Drummin' on a Thursday.....

I thought that 2 and 3 year olds liked to get out their mom's pots and pans and bang around. I remember when Beckett started doing that. The only thing is....he never stopped! If I would let him, he would "drum" on pots and pans every day. Some days it is just too loud! But today, he got out all of my pots and pans and combined them with his toy drum (most used Christmas present ever) and his drum sticks and put on a little "Toby Mac" concert. Beckett decided to sing his own version of "Portable Sounds" by Toby Mac! Enjoy!

Whirlwind Wedding Weekend!

Sean, Julie and I left LC on Friday at noon and traveled to Maryland for Neil and Kathryn's wedding! We arrived at 10PM Friday night and stayed with our new friends, Victor and Pearl! They were such gracious hosts! The wedding was at 1:00 on Saturday afternoon and the ONLY picture I took was when Neil and Kathryn were leaving the dinner reception! I am so sorry that I didn't take any pictures of them in their wedding attire. Kathryn was a beautiful bride and Neil was so handsome! The ceremony, church reception and then dinner reception were so nice! We had a great time visiting with all of Neil's family as well as all of his new "Maryland family"! We got up on Sunday morning and went down to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore and walked around for a while. Then we drove a short distance to Fort McHenry which is the 18th century fort where Francis Scott Key wrote "The Star Spangled Banner." We left Baltimore around noon and headed home. We made it back to LC around 10PM! Needless to say, we had a great time with "Jujy"..... many laughs and funny quotes! Beckett and Helen stayed with Nana and Papa and they had a great weekend. We were happy to see them when we picked them up early this morning! I'm posting a few pictures from the weekend! Hope everyone enjoyed a nice Memorial Day!

Here are Kathryn and Neil as they left the dinner reception. Everyone was blowing bubbles as they made their way to the limousine!

Sean and I stayed in Pearl and Victor's camper in their backyard! "Yes indeedy" it was quite nice! I wasn't sure what to expect when Neil told us that we could stay with Kathryn's aunt and uncle and sleep in their RV, but it turned out to be very comfortable! We had heat and air, TV, a shower and Pearl had stocked the fridge for us!

It was great!

Here is a picture of the harbor in Baltimore. It was a beautiful day and the area was very nice!

Oh say can you see, by the dawn's early light?
The "star spangled banner" inside Fort McHenry!

May 21st is a very special day!

Today was Beckett's last day of school so he is an official Kindergarten graduate! Our umbrella school, Christian Academy of Knoxville, gave us a skills check-list to turn in at the end of the year, so we spent the morning testing the many skills that Beckett must have in order to complete Kindergarten. He passed with flying colors! It is hard to believe that my first post on this blog was on Beckett's first day of school! (See blog archive to the right and click on August to see picture of first day of school!) This year has gone by so quickly! We have had a great year, but he is VERY excited to get a break this summer!

Beckett with his Kindergarten Diploma!

He also received a Certificate of Promotion to First Grade!
Way to go Beckett!

May 21st is also a special day because 14 years ago, Sean and I got married! We went out to dinner this evening and had a great time. We agreed tonight that each year just gets better and better! I am very blessed to have such an amazing and wonderful husband! He is a great support and encourager to me, he makes me laugh every day, he is an awesome father and he is my best friend. Most importantly, he is a strong spiritual leader for our family, and for that, I am very thankful!

Pictures from last Friday and Saturday.......

We had fun this past weekend and I thought I'd share a few pictures. On Friday morning we went to Lillie's school to hear a children's author speak. His name is David Sargent and he writes books about his best buddies....his pet dogs. He brought his four dogs and then he read some of his stories to the kids. Beckett and Helen had fun visiting Lillie and seeing the dogs! It was "dress as your favorite book character" day at Lillie's school, so that is why she is dressed as a princess!

On Saturday, Beckett played his last baseball game of the season. After the game, we met the team at the new Gatti's in Turkey Creek and had a team party. The next few pictures are of Beckett with his trophy, Beckett eating pizza with some of his team mates and the baseball cupcakes I made to share with the team! His trophy is pretty cool. It is a baseball glove and he can put his game ball in it!

After the pizza party we had a few things to pick up at the store. We didn't have anywhere else to be, so we killed a little time playing around! Here are Beckett and Sean playing with some Hulk boxing gloves. It got pretty ugly!

And here is Helen with her lovely Hannah Montana hair!

Pretty Pedicures!

A sweet friend blessed me by giving me a gift certificate to get a pedicure and I went this morning! Sean had to take the day off to install a new hot water heater, so he and Beckett stayed home and worked, while Helen and I went to Lenoir Nails! It was so relaxing and nice! Helen sat on my lap the whole time and was quite interested in everything that was going on, so when we got home, I gave her a pedicure. It was a fun day! Thanks to Sean and Beckett for all of their hard, dirty work while Helen and I got to be pampered!

Helen's First Pedicure!

Prince Caspian

The movie starts today!
I am reading C.S. Lewis's Prince Caspian to Beckett and he is very excited about the movie! We were visiting the movie's official web site this afternoon and they had this widget that you could add to your personal blog. I thought it might be fun! (Like I really know what a widget is!) But now I have one on my blog! Ha! You can click all of the links and even watch the trailer on The Harper Hullabaloo! How cool is that?

We are enjoying the story and will see the movie soon!

Look What Came in the Mail Today!

We decided to order some painted lady larvae so we could watch their life cycle as they turn into painted lady butterflies! They finally arrived today and we are looking forward to watching our little caterpillars turn into butterflies! Beckett and Helen were so excited to find the box containing our caterpillars in the mailbox today, so I re-created "the moment" and went back out to the mailbox to take some pics!

Here is the culture cup with the caterpillars inside.

Beckett and Helen are creating their journals to document what we observe over the next three weeks! What fun content for the blog! (At least for me, the weird stay-at-home mom!) :)

The last few days.........

Jumping in the "jumpoline" at Nana and Papa's house with Beckett and Helen's cousins! Nana and Papa bought this really cool inflatable castle to let the grandkids play in and they all had a blast Saturday evening bouncing around in it! We just wish Ty and Marley lived a little closer so they could have been there, too!

Beckett, Lillie, Helen and Connor
Swimming with our friend and neighbor, Carson in his pool! (Or should I say "splashing" in his pool?) Needless to say, Beckett dis-places much of the water with each trip down the slide!

I left my camera at Sean's mom and dad's house on Saturday evening after a cook-out to celebrate Mother's Day with his mom. Therefore, I wasn't able to take any pictures of the kids and me on Mother's Day! I hope that all of you mothers had a wonderful day with your loved ones! I had a great day even though I had a pretty rotten cold that has turned into a sinus infection! Yuck! Hopefully the anti-biotic will kick in soon! Anyway, after church Sean made my favorite pasta dish for lunch and Beckett and Helen gave me cards and pictures that they had drawn. They all gave me a gift certificate to a day spa! So, I'm hoping to schedule a pedicure and a chair massage SOON! I am truly blessed and LOVE being a mom!

I'd like to ask you to remember Sean's brother, Josh, when you pray! He had a freak accident on Sunday when he was installing a light fixture. He cut his wrist very badly and had to have many stitches. They thought that everything was OK, but he does not have much feeling in his fingers. He is going to another Dr. this morning to get a second opinion and quite possibly will have to have surgery. I'm sure that he and Kathy will appreciate your prayers as they make decisions about how to best correct this injury to the nerves in his wrist!

Blessings to you all!

Helen's Turn to Turkey Hunt!

I had one excited little girl on Monday when she found out that she was going to go turkey hunting with her daddy when he got home from work! She was so excited to get to ride in "Mater" (which is Sean's early 90's red Nissan truck) and that she would get to wear camo and call turkeys like her dad and brother! Don't worry, the gun she is holding is one of Beckett's play guns! They had a great time and didn't see or hear any turkeys, but I'm certain that a lot of special memories were made!

Always posing! Even in camouflage!

Game Ball!

My mom and dad drove over to watch Beckett's baseball game last night and Sean's mom and dad are able to come to all of his games, so he had quite a cheering section last night! He played very well and hit the ball hard! Beckett earned the game ball which is an honor given to the player who has hustled and played hard all night so we were all excited and proud of him! Great game Beckett!

Sliding into home!

I've been trying to get a video of Beckett sliding into home plate and finally got one last night. Remember that he is playing in an instructional league, so everybody hits every inning and there are really no plays at home! However, Beckett feels the need to slide every time! Not only did I catch his excellent form, but as he popped up, he saw me videoing and did a quick "pose" for the camera! I hope you can tell how much fun he has! :)

Why We Love Sunday Nights.......

Here is a picture of some of the kids that come to our home on Sunday nights with their families for our growth group time! There were two other children here last night that didn't get in the picture and there are about 5 other kids whose families didn't make it last night! We are so glad that the weather is warmer and that the days are longer! The kids play outside from about 5:30 until almost 8:00 every Sunday night! I heard that next week they will be learning some karate moves!

So, Beckett lost his two bottom teeth over a month ago, but just decided last night that he wanted to leave his teeth under his pillow for the tooth fairy! Here he is with his teeth, getting ready to put them under his pillow!

We are hoping that Helen will lose some of these teeth soon so that the tooth fairy will visit her! Ha! Ha!


Here they are showing his teeth before they put the pillow down and drift off to sleep!

And here is what he found when he woke up this morning! Two shiny quarters......one for each tooth! How exciting! Not sure what he can buy for fifty cents! Can you even buy a pack of gum for fifty cents? Oh well, I'm sure we will find something!

Countdown to Summer!

It is hard to believe that school is almost over for the summer! Beckett is about to complete kindergarten! What a great year we have had! He is so excited to tell everyone that he is almost a first grader! He was a little surprised the other day when I explained that we will still be doing addition and subtraction flash cards as well as lots of reading over the summer, but he got over the shock pretty quickly!

Beckett's friend Emma came over to play on Wednesday afternoon! We picked her up at school and she spent the afternoon with us. Beckett and Emma have been friends since they were in Mother's Day Out together when they were both 3 years old. They don't see each other as often anymore, but it was fun to watch them re-connect so quickly and laugh and play so well! They were both so good to include Helen and they all three had a fun afternoon! I'm including some pictures of Emma's visit!

Beckett had a make-up baseball game on Thursday night and his cousin Lillie came to watch him play. She was staying with Nana and Papa because she had a couple of days off from school, so they all came to his game. I really wish that I would have gotten a picture of Beckett and Lillie together, but it is always kind of crazy at the end of the games and I just forgot! Thanks for coming Lillie!

Not a lot planned for the weekend......just more baseball! Take care!

Crazy Faces!

Making bird feeders!