Merry Christmas!!!

(Try and imagine "We wish you a Merry Christmas" playing in your head while you read!)

My family and I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

We hope you all have a safe and wonderful holiday with your family and that you always remember that Jesus is the reason for the season!

Happy Birthday to my other 1/2!

Today is very important because.........its my wonderful husbands birthday!

Today he turned 32 years old, man oh man how the time has flown by.

I remember when we started dating and I thought he was so old then. He was only 25 and I was just turning 19. Fast forward seven years and now I'm 26 which makes me a year older than he was when we started dating and I have changed my whole outlook on thinking that 25 was SO old afterall. When we met Josh was very shy and he still is to a point but sometimes he shocks me with some of the things that pop out of his mouth or how he'll talk and joke with people that he barely knows because that would have never happened a few years back. Yep, I think me and my loud mouth is rubbing off on him! It's amazing how time can change things.

Josh,

I just want you to know how much I love and appreciate you. When you came into my life, seven years ago, you changed me for the better. I'm so thankful that the Lord blessed me with such a great husband and wonderful father for our daughter. When I watch you with Maddie it makes me smile. I know we are so busy at times that I don't get to tell you how much you mean to me, but please remember that I do LOVE you and I wouldn't change our life in anyway.

Love,

You wife

Happy 32nd Birthday Daddy!

I LOVE YOU!

Love,

Maddie

YES.....I am still alive

Man oh man where has the time gone?? I look at my blog and think of how I have neglected it so much these last few months. As I sit here and type the word MONTHS, I think has it really been that stinkin' long?? There are so many things that I want to go and back blog about....so much that needs to be said and even more things that Maddie has done that really needs to be added and many birthdays that need to be wished and lets not forget about those anniversaries.

Ok, so the truth is everytime I think about logging on and blogging about something that is current, I start thinking about all the things that I have missed and honestly it makes me want to just wait a little longer and then POOF, the next thing I know its been two months and its the week of Christmas.

So, I'm going to start from here forward and as I get time work on my back blogging. Be sure to scroll down every now and again because there will be new posts that are actually old (you know what I mean) that will pop up. I hope everyone one is well!

Still Climbing the Hill

Just wanted to wish my cousin and close friend, Anita, a Happy 26th Birthday today!! Since she's still young I know its ok to disclose her age on here! HA!!

I hope you know how much we love and appreciate you! I'm glad that we have gotten so close and I'm thankful to have family like you!! Have a wonderful day(I already know you will though because you will me with ME at work! HA!)

Happy Birthday to YOU, Happy Birthday to YOU, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday to YOU!!! Love you girl!!

5 Years & Counting....

Just wanted to send a shout out to my cousin and her husband, because today they are celebrating 5 happy years of marriage (+1 beautiful 3 year old daughter)!!!!!

Happy Anniversary Kelvin and Anita, I hope ya'll enjoy your day even though both of you are at work!

We love ya'll!!!!!

Birthday Wishes......x2

Today is BIG because it is 2 very special little girls birthdays!!

This is Amy, she is 2 today!! She is my cousin, Julie's daughter.

Amy, we love you and we hope you have a very Happy Birthday today!! We will be ready to celebrate with you Saturday at your party and we can't wait for you to see what we got you!!

This is Abbey, she's my niece and today is extra special to her because she turned the BIG 1!

It's so hard to believe that she is already 1! It seems like she just came home from the hospital. Abbey, we hope you have a very Happy Birthday and we will see you on Sunday to celebrate this milestone with you! We love you!

Happy Birthday to ya'll, Happy Birthday to ya'll, Happy Birthday Amy & Abbey, Happy Birthday to ya'll!! We LOVE both of you girls very much and we can't wait to see ya'll this weekend!

Happy Birthday!!!!!

Just wanted to send some Happy Birthday wishes out to my niece, Harley, who turned SIX years old today!

Harley, it's so hard to believe that you are already six, it seems like yesterday that your Uncle Josh and I went to meet you at the hospital when you were born. You have grown up so fast and are a very smart and pretty girl!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday to you!!! We love you and hope you have a wonderful day!!!

Ballerina Maddie

Maddie started her 2nd year of dance tonight and she was so excited! She couldn't wait to get there and she Mrs. Shelia, her dance instructor.

It took me a while to get her to stop twirling so that I could take a couple pictures. I can already tell she has come a long way since she started last year!

Hasn't she grown so much!

She's already been showing me the things they've learned this year and I can't wait to see her in the Christmas program!

In Loving Memory

Recently my family and I have experienced a great loss. On August 8th, while my family and I were gone out of town, my Nanny passed away. For all of you who know us personally, you know how close we were to her. The past few weeks have been very tough but through prayer and the wonderful Lord, we have made it through.

My Nanny was a wonderful person, words cannot even begin to describe just how wonderful. She was also a very stong woman that fought some tough battles with her health throughout her life. As it nears a month from her passing I keep replaying all these different special things about her in my head that I do not want to forget.

In May 2008, we planned a family photo shoot. Naturally, we wanted Nanny to be a part of it but since it was suppose to be outside, in the heat of summer, we didn't know if she would be up to it. Aside from the fact that she was on oxygen and had to take it with her everywhere, she never really loved having her picture made. Regardless of all of that, she agreed to have some shots taken with us. I'm so thankful she did because I now have these wonderful pictures.

My Nanny was full of love and it always seemed to show right through when you were around her. She enjoyed joking and laughing and she always loved it when the whole family would come to her house so that she could watch her great grandchildren play. I spent a lot of time over at my Nanny and Papa's when I was little. I remember that no matter what was hurting on my body, my Nanny always had a way of making it better. She loved to cook and she knew how to make everything taste just right.Although Maddie only had 3 1/2 short years to get to spend with Nanny, she loved her as much I did. Nanny was right there when each of her 5 great grandchildren were born and she wouldn't have had it any other way. She loved them with all her heart and she truely enjoyed spending time with them.

Nanny always had a way of making you feel special.

Maddie LOVED going to Nanny's to play and she especially loved for Nanny to paint polish her nails.

No matter how tierd Nanny was she would always be willing to take the time to paint her hands and feet whenever Maddie asked her to. I think the part that made it extra special to Maddie was that Nanny would always let Maddie paint her fingernails too. Of course Nanny knew that Maddie would make a mess of them and she would have to re-do them after we were gone but she never minded. She would always let her without a moments hesitation. I'm so thankful to have all these wonderful memories and that I was blessed to have a Nanny in my life that was so very special. But I still can't help but hate the fact that she won't be there to hold my next baby when they are born and that she won't be there to see Maddie start school. I just wasn't ready to let her go and I know I would never have been. I miss her so much and I know I always will. I miss her calling to check in on us and all the little things that she done and said that meant so much. My Nanny was one of a kind and I pray she knows how much we all love and miss her.

Watermelon Festival- Part II

The parade was planned for Saturday and what is a parade without throwing out candy? So to keep the Watermelon theme going I turned this red bowl into a Watermelon!

I also made some Watermelon shaped fans and personalized some of them too!

Now let me just say I knew it was going to be hot but, I just had not prepared myself for just how HOT it was going to be. Did I mention it was HOT? The parade started at 10am but we had to be there around 9:15am. I thought that it may not be that bad since it was in the morning, but I was WRONG!

Maddie with her proud Daddy!

While we were waiting for everyone to get lined up, Maddie spotted a couple of her friends.

She enjoyed playing around with them for a little while.

After waiting for everyone to get in correct order, it was finally time to start the parade!

Maddie's umbrella was made special by her Aunt La La and it

came in very handy in keeping that sunlight off!

Thank you, Laurie, for taking your time to make an extra one for Maddie!

My niece,Harley, was ready to roll!

Maddie really enjoyed throwing candy out to everyone at the parade.

After the parade was over, we headed over to the Ag Center to the Festival. Despite the heat, we all had a great time and really enjoyed our day!

Watermelon Festival 2009- Part I

Last weekend was the Watermelon Festival! So since Maddie is Toddler Miss Watermelon she had to participate in ALL the activities. So on Friday night, we went out to Pals Park to kick off the Watermelon Festivities! They introduced the Watermelon Queens on stage and then there was a concert.

Maddie and Emma waiting to go on stage!

(Emma is my good friend and hairstylist, Ashley's daughter)

My niece, Harley!

All the girls on stage!

It was HOT when we first got there but after the sun went down it cooled off a lot. We had so much fun eating boiled peanuts and talking with friends!

Josh and Maddie

Mikayla, my cousin Anita's daughter!

Emma and Maddie

Dune Buggy the Clown even stopped by to make some balloon animals for the girls!

They weren't real sure about him at first, but the warmed up to him!

It was very nice to watch all the little one's have play and have fun!

Would you just look at those at those pretty baby blues!!

My niece, Abbey

Maddie, Mikayla and their friend from church, Olivia!

Everyone had fun right up until it was time to go home!

Paint Polish Please

These are the words I hear everytime Maddie wants her nails painted. Now, I'm really not sure how she came up with calling it "Paint Polish" instead of finger nail polish but oh well, whatever works. Maddie has always enjoyed getting her nails painted, so a few months ago I started taking her up to a local nail salon to get her toe nails done. She LOVES it and everytime we drive past on our way to Wal-Mart she asks if we can stop and get her toe nails paint polished. Nine times out of ten I say no because otherwise we'd be going just about every other day because thats just how many times we unfortunately end up going to Wal-Mart. HA!

So in all efforts to get my girl ready for the Watermelon parade, I knew there had to be a stop at the paint polish place. I asked my niece, Harley, if she wanted to come and she was all about it! So last Friday, I took Maddie and Harley to get there nails all ready for the BIG parade and festival. Naturally since it was a Watermelon Festival and they are the Watermelon Queens, they decided on getting RED paint polish.

This was a first for Maddie to let them paint her fingernails, normally I do that at home because they do thick coats and she really will NOT keep her hands still long enough for them to dry good.

So of course I ended up touching her fingernails up at home b/c she messed a few up.

But Harley did AWESOME with her fingers and toes!!!

She was still for them to dry and everything!

I'm so glad that both the girls had fun!

Harley was so good and liked it so much that I think that she'd enjoy a full pedicure! Not that I want Maddie to grow up so fast but I really can't wait for us to be able to get our feet done together instead of me going on my lunch break and then taking her seperately because she's still not very good at waiting.

Harley, we had lots of fun with you and are so glad that you went with us! We'll definately do it again real soon!

Suprise!!

I have to admit that I do LOVE suprises......well the good one's anyways! But I've found the older you get the less things you have to truely be suprised about. Well, last week was my birthday, I turned 26. I don't mind sharing my age and I doubt I ever will but ask me again in about 15 years! Josh and Maddie sang Happy Birthday to me that morning, then I dropped Maddie off at Meme's and on to work I went. I thought nothing more of it being my birthday but Anita, my cousin and co-worker, rememered and brought me a present!! As I was telling her she shouldn't have gotten me anything, all I was thinking was how much I just wanted to rip into the bag and see what I got! HA! This is what I found.......

These CUTE flip flops!!

Now don't be judging my toe nail polish or the chubbiness of my feet! HA! These flip flops are so comfortable and I LOVE them! So I'm sending out a BIG THANK YOU to Anita & little Mikaya for helping my feet stay comfortable and in style in this heat!

I also got another great suprise a few days after that, but this one wasn't for my birthday. My sister-in-law, Laurie, stopped by my house and brought me a small gift bag. She didn't really say what it was for but just told me to go ahead and open it. So I did and I was super excited to find this.......

A STYLISH camera strap cover!!

They got this for me as a thank you for taking pictures of my nieces, Harley and Abbey, that she entered in the Watermelon pageant for the photogenic contest. Laurie told me that since I was an "award winning photographer" (HA! HA!) I deserved to look the part! I LOVE my new strap and I hope they know that they did NOT have to give me anything at all for taking their pictures. I'm very proud to do anything I can for my family and I enjoyed doing it! THANK YOU for the strap, I appreciate it and will think of ya'll everytime I look at it!!!

I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful family!!!

Happy Birthday to Aunt Re!!

We wanted you to know that we didn't forget that today was your day too! We hope you had a great day and we love you! Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday to YOU!!!
PS Be glad that you were reading this instead of hearing me sing it! HA!

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!

Just wanted to leave some love for a few of the men in my life!

Josh, you are a wonderful husband and a awesome daddy! Maddie and I love you very much and want you to know that we are very thankful to have you in our lives. I could not have asked for a better daddy for our baby girl! Everytime I see you and Maddie laughing and playing together it makes me smile! Thank you for being so great, we had lots of fun today!

Daddy, you are also a awesome daddy and a excellent PaPa! You have always put all of us before yourself no matter what the situation. You are a very caring, giving person that seems to make whatever is thrown your way work. I have seen you give to others and end up with less yourself but you never minded. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful, hard working daddy in my life and I hope you know how much Josh, Maddie and I appreciate you! We love you!!

PawPaw, we hope you had a great Fathers Day! We love and appreciate you very much and we are thankful to have you in our lives! Thank you for raising Josh the way you did, because he has made a excellent Father too!

I hope every daddy out there had a wonderful day! Anyone can be a father but it takes a real man to be a Daddy!!!

And the 2009 Toddler Miss Watermelon is.....

These are the words I found myself hearing as I was standing on stage last Saturday. Well, we all know that I'm definately past the point of having the option to be in a pageant let alone in the Toddler divison. HA!! Of course you already know, it was Maddie, she was in the 2009 Watermelon Pageant. It was her first pageant ever and possibly her last. Not because she didn't do well but because it was pretty stressful on me to make sure everything was covered and she was were she needed to be at the right time and we all know how I tend to run a little late sometimes!

Now onto the best part, I know you are probably wondering why I haven't mentioned where she placed, but thats coming...PROMISE! First I'd like share a few pictures after all pictures are what makes a blog, right??


Here she is waiting for her division to be called on stage! She's growing so FAST! :(

I have to be honest and admit that I started to have my doubts about her dress, but once it was on her I knew it was PERFECT for her!!

A BIG THANK YOU goes to Jennifer G. for curling Maddie's hair! It was PERFECT and I really appreciate her taking her Saturday to do that for us. It took her around 3 1/2 hours to curl it all. Some of the mothers of other girls in Maddie's division thought she had a hairpiece (aka wig to me anyways) and that kinda bothered me b/c I would NEVER put something like that on my baby at her age. Needless to say I gladly lifted her hair and kinda tugged on it (sorry Maddie!!) to show them it was very real and attached to her beautiful little head! Now moving on....

Here she is on stage, she enjoyed it for sure! She waved at our family and blew kisses!

So after all the beautiful little girls had their turn on the stage, we all came out one last time for the judges to get their final look before making their decisions.

Ok, now comes the fun part where I tell you how Maddie placed.........

We were all lined up on the stage and they annouced "The Toddler Miss Sponsorship Queen is........ contestant #6, Madison Peel!!" Yay, She won Sponsorship Queen in her division!!!

Here she is with her sash and trophy!!

Next they annouced "The Toddler Miss Photogenic Queen is.........contestant #6, Madison Peel!!" I was so happy that she won most Photogenic too!!

This is the picture that won her Photogenic Queen in her division!

I'm proud to add that I'm the one who took the picture!!

Finally came the annoucement we all had been waiting for "The 2009 Toddler Miss Watermelon Queen is..........contestant #6, Madison Peel!!" I was so proud and excited!

Here is the little Beauty Queen in all her glory!!! She definately thought she was the bomb.com!!! HA!

She also ended up winning the Overall Sponsorship Queen but I didn't get a picture of that crowning. Later that night Maddie asked me why they kept putting those ribbons on her. She was referring to the sashes which she didn't particulary care for. She was much more interested in the crowns and trophies! Here she is with her BIG crown for Overall Sponsorship!

Here are all the things she won that day! We are proud of our little girl, of course we would have been proud of her even if she didn't win anything too. All the little one's were beautiful that day.

Maddie was not the only little beauty queen in the family that was crowned on Saturday. Our neices, Harley and Abbey both were also in the Watermelon Pageant. Harley (5 years) was crowned Tiny Tot Miss Watermelon and Sponsorship Queen in her division and Abbey (8 months) was 1st runner up and Photogenic Queen in the Sugar Baby division!!

We are very proud of all of our girls!!!!