Weekend Recap!

Well, it's a little past the weekend but I'll just share what's been going on!!

1. The most exciting thing for me was getting the Nikon D5000!! It's my own digital SLR camera and I love it!! Now I don't have to covet my sisters! ;) I haven't had that much time, though, to play with it- but I do have a few pics to share!!


























2. Another kind of exciting thing that happened was Clint and Dad replaced my kitchen faucet!! I was so happy to get a brand new one and even it works!! We had a major leak last week! So I picked out a faucet I liked and they put it in! It was the first thing we have changed in our house- so that's kind of neat! It looks really great~ it's funny that one small change can make the whole place look better!! Check it out!























3. Saturday we had fun at Will's first baseball game!! He did a great job~ and it was way more exciting than watching T-ball!! His team ended up losing, but hopefully they will get better each week with each practice! A major plus is that his game starts at 11:00 each Saturday!!






























***I just thought I'd put a few pictures of a Francie ready for dance and wearing new "twinkle toes"!! She is so cute!!











All of these pics were taken with the new camera, except for the first one of me and the one of the camera!

Beginning Baseball!

Yesterday was Will's first baseball practice!! We haven't been able to practice yet because of the weather for the past few weeks! Every time his practice was scheduled it rained! But yesterday was a nice day! And he did a great job and has a real nice coach- I think this will be fun! Will hasn't played baseball for a couple of years, he is older now so i think he will enjoy it more than he did last time (he played t-ball when he was five)! His team is the Cards~ short for Cardinals (all the team names are shortened names: yanks, sox, bucs,etc.)! He and Noah will be playing against each other in a couple of weeks- we tried to get them on the same team but they said NO! Saturday is the big day, hopefully everything will go ok with only one practice under our belts!! :) Go Cards!!






































We practiced at Patriot Park in Homewood! It was such a nice park, I had never been there before! I got a few pics of Will and Francie before practice!! And Francie got a few of me and Clint! :)

Not That Bad!

My Monday Happy!!

Yesterday was a really great day back at school! I was very surprised~ the day just flew by smoothly and was pretty much uneventful! Last year I would have had ten panic attacks, diarrhea, a migraine, and a crying fit! But not this year!! It was nice to see all my kids and hear about their vacations! Mrs. Chonoski made my day when she got us devil food donuts and coffee from Shipley's!!


*******************************************************************


Today was an awesome day too!! I got to go on a field trip with Will to Golden Flake!! The whole time we were there we were stuffing our faces with delicious HOT potato chips and cheese puffs! :) It was great!! After school Will and Francie and I went to TCBY for a Tuesday Happy! It was such a beautiful day!


Hair nets are all the rage!! ;)


























****************************************************************************
Our Tuesday Happy!!



























****Yay!! Tomorrow is Hump Day!!

The End!

Yesterday was our baby cousin, Brooke's 1st birthday!! She had a little Easter egg hunt for her party!! I was so glad it was such a nice day! The kids had so much fun they just played and played! And it was great to get to see our cousins~ we haven't seen them in FOREVER!! We always have the best time together! We laughed and laughed and ate and ate!! We are so blessed to have the best cousins in our fam!!





***********************************************************************************





I am very sad to announce that it is officially the end of Spring Break!! We had such a wonderful week!! However, on the bright side there are only nine more weeks of school left!! I cannot believe we have almost made it through another school year!! It is unbelievable that in August Will will be in third grade~ I can't stand to think of that now!!
We have a fun week scheduled this week~ 2 field trips (the Golden Flake factory and Coldstone Creamery), Will's first baseball practice and ballgame!! FUN TIMES!! :) I wish all five of my readers an awesome week too!! I know I've said it before, but I can't help it I am so glad it's around the corner ~Happy Spring!!

3rd day!

The third day in Washington was BEAUTIFUL!!! We visited Arlington National Cemetery, the Zoo, and we went on a night tour of the monuments!! It was such a good day!! It really made us not want to leave! Three days in Washington is NOT enough~ you would have to stay at least two weeks to see everything!! I am sad to leave but this has been such an amazing trip~ I am thankful to have had the opportunity to come with this senior class~ they are the best!!

DC Day Two!

Greetings from the nation's capital, although after being here I'm not sure which nation it is the capital of. I have been blown away by the diversity and extremes found in DC. When you go down around the national mall, there is not a piece of garbage to be found, but when you move out from the city center (like to our hotel) you pass through seemingly endless ghettos and dejected people. We have the privilege of not being on one of those mass tours through the city, we are actually driving around (and actually finding our way thanks to Lauren Smith's GPS...I told her when we get back Mr. C is going to do some work on her transcript!) and getting to experience the real DC. This includes the maddening lack of parking...
Today we went to the Russell Senate Building at 8:30 am to meet with Senator Jeff Sessions. If you want proof, just check the picture which can be viewed on his Facebook page. We then went to the National Archives and saw the document that started it all, the Declaration of Independence! (TJ is a rock n' roller!!!!) While we were in the Archives, the clouds finally broke and so did Will's fever. By our 2:00 private tour of the Capitol, Silena and Will joined us. We got to take an underground tram only used by Senators to get into the Capitol! This was strictly VIP because that's how we roll. And how do you top that? You go to the mall, because we are with teenagers! We are rockin' the Capital, wish you were here...

Washington DC!!!

I can't believe we are here!! We made the 12 hour trip in a 15 passenger van with 12 people and 12 peoples luggage!! We almost didn't fit!! But we did and it was fun and the kids are wonderful!! Clint and I are blessed to be able to make this adventure with them!! Today was our first full day~ we hit the Smithsonians~ which were awesome!! I haven't been here since I was in eighth grade (I don't remember hardly any of that trip) and it was so fun!! We all loved it! My favorite things we saw today were the mummy, the Hope Diamond, and the Ruby Slippers!!

A Prince?

Last week on the way to school, Francie was talking about seeing her friend "J" and she said "Mommy the other day when "J" came in to school with the handsome hair..." (there was a pause, I said "Yes") ..."I thought he was a prince." (sigh)
Ha! I just about died~ it was so cute!!
"J" and Francie have been best friends since last year when they were in Mrs.Reeves class together. They are a kind of funny match~ Francie is some what tall for her age and "J" is some what short for his!! They love each other to death!! :)


Friends are kisses blown to us by angels.

Amerikids!

Today Will had his 2nd grade program "Amerikids"!! It was awesome~ the kids were wonderful!! Will didn't have an official part (he is kind of like his mommy- do NOT put us in center stage)-he was a singer! But I was sooo proud of him!! He is the cutest and it was a really great program~ It was sweet to see him and all of his friends perform, Noah was an Air Force man, Hannah was Pip, Logan was Benjamin Franklin, and Jack was "Yacky Dude"! They have all grown up so much! The kids' artwork and writing projects and Flat Stanleys were displayed in the hall and it was fun to see how hard the they had worked and how much they had learned about America!! I felt very blessed to have my kids at Shades Mountain~ I love the teachers and the fact that they are able to sing songs about Jesus and experience the gospel!
























Will's Flat Stanley Project

**A special thanks to Corb for taking Flat Stanley with you to California!!




Uncle Sam














**************************************************************************
On a completely different, but AWESOME note: The new preview for Eclipse came out today and it is totally awesome!! I am sooooooo excited~ this book may be my favorite of all four~ the movie is going to be so good!!!
I CANNOT wait until July 30th!! And I cannot wait til March 20th either- New Moon will be out to buy on DVD and it's mine baby! :)

A Beautiful Weekend!

This past weekend was gorgeous!! We enjoyed it to the fullest! In five days we will be taking Clint's senior class homeroom to Washington D.C. for Spring Break, so Will spent the weekend with Nana because next week she will have Francie and she wanted a little time to visit with Will! (Will is going to be going on the DC trip with us~ it has been one of his life long dreams)! That meant Clint and I got some Francie Time!! I am going to miss her so much! I don't think I have been away from either of my children for five whole days!!



So we made a special time for France, we ate at our favorite place~ Pablo's ~yummy chips and cheese dip and fajitas!! Then we walked around the Colonnade! We also went shopping (a favorite past time that mommy and Francie share)!! Francie picked out a stuffed animal guinea pig, she calls it a hamster, though, she LOVES hamsters! We also went to the botanical gardens for a quiet stroll!!





































It was such NICE weather- I can NOT wait til spring!! I had to break out my new pair of zebra flip flops, I wore them all weekend long!!

I Forgot!

When I did our February wrap up, I left out one of the most important (and my favorite) thing we were involved in during the month~ our Missions Conference!! The guest speaker was AMAZING ~Chris Granberry!! He and his family live in Washington on the Yakama Indian Reservation!! For a few years, I have been wanting to go on a missions trip out there and it was just so neat and special to hear from them and their friends about their ministry!! I am praying for the opportunity to go help out their family~ I really want to be involved!! You should check out their website and blog www.sacredroadministries.com or www.sacredroadyakama.blogspot.com!!

Birthday Wishes!!

Happy Birthday Clint!! I'm not that good with words~ all I know is that your smile lights up my darkest days~ you make my heart skip a beat~ you take my breath away~ everything is better when you are beside me!! I love you more and more everyday and I hope that this year is one of the best (you deserve it)!!