Thanksgiving Week

My family had a wonderful week with many, many things to be thankful for!

1. I only had to work 2 days and the rest of the family was out all week!
2. We went to 2 Tiger ball games and the Tigers hired a new football coach (Rob is at the press conference as I type)
3. We decorated the house for Christmas and "Buddy" the elf came to watch us this month to be sure everyone is on there best behavior! A good quote from Lane....after the trees were put up (one is a smaller one with more kid like decor and the other is a large one that has more "dressy" ornaments with lots of crosses and a nativity scene in the middle of it....Lane said "Momma, I think santa should put our presents under this tree in here, because it is the more santa one, and that other one is the more Jesusy one!" She said it as if she didn't want to disrespect Jesus by putting Santa presents under it...it was really cute!
4. We watched the Macy's parade on T.V. and I fantasized about being there......had 2 great turkey dinners with family (my dad makes the best dressing in the world!) And both my kids like it!
5. Rob and I celebrated our anniversary with a Grisanti's meal and "The Blindside" movie...which is a whole different reason to be thankful....
6. I personally am thankful that God re-opened my eyes to the blessings that I have in a home, children who eat 3 meals a day and are loved on daily, and a husband who is a great father....as opposed to the large population that lives right here in my own community and in this country and most definitely in other countires, who have none of those things. I literally cried all the way home from watching that movie, wondering what I can do to help the poverty situation...kids who don't know if they will eat one meal today or not, kids who are cold, mothers and fathers who wonder if they will be able to provide something for their kids tomorrow, mothers and fathers who don't know how to show love to their kids because they have never been shown love themselves, people who live in situations that are dirty and dangerous. I want to question why does it have to be this way, God?? And although I don't know if I can know the answer to that, my faith tells me that I all I can do is do my part to be a Christian who shows love to all I come in contact with. Although, I certainly don't have answers for this stuff, all I can do is try to work in the sitations that are put in front of my face instead of ignoring them or thinking that someone else will take care of that. I pray that God will continue to keep it fresh in my heart that there is a lot of suffering out there and I can do my part to help. I am thankful that I went to see that movie to remind me of that!
7. I went shopping on black friday with mom and Lane, which I haven't done in years and it was actually not too bad!
8. I had dinner with some great friends, a couple of which I don't get to see very much, and I am thankful for all of them.
9. We had a great day at church today...our new minister, the Reverend Doctor Scott Sealy has been called to ministry at our church and I am thankful for him and his family. We lit the first candle of advent and have a special advent processional service tonight.
10. Advent is here and I am so thankful for that....a time to rest in the coming of Christ. We are so busy this time of year that it is ironic that advent is supposed to be a time of rest. But if we can't rest in knowing our Christ will return and we will live eternally with him and rest in knowing that we believe in the virgin birth of the Messiah, then what can we rest in? I pray that I will rest this advent season rather than running around crazy to get things that I THINK are important, but really are somewhat meaningless done! I am attaching a link for an advent daily reading....our sunday school teacher gave us one, and I thought I'd share a similar one here It is at least one way I can rest each day until Christmas in the grace of God.

Here are some pictures from the week:

This is the "Santa" tree with our elf on it...but look it is actually a little "Jesusy" too!!

After Black Friday shopping!

9 Years

Yep, today is our 9 year wedding anniversary. We were married the Saturday after Thanksgiving and it was a wonderful time to get married. We went on our honeymoon 3 weeks later and came home to celebrate our first Christmas together. We put up our Christmas tree tonight, and Lane came across our "First Christmas Together" ornament that has a little scroll in it that reads:
"It was cold and icy and we were living upstairs at Aunt Pat and Uncle Dolph's (our house wasn't finished yet). Things that were in the news were the Bush/Gore presidential race, Coach Calipari's first season, and bad winter storms. Our presents to each other were: Rob=Memphis windsock and polo shirt and Laura=black (faux) fur coat. This was Rob's first season as Crestview Middle School girl's basketball coach. We returned from our honeymoon at 10:00 on Dec. 23rd. Christmas was our one month Anniversary this year." We enjoy reading this every year!
Memories of the years before kids, when they were tiny babies, and looking at the changes in 9 years is amazing.....we have actually been "together" for nearly 16 years, which, when I think about it is slightly over 1/2 of my life. And there is no one I would rather share the rest of my life with! We are going to dinner and a movie Friday to celebrate but next year will be 10....looking forward to an extra special celebration for that!

Pickin' Cotton

Momma called this morning and asked if she could take the kids to "pick some cotton" today...so they went to one of my uncles farms and rode the picker with my cousin, Clayton. I guess it was seeing a little different version of cotton picking than momma expericenced (with a sack, by hand!). When I asked them what was their favorite part...Bo said "when it popped when we rode over it" and Lane said, "watching them when they picked the cotton."

Momma said she looked down and caught this picture....priceless

#1 for 2010!!!!!!

Here's to the Tigers 2010 recruiting class....likely #1 in the country! I can't wait to watch them play their hearts out tonight against Kansas! I was one of the few tiger fans that was really sad about losing Cal for a long time (most got mad pretty quick)...but I really feared the doom of the team, but my hopes are revived and I can't wait to watch this team......T-I-G-E-R-S....TIGERS! The link to the new intro video is here..... or here for non-facebook people!

Jelan Kendrick Rivals #8
Will Barton Rivals #11
Joe Jackson Rivals #12
Tarik Black Rivals #47

Jelan Kendrick

Tarik Black

Will Barton

Joe Jackson

Getting Bigger!

This is baby Dawson at 12 weeks. Some days it seems this pregnancy is flying by and others it seems it is dragging. When I had this ultrasound last week, it was one of those days it seemed to be flying; just 4 weeks before the baby was as tiny as a pea and now he or she is the size of a large peach. Ultrasounds are so exciting and seeing those little arms and legs (which by the way I mostly saw long legs kicking around) and see that heartbeat is so special. I am going to try to post every now and then about my pregnancy (although it has been 3 1/2 months and I have only posted the announcement!) to keep in the scrapbook. Lane and Bo have their little baby books, but I guess this baby will be a little more high tech! The 2 pictures at the bottom are 8 week pictures..... (sorry they are rotated)

3D at 8 weeks:

The following info is for his/her scrapbook, so feel free to move along if bored and more to come in the next 5 months!)
I am 14 weeks along now and here is what is going on:

I felt you move at 13 weeks sitting in bible study and it wasn't really questionable, some may say it was early, but I have felt 2 other babies move in there and it was exactly the same! And now, you move every day, at first it was like little vibrations, but now at times it even feels like tiny tiny kicks!

I wore my first pair of maternity jeans last night ! (I think about an hour after I took a positive pregnancy test I started growing this time and adding numbers to the scale.....oh, well...)

I am feeling pretty good these days....had a rough month weeks 8-13, really nauseated and tierd (worse that with the first 2 I think), but it's over now I think and it is great to feel the signs that you are there by your kicks and not so much by my hormones!

Bo gets more excited about you every day...he has really taken to babies lately and I am so glad to hear him ask me every day something about you (Lane didn't need any time...she was excited and asking questions from day one).

More to come in a few weeks when we find out if you are XX or XY!

Atoka Elementary Fall Carnival 2009

We had a big day at Atoka's 2nd annual fall carninval....well the kids had lots of fun and Rob and I did lots of work! Thanks to Gigi and Ellie who chased the kids all day at the carnival while we worked concession stand, parked cars, and whatever else there was to do! It was a beautiful day and the carnival was fabulous. The teachers and parents worked so hard to make it successful and it paid off!
I don't take the opportunity to do it much, and Rob doesn't really read our blog, so he probably won't even read this....but I want to brag a bit! I really think he is a special person. He has such a kind heart and does so much for kids that is not necessarily in his "job description". The hours he puts in to go above and beyond to make a difference in kids lives is very admirable and although his long hours and sometimes stressful job takes it's toll on him and us, I believe he is called to do what he does and I am very proud of him!

Girl Talk

Well, it was supposed to be a bunco reunion, and although we were missing a few and never got through one round of bunco....it was good to get together. Some of you I see often, some of you not so often, but it is good to have friends that you can pick up where you left off no matter what! I think our mouths were sore we talked to much! And no, it wasn't all about kids or all about husbands or all about gossip...although most of that was probably in there....it was Twilight, Grey's (Neither of which I am into, but everyone else seems to be), jobs, high school, and so on! And to top it off, I won the Big Bunco prize (which we had to draw for since we didn't play enough bunco to score!) See you girls next month somehow, somewhere! Yes, I stole kendra's picture...

Trick or Treat!

We got an early start and drove to Munford to Trick or treat Rob's family then headed back to Covington to the Links for Ellie and Boo and to actually get out of the car and walk around and "trick or treat".....it seems that every year, we spend so much time trying to be sure we go see all the people we need to see (and want to see) that we don't end up with time to actually just go house to house and trick or treat. Well, the Saturday night Halloween was great for us...plenty of time for all of it! We actually rode on Uncle Chad's decorated golf cart through the Links which was a nice treat. We stopped off at the Hensley's for a Peter Pan reunion (and no, Nicole and I did not plan the costumes....actually Bo came home from school about a month ago and said "Jonah's gonna be Peter Pan for Halloween too, and Mary Claire is gonna be Tinkerbell like Lane." I said, "Oh, Bo, I don't think so, he probably just said that because you were talking about your Peter Pan suit!".....but I thought, I'll text Nicole just to be sure....well, Jonah wasn't making it up! Bo had a blast playing with "Captain Hook" and asked Ms. Nicole if he can wear his suit over again for more fighting with Captain Hook!

Pumpkin Painting

We took the easy way out this year and painted pumkins (as opposed to carving). We carved last year, but the kids couldn't do much excep pull the insides out, and neither of them was too keen on that part....so we just did a little painting this year. Actually, Ellie did it with them! Bo's is a ninja turtle (same as last year!) and Lane's is her own creation! You can see in the background that I was painting some wooden pumpkins for decoration...that's why Ellie was helping them....

Catching up...

I think it has been a month since my last post.... there are probably a number of reasons why.....
Spent a week in disney and there was no time for blogging,..... have felt pretty rough for the last month.....have taken a nap every Saturday and Sunday for the last month (which is probably time I would usually blog).....the routine of a kindergartener with backpack to check, lunch to pack, homework to do.....a 4 year old boy who makes it difficult for me to sit down and do anything by myself that requires thought.....my husband has had lots of night time actvities (work related!) that have kept me busier at mom duties.....and NOW, I am at home from work sick today....I have been fighting a bad cold, that has turned into a little bronchitis and actually I am on the downhill slide of it, but decided some extra rest today might help me kick it! I am sooooo ready to feel good...I have spent the last 4 weeks in a nauseated, sleepy coma and now that I think that is easing up, I end up on a antibiotic for this junk! Luckily, I was able to catch up on checking out friends blogs and posted a few of my own to keep up with the scrapbook. I hope to get disney picutures uploaded soon!

Summer and Jamie's Wedding

Our friends Summer and Jamie were married on September 26th and Lane was honored to be their flower girl! Summer kept our kids for a year or so and they really love her....she and Jamie still come and get them occassionally and they always have a great time when they are with them.....their wedding was really pretty out at Mt. Carmel church. My favorite thing was that the sun was setting during the ceremony, so it was getting a little darker in the sanctuary as the ceremony started and such as wonderful ambience, so natural! Here are some pictures.....and by the way, I wish I would have taken video of Bo dancing at the reception.....I am not sure you have seen anything like it...kind of looks like a power ranger who drank 3 red bulls! (Although I think he really does have some rhythm in there somewhere hidden in his bundle of energy!) When we left, the kids said, can we come back to that party next week??? I think it was their first experience at a wedding reception!