The Waltons

My Letter to Faith.

2011-09-10T09:41:00.000-07:00

Dear Faith,

September 11, 2001 started out as any other day in the Walton house, but by the day's end everything had changed. It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky. We were living in Marion, Arkansas. Faith, you were eighteen months old. You and I were home alone that day because Daddy was in Ruston, LA for work. We got up and got dressed. I dropped you off at your daycare, West Memphis Christian School, and I went to work at Artcraft Converters, Inc in Memphis, Tennessee. I was early for once, but there was a stalled truck on the Memphis/Arkansas Bridge so I ended up late again.
I was about to turn off of Crump Avenue onto South Fourth Street when I heard on the radio (KIX 106) that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City. I remember thinking "that doesn't sound good." I got to work and turned on my radio there. Details were not clear at the time but soon another plane crashes into the second World Trade Center Tower. I knew then that this was an acto of terrorism. Soon everybody at work had heard the news. The phones were quiet as no one was calling. We turned up radios and listened. Someone found a 5-inch black and white television and we turned it on. We all stood around and watch the horror unfold. Another plane had crashed into the Pentagon. Another plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania (why a field? We found out later that there were heroes aboard that kept the hijackers from reaching their final destination)
As we sat there watching the television, a tower collapses, only two hours after the plane had crashed into it. There were still people inside. Minutes later the second tower collapses. So many lives were lost.
Your grandmother called me at work wanting to make sure we were ok. I called your Daddy but it took so long to get through to him. I finally got to hear his voice and know he was ok. I left work that evening and when I picked you up from daycare. I held you close.
On September 11, 2001, terrorist attacked America. They thought they could tear America apart but they did the opposite. The very next day, the red, white and blue of the American flag was flying at half mast but proudly outside of businesses, schools, homes and on cars. The colors were proudly worn by every American. The terrorists brought Americans closer then they ever were.

From Your Loving Mother

M.I.A.

2011-03-02T07:36:00.000-08:00

For the one or two readers who might be reading my blog, you might have noticed that I haven't been doing a lot of blogging over the past few months. In fact, the last real thing I blogged about was our trip to Chicago and the first days of school for the kids and that is it.

So what has been going on? Nothing very exciting unfortunately. In October, we had a family vacation in Heber Springs, AR. Then it was Halloween. John Derrick was Batman again and Faith was a Spider Queen. November was the month that John Derrick turned 6 years old. December was a very hectic month that went by in a blur. We had to take John Derrick to the emergency room one night when he has a very swollen lymph node on his neck. It turned out to be strep. He missed two days of school. We had a white Christmas for the first time in 19 years. It was very beautiful. John Derrick got a Nintendo DS from Santa and Faith got a keyboard. January was a snow filled month. There was a snow every week during the month. February just finished. There was snow and stomach bug and Kevin lost his job and got to spend the WHOLE month at home. Faith has a Literacy Night at school and she dressed up as a not-so-curvy Dolly Parton. Now it is the beginning of March. Faith will turn eleven in a week and it will be Spring Break. Hopefully Kevin will begin a new job soon.

That is the last six months in a nutshell. Maybe I will blog a little more now.

Merry Christmas, 2010

2010-12-24T21:04:00.001-08:00

Digital greeting card customized with Smilebox

Kindergarten

2010-09-07T19:16:00.000-07:00

John Derrick has started Kindergarten!!!! He is at Coles Ferry Elementary and his teacher is Mrs. Rachel Denton. I am so happy to have Mrs. Rachel as his teacher. Mrs. Rachel graduated from Friendship Christian School where I went. She was in my younger brother's class. Her mother worships at the Maple Hill Church of Christ with us. This is the first year that I have known one of my children's teachers.

John Derrick is doing great in school. He was not too happy to start school. On the first phase in day that he had, he cried. He just boo-hooed and I had to leave him there crying. As a mother's day out teacher, I have often told my parents that their child will be fine if they cry as mom is leaving. Now I realize that maybe the child will be fine but the parents have the roughest time. But John Derrick was fine on that first day. He is still fine and I am seeing that he is really learning a lot of things. He is making new friends and is telling me everything that he is learning. It should be a good year for him.

A Daughter, a New Sister and a 5th Grade Student

2010-08-02T12:39:00.000-07:00

I am proud to say that my daughter, Faith is also my sister in Christ. Faith gave her life to God by being baptized on Sunday, August 1, 2010. Faith has always had a tender heart and she has wanted to be baptized for a while now. When it was brought up, we (Kevin and I) talked to her seriously to make sure that she understood what it meant to become a Christian. She was very sincere and we knew that she was ready to take that step. So during the Sunday night worship, she went forward, confessed that Jesus is the Son of God and her granddaddy baptized her. It was such a special moment that she was able to share with all of her friends and family.

The day was a good day. That morning, her cousins, Emilynne and Nathaniel, also gave their lives to the Lord and were baptized. Faith and I went to the Antioch church of Christ to witness their special time. Granddaddy also baptized Nathaniel and my brother Marty, their dad, baptized Emilynne.

This morning was Faith's first day of 5th grade. She started a new school. She is now going to Castle Heights Upper Elementary. She has to wear a uniform now and she will be changing classes during the day. Her best friend, Charrienne is in her class this year. She was very excited for this morning to come. I hope she is still happy when I pick her up in a few minutes.

This is John Derrick this morning, sound asleep. He starts kindergarten this year. His first day is this Thursday.

Chicago

2010-07-17T18:07:00.000-07:00

We had our vacation a couple of weeks ago. We went to Chicago. This is the fartherest north I have ever been. Notherners have a funny accent.

We got to do a lot of things. We went to Navy Pier and rode the giant Ferris wheel. Both of the kids were a little nervous going up that high but we gave them no choice. They had fun and the view was awesome.

We tried a Chicago style hot dog. They are good. It is beef hot dog with relish, onions, peppers, tomatoes and dill pickle spear. The kids didn't want to try the hot dog so they ate McDonalds.

We also went to the Willis Tower (aka the Sears Tower) We went to the 103rd flood and saw the city below us. They have clear balconies that you can walk out on and see below.

I thought this was really neat the see. This is Millennium Park and everyone calls it "The Bean"

This is the kids reflection as they were laying on the ground inside the bean.

We also went to the Legoland Discovery center. This is every Lego lovers dream Faith and John Derrick are standing by Darth Vador and R2D2. They were made out of Legos. They also a model of Chicago made out of Legos.

One night we went and had Chicago Style deep dish pizza. I forgot the get a picture of the pizza but it was good. After we ate, we went to Lake Michigan. If the air had more of salty smell we would have never known that it was a lake instead of the beach.

We went to the Museum of Science and Industry and the Shedd aquarium one day also. The Museum of Science and Industry was huge and even if we were able to spend the whole day there, we would not have seen everything there. There were planes, cars, trains and even a full size German Uboat. Kevin found his favorite thing and it was a full scale model of Chicago with trains.

No trip to Chicago would be complete without seeing the Chicago Cubs play at Wrigley Field

The Cubs played the Pittsburg Pirates. Kevin is a huge Cubs fan and Faith went along with Kevin and she is a Cubs fan. John Derrick use to be a Cubs fan but since his T-ball team was the Pirates, he decided to cheer for the Pirates. The whole way to Wrigley Field, he kept asking if he was going to sit on the Pirates side. We really didn't know what to tell him. When we found our seats, guess what? There were two Pirates fans sitting right next to him. Oh by the way, the Pirates beat the Cubs 2 -- 0. John Derrick was happy.

We also went down Michigan Ave. We shopped at the Disney store and went into the American Girl store. Faith and I looked through the whole store and all we bought was some purple glasses for her American Girl doll Emily.

John Derrick can be the little comedian at times. We walked to Millennium Park. When we got there we stopped a minute to rest. John Derrick perched up on the concrete banister and he became a statue of a "gargoyle" He got several people to stop and look at him and they went away laughing at him.

Chicago was a lot of fun. We didn't get to see everything that we wanted to see so we will have to save that for another time.

A Story of a T-ball Player

2010-06-12T18:35:00.000-07:00

We finally ventured in to the world of sports in our house. We haven't done sports at our house yet. We really don't have an excuse except that it didn't seem all that important (I know kids should play sports so they can learn how to be a team player and be healthy yadda, yadda, yadda).

So this year, Kevin decided that John Derrick needed to play t-ball. So we signed him up and it has been whole lot of fun. John Derrick is playing for the Pirates. He has been excited ever since he found out what team he plays for. Above is him saying, "Pirates! Arrrrrg!" with his finger crooked to look like a pirate hook and his eye closed for a pirates eye patch.

The funny thing about John Derrick and T-ball is that he is a VERY laid-backed little boy. He is ready to go to every practice and every game but when it time to hit the ball he gets up there and hardly swings. He just manages to get the ball off the T and just past where it is not a foul ball and then he runs hard halfway to the base and then he finds it more exciting to kick up the dust so he starts to shuffle his feet. When he is in the outfield, he at least doesn't spend the whole time playing in the dust but he is definitely not paying attention. The most exciting position that he plays is third base.

You know what? I don't care. He is having fun and I am having fun watching him. We try to get him excited and it doesn't do any good but he is one of the younger players on the team and next year we will try again and I bet he will do even better.

GO PIRATES! ARRRRG!!!!

Our Little Graduate

2010-05-15T18:53:00.000-07:00

We have a little graduate at our house now. John Derrick graduated from preschool last week. He has attended the Maple Hill Church of Christ Mother's Day Out/Preschool since it started back in 2006.

The evening started out with the classes getting on stage and singing a few songs. Poor John Derrick, he gets distracted easily. He was quit concerned that Grayson wasn't standing exactly where he suppose to during one of the songs. He spent the better part of this song, trying to get Grayson to move over. (sigh)

After all the classes finished doing their part (all the classes from the 3 year olds to the 1 year olds). The 4 year old class got to "graduate". They got to wear cap and gowns and walk across the stage and receive a "diploma." Is that not one of the most precious sights ever.

Here is John Derrick with his teacher Mrs. Rhonda. Mrs. Rhonda was the best teacher. She is such a sweet and kind and VERY patient teacher. I am so happy that he had her as a teacher this year. He has always had great teachers but this year was extra special with Mrs. Rhonda. In fact, John Derrick told me the other day that he didn't want to go to school next year because he wanted Mrs. Rhonda as a teacher and I should call Mrs. Anita and see if he could come back next year.

He is growing up too fast. He started at our Mother's Day Out program in 2006 in Mrs. Penny's one year old class. He was hardly talking at that time and now he is 5 years old, talking constantly and getting ready to go to kindergarten.

Rain, Rain Go Away

2010-05-04T05:30:00.000-07:00

This is not a lake. This is a field about 5 miles away from our house. On May 2-3, 2010, Middle Tennessee got rained upon. It rained for two days straight. We had over a foot of rain and that rain had to go somewhere and it was just not quick enough. Middle Tennessee was hit with the worse flood in at 30 years. It was bad. Interstates were flooded and people had to leave their cars in the middle of the road and we watched the television show these cars COMPLETELY underwater. It rained and rained and rained. Downtown Nashville was underwater also. The Cumberland River downtown crested at somewhere around 52 to 53 feet. The Opryland Hotel had 10 feet of water in the Delta and Cascade conservatory. The pictures reminded me of the movie Titanic when the ship was sinking. Opry Mills was island in the middle of the water. It was unreal to see the flooding.

The square in Lebanon flooded TWICE. It flooded Saturday night but by Sunday morning the water was gone. When we got back out to go to church Sunday night, we drove by and it was underwater again. I actually do remember the last time the Lebanon square had flooded and that was back in 1988.

This is the Town Creek where it runs under West Main Street in Lebanon. At this time the water was right at street level and it wouldn't be much longer before they were going to have to close off the street because of water.

Here is Maple Hill Road where the water had gone over the road and they had to rope it off.

This is Don Fox Park. This is the park that we go to to play or walk and meet friends.

I could go on and on with the pictures that I took on Sunday night. Monday morning we woke up to blue skies with white fluffy clouds and you would had never known what went on that weekend.

April Showers bring May Flowers

2010-04-25T13:05:00.000-07:00

Well, actually April hasn't brought many showers so there may not be many May flowers. Yesterday was a stormy rainy day and we did absolutely nothing except sit and watch TV. It was nice but by the end of the day, I was tired of doing nothing. The picture above was the top of the storms that hit last night. It was a pretty sight to see the sunlight over the top of the clouds.

April has been a busy month. Faith participated in her second Lads to Leaders/Leaderette Convention at the Opryland Hotel. We had a lot of fun. This year we got to stay at the hotel. Faith participated in puppets, oral Bible reading, Songs of Praise and Bible Bowl. She did so awesome at the Songs of Praise. She led a very hard song, Shine, Jesus, Shine but unfortunately didn't get to be a finalist. The only downside to the weekend was that Kevin threw his back out just a few days before and he hurt every time he moved. He had pain medicine and muscles relaxers but they put him to sleep so if he wasn't in pain, he was asleep in the hotel room. I had just had surgery the Friday before. I was recovered pretty well but I would get tired easy. So by the end of the weekend I was COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED. It took a whole week for me to feel like myself again.

John Derrick, the goofy little boy he is, spent the third weekend in a row with his grandmommy and granddaddy. He was happy to go but I could tell that he really wanted me instead. Next year, we might let him participate in Lads to Leaders. Who knows??

Easter Sunday was a beautiful day. The kids and I spent the afternoon at Grandmommy and Granddaddy's (Kevin stayed home and rested with his bad back). Marty and Penny were there with their kids and we had a yummy dinner and then the kids had an Easter egg hunt in the backyard. My mom thought she was being smart and she had enough eggs to let the kids find the same amount of eggs. Well, my daddy, Marty and I hid the eggs and of course we couldn't remember we hid them all so there are six or seven eggs still hidden in their backyard.

The kids had fun though and then they got to empty all their candy at the end.

After the cold winter that we had all this warm weather had been so nice. John Derrick has finally been able to get outside and really ride his "motorcycle" I actually thought he might get bored riding it around our small backyard but he hasn't. He just goes in circles and stops to get gas every once in a while.

Faith decided to get in on the fun also. She figured out how to tie the wagon on the back of the four wheeler and John Derrick loves to pull her around the yard.

Yes, April has been a nice month. It has been nice weather till now and this week it has been cool and rainy. Today has been the strangest weather. One minute it is pouring rain and hailing then the next minute it is sunny. But, it has still been nice.

Just one more month till school is for the summer and we are going to have a good summer this year!!

Because it is All About Faith!

2010-03-08T12:51:00.000-08:00

Faith has been a busy little girl for the past several weeks. She has been doing some amazing things and I am very proud of how she has done them.

On February 25, Faith participated in the annual Invention Convention held at MTSU. This is for 4th through 6th grade. The 4th graders in the EXTEND class at Faith's school were the ones who participated. She was on a team of four and the they invented a game called 2012. She was quite proud of what she did. Unfortunately her team did not win anything but she is already thinking about next year. Coles Ferry Elementary took 11 teams and 6 of them won a trophy or a ribbon.

On March 4th, Faith was in a school musical called Timeless Television Tunes. Two of the teachers at Coles Ferry have organized a production that is open to any 2nd through 4th grader that wants to participate. Faith did the musical in 2nd grade and this year. They sang television theme songs from the 60's, 70's and 80's. Faith specifically sang in the songs from Good Times and WKRP. They did a couple of movie songs and she danced to the Footloose song.

Last, we celebrated Faith's 10th birthday this past weekend. She turns 10 on March 10, 2010. I just can't believe she is growing up so fast. This year we had a Purple Penguin Party. She loves to play on a Disney website called Club Penguin. I am not sure of what it is all about but she has fun playing on it. Her penguin is purple which is her favorite color. So I made her a purple penguin cake. She wanted pizza for her party and we just carried on the "P" theme. We had pizza, popcorn, pasta salad, and Pepsi. It was a "p-erffic" party.

Looking for Spring

2010-03-08T12:23:00.000-08:00

I am frozen solid. I have been cold for too long. It has been a cold cold winter so far.

We got a good snow at the end of January. It snowed all day on a Friday and we got about 3-4 inches. School was closed for 4 days. Faith was sick and missed two additional days. We got to go sledding at Grandmommy and Granddaddy's house during this snow. This was the first time that the kids got to experience a real snow and sledding. Unfortunately for them, they didn't like the climbing the hill part of sledding and they didn't last as long as I would have liked. Kevin, my dad and I had a great time sledding down the hill.

It was cold all during the month of February. We had several more snow days although not enough snow to go sledding but it was too cold to go out and enjoy ourselves. I have spent every night during the month of February curled up under a blanket too cold to move. We need spring!!!

The Big Snow of 2010

2010-01-08T11:05:00.000-08:00

It was coming. The weatherman said it would be a big one. Schools were closed, stores were packed with people getting their bread, milk and eggs. The Tractor Supply Store ran out of sleds. We were all prepared to wake up on January 7, 2010 with a foot of snow on the ground.

Well actually he didn't predict a foot of snow. Just about 1-2 inches. They did close the schools BEFORE it snowed and people did rush to the store for milk and eggs. You can't call yourself a Southern unless you panic when snow is predicted. We woke up on January 7, 2010 with absolutely NO snow on the ground. It didn't start snowing till about 9:30 that morning and we got about 1 inch of snow. Just enough snow to make the kids excited enough to want to go out and play in the frigid cold. We had just enough snow to build a 3 inch pile of snow that we called a snowman. We were able to throw a few snow balls and make a snow angel in the road.

So we didn't get the big snow this time but there is still hope for one this year. The kids are really wanting to go sledding at Granddaddy and Grandmommy's house and maybe we will, maybe we will.

Another New Blog

2010-01-05T07:03:00.000-08:00

I have decided to try another blog. I think three blogs will be enough. I have really enjoyed blogging and reading the blogs of my friends and family. This blog, "The Waltons" is for bragging about my kids. My other blog is A Journey of Hope and Peace is the one that I chronicle my journey with breast cancer. I hope to end that blog soon as my journey comes to an end and I live cancer free.

My new blog is A Mom's Kitchen. It will be a recipe blog with tips to plan menus and grocery shopping lists. I am not that talented in the kitchen. I will never be a Martha Stewart but I enjoy cooking for my family and I want to share what I do. So if you are interested, check it out. You will find simple recipes that I cook for my family. None of the recipes will be original to me but recipes that my mom made, recipes from magazines and websites and friends. I will also try to credit the person that I got the recipe from and why this recipes works for my family.

The Widick Family

2009-12-30T12:23:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day has traditionally been spent with the Widick side of the family. Growing up, we would go and spend the day at my Grandma and Graddaddy's Widick's house. It was a time that I enjoyed very much because it was a day spent with my cousins and opening presents and eating. We would stay all day and have so much fun. We would play Bingo and win prizes. As the family got bigger, Grandma and Granddaddy's house got smaller and we moved around a bit. We eventually moved to my Aunt Mary Margaret and Uncle Lee's house and when Grandma and Granddaddy moved to Lebanon, we started having it at my Aunt Trisha and Uncle Reeds house.

This year we were at Reed and Trisha's house for Christmas. The whole family was there with the exception of Marty and Penny's family. Penny had just had surgery and there was no way she needed to get out and come into Lebanon when she needed to stay home and rest. We gather together to eat a yummy Christmas lunch of turkey and dressing and all the trimmings. My contribution every year is to bring my Grandmother Smith's macaroni and cheese casserole and I did and every bite was eaten. This year we did a Dirty Santa exchange among the adults and that was a lot of fun. This year, Kevin and I ended up with the "bottle" that has made its way back and forth between families over the year.

Before we ate dinner, we gathered together to bless the food with prayer and my aunt brought up something that I had always know but never thought about. Every person in that house including Marty and Penny are members of the Lord's church. There are 26 members of this family including the children. We all share a common belief and there is no tiptoeing around afraid to offend someone because they believe something different from you. There are 3 ministers of God's Word and there are deacons and an elder. We are all very different from each other but no matter we have the most important thing in common and that is our love for the Lord and his work. This is something that doesn't happen in all families but I am happy that I am part of this family.

Here is my Grandma and Granddaddy Widick. They are both in their eighties. Their health is not the best but they were able to be with us this year.

Here is Grandma and Granddaddy with their children. My dad, Joe Widick, is the oldest. Trisha is the middle child. She is married to Reed Thomas and they have two girls, Laura Beth and Kathryn. Mary Margaret is the youngest. She is married to Lee Whitfield and they have two boys, Drew and Jackson.
Here are the cousins unfortunately without Marty. From oldest to youngest it is me, Laura Beth, Lane, Kathryn, Drew and Jackson. Growing up, me and Lane and Laura Beth and Kathryn were very close. Whenever we were together we played. For the longest time, they lived in Nashville and we were in Lebanon. We only got together about once a month or so at our grandparents' house for Sunday dinner. I have wonderful memories of us playing together in their basement and in their backyard and not to mention the Christmases we spent together. Drew and Jackson came along when we were much older.

Here we are with our spouses. Laura Beth is married to Chad High and they have two children, Lawton and Carolina. Kathryn is married to Andrew Phillips and they have a little boy named Luke. Drew is a freshman in college and Jackson is a freshman in high school.John Derrick and Lawton had a lot of fun playing together once they warmed up to each other.

Faith had her DS with here and that attracted Lawton's attention and he spent some time watching her play her DS while we were doing Dirty Santa.

Here are the three "babies," Josie, Luke and Carolina. They were all born in 2008.

I wish we had gotten a picture of the whole family together because this is a special family.

A Very Merry Christmas

2009-12-29T07:23:00.000-08:00

We had a very merry Christmas this year in spite of everything that has gone on this year with my health. The time passed by way too quick, I feel like December just began and now it is over and it is one day till 2010.

Christmas Eve was spent at Grandmommy and Granddaddy's house.

Unfortunately Penny had thyroid surgery just two days before Christmas Eve and was only let out of the hospital on Christmas Eve so she had to stay at home and rest and enjoy some quiet. Marty was able to be there though and brought the kids, Emilynne, Nathaniel and Susannah.

It isn't Christmas unless all the cousins are together.

Lane and Kristen were able to join us for Christmas. They drove all the the way from Houston, TX to be with us.

They of course brought Josie. Isn't she adorable with all the bows in her head.

Kevin and I bought a fancy new camera as a Christmas present this year. We took a bunch of pictures and here are just a few of them. Here is Emilynne and Susannah by the Christmas tree.

We also got a picture of Susannah and John Derrick.

Here is Faith in her Santa's hat and Nathaniel.

Christmas morning is spent at our house opening presents. This year both Faith and John Derrick had matching pj's. They were so adorable. Santa always leaves a letter on the tree, telling the kids how good they have been over the year. This is Faith's favorite part. She reads the letter aloud to John Derrick. Santa also wraps the presents he leaves for the kids. There are no tags on the presents so he tells the kids which presents are theirs by the color of the wrapping paper.
Faith got a Nintendo DS for Christmas this year. She has been asking for one for months now and she finally got her wish.

John Derrick is too young for a DS but he got a Leapster and he has had a lot of fun playing the games that Santa brought him. Notice the look of concentration on his face and with his tongue sticking out.

The remaining part of Christmas day was spent at my aunt and uncle's house and I am going to have a separate blog about them. Kevin and I also went to the Titans' game with Lane and Kristen. It was cold and the Titans lost.

It was a good Christmas.

A Mountain Thanksgiving

2009-12-26T19:06:00.000-08:00

Well, it is December 26 and no better time to blog about Thanksgiving. I have been just a little busy and really haven't felt the urge to blog lately. But I will catch us up on what has been going on in the Walton family.

This year for Thanksgiving, we did something a little different and since it turned out to be really fun, we aim to make this a new tradition. We spent Thanksgiving with Kevin's sister and her family. We got a cabin in Seiverville, TN which is close to Gatlinburg and spent the Thanksgiving break with them. Joe and Jennifer live in Mooresville, NC and they have 4 girls, Lauren who is 14, Ashley and Allison who are 12 and Taylor who is 10. We always enjoy being with them. We go see them some but it is a 6-7 hour trip to Mooresville from our house and that can be a long trip. Our house is way too small to hold us all comfortably so they can't really come and see us. We decided to solve the problem by meeting at a midway point.

We stayed at the Oak Haven Resort and Spa in Seiverville, TN in cabin number 75. We got a 4 bedroom cabin. Kevin and Jennifer's mom (Memaw) flew in to spend Thanksgiving with us also. We got there on Tuesday night and Joe and Jennifer got there on Wednesday. The cabin was the perfect size for us because everyone had some kind of bed to sleep on instead of sleeping on the floor.

I will confess, I was very excited about this trip. Kevin and I had talked about doing this before but never did anything about it. Last year we drove to Baton Rouge for Thanksgiving and while we had a good time, we really wanted to just spend Thanksgiving with Joe and Jennifer and we did not want to drive a very long distance. Kevin and I reserved the cabin way back in August. I freely admit that I am a planner. When something big is going happen, I start making lists and planning on what to do. So back in August, I started planning what we were going to eat (not what we were going to do to entertain ourselves but what we were going to eat) I restrained myself from bugging Jennifer about food till the first of November but I had everything planned by mid September. I am so pathetic.

We decided to have a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Since there are certain foods that my family likes and there are certain foods that their family likes, I made half of the meal and they made the other half. We ended up with quite the feast with turkey and dressing and all the trimmings. I did disappoint myself with the turkey though. I bought 2 turkey breasts and I guess they got overdone because they were not the best.

We didn't plan on doing much while we were there. All the kids were having blast and I don't think they were bored at all. We did go into Gatlinburg on Friday afternoon and walked and saw the sights but mainly we stayed in the cabin. After our meal on Thursday, I said I would go walking with the girls and I did and oh my! Our cabin was on the top of a very steep hill. There was a walking path behind the cabins and we took the path down the hill. Now, I am older and right now not in good shape but I was up for the challenge. When we got to the bottom, Faith and Allie wanted to take the main road back up to the cabin and the rest just wanted to take the path back. The path was flat and then up and then flat and then up. The road was just up. Since I didn't think Faith and Allie needed to be by themselves, I went with them. Allie would have ran up the hill if it wasn't for me. I had to stop several times to catch my breath and almost didn't think I was going to make it but I did and I am proud of myself.

This the Cullen family. Joe and Jennifer, Lauren, Ashley, Allie and Taylor.

There was a hot tub and the cabin and we let the kids in for a little while. They thought they were special.

Taylor and Faith are both 4th graders and although they only get to see each other once or twice a year they are good friends. When we went to Gatlinburg, we parked our cars and took the trolley in. Which was a good thing because Gatlinburg was PACKED. The trolley driver said there were no parking spaces to be found.

Thanksgiving turned out perfect and I hope that this a new tradition for our families.

John Derrick is FIVE!!!!

2009-11-22T11:19:00.000-08:00

John Derrick is 5 years old!!!!! Wasn't he just a baby yesterday? Where has time gone? God has truely blessed me with a wonderful son.

I don't throw big birthday parties for my kids. I have a thing about birthday parties. I like to keep things simple and do something special for the kids. This year I let John Derrick have his best friend Cooper come and spend the night. They had so much fun. John Derrick was excited because this was his first time to have someone sleepover. Faith has had friends sleep over so he knew exactly what to do. We got out the air mattress and they put on their matching Batman pjs and watched a movie at bedtime.

I was going to take the boys to a bouncy place but John Derrick wanted to go bowling so I took them bowling. We were the only ones in the bowling alley that morning.

They had fun bowling but the video games caught their attention so after a few frames they wanted to play the video game. I made them finish the game and then they played the racing game.

This year Kevin picked out John Derrick's birthday present. We got him a Fisher Price Power Wheels. Since it has wheels, John Derrick loves it.

Here we are at my parent's house for our Thanksgiving dinner/birthday party.
John Derrick has really been watching Toy Story for the past couple of months so I made him a Toy Story birthday cake. I love making my kids birthday cakes. This one was fun because I used fondant for the first time.
Of course we can't forget the best big sister. See doesn't Faith looked thrilled to be there.

A Fabulous Fall

2009-11-02T07:02:00.000-08:00

October has came and went and what an amazing October it has been. It has been quite a rainy October with lots of overcast skies but the leaves on the trees have been beautiful. The colors are so bright and vivid. I just can't get enough of them. I just wish we had trees in our yard.

October has become the start of the holiday season for me. It is the time of the year, that I start pulling decorations out of the the attic and we start planning for the "big one".

The first big event of October is our family hayride. For the past 7 or 8 years, my parents will plan a hayride and bonfire for the family. My dad gathers branches in his yard and piles them on his bonfire rock in their backyard and starts a bonfire. My mom gets together all the makings for for a feast, hot dogs and chips, graham crackers, chocolate and "mar-moes" for s'mores. The kids have a fun roasting their hot dogs using Granddaddy's special roasting sticks that he made years ago. After we get our fill of hot dogs and s'mores, the real fun begins. Granddaddy fills the back of this pick up truck with hay and we all pile in the back and Granddaddy takes us on our "hayride" around Mann Road and Berea Church Road. Every year we wonder if we are going to fit in the back because the kids just keep getting bigger every years but we have so much fun.
Faith seriously contemplating cooking her hot dog.
John Derrick and his adorable goofy grin.

Roasting his "mar-moe". The one part of the of the bonfire he couldn't wait for.

Here we are gathered around the bonfire. I almost was not able to make it this year. I had spent most of the day sick in bed but I could not miss this day because it is so much fun. I stayed in bed and when it was time to go, I felt good enough to get dressed and go sit and I was so glad I was able to.

Here is the pick up truck with the kids in the back.

The weekend before Halloween, we had a Family Fall Festival at the church. Our friends, Laura and Jeremy along with their little boy, Bradley came to visit us that weekend. We decorated our car with a 70's Disco theme. We had bright streamers, strobe lights and a disco ball. We even had disco music playing in the background. It was a lot of fun especially watching the kids come up to the car. They would just stare at the lights and wouldn't even think about getting candy.

Even Kevin got in on the fun by wearing an afro wig and a Pink Floyd t-shirt.

The kids loved being there and dressed up in their Halloween costumes.

One of our favorite things to do at Halloween is carving the pumpkins. We spent a fun evening cleaning out the pumpkins and making faces on the pumpkins.

Faith loves to pull out the "pumpkin guts" We saved the seeds and roasted them the next day. Yum!

John Derrick was not very adventurous this year and wouldn't stick his hands in the pumpkin. He did use a spoon but I did most of the work.

Faith's pumpkin was a cat on a broom.

John Derrick had a scary face pumpkin.

This year I made a new decoration for our yard. I found this idea in the Family Fun magazine. They are called "Ring around the Ghosties" On Halloween night, Kevin put a strobe light in the middle and they looked very "scary".

Since our neighborhood is a good place to trick or treat, I try to have a family Halloween party at our house. Marty and Penny and the kids come over and so to Grandmommy and Granddaddy. This year Grandmommy made a big pot of chili and brought it over for us to enjoy. I made the sweet treats along with John Derrick's help. He loves to bake.

These are the cookies that I made for Halloween. I also made some for Faith's Halloween party at school.

This year Faith was a gypsy. She decided she was too old to be a fairy this year and wanted to be something different. I thought that was great fun especially when she decided to be a gypsy. The skirt that she is wearing was my skirt from when I was her age. I found a shirt at the Goodwill store. It was the perfect shirt except that it was pink and the skirt was red but when we paired it with some of my scarves, it looked great. John Derrick of course wanted to be Batman again this year. I bought his costume. He was so cute, the costume was a little too big and his "muscles" kept riding up.

The kids of course had a great time trick or treating in the neighborhood. John Derrick is a bit lazy and he wanted to quit after we went around the block. So we brought him back to the house while Faith kept going with her cousins. I don't think John Derrick missed a thing. He had more fun giving out the candy to the kids.

So now we have way too much candy at the house. I'll leave it out for about a week and what is left over, I will probably throw away or put up in the freezer for treat through out the year.

It is November and a busy month is coming and it is going to be fun!!

Family Movie Night

2009-08-22T07:42:00.000-07:00

I am not a junk food fanatic. Neither am I a health food nut. I have too many other things to worry about without having to worry about what the label says. I don't buy organic foods because it is too expensive. I don't like buying that many prepared foods because they are expensive. I like buying ingredients and cooking meals. I also do not deep fry foods because deep frying is so messy and I really like quick clean ups after I eat. I personally like a variety of vegetables and fruits but certain members of my family thinks that the only vegetables that should be eaten are corn, green beans and potatoes and the occasional bite of broccoli (and only if it is covered with cheese).

I said all that so I wouldn't feel so bad about our junk food binge this weekend (and most weekends). About a year or so ago, I declared that Friday nights are family nights. We actually don't have that hectic of a schedule compared to some but Kevin travels for his job one night a week and week nights have homework, baths and bedtime schedules. On Friday night, I plan a easy meal and it is usually pizza. Sometimes I will cook something but it might be pigs in blankety and rotel dip, stromboli or some other kind of finger food. We have a Netflix account and we get a family friendly movie and watch the movie while we eat our dinner. That is our family movie night. It is my favorite night of the week.

We have been a little distracted for the past few weekends so we haven't had a Family Movie Night in awhile. I was happy that this Friday night was free of distractions so I planned a good old fashion junk food night. I bought a pizza AND cheese bread from Papa Murphey's. I love Papa Murphey's pizza. You buy the pizza and you have to cook it at home. The pizza is delicious and very affordable. Much cheaper then most of the bigger pizza chains and you get the eat the pizza hot out of the oven.

Our movie was the 1975 Disney classic Escape to Witch Mountain. I wasn't sure if the kids would enjoy the movie but I wanted to watch it before we watch the recent release of Race to Witch Mountain. The acting was not very good and the special effects were pretty bad but we loved the movie. The kids watched the whole thing and we had some good laughs. The next movie on our Netflix list is the 1978 Return From Witch Mountain and we are looking forward to seeing it.

This morning I had to continue our junk food binge. I woke up way too early and really wanted some donuts. When Faith woke up at 7:30, we got dressed quickly and quietly and snuck out and bought Dunkin Donuts and some chocolate milk (which we did bring home for all of us to enjoy). So our Saturday morning started out with yummy donuts which are definitely NOT good for your waistline.

It is a beautiful day for the month of August. The temperature is suppose to stay in the 80's today. This evening we are getting together with the rest of the family to celebrate Grandmommy's birthday. We will be eating at Wasabi Hibatchi Grilll (more yummy food that I will eat too much of) and then we will go back to their house for cake and ice cream (Publix's cake that is too good).

Now, I need to get up and get dressed and go enjoy this beautiful Saturday!!!!!

In the Good Old Summertime

2009-08-03T08:15:00.000-07:00

What a summer! It is the first day of school today and Faith started FOURTH Grade!!!! She is in Mrs. Christian's class this year. She had been originally assigned to another teacher but when we got to school this morning, she had been moved to another class. I think she will be okay with this because she had wanted Mrs. Christian in the first place. I hope it didn't make her too nervous to be expecting one teacher and end up with another teacher. Did I mention she was in FOURTH grade. It was just yesterday that she went to kindergarten, see...
This will be her last year at Coles Ferry Elementary. Next year she will go to Castle Heights Upper Elementary but John Derrick will start Kindergarten at Coles Ferry. I am already getting weepy eyed about John Derrick going to school. Kids just grow up way too fast. I miss my babies. I am already forgetting what it was like to hold them in my arms. Kevin and I are done having babies so I have to be content to watch my beautiful children grow and mature and try to enjoy every moment that I can.

Like I said, this has been a crazy summer. Summer break has always had a wild effect on the kids. I have always tried to keep the kids busy so we are not sitting around watching TV all summer long. We would do the library summer reading program, go swimming, go to the movies, do VBS, and try to go on a picnic. It always seemed so chaotic and when school would start there would be a since of peace for a few weeks while Faith settled into a school routine and John Derrick would enjoy a few weeks of doing nothing before he started back to Mother's Day Out.

This summer had the same wild effect on the kids except we did not do much this summer. We only made it to the library a few times this summer. I only went swimming once with the kids. We didn't get to see one free movie and the kids went to VBS but I didn't help this year. I spent most of my summer recovering from two different surgeries. The kids did get to spend a lot of time with Grandmommy and Granddaddy and several different babysitters while I went to doctor's appointments. I did have a lot of good feeling days this summer but I just didn't try to do anything and unfortantly the kids watched a lot of TV and played on the computer most of the time. I think I slept in almost every single days except those days that I went to the doctor. There were days that I would wake up at would wake up at 8:30 in the morning, feed the kids breakfast, waste the WHOLE morning doing nothing, take a shower around 10:30, and then feed the kids lunch just to sit around and do nothing some more. What a waste of time. Poor kids, I was beginning to think that they liked when I went to the doctor just so they could go somewhere.

Well, we did do a couple of things this summer. We went to the beach. John Derrick got to sleep over at a friend's house for the first time. Faith got to sleep over a few times at friend's house. We went to the lake for the fourth of July. We went to a Nashville Sounds Game for Kevin's Father's Day present. We took a Saturday and discovered a place in Kentucky called Kentucky Down Under. We got to feed exotic birds and pet a kangeroo. It was a really neat place and the kids had a lot of fun. I took the kids one day to the Discovery Museum in Murfreesboro just to get out of the house for the day. So while we wasted most of summer doing nothing, we did do a few fun things. Next summer will be different, that is a promise.
Pe.tting one of the kangeroos at Kentucky Down Under. This is a male kangeroo. We saw a mommy kangeroo with a baby in her pouch. I was not able to get a picture of her but it was so neat to see.
The picture of Kevin and I that Faith took.
Kevin and John Derrick feeding a bird at Kentucky Down Under.

Faith making a bowl out of cloth and glue at the Discovery Museum.
John Derrick and his tongue sticking out. He was really concentrating at what he was doing at the Discovery Museum.
This was John Derrick's favorite thing at the Discovery Museum. He could change the tires and muffler and add "fluids" to the car. His tongue was stuck out most of the time while he was "working" on the car.
Although the Discovery Museum is geared toward slightly younger kids, Faith had a lot of fun. I am glad that she doesn't think she is "too cool" for things like this. It helps keep her little just a little longer.

Buy Me Some Peanuts and Cracker Jacks...

2009-06-28T11:41:00.000-07:00

Father's Day snuck up on me this year. I was not able to get out and go shopping and I just did not have to energy to think of something. This sounds horrible but Kevin understood and did not expect anything for Father's Day. I was not going to let that happen. I wanted to do something special for Kevin but like I said I just could not think of anything.

The week before Father's Day, Kevin was out of town and I asked the kids what they wanted to get Daddy. Faith came up with the best idea. She suggested going to a baseball game. She really meant to go see a Chicago Cubs game. Well, Chicago was a little too far away and Atlanta had already played Chicago so we could not go there. So we decided to go to a Nashville Sounds game. The last time we went to a Sounds game was back in 2005 when Faith was 5 years old and John Derrick was a baby in fact, he did not even go to the game.

We went to the game and it was HOT but exciting. The Sounds played Oklahoma City. We won 11 to 3. We ate all the junk food that you are suppose to eat at baseball games like hot dogs, peanuts, cotton candy and Cokes. After the games, there were fireworks and they allowed kids to come out and run the bases. Both Faith and John Derrick ran. John Derrick was too funny because his shorts were a little big in the waist and he was running hard and hitching up his shorts at the same time.

John Derrick was determined to have cotton candy at the game. We walked in and that was all he wanted. He kept asking when the cotton candy man was going to get there. Finally the man showed up and he got his cotton candy. Notice his sweaty hair. It was very hot and humid at the game.
Here's Faith when she was 5 years old eating cotton candy at her first Nashville Sounds game. Below is Faith this time at age 9 eating her cotton candy. Boy she has grown up so much.

Prayer Request

2009-06-10T12:42:00.000-07:00

Please keep my cousin Laura Beth's little girl, Carolina in your prayers. She is being treated for Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) which is a bleeding condition in which the blood doesn’t clot as it should.

You can read about Carolina on Laura Beth's Blog, high on life

A Funny Quote

2009-06-04T07:48:00.000-07:00

I just had to share something John Derrick said to me this morning. He can say some of the funniest things. This morning he came to me and told me, "I love tomorrow. Right now it is today and not tomorrow."

He told me that because he is going through the "I don't wanna take a bath" phase. We have been completely off routine since I have not been able to do much and he is taking full advantage of that. Last night all of us were completely exhausted. The kids had been away all day playing with a friend, I had visitors most of the afternoon, and I found out that I would need more surgery so we were completely drained. When he started fussing about taking a bath, we gave in and told him that he would have to take a bath tomorrow. That cheered him up and he was fine.

Now he is going to convince us that he can wait to tomorrow to take a bath instead of today...

A Beach Vacation!!

2009-05-25T19:14:00.001-07:00

We went on a mini vacation to Fort Walton Beach this Memorial Day Weekend. We had to get away before our summer got messed up by my surgery. We did a little internet surfing and found a condo on Okaloosa Island at Fort Walton Beach. The kids absolutely had a wonderful time. We got there on Friday afternoon and was able to spend a little time on the beach. Saturday morning, we woke up to a thunderstorm. That was a little disappointing but by lunch it had stopped raining and we were able to get out and play. It was very cloudy and windy but that didn't stop us from having fun. Sunday was a nice sunny day and we had a nice afternoon on the beach and that evening we took a walk down the beach. Of course on Monday morning when we had to leave, it was the perfect day to be at the beach. But, we will hopefully return next year and stay longer.
Starting a sandcastle and not finishing the sandcastle. The water is much more exciting.
John Derrick thinking that his water wings would help in the ocean.

I have a lot more pictures of our vacation but they are on our new video camera and since it is late and I don't feel like taking the time to figure out how to put them on the camera. So once that gets done, I can post those pictures.

An Indoor Picnic

2009-05-01T13:43:00.000-07:00

The kids and I were going to meet a friend at the park today for a picnic except it decided to rain so we had to stay at home. The house was a complete mess anyway so I was glad for an excuse to stay inside and clean up. The kids were a little disappointed that we did not get to have a picnic so I promised them an indoor picnic if they helped me clean up the house. The more they helped clean up, the sooner we could have the picnic. Well, kids are kids and I ended up doing most of the work so our picnic was delayed.

When everything was picked up, I told the kids to pick the spot for our picnic. I told them they could go anywhere in the house except the bathrooms (that would just be a little gross). We eat in the living room quite a bit (I know, bad mama for eating in the living room but you have to have one bad habit) so Faith picked my bed. I told her to get a blanket and cover the bed while I fixed lunch. I packed my new picnic basket that I got from one of my moms from Mother's Day Out. We ate lunch on my bed while looking out the window as the rain came down. That was neat to do. We had the blinds open and it was easy to pretend that we were outside and watching the rain was relaxing. We might have to have an indoor picnic again.

My Other Blog

2009-04-30T15:05:00.000-07:00

For anyone who is reading this and does not know, I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer on Monday, April 27. I have a long road ahead of me but it is one I will go on to fight this disease. I will be a survivor.

I started a new blog for this journey I will be taking. You can find is here at http://ajourneyofhopeandpeace.blogspot.com .

I hope everyone is having a blessed day.

Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes

2009-04-15T10:46:00.000-07:00

This year Faith got to participate in Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes for the first time. I have heard of Lads to Leaders for a long time but I have never had the chance to experience it. I must say it was a great weekend and I am really looking forward to it next year.

This is the first time in about 11 years that Maple Hill has participated in Lads to Leaders so they decided to ease the kids in gradually just so they would know what it was like. Faith particpated in Oral Bible reading, Bible Bowl and Songs of Praise. I could not believe how wonderful a job she did on each event. She read Matthew 5:1-14 in such a clear beautiful voice. I am not sure how well she did at Bible Bowl because I was sitting too far back to see her answers. The Songs of Praise which was a competitive event was amazing. She led "Glorify thy Name". She stood up there and smiled and led that song so perfectly. She unfortunately did not make it as a finalist, but I really think she should have. She was a bit disappointed but there is always next year. Next year we are going to have puppet teams and she is excited about that. Maple Hill was well represented this year and it is just going to get better and the kids get older.

One thing that I think is going to great about Lads to Leaders is the closeness it is going to bring to the kids as they are growing up. This year only 3rd-6th grade participated and there were only about 15 kids. These kids are the future of the Maple Hill youth group and they are getting to share a special time together that they will remember for a long time.
The third grade girls after the Oral Bible reading. Faith, Anna-Cate and Callie

Mrs. Danielle and some of the kids at the Awards Ceremomy.

Surprise, it's a puppy!

2009-04-03T09:18:00.000-07:00

Meet the newest addition to the Walton family. This is "Prince Harry the Charming One". He is an 8 week old Yorkie and our new puppy.

Since losing Brutus, I had no interest in getting another dog, but the kids really wanted a puppy to call their own. They had been trying to convince me to get a puppy since last fall. We would talk about it and I kept telling them I just wasn't ready for another dog. Kevin was all for a dog and would have let Santa bring them a puppy. I had to remind him that we would have to housebreak a puppy, and I didn't think standing outside in the dead of winter waiting for the dog to do his business was such a good idea.

We found out that Kevin's sister-in-law's Yorkie was going to have puppies. We gave Marsha a call and we offered to buy one of her puppies. She told us that we could have one. That was such a generous offer because buying a puppy can be expensive. On February 16, Annabelle had 3 little boy puppies and all we had to do was wait till they got old enough to be away from mama.

We had planned on going to get the puppy this weekend. We would have to go to Little Rock to get him. We have so busy on the weekends for the past month, I was not excited to go. Kevin had to go Memphis this week for work and he made time to go to get the puppy on Wednesday, April 1. It wasn't easy to do this because he still had to go other places this week but he did it anyway. He agreed that he didn't want to go anywhere this weekend either. I didn't tell the kids that Daddy was bringing home the puppy. I did let Faith know I had a secret and it about drove her crazy because I wouldn't tell her. Kevin got home about 10:00 on Wednesday night and Faith was still awake in her room so we let come meet Prince Harry. She was so excited.
John Derrick was asleep so we didn't wake him. John Derrick was happy about the puppy the next morning.

Prince Harry is very sweet. He really likes the kids. The kids are quite funny about him. Faith is suppose to take him out when she is at home. She didn't quite understand that she would have to actually take him outside. All we had to do was open the door and let Brutus out. She tried that with Prince Harry and he just sat on the step wondering what to do. I had to tell her exactly what to do and she wasn't too sure about that. She also has to clean up his accidents, and she really thinks that is gross. John Derrick kept carrying his crate around trying to get him to go inside.

So you are probably wondering about his name. Prince Harry the Charming One, what a name for a dog. I wanted him to have a regal type name. I wanted to just call him Prince Charming. Faith thought of the name Harry. I liked that name but I had to add "Prince" to the beginning. Since I figured he would charm himself into out lives, I also added "the Charming One" to the end. John Derrick wanted to call him Batman and Robin, Elmo and Mickey. He would argue with you about his name. So sometimes is might be Prince Harry, Batman and Robin, Elmo, Mickey the Charming one but we'll just call him Prince Harry for short.

The Flu bug hits

2009-03-18T07:18:00.000-07:00

It is Spring Break. Two weeks of not getting up and fixing breakfast and lunches and rushing Faith off to school. Two weeks of no homework and spelling tests. Right now it is a beautiful morning and promising to be a nice day. BUT, Faith has the flu (or at least she is getting over it) and we are stuck here at home.

Faith woke up Sunday morning and requested breakfast but didn't eat much. She put on her clothes for church and then came and laid back down on the couch. She told me that she did not feel good. I went and felt her forehead and it was burning up. I took her temperature and it was 101.5. So, she put on her pajamas, took some Tylenol and stayed home from church with her daddy. Monday, Kevin took her to the doctor and found out that she had the flu. She had the flu strain B which the flu shot that John Derrick took was useless against. The doctor told Kevin that we would all probably get it.

We are a fairly healthy family. We get a cold or two a year. Faith has only had strept throat once and several ear infections as a baby. Never enough to have to have tubes or anything. John Derrick has had maybe two ear infections in his 4 years of life. He hardly ever gets sick. NOBODY has ever had the flu at our house till now. I am still hoping that the rest of us will not get it and Faith gets completely over it soon. So if anyone of us was to get sick, lets get sick now and not next week when we are planning on going to the mountains.

My Brave Girl

2009-03-14T13:51:00.001-07:00

Faith decided to get her ears pierced for her birthday this year. I was a little surprised that she wanted to because she has a VERY low tolerance for pain. We had talked about it around Christmas and I told her that she needed to wait till her birthday. When it got close to her birthday she told me that it sounded too scary and that she would wait and I was fine with that and nothing more was said. On the day after her birthday, Kevin went and picked her up from school and he was going to take her on a few errands before they came home. He called me and said that Faith wanted to get her ears pierced and he was going to take her. First, I was a little shocked to hear that Faith was ready for her ears being pierced. Second, I told him that she couldn't do it without me. He didn't quite understand why he just couldn't just take her himself. Well, I am her mother and I know a little bit more about jewelry then he does and this was a big step for her and I had to be there.

I had to get ready so Kevin took her to Wal Mart where he needed to get something and stopped in the jewelry department to let Faith find out what they did. They explained everything and then they came and got me and John Derrick and it was off to Wal Mart. I left my camera at home, luckily Kevin had his phone with him. The ladies there were so nice to us. They both stopped what they were doing and gave their complete attention to Faith. There were several customers waiting, but Faith was the only one they were concerned about. Faith picked out her studs and chose her birthstone which is the Aquamarine. She got both ears done at the same time and was very brave and didn't yell or start crying. She did try to jump up but I was holding her hands.

You can't see the earrings in this picture but note the happy face. She was so proud of those earrings. That night when we got to church for Wednesday night services she was showing everybody her earrings. It was so cute. She does look a little bit more grown up but she is still as beautiful as ever.

A House Full of New Stuff

2009-03-10T18:10:00.000-07:00

I finally got my Christmas present!! My new table and chairs. I am sooooo happy. My old table was my grandmother's and had to be at least 50 years old. It only had 4 chairs and 2 of the chairs were falling apart. The weaving in the seats was coming undone and there were bigs holes in the seats. John Derrick had to sit in a booster seat so he wouldn't fall through and Faith just had to tough it out. It was quite embarrassing when we had company over.

Kevin and I was able to get a Friday night away from the kids when we got the table and chairs. I had found the table and chairs that I wanted at Ikea in Atlanta. So we dropped the kiddiwinks off at Grandmommy's and Granddaddy's on Friday night, and went off to Atlanta. It was a great weekend. Since we didn't have the kiddies, we waited till we got to Atlanta that night to eat. I used Kevin's TomTom and found out there was a Cheesecake Factory close to our hotel. I had been craving cheesecake for about a week and there was no question about where we were going to eat. It was 8:00 on Friday night when we got there, and I thought there wouldn't be too long of a wait. When we walked in, it was packed. Kevin went up and requested a table for two. The man told him to go and wait for our name to be called. Kevin asked if we needed a pager, but since it was just the two of us, there was no wait. We also got a booth which was really nice. Dinner was delicious and the cheesecake was "to die for." After we ate, we went on to the hotel. Kevin always stays at Holiday Inns when he travels and he has platinum status on his Priority club. He gets upgrades on his rooms when available and tonight was one of those times. We were upgraded to a suite so the room was HUGE with it's own kitchen. Too bad we were only staying for one night.

Saturday morning, we got up and went to Target first and then off to Ikea. If you have never been to an Ikea store, I suggest you go whenever you are near one. It is such a neat store and it is fun to just go and look. Since we don't get to come to Atlanta often without kids, we took advantage of the time and our income tax money and went SHOPPING! We got a table and six chairs, a bookcase for the living room, a bookcase for John Derrick's room, three different wall shelves, and assorted odds and ends for the kitchen. We even came way under budget which just made the weekend even better. You may be wondering how we got all this home. First, all the furniture is put it together yourself so it was all flat and we also borrowed my dad's truck.

It was a wonderful weekend and I hope we can do it again sometime soon. My house is getting full but it is starting to feel real cozy. I love my table and the bookcase in the living room. I'll have to take pictures soon.

I have a 9 year old!!

2009-03-10T17:58:00.000-07:00

Exactly 9 years ago today, my life changed completely by the birth of my daughter. I can hardly believe that she is already 9 years old, just one more year before she is in double digits. Faith is the most precious girl, right now she is playing on the computer with John Derrick. He couldn't ask for a better big sister. She has grown up a lot this past year but still she is little girl at heart. Her favorite color is purple, her favorite food is spaghetti (and pizza and "grandmommy's chili"), she loves fairies and Webkinz (she has 12 now). Her best friend is Charrienne and Charrienne is a good choice for a friend. She likes to play on the computer, play Wii and watch Spongebob on TV. Don't worry she is active also. Now that the weather is warm, she and John Derrick like to go out the backyard on play on the swingset and catch bugs. She is in third grade and her teacher is Mrs. Reginia Wright, and she is doing great in school this year. She even won the Cougar Award. She is going to participate in Lads to Leaders and Leaderettes this year. She is going to do scipture reading, Bible bowl and songs of praise and I am very excited for her.

This is Faith's birthday cake that I made for her this year. She wanted a Webkinz birthday party so I made a picture of one of her Webkinz. This is Hoppy the frog (she had to pick out the one with the most colors). We had her birthday party of March 7 and it was just family. It was a beautiful day outside compared to last year when it had snowed the night before. She requested "grandmommy's chili" for her birthday lunch and even though it was warm outside, it tasted good and it is a simple meal to make because it can be cooked in a crock pot.

Lane and Kristen are moving to Houston, TX in a few weeks so Mom and Dad wanted some family pictures taken before they moved away. This is the picture of Faith and John Derrick. I absolutely love it. I haven't had their pictures taken together in a long time so I really appreciate this picture. Aren't they so beautiful.

A New Challenge

2009-02-13T11:23:00.000-08:00

Yesterday while I was working at Mother's Day Out, Kevin called me. He sounds a little serious and tells me that he needs to tell me something. My heart starts to beat a little faster and all sorts of things start going through my head. He tells me that Wurzburg is officially going to close the Nashville branch. He knew that this may happen because there had been talk of it at the last meeting, but he didn't know what that would mean to him. He did know that so his job was safe. The higher ups like him and need him. He just didn't know where he was going to work.

A little background on how Kevin came to work for Wurzburg and in Nashville. Wurzburg is a packaging company and is based out of Memphis. There were branch offices in the southeast such as Nashville, Frankfort, Birmingham, and Huntsville to name a few. Technically Kevin works for Artcraft. Artcraft is the labeling division of Wurzburg. At one time, Artcraft was a wholly owned subsidary of Wurzburg, but I am not sure anymore because there have been so many changes over the past few years.

Right before Kevin and I got married, Kevin was working for a landscaper friend of his. He was doing grunt work and the pay wasn't very promising, but it was a job. One day, his sister-in-law was at her work, and they were having copier problems. A copier tech came out to look at the copier. While he was there, he asked if she knew anyone who was good at repairing things because they needed some new techs. Well, Marsha knew that Kevin was good at things like that and got some information about the company and passed it on to Kevin. Kevin pursued the job and was hired on about a month before we got married. That was wonderful blessing for us. Kevin worked for Ikon Office Solutions for about a year. It was a job, and he was good at it. Like most jobs there were some politics involved and he was getting a little discouraged. One day he was sent to Artcraft to fix their copier. While he was there, the Service manager came in and started talking to him. Larry mentioned they were needing a new service tech and told him to give him a call if he was interested. It wasn't long before Kevin was interested and hoping for the best, he quit his job at Ikon hoping that Artcraft would hire him. Thankfully, Artcraft did hire him.

Kevin started out as a service technician at Artcraft in 1997. He had to learn how to repair industrial label printers and label applicators. Kevin a natural at things like that so it didn't take him long. Kevin worked with one other technician named Kim. Larry was the Service Manager and Stuart was a sales manager who was also over the service department. Kevin did his job and even got me a job at Artcraft. I started out as a receptionist and worked my way into Customer Service. He became Label-aire certified and learned a lot about the labeling process.

In 2002, Wurzburg started making changes. One of the things that appealed to Kevin and this job was the branch office in Nashville. He mentioned that he would like to work in Nashville and he was promised that one day he would. As the years went by, we figured it wouldn't happen but it did. Stuart worked it out to have an Artcraft service technician in the Nashville office and hinted around that there might be opportunities to "climb the corporate ladder." In March of that year, we packed up our stuff and brought our daughter to Nashville.

Kevin did the same thing in Nashville as he did in Memphis. Larry no longer worked for Artcraft and Kim was now over Kevin. Kevin does his job well and soon he was getting to know the salesmen in Nashville and would go with them on sales calls. The salesmen would use his knowledge of labeling printing and applicators and he helped sell some equipment. The salesmen knew they could depend on him. As a few years went by, people he worked with left and new people were hired. Kevin's job started to change and his bosses changed and his pay changed. He has had several people over him. Just in the past year and a half, he has had four different bosses. Two of which were fired, and one realized that someone else could be over him and now Stuart is back as his boss and Kevin is pleased with that.

I don't know exactly what Kevin title is now but I do know what he does. He will work with the sales team to sell industial packaging equipment mainly label printers and applicators and a few other things. He travels for his job and he mainly goes around the Southeast United States but he has been to Mexico and California and Chicago. He makes day trips or overnight stays or even week long trips. He might go somewhere every week for a month and then he will be home for a month. He has been travelling for his job since he started so I am use to it. I do miss him when he is gone and I always pray for his safety and God has always brought him home safely.

So now to our new challenge. The Nashville branch office is closing. Wurzburg realized that everything could ship out of Memphis via Averitt truckline and get to the customers the next day. Having so many branch offices was not necessary and to hopefully save money, they are closing several of the branch warehouses. The salesman will continue selling in their territories, using thier homes as base. Even two of the customer service reps will have jobs but just working from home. The higher ups came to Stuart with blueprints of the Memphis office and asked him where he wanted Kevin to be. My biggest fear was about to come true. We were going to have to move back to Memphis. I would move if I had to but I didn't want to. Stuart looked at them and told them that he wanted Kevin to stay in Nashville. He is in a good location and it has been working out for years so why change a good thing. In about 60 to 90 days, Kevin will be working from home. The challenge is that we don't have a big house. We've talked about it and have several ideas. What will probably happen is that our bedroom will contain his office. It isn't ideal but it is the most practical solution right now. We will just have to make a few changes and live with it for a while. Hopefully very soon, maybe we can buy a bigger house with a space to make an office just for him.

In today's economy, I am so thankful that Kevin has a job. It is scary out there right now with people losing jobs and losing their homes and families being torn apart because of financial difficulties. I would have moved to Memphis if they told Kevin that he had to work there. I am so grateful that Stuart knows Kevin and trusts him enough to keep him here. I love living in Lebanon and not because it is where I am from but becuase it is a great place to live. The kids are happy here. Faith loves her school and John Derrick has granddaddy close by. Our church home is wonderful and we have found where we belong. So I am willing to put up with close quarters for a while if it means that we stay here.

Happiness is....

2009-02-10T14:01:00.000-08:00

Today I woke up and started to think of happy thoughts. I thought that it might be fun to write down things that make me smile.

Happiness is...

1. Watching my kids play together.

2. Listening to John Derrick tell me something especially when he gets very animated with his hands.

3. Faith doing well in school.

4. Having the toys put away where they belong

5. When John Derrick takes a nap

6. Taking a car trip and talking with Kevin

7. Trying a new recipe and it turns out to be a keeper

8. Listening to John Derrick laugh at a funny movie

9. Watching new TV shows

10. Bedtime for the kids

11. Cool sheets on a warm summer day

12. Warm flannel sheets on a cold winter day

13. Christmas morning

14. Watching TV with Kevin

15. New clothes

16. Finding cash that I forgot I had

17. Finding old friends on Facebook

18. Reading a good book

19. Re-reading my favorite books

21. Watching a good movie

22. Going to the lake

23. Making homemade cookies

24. The opening song in the movie Cars

25. Having the windows open on a beautiful day

26. Payday

27. A cake or brownies baking in the oven

28. Having a good friend

29. Seasons changing

30. A hot shower

31. A good night sleep

32. Watching John Derrick play with his best friend

33. Chocolate

34. Donuts

35. Christmas lights

36. Going out with Kevin

37. Remembering some of the fun things that I did in high school and college

38. Watching a favorite movie

39. When Faith is excited about something at school

40. Knowing that God is always in control

41. Knowing that God has always answered my prayers to bring Kevin home safely when he goes out of town.

42. Remembering how God answered prayers

43. Remembering how God answers prayers differently from the way I thought they should be answered

44. Seeing God's blessings in my two children

45. Seeing God's amazing creation

46. Knowing God is part of my life and how horrible it would be for Him not to be part of my life

47. Reading about the heros in the Bible

48. Having parents who raised me to know God

49. Having two beautiful children

50. Being married to my best friend, Kevin

25 Random Things about me

2009-01-30T20:10:00.000-08:00

1. I was part of the first kindergarten class at Friendship Christian. There were 11 of us in the class, 9 girls and 2 boys.

2. I went to Friendship from kindergarten to 12 grade. There were 6 girls left from that first kindergarten class. So we were the first to go completly through Friendship.

3. I was in Jr. high chorus and Sr. high chorus at Friendship. I never thought about being in chorus before Jr. high but I decided on the first day of 7th grade that it sounded like fun and joined. I loved every minute of it.

4. I went to Freed Hardeman and didn't join the chorus because I didn't know how to. About 4 weeks into my freshman year, I met some people in the chorus and they encouraged me to call Doc Rhodes so I did and I was in chorus for 2 1/2 years.

5. At Freed Hardeman, I lived in 3 different dorms (almost 4). I lived in Bradfield, Dixion and Hall Rolland. I was originally assign to Porter Terry but the day I moved in, they couldn't find my info but I soon found out that I was going to live in Bradfield.

6. My husband is 2 years younger then I am.

7. I met Kevin at Freed. It was my junior year. I had gone up to the radio station with my friend Betty and Kevin came down the hall. I had never met him before and I wondered why. I found out later that he was a freshman.

8. I learned how to ride a bike in about 5 minutes when I was about 6 or 7. Someone gave us a bike, I got on and my dad gave me a push and I started peddling and did not fall down.

9. I have never played any organized sports and I don't regret it.

10. The church that I went to as a teenager was a small country church where my dad preached. On Sunday morning we were lucky to have 35 people in attendance. There was one other teenager and she was my best friend and we were the "youth group"

11. Since I didn't have real youth group at church, I attended functions at College Street church of Christ with another one of my friends.

12. I have spent the night in a cave. I went with the group from College Street to Cumberland Caverns and we went on one of the tours that takes you through deeper parts of the cave with a lot of tight squeezes. After the tour we were able to spend the night in the cave. It was a lot of fun.

13. My father-in-law passed away 11 days before Kevin and I got married.

14. I truely wish that my father-in-law was alive to meet my children. He would have loved both of them.

15. The first house that Kevin and I bought was in Marion, AR. It was 867 square feet with 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. It cost us $54,000.

16. I miss that house.

17. I think that Kevin is the smartest person that I know. He is always on top of current events and I can ask him anything and he will give me an answer that I trust. He can also fix just about anything. When someone comes to him with something that they need help with and he can do what they need, I am so proud.

18. I LOVE to read. The mornings that I am home, I am usually reading a book while I am drinking my coffee and John Derrick is watching cartoons.

19. My favorite author is Laura Ingalls Wilders. I usually read through the whole set of Little House books about once a year. I also try to find biographies to read about her. She is a fascinating person. Her books, although fiction, are about her and how life was back in the 1860-70's

20. My biggest fear right now is not that Kevin will lose his job because of the economy but that the company that he works for will make him move back to Memphis.

21. I wish I could be an children's book author. I think it would be a lot of fun but I can't think of anything to write about.

22. I wish I could be more organized and I try really hard to be but the harder I try the more unorganized everything gets.

23. I think the Payton Mannings MasterCard reward point commercial is so funny. I laugh everytime that I see it.

24. I sometimes wish that the news was animated because then I think the kids would let me watch the news occasionally.

25. I think that my children are beautiful. I still can't believe that I was blessed with such beautiful and special children. I love watching them play and discover things. Everytime one of them tells me that they love me, my heart melts.

Change

2009-01-25T14:04:00.001-08:00

Did I mention that Faith does NOT like change either. I guess I have some crazy kids but then I am crazy myself. Our furniture is falling apart. Our recliner that we have had for 9 years is sinking to one side and the lever doesn't stay on. The couch that we bought apart 3 years ago has a broken frame(Note, never ever buy anything from Ashley Furniture). My loveseat that doesn't match anything is the only decent piece of furniture that we have but it is 12 years old. And not to mention, my dining table and chairs has to be 50 years old (it was my grandmother's). I only have 2 chairs that can be sat in. The other two have great big holes in them where the weaving it coming apart. I told Kevin we would definitely get a new recliner sometime soon but it couldn't wait. So we went to DT McCalls and found a sectional with 4 reclining ends!!!! We bought it and it will be delivered Tuesday afternoon and the rest of the furniture (except the table and chairs) will be leaving with the delivery drivers.

Faith was excited at the store. She liked what we picked out and said it was very comfortable. BUT then it hit her when we were on our way home that our old furniture was going to be gone. She didn't like that idea. She was actually sad. She thought that we needed to keep the furniture. Where I would like to know?? The only piece that is worth keeping is the loveseat but I just don't have any use for it. She'll get over it. I just hope that this furniture holds up like it is suppose to.

Well, John Derrick is getting use to his carseat. He likes that he can unbuckle himself as soon as we get home. If you do ask him what he thinks about his carseat, he will tell you, "This carseat is old and boring, I need my baby carseat back."

John Derrick's Carseat

2009-01-20T16:46:00.000-08:00

John Derrick does NOT like change. He is the only child I know that doesn't want to be a "big boy." He wants to stay little. He has been like this for the past 3 or 4 months. We have been trying to transition him away from little kids things like sippy cups and booster seats. Our latest transition was his carseat.

John Derrick weighs over 40 pounds and he is 4 years old. He was too big for the carseat that he has been using since he was 6 months old. It was time for a new one. The problem was that he really likes his carseat. I guess he felt safe in the 5-point harness and I felt safer with him in the harness, too. So I did a little research. I found a carseat with a 5-point harness that went up to 65 pounds that converted to a booster seat and then a backless booster but it was quite expensive and I felt like he would want to use a seatbelt in a few months.

Target had the Graco Turbo Booster on sale this week and that is the carseat that I really wanted to get him. So I got it. I showed him the ad and he didn't like it, he wanted the one that had the 5 point harness that was also on sale. I got him dressed this morning and told him that we were going to Wal Mart (decided to use their price matching instead of driving to Mt. Juliet) and we were going to get his big boy carseat and he told me that he was too little for it. So I resorted to bribing him. I told him that I would get him a toy if he would get a big boy carseat. So he reluctantly agreed. We went to Wal Mart and looked at the carseats. We found the one advertised and he told me that it didn't have yellow on it but he still let me get it.

So it was off to the toys. I had offered to get him a Webkinz because he and Faith had been playing a lot with her Webkinz and I thought he might like his own. He told me that Webkinz were for girls but he did consider it. We perused the toy aisle. He wanted to look at the cars. We looked at the cars. We made it down to the Disney Cars. He looked at all the cars. I tried pointing out a few and he picked out two cars which of course were not the $3. He picked out a Mack truck and a Mini Lightening McQueen with a trailer. He knew he had me if the palm of his hand. I didn't want to upset him because this was his treat for getting a big boy carseat so I let him get both. Thankfully he loves playing with his cars so I know this won't be wasted money.

So he is slowly becoming a big boy. I don't want him to grow up too quickly so if he wants to drink from a sippy cup a while longer so be it. He is still my little boy.

Today in History

2009-01-20T16:22:00.001-08:00

Today history was made. That has probably been said a million times in the past 24 hours. America's first African American was made President of the United States. Wow. One thing that I find important about today is this history. Our children are going to grow up and be able to tell their children about the first African American president. This event will be studied in American History classes. Barack Obama will be the first.

We must pray for our president. He has at least four years maybe eight years ahead of him to make his name synonymous with positive change for America. He is human and he will make mistakes and he isn't going to keep all of his promises. But he is our president and we must support him.

It was a very Merry Christmas.

2008-12-29T13:55:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2008 is over. It came quickly and quietly without a lot of fuss but it was a good Christmas. This year John Derrick was very excited. He would ask every morning when Santa Claus would be here and when he could "u-pen" presents.

This is John Derrick after he took a bubble bath. He stuck his chin in the bubbles and would say "Ho, ho, ho! I'm Santa Claus"

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas if one of my children wasn't sick. John Derrick struggled with a cold for over a week and then Faith started with a runny nose. Kevin took both of them to the doctor the Saturday before Christmas and both of them had DOUBLE ear infections. I feel very blessed because my children do not get sick a lot. It has been a while since either one of them had an ear infection if fact, I can't remember the last ear infection we had at our home but since it was Christmas, they had to get sick. They both got antibioctics and by Christmas Eve they were feeling much better.

Christmas Eve is spent at my parent's house. Everyone is suppose to be there but unfortunately Penny and the kids went to Florida this year to see her family. Marty was able to come and so was Lane and Kristen and little Josie. We still had a wonderful time and Faith and John Derrick loved their presents they got from Grandmommy and Granddaddy. Faith's favorite present was her Goldfish Webkinz from Uncle Lane and Aunt Kristen. John Derrick's favorite present was his tool set and Scooby Doo movies from Grandmommy and Granddaddy.

We were able to "get" Granddaddy this year. Every year Granddaddy wraps all the presents and he likes to use A LOT of tape and add a few surprises to the boxes like bricks and dried beans and maybe but a box inside a box and inside a box. Sometimes it takes someone a while to open a present. Oh, they also use food boxes that they save throughout the year. So we open a lot of 100 calorie snack boxes. This year, I put his present inside a ziploc bag, put that inside a cereal box, wrapped it and then kept putting boxes inside boxes and wrapping each one. I used a Dunkin Donut box also. I put all of these inside one big box and then filled it with "filler". I put two shoe boxes of Happy Meal toys in the box. I had fun wrapping the present and I think he had fun unwrapping it.

Christmas morning started about 7:00 this year. Faith was the first one up which isn't surprising. We had to wake up John Derrick and he didn't want to get up at first, but when he saw the presents under the tree, he perked up. Santa Claus always leaves wrapped presents under the tree. They are wrapped in two different color wrapping presents with no names on them. He leave a nice letter that he has typed. The letter tells the kids how proud he has been of them this year and tells them which presents are thiers. Faith's were wrapped in red wrapping paper and John Derrick's was green. Santa was very good this year. Faith got an Easy Bake oven and decorating pen, Wii Fit, Super Mario Galaxy for Wii, a Bible devotional book, Pixo's pen, Silvermist doll and a few other little things. John Derrick got a remote control Monster Truck, play food, blocks, Lego Batman for Wii, a Bible devotional book and a few other little things also. They have really liked what they got for Christmas this year.

For Christmas day, we go to my Aunt and Uncle's house for dinner and the unwrapping of the yearly gag gifts. Dinner was delicious and it was nice seeing all my family. John Derrick got to play with his 2nd cousin, Lawton and that was fun to watch.

Now I need to get back to normal. It is the Monday after Christmas. Kevin has gone back to work. The kids did not get out of their pajamas all day (what is really scary is they stayed in their pajamas the day after Christmas also). I did change clothes today and cleaned house a little. I made my grocery list and played on my blog for the afternoon. (Thank you Laura Beth for telling me that changing the background is easy because that is what I did) I am planning on trying to start my shopping tonight after supper and if I get it done, I don't have to go with the kids tomorrow. They hate going to the grocery store and I don't like taking them. But, if I don't do that, we will probably stay in our pj's again. So I need to think of something to do with them that doesn't cost any money.

Till next year...

Happy Birthday John Derrick

2008-12-02T17:32:00.000-08:00

My baby is four years old. He has grown up so much in the past year that I can't believe that he is the same boy. Over the last year, he has learned how to carry on a conversation, he found out that he likes Batman, he is going to turn into a giant "mar-moe" (marshmellow), he learned to like the swimming pool, he has a best friend named Cooper, he now likes Mickey Mouse and Blue's Clues, he has learned to aggravate his sissy and drive his mommy crazy, he watched Scooby Doo over and over and over and over again, he went to the beach for the first time, and he likes to "help" mommy in the kitchen.

I am so proud of John Derrick. He is such a sweet boy and I love him so much. I pray always that God will watch over both of my children and protect them. I pray that God will bless John Derrick's life and help him grow up to be a fine Christian man who will one day marry a Christian girl. I pray especially that Kevin and I will be good Christian examples and to raise him as God wants us to.

We had John Derrick's birthday party at our Thanksgiving meal. This is him with the Batman cake that I made him. He was so proud of his cake and turning four. If you ask him how old he turned on his birthday, he is going to tell you that he is eight (because Faith is eight and he wants to be just like her)

Patiently waiting to open his presents.

John Derrick riding his new scooter.

We also went to Baton Rouge for Thanksgiving to visit Kevin's family at his brother Donny's house. Memaw decided to have a little birthday party for John Derrick while we were there. She went to Wal Mart and got this cake. Once John Derrick went through the kitchen and saw it, he came running into the living room and was pointing to the kitchen and saying, "There is a car cake, him in there (meaning Donny) made it for me!" It was so cute so we credited Donny in making the cake for John Derrick.

Cougar Awards, IKEA and Halloween, oh my!!

2008-11-04T10:10:00.000-08:00

I need to catch up on everything that has been going on. October was a very busy month. First, to brag some more. Faith won the girl Cougar Award for her class. The Cougar Award is the top award given to a boy and girl in each class every nine weeks. I am not sure what the criteria is for winning it, but I guess the teacher decides who is the most deserving. Faith has wanted this award for awhile now and she was soooo happy to get the award. Third grade is going well for her. She has a wonderful teacher who is tough but very kind. She made straight A's this nine weeks and we are on our way to being the best student she can be.

We went to Atlanta over Fall Break and discovered the most wonderful store, IKEA. Ikea is a Swedish based company and they sell mainly put it together yourself furniture at very good prices. The store itself is twice as big as a Walmart supercenter. It has a restaurant, a daycare and stuff everywhere. I actually found a table and chairs that I want and hopefully after Christmas we can go back and get them.

We also went to the World of Coca Cola museum which was so much fun. We went to the Coke museum when Faith was 2 years old and since then they have built a bigger and better museum. They have a 4D movie, show how they bottle coke and of course you can try all 64 different flavors of Coca Cola from around the world. John Derrick was fussy the whole time. He doesn't like to walk, he wants to be in a stroller or be carried and we forgot the stroller and he is too heavy to carry so he fussed most of the time but he did like trying all the the different flavors.

Halloween was fun this year. Since it was on Friday, I think we had a lot more fun. Faith was Silvermist who is a Disney fairy. I actually made her costume. I took her old Cinderella costume and added a few things to it and made her wings. She was very happy with it. John Derrick was Batman. I found his costume at the consignment sale and he was proud of it. Everyone came to our house that night and I made a Halloween feast and then we all went out trick or treating (well Penny, Granddaddy and I went with the kids. Kevin stayed at home to pass out candy and Grandmommy stayed warm inside) It was a great night.

The Yearbook Staff

2008-09-15T18:10:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day even though it was a Monday. Since the weather was beautifu, I took the kids to the park after school today. They had a great time of course. When I got home, I found a great surprise in Faith's school binder. She has been chosen to work on this year's yearbook for Coles Ferry Elementary! I had no idea that third graders were part of the yearbook staff, (much less any kids) but she was one that picked. She told me that only about three other kids in her classroom got letters so she was really excited. She loves her yearbooks. Every once in a while, she will get them out and look through them and get sentimental about the days gone by. This is a great opportunity for her and I am glad that she gets to be a part of it.

My Gifted Children

2008-08-17T11:26:00.000-07:00

I am bragging now. My children are gifted. It is true, they are gifted especially Faith because the school told us that she is gifted. Faith was tested last year to be in Coles Ferry Elementary's EXTEND program. EXTEND is their gifted program and last Friday, I got in the mail, the letter that she met the criteria to be in the program. I am so excited and happy about that. I have always know that she was smart so I don't need the school to tell me that but it is very exciting although, I don't think Faith really cares.

Well, John Derrick can't be put in a gifted program since he is only three (almost four!!) but I think he is fairly gifted. John Derrick has never been a talker. I was starting to get really worried that he would never start putting sentences together. It was when he turned three that he started to say more then mommy, daddy, and car. This summer he had officially started talking. He will say the funniest things like when he wakes up in the morning, he will tell me, "It's a boo-ti-full day mommy, it's a boo-to-ful day!" He doesn't get all his sound correct but that is what makes it so cute. If he wants me to open something, he says, "upen this mommmy, upen it 'leassssse" and marshmellows are "mar-moes" (and we all say mar-moes now)

Now if I could just get them to pick up after themselves.....

In Memory of Brutus 1996-2008

2008-07-29T11:51:00.000-07:00

Brutus passed away last night. I had noticed that he had not been feeling well for a week. He was getting sick about once and day and wasn't eating that much. I had told Kevin that Brutus didn't look well and on Saturday, Brutus hardley moved at all. Sunday it was worse, he wouldn't eat and could barely walk. We took him to the vet on Monday morning and the vet told us that he was suffering from severe kidney failure and there was very little that could be done. Anything that could be done would just be putting a band aid on the the problem. We decided that it was Brutus's time but we took him home so Faith could say her goodbyes. We were going to take him back to the vet the next day to put him to sleep but Brutus passed during the night. He was at peace and at home.

Brutus was my dog. After we got married, Kevin thought I needed a dog even though I didn't really think so. He had seen Brutus first. He had for some reason gone to visit some old friends and there he saw Brutus and he fell in love with him. The breeder had asked if Kevin had wanted Brutus so Kevin asked me and I told him no, I wasn't ready for a dog. A few months passed and the breeder contacted Kevin and told him that they were moving and needed to find a home for Brutus. Kevin convinced me to go and see him and of course I feel in love with him also, so we went home that night with Brutus.

Brutus got his name from the breeder. He was the runt of the litter and had a problem with his leg. But at just a few months old, we were told that he had gone after a much larger dog just like he was the big dog. Since he was so brave for such a little dog, the breeder called him Brutus.

I had told Kevin that when Brutus came home with us, that dog was going to sleep in a crate or box and for no reason at all was he going to sleep in our bed. Well, Brutus was already spoiled. That first night, I put him in a box that had a nice soft blanket and we went upstairs to bed. We lived in an loft apartment. The apartment was basically one giant room. The second we turned out the light, Brutus started whining and his whining turned into barks. We tried everything to get him to be quiet but nothing worked except putting him to bed with us and that is how our dog started to sleep in our bed.

Brutus was a very good dog. As a puppy he loved to play and he was always so happy. He was very good with children. If you laid down on the floor, he would come and start licking you on the face and the ears. Kevin's nephew used to love that. He also liked other dogs as well. When Kevin's brother Lonnie got his Yorkie, Brutus and Gizmo would chase each other around the house and they would "fight" with each other until they both wore themselves out. And he still liked the big dogs also. When we lived in Marion, AR, he would go outside and "talk" to the big dogs on the other side of the fence.

Brutus was our baby till our kids were born. When I was pregnant with Faith, I was put on bedrest at the end. I would sit in our recliner during the day and Brutus was right there beside me the whole time. It was very comforting. When Faith was born, he wasn't jealous. He would just stay out to the way but would come and cuddle with her every once in a while.

Brutus liked me the best. He always came to me when he wanted something. There were things that he would do that would drive me crazy. Like when we lived in the apartment in Hermitage, he would always wet on the floor and if he pooped inside, it was always in Faith's room and then later on it was in John Derrick's room. He didn't always sleep in bed with us just when it was cold and he wanted down, he would wake me up whining and I would have to put him down on the floor. Sometimes he wouldn't leave you alone until till you gave him what you wanted and sometimes there was no telling what he wanted. He also learned how to escape out of our backyard and people from 1/2 a mile down the road would call and say that they found him, scratching on their front door. Those were the times that I thought he was trying to escape John Derrick and find a new home.

John Derrick never realized how old Brutus was. He would try to play with him and Brutus was too old to play. John Derrick sat on him and pulled his tail and would cover him with a blanket but Brutus never snapped at him even though he needed it. Brutus just found himself a hiding place in our closet and there he stayed most the day.

I am going to miss Brutus. He was a good dog and he was my dog. The house feels empty. I kept expecting to see him in our closet curled up asleep or hear him snoring on his blanket behind the recliner. I will hear a noise outside and think that I need to let him back inside but he is here anymore. I have washed his blankets and cleaned his bowls for the last time but I am glad that he died at home with the family that loved him.

A Desk for Faith

2008-07-25T13:59:00.000-07:00

School starts this Monday, July 28. Faith will be in third grade at Coles Ferry Elementary. She will be in Mrs. Regina Wright's class. We found this out this past Monday when we went to school to register. I was glad because in the past we would have to wait till the weekend before school started when the teacher would call but this time they already had the class list ready so Faith got to meet Mrs. Wright. I think she will be a good teacher. Her space on the the Coles Ferry website was up and ready and full of information and I really like that.

We bought a desk for Faith this week. It's nothing fancy more like a table then a desk. We also bought her a chair for her desk. It is pink. She has been very excited about the desk. She sits in the chair to watch TV and she has been practicing her handwriting. She has been drawing pictures and cards. This year at school she is going to have more homework and I have been dreading this because last year getting her to do her homework was a pain mainly because she would get distracted by John Derrick. So this year, she can go to her room and shut and lock her door and do her homework in private without her little brother bothering her. So hopefully this will work and she will continue to make good grades.

I can't believe my little girl is going to third grade. I remember third grade. It was not my favorite year in elementary so I hope she enjoys her class and teacher.

I Survived!!!!

2008-07-13T18:50:00.000-07:00

I survived last week!!! We had VBS at church Monday - Thursday and the kids had their first week of swim lessons in the evening AND we had a yard sale on Saturday.

First VBS, the kids had a lot of fun. John Derrick was even excited. I had to help decorate the Saturday before. I had volunteered to make a train out of cardboard boxes. Of course I put it off till the last minute but I made a "model" of the Music City Star. It turned out OK. It wasn't as big as I wanted it to be but I did my best.

Second, swim lessons. Faith is taking Level 3. She is learning different strokes. I have gotten to watch her and she is really good. I think if she keeps working at it, she might want to join a swim team one day. She loves to swim and I think she could spend the whole day at the pool if I would let her. John Derrick is taking Pre-school level 1 and 2. He likes to go to the pool and he isn't scared of the water but he won't completely relax to let himself float. It will probably take a couple of more years before he starts to really swim but I am glad he is getting this chance now to take lessons.

Our yard sale went well even though it was very hot. Having a yard sale was our neighbor's idea and since I had been thinking of having one this fall, I decided to go ahead and get rid of our stuff. We had A LOT of junk. Our neighbors were wondering where we kept all of it. But if you have been married 12 years and have 2 kids, you have a lot of things that you don't need anymore. I put out a bunch of baby stuff that did not sell which surprised me but most of the toys that I had sold and all the pots and pans that I had sold. We tried to sell Grandmother's antique couch. Several people said it was pretty but no one would take it. 99% of the stuff that didn't sell went straight to Goodwill and I think my house is happy that it is gone. Now we just have to keep from collecting more stuff we don't need.

Our Vacation

2008-06-30T18:30:00.000-07:00

We went on a family vacation last week. We went to "the lake". It was one of the best vacations that we have ever taken as a family. Faith remembers going to the lake so she was very excited to go and her excitement rubbed off on John Derrick.

We got there Sunday afternoon and after we got settled we went fishing off the pier. The only kind of fish that you can catch are small brim but it was so much fun. John Derrick kept on getting in the way and trying to reel in the line when we were putting bait on the hook. Faith was in charge of getting the crickets and throwing the fish back in the water.

Monday we stayed at the cabin. We were planning on swimming but that morning, Faith and I saw a snake in the water and I was just not willing to get in.

Tuesday, we went to the mountains. Kevin thought it would be fun to go swimming in the mountain stream. So we put on our swimsuits and packed a picnic lunch and had the time of our lives. We stopped at the picnic area between Gatlinburg and Cades Cove and ate and swam there. The kids had a blast. Faith was like a mermaid in the water. She made some friends and played with them while John Derrick found a spot and threw rocks.

Kevin got out to get something once and when he got back in he looked down and there curled up in a log was a snake!!! Right where we were getting in and out so we moved downstream a little bit. We ended up the day going to Cades Cove and taking the scenic route home. It was a great day.

Wednesday we went to the Knoxville zoo. We have Nashville zoo membership so we were able to go to Knoxville for free. We went late in the afternoon and it was really neat because all the crowds had left and we felt like we had the zoo all to ourselves.

Thursday we stayed at the cabin. Kevin and the kids went swimming. I still did not want to get in the water after seeing that snake. John Derrick stayed in for about 30 minutes but Faith stayed in for 4 hours. Faith really likes swimming.

We came home Friday. I think there were two reason that this trip was so wonderful. First because of the kids. They were so sweet and well behaved. John Derrick is older not so "high maintenance". I didn't have to always know what he was doing. He either stayed with us or was inside playing with his cars. Faith just loves going places and trips like this just gives her more memories. Second, Kevin and I were able to talk and reconnect. With him traveling so much and me being a mommy, we loose touch sometimes. But we talked and shared feeling that we hadn't shared in a while and I think we became closer and we are going to work on becoming more loving and rekindle our love.

My Children's Eyes

2008-06-17T19:59:00.000-07:00

My children have beautiful eyes. Their eyes comes from my side of the family. Kevin says that my eyes are the first thing that he noticed about me. My kids have my eyes, very large and very beautiful. They don't know this but their eyes are the reason they get their way so many times.

Last night, I got down Candy Land so Faith and I could teach John Derrick how to play. He did very well and we had fun. When we got done, I got down Hungry Hungry Hippos. Both of them had a lot of fun playing that game. When we got done with that game, John Derrick wanted to play Mousetrap. He would tell me "pleasssseee, Mousetrap game" Mousetrap has A LOT of pieces and I really didn't want to get all of that out. Well I was able to distract him with a bubble bath so we didn't play the game. This morning, he got up and ate breakfast and started with "Mousetrap game, pleasssseee. Mousetrap, pleassssee" I looked into his face and his eyes were shining and he kept on asking and saying please. But, because of his eyes, I got the game down and he and Faith played Mousetrap (after I put the whole Mousetrap together)

Last Tuesday, I planned on taking the kids to the library for the summer program. We could go at 10:00 in the morning or 1:00 in the afternoon. I was having a lazy morning and I didn't feel like getting dressed so I told Faith that we would go for the 1:00 program. So looked at me and gave me the most pathetic puppy dog eyes and said, "please, can we go this morning." Those eyes are the reason that I got up and took a shower and got dressed to go to the library at 10:00 that morning.

My children just have to get me to look into their eyes and they can get their way and I love every minute.

Here's to the first time.

2008-06-15T19:44:00.001-07:00

Well, it is 9:45 on Sunday night and I am typing my first blog. This won't be long. I just want to make sure that this works.

Now I am trying to upload a picture. If this works, you will get the first chance to see my kids.

It worked. That is Faith and John Derrick at the beach.