July?? Already?? and my 10 year old Baby!

Wow! Can't believe it is already July! So I didn't do very well on getting those pictures taken but we have had a really great first part of summer. Lots of days at the pool, days at the park, and a week at the beach! Fun memories being made even if I have forgotten to take a pic each day ;) 


We spent Grant's birthday at the beach so we had him a party the week before we left.  After lots of comtemplating about where to have his party we decided on a Hickory Crawdad's Baseball game. We invited mostly family and 2 of his close friends. I think it went really well and everyone enjoyed it...  Here are the pics:

We had to have a pic with the mascot!

Grant with his Tennessee football cake!

                                                   Everyone sang Happy Birthday to Grant
                                                   while he stood on the dugout.
                                                   Doesn't he look excited!

Seriously, how can my child be 10?  We are so proud of him and who he is. He definitely has his moments where he acts like any 10 year old boy but what a heart he has! He cares so much for others and he has just started praying by himself instead of the prayer he has been saying since he was little...The "now I lay me down to sleep" prayer. He completely melts our hearts at night when we hear him pray. My prayer is that he will love Jesus with his whole heart and always look to Him for all the answers in his life. We love you Grant!!

SUMMER

Yay! It is summer!! This means that my van gets to take a little rest. :) Yesterday was the first official day of summer vacay. We went to the park with our friends and ended up staying for almost 2 and a half hours! My plan for this summer is to take a picture each day of summer, but of course I have already missed the first day. Today we are going to go clean my mom and dad's house and play, play, play. Then church tonight....

Hopefully I will get those pics taken today and post tomorrow!

-Hailey

CHRISTMAS POST PART 2

Yes, it is February and I am just now posting the rest of my Christmas pics.  :)

The past few weeks have been so warm and nice. Almost too nice. We have only had two days of snow since Christmas! We have been busy with basketball (pee-wee) and church. Yesterday was Valentine's Day. Love it! All we did was eat supper at home then took Grant to basketball practice but there is just something about the day.  It is full of red and pink hearts, chocolate, flowers and lots of love! I did get some beautiful white roses.  Sunday Toby and I were able to go eat after church then go see the movie The Vow. It was so good! So we celebrated Valentine's Day a little early. You take what you can get with two kids!

CHRISTMAS POST PART 1

We had a wonderful Christmas! No snow, which some were dissapointed about but personally I enjoyed. I don't like being stuck inside or Christmas parties being cancelled due to the weather. And I definitely don't like being nervouse driving or riding on slick roads!

We started out Christmas at my parents (actually it was a few days before Christmas).

                                                               All three grandchildren.

This was Christmas #1

Next was Granny Libby and Pa-paw Bill's house.

The next day was Christmas Eve which we always go to my parents for Nannie's side of the family.

Santa always makes a stop at our Christmas Eve celebration. My camera died so I didn't get a picture of Grant with Santa :(

Next day was Christmas Day!! So cool that is was on a Sunday. We got up opened presents and headed out the door to church.

                                                                             Toby and the kids tracking Santa after reading the Christmas story.

I will post the 2nd part later...

God is so good to us and we are so blessed. What a wonderful Christmas season it was!!

CATCH UP TIME...

Where does the time go? I was going to do so good updating this blog... too many things to get done during the day.

 It is now two weeks until Christmas!! I love Christmas! What a wonderful time of the year to celebrate the birth of Jesus, show others how much they mean to us, and spending time with family. I told Toby at the beginning of December that I would see him the first of January. We have had something to do every night!! Last night we took all the deacons and wives out to eat and then had them back to our house for dessert and coffee. It was lots of fun and really got me in the Christmas spirit. We are also heading up Pee Wee Basketball again this year so that has been a really big job.

Church is going wonderful. We had our childrens play this past Sunday. It went really well, there were 20 children total!

As busy as this time of year is I am really trying to slow down and enjoy everyday. Even when we have something to do every night, those are memories being made.



 

Favorite time of the year...

Tomorrow is the first day of Fall! My favorite time of the year. I really love summertime but there is something magical about fall. The pretty colors and decorations, watching Grant play football and cool, crisp nights. I love it!!!

Grant is still going strong playing football and I still feel like a taxi cab driver. ;) 



 Payton has now started gymnastics on Fridays so everyday is go, go, go!  She has been going to preschool now for a month and loves it!! She is really enjoying it so much more than I imagined she would. Praise the Lord!!!


 I completely forgot to do a post about her glasses. We took her to an eye specialist in July because she had one eye that was crossing. I assumed it was a lazy eye but when they did an exam they determined that she was far-sighted in both eyes. She has really done amazingly well with glasses. Don't get me wrong, it did take getting used to. At first I would only make her wear them a couple of hours a day. Now she wears them all day. She will say "I need my glasses so I can see".

 First day of glasses.

On a more serious topic, Toby will be getting ordained this Sunday night. I have been thinking all week about what a special service this will be. Toby has been preaching for the past 14 months but has not been ordained since he hasn't been called to be a pastor of a church until now. There will be 3 preachers that will be conducting the service (one is his grandfather and another his great-uncle) and lots of other ordained deacons and preachers helping. I always go back to what Toby said the day he announced his calling. He told the congregation that the Lord has blessed his family so much the past 10 years and if this is what the Lord has called us to do we will gladly accept and try to give back what we can to Him. I think about this often on the more stressful days. ;) God has blessed us over and over again and it started with placing us together. I thank the Lord for giving me Toby as a husband and father.

My sweet, silly boy. 

30th birthday and Football!!!

August 18 was my 30th birthday. Can't believe I am really 30! It was a wonderful day but sort of glad it has come and gone. Too much hype over the big 3-0!!

Me on my birthday!!

Football has officially started for Grant. They had their first game last Saturday and won!! So proud of them.  It is a really busy schedule but I am trying to enjoy every minute. I  know there will come a time that I will miss all of this and wonder how it went by so fast. In saying that today was so nice because it was a half day and we got to come home and stay. No rushing home, getting homework done and eating supper then back out the door for practice. It was heavenly!!

Toby and I went to Payton's preschool meeting last night and met with her teachers. I am so excited about this year for her. I really hope this is her year to come out of her shell and really get ready for kindergarten. At home she is very talkative and soooooo dramatic. At school it has always taken her a long time to get warmed up to her schedule, teachers, ect. and since she only goes 3 hours, 3 days a week I feel like she never really gets to where she needs to be. I have high hopes for this year. I have been praying a lot for her. Not that she is struggling or needs any kind of help. I can just see her potential at home and I want her to be able to be that person in public and with her friends.  I know that I was a lot like that when I was younger so I know where she gets it from ;)

Roasting marshmellows a couple of nights before school started back .   :)

First day of fourth grade!