Time in Little Rock...Parks and a Surprise Party!

The boys got to stay with Gigi and G-Dad as well as Grammy and Poppy, while Adam and I were in DC. They had a blast, that is once we had what seems like our regular trip with a child to the ER to have breathing treatments! We had to take Lawson into Children's early Tuesday morning because he woke up several times in the night sounding terribly wheezy and struggling to breath. After three albuterol treatments and several rounds of steroids, they let us go home, which was such a blessing!

They were with my parents the first few days and got to enjoy many rides on my Dad's four wheeler and several trips to the park as well. One day they had a picnic lunch at Pinnacle Mountain State Park where they walked the Kingfisher Trail.


G-Dad was the tour guide and was pointing out all the diffent animals they saw along the way...

Then they came across this...wow, that was an exciting moment for the boys, they'd never seen a snake that large out in the open...it was a big hit!


They thought the playground was a lot of fun!



Here's proof that Gigi was there too...keeping the food coming to sweet Emerson!

Just chillin' in G-Dad's chair, probably watching Zaboomafoo!

Before we left town we got to hang out down at Murray Park with Adam's family; the boys thought the playground was so cool!
They had fun sliding...

And running through the tunnels...

Lawson wanted to jog along with Adam...both boys caught up with him and had to "take a break" and walk!

Me and my sweet boy!

Me, Grace and Donna

I think a good time was had by all! Here's Peyton, Poppy holding Emerson, Grace, and Donna holding Lawson


And then there was a SURPRISE!!

Adam planned a little get together for my 30th birthday (though I'm not officially 30 til Oct. 21st), it was so fun to see friends and catch up a bit!




Grammy with both of her grandbaby's (Jojo and Emerson)

My brother and sister in law, Joseph and Molly

The "sororiety" pic! I love you girls so much!

I was supposed to be having dessert with Christy, so when the doorbell rang and there were all these people standing outside my parents house, I was completely shocked! It was such fun for me! Thanks Adam, Mom and Christy for planning it and pulling it off so well!!

Soccer Success!

Ok, so we've now entered the world of sports, with the evening practices and early morning Saturday games. We signed Peyton up for the Hoover Soccer League and were thinking it'd be a good way for him to begin learning the concept of being on a team and cooperation, you know, all the things parents hope their kids will learn and appreciate. Well the first practices came and went with lots of smiles and "it's so fun, Dad!" So we were quite hopeful that he'd perform well his first game since all of Adam's family was gonna be here to see it.



Oh, I must say,that initial game was another step down the oh so humbling road of being a parent! Here's Peyton before the game playing with his ball, then during the game Peyton and Dalton were getting a pep talk from Coach Brown.


Peyton is definately not an aggresive child, and he's quite shy, so being out on a field with tons of screaming parents and with many other soccer games going on all at the same time, was stimuli overload for him to say the least. The child literally stood almost frozen on the field every time Coach Brown put him in...he'd be doing either of two things: looking up into the blue sky or squating down on the field, presumably resting!


Oh, and poor Adam, try as he might, kept going over to the sidelines three or four times to do a pep talk...finally he gave up because he was all out of pep.

But then we had our second game, and it was a 100% difference!


He engaged the ball...


Ran around on the field...


And all in all, had a really great time!


It was so fun to see him get in there and go for it! We are so proud of him! After the game he kept saying, "Mom, are you so proud of me?!" And of course I was, he had tried...he had improved...and we got to see the joy on his face!

Lawson, whom we've always described as "intense" would gladly get out on the field, run around and score a goal...we have to bring a soccer ball along for him to play with during the game. Here are some pics of our little want-to-be!

Trip To DC

We just spent five days in DC on a business trip with HealthSouth. We dropped the boys in Little Rock with the grandparents and enjoyed getting away for a bit. We really had a fabulous time. We had unbelievable weather, perfect for sight seeing.

The first afternoon, before the reception Adam and I were able to tour the Smithsonian National History Museum, Adam enjoyed the sections on the different wars we've fought as a nation while I soaked up all the beauty of the First Ladies clothing and accessories along with the ruby red slippers worn in The Wizard of Oz, it was so fun! We also got to see a replica of Julia Child's kitchen which was neat to see inside.


That night we had a reception in the penthouse suite of our hotel, I've never been in a penthouse suite, let alone a suite with a full out living room, dinning room and other rooms that comfortably housed 300+ people, with a FABULOUS view of both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue!



Our hotel, the JW Marriot, was one block from the White House, so we were right in the middle of everything! President Obama was waiting to greet us when we came off the elevator and George Washington was working the crowd on the balcony! We had such fun!

Our first full day started off with meetings for Adam while I got to enjoy sleeping in and having my quiet time, oh how nice it is to not be interrupted, it really was such a treat! I ordered room service for lunch, then met up with Adam to do a bike tour of the National Mall. It was really fun! We got to see all the monuments and memorials and even got to see the "unofficial" Martin Luther King Memorial.







That evening we had dinner on the rooftop of the building adjacent to the Capital, which had a fantastic view. We had another lovely dinner and entertainment by the Capital Steps, a musical comedy group that "puts the mock in Democracy". It was pretty entertaining. Afterwards was an awards ceremony and Adam's hospital received the award for "Most Improved Clinical Outcomes" within the South East region, which was a great honor!



Friday, Adam had meetings all day long so I went with a couple other wives to tour the Holocaust Museum, which was unbelievable. The pictures and movie clips are terribly shocking and I was constantly left with the questions, "why" and "how" anything like that could have ever been done, what a tragedy, what an unfathomable atrocity! The piles of hair brushes and shoes made tears fill my eyes. After that, we headed up to Pennsylvania Avenue to climb the old Post Office Tower, since the Washington Monument was closed from the earthquake damage, it was the second highest point in the city, the view was spectacular! Then we decided to tour the Newseum, it had everything from Johannes Gutenburg's printing press and first copy of the Bible, to OJ's suit that he wore during the trial, but the exhibit that touched me the most was of the journalists who started recording when 9/11 started...it recorded their last moments and the last things that they ever saw. Hearing their spouses speak of the videos and the pain of those days and moments was heart breaking and really recreated the pain of that time.

That evening we got to have dinner in a spectacular location, the Donald W. Reynolds, National Portrait Museum, which houses portraits of Presidents and other famous people. It was a lovely evening, the atmosphere was over the top and the food was fabulous!


We had a great time in DC...but the highlight of my trip was getting to see our dear friends Paul and Lisa Lebo, who were our neighbors when we lived on post at Fort Benning. We were able to spend the night with their sweet family; what a treat it was to get to catch up and spend time with them, only wish it could've been longer!

Car Ride Comedy

Our car ride conversations have become quite comical and philosophical at the same time! I just have to share these funnies that have happened recently!

First off, we went to purchase "big boy" underwear for Lawson, to encourage him toward potty training! We got him some dinosaur and rocket ship underwear and when we got to the car he was adament that I open the package so he could hold them. After I opened the package and handed him a pair, I turned around to check on him and this is what I found!

He's hilarious, he just does stuff like this all the time and doesn't even realize how funny he is! I love this boy!


We're slowly making progress on the potty, yesterday, for the first time he actually said "my tee-tee's coming" (as opposed to me just putting him up there regularly). So Adam put him up on the potty and he went like a champ! We were excited!

As for Peyton, his little mind is working all the time, he truly keeps me on my toes with all his questions and inquisitiveness. This is a picture of what he usually does in the car, he loves to read! It's either Clifford or Llama Llama Red Pajama!


Onto our philosophical funnies...recently I ordered a CD of verses set to great contemporary music (check out www.seedsfamilyworship.net/) I highly recommend it! Anyway, we were listening to the song "Out of the Mud" based on the verse Psalm 40:1-2, "I waited patiently for the Lord, he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit out of the mud and mire, he set my feet on a rock and gave me firm place to stand." He was asking me about the "slimy pit" and why there was mud. I explained to him that the mud was a picture of our sin (like when he disobeys, talks ugly or is unkind to Lawson) and that God is holy (pure and clean) and that when we ask Him to forgive us, He willingly lifts us up out of our sin...the slimy pit. Well, the funny "philosophical" conversation began when I used the word "holy". Peyton was asking "how does God make us clean"..."how do we get the mud off" and I said that when we ask for forgives God makes us clean, and our "mud" goes away. To that comment he promptly said, "Mom, does He use a "holy blower" to clean us off?" A holy blower...I have no idea where he came up with that, but how funny is he? I love the fact that I get the priviledge of having these every day, run of the mill conversations, that are helping to shape and form his view of God! These conversations are so encouraging for me, to see him questioning and acknowledging who God is and what He does. It's a great reminder for me of what God has done and continues to do for me when I come to Him in repentance asking for forgiveness, thank you Lord for your "holy blower"!

A Visit with Friends!

Last weekend, we got to enjoy some time with our good friends, Mike and Angie Maldonado and their two precious daughters! We have been friends with them since 2006 when we were in the Army at Fort Benning. It was fun to be back where we'd spent so many years of our lives...there had been many changes to both Post and the city of Columbus.

We had a great time staying up late visiting, laughing and sharing! God has been so good to give us such wonderful friends that we've been able to keep up with even though many miles seperate us! Mike and Adam got to play golf and us girls got to do a little shopping. We took the kids to eat at Chick-Fil-A and then went to Barnes and Noble, the boys loved the train table!


Here's Maddy making a funny face with Emerson!

Sweet Miranda has gotten to be such a big girl, we got to celebrate her 10th birthday!


The guys watched the kids, while Angie and I shopped, they let the kids run around in the sprinkler and jump on the trampoline; they had a blast!



Here, Mr. Mike's trying to fix the sprinkler!

All in all, we ate delicious food and really just had a fabulous time catching up with great friends! Sunday we got to visit Edgewood, it was fun to be back at our old church and to see familiar faces!

It was hard to leave such great friends but we look forward to more visits in the future! The boys had a great time and the whole way home kept saying, "I wanna go back to Mrs. Angie's house"..."I wanna play with the girls!" We'll definately have to do it again soon! Here's Lawson saying "goodbye" to Maddy!

First Day of Preschool!

Last Thursday was our first day of preschool here in Birmingham.


The boys did great, there were no tears or sadness when I dropped them off.


I was a bit worried about how Lawson would do because all morning long he was saying, very emphatically, "I not go to school"! This picture sort of captures his attitude!

But he was a trooper and went right into his classroom. Even Emerson had his first day, all the boys had a great time and enjoyed getting to know their new classmates and teachers. I feel blessed to have them all at a wonderful school where they receive great teaching as well Christian values and influences! I look forward to what the year holds and the learning that will take place!

Here's a picture of a little "happy" that I sent to their teacher's as a first day of school treat, I thought it turned out pretty cute!