Presley Turns FIVE!!!

Can you believe that our little girl turned FIVE today!!! Tom and I can't!!! Five is always such a hard age for me because they really do seem so big. Next year big school starts and it seems like only yesterday that she was the tiny little baby we were bringing home from the hospital at Christmas. We had a special Birthday breakfast of blueberry muffins complete with candles and a birthday song from Mommy, Daddy, Carsen, and Camden!!! I took a cookie cake up to her school for her to have with her class. We try to make the day a special as we can. It is hard with December babies because you feel like they get lost in all the Holiday Hussel and Bussel. (of course that doesn't stop us from having babies in December!!! Ha! Ha!) Presley is such a blessing to this family. She makes a wonderful sister and daughter and she brightens each day with big brown eyes and cute little smile. She will always be her mommies P-Pie Pony!!!!

Jesus Gives the Greatest Christmas Gifts

Our family has discovered that Jesus really does give the best Christmas Gifts. Our little blessing Camden was born weighing in at 7lbs. 12oz!!!! He is also 21 inches long. He couldn't be more perfect. Believe it or not he looks a little bit like his Mommy!!! (Finally!!) He has light red hair and of course blue eyes for now but we will see if that changes. Carsen and Presley love holding him and Carsen can't quit tapping him on the nose!!! He is such an angel. The presence of everyones prayers have been with me since I have been here and the surgery went wonderfully. Tom came into the operating room and told me that he had been calls and text messages from everyone saying that they were praying for us and the funny thing is I knew it was the truth because I felt the presence of prayer and peace. We really do serve a wonderful Heavenly Father. Camden is a reminder to us of what Christmas is all about. It is about Jesus and blessings he gives us on a daily basis and the miracles he creates just for us to love and build memories with.

Christmas Family Fun!!!

All decked out in Christmas PJ'S!!!! We have such well behaved kids!!! Look how nice they all sit for their pictures!!! (We told them they had too or they couldn't open up presents!!!!)

What a cute group on kids!!! Just think next year there will be two more added in the picture!!

Getting ready to hear a story and go on a Scavenger Hunt!!!

My friends started a tradition a little while back where we get together at Christmas and the kids draw names of friends and exchange gifts. We bring cookies to exchange with each family and we dress the kids in their Christmas PJ's and take pictures!!! If it sounds like it is out of a movie you need to be there to get the full experience. The kids have the best time and since we are averaging two to three kids per family it is a "BIG" tradition to say the least. It really is the greatest way to kick off the holiday season. It feels just like Christmas morning to see all the kids opening gifts and getting excited!!! It has now turned into what my family calls a "Family Tradition". We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and not a day goes by that I don't Thank God for these families and children to be a part of our lives!!! I can't wait to see what God has in store for these beautiful children!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Tom's sister Lisa and her 2 boys Nick and Joey!!!

Grandma Pettica and her Grand kids!!!!

The two girls that look the exact same!!!! Everyone says that Presley looks just like Alysha you can see why!!!

We had a great Thanksgiving with our family this year!!! Tom's sister Lisa came up from Florida and her two boys Joey and Nick were with us as well. My kids don't get to see them too often so you can imagine their excitement. You can look at this picture and see that my third child doesn't have a shot to look like me!!! This looks like one big Italian Family!!!! I don't ever notice it until I see all of them together. Not a blue eye in the bunch!!! Of course we wouldn't have it any other way!!! We love each one of them. What a blessing it has been for Tom and I to watch them grow into the young ladies and gentlemen that they are!!!

P-Pie Pony in JEANS!!!!

Yes it is true you are seeing Presley in Jeans!!! This is the first time she has worn them. I tried to put a pair on her last year and she said that felt funny so she wouldn't wear them. I brought home this pair to add fabric to the bottom so she could wear them with her Big Sister t-shirt to the hospital but once she got them on she said she didn't want to put anything on them she liked them just the way they are!!! Now all of the sudden she loves them and asks me to wear them all the time. What have a started!!!! Of course, she looks adorable in them and believe me I think she knows it!!!!

Thanksgiving Party at Presley's School

Once again Mrs. Lacy and Mrs. Sally impressed all of the parents with the Thanksgiving Party at Presley's school. The teachers made the little Indian t-shirts for the kids and let them draw pilgrims and Indians on them, plus they made the feather hats, and noodle necklace. All of the kids looked so cute and they sang the cutest songs for the parents. Notice Presley's BIG red hair bow coming out of her feather hat!!! Things like that just make me happy!!!(ha! ha!) Of course, Tom said you couldn't take that out of her hair so she could just wear the hat!!!! Truth is she didn't want to take it out!!! (Mommy has taught her well!!!) After all of the singing we got to look at some of the crafts they did on the Mayflower Presley wrote that she was Thankful for her Mom!!! (I cried!!!) If you look closely though you will notice the picture that she drew I am the grey person with the BIG HEAD!!!! I asked her why my head is so big and she said "because my belly is so big!" Please remember that I am pregnant!!!! Mrs. Lacy said a pray after that which she cried the whole way through and I of course cried with her. It is such a comfort to know that we have a teacher who loves her job so much and the kids that she teaches!!! I can't say enough good things about Mrs. Lacy and Mrs. Sally!!! They do a wonderful job and our family loves them both.

Class Field Trip to INK

Carsen's class went on a field trip to INK!!! This is one cool place. They have different stations set up for the kids to play in. There is a bank, an airplane, a train, a playground, and a grocery store just to name a few!!! The kids had such a great time. Plus, they rode a bus (which of course made mommy a nervous wreck!!!) I asked Carsen how he liked the bus ride and he said that it gave him a headache!!! He has never rode on a bus before so he didn't know that it was so LOUD!!! Overall though he had a great time and I was blessed to be able to witness his first field trip. He is having a great time in school and is really enjoying his class.

Having Fun in the Fall Leaves!!!

Every year when the leaves fall we go visit our Ommie and Granddaddy to rake leaves and jump in!!! The kids have so much fun doing this. Ommie and Granddaddy have lots of tress so this has become a little tradition. Plus they have a big chestnut tree in the front yard that the kids love to climb. That same tree holds the "baby" swing that we used to swing them in when they were little. My how time goes by!!! The kids jumped in the leaves so much that they finally turned into mulch!! After we jump in the leaves we go inside and bake cookies!! Thanks for all of the fun memories Ommie and Granddaddy we love you!!!!!

Fall Festival Fun!!!

We took the kids to the Fall Festival at our church!!! We invited the neighbors to come with us and all of them had such a good time. Presley will not let us miss the Fall Festival because she LOVES riding the ponies!!! Which is where one of my nicknames came from for her (P-pie Pony!!!) Of course, Tom and I have a few crazy nicknames for both of the kids!!! It's just what we do!!! In case you don't have little ones Presley is dressed as Irdessa a fairy from Tinkerbell and Carsen is Anikan Skywalker!!! They had a blast!!!

Character Day at Presley's School!!!

Mrs. Lacy had all the kids send in old clothes to do an art project with the kids!! I had no idea that is was going to be a cute little scarecrow!!! The kids made the faces on them and put on the hair and at the end of the day the scarecrows came home!!! Thanks Mrs. Lacy and Mrs. Sally for all of your hard work!!! What a great idea!!!

All of the kid had to dress up as a character in a book or movie and Presley dressed up as Irdessa on the new Tinkerbell movie!! She said after all "She is the prettiest fairy in the movie!!!" I had to agree. You just don't get any cuter than this!!! I LOVE PRESCHOOL!!!

Now this picture is special to me for many reasons. Before I explain please remember that I am pregnant and emotional!! This is a picture of the Directors of Presley's school dress up as the Wizard of Oz!! They led the kids in a parade around the school. This touches my heart because I remember Carsen going to this school and when he graduated from the four year old program I remember "Dorothy" Hugging him and crying along with another staff member. Not just because they were proud of him but because they really do truly LOVE our children!!! I have never felt so blessed!! There is something to be said when you pull up to carpool line and see a bunch of teachers dressed in costumes praying for your children!!!! I thank God daily that my kids have been so blessed to be in such a great preschool environment!!!

Here is Mrs. Lacy "Raggedy Ann" and Mrs. Sally "GO! DOG! GO!" How cute are these two? These are two of the "coolest" teachers at school according to Presley!! They make everyday so much fun. The kids had a great little party and parade. Some of the moms came in a read a story about "silly sandwiches" and later set up a silly sandwich stand where the kids got to make their own silly sandwiches!!! Presley's had Peanut Butter, Marshmallows, Gummy Worms, and M & M's!!! She ate every last bite!!! What a fun day at school!!!

One last look and the "light fairy" Irdessa!!! She will make another appearance on Halloween night!!! With wings that really light up!!! She is so excited!!! Don't tell.... but she is good friends with Anikan Skywalker so she will probably be seen by his side!!!

Carsen's Baseball Party

Having fun with Teammates!!!

Carsen's baseball coaches handing out the trophies!!! Carsen is so proud every time he gets a trophy!! He puts it on his self at home right away!!

Looking at his name and being proud of himself!!!

What a cute cake!!! Go Mets!!! They had a great year and Carsen really learned a lot about baseball. His coaches and Daddy really worked hard with him and he is ready to start Spring Ball!! The question is "Is Mommy?"

Some more pictures of Carsen with his teammates. He really had a good time this year. This was his first year really playing and getting good skills!! Look how big he is!!! I can't believe that he has grown into a little man so quickly!! Daddy and I are proud of the baseball player he is becoming and he is excited to play again in the Spring!!! GO METS!!!!! (We only cheer for the Mets when our son is on the team!!!) That has been the hardest part for Daddy!!!

Disney on Ice!!!

This is how much fun we had!!! Carsen and Presley both fell asleep in the car!!!

Look at that sweet little face!!! She loved Disney on Ice!!!

As you can tell Carsen has no problem getting his sister to turn a Disney Princess show into a sword fight. Oh the joys of having a great big brother that will only play his games!!!

This show was really great for both kids!!! Lighting McQueen was there and the Lion King so it had some good stuff for Carsen as well. He told me that he really liked the Tinkerbell part the best but I bet he might not admit that to just anyone!!! I love that he is still little enough to not care about going to these things with his sister!!! I know that time will soon pass.

This is our trip to Disney on Ice and I tried at least 4 times to get this picture to be the first one that you saw on the blog and the picture of the kids sleeping the last but as you can see I didn't succeed!!! Oh well!!! We had a great time and we ran into our friends while we were there. The girls were so excited to see each other and of course Carsen was the only boy but he didn't seem to mind. (Would you? Look how pretty all these girls are!!!!) We wanted to take the kids for one last family outing before our new addition arrives. This was a night filled with fun and the kids loved "Silly!"

Carsen is Student of the week at his School!!!

As a Mom I am lucky in so many ways, but every now and again all of us mom's get the right to brag a little bit about our children. Just so you are prepared this is going to be my bragging time about Carsen. He was named Student of the week at his school. His teacher wrote in the weekly news letter that Carsen is student of the week because "Carsen is kind and helpful and he knows how to be a good friend." Now of course I am proud of that because in my eyes he is a sweet sweet boy. The next thing is what really brought out the proud parent in me. Carsen had to answer a list of questions to help the class get to know him better. These questions will be placed on the bulletin board in his class all week!!!

1. My favorite color is: Red
2. My favorite book is: Green Eggs and Ham
3. My favorite television show is: Star Wars
4. My favorite sport is: Golf
5. When I grow up, I want to be: A Policeman
6. I'm Special because: God made me.
7. The place I'd most like to visit: Sea World
8. My favorite food is: Mac and Cheese
9. One thing I really want to learn is: Tennis
10. The best thing about me is: I am kind.
11. The people in my family are: Mom, Dad, Carsen, Presley, and Camden.
12. I have a pet: Dog.
13. My best friend is: Parker
14. The person I most admire is: God.
15. My favorite subject in school is: Science.

Now I promise I didn't prompt him in any way when he was answering these questions. When you hear something like the person your 6 year old admires the most is GOD it just fills your heart with happiness. I am so glad that God shows me on a daily basis through both of my children that his love fills our hearts and lives. I am also so glad that God knows me so well that he teaches me the most through my children. That is one of the blessings that I will never get tired of. It is my prayer for all of my children to keep him that personal in their lives. Thanks for letting me brag on my sweet boy!!!

Presley goes to the Dentist

O.K.... so this is not her first trip to the Dentist but it was one that I happened to have my camera for. We go to the coolest so called "Kid Dentist". They have video games and the whole experience really seems more fun for the kids than scary!!! Where was this place when I was little!!!

Fun Facts

I was given an assignment by Kelli for our girls night to post 100 fun facts on my blog about myself. Since I have so much time on my hands these days I thought this would be my project for today. I must say that I really have enjoyed reading every one's little facts. I am learning so much about my friends that I probably should have always known. I would encourage everyone to do this it is a cute thing to read. You can rest assure that I am keeping up with every one's blog these days so you know that at least I will be reading it!!!!

1. I love my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with all of my heart and soul.
2. It was my husband Tom who showed me the way to Jesus.
3. My Life has never been the same since.
4. My husband is my best friend!!!
5. I have the best parents in the world!!
6. I have the most beautiful children I have ever seen!!!
7. I LOVE being a stay at home mom.
8. I graduated from Georgia College in Milledgeville.
9. I have a double major in Psychology and Criminal Justice.
10. I have a Master's degree in Family Therapy.
11. I am still paying for it!!!
12. I love coffee.
13. The coffee I order the most is flavored with one sweet-n-low and cream.
14. Cute coffee cups make me happy.
15. I love anything seasonal.
16. Fall is my favorite time of year.
17. I love taking my kids to pumpkin patches.
18. My mom and I take full days and go to festivals.
19. I love to have the Thanksgiving Day Parade on while cooking Thanksgiving Dinner.
20. I'm really the only one who likes it!!!
21. If I am at home a candle is lit.
22. Worship music is my favorite.
23. I change all of Tom's stations to it every time I'm in his car.
24. The first time I met Tom he almost ran me over with his car.
25. We only dated for 6 months before we were engaged.
26. We were engaged for 2 whole years before we were married.
27. Tom washed cars to buy my ring!!!
28. I wouldn't trade it for the world!!!
29. Tom and I make up nicknames for everything including our children.
30. I love that no matter how long we have been married he still makes me laugh.
31. My favorite magazine is Southern Living.
32. I love to sew and make things that are cute.
33. I never have enough time to do them for myself.
34. I love to dress my daughter.
35. One of my hobbies is finding great deals on her clothes.
36. I love having rocking chairs on my front porch.
37. I love to have flowers in my yard.
38. Most of the time I kill them!!!!
39. I love any movie with Meg Ryan!!
40. I kiss attack my children every night while they are sleeping.
41. I love that when I look at them I still see them as babies.
42. I am so happy that my children are close.
43. I have bungee jumped twice.
44. One day I would love to sky dive.
45. I love all roller coasters.
46. I am scared of fish in lakes or the ocean.
47. I love to go on vacations with my family.
48. One of our favorite places to go is Hilton Head.
49. I hope to retire there someday.
50. I am not athletic.
51. I have always wanted to be.
52. I would love to run a 1/2 marathon one day.
53. I love that my kids call me Mommy!!!!
54. My husband and I are both OCD (he is worse than I am!!!)
55. I don't like scary movies.
56. I love having my whole family over to my house.
57. I am an only child.
58. I have always wondered what it would be like to have a brother or sister.
59. I knew that I wanted to have a big family.
60. I love it when Tom surprises me!!
61. My favorite color is Pink.
62. My favorite flowers are daisies.
63. I can't sleep unless all the doors in my house are closed.
64. Facebook freaks me out.
65. I love to shop at TJMAXX.
66. Polka dots make me smile.
67. I love buying pj's.
68. I love that my daughter wears hair bows.
69. I love getting a mani and pedi with my daughter.
70. I love taking my children to church on Sunday mornings.
71. I love even more that they want to be there.
72. I cry at almost anything.
73. I love having a candy dish at my house it reminds me of home.
74. I have never cared about cars or jewelry.
75. The first car I had was a YELLOW GEO STORM!!!
76. Tom drove it after we were married (It was painted black!!!)
77. We met two of our best friends on our honeymoon and are still close today.
78. I have always wanted to sing a solo at church.
79. I'm not a good singer!!!
80. I love that my kids think I am!!!
81. I have always wanted to be hip!!!
82. I'm not!!!
83. I iron everything.
84. I am not a very good cook.
85. I love to bake for my family.
86. I love to watch Carsen play sports.
87. I love that Presley still says "three" like the word "free" (that's ok? right Christina!!!)
88. She also says "bologna" like "vologna"!!! I don't have it in me too correct her.
89. I have no idea how to put on make up!!!
90. My husband doesn't let me pick out any one's tennis shoes not even my own!!
91. I have 3000 minutes on my cell phone.
92. I usually use them all!!!
93. I get mean when I am hot!!
94. I have always wanted to go to Italy.
95. I always sign cards to Tom "Love Me"
96. I love having friends to turn to when I need them.
97. I love going on "girl trips"
98. I love to watch Tom and Carsen play golf.
99. I love that Presley wants to take lessons to play with them.
100. I can't wait to buy her pink golf clubs!!!!

I finished!!! Hope you enjoy this. It is a great idea Kelli!!! I look forward to getting to know fun little things about all of my friends.