Happy Birthday Darrell

Darrell and the younguns.

Darrell & his dad, Martin
Darlene, Darrell, Diane

(Darrell and his sisters)
Darrell, his sisters, his niece, Heather and her son, Carrson (they belong to Diane (on the right))
Guess who!!

Today is Darrell's 45th birthday!! Yahooo!! I told the girls at church today that I guess I would have to start looking for a good old folks home pretty soon, so if you know of anywhere good, let me know!! HA!!!

Just joking! Seriously, he is 45 and he is OLD! We are having a little party for him today with our families and we can't wait to see everyone. We are having cake. . ice cream. . and all of Darrell's favorite foods. I will post pictures after it is all over!!

Seriously though, Darrell is the BEST husband and daddy for my kids that I could ask for. I love him to pieces . . . so, into the kitchen I go to cook, cook and cook some more!!

Later y'all. . .

Over 600 HITS!

I cannot believe it. I have tracked the visits or hits to our blog since 4/17/08 and there have been over 600 visitors to this blog!! That is so AWESOME!! We just wanted to say THANK YOU so much for caring enough to visit our blog. We love keeping everyone informed about what's going on in our lives and we appreciate all of your visits, comments and emails!! Thanks so much.

Love y'all--keep on coming back for more!!!

Later!

Mr. Loyd

This is Mr. Loyd

Singing Songs
Me & my favorite teacher of ALL time!
Yep, Emy on the nature trail (she called it a snake walk) because Mr. Loyd LOVES snakes and used to find baby black snakes and bring them into the classroom.
Emy asking Mr. Loyd a question (waiting very patiently for her turn). She told me she wanted to meet "that boy in the red, mama"--he got a kick out of that one!

Mr. Loyd was my 3rd grade teacher. He still teaches 3rd grade at the school where I went--amazing huh? However, he is retiring after this school year (so sad to see him go).

Today they are having a get together for Mr. Loyd at the school and I absolutely cannot wait to see him again! My nephew, Josh, had him two years ago and loved him just as much as I did.

Mr. Loyd is the BOMB! He loves to teach kids and he knows how to do it so the kids don't even realize they are learning. . he is not afraid to get down on their level--he makes a real difference in their lives. He takes the children on nature walks, he has sing alongs with them and invites their families, he plays string games, 4-square, and anything to keep them active. That is a GOOD thing!

When I was in his class, we went to an old school house in the town where we live and we dressed up in "old timey" clothes for this special day. . he made us memorize a Bible verse and we prayed (back then, I guess it wasn't such a big deal) but he did it all the same . . and we played good old fashioned games like Red Rover, throwing the ball over the school house, all kinds of things. I remember NOTHING negative about Mr. Loyd AT ALL. .

I am very sorry to see him leave this school, as Emy will will start Kindergarten there this August! Yes, how the time does fly!!

I just wanted to give Mr. Loyd a shout out to let him know that he made a difference in my life! He is the teacher that made me WANT to go to school everyday. I never wanted to miss a day in his class!! That was a miracle in itself. . I love you Mr. Loyd--I think you are the BEST!! And I know there are MANY, MANY people out there who feel the EXACT same way!

Happy Retirement & You WILL BE MISSED!!

Added this evening:

I wanted to let everyone know that Emy and I went to Mr. Loyd's retirement party and we had a ball. . . He is the same as ever, singing songs, playing the piano, praying at the beginning of the party, moment of silence, pledge of allegiance, that is what school used to be about--we walked down the nature trail with him (there were about 20 people with us for the hike--Mr. Loyd was impressed that Emy kept up with us so well--proud mama moment). We had such a good time. he pointed out different types of flowers, trees, roots, gave us a little history lesson. Emy LOVED it!!

Emy got to see pictures of me from 3rd grade and some of me from 8th grade. She saw pictures of Angie Pangie playing volleyball and Christy F in the 7th grade. What fun to go back in time and visit with so many old friends we lost track of. What a GREAT evening!!

Will post pictures soon!!

Joshua B--We are praying for you!!

Hey Josh B.

We have been praying for you today. Hope everything went well and we wanted to send you some hugs across the internet!!

Let us know something soon Ingrid!!

Love y'all,

Cindy, Darrell, Emy & Luke

Guess what! Pictures!

Emy in Ma's tub (with lots and lots of bubbles) and yes, she is wearing her swimsuit!!

Darrell & Luke

This is one of my VERY favorite pictures!!

Emy & Pa (yep, she's wearing HIS reading glasses!)
Hugs!
Happy Mother's Day MA!

Some of my favorite things--simple but satisfying!

I find these things simply satisfying!!

Knowing Heaven awaits me--eternal life--JESUS Rocks!
Watching my children pray.
Church.
Hearing "I love you" from someone I love.
Having a dishwasher.
Kisses from my children, even the snotty ones.
Chocolate ice cream.
Getting grubby dandelions and purple wild flowers that Emy picks for me.
Whispers from Emy & Luke.
A child's giggle.
Viewing my blogs (my faves are listed to the right of this post).
Hearing my husband read to Emy & Luke.
Finding no bills in the mailbox.
Listening to Emy & Luke sing.
Clothes that are TOO BIG for me.
International Adoption (any country will do).

Please comment and let me know what simple things you find satisfying!!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of y'all mothers out there. Just wanted to share that I HAD THE BEST MOTHER'S DAY EVER!! We went to church where I was bombarded with gifts from Luke & Emy. I got a huge WHITE rose bush (yes, it is real), some dish towels and hand towels, and lots of goodies including the very enjoyable Hershey Kisses!!

Then we went to Ma & Pa's house to be with my mama today!! WHAT FUN!! The kids had a BLAST and are now both sleeping very soundly!!

I will post pics tomorrow evening. Hope you guys had a GREAT day just like ME!!

Guess what! More pics.

Luke cheesin' for the camera!!

Emy at the party!
It was a beach theme, what can I say!
Luke & Jackelyn swinging!
Jackelyn (ain't she cute?) She also stays at Nanny's with Luke & Emy!

A few more pics.

Carthage had it's 20th Buggy Festival today and we enjoyed it very much. This is me, Luke & Cristian getting very dizzy on the spinning thing (I don't know the name of this ride). Yep, Luke is laughing the whole time!! He didn't know what to think when he couldn't walk afterwards, though. But it was FUNNY!!

This is Emy (the back of her head anyway) riding with Chelsea and Chelsea's dad. They were spinning really FAST!
Emy coming down the Titanic Slide!
We went to Ethan's birthday party!! He is 1 year old!!!
He is a very sweet little boy. He stays at Nanny's with Emy & Luke!!

A few pictures to share with y'all...

Emy brought me this from youth the other night! I was thrilled to have an early Mother's Day gift!! I got ALL my favorite stuff--flower, mouthwash, washcloth, candle, tissue, razors and lotion--Emy knows me, huh???

This is MY favorite of the lot--a handmade card!
She also drew/colored this picture for me!!
And played me a song!! Bless her sweet heart!! I love her to pieces!!

Kiss my Foot--by Luke

The other night when Emy was at youth group, Luke did the funniest thing. He wanted me to stomp my feet at him and he was giggling--then he hurt his foot and said "kiss foot". See if you can hear him!

I'm sorry the lighting is bad in my living room--we need stronger bulbs or something. Anyway you can hear the giggling and the stomping so here goes. . .

Let me know what you think--By the way, thanks to everyone who comments, especially Nancy and Ingrid--I love it!!

Emy wants a phone in her room!

Emy is saying toward the end of this video that she wants a REAL phone in her room in case she needs to call 911 for an emergency. See if you can tell what she is saying--she was very excited. This was taken when we were on our way home from Pa's birthday dinner!

Luke then and now!

Luke on Gotcha Day!!

Luke last week--hasn't my tiny man grown into a chunky monkey!!??

A very handsome chunk might I add?!

Emy's purse contents!!

Okay, not long ago I told y'all that I was gonna empty Emy's purse and show you ALL the contents. Ya ready for this???

This is her purse--looks kind of small, huh?

By the way, this purse was a gift from Angie Pangie for Emy's 5th birthday. . it is a good one as you will see. . scroll down, please.

This was in the front left pocket that velcros.
This was in the front zipper portion. . she's richer than me already!!
This is what was in the middle of her purse.

I cannot list it all as it would take all of 10 hours to do such things. I just don't have the time for it. I will name a few things.

Three cell phones (one real (that no longer works), one trac fone that isn't charged and one Hannah Montana).

Hannah Montana sticker cards (I think 5).

MY lip stick (I've been wondering where that got to).

Lotion.

Lip gloss.

Eye makeup.

Hair barretts.

Fingernail polish.

One orange ball.

Sunglasses.

One picture of Alissa J.

Mirror.

Empty Tic Tac container.

I mean, GET REAL y'all. Can you believe anyone would need this much stuff in her purse??

That's my Emy, she is a trip!!

I love her passion for life, that's for sure.

Yep, ALL of that fit in here. And I will no doubt be in BIG trouble because I KNOW she will KNOW I've been in there and I KNOW she will have a fit.

You should've seen me trying to get all that stuff back in this purse!! Whew, I think I want some ice cream or something after that workout!!

A few more pictures to share with y'all.

Luke was SKATING (with a little help from Mama)

Our big girl cheerleader!! Go Emy!!
This is Olivia & Becca (Luke calls Livvy "Lily") Olivia is Luke's best friend and Becca is Emy's best friend. They are sisters. . . they came by to pick Emy up for Youth group tonight!!
Emy, Bible in hand, Ready to go to Youth Group!!
Luke can drive his bus and suck his thumb at the SAME TIME!! Multitasker, huh??

Soccer again today!!

I am so proud of Emy for hanging in with the soccer. She really is enjoying herself!!!

What a kicker! This is Emy & her daddy practicing before they got started this morning!!

Cole, Haylei & Kyrstin came to cheer Emy on today!!
Emy & Luke (trying to help)
Say "cheese" or cheetos in this case!
Emy & Chelsea

Happy Birthday to PA!!

Yesterday, the 2nd, was my daddy's birthday, who all the kids call "Pa".

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PA!

We went to Westmoore Family Restaurant along with Pa's brothers and sister. . . we had a great time eating and fellowshipping!!!!

Cristian, Emy & Darrell
Josh & Luke clowning around with lemons. .
Emy with yellow lemon lips.
The whole crew (Pa is in the far back, 2nd from the left)
James (sitting), Arles, Pauline, and Billy (Pa).

The brothers and the sister!!

By the way

By the way, Luke is putting sentences together (in English)!! YAHOO!! At home he has said the following (in no particular order) "brush teeth", "brush hair", "morning mama", "go side". At Nanny's yesterday he said "Nanny, mama work".

Such fun we are having at MY HOUSE!!!!

Luke & the Eye Doctor

Well, another eye doctor visit and Luke's left eye still crosses in 100% of the time. Dr. B. measured the degree of crossing and said that he wanted to see us back in one month. If the degree of crossing is the exact same, Luke is a candidate for surgery. Sooooo, in another 4 weeks we will know more.

We KNOW that Luke sees better with his glasses. He isn't falling nearly as much and he can see who is singing in front of the church (we sit closer to the back). When Olivia sings, Luke sees her and says "mon Lily" which means Come on Livvy, let's go play!! He LOVES Olivia (I think she is 11 years old?!) but she is Nanny's youngest daughter. . . so he gets to see her almost every single day!!

Emy LOVES Becca (Nanny's 2nd youngest daughter)--she is 18 or 19 now. . wow, how time does fly!! So, in other words, I am not really all that missed at daycare after all. . . it does feel good to see the smiles when I pick them up. Now, when will it happen? the dreaded day when they don't want to go home??? It's bound to happen sooner or later---I'll just think about that when it happens. . . see y'all later!