So I've been neglectful...

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost a month since I've updated the blog! Oops! What can I say...Facebook has sucked me in and I've spent more of my 'computer time' on there I guess.
Things are going well here. We are currently set up at the KY State Fair which runs through Aug. 30th. It's going to be a crazy ten days for Jason, but we're praying it will be very prosperous and well worth it!
Priscilla has officially started 8th grade. We began our school year on August 12th. We are excited about our home school this year and trying some new things. We are using a mixture of curriculum (Abeka, Apologia, Alpha Omega) and for Bible we're using the book God's Plan for Man by Finis Jennings Dake...an awesome in-depth study! We begin co-op on Sept. 10th. Priscilla will be doing a writing class, Bible class, yearbook, and art there on Thursdays. She is eager to get started there and meet some other local home school families. I was asked to teach a preschool class at co-op, but I am not sure if I will or not. This being our first year there, I was thinking it might be better to hang back and volunteer in the nursery so I can be with Jay Jay. We shall see how God leads.
Jay Jay is growing and learning by leaps and bounds. Our little guy amazes us everyday. He is ten months old. It's hard to believe we'll be celebrating his first birthday in just 2 short months! Where has the time gone? He has four teeth now (and knows how to use them...OUCH!!) and a couple more that are just about to come through. Last night was one of those 'survivor mom' moments for me...he woke up at 1:30am and decided it was time to play. By 4:30am he was still going strong so I put him in his car seat and we went for a drive. He was out in about 5 minutes. I just wish I would have thought of that sooner and we both would have gotten more sleep! He is into everything now and loves to explore and discover new things. Yesterday he opened the pantry and got the canister of oats out and managed to get the top off. So as I was cleaning up a pile of spilled oats, he crawled over to the drawers and started pulling stuff out of them. Then when I got to the drawers to clean that up, he made his way to Cleo's water bowl and had a blast splashing around! Of course I told him no, washed his hands, and redirected him, but I secretly loved watching his face as he was doing it!
I will start babysitting again in mid-September. A couple of weeks ago, Dillon and his mom and new baby brother came by to visit so I could meet baby Nolan. He is a doll! It will be fun and interesting having three little boys...a two month old, an eleven month old, and a three year old! They will keep me on my toes for sure.
Well, I think that's it...hopefully my next update will include photos. My computer crashed so I am using Jason's and it doesn't have a place to put my memory card to upload pictures. I have to do it the 'old fashioned' way for now. I hope everyone is doing well. God bless!

Short & Sweet

I just realized that I forgot to post that Priscilla got back home from Florida safe & sound! She had a blast. She has some pics on her camera that I will upload and post when I get a chance. She is currently at a girls night hangout with some of the girls from the trip.
The little boy that I babysit for has a new little brother now! His mom is on maternity leave for 8 weeks and when she returns to work I'll be watching the baby also. Sweet newborn snuggles for me!
We're planning on airbrushing at the state fair coming up in August. It will be nice to get some extra $ but juggling that and the mall at the same time will be a challenge for sure.
Well, I said this post was going to be short and sweet so I better leave it at that. Plus I'm holding a squirmy little boy with an unpleasant smell coming from his diaper! I guess "sweet" just went out the window, huh? ;)

Jay Jay is 9 months old!

Our little guy is getting big! Just thought I'd share some recent pictures. Priscilla is still in FL and will be returning tomorrow night. She's having fun but I think she's actually a little homesick too. She misses her bubby!

Playing some tunes...

Sweet Pea Face!

Note to Self: Close dog crate or baby will crawl in...

Priscilla is beach bound!

We've decided to let Priscilla go to church camp this summer in Panama City, FL. She will be leaving late Sunday night and will be gone for 5 days. This is her first big trip without mom and dad so I am nervous. I think it will be a good experience for her though. There are 40+ youth going from our church (along with several adult chaperones of course). Then there will be about 5 other churches at the camp as well. So pray for fun and safe travels for her and pray that I don't worry the entire time she's away! :) Priscilla is selling Krispy Kreme doughnuts and Kwikscan Bibles to raise money for the trip. The Kwikscan Bibles are pretty cool. They say it allows you to read the Bible 65% faster and helps you retain 38% more of what you read. She's selling them for $60. Online they go for $125, so not a bad deal.
And a little update on Jay Jay...he is crawling EVERYWHERE now! He is even starting to pull up to a stand now too. He just got his 3rd tooth and I think the 4th one will be coming through in no time. Here are a few recent pics. Check out Jay Jay's high top Chucks!!! Enjoy!

What a gift!

I think pretty much any parent would agree that their children are truly gifts from God. This Sunday, as we were all getting ready for church (and running late as usual), I put Jay Jay in the floor in our bedroom to play. He quickly scooted over to the bed and discovered a roll of Christmas wrapping paper that I had stored underneath the bed. So when I turned to check on him, this is what I saw:
I quickly reached for the camera and as I was snapping away and laughing my head off, I called for Jason and Priscilla to come look. I said, "Look, he thinks he's a present!" Jason smiled and replied, "He is." How true. No matter how hurried or busy we are or how crazy life gets, we need to stop and take time to realize what precious gifts we have been given, enjoy them, and thank God for them everyday. :)
And speaking of gifts, my other sweet gift, Priscilla, had her birthday sleepover last weekend. She and the girls had a blast and of course stayed up all night! They all hung out in the family room downstairs though so at least I still got some sleep! They watched "13 Going on 30" and "A Walk to Remember". They played all sorts of games, starting with a silly string fight in the backyard. We made our own homemade facial mask using bananas, honey, and baking soda. After the facials, the girls did no-mirror makeovers where they each had to do their makeup without looking in a mirror. I won't embarrass them by posting any photos of that! Here are a few other not-so-embarrassing pics from the party...

Armed (with silly string) & Dangerous!
What's up with the Elmo stickers?
Ashley & Priscilla...they've been friends for six years and have remained close even since Ashley moved out of town...
The incredibly rich chocolate cake with fudge icing...
And lastly, here are a few random pics just for fun...

Mommy's little Wildcat:
Sometimes you never know what you'll find in the laundry!
I hope everyone has a happy and safe Fourth of July! God bless America! :)

Fun-filled weekend!

Well, it's official...I'm the mother of a teen-ager! YIKES! Priscilla turned 13 today. That does not even seem possible. Where did my baby girl go? Time flies. They sure don't stay little long enough. We celebrated yesterday and went to Holiday World and she will be having her sleepover this Friday. Hoiday World was fun. We spent most of our day at the water park because it was so hot. By the time we made it to the amusement park rides, it started raining so we didn't get to ride as much as we would have liked. Jay Jay got to ride the carousel and the train. On Sunday, we got to meet baby Asher! He is a doll. I love his cheeks and all his hair! I'm sure he and Jay Jay will be good buddies as they get older. While we were there visiting, Priscilla, Jason, and Jay Jay swam in their pool for awhile. We had a really good family visit. Here are some photos...

Asher Zadock...

My Little Man...

Playing in the pool...

This is the life!

Welcome Baby Asher!

Our new nephew was just born today!!! We just got the call a few minutes ago that he had arrived. We're so excited and can't wait to meet the little guy! :-) It will have to be a couple of days though because Jay Jay is running a fever today. It may just be due to teething, but just to be safe we'll wait awhile before visiting baby Asher.

Update on Us...

Thought I'd post a quick update to let y'all know we're still alive and kicking! :) I just recently took a babysitting job to bring in some extra money so that is keeping me busy. I'm watching a 2 1/2 year old boy Monday through Friday. He sure keeps us on our toes! He's a lot of fun.
Priscilla is excited about her upcoming birthday and planning her birthday sleepover. I used to have so much fun planning and throwing her birthday parties, but now that she is turning 13, I don't think she wants an elaborate theme party like we've done in the past. I think we're going to take her to Holiday World the day before her bday also. She's been itching to get to the pool or waterpark. She recently got her hair cut short for summer. It looks cute! We attended a homeschool book swap at the park a few weeks ago and had a lot of fun there. We got some good deals on books for next year too. We're going to continue homeschooling (and attending co-op) for her 8th grade year since it worked out so well for us this year. Beyond that, I'm not sure yet. We'll pray and see how God leads.
Jay Jay is doing awesome. He is on the verge of crawling. He will get up on his knees and rock back and forth. He's also pulling up on stuff to his knees. He can go from laying down to sitting up on his own too. His most recent new foods are cauliflower, baby yogurt, and whole grain pasta...and he loves them all! This kid hasn't tasted anything he didn't like. I'm so glad and hope he keeps it up because I am such a picky eater myself. He still says "hi" all the time and "da da" and "tsi tsi" (sissy). Sometimes he will say "ma ma". His newest word is "nuh nuh" which is what he says when he wants to nurse. It is different from the way he says "na na" which means he wants a banana! LOL He is very vocal!
We're awaiting the arrival of a new nephew any day now. Jason's sister is due on Priscilla's birthday, but we're thinking the little guy will come sooner than that. Pray for a smooth and easy delivery!
We had a yard sale at mom's last weekend. We didn't do as well as we'd hoped, but we had fun nonetheless. I brought some leftovers back home and will probably do a yard sale here next Saturday. We did really well with the one we had at our house last year.
I think that's it for now. I had better get some stuff done before Jay Jay wakes up from his nap! Today is supposed to be my "catch up" day. Blessings...

This is why I scrapbook...

About a week ago, I (along with my mom and two aunts) went down to my grandmother's house for the first time since she passed away. It was really strange walking into the house without hearing her yell "Y'all come in!". I went there to go through the boxes of old photos she kept under her bed so that I could bring some of them home with me and scan them and make copies. As we were sorting through the old pictures, newspaper clippings, cards, and letters, we shared many stories, laughter, and held back tears. My heart sank when I realized there were so many photos of people that none of us recognized and there was nothing written on the pictures to let us know who they could have been. If only those photos could talk. I know they each have a story behind them and there must have been a reason my grandmother kept them for so many years. They were special to her. If she were here, she probably would have been able to recall a great number of them. Now I suppose we'll never know.
A few years ago, scrapbooking became my favorite hobby. It started out as just something fun and creative to do, but it has grown to mean a lot more to me than that. I cherish my albums filled with memories. And I hope one day my grandchildren and great grandchildren will be able to look through those albums and know who their ancestors were and what they were like.
Here are a few photos I took that day. And yes, I am going to scrapbook them.

Yard Work

Remember my post about the nice warm sunshine? I forgot that along with that comes lots of yard work to be done. Ugh. When we first bought our house, I fell in love with all of the landscaping. It was so manicured and lush. It goes all the way around the house on each side. Little did I know at that time how much time and work is required to keep it looking that nice. Why is it that it's so hard to kill weeds yet so easy to kill the plants you want to keep alive? Did I mention I'm not the outdoorsy type? I hate yard work. I think I'd rather spend the day doing laundry, and I hate laundry. But at least there's air conditioning. I trimmed all the shrubs in the front and side and got a good start on the back yard. The clean up is still awaiting me though. That's the worst part. I should have taken "before" pictures of our jungle before I began. Okay, I'll stop whining now. :)

Fun in the sun!

At last, it looks like warm weather is here to stay for awhile. We have been enjoying the sunshine. On Thursday, we decided to have a picnic at the park and Cleo was happy that she got to come along. We haven't been taking her places as often as we used to so it was good for her to get a change of scenery.
We are finally getting over the colds we've had. Thankfully, Jay Jay never got it. He is doing great...growing and doing new things all the time. We have a blast with him everyday! He is sitting up really well now and loves to take all of his toys out of his basket one by one. He has to eat whenever we eat and wants whatever we have. I cooked some yummy tilapia last night and left a small piece without any seasoning on it for him and he chowed it down! He loves music and has started dancing by waving his arms and kicking his feet! It's the cutest thing. I videotaped him, but for some reason I haven't had any luck getting the video to upload here.
Priscilla's youth group at church is doing a cookie dough fundraiser so we get to be door to door salespeople today. Her goal is to sell 20. Two down, 18 to go!
Here are some pics of our park outing and a couple of others...

Just the girls...

Jay Jay loved swinging...

Awwwww...

Miss Attitude...

Checking out the Tonka trucks at Toys R Us...