Thursday, March 24, 2011

Beautiful weather.

Spring Break ended with the most beautiful weather we have seen in a long time. We all stayed outside alot and cooked on our new charcoal grill. Yaya and Daddo came over Saturday evening for a great steak dinner and we were all able to relax.
The first part of spring break the girls were able to go down to Grammy and Paps house and play with their cousin Kristen. They always enjoy those trips mainly because they are spoiled for a short time. Grammy took them to the children's museum for the first time and they also went on a Wal-mart shopping trip so Katharine could spend her gift card she had received for her birthday.
I missed them terribly but it is nice to have some peace and quiet for a few days.
The evening we dropped them off with Grammy, Steven and Iwere able to go downtown to eat dinner. Yum Yum. Before dinner we stopped in and saw Kate at LeBonheur. We wanted to bring them some food and presents for Lucy. She is now out of LeBonheur and being treated at St. Jude. We continue to pray nightly for this sweet family.
We are back into the swing of school this week. Samantha has an economics project due Friday that we have been working on. She has to come up with a company and provide and product or service to barder on Friday with her classmates. We decided to make supply cups to go on their desks at school. We painted and decorated empty canned goods for her project. This was fun to do together.
Another big weekend planned with a wedding of a friend and I am going to orientation at LeBonheur to become a volunteer.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Along time coming.










I started this journal a few years back after I saw one my friend, Kate, had created to share with her girls what their life was like as they grew up. I only posted a few times and life got in the way. Now Kate has been hit with a terrible hurdle in life and following her daily blog of her battle has inspired me to put down in words my life.




In the past two years since I have posted, my daughters have grown up tremendously. Samantha is an 8 year old busy girl with extra curricular activities almost daily. She is on a competitive dance team at her dance studio NVS and has competed in two regional dance competitions this month. She also is learning more tumbling to help further her cheerleading goals. This past fall was her third year cheering and she enjoys it tremendously. She is thriving in school but is more bored with the academics and loves the social aspect. I struggle with whether she should continue at her current school, Bailey Station Elementary, or send her to one of the private schools in town.




Katharine is a very spunky 5 year old who makes us laugh all the time. She has such a contagious personality that we can't help but love her. She wants to follow in her sister's footsteps, but would never admit it. She also dances and takes gymnastics. She also loves to perform for our church's childrens' choir. This year we have had the opportunity for her to attend Samantha's school as a typical child in a special needs preschool class. This has been great for her because she is such a little helper.




I started a new business last April and now own a dental practice of my own in Germantown. Seperating out on my own was the best thing professionally for myself. I love my staff and our new office. It was hard work but fun to plan the new office and move in. We have a great practice and have a good time at work.




Steven still works for Xpedx as a manager and works long hard hours. Often he leaves for work at 6am and we don't see him again until 6pm. These long hours are hard for him but having a good job in the current economy is hard to come by so we are so thankful he has one.








As I stated earlier, our friend Kate is going through a very tough time. Her 5 year old daughter, Lucy, was diagnosed 2 weeks ago with medulloblastoma, a type of brain cancer. She has been fighting for her life and has undergone multiple surgeries. For such a little girl, she has touched a community more than anyone could imagine. My girls do not remember her from when they were babies but they have been praying multiple times a day. It tear at my heart to hear of such a little child battling something that she cannot understand. God will use her in a way that we do not know and we must remain faithful that his hand will heal her. We pray that she will fight this battle and grow up to tell her children and grandchildren about the love and support from the community and how God worked to heal her.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

It has been along time since I have posted. It has been a typical holiday season with many wonderful parties, many visits with family, and way too much food. We have survived and are looking forward to a new year. We are not making any new resolutions, but we are tightening a few belts around here. The economy is a major part of the tightening. Our jobs are good, but we still fear what could happen. You never know when one of our incomes could change drastically. The other belt we are hoping to tighten is our real belts. I have been lazy in my fitness routine lately and very unconcerned with my eating habits. Together that equals clothes that don't fit anymore. I have never let myself get this out of control and I need to make some changes.



We had to attend several performances for the girls. Samantha was in the children's choir plum pudding festival. She was asked to perform Silent night in German with 4 other girls. She practiced every night for her performance and did a really good job. Katharine was in her preschool's Christmas performance also. She did a good job with all the motions and had a great time.


The girls loved Christmas. We had a special party for Samantha and Katharine and their friends the week of Christmas. Katharine was very concerned about whose birthday is was since we were having a party. Samantha reminded her, and myself, that we are celebrating Jesus's birthday. Wow, sometimes they understand better than we do. They don't forget about Santa, but they understand the true meaning too. Well, we had to sing Happy Birthday Jesus at the party. It was really cute.


They also enjoyed seeing Santa more than a few times. At first, Katharine cried when we got close to him, but by the last time we saw him, she would walk up and talk to him but would not get in his lap. Samantha decided this year to whisper what she wanted in Santa's ear. She also did not write her letter to Santa until the week before Christmas. Needless to say, I was trying to figure out what she wanted with little help from her.



The main items they wanted from Santa this year were


Katharine: a baby Ariel doll (waterbaby we found online), Princess Aurora doll and horse, and a stroller for her dolls (as if we don't have 3 already).



Samantha: a Samantha american girl doll, a monkey in a swing doll, a Nintendo Wii (well I wanted it also).



they received everything they wanted and them some more, lots more!!!!!

We had a great visit the weekend before Christmas in Jackson with Steven's family and then my sister and her family came to our house with my parents for Christmas day. We had a great time with everyone.





We winded down the season with a low key party at some friends on New Years Eve. It was nice to relax with friends.

I hope to see more great times to come this next year.

Monday, October 27, 2008

big weekend


We had fun filled days this past weekend. Steven's parents grammy and paps came to visit and we took the girls to a pumpkin patch to pick out our family pumpkins. We always have to have 4 pumpkins to make our family. The girls had fun choosing just the right ones. We were glad grammy and paps could experience the fun since they don't get to see the little things going on in the girls lives.
On Sunday, grammy and paps went back to Jackson, MS. We had two fun things planned for that day. First was Samantha's Cheer Celebration. At the end of the football season, the 7 cheerleading squads get together and perform a routine of cheering, formations, and dance. This was Samantha's first year so she said she was a little excited and nervous. The girls had a great time and it brought back alot of memories for me.



We then went to our church for our Fall Festival. It is always alot of fun for the kids. They had inflatable obstacle courses, cake walk, face painting, pumpkin decorating, and much more. We got tired quickly and called it a day.

This time of year seems to bring many activities in one time frame. It is fun and I love seeing the kids all dressed up.
Samantha has two Halloween costumes, Princess Ariel and Titan cheerleader. Katharine is a funny witch, so she says.

Monday, September 29, 2008


We are getting back into the swing of things after our wonderful week at DisneyWorld. The girls had a blast. Katharine was in love with everything, except scary rides and loud noises. She loved the princesses, Mickey and friends, and the mild rides. Samantha loved everything. Her favorite ride was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and least favorite this time was Splash Mountain. She enjoyed the parades, water rides, and all the characters. I am afraid this is her last trip to really enjoy the imagination part of Disney.

Steven's parents took all of us including Steven's sister, brother-in-law, and niece. Going with a group you get to see things different than when traveling just a few of us. The guys seperated from us 2 days and played golf. They got a nice break while we kept the girls entertained.

We also visited Sea World one day. It was nice and the animals were incredible. The shamu show was neat.

We are hoping to visit Disney again in a few years and possibly do the land and sea combo with a cruise. Until then we will just watch the videos to remember the fun we had on this trip.

Friday, September 19, 2008

We leave in 12 hours. I am finishing up the last packing after dealing with a terrible illness today. I have been running a fever for over 24 hours and am feeling a little better. I just hope noone else gets sick while at Disney. Samantha had strep this week so she is on antibiotics too. I better run and get some sleep before we leave. See you when we get back.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008



Well, we are in the final packing stages for Disney 2008. We leave in 5 days and are so excited. Here are a few pictures from last year to get us in the mood.