What a change!!! New years eve party pooper! (literally)

Birthday party set up for mommy!

Well, this picture was suppose to be me and scott, and a few friends of our down at the beach cottage, cooking steaks, oysters, drinking some good wine..... yum, I was so looking forward to this weekend for a long time!  Then.... dun, dun, dun.... sickness hit our house.  The nasty stomach bug, came for an entire week!!  A WEEK!  And mine came, the night of Christmas Day and I was starting to feel better, then BAM, it hit me again worse 2 night ago!  So, there went our plans for New Years.  But here is what we did instead!


We ate Pizza for dinner, and I don't think I have seen 3 kids happier that the pizza was coming.  They acted like they haven't eaten in a week... oh wait, they haven't!!! 




Fun bubble bath time... well at least it was fun for the kids. 

 .



Smiles!!!!

Whewww..... glad this day is over!!!



Happy New Years, whatever they may be!!  I am happy to be with my kids and husband no matter if it is what they plan to be! 



Sweet Boy

He is cute alright, but he is sweet too. The day that Britney (our dog) was being taken to the vet to prevent her from suffering anymore, Braxton came downstairs with his favorite stuff animal dog and tried to give it to Britney. He put it right on top of her before she left. WE told them to tell her bye that she was going to doggie heaven. The kids hugged her and gave them their toys and we went off to the vet. Still sad thinking about it. Anyway, that night we were talking with the kids about where Britney was... in heaven with doggie wings, running around and playing. We told them that she would always be in their hearts and she was looking after them being a doggie angel. Braxton started crying, wiping his eyes with his pajama sleeves, saying he didnt' want Britney to be a Doggie Angel, he wanted her here. I told him that she was here in his heart. He felt his heart and said, I feel her wagging her tail! Sweet boy.

Well, my sister in law, Lisa said that Braxton also told her that "Daddy had to carry Britney to heaven." I guess he thought that with us leaving with her in Scotts arms, he thought that his daddy was taking her to heaven. Sweet. Innocent.

He is still saying prayers for our dog Britney every night, and after he says his prayers, he feels his heart and says, she is in my heart. True, true... My sweet Britney is probably really in my sweet boys heart.

Britney

My beautiful dog, Britney, that was suppose to be here for at least 7 more years, we had to put down this morning. I swear she was the best dog in the world. She would walk with me, stay right by my side, protect the house, lick you death, wag her tail so hard anytime you were near her, (should have named her waggy), and she was so smart. So smart, all you had to do was tell her something one time and she would listen. I told her to stay out of Joseph yard because he had a cat, and she would stop yards before we would get near his house while we were walking and sit and wait for us to turn around and met her so we could walk back to our house. She loved the kids, REALLY loved me and Scott, and just was a dag on good dog.



Scott and I got her from a liter Ginger had (Ginger was Scott's dog when I met him, and Britney's mother). After our first week of dating he let me pick out one of the dogs to keep, and Brittany was it. He named her Bree, and I renamed her Britney. Of course, after Britney Spears, because I loved her so much. Little did I know, how fond I would grow of the dog Britney too. When Scott and I first got married, he would take Ginger hunting, and even though our dogs are outside dogs, I would sneak Britney in the house and let her lay on the couch with me while we would watch TV together. She would snuggle with me, and I would call Scott up and tell him that Britney was hanging with me on the couch. She would just lick me all over!!! The first weekend Scott and I said, "I love you", she was with us at the beach. I just remember her running around all night long on the deck at that cottage we were staying at, round and round and round, because the deck went all the way around the beach cottage, and she was loving it!!! She was just a sweet puppy then.

During Christmas Time at our first house, Scott and I would come home from being out to dinner and see our Deer Lights would not be on. We would go see why, and Britney had attacked the deer, chewed right through the cord and the deer were all mangled up. She was just protecting our house from the deer I reckon! She loved cow turds, eating trash, and chasing squirrels. I swear she was such a good dog! So good.

She sat with her paws crossed, just like a little priss pot. If you were near her, she would inch her way closer and closer until she was on top of you. When I am outside, she would follow me around to the point to where I would trip over her because she was always so close. Right in my face all the time. Literally. If I sat down on the ground, she would put her nose right in my face. she didn't understand personal space. But I wish I had that back now. Such a good dog.

WE buried her by the pond in the back because she loved to swim there. I will miss my doggie and she is irreplaceable. Her last minutes, were her licking me in the face and wagging her tail. Even when she felt so bad, she still would wag her tail when she saw me or Scott coming near her. I miss her already! I love you Britney!

Ho, ho,ho... here we are Santa Claus!

Tonight we all plan on going to see Santa Claus.  Sawyer and Braxton were so excited and wanted to wear their Christmas Shirts.  I had to fight Sawyer to wear his jeans because he wanted to wear his.... SWEAT PANTS of course.   I tried to get a cute picture in front of the tree before we left, but this is what I got! Imagine that!

Daddy drove up right before we were leaving and he decided to go with us to see the jolly ole fellow.  It was nice to have 3 on 3!  Plus Maci is obsessed with my daddy so she was happy with him holding her the entire time!

Here is the crew - Me of course.

This is the list that Sawyer made before we left so he could give to Santa Claus.  Translation:

Tractor (what he wants)

Excavator (what Braxton wants)

I give him props for not only writing down what he wanted, but what Braxton wanted too.  He did that on his on, so that Santa would know what they both wanted.

As we were "patiently" waiting in line, Grandaddy Joe was trying to show Maci how to blow a bubble with the 20 pieces he gave my kids while waiting. You can see Maci trying to copy him in this picture... it was so cute.

Sawyer giving Santa his list!

We actually got a decent picture with Santa and the kids.  No one cried this year!  Amazing!  He was a great Santa too!  He told me he had been Santa Claus since 1967!!  43 years!  He was also a NC STATE fan, and that was a plus too!  :-)

Here is Braxton telling Santa what he wanted... I thought this was a funny picture.

Anyway, it was a fairly uneventful Santa visit.  Which is good in my book.  The kids behaved fairly well, Daddy helped out a lot, and we even got to go out to dinner at PF Changs with Daddy afterwards. 

The night ended with prayers and Braxton wanted to tell me that "the sharks had bit off his hand when he was scubba diving", all while lying in his pillow tent in his bed.  The end.

Is she not the cutest????? 

the reason for living



baby feet



sweet baby silluettes



cute baby waddle



sweet baby girls



big beautiful eyes

laughter of your children

big chunky cheeks

tears because you "feel"

Innocent eyes

sweet sibling kisses

playing with no responsability

smiles of children



learning and determination



Being us!

having fun

BEST FRIENDS



FAMILY



What did he say?

"Mommy, a shark bit my hand off when I went scuba diving tonight, and I only have one hand.  Look mommy, one hand... all these sharks just came swimming up and they bit it over and over and over, they bit it off. "

"Mommy, you are a mermaid.  When you go to Wilmington this weekend (last weekend), you will turn into a mermaid and your tail will come out of your butt."

One day I asked, "Braxton, where is your piece of paper that I gave you that we have to take to school?" 
He looks at me with those big blue eyes and I swear with the most serious, innocent face he says, "Mommy, the dog ate it." 
"Really Braxton, the dog ate it?  You know what we have been talking about, about telling the truth son right?"
"Yeeaaa, but mommy the dog really ate it."

"Mommy, I can't go to bed.  I only have one foot that is working, the other one is gone..  I can't go up the steps, look mommy, (as he is laying on the steps sideways like he only has one leg), this leg is gone."

"Mommy, I got red light at school today."
You did? (He doesn't even have red light in his class, it is Sawyer's class that has it.... and red light means you were bad)
"Yeeeeaa, I got red light.  I was bad."
Are you sure you got red light, because little boys that get on red light, Santa takes away some of there toys on their list.
"No mommy, I didn't get red light.  I was good."


We had a convict (someone who was running from the police that had stolen a case of beer from the store and ran from the cops when they pulled him over) in our woods the other day and cops kept pulling up and searching our house, barns, garage and woods looking for him.   I told the kids that there was bad guy and the cops were trying to find him.

About an hour later we walked over to my grandma's house and Braxton said, "Mommy, we need to call that bad guy over here because he is my friend." 
"He is Braxton, why is the bad guy your friend?"
"I like him, he is my friend, he needs to come over and play."
"So if he is your friend Braxton, then I guess the cops are going to have to carry you and him to jail because that is what happens to bad guys and their friends."
"He not my friend, I not want to go to jail."

Crazy how quickly he changes his mind, but it is crazy how his little mind is working now.  I swear he says the funniest things.  I just hope he decides to NOT be friends with bad guys one day!  :-)