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.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

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

I'm Back!!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

So, here's the deal...I can't get my pictures to download on my laptop (which is what I use all the time) and apparently it takes me FOREVER to go downstairs to use the other computer. My deepest appologies to those of you who have been awaiting an update on "the gang". I decided to go ahead and do a slide show for this one since I will be doing one entry to sum up our October happenings.

The month started off with my annual family girls trip to Gatlinburg. It was a wonderful weekend of catching up, eating, and shopping. Sometime early in the month we took the boys to a carnival at David's younger siblings' school. They enjoyed playing games, eating snow cones, and getting blue hair while we were there. David and I have enjoyed a wonderful season of Alabama football games. As always, we are so greatful to my mom for coming to spend time with the boys so we can enjoy that time. One of the weekends that Gigi was in we visited the pumpkin patch. That is always a family favorite!! Last year the boys picked very small pumpkins and I didn't get one in order to help carry them so this year I opted to get my own thinking surely they could carry the ones they picked. Not quite. Mom got the boys some corn while David and I carried FIVE nice sized pumpkins to the car. Needless to say, David ended up carrying 4 out of 5 because I'm a bit of a wimp!!! We also took a family trip to Gatlinburg with David's family. It was a short, but fun weekend. The boys really enjoyed the picnic at the Chimneys where they climbed on the rocks by the river. I was so lucky they didn't get wet because I had packed very poorly and had NO extra clothes. Sometimes I'm not very good at planning for what all a boy can get into. But they did good and stayed dry!! Lastly, we celebrated Halloween. The boys didn't hang very long during trick-or-treating. Fine by me!! They were so cute the next morning "making trades" with their loot!

That about does it for October at a glance. I promise I'll try to do better during the coming months. However, I am having orthoscopic jaw surgery next week and I'm not sure how that will affect me. Keep my appetite and energy level in your prayers. I won't be able to chew for six weeks. That takes me through the holidays up to New Years Day. Thanks in advance for those prayers. I'll keep you posted on my recovery. Love to you all!!