Maddie's first trip to get her nails done

Maddie, Grammy and I decided to have a girls night last night while Alex, Ashton and Beau (Alex's cousin) went to a movie. The girls went out and grabbed some dinner and then went for manicures. Grammy got her nails touched up, I got a manicure and Maddie got her nails and toes painted for the first time at a nail salon. She was excited to be going, but then got a little shy when we got there. I let her pick her own colors and as you can see in the picture, she chose BLACK, yes black and PINK. She wanted her toes black and her fingernails pink but I decided to let her alternate them instead. They turned out really cute and the guy doing them even put a little flower on her big toes which she thought was just a big deal.

Ashton's trip to the golf course

Earlier this week, Maddie and I went to get our hair cut and Alex took Ashton to visit Papa and Beau at the golf course. Beau is one of Alex's cousins in town for a visit this week. Ashton has been so excited about hanging out with Beau, so Alex decided to take him to check out the boys playing. Ashton loved it of course and Alex got a couple of cute pictures of him that I thought I'd share.

He thought he was big stuff telling me about driving the golf cart ALL BY HIMSELF.

He looks so big in these two pictures. It makes me a little sad because he is growing up so fast.

He said he hit the ball really far in the dirt! I think he was thinking that was a good thing. I'm not real up on my golf knowledge, but I didn't necessarily think that was all that good. LOL

Playdate with friends from school

Thursday morning after swim lessons, we met a little girl, Jaden, from Maddie's class and her sister and mom at the park. Maddie was so excited and Ashton was eager to see if there was going to be anyone for him to play with.

Maddie, Jaden and Avery had to try out the tire swing.

Ashton wanted a turn, so Maddie decided that she'd get off and push them all. How cute?!

After a while of playing at the park, the kids decided they were hot and so Cindy, Jaden's mom, and I decided we'd let them get in the pool for a bit and cool off. They were all thrilled and couldn't get their clothes changed fast enough.

Just a cute one!!

Here is Jaden and Maddie playing with some cups they found in the water.

Ashton was showing me how he could doggy paddle like in swim class.

You can see all four of them play together on this one.

Ashton could have jumped in from the side a 100 times. I never realized it could be so much fun!! LOL

Swim Lessons

Monday, Ashton and Maddie started their two week long swim lessons. They were both fairly excited about doing it and I've been excited watching them learn. After this week's lessons, Ashton has started to do some doggy paddling and Maddie has finally released her "death grip" on her teacher, Miss Elizabeth's neck. I look forward to next week and watching how much more they learn.

Plain White T's Concert

Sunday night, Alex got us four tickets to go to Rocketown and watch the Plain White T's concert. We asked some of our long time friends, Kevin and Tiffany, to go with us. We got the kids situated at home and then headed for the show. We got there about 15 minutes before the doors opened and got in line. The line was packed with people that seemed to be much younger than us. For the first time in my life, I felt OLD!!! It was a little hot standing in line, but we knew it wouldn't be long before we would be inside and sitting in the air conditioning.

Once we made it inside, we were directed to where we were supposed to be. We headed down the stairs and in to the area where the band was to play. To our big surprised, it was going to be STANDING ONLY! We barely made it through the door and Alex turned Tiffany and I around. He was ready to just leave and go eat dinner. Tiffany and I couldn't stop laughing but we did as we were instructed and made our way back upstairs and outside.

Needless to say, it was an eventful night, but TONS of fun!! I can't wait to do it again!!!!

Happy Father's Day

I decided that for Father's Day I would take the kids to a pottery place here in town and let them make Daddy something. So, that is what we did. Last weekend, we met a friend at Clay Treasures and went to town on our gifts. Ashton and Maddie both decided on coffee cups, which kind of worked out well. Alex doesn't really have but a few cups, so this was something he could actually use.

Here is a picture of Maddie working on hers. It ended up gray on the outside, black on the inside and a pink tie with black polka dots on it.

Here is a cute shot of Ashton, Kaleb and Maddie all working away. Kaleb started out with orange and white stripes and ended up with a solid orange cup. LOL

Ashton had to really concentrate on his. He did a hockey cup with a little hockey stick and his pinky print for a puck. It turned out fairly cute!

Both of them were excited and anxious to give them their little cups and surprisingly they were able to keep quiet and not ruin the surprise. I was shocked!!

Happy Father's Day Alex! We love you and are glad to have you in our lives!!

Ashton, Maddie and Me.....

Off to the Romer's house

Saturday afternoon, the kids and I went to visit Casey, Brandon and Addison. Addison celebrated her 2nd birthday on Friday and Saturday afternoon she was having her big party. We went down early to visit before the party got started. Just before we had gotten there Addison had a visit from her Papa and GO and they brought her a pony. Ashton and Maddie got to play on it and as you can see, they loved it!!

This is the girls playing bubbles in the driveway. Maddie had a super big one going there.

Ashton got his turn with the big bubbles and he loved them too!

Addison looked so cute with her little pigtails.

If mommy would hurry up and move she could blow out her candle and get this party started.

Maddie wanted to take my picture with Addison's camera while I took their pictures. LOL

Addison opened up our present first and Maddie had to be right in the action taking pictures.

Addison loved her sleep mat, cover and new blanket. She starts mother's day out in a few weeks and looks pretty excited about it to me!! Of course, her mommy isn't too excited! LOL

Cornhole Tournament at The Journey

This past Saturday, our church held a cornhole tournament as a fundraiser. Alex and his friend, Kevin, paired up to play and had a great time. The guys even order shirts to wear for the event. It was pretty funny!!!

Alex and Kevin did fairly good in the tournament, but just didn't make it to the winners circle. It was exciting nonetheless.

I really didn't get to see but a few minutes of them playing because I worked the childcare inside until it was time for us to leave. It was a great event and it went to support missions outside of the Journey. From what I understand about $2,800 was raised and a ton of fun was had by all that participated.

Here are a few random pictures. Several people got creative with their outfits and so you'll see of few of those in these pictures. LOL

This is Alex and Kevin playing against Erik and Patrick... Team Old School.

Erik put some work in to this outfit! WOW!!!! I don't even know what else to say.

WOW! Time flies when you are having fun!!!

It has been over a week since I've blogged and we've been doing tons of things. The kids and I hit the park several times, they gotten to play outside in the yard a LOT with the weather being nicer, and did a lot of running around.

On Thursday, we went to visit Gee at her house. She has settled in nicely at home and was up and moving around pretty good when we visited. I was very impressed with how well she seemed to be doing. Her bladder hadn't totally regained function, but since the day we were there it has and that is VERY exciting news. We hope that she will only contiue to have more and more positive outcomes and get back continue to get her strength back. Please continue to keep her in your prayers. We all know that God is watching over Gee and will take care of her.

Friday, Ashton, Maddie and I met up with Casey and Addison in Murfreesboro for a little shopping and lunch. Then Casey went to get her hair cut and Addison joined us for some more shopping. The kids really enjoyed getting to visit with Addison and we were glad to get some time with her.

Friday evening, I got to have a mommy's night out and boy was I glad. I met up with some girls from my old bible study and had dinner. We hardly ever get to spend time chatting and catching up, so it was nice to do that. We were having such a good time catching up that before we knew it we had been sitting at the restuarant for almost four hours. WOW!! That was some major catching up! LOL

In the meantime, Alex decided to carry the kids to their first Sounds game. Erik and Kaleb, some friends, went with them and judging from the pictures and the stories I've been told, they all had a really good time. They got to take advantage of some kid activities before the game, watch warm ups and then the game. They also enjoyed a little ice cream out of the little baseball hats like we got when we were kids. Can you believe that they still have those??? Here are a couple of pictures they took while they were there.

Saturday morning, Alex attended a men's breakfast at our church while the kids and I joined a couple of friends for a secret surprise mission for Father's day. I got some super cute pictures, but you'll have to just stay tuned for those on Father's day. I don't want to ruin it just yet. :) We had a good time doing it and I can't wait for Alex to see what they did. They were both super proud of themselves and really put some thought in to it.

Please Keep Praying for Alex's Gee

On Friday morning, Gee woke up in a great deal of pain and couldn't move her leg or get herself out of bed. For some time now, she has had some pain in her side/hip area and her doctor thought it was just a pinched nerve but said she'd keep an eye on it. The pain continued to get worse and so on Friday morning Alex's mom and Geega (Gee's husband) had to call an ambulance to take her to the hospital because they couldn't get her up to take her themselves. Once she arrived, the doctors at Vanderbilt decided to do an MRI and discovered that she had a mass/tumor on her spine that was pushing on her nerves and had cut off function to her bladder. They called for a surgeon to come in and see her and determined that immediate surgery was necessary. About 7pm on Friday night, Gee underwent surgery to remove as much of the mass as they could with it being up next to her spine. Following surgery about 10pm, the doctor came in to talk to us and he seemed pleased with the outcome. He said that he had felt good about what all he had been able to remove and that he was confident that he was able to stitch up the leaking fluid that he found once in there. He just wanted to watch her until at least Monday to make sure he hadn't missed any leaking areas.

Sunday after church, Alex, the kids and I went to visit her and she had been placed in a room and was sitting up in a chair when we arrived. She was looking good and seemed to be feeling fairly well considering what all she had gone through. She has regained full bladder function. The doctor came in today and decided that they wanted to keep her a couple of more days to monitor her a little more and get her up and moving some more prior to sending her home. She still has a little numbness in her foot and so they have her wearing a boot to keep her from dragging it. If she doesn't regain that feeling, then they will have her do some physical therapy to help her with it. So far it is looking pretty positive, but I ask that you continue to pray for Gee and the entire family. She is one tough woman, but she could still use our thoughts and prayers on her behalf.

Rainy Day

Today, the kids realized it was starting to sprinkle outside and got excited. They couldn't wait to go out and use their umbrellas. As you can tell, they had a fantastic time running around our cul de sac with them. If you look closely it is raining so little that the ground hasn't even gotten wet yet, but they still loved it and had a good time.