Thanksgiving

Ok, so I  know that I am a little late with this post! But here goes!
     We had a great Thanksgiving in Mississippi. We spent the weekend with my family at my Mom and Dad's house. All of my Dad's side of the family drove up to their house on Thanksgiving Day. We had alot of great food. It was so nice to see everyone. We missed Spencer, Laurie, and Matthew! My cousin Mark was able to make it in from down in Louisiana. You know it was a great Southern Thanksgiving when the day is completed with cleaning GREENS on the back porch.....YES I AM FROM THE GREAT STATE OF MISSISSIPPI!
     I know you will all think that we were crazy, my husband and father sure did, but Mom and I left her house at 11:00pm. Thanksgiving night to shop in Tuscaloosa and did not return home until 3:00 Friday afternoon! We had a great time together. I do look forward to Black Friday shopping with my mom. Just so nice to spend time with her...no kids to chase. Oh! and lest I forget to thank my husband and father for taking care of the kids all day...."Thank You." We caught about 2 hours of sleep and then headed out to watch MSU play basketball. We cannot pass up a chance like that even if we are running on 2 hours of sleep. Thank goodness they won and made the sleeplessness all worth it! #hailstate
Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Can I Brag on my Owen?!?!?

Owen played in a soccer tournament the weekend before Thanksgiving. I am so proud of him and his team. Not only did they win the tournament but their sportsmanship was exemplary...as Jason would say "they were a class act!" My heart is full not only because they won, but more so because of the character that he and his team displayed.

The First Annual Great Turkey Hunt

   This past Sunday evening was our First Annual Great Turkey Hunt with the Northside Student Ministry. It was alot of fun and alot of work! So many people contributed. People parked cars in crazy locations, dressed up in crazy costumes, drove a bunch of crazy full of energy kids around for an hour, and hid in the woods to scare kids crazy! Thank you so much!
   There were sightings of the Grinch, a yellow peanut M&M eating ice cream, and lots of tanegrams! I know everyone will practice up on their tanegrams in order to be prepared for next year! One team was even detained in a store because of an ADAM alert (missing child....not one of ours.....I promise we came home with everyone!) I could not have planned something like that! Here are some pictures from the fun filled night!

Conquered the Mulch!

Last weekend we mulched our entire yard. It was an all day affair! It was a lot of work but our yard desperately needed it. It looks so much better.

  After some long hours in the yard, the girls decided that everyone needed a little "spa" treatment. Ella kept saying "lets put pickles on our eyes!" We finally convinced her that they were not pickles but cucumbers.

It is Gone!

Exciting news! Ella lost her first tooth this evening! It has been really loose for the last few days and today she got the nerve to let me pull it. After it first came out she was pretty upset. She told me "but Mom, I promise I take care of my teeth." You know how we tell our kids, or at least I do, that if you don't brush your teeth they will fall out! I think she thought that was what had happened. I told her that this is exactly what it was supposed to do. I told her that her baby teeth have to fall out so that her big teeth can come in. This means you are growing up. Later this evening Ella told her Daddy that her baby teeth have to fall out so that her mamma teeth can come in.

 This is just more evidence that my baby is growing up!

Chef Lettie

A few weeks ago, Lettie took a cooking class at Young Chef Academy. She had a great time and learned to cook some pretty neat things. Last night Lettie cooked dinner for us and it was DELICIOUS! We had southwest chicken egg rolls with avocado ranch dipping sauce...YUMMY! She did a great job. She even let Ella help! It was so good and there were no leftovers.

Ella Turns Five!

It is hard to believe that my baby has turned 5! She had a very exciting birthday that was celebrated over several days.

Granny, Emmie and Ellerie came to Georgia so that they could be at Ella's pool party. Ella has always wanted a pool party. Now that we have a pool in our neighborhood...she finally got her wish. Granny made a wonderful Minnie Mouse cake. Not only was it so cute...but it tasted delicious too! It was so sweet of them to make the trip. It was a little chilly but the kids (and Jason and Vanessa) swam anyway. I think everyone had a great time. When the swimming was done we offered Minni Mouse face painting!

On her actual birthday we all went to the American Girl Doll Store. She asked for the big Just like Me doll for her birthday. She was so proud.

It is hard to believe it has been five years but I am so glad God gave us this wonderful bundle of energy and excitement. Ella definitely keeps things interesting in this house!

School

We started back to school last week and it is going really good. Timothy Ministry started last Tuesday too. I think all of the kids like their classes. Lettie and Owen are taking more classes this year than last. Lettie is taking 2 hours of dance and also a Science class and Art class. Owen is taking Spanish, Science, Ancient History, and Cursive. Ella is taking some classes this year and she is SOOO excited about it. She is taking dance like she did last year but she is also taking a Letters class and an Art class. After we got home the first day, Owen told me that he was embarrassed when I made them stand out front and take this picture. Ooops! Guess that is my job! Ella doesn't look embarrassed!

Last week I stayed the whole morning and hung out in the lobby to make sure the kids found their rooms and didn't have any problems. Today, I went to Target ALL BY MYSELF...and then I had lunch at Zaxby's. It was nice but kind of weird too!

Ella is about to go into her first class on her first day of school!

Fun Family Pics From the Summer!

She does look a little bit like me...Ya think?

Ella loves to have her Daddy all to herself.

Eating dessert at Goosa Granny's Birthday Party....I think he gets his "sweet tooth" from his mother!

Mmmmmm Good! That really says it all!

Love this picture! Those are some tired girls!

Tell Me it Isn't So!

Is summer really almost over? It can't be! I am not ready! Where has the time gone? I asked Lettie yesterday while we were waiting in the grocery line "when she wanted to start school?" She responded very seriously "Never!" I laughed and then told her that wasn't really one of her options. I also reminded her that the later we start the later we will get done. She then agreed that maybe we should start in the near future.
Ella is very excited because she is going to be taking some classes at Timothy this year. She feels so big when she gets to do things that her big sister and brother are doing. She is taking a letters class, an art class, and dance class.
Owen has started back full force into soccer now too. He plays in a 5v5 tournament this weekend. He had a great time at MSU soccer camp last week. He even got an MVP award!

There were lots of fun trips this summer to grandparents houses and friends houses and six flags and water parks. What a busy fun summer!

Stones

Well there has been a longer than usual delay in my postings and for that I apologize. Monday afternoon I was out of nowhere overcome with a horrible pain in my side. I lay curled in my bed for more than an hour determined I would not go to the emergency room only to be embarrassed and told it was "only gas pains." However, after over an hour and many pleadings from family to "go to the ER," I could not take the pain any longer. It hurt so bad I was willing to risk the embarrassment of the possible "its a gas pain."
Instead, I heard "not only do you have a kidney stone but you have another kidney stone on the other side." I was ok with this news because I had been given some amazing medicine that made me feel amazing-the pain was gone. They even sent some of this amazing medicine home with me! It caused me to sleep ALOT! But, it helped me through the next day and a half until I passed the stone that was giving me so much pain. I have yet to feel the kidney stone that is supposedly on my right side!
I will spare you all the picture. But WOW! I know why they call it a stone! It is really a rock! And as you can image.... a rock passing through your insides---HURTS! Best way I can describe it is like having birth pains on half of your stomach.
My sweet husband took great care of me and kept the house cleaner than I do! My children were very patient with being house bound. I had some great friends help me with the kids during my ER stay and even bring a meal. Thank you all SOOOO much!

Owen's Birthday!

Owen turned eight yesterday! When we asked Owen what he wanted to do for his birthday, he told us that he wanted to play soccer (imagine that!). So that is what we did. He had some boys over to the church fields to play soccer and have a small party.

When he woke up on his birthday he had his favorite breakfast of bisuits and eggs. Then he opened his presents from his sisters and from me and Jason. Lettie got him Mancala and Ella picked out flag football flags. Jason and I gave him a Kodak video camera that also takes still shots....kida like a FLIP but the Kodak version. It can even go under water! After many birthday calls, Owen and Jason headed out to shoot guns at the shooting range. They had a great time!

We waited and had his party in the evening so that all the boys would not die of a heat stroke. Everyone played soccer on the soccer fields at our church and then we had pizza. Owen chose to have brownies with whipped topping instead of traditional birthday cake. He got some great gifts and gift cards! After eating it was back outside so that they could play flag football.

Dance Recital

Well, I am a little behind with this post but here goes...The girls had their dance recital last month. It was great! Lots of friends and family came to watch. We are so thankful that they made the trip.

This was Ella's first recital and she loved all of the attention. She did a great job! Lettie also did a wonderful job. She loves to dance and looks so beautiful when she dances. They loved getting candy and flowers from so many of you who came...."thank you." You made them feel so special on this fun night!

Upward Soccer

Just wanted to post a few pictures of our soccer players. Ella and Owen are doing a great job and having a great time too! They are both scoring lots of goals. Lettie doesn't play soccer but she does a great job cheering on her brother and sister!

Lettie Bug is NINE!

On Monday, my Lettie turned nine years old! Wow. I cannot believe nine years have gone by so quickly. We are half way to 18! Oh! I cannot think about that! Am I old enough to have a nine year old? I guess so....cause she is!

My sweet Lettie is so grown up to be but nine years old. Lettie loves Jesus and accepted Him as her Savior almost 2 years ago (what an awesome blessing).What would I do without her help? She is so helpful with Ella and patient with her too, most of the time. She is a great student. Typical of a first child, she is neat and everything has to be just so...which is a delight most of the time. Give her a craft and she couldn't be happier. She is such a blessing (as are Owen and Ella)!

I know that in these next few years life will hold new challenges for our relationship...I pray God will keep her close to Him.

For her birthday she asked for clothes...see I told you -growing up! So we went shopping together on a couple of different outings. I so enjoyed our time together. Girl has style. She knows what she likes. She also had a few friends to go to the nail salon with her and get pedicures. It was a big hit! We had lots of fun! Jodie Turner made us an awesome cookie cake too. It was delicious!

Funny How God Can Remind Us to Be Thankful!

"Why are my undies on the door knob?" Lettie said to me as she came up the stairs a little bit ago. Well, the dryer finally, really this time, died this morning while I had a load of wet clothes waiting in the washer.... Yes, most of you know that it is no longer MURPHY'S LAW it is BARBER'S LAW.

So I have to go and get a new dryer today. I am drowning in dirty clothes because for the last day or two the dryer has worked and then decided to stop and then worked again and then stopped again! Now not only are there piles of dirty clothes everywhere but I also had to figure out some way to dry the wet clothes that were in my washer! Here is what I came up with----I'll do it the old fashion way! The only problem is that I don't have a clothes line! Anything that could be one, became one today. I hope no new neighbors drop by today!