Harrison's Bday

Harrison is 5, I can't believe it! My baby is 5 years old. It seems like yesterday I was rocking him to sleep or he was crawling around. Time really flies by. We have had a really rough year this year with Harrison. He has come so far in his behavior. I am so proud of him working so hard. All of the time and effort we put forth has truly paid off.

The boy loves Chucky Cheese. Honestly, I had rather do just about anything else, but it was his birthday and we let him pick the location (within reason of course). Most of his friends were able to come, some couldn't and some got lost, (jk Windee!) He loves his birthday and milks it for all its worth. He got great gifts from great friends and loved being with them.

It is really hard to believe that he will start Kindergarten next year. I hope he's ready.

Children's Christmas Program

Molli Beth was involved in the Christmas program at church again this year. Although her favorite way to participate is to sing, there were not solos this year. She, as well as several other children, had speaking parts. They all did great. MB loves attention and loves the stage. Maybe we can use this to our advantage one day. It was a good program. It helps the children to focus on the true reason of Christmas. With all of the commercialism that is a hard thing to accomplish sometimes. God Bless

2nd Annual Christmas Party

December 5th was our 2nd annual Christmas party. We had a smaller turn out this year, but it is all about quality, not quantity right? We played adult games and had a great time of fellowship and EATING! Dirty Santa did get a bit dirty this year, hence the name! We really did have a great time. Now it's time to start planning for next year, and not waiting until the last minute.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving seemed to sneak up this year. With the Disney trip it came a bit quicker than I was ready for. It turned out fabulous and we had a great time visiting with family. My parents came from South Carolina and my sister and her husband were here from Atlanta. Even though my house is a bit on the small side we all got along reasonably well.

On Thanksgiving Day we went to Travis' family in KY. We had a bit of drama while at his mother's house. Harrison and MB decided to climb a tree, however could not get down. Harrison decided to just jump out of the top of the tree. Well, on his way down he was injured by a limb. That led us the the rural Emergency Room of Russellville, KY, BLESS! They did a great job giving him his 4 stitches. Harrison, of course, would not be Harrison if he did not pick one out on the way home, goodness! Saturday we had Thanksgiving with my family on Saturday, at my house, that I cooked, for 25-30 people. WHEWWW!

Molli Beth's birthday

Molli Beth chose not to have a party this year and instead have a night out with her mom, how sweet! We started the day by having cupcakes at school for snack time. Then after school she got a big girl, 7-year old hair cut. Actually I was hoping to get that baby look to her face like this haircut produced when she was 5, but this time it had the opposite affect. Oh well. We then headed off to Opry Mills. She got a moose named "Holly" at Build-A-Bear Workshop. If you know Molli Beth at all you know her love for stuffed animals. Then we headed to Libby Lou to get her all done up. She also got a Jonas Brothers CD from Carah and a Jonas Brothers t-shirt! She had a blast and so did I. It was nice having her all to myself.

Playdates

The kids enjoyed having some friends over to play, different days of course. I can't handle that much at once. Molli Beth had a great time at the movies and playing with Maddie. Having friends over seems to get easier the older they get.

Harrison and Graham don't get to spend near enough time together. They are best buds and love being boys together. They were rockin on Guitar Hero. Perhaps they will be a new "boy band" of the future. The park was fun but it was freezing.

Basketball

Molli has embarked on a new adventure, basketball. She has a great time and has potential. Her first game was today, Saturday. Unfortunately they did not win, but winning isn't everything. They are teaching fundamentals and Travis is thrilled with that. She also loves the social hour! She looks so grown up out there playing on the High School Court, :(

Disney World

Well, we survived the wondrous trip to Disney World. The kids had a blast and well, Travis and I, we were exhausted. Truly I can think of many fun times, but we really needed a vacation from our vacation.

I discovered that there really is no "magic" age to take your child. Disney does a great job at accommodating every age. There were even people there are their honeymoon and 25Th anniversary. Can't say that would be me, but to each his own.

Molli Beth's favorite things were, of course, the princesses, but she also enjoyed the roller coasters. She was stoked that she got to ride Expedition Everest and the Rock N Roller Coaster.

Harrison loved Space Mountain, as he was not quite tall enough to ride the big coasters. He loves Tigger and enjoyed getting to meet him.

We got to meet many characters and do so many things. Travis and I liked Epcot and Hollywood Studios the best. Molli Beth even got to participate in a High School Musical show! She was flattered that a boy picked her out of the crowd. We also enjoyed the experience of the "Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party", which was a parade and trick-or-treating in the park. The characters were out in full force and they had a blast. Unfortunately we experienced record low temps in Orlando for several days. I think it was 40degrees the night of the Halloween party. We broke in our one pair of jeans pretty good, haha.

Overall the trip was fantastic. This was also the kids first time at flying in an airplane and loved it. We probably won't be going back due to the cost and the stress level but it was a great, great experience.

Molli Beth's Baptism

There are many things that you look forward to in your child's life and one of the biggest for me is when my child decides to make Jesus Lord and Savior of her life. Molli Beth did that, actually sometime at the beginning of the summer. We then spoke with our pastor and children's pastor, she then took a "new christian's" class that helped her affirm her decision. So on August 24, 2008 our little girl was baptized. She is such a smart little girl and knows so much about Jesus, The Word, and His will for our lives. She has even shown that she is quite the evagelist at school. We are so very proud of her and her decision for her life. As we watched her in the baptistry with Brother Michael is was as if she was an angel from Heaven. I don't think I have ever felt emotion like that. Words can't express how excited and proud we are.

We were also very lucky to have our family there the day that Molli beth was baptized.

Sally

Well, June went fast, but July went even faster. Not much has happened, but I did get to take girls only trip to Panama City, Florida with some friends from church. We actually had a blast. It is amazing what 4 days away from the "routine" will do for your life. The children had a hard time at first, but they soon adapted to Mom being gone, especially since they have a great Daddy that does so much for them. He was so gracious to let me go, he even arranged childcare for a couple of days. It was great. I got to know several ladies that I would have never probably known otherwise. We had great funfilled days on the beach, getting tatoos (airbrush of course), eating lots of great food and other GREAT times.......

Of course I had to bring home the kids a gift since I had left them for soooo long, so I decided to get them each a hermit crab. Knowing that these things were pretty low maintenance and inexpensive I thought it was a great decision. Little did I know that they did not have a very long life expectancy when cared for by a 4 and 6 year old. We named them Harry and Sally. Unfortunately, Harry did not last but about 2 days once he was brought to Tennessee. This was Harrison's crab and he was upset, but not as bad as I thought. Sally, on the other hand, is still alive and digging. She is a very friendly crab who loves to get out of her cage and play with her Mom, Molli Beth. She does a great job taking care of her and making sure she has food and water. So we shall see how long this pet crab will survive.