June Birthday Girls

Gracie celebrated her birthday party on my birthday this year. When her mom told her that, she requested that her birthday cake be Dirt Cake, which is my favorite dessert her mom makes. I thought that was so sweet of her. Of course, she loves it too:-)
This kid was pretty skeptical until he took a bite...oreos, cream cheese, powdered sugar and gummy worms...what's not to love?

Gracie asked me to get her a movie over a month ago that she claimed was "very hard to find." So she was beyond excited when she opened it.

Having a summer birthday is the BEST! Every year, Shayanne has planned a swimming party for Gracie's birthday. Like I do for Lee's birthday parties, she goes into it, just planning on the weather being nice. Every year, it has been perfect for both Lee's and Gracie's. Today, it was storming and raining before we left, but by the time we got there, it was sunny and beautiful. Another successful swim party is in the books!

Lee's cannonball

Brylie's splits

Wade did not enjoy getting in the water, but he loved being semi-naked and splashing at the side.

After the party, we all headed out for supper with Paw to celebrate the birthday girls! Brylie is the next birthday girl, and she will be 5 and headed to Kindergarten!

Little Builder

Lee and I went to the Little Builders' Workshop at Lowe's today. The project was a flag holder. Here is the before picture, and we're about to begin!
Basically, I read the directions to him, and Mr. Independent went to work putting it all together.

Even though I really wanted to help, he did a good job alone.

I love this face he makes when he is really concentrating.

Ta-Da! Finished project=

One happy boy!

Lee goes to College

Lee participated in UTM's Kid College this week, which was held at PES. He chose all his own classes, and the ones he chose were all space related.
He had the BEST time and would get in the car each day chattering non-stop about what all he got to do during class. An added bonus was that the instructor was the mom of a friend from high school. And Heather took the week off from work to come and help her mom. We didn't have a lot of time to catch up, but it was nice to see an old friend.

At the open house, Lee requested that we stop for "refreshments." He can't pass up a chocolate chip cookie! We were amazed at all the freebies Lee got to bring home through the week. We had a lot of fun looking at the kids' work from the week, and Lee said he is already making plans to go back next year.

Here is Lee's biggest fan, with his newest bump on his head. This time, he was standing right next to me and just started crying. He didn't fall or stumble. I have no idea what he hit his head on. He is just an accident waiting to happen these days. After the open house, we went to see Cars 2. Lee loved it, as expected, even more than the first one. Wade enjoyed the previews and then slept through the movie. It won't be long before he is making his own movie requests, and I feel sure they will include Mater and McQueen, too.

Family Picture

We recently had family pictures made at church for our new directory. Even though our photographer wasn't very kid-friendly, I thought the kids did well. We were there less than 10 minutes, and she took about 15 pictures and at least 5 poses, if that tells you how manic the session was! I was thankful to see that we got this shot.

Happy Father's Day!

This might be my favorite picture of Wade ever!

This is my favorite of all my fellas!

Little did I know 10 years ago when I married my fabulous husband that I was also getting the best daddy to my babies I could ever imagine. He's hard working, disciplined, independent, loving, smart, handsome, and the funniest person I know. Most importantly, he is the spiritual leader of our home. He leads by example, and I have complete faith that he will continue to help raise these wonderful boys of ours in a loving, Christian home. I can't wait to see what the future has in store for our little family!

Yuck!

Matt, Lee and I HATE green peas. The smell, the look, the texture and most importantly, the taste...it's all bad to us! However, Wade loved the pureed peas when he was eating baby food, so I felt bad keeping the real thing from him just because we don't like them. So I bought a small can this week to try out on him.

He ate 3 and had this reaction each time. YUCK! He would spit them out and then throw them across the room.
But he loved playing with them.

He spent the next 5 minutes dumping them out and putting them back in the bowl while I fixed his lunch.

He was proud of his new little game. I have to admit that I wasn't too disappointed that he didn't like the peas.

Fun day with AK

Lee has been begging me since school let out to have Ava Kate spend the day with us. We have had something almost non-stop since then, so we haven't had the chance. Today was the day Lee has been begging for for 3 weeks! It worked out perfectly, because AK's big sister is off at church camp for the week, and she is sure missing her. I think getting to spend the day with Lee helped take her mind off Ella for awhile. I am so excited that Lee and AK will be in the same first grade class in the fall. They get along SO well. She is hands down the most easy going, smiley child I have ever been around. She just goes with the flow no matter the situation. I gave Lee the usual "pre-visitor talk" this morning reminding him that AK was our guest and to let her choose the game, go first, etc. He agreed to everything, but more than once, I entered the room to see her participating in a light saber battle or playing a Cars game. I'm pretty sure those weren't her ideas, but she was grinning from ear to ear and playing along. I can't say enough how much I adore this girl. She is a ray of sunshine.

To further prove my point, these pics were snapped randomly of her as she was telling me a funny story about how she and Lee were planning some elaborate trick on the water slide. She is so animated when she talks. It's hard to pay attention to what she's saying, because I just keep thinking about how darn cute and funny she is!
Wade sported his swim apparel today, too. He is a fan of minimal clothing, but he is not a fan of applying sunscreen. That requires sitting still too long for him.

Here is the new walker toddling around the yard. He L-O-V-E-S walking in the grass, so it doesn't hurt when he crashes.

We had a storm come out of nowhere this morning, and it sent these 2 into panic mode. They had been planning their water adventures since AK got here, and they were afraid it was over when it was storming. They quickly morphed into storm spotters and were giving me a play by play at the window. One would say, "Oh this won't last long." Then the other would chime in, "Nope, it's just raining now. It will be over soon." This went on the entire time it stormed.

When they saw the sun, they were on cloud 9! You've never seen 2 kids pick up toys and eat lunch so fast in your life.

Wade was always in a stage of undress. First the hat, then the shoes, and by the end of our water time, he lost his swim trunks.

One happy boy!

Wade was not about to let those big kids forget him!

He had no interest in getting in the pool, but he sure loved to splash.

The big kids were very patient with him and let him splash for about 5 minutes until he was ready to move on to other things.

I love AK's face in this one.

All 3 had a popsicle break. I was too nervous to get the camera out during the popsicle eatin' so this is the only evidence I have of it.

He was amused at how his hands kept sticking to his belly. He patted and giggled for about 5 minutes.

We were outside for 3 hours, and these 2 were just like this the entire time. They had the best time.

Here they are planning a trip down the slide at the same time. I heard Lee say, "I want to hold my nose, so you hold yours too." It was one of those times I was glad I was standing close by and I had my camera handy.

Success!

Another one of those times was when they decided to "float in the pool." How cute!

A fun day was had by all, and I can attest that 2 out of 3 of these kids had no trouble going to sleep tonight!

Ten Years.

Ten years. I knew the day would come, but it came much quicker that I expected. Today is the tenth year I have been without my friend, Becky. It has now been longer that she has been gone than we were friends. That's a hard reality for me. We went to school together from my first/her second grade year all the way through college. But it wasn't until high school that I would say we were "friends." It's hard to be very good friends with someone in a different grade when you're in elementary school. When we were in college, we both started working as part-time tellers at First State Bank. This was when it was just First State Bank and not the FIRST STATE BANK of today. It was still a small town, locally owned bank, and we were all like family. We celebrated every birthday, every new baby, every graduation, and every new wedding. We had girls' nights, family nights, and game nights. It was such a fun place to work, and I feel so blessed to have worked there throughout my 4 years in college. I met some really great people, most of whom I still keep in contact with. Becky and I became especially close while working there. She knew that she wanted to pursue a career in banking, so she was networking the whole time. I remember very clearly the execs drooling on her graduation day, just chomping at the bit to steal her away from teller row. She was quickly promoted and was on her way up. Even though she was now in charge of the tellers, her demeanor never changed. I loved that about her. She was as sweet and gracious as ever. I will forever be grateful for that "bonus time" as I like to call it with her. We saw each other all the time outside of work, but the bank gave us a little extra girl time. After all these years, I have replayed every memory over and over and tried so hard to remember every detail about her. She always hated her hair, but it was beautiful. It always looked good. We went to the gym together to get ready for our weddings. I was always sweaty and red faced afterwards, and she always looked so sporty and cute. She had the biggest, most vibrant smile and always had perfect lipstick. I never saw her reapply lipstick, even on her wedding day. It never faded during the day, and that annoyed me to no end. She had a southern drawl that would give Paula Deen a run for her money, but she was in denial about it. We had plenty of laughs about it over the years, especially when customers would comment on it. The list goes on and on. She was such a special person with many, many friends, and even after 10 years, I still miss her like crazy.

Becky and David got married 9 months before Matt and me. We had been shopping for our bridesmaids dresses the day that Matt proposed to me. Talk about a memorable day! I wanted to wait to tell her until after I had my candle light a few nights later at sorority, but I couldn't stand it. When I flashed my ring to her, she was just as excited as me.

My wedding pictures are our last pictures together, and I treasure them so much. I wish so often that we had digital cameras then, because we loved taking pictures. The only ones I have of her are snapshots that I have to scan. We had the best time planning our weddings together. We often joked about how long you could be labeled a bride, because neither of us wanted to relinquish our titles. We agreed that the appropriate time was a year. It makes me smile knowing that she is the eternal bride, as she only got to celebrate her 11 month anniversary. I know she will give me a hard time about that when I see her again.

This is one of my very favorite pictures of her. It was taken on my last day of work at the bank. I was scheduled to run a teller window the entire day. When I got there, she was already set up in my spot. She knew that it was going to be an emotional day for me to leave, so she got permission to run my window that day, so I could take pictures and say my goodbyes. That's the kind of selfless friend she was.


http://http://youtu.be/2Ne3cz9eUsQ

This song is still hard for me to hear, but it sums up exactly how I feel. I wonder who she'd be today. Would she have her David Jr. or Olivia Anne? Would she and David have moved to Paris? So many questions left unanswered...

The only peace I have found is in Jeremiah 29:11 when the Lord declares, "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to give you hope and a future." I know we will be reunited again one day, and I already feel bad for our neighbors in Heaven, because there will be 2 women talking and giggling non stop!

Karate Kid

Lee completed his test today to become a second level Yellow Belt.

Way to go, Lee!!

This is Lee's pal, Brayden. They have gotten to be great buddies over the past year, and today was Brayden's last day with us. His dad is stationed at Fort Campbell and is being moved to Virginia. We made plans to keep in touch and maybe have the boys become pen pals.