My Little Swimmer

 Daniel waiting on the side while the instructor works with his swim partner.

 Keeping that precious head above water!

 He has his swim aid float on but he did so well in the class that the instructor took one padding layer off! That means he has to use his arms and legs more!

 Poor thing-the chlorine was not kind to his eyes!

Kendra was happy that Daddy could get off work to see Daniel's last swimming lesson! Daddy actually got to come to 3 of his 10 lessons!

Daniel jumping off the diving board and swimming!  He learned so much in 10 days of lessons! He graduated to Level 2! I'm so proud of him! I think that he's a fish in the making!! Note my exquisite talent at videography when you watch this video! At least you get to see a close up of the floor and Kendra's shoe!

Little Kendra Brooke Turns 3!!!

 Good Morning Birthday Girl!!

 Posing for a picture with her yearly birthday number shirt! That's quite some hair going on there girl!

 Blowing out her candle on the pitiful little cake I made her(she also had cupcakes at her little party so we didn't have a big cake).

 Clowning around with her big brother!

 Her big birthday gift--a dollhouse!!

Kendra at 5 days old--she looks a bit different now! But she will always be my baby girl! Happy Birthday to my little girl with a gigantic personality--you are fiesty, fun, full of humor(I adore your laugh!), silly, a MAJOR Drama Queen, whiny(especially without a nap!), smart, talkative, sweet, girly, beautiful, friendly and generally wonderful and amazing! I love you more than words can say! You are a LOT of work but worth every minute! I'm so blessed that I'm your Mommy!

Oh, The Places You'll Go!!!

 Cyndi's Senior portrait

 Cyndi's cap and gown portrait minus her Honor sash that hadn't come in yet.

 My brother and sister in law with the high school graduate. Travis, Cyndi's boyfriend is at far right.

Kendra getting some love and attention from her big cousin.

My brother's sweet and gorgeous girls!

Congratulations to my sweet baby niece who is now a high school graduate. She finished high school with straight A's, a 4.3 grade point average and as a member of the National Honor Society and a NC Scholar. I am so proud of her..not just of her accomplishments but of the sweet,kind and loving person she has grown up to be. I am so lucky to be her "Aint Daybee" as she used to call me! And I will ALWAYS be "Aint Daybee" ! Oh, the places you'll go my sweet girl!! Your life has just begun--I'm so glad to be a part of it!! Now, let's go shopping for your dorm room!!!

My Little Boy

This is Daniel's preschool picture taken on May 3, 2011. As his mother, I must say that there could be no more precious little boy in all the world! I can't believe that his preschool years are over! Now its on to Transitional Kindergarten! But before school starts we are going to have a fun summer with lots of playing and going to the pool! Love my little man!

Scan of the Day!

Little me! I'm guessing around age 3--there was no date on the picture! I love it cause Kendra has her hair like this now!

Random Picture of the Day!

I loved this little outfit on her! Isn't she the prettiest baby girl in the whole world? Be still my heart!!

Daniel Turns 5!!

Daniel at circle time trying not to act too excited that Mommy came with cupcakes!

Kendra sat down at circle time too!!

 My big one day from being 5 years old boy!

 Kendra just sat down like she belonged there!! I think she's ready for preschool!

Daniel's giant chocolate chip cookie with the dinosaur that Daddy drew on it with icing. Note that Kendra is in underwear--we are working on potty training! Note also the lovely smudge from the camera lens right about where my face is!

 My precious freckle-nosed boy!

 Daddy and Kendra at Chick Fil A. That's a lovely forced smile my girl has! We asked Daniel where he would like to go eat for his birthday-of course it was Chick Fil A! We are there so often that the employees know us by name!

 Then we went to Bumper Jumpers! Wheeeee!

 And Kendra climbed one of the big giant ones all by herself! My spirited and determined little girl!

In Loving Memory

In loving memory of Teresa Austin, Steve's Mom and Grandma to Daniel and Kendra who died Feb. 25, 2011.

Random Picture of the Day or Cuteness in a Box

My baby boy at almost 7 months of age. This picture was taken at our apartment in Oregon where Daniel lived his first 15 months of life. My sweet son is almost 5 now. I wish I could scoop him up out of that box in the picture and hold his precious baby self once again. He now says, "EW, don't kiss me Mama, that's yucky!" Then he'll say, "I"LL kiss YOU!" and he smothers me with "100 kisses".

Random Picture of the Day

Kendra busy wrapping her Daddy around her little finger.

A Moment in Time

I just wanted to share this picture because it makes me smile! I just happened to catch this fun moment between Grandma(Steve's Mom) and Kendra. Whatever Grandma was doing was cracking Kendra up! This picture wouldn't win any photography awards but I love it because it captures a moment of joy, fun and love between Grandma and granddaughter.

Kendra's Beard on her Chinny-Chin-Chin

We have to watch out where we leave pens around this house because we have a little girl who loves to draw beards on herself! At least this time it was not with a black Sharpie! Oh brother! My silly little girl! Here is a little video to make you smile! I got a kick out of her trying to sing the blessing song, "Johnny Appleseed." And I love her short but sweet song, "Baby Jesus". I'm so thankful this precious girl is mine!

A Post about Pickles

 Most people who know me know that my least favorite food in all the world is pickles. I can't even stand the smell of them. Nonetheless, since I married a person who likes pickles, they inhabit my refrigerator. Somehow, someway, my children, who have survived their entire lives on as little food as they can possibly eat, like pickles. That might sound perfectly normal to some people. But, get this, they don't eat macaroni and cheese. Macaroni and cheese? What kid doesn't like macaroni and cheese? Mine!! Daniel will eat peach slices but not peach chunks. Spaghetti? No. Blueberry muffins? No. Pizza. No. Well, Daniel might eat pizza on a rare occasion. But pickles....they are nuts about them! They love them! This is something that they definitely inherited from their Daddy'! Well, I guess I can count them as vegetables, right? Anyway, Daniel asked me to get him some pickles for snack today and because we have two kinds in the refrigerator he proceeded to describe them and I quote, "Mama, I want...

some flat circle pickles.....

and a not flat, oval, cucumber pickle." These are actually big, gigantic pickles sliced in half vertically as opposed to thin slices so he was correct in describing them as "not flat".

So, while holding my nose and trying hard to not splash myself with pickle juice, I gave him some flat circle pickles and some not flat oval ones.  And  there you have it, a post about pickles!

Random Picture of the Day

Really creative huh? Just randomly pick a picture from the thousands on my computer and stick it on my blog! This is my sweet baby girl on her 4 month birthday. I can't believe she was ever that little! Look at that sweet little face. I miss my babies being babies!

Decorating Valentine's Cookies! or Cake Boss Would Be Proud!