The Shirley's

Fount and Krystal's mini makeover...

2010-03-14T20:23:00.001-07:00

I was really excited when some of our best friends asked me if I would help them decorate their house. They are ALWAYS doing nice things for others and it is not often that I get to do something for them. I couldnt have jumped fast enough at the chance to help them out....plus I LOVE doing this sort of thing. So in some ways it felt like they again were doing something for me by letting me decorate their home. I hope they truly love it We still have some things left to do but this was what we have so far!

HERE ARE THE BEFORE AND AFTER PICTURES:

LIVING ROOM

BEFORE:

AFTER:

DINING ROOM

BEFORE:

After:

ENTRY WAY:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

WE STILL HAVE MORE TO DO BUT FOR OUR FIRST DAY IT IS PRETTY EXCITING!

Reese Taylor collection...

2010-01-28T05:50:00.000-08:00

RUFFLE CAPRI

Ruffle Capri:

$22.00 you provide fabric

$26.00 we provide fabric

HADLEY RUFFLE TOP

Hadley ruffle top:

$25 you provide fabric

$30 we provide fabric

TIE TOP

tie top:
$25.oo you provide fabric
$30 we provide fabric

DOUBLE RUFFLE PANTS

Double ruffle pants:

$26.oo you provide fabric
$29.00 we provide fabric

MEGAPHONE TOP

Megaphone top:

$26.00 you provide fabrics

$29 we provide fabrics

Single Ruffle Pants

single ruffle pants:

$25 you provide fabric

$28 we provide fabric

The MJ Dress

MJ Dress:

$45.00 you provide fabric

$60 we provide fabric.

MJ dress can also be worn with ruffle pants or ruffle capris.

MIA DRESS

Mia dress:

$25 you provide fabric

$30 we provide fabric

This dress is great because it can grow with your child.

Start it off long as a dress, as the child grows it can be worn with leggings (as shown above), and then as a shirt with pants.

HE woke ME up to spend time with HIM this morning! WOW!!!!!

2010-01-15T05:47:00.000-08:00

I know a lot of you are going to roll your eyes when you start to read what I am about to write. Crazy part is those of you I can see rolling your eyes are some of my best friends but regardless of what anyone thinks about me, I have to write about this because when the Holy Spirit enters your heart it is hard not to shout about it from the mountain tops.

It starts with last night.
I got in bed and prayed. It was not a long prayer just a defeated prayer. I cant follow through with anything, My life if disorganized, and worst of all I never spend anytime with you anymore God. It was a depressed, helpless, low kind of prayer.

I am Not an early riser....EVER. This morning I woke up at 6:20am. It was a sudden wake up. It was like someone had called my name and it startled me enough to wake me up. The even crazier thing was I wasn't tired when I woke up...I am hard to wake up and even when I get up it takes awhile for me to get really awake. This morning when I woke up the first thought that went through me mind was (Not kidding, first thought) "God is waking me up to spend time with him."I realize this and get up. I walked down stairs and got some breakfast. Since it is hard to do a bible study and eat I decided to talk to God (like I would my closest friend) while I ate . It was a good idea because I needed to get all the things that have been bothering me lately off my chest and who better to talk to than God. I also thought it could help me get in the right mind set for the Beth Moore bible study on Esther that I was going to get into when I finished.

I finish my breakfast and my therapy session and started my bible study. It was on Esther. I had in my mind that this study was going to talk to me about how to be a better woman. I thought that because that is what it said it was about on the cover of the study.
***** But today God had something else in mind. Today's bible study was on the VERY THING that I had just pored my heart out about. My problems where not related to womanly type issues (not that I dont have my share of those too). The issues were more closely related to money, self control, consistency, and getting my life in order. It did not hit me until the last set of verses I was suppose to read at the end of the study that GOD WAS TALKING TO ME!!! He placed today's lesson in my lap to help me with all the things I had just told him about. It is putting chills down my spine right now!!!!! I mean he really TALKED TO ME! I told him my problems and in the matter of minutes he started telling me what to do and not just telling me what to do but also encouraging me too. He was making me feel better just like I would try to do for one of my friends. I am totally overwhelmed with emotion because this morning God took time out of his busy morning to have breakfast with me.

Sometimes we throw open a bible and say a quick "speak to me God" sort of prayer. And after we flip through the bible we think to ourselves "God doesn't speak this quickly", or "it takes time and I have to look for anything that could possibly be a sign", and "why cant he just write me a letter that says dear Randi, you need to ...." But sometimes, or at least today he did write me that letter and it was immediate. It was (is) so heart warming that I didn't want him to stop talking.

I needed to share that with my blog because...

I needed to share it because he tells us to tell of His WONDERFUL MERCY and GREAT LOVE.

I also needed to have it recorded for myself for the day when I forget that he is present in my life and that I am worth waking up to spend the morning with. GOD (THE GOD who created the entire world) woke ME(insignificant me) up this morning because HE wanted to spend this morning TALKING with Me!..... WOW!!!!!! I mean WOW!!!!!!

We love Breanna 10/09

2010-01-09T07:16:00.000-08:00

Cara's niece lives an hour away but comes to see Cara almost every weekend. One night they came over to watch football and I could tell Breanna was bored. Reese was wanting to dress up and so Breanna was asking where her dress up stuff was. So I turned it up a notch. It was fun for all. Even the spectators. I think that not only Breanna was surprised that I dressed up with her but Cara, Brian and Cara's parents never expected me to come down decked out as well. Cason has learned to expect anything.

please excuse the falling off band aid on my knee.

My little jumping bean 10/09 (updating)

2010-01-09T06:51:00.000-08:00

FALL FESTIVAL! Oct 09

2010-01-08T14:18:00.000-08:00

He was amazing at this. He did over 20 flips in one turn.

Reese and Mommy riding the horse at the festival....she didnt love it.

...he loved it!

Nana and Parker.

Reese checking out the baby chicks.

parker sliding down the big slide.

waiting in line with his Tribby.

If you are wondering where Cason is in all these pictures. This is the month he started on his worst rotation he will have of all 5 years.

October 09

2010-01-08T14:09:00.000-08:00

PArker above and his brother is below. AGAin at the ZOO!

this time with Tribby and Nana.

My little cowboy.

2010-01-08T13:52:00.000-08:00

Parker & Mommy

making trail mix

more trail mix.

Parker, Zoe, and Ashley

My little cowboy had to catch a nap on the way to school.

I love Cowboys!

Nana made his get up. Way to go Nana!

Parker's school is AWESOME. His teachers this year are truly nothing short of angels! They love these kids like they were their own and that is so refreshing given everything you hear these days. They are also really Fun and do really fun stuff for the kids. It makes mom's like myself who sometimes feel guilty because their kids dont actually have to go to school yet a peace of mind. Parker wants to be there because of all the fun things they do.

Here he is on cowboy day all decked out. They brought a saddle and put it on the book shelf and then took parker's stick horse and put the head coming out of the saddle and let the kids pretend to ride it. So creative. I love it! Mom got wind of Cowboy day and did her normal thing and dressed him up to the nines.

The Childrens Museum 9/09

2010-01-08T13:32:00.000-08:00

Nice face PArk. My 2 dancing machines

If you ever loose Reese in the CM. go to the disco room. SHE LOVES IT!!!!

I love this picture of Reese for some reason.

there are not words to describe this friendship. One of a kind for sure.

Thomas just makes me laugh. He is you Amanda. All you!!!

loves to dress up.

so sweet.

OHHHH these two...maybe we should keep them separated.

They just look like trouble.

Then there is these 2 dorks.

this was so funny as it was happening and is even funnier to me know.

It is great to have friends that you can act like a total dork with.... right AManda.

I could have an entire blog on just zoo visits.

2010-01-08T13:26:00.000-08:00

Michelle and Charlie

September 09
Carrie and Colt came too.
September 09

I love this picture. It makes me laugh every time I see it.

Thomas and Parker

September 09

humm this isnt the way it is supposed to be. Child goes in the stroller.

again love it.

PRICELESS!!!!!

Lunch with a very special 6 year old.

2010-01-08T12:57:00.000-08:00

Ellie had a "almost" sleepover for her 6th birthday and we missed it so on our way home from Kentucky they met us at the mall in Nashville for lunch and a little birthday shopping.

Ellie is the oldest kid on either side of our family (chad and Natalie do not have one and are not pregnant....as far as we know. ;)) She was the first baby in a long time and Cason and I would go and stay at Beth and Clay's house almost every weekend the month before she was due and she would NEVER come. We finally decided to go rafting with Cason's club instead of go and sit and stare at Beth one Saturday morning when we got the call. They had gone to the hospital and she was in labor but it could still be awhile. like that mattered to us. We told everyone we had to go and turned the car around and headed to Mboro to wait. It wasnt a long wait nor was it a lonely one. I mean I think everyone in the town was in the room. Beth and Clay being born and raised there are well as all 4 of their parents (I think) it was a family event. The Doctor sent us out of the room because it was time for Ellie to arrive and it wasnt long at all before the door opened again with a "she's here". I remember the feeling of total amazement. We left the room with just Beth and Clay in it and when we came back there was the most precious thing I had ever seen in Beth's arms. It was truly like discovering miracles. I know I sound dramatic but it was the most touching thing I felt like I had ever been apart of. I know she does not have my blood running through her but that day she felt more like mine than any other child I had ever been around and it was the most wonderful feeling. She has remained special to me and always will be. She was my first baby. We did continue to go to their house every single weekend. Beth and Clay were real nice to put up with us as much as they did. On Ellie's 1st birthday we had moved to Memphis and we had come back for her birthday party. It was SOOOOO SPECIAL to me that when I showed up she wanted me to hold her right away and actually continued to pull for me the entire party. Again priceless. On another note: Ellie and Cason in the last couple of years have started to get a special connection but that figures since they are both Nerds. (aka smart. That is the name dumb people call smart people to make ourselves feel better! Dont believe me look it up.)

another memorable moment

2010-01-08T08:44:00.000-08:00

Here is more of us at the lake. I not only felt like the lake was a good time to get to spend with Matt, Amanda and kids but also with my own family. I felt like I had kidnapped my husband from his slavery job. Here we all are playing.

catching up on lost time....

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

Labor day weekend we went to the lake with the Neely family. I can not say enough nice things about this family. For all who know them you will know what I am talking about when I say they are truly one of a kind. They are fun, laid back and just.... AWESOME!!! The weekend was easy and that is not always the case when you take 4 adults and 5 kids (all 5 kids under the age of 4).

It couldn't have been any more relaxing. The big boys went golfing our first morning there (I think that was how we got them to come on this trip that and the promise that they could watch football the entire time.). Amanda and I went to the pool during nap times. At night we would put the kids to bed and watch the first season of "Friday night lights". It was awesome!!!!! While we were at the lake we had a love connection. When Amanda and Matt moved to Ohio Charlie was about to turn 1 and Reese was only 7 months old. At the lake now being at the ripe old ages of 2 and about to be 2 they discovered that they liked each other. There personalities reminded me a lot of both of their parents. Charlie is laid back and very easy going. Reese is well....NOT! She is high maintenance and crazy. Cason and Matt may start telling Charlie to run. Thomas and Parker are always sooooo excited to see each other (Parker can never sleep the night before we are going to see them.) but usually by the end of a trip they are needing to be separated. (only if they are together 24.7 for more than 3 days) Andrew is the newest addition and on this trip I fell head over heels for this precious little guy. He is one of the sweetest babies I have ever seen. He will smile at you and make you feel like you are his favorite person....until you see him smile at his mommy, then there is no question. Anyways it was AWESOME and I hope this truly does become a tradition we can keep going.

THANKS MATT AND AMANDA FOR AN AWESOME WEEKEND!!!!!

SEPTEMBER 4, 5, & 6th, 2009

Thomas 4, Parker 4, Charlie 2, Reese 1yr 10mo, Andrew 7 1/2 mo.

I love you mommy....

2009-11-30T06:34:00.001-08:00

I know it has been forever since I last post but I promise it is only because of computer issues. I have sooo much to write about but when it takes 30 min per picture to load its not worth my precious alone time.
which leads me into my reason for blogging now.
I am trying to pay bills right now on our ancient computer and it can be very frustrating. I started when Reese was in the kitchen in her high chair eating breakfast. The reason I did that is because she always wants to be in here with me, In my lap pushing buttons. or as she is doing right this second climbing over me grabbing things off the desk, papers are falling all over the floor. SOOOOO ITTTTS TOOOO HARD to do with her awake!!!

I am writing because as a parent I find staying calm is an everyday struggle. They push every single button that I have. With their daddy gone ALL the time (thank you cason for working so hard for us, don't take this blog the wrong way. I feel blessed for how hard you work for us!) it is exhausting!!!!
Soooo.... this morning as I am trying to keep my cool as she is pushing buttons on things I am paying for. (I am trying to pay $20 for something and she is adding some zeros right as I am pushing confirm.) I start to completely looooosssee it until she wraps those sweet little arms around my neck and says "I love you mommy, you a good mommy" MELT MY HEART!!!! Suddenly who cares if we just paid our visa bill $200,000 we will fix that later (plus it wont go through anyways, worst case we will owe the bank an overdraft fee on top of the $200,000) because she is what is the most important thing right now. I felt the need to blog about this for my own memory sake. These are the things I want to keep with me forever. But I have got to go because she is not in here and the house is way tooo quiet and with a 2 year old that is NEVER a good thing. (FYI:Parker is at his Nana's house)

Also I just wanted to add to anyone who is close to the George/Ezell family that I am so sorry for this GREAT loss and our prayers are with all of you. May God give you all strength and I pray you feel his arms wrapped around you as they are also around Misty right now too!! I heard that Jeremy had said something about her "finally finding her peace". I pray that God will give all of you some kind of peace in this world until you can be with her again. Thank God for what he and his precious son did so that death is not the end. There is comfort in knowing that we will see her and others we have lost again one day. But in the days left for all of us on this earth, I pray he will give us endurance to finish the race and that he will bring joy to all of us again. Misty was one of the kindest souls I have ever known. It is rare to find a person who is truly kind all the way to the core. Misty was one of those people. She will be missed!!!!

San Diego...adults only!

2009-09-11T23:41:00.000-07:00

This is Cara with her first class breakfast. That is right Cara and I got to fly first class all the way from Memphis to Utah. It was great except when I took this picture and the guy across the isle laughed at me for taking it. (Look buddy not all of us can afford first class, dont make fun of the little people.) :)

Brian and Cason had their tickets bought by work since the purpose of the trip was for them to go to a conference. Cara and I were flying standby (thanks to my wonderful Nannie). From this picture you can see we not only got on the plane but we rode with the big guys. I took this picture to be a snot. I wanted to show Brian and Cason (they rode to CA on a different flight) what we got for breakfast compared to the peanuts they got. This would really have been funnier if on the way home I hadnt gotten stuck in Atlanta, while all 3 of them made it on the flight and got to go home.

Buttttt......

I turned lemons into lemonade because I got to go spend the night with my grandparents and most of the next day. It was a great trip. I missed my babies who thanks to my wonderful mom,dad and mother in law, had a better time than if I had of been there with them.

HERE ARE SOME PICS OF THE TRIP:

Disney Land

that is right we drove an hour to go to Disney Land and it was so much fun!

here we are with a mountain behind us.

This is me being cheap. I took a picture of the snap shot they took of us on space mountain. I couldnt get my camera flash off fast enough for you to see that Brian has his tongue sticking out of his mouth. I am ducking because it is pitch black on that ride and you are going super fast. I know I am stupid because if my brother in law Clay who is 6'6''can ride those rides without losing his head, then i should be fine at a average 5'5''. Cara looks like she is singing, and Cason....Im not sure what he looks like. Maybe he is thinking {this would be really fun if I hadnt just spent WAY TOO much money to get in this place, and my kids arent even here}....i dont know just a guess. We rode this ride over 3 times. It was our favorite. I sat up a little more each time.

Brian, Mini, and Cara

My kids can not get over that we met the "REAL" mini mouse. That is why you are supposed to take your kids. They eat this stuff up. Everything about it amazes them. I cant wait for our big trip next year.

waiting for the water and lights show to begin.

Us above

and

Brian and Cara below.

On the Indiana Jones ride at Disney Land they put Cason in the drivers seat....hence my face. I wonder if it is possible to get lost on a roller coaster?....

This is at the Cornado Hotel! I LOVED THIS PLACE!!!!!!!!

It is the worlds largest all wooden resort. I could go on and tell you all about this hotel, some of it I would get right and some of it I would just be making up. But its got a lot of cool history. If you are ever going to San Diego stay here!!!! It was AWESOME!...we didnt stay here and I wish we could have. One night we sat on the beach side deck (on some of those nice outdoor couches or sectional, with a coffee table/fire pit combo in the middle. Nothing but the open sky above us. The ocean was to our right and along with the waves crashing there was a band playing. It was like in the movies........ except for the fact that Cason kept falling asleep and I had to keep waking him up.

The hotel was actually the set for an old Marilyn Monroe film....that I happen to love! We had another picture of us at this hotel that I loved but being the retard that I am, I deleted it. you'll just have to trust me on how amazing it was....not the picture but the place.

Cara and Brian at dinner one night.

We ate a LOT of Mexican food. It all was great but I recommend Freds in old town. It was our favorite. I love that the restaurants dont have to have covered porches or roofs because of how little it rains there.

We took a trolley tour while in San Diego and from now on I will not go to a city on vacation without taking some kind of tour. It was amazing to learn stuff you would never know otherwise.

I know I sound like a geek but let me tell you the stuff that really stuck out to me. We saw the Bar in which the bar scene in Top Gun was shot. We saw the street in top gun where Tom Cruise rides off when his girl imbarrases him. Anyways Cason is a huge top gun fan so I was pretty pumped to tell him. We also learned a lot more that I could tell you but I wouldnt get it right if I tried to tell you. History mumbo jumbo. Just kidding it was all cool even the real history!

1st Day of Preschool and Mothers Day Out

2009-09-11T23:24:00.000-07:00

This is actually us at McDonald's after the first day of school Becca and Hadley went with us to celebrate with ice cream!
This is Hadley and Reese in their class holding their babies watching Ms Rosie.

Here Reese is walking into school like she does this all the time. My mom made her outfit! LOVED IT!!!

Mom and Reese going into Kroger for doughnuts before school. I just realized doughnuts, ice cream...not a real healthy day for us. maybe I shouldn't comment on pictures anymore. I'm making myself sound like a bad mom.

this is the only way Reese was taking picture. She didn't like waking up early.

Part 1 of the Parker modeling session.

Here he is with his beloved new back pack. It is really a suitcase but he LOVES it!!!

Here we go.

Let the modeling session with Parker and the bag begin.....

seriously, he is a mess!

PARKERS 4TH BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!!!

2009-09-11T22:14:00.001-07:00

Emily, Parker, Hyrum and Ben. each kid or family sat by Parker as he opened his gift from them. It was such a cool idea. (Thanks Cara) All the kids giving the gift got excited when it was their turn. It was really neat.

Parker and Noah.
This is such a funny picture to me.

Dylan and Parker. Dylan is one of Parker's favorite people.

Sweet Hadley. This is the cutest, friendliest, funniest little thing around. She is not lacking in the personality department at all. I get to take her home with me on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons for a couple of hours and she is so much fun. she is like part of our family. My kids are CRAZY about her!

Thanks to Kate of Jon and kate plus 8, I tried the pudding idea. It was some of the most fun my kids have ever had. Ellie above wasnt going to get it on her at first. She said she was just going to paint other people......and as you can see she changed her mind. She was hilarious. That stuff may still be in her hair.

Here is Ben...

and Tucker...

Okay where do I begin to write about my little boys first crush. Dont think I am being sarcastic because I am not. He is truly crushing on her. He talks about her ALLLL the time. He even asked his GRammy (who lives 4 hours away) if he could bring Lexi to her house. When GRammy said that he would have to ask her mommy. He told his GRammy that she would have to love Lexi like she loved him. After telling her she had to love Lexi like she loved him he made sure she could do that. "will you love lexi like you love me?" Grammy said "if you love her then I love her." He asked her 100 times "are you sure? are you sure your sure?"

We had his party 2 weeks after his real birthday but on the actual birthday we were going to take him to chucky cheese. We told him he could invite 1 friend. Guess who he wanted.....yeah it was like a date. Cason kept taking pictures and calling them their prom picture. They really do look like a prom pic. The pictures are all on another camera that I will try to upload later. Im not sure Lexi is as into Parker as he is into her. she is a hot little commodity here. The boys at baby sitting fight over her. I have broken up so many who is going to marry Lexi fights. All I can say is NICK LARSEN GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!

seriously look at his face!

I wish I were kidding. it is wayyyyyy toooooo soon for girls!

Best Sport Award goes to..... Clay. He was AWESOME!

He first dumped an entire bowl of pudding on Parker's head and then let Parker get him back. Parker hid for about 10 min waiting for his uncle clay to come out of the house. (clay went upstairs to change so that he could get caught.) I really think Clay made Parker's birthday for him. We have heard Parker reenact it about a 1,000 times.

this is after the bowl was dumped.

the beginning....

look how cute all 3 of these girls are.

AC on the slide, Lauren and Hadley. Look at Hadley's face....so funny.

Will

Will is a must on he invite list. This kid has the best manners EVER!!!! He is one of the sweetest kids I have ever known. I love watching him get into the crazy things we have them do at Parker's parties. Will is a hoot!

Here are all the kids holding up their cupcakes. Reese was at this party that is her leg on the far right. Im not sure how it was possible for her to not be in any pictures but it seemed to work out that way.

Hadley and her momma (Becca) who is equally as sweet as Hadley.

Okay where do I start with this cake or Beth who made it?

Beth, my sister in law asked me if I wanted to make Parker's cake? (FYI:I dont bake, Cook well, or anything else that involves the kitchen.) So I guess you can guess my answerer. With that she made a light we can make it comment, that I might have shared with my child. When Parker found out that she was going to make the cake he was soooooo excited!!! He even told people that she was going to make his cake. (is this showing you how bad of a mother I am. The kid didnt know you could make that kind of stuff at home. He thinks it can only come from a store...not that I minded that.) What I have failed to mention is that Beth is moving into new house the week of the party. Being the coolest person EVER she does it anyways. Her sweet momma baked the cake and Beth bought all the MANY things it took to decorate this cake. She not only bought and did everything she looked on the Internet cakes that had to do with animals. I don't know if you know but Parker is a little obsessive about animals. Words can not describe how appreciative I am for all that was done to give him that amazing cake. ALSO: it was the best cake I have ever eaten?! AMAZING!!!!

Also HUGE thanks to my mom and Dad who rushed over the afternoon of the party to decorate the place up. It looked so cool! They worked till guest arrived, Mom wanted to take a shower before the party but because of all the work to do she stayed and let me get dressed instead. She helped with all the kids who's parents couldn't stay. Dad figured out how to make all the water slides go at once. that was huge since this was a water park type party. As always you guys were there for me/us and I am always thankful that you are in my life. I hope I never make either of you feel less than Wonderful because after all you are constantly doing for me, cason, and the kids it would be my worst fear to make either of you feel any less. Thanks for taking an ordinary party and turning it into something Amazing!!!

Also thanks to Grammy and Fred for coming all the way to our house for a 4 year olds birthday!!!! He really understood what was going on this year and it meant a lot to him for you guys to be there. So thanks for taking your entire weekend to come.

Summer part 3...kimberly and kids visit.

2009-09-11T07:09:00.000-07:00

Kimberly and her 3 kids came to see us. It was such a great time. The kids played outside the entire time. On Saturday morning we got a wonderful baby sitter (Liz Lav.) with the help of Cason to watch all the crazy kids while Kimberly and I went yard saleing. (Cason was on call so we needed back up if he got called in) Then that night after the kids naps we went to members night at the Zoo. It was so fun!!! I am so glad that they came!!!

Summer '09 part 2...4th of July

2009-09-11T06:52:00.000-07:00

Week took a ton of these pictures and this is the worst picture of Reese but it was sooooo great of Nannie that I couldnt help but post it. She is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!...and I dont mean just for a great grandmother I mean for anyone at any age!!!!! seriously look how young and great she looks.

This is what parker did the entire 4th.

Nannie feel and Reese was her nurse. She put neosporin ALL over Nannie's leg not just the boo boo. She may even have missed the boo boo!

this is how our 4th went. So relaxing!!!!!!

Granddaddy, the kids and I went for a 2 mile walk in the mornings. It was great!

On July 2nd 2 of my college friends came to visit AManda and Carla. It was so fun catching up with them. It was crazy how it seemed like no time had past.

summer 09 part 1....

2009-09-11T06:34:00.000-07:00

Amanda and I at the water park. It is so much fun to have a friend who not only enjoys the same things you do but also is just as crazy/silly as i am. It makes me feel younger and happier just to be around her.

The next day the kids and I left to go to mboro. We dropped Reese off with Grammy and Parker and I went to see 2 of our most favorite people ever, Amanda and Thomas. One day Matt (who FYI is getting a shout out because he was awesome. He watched the kids for us every time they napped or went to bed so that Amanda and I could go out and do stuff. He was a huge part of making this trip awesome!!!) watched the younger 2 boys. Thomas, Amanda, Parker and myself went on a double date to the water park. It was a awesome day!!!

This is Parker' s make shift birthday hat. This cake is supposed to look like a hamburger. pretty cool looking but tasted yucky!!!!

Cason's 27th birthday...

we had a early little party for him since The kids and I were going to be gone and he was going to be working on the actual day. Mom, Dad, Chad, Natalie, and Daniel came over for some bbq and hamburgers.

A little bit of change.

2009-06-25T18:56:00.001-07:00

we painted the shutters from a maroon to this green but i am actually going to change them to black in a few weeks. I cant get enough 110 degree outside work. but the front flower beds are cleaned up. I didn't have time to get a before picture but it will come later.
This is the kids little table, above it we hung these lanterns and put these neat battery powered tea lights in them instead of a real candle.

I wanted something to hide all of Parker and Reese's large plastic toys (basketball goal, slide thing,) as well as the many little plastic outside toys. I was trying to clean our yard up but I always felt it looked trashy with these toys all over the yard or stacked up in a corner. SOOO one day we were out and I saw this guy tearing down his old fence and putting it at the curb. I told Cason to stop the car, and after I convinced him I was not going to embarrass him I jumped out and asked the guy if he was getting rid of it and if so could I use some of it. He told me Merry Christmas and to take as much as you need. Cason WAS embarrassed when I made him get out and help me load it up. He kept asking why we were getting more trash to put in our backyard. The backyard we were trying to clean up.

We got the fence up with just enough room for a door. We had some left over shutters so we painted them red and put them up on hinges as doors. Then my moms creativity was set loose and she decorated it up to look like a kids garden house. Needless to say Parker LOVES it!!!! He said thank you for my house a thousand times. It is really neat and more than I could have hoped for.

Parker painted he and Reese's name on the red board and mom painted up the bottom board.

It reads:

"Parker & Reese"

"Grow'n like weeds"
Its one of my favorite parts. I love that he got to be apart of it.

our patio before....

this is the after of the backside of our house
I can never get the order right.

This is the patio all decorated out. The busy after photo.

Again the after of the patio.

here is the before of the backside of the house.

My $10 yard sale find. I LOVE it! I painted it 3 times, 3 different colors until I had it the way I wanted it. The sign on it cost as much as the whole cabinet. I put there outside shoes, bug spray, sun screen, towels, and other things you need while you are outside.

The swing facing the house. this is not a bad before but it helps to see what I did for the after.

I turned the swing around and made a little sitting, conversation area.
One of my mother in laws friends who sister lives in Memphis and had these two chairs that had a little damage was going to throw them out and asked it anyone wanted them. She asked Connie if I would want them and of course I did. My Dad fixed them and I spray painted them black to match the decor and now they are perfect.

another view

again, another view

and another view

Before

This is the flower garden area. Mom had this great idea to make a patio to put our table so that we could eat under the trees....then we cut 4 trees down but I was already set on the idea.

here it is with the new stone patio and all new flowers (thanks to Granddaddy). He loaded my SUV up with plants and flowers so that I wouldn't have to spend money buying so enough to fill it and so that I wouldn't have to wait on the plants to mature.

another view.

the stone patio...mom you are amazing!!!

This post is for Granddaddy, Nannie, Aunt Charlotte and everyone else who told me to take pictures and email them to you. I hope you like it!!!! Thanks for all the help, advice and just being excited about what we are doing.

Easter!

2009-04-19T13:41:00.000-07:00

Here is parker finally hearing me say that the Easter bunny brought him a camera. Before that he would not get up!!!! as you can see below. He is already starting to act like a teenager about waking up.
Not Reese she was up and ready to play! I love the bed head.

Here is her stuff. The Easter bunny brought her a fake camera, some empty eggs because she didnt like anything being in hers. He brought her some shorts and a grocery basket. I added some toothbrushes just to add something else to hers since hers was so cheap compared to Parker's expensive easter... guess what her favorite part was....the tooth brushes. SHE LOVES THEM! I could have just bought the tooth brushes and she would have been thrilled.

Parker had a great easter! He got a real VTECH camera (cooliest things ever, if your kid likes to take pictures with your digital camera. It is a real camera with fun kid editing on it. It also has games, and can take videos. It hooks up to the TV too. It also is like a real camera and can be saved to your computer. It is awesome!! He also got Horton Hears a Who. He loved that movie. I think he mainly liked it because he saw it with his daddy who thought it was hilarious, and laughed the whole time. And he got some eggs...and yes he did want candy in his..shocker.

see loving the camera.

I didnt really get any good pictures. It was rainy and Cason was on call all day and night. We had had such a busy weekend already that it was a lazy day.

This face is because she was running away from me in church and knew she was about to get caught.

He found the adult snacks and was hiding as he ate them.

Here she is making me feel a little better about the actual easter gifts.

The reason my pictures have looked so bad is because I had the camera on the wrong setting. I love all this technology!..NOT! I like the good ole days of step 1.turn camera on, step 2. take picture!

AWESOME COUPLE OF DAYS! In normal me fashion the pictures are in the wrong order. You are starting with Saturday and working back to Thursday.

2009-04-11T21:31:00.000-07:00

SATURDAY NIGHT!!!!

We had a good time doing our babysitting club tonight. We ate pizza outside and then we had an Easter egg hunt for them. Then we re hid the eggs about 10 times until Tucker (He is 2 1/2 had eaten all most all the candy out each egg (42 eggs! Whit, if he is bad in church tomorrow it is Cason's fault!) We couldn't figure out why he didn't have any eggs in his basket and why so many eggs were open and thrown on the ground. Then we looked at his chocolate covered face! After the long Easter egg hunt we played hide -n- seek until it got too dark. Then we came inside and put all the kids sleeping bags on the floor with pillows, drinks and popcorn. Then we put in Horton hears a who and the kids had a movie night! It was a really great night! Good luck in church tomorrow to the Coles and the Larsens!

BELOW IS SATURDAY AFTERNOON:

Our churches Easter egg hunt.

This is Amanda's middle guy, Charlie and Reese....it was the best picture of them out of the bunch! Not that great but I wanted one of the 2 of them to be posted.

Below:
This is actually Parker and Thomas hugging good bye for a few months. It was really sad to me. They really are best little friends. They were born 10 days apart and Amanda and I spent almost everyday together for the first 3 years of their lives. They really were so much fun to watch this weekend. It was like they never missed a beat.....it is kinda cool because that's the way it is with Amanda and I!

below:
trying to keep them in line....

below:
I mean REAlly!!! HOW CUTE!
After my Freaking out post last week it nice to go out to dinner with Amanda and realize that Parker and Thomas are doing the exact same thing. Parker has been hanging with older or younger kids and that's not really fair for me to compare him to them. I feel a lot better now that I see and hear about Thomas doing some of the same stuff.

Below: Matt, Thomas, and Charlie on the slide.

Below: Mom and Park.

Reese thinking where is the candy, I didn't come to play I came to EAT!!!!

BELOW IS FRIDAY MORNING:

Went to the zoo with Anne, Carrie, Denise, Michelle, Amanda and a BUNCH of kids.

A HUGE Thanks to Denise and Michelle for chasing after Parker and Thomas the whole time!!!!!

Favorite moment:

The minute we pulled through the gate at the zoo and Thomas spotted Parker he took off running toward him. Parker didn't see him at first but when he saw who it was he started ripping out of the stroller to get to him. They hugged and then started jumping up and down saying each others name over and over again. It was cool in a touching sort of way!

picture below is of all the kids,

Case, Colt, Charlie and Reese on the bottom and Parker and Thomas up top. The only one not pictured was Andrew.

Case and Reese

This is sooo funny to me. Denise got tired of taking him in and out of the stroller to see the animals so she started lifting the entire stroller.

Again, are they cute enough together!!!

Riding the Train around the farm
Colt and Carrie, Amanda and Andrew, and Michelle and Charlie

Reese, myself, Anne and Case

I MISS THIS!!!!

Anne, Me, Amanda, and Carrie

another group picture...I stole Anne's pics off her blog. Her camera is WAY better than mine.

FRIDAY NIGHT:

Amanda and I went to dinner and a movie. It was sooo much fun. We as usual talked about anything and everything. No subject was too private. The old man and his wife sitting next to us in the movies actually got mad at us during the preview and said out loud "Are they going to talk through the entire movie" I thought YIKES, but you know Amanda it just made her want to talk louder....just kidding she was good! It was so much fun! Like no time had passed!

BELOW IS THURSDAY

Parker had his schools Easter Party Thursday morning. I couldn't stay because I already had made plans with Anne to spend the with her. We had a great time. We went to the agri consignment sale and then to lunch. My mom kept Reese so we could really talk. I had a great time and it was some much needed time together.

....sooo Cason (Who is a pretty awesome Dad for doing this I might add) drives straight from the hospital to Parker's school having NOT SLEPT ALL NIGHT (he was on call) just so Parker wouldn't be the only kid without a parent there. Parker was really excited that his Daddy was coming too! I actually think he did better with Cason there. He tried stuff I would have never guessed he would do because Cason was there.

This being one of those things..

...and this...

Here he is hunting the eggs!

It was a great week/weekend.

HAPPY EASTER!!!!

My little look alikes...

2009-04-08T08:48:00.000-07:00

Yes, those are aviator sunglasses on Parker's head. I LOVE THEM!!!

The pictures are a little blurry.

This is my favorite one!

Everyone is always telling me how much my kids look alike, and though I didn't mean to dress them alike, since they were I thought Id take their picture. Plus they were being nice to each other and that isn't always the case, so I needed to take advantage of that as well.

St. Jude Trike-a-thon

2009-04-08T08:22:00.000-07:00

They loved the bike wash.

It was kind of cold that morning and they were getting soaked....but they loved it!

It was really neat. They had most of the parking lot blocked off and the kids could just ride all over it. They also had a bubble station, a bike wash station, and a big water cooler and cups just like you would see at a marathon. It was really neat.

Still washing the bikes.

Here he is riding....he was a crazy man on his bike. It maybe time for the training wheels to come off.

Thanks for the donations to St. Jude.
They didn't really do laps because that would have been a nightmare. But believe me when I say he earned every bit of the pledged money.

SOCCER MAY NOT BE OUR SPORT..not now anyways

2009-04-01T13:38:00.001-07:00

Reese wanted to play

Parker was all about the warm ups. He is actually probably just trying to keep that kid from stealing his ball. He thought that everyone was taking stuff from him and he did not like it!

This looks good but what you don't know is we are the only ones there and it was just he and I playing. He wasn't feeling the other people.

look how little he looks. Great reminder that he is still just a baby!

Parker wasn't feeling his first game so much. He really didn't like all the other kids "stealing" his ball as he put it. He really didn't like how fast pace things were moving. It was a little traumatic for him. At practice tonight he got out there and did all the drills and seemed to be really enjoying himself. He likes practice best, mainly because everyone has their own ball. He hasn't quite gotten the hang of the game yet. Hopefully by the end of the season he will like it a little more and I wont feel like I am torturing him. That's not true he does like being with his friends. Lexi, Hyrum and Dylan (even though Dylan's not even on our team..don't tell Parker) He loves being around them and playing with them so he is torn sometimes between wanting to get to play with them and not wanting to play soccer at all.
LOL.
ARE WE HAVING FUN YET???!!!!!

If you saw my original post its gone because I just decided I wanted to keep that private for now. But prayers are still welcome.

if this is making you crazy curious, don't be I'm just a young mom worrying about her kid, wondering if I could do things better, but what mom doesn't.

I CUT THE MULLET...(Reese's first hair cut)

2009-03-20T10:20:00.000-07:00

I know I know it is bad! this is the worst view, the others are not this bad!
This angle is not so bad. The hair in the back sticking up is not my fault that is just the crazy hair she was delt.

Her hair is starting to dry more in this picture and the curls are starting to come out.

she is also very camera shy.......

NOT!!!!

I cut Reese's hair this morning. I am not very good at cutting a straight line on paper, so I dont know why I thought it would be any different on my wiggly 1 year old. I messed up and Its all uneven. Actually its REALLY uneven but luckily for me She has curls so I am hoping that the curls will hide my lack of skill. She was developing an AWESOME mullet. The top of her hair is not growing and the sides and back are growing at a rapid pace. When I would put a bow in her hair it would help to make it not look so mullety but lately even the bows were not hiding the mullet. Now she has a way short do thanks to my cutting skills.

Anyways I thought I should document this special occasion no matter how bad of a job it is.

Where we've been and Who's been to see us!

2009-03-20T08:04:00.000-07:00

WILD THINGS

Anna Clay and Reese

When Anna Clay came to see Reese in February.

****CENTER OF ATTENTION****
"Im ready for my close up"

Caleb, Taylor, Reese, & Parker

at Aunt Charlotte's house in Atlanta.

in february

Ellie and Cason playing the DS.
in February

Parker was the main picture taker but someone finally got it from him to be able to take his picture.

ELLIE

~by Parker

Brotherly love
in January

This is most likely the calm before the storm.

His new thing. He Loves his guitar.

Her new thing. She loves head bands
Reese is all girl, she loves hair bows, jewlery, make up, and dolls.

Reese has got her Tribby right where she wants him...wrapped tightly around her finger!

High School Reunion

2009-03-20T06:23:00.000-07:00

top row:(Ranata holding KR, Stephanie, Amanda holding Hannah, Jamie, Amy carrying baby in belly, Melissa holding Elizabeth.)

bottom row: (Reese, Me, Parker, and Heather holding Beau.)

Last month I met a few of my friends from high school at chic-fil-a. We had to hunt for a chic-fil-a that had a play ground so that all of our kids could play while we caught up. It was a little crazy to see everyone with kids. Most had kids, one was pregnant, and 2 are doing very well for themselves career wise. It was awesome to see everyone again. It was really neat how we all just seemed to pick back up where we left off 10 years ago......10 YEARS YIKES!!!!!

It was also a little bitter sweet when it was time to go, knowing that it might be a while until we see each other again. luckily I think we are having a reunion this fall and that helped knowing that it may only be 6 months and not another 10 years before we are back together. Since not everyone got to come maybe next time the other girls will be able to come.

****Ranata,Stephanie, Amanda,Jamie,Melissa,Amy,& Heather: If any of you girls read this I can not tell you how much I appreciate you packing up yourself (and kids if you had them) and coming out on a yucky rainy night to get together. It had been way too long for most of us! All of you are really special people in my life and I hope that this will be something we do again. I love you all and cant wait to see you in the fall!!!!

Randi*****

READING

2009-01-13T20:56:00.000-08:00

So it has been a while since I just sat here and let everyone who cares to read this hear what has been going on in my head.

I have officially become a reader.

It all started with some of my good friends talking about this movie that they couldn't wait to come out because they were dying to go see it. When I tried to think of what new movies were coming out that girls would be gushing over I knew it had to be a love story and the only movie coming out that was a love story was that stupid vampire movie "twilight". It had interrupted all my favorite TV shows with a super long preview that only made me roll my eyes and then push fast forward on the DVR. When I finally asked if this was what they were talking about they said yes and asked me if I had read the books. HA HA HA, 1st: me read? yeah right! 2nd: a book about a vampire! not happening....or so I thought.
They talked so much about it that it made me curious about what it was really about...besides the obvious, high schoolers and vampires. I ended up going to see it....and that's where it all began.
After the movie I went home got on the computer and became obsessed. I read the first chapter of the 2nd book and that really messed me up. I had to know more. Cara one of the friends from the beginning brought me the 2nd book so that I could continue what was started. I started the 2nd book at 9pm on Monday night and was finished by 3pm on Tuesday afternoon. THIS BOOK IS OVER 600 PAGES!!!! this is also my first book to read from cover to cover EVER (i know how did I graduate without ever reading a book) As if that is not bad enough do you remember that I have KIDS!!!! 2 of them and one who depends on me totally. My poor baby was totally neglected. She took more naps that day than shes ever taken. Parker learned to feed himself. Needless to say I finished all 4 books in that same week. Reese now cries when she sees me holding anything that looks like a book....that is terrible.

My family got so excited about my reading that everyone started to give me names of books that they thought I would like. I was still not sure if I had found a new hobby or if I had just been obsessed with this one series.

Cara insisted that if I liked "Twilight" then I would love "Redeeming Love". It was based on the story of Hosea from the bible. I tried this book since Cara brought it to me. ANOTHER awesome book. This one was almost better because it showed Gods love through its romantic story. So now I have read 5 books. The next book that Cara brought to me is "Reading the bible in 2 years". I am very thankful to have a friend who has opened up a door that so many have not been able to open. I am also thankful for my new hobby!

Sadly, all this reading has not helped my grammar or my spelling. One baby step at a time i guess. Rome wasn't built in a day people!

Christmas

2008-12-25T21:54:00.000-08:00

Ready for christmas.

We made Chad and Natalie get to our house by 7am because that is what time Parker usually wakes up. Parker is terrified of Santa and he didnt even want Santa to come to our house at all. He cried out twice afraid that Santa would come. I had to "call" the elves and ask them to call Santa and tell him to leave all of Parker's gifts at Uncle Chad and Aunt Natalie's house. Then Uncle Chad and Aunt Natalie could bring them over. This is the reason they had to be there by the time he woke up!

This picture really captures the real "Reese". She is CRAZY!

Here she is sneaking up the stairs and getting caught.

this is the first picture of our matchy matchy outfits.

The boys LOVED it.....okay not really, but they were really good sports!

We however are silly girls and we did love it! Mom even cut down adult size pants to fit parker and Reese.

Part 1 of the golf cart. Reese LOVES the golf cart. She would not get off of it!

SHE WOULDNT LEAVE ITS SIDE! OR SEAT! ha ha ha

Part 2 is Parker burning rubber. Once we got it outside he LOVED it too.

He stayed out there until we made him come inside.

Part 3 will be the fights that they will have over it!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND I PRAY EVERYONE HAS A HAPPY AND SAFE NEW YEARS! LoVE

The Shirleys

GOING BACK IN TIME:

2008-12-23T21:17:00.001-08:00

Reese's first day of MDO. Miss Rachel and Miss Kylee are her teachers and they are AWESOME! Reese loves them!!!

(November)

Here are my sweet little skunks on their way to trunk or treat.

Reese's birthday. Because she is born right at Halloween we used it as an excuse to dress up. She is a skunk.

(October)

BABY SITTERS CLUB!!!!

For all of you who have kids LISTEN UP, this is the most awesome idea EVER!!!!

We along with 3 other couples, take turn each weekend (one night of the weekend of course) watching each others kids. Cason and I are every 4th weekend of each month. We get to pick the night (Friday or Saturday) that we watch the kids. The other 3 weekends of the month Cason and I get to go on a date...or run errands...or whatever else we need or want to do without kids. its nice on so many levels. Its really nice because I dont feel like we are always using my parents or brother and Natalie to watch them when we want to do something. ***** PLUS we do it with kids that Parker is crazy about. The kids seem to love the arrangement about as much as we do. Every weekend they get to play together.

I just put this in here because I have tried on 4 different occasions to take pictures of my kids and out of those 4 times this is one of the only decent pictures. That is VERY frustrating.

FIRST DAY! He loves it! Zoe is his girl friend. He is going to marry her. Or so he says. Miss Carla, Miss Jill, and Miss Stella are his teachers. He is in the Bee class.

Parker's first day of MDO (Mothers Day Out)
(August)

We went to Chucky Cheese his fav. place! Here is he playing his fav. game, Hungry Hippo!

He got a bike from his Uncle Chad and Aunt Natalie.

HE LOVED IT!!! I mean LOVES IT!!!

Parker turned 3!!!

This is a nice face he is making.

(August)

The boys missed each other and it was neat to see that its not just Amanda and I that have a bond. Although sometimes theirs is a little less loving!

Went to Ohio to see Amanda. If words could describe what a loss it was for us to have them move away then I would write a book about it. The only thing that makes me feel better is that she will ALWAYS be one of my VERY BEST FRIENDS!!!!! She is AWESOME! We had a great time there. We went (just the 2 of us, THANKS MATT!!!) to lunch and a movie, the water park, the regular park, not to mention their own yard was like a park. We had a GREAT TIME!!!

Bought a rehab. We were homeless for about 2 months. then we owned a "project" for another 2 months before we moved in. We lived with my parents (God bless them) for 4 months. Due to many request I will post more pictures of this project soon.
(August)

All of Natalies Bridesmaids

(July)

Chad and Natalie got married. This is them at their rehearsal dinner.
(July)

Went to Gulf Shores with Cason's Mom and Brothers fam.

Parker LOVED riding the go carts with his Daddy.

(June)

Cason Graduated from Medical School!
(May 30th)

Went to the Cayman Islands with My Fam.
(May, this is where we were when our house sold)

Sold our 1st house...in less than a week...had to be out in a week and a half...with 2 kids!
The week of Graduation.

(May)

Got into the Campbell Clinic. Staying in Memphis 5 more years! This was great news because Campbell clinic was our number 1 choice. A close 2nd was Emory in Atlanta and Vandy/ or really Nashville was always in the running too.
(March)

reese's bday pics!

2008-11-03T07:33:00.001-08:00

the little skunk and her daddy
cake!!!!

more cake!

digging in

reese and hadley

couldnt get this off.

We ended up at the last min. going to chucky cheese for Reese's birthday party. We had a great time. We usually have a great time at Chucky cheese. Cason and I get overly competetive at the basketball game and have a blast beating eachother...we hope that the kids have a good time too. AFter Chucky cheese we went to a carnival and it was a blast.

Here are some pictures that I snagged from Natalies facebook profile.

PLEASE CALL ME!!!!

2008-11-03T05:56:00.000-08:00

I am using my old cell phone. I still have the same number so please call me. AManda, I have no idea what your new numbers are anymore. There are so many of you that I dont have anyway to get your numbers unless you call me. SO PLEASE CALL ME!!!!!!

My Phone Was Stolen

2008-10-29T10:45:00.001-07:00

I have no phone because it was stolen in Target Sunday.
If you have been trying to call me that is why you have not gotten me. I realized through all of this that I dont know any ones number by heart. I feel completely helpless without my phone. For all of you who need me please call Cason's cell phone and he will give you a number you can call me at for now. Cason's number is the same first 5 numbers as mine and his last 2 are 07. please call him so that I can get all of your numbers again. That way if I ever get a phone of my own again I can have your numbers.
Thanks.

2months, 2 weeks, and 2 days

2008-10-26T20:17:00.000-07:00

It has been 2 months, 2 weeks and 2 days since I last blogged. I know this because that is the difference in my kids birthdays and last blog was Parker's bday and today is Reese's FIRST birthday.
So much has been going on since I last blogged. We are still trying to put all the finishing touches on our new house. Some doors are still down, most door knobs are not on yet, we have plastic over our four dormer windows outside, the outside is still a mess (shutters, fence....), our trash people didnt come pick up our trash for 4 weeks so our garage is a dump, full of trash. half of my clothes are still at my parents house, all the remotes to every tv is still there or they have vanished into thin air. It is still crazy and over whelming to think about.
While all of that has been going on Cason fell through the Parker's ceiling trying to fix the stupid plastic over the dormer windows. He hurt his back pretty badly but luckily he did not break it or fracture it. Just a soft tissue bruise. Still he was stuck to the couch for 4 days straight with no moving except for using the restroom. Even the shower standing time was tough. Needless to say we are ready for this house to be finished.

I promise that once it is finished we will come back to the land of the living. we will attend reach group again, and I will join the Res. wives on Monday nights, I will go see my grandparents and other family and friends we have neglected since taking this project on. I will live a normal life again....I sure hope so anyways!

Today's blog however is inspired by my sweet little girls 1st birthday. I didnt want to miss in this blogging/journaling to tell about all that she is doing.
She started walking about a week before she turned 10 months. Her favorite word is Daddy and says it all the time. She knows that her daddy is her daddy but she also call my Dad and Chad Daddy sometimes too. She says Mama when she wants me but only when she has to say it. Most of the time she just grunts and I come. She says Nana a lot too. She calls Parker "Bubba" which is pretty cute. She is crazy about her brother. If she is crying in the morning and he walks into her room she smiles and starts squealing...soooo cute! He is actually pretty protective towards her too. She really says a lot for her age. Parker was a good talker but Reese says more than he did at this age. She is REALLY FUNNY! She laughs at her self which is totally a quality that she gets from me. Luckily she learned how to do it with out an embarrassing wetting her pants story....lol, I guess she does have plenty of those stories too. She has a temper she gets that from me as well. She is dramatic and Cason says thats me too. She has this fake cry that cracks me up. It is the ugliest possible face she could make. She will stop to see if you are looking, if you are she continues...so funny. She is such an answer to my prayers. She is more than I hoped for. She smiles at everyone and is so much fun to be around. God has given Cason and I such a gift by giving us this amazing little girl. I pray that he will guide us in raising her to be a great light for his kingdom.
Today we went to lunch with Nana and Tribby then we went home and took a nap. When we woke up we got in our Halloween costumes and went to Trunk or treat at church. They were skunks (SO CUTE). Reese LOVED it. She walked everywhere holding her pumpkin pale. she didnt care about the candy she just liked being able to walk around all those kids and carry her pumpkin. (she is really into caring things) Then we went and ate dinner again with Nana and Tribby and went to baskin robbins for ice cream. We are going to have her a little party some time this week with all the kids.
So much more has gone on, MAYBE I will have more time this week to catch you up on what has been going on and MAYBE there will be pictures.

Amanda,
Parker misses Thomas soooo much. He always asks me if THomas is going to be there. He misses his BFF! Tonight he didnt want to go if Thomas wasnt going to be there. We all miss you guys. Just not the same!

Newest up date

2008-08-10T12:21:00.000-07:00

Today is Parker's 3rd birthday. We have gone to church this morning and after everyones nap we are going to go to Uncle Chad and Aunt Natalie's house for him to receive his surprise from them....a new bike! He will be pumped! After that we are headed to Chucky Cheese....we were going to go to a go-cart track but it is raining today and so that is a no go. My parents have been wanting to get him a swing set for forever but since we were going to be moving they had to wait. Now they can get it, but the kind that they want him to have is more expensive one so thanks to Grammy and Fred, Nannie and Granddaddy, and Mom and Dad he is getting a good one. Papa and Este got him a gift card to Target because Parker LOVES plastic cards ( I realize that is a bad thing for us) He always wants to buy them in the store and he doesn't understand when I try to tell him that they are like money cards....so Papa and Este got him one to his favorite store (Target) so that he could buy something with his plastic card. What a great family we have! Thank you to EVERYONE!!!!

CHAD AND NATALIE GOT MARRIED! they are official now, even though Natalie has felt like family for a long time now she is officially ours...I mean his!! ;) Their wedding was beautiful and it was fun to see everyone who came. They just finished renovating a house and it looks amazing too. Things are great right now for them.

CASON has started his next rotation and it is BADDDDDD!!!!!!!! I am ready to quite this stupid residency stuff.....not really but I do HATE this rotation. Here is a piece of what he is doing, He went in last Friday morning at 6am and didn't get off until Saturday around 1pm then went back in Sunday morning at 6am and didn't get off until Monday at noon and has done this every day up to today. He met us at this morning as class was getting over. I HATE THIS!!!! I am not even trying to be a big girl anymore. I think it helps him for me to hate it, because that way we can whine (sp) together about it...it is a bonding experience. Makes me remember how much I love and like him! And it makes me realize what a huge help his to me too.

I went to OHIO to see AMANDA since it has been 2 months and I missed my everyday workout partner so much! We had a BLAST! Thanks to Nannie and Granddaddy the kids and I got to fly there instead of drive. I got there on Saturday and stayed until Wednesday morning. On Sunday Amanda took me to lunch and to see Momma Mia. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!!! A big thanks to Matt for watching the kids while we were gone!!! Like normal Amanda fashion she had a list of fun things for us to do. We went to the water park ( Parker LOVED it!!! He rode the big slide with me and wanted to keep doing it...I could not believe it!), we also went to the park a few times. Amanda and Matt's house is BEAUTIFUL!!! Their yard is 4 acres and is AWESOME!!!! The boys played outside almost the entire time we were there. It was really nice since they could just play with out us worrying about anyone getting them or anything like that. It was a GREAT visit!

We finally closed on our HOUSE. The timing is not great because of Cason's rotation plus we "bit off a LOT to chew" or we should have with Cason gone so much. In 2 weeks we have torn out all the carpet and some old hardwood floors, we have torn down wallpaper from walls, ripped out vanities, scrapped popcorn ceilings, had the roof re roofed, cut a hole in a wall and inserted a new doorway, taken all the ceiling fans down, all the doors off the hinges.....WE ARE CRAZY! We were supposed to be done with the demolition today but considering that we still have all the tile in one shower to take up, finish sanding the ceilings (wish we had known you had to do that before we started that nightmare) and finish getting the kitchen cabinets ready for painting we will not make our deadline...not to mention it is Parker's birthday and we cant work on his birthday since I am not going to be able to give him a true 3rd birthday. That's right every year I have gone crazy giving a 1 and 2 year old a way over the top birthday and the year that he finally would really appreciate it I am not throwing one...that really bothers me, so today has got to be really great for him...so that I feel better!
Hopefully we will get the rest of our demo done in the first half of the week so that the 2nd half can get back to schedule which is cleaning up and bleaching walls and floors and everything in between. Then the primer goes on and let the fixing up begin!

I am also going a little crazy because I can not do ANYTHING with 2 kids. They cant go over to the house with me while I work because of all the things that could hurt them. Reese HATES being in the pack n' play and it is too hot for Parker to play outside. plus I cant see him if hes out there without his swing set being up because he will not stay in one spot. I feel like my hands are tied behind my back, I want to get over there and get it done but there is no point in going with them. VERY FRUSTRATING!!!!! Parker is also starting to act like a 3 year old and that has been rough too. I didn't believe it when people said that 3 was worse than 2....what do I know. I am only venting, I still LOVE my life...I love my kids and think they are awesome! My husband is hardworking, my parents are amazing to keep us and all of our junk in their house for so long, my in-laws are more wonderful than I could have hoped for, siblings have been so supportive, grandparents are perfect and loving and wonderful and I just love to hear their voice...when it is not getting on to me for not calling. My friends make me feel loved every day that I talk to them and we are all healthy....So I am fantastic!!!!!

Oh and REESE has started to take a few steps on her own and that is very exciting. She is getting more active and is starting to give her big brother a run for his money. There is no more beating her up anymore. She is also getting more teeth in. She already had 6 and now with 2 coming in we are at a mouthful.

It has been crazy around here but hopefully things will start to look up and the next time I post it will be an excited me to tell what all we have done.

quick up date

2008-07-05T17:04:00.000-07:00

We are currently homeless...except my AWESOME parents have taken all 4 of us in. Not only have they taken all 4 of us in they have cleared there den and let us use it as a storage. I would be showing pictures of all that has gone on in the last 2 months except our camera has now died and we can not find the cords in all the packing.

Cason has Graduated from Medical school and is now a resident at the Campbell clinic in Memphis.

We went on 2 awesome vacations with My family and Cason's mom and brothers family....Thanks it was WONDERFUL everyone.

We sold our first home and we think that we have bought a house...if you are wondering why I am not sure it is because the bank in New york city that we are buying it from is the slowest most terrible people to ever buy a house from. WE have signed the contract that they put together but for some stupid reason they didn't sign their own contract. Every time we send something to them or back to them it takes them a good week to get back to us. NIGHT MARE!!!! When my camera is back up and running I will be showing pictures.

Even after we get this house it is going to take a few months to make it a home. It is twice the sq footage that our last one was and we are so pumped about that.

Reese has 6 teeth that are HUGE!...to bad she is still SO CUTE! She is pulling up and trying to cruise. She is eating real food now and is a little piglet. She says Da da all the time and because of it Cason thinks that he is her favorite. He doesn't realize that it is just easier for her to say. I am clearly her favorite. :)

Parker is potty training and is doing great. One day I got sick of everyone asking me why he wasn't potty trained and I just said "no more diapers because mommy is sick of hearing about it" Also I did it because I could tell he was ready. :) He still wants nothing to do with pooping in the potty but hey I will take what I can get. He tells me when he needs to poop and we put a diaper on....baby steps... he wouldn't tell me before because he was afraid I would make him do it on the potty. The potty is apparently very intimidating when needing to poop.

Cason is on neuro surgery rotation now and it is great. He gets home at noon everyday and life is great. It would be better if we already had the house and he could be working on it, but thanks to stupid new york bank we are still waiting for them to sign the contract they wrote up....I am bitter. Anyways next month we are not going to see him at all and that is going to really stink.

I am yard saleing and having a ball.

When the camera cord is found I will be adding pictures of my old house, new house, kids who are getting SO big, vacations, graduations, and anything in between.

HOTEL for Chad and Natalies wedding

2008-06-30T08:47:00.000-07:00

Here is a great hotel located near the wedding site for all of you wonderful friends and family who are coming all the way to Memphis to make this a special day for Chad and Natalie. I know they appreciate your support and all your trouble. The hotel name is "Hyatt Place" the cost is $107 a night. Newly renovated and it has Nannies stamp of approval! :)

Click here for the web address: http://www.hotels.com/property.do?searchMtmPropertySupplierId=&propertyIdsToCompareString=&COMonth=7&PSRC=G21&TSRC=1&numrooms=1&searchType=&usertypedcity=Bartlett%2C+Tennessee%2C+US&alternateSell=&acDestinationId=11A13361-B9E2-4843-8C55-4FC4AAFC6A24&allPropertyTypesSelected=true&COYear=2008&CODay=27&paging=1&acDestinationType=1&searchID=AC102643-5AD7-5911-AD92-2123A090503D&CIYear=2008&mtnHotelID=283896&destination=11A13361-B9E2-4843-8C55-4FC4AAFC6A24&roomOccupancyString=1%7C%7C2%7C0%7C0&CIDay=25&sortBy=HCOMPICK&s=1&position=1&CIMonth=7

5 YEARS!!!!!!

2008-05-23T20:11:00.000-07:00

It all started May 24th, 2003

Last day without kids....

Parker Bryant 8-10-05

Reese Taylor 10-26-07

Cayman Islands '08

just a few pictures over the last 3 years...

Cayman Islands '06

We have been married for 5 years! Wow! We have done so much in these past 5 years. In some ways it seems as if we just got married and in others it is like I cant remember life without him.

RECAP:

Our 1st year:
While for some it is a tough year for us it was like playing house. I honestly most of the time felt like we were getting away with something. Cason was in his Senior year at Lipscomb and I was working for a dentist office. We lived across the street from campus and Cason walked to school. Every night when I would come home from work we would go eat at the Lipscomb cafeteria (that was great for a new wife who had no idea how to cook!) I only worked till noon or 3pm on Fridays so most Friday afternoons we were both done at noon to hang out. Most nights after dinner Cason was playing a intramural game of some sort so I always got to be the soccer wife. It was fun because we were the only married ones and it was nice not having to spend hours getting all made up to look casual at a game. I liked when we would go out with our friends on the weekends and we would get to go home at the end of the night together. I also loved the formals and all the other stuff that made our first year of marriage so fun!

Our 2nd year:
We moved to Memphis, away from all of our friends and family. I have to be honest it was rough for a few monthsssssss. Not with us just life in general. Although I have to say it was one of the best things that has ever happened to our marriage. We became SO much closer that year. We really depended on each other and REALLY became each others best friend. We also learned a little about birth control and how it is a lie when they tell you that it takes about 3 months for it to get worked out of your system. Parker was growing inside of me after one month of being off the pill. One of the 2 best things that has ever happened to us! We became pregnant with our first baby. We were also in Cason's first year of Medical School. It actually wasn't as bad as everyone made it out to be. He was home more than I was and he would study while I was still at work so that we could hang out when I got home.

Our 3rd year:
Our baby boy was: Parker Bryant, August 10, 2005, 7lb 7oz. This proved to be a challenging year for us, not having a clue as to what we were doing parenting wise, but faking it non the less. We also bought our first house. I LOVED IT! It was the one I wanted and thought we could not get. I was so pumped when we got it. Cason also made it possible for me to stay home with Parker. He took on a night job at the hospital and he will never know what that meant to me because there are no words to come close to explaining how much I appreciate him allowing me to have my dream. Cason was also in his 2nd year of Med school and again he was amazing. We also started making some AMAZING friends.

Our 4th year:
LOVED LIFE!!!! We loved Memphis, we loved our new friends who were more like our family by this point, loved our home, loved each other still, My brother and parents moved to Memphis which was AMAZING! Missed our friends and family that were still in Nashville but saw them as much as possible. Cason was in his 3rd year of med school and this took him from us a little more. That wasn't great but when he was home it made us appreciate it more.

Our 5th year:
Our 2nd baby was born, Reese Taylor October 26th, 2007. Our family is complete (unless God has plans for us we don't know about). Cason got a spot in one of the most competitive residency programs, Campbell Clinic and it is here in Memphis, we get to stay in this place that we consider home. He has done AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING in school. I am married to a smarty pants!!!! We just sold our house a week ago because we are hoping to move to a larger one....we don't actually have another one yet but details details. Our first house has just gotten too small for our family that has doubled in size.

My husband has gotten more precious to me each year. He is constantly doing everything in his power to make MY life perfect. He works all night (tonight he is working) after working all day just so that we don't miss out on anything. He gives our kids baths most nights and puts them to bed so that I can have a breather even though he has worked all day too. He works out to stay in shape, he dresses nice and takes pride in his appearance to look good for me...and he does look good and I don't tell him that nearly enough! He is FUNNY, normally he is the one laughing at other peoples jokes but he is hilarious himself. He is so much fun to watch a stupid movie with because of his laugh, it is the most infectious laugh and it is one of the things I fell in love with. He is kind to EVERYONE! I have never heard him talk behind any ones back and I don't know if he has ever told a lie...correction he did try to tell one once and he was terrible at it.... because he has no practice at it. You don't have to lie when you are always trying to do the right thing with the right intentions. He is a great listener...which is good because I am a great talker :). He is patient and I sure can be trying, He is gentle and I am kind of a hot head sometimes and say things that I shouldn't say and he never does. He doesn't usually get that angry. He always protects my feelings and never says things just to get a reaction out of me. He always asks me what is wrong, sometimes to the point that I want to sew his mouth shut so he cant ask me agian....but I love that he cares enough to not stop until I am okay. He is not self seeking, most of you don't know that he is number one in his medical school class. Unless you are family or I have told you in confidence then you would never know that. He just isn't that kind of guy.
You see I married a one of a kind man. He in the past 5 years has acted out everything Jesus said Love was supposed to be. I am a blessed woman to be married to such a WONDERFUL man! I pray that God will give us another 5 years that are as perfect as these past 5 have been!

Cason I love you with all my heart! Thanks for a wonderful 5 years!

2008-05-15T19:04:00.000-07:00

Nana and Reese
The soon to be newly weds
Reese in the pool
cason and parker in the pool
us at the end of the day
Parker and I curled up watching Mickey Mouse.
Tribble/Shirley

Tribby with his baby girl
The sunset view
Tribby and Parker playing in the pool

Reese and her daddy in the pool
What Reese did 90% of our vacation

Our first leg of our trip...Atlanta

2008-05-15T15:20:00.000-07:00

Nannie and Reese taking a nap
Granddaddy and his 3rd generation baby girl
Reese and her new cousin Caleb (Ben and Alicia's baby boy)

Pictures of whats been going on around here.

2008-04-22T20:12:00.000-07:00

The ZOO trip! These two monkeys where trying to get back in their cage.

Thomas and Parker

The girls were just hanging out in the stroller.

Hadley and Reese

Reese moved Hadley out so her boyfriend could get in.

Charlie and Reese

Reese just hanging out in her shades

She knows she looks good. :)

She fell sound asleep in the swing.
She is out!

ST you are AWESOME!!!! We love it!

Reese was helping me sort the laundry.

Parker and Thomas attempted their first sleep over. Thomas stayed until 10pm. it was a good try. They were just too excited to sleep.

My little man dressed for church.

What a Weekend!!

2008-04-16T12:47:00.000-07:00

2 weekends ago Grammy (Cason's mom) and Ellie (my niece) came to see us. They stayed for a long weekend and we had a BLAST!!!!!
Kimberly came with Wyatt and Drew (Drew is a girl :)) it was the most fun weekend.

We also had a yard sale this same weekend which. With all the excitement we were all exhausted!!!

Bridge Builders Retreat

2008-04-07T20:03:00.000-07:00

Cason and I
Me and Becca
Me and Amanda (My workout partner)
Anne,Amanda, Emily, Me, & Laura

Us with Marcus and Becca
Us with Amanda and Matt
Us with Anne and James
ALL THE GIRLS!
Me, Amanda, Sara, & Anne

I LOVE OUR SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS! These people are the most amazing people I have ever met. I love them all so much and am so blessed that they have all come into our lives! They have helped Cason and I grow closer to each other and to God. They have been our accountability partners on some things our cheerlearders on others and our family the entire time. So many of them are going to be moving this June that it breaks my heart. I know I will always be friends with some of them since they have become family to me. But knowing that I will not be able to see them every day is something that I am really struggling with. I know in life we have different chapters. I am just not ready to end this one. This retreat was AWESOME!

ITS BACK!!!!

2008-04-07T19:47:00.000-07:00

reese is soooo happy! she also makes chuncky thighs look good. :) thanks for the shirt nannie!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU FOR PRAYING!!!! IT WORKED!

MY MILK IS BACK! :) I don't know what caused it to go away so fast but thanks to everyone for giving me advice and ideas on what to do. I tried all of them and it is back!!! :)

For those of you who may have this problem let me give you a list of things that helped me:

1. Drink tons of water

2. Power Pump (thanks Mel) pump for 10 min take 10 min off repeat for an hour.

3. Drink Beer or take a pill called Brewers Yeast. (Thanks Becca for the pills don't do beer. yuck)

4. Pump after every feeding to completely empty the girls.

5. TRY not to stress out about it.....obviously I wasnt doing a good job on this one.

6. PRAY LIKE CRAZY!!!! and ask your friends to pray too!

Thanks Ranata for the consultant, got it back with the other things before I had to call. And by the way this was no part of an April fools joke.

I AM FREAKING OUT!!!

2008-04-01T21:03:00.000-07:00

I don't even know how or where to begin. I LOVE that God blessed me with the ability to breast feed as easily as I have been able to. I Love it but totally took it for granted. For the first 4 months of Reese's life she had NOTHING but me. Every meal for 4 months was ALL me. I decided that I would give myself a breather each day and supplement one feeding a day with formula. At that same time she went from 5 feeding to 4 a day. Things were okay until about a week ago when I noticed that she was not staying attached to me very well and she cried and seemed unsatisfied. I also noticed that my D cup was now a perfect C cup. Then this weekend Cason and I went on a weekend retreat with our church class. Reese got all 4 bottles one day and 2 the next day of formula. I pumped once while we were at the retreat on Saturday and got 8oz out. I thought it was kind of funny that I didn't feel swollen or like I needed to pump more than just that one time. When we got home I realized there was a problem. Reese didn't want to eat off of me she wanted formula. For the rest of Sunday I only feed her off of me. Then the same on Monday but tonight she wouldn't stop crying and acting like she was hungry. I would put her on and she would eat for a minute and then stop and act like she wasn't getting anymore out. To make sure we did everything we could think of to make her feel better hoping that hunger was not the problem. I made her a formula bottle with 4 oz in it. She drank it so fast and when my mom pulled her away to burp her, she freaked out. I don't understand how in one month with only supplementing 1 bottle a day I am drying up.
I have been beside so many of my friends when they cried because they either ran out of milk or couldn't breast feed at all. It is not until tonight that I felt their pain. I know to some of you who didn't really care or it wasn't a big deal will not understand why I am acting this way when I did it for 5 months and I don't know if there is a way to explain it
I am not ready for someone else to be able to do what I alone have been able to do for her for her entire life. I LOVE that bonding time. I did it with Parker till her was 8 months and I stopped because I wanted to stop not because I had no choice. I wanted to do it with Reese till about 9 or 10 months. Before I thought breast feeding would be weird and now it is breaking my heart that it might be over. ( i don't plan on having anymore kids, so this is it) Tonight I have been drinking tons of water and pumping every 5 min. I really took it for granted what a precious gift it was. I pray with all of my might that it isn't over. I am not ready for it to be over. For all of you who went through this I am so sorry that I wasn't more compassionate with you. This has been a bigger deal to me than I ever imagined.

What a week it has been....

2008-03-28T20:13:00.000-07:00

Reese had her first swing ride and LOVED it!
Cason got his letter telling him that he matched at the Campbell clinic. YAY!
We didn't know anyone (like parents) were invited until 45min before it was time to go. Luckily Mom and Dad dropped what they were doing and came. They basically babysat so we could talk to our friends. Thanks guys.
Here is Reese and Fred during the Easter egg hunt.
Here is Me and Anna Clay right after she woke up. She is so cuddly!!
This is cousinly love. Anna Clay was probably scared to get in the chair with these two in it. Ellie and Parker would be playing and then just start throwing each other down to the ground and wrestling. It would have been hilarious if they didn't hurt each other every time. Even Anna Clay was interested in her new baby cousin.
Ellie was such a good helper.
Parker LOVES these girls!!!!!
This is the Easter egg hunt. They had a GREAT time this year.

After church on Sunday we went to visit Pa. Reese was more than happy to sit in Pa's lap for awhile.
Pa keeps it pretty warm in his room and it must have felt cozy to Parker because he slept for hours.

When he woke up he feel in love with Aunt Sherry and Terry. They were so nice to take him down to see the train table and whatever else he wanted to see. He was sad when he had to leave them.

When he woke up he had to give Pa some love too.
Reese was giving everyone some lovin.
Reese like Parker LOVED Aunt Sherry.

Monday night Jim and Cason went to dinner and then came back to the house.
Then we all went out. I learned that I am horrible dart thrower.

Tuesday we headed over to ST and Papa's house. Steve and Sandra cooked us some great meals and we had a blast hanging out in the beautiful weather.
They stayed out on the front steps for hours.
Reese spending some QT with ST.
Parker was ready to get to playing.

It was a long day. Reese needed some Papa time.

We had a great week.

Pass Port Pictures A.K.A. MUGSHOTS

2008-03-19T20:35:00.000-07:00

Nice bow!
Looks like we scared her.
We couldn't get her to take her hand away from her mouth.
She had had enough of this.
He had had enough from the first picture.
This is his upset attempt at a smile.
He is NOT happy about this.
Doesn't he look like a teenager saying "Mom you are so lame"?

We are going to the Cayman Islands in a few months (which is going to make me write a blog in the near future about body image issues, the issues I have and the ones other people are going to have when they see this body in a bathing suit!) We have to get pass ports to be able to travel to the Caymans. We tried to take the picture for the pass ports ourselves. It didn't end up working but the pictures sure are funny! I never really think that Reese or Parker photograph as cute as they are in person but these mug shots of them are really bad (but really funny). I am not including any of Cason and I because they are so ugly that it isn't funny!

My little snow bunny!

2008-03-17T22:02:00.001-07:00

Look at the little snow angel!

They were being too loud and got sent to the couch! :)
He is READY for the snow!
He has on his rain boots, Halloween lion costume pants with jogging pants over them,

2 shirts under the fleece Gap sweat shirt, his puffy jacket, hat , gloves and he is ready for the snow. I am surprised the baby could move at all!
He stands JUST LIKE HIS DADDY!!!!
The snow was up to his knees. the next day it was in the 70's CRAZY!!

CHAD AND NATALIE ARE ENGAGED!

2008-03-16T22:19:00.001-07:00

FINDING HER RING IN HER GOODIE BAG.....

ASKING HER TO MARRY HIM....
SAYING "YES"

I can not express how excited I am that Chad and Natalie are getting married! Natalie is the perfect fit for my brother. We already feel like she is was apart of our family now it is going to be official. My kids call her Aunt Natalie and both love her. Parker is CRAZY about her. Chad has become a better guy since being with her and I am so proud of him and the man that he seems to be becoming.
He purposed to her while we were at dinner celebrating his 25th birthday. We just happened to be celebrating his 25th birthday in the same place they had their first date (Neely's BBQ). In my family as kind of a running joke the adult who's birthday it is gives out goodie bags to everyone who comes to there party (a.k.a. dinner). Chad brought the goodie bags and in each goodie bag it had candy and something unique to each person (Reese had a tiera, Parker had basketballs, Dads had whoopee cushions and so on) He handed them out and we all watched and laughed as each person opened their goodie bags. When Natalie's turn came she opened her bag and in the bag along with M&M's was a ring box. when she realized that it wasnt just a joke but that there was a real diamond ring in there she turned to look at chad who was by this time on his knee and asked her to marry him. It was really special. It was just as emotional watching how nervous Chad was before he ever did it. It was really special that he aloud all of us to be there as he did it. He REALLY wanted her to be caught off guard and boy was she.

CONGRATULATIONS TO CHAD AND NATALIE!!!!

I have been so busy being the "NEW ME"

2008-03-11T20:54:00.000-07:00

I have been so busy lately. I have decided that I am going to start taking this stay at home mom thing seriously.
Cason and I went on a date about 2 1/2 weeks ago and had a great open hearted discussion about our life and how we are dealing with it. We both shared our frustrations and our appreciations with ourselves and each other. In this discussion I decided that I wanted to be the best wife and mother I could for my family.
I felt like our life was always rushing around and never having anything we needed. We would always get places and be missing something and my kids would have dirt under their finger nails and when we would open up the car door things would be falling out at me, I always was putting on make up on the way to places since we were always late! Life was spinning out of control!
I thought about how if I had a 9 to 5 go to work job then I would often have to do things I didn't want to do, I would have to wake up early, I wouldn't get a nap in the middle of the day, I would have to come home and find time to work out, cook dinner, and clean the house. (I really respect those of you who do this)
With this being said I asked CAson to sit down with me and write a list everything that needs to get done in our life. We wrote it and I assigned every task to a day of the week. I decided that I needed to take care of as much of it as I could since this is in all fairness my job as a stay at home mom. Its my job to run the household.
My week now looks like this.....

Monday:
-I wash all white clothing (only white loads)
-Dust and Sweep the entire house...which means I have to pick up too in order to reach the surfaces to dust them. :)
-work out
-cook supper

Tuesday:
-wash dark clothing
-take Parker to mothers day out
-grocery shop and run some errands
-get dinner started
-work out

Wednesday
-wash red clothing
-work out
- clean bathrooms...YUCK!!
-cook dinner

Thursday
-wash towels
-take Parker to mothers day out
-Run errands
-work out

Friday
-wash lights
-do anything that didn't get done in the week
-kind of my light day.
-make sure the house is semi straight for the weekend

Saturday
-Pack diaper bag for church tomorrow
-lay out everyone's clothes for church...we are always late if I don't do this the day before
-cut kids finger nails
-clean out the car

Sunday
-Church
-rest and hang out with family

I always unpack and repack the diaper bag right when I get home....this has helped us not be late. I always get dressed, put on make up, and fix my hair on Tuesday and Thursday instead of staying in my sweats and pony tail all day. (this one is for my husband).

Cason told me last week that he LOVES the new me and that he feels like our life is so much better now. This has made all of the hard work so much more worth it. My kids seem happier too. I have more time to play with Parker and he seems to enjoy the QT with me. I love it too!
In all honesty it is a lot harder than it looks on paper. I had no idea it would be as exhausting as it has been. I go to bed at night totally wiped out! But this is the kind of life that I want for my kids, husband and myself. It is very rewarding!

We've had the flu.

2008-02-24T21:54:00.000-08:00

We pulled out the sofa bed and stayed in it all day. Parker is actually in Reese's bassinet. He loved it and wanted to watch TV in it.

Poor baby, 3 months old and already has had the flu. The only thing that made her feel better was a bath. Look at those sick little eyes.

Parker started to feel better before I did and he was under the supervision of his father. I found him in the kitchen on his stool eating a healthy meal of Doritos.

Now he is walking into our den with those hands. A mothers work is never done. He wishes I would get sick more often and leave his Daddy in charge.

BIG, HUGE, THANKS to my mom who came and stayed with us the entire week so that I could get better. She cleaned my house and made it smell wonderful while I slept all day. She even cooked dinner and took care of Reese at night so that I could get better. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!

Happy 75th Birthday Nannie!!

2008-02-20T20:16:00.000-08:00

This is Nannie playing with Parker, She let him place stickers all over her face!

My Nannie is one of the most beautiful and wonderful woman I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. She has always been the life of the party and hostess with the mostest at the same time. She has endured so many highs and lows in her life and she has remained such a strong woman. She radiates self confidence while keeping a humble presence. She is a loyal and good friend to everyone lucky enough to call her friend. She at the young age of 74 has been asked to be someones matron of honor. (Who gets asked that at 74 other than her...no one) She is so wise and so many young and old come to her for advice and wisdom. She is a brilliant woman and knows so much about so many things. (she once read a English text book to keep up on her grammar....NOBODY does that...I know maybe I should :)) She is so funny. A couple years back she and Granddaddy where having a garage sale and she went inside put on a wig, changed her clothes, put on big glasses and totally disguised herself and then snuck out another door. She came walking up to the yard sale and started talking out loud to herself saying how all of their stuff was just junk pure junk. she insulted all of their stuff and all the prices. She had my even tempered grandfather ready to blow his lid. Then she went over to him and kissed him. He thought this strange rude woman was kissing him. She is just hilarious like that. She line dances and I have to say she has got a LOT of soul. She goes to water aerobics more to run her mouth than her feet but she is the life of the class. I have never met anyone that didn't love her and think she was one of a kind. Parker absolutely loves her. She connects with everyone even 2 year olds. She has taught all of us how to have people in our homes and make them feel comfortable. My entire life she has cooked a feast at every holiday. 9 times out of 10 the holiday has been at her house. So it doesn't feel like Christmas if I am not with her. She is quick to let anyone stay at their house. I have never heard her turn down anyone who needed a place to stay. The sheets stay clean and ready for company. She is a VERY respected woman by all who know her. She loves her children and grandchildren more than life and we all feel it everyday. She is constantly out pouring love to us all. God has blessed me more than I deserve by allowing me to have been granddaughter to such a wonderful woman! I love you Nannie and thank you for being the woman who I would love to become! Happy 75th birthday!

Love,

Randi

Whats been going on around here...

2008-02-11T20:34:00.000-08:00

Parker has been teaching me to cook.

We went to Atlanta and Granddaddy and Reese got some quality R&R

Reese and Hannah became 2nd generation BFF's

Reese came to Granddaddy's bowling league for moral support. I know you are thinking how enthusistic she looks. We couldnt keep her in her seat.

Parker has been hanging out with his lil' sissy I guess he finally realizes that she is not leaving.

He is even teaching her about Mickey Mouse. SHE LOVES IT! cant you see it on her face!

Molly came and took Parker to ride the horses.

We brought down the exersaucer a couple of nights ago and Reese LOVES it!

hanging out with Tribby. (please excuse the face that Reese is making. Being that close to the "big helper" a.k.a. Parker makes her nervous)

HAPPY 50th MOM!!

2008-02-11T20:07:00.000-08:00

Mom's new ride!

She was SOOO surprised!!!!!!!!!

It will take her FOREVER to figure out how to work all the bells and whistles.

Turning 50 is not so bad!

(Not that anyone said it was bad in the first place.)

GOOD WORK DAD!!!!

I am sure she would like for me to add that she is not offically 50 until March 7th.

Dad couldn't afford this and a valentines present so he had to give it to her early.

She was so surprised and excited that she couldnt even eat lunch.

CASON, Take notes I've got the big 30 coming in a few years and this is a really great way to make that depressing day a little brighter....NOT that 50 is old OR depressing!

Best Friends Forever aka BFF's

2008-02-11T19:48:00.000-08:00

This is Amanda and I in the 10th grade. (96)

We have much more embarrassing photos of us but they are all in the attic and I am to lazy to go up and get them. This is what I had on hand.

Us 10 years later at Amanda's wedding (July 06)

This is us 1 1/2 years later with our girls. (Jan 08)

HOLY COW, Did anyone else notice how in 1 1/2 years (from one picture to the next) I became old? WOW 2 kids is really been rough on me. Luckily with 2 kids comes the "Who has time to care" attitude. Nobody is looking at me anymore anyways....mainly because I am at home afraid to leave my house with 2 of them. They out number me and they really like to have melt downs at the same time.

Back to the point.....

Amanda and I have been friends since the 5th grade. We have been through so many milestones together. We sang in the 6th, and 8th grade talent show together, we played softball together in middle school and high school, we were in school plays together, we roomed together on I think every class trip we went on, we went on mission trips together, we went to college together, we lived in the same suite together our freshman year, we played soccer together in college, we were in eachothers weddings, and now we are having babies together. God has blessed my life so much by putting a friend like Amanda in it. Some friends truly are forever.

My New Years Resolution.

2008-02-01T12:39:00.000-08:00

Devotion:It’s that time when many of us are making New Year’s resolutions, so how about some resolutions for mothers? Here are mine:I will put my Bible before the television, the radio, the telephone, and even before good Christian books, for my children will know my priorities by the way they see me spend my free time.

I will make my prayer requests known before God and my children, enlisting their help in the process and informing them of the outcome, for by letting them help when I petition our Lord will they learn of a living God who still answers prayer.

When times of crisis, conflict or confusion arise, I will hit my knees before I hit the phone knowing that by my example my children will discover that although friends are important, God alone is the one who holds the solution to life’s every problem.

I will erase the words “luck” and “lucky” from my vocabulary and will instead by my speech point my children toward the One who orchestrates every detail of our lives and brings all good things to pass, for by this my children will learn of an omniscient God.

When bad things happen, I’ll neither grumble nor complain, but will instead help my children see that in the scope of our lives even the bad times are allowed for a reason, for by this my children will learn quiet trust in their Maker.

When normal childhood mishaps occur, I will remember that although difficult, it is still easier to remove grape juice from off-white carpet than to erase harsh and unloving words hurled at a child whose chubby little fingers have failed her, for by this my children will see a God who understands when our best efforts fall short.

When my children have witnessed something ugly in me - unkind words, an angry temper, “harmless” gossip, biting sarcasm or even my infamous “mommy pout” when things don’t go my way - I will confess it as sin before them seeking their forgiveness, for by this my children will develop the much needed habit of wiping their spiritual slate clean before God and man.

I will teach my children the importance of cleanliness and order while at the same time remain sensitive to the fact that a skinned knee or hurt feeling is more crucial than a spotless floor or uncluttered counter, for by this my children will learn to value people above things.

I will make time for the lonely, the sick, the elderly, the difficult to love, and will bring my children along, for with each afternoon visit, each ride to the doctor, each raked lawn or washed window they will have opportunity to serve Jesus by serving the “least of these.”

I will make our home a haven of rest and retreat from the outside world and a welcomed place for my children’s friends, for with each impromptu backyard soccer game, each video viewed on a rainy day, each cup of hot cocoa or chocolate chip cookie, my children will have opportunity to practice the art of Christian hospitality thereby learning to share all God has given them.

I will by my actions and my speech let my children see a mom love their dad, for by this will my children sense family stability at a time when marriages all around them are crumbling.

I will not require of my children obedience, honesty, patience or kindness without first being willing to submit to the same rules whether in speed limit, in miscounted change from the grocery store or when answering a toddler for the fourteenth time, for by this my children will see a mother who is also learning and not a perfect parent to whom they’ll never measure up.

In all things will I remember that more is caught than is taught.There are little eyes upon you, mom.
You are the first Bible your children will ever read.

By: Karen Ehman

Our Tour of Nashville

2008-01-29T14:47:00.000-08:00

This picture is out of order so I will put the script down at the bottom of the page as not to confuse anyone. :)

Thursday Night

The first night we were there I went to dinner with two of my favorite people (Whitney and Jenna) We had such a great time catching up. Laughing and talking about things you just don't talk about with anyone else. I love girl friends!

Thursday Night

While I was eating with the girls Cason and Parker went to Newt and Casey's house and Parker and Luke played together. Parker and Luke are 3 months apart and you would never know which one is the oldest since they are literally book ends. They had a great time. (FYI Reese was with me she was just not in the last picture)

Friday Night

That night we spent the night with Cason's mom and Fred and spent the day with them. Aunt Dessie, Uncle Mike and Aunt Becky all came over to see us. It was great catching up with all of them. (not pictured)

Later that night Cason and I went back downtown for Cason's dinner interview for Vanderbilt. It kind of felt like a date. It was fun.

Friday Night/ Saturday Morning

While Cason and I were at the Vandy dinner Steve and Sandra watched the babies. I think they had a good time. I hope. The next morning Parker went with Ellie, Grammy and Fred to a horse show. Reese and I spent the next morning with Sandra and Steve while Cason was at his Vanderbilt interview.

Saturday Night

Cason, Reese and I went to Fount and Krystal's house. Krystal and I went out for Kasey's (different Kasey than Newt's Casey from Thursday night) Bachelorette party. We actually just went out and ate with them and then Krystal and I went home. When we got back to Krystal's house there were 8 guys playing cards and guitar hero with my little girl right in the middle. It was a blast!

This is where the picture of Jim and Cason putting Reese in her car seat should be.

Sunday Morning.

We left Fount and Krystal's house and went back to Connie and Fred's to pick Parker up. We were supposed to have lunch with Uncle Ernie and his family and Uncle Mike and his family but Cason had to get back to Memphis to work that night and when we tried to call them they were not out of church so we weren't sure it would work out but luckily Uncle Ernie, Aunt Debbie, Amy, Phillip, and Eli called and came over before we left so we did get to see them too.

It was a great 4 days.

We LOVE baby Hadley

2008-01-20T20:25:00.001-08:00

Here we are at the end of September (I'm 9mo. & Becca 6 1/2mo.)

3 1/2Months later both girls are here. They are already BFF! :)
Hadley and Reese

Parker is already looking out for Baby Hadley. Between Marcus and Parker the boys dont have a shot of getting close to Hadley.

Here we all are

From L to R (Marcus, Becca, Hadley, Randi, Reese, Cason and Parker)

Parker's 1st day of school (a.k.a. mothers day out)

2008-01-08T14:07:00.000-08:00

Parker is already annoyed at me for taking pictures. He better get over that or he is going to have a LONG miserable childhood ahead of him. :)

This is the excited Parker waking with a hop into the building. I am behind the camera being a nerd by snapping pictures the entire walk into the building. :)

This is Parker jumping right in.

This morning Parker started mothers day out. It was exciting and scary all at the same time, Parker was nervous too! :)

The first thing Parker said to me this morning when I was getting him dressed to go to school was "Mommy I don't want to go to school I want to stay home with you." Not a good sign. But much to my surprise he got really excited when we were getting in the car. Before we got to his school I had to stop and get gas. As we were pulling in he said "This not school mommy....is it?

When we pulled up to the church building I could hear the excitement in his voice when he said "This my school mommy?" when I let him out of his car seat he jumped out, put on his back pack and squealed with excitement. (it was really cute) I might add that the entire walk into the building I was taking pictures of him. ( Yes, I am one of those moms and I don't care one bit!!!!) When we got to his class he walked right in and forgot to kiss or tell his mommy good bye. I was okay with that because there were also no tears and that was worth missing my hug and kiss.

(Now let me tell you what an idiot I am. I stayed up till midnight last night reading and rereading the parent information sheet that tells me what to bring and where to go and blah blah blah. I went to the grocery store 3 different times last night so that this morning we would be ready to go. When we get to Parker's class room I saw all the little lunch boxes by the door and realized I left his in the fridge. I could have cried. I am a failure!!! I told his teacher that I would be back with his lunch.

When I came back 2 hours later I peeked in and watched him. He was LOVING IT!!! he was running and laughing it was making this much easier on me. Until....he spotted me and wanted to leave with me. He started to cry and the teacher told me that he would be okay. I knew he would but it still made me sad. Not that anyone but family will care but Parker was asked questions about the lesson and all 3 teachers told me how smart he was. YES!!!! MY KID IS SMART!!!! If you are reading this then you know that school (grammar) are not my strong suit. I know it is mothers day out but don't rain on my parade! :)

Now the next not so good part. Parker takes on average 3 hour naps. The nap at MDO is only an hour. At home we have this rule....Never wake Parker up. He is so grouchy if you wake him up. At MDO they woke him up after an hour and when I got there 5 min. later he was in that sleepy crying phase. When he saw me he came to the door and was crying. Not the best ending to the day but maybe this will get better. We fixed this mood by going to McDonalds and getting ice cream.

My only question is how come 5 hours never seemed this long before. I felt like he was gone for 2 days. I missed him so much. I am glad that he is going to be home all day tomorrow. But I am excited to see all that he will learn this next few months.

Overall it was a good first day! What an answer to my prayers!

My baby is getting so big!

2008-01-03T19:42:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Uncle Chad and Aunt Natalie for dressing my baby like a little man.

Thanks to Nannie and G-daddy for the new shoes, He loves them!

BABY DAWGS!

2008-01-03T19:26:00.001-08:00

Reese was all ready for the game sitting in her seat for the first time!
Parker was trying to decide if he was going to watch it or the wiggles....it is rough being 2!

SCROLL DOWN FOR ALL OUR HOLIDAY FUN!

2007-12-26T22:31:00.001-08:00

CHRISTMAS IN MURFREESBORO

2007-12-26T22:25:00.000-08:00

Cason and Ellie snuggled up at Grammy's house

Uncle Clay making Parker laugh

Reese

2007-12-26T22:09:00.000-08:00

At Papa and Estes house

Spending some time with PA

We were trying to get a picture of all 4 kids and it was IMPOSSIBLE!

Parker was being a ballerina...not Cason's favorite picture of his son

Parker taking Anna Clay on a ride in his new truck

CHRISTMAS AT HOME

2007-12-25T22:56:00.000-08:00

Sweet baby girl

She is getting so big!

We are missing our other child but he was not interested in taking pictures and it was 30 min past nap time....in other words it wasnt worth the fight.

Reese's first Christmas, she was PERFECT the entire time.

Christmas Eve Party

2007-12-25T09:46:00.000-08:00

After we ate dinner Parker opened all his presents from us since he was getting a train table from Santa and we knew he wouldnt want to stop playing with it to open the other presents....we were right.
Aunt Natalie and Uncle Chad bought him bongo drums, all I can say is this could come back to haunt them one day when they have little ones.

After Parker opened his presents he handed out his presents to everyone.

After Parker's gift opening we played taboo. Nannie and Granddaddy as always were the real entertainment. They hate this game but they are the most fun to play with. Nannie promises every year that she will not play next year and every year she plays again.

After the game Dad, Mom and our friends Marcus and Becca decided to put on Parker's animal mask and try to give him nightmares....just kidding, sort of. It was to be funny but it was kind of freaky.

This was my first Christmas at my house. This is all my new plates, chargers and center pieces I got for Christmas (along with my new table and chairs). I had 13 people over for dinner Christmas Eve night. My Mom, Dad, Nannie, Granddaddy, Chad, Natalie, Natalies Mamaw and Mom, Mamaw's friend Dewey, Marcus, and Becca. It was CRAZY I felt like a grown up. Actually I felt like a kid playing "grown up".

Christmas Morning

2007-12-25T09:36:00.000-08:00

Nana and her boy

Parker drawing on his new giraffe chalk board table from Santa

Seeing his train table Santa left him for the first time

Uncle Chad with his girls

Uncle Chad and Aunt Natalie with Reese

All the girls in our matching pj pants
Parker's train table from Santa
This is what Santa left Parker...
Just what he asked for.

Nannie, Granddaddy and Uncle Chad spent the night at Uncle Chad's house. We told them to be at our house at 7:30am because the is what time Parker usually wakes up. He slept in our bed with Mom and Dad and instead of waking up at 7:30 he woke up at 7:00. Aunt Natalie slept on the couch in the play room (as she and Uncle Chad are not married....YET) all of us had to keep Parker in the bed until Nannie, Granddaddy and Chad could get to our house. For 30 min we told that baby that we had to stay on the bed because there were sharks in the water. And if we got off the bed they would get us. (this is how nightmares are started) That's right in our bed this morning was Cason, Myself, Mom, Dad Natalie, Reese and Parker. When they finally arrived We got to get out of bed and go and see if Santa had come to our house. Just let it be said this is a day that I LOVED being the mom of a sweet 2 1/2 yr old. Today was a GREAT day!

The Wii christmas morning.

2007-12-25T09:32:00.000-08:00

Chad got Natalie a Wii for Christmas and it was the entertainment for the rest of the day.

Chad and Cason boxing

Parker was loving it

Natalie and Cason playing Tennis

This was one of the most fun things I have ever played. I do not really enjoy video games and I LOVED this. I dont have a picture of it but even my Granddaddy got into it. He was trying to figure out how he could get himself one without my Nannie knowing....so funny.

More family photos

2007-12-14T05:42:00.000-08:00

I love this picture of my boys!

All of us, It look like I am breaking Reese's leg.

I actually like this picture.....Cason doesnt

Who could not love this one?

Trying to take pictures with a 2 1/2 yr old is IMPOSSIBLE!

2007-12-11T20:49:00.000-08:00

Reese really is cuter than this, she wasnt the child we were focusing on.
This picture should read...

SANTA,

Define nice?

-Parker

Of course the cutest picture would be a solo shot of my little maniac!

What a day........

Today we attempted to go and take family pictures for a Christmas card. I was not to high on the idea considering I am 6 weeks out from having a baby and my body is not responding as well this time to loosing the weight. It could be that I have NO TIME to myself what so ever. Taking a shower is a major accomplishment these days. Working out is a luxury I hope to someday have again.

Anyways, I got everyone dressed in our coordinating outfits, hit up my brothers girl friend to take the pictures, my mom to entertain the 2 year old and my brother for moral support and extra help. All 7 of us headed to a beautiful spot to take our pictures. We had planned to start taking them at 3pm well at 4:15 we finally arrived. (this should have been a sign to me, this was never going to work) I know that some 2 year olds must be good at sitting still and smiling for a camera I just dont have one of those. He would jump, he would look down at the last minute, he would say cheese while looking down, and he would completely walk away and not come back. My mom roared like a lion, meowed like a cat, and every other animal in between. Chad and Natalie were taking pictures so fast we didnt know when to smile and when to lick our lips. They took so many pictures we figured there had to be at least one picture where we were all looking at the camera at the same time. We didnt bet on the camera being set on the wrong setting and making every picture blurry. We didnt plan on our child freaking out on us. Did I mention we have another child....who knows what she looks like in these pictures. No one could focus on the quiet one or the one who was laid so far back you cant even see her in any pictures. AHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Sooooo, we have these 3 pictures they are not really in focus and they are not worth all the trouble that we went through today. BUT, I have learned a valuable lesson. I am not paying for a professional photographer to take our picture until Parker is 10. I would have been sick had I paid for this day. :) I guess I am just going to have to settle for snap shots for his baby book until we get some kind of control on him.

SO MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

BREAKFAST PARTY!

2007-12-08T07:43:00.000-08:00

Parker and Daddy making pancakes.

Aunt Natalie spent the night with us so that we would not be alone last night. Cason got in from Florida around 3am this morning. The babies woke us all up this morning at 9am so we called Uncle Chad and told him to come over for a pajama breakfast party. He came right over in his pj's and we had our party. After breakfast we all gathered in the den for a mickey mouse Christmas movie. Does life get any better than this?

DEAR GRAMMIE,

2007-12-07T10:44:00.000-08:00

Love,

Parker and Reese...and Randi

Solution to a fussy baby....

2007-12-04T16:04:00.000-08:00

Reese was still not asleep at midnight last night and I was so tired so I turned on the dryer and bounced her in my arms standing next to it so she could hear the noise. When I got her to sleep I wanted to make sure she was really asleep before I tried to take her to bed. I put her in her bassinet and put it on the washer. The vibration combined with the noise knocked her out. She slept the entire night. First full night of sleep I have gotten in weeks!

Brotherly Love

2007-11-26T20:39:00.001-08:00

Parker is LOVING being a big brother and he is so good at it!

GO DAWGS!!!

2007-11-26T14:59:00.000-08:00

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!

2007-11-24T18:12:00.000-08:00

My Father in law and his wife came to our house last weekend and we had a great time. My mom, Sandra and I went yard saleing and had a ball! While yard saleing we came across a estate sale. This man and woman were getting a divorce and he was selling all of her fancy furniture. I have been wanting a new dinning room table and chairs but I didn't want another cheap set. I wanted something really nice. I knew we couldn't afford what I was wanting so I put it out of my mind. When we got to this sale I saw this table and 6 chairs and fell in LOVE with them. They were still way out of my price range so I didn't think there was any way I could get them . Sandra and my mom told me to ask the man if he would take less on them. I didn't know why I couldn't afford them at half price. But the man did come way down on the price and after all our negotiating my wonderful Father in law and his wife bought me the table and 1/2 of the chairs and my wonderful parents did the other 1/2 of the chairs (for my Christmas). I can not thank them all enough!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the table and chairs and they make a great addition to our house. We also got the them just in time for Thanksgiving and for the first time all 8 of us could eat around my table comfortably! So a BIG THANK YOU to Steve, Sandra, Mom and Dad for a WONDERFUL Christmas present!!!

2007-11-22T15:25:00.000-08:00

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE SHIRLEY'S
Check out our dancing.... Click the address below for our show!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9576780655

Surprise! Happy 78th birthday Granddaddy!

2007-11-13T19:40:00.000-08:00

Parker at 4am Friday morning....MUCH TO AWAKE for a trip this long.

Reese the entire trip. She slept the whole time! :)

Here he is, the BIRTHDAY BOY with his great granddaughter.

Nannie with her newest baby.

Here we all are pilled in the car with no room to spare.

We decided last week that it would be so fun to surprise my Granddaddy and drive 7 hours from Memphis to Atlanta for his 78th birthday. He had not seen Reese yet and it was killing he and my Nannie. They are coming to Memphis for Thanksgiving and Christmas and they thought it would be too much for them to come at her birth too. This seemed like a good idea to them until the weeks kept adding up and they still hadn't seen her. Every time we talked to Granddaddy on the phone he kept saying how it would be such a good birthday present if we would bring his great granddaughter to see him on his 78th birthday. He was kind of joking but also wishful thinking as well. So Thursday night we made the final decision and packed our bags and at 4am Friday morning Mom, Dad, Cason, Parker , Reese and myself headed for Atlanta. (Chad and Natalie flew Friday afternoon to meet us and rode back with us) It was a circus act getting there and back. We rode in Mom's expedition that holds 8 people with little to no luggage. We were 8 people but with 3 girls and 2 babies there was more than a little luggage. It turned out to be such a GREAT weekend. We got there around 2pm Friday and totally surprised them. We left Reese on the front steps and knocked and then we hid. Granddaddy came to the door and I wish I had had a picture of his face when he saw what the mail man brought him for h is birthday.

My Babies

2007-11-12T20:45:00.000-08:00

Parker is loving being a big brother.

He is really good at it too.

WHO IS MY MAN.....

2007-11-07T06:49:00.001-08:00

This is my MAN!!!!

1. Who is your man? William Cason

2. How long have you been together? Married for 4 1/2 years

3. How long dated? Before we got married 1yr and 9 months. Total we have been dating for 6 years

4. How old is your man? HE IS A BABY!!!! 25!

5.Who eats more? Cason hands down.

6. Who said I love you first? We had been talking about how you know when you love someone and how we wouldn't say it until we were sure and then big mouth me said "but I do!" and He followed with a "I do too!" So I said it first.

7. Who is taller? Cason

8. Who sings better? OH Cason, I am SOOOO BAD!!!!

9. Who is smarter? Ha Ha ....huumm......I would have to say........probably...... CASON!! HE IS A GENIUS...... and I am gifted in other areas of life...or at least that is what my mom has always told me. :)

10. Whose temper is worse? ME, no questions!

11. Who does the laundry? Mostly me, HOWEVER he does ALL his ironing....sorry Nannie, I realize that I am a disappointment. :) You taught me better than that.

12. Who takes out the garbage? Who's job is it or who does it? Cason's job....

13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me, because it is closer to Parker's room for middle of the night parties. :)

14. Who pays the bills? Me, except the mortgage.

15. Who is better with the computer? Cason, I cant do anything. I am always messing it up.

16. Who mows the lawn? My wonderful husband.

17. Who cooks dinner? ME and I hate it, Cason is the one who loves all the cooking shows. I am always telling him to get in there and show me what he has learned....it doesn't work.

18. Who drives when you are together? He does mostly but there are less fights when I drive. I am a control freak and it is out of my nature not to HELP him.

19. Who pays when you go out? He does....same account?

20. Who is most stubborn? All these lovely qualities I keep winning.

21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Cason for sure!! I would if I was ever wrong.

22. Whose parents do you see the most? Mine since they live in the same city, but Cason's parents are really great to try and come see us as often as they can.

23. Who kissed who first? Cason kissed me. No matter what he says!

24. Who asked who out? We were hanging out all the time as friends and then one day we kissed and from then on we were more than friends so it is hard to say. It was like our relationship started before we realized it.

25. Who proposed? Cason but not without heavy persuasion. I knew he was the one and I was ready to get on with the show. What were we waiting for ....to get out of school...oh wait we still aren't out of school. That would have been a long wait.

26. Who is more sensitive? Me, but he is too.

27. Who has more friends? He is a really AWESOME friend and I am not. However here in Memphis I may have few more, but only because he is too busy. However, overall he has way more friends than I do. He is just a really GREAT person!!!!Everyone wants to be his friend!

28. Who has more siblings? We each have one brother.

29. Who wears the pants in the family? People think I do but Cason actually does. He just really cares how I feel about things. He wants me to be happy.

Granny panties now has a whole new meaning.

2007-11-04T17:01:00.001-08:00

this is what walked into my house.
This is the backside view
this is the maxi pad shot

this is the granny panties shot

If you are wondering what is going on let me explain. Parker went home with my Mom and Dad after lunch yesterday, they were going to just pick up a few things and then come back to our house. On the way home they started to notice a really unpleasant smell. This was not unusual for my little guy. He has been known to have gas like a grown man. But to their misfortune when they got home they realized that not only had he messed his diaper but he had messed EVERYTHING! They had to strip him down, put all of his clothes in a plastic bag, and shower him off. Once he was clean they realized that they had a big problem. They hadn't brought the diaper bag home with them and they had no diapers. My mom being the creative woman that she is decide that she would try to create a diaper for him.

She started with a pair of her smallest panties to cover the area but this did nothing to prevent another mess. So with this in mind she decided that a maxi pad would act as a diaper and the panties could hold the maxi pad in place. This was a good idea but the panties didnt fit well enough to hold the pad close enough to his body. She needed something to help hold it in place and to keep it from leaking. She found a target bag and wrapped it around the pad and panties. To hold all of this together she took some of her blue painters tape and wrapped it around his body.

She found the smallest t-shirt she had and put it on him and put his socks and shoes back on. This is the way she returned my child to me. I laughed so hard I cried as she was showing me all that she had done to him. Cason said that this gives Granny panties a whole new meaning.

More pictures

2007-11-02T20:30:00.000-07:00

I think this is so cute...little legs and arm hanging out.

She does have another arm it is just tucked inside.

Going on a walk

This is the only way we can keep her awake!

Tribby got some lovin tonight.