PSF--Dear Santa

taken Easter 2007

These two have always had a special bond. When Heath was first walking Bria would scream if she thought he was going to get hurt and yell at any kid that she thought was bullying him. This was her baby! Over the years their bond has grown tighter and they still look out for each other.

taken 2009~July

I recently found a letter to Santa from Heath, but it was written by his big sister! I thought it was so SWEET that she would do that for him!

Here is what it said:

Dear Santa, Sorry to disturb you while you are working, but my little brother hasn't been good. He slapped me on the arm and this is his note. He wants a batman, fake spaceship, robot cat, razor scooter, and real tent.

Now THIS is real sibling dynamics at work! I LOVE my kids! My life would be so dull without them! :)


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PSF~Freedom

As the kids and I headed somewhere after school we were listening to a CD that all the kids enjoy listening to. It all started out with happiness in the air and kids bobbing up and down to the music, until Alyssa started singing along with one of the songs. Well the eldest child, Chad, who for some reason thinks that it is his way or the highway (oldests...go figure)wasn't happy about this and arguments broke out. Not fun when there are 6 of you in a van. It was LOUD!

Anyways, I eventually got it under control when another song came on and that same child sang LOUDLY to that one. Now I have to admit that even MY nerves were getting a little raw from it all when Heath, following in his big brother's footsteps, said "STOP singing! It get on my newrves! We onwy wisten to music singing, not you!"

Then Bria chimed in to rescue her sister with her stubborn-I-am-only-going-to-say-this-once attitude, "If she wants to sing she can sing! It's a free country, Heathy!"

Hosted by Cecily and Sports Mama

When I say...

Green...you say White!

Green.
White.
Green.
White.

When I say St. John's...you say Crusaders!

St. John's.
Crusaders.
St. John's.
Crusaders.



It's that time of year again where we enjoy touchdowns and POM-POMS (and my life is spent running kids all over and keeping laundry up so they actually have a uniform to wear)! This is my daughter's 4th year of cheering and she is a flyer (top of pyramids). Her favorite part aside from being a flyer is the dancing and Competition. This year we are going to regionals and if we come in 1st or 2nd we can go to Nationals in Orlando! So EXCITING...except for the fact that this takes place the day after Thanksgiving...OH and the fact that it takes cashola which we have to fund raise and ask sponsors for (I am so NOT one of THOSE grab the bull by the horns people when it comes to sponsers *sigh*).

Heath pointed out the #4 behind Lys...we tried explaining that it was the goal posts, but he INSISTED it was JUST a 4!!! :)


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Don't lick the hand that feeds you!

Life has been busy and I hope that one day I will be a consistent blogger again and consistent with my PSF posts cause I really enjoy these! :)

It's amazing how much you forget about having a baby in only 4 years! Let's just say that my kids are lucky to get mac-n-cheese many a day and lucky that after 6 months of wanting to do a joint b-day party for Bria and Heath it finally happened!

It was complete CHAOS at times, but the kids loved it!

The grilling had a few glitches and my dearest ended up getting a 2nd degree burn on the sole of his foot when his charcoal canisters bottom fell out and while he was getting shoes on to clean the chaos, the grills wood ledge caught fire. Good thing another adult was there to help cause I had baby in my hands while trying to keep kids from stepping on the scattered coals. BUT the kids STILL loved it all. And Tys will never be walking on hot coals for a living!

One day I know that my kids will have chaos of their own and hope that they will learn from us how best to cope with the stress. I think the picture below PROVES that they are catching on quickly!

I was proud of Heath for not licking his brothers hand! And I am still wondering why my daughter is licking the air! Though her cousin looks pretty impressed oooor is that grossed out? :)

This weeks Photostory Friday has been teamed up with Lolli at Better in Bulk. Just click below if you would like to join in on the fun!


Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Picture Perfect

A few PSF stories back I had mentioned that we were going down to see my family. Well on my family's property there is an old Tobacco shed, fire truck and great fields to take pics, though you don't want to go into the fields much, unless you have to, cause of rattlers, other snakes, red bugs (a.k.a chiggers), fire ants...ummm you get the picture!

I decided that since I was going to be there and I had just bought some Caaaaaa-UTE 4th of July coordinating garb for my kids, that I would take their pictures! It seemed like pure GENIUS to me! I had great visions of how these pictures would turn out, where they would be placed on my walls, and where my kids would stand to get these GREAT visions to play out and then..........

Kid1, kid 2, kid 3...#5! Where's #4!!!?!?!

"Ok! Now you go here and you here aaaaand HEY! Turn and face me PLEASE! HEEEEATH! Face mo...!" I would've said mommy, but was interrupted by girls freaking out that there might be fire ants! I calm them down and go again while Heath is actually facing me...

"Ummmm, ok...FUNNY, but not exactly what I was looking for! Smile please!"

"Not a CHEESER smile! ALYSSA for the ten millionth time THERE ARE NO SNAKES next to you! Face the camera!Grrrrr...Fine we will try another location...

"Perfe...weeellll almost! Put your shirt down...this is a "G-Rated" photo here kid!" :)


"AHHHHH! Perfect (though by this tome baby boo was too tired to participate)! It'll go great in the Family room!"

You are such a stinker sometimes, but a CUUUUTE one at that! At least your kids and grand-kids will know what I put up with!

Disclaimer: No children were physically harmed or emotionally scarred due to mom's frustration. We all ended in laughter aaand with some pretty cute pics too I might say...with personality! ;)

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Risky Busyness

"It's that old time Rock'n'Roll! Kind of music that sooooothes the soul!"

Ok, so I may or may not have all the lyrics right, but you get the picture! Alls I have to say is "Eat your heart out Tom Cruise!" ;-)

Can you tell this kid is ALL busy-ness? I LOVE this little guy! :)

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Home

In Southern Georgia, where the Spanish moss hangs picturesquely from the old oak trees and the secedas, crickets and frogs sing us to sleep with their lullabyes every night! This is my HOME away from home! :) Of course it could also have something to do with the fact that my dad, and now my sister, live here too! My family have lived in this area for many, many generations and I am very attached!

Where you can rest your weary bones and rest from your troubles!

Where the blueberries are ready to be picked and there will be plenty of mouths hands ready to help!

Where the kids learn to catch lizards and respect nature!

Where family comes out of the wood work to eat some good ol' southern food! :)
This is where I will spend the next couple of weeks with the kids while hubby is busy with school. This is a much needed change of pace and I look forward to having a break from kids and life as I know it!

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Forever Young

Growing up there were many books and movies that entered my life that spoke of the fountain of youth and had epic trials to try and find such a thing. I found it...the secret of being young again! It was right under my nose.

After some time sitting back admiring the kids in their play from a distance this sweet woman got up and sat in the water, basking in the sun, fully allowing the waves to bury her legs in the sand and the most beautiful thing of it all was when she turned towards me and a smile of pure happiness swept across her face. For a minute, she was young again!

I was inspired.

That day after I put my camera away I rolled my pant legs up, splashed in the water with my kids and husband, allowed the water to bury my feet deeply in the sand while encouraging my kids to do the same and we all took turns getting buried in the sand, except for me(I drew the youth line there)! :) WE were young again. We felt pure happiness because we were LIVING and LOVING what we had...each other!



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Wrapped Around Her Pinky

This girl LOVES to be talked to! Her oldest brother LOVES to talk to her and getting her to smile!
Laney was trying to reach for him and he eventually met her halfway! I saw this and said "Man! She has you wrapped around her pinky! She can get you to do ANYTHING she wants you to do!"

He laughed and said with a cheesy grin "Yeah...EXCEPT for criminal acts!" ha ha! That's my boy keepin' it real! :)

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It's Raining, It's Pouring

But no one here was snoring! We were all out having fun doing various things in and out of the house with the sun shining, when my kids ran in to tell us there were some very dark clouds rolling in and sure enough North West of our house there were the most beautiful dark clouds coming our way. It wasn't that bad of a storm, but it was amazing to watch it move and form right before our eyes! I had to try and get some decent pictures of it all! We have been having thunderstorms on and off (Mostly on) for the past several weeks and ended up with an F2 Tornado about a mile from my house not too long ago. Of course I was sitting in my living room watching the trees swing in circles and the rain hit harder thinking "Hmmm, I wonder if a real Tornado just hit cause it looks like it." It even felt like it. You could feel a pressure difference in the air. Yeah, not so smart. When you have been around this kind of stuff for your entire life and it's been a long time since they have touched down around you, it is hard sometimes not to get desensitized. So from now on when the sirens blare, we will be in the designated closet! :) Better safe than sorry!

I have to admit that I LOVE watching Thunderstorms and the lightning that comes with them. I just wish I had a front porch to sit on during it all!

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My kid still wants to be a kid! ;)

My sons class is getting a chance to either take home a frog or a fiddler crab to take care of through the summer (IF they last that long...they aren't known for long life spans). Chad was frustrated because several of his friends had already received their pets, but in my defense he hadn't given me any of the information on what I needed to buy until 2 days after the teacher had already been giving them out. So during one of his frustrating moments he decided to tell me how one of his friends crabs was already doing interesting things. Here was our conversation...

Chad" My friend, William's crab is mating."

Me:(I was kind of caught of guard by this one) "What do you mean by "mating"?"

Chad: "Well the crab swings it's arm above it's head and the girl thinks he is attractive."

Me: (trying to draw out more from him and trying not laugh at the visual of some female thinking a guy is cute by his arm swing) "Yeah, but what is mating?"

Chad: "They make babies." Said so matter of fact!

Me:(GREAT! Did we wait too long to talk about the birds and the bees?) "Dooooo you know HOW they make babies?"

Chad; "No"

Me:(Pheeeeew! But I have to ask) "Do you WANT to know."

Chad: (he looks kind of uncomfortable and ready to leave by this point...he hates long talks and knows that this one is gonna be a long one) "Ummmmm...Not until 5th grade!"

Then he is on his merry little way and I am done sweating because my little kid still wants to be a little kid...well at least for a little while longer! I have NOT missed my opportunity as a parent to tell him about the birds and the bees, but I better get to it soon before he hears it from some other kid!



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Honesty from a Kid

I looked at my baby shower pictures with my 10 year old and asked "Do I really look that fat!?!"

He quickly thought it through and then responded, "It's only because of Laney (our soon to be newest addition)!"

I guess if you don't want to know the answer you shouldn't ask AND at least I have an excuse for now... :) I now only have one more week til baby comes...THEN I have to put down the half gallon of ice cream and hit the gym! ;)


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PSF--Our Day at the Salon

Both girls decided last year sometime to grow their hair out and donate it at the same time! The day finally came when they had at least 8 inches to donate! Boy were we all glad about that. Now we hope for quieter days when "Go get the brush" is said and that hair time will not only be more pleasant, but quicker too! Here is the story of our day at the Salon!

All loaded up and ready to go! We just dropped the boys off at one of our favorite people's houses and we were off for our "Girl's Day Out" adventure!

Alyssa went first and was pretty excited!Look at those golden locks!

Bria had to have her hair evenly distributed into ponytails and then cut because there is so much of it!

Below are the before and afters of the gals hair!

After wards we picked the boys up and celebrated at our favorite fast food restaurant complete with chocolate shakes...Burger King! And of course they had to call their Granddaddy to let him know the big news!

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