"I Do"

My oldest baby is getting married.

I received the phone call last night that she just got engaged. She's very excited and I wish her all the happiness in the world.

As a mom you can't help but to be skeptical and try to encourage a life changing decision such as this to be put off until one is at least 30 years of age. I feel like only then do you even begin to start to realize who you are as a person and have the ability to know what it is in life that you really want. But that is just my opinion and although I think I know what is best for my children, I probably don't always.

So I am going to share in her excitement and hope to be as much a part of this time in her life as she will allow.

I love you Ashley and excited to have Ben as a member of our family.

Happy Birthday Aimee!!!

Aimee turns 14 tomorrow! Wow, the kids just grow up way too fast.

Aimee is living with her dad this year in Salt Lake. She's doing very well in school, spends a lot of time with her Grandma helping her and of course still loves boys. Aimee is very outgoing and has no problem making friends. Unfortunately, she makes more "boy" friends than girls.

She's an awesome young lady and I love her dearly!

Happy Birthday Aimee!

FALL

I love this time of year. Change of the leaves, the little chill to the air, football games on the weekends, building fires on the beach at the lake and Halloween! I love Thanksgiving and Christmas too but I love Halloween!

The kids are looking forward to trick or treating. Andrew thinks if he rides his skateboard he can cover more ground than the average person. His goal, of course, is to get as much candy as he possible can. Isn't that like most kids, though? I remember as a kid, I could have trick or treated all night. Unfortunately, we lived in a small neighborhood and had to drive to other neighborhoods to trick or treat.

We have been enjoying watching the Dawgs play each Saturday and have been making it an event at our house. We get a little crazy. Last weekend Scott, Max, Allie and I were sitting in the family room watching the game, screaming and hollering and even doing the wave. (over and over again) LAME!!! But we were having fun. Sometimes I think my family would make really good reality TV.

Scott and I just recently went to see the Falcons play the Chicago Bears. That was the best game ever!!!! The excitement at that game was unreal. For those of you who do not know, the Bears scored with 41 seconds left in the game putting them ahead. A lot of people at that point, got up and left. Luckily we stayed. We got the ball back and with 11 seconds ran the ball half way down the field. With 1 second left, kicked a 48 yard field goal - giving us the win!!!! Very exciting.

Happy Halloween!

Funny! SNL skit - Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton

Happy Birthday Mitch!

Mitch turns 13 tomorrow on the 28th! WOW another teenager in the family! I can't believe how fast the kids grow up. Before long Scott and I are going to be celebrating grandkids birthdays! ARGHHHH...... I don't know about that. No, as much as I love babies I'm sure it will be wonderful!
Anyway, we celebrated Mitch's birthday last Saturday. He got a pocket rocket and spent the day riding it around the neighborhood. The rest of us spent the day out on the drive way watching him. It's really funny to watch because it is so small. Even though it's small, it's pretty fast.

Happy 13th Birthday, Mitch!

Happy Birthday to my Superman!

My husband turned 44 on the 16th of August.
I decorated the kitchen in Superman decor because he is my Superman and super hero. I love him dearly and thank God every day for bringing him into my life. We truly are a match made in heaven. He is my best friend and spending time with him and my family is what I love and enjoy the most in life.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Aimee's new haircut

Aimee got her haircut tonight. She wanted a different look so we cut at least six inches off her head. I think it looks really cute; but I'm posting this blog so my mom can see her new haircut.
Honestly, I think she could wear any type of hair style or have any hair color and she would still look cute.

July 4th

We had a great 4th of July. Aimee came in the night before. We are sure enjoying her being home. She's a delight to have around. To celebrate the 4th, we went to the festivities in Lawrenceville. We took our chairs, blankets and a picnic dinner and sat down right in front of the band. The band played for about three hours prior to the firework display. Scott and I really enjoyed the band......the kids could have done without it. There is an older gentleman that dresses up like a country bumpkin and dances the whole time. He's hired to get other people to get up and dance. Aimee is dancing with him in the picture below. He acts and looks like he's quite old but there is no way he could dance for three hours and be as old as he is made up to look.
I don't know if we will go back again next year since the kids didn't like the band. If Scott and I find ourselves alone then we just may return since we really liked it.

NASCAR

Let's go back a few months because I failed to post Allie's birthday. Allie turned 16 on April 27th and because we as a family love us some NASCAR, we went to Talladega. In March we went to AMS and enjoyed it so much, Allie wanted to go to Talladega for her birthday. We had a great time. We each have our own driver that we cheer for. Allie's man is number 9 Kasey Kahne. I like Jr., Scott roots for Ryan Newman and I believe Max roots for Carl Edwards. We all dislike (very much) Tony Stewart. He's such a bad sport. But it looks, right now, like Kyle Bush is the one to be betting on if you had to put some money down.

The NASCAR race is a fun family outing for us. Can't wait for Atlanta in October!!!!

Battalion Chief

Congratulations to my wonderful husband! He was promoted today to Battalion Chief! He certainly deserves it. I know he will do a fantastic job. I am so very proud of him and so very thankful he is my husband! He means the world to me and I love him dearly!

Playmate

About a year ago I went to a company party at my boss's lake house. There he had his two labs that played together so well and it was fun watching them. Since then I have been thinking about getting Bailey a playmate.

So this past weekend, we did just that. His name is Jake and he is a Golden mix. He's a few months younger than Bailey and so far seems to be a really good dog.

Right now that aren't having a lot to do with each other. They don't fight or bark at each other, they just ignore one another. With the exception that Bailey constantly feels the need to kiss Jake. She'll run around in the yard, stop and kiss him, and then go about her business. It's funny. I don't know if he likes it or not but he takes it. Jake is a lot calmer than Bailey. He could definitely be an inside dog (and actually was with his former owner) if it didn't defeat the whole purpose of getting him in the first place. Bailey is far too playful and rambunctious to come inside.

When we first got Jake, he was scared and shy so he really didn't play, he just stood around the yard and watched as Bailey showed off her retrieving and catching skills. By the end of the day he started to come around and began chasing after the ball with Bailey but he would always let Bailey get it. So, Bailey was thinking she was pretty hot stuff. Then yesterday, Allie was throwing the ball to both of them and Jake felt comfortable enough with his surroundings to get the ball before Bailey every time. Well that didn't sit too well with Bailey so, like a girl, stopped turned around and went to the garage, laid down, and pouted. It was too funny!!! It took some coaxing to get her back out to play. Her pride had been hurt.

Hopefully, this was a good move and the two will become great buddies.

It's about time!

Okay, a lot has happened since my last blog in October. I guess I was hoping if I stopped in October so would time and it would prevent May of 2008 from arriving.

Obviously that did not happen and I have just about come to the end of my rope and can fight no longer. I will turn 40 in just about a month whether I like it or not; therefore, I will commence blogging and admit defeat.

First of all, Addie turned 10 years old in January. Happy VERY Belated Birthday! Scott took her on a date. They went to California Dreaming for dinner and then I took her shopping. Here are a few pictures.

Max had a birthday in January as well. He turned the big 16!!! Max got a jeep a few years ago that he drives. He will also start looking for a job here pretty soon.

Next came Easter! The Easter bunny brought fun little baskets to all including Scott. As a matter of fact, Scott said this was the very first time the Easter bunny has ever left him a basket. I think the only time he ran away from home as a child was because the Easter bunny did not come to his house and he was out trying to find that little rodent!

On the afternoon of Easter Sunday, we went to mom and dad's for dinner. Typically we have an Easter egg hunt but this year my dad put together a version of Deal or No Deal for the kids. They loved it! My dad is very creative when it comes to putting together games. We always look forward to finding out what he has in store next.

Okay, now Spring Break. We went to Panama City Beach for the week and had a great time. We played on the beach or in the pool each day and then tried different places for dinner each night. Here are a few pictures from our trip. We have many and a lot of video but I won't post them all.