Over the weekend!

The past few weeks have been full of studying in this house between Josh & Logan ~ so this weekend, we decided to have lots of fun & have a spontaneous cookout. Auntie Carol even showed up which really got the party started! Josh has been studying, taking a few classes & had testing for his ACI certification which is like becoming an engineer of concrete. We are awaiting the test results in the mail, so I'm hoping we get that soon & that he passed! Logan has had all sorts of tests lately, learning where all of the states are on the map of the USA, new math problems & his weekly vocabulary test.
But first, Kenlee looked really cute in her new outfit & was happy to pose for her Mommy, so take a little peak at Miss Fashionista.

 Let the party begin!!!!

 Need I say more?
Here is Michael & Josh below ~ my face hurt from laughing so much at them.

 This is Josh & Gary....

 Thankful my boy chooses Capri Sun below :) Maybe it will always be that way & that would be just fine to his Momma!
We had a mini bonfire & grilled chicken & pork chops...some of Logan's favorites.

A good night was had by all.
Glad to spend time with some fun friends!
Hope your week is a good one!

Seeing Uncle Johnny & getting Nana!

Yesterday we travelled to Montgomery to meet my brother & our Mom so that I could pick her up & bring her home since my Dad is on business until today in California & she has been staying with my sister during her recovery. We met @ Steak N Shake in Prattville because it's our favorite. I can't tell you how many times growing up we ate at Steak N Shake in Kokomo, IN going to my Grandparents house & they have the skinniest little fries & the best chili! Nana loves their burgers & insists on extra mustard & pickles everytime. I think it's a Brown family tradition because we all love burgers with pickles & mustard. Instant HEARTBURN & gets your grease level up, but hey, how often do we get to go there?
It's always a treat to see Uncle Johnny & spend time with him .... so Nana & I had to take a few pictures.
They always give kids a hat to wear, so Kenlee had to try hers on to see how stylish it was.

 I didn't have our camera, just my phone, but Kenlee always loves her Uncle Johnny ~ she was happy to pose with him here.

 This picture cracks me up. Kenlee is posing like Popeye, I look like I am in pain somewhere in my body due to the sun (also the fact I look pregnant & I AM NOT!!!!!), and my brother is looking like he has caught you in a lie & is trying not to call you out on it! HA!

 We got there a little before those two, so we stopped at the super nice TJ Maxx there & Kenlee found a steal on these little sandals, and you know the girl always needs some more shoes.

 We picked Biggy up from school on our way to Nana's so he wouldn't have to be home alone until his Dad got home from work & he was happy to be checked out....can you tell?!?

Jill is getting better, Mom is home now & happily awaits my Dad coming home today, and it's FRIDAY!!!
Life is good! Happy Weekend to you!

45 Minutes with Christy Farr ~

So I will never forget....
I received the blessing of working on this beautiful lady, Christy Farr, just two short weeks ago in the Palliative Care Unit @ UAB. On Valentine's Day, she lost her battle of Melanoma which had actually gone into remission for 5 years & then came back a beast. I didn't know her, I just know that 45 minutes with her made me grateful to get to massage her in such a fragile state & she even was able to say "Thank you for doing this" ~ but in all honesty, I just wanted to thank her for letting me be there with her.
43 years old, no husband, no children, loved by many people, a wonderful Aunt & a powerful lady- inside & outside, appreciated arts, and was beautiful even dying.
~Invest time with people you TRUELY care about, don't judge others especially when you think you are a better Christian than they are, enjoy your family, laugh with your true friends, help others in need, these are all things I pondered on as I drove away that day to work & she really made me a better massage therapist.

Thankful!!

My sister did just fine!! YAY! Thank you for praying with me, if you did so! My Mom is there with her & cooking up a storm, so she will get good nutrients & recover quickly! I am so happy & thankful that all went well. She already said she is thinking she will be REALLY glad she did this ~ and her blood level was up before she went home which is a HUGE praise!!!
I can breathe again. :)

This past weekend was the most beautiful weather & made me even more thankful. We spent a wonderful long day @ Oak Mountain & I CANNOT wait to go back again! We will camp there soon & I am excited about that. I took a lot of pictures. Josh's Dad & his sister & her family joined us & we grilled out & fed ducks, fished & Logan even got to ride his bike that JuJu got him. It was a great family day! And what better way than to show you in pictures!?

 Kenlee & cousin Katie (1 of 2!!) feeding geese!

 Biggy LOVED riding his bike around there! It was just perfect!

 Kenlee getting a little sleepy stare after a REALLY fun & exciting day!
These next pic's are my FAVORITES!!! I love seeing these two fishing together!

Below is PawPaw, Katie & Kenlee after grilling out!
Katie just turned 18 so we celebrated with a cake!

 Eddie, Chad & Katie winding down after a fun day!

 She was all smiles, all day. I loved it!
Here are our two playing football with Josh's Dad ~

 Biggy getting sleepy after a long fun day.
Can you imagine how quickly this one fell asleep on the way home?

Can't wait to go back soon!

Hysterectomy Eve & some Rubberbands!

Today is the last day my sister will have her parts! I'm sure she loves to know I'm saying it on my blog, but I want you to join me in praying for a safe & successful surgery!! I'm praying she feels SOOOO much better after this & that she won't be anemic anymore! So, please join me! I will give you an update on her over the weekend! I only have 1 ovary & tube, so I half way know how she feels :) ~ but I love her more than air and chocolate & want her to feel GREAT after this journey.
Here she is with my Dad ~ he was about to carve a turkey here, I figured I would clarify that! HA!
I love you, MY SISTA!!

On a much lighter note, Logan had a choir concert the other night @ the Middle School & it was really neat! I forgot my Canon, so I used my phone & it's just not the same.  He is sitting to the left of the blue jacket slurrrr. Can you see his sweet little face?

 Here he is with Timberly. They like to aggravate each other always & they are so cute if you ask me!
She & Logan ride the bus home together & he loves to get on her nerves and vice versa! (if you know what I mean!!!)

 Here is little sister happy as can be watching all of the older kids. I brought snacks & she was so content watching all of the older kids & eating :)

 Yesterday before Biggy's 6 week orthodontist check up, we went by Arby's ~ Kenlee calls a Jr. Roast beef a "roast beef that gots ham" - I don't know why she calls them that, but I love that she will eat that sandwich good. Better than chicken all the time, right?
They were really good together so I had to document! She didn't pester him at all & I loved it!

 Here is Biggy with rubberbands!! I thought he would be sore this morning, but he said it was better than he thought & wasn't as bad as when he first got braces last May, so YAY!

He got green in honor of St. Patrick's Day coming up! I wonder, is Hudspeth Irish?
I'll have to investigate, I'm not good with history & it would be neat to know.

Have a great Thursday!!

Valentine's 2011

 Happy Valentine's Day 2011! Above are some gluten free cupcakes we created (well, half of them are gluten free :) ) for Kenlee's Class! They were a hit I think!
Sunday after getting them from Nana & Papa, we swung by Starbucks as a pre-Valentine goodie. I better keep this a once a quarter thing because I don't want them to start expecting it! HA!

 Kenlee's been drawing her name by herself & I am so proud of our girl! Here is a Valentine heart she made that I just love! ~

 We got them practical Valentine gifts this year...Biggy NEEDED new shoes, however, Kenlee didn't, but it's just easier to get them something that they will use & something alike....and they both loved them. Unexpected & loved, that made me happy! Look how much bigger Biggy's shoes are! I remember when his were that small. :)

 Happy little love's....they are our favorite part of Valentine's day because they define love for us!

 And here they are on their way to school this morning....Biggy took his teacher some beautiful purple flowers & Kenlee was pretending to talk on an old phone of Nana's that she accidentally dialed 911 on yesterday & the actual operator picked up the call & asked if it was an emergency. Needless to say, I apologized & told Kenlee not to dial the #9 or the green call button. So far she has listened to me :)

Happy, Happy Valentine's Day!

Starbucks for Little's....

We have a nondairy eating girl. Reason being is when she eats anything with milk or cheese, she scratches her legs her stomach until they would bleed & gets splotchy ~ plus starts in with congestion. It took us a LONG time to figure out what was going on because while she was on Mommy's milk for the first year, this never happened. Then when I switched to whole milk, she started this. After SEVERAL trips to the pediatrician, we were going to the chiropractor I work with for an adjustment, and she said "is she drinking milk now?" She told me to eliminate milk & that would go away...well. That's exactly what happened. Her pediatrician would write us a new prescription every time we went & I would always say "yes" when he asked if she was drinking at least this many ounces of milk a day. (Bad, I know, but I had to keep doing what was working, plus I give her Standard Process products which are whole foods in the form of a little capsule & they are chewable with calcium lactate & calcium stearate). I think most people thought I was crazy  ~  so I have been giving her lots of foods all along with calcium, raw broccoli, boiled egg whites, etc.
Would you believe this has worked? Milk produces mucous in your system, which is such a factor in congestion. I remember when my sweet boy was younger, his pictures always consisted of little puffy allergy eyes & I believe had we known what we know now, croup & congestion wouldn't have been such a big part of his small childhood. And getting adjusted, our little's don't have ear infections. I'm so thankful for this because if I hadn't gone to massage therapy school & hooked up with Dr. Jessica, who knows where we would be with this. I think the Dr. would DEFINITELY think I am a nut job.

Sorry ~ I can't make a long story short!
So we drove through Starbucks yesterday because I fix their Breakfast Blend @ home every morning. If you buy it @ Publix, it's almost $9, but you can get it @ Target for $6.89! So when I finish a bag, you can go there & turn it in & they will fix you a free tall coffee!
Well, Kenlee doesn't drink coffee :) & she was requesting hot chocolate ~ but you know what's in it. MILK!
So we asked if they had any hot drinks that are non dairy! They DO! A CARMEL APPLE SPICE! It's just steamed apple juice & they squirt carmel all around on the inside of the cup. Biggy didn't love it ~ he's more of a burger & fries type of treat guy - ha! But, Miss Thing sure did!!!

A little Biggy flurry!

After putting Kenlee to bed, Logan & I went outside & had to enjoy our big snow! (She kept asking if Santa was coming tonight!) We were hoping it would be enough to make a snowball this morning, but it's just pretty, not really useful :)
I'm so happy Biggy got to enjoy some snow last night!!

 BIG FLAKES!!

Trying to taste some flakes!

So happy our boy got to play a while in our big snow! He was happy before bed!

A little artwork.

Kenlee didn't do it. She said her sister did. :) But she doesn't have a sister.

Josh said "we'll I guess she's ready to have her room painted." So I think I will section a framed piece on her wall for chalkboard paint so she can create. This girl is ready to make some masterpieces.
Logan asked if he ever did anything like that, I told him he was a great toddler, no haircuts on his own, no artwork on the walls. He just smiled & said "Glad I was good."

A baby party!

We had a baby shower to go to this weekend...I had forgotten all of the goodies required for a baby! My dear friend, Cheryl & her little love, Allie, loaded up with us to our good friend, Brienne's, baby shower for her baby boy #2, Caden. She already has a CUTENESS of a boy, Carter, that is so cute there are just no words.

I kept saying "we are going to Mrs. Brienne's baby shower" and Kenlee kept asking questions & looking at me like "why on earth does she give her baby a shower?" ~ so I changed the word to PARTY! And she kept saying she wanted to hold the baby, so then that rolled into, the baby is still in Mrs. Brienne's tummy - oh the list could go on & on!

Cheryl took some really cute pictures & I wanted to share a few!
Allie, Kenlee & Carter. They all make me melt!

 I had the same problemo with these pictures as I did with my neice's from her dance! I can't get these bottom 3 larger because they came in a slide show ~ Oh No!

 Kenlee & Carter ~ they had fun together! He was SOOO precious helping his Mommy throw away the trash from her gifts & he is going to be a sweet big brother!

 Here's the 3 Mom's! It's probably a good thing that this one is small because I look a little homely in this one. Or homeless might be a better word. But the other two look fab!~ Heck, I don't even care, I was having a good time!

Look at these two loves! Isn't it funny how little's can sit & be comfortable? I think if I sat like this, it would require surgery to get me undone. :)

I loved being with friends & having a good time! Thanks gals, it was so good to be with you!!
The boys stayed & played lots of basketball & had some male bonding time & then we girls came home to the Superbowl. I did not love the half time show & that's all I really cared to watch!
Have a good week! More posts coming soon!

A Dance & some Bowling!

Friday night my lovie of a neice, Myrtle (I mean Katie) went to a school dance & she glammed it up. Clinique makeup, new dress, a night full of boogy-ing. I'm so excited because I love to dance so much & used to LOVE being with a bunch of girls dancing at a school dance!!! Here is how beautiful my little Myrtle looked....

 Jill sent me 41 pictures ~ however they are in a slideshow & when I stop at a picture I want to download, it won't let me. I don't know how to single out some of them, other than her sending just a couple at a time!?
I want more, Lovie! Send them on!

Josh & the kids called me & came to my office yesterday when I was through working & told me we were going to do something fun! BOWLING!!!
It was so much fun!

 Kenlee cheered for everyone, especially herself!

 Biggy was REALLY good! I haven't seen his bowling skillz (that's how he would prefer to spell it) in action in a few years & I think he's ready to turn pro!

 Our scores don't show how good we are :) HA!

 We would give a little "umph" to Kenlee's when she started rolling it because one time it went so slow, it stopped half way down the lane :) She still cheered! It was a great family afternoon. ~ It's just not often we don't have something going on & can go just be together, so it was nice to do that!

Then I boogied all night long in our living room to Faith Hill & The Pretenders LIVE on CMT & LOVED the music. Kenlee did puzzles & would stop & dance with me a minute, then go back to playing & the boys just played a little Wii. It just doesn't get much better for me music wise, than The Pretenders & Faith Hill!
Mimi boogied down, Myrtle!
Hope your weekend has been a fun one!