Busy Days!!

A little bird warned me that if I didn't update my blog soon I might loose my life behind a shed?!?! So I thought I better hop to it!! I could have written a million things over the summer about the fun things we did, but I suppose I was spending more time enjoying my kids than updating the blog. I'll give a brief summary...as soon as school let out the boys and I headed to Pigeon Forge with Gigi for our annual summer kick-off getaway. Thanks to her we were able to spend a few nights at the Wilderness of the Smokies hotel/water park. It was so much fun!! We highly recommend visiting there. Although it was exhausting for me because I had to keep climbing those stairs to ride the water slides with each of the boys since daddy wasn't there! After that Mason and Nathan stayed with Gigi and Pop for a week while I went home to do Summer Quest and then I returned to Knoxville for another week to enjoy Concord Quest and celebrate mine and Stan's birthdays. On our birthday weekend Nanny, Buddy, Beth, Brandon, and Paula all came in both for the celebrations and to visit with Brock (and everyone else)!! The rest of June was pretty quiet (I think)!! In July we spent a week at the beach with David's family. We had a great time, but it was nice to get back to a more quiet routine. To finish off the summer we took a trip to Atlanta with Mom, Dad, Nanny, and Buddy. We went to a Braves game and Six Flags while we were there. The game was great...six flags, not so much!!! The kids are too young for that heat and long lines. We'll try again someday! The boys went back to Knoxville with Gigi and Pop for one last hoorah and I joined them on Wednesday. We enjoyed spending lots of time with Brock, Uncle Stan, and Aunt Darby too. David had been in Chicago for the week so he flew into Knoxville on Saturday and we went to Ye Ole Steakhouse for dinner because in all these years David had never been there!! It was delicious as always. So this week it's been back to routine. The boys started 1st grade and are enjoying it so far. It's been a struggle to get them used to stopping playing long enough to do their nightly reading and get in bed at a good time. Mason usually has lots to share about his day. Nathan...its like pulling teeth. That comes as no surprise to most of you I know!! Well, I tried to make it brief, but didn't want to leave anything out. Hopefully I didn't. I'm only including pictures from the last adventure. Thought I'd only post a couple, but that was impossible so I made a slideshow. Sorry!!

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Elijah "Brock" Allen

I am excited to announce the birth of my first nephew, Elijah "Brock" Allen!! He was born on Wednesday, April 22 (his mommy and daddy's anniversary). I wasn't able to get off work to be there for his birth so Mason, Nathan and I made the trip Thursday afternoon. I was so excited to meet him. He is absolutely precious. Weighing in at 9 lbs 11 oz, he is just perfect. For today I am only posting one picture because I don't want to steal the thunder of his grand introduction from Stan and Darby. I will definately post again after spending this fabulous weekend with Brock and his family.

Nathan and Mason turn 6!!

Just as it has been every other year, I cannot believe the boys are yet another year older!! They are becoming more and more independent every day and for the most part really enjoy each others company. Once again our wonderful family made the journey to celebrate with us. We missed those who couldn't be here this year!! Aunt Penny surprised everyone and brought with her Jason's fiance, Lisa, her little girl, Cami, and their 6 week old, Brennon. It was lots of fun getting to know them!

It was a very long day for Mason. He woke up at 7:30 ready to celebrate. Unfortunately, that wasn't possible because most of the house was still sleeping. The party wasn't until 6:00pm so although he received presents throughout the day it was still a lot of waiting. Which resulted in a lot of whining!! And that just didn't end well for him!!

The party was a blast! It was the most relaxing of all of them for me and the kids had so much fun. I wouldn't mind doing that one again next year. And we all know how quickly next year will arrive.

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Spring Break

A little birdie told me I needed to update my blog!! So here it is. I'm separating the posts into spring break and the boys birthday. I have so many pictures I want to share!! This spring break I was scheduled to fly down to Vero Beach, FL to visit my dear friend Ainsley, her husband and my God Daughter (Kelsie). Just me and the boys. Seemed harmless enough to me!! Mom thought it would be a great idea to fly down with us and get a room on the beach both to enjoy the visit and help me out. What a great idea it really was. The day we were flying out from Birmingham our flight was delayed 2 hours making us miss our connection flight in Jacksonville! I said right away I was indeed thankful she was with us and I didn't need a constant reminder of that from the Lord!! We did have a great time. The weather wasn't quite as perfect as I would have liked, but it was still nice. Enjoy some of our pictures from the trip!!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Football Fun!!

I had to post some pictures from some backyard football fun. Yesterday we were at David's Grandfather's house along with his Dad, Uncle, and brother. It was a beautiful day so after lunch "big daddy" took all the kids out to throw the football around. Well, it ended up to be a game of TACKLE football. David's brother, Jeff, joined in to help out. At one point it was Jeff, Mason, and Bella against Big Daddy and Nathan. Nathan said, "all I know is, it's 2 against 3". Any of you who know Nathan, knows what a big deal it was that he was even playing football. They had a great time. Mason learned you have to tackle around the waist not the neck. Nathan kicked, threw, and caught the ball...gaining a lot of self-confidence. Big Daddy was worn out. I thought the pictures turned out so cute and showed so much intensity that I just had to share. Note to self: pack a change of clothes next time!!!

It's About Time!!

Number one, it's time for a blog update...I know!!! Number two, it was time for my boys to experience the circus. So last week the circus came to town and we finally took them. Mason had gotten an entire playmobile circus set for Christmas, and I thought how much more fun he could have with it if he understood what goes on. The night started out a bit chaotic because David had a short term work crisis. But after we got started it was great. I thought it started at 7pm so we got there at 6:30, but really it started at 7:30. So we got a bite to eat and then Mason and I went down to walk around where they were giving demonstrations. He even tried on a costume! They were totally amazed by all the acts. I think the dogs and elephants were their favorites. Really, Mason's favorite was watching an elephant pee and poop!!! Ah, what a boy!! In the picture where Nathan is laying down he's not really sleeping, but getting very tired. It was a Thursday night and they had been up since 6am and we didn't get home until around 10:30pm. It was worth the late night to enjoy this experience with them at such a perfect age.

Tagged by Darby

Ok, so my sister-in-law tagged me on her blog to play this game quite some time ago and I'm finally doing it!! The way to play is go to your fourth picture folder, post the fourth picture, and tell four things about the picture. Then tag four blogger friends to play along!
What a random picture!! It was taken last year during Nursery Rhyme Week at school. My class made bumblebee costumes to wear and learned a new Nursery Rhyme about a swarm of bees. The little girl in the picture's name is Madison. I teach with her mom now and she told me that Madison prays for me every night still. I think that is so sweet!

Tag...you're it!! Jodi Juneac, Laurie Jernigan, Summer O'Neal, and Danielle Smith