Thanksgiving 2009

I'm a little late on my Thanksgiving post, but it's been a crazy week! Sawyer has RSV...again! Bless his heart. I took him to the doctor yesterday for the 4th time in a month and they finally figured out what's wrong with him. So...sorry to everyone that has been exposed to him over the past month. Who knows how long he has had it. You can't say I didn't try though after over $140 in just co-pays to go to the doctor!!!! Can we say I might need to switch doctor's???? We'll see...
Anyways, we had a great Thanksgiving this year. It started on Tuesday of last week when Dennis' dad and Barbara came out and took us to dinner for Thanksgiving at Mimi's Cafe. Yum!!! The kids were a bit crazy, but luckily we had the whole back room to ourselves so it wasn't too bad. Wednesday night, we went to my Memaw & Pepaw's house to have pizza with that whole side of the family. Here's a picture of all of the grandkids and great-grandkids. (minus Chance)

Afterwards, we took the kids over to Deb's to spend the night because we had to get up very early the next day.
Thursday morning, we got up and ran the 5 mile race at Indian Lake. I can say now that it was great, but during the race I thought I might not make it!! I ran it in 52minutes, which was a great time for me. I will try harder next time to make it in under 50.
Afterwards, Dennis went and got the kids and we got ready and went to Aunt Pam's house for lunch. Most of that side of the family was there.



After that, we came home and let the kids take their naps and we went to my dad's for Thanksgiving dinner that night. I think it was the best meal I've ever had. It was sooooooo delicious!!!!!



Friday, we headed to Chattanooga with Clay, Jodi, and Reese for a weekend of fun!!! We checked into our hotel and headed to the Aquarium. It was so neat!!





The kids had so much fun looking at all of the fish, running around, crawling through things, touching (or, trying to touch) stingrays, etc. It was a very neat experience. I think they were at the perfect age to try something like that out because they were in awe by it all.




We left afterwards and made the mistake of taking 3 VERY sleepy kids to eat dinner at Sticky Fingers. It was a less than enjoyable experience that I won't even go there...
Saturday morning we got up while we were getting ready, Sadie and Sawyer got in our bed and watched TV. Sooooooo cute!!!!

When we were all ready, we all went to eat breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then we headed over the Children's Discovery Museum. It was the neatest place!!! It was a success for the kids. They had a ball! We stayed there for over 3 hours and I think Sadie and Sawyer would've stayed longer if we didn't make them leave. We were worn out!!!





There is so much for the kids to do. We didn't even get to do it all. You could spend hours and hours there. I wish we had a place in Nashville like this.






We headed home after 2 very long, but fun days! We made lots of memories which is what it's all about! The Curtis' were great travelin' buddies and we know there will be lots more of those types of weekends in our future!!!

Decorating for Christmas!

Sadie and I got to decorate our house for Christmas this past weekend. Both of the kids have been sick, so I knew I wanted to stay in this weekend. Sawyer was feeling better so I let him go spend the night at Deb's on Friday night. Dennis and Travis headed to the farm Friday night as well, so it was just me and Sadie.
Before we took Sawyer to Deb's and before Dennis left for the farm, he put up the Christmas tree. The kids were so excited. Check out Sadie's face in the one where we turned the lights on. She was so happy!



Saturday morning, Sadie and I got up and she came downstairs and saw a few of the decorations that I had already put up. It was like Christmas morning. The excitement from her was priceless! I decided to put up some Snow Village this year and she loved it. She ran over to it and said "it's beautiful! I want to go in there!!!"


She helped me put ornaments on the tree and we listened to Christmas music all day and it was a day I'll never forget. Sooooooo much fun w/ my little Tinkers!


Here are "our" finished products!



Tis the Season! Let it all begin!!!

Busy October

We have had a very busy October, but so much fun!! October is one of my most favorite months, b/c it's the kickoff to the Fall season, and all of the holidays are just around the corner. I love it!
Halloween was a lot of fun this year. We did lots of stuff Halloween weekend. The weekend before Halloween, we had our annual weiner roast at my mother in law's house with that whole side of the family. It's a favorite night of ours every single year. Sadie saddled up and rode the donkey for the first time. She loved it!


Sawyer...well, not so much...

I think he just didn't like the pink saddle. ha ha
Most of the family was there and had such a good time. We took 2 hayrides. One before it got dark...



And, one after it got dark...


We threw rocks in the creek, and Sadie even touched a yucky salamander!!!



Here's a pic of the kids all trying to find more rocks to throw in the creek.

All the boys played some football...

And the girls...well, they just danced...

Then, the boys played hide and seek...

And, the girls...ATE!

We had a great time!
Sawyer loved being by the fire and he pretty much stood there and ate all night long.

On Halloween Eve, we went to my mom's house for what was supposed to be a cookout, hayride, roasting marshmallows, etc. Well, the bottom fell out and it poured all night long, so the cookout was moved into the garage.




We still had fun though! The kids all dressed up in their costumes and just ate and played!





On Halloween morning, I had all of my high school girlfriends and all 12 of our kids over to my house for a breakfast playdate. It was so much fun!!!
Here are a few pics from our morning together.





Here is a picture of Sawyer and Harrison WAY too close to the TV!

That night, we had BBQ that Dennis had smoked all day long. It was delicious!!! It was the best he's ever done. It literally fell off the bone and melted in my mouth!! My dad came over and hung out with us. Then, my mom and Butch came by and ate dinner too.



Jodi, Clay and Reese came over and we went and trick or treated with them for a while.



Then, we came back here and hung out by the fire the rest of the night. It was wonderful! What a perfect night!!! Dennis' mom, LJ, and his grandparents all came by later on too.




Life is good, life is fine....Life is good...LIFE IS FINE!

Hilton Head 2009

Well, I don't know how I could fit all of the pictures and all of our memories into one post because it would be way too long, so I thought I would just summarize with some of my favorites!
First of all, the trip was awesome. It was perfect. And when I say perfect, I mean perfect. I wouldn't have changed one thing! The traveling was great, the house we stayed in was wonderful, the weather was unbelievable, the kids couldn't have been better, and the memories we made will last forever! I never imagined that it would be so great. I thought with 2 kids as young as ours, we'd just be trying to keep our heads on the whole week. But it was nothing like that. It was so much fun. Sadie woke up every morning and went to the back door (where you could see the pool) and said "ooooohhhhhh" and "aaahhhhh" because we had our own pool. She was beside herself. It was so cute! They both loved the beach. The sand didn't bother either of them. Sadie loved the ocean the whole time. Sawyer didn't warm up to it until the last day. He liked the pool better because it was warmer. The beaches in Hilton Head were gorgeous! There aren't any high rises or anything there to block your views of anything so it makes everything seem so nice. We saw some of the most gorgeous sunsets that I've ever seen. We were so blessed. I thanked God a thousand times a day for the time that we were having together. It was worth every penny that we had saved to take this trip.
Dennis amazed me on this trip as well. His patience with the kids is unbelievable. He is so good with them. And, if you know Dennis...he's not the most patient person in the world. But, for some reason when it comes to me or the kids, his patience is boundless. He played and played with them. He built sandcastles and dug holes in the sand every single day when Sadie asked him to. He would take them in the water a thousand times if they asked him to. He would swim with them for hours. And so on and so on. It was precious. Even when I would get to my breaking point where my patience was about to run out, he would still be going. Thank the Lord for that. And the best part was that he seemed to enjoy every single minute of it. He did it all with a smile on his face like it was the first time they'd ask him to do it.
We got up every single morning, ate breakfast, went to the beach for a few hours, came back and swam in the pool for a little while, had lunch, put the kids down for their naps, went out for dinner, played, went back down to the beach to look for seashells and run around, go get ice cream at the "Ice Cream Cone" and come home and go to bed. It was so much fun.
We took over 700 pictures so obviously I will not post them all, but here were some of my favorites! These are all different than the ones I put on Facebook.
This is Sadie's little footprint in the sand. So precious!

Me and the kids excited to see the ocean!

Sadie running away from the waves.

Daddy and Sadie headin' into the water.

The pool at our house.

Sadie eating ice cream at our nightly spot, "The Ice Cream Cone" where she ordered "playdough" ice cream every night, which was really called "Superman", but she thought it looked like playdough.

Sadie and I walking up the hundreds of stairs to get to the top of the Lighthouse in Harbortown.

Playing on the HUGE playground at Harbortown!

Me and Sadie walking down the path to go eat some dinner one night.

You can't really tell, but I wrote "Sadie and Sawyer 2009" in the sand and we tried to get their picture. This was the best we could do...

Sawyer's face is blurry, but he loved when Dennis would throw him up in the air in the swimming pool.

This may look like a sweet picture, but I'm really getting onto Sadie because she ran away from us on the beach.

Had to get a close up of the sand and pieces of seashells that are embedded into Sawyer's face. He could've cared less.

One of the gorgeous sunsets that we got to enjoy every night.

Dennis ate raw oysters almost every single night for his appetizer. Yuck!!!

Sawyer enjoying his first chicken wing on our way home from Hilton Head.

Dennis and I attempted to sneak down to the beach very early the morning we were leaving to catch the sunrise together and this is what we saw...

The huge jellyfish that Dennis spotted our last day at the beach! Glad I didn't see this on the first day or that would've been our last time on the beach!!!!

Sadie and I "shared" a huge dessert on our last night. It was delicious!!!

The gorgeous sunrise that Dennis got to see one morning.

What great memories we made and we can't wait to go back next year!!!

Oh, How I've Waited...

I think I can say I have waited my whole life for this. Okay, so it's just my children's panels hanging on the wall together to you. But to me, it's so much more. I can still remember the days, weeks, months, years that I prayed to have a child. It literally still hurts my heart deeply when I hear of couples who are having trouble conceiving. I know your pain. So, to look up at my wall and see these 2 panels hanging together, representing the first year of both of my babies lives means so much to me. It's something that we will have hanging on our walls for the rest of our lives. So many other pictures will change in and out of the frames, but these 2 will always be hung together in mine and Dennis' home for as long as we live.
Anyways, we have been so busy lately! I started a new mom's group at church, I-Mom. It's going to be great! I can't wait to see what all God is going to do with this group of mom's. I also started a women's Bible study at my church on Wednesday nights called "I Am". I think it's going to be amazing as well. For the first time in my life, I am praying so hard for God to change me, use me, let me know Him better, give me a hunger for His Word, etc. I am so excited to see what will happen over these next few months. Sadie started her first real "class" on Wednesday nights as well called "Jasper's Bible Club". I went and bought her a new Bible and she carried it around for days and wanted to read it during every spare moment that she had. She would sit down, open it up, and pretend to read it over and over. I thought we might have the next Beth Moore on our hands! ha ha They get special stickers and things for bringing their Bible every week and learning verses, etc.
As a mom, the most important thing to me is for my kids to learn all about Jesus from me. I want them to see God in me. I want them to see me pray. I want them to see me in His Word. Our pastor's wife asked us the other day: If someone were to ask your kids what they think is important to you, what would they say???? Would they say it's: cleaning the house? clothes? Money? Having the best things? Or, would they say "Mommy loves Jesus!!!" It's definitely something to think about.
We are leaving for our very first family vacation in a week. We are beside ourselves. I think Dennis would leave today if it were up to him. He's so excited. It's the first time he's been out of town in almost 4 years! I got to take Sadie to the beach a couple of years ago, but he didn't go, so it's been a long time coming for him. We don't even care if it rains every day. We're just looking so forward to getting away from everything and spending time together as a family.
When we get back from the beach, we're going to Gatlinburg for a weekend, then I'm going to the Beth Moore conference in Memphis, and so on. It's going to be a busy Fall, but I can't wait!!!!
I've also decided to do a half-marathon in November. What am I thinking???? Barbara asked me to join them in Chattanooga and do one with them because her and her best friend walk it together. I think we're going to try and make a whole weekend of it, so it should be fun, regardless if I can do the whole thing or not!!!
So, that's what's been going on in our lives. Stay tuned for lots of pictures from the beach!!

Sadie Day

It's been a long time since I've been on here to update. We've been extremely busy, yet things have also seemed a bit calm. Sawyer started walking last week. Yeah!! Our hope was that he would start walking before we go to the beach and he did! We leave for Hilton Head in just a few weeks now and we are all beside ourselves. We cannot wait! Our very first family vacation!!!!
Anyways, Sawyer went last night to spend the night w/ Dennis' dad and Barbara (aka PawPaw and Gimmy) for the first time. It was actually his first time to ever spend the night away from home. I was mostly at ease about it, but I was a little sad. I knew he was in great hands. I just didn't want him to not sleep good, etc. But, from what I hear, he slept great and has had so much fun so far. Praise the Lord!!
I couldn't wait to have Sadie all to myself for a whole day. For those of you that have 2 children close together, you know how it feels when that second one comes along...you feel as though you'll never get time alone with your first again...EVER! So, I have been looking forward to this all week.
As soon as David came to pick up Sawyer, Sadie and I got ready and headed over to Shelly's parents house to meet her and Greyson and go swimming. The boys came when they got off work and Ryan brought Mexican over for dinner. We had the best time. I know that all of you out there with only one child will roll your eyes at this...but, I couldn't believe how easy it was to just have one child again!!!! Wow! I had totally forgotten what it was like! Here are some pictures from our night.







As you can see above, Dennis was having just as much fun as the kids doing a few cannonballs of his own!
After we ate dinner and watched the gorgeous moon rise, we headed home. Dennis took Sadie to get some ice cream while I went and got some medicine for this horrible cold that I am fighting.
Friday morning, I got to sleep in until 8:00 which I haven't done since who knows when. Sadie and I got ready when she got up and we went to Monkey Joe's, which is one of her most favorite places! I gave her the choice to go to Monkey Joe's or the park, and she chose Monkey Joe's. We had a blast!
Afterwards, we went to get a cupcake from Gigi's and came home to eat lunch.
Here is Sadie's nutritional lunch...

A princess cupcake, a capri sun, and some crunchies. But, hey, this was "her day", so I let her get away with it.
I have so enjoyed having some time with her. I do miss Sawyer bunches, but I have enjoyed the break!!!

Sawyer is ONE!

So my little fella has finally made it to his 1st birthday. I think there have been many days in the past year where I thought none of us would make it! He has definitely kept us on our toes! What a joy he has brought to our family. He has created a whole new dynamic in this house and I wouldn't trade that little guy for nothin! He made our family complete and I thank God for him.
I went in his room first thing in the morning and took his picture right away. You can't tell but all of his lights are out and it's pitch black in this picture. The flash took care of that though.

We hung out together for a little while before Sadie got up. I just wanted to get a few pics of him on his birthday. Of course, he wouldn't let go of "Monkey" long enough for me to get a good shot.


We had dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings with my dad, sis, and Emma. Can you get any cuter than this???? I don't think so!!!!!



Afterwards, we came back here and Sawyer opened what few presents we bought for him. Well, Sadie actually opened them, as you can see...





This is a picture of Sawyer pulling on Dennis' leg, wanting him to hurry up and get one of his trucks open!

We tried to do the "cake" thing again, but he still didn't want anything to do with it. Oh well...I tried to get one good picture, but it just didn't happen this year.


I love my little buddy more than life!!!! Happy Birthday Saweeeeeeee!