they had brought Mike back in. My doctor came in and at 8:05 am, I heard the cries of my newborn baby girl.

Avery Elizabeth weighed 7lb 8oz and was my baby picture made over. Our hospital stay was pretty uneventful until it was time for us to go home. We had noticed that she was getting a little yellow and they had done labwork to see how high her levels actually were. There was a question as to whether they would let her go home on a light or if she would need to stay in the hospital an extra day. Luckily, we were able to take her home. We did the light therapy for a few days and her labwork was looking better, so they eventually took her off the light.
Avery was a great baby. A good sleeper, good eater, and happy most of the time. She was the perfect addition to our family.
Happy Birthday Punkin!
Love,
Daddy, Momma, Graysen and Morgan

Family Night #3...Pizza Night

2008-09-04T13:23:00.005-04:00

There wasn't much time in our schedule last week to plan an all out Family night. Once again, my week kind of got away from me. But, we did make our own pizza's for dinner on Friday. The kids had a great time being a part of the preparation. Avery was a little disappointed there wasn't more involved, so I guess I need to get on the ball for next week.

Catching up from a Busy Weekend

2008-09-03T08:55:00.004-04:00

Whew. I'm sitting here this morning catching my breath. We had a FABULOUS weekend. It started off with our first baseball scrimmage on Saturday. Graysen did a great job playing. We still have a lot to learn about baseball, but we're getting there. If I could just convince him that there is no 4th base we would probably be alright. We had a friend come in town Saturday night to hang out with us for a couple of days. Bless her heart, she kind of got thrown right into the middle of things. Our neighbors were moving and all the kids flocked to her on the front porch. She was totally in her element, but still felt bad that she had just arrived and we were bombarding her already.

Sunday, we headed up the interstate to go see the Charlotte Knights play baseball. Mimi Grandaddy, and a family friend met us there. We had some great seats thanks to a buddy of mine.

The Knights were playing against the Durham Bulls

Avery and Mimi really got into yelling "CHARGE"

We got some special attention from Homer

Several photo ops and an autograph

Mike and the kids got to run the bases after the game. A good time was had by all

Monday, Lenee and I took the girls and went to run a few errands and Mike took Graysen to the ball field to practice. After we got through with our shopping, we met up with the boys and did a little practicing ourselves. Boy, are my arms tired. I haven't swung a bat like that in years.

Tonight is our 1st game, so I'm sure I'll have plenty of pictures to share tomorrow.

Close Call

2008-08-28T11:35:00.004-04:00

Avery has always been my close call child. She's the one who takes the most falls, or gets hurt, or in this case, gets lost. I think my "favorite" fall of hers was when she was sitting on our steps eating m&m's. She was 2 and m&m's were a big deal for her. Like any 2 year old, a few went in her mouth and a few fell out. Well, my little chocolate lover wasn't about to let any of those m&m's get away from her. She bent over (on the stairs) to pick them up and tumbled head first down about 10 stairs. It wasn't funny at the time, but I can laugh about it now since she didn't get hurt. Another close call was when we were in Georgia visiting some friends for our annual summer GBCN get together. Summer is when we bring all our kiddos, so there were quite a few children to watch. Most of them were in the carport playing, but Avery was still too little to play out there with the big kids. She was inside with some of my friends. April and I had gone out to get our bags out of the car and when we came back in, Avery was gone. It was a mere 2 or 3 minutes that she was missing (she was in the carport next door), but it seemed like a lifetime. My only thought was "how am I going to tell Mike that I lost our toddler." Well. I thought we had moved beyond the wandering. I didn't trust her for a long time after that. I've gradually given her some freedom with being outside, but keep my eye on her a little more just because of her history. So, last night at the ball field, Mike got there a little late and we were sitting on the bleachers. Avery was begging to go to the playground across the field. I had told her that I would take her over there before we left, but that I also wanted to watch Graysen practice. Mike got up to walk around with Morgan who was getting a little fussy and Avery tagged along with him. When he came back to the bleachers, Avery was right there and was hanging from the top bleacher playing. Within maybe 30 seconds, I looked over there and she was gone. I thought she had snuck underneath to play, but she wasn't there. She wasn't anywhere on our side of the field. She wasn't over watching the boys practice batting. She was nowhere. One of the other moms started helping us look for her. Mike headed over toward the playground, I went back behind this fence to look in the cemetery that is behind the field, and the other mom went toward the bathrooms. The thought in my head was that someone had been watching her from the parking lot and snuck up behind us and grabbed her. It was the 2nd most terrifying moment in my life. The 1st time being when she was lost last time. I can't begin to list all the horrible scenarios that kept playing in my mind and I was even contemplating calling 911 in case. After what seemed like an eternity, I looked across the field and see a little girl in a pink dress walking beside her daddy. He had found her. My heart slowed down a little and my nerves loosened up. She was okay. All I can say is that she must have bolted to that playground. There is no way that she could have gotten all the way over there without us seeing her. When we were walking to the car, I said "Avery, you walked all the way over here by yourself?" She said "yes momma and nobody even snatched me." Needless to say, we all learned a lot last night. We had a long talk about bad people who snatch kids and do mean things to them. Our nighttime routine is that Avery will say her prayers with me and then Mike comes in and prays for her. Last night after she said her prayers, I told her that I wanted to pray tonight too. She looked very puzzled. I simply said to her "I think we have a lot to thank God for tonight. He kept you safe when you were away from us and helped Daddy find you." So, this morning. I am thanking God that he kept my sweet girl safe and helped her daddy find her. I don't know what I would do without her.

My One Hundred

2008-08-28T09:56:00.001-04:00

I guess there's this thing you're supposed to do when you hit your 100th post. I saw a few weeks ago that I was getting close to that 100 mark and figured I better get started because it would take me that long to think up 100 things about myself. So here goes...

I'm an only child
I don't think I act like one
My parents made me work for what I wanted
I thank them for that
I was born in Charlotte, NC
I look like my momma
I got my attitude from my daddy
My daddy was my elementary principal in school
I went to Georgia Baptist College of Nursing (before it merged with Mercer)
I'm a Hospice Nurse
I love what I do as a nurse
I just don't have enough time to do it
I'd rather be a momma
I met my husband on a blind date
I was pretty sure I was going to marry him after that date
I married him 9 months later
We've been married for almost 10 years
I love him more today than the day we got married
I'm a momma
I've been pregnant 6 times
I've got 3 beautiful children
I've had 3 miscarriages
All 3 of my babies were born by C-Section (here's why)
I have 2 girls and 1 boy
I love my kids a lot
I'm a Christian
I love my God a lot too
Diet Coke is my favorite drink
Sweet tea is my next favorite
I like to eat at Red Lobster
I especially like the Cheddar Bay Biscuits
and the shrimp scampi
I'm a Carolina Girl
Navy blue is my favorite color
I like purple a lot too
I played softball in high school
I took gymnastics when I was little
I hate math
I'm not very good at it
I hope my kids are good at it
That way I won't have to help them with it
I like things to be in order
I'm a little obsessive about it
I can handle clutter to a point
And then it has to go
I love to wash clothes
But I hate to fold them and put them away
Especially the hang up stuff
They usually gets draped over the treadmill
I love to watch TV
But by the time the good shows come on at night, I'm too tired to watch them
I'm becoming a morning person
I kind of like my time to myself in the mornings after my oldest has gone to school and my other 2 are still sleeping
That time in the mornings is getting less and less.
My middle child has figured out that I'm getting up earlier
I love to go shopping
I wish money grew on trees
I like to cook
I'm not such a great baker
I made a friend a birthday cake once and it exploded in my oven
I thought you had to fill the whole pan up with batter
I learned that you only fill it up part way
I'm getting better at baking
I've made several creative cakes for my kids
They turned out pretty cute
And tasted good too
I love it when it rains
I also like it when it thunders
I just don't like the lightning that comes with the thunder
I love Vera Bradley purses
I have a lot of them
My mom got me hooked on them
I have a group of 7 girls I went to college with
We're as close as sisters
I'd do anything for them
We get together at least twice a year
I enjoy being a mostly stay at home mom
I've always wanted to be a momma
I'm thankful that my husband supports me staying home so much
I take pride in my responsibilities as a momma and a wife
I want my home to be a haven for my family
I'm having a really hard time coming up with 20 more things to say about myself
My favorite place to vacation is the beach
We go every summer with my parents and some friends
My favorite toy when I was little was my kitchen set that Santa brought one year
I love Christmas
I used to unwrap my presents when I was younger
I would wait until my parents left the house
and then go under the tree and peek at presents
I would unwrap them at the end and rewrap so that no one would know
My parents had no idea until I told them a couple of years ago
Now they don't trust me with presents
I don't know why
I'm going to be 33 in a couple of months
I had a hard time turning 30
My 30's have been great
Now I don't want to turn 40
But I'm sure my 40's will be great also
God has truly blessed me
I can't wait to see what else he has in store for our family

A Day of Firsts

2008-08-27T12:48:00.002-04:00

This is all a little much for one day. First I give my baby girl some cereal. Next thing I know, I've put her down for a nap. I always put her on her tummy for a nap since I can check on her frequently. I went in there a few minutes later to put some laundry away and my sweet baby girl was laying on her back looking up at her mobile. I left her that way, but I guess she couldn't get rolled back over and started crying. I went back in, flipped her to her tummy and she closed her eyes and went right to sleep. I can tell this is going to be frustrating for her. She's got that Craddock temper and gets flustered when things don't go just perfect.

Rice Cereal

2008-08-27T11:17:00.004-04:00

With Graysen, I was all about starting him on solid foods. I couldn't wait. I wanted to be a part of all things baby and baby food was right up there on my list. It was almost like it made me more of a mom or something stupid like that. Since Graysen had a lot of food allergies when he was younger, I was a little less anxious to start Avery on anything. I think there was just the fear of her having food allergies also. Well, she didn't. She can eat anything and everything, especially if it involves chocolate. So, at Morgan's 4 month check-up, the pediatrician told me it was fine to go ahead and start her on some cereal. This time around, I just wasn't ready. Not because of the food allergies or anything. It was the fact that it made her a little older and not totally dependant on me for food. Quite honestly, it made our schedule a little more hectic. It's so easy right now to feed her wherever we may be. I'm not ready to have to take jars and spoons and bibs everywhere we go. But, bless her heart, every time we're eating, she's watching our hands go from our plate to our mouth. She tries to get our cups when we're drinking and she'll grab a spoon if it's anywhere within her reach. So I bought some rice cereal a few weeks ago and see it every time I open the pantry. This morning, she had her first taste.
At first she looked at it like she couldn't believe I was actually going to let her have it.
She knew exactly what to do when I put that spoon in her mouth
And pretty soon, she was wanting to do it herself
I think she was afraid to let go of it for fear I may not give her anymore
First experience with the cereal was pretty uneventful. She didn't even get it all over her face!

5 months

2008-08-25T12:40:00.000-04:00

One week was all it took

2008-08-23T09:37:00.005-04:00

We were in school for exactly 1 week and Graysen was home sick already. He was fine Thursday after school. We did homework, went to baseball, and went to bed. At 4am I woke up to the sound of somebody in the bathroom. I knew it had to be him, cause Avery never makes it that far. My first thought was "oh great. Here we go with a stomach bug." But, I guess it's OK to say this about your child being sick, I was pleased to hear that his throat hurt "very badly" and he was burning up with a fever. In my opinion I would much rather have a child with strep than a stomach bug. It's been our history in the Craddock house that when Graysen has strep, which has been 5 times in the last 18 months, nobody else in the house gets it. It's one of those things you can go to the doctor for and they swab you. If it comes back positive, and it always has, they give you antibiotics and in a couple of days, your back to your old self. There's none of this "it's just a virus and needs to run its course" stuff. Boom, we treat it and it's gone. So, yes, if we have to get sick, I welcome strep. Just keep the puking away from here. Long story short, Graysen was up sick about 4 times between 4am and 5:30. Finally, at 6am, he came in my bathroom. Mike was already in there getting ready for work. I never heard Graysen come back out. I just assumed he was in there talking to Mike or something. So, when I went in there at 7am to call our carpool buddy to let her know she didn't need to pick him up, Graysen was curled up in my closet laying on a beach towel with another one covering him up. Mike had moved him off the bathroom floor where he had fallen asleep earlier. Poor baby. He laid around all day yesterday which is not at all like him. But, woke up this morning proclaiming that he felt "much better." He's still not arguing with Avery yet. That will be my sign that things are back to normal.

Family Fun Night #2...Back to School

2008-08-21T08:28:00.005-04:00

Since this was our first full week of school, this week's Family Night was Back to School. We started class off with a spelling test and some coloring.

We had our lunch packed
and even went outside for recess

We finished the night off with a Back to School brownie cake
Looks like #2 was a success. The kids had a great time. I think Daddy and Beka had a good time too. But, they didn't study very hard for their spelling test. Avery was the only one who got all the words correct. We'd been practicing all day for it and looks like she's going to be my quick learner. Too bad she's got that late birthday and can't go to Kindergarten until next year.

Quote of the Day

2008-08-21T07:48:00.002-04:00

Me: "Avery, would you like for me to turn on your channel for you to watch?"
Avery: "I want to play on Graysen's Gameboy."
Me: "Ok, but you're not going to play on that thing all day long like you did yesterday."
Avery: "But Momma, it's exercise. It makes my fingers hurt and that's what exercise does, so I'm exercising."

Oh, if it were only that easy!

2008-08-20T11:04:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday Lenee!
Hope you have a great day.
Love,
The Craddocks

Bring on the Tears...and Drama. We always have to have drama

2008-08-20T05:44:00.005-04:00

Monday was our 1st night with homework. It was the usual, math sheet, reading, spelling words and a memory verse. We did OK with the math and the spelling words. Graysen asked if he could wait and do the reading when daddy got home. No problem. We did that a lot last year. He loves to read with Mike and that's just one less thing I have to do in the afternoons. Mike gets home, we eat dinner and it's time to read. I think my first mistake was to tell Graysen about the Gameboy game I had found earlier in the day. It was a Star Wars one he had been looking for with no luck for the past month or so. Of course he wanted to play it. Who wouldn't. But, he still had to read and go over his memory verse. That's when it all started. First it was the attitude which didn't go over well with Daddy. Then it was the tears. He read, but he read with attitude. He took his shower, but he did it with attitude. It was just one of those nights at our house. One of those nights that afterwards Mike and I look at each other and say "what in the world just happened?" One of those nights that you feel guilty because you're afraid that your child went to bed thinking for some reason you don't love him. Even though you know you did what you did because you love him. I should be used to them by now because we usually have a few like that over homework. I just didn't expect it so soon in the school year. I've tried so hard this past week to make the transition back into the school routine a smooth one for all of us. I made responsibility charts for the mornings so that Graysen would know what was expected of him without me nagging him to brush his teeth, get dressed, put dirty clothes in the hamper, etc. That seems to have worked pretty well. I've been fixing his lunch the night before so that I'm not rushing to get it packed in the mornings and I thought that I had made sure the afternoons would go as smoothly as the mornings. I had coloring stuff for Avery so she could be involved with something while Graysen was doing homework, I had Morgan occupied, I had dinner started so that I could focus on him and help with whatever needed to be done. Obviously that wasn't enough. Bottom line after Monday night was that we no longer play video games on nights we have homework. Who would have thought that a stupid little game would be the cause of all the drama? So, Tuesday I made sure the house was in order when he arrived home from school. I had the dining room table cleared off except for his snack, a drink, and a pencil. Avery was in the other room so that she wasn't a distraction and Morgan was playing. It was perfect. He came home happy, had a great day and was ready to get his homework out of the way. See, his Daddy had put a note in his lunchbox asking if they could play ball in the yard after work. We did our math, we read (more than what he was assigned), we went over spelling words that he got right on the 1st try, we practiced his memory verse and we did 10 minutes of flash cards. I was so happy that the afternoon had gone so smoothly. I've been reading this book that my dad gave me, Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp. It's an awesome book if you haven't read it and I highly recommend it. I'm only on the 5th chapter and LOVE it. The book talks about how the heart is the control center for life and how the attitudes of the heart drive your behavior. After reading the 1st chapter, I had the perfect opportunity as I was putting Graysen to bed one night to kind of talk to him a little about this. It was about a week ago, before school started. I talked to him about his heart and how we need to make sure that our heart is full of the things that make God happy. Graysen and I have already had "the talk" and he has asked Jesus into his heart, which made this a little easier to explain to him. I asked him what things he thought would make God happy. He answered with, obeying his momma and daddy, being nice to his sisters, and sharing his toys. So, from there I asked him what happened when he did those things. Did he get in trouble or did it make Daddy and me happy. He said it made us happy. Then I asked him what things made God sad. He answered, not obeying, being selfish, and being mean to Avery. So, I asked him what happened when he did those things and he replied that he "gets in trouble." I explained to him that if he made sure his heart was full of the things that made God happy, he would make Daddy and me happy also. But, when his heart was full of the things that made God sad, he usually ended up getting in trouble. He understood it all and even added into his prayers that night to "please help me keep my heart full of the things that make you happy." I was a proud momma for sure. I had explained this to my child and he understood it. So, when all this happened with the attitude on Monday, I was a little more sensitive to it because we had just had this discussion the week before. But, yesterday, when I saw my boy trying so hard and keeping his heart full of the "happy things", I couldn't help but smile to myself. Maybe he did get it. Maybe I haven't failed after all. I complimented him over and over about the attitude of his heart. I even rewarded him with 30 minutes on his GameBoy. You would have thought I had given him a million dollars. It was priceless.

"Above everything else, guard your heart. It is where your life comes from."

Proverbs 4:23

While the boys were away....

2008-08-19T17:26:00.005-04:00

the girls were cooking!
Avery and I enjoyed our first day with just the girls home yesterday. Mike had taken off last Thursday and Friday, so I didn't really feel like we were in the swing of things until today. We took Graysen to school and then came home and made a pie. Avery loves to cook and was totally in her element.
We had a great day, until school was out......

........to be continued

1st Day of School

2008-08-17T11:55:00.004-04:00

Graysen started school on Thursday, which would explain the lack of updates this week. Things just got a little crazy. We started our day off with breakfast at home. That's a big one for me. I'm so bad about giving the kids granola bars or heaven forbid a pop-tart in the car.
Even though there was a lot of talk about not wanting to go to second grade, Graysen was all smiles Thursday morning. Mike took the day off and was able to go with us that morning. We were able to go in his class and help him get settled and before we knew it he was off socializing and reuniting with his friends.
We picked him up at noon and he got in the car beaming from ear to ear. He loved his 1st day and loved his teacher. I think it's going to be a great year. We've already talked about more responsibilities because he's a big 2nd grader now. Look how much my fella has changed since his 1st day last year! I had forgotten we had lost teeth right before school started last year!
We're gradually getting into our school year routine of earlier bedtimes, homework in the afternoon, dance lessons, baseball practice and games, the list goes on and on. I am so grateful that we found two other families that live near us to carpool with. It's going to be great. I'll only have to drive to school 1 morning and 2 afternoons.
Avery finally came home Thursday afternoon. Not because she wanted to though. I think she'd be happy to move in with my mom and come to visit us! So that's our news from last week. Hopefully with my days a little more freed up I'll have more time to update and with school and sports and dance, I'll have plenty of pictures to share!

2008-08-13T09:41:00.003-04:00

Even though we celebrated on Sunday with family, today is Mike's birthday.
34 big ones!
Happy Birthday Honey!
We Love You

I've almost forgotten what she looks like

2008-08-12T09:54:00.000-04:00

When my parents came down on Sunday to celebrate Mike's birthday, they took Avery home with them for a few days. Avery loves to go to my mom's, especially by herself. Mostly, because she gets spoiled rotten while she's there, but she also loves the one-on-one attention too. As they were pulling out of our driveway, she tells me she's going to stay gone for 4 days and then she'll come back home. I asked her yesterday on the phone if she was coming back anytime soon and she replies, "I told you I would stay gone for 4 days. It's only been 2 momma. I have 2 more days left and theeen I'll come home, OK?" So far they have been out to lunch everyday, gone to visit Bubba, gotten pedicures and a haircut, gone shopping at the mall and bought several Webkins, eaten pie before bed every night, and read Wacky Wednesday over and over and over again. Who knows after all that, she may never come home. I miss my little punkin. It has been nice to have the bed to ourselves this week. Avery usually makes her way to our room at some point during the night. She's my cuddler and doesn't like to sleep by herself. But, I still miss her.

All about Us

2008-08-11T12:37:00.002-04:00

1. Who is your man? Mike, Daddy
2. How long have you been together? 10 years, but 9 married
3. How long dated? 9 months
4. How old is your man? 34 Wednesday
5. Who eats more? Definitely him
6. Who said “I love you” first? uh, that was a long time ago. I think he did.
7. Who is taller? He is
8. Who sings better? I don't think either of us is that great, but he's better
9. Who is smarter? Well, I like to think we're both pretty smart
10. Whose temper is worse? Mine for sure. He can keep his cool.
11. Who does the laundry? I do all of it.
12. Who takes out the garbage? He does. I'll take it out of the can and leave it by the door for him, but he takes it outside
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? he does
14. Who pays the bills? He does. I'm not very good at that
15. Who is better with the computer? He is. That's what pays the bills
16. Who mows the lawn? He has lately, but I enjoy it occasionally. It's instant gratification.
17. Who cooks dinner? I do otherwise we'd have egg sandwiches every night
18. Who drives when you are together? He does
19. Who pays when you go out? Depends on whoever can get to their $$ easier.
20. Who is most stubborn? we're both pretty stubborn
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? that one's a toss up
22. Whose parents do you see the most? Mine
23. Who kissed who first? He kissed me first, on our first date!
24. Who asked who out? We were set up on a blind date by a family friend. She kept insisting we meet when he got out of the Air Force. I came home from school for the weekend and we went to eat Chinese, then to a movie, and then to get ice cream. I had to leave the next day to go back to school for graduation. I couldn't wait to get back home to him. I knew after our 1st date that he was the one I would marry. We've been married for almost 10 years
25. Who proposed? He did
26. Who is more sensitive? Me.
27. Who has more friends? I do.
28. Who has more siblings? He does. 1 brother and 3 sisters
29. Who wears the pants in the family? I like to think sometimes I do, but when it's all said and done, it's him
30. How did you meet? blind date, but our families have known each other forever.

Family Fun Night #1...Let the Games Begin

2008-08-08T21:44:00.001-04:00

After reading a few blogs about the Whittaker Family fun night, we started our tradition tonight. We had a great time preparing and decorating. In honor of the Olympics starting tonight, The theme was Let the Games Begin. The kids got busy making posters to support the USA in the games.

We all wore our Red, White, and Blue.
and we hung chain streamers in Olympic colors
We ate Chinese food in honor of the host country China
except one of us wasn't up for Chinese and decided he wanted to celebrate the many countries involved and had pizza. The rest of us had Chinese and pizza.
We played race games while carrying the Olympic torch

and had a competition to see who's duck could get across the pool first.
Daddy passed out the medals for the races
Looks like everyone was a winner!
We finished up with a big sugar cookie cake and some popcorn while we watched the Opening Ceremonies

Even Morgan had a fun time watching

Then a "Chinese princess" showed up and did some "ti chi" for us.
I thought I had done a pretty good job of explaining what we were watching until Graysen asked me if we were celebrating the Chinese New Year. Good grief.

2008-08-07T08:48:00.004-04:00

The Chapman family was interviewed on Good Morning America yesterday. In case you missed it, here's a clip of it.
What an incredible family

Princess in Training

2008-08-06T09:37:00.002-04:00

Home at last

2008-08-04T14:16:00.008-04:00

Last Tuesday, the kids and I had planned a trip to Charlotte to see my parents. They had been gone for 2 weeks on a trip across the country. They started out in Michigan and Indiana and then flew to California to visit with my aunt and uncle. We had planned to meet them for dinner Tuesday night after they arrived at the airport. But, instead of meeting them at dinner, we surprised them at the airport. Believe it or not, I actually made it to the airport a little early and took the kids to the overlook to watch the planes take off and land.

Tuesday was also my dad's birthday. Monday night at dinner Avery says "guess what momma? Tomorrow is Hot Stuff's birthday." (Hot Stuff is her build-a-bear friend). "Really", I replied. "Well guess what Avery, tomorrow is Granddaddy's birthday too!" "Aah, Hot Stuff and Grandaddy have the exact same birthday", she says. She immediately got to work and made cards for Grandaddy and HS. So, after dinner on Tuesday, we went back to the house and had a birthday cake for Grandaddy and HS. There were pink candles for HS and blue for Grandaddy.

What was originally going to just be an overnight trip ended up lasting all week. We didn't come home until Friday and the only reason we came home then was because I was on call that night. But, before we came home, we managed to make some stepping stones for my mom. She has quite the collection. I started doing them for her when Avery was only 3 months old. She's gotten one of each of the kids every year since then and we were well overdue to make one for Morgan. I'm usually pretty OCD about the crystals we put on there. I like to have them spaced just right and alternate my colors. This time I stepped back a little and let the kids put some on themselves. I still made the main design on the outside, but let them add to it. That's a major step for me. I like things to line up and match and all that. But, I think these turned out perfectly!

Graysen's feet have gotten so big that only one will fit on there.
Ignore the gray hair on the top of my head. Obviously going and getting my roots touched up is not high on my list right now. But, looking at this picture makes me want to move it up a little on my list!
We had a great time catching up with Mimi and Granddaddy. Of course what trip would be complete with out some presents. Dad bought Morgan her first Michigan shirt and Graysen got a hat. Avery got a tutu and some jewelery.

9 more days and counting

2008-08-03T12:13:00.000-04:00

We officially have only 9 more days of summer vacation left. Graysen starts school next Thursday. The school supplies have been bought, the lunchbox and book bag are picked out, and our summer reading is almost done. In some ways, I'm sad about that. I can't believe I have a 2nd grader. Seems like yesterday, I was taking him for the first day of Kindergarten.

Graysen has grown so much this summer. Mostly in the obvious sort of ways. He's taller. Pretty soon, I think I'll be looking up to him. He's heavier. The boy is solid as a rock. He's not fat, just solid and man can he eat. Mike and I have been teasing him that he'll have to get a job to help out with the grocery bill! But, he's also changed in some other ways. There is (a little) less whining. Of course he has his moments when he's too tired or grumpy and the whining is in full force, but generally speaking there is less than there was before. There is more responsibilities. He's taking the trash out, feeding the dog, helping unload groceries, and reading to his sisters. I like to call him Mr. Muscles when he's helping me with heavy stuff. He gets this sheepish grin on his face and giggles kinda quietly when I call him that. It's cute.

So, yeah, I'm sad to see school start because it means that my boy is another year older. But then I hear him and Avery arguing over something, or I see him all in Morgan's face, or I can't keep him out of the kitchen saying "I'm hungry, momma" when I just fed him. And then, I realize it's been a long hot summer and I'm kinda ready for the routine of school to start. I'm ready for the structured days, the ball practices, the homework, but most of all, I'm ready for the 7:30 bedtime. Those few hours in the evening when the kids are in the bed and it's just me and my honey to relax and unwind from the craziness of the day. Yup, I'm ready for school to start.

Getting a little deep (at least for me)

2008-08-02T22:25:00.003-04:00

Came across this yesterday from this website....

Luke says it so quickly, so matter-of-factly: “[Herod] killed James the brother of John with the sword” (Acts 12:2). In the flow of the story this little phrase sets the stage for Peter’s dramatic prison rescue by the angel. So that’s what we remember. When Peter later wrote, “The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials” (2 Peter 2:9), this is the sort of rescue that easily comes to mind.
But the night that James sat in prison the angel didn’t come. I’m sure he prayed for an angel. He knew God could send one if he wanted to. An angel had already rescued him and the other disciples once before, in chapter 5. But this night there was no bright light, no chains falling off, no sleeping guards. Just desperate prayers and fitful dozing—if he slept at all.
In the morning James was still in jail when the dreaded voice of the captain of the guard shouted, “Bring out the prisoner!” There was an anxiety-filled, prayerful walk to the place of execution. There was a pronouncement of guilt. Possibly there was an offer of pardon in exchange for recanting, followed by a refusal. There was a raised sword. There was a wince of fearful anticipation. No deliverance.
Or was there?
Jesus allowed the sword to fall on James as intentionally as he opened Peter’s prison door. So the death of James is as crucial for us to remember as the rescue of Peter. Why did God let James die?
This question is relevant because at some point most of us will find ourselves facing death, pleading for deliverance, and not receiving what we think we are asking for. And it points to a difficult lesson that all of Jesus’ disciples must learn: Jesus often has different priorities than we do. What may feel desperately urgent to us may not be urgent to him—at least not in the same way.
Remember how Jesus slept in the boat during the storm? The disciples panicked at the fear of drowning and cried out, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38). He calmed the storm and then said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”
Jesus’ lesson was clear: you’re afraid of the wrong thing. Don’t fear what or who can kill your body, but fear and trust me because I rule over storms and death (Matthew 10:28). Jesus knew that there were more dangerous “storms” ahead for the disciples, ones that would kill them. They needed to know whom to fear.
And so do we. Unless Jesus returns first (maranatha!), every one of us will face a storm that will kill us. And our initial response may be similar to the disciples’ in the boat: Jesus, don’t you care that I am perishing? In that moment we need to remember that he cares deeply. He who wept beside Lazarus’ tomb will weep with us—and he will raise us. And we need to remember that he knows what death is like and will be with us and help us say as he said to the Father, “Not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39).
And we also need to remember James, who faced death “refusing to accept release that [he] might rise again to a better life” (Hebrews 11:35). There is the real key to understanding Acts 12:2: Jesus let James die because he had a better life to give him. James was not being neglected by Jesus. He was in fact the first of the Twelve to experience what Jesus prayed for in John 17:24: “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me from the foundation of the world.” Peter’s deliverance from prison was remarkable. But he lived to die another day. James experienced the true deliverance: death being swallowed up by the Resurrection and the Life.
And that is what Jesus longs and intends to give to us too. That’s what he endured the Father’s wrath on the cross to purchase for us. He wants us to see and enjoy and rejoice in his glory forever.
There will come a time when Jesus’ prayer for us to be with him will overrule our prayer for prolonged earthly life. And when it does, we will experience a life so far better, richer, fuller, purer, and more joyful that we will shake our heads in wonder that we were ever reluctant to leave here.
May God cause this reality to become more real to us all

...pretty good stuff.

2008-07-29T01:30:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday Granddaddy!

Picture Session

2008-07-28T19:22:00.003-04:00

Because I had nothing better to do today, I made the kids get a little dressed up and tried to get a few pictures. I wouldn't say the one of all 3 of them is that great, but I got a couple of cute ones of them by themselves. Graysen prided himself in making Morgan laugh. He did a good job. She truly thinks he's the funniest thing!

Not bad, but I know I can do better...

2008-07-27T22:38:00.000-04:00

Favorite picture of the week!

4 Months

2008-07-25T22:05:00.003-04:00

A lot has changed in 4 months. Morgan is laughing, especially at her brother. All he has to do is look at her and she cracks up. Avery's hair is still one of her favorite things to grab at, but she's got a butterfly that she's also pretty attached too. Anything that she can grab with her hand goes straight in her mouth! I still can't believe she's 4 months old already.

On the mend

2008-07-24T13:38:00.006-04:00

We seem to have made a quick recovery. Graysen was the only one at our house that got sick, and he's been begging for food all day. Hopefully the girls managed to escape it. Not much going on around here. Lots I need to be doing but just don't want too. Summer is flying by and I want to enjoy our last couple of weeks before we're sucked back into carpool and homework and going to bed early.
I'm having a hard time grasping that my baby is going to be 4 months old tomorrow. I've been looking through pictures this morning and I'm in total denial.

Maybe we weren't so lucky after all

2008-07-23T15:19:00.002-04:00

I know I said we bathed our trips in prayer. But, it seems we didn't escape a few cooties. Last year a bunch of the kids ended up with a stomach virus. We thought we were lucky to just have a couple of bee stings this year. Well, seems the stomach bug has reared it's ugly head again. At least 4 of the kids have been sick at both ends and another one is questionable. We'll see how she is when she gets up from her nap! Please pray for these kiddos to bounce back quickly. We still have some stuff to do in the few weeks before school starts back.

2008-07-23T12:36:00.001-04:00

We're gonna have to keep our eyes on these two! Last time Logan was grabbing her
leg. This time he's holding her hand.

Our annual summer get together

2008-07-22T18:59:00.011-04:00

Riding in the car with my 3 kids for over 4 hours
Sitting outside in the HOT weather and counting 11 heads over and over so no one disappears
Passing out about a bazillion juice boxes to sweaty little people
Getting to hang with your friends and their kids for a few days.......priceless

We just got home from Atlanta where we got to hang out with 4 of the girls I went to school and their 8 kids. We had a great time! Sure, it was absolutely CRAZY, who would expect anything different with 11 kids ages 10, 7, 7, 6, 4, 4, 3, 3, 1, 4 mos, and 1 mo.
I think I've made mention to the fact that I hate living in SC during the summer months. It's so stinking HOT. Well, Georgia isn't any better.

I can't imagine preparing meals for 9 kids 3 times a day. Seems like somebody always needed something whether it was more food or more drink.

How cute are these girls in their matching nightgowns
I think you can tell that we all had a great time. We had a little mishap with some hornets the first day and had a couple of stings, but other than that, nothing major. I think we've all learned to bathe our get togethers in prayer! A lot could go wrong when you get that many together.