My American Idol's

ME & MY TINKERBELL

JOHN WAYNE

RED RIDING HOOD

My "Scotty McCreery" look a like :)

Girlfriend Reunion at the Beach!!

Noah singing 'Train Train take me out of this town"

And they thought she'd never talk!

Shew!! Has May been out of control for anyone else out there?? I have no idea what has gone on. It seems I've been out of town almost every weekend. I have a saint for a husband. Last weekend I had a wonderful time catching up with some girlfriends from High School. I am so lucky to have a group of girlfriends that go that far back and we can still pick up like we've never been away from each other.

In other news, 2 of Laurel's therapies will be ending in a week. We'll continue one throughout the summer. She continues to make great strides, praise be to God. The last testing was done a few weeks ago and showed that her Receptive language skills were at 2 yr. 2 months and her Expressive language was on a 3 yr 2 month old level. These are AWESOME scores considering her hearing age (how long she's had her hearing aids) is only 1 yr. 6 mo. Smart little cookie.

Noah is still the best big brother ever. He has had a blast watching our American Idol Scotty McCreery sing. Because the show is too risque for him to watch we could only watch Scotty sing and then turn it off. He loved it though. He's inspired Noah to pick up his guitar and start singing. He's quite the little showman er... show off.

Well, that's about it for now. Tomorrow another busy weekend..... of to my cousin's wedding. We are looking forward to that though. Hopefully June will be a bit slower paced!

Rainy Days & Strawberry Picking

Rachel & Aubrey, Laurel, Noah, Amy & Lydia

We've had some wonderful rainy days lately. The kids have loved watching the rain come across the fields and then playing in the mud that it leaves behind. The rain has been great for our little garden and blueberry bushes but apparently wasn't great for the strawberry crop. Regardless, 2 women from my church and all of our cute babies went on a hunt for some strawberries. We had a blast. Girls are definately the best pickers. Aubrey & Laurel & even baby Lydia all picked and put them in their buckets. Noah however came back empty handed. He had eaten ALL of his strawberries! Such a boy. Anyway, I am so thankful God has put these girls and the others at the church in my life. I really believe that "for such a time as this" God has put us all together in different stages of life..... some Grandmother's, some empty nesters, some having "returning" children, some planning pregnancies, some struggling with pregnancies, some pregnant, and some with babies and toddlers.... to encourage each other and raise the next generation. Praise God for godly women!

My Maternal Side of the Fam... Minus a few

Miss Priss LOVES to fish!

Apparently fishing is a spectator sport

(I was taking a pic of my cousin Hunter and had a surprise in the background) :)

It was my weekend with my Great Aunt again and also happened to be Mother's Day. So, we had a Mother's Day Party on the farm. We had a great time eating and then fishing. The ticks almost carried us away but A great time was still had by all. I love taking a family portrait every year (even though it's like pulling teeth) and seeing how we all change from year to year. I had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend and my sweet husband gave me a beautiful heart necklace!

Goings On...

EASTER PARTY AT THE POND

Hayden, Noah & Laurel in the MUD!!

Celebrating Ma's Birthday! Happy Birthday Maw Maw

Noah had to get a tooth pulled!

Laurel and her My Twinn Doll! Who is Who??

(FBC Ladies at the Beach Retreat..... minus Katie!)

Where to start?? Well, we had a wonderful Easter. The kids at church did a very moving production of "Arise my Love" and I was so proud of them. We had an Easter Party on the pond with family & friends and lots of food and fishing. Oh, and the tradition is that after the easter egg hunt the babies get to play in the mud. They had a blast!!

Noah had to have one of his front teeth pulled this week. I REALLY did not want to have to do this but he had an abcess that wouldn't go away. The only way to fix it is to pull the tooth. It is so funny how God works sometimes. I was coming home the night before praying God would make it VERY clear whether or not to pull this tooth. When I got home, Noah had infection coming from the sore above the tooth, he told me it hurt and when I flossed it half of the tooth came out in my hand!!!! Talk about a clear signal from God. I was so relieved. Anyway, he loves being called Snaggletooth, the tooth fairy did show up and he'll be toothless for probably 4 years! Oh well.

Miss Priss seems to be having a bit of a rough week with personal space and sharing. She wants to tear up whatever Noah is playing with right now so she's been in trouble a good part of the week. I was gone this weekend to a Ladies Retreat so I think that may have something to do with it.... or she's coming down with something. She's too cute with her little My Twinn Doll who we call "Nastya". This was Laurel's name in the orphanage so we thought she might like to call her doll this and she does. If you call her Nastya however she says "No, I Laurel"! She never looked back!

I had the privaledge of going on our church Ladies Retreat to the beach this past weekend. 19 Ladies got together to get away from it all, Praise God, Sing Songs, Play Games and have a blast in general. I loved getting to know some of the new ladies and renewing friendships with the "oldies". I am so happy to be a part of such a loving church body with such wise and godly women.