Busy Blog Days of Summer

Finally a moment to sit and blog. Things have been just total chaos since the middle of May. We have had graduation, Ethans Birthday, Jakes birthday, MCT test with Gracie, my cousins High School Graduation, Gracie leaving to go camping with friends and last of all our garden.

May is a busy month anyway. It seems like all my family has birthdays in May. My Mawmaws is May 4th, my aunt and uncles is May 5th, Ethan (my nephew) is May 9th, my brothers is May 10th, my sister in laws in may 12th, my best friends is May 13th, Jakes is May 14th and last but not least my Pawpaws is May 22nd.

Not only did we have all these birthdays we also had a handful of family and friends graduating (meaning budget busting month) between gifts bought and money given, I feel like I needed to take a loan out just to get through all the birthdays and graduations. Its all good though and we have almost survived our busy Month of May. We are going to close it out with a fun trip to Texas to see my brother Eric (who has just had surgery). We are all excited about going out there for a few days and even more excited at the thought of my little niece coming home with us for a while.

 Just a few pictures from the last couple of weeks and all the fun, yet craziness that we have been living. We are blessed and loved - and thats all that matters

               First we had Jakes Gradution from preschool. Cannot believe that he is going to be in kindergarden/big school next year. He seems excited (at times anyway)

Jake graduated on a Thursday and on Friday he turned 6. We had a birthday party for him that Saturday at the house. Just family but we had a really good time. We had a fish fry and birthday cake, cant get better than that.

Sam and Pawpaw preparing our good southern fried catfish - mouth watering (YES MAM')

Jake and Gracie waiting on the party to start. Sam built this tree house all by himself (He is just a jack of all trades) You cant tell but its up off the ground and has a swing set and sand box built in it. Really pretty cool

Jake, Aunt Ann and Sophie waiting on the party to start

Nana and Sassy

Tator and all his presents

Missing In Action

If you noticed in my last blog we have been mostly MIA bc we have not taken any new pictures. I know I dont always have to post pictures of my kids, but they are cute kids so I want to post pictures of them.

Since Gracie so graciously decided that we didnt need any more pictures I have been wrecking my brain for a camera. Yeah I could probably go out and buy a new camera but that is just not me. I tend not to buy nice expensive things for myself (1. bc I dont like to spend money on things for me that I really dont have to have, 2. I usually end up spending money on my kids or my husband, 3. I dont want to spend the money bc I fear what my kids will do to it)

So in the need of a camera for this weeks activities (Jake is graduating Thursday from preschool and turning 6 Friday) my mom has been so kind to allow me to borrow her old camera so I may capture these moments - THANKS MOTHER.

Until then I have been practicing using her camera and trying to figure out all the buttons and zooms and lighting and what not. I did take a few of Sophie (which grows more and more every day) I promise if you dont take a picture of that child every few days you will miss her growing and changing.

She is like a Kudzu - she just keeps growing and growing.

She is so active now, she talks all the time, She love to be outside. Sam hung up her swing (Well it used to be Gracie's swing and then Jakes now Sophies - probably not to code anymore but we use it anyway.

Tonight when I gave her a bath I decided not to use the baby tub and just put her in the sink - SHE LOVED IT.

She has more rolls than WOnder Bread!!!

Well Ill try to post again before I have to give my moms camera back. Sophie my be gradutating High School before I break and go by a camera (maybe not that long).

Donations Please

It has been nearly two weeks since my last blog, it hasnt totally been bc I havent wanted too, been alot of I havent had time too. That and the fact that I havent had any new pictures to post. Why you ask? I am so glad that you ask me that.

Notice the picture below

No its not a piece of grass it is a flower that we transplanted from my grandmothers yard in Greenwood to our house in Holcomb. Even more signifcant than that it is the last photo taken with my brand new camera that I had been wanting for over a year and that I recieved for Christmas right before Sophie was born.

THE LAST PICTURE YOU ASK!

Yes the last picture, bc a split moment after this photo was taken my most precious eldest daughter (AKA GRACIE) decided to take a picture of the pool and dropped my brand new camera that I had been wanting for over a year and recieved for Christmas in the bottom of the pool.

Yes you read correctly. DROPPED IN THE BOTTOM OF THE POOL!

Its ok, She is ok. I wanted to but I didnt. I didnt even go crazy. I kept my cool, went in and got the camera and was able to save my memory card of the the last few pictures I had taken of Sophie.

Now and I am happliy taking donations for a new camera. You can most gladly send all donations to

MOMMA CANT HAVE ANYTHING NICE BC THE KIDS TEAR IT UP

1234 I have almost lost my mind Street

Holcomb, MS 38940

donations excepted in cash, crazy pills, bottle of wine Oreos and Milk, or a free weekend and you can watch my kids. Im good with any of them.

Thanks ahead of time for all your support.

Happy 4 Months

Sassy is 4 months old today. It is so hard to believe that it has already been 4 months. She has changed so much from that so tiny baby that we brought home.

She babbles ALL the time. Sometimes it is hard to tell if she is fussing or talking. She is nawing on her hands and drooling like crazy. We have tried the teething tablets and they seem to be working really good. Never had those with Gracie or Jake. She has found her feet and is in the process of getting them to her mouth (Oh to be so limber). She has gotten very chubby compared to that teeny tiny baby I once held. She loves her big brother and hunts for him if she hears his voice. Gracie has been the only one so far that can get her to giggling so hard you just cant helped but laugh too, she is facinated with her dad and will just sit and watch every move he makes, and will just light up when she sees my grandmother every morning (I think Granny gets up before we leave just to see Sophie and ask her for a smile, never fails - Sophie always gives her a smile).

She is a very good eater, loves applesause and likes peaches, not crazy about carrots but will eat sweet potatoes ok. Makes a really funny face if she eats prunes and just does not like squash at all. She loves to be held, wants to be walked, hates to lay down, will stand every chance she gets, likes the swing and LOVES being outside.

Just watching her grow is so amazing. I remember when Gracie was little wanting her to grow so fast, just couldnt wait until she did the next milestone, with Sophie I just want her slow down, I want to savor all these moments and them to take as long as possible. They just grow way to fast.

She has been sick most of this week so we have been making alternate sleeping arrangements. We have slept in the recliner a few nights, then in her bouncy seat a night, then I put the bobbi pillow in her bed so she could prop up on that one night. She always falls asleep in the swing so this has become my new best friend when she gets fussy. Im just so thankful that we didnt have to visit the hospital this go around (that was the worst week ever).

I love her so much and cant say enough how thankful I am for Gods plan of putting her in our lives.

Great Grandparents

The day Sophie was born was amazing. My family was there and I new later that week my grandparents(who now live on the coast bc of heath issues) were going to get to meet Sophie before they left going back. I got a phone call later this same afternoon that my Pawpaw had fallen and they were on their way to the ER in Greenwood. My Uncle had been getting them ready to travel to Tupelo to see me and the baby in the hospital when Pawpaw fell and broke his hip. I was so upset. I felt guilty for the longest time then that went to feeling upset bc I couldnt be with him to feeling guilty for wanting to be with him and not in the hospital with my brand new baby.

The day we came home from the hospital Pawpaw was scheduled to have hip surgery to repair the break. I was so upset bc I couldnt be there for that, I was worried bc he is really not strong enough for surgery and has already had 2 strokes. My plans were to go to the hospital the next day, but I had just had a baby and everyone talked me out of it. Then Sophie got sick and we ended up in the hospital with her. Pawpaw was still in the hospital and just so happened that we were on the same floor. Sophie was so sick and I was so upset about her being so sick. She went in the hospital on Wednesday and Pawpaw was transported by ambulance to the Singing River Hospital in Pascagoula for Rehab. He never got to meet Sophie. I cried for days over this.

Finally after nearly 4 months my Pawpaw and Sophie got to meet for the first time.

I love my Pawpaw so much. He is really not in the best shape these days. He has been the best Pawpaw ever. He always took time with me and Eric and Cody. He would pull us behind the lawnmower when it snowed, he would ride us on the 4 wheeler, he had this blue truck and would take us riding in it all the time. He would do absolutely anything I asked.

He is one of the strongest men I know and I know that he loves me more than anything. When he started getting sick I was there just about everyday. All of our family has moved away so I took it upon myself to do for them. I would take him to the doctors, I stayed with him for days when he had his first stroke. When they had to move to the coast I made myself sick from crying. I miss him and my Mawmaw so much.

I also miss getting to see my Aunt Ruby. Just about everytime we would go visit them she would be over there.

Just love talking to her.

My dad had also came down from Nashville to do some work on their house. They are trying to get it ready so they can put it up for sale. Im having a really hard time with that. I grew up in that house. That is the only home I ever really felt like I had. After my mom and dad got divorced I never belonged anywhere. It was either my moms house or my dads house, never my house, but being at my Mawmaw and Pawpaws I always felt comfortable and at home - like I belonged there - man divorce sucks.

I cant imagine what it will be like knowing someone else is living in "my house". It has been over a year since they really lived there but when they do come home they stay there and we go visit there and its almost like normal for a little while. But knowing that there will be no more visits there or no "going to mawmaws" is really starting to hit me hard. This whole growing up and things changing are really starting to get hard. I want to be a kid again and be at my mawmaws playing outside, feeding my aunts billy goats through the fence, picking blue berries, playing dress up, staying up late bc Mawmaw always let us stay up as late as we wanted bc she was a night owl too, and then fighting over who got to sleep with Mawmaw. I would love to go back to those days for a while.

But things change, we get older, people move away and life goes on. Now I have kids of my own and I wish everyday that they had grandparents like I had. Grandparents that want them all the time like my mawmaw and pawpaw and Granny and papa did. Grandparents like I had that made it a point to be at every possible event me and Eric ever had. I wish my kids had Grandparents that begged for them to spend the night like mine grandparents did when they would call when you walked in the door and said send them down for the weekend. I dont remember a weekend that we were not at one of my Grandparents house. I had the absolute bestest grandparents ever. I love my kids, but I look so forward to being  a grandparent so I can love my grandkids like my Mawmaw and Pawpaw and my Granny and Papa loved me.

I only cried twice in the making of this blog. I just love them so much and knowing that things will never be the same really make it hard.

No time for style

Feeling kinda frumpy lately. I know alot of it has to do with the extra baby weight that I just cant seem to shed. Dont know if it lack of will power, being older and trying to lose weight or just dont really and truely care.

I feel like I have lost any style that I ever had. Not trying to impress anyone at all, but still would like to feel good about myself.

My best friend and I have been talking lately about style and feeling good. I know mostly it is a mental thing. I know people that look great in a tshirt and blue jeans and flip flops with their hair in a pony tail and no makeup. If I try that look I look awful.

What is style, how do you find your style and as a mom of 3 young children when do you have time for style.

I like all different looks. I like to get dressed up at times, I like to be dressed down sometimes and then the in between look at casual dressy (meaning blue jeans and nicer shirt).

I think some people are just born with style. I love the timeless look of Jackie O, Audrey Hepburn and Princess Grace

I just love the classic look of old Hollywood. I guess if I had a personal designe then I could be timeless too, but Im stuck with Catos, Old Navy and place in between.

Im a mom and a wife and I know they dont care totally how I look, or dress (except for Jake who told me the other day that I had messy hair bc I fixed it different than normal, just trying something different, I thought it was nice)

These days im lucky if I get to fix my hair and put on makeup. I have 2 pair of blue jeans that I like and I wear the craziness out of them and I have one shirt that I love and If I wasnt scared people would talk I would wear it everyday, just love the way I feel and look in it (Jodie told me to get one in every color - and yea I thought about it)

Its not really important, but it does make a difference if you feel good about yourself. I know my husband loves me the way I am but it also feels nice when I feel good and I can still turn his head.

My style now is Momma - spit up on my shoulder, blue jeans for comfort, and maybe a good hair day. But it all good in the eyes of my family.

Praying for a Buddy

Praying is the simpliest act of kindness and the easiest act of love that anyone of us can do. I love to pray, I love to hear my children pray, I love for my children to bring prayer request home. There is so much strength found in prayer.

Yesterday Gracie brought a prayer request home from school. I was shocked for whom she was praying for, but I was so over joyed that she let her feelings aside to pray for this child. The little girl and Gracie have not been very close friends, the little girl tends to be a little dramatic at times and has caused some issues with a few of the girls at school, so Gracie has just tried to stay away from the drama of this child. Yesterday while I was cooking supper she came to me and said that we needed to pray for this little girl and her mother. The little girls mother is very pregnant and she fell the other day on her stomach. Now she is on rest and being watched closely. The little girl was really upset yesterday at school and Gracie told her that we would pray for her.

My little nephew has not being feeling well either. He has not been eating for the last few weeks. He was born with Spinal Bifida (?) and has a shunt in his head for the fluid. He has been doing so well until the last few weeks. He has just not had an appetite at all and has lost a good bit of weight. To give you an idea, He is just about to be 3 years old and still wears 12 months clothing, since he has lost weight he has been wearing some 6-9 months. He is just really small. He gets around in his wheelchair and is smart as a whip and the cutest little thing. Him and Jake are big buds. Jake has helped his Granny take care of him since he came home from the hospital when he was almost 3 months old. Granny swears she couldnt have done it with out Jake. Jake loves Ethan so much.

Every morning during our prayer time Jake will do the usual child prayer of thanking God for everybody and everything, just an innocent childs prayer. This morning however Jake did the biggest prayer ever. He thanked God for momma, daddy and so on and then at the end he asked God to lay His hands on Ethan and make him feel better. I was so amazed and so proud. That this little man of mine could ask God for something so powerful, that he would even think of that.

Just in awe of this sweet little boy and his mighty big prayer, I got to work and called my mother-in-law who keeps Ethan and Sophie and then Jake comes in the afternoon after school. I told her I had something so sweet to tell her. I told her about Jakes sweet prayer for Ethan and then I noticed that she began to cry. She told me that this morning when she got ready to fix breakfast this morning she asked Ethan what he would like,(here lately it has been nothing bc he has not been eating) he told her that he wanted a grilled cheese. She was shocked. She went to cook him one (just in shock) but something led her to cook him 2. Ethan ate both of them (all) she was so happy. Then I call and tell her about Jakes prayer, it was just overwhelming.

We serve such an amazing God. I long to have the innocence of Christ like my children do.

"And if you believe, you will receive, whatever you ask for in prayer" Matthew  21:22

                                                           Prayer is More Powerful

Than any other act

When all you can do is Pray, Praying is ALL you need to do!!!