Update on how we are

    I just really don't know why it takes me so long to sit down and write on this blog. Things are going good around our house and fall is coming along good. I have been noticing Bradly starting to sound out some pretty big words here and there and so I decided to get one of our level one books and see if he could read it. He did GREAT! I was so surprised and so proud of him! I will have to let him read like that every day now! I love it!
    Lexi is doing great, just acting like a teenager more and more everyday! She is a really good kid though. Loves being around her friends. (don't know who she takes that after) She does great in school, I am so proud of her and her accomplishments.
     Allison is being challenged a lot in 3rd grade, but is doing well! She is such a good kid also. She just had a birthday and is now 9 years old! My how time flies.
    I am substitute teaching as much as I can this year and that is going well. I just wish I had more days to work. It may be hard to be a stay at home mom but I wouldn't change it for anything. It is so nice to be able to go volunteer at the school or just to go to the kids functions when they have them and not have to worry with getting off of work to go. On the other hand, if I had an education beyond high school and had a good paying job, one that wouldn't take ALL I made just to pay for daycare, I would love to be able to have more money to do things like vacations and stuff. I guess we can't have it all. Sometimes having less is better. (I have to keep telling myself that)
    Jeff is still working at FedEx Office as Asst. Store Mgr. and likes it. I told him the other day that he is the best husband I have ever had! HAHA  He really is so good to me and the kids. I love him and wouldn't know what to do without him! I hope he realizes how much he means to me. I just wish we could spend every day together. I miss him when he is at work! Am I making you sick yet?  ;-) Okay, I don't have anything else that I feel I need to put on here so this is all for now.

Busy Busy

Well, today has been a very productive day so far, only not at my house. I spent the day at my in-laws cleaning the front door and porch area. It looks much better! I did accidentally log into my facebook account earlier,(I have been using Lexi’s to keep up a little), so I did post this blog on there for people to keep up with me. I will be using this to post pictures and things that go on with our family. I am so glad that we get to sleep in tomorrow morning. Ready for a relaxing weekend. We have a very busy September and October coming up for us. It is too much to list it all. Birthdays, Book Fairs, PHT meeting, election for school board, Harvest Festival, and more birthdays. I don’t know why my sister and I decided to have our kids birthdays so close together. Anyway, I had mine first and she could’ve planned a little better! ;-) just kidding Angela!! I can’t wait to go down to Hector area and see my family! Gotta go get the kids from school! My how time flies!

Some of My Friends From High School

Just a few pictures of the past that I had on the computer. I know I have more but they must be real pictures and not on the computer. I love all my friends that I graduated with and wanted to bring back some memories of some of our get togethers since we have been out of school. I don’t know where Ang and Allison were when we had this one but I’ll look harder and try to find some of the ones of us at Italian Gardens.

This one is of Susan Pruitt and her daughter Meagan. She is embarking on a wonderful journey of missionary work! You will be missed and God Bless your family.

First Day of School 2009

Well, here they are, my three wonderful kids on the first day of school. I can’t believe how big they are getting!  Allison 8, Bradley 5, and Lexi 11.

Goodbye facebook

As some of you have already figured out, I have deactivated my facebook account for the time being. ( I know this is underlined,but I couldn't figure out how to make it stop.) I may reactivate it in the future,but I don't know. I wanted to post the pictures of the kids going to school but they needed to be rotated and I will do that at some other time.

School is going really good for all of the kids. Bradley is loving kindergarten and his teacher! He is on a good schedule for bedtime and goes to bed very easily. Allison is loving the third grade and her teacher as well. Lexi is.... well she is in the sixth grade and you know sometimes when they get older they don't really like it as well. She does love her teacher which is a new one this year. She says she doesn't have any close friends this year but maybe that will come.

I am very proud of all of my kids, they are great! Below are some pictures of our swimming day at a lake in Wolcott. I didn't get Lexi in any of them , but as you can see I didn't take many pictures anyway. The boy in the first one is my friends son, Marshall. I hope I can spend more time on my blog now that I don't do facebook.

To Susan and Shannon Pruitt:
I congratulate you on your journey ahead and want you to know you are in our prayers. We will miss you so much, please keep us updated! Thank you for using your lives to help more people enter the Kingdom Of God! You are all a blessing to me and may God abundantly bless you! You will really be missed! Love you.
(oh my gosh, I could cry :(

Short note

Well, the summer break is about to come to a close. We haven't done much this summer except enjoy each others company. I am excited about school starting and getting the kids back on a schedule. We have been through some sickness this week and are hopefully going to be well by next Wednesday for school.
Just wanted to let you all know we are doing well and miss everyone from "back home." Hope to be able to see some of you soon.

Camping Memorial Day Weekend

Allison playing ball with Lexi




Lexi acting innocent.





Best part about camp, Jeff cooks!!!





Our tent!




My silly boy!!!!

My Life

Well, I still can't get any pictures on here, but here is what is and has been going on with us. Since school has been out the kids have been pretty good. Last week they all three went to vacation bible school here in Bay. It lasted for two and a half hours every night for 5 nights. It was a much needed break for me! The kids really enjoyed it!
Lexi has a friend coming over tonight and for the day tomorrow. She also has a dentist appt. in the morning at eight to get a tooth pulled and she is not at all happy with me for making this appt. She keeps telling me that her tooth will fall out when it is ready!! But the dentist recommended we get it pulled because it was making the other tooth come in crooked. Maybe with her friend being here it will take her mind off of it a little and make it easier. I take Lexi to meet her Daddy Aaron in Searcy on Thursday night. She will be going with him Friday morning to Indiana until Monday and will come home sometime next week. She wants to stay all week but doesn't know if she will get home sick or not. So we are playing that one by ear.
Jeff and I and the other 2 kids are going to Hector for the 3 days this Father's Day Weekend! Hope to see some people we haven't seen in a while. Big family plans for Father's Day at mom and dad's. Cook out , homemade ice cream, and fun times!
Last night we went to the Jonesboro Library for family night and we all got to tie dye our own shirts! We, or at least I, had fun doing that! Over all we are doing great, just going to survive the summer and then we will go back to school! I will be substitute teaching in elementary! I am very excited about it. Bradley will be in Kindergarten. Can't believe it! Anyway, I will quit rambling on and go for now.

New Babies and Geese?

When we were out in front of the house and Allison was on the trampoline and said "Momma look" and she pointed to the sky, I looked and didn't see anything but I heard geese and then I could see them but they were very close to the top of the house. We watched them and we were very surprised when they landed in our cotton field right next to the house. Of course, I hadn't ever seen that in the many (3) years that I have been here :) but Jeff said he had not seen ever seen Geese land in the field. We took pictures of them , of course there were only 2, but we were still in aww.

We also have some new babies! Kittens! They are so cute! Our cat (one of many) only had 4 of them this time. We were ready for some more kitten around. My mother-in-law and I have been losing our cats lately. I guess coyotes or something. Anyway, I am a huge cat lover and enjoy having the kittens around. I could sit and just watch them play together! Anyway, here are a few pictures of both. Note: Lexi took the pictures of the kittens and when I took the pictures of the geese, it was getting dark.



Okay, I have been trying to upload the pictures and it won't let me so I will try and do them later! Sorry!

Graduation, Putt Putt, and Pirate Musical

These first pictures are of my best friend Ronda at her graduation from ASU!! We are so very proud of her! The above picture is Ronda, her husband Bruce, her daughter in law Camillia, her son Eric, and son Marshall. Okay and the baby is Jillian ( isn't she cute!!!). This is the baby that I have the pleasure of babysitting Monday thru Thursday. She is 8 weeks old.

Ronda, Bruce, and Marshall


Ronda, in her graduation gown! Before graduation.




PUTT PUTT GOLF WITH FAMILY!!!!!!


Jeff and Bradley




Lexi



Allison




Bradley

They all did surprisingly well at putt putt! This is Bradley's favorite place to go play!!




PIRATE MUSICAL



Allison with her friend Whitley! Allison was a prisonor and Whitley was a stow away. They did a wonderful job on this musical. They even traveled to Monette to perform!!

Our bike ride..... back in March?

These are a few pictures of the kids when we took a bike ride on one of the pretty days back in March or the beginning of April, I'm not sure which. It was a VERY windy day! Which explains Allison's hair. She was getting ready to do a cartwheel.


Here is Lexi posing for the camera!



And if you look closely, this is Bradley asleep in his ride!! He loves this thing! He even had a full size pillow in there with him.

It's been a long time

It has been about 7 weeks since my last post and feels like it has been longer! I'm sure you guys are like me and are sick of looking at my last post over and over. Well, my work for the Pre-K is finished and boy was it an experience! I enjoyed getting to know the kids and learning how they worked. When I say "how they worked", I mean, I had one who loved to tell stories, big ones, one who didn't want to listen, many who loved coming up for hugs, many who loved to have me sit in the floor with them and play puzzles or whatever, and some who loved to be the door holder. Many many different children and many different needs! I love each and every one of them. I will have to go up there and visit with them some. My job now is to work with my own son, Bradley. I am taking him out of Pre-k and going to teach him here at home! I am excited about this and he is very eager to learn. He is ready to learn to read. I have until August to get him ready for Kindergarten. Believe it or not, in Pre-k they are not allowed to teach them their numbers or letters. It is for learning social interaction. What a bummer!

The girls are doing good. Allison is learning how to count money and how to tell time. I'll have you know that I did not actually learn how to tell time until I was in the 7th grade!! I don't know how I made it that far without knowing. Lexi is doing great. My little lady. I am enjoying her more and more everyday. I just wish she would keep that room of hers more clean without me having to tell her too. We love shopping together! She is so easy going and I love that in her!

Jeff, oh Jeff, he is working full time and taking 12 hrs of classes with ASU Newport online. It is much harder than we thought, but he is getting better at making time for his school work. Now that I am not working full time out of the house maybe it will get easier for him. I love him so very much and am thanking God every day for bringing us together!! He is my one true love! Okay, enough with the mushy stuff. We are getting excited about spring break. Not sure what we will do but we will figure out something! Well, I will go for now because Jeff needs me to read his paper from our theater play we saw last night. It is good to be back and I will write more another day!

I Am Working

Oh my, what have I gotten myself into? I ask myself that often right now. No really, I was asked back at the beginning of the school year if I would be willing to sub at Bay Pre-k while one girl was off on maternity leave for only 6 weeks. I thought about it for a couple of days and finally said yes! Well, she had her baby early Tuesday morning. The 6 weeks turned into 8 weeks because she had to have a c-section. Yeah me!! My thought was, 2 more weeks of pay! So I go from being a stay at home mom to a full time employed mom! What a change this is for me. I have not worked a full time job since Lexi was 2!! Can you believe that? Lexi is now 11 (preteen, a whole other story!). That is a long time! I went to bed at 7:30 on Tuesday night and that was my first day of work! No more having to watch TV until I get sleepy, I go right to sleep when my head hits the pillow! I am really enjoying it! The kids are great! I will be so attached to them by the end of the 8 weeks that I won't want to leave them. Just remember me in your prayers please!

My kids are doing great! Lexi is still doing piano lessons and as most of you noticed, she talked her daddy Aaron (biological father) into signing up for facebook so they could stay in touch more often. I think it is great for her. Allison is doing great in school, her nine weeks report card showed every grade impoved! Bradley, oh Bradley, lets see........he has a birthday coming up and will be turning 5 years old! WOW! He goes to the Bay Pre-K where I sub, but he is not in my class. That is a good thing! You mothers know what I'm talking about!

Jeff is doing good with his college work. He tries to include me but no way! It is very challenging for him but that is good (at least I think so). We love and miss everyone! By for now.

It Worked!! Christmas at Mom's

Corey Beavers




Twila Guerrieri (spelling?)




Jeff and Allison




Lexi Culwell




Angela, Linley, and Brian




JohnIsaac and Paula

Jimmy, Anthony, and Nick

Lexi Culwell



Layne




Bradley and Allison




Layne, Lexi, and JohnIsaac




Layne




Shane and Angela




Mom




Sleepy Linley




Madilyn and Linley




Allison and Madilyn
Not pictured, Kyle,Sonny(his girlfriend), Johnny, Robin, Tony, Dad,and Xander

New Years and Christmas at Mom's or Not

Well, I was going to post some pictures from our Christmas on here, but they won't download. ERROR!!! I hate that!!! Our New Years was very peaceful. We watched movies with the kids and were in bed before 10:30!! We really enjoyed ourselves, believe or not! I know, some of you are probably saying, how boring, but not for us!
On the last post I did mention that the kids and I were going to meet Jeff at the library and the kids were going to watch Kung Fu Panda, and we did that and they enjoyed it very much. Jeff and I got to visit and read magazines and stuff.
I am not going to write any more than this because I am not sure that this is going to even post my stuff. It might be a day or so before I can try this again, so bear with me. I worked at Bay Pre-K today and will work there again tomorrow. I am also signed up at sub-teach for Bay Elem., so no tellin' when I will get called to do that. I am enjoying it though!! Catch ya later!