Catch Up

Yes, I know it has been a while. I have no excuse for not blogging other than, well, being lazy, so here I am catching up. So, what has happened in the last few weeks? Alex started school on the 1st. He is still in pre-k this year, but now he is in a Title 1 class at his elementary school. So far he really likes it, there have been no fights or break downs yet. His class is really small, only 5 kids, so he gets a lot of individual attention, and I think he especially likes eating breakfast at school.

Our little Collin has finally potty trained, yay!!! So, no more pullups. Though he is still learning all the finer mechanics of it, he is doing very well both day and night, with just about no accidents for the last few days. And now Mackenzie keeps asking to sit on the potty. I don't know what I will do when I don't have to buys diapers anymore, do a little happy dance I think. LOL.

And as for Mackenzie, she is a little bundle of energy, she just runs everywhere. I gotta get on the ball too, because her second birthday is in a month. I think the theme is gonna be Tinkerbell this year (with a little halloween thrown in there since it is in October, I can't help myself, we are Halloween freaks around here :-) ).

And as for me, the excitment in my world? They just opened a Target in Martinsburg, woohoo!! That means Starbucks! And Frappuccinos!! LOL. I am just sooooo easily amused. :-P So anyway, here are some random pics from the last few weeks. I promise I will be back sooner this time!. :-)




Yes, this is Mackenzie in her Halloween costume, I just bought it this past weekend and couldn't resist putting her in it, she is just too cute!!!

and this was just precious, Alex and Jasper asleep together. Amazing to see Jasper laying down, he is definitly the psycho kitty!

Our Newest Addition

So here he is, our newest little addition. My very sweet sister-in-law drove all the way to Fredericksburg (Like an hour and a half drive) to pick this little guy up for me. He is 10 weeks old, very playful and very friendly. I decided to name him Jasper (Jazz for short). Why you ask?? Well, I am a total dork and love Twilight, so I went through all the male Vampire names from Twilight and settled on Jasper because, well, I think he looks like a Jasper. So far our other cat Riley has tolerated him, and Sophie our dog has just about completely ignored him. And it is a struggle to get the kids to leave him alone, they are constantly wanting to pet him, pick him up, or just follow him around yelling "JASPER!!" at him. But I am sure after a week or two the novelty will wear off and they will back off some.

So, welcome Jasper, to our loving, slightly insaine family. Hopefully you weren't looking for calm and peaceful, cause you won't find that here. LOL. :-)

Collin's 3rd Birthday Party!

Well, I don't know quite how it happened but some how my little boy is turning 3! His real birthday is on tuesday the 11th, but we had his party on this past saturday. We decided to do a cook out and spent lots of time sitting outside, enjoying the day. Thank you to everyone who came, we had a wonderful time, and were so happy to share the special day with you!

Collin threw a little bit of a fit right when we wanted him to blow out his candle because it meant that he had to stop playing with his new trucks.

It was hard to keep Alex from trying to open collin's presents, but in the end he was very good, and Collin really got into ripping the wrapping paper into little tiny pieces.

We were lucky that a good friend of ours, Beth, and her two boys were able to come to the party. In this pic is my hubby, Mackenzie, Jack (Beth's youngest), and finally Beth. The animals are always a big hit with the kids. :-)

And finally, this is the cake I made. Over all it turned out ok, the 'building' ended up almost falling off the back of the cake, but luckily it held up. And, it tasted good, and that is the important part.

Busy August

Ok, so I haven't posted in a while, simply because, well, things really have not been that exciting. Just the usual everyday joys and sorrows of screaming children, house stuff, work, blah blah blah. But, now that August is here, the tempo should pick up, A LOT. First, on the 8th we are having Collin's 3rd birthday party, which should be fun if it doesn't rain (it better not, and even if it does we will still have fun, :-) ), then the 11th is his actual birthday so I gotta figure something out to do on that day. Then the 15th is my birthday (I'll be 26, woo hoo, not too exciting) and we are alos having a yard sale at the local flea market that weekend. On the 17th Collin has his 3 year check up and on the 24th his first dentist appointment. And finally on the 26th Alex starts school (still preschool, but it is at his elementary school). So, this month should prove to be interesting.

Oh and a big birthday shout out to my Dad, today is his B-day. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!! All these August babies, I think I read somewhere that more babies are born in August than any other month, all that November-December happiness I guess, LOL.

Brothers and Sister

So, the kiddos spent the weekend with my mom this last weekend, and as a fun craft she made tye dye shirts with them. They came out very very cute, and after they were all done my mom took this pic. It is so hard to get all three of them together where they arn't either upset, screaming, or trying to run away, so a pic like this is priceless. Thanks mom!! :-)

Whats New Here?

Well, not much actually. Alex is taking swimming lessons for the next few weeks. He had his first one this past sunday and did very well. He was really shy and a little scared at first, but after a little while he warmed up to the teacher and really tried hard to do what the teacher was asking him to do. As a treat afterward I took him to 7-11 and got him a slurpee and some gummy bears, which he greatly enjoyed. Other than that, there is little else going on around. I guess I just wanted to post to let everyone know we are still alive. LOL. Of course the calm will soon end as Collin's b-day is coming up in August (as well as mine, but we won't say anything about that. :-P ).

Oh, I did want to pass along a recommendation. If anyone one out there is interested in natural and alternative medicine and hollistic living, I just recently found a pretty cool website/blog called http://www.healthyfellow.com/. It is updated pretty regularly with information about everything from medical treatments, to hair and skin care, to nutrition and all sorts of other interesting topics. In general there is just a lot of stuff about keeping your mind and body healthy, and I have really enjoyed reading through the posts. Just thought I would pass that along, if anyone was curious about that kind of stuff. :-)

And well, next time I post hopefully it will be more exciting. LOL. :-)

Can we say busy!!!?

Ok, so this is backwards,but for some reason it always puts the pics before what I write, no matter where I put the cursur, so just read below first. LOL.


A pic taken by my Grandma Ballard. Mackenzie was covered in cake, but she was one happy girl!

My whole family that was there. From left to right, me, my cousin Olivia, Grandma Ballard (my dad's mom), Uncle Curtis, Aunt Donna (my dad's sister), Sarah (My new sis in law!), my Brother Tom, my mom, my uncle (mom's brother), my step-mom Rhonda, and my dad.

A pic of me and Timm and Sarah and Tom. Timm looks good in this pic (though that may be because he was actually just smiling and not making a funny face or doing something stupid, LOL, love you honey!). I on the otherhand look fat, I think I am slouching in the pic or something cause I swear I really did look a lot better that day. Plus, I started out the day in Stilleto heals that looked great, but they don't work too well in grass, so they were ditched....Anyway, enough complaining about myself.

Ok, so yes, I am still alive. We have just been incredibly busy I feel like I have been running ragged the last few weeks. We have been preparing our house and yard for my brother's wedding, which was on the 4th. We dug new flowerbeds, mulched our brains out, built a new deck after tearing the old one down, and weeded/mowed/and trimmed everything a million times. :-) But in the end it was all completely worth it. The ceremony was on saturday and it was beautiful. I was blessed enough that my brother asked me to officiate the wedding, why you ask?? Well, I think it started as a joke "hey, YOU could so the wedding!" Ha ha, laughs all around. Well then it got me thinking, I wonder if I could? So I went online, and within a few short minutes I was ordained and sent all my paperwork into the State of West Virginia with $25, and a week later I had a license to perform marriages in WV!! So, I ended up doing it. It really was fantastic, everyone had a great time. We got to see family we haven't seen in a long time, hang out with old friends, had a ton of great food, and set off fireworks.

I think what was the most wonderful part for me though was that my brother is one of the most important people in my life. It almost chokes me up thinking about how much he really means to me. Since I was a little kid he has been my best friend, and besides my husband, he is my best friend. He is the kindest, sweetest, most loyal man, with a crazy sense of humor and a dork after my own heart. So, to see him so truely happy made me so happy I almost started crying during the ceremony. All I can say is that I wish him all the luck in the world, a marriage is a difficult thing and the road can be bumpy, but if you keep your partner close to your heart and in your mind at all times and you work through it together, it can be the most life altering thing (other than having children). I love you Bro!!