A trip to the dentist!

Last week I took Annie and Emma to the dentist! They were both excited (thank goodness) and I was excited that they were excited! You never know about these kinds of things! I took the girls back to Gadsden to see Dr. Ellis (he was mine and Josh's dentist when we lived in Gadsden) and he and his staff were so sweet to my kiddos! They had a great (cavity free) cleaning and left the office tickled with their stickers and new toothbrushes and dental floss! They were so sweet they even brought Gracie a new toothbrush!

Love this! I so appreciate people who are sweet to my kiddos and Dr. Ellis and Sherri were top notch! :)

Dedication Day!

We have dedicated each of our kiddos to the Lord as babies. Not a major ceremony just a sweet moment of recognition that children are a gift from God and our most important job as parents is to raise them to know and love God and live in a way that honors him. Also, a time for our church family to commit to partnering with us in this BIG task mostly by praying for and just supporting our family. It seems like each of our kids has had something crazy happen right around their scheduled dedication to throw a loop in our plans (with Annie I had to have my gallbladder removed the week of her dedication, with Emma my granddaddy fell and her dedication had to be totally rescheduled, with Gracie we had a last minute scheduling conflict with J.T. and he was unable to be there and with Jack we were/are in the midst of moving to another state and making all of the arrangements that go along with that at the same time being in between churches) -Don't tell me Satan doesn't do his best to keep families from committing to raise their children to love and honor God! Anyway, as with each of the others we knew it was important for us to publicly make this commitment as to how we would parent Jack. We decided we wanted to go ahead and do it sooner rather than later and in a way that would allow all (most) of our family to be there. When we were talking about it one day my grandmother said "why don't you just do it here (at her church)?" I don't know why we hadn't thought of that before. We LOVE First Baptist Gadsden. It's the first church Josh and I went to/served at after we were married. It's the church we went to when Annie was born and some of our favorite people are still there. FBC doesn't have a pastor right now but the interim is one of our favorite people and one of Josh's mentors....who better to help dedicate our LAST child (and only boy) to the Lord. Our dear friend J.T. is the Minister of music at FBC and was thrilled (at least I hope he was thrilled) to get the chance to sing for Jack just like he has for our other kiddos (minus Gracie). I cannot tell you how much I appreciate FBC for letting us share this special experience with them (we haven't been members there in years-since we left Gadsden-but we still consider FBC our home church and its members our church family)!

The actual dedication day was perfect! The kids were all adorable and well behaved! Our friends and family (Mom and Dad, Daniel and Phoenix, Grandmother, Aunt Jane, Aunt Janice and Uncle Art, Kate and Jason, Leslie and Jeff and of course Max and Greenlee!!) were there to celebrate with us (we can't thank y'all enough for being there)!The message was so good and appropriate and lunch at my grandmother's was delicious and fun as always!

Of course I would love to have a few pictures of my whole family on a day like this but I spent all my time visiting and no time taking pictures (the one time I tried to get my kiddos together after church led to a serious meltdown so I just gave up)! I did get a few cute shots of my 4 before church and a few of Daniel and various kiddos after church. (Since when did DM become the cooperative one? HA!)

Our attempt at a family (minus one) picture! AWFUL! I don't know how we'll EVER get a good picture of the SIX of us! YIKES!

Daniel and Jack

Daniel and Annie T.

Can I just tell you that I am so proud of this boy? DM has always had a special place in my heart (MM too). You can't be so much older than your siblings (10 and 13 years) and not think of them as "yours" at least a little. Anyway, while I have always been crazy about this boy, he has not always been the most cooperative or the biggest fan of playing with the kiddos but I promise you he has turned into a great uncle (remember Hop the frog?). He's probably not reading this but I'm pretty sure he knows how proud I am of him!

I did get a couple of cute shots of my four before church! LOVE these kiddos! :)

Happy Birthday Aunt Jane!

A few weeks ago Aunt Jane celebrated her 82nd birthday! She and Grandmother happened to be in town that day (going on a field trip with Billie's 8th grade class....they are HILARIOUS!) so they stopped by for an spur of the moment birthday celebration! :) The kids and I picked up some cupcakes so we could celebrate in style!

SURPRISE! Aunt Jane get ready to blow out the candle! :)

Billie, Lyla, Annie, Emma, Gracie and Grandmother singing Happy Birthday to Aunt Jane!

Gracie helps blow out the candle!

The girls all wanted to help blow out the candle so I ended up getting everyone their own candle to blow out (about 50 times each)! We had a great time celebrating Aunt Jane and are SO thankful that she's part of our family!

Day out with Thomas

A few weeks ago, Josh's parents came to town to take all of us (Josh the kids and I and Becca and Matt and their kids) to Calera for A day out with Thomas! The kids were super excited (especially Walker)! The girls know that Walker is a big Thomas fan and kept talking about riding "Walker's Thomas"! Ha!

Our first stop when we got to the railroad museum was to get armbands and "treasure maps" for the kids. The kids could collect stamps at different stops throughout the grounds and then show their maps for a prize! The armbands allowed the kids to play in the tent with the train tables, jump on the bounce houses and even play on a mini golf course! FUN!

At our first stop everyone got a Thomas tattoo!

E and A showing off their tats!

Annie playing at one of the many train tables!

Waiting in line to jump in the bounce house!

"listening" to Thomas stories inside an old train car!

my fave!

Emma had to go to the bathroom while we were playing mini golf. When we came out of the bathroom we saw a frozen lemonade stand. We couldn't resist so we had a secret snack :) It was super hot and the frozen lemonade hit the spot!

The highlight of the trip was actually riding Thomas! The ride lasts for about 30 minutes and we were able to ride in the open air cars right behind Thomas! Everyone had a great time...even Jack!

The Main Attraction!

Trying to get a picture of the big kids in front of Thomas! It wasn't easy! :) This is the best we could do!

The kids had a blast riding Thomas and especially visiting with cousins and Grandma and Grandpa! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for spending the day with us and taking us to ride Thomas! :)

First Field trip!

A few weeks ago Emma's class at school took a field trip to the Bud's Best Factory! Emma was so excited about going to the "cookie factory"! I even got to tag along! When we got to Bud's Best the teachers and kids got to ride a train through the factory and watch the cookies being made and taste warm cookies straight out of the ovens! YUM! That day they were making chocolate chip cookies and vanilla wafers...we each got to bring home a bag to share!

Becca, Nancy and Emma getting ready to ride on the cookie train!

Most of Emma's class at Bud's Best!

Emma, Nancy and Becca next to Bud's parking spot. The sign says "Reserved for the Best BUD!" Ha!

Emma had a great time on her first field trip and I'm so glad I got to be there with her! :)

Hop the frog

This weekend we loaded up and headed to Gadsden (again!). Josh was leading Disciple Now at FBC so the kids and I decided to spend the weekend with Grandmother. We picked Annie up from school on Friday and hit the road for Gadsden, arriving a little before dinnertime. The weather was so nice (and it's staying light so much later-thank you daylight savings time) that we spent most of Friday evening playing outside! After a yummy dinner the kids were ready to hop in the bed!

Saturday morning started off early (as usual). Grandmother made biscuits (our favorites!) and the girls spend the morning playing in the back yard. The kids love to play in the playhouse and on the swing and the grownups can sit in the sunroom and see them out the window! After a morning of playing, we headed to Aunt Jane's for a feast of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, butter beans and rolls and you guessed it....the girls got to make pudding for dessert.

We had a little (or huge) pudding mishap. About half of our dessert ended up on the floor (and on the girls' dresses)! Oops! Oh well, the part we DID eat was delicious!

The girls were all in desperate need of a haircut (especially G who had never had a "real" haircut before) so I called Katy who used to cut our hair when we lived in Gadsden to see if she could squeeze us in sometime. She was able to make time for us after lunch so we headed off to Katy & Company for our new Easter dos!

Look at G and all of that hair! I can't believe how long it was!

Check out that sweet little bob! Doesn't my girl look so grown up?!?!?

The big girls got matching bobs but they weren't into smiling for the camera!

After our haircuts we tried (unsuccessfully) to take a family picture. We never get one with ALL six of us in it (and obviously this weekend was no different!)

While the family picture was not a success, I did get a couple of cute kid pics!

On Saturday evening, my little brother Daniel came over to spend the night. We were so glad to see him! We had so much fun...he played with the girls (who were so excited to see him) and had a nice long basketball watching visit with Aunt Jane and then he and I had a late dinner at his favorite....the Japanese restaurant. So funny....the Japanese restaurant has just come to Gadsden and boy could you tell. It was packed with people who acted like they'd never seen anything so exciting in their lives. There was a girl sitting next to me who did not quit talking about "how excited she was to see the fire" but "she was a little scared to be sitting so close" and she "couldn't wait to use chopsticks" "did I know how to use chopsticks?" and "do I think they have chopsticks here?" and "LOOK! I'm eating my rice with chopsticks!" Hilarious (and also a little annoying)!

On Sunday morning Josh preached at FBC as part of his Disciple Now duties. He did a great job (not that I'm surprised...I will say I'm always glad when he's done) and we love First Baptist. It's really what we consider our home church! After church we headed back to Grandmother's for lunch with Aunt Jane and Uncle B (some of our favorite folks)!

While we were waiting for lunch we played outside a while. Daniel and Emma played a new game E made up called "hop the frog". No, not leap frog...hop the frog! It was hilarious to watch! Emma kept making up new "rules" and saying "this is a really long game Uncle Daniel"! Daniel was so patient and played along for a really long time! They were so cute to watch!

A few Hop the Frog pics.....

Check out this big boy watching the action! I swear he is about to crawl away! He is so interested in everything going on around him! :)

Annie T. having a serious conversation with her daddy! SWEET!

Resting after a rousing game of hop the frog! ha!

Another pic of my cutie!

Are these cute kids or what?!?!?

Love love love spending time with my sweet family!

A quick Gadsden visit...

A week or so ago I had to run to Gadsden to talk taxes with my friend/accountant. Josh was out of town and Annie T. was at school so the little kiddos and I had to make it a quick trip. Thankfully we did find time for a quick visit!

We stopped at Grandmother's for lunch and a short visit with Grandmother, Aunt Jane and Uncle B. FUN!

Gracie sitting in "HER" chair! My grandmother has this old high chair (it was actually my Granddaddy's when he was little) and Gracie has claimed it as her own. We tried to put Jack in it for a minute so we could get a few things done and Gracie had a serious meltdown. I don't think she got out of her chair until it was time to leave. ha!

Aunt Jane brought a treat! She found an old hand mixer and brought some pudding to mix up with the girls (G missed out on making pudding because she wouldn't get out of her chair-ha!)! Aunt Jane is so good to always think of something fun to do with the girls-she has an easy bake oven from when her girls were little (like 50 years or so ago) that the girls LOVE (even if it does take 2 or more hours to "bake" a cake! The girls always look forward to playing with Aunt Jane when we go to Gadsden!

Grandmother and Jack watching the action!

After all that hard work Emma needed a taste! Judging by the amount on her face the pudding was up to her standards!