Eli's Birthday

We celebrated our cousin, Eli, 10th birthday last Friday evening. We went to their house for a cookout and fun. Can't beleive he is 10 now and that his sister Madison will be 12 in August. They are such beautiful kids. I brought the kids bathing suits, but forgot lifejackets and their arm bands. So, daddy and I said they couldn't swim. But, Papaw Woody took them down to the lake and look what happens. He rolled up his shorts and joined them. Hard to tell them they couldn't swim when all the other kids are in.

The kids played a football game and had such a good time. Brock thought he was as big as the others. He loved it!!

So cute!!!

Our new additon

I took the kids to Aunt She-She to pick out a kitten, she has 3 left. One we couldn't get it, the one Keira wanted, similar to Payday coloring, because it has long hair. Brandon is allergic to cats, so we have to get short hair. Funny thing is, Lucky, my 11 yr old, has never bothered him. So, Keira , poor Brock never gets much say, picked this one. She named her Allison, she is completely adoring her 16 yr old cousin right now. She pretends her name is Allison and will name her stuffed animals this, etc.

We bring the cat home and it stays under the couch most of the day. After church we all tried to shower it with affection, even daddy. He is actually the one who coaxed it out. However, his allergies did act up. Brock has sneezed a few times, so I hope this is minor.

The cat slept in the bed with me and was relaxed. Lucky is not happy at all, but she will survive. However, this kitten seems wild compared to Payday, and now we have to make sure she does not scratch our new leather furniture, daddy already said he would kill it over that.

Fun in the water

Grammie got the kids a pool with a little slide on it this summer. They absolutely love it! One of the best things they could have gotten to have fun with. It is the perfect size for both of them and I don't have to worry about them if I was in a regular size pool alone with them. They both like to jump to us at the pool and so forth, so this helps me out. Low maintenance also, which is a big deal to me. Again, the simple things are the most fun for us!

Quick update

It has been a month since I have blogged, time flies. Well, my computer went down on me and I thought I had lost all my pictures, I am talking close to 4,000!! I had to send it off and thankfully they were saved. I have since backed them all up, will not make this mistake again. My pictures are my treasures, so to speak. I wish I could capture every moment of my family, I have this deep thought that I will forget what we did or what my babies looked like as they grow up.

Since my last post, we have been to Destin, been going to Dollywood (we purchased season passes this yr), been going to playdates which the kids love, and just having fun. We have had friends and their kids come to our house on the weekends, what a great time with awesome people. We plan on doing this more often!!

We have enjoyed the lake with family and hope to be out on the lake on the weekends with them more this yr.

We also have lost Payday. The picture above is the last pic I took of him. He has been gone for 2 weeks now and I finally put up his food dish. I just knew he would turn up. He was such a great cat and let the kids do whatever they wanted to him. We miss him! We are not sure if someone picked him up, as he liked to patrol the neighboorhood and who knows how far he went. Or, we think another animal got him, he had no fear and would take on anything. I am trying to talk the hubby into another kitten, but the answer is "No", well at least until Lucky, my cat, dies. Brandon cannot stand my cat and wants her gone, she is 11 and I will not part with her. I keep hoping he will come around, like he did with Payday. :)

Last day of preschool

Today was Keira's last day of preschool and I can hardly fathom this. This really doesn't seem possible that this little stage in her life has come and gone so quickly. We registered for kindergarten last week and boy, I am not ready for this. I was so selfish that I had decided to keep her home one more year and did not fully decide to send her own till a couple weeks before signing up. She will not turn 5 until the end of July, so I could have very well kept her home. But, she is ready. Her preschool teachers have been excellent and we will miss them dearly. Brock will be attending this fall, so he will get the same excellent teaching and care.

I have already asked myself "What will I do 2 days a week w/o my kids?" this seems so strange to me, not to have at least one with me everyday. I know I will find something to do with my time. :)

Beginning of Mother's Day

Mother's Day morning began with my hubby getting breakfast for us and the kids giving me cards and flowers. I always love seeing their little faces when they give me gifts. They are just precious. Brock always asks "Do you love it?"

Time to get ready for church, we had missed sunday school due to sleeping late, and when it came time to get shoes on for Keira, the bad attitude began. She is having some issues with fashion and we don't see eye to eye on this subject. She needed to wear white shoes with her dress and of course, she wanted to wear black. I said "no" and then it started, the "these shoes hurt." Whatever! She just wore them to school the other day and never once complained. I told her to go find another pair of white shoes and she did, and once again complained. I know they do not hurt as they are a little big on her. Mommy and Daddy won this battle. I did not even put her hair up as I was so frustrated with her. Sunday mornings are some of our toughest mornings and I honestly think it stems from Satan. As a Christian, he wants us to fail, wants us to get so upset that we say "Just forget church this morning" and I have uttered these words several mornings.

After church, we went to Papaw and Mamaw Leffew. We attempted to take pictures and Keira again had a terrible attitude. I seem to never have any mother's day pictures with my kids. Brock did get his picture made with the grandparents, and then I was over it. She can easily ruin the moment with her attitude. With Keira we really have to keep her in line. Majority of the time she is sweet and obeys. But, in those moments that she thinks she is the boss and can be so rude and disrespectful, we have to bring her back down a notch. I know this will pay off as she gets older as we have seen progress in her the past year.

So, one day I can show her the above picture and we will laugh (hopefully). Happy Mother's Day to me!!

End of Mother's Day

The beautiful view from my dad and step-mom's home. We ended our day by visiting with them and finally had a happy girl.

Brock loves the fountains at their house.

Beautiful girl!

Awana Awards Night

On May 5, we had Awana awards night at church. Keira completed her second year of Cubbies and finished her book. She did so well memorizing Scripture and I began putting verses on the white board in our kitchen, so both kids will have a verse each week to memorize. I think this is very important to begin this early as you can so they can begin to have God's Word in their hearts and minds and that these verses stay with them. Keira amazes me at her recall and how she can memorize something so quickly. Seems like it takes me a lot longer to memorize things, maybe it is age or that I don't feel like I use enough brain power since I don't work outside the home anymore :)

I had the opportunity to be the Puggles teacher. This is the first yr we had this class in Awanas. It is for 2 yr olds. What an experience, and my biggest challenge was keeping them still long enough to do a 5 minute lesson. HA!! Brock and Kiersten were my only 2 Puggles, but 2 was plenty to start out with. Next yr, the number will increase. Puggles are full of energy, full of love, and full of fun! We spent half our lessons on creation and learned the simple facts of God made animals, God made trees, God made sun, etc and God made me!

Ballet I Spring Recital

On May 1 and 2, Keira performed in the Spring Dance Recital. She is in ballet and tap, so had 2 dance routines to learn. I am so proud of my little girl, because almost exactly a year ago she would not even get on stage for her pre-school program. For her to get on stage in a theater and do this is a huge accomplishment. She has come out of her shell since last yr. I have been amazed at her in this process. To watch her on stage was just beyond words for me. She was awesome! Grinning from ear to ear and loving every minute of it. My little girl...........

I got to watch the entire show on sat. evening and worked backstage on sunday afternoon. So glad I got to see the show, it was great! From ballet to hip-hop to modern dance, incredible. We have some talent here in our little county. I also admire the women who do the adult classes, some of which have kids in the classes Keira is in. I wish I had the ability to dance like them and perform like they do, but I will stay in the audience and just be a spectator.

Keira was thrilled that she had so many family members come watch her. Big thanks to all the grandparents, her great-grandfather, Aunt Pam, Aunt Teresa, Madison and Eli, Uncla Jared, and of course daddy and Brock. She is a very blessed little girl.

Tap I

Keira and Ms. Hannah

I absolutely loved Tap I costumes. Keira has done well in tap and loves her teacher. The teacher is very energetic and outgoing, she makes the kids laugh and makes it fun for them.

This was my first experience doing a dance recital, never in my life did I picture myself at something like this, meaning having a child in it and working backstage. I have seen a few dance shows of my family members. You really don't get an appreciation for all the hard work and time put into a show until you have been backstage among the chaos. It is crazy at times, people yelling for this and that, trying to get the dancers changed into the next costumes, making sure you have the correct color tights, correct hair piece in, making sure it is secure, making sure shoes are right, hair and make-up done just right, and the list could go on. One of the more difficult challenges with the younger dancers, age 3-5, is keeping them occupied until the end of the show for the final bows. Can seem like an eternity at this point. It was an experience for me and I am so thankful for all the other mothers who took the time to answer questions and help me as needed. I couldn't have survived without them. For us newcomers, it is overwhelming and we appreciated the veterans helping us. Without them, it would have been like sending the sheep out among the wolves. Thank you ladies for everything!!!

Quick little trip

After tax season is finished, we take 2-3 days and have some family time doing something new. Last yr we went to Chattanooga for Thomas the Train and also the TN Aquarium. This yr, since we purchased season passes to Dollywood/Splash Country, we decided to go to Dollywood one day and then the following day go to the Ripley's Aquarium, the kids wanted to go b/c they have seen the penguins being advertised. I figured we better go ahead and get daddy to dollywood and get his photo id, due to it not being his favorite place to go, and since he probably will not make it back to the park until Christmas time :) I did try and talk him into going back w/o kids and getting our friends to go and actually ride the adult rides and do things we want to do all day. He did agree with that idea!

We stayed at the Christmas Inn in Pigeon Forge, love this place! Mamaw and I stayed with the kids back in Nov. while the men went to Indy. We highly recommend this place if you want to try something new. I love all the Christmas decorations and such! We also stayed at the RiverStone Resort last fall also (condos), and liked this place also. Behind the Dixie Stampede on Dollywood Lane. Just thought I would throw that info out for anyone interested.

Brandon and I decided we like the TN Aquarium better, but Ripley's is good also. Just so much more in Chattanooga to see. But, the kids had a great time and that is all that mattered. Brock wanted to know why the penguins didn't do "tricks", he highly expected them to be doing something other than standing and just looking at us. Keira had told him they would be skating on ice and such, so I guess he got his hopes up. Silly kids!