Back to School 2010

Catching up...

I have had a few minutes this afternoon so I have tried to catch up some with my blog. It has been a very busy but enjoyable summer. Friday the 13th, Laurie donated a kidney to a friend. I am so glad to report that today she is finally beginning to feel better. She had a ROUGH first week but hopefully she will get a good report from her Dr. next Thursday. Today, she got a big surprise when Melissa Hicks and Audrey Dawkins showed up at her door. Those are great friends from many, many years back!!!

Jessica got started in school and seems to be doing great! She did come down with a sinus infection the first week-but has finally been able to knock it out!!!

Louise is expecting Ellie around the 20th of Sept. so we are all getting really excited. Before we can turn around good-it will be Thanksgiving and Christmas! Hopefully, our weather will cool down some! Hope you all are having a great fall!

Franklin, NC 2010

We met Kenny's Mom and Dad, Kerry and Becky, Toni and Chris and Beth and Scott in Franklin, NC. Kerry, Becky, Toni, Chris and Kenny went hiking one day and the second day, Kenny and Toni stayed back and took Jess and me riding around looking at the waterfalls-while Kerry, Becky and Chris hiked to see the scenery! We had a nice cabin and the weather was so nice-you could sit out on the deck and not sweat or get eat up by bugs! It was a very enjoyable and relaxing 3 days!

Panama City Beach 2010

We were able to take a long weekend off and head to Panama City. It was such fun and we think this was the first real vacation that just the 3 of us have been on. Jess enjoyed the pool and Kenny and I enjoyed just relaxing and spending time together!

Summer Pictures

We had a very busy and exciting summer-actually it started the end of school. Jordan graduated from Faulkner, along with Walker; and Kenny received his Masters from VSU! We did alot of swimming-Tressie got married and Jordan and Tiffany came and spent the 4th of July with us! All of this was before our actual vacation and with me trying to work at least 3 days a week!!!

Louise's Baby Shower

These are just a few pictures from Louise's baby shower in Valdosta! We are now less that a month away from Ellie's arrival and I can't wait!

Sock Hop

On last Thursday, March 25, MBS had a Sock Hop to raise money for their Relay for Life team. It cost the kids $1.00 to go and what fun they had! About half way through-you guessed it-ELVIS WAS IN THE BUILDING!!!! He was really good and the kids all loved it. Jess wore her puddle skirt that KaKa made for Halloween a few years ago! I have to say, she was too cute-and everyone else thought so too!

Elvis "cutting a rug" with one of the teachers

Group shout of the gym with the younger group "hopping"

Future Vikings 2010

For the last 2 years, Lowndes High has sponsered a Future Vikings Day for all the Sp. Ed. kids in the county. This year it was alot of fun, again. Jessica really likes it because they have the gym floor covered with balloons and music blasting! It was a great day and a super thing for the high school kids to do...Thanks to all who helped! (3/3/2010)

Special Olympics 2010

On the 4th of March, we went to Freedom Park in Valdosta to participate in the spring Special Olympics. IT WAS SOOOO COLD!! But everyone really had a good time. It has taken me awhile to get the pictures posted but here are a few.

More Snow Pictures

We really had a great time in the snow. Jess first got in it in Atlanta and then in Nashville. She really enjoyed it, even though we were not too prepared as we didn't have gloves and those hands really get COLD.

Below are some pictures I took on the way home-it was just beautiful!

Maribeth's neighborhood before anyone had gotten up the hill!
And the snow still coming down!

Our last picture in the snow, at the top of Monteagle!

Valentine's Day 2010

Kenny, Jess and I left Atlanta on Sunday morning, met Laurie in Chattanooga for church and then headed to Knoxville to see the Lady Vols play the Lady Gators of Florida. It was a GREAT day and a super way to spend Valentine's Day. We got to Knoxville in time to grab a burger and do some shopping-notice Jess and I got matching Lady Vol sweatshirts! Laurie bought Jess a Lady Vols T-shirt for V-day and of course she picked up a few other things too! We had to walk a ways to get to the gym and it was cold, in fact, it snowed on us walking over-but everyone made it fine. Even Jessica walked her little legs off trying to keep up!!! Once we got inside, we found our seats and even with all the picture taking-got to enjoy a terrific game! Lady Vols won by 40!!! What more could you want to Valentine's Day-a TN basketball game, with the girls' winning-a trip with the family and SNOW!

We had a great time and I hope we get to do it again-this time with a few more guest!!!(All my nieces were mad because they didn't get to go!)

Hope everyone got to spend time over the week-end with their family and had a super Valentine's Day!!!

Jessica's First Snow

Make a Smilebox scrapbook On Monday, Kenny, Jessica and I woke up in Nashville at the home of my cousin. It was a beautiful snowfall, since when we had come in on Sunday night it was just cold. We enjoyed a delightful breakfast with Maribeth, Aunt Mary and Maribeth's daughter, Hollie. Maribeth went to China two years ago and adopted Hollie and I have to say she is a great addition to our family. We spent most of the morning playing in the snow, then we left and went to see my Dad's sister who has been in the hospital for the last week or so. "Kankie", as we all call her, celebrated her 90th birthday on Sunday and had to be put in the hospital on Tuesday. Hopefully she will be able to go home tomorrow. We are so thankful that we had the opportunity to go and see her and got to spend some time with Aunt Mary, Maribeth and Hollie. On Sunday, we went to see the Lady Vols play Florida and I hope to get pictures posted from that soon. What a great Valentine week-end...The Lady Vols, Snow and a long week-end with the fam!!!

Better Late Than Never...Jess' b-day!

Finally, I have gotten the pictures loaded onto my computer and had a minute to sit down and blog! We had to put Jessica's party off the first time because she was sick. Then the following Sunday...Kenny's Mom and Dad were sick, my Dad was out of town and Mom had some kind of eye infection, so she came but wouldn't get close to anyone!!! BUT-we had a good party with Jeff and Austin, Karen and Ervin AND Samantha and Laurie from Montgomery!!! Also this was our first family party with kids, Stephanie and her family moved down during the summer so they were able to come to the party, too. Once again, Karen did a great job on the cake! It's hard to believe that "my baby" is 9! What a blessing she has been to our family. Please keep her in your prayers as we are going through an issue with her neck--nothing serious and in fact we got a good report from the neuro-surgeon in Augusta but it is something that we will have to keep an eye on! We are very thankful for the happy and heathy life that she has been able to enjoy and pray that this will continue!

GREAT AUNT

I have always considered myself a great aunt! Since the day Laurie was born right through Samantha, I always took my "responsibility" pretty seriously. I can honestly say that each time-Laurie, Louise, Leigh, Walker, Kristen and Samantha-I was always super excited!!! With each new niece and the only nephew, Walker, I was just as thrilled when each was born. Since during much of the kids growing up days, I was single and honestly tried to do EVERYTHING that they wanted!

Today, something very special happened--I found out that I am truly going to be a GREAT AUNT!!! Louise and Dirt are expecting their first child, Don and Jamie's first grandchild, Laurie and Leigh's first niece or nephew, Mom and Dad's first Great-grandchild and mine and Karen's first GREAT NIECE or NEPHEW!!!!! I am so excited and happy for us all but especially for Louise and Dirt. They are going to be great parents. The big day should be September 22 or 23. CONGRATULATIONS TO US ALL!!!!!!!! !Be watching for continuing updates and please keep Louise and baby in your prayers that all will go well!

P.S. I wrote this right after Louise called and couldn't post it and I just got back to the computer!! But we are STILL excited!

Christmas 2009

Make a Smilebox slideshow

This post is especially for Laurie!!!Enjoy!!!

Christmas with the Boys!

On Saturday following Christmas, the boys all come up from Tallahassee. Nathan had been there since Christmas Eve. It was so good to see them all and get to spend some time just visiting. We had sandwiches for lunch when they arrived and then ate leftovers at the Holtons for dinner. As they continue to get older it seems like we have less and less time with all three of them together. Jordan stayed until New Years Eve so we had a great visit with him!

Christmas Morning '09

Walker Christmas

We had Christmas with my side of the family at our house on Christmas Eve. Mom and Dad made mexican food-not very tradition but we all loved it! Don, Jamie and the girls + Dirt-didn't get to come down this year. Mom and Dad went up to Tennessee by way of Trenton on the Sunday following Christmas so they did get to spend some time with them. We missed them all being here, but are looking forward to at least Laurie being here for a few days the middle of January!