A Weekend Past

BEWARE....the pictures you about to see may raise the stress levels of some mothers (I know they did mine) :). Please proceed with caution!

I realized that I had not done a post about the first weekend in October. We had such a wonderful weekend. Our church had its General Conference and we were spiritually fed from Saturday through Sunday. I didn't want it to end. We started off the weekend washing our car all together as a family and ate some YUMMY food. It was a wonderful family filled weekend....minus the aftermath. The pictures ABOVE show how the children had free roam of the house and they also show that I took a BREAK :)!

The children had so much FUN

Then Blaine decided he would just soak in the bucket for a little while. He had so much FUN in there.

The children raced leaves that they had named down the drain. It was too fun to watch.

I had made a bunch of chicken salad, a fruit salad, and a pasta and cheese salad the day before. So we had some good, already prepared food for our laid back weekend.

Oh What a Celebration!

This past weekend could not have been more enjoyable. We were surrounded with family, good friends, and our little girl's birthday celebration. We had told Michelle that she could only invite 2 friends for her birthday (next year will be her big party when she gets baptized). She has 2 very good friends at school, Jasmine and Kyndall. Jasmine could not make it and Michelle was devastated worried that Kyndall might not be able to come. We told her not to worry that she could invite another person so she chose a friend of hers from church, Samara. So everything was okay again. She had 2 friends coming, her Mima, her Papa, and her Uncle Chris. We had a lot of FUN celebrating Saturday afternoon. We all enjoyed lemonade, kettelcorn, gumballs, and chocolate cake. The children ran around the backyard playing and Michelle enjoyed opening her gifts. We are so happy she had such a wonderful day!

ICE COLD LEMONADE!!!

The birthday girl with a very bright mid day sun in her eyes.

Some of our little group putting their party hats on.

Kyndall and her beautiful Mom and little sister.

MMMMmmmm CANDY!!!

Chocolate Lovers Delight Cake from Publix--did I mention how good it was? Michelle saw this cake a few months back and knew she wanted it for her birthday.

Blowing out her candles. There is a cute story to this, but it can only be seen on video. Maybe I'll figure out how to post it on here.

She was sooooo happy the whole day!!

Daddy cutting the cake!!

OPENING GIFTS

Tison enjoying his gumballs. (I absolutely LOVE his dimple:))

Blaine's 1st piece of gum....a gum ball.....one after the other.....and he did spit them all out.

Mima reading Michelle's card

Michelle Turns 7 today.....Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!!

Seven years ago today Michelle was born and she was very ready to come into this world. She came so quickly that she gave us a bit of a scare and had to be in the NICU for 10 days. But, she ended up to be a very healthy girl. She is FULL of life, very thoughtful and intelligent. She is a hard worker and very responsible. She is a talented little artist and has an incredible imagination. She loves a good joke and loves to be funny. She is a great friend and sister. She loves her brothers and is Nicole's best friend. She loves life and is very easy going. We are so grateful that we are blessed enough to be her parents. She is a very special part of our family. We love you so very much Michelle.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Definition of a Lawyer and How to Play the Game Chutes and Ladders

The other night when Paul was putting the children to bed he glanced up and saw their games in the closet. He noticed the game "Chutes and Ladders". Knowing that our older girls already know how to play that game he said to Tison, "Tison, do you know how to play Chutes and Ladders?". To which he replied, "Yes! First you "chute" the bad guys......". He was unable to finish his explanation of the game because everyone was laughing so hard.

Today after church our children were playing and Paul over heard Michelle saying that she was the "banker", "the orphanager", and "the lawyer". Paul was impressed by her RESUME and asked her, "Michelle do you know what a lawyer is?". She answered with a question, "You don't know what a Lawyer is Dad?" Paul said, "I want to know what you think it is." She then explained, "Well, people bring me their money and I "low-yer" the price of stuff so they can afford it.

To the BEST Husband and Father Anyone Could Dream Of

Thirty Four years ago today a very special person was born into this world, my husband and the father of my children, Paul. He has been my very best friend for the past 11 years and I love him dearly. I wonder many times why I was so BLESSED to have such a WONDERFUL man in my life. We love to DREAM together. He loves to do everything with me. He is the HARDEST WORKER I know. He is an AWESOME father. ALWAYS there for our children. LOVES to spend every moment he gets with them. COMPLETELY supportive of me in all that I do. He has taught me how to be more laid back and not take things in life so seriously, but to roll with the punches. He has put up with all my faults and loves me even more everyday. He is my biggest fan. I am grateful for his BIRTH-DAY and feel privileged to be able to share it with him. I LOVE YOU PAUL and I AM GRATEFUL THAT WE HAVE ETERNITY TOGETHER.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LOVE!!!

Create

I absolutely love this message. It hits me in my core in so many ways. I truly believe we ALL have the ability to create something. It is our very nature! I know when I have gone a while without dreaming or creating something I become a little down, but the minute I decide to JUST DO IT and make it happen, to create something, I am filled with happiness and a feeling of fulfilment. I hope you enjoy this message!

The 1st Day of School, Nicole's New Teacher Update, the PTA, and Open House

So, I thought I would do a post about the first day of school and Open House together. Ironically I never got a picture of Nicole with her teacher she had for the first month of school ( I did not realize that our little camera was on video mode until we got to Michelle's class at MEET your TEACHER-Oh well) or with her new teacher on Open House Night. But I did get pictures of the girls on the 1st day of school. They were so excited for their 1st day, on August 23rd. They wanted me to make them hair clips. So I had them pick out their outfits the night before and I woke up early the next morning and made them hair clips to match their outfits. Paul got them all ready the night before and gave them a father's blessing for the new school year.

For the 1st month Tison would wear his little back pack every time we would drop the girls off at school. He can't wait till he is old enough to go.

They are growing up too quickly for me.

Michelle with Mrs. Lowry. Yes, her name is Mrs. Lowry. I thought that was such a coincidence. She is a wonderful teacher and has such a love for the children.

The girls started off the year great and loved their teachers and classmates. Then Nicole was thrown a curve ball and had to change teachers at the end of September. They were dissolving her 3rd grade class due to overcrowding in the 5th grade. She had a rough time the 1st day she found out as well as her classmates. Then Monday came around and then Tuesday and so on. She came home this past week raving about her new teacher and how much she likes her. Nicole is especially excited because they are writing letters to children in other countries.

I joined the PTA board earlier this school year and they made me the Membership Chair. I love being involved in the girls classrooms and at the school. It is a lot of FUN. It is also a neat way to get to know so many of the other parents.

OPEN HOUSE was a lot of FUN. We enjoyed seeing all that the girls had done and how far they have come along in such a short time. I am grateful they have been blessed with such wonderful teachers this school year.

Michelle was showing us her assignments and as you can see Nicole was very interested in looking at them too.

The boys had FUN playing with different stuff in Michelle's class. Blaine especially loved the magnetic board with ALL the lettters.

Nicole then showed us what she has accomplished and we were able to meet her NEW teacher.

The boys were busy again, having fun with dry erase markers, this time in Nicole's class.