When it's time to change....

Life has been crazy around here and we have gone through some changes. Through much prayer and serious thought, we decided to move our boys to a different school. I have spent many hours and days in agony over things since school started this year. I'm pretty sure God planted this seed in my heart a lot earlier than I care to admit, but like most people I took my sweet precious time. It's so hard to see and hear a clear answer but when the answer finally came there was no doubt in my mind that it was right.
So now we are going to our terrific public school. And gasp my boys have been riding the bus home!!! I love it and they love it. I feel a peace like never before and look forward to having all three in one location next year!!!

Until next time...

Taco Pasta Casserole

I'm taking dinner to a sick friend tonight. Please remember Anna in your prayers...she lost her sweet baby at 14 weeks. Sometimes all we can offer is our prayers and a meal.

To see the recipe go here:

http://crestwomenrecipes.blogspot.com/

Family, Friends, Fun and Football!!!

We had a great day in Oxford on Saturday. The weather turned out to be great and best of all our Rebels won!!!!

On our way to the Rebels play....

Today is the day....we are headed to Oxford for the 1st time this year. Now, I love Ole Miss football. The first couple of years with kids were really hard and I would dread dragging all of us up there. But, not anymore the kids keep asking "When are we going". They are dressed in their Rebel best...of course one of my boys(the big one i.e. Daddy) is my Bulldog fan and he drags himself up there with us. But, who is he kidding he loves it.

So here we go...

Wedding Season

We are preparing for my sister's wedding in January. As I type this I'm listening to music that I think might be good for the wedding. I can't wait for everything to get started. I'm preparing to give her an engagement party which means Robby has a huge "honey do" list and my house needs a major overhaul. We ordered all of the dresses and I'm anxiously anticipating my dress. Of course my size was a little different than all of those bridesmaids dresses I wore in my early 20s. We will just leave it at that!!HA!!

I love the dresses...very flattering....But, most of all I'm excited about seeing my three little monkeys dressed in their finest flashing those precious smiles. I look forward to watching them walk down the aisle and most of all I will stand anxiously hoping that they aren't hanging from the ceiling before it's over.

It will be a very different wedding than what I had all of those years ago, It will be beautiful and classic and unique to her style(which is terrific)


I look forward to watching her open her gifts and oohing and aahing over all the fabulous things I'm going to borrow!! I'm so proud of her and what she has accomplished in her life and praise God that she is getting to celebrate this Season in her life.

Love to my sister!!

Welcome to our Pet Store

We got a new pet for Mary Taylor's birthday. She had begged for a hamster so since we couldn't say no...and it was all she asked for...meet our newest pet

Remeber, we already have Lucy, Tiger Lily, Father(the Goldfish who is 2 YEARS OLD!!!) and our newest pet the Hamster(his name escapes me HA!!!)

P.S. I will clean up after every pet in our house, feed, water, etc...but I refuse to clean this cage. He is a cute little guy but he can stay in his cage and entertain himself on that little wheel for hours!!

Birthday Girl

This little girl celebrated her birthday for about 4 days straight. Monday was her actual birthday and she celebrated with pancakes for breakfast and cupcakes at school!!

I nicknamed Will "The pool monitor" He was gathering up all the noodles that I had bought for prizes and making sure everybody had only one:) He likes to be in charge!!!


I really didn't know if the cake was going to make it..The heat was awful and it was melting.

Birthday Fun!!!

Eyeing that cake!!! they couldn't resist


Birthday Friends!!

Birthday Cake

I'm so excited about Mary Taylor's birthday party tonight. When I ordered the cake I told her that she wanted a hula girl and palm trees. I was thinking sheet cake with that on top, well look how she made the cake...I was floored. This is the same girl that is making Kelly's wedding cake so we wanted to try it out before then. She is fabulous!! One side note the cake got a little soft on the drive home and I notice that it was melting a little and I freaked out!!!!! But, I added my own decorative touch and I hope it will be ok.

Anniversary

Tomorrow is our 9th Anniversary....All I can say is it feels like 20!!(HA) It's amazing what can happen in 9 years. We have had our struggles but more than anything we have had amazing blessings.

So look what I got when Robby came home today.




I have seen them all over and we have several parties coming up that I would like to use it for.

I thought he did pretty well!!

R U Ready for Some Football????

Tonight we went to the 1st football game of the year. The Princess Pride dancers performed and it was so cute!!! The boys spent their time running around under the stands and who know where else. All I can say is they got their money's worth(HA)

Pep Rally

We had our 1st pep rally at school today. The little girls are going to dance tonight during halftime. I got to snap a few pics of them.

What a week!!!

Whew!!! It's been a week around here....I feel like I should just sell my house and take up residence in my car!!!! With one in Kindergarten getting out at 11:30 and two in 1st grade getting out at 3:00, a typical day I make at least 3 round trips to school and back.

And I'm praying that my life calms down so I can utilize my time while they are at school. I hate to pick them up and come home and still have tons of chores or groceries to buy. But, I was foolish in believing that I was going to have tons of time on my hands!!!

Anyway, school is going really well. 1st grade has been an adjustment, but they are very happy boys when they get in the car in the afternoon. The work is getting harder and the reading is always a challenge, but my prayers have been answered with good teachers who are really willing to help.

Thanks for listening to me ramble...Hope everyone has a good weekend!!!

Busy Weekend

I wish the weekend had 5 days and the kids could go to school only for 2(HA!!) never going to happen. Where do the weekends go?? This was our 1st official weekend after being back in school for a whole week. I thought I would get loads of things done and we would relax...not happening!!

We spent Friday night watching my cousin play ball at his new school. It was the first time I had been to a football game on Friday in a long time. He did a great job!!!

The kids spent the night with my parents so we grabbed a quick bite at McAllisters and then I came home to do some work for school. I am one of the 1st grade navigators this year(there are two of us) which means we plan the field trips, parties, help the room moms, etc...a busy job but I like it. I had to type 56 names, addresses, phone, emails, etc in a spreadsheet by Monday so I had to get myself busy!!!

Then we spent Saturday at my sister-in-laws new store. It's called Mosart and it's in Madison by El Ranchito. It's a really fun place where you can paint ceramics, wood, buy unique gifts, and she's having a fun Mommy and Me class soon. Check it out if you have time.

Now I'm home with a sick little boy this Sunday morning. I'm hoping he will feel better soon but I'm pretty sure it's strep throat. I hate that he is sick this soon into the school year.

Have a great week!!!

Kindergarten

Well, I sent my baby girl to her 1st week of kindergarten. She loved it of course!! I love that she gets so much out of school and life....she wakes up every morning ready to go. I pray that her little light will always shine like that.

1st day of 1st grade

we started 1st grade and Kindergarten last week. I was petty weepy for the 1st couple of days. But, after Monday I kind of got used to it and they were having a great week. It's hard to believe those tiny little boys that I brought home at 3 pounds a piece are big enough to be in the 1st grade. And they love it so much!!! I know that it will get more difficult and there will probably be struggles but I count this week as a success!!!

Beach 2009

We took our annual beach trip in July...We have stayed in the same beach house for 5 years now so it's beginning to feel like home. In fact, I think the kids thing that it is ours...if they only knew(ha!!)

So this year we probably did less than ever..just going to the beach, the pool, and eating!! Our favorites are Elmos and The Red Bar, and this year we ate at a yummy authentic gourmet Mexican place(the most delicious Mexican I have ever had!!!)

Fresh Paint makes everything look better

We started a new project this week....or rather Robby did. My cabinets are in serious need of a paint job but we were going to just repaint the same color. We decided to go a little darker. This is a huge project but it made a huge difference.
In our old house we had white cabinets, we thought we went darker in this house but it was still lighter than we wanted. I'm always scared of change and I do not know about paint colors. So we went with a color that we already had used in the house and it turned out really well!! I'm trying to convince him to look into a second career :) He just rolled his eyes at me!!

I'm going to do a quick catch up on our lives lately....

K5 Graduation was a hit!!!

DisneyWorld is always magical...we enjoyed ourselves and did some new things this year that will definately prove to be repeaters(love the water parks!!)

The boys and MT are finishing up ball and it's been a fun year. 6 year old Baseball is really serious to some and then you have my boys who enjoy playing but they are learning quickly that 3 strikes means your out and if you don't hustle to 1st they'll send you back to the dugout....but that's only happened once or twice and if we strike out well we'll just blame that on Coach Dad!!

Oh and the most exciting news is that my sister is getting married!!!!

Easter Egg Hunts

Promotion Ceremony

On Sunday, we went to Robby's promotion ceremony. He was being promoted to Lt Col...we have known for a few months but it had to be approved in Washington before they made it official. So he was really excited. All of our family came and we had a little reception for him. I asked him who all was coming from work and he said just a few people. There was standing room only...he is so humble. I'm very proud of him and people really do respect him. Okay enough bragging....here are some pictures

Spring Break and Great Deals!!!

I haven't posted in forever so I thought I would do a quick Spring Break update:

**We had a great time at the zoo. The kids have always loved the zoo. This trip didn't disappoint although it was packed. I don't think the zoo personnel got the memo that it was Spring Break. It took 20 minutes to get a sno cone and then they ran out of ice :) But, it was a beautiful day and the kids had fun.

**Earlier in the week we went to Build a Bear. I have been saving my coupons, bucks and so I foolishly thought with my $25 in coupons, I wouldn't spend so much!! HA!! Thank goodness for Grandmama who bought the "extra" stuff. Of course they all had to have the $22 dogs and accessories.

**Mom and I had a great weekend shopping. We hit the Kellys Kids $2.99 sale in Natchez and then went to Vicksburg.

**I have to post about my deals. I'm a sucker for a good sale. But, I went in Ross Dress for Less. I've never been in there before and I wasn't too impressed when I walked in. But, Mt and I looked around she of course found a toy, and I found something for the boys and then we wandered over to the shoe dept. I have been searching for new flip flops(now i love my yellow box and volatile shoes)but, I had heard that Reef flip flops were really comfortable. And I needed comfort for Disney. So I had been on the internet and found the flip flops I was going to buy for $27.

So...I round the corner to my size and it was like sunshine beaming down on this one and only pair of size 7 Reef flip flops(the exact ones that I had seen on ebay the night before)for $8.99!!!!! I was beside myself. It's really sad how excited I get:)

Photo Contest

Go to

gabbygrace.blogspot.com and vote for your favorite picture!!!

***You can vote for # 6(hint hint!!!)

We had our valentine's parties at school this morning. As usual we all had to split ourselves among three classes. But, it was fun!!!

What a day!!

The title says it all....We started the morning by leaving about 7 to get to school for the play. There were 3 classes that were watching today and we knew we had to get there early for a seat. Even as early as we were it was still hard to see. I had watched it but everybody from our family was seeing it for the 1st time. Needless to say this was the 3rd day of performance and the kids were tired. Matt did pretty good but he was tired, Will did his part and then turned around in circles the entire time, I really expected him to pass out from being to dizzy. I asked him afterwards why he was doing that, "i wanted to get dizzy", makes perfect sense. It was cute, they definately fit the bill for circus performers, and as our principal and teacher said, "he is a chimp, he was supposed to be silly :)"

On another note I have been suffering from this horrible rash all over my legs and arms. I know that sounds gross but it has been awful, a cross between heat rash and excema or something. Anyway, I finally made it to the doctor after 4 weeks of this and he said it looked like an allergic reaction. So a decadron shot and antihistamine later, I'm hoping it gets better. I would post pictures but I'll spare you.

Hope everybody has a great weekend!!!

We went this afternoon to test for our next belt in karate. This time it was green. They both did a really good job. I got a few action shots.

Picture of my cute circus performers!!!

Today was just dress rehearsal!! But, let me tell you getting makeup on a 6 year old and costumes on and getting to school by 7:45. I started getting ready at 5:30!!! It's going to be a long week!! They are so much fun and the play is adorable!

We are going to finish up this school holiday....It's been short but oh so nice to have one extra day off. I'm not even going to think about how long it is until we have another!!!

Anyway, we took the kids to see Hotel for Dogs yesterday. Really cute. The kids really enjoyed it. And if you don't have a movie rewards card get one. They are terrific!!

I'm so proud of my boys, they brought their first little paper book home this weekend and I have had the pleasure of listening to them read it!!!!

MT had tumble cheer this afternoon for which nobody showed up but us....so private lesson and all!! Anyway she had got a pretty good cartwheel and is beginning to work on other more advanced things. I was watching this little girl do her back handsprings and I thought oh that will be MT in a few years. I asked her mom, How old is she, 1st or 2nd grade...no she is in Kindergarten(she's 6) oh my!!! Don't think we will quite be there next year!!!! They start young around here!!!


Have a great week!!!

WOW!! IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME!!

I read everybody's blogs and realized the other day how long it's been since I actually posted on my own!!! I have still not found my camera cord so i never post anything because I want to post pictures, too :(

Oh well....what's going on with us....

**The boys are playing Upward basketball(a definate adventure)
**I'm making chimpanzee costumes for the K5 circus play(lots of fun:)
**We have settled back into a routine at school.


We had a terrific Christmas!!! The kids all got a Nintendo DS and let me tell you they have been captivated. I wasn't sure if they were old enough yet but they LOVE them. They also got new bikes which they have really enjoyed riding at my parent's house. We have the worst street in the world to learn to ride a bike on even with training wheels!!!

Tonight we are enjoying yummy pizza and a movie(The Chronicles of Narnia) we have never seen it. MT says it's scary so we'll see. I'm off to pop popcorn and get warm.

thought this was neat!!!


1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo - not on purpose
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies.
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day