Last post of 2009

I know....most of you are thinking this is like my first post of 2009 but up until July I did really well! :-) Maybe it should be a resolution for the new year to be a better blogger. Hmmm...we'll see. I'm not promising anything. Ha!

2009 has been a year full of excitement. Let's see if I can go back and list a few things that happened...

• Morgan broke her foot in January (starting the year out right...we are on our way to meeting our $5000 deductible!)
• Chad and I celebrated 14 years of marriage in March
• We went on our first cruise...a Disney Cruise...in April
• Ashlyn turned 7 in April
• We went to the beach with our good friends, the Bailey's, in June
• Chad turned 36 in July
• Madyson had medical issues (not really sure what) in July and had to have a lot of tests run (helping us get closer to reaching our $5000 deductible)
• Chad turned 36 in July
• Madyson had oral surgery in July to expose a tooth way down at the bottom of her gums so that they could PULL it up and over to the right spot. Fun, fun!
• In July we put a contract on a house that we loved. We thought we would be in it within a month but soon found ourselves waiting and waiting for our loan to be approved. With Chad's credit score we shouldn't have had to wait anytime but our loan was taking FOREVER and they were asking us for the craziest stuff in order to approve it. It was frustrating but looking back we know that God was looking out for us. There were so many things that needed to be fixed on the house (a brand new house at that!) and our good deal was FAST becoming a not so good deal. Thank you Lord for watching over us and SHOUTING at us telling us to be patient and wait for something better!!
• Madyson turned 13 in August
• Missy turned 34 in September
• Morgan turned 14 in October and told us she'd be able to drive soon. Oh My!!
• We took at family vacation in November to Disney World. That was SOOO much fun. We went to Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. We loved being together as a family and making memories with one another.
• In December, Missy had yet another knee surgery. This time just to clean up some scar tissue. The recovery wasn't near as bad as it was after the first surgery....1 week on crutches compared to 8. The pain, however, was FAR worse. So glad that is over and I'm on my way to recovery. I should be able to get back out and walk with my walking buddy, Lisa, in about 4 to 6 more weeks! (Oh...and I didn't list every little thing but we had a TON of medical bills this year so I paid $200 for my knee surgery. Not bad, huh? :-) )
• We're ending our year with having Chad home with us until Jan. 4th! He's never been able to take that much time off at once and we've LOVED it.

I hope you all have had a fun, exciting year! I know we have and I look forward to what 2010 brings. Hopefully it will be the year of NO medical bills! Ha! Happy New Year to the 5 or 6 of you who read this blog. I pray that God blesses you tremendously! :-)

She was such a trooper!!

Madyson had to have some oral surgery done today. Her orthodontist sent her to have a tooth extracted and then another tooth exposed that is growing way down at the bottom of her gums. Now...you have to know Madyson and how she is about shots. I remember a few years back having to chase her around the doctor's office just so the nurse could PRICK her finger. Well, today, she didn't have to have a little finger prick but did have to get an IV and be put to sleep. She did so good! I was so proud of her and how she just sat real still and let the doctor do his job.

She is now home and in the deepest part of LA LA Land. The surgery went well and she should really only be sore for a few days. I know she would tell you right now that she is thankful for Tylenol with codine because she is already in some pain.

Here's a nice little picture of Madyson in recovery. I love the nice recliner and the fuzzy blanket. I'm really wondering if Madyson was in a deep sleep from the anesthesia or if she was pretending not to wake up so she could stay in that comfy chair. Hmmmmmmmm.............

Fun in the Sun

We just had a wonderful time with our friends, The Bailey's, at Litchfield Beach. The weather was BEAUTIFUL and the company was great!! Here are a few pics of our time.

Chad and I about to enjoy some seafood

All of the kids posing in front of their new car :-)

Jennifer loving some crab legs

Zac

Morgan

Madyson and Parker

Jimmy and Jennifer

Jimmy and Jennifer headed to relax in the ocean

Zachary playing in the sand

Ashlyn waiting for a wave to come and Chad boogie boarding it in

Parker

Chad relaxing...that doesn't happen often!

My little Freckle Face!

Ashlyn loves to play in the sand!

I want to go back!!!!!!!!!

Ash was so happy to be there!

Morgan

Madyson

Mugs, Water Bottles, Night lights, Oh my!

I've found something I absolutely LOVE doing! Buying an embroidery machine has got to be one of the best purchases I've ever made. I've been able to do so many neat things with it. I started out just monogramming some shirts for my girls. Ashlyn even asked me in the beginning if all of her clothes were going to have her initials on them. :-)
Now, I'm making travel mugs, water bottles, night lights, towels, duffle bags, and more. Here are some samples of what I've done and a list of my prices. If you are interested in any of these you can contact me at prissymissy75@bellsouth.net!!

Price List:
Travel Mug~$18
Water Bottle~$22
Night light~$16
Large 3 initial monogram~$8
Small 3 initial monogram~$6
Large 1 letter~$6
Crib Sheet w/ scripture~$20
Crib Sheet w/ name~$16

It's finally in stores!

The book is out! Me With You is finally in stores. How exciting to finally read this book. My cousin Kristy did a wonderful job with it. The words are precious and the illustrations are amazing. This book would make a wonderful Father's Day gift or you could give it for Grandparent's Day which is in September. Please go to your local bookstore and pick up a copy of this book. You won't regret it. It's definitely a book you'll love forever!!


My cousin Kristy and I

I love my Mama!!

My mama is a wonderful woman! She is beautiful, hilarious, caring, giving, hard-working, fun, and the list could go on and on. I love her so much and thank God daily for making me her daughter.

Mama, I hope today has been a wonderful day for you. You deserve all the best! Thank you for loving me and showing me the love of Christ over the last 33 years. I love you so much!! Happy Mother's Day!

It's Wednesday!!

It's been a while...

So, I just noticed that it's been over 2 weeks since my last post. I better update so that I don't get a nasty email from my sister, Amy, telling me I'm a slacker! :-)

I've done a lot in the last two weeks. I went on a wonderful Ladies Retreat with my friend Stephanie. I go every year in April. It's definitely something I look forward to. This year the speaker was Ruth McWhite. Ruth was actually the speaker at the very first retreat I went to with Steph. She is an amazing speaker and so passionate about growing closer to God. The theme this year was "Recipes for Living". Ruth shared with us about the excitement of experiencing God, about prayers that satisfy, liberation from our sinful nature, the life God intends for us to have, and the sweet aroma of Christ. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE spending those 2 days each year being renewed!

Another plus this year was that Steph asked me to help her with the music! I love to sing but haven't done a lot of that since we left First Baptist North Spartanburg. I was so excited when she asked me to help. I loved every minute of standing up there helping lead in worship! Thanks Steph for giving me that opportunity! :-)

On Saturday of the retreat we have free time in the afternoon. We always pile in Steph's Suburban and head into Hendersonville to walk Main Street. I love spending time with those girls! We laugh until we hurt and pretty much just act silly. I'll post a few pics of our crazy time together from that afternoon.

A mannequin made out of bras and panties! :-)

Kim with her sunglasses on the back of her head

The other Kim about to drink the green tabasco!

I had some plastic surgery on my lips while I was away.

Steph couldn't let Kim be the only one to drink tabasco!

Steph and I

Kim, me, Kim, and Joy

Carrots, Bunnies, and Jelly Beans

Tomorrow is Ashlyn's birthday so we celebrated at her school today. She gave me specific instructions on what she wanted me to do for cupcakes! She wanted them to look like they had grass with a bunny and Easter eggs on them. I wasn't sure what to do for the bunnies but I ended up finding a bag of 40 little plastic bunnies at Hobby Lobby for $1.50. Not bad! We used Smarties Jelly Beans as the Easter eggs. I intended on making the grass look more like grass but couldn't find the right tip to ice them with so....I did the best I could. :-) I think Ash was pleased with them! Her face lit up big time when I got to her classroom and she saw them for the first time.





We also made these cute "carrots"! We used the Wilton 12 inch plastic decorating bags, filled them with Cheetos, and tied them up with a piece of green tissue paper and green curly ribbon. By the way....I've learned to cheat and buy the gift bows that are made from curly ribbon. They are already curled for you and you just pull a string of it out and voila...you have the curls already done for you!! :-)

It's finally here...

I didn't think the day would get here so fast! When we told the girls at Christmas that we'd be going on a cruise it seemed like an eternity away. I was going to be skinny by now too! Hmmmm....I'm really not sure what happened. Could it be that I went out to lunch too many times with Cindy and Jennifer? Could it be that I didn't eat breakfast most mornings to get my metabolism going? Could it be that I gain wait just thinking about food? Oh...I know what it is! I forgot to drink a lot of water all the time and go to the gym every day. OK...now that we have that figured out, let's move on. :-)

We are sooooooo excited about this trip! I love getting away and relaxing with my family! Why does it have to be so crazy before you leave though? I can't sleep at night for the 5 million things going through my head. I'm afraid I'm going to forget something which I probably will. I always do and it's never the end of the world. Chad tells me to just "clear my mind" and go to sleep. He clears his mind fast....within 5 seconds of his head hitting the pillow. I sure wish I could do that. I've never been on a cruise so there is a lot to learn! I want to make sure everyone has the right clothes for each night. One night will be dress up night and I just learned today that Chad will need a sport coat or nice button up shirt to wear. I thought he'd just be able to wear khakis and a polo. OK...so I'm beginning to ramble. Moving on.....

We set sail on Thursday from Port Canaveral. Our ship is due to sail away at 5:00 pm. We will head to Nassau, Bahamas where we will spend all day Friday. We didn't schedule anything for that day. We'll just play it by ear and probably do a little shopping, a little playing in the water, and spend some extra time on the ship. On Saturday morning when we wake up we should be pulling into Disney's private island, Castaway Cay...pronounced Key. It's a wonder foreigners can ever learn English the way we spell things! Castaway Cay looks and sounds like a wonderful place. They have these great open air cabanas where you can get a massage. Mmmmmmm....I wonder if it will feel a little like heaven?!?! Sunday morning we will dock back at Port Canaveral and it will all be over. Sounds like such a quick trip but I think it will be just the right amount of time. We will pack so much in over those few days....we'll come back needing another vacation from our vacation!

On the ship there is food every time you turn around. I plan on eating....lots! They have places you can just walk up too at anytime of the day and tell them you want pizza, or a burger, a hot dog, ice cream, etc. Then, of course, there are 3 restaurants that we'll rotate through each night. Yummy! The food may just be the most exciting part. I don't know that for sure...we'll see and I'll let you know. Gosh...I'm so glad we figured out at the beginning of this post why I'm not skinny yet! I guess I'll be drinking LOTS of water and hitting the gym when I get back. :-)

Me With You ~ My cousin Kristy's new book

Check on the trailer for my cousin, Kristy's, new book due out on May 14th! She is very talented and did an awesome job on this children's book. You can even go to amazon.com and preorder it now! Good job, Kristy! We are so proud of you!!!

Pay it Forward

A friend of mine, Jess, posted this on her blog and I thought it was such a neat idea so I thought I'd do it too. Here is how this works:

The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise. The catch is that you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going. Then come back, let me know you're going to play and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift! Everyone loves surprise packages!

The Book Fair

Today was the first day of the book fair at Roebuck Elementary School. I have a love/hate relationship with this day. I love it because they allow the kids to dress like one of their favorite book characters. Ashlyn went as Little Red Riding Hood. I hate it because I feel like it's a big money trap. My personal opinion is that they should send the information home in a sealed envelope stating when the book fair begins and ends and the day that your child's class will attend just in case you'd like to send in some money. :-) BUT...it isn't done this way! Instead, they talk it up real big, tell your child to come back on the opening night and buy books, hot dogs, pizza, cokes, cookies, etc. and THEN bring MORE money on the day that your class goes during their library time. Good grief! Seems like every time I turn around they are asking me to send more money for something. I also think they tell your child to cry real loud if their parent says they can't go tonight because there is no money until mommy gets paid on Thursday. We will not be going to the book fair tonight because mommy really has no money until Thursday. I guess that tells you how the rest of my day will go......waa, waa, waa.......

The Artist's in the Family

Madyson and Ashlyn LOVE to draw! I know I'm their mother BUT I have to say they are very artistic! Yesterday, they decided to draw together. There aren't many things they can do together and actually get along but yesterday, they sat for hours and drew pictures and DIDN'T fight! They sat at the computer, searched for a picture to draw, and then copied it. There was NO tracing involved....just looking and copying. I was so impressed that I had to take pictures. Some of them didn't turn out great because I couldn't use the flash but they'll do for now.

Ashlyn's Masterpieces...

Madyson's Masterpieces...