Lori McCallum Wilson's wedding reception

A friend of mine that I worked at EPMS with, Lori McCallum, got married today and Karis and I went to the reception following the wedding. Below is her and her new hubby David cutting the cake.Me and Lori

Me, Lori and Laura (we were all three on the same team for 4 years at EPMS)

Congrats Lori...we are so excited for you!

Stephanie Steelman's wedding shower

My friend Stephanie had her wedding shower today (she is getting married July 26th). It was great to get to hang out with her. Jay was working so I brought the kids with me and they found entertainment as you will see below..

Me and Steph

Karis found toys...

The spotted the dog "Coach" and played with him through the glass for about 30 minutes.

Brayden's little hands were just big enough to reach all the food...

And then he ate sissy's food...

Then Kathy Skelton sang songs with him and he wanted her to do it over and over again...

Congrats Steph and hope we didn't crash the party! :)

My week long project

Though my house and laundry have gone neglected, the flower beds have not. It has taken me all week to finish this project but now it is finally over. Me and the weeds have fought and I won this time! These are the before and after pics of my project....

Before (sad I know)

After

I am sure the weeds will be back to visit very soon, but for now, I will enjoy it without them! But today on the other hand, cleaning house and doing laundry are 1st on my agenda.

Mari-Morgan's Dance Recital

Last night Karis' best friend had her 1st Dance Recital. We couldn't miss such a monumental moment so we all went to see her dance. She did a great job and looked beautiful. This is a pic of her and her brother Nathan before the recital.

These were the girls in the recital...all excited and ready to dance!

Afterwards, I caught Brayden on the stage hiding behind the backdrops. He thought it was so funny!

Then Karis had to get her pic too!

Congrats M&M, we are so proud of you!

Day #2 with Jackson

Wow what a fun day we have had with Jackson! The first thing the kids wanted to do today was play with "shackzun" as Brayden calls him. He was at their feet ALL day long. This morning Karis ran the length of the yard back and forth, back and forth saying, "Come on Jackson!" He followed her every time! I think she wore him out (and he her). Brayden has warmed up to him more every minute and now wants to play ball with him. You will notice below they are already big buddies!

A boy and his dog at the pool (they got the right idea although they weren't catching rays...they were looking for baby frogs)

How sweet!

One of my favorite pics of the day

He was lounging in the above picture, however he did jump in once and Jay had to rescue him. He learned (was forced) to swim on his 7 week birthday!

As I am typing this, Karis is outside telling Jackson "good night." He is already a member of the family!

Embarassed

I have conquered a fear of mine today. I am embarassed to say that it has been over 10 years since I have been to the dentist. In my younger years I was scared of them and in my older years, it was the fear of what it would $$COST$$ for all the damage that I had caused for not going all those years. But I took the plunge and went and I am happy to report...no cavities, a good report, clean teeth and it only cost me $15.31. THAT I can handle and I am SOOOO glad it is over with...for 6 months that is! :)

Jackson Lemonds

NO.....not a baby....our new puppy! Jay went to Tupelo yesterday to pick up our new puppy and arrived at around 8:00 last night with the new addition. Immediately the kids are waiting by the window and RUN outside to meet Jackson! The kids loved him and are still trying to figure him out. Because he is a labarador retriever and from what her daddy told her, Karis immediately picked up a stick and said, "Go get it!" Dad had to explain to her that we have to train him to do those things. Brayden just kept saying "PUPPY!" I actually think Jay got a taste of all the many trips to and from work with babies crying because I think the dog yelped most of the last part of the 2 hour trip home. :) After lots of playing, a bath, some food and water, Jackson fell out asleep in Jay's lap. He was loving it!

Jackson is a black lab and is 7 weeks old today. This is Brayden petting Jackson for the first time.

Jay and the kids with Jackson

Me and Jackson

Jay and the kids with Jackson

Since the mosquitoes were terrible outside, we brought him in the laundry room to play with him for a while before the kids went to bed. The kids loved giving him toys.

Daddy and his baby

After the trip home and lots of playing, he was eating his food as fast as he could get it in his mouth! Karis was telling him how to do it! :)

Jay walked out of the laundry room for a minute and left Jackson and he started yelping, so Jay came back in and sat down and this is what Jackson did. With a full belly, he was asleep within minutes.

Playdate with some friends

Today we had a fun playdate with some friends of mine. Ashley Clark on the left is a friend and sorority sister from college and they were on staff with us at Longview Heights in Olive Branch (they still are although we are not). But we got to meet with another friend and sorority sister that now lives in Olive Branch, Rachel Evans Morris. Rachel is actually a nurse and was in the O.R. when Karis was born and was able to take care of her! We met up with them at Chick-Fil-A and they each have 3 kids...so we kept that place rockin'! It was great and we will definitely do it again soon!

Ashley holding her youngest, Mary Taylor and Rachel holding her youngest, Jack

Maggie Clark, Karis, Brayden, and Kendall Morris

Karis, Kendall Morris and Drew Morris

Brayden playing

Karis being a monkey

Beach

OH how I wish we were here....Hurry up August!!!

Toys?

Just a quick thought...why again do we buy toys for our kids??? It is not like they play with them!

Big Projects

Jay and I have spent the past 2 days (and still aren't finished) doing big outside projects. He is putting up a fence in our backyard that is fairly large for our kids (and our dog that we are picking up soon). It will take quite a while to complete. In the mean time, I have been doing some much needed work on our flower beds. As most of you know we live on 100 acre Baptist property in Hernando and we haven't had time in the last few years to do anything to our yard. Two summers ago I had a baby and last summer two small kids who I couldn't trust alone outside without watching their every move (ages 2 and 1 at the time). So this year we are doing alot of work outside and this is what we started with (so we can only go up!). Don't worry I will be sure to show you the after pictures.

Sunday night's Connect Group party at the Potts

Sunday night we had a Memorial Day cookout for our Connect Group at the Potts house and it was quite a party. The kids got to swim and we ended up with alot of visitors which was great. There were even some on-call fire fighters there (with their fire truck) which Brayden thought was really cool!

Karis checking out the water

Brayden was attempting to push this ball that was full of water and bigger than him!

Ellie, Ethan and Mattie

The fire fighters got called in a middle of a horseshoe game and went running...Brayden loved watching it leave. His eyes were bigger than I have ever seen!

Bath time!

Prayer Requests

Please pray for Jay's granddad this morning. As you might remember he has just recently found out he has lung cancer and he is having surgery this morning to remove it. He is elderly and the surgery will be hard on him. He has to be at the hospital at 8:00 a.m. (right now) and the surgery should last from 3.5-5 hours. Jay will be going up tomorrow to see him.

Also pray for my mom, brother Jonathan, and Matt's girlfriend Tiffany as they are in Guatemala on a mission trip. They left Sunday and will be coming home next Monday. They have arrived safely and we don't know any other update at this point. Pray that God will use them with their talents and abilities and that he would bring them back safely! Jonathan has a blogspot he will be updating at http://www.waitinginexpectation.blogspot.com/.

Jessica's 2008 High School Graduation

Jay's sister, Jessica Rose Thomas, graduated from home school yesterday at 6:30 in Corinth, MS. This is her before she walked in the processional.

This is Jessica receiving her diploma from her parents Kevin and Cindy Thomas.

The kids during graduation (2 in one day was too much for them)

What a sweetie!

Another sweetie!

Jessica's table

Jessica and her mom and dad

Jay, his sister Jessica, his mom Cindy and stepdad Kevin

Jay and his sister Jessica

We are proud of you Jessica!