Busy May

May has brought many busy days! Work is busier than ever and afternoons and weekends with the family are packed, as well! Here are some pictures of SOME of the events...



 One afternoon, we took the kids to see a mini horse. We THOUGHT that they would like it. Our luck, the thing bit Faith right away. That made Faith a bit weary...and who can blame her!?

The kiddos were a bit braver when they were on the OTHER side of the fence...ha!

A couple of weeks ago, the kids came to Relay for Life at my school. I stayed after work, and Cody brought them. We had dinner in my classroom first and I took them down the halls of "Mama's school." They loved it. I can see them owning the halls in a couple of years! 

 The highlight of Relay for them was the playground....LOVED IT!

 Mallory was a bit sour...poor thing. She is at the age where she thinks that she can do EVERYTHING that Faith and Cameron do, but, unfortunately, she can't! She was so mad she couldn't climb up to the big slide!

 We also had a celebration for Ganny turning 90 this month. There was a wonderful turnout of family, friends, and people within the church and community. This is an attempt to get a picture of the GREAT grandkids....OH WELL!

 Mallory liked the balloons.

 Two of my three were the ones fighting with the balloons. They may not look like Cody, but they sure act like him...ha!

So, those were just a FEW pictures. The final weekend in May brings Memorial Day weekend. I have to work Memorial Day so we do not have much of anything planned. However, we do have pictures with Miss Heather on Saturday! I am SUPER excited to see how they turn out...because her work is always GREAT. I am sure that I will have some AWESOME pictures to share from that shoot soon!

Celebrating Five Crazy, Happy Years

Once upon a time, we were high-school sweethearts. I simply can not believe that it has been five years since we were married, ten years since we graduated high-school, and thirteen years since we began dating!!! Yeah, yeah, yeah. I never dated anyone but Cody. Call it boring. Call it whatever you wish. I call it a blessing....a gift.

Some might say that Cody and I are polar opposites. He's the funny one...I'm not so much. He's a procrastinator...I'm not so much. He is silly...yep not so much here. He likes to clutter....nope...not here (except I am this secret hoarder that likes to throw things in unseen places like the closets, drawers, etc).  He is even-tempered...I pretty much call it like I see it.  He is everything that I am not, and I think that is what makes it work.There's so much in him that I would like to be.

These five years of marriage have not been entirely easy. We have had first jobs, new jobs, and changes in positions....all in which have been a challenge. We have lost pets and loved ones,. We have been heartbroken with the losses of our own little ones.  Through it all, we took turns leaning on each other when we were ready to fall.  So, no. It hasn't been all wonderful.  However, we learned and grew from all of these experiences. It is SO true...what doesn't kill us, makes us STRONGER!!!  These five years have also brought so many wonderful things our way. We have welcomed three beautiful children into the world, built a wonderful home, and were baptized together, becoming members of New Hope Baptist.

I feel so blessed to have gone through the good and bad with someone very special. I am so happy to say that I am married to my best friend. I am very honest when I say that Cody has one of the kindest hearts that I have ever known. I am realistic when I admit that he can drive me crazy and will probably continue to do so. I am looking forward to many more crazy, happy years to come!!!!

We celebrated out fifth wedding anniversary by taking a trip to Helen. It was a much needed break. We did a whole lot of nothing...which I am surprised that I loved!!! The cabin was super nice and cozy. I must admit that I didnt' quite know what to do with myself and much of our time was spent talking about the kiddos, texting our parents (the wonderful souls made this all possible) about the kiddos, or flipping through our phones looking at pictures about them! When we sat at the table tonight reunited, it was back to reality. Forks hitting the floor, cries for more, and pleas to sit by momma and daddy rang loud and clear. Ahhhh.....dinner by the river was far more relaxing...but far less interesting!!!!

Where to Eat

So, just last weekend we decided to pick up a quick lunch at Chick-fil-a. The kids were much more out of sorts than usual, and my time there made me want to skip a meal rather than eat one. Now, Cody is not up for eating ANYWHERE when we have all three kiddos, but, my love of eating out drives me so!...ha! Recently, we had the conversation as to WHERE we should eat with the kids. Cody's philosophy was to get in and get out quick. I beg to differ. Our meal at Chick-fil-a simply proved my point further. While we were attempting to eat, I was busy saying, "This is why it is better to go to a sit down restaurant." Not quite following? These are the reasons I prefer restaurants over fast food when dining with the kids (not to mention the food is better!):

1. There are crayons and activity sheets. So, yes. You have to wait to get your food. BUT...the children are usually well entertained by the crayons...even if it means that they color on the table or walls ;)

2. You sit down and other people take care of the rest! This is probably the best reason for going to a sit-down restaurant over a fast food place. When we take all three kiddos out to fast food, we have to first pick out a table. That way, the kids are not running around the place when we are trying to order AND it is possible for one person to carry the food back. One person orders. One person watches the kiddos at the table. Sounds simple, but it can be a disaster. Why you ask???...because it usually leaves at least one child very unhappy and wanting to go with whoever is doing the ordering....the kids think, "Oh! We are in public and there is now only ONE of you watching me...LET'S GO CRAZY!"...and we have to hunt down high chairs and boosters (and have you been in Chick-fil-a lately???...MADHOUSE). On the contrary, sit-down restaurants do it all for you. They take you to your seat, bring out your food, find high chairs and boosters (a total of three, here), and you don't do a thing! That, my friends, is  like music to my ears!

3. You are not compelled to clean up. I feel really terrible about leaving my space a wreck at a fast food restaurant. Let's face it. Many times the tables do not get cleaned after each occupant and that leaves the poor, next person in line for your spot to do the dirty work. Therefore, I feel compelled...obligated to clean up the mess that my family has made. Now, don't get me wrong. I feel terrible about leaving a sit-down restaurant with my table disastrous, as well. HOWEVER, I can always leave an extra tip! ;)

4. There is not a playground. Okay. I feel a little guilty about saying that. Sometimes, you can use the playground to your advantage...."You better eat or there will be no playground," etc. However, the playground can be torturous...having the kids beg during the whole meal OR having to drag them off. I must say that I have not had to endure either of these often...BUT...it happens.

5. There is more of a variety. So, my kids are fickle eaters. They may like one thing one day and hate it the next. At a restaurant, there is more variety. You can all order different things. That way, if the kiddos won't eat what you got for them, MAYBE they will eat something off of mine or Cody's plate. With fast food, however, pretty much everyone gets the same thing....then you have to hear about your child NOT wanting what you have gotten them to eat. :)

So...I ask you, "Why would you prefer fast-food over a restaurant?" You may answer price, time, etc.  HOWEVER, I think all of my reasons far outweigh any of those! I am not so frugal with my money when it comes to convenience. Sometimes you have to pay the price to have some peace of mind (something that is actually priceless in my book). :)

Just For Fun

Oh, boy. This week is DRAGGING by! With our busy weekends, I am beyond exhausted....and May doesn't look like it is going to slow down!!! BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!

Here are just some pictures that I find super cute. They were taken over the last couple of weeks....

 Here are my little rascals playing with their computers....who knew that just a few minutes before the picture was taken they were ready to throw down in the floor arguing over one? Thank goodness we have THREE chairs and THREE laptops!

 I LOVE this hat on Cameron!

 Can you tell that he is up to NO good?

 See what I mean?

 ...and again. He was so proud that he had destroyed his room.

 This was Cody's creation.

 ...and they loved it!

I love watching Mallory. She is becoming a big girl. She did this on her own the other night! She sure is watching everyone around her closely!

Our BIG Redneck Weekend

Okay, okay. I am about to say one of those things that once annoyed me beyond belief!....

 Boy, how your life changes after you have little ones! I guess I really don't mind people saying that, but, for whatever reason, I think that it annoyed me when people would say that TO me when I was pregnant....like...duh... I didn't know it!!! So, I say this not to TELL anyone as if they don't know what they are in for when they have children, BUT to emphasize how OUR lives have changed since entering parenthood...IN. EVERY. ASPECT. In areas that you wouldn't really think about.

I think that people most likely see there lives changing in the departments that are obvious....sleep, money, energy, time, etc. I don't think that anyone quite realizes that lives change in a lot more ways than that....funny ways!!! Let's give some examples:

1. Conversation-I get so tickled by some of the conversations that Cody and I have!!! We no longer talk about the things that we once did.  We usually have the discussion of how many poops our children have done, if they have eaten well, what havoc has occurred while we are work, etc. NEVER would I have imagined that these sorts of things would consume our conversations!

2. Interests- Of course, interests change as everyone ages....BUT I almost fell on the floor when Cody expressed interest in taking the kids to a Yo Gabba Gabba concert. Yes...YOU READ RIGHT. Isn't that the most hilarious thing that you have heard?! I can see Cody rockin' out to DJ Lance (and I guess that it is kinda' funny that I know that man's name, too). It's also sweet,though. Cody has literally given up four wheelers, golf, and all of those other hobbies that he has taken up along the years to become a Yo Gabba Gabba fan...HA!

3. Language-I find it SO hilarious how much our language has changed since having children. We now speak" two-year-old." I find myself saying things exactly the way Faith and Cam say them....and I am sure that I don't sound near as cute when I do so...ha! For example, "Mawee"...Mallory, "Camen"...Cameron, "Pease"...please, "Tetchup"...ketchup, etc! 

Ahhhh of course, there are many more ways that your life changes, but I find these three the most hilarious! Now, let's reflect back on number two.... interests....the whole purpose of this post (sorry I got a little bit side-tracked).   Cody is not the only one, who has a change of heart when it comes to doing whatever it takes to entertain the kiddos. This weekend, I did two things that I would not picture myself doing. Most people reading this post may find it humorous that I have NEVER done one of the things that I am about to discuss. Call me deprived or not truly southern...whatever. I'm just not interested in....RODEOS! Never have. Never did....and after attending....never will. BUT...if it makes my kids happy, then that is what I will do! Check it out....

 Okay...so no one looks happy in this picture, but I think that the kids liked the rodeo. They sat and watched for the most part and seemed entertained.

 This was probably the highlight of Faith and Cam's night. They like climbing and sitting on the "gate."

Cameron wanted to sit up high so badly that he let a complete stranger hold him!

So, overall, I was not so impressed by rodeos....just not my thing. For the most part, I was thinking of how many hours I was missing on sleep....it was a late night for us! BUT...it really didn't matter what I thought. We got Faith, Cameron, and Mallory out of the house for the night and doing something different!

Moving on to the next event of the weekend....another pastime that I have ZERO interest in....tractor pulls. Cody has become rather obsessed with the things so we naturally had to take the kiddos....and MY. OH. MY. Talk about having my hands full. Thank goodness for some help from family members that were there...or I would have never survived! All three kiddos were going in different directions. This is not the place to be roaming, either. Lot's of people. Lots of moving vehicles. I must say that the kids LOVED it....not so much the actual event but the idea of being wild and free! Here are some pictures.

On the way!

 Mallory was the only one that would participate in the pedal tractor race...she earned her first trophy! My pretty girl....notice she is supporitng DSD.

 ...and she is OFF!

 Cameron thought that the tractors were LOUD!!!

 My little cutie!

 ...and here they are all pooped out. If you look closely, you can see Mallory in the background knocked out, too....and me looking mean as the devil because we were still at this thing at 11:30!!! OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, yes...your life changes in more ways than one when you have kiddos. You might find yourself saying things AND doing things that you never dreamed that you would do. My advice is...never say never and be prepared to always eat your words. Because....I do recall a day that I claimed, I will NEVER go rodeos or tractor pulls!!!

Easter

Although I really LOVE holidays, they are so exhausting. A great time was had, but it left me pooped, and I'm still trying to recover!

We began the tradition of coloring eggs on the Friday before Easter. I actually forgot about the whole thing so I had to pack the kids up by my lonesome, head to Ingles, and buy some eggs! We didn't get too elaborate...nothing special at all. The kids liked it, though!

On Saturday, we had the egg hunt at the church. I had practiced with the kiddos in advance and I was 100% positive that they were ready. I. WAS. WRONG. What is it with kids and how they make liars out of you???!!!

Faith and Cameron were not interested. Mallory was somewhat so. Unfortunately, my camera died and I did not get many pictures at this outing...

They didn't want to hunt eggs, but they sure wanted to jump!

Hanging out with Daddy.

On Sunday, we raced to get ready for church. We made it right on time, and I was very proud. We snapped a few pictures of the fam together. We rarely get to do this.

After church, our first Easter feast was at Pat and YaYa's. Lunch was delicious and, it was then round two for egg hunting. I am very pleased to say that the kiddos did better...

...I said better! Cam still wasn't SUPER pumped about it.

Faith was ready to go, though! YAY, Faith!

I was so proud of little Mallory! She even picked up her own eggs and put them in the basket!

Cameron finally threw his bucket down, grabbed one egg at a time, opened it, put the candy in his pocket, and continued on. It was hilarious.

Then, it was time to head on down to MeMe and Poppy's....and another great meal. Round three of egg hunting continued to be a positive experience! YAY!

WOW, Faith!

Go, Mallory, Go!

Oh, and I almost forgot! The Easter bunny came to town, too!

So glad that we go to spend a wonderful holiday with wonderful family! It was a good day...just a little tiring!

Mallory's Injury

I am fairly certain that I will soon receive a visit from DFACS. I mean, c'mon...WHO IN THE WORLD HAS TWO KIDS IN CASTS IN THE MATTER OF THREE WEEKS???!!! Let me answer that...me.

...and this is how it all began...

Wednesday started out as a typical day. I was tired. I didn't want to go to work (although I had just had taken a day to take Mallory to her one year appointment on Tuesday). Nonetheless, I was at school at 6:45am running around like a crazy woman....typical day.

I received a call around 11:00am. It was actually strange that I had my cell sitting right beside me during one of my lessons and heard the thing vibrating. When I saw it was Cody, I definitely knew SOMETHING was up...I was sincerely hoping for once that it was him calling begging for that dumb dog that he is relentlessly bargaining for. Unfortunately...not. It seemed that he was at home, Mallory had some how gotten her toe slammed in the door, and I needed to come home....great. My poor baby is injured and all I can think about after the instant need to leave is, "OMG....I have to take ANOTHER day off of work???!!! I have student teachers here!!! They need me!!!" The joys of being a teacher! I left school hating that little Mallory had been hurt, but I almost doubted the severity. I kept asking Cody over the phone, "Do you really think that it needs stitches???" Oh, BOY. I had no idea.

When I got home, I saw a toe looking somewhat like this...actually worse because this is a shot after it had been cleaned....

I didn't know how in the world it could be fixed. It looked SO terrible that I didn't know what part of the toe was hanging on by a thread. Was it her toe nail, her toe, or both???!!! The sitter was beyond hysterical, Cody had to go back to work, and I needed to take Mallory somewhere! So, who do I call? Poppy. Thank you God for Poppy. His retirement couldn't have come at a better time! He practically drove me to every appointment when I was expecting the twins, rescued me countless times when I had two screaming infants, and comes whenever called upon. Against my better judgement, I went to the hospital in Greensboro.  I am not going to slander the hospital or anything, but, let's just say that after our visit I immediately called the pediatrician, who recommended that we go to the orthopedic...yes...the same one that we just left last week to get Cameron's cast off. Yay.

Now, Mallory is likely the strongest, toughest, sweetest character that I have come into contact with. Her toe was practically hanging off and she was just sitting in her seat, smiling like nothing in the world happened. When we got to the orthopedic, She continued to speak to every person that she saw and entertain...poor thing...she didn't know what she was in for...

The doctor recommended that we stitch the little toe back together...since nothing had been done to it elsewhere. This meant that Mallory had to be swaddled to keep her arms in and we had to hold her legs down. It took two nurses, my dad, and the doctor for this. It was the most pitiful thing that I have witnessed in a long time. We sang, talked, and stroked but nothing helped. When it was over, we had an intact toe and a little pink boot.....

See.. my little ANGEL was all smiles all swaddled up. This was BEFORE the stitches.

 

The "new shoe"  

Mallory recovered immediately as soon as we picked her up. She is walking on the cast just fine and is her normal, sweet self. We are unsure if the nail will ever grow back but time will tell.  The bone is okay, and that is more than I could have hoped for when I first saw that poor little toe! We go back Monday just to give it a check....and while we are at it...let me say that the PA at Athens Orthopedic was wonderful...so compassionate. She even called today to check on my sweet girl and offered for me to call her at any time.

Faith and Cam are interested in Mallory's new shoe. They say, "Mallory shoe."  All I can say is, "Please God, do not let it be Faith's turn next."

PICS COMING SOON