Upward Basketball

Jessie is now playing Upward Basketball and has been so excited about this. She is an active child and loves sports. She is excited to receive stars for her shirt, so far she had gotten a green, gray, gold and blue one. She had her pictures taken and I am ready to see them. I am glad she has found a new activity.

Christmas Update

We had a wonderful Christmas. The girls were very happy with what Santa brought them. Jessie was glad to get her skateboard and the calf head that she will practice roping. Lanee loved the CD player and her Taylor Swift CD, we have heard it enough to know which song comes next. They got some cool clothes from Nonna, Pops and Mamaw Murphy. They love getting new clothes. Jason's parents got Lanee the Big Baby Alive, we have used all of the diapers, this was on her list this year. Jessie wanted one of the large Breyer horses for her collection and a saddle for it. She got those things and I loved watching her saddle up her horse, she was so happy. I have always hoped my girls would be grateful for what they got and not be selfish and they never cease to amaze me. They still have not mentioned the things off of their list that didn't get. We went to Christmas Eve Service with my parents and we let them take turns reading the Candy Cane Story ( a tradition at my mom's) before they got ready for bed. They are at the age that they really need to look beyond Santa into the real reason. I still amazes me that Mary was so strong. After having your own kids, you can't imagine not having the gifted doctors and nurses to take care of you. God is amazing!

St. Jude 5K

This weekend was the St. Jude 5K Run in Memphis, TN. Beth Murphy, Julie Bridges, Connie Davis , and I stayed together. It was such a great experience!! I am not used to staying away from my family but these ladies made this trip worth it. We left on Friday and registered and then ran on Saturday morning. It was SOOOO cold that morning. We warmed up some after awhile. I was so pumped when the race started and seeing all of the runners and families on the sidelines was such a rush for me. About half a mile to the finish line, there was a lady with a sign with a picture of her grandson that said, "Thank you for saving my grandson" and I just lost it. I was running and crying, it did not help that I was listening to the song, "I have Been Blessed" by Martina McBride. We are so blessed. When I was done, I immediatley knew I would do this again. We got our shirts and medals but most of all, I felt a feeling that overcame me that was THANKFULNESS. Most people know I am sensitive but when it comes to children, my heart is just mush, there is nothing like the love of a child. Brady Burford is a little angel and I was happy to run for his team. His parents are such wonderful people and I was glad to get to know them.

Lanee's 8

Taking time to catch up

Well, I am just taking some time to catch up. It has been a busy few weeks. I have been traveling several times a week for work. First of all,the girls had a great Halloween. Jessie was Cleopatra and Lanee was an Indian. The Indian costume was one that Jason wore when he was her age. She was excited to wear it.
I had a Giddy Up program for Girl Scouts. It was fun. I think all of the girls enjoyed it also. It was held in Monticello and I had asked a horse trainer to work with me on this and he did a great job!
Lanee had her 8th Birthday. We had a Hannah Montana sleepover party. There were 20 girls to begin with but only 17 stayed the night. I had little girls everywhere. They had a good time and that is what counts. We made Body Glitter for each of them to take home. Both of my sisters stayed and helped me until 1:30 am. I appreciate how much they care for my girls and want to participate in things with them. They dressed up, watched movies, ate pizza, made body glitter, painted and jeweled up fingernails and toenails. It was a blast. She only turns 8 once.

New Friends

My Jess has a new friend, Emma. We had so much fun this weekend. She came and stayed the night on Friday, they stayed up till 1 a.m. Saturday morning, I went for a run with Beth while Jason and the girls were asleep and when I came home, the 3 of them were ready to roll. We went and rode the horses that afternoon and decided we wanted her to stay the night again. We went to church, Nonna's and had to take her home. She was a joy. I love seeing my girls play and be happy. I can't express how much my girls mean to me. I can't imagine them actually leaving home one day. Jason hates for them to be gone when he is home now so I know he feels the same. Jason and I both love to go on "dates" but we also come home early most of the time. Try sitting with your husband and NOT talking about your kids, impossible. Tried it, ended up laughing about how funny they were. Here are a few things that make my girls special to me.
Jessie-she looks just like her daddy(good thing I adore him) I will never forget when I first saw her and her eyes opened and even the nurse said "she is her daddy made over" I was not even out of recovery from the C-section, she loves to read(she actually got that from me), she is helpful when she needs to be and she is very passionate about the things she believes in, she wants to do her best. I see this with her school work. She loves to be outside and ride horses. She is her daddy's closest thing to a boy (besides Alex) and I am happy for that. She killed a ten point last season. Boy, he was proud!!

Lanee-she has always been her own person and knew what she wanted since the day she was born, she has my love for children(I often think she should have had a younger sibling, she loves to see little ones), she is a Momma's girl. She likes to help me with anything she can and she likes to ride with me to work out of town when it is something she can attend so she can keep me company. Jessie likes to stay with her daddy to go hunt, ride, anything but being cooped up in a car. Lanee will talk to me the whole way. She loves to flip everywhere. Her nickname is "Monkey" she had so much hair when she was little, it was too cute! When she was able to move around, she climbed, flipped, got in to everything. She is resilient, she has overcome so many setbacks with her hearing, mouth reconstruction and most people cannot even tell. She looks like me, so I hear,lol! It was nice to get some credit from one of them.

I can't talk about my girls without saying what a wonderful father they have. He spends lots of time with us and he loves them and has no problem letting them know this. He is always thinking of fun things for us to do. He makes sure they have cute clothes since I do not like to shop,(how many dads know their kids clothes and shoe sizes, he knows mine too) he bought them horses and all the things that go with them just because they love to ride. They will never know how much he does for them.