Ty's Young Achiever pictures~

Here is Ty's picture for his Young Achievers that he was nominated for.  This picture is up at the local mall.  We went and had to get his picture by it on Saturday night...I mean how many times will your child's picture be up at the mall?  I don't think many times.  I think he was a little embarrassed, but he made it through!  I only got to take a few photos...not as many as I would have liked to take.  But they will be at school soon!

This is the one that we will get when it's all said and done.  It cost a pretty penny, but we had to have it!!



This photo tells you a little about why he was chosen to be a Young Achiever. 

Okay, so we are on the road to find out who wins.  One of the Young Achievers from each school will win and the big winner.  Like I said in one of my other posts, he has some pretty tough competition.  But I guess it's not about winning , even though that would be nice, it's about being nominated by his teachers.  He's a really good kid and student.  So, I guess that says a lot about him already!  I'll keep you posted if I hear anything.

My Girl~ Emmie Laine

Well..I thought I would give you a little update on my Emmie Laine with some pictures!  I took these this morning.  She got this outfit from Lyndsey and family for Christmas...isn't it cute!!  She always gets the cutest outfits from my sisters!  She is getting so tall...maybe she will be taller then me one day.  Ty's already heading in that direction, but then again it doesn't take much to get taller then me!  

Lyndsey got her this outfit for Christmas!  LOVE IT!

 She is doing pretty good in school.  She does go to an after school program for math.  But the thing is that they are helping her now so she won't get far behind.  They are doing this new program at her school and it's really making the kids start from scratch!  Our school district is the only one in the US that is doing it right now.  It's going to help them later on when the math gets harder.  I hope so! 




We are trying out some new hairstyles!  I didn't get a really good picture of this one...it looks cuter in real life!

She is sweet girl and loves dogs.  She would have this house full of them if she could!!  We can't let her or Tim go to the Human society!!  No telling what they would bring home.  She is very sensitive....you have to be very careful about how you word things...before you know it you will have tears coming down if you say it the wrong way! 

She is my sweet, sweet girl~

My little reminder~

A couple of months ago I got a REALLY special package in the mail.  It was special for many reasons.  The lady that sent it to me means the world to me!  It was like I had a little mini Christmas that day. 

I took my package downstairs and opened it up.  Inside where all these little packages wrapped in PINK tissue paper!  Too cute!  I was very emotional as I unwrapped each and every one of those gifts!  They all had such special meaning!  This lady went all out!!  She always does!!  She never does anything half way...you know I'm talking about Barbara!!  She got me a pink shirt and a matching vest.  Then she gets me this purse and inside the purse it has pockets....and inside the pockets there are little gifts!!!  All of it was wonderful and very special! 

Now there is still one more gift inside the box...this one is from my sisters.  I'm not really sure what it could be.  So, I pick it up and start unwrapping it and instantly I see the soft pink ear and I start crying!!  Emmie is standing beside me and she is asking me what is wrong...well to tell you the truth I'm crying pretty hard.  I sit on the chair and continue to pull out the rest of the gift.  Emmie is looking at me very strangely...wondering why I'm crying over a stuffed animal.  She doesn't know that it was my Mom's...she doesn't know what it means to have it in my hands. 

The story behind the pink and white stuffed dog~

Leah and I were at the hospital with Mom, the first time she was in.  She was talking about wanting one of those big pillows that you can sit up in bed with, so we went shopping.  She had a big pillow at her house and we ended up getting her a new pillowcase, but we wanted to get her something else.  Leah thought about a stuffed animal...and if we were going to get her one...we might as well get her a little cute dog!  We saw a few and even had one in our hands, but then Leah saw this pink one!!  That was it...this was the one for Mom!!  She LOVED it!!!  She used it to keep her comfortable...under her arms and so forth.  It was a hit. 

She had it with her when she was at the hospice house, I think it just made her feel better.

So, anyways........

For some reason that I can't even recall....after she passed away and we all went into see her , I must have picked up the pink little dog!  Because I remember having it in my hands the whole time.  I may have put it down for the toast, but I remember walking out with it. 

I told Emmie all about the Pink little dog and she liked that it was Grandmas and one day when she wasn't feeling good I asked her if she wanted to hold it and maybe it would make her feel better and she did and of course it made her feel better! :)  Then she asked if she could sleep with it one night and then one night turned into two nights and so on.  But the thing is that every morning she puts that pink little dog right back in my room...just to go back and get it later that night.  But that's okay...I think my Mom would be okay with that....she would like for us to share her little pink dog...one day I'll give her that pink dog, but right now I can't part with it.

It's my little reminder about how happy it made my Mom and now it makes me happy and Emmie!  Thanks Leah, Lyndsey and Lanette for letting me have it!  I know that every piece of Mom is so precious to all of us~

She could always find a bargain!

Okay....so last night I FINALLY got a winter coat!!  Okay I'm lying...I got two winter coats!!  I know!!  How fun for me...but they were having a super good sale and one is nice one and one is a going to the store and running around and it can take me into the spring on those super late baseball game nights.    Only after living in here in Kentucky for 6 years!!  We really didn't need one when we were in Arkansas.  It was only cold for the month of December and then it started to get nice again.  So, I'm sure you are asking yourself what has this got to do with my tittle for the day......well I will tell you...you just have to be patient with me and my going from one thing to another!  I'm so bad at that! 

I got up this morning and got my new coat all ready and was putting it on and I was thinking about my Mom and how she always had so many coats!!  I know that she most likely never paid much for them.  She most likely bought them at a garage sale of something like that.  But you would have never guessed that.  Her stuff never looked like it came from garage sales.  Not that garage sales are bad...I never put anything that has stains or gross stuff in my garage sales that I have.  Anyways........she always and I mean always found the good stuff!!  Whenever I would go with her she would always manage to find something good!  She would find the best things out of the worst places.  She just new that they had something.  If she didn't find it they way she wanted....she thought to her self how could she make it better...and she did it.  You can go out on the porch and see the many things that she made out of nothing. 

So....thinking about what I spent on my coats, even though I got them for a pretty big discount...I know she is thinking that she could have done a lot with the money that I spent on my two winter jackets. 

I thought about putting some pictures of me in my new winter jackets for you all to see.......but then thought better of it!!  No one wants to see that!!! LOL!!  Yeah right, you all know me better then that right??? 

A bargain hunter she was~

Feeling Bad.....:(

Every since I have wrote my last post I have been feeling bad!!  I hope that who ever read it didn't think I was talking about you!  I guess I was mainly thinking that I should be doing better and that you might be thinking the same thing.  I know my blog maybe a downer blog and maybe I should try posting uplifting things!!  Maybe I should try and do what I first set out to do.....write about my Mom, stories about her.  I'm sure once and awhile I will put in my feelings and tell you how I'm feeling, but I will try and do other things.  Make it not so depressing!!!   Sound good?  Okay!  That's what I will do! 

Devin had his surgery on the 4th.  It was an easy one.  He just had his stent taken out.  So, he was only in surgery for about 10 minutes...maybe.  It took longer for them to get him ready and for recovery.  We went in at 11:15 and we were home at 2:15.  He was eating a sandwich a few minutes after that!  So, he was back to himself.  The doctor did say that he did have some stone fragments on his stent already forming!!!  UGH!!!  What are we going to do about that!!  He is testing the fragments and hopefully we will hear something next week.  He did mention that Devin needs to drink LOTS of water.  Devin didn't like hearing this.  But you have to do it!  He goes in to see him in February (22nd) for a post op and an ultrasound.  I guess we will see what happens then! 

Ty's picture for his Young Achievers will be at the mall for a week later this month and then they will be putting it up at his school for a few weeks.  It's been a long time coming and then we will see who wins.  Ty has some pretty good competition!  One student from his school will win and then one student will win the BIG prize from all the schools around here.  I'm sure I will post a picture of him standing by his picture!!  I'll keep you posted on that.

Okay now this is a secret......Emmie does not want her Daddy to know this!!!!  So, keep it under wraps!  She has a crush on a little boy in her classroom!!  I think it's pretty early for her to have a crush!!  What about you??  Well, his name is Reese!  Her and her BFF both like him!  She writes his name all over the place!  When Tim asked her about it....she came up with a really good line.....it's a stuffed animal!!!  Good one Emmie!!! 

Tim...is working away!  He has had some time off over Christmas.  But he is getting ready for Spring!!  Another busy season!  He has enjoyed having some time off to be with the kids and TJ.  He likes going for walks.  He will be going on a little trip in February with the Big boys!  Going to watch a little Hockey!! 

Me.......I'm back to work.  It's in a new classroom and it's a little bit tougher!  The kids are still getting to know me and I'm still getting to know them.  I really like the lady I work with.  She's super nice and sweet!  Other then that, not doing much.  I need to be working on my scrapping!!!  I'm falling way behind!!!  Maybe this weekend I'll get something done......or maybe not!!  LOL!  I do have some other things I need to work on!

Well, I just jabbered away!!  Just making sure you all knew what was going on in our house!!

Happy New Year!  :)

It's a New Year~

All that I can say about last year....is that it sucked!!  I know I hate using that word...but it did!  It was hard...it was sad....and it just didn't seem to have an end!!  It seemed like things just never ended.  Like there was always something right around the corner just waiting...just teasing us.  Just when we thought, just maybe something good might happen....NOPE!!!  Not going to happen!  Can this year get better?  It has too!!  Not only for me and my family.......but for my extended family!!!  All of us!!  Things have to have a Happy Ending.  I won't take anything less then that! 

So, as far as my blog goes.........I know this last year I have spent many days blogging about my sadness.  I know that maybe some of you might not want to hear about it.  Some of you might be thinking to yourselves that maybe I should just get over it.  That maybe I should just TRY and think about the good things and not so much about the things that make me sad.  But it's hard....my Mom was such an important part of my life and to just not have her in it all of the sudden is a shock!!  It was a shock to all of us and for so many of us we are still grieving for her and I don't think that I'm ready to be done talking about her.  I still can't sit here and do this without tears.  But I do understand that maybe I have spent this last year in my little bubble....that I have not gotten the help that I may have needed. 

Christmas Photos....part two~

Devin with game from Mindy, Ben and boys.

Tim and TJ......he may complain about him....but he loves him!! 

Emmie with her first scrapbook...from Pete, Kelly and boys.  Maybe she will be like her Mom!

Ty with some clothes!!!

Ty with a new backpack from PA!!!  That's what he really wanted!!!  He has been asking for one for a long time!

Kids opening up a gift from Great Grandma Thompson...a new DVD player for their room!! 

A gift from Tim and I....a Wii party game with other Wii stuff!! 



It's find the pickle time....don't they all look excited???  But Emmie was the lucky one this year!!



My very favorite gift!!!  Thank you so much Bettie!  We all loved it so much.  Thanks for thinking of us and my Mom this year!  It meant so much to me and I will love putting it and seeing it on the Christmas tree every year!! 

Christmas photos~

Here are a few pictures of the kids opening up presents!!  Of course my camera ran out of batteries and I wasn't able to get them opening up all their presents!!! I know I should have looked the night before and charged them up....but you know me!!!  But I did manage to get a few!!   

It's Goodie Box time!!!  The kids love the goodie box that they get from Grandma Bettie!!!



Emmie got a DS game from Santa!!!  Just what she wanted!

Ty got a Pokemon game...just what he wanted!!!

Devin got a Pokemon game also...just what he wanted...Santa new just what the kids wanted this year!!!  :)

Devin got a snuggie from Lyndsey, Joe Colby and Carter...he loves it!!!  They picked his favorite team!

Emmie got a snuggie also...she got hers from Lanette, Jim and girls!!!  She asked for it!!  It's a snuggie Christmas!

Ty got another COOL hat from Grandma Bettie and Grandpa Steve!!  He loves hats!!

Devin was excited about this gift.....a cookbook and an apron!!  I was excited about it also!!

A cool game for Ty....form Leah!!  He plays it all the time!

Emmie and her little dog!!!  Grandma Bettie knows what Emmie likes!!!



The kids getting ready to open presents!!!