How 'Bout them Cowboys!

My Cowboys took care of the Packers last night 37-27 and now are 11-1 and in the Playoffs! Way to go!

Run Yourself Ragged

I hope this is not how any of you feel after the long holiday weekend! Do any of you remember this game? While John helped Shon bring down all the Christmas decorations he saw once again Shon's games from his childhood. (My husband is a pack rat!!!) He just had to have this game brought down so he could try it. He's actually asked before, when we moved he saw all of Shon's games and wanted to play with it then. Shon probably wasn't ready to pass them down then....he's pretty, shall we say protective of his things. Anyway, John proceeded to play with this game for a solid hour. It was so interesting to watch him and his little mind work. Shon said he was exactly the same way, he'd play with it for hours when he was a kid. Like father like son...

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. We took Alex to see his first movie. The Bee Movie. He LOVED it, they both did. When we sat down and he looked at the screen he said 'That's a really big movie, Moma!" It was so adorable. He just sat and stared amazed the entire time. Great times!!!

Happy Birthday, Trey!

My precious nephew is 2 today. If you don't beleive in miracles just look at this beautiful little boy and there you will see our little miracle. I just can't beleive that it's been 2 years since he was born and had his heart surgery. He had a blast at his birthday party yesterday. He's not feeilng so well today though... say a little prayer that he feels better very soon.

I love you, little buddy. You are a joy to me and my family. I thank God for you and how he has already worked in your little life. Happy Birthday!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHON

Happy Birthday, to my sweetie! You are such a kind, sensitive, loving husband, father, son, brother and friend. Do you realize we have now celebrated more birthdays together than we have apart? I hope you have a wonderful day!! I'm so blessed to have you in my life and thank God for you every day!

LOCK DOWN

On the way to school one morning last week John told me a story that really made me sad. It almost made me cry. He said, "I guess you remember how to do a lock down practice?" I said no I don't think we did those when I was in school. He said, "It's when they close all the blinds in our room, turn off the lights, lock our door and we all get on the floor and cover our heads. In case there is a bad man, like someone who would rob a bank or shoot people comes to our school." My heart just dropped. I said, "oh, have you practiced this yet or are you going to?" He said, "We've already practiced it. I sure hope that never happens." I said, "Yeah, me too." It's hard to believe that we've come to a place in the world where we have to practice these kind of drills in Six Mile. Don't get me wrong I'm sure glad they do practice them but it still makes me sad...and it makes me feel for the parents who have lost their kids in school shootings.

Costumes

Here are the boys in their costumes. John is Peter from Chronicles of Narnia and Alex is a pirate. We took them to the Fall Festival at First Baptist Church in Pickens. They had a blast!

Happy Halloween

Showing off their works of art!














The boys working on Alex's 'punkin'.













Alex carving his first pumpkin or as he says 'punkin'.












By the way... Bon Jovi has announced the Lost Highway world tour. Jennifer and I have been wanting to plan a trip since our 30th birthdays. So...in conjunction the tour and planning our trip...we booked our plane tickets to Ft. Lauderdale today! We will be spending the weekend there soaking up some sun on the beach and seeing Bon Jovi while we're there! Yipee! Now that was worth waiting 3 years to plan the trip for.

Anniversary Trip

Ok, Finally the pictures from our trip...
Shon trying to drive in Atlanta traffic! =)
The aquarium... a clown fish.
Aren't we cute!
One of the huge whales.
Totally being tourist...dinner, yummy! at the Hard Rock...FUN!


Twelve, yes I said 12, years ago today my wonderful husband proposed to me. Best day of my life!

Big boys don't cry...

Alex keeps telling me "I a big boy, Moma" Well, yesterday I asked him if he was a good boy at daycare. He said 'I cied (cried) when I couldn't have a big marker. I cied and cied." I said, Alex "Big boys don't cry." He said, "I do, I cy whenever I want to." I just thought that was so sweet and so to the point. I want him to always be like that. Sensitive and able to cry whenever he wants/need to.

It's been a crazy week returning from Fall Break. The students always bring lots of germs back with them... I have pictures from our trip to Atlanta. I'll try to get those posted this weekend.

Homecoming at SWU

Saturday was Homecoming at SWU. Despite the fact that I had to work it was a great day!! Family was invited and the boys had a GREAT time. This year it was all centered around athletics. There was volleyball, girls soccer and then a showdown between SWU and IWU(Indiana Wesleyan Univ). It was a lot of fun. It was a western theme with BBQ and horse and buggy rides. There was face painting for the kids and a huge slide as you can see in the pictures. 1st there is John, then me, Alex and Annica (Monique and Coach Schmitt's little girl). PS...yes, I did get a hair cut... I included a picture of the game. The team played extremely well. IWU is ranked #1 and we're #2 in the Christian rankings...it was an awesome game. You can see Alex was having a great time (flirting with all the girl students!!).

Shon and I head to Atlanta for the weekend - tomorrow to celebrate our anniversary. I'm so excited to get away and enjoy sleeping and relaxing. (thanks Moma and Daddy for babsitting!) Pictures next week!

John has his first

LOOSE TOOTH! We are sooooooooo excited!!

10 years ago today...

I said I do to my wonderful husband. The years have flown by!! It is almost impossible to believe that we have been married for a decade now! And together for 17 years.

Shon, it's been an awesome ride. You are the most sensitive, sweet and caring man. Watching you with our boys is such a joy. You are an exceptional father and I am so blessed to be on this journey with you. I look forward to all that we have ahead of us.

Thanks for everything. You are the best. Always and forever.

Happy Anniversary Moma and Daddy!

Today is my parents 36, WOW!, wedding anniversary. That is a long time. I don't mean that in a bad way...just literally that is a lot of years to spend with the same person. It takes a lot of love and commitment to survive 36 years of marriage now days. I'm very proud of them. They haven't had all easy times either. But, I've seen them have faith in each other and faith in the Lord that together the 3 of them can get through anything. I love you both very much and I hope you have a wonderful day!!

(It's ironic the only 2 pictures I had of them were from vacation, not together and with Ashley's child....go figure!!)

I've been tagged...

I've been tagged, thanks to my good friend Candice..
Rules of the tag: Each player starts with eight random facts/habits or embarrassing things about themselves. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

OK, so here are my 8 random facts.

1. I love football. Always have. Go Clemson Tigers and Go Dallas Cowboys. I have both team schedules on our calendar on the fridge.
2. I'm totally addicted to diet coke.
3. I married my high school sweet heart, 7 years to the day after we started dating. We will celebrate 10 years of marriage September 27 and 17 years together!!
4. I love soap opera's (Y&R and General Hospital)...I know, I know...I grew up in the 80's what can I say??
5. I actually love just about any TV. I have all my particular shows I watch...Gray's Anatomy, Lost, American Idol, Friday Night Light's, Brothers and Sisters, House...I really need Tevo!
6. I am HUGE Bon Jovi fan. I will be attending a concert next year when they go on tour for their new album Lost Highway. I saw them in Atlanta and Greenville during their last tour.
7. I totally adore my parents and have the up most respect for them and all that they sacrificed through the years to provide for me and my sister.
8. I love being a Mom and wife and couldn't ask for anything better than the wonderful life the Lord has given to me. I am so blessed.

So, I think I will tag...Ashley and Michael who haven't posted in FOREVER. I will also tag Shon and let him post here on my blog. That will be fun for everyone to read.

More conversations...

We had a little trouble with a shirt this morning for Alex, it wouldn't go over his head. John said, "His head is getting too big for his shirt." Alex proceeded to stick his tongue out at John.

On the way to daycare after taking John to school this morning Alex said,
"Can you pick Sarah up and bring her to my house, Mommy?"
"We can play with my farm."
I said, "Maybe we will sometime." Keep in mind that he and Sarah don't really get along all that well.
He said, "I'll share!"

I asked Alex what he wants to be for Halloween his answer was, "My Daddy!"

He definitely keeps us laughing!!!

Boy cat or girl cat?

Well, I have had so many request for pictures and the story so here you go.......
Some of you may remember that last summer we were having problems with snakes so we decided we would get cats to help with the problem. Well, my good friend Susan found 4 kittens. What she thought was 2 boys and 2 girls. They had been abandoned. So, we took the 2 little boy kittens. John named them Ranger and Munchkin. For a whole year now we thought we had 2 boy kittens. We really hadn't thought much about it. They were brothers....well Sunday afternoon Ashley and Trey came over for dinner and Ashley went out in the garage for something and when she came back in she said 'Lori, did you know that you have a kitten out here on your steps?' Of course I was like no, what are you talking about. Well, we spent the next 30 minutes trying to figure out where this kitten came from. Thinking our BOY cats had brought us a kitten. Then Shon found 2 more kittens. I even called my cousin, Eve, who is a vet to find out how to take care of these kittens. They hadn't even opened there eyes. Well, then Shon came running in the house to tell me that Ranger was NOT a boy and that he/she was actually the moma. So...you would think that I would have noticed that my boy cat was actually a girl or maybe that my boy cat was pregnant but NO. We didn't noticed any of this....but hey we're thankful for this wonderful new addition to our family. The boys are soooo excited and I'm just glad not to be the only female in the family anymore. =) Thanks to my cousin for all her advice and help. Thanks to my Moma, Daddy and Ashley for laughing there heads off at me and thanks to Shon for saying we can keep all the kittens!!! God is good at surprising us!!

First Day of School

This was John's picture on the first day of school. Iknow I'm a little behind. It's just been a little busy lately. With my school starting back, John starting back and soccer starting. Hopefully, I will get some soccer pictures this week, too. He seems to be enjoying soccer. Alex just had to join him for the picture.

We now have 3 baby kittens...anyone want to guess on how that happened?? Ashley and Moma you don't get to guess since you already know...

What do you want to happen this year?

Prior to beginning the school year John had to complete a get to know you questionnaire for his new teacher. The last question was tell me one thing you want to happen this year. When I asked him the question without hesitation my sweet, innocent little first grader said, "I want to lose a tooth. I can't believe I haven't lost one yet!" So, cute...wanting to grow up soooo fast. Tomorrow is his last day before school starts. We met his teacher today. Mrs. Alexander. Cool thing is I've known her since she was 5. She was Ashley's best friend all through school, since kindergarten. I know for sure she will take good care of him so I won't have to worry about him one bit each day.

Survived!

Well, I've survived another New Student Orientation. It's almost over. We just have a dessert fellowship tonight. A group of freshman and transfers are coming to the house for dessert tonight. That should be easy. After a few LONG days it was nice to have a break. The boys went to Shon's mom Saturday and spent the night. I just want to say that I have the BEST husband ever. He is so supportive. Not only was he totally ok with students coming to the house but he helped get everything ready AND he took me on a date last night after my busy days at work. He's just the BEST! Thanks honey for always supporting me and my ministry to my students.

By the way we had over 200 at orientation...how awesome is that!! Pray for us as we begin a new school year.

Alex can now...

RIDE THE GATOR!






He's been trying for a long time and is finally tall enough to press the gas pedal and drive at the same time. Now, the garage did take a couple of hits and so did several toys. Moma had to get out of the way a couple of times and so did John but after several attempts he got the hang of it...he can't reverse just yet but as you can see in the 2nd picture he's decided he likes towing his 'baby' gator with the larger one. He was so proud of himself!! This is quite an accomlishmnent in his mind.