Jackson's Message from Santa

To watch it, click here:
http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/guest/IJgbOQ9RXgl-09ufzsQNaw

Play Ball!

Well...guess where our Saturdays are being spent now days? At the ball park!! Jackson is playing baseball, and he really likes it! They had him playing 1st base,and was pretty good at. Plus that is the same position that my brother played when he was little, and Jackson thinks that he has to do everything that Brian did or does! The problem was that the kids were throwing the ball way over Jackson's head.. I mean he's not that tall!! The coach moved him to the pitchers mound. He really likes that, cause that is where most of the balls get hit to! So needless to say he is the middle of all the action!! So far his team is doing pretty good! I guess we shall see!!

Jackson on base after he got a hit. I guess he is just making sure that his batting gloves are ok!

What an Honor

Tonight we had to go to CRHS for Ashlee to be inducted into the very first group for the National Honor Society. We are very proud of how hard that Ashlee achieves, and that she can manage her school work, cheer leading, dance,and texting time so well!!

Ashlee has been blessed throughout her school years to have had such great teachers.

I can't believe that she is in the middle of her sophomore year. Time really goes by fast! The first picture is of Ashlee and her principal Dr. Hall. The funny thing is that Dr. Hall was one of my teachers when I was in the 6th grade!

Can you say SNOW?

I never thought that I would be so sick of snow...but I am!! My kids have missed so much school that we are going to have to make up snow days!!

I do not like the feeling of being confined!! I have never drove in the snow before, nor do I want to learn!! We have had fun sledding though!! Mike went to ace hardware to buy us a real sled..the kind that I had when I was a kid. He called to tell me that they were almost $100.00! I told him that it better have a real motor on it for that price..needless to say we didn't buy one! We already had those plastic sleds, so we made them work!! We went sledding one night with Kristy and Ricky and had a lot of fun! On Sunday, The Griffith family came over in the 4x4 to pick us up. We tied up all of the sleds in a line and pulled them down the street. The kids really liked that. Later we went to Pitts Park and found a huge hill!! What fun!!!! It hasn't snowed like this in so many years. Even though it was so cold, and we missed so much school, it was a lot of fun!!

Lordy Lordy...Am I already 40?

OMG!!! I CAN'T POSSIBLY BE 40!!
Oh wait...yes I am! I was already in a bad mood all week, because it was very obvious that Mike wasn't going to give me a birthday party. I even asked the girls the week before my birthday what his plans were, and they told me that they didn't know of any!! The only plans that I knew we had were to go to the lodge on Saturday night to watch Jackson receive an award from the Shriner's for collecting his tabs from coke cans! To top it off..my cars windshield wipers needed to be replaced, and my car was also leaking antifreeze so much that I was having to replace it like everyday...so all of that was Mike's fault!!!

We start off going to the Lodge on that Saturday night...pouring down rain, and crappy windshield wipers, and ticked off at Mike!! Walk in to the lodge to this loud sound of Surprise!! Yep...Mike had planned me a surprise party...(no award for Jackson) at the lodge! No lie when I tell you that there were 100 people. I had people from high school, people that I used to work with, bowl with, friends in general, and family!!!! What a huge surprise!!!! My kids new the whole time, even Jackson, and no one ever slipped up and said anything!!

I am so blessed that all of these people came out in the pouring down rain just for me!! Turning 40 wasn't so bad after all!!

Thank you to EVERYONE who helped in celebrating my birthday..I love you all!!

Side note: The next day, Mike fixed my car!!!!

Happy 12th Birthday Natalie

I can not believe that Natalie is only 12 years old! She has always acted so much older, and we of course treat her like she is older. Natalie kinda gets the raw end on her birthdays!! It is just 2 weeks after Christmas, so what would one child need or want after the big holiday? For as long as I can remember, we usually buy her 1 thing, plus a cake and dinner. At her request we take her out for her birthday in March, right when they start putting out all of the cute bathing suits and cute summer clothes!! I did really good this year! I bought her 1 gift a while back!! Natalie is such a great kid...very SMART, and not a lazy bone in her body!! We are so lucky that we have her!! Happy Birthday Natalie...we love you.

New Years Eve 2009

Every year we go to my cousins house for a new year eves party and we always have alot of fun. This year we played spoons...a very dangerous game, but a whole lot of fun. I only came home with a few scratches and brusies!! The whole night is nothing but good food, and games..in our family games consist of dominoes, rook, or spoons!! We count down to the new year, then we have our annual drink to toast in the new year!! Just so that no one turns me in....that is ginger ale that my child is drinking, although he thinks that it is "beer"!

I hope that everyone has a great 2010!!

Merry Christmas- 2009

I guess that my kids must have been pretty good for Santa to come this year!! By the look of things, the jolly ole man must have thought so too!!

It's pretty sad to think that if it wasn't for me and Mike waking them up, they would all sleep through Christmas! We all go downstairs and wait for the kids to come running down the steps! My parents, brother, and my grandmother all come over every year to watch my kids open their gifts, then my mama cooks us breakfast! I am so lucky that my kids get to have all of them come every year!! You can tell by the few pictures that the kids enjoyed their gifts!! I normally do not get alot of still pictures, because I am to busy video taping everything!!

Cristmas Card 2009

This is our Christmas card picture. I usually have to take alot in order to get 1 good shot!! Not this year. This is the one and only picture that I took!! Everyone was well behaved..even the dog!!

Thanksgiving 2009

What a day of Blessings. I am very blessed to have such a great family. I am blessed for a good hard working husband, great kids, loving parents, a healthy brother and sister, brother-in-law, and niece. Lots of aunts, uncles and cousins, and last but not least my nana!!

I am so glad that we can all come together every year from other states and spend time together.

Our family Thankgivings are spent in Springfield, Tn at the senior citizens bldg on the square. It is just a big building with lots of space and a tv for the men to watch their football! The kids all have space to hang out, and the women all go over the ads in the paper and map out where we are going first on black friday to shop!!!

Every year everyone stands infront of the same painted wall to take their family pictures!!

The first picture of course is my family. The second picture is my grandmothers grankids, and the third one is her great-grand- kids(minus Hailey).

2009 Fall Soccer

Jackson really loves playing soccer! This is his 3rd season to play. This season we "played him up" which means that he is playing with kids a little bit older than he is. We did this so that we could stay with our favoriate coach, and his son Mark! At first I thought that we may have made a mistake by moving Jackson up. The kids were a little bit bigger that he was, but after a few games Jackson was just as tuff as the older kids! He got to play goalie some this year, he really loved that!!
He has become a pretty good soccer player. I am glad that he really likes it. Soccer is the one sport other than hockey that I don't really know the rules, but I have learned alot about it!! Thanks to Coach O'Brien for being such a great coach and to Kim for being a good friend!

Titans Win!!!

Kristy had called me earlier in the week and invited me to go to the Titans game with her. I said yes, but as it closer to Sunday, I was honestly dreading going. Not because of the company, but I was really not on the Titans bandwagon because of how bad they had been playing. I knew that someone was telling me I should go, because on Sunday morning, my friend Lola called and invited me to go too!! That was my sign that I must go!!! I will be the first to say that I am so glad that I went!! The game was AWESOME!! We started off sitting the first half of the game in Kristy's seats....way up high!! Everything was going good until Bruce showed up!! He is some random titans fan who has seats next to Kristy!! All I can say is that Bruce is a funny drunk!!! The second half of the game we sat in the club level!! Now that is some good seats!!

I had a fun Sunday. Thanks Kristy for inviting me to go..I had a blast!!!

Jackson's 6th Birthday

Wow...Can't believe that Jackson is already 6 years old...time sure does fly by. We had a big party with lots of family, friends, and of course FOOD!!!

Jackson picked out a soccer cake this year, we thought that it would be fun to have his fall soccer picture on it, since afterall we are in the middle of the fall soccer season! His cake turned out really cute, and was good too!!

We are so lucky to have such a sweet and good boy...not to mention soooo cute. Happy Birthday Jackson..We love you!

First Day Of School

Well our day started very early this morning!! Ashlee was the first shift. I took her to school and dropped her off. I can not believe that I have a Sophmore! She is really excited about being at school. She just loves high school so much!

Jackson was second! Mike had him awake when I came home from dropping off Ashlee. As soon as I walked in the door, he said"Are you taking me to school?" I told him yes, but he didn't like that! He wanted to walk by himself. Oh my goodness I could have cried!! He did let me walk him, but he would not hold my hand as we walked across the street! As soon as we got inside the front door of the buildng he grabbed my hand!! The farther we walked down the hall, the tighter he held my hand!! I was sorda hanging out in his classroom, and he told me that I could leave!! I guess he was ready for me to leave!! I went ahead and left without a tear!! He was so excited when he got home. He wanted to go the next day (Saturday), but was disappointed when I told him that he had to wait until Monday!! Tuesday will be his first whole day.

Mackenzie and Natalie were next. The middle school doesn't start until 9:00. It took me 35 minutes to drive 2 miles down the road to the school. Needless to say we were late the very first day!! Oh well!! Mackenzie still let me walk her to her first period class. Then I walked Natalie to her class. They both looked so cute in their SSA clothes.

I can not believe that all of my kids have grown so much! I no longer have any babies left. I have been so blessed to have been able to stay home with them. I know that at times it has been hard on Mike being our only source of income, but I really don't think that either of us would have wanted it any other way!!

Last Fun Day Before School....

Today we went to Nashville Shores for our last day of summer fun!! It was so nice because there wasn't many people out...I guess since some of the other schools had already started. Jenny and Shelby went with us, oh..and Mariah too!! We all had alot of fun. Shelby seemed to really have fun too. We love her so much!! The group of kids that Ashlee hangs around with were there too!! There are more boys than girls, but they are all really good kids that come from really good families that are very involved in the school. The other girl that was in the group moved a few weeks ago. I know that Ashlee and Mariah will miss Danielle.

We had a great time this summer going to Nashville Shores. I really feel that we got our monies worth out of our seasons passes. Can't wait until next summer.

Josie's Back To School Lunch

If you have read my post regarding Josie's birthday, then you are aware that she hasn't been feeling very well. But Josie being her very driven self insisted that she fix me and the kids a Back to School Lunch.

It was very good..Chicken ala King over cornbread(or egg bread as Josie calls it!), green beans, a salad, and a frozen fruit salad, and of course a chocolate pie!! It was very good, always is!!

We had a great time visiting with Josie and June(my favorite cousin!!), Josie had went out and bought the kids a few school supplies!

Thanks for the lunch we loved it and love you too!

The Mack Family

On Sunday, my daddy's brother and sisters were able to get together. His sister Carolyn was in from Texas, so little sister Norma had everyone to her house for a family get together. We had lots of fun catching up with everyone. I wish that they all lived in the same state so that they could see each other all the time.

We had a great time and the food was good, especially the potatoe salad and the homemade salsa!!

In the picture are all of the brother and sisters. From left to right: Tommy( the baby), Norma Jean (4th oldest), Daddy(the oldest), Carolyn (3rd oldest & oldest girl!), and Ralph(2nd oldest)

Ralph just got out of the hospital, he is recovering from bladder cancer. We all hope that he can start to get aroud and feel better soon.

Can't wait until next year!!

Jackson's Lemonade Sale

Jackson has been asking to have a lemonade sale for a while now. I think that he got the idea off of the disney channel or something like that. I had told him that I had one when i was a little girl, and that Nana had a picture of it at her house. So Friday morning, I made up 2 gallons of lemonade so that it could start getting cold. At around 3:00 we went to the store to buy some cups. We finally got set up at around 3:30, at Nana and Papa's house. We set us up a table in the front yard. By 4:50, he had already made $18.50!! It was so funny to watch him. He would get so excited every time someone would stop. Most people would give him a dollar, and told him to keep the change!!

He has put his money in his bank at home. He is wanting to buy some kind of a car at Target!

Happy 89th Birthday Josie

Tuesday, August 4th was my grandmother's(Nana) birthday. We didn't get to celebrate until Saturday, August 8th. Actually Josie had just got out of the hospital on that Monday, the day before her birthday!

We all got together at Grant and Winnie's house for a great dinner. My aunt Vicki made a cake that has all the names that we call Nana. See... I am the oldest grandchild, so I grew up calling her Nana as did all of my cousins. Fast forward 24 years, and my kids start calling her Josie, (which is her real name), only because they call my Mama and Daddy Nana & Papa!! So part of us call her Nana, and the rest of us call her Josie!!

I am very fortunate that my kids have a great grandmother that they get to see on a regular basis.

Josie, we hope that the next 89 years will be as good to you as the last 89 were!!

We love you.

Miss Shelby Marie

Today, we had a little "Meet and Greet" for Jenny and sweet precious Shelby. We were so excited to finally get everyone together to see Shelby for the first time. We had a few people to come over for a little visit. We all enjoyed some good cake, and Shelby enjoyed her big bowl of M&Ms!! She was so funny to watch!! She really likes Ashlee. Shelby and Hailey really liked each others shoes!! I think that we got Shelby on a little chocolate high!! We are so thankful that Jenny and Shelby have finally found each other, after three years and 10 months, alot of tears, and many long days and nights, these two are finally one big happy family. I could not be any happier for both of them. We love you!!