Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL????

It took a lot of convincing on the part of Brad and Aidan for me to let my baby boy play full tackle football. It is the most intense activity he has ever done. They mean business when it comes to football down here in Georgia.
Meet our Dawson Co 5/6 year old Quarterback......
Brad said he should have retired after this game after 3 carries for 210 yards, scoring 3 touchdowns and 3 extra points. Our boy is determined!
Take a break at half time.

An assistant coach talking to him at half time.

Aidan also plays "safety" during defense. The only time he come off the field is during half time. How does he do it?
Aidan is on the far right of the picture defending the intense Towns Co. Sister loves on her brother after a game.


I guess this makes me a football mom! Didn't think I would ever say that!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

The perfect Saturday

It is 8:30 am already and we have no children in our bed on this Saturday morning. What in the world is going on? I can hear some giggling and then a knock at the bedroom door. 3 children walk into our bedroom with the biggest smile on their faces. They had made us breakfast. Breakfast in bed. On our plate was 2 waffles (pre-made) and a peeled orange all made into a smiley face on our plate. I glass of delicious juice was in a couple of a wine glasses. Aidan said, "Since you are celebrating your anniversary today, we thought we would make you breakfast in bed." By this time, my mouth was open in shock, amazement and pure joy. We enjoyed our breakfast in the peace and quite. About 15 minutes later, Carsyn and Brenna come in to take our plates to the kitchen. We layed in bed until 10:30 am. I came out into the kitchen moments later to find the kitchen all cleaned up. Dishes were washed, dried and put away. Could this really be or was I still dreaming? Did my 6, 4 and 2 year old do all this? They were all upstairs playing in their playroom. We ran up to give them hugs and kisses. My smile did not leave my face all day.
Later that afternoon, Brad and I went to an early dinner and to a movie all with a babysitter who had volunteered to watch our children. Free sitter? Really? Talk about a perfect Saturday!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Happy Anniversary

To my best friend. It has been a great 9 years! Here is to all the memories.
I love you!


Sunday, August 15, 2010

The end of Summer

The week before school started, we took a trip to Michigan to visit family. Even though the trip was much faster than we would have wanted, we had so much fun seeing family and relaxing as much as we could. We miss our cousins and now that many of them have children, our children love having so many cousins to play with. I have 7 cousins on my mom's side of the family. Between their children and our children, there are 11 great grandchildren from the age of 6 1/2 to 6 weeks. There is not a dull moment!

My cousin Isaac driving the golf cart with 6 of the kids.

My cousin Ben's oldest Sadie and Brenna are best of friends. They are 2 months apart.



My cousin Sarah just got engaged as well as my cousin Daniel just with in the last month. Both of their weddings are toward the end of the year. This is Sarah's fiance, Josh. He is an officer in the Army and graciously let Aidan wear his dog tags around the house. Aidan told me when he left that he wanted to be "just like Josh when he grew up."



We got to visit Brad's dad at a yummy brunch.
A trip to Michigan would not be complete with out visiting my favorite place in the whole world. Brad and I agreed that if we had the money, this is where we would build a vacation house. Perfect weather, perfect place!

My mom and her sister enjoying a good laugh!
The 11!

Aidan, with the youngest John, Brenna, Sadie, David, Jimmy, Tyson, Sam, Carsyn, Stew and Jaxon.


Brad and I with my brother, my 7 cousins and their significant others. (Josh is not in the picture due to some Army training)



The whole family.
We were blessed to be able to go to my cousin Britney's wedding. Britney is my only female cousin on my dad's side. It was a beautiful wedding!

My Aunt and Uncle walked Brit down the isle.
Britney is a high school teacher in Saginaw, MI and her husband is a police officer.


The happy bride.



My dad, my kiddos and that bride and groom.



My Uncle Rob (dad's brother) and Brit dancing


We miss them all lots and can't wait to see everyone in November!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Back to school

We are back to school!
Alarms went off at 6 am Monday morning and these two jumped out of bed! Mommy on the other hand was a bit slower considering the long day I had on Sunday. (More on that in a later post) I am so proud of these two. Aidan is thrilled to be in 1st grade. He has done such a great job this week at watching over his sister and making sure she feels comfortable at school. Brenna started pre-K at the "big girl" school...Coal Mountain elementary. So loves being able to finally ride to work with Daddy and Aidan in the morning. She loves her teacher and loves all the new responsibility. Carsyn and I have been enjoying these last few days together, although she a bit sad she doesn't have her playmates.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Blink

before you read the rest of my post. I just heard this song on the radio and it has perfect timing in my life. I will be the first to say how fast life goes, especially now that I have children, but God has taught me this summer that I might not quite get that concept....until now. Some things have happened this summer to some friends and family to make this point all to clear. Not only are these stories of what is going on, but also prayer requests.

We were running late one morning to the swimming pool to drop Aidan off for swim team practice. Aidan hates being late! Today I was glad I was! We live about 4 miles from the pool and as we come over the hill in front of the pool there were many fire trucks, ambulances and state troopers. There had been an accident about 5 minute before that. A motor cycle and a truck/trailer. The truck was turning left into the swimming pool parking lot and the motorcycle was going straight. The gentleman on the motorcycle hit the trailer and was killed right in front of the swim team and coaches in the parking lot. This 22 year old man was going to be a father in a few months.

Brad's assistant cross country coach is a huge runner and triathlete along with his wife. They are members of our church and are actively involved there as well. They have children in high school and middle school. His wife was in a bike crash and sustained brain injury and is now re-learning to walk.

My grandma Regis (Mom's mom) is in her mid 70's is active walker, traveler, seamstress and retired nurse. Her and my grandfather split there time between Florida and Michigan. Overall she is in fantastic health and has an amazing amount of energy. (She has to for her 11th great grandchild was just born.) She got a cold this winter that turned into pneumonia. After round of antibiotics and returning to Michigan for the summer she started having short term memory loss. After doing some tests, they revealed that she may have had a minor stroke.

A close friend of our family, in fact we call her Georgia Grandma, is a loving wonderful women who has accepted our children as her own. Her middle daughter is on Brad's basketball team. Through all the hard time you go through as a coaches wife, she has been nothing but accepting, respectful and loving. I don't have enough words tell this wonderful lady how much she is meant to me in the last year. This summer she found a lump in her breast. It is cancer. She will have a mastectomy tomorrow, followed by chemo.

The summer was the 15th anniversary of the death of Brad's mother Carol. We were able to spend a couple hours on that day to drive around Brad's old stomping ground of Spartenburg and reminisce on memories of her and his brothers. We also just happened to find a letter Brad wrote to a friend about 6 months after his mom passed. For some reason it was never sent. He was a hurting and angry 16 year old. He knows how far he has come since that day and it is even more amazing to see it!
God is holding all these people in all these stories in His arms. Through all the good and bad times He never lets go. We just have to trust Him!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Feeling HOT, HOT, HOT

I don't remember a summer being more hot than this one. We have spent lots of time in and around water. Check out what we have been up to...


Hope you are staying cool in the hot summer sun!