Happy Anniversary to Us

Nine years ago today something wonderful happened to me...I became a wife! On May 27, 2000 Donovan and I pledged to love and honor each other til death do us part. We, like so many before us, were young and in love and looking towards our future as man and wife. We said our vows, celebrated with our friends and families, and went off to make our own way in this world. It's been a bumpy road along the way, full of ups, downs, and blind curves. At times it seems like it was just yesterday that I was a fresh-faced high school graduate who fell head over heels for the older, exciting guy.....then there are days when it feels like it all happened eons ago! I can't imagine walking through life with any other person and I thank God for putting him in my path. We started out as just us two and in a mere 9 years we have been gifted with 3 amazing sons to share our lives with. I can't wait to see what our future holds for us now..


The way we were......so young and in love :-P

May 27, 2000......ready to start our lives together!

9 years later....not so young anymore but still very much in love!

The better parts of both of us....our amazing boys!

Our family on the steps where it all started.....Easter 2009

Business as Usual.....

I hope everyone had a happy and safe Memorial weekend! We stuck close to home this year but had a good time doing it! Donovan and the kids got some fishing time in, I actually got to spend a girls day out with Alice and Joy, and we had another fantastic meal at Alice's on Sunday....(Way to go on the ribs Uncle Brian!! :-) Now it's back to business as usual for us....another busy week! School will be out in 2 more days, tomorrow is our Anniversary, Nicholas is about to get 2 more teeth (which I hope will happen tomorrow..I need sleep!), Ian is about to lose another tooth, and I'm throwing a baby shower for my best friend on Saturday! No wonder time seems to fly by so quickly these days. In the midst of it all, I'm just really hoping for some much needed shuteye. I leave you with a wish for a great week and a quick pic!

9 Months Already??

I can't believe how fast time has flown by since he first came into our lives. Nicholas is 9 months old today! He is such a good baby...always happy and has a smile that can light up a room. When he smiles, he smiles all over as his Poppy would say. His big brothers still think that he is the greatest thing ever and they can't get enough of holding him, kissing him, or just spending time playing and laughing with him. I think the feeling is mutual though...Nicky really looks for his "bubs" to come home from school and gets a real kick out of their crazy antics. He is crawling around and getting into everything he can, sitting up on his own, and really starting to babble to us. He has really found his voice lately and every day is experimenting with new screeches, squeals, and other crazy noises. Sometimes I think I have a little piggy...other times it just might be a spider monkey! haha He still isn't sleeping through the night much to my despair, but hopefully after he cuts his upper teeth he will settle down and let his Mommy get some much needed rest. (2 hours a night just isn't cutting it for this Momma!) It's hard for me to watch all these new milestones that he is reaching. He is my last baby and I don't want him to grow up too quick on me, although I know it's inevitable. I just cherish each day and moment that I get to spend with my little guy and can't wait to see what he might do next. He is truly a blessing to our family and we all love him so very much. Here are a few recent pictures of our little man and that wonderful smile that makes us all so very grateful to have him in our lives.

Trevor still loves to hug and kiss on Nicky...although I'm not too sure that Nicky likes it all of the time :-)
I can just see this happening more and more in the future....all 3 boys piling into bed to wake up Daddy :-P

Okay, so he WILL sleep if I let him stay in my bed.....
One cool little guy....Ian took this pic and just loves it!
This cracked me up....Ian's new favorite thing to do is watch a movie on our portable DVD player....i think Nicky likes it too!
My sweet little baby boy
He LOVES his saucer and loves to bounce and jump in it...he can really make some racket with this thing and has a permanent smile just like this one on the whole time he's in it!

Such a good baby no matter where we go.....
He really wanted to crawl into his saucer...he finally made it yesterday!
I leave you with the big grin that we all are gifted with....he really does smile all over!

This Little Piggie....

....went home with Zac!! LOL This past weekend we celebrated my brother's 30th birthday! Wow!! I, of course, had to tease him about turning 30 and then it hit me that I'm really not that far behind him! We all headed to Mom and Craig's house on Saturday for a good ole' cajun boil. Now for those of you who haven't ever had the opportunity to experience a boil, it basically consists of throwing some good veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, carrots, and onions in with whatever meat you desire! They chose to do sausages and shrimp along with a whole gob of spicy cajun seasonings....boil the whole pot together and spread it all out on a big long table...grab a fork and dig in! It was soooo good! Even my picky eaters "pigged out".
Now, on to the part about the pig. My mother, being the animal collector that she is, just could not pass up it up when she was offered a free (yes, FREE) pot-bellied piglet. Just 4 weeks old and extremely scared of people to boot! Well, after a rousing game of "catch the wild piglet" around a quiet Monett neighborhood (which led to an eventual tumble down a hill for my poor mother), she decided that just because it is free doesn't always mean you're getting a good deal! Within 24 hours she was trying to find a new home for "George" the pig. Luckily for her, George found a home.....with Zac! I gracefully bowed out when asked if George could come live with me (I have enough little piglets on my hands at this point) and Zac & Stephanie stepped up and decided they would give it a go....for now. We all got a big kick out of watching them try to wrangle a harness onto that poor little pig and then they took him for a little walk about the place on his very own leash! The kids will be the first to tell you that that little bitty pig can sure make a LOT of noise! hahaha I wasn't able to take many pictures on Saturday as I was suffering from a horrendous case of allergies...put a little pollen in the air and mix it with animal dander and you have one sneezing, sniffling, asthma attack waiting to happen with me. But, here are a few that I did happen to catch.

George the pig finally made his debut (the kids could not wait any longer to meet him) but he sure wasn't very happy about being seen!
They all wanted to hold him and pet him so badly...George had his own idea about that though.....
Notice Trevor's fingers in his ears....that little pig sure put up a fuss! Zac was trying (not too successfully) to put a harness on that thing...boy he can squeal loudly!
The kids all had a great time just playing in the sand plot
The big hit was Mom and Craig's new toy...a '72 MG Midget! I have to say that I sooooo want one of these! Such a cool little ride...we all took turns having GrandDad take us for a spin! All I can say is 20mph feels like 70 in this thing....it doesn't even come up to my hip and we all know I'm vertically challenged at a mear 5ft!
I did, of course, lend a hand on desserts and made some cakes for Craig (it was also his 50th birthday) and Zac. This 8 ball is about 7in tall and about 6in diameter. All the kids wanted to eat a piece of the big ball cake!
Zac got the "lady" cake. What guy doesn't want a girl in a bikini on his birthday? Instead of having one jump out of a cake....we just gave him the edible kind! haha Needless to say, this one was a hit with all the "big" boys. haha

Mother's Day started with a Bang....literally

Last weekend marked another chaotic Mother's Day for us. On Friday, 90+mph winds ripped through Carthage just as school was fixing to start and left quite a few of us without power and huge messes to clean up. Trees were either ripped out of the ground or broken like toothpicks, power lines were down, houses, cars, and other structures suffered different types of damage. We were lucky though, no tornados this year unlike last year. We were without power for 2 days but luckily had the generator to plug our deep freeze and fridge in to. We found shingles and limbs in our yard that weren't even from our house!! It was quite a storm, hit suddenly, and rattled our nerves for sure. In a span of 2 weeks I have had my heater, attic fan, and AC all on at one point or another......gotta love our wacky weather in good ole' Missouri.
We celebrated Mother's Day this year by spending time with the family at Alice's house. This past weekend also marked Alice's birthday (I better not tell you the exact age though...she might scalp me for it!) So, I had to make her a special birthday cake! Since she won a new golf bag at a tournament, i really wanted to make her the golf bag cake...so I did! Now, you can't play golf without a golf ball...right? So, I made her a big pink golf ball too..complete with Nike swoosh! We had a great time after dinner whacking golf balls outside, although I'm still trying to convince Trevor that he can't hit a golf ball like it's a baseball! All in all we had a great Mother's Day and as always enjoyed our time together. Here are a few pictures from our weekend!
With no power at home, I had to decorate cakes at Nanny's house...it proved to be too much excitement for Nicky so he decided his time was better spent taking a nap. Luckily for him, Bugsy stood guard while he slept!
Auntie Alice really liked her pink golfing gear!
Nanny started off the lighting of all those candles....
Then Ian and Levi decided they should relieve her and took it over....
Boy, the top of that cake got hot!! So hot it literally melted the icing! hehehe
She almost got them all in one big blow!
Nicholas and Levi had some "guy" talk on the floor
One really crazy thing about the storm we had was that everything was plastered in pieces of grass and new leaves....they were stuck so tight onto everything that it was like trying to scratch a sticker off something. Donovan says they were "vacuum sealed" onto everything.....wow, we had some crazy wind that morning!
This is just one of the trees that we lost that morning...I really liked that one too!! It always had the best colors to it in the fall :-( Thankfully none of our big, old trees came crashing down...that would have been a complete and total disaster if they had!
We could hear these limbs hitting the house as we headed to the basement...there were 3 this size that smacked into the house....dented the gutters and ripped a few pieces of trim off too. It wasn't a tornado...but it was close enough for me!