29th Birthday

Today I celebrated my 29th birthday, and my kids gave me a wonderful birthday present. All three of them decided they would be so sweet and take a nap at the same time today, which allowed me to get my kitchen cleaned AND all of the laundry ironed during their nap time.
Don't be jealous of my exciting birthday.  ;)


I did get an awesome camera bag that I've been wanting (thank you bradsdeals.com, oh, and eric!), and it was decorated perfectly by Jackson & Ansley.

I especially love their turtles, and the smiley face with lots of blush. :)

Jackson was so excited for me to open my present!

My mom did fix supper and had a delicious cake that was enjoyed by me, her & dad, Eric, the kids, Jessica, and some of my sweet cousins.





Jackson & Ansley helping me blow out my "candles." (Good thing we have a great imagination!)

Like all of my other years, I have been so blessed this past year, and thank God daily for my many blessings that I am not worthy of.

Now, time to enjoy my last year in my 20's!

Tweetsie

One of my best friends, Becky, had some tickets to Tweetise Railroad and asked if the kids and I wanted to join her and her kids yesterday. Of course we said, "Yes!" and the kids had a great time!





This was Elsie's first trip to Tweetise, and Jackson and Ansley have only been a few times. Like all kids though, they enjoyed it so much. What seems like just a few short years ago, most of my late spring, summer and early fall days were spent at Tweetise Railroad clogging with some wonderful and hilarious girls. That was seriously one of those jobs that you don't consider a job. We had to clog 5 shows a day, which was great exercise, but in between the shows we would hang out, ride some rides, talk and play with adorable children, and laughed and joked around with each other all day long.



This was on my 18th birthday when Becky, Tanya, & Kim gave me "presents" at every show, brought out these trophies, and claimed that I was some National Champion Clogger! Never a dull moment with these girls!



Isn't it crazy to think of how our Tweetise days went from this:

to this:



in just a few short years! :)

What an awesome job that was, and it didn't hurt that not only did I make some great friends with the other cloggers, but there were so many other great people that worked there running the rides, working grounds, the can-can girls, the cowboys, and my favorite, the Indians!



Chief Blue Feather, aka Eric!
(Yes, Eric and I met while being an Indian and clogger while working at TRR.)



Elsie's Walking!

Elsie is finally walking! She started taking a step here and there about a month ago, but she just wasn't brave enough to take off on her own.  She would cruise all around the house holding onto the furniture or the walls, but as soon as she would run out of wall she would take one (or zero) steps, drop and start crawling! I had asked the doctor at her 12 month appointment if it was okay she wasn't walking yet, because I wasn't use to my kids not walking at a year.(Jackson started walking before he was 11 months, and Ansley was at 11 months.) He said the average age is 14 months, and that his child was 18 months old before they took their first step, so I knew I had nothing to be worried about. Then last week on her 13 month birthday, she took 4 steps at a time, without realizing that she wasn't holding on to anyone or anything. She still was only taking steps here and there since then, until last night when she just decided to take off. I just love those first baby steps when they are all wobbly, shaky and arms waving all in the air. Precious!

Nala

Seven years ago today, eric and I got our first "baby." Well, she was our baby at the time, but then she kind of got pushed over to the side a bit when we had our real babies.

In 2003 I gave eric a boxer, Coy, for his birthday present. Those of you that can remember Coy will remember that he was very energetic, loved cool whip containers, and wasn't a very smart dog. :) But, eric loved him dearly and they went everywhere together. While eric was packing up and moving out of his rental place to our first (& tiny) home that we bought, a horrible accident occurred and Coy passed away. We both loved that dog (especially eric) and knew that we wanted another animal for our home.  So, on August 11th, 2004, I was beginning my first year of teaching and was working out at the school. It was a teacher workday and a parent of some students that go to the school I taught at brought in a box of puppies, and of course I was the sucker that ended up taking one of those dogs home. That puppy, Nala, went everywhere with us, became a member of our Christmas cards, slept in our bedroom, and was our "baby."

Little Bitty Nala

Nala and I getting ready for bed!

Sometimes daddy would come home from work to find us snuggled up like this!

After Nala there were quite a few more cats and dogs that came our way, and everytime we would bring a new animal around, she would bark, growl and smell them for a while, and would finally tolerate them. 

Nala and our 1st Cat, Ginger

One of my favorite pictures of Nala! On our way to Sparta, Christmas 2004





Nala and Lola



Nala made our move from our tiny house to our house that we live in now, and then one day she was not sure of what we were getting out of the car. I'm sure she thought, oh no, another animal, but she couldn't understand why we wouldn't let her smell, growl, and bark at this thing that we were carrying! Thankfully it didn't take Nala anytime to get use to the idea of having a baby around, even if it did mean that she got a lot less attention from us.

Nala & Jackson

She soon realized that this thing would now be the one sleeping in our bedroom, and she didn't seem to mind the move to the porch at all! I wonder if she was as excited as we were when Jackson had his first belly laugh because of her jumping around and playing. (Still to this day when she starts running wild in sprints it will make Jackson laugh and laugh!) Or if she loved that one of Ansley and Elsie's first words was "Nala." When it comes to Jackson, Ansley and Elsie she knows that it is her job to protect them, and she does a mighty fine job doing just that!

She is a great sport, and I know it's gotta be tough with three little ones picking on you daily. 

Even though she likes to bark.... a lot.... at the deer, rabbits, squirrels, anything that moves in our woods, she is a wonderful pet and a great guard dog! (I still wonder why she dislikes the UPS and FedEx guys the least, though!) :)

Happy 7 years, Nala! 

2004

July 2011

"Nite-nite!"

Tonight, after an exciting day playing with Abigail and some of her friends from Greensboro, Jackson and Ansley decided they wanted to spend the night with Mamaw Di & Papaw Fred. Elsie seemed to enjoy having all of mommy and daddy's attention for one night, and she even decided she would say "nite, nite" for the first time. Seriously... how could you hear this giggle and not fall in love with this little girl! :)