Back From the Outer Banks!!!!

We just got back from the OBX yesterday. I tried to get back online while on vacation to update blog and I couldn't. So I will have to post several different posts to get caught up from our trip. We had a lot of fun the weather was nice for the whole week we were there. The kids got to ride their bikes and swim in the ocean. I will post more pics and tell a little about our trip over the next few days. I am glad to be home though. We came home yesterday and we had our family reunion today, so I will also be posting some family pics from that.
Let me tell you about the pics above. These are from the beach on Saturday after we arrived at the OBX. On this day the waves were extremely rough. They ended up taking me and Casey under twice right in a row. I didn't think that Casey would go back in the water after this, but she ended up being a real trooper and began to love the ocean. The last time we were at the beach was for my mom's 50th birthday and that was in February a couple of years ago. The time before that Casey was only 6 months old so she has never experienced the waves of the ocean before. And I tried to tell her that the waves were stronger the first day we went than they normally are. By the last day at the beach she was riding the waves on the boogey board like a pro. :)
Since the waves were so strong on Saturday the kids decided to play in the sand and Samie made Casey and Caitlin into little sand mermaids. They attempted to make sand castles but that didn't last long.

Vacation Finally

Well, we are now on vacation. We drove to the Outer Banks today. It was suppose to be just an 8 hour trip but it ended up taking us 12 hours. First off we stopped in Wytheville Va to check the oil in the truck(this is just 40 min. from our house) Once Eric got out of the Suburban and we ended up having a flat tire. So off to Walmart we went. We were there for 2 1/2 hours getting 4 new tires and getting the oil changed. By that time we were all starving to death. So we stopped at Shoney's to eat. So by the time we got on the road it was something till 11am. We started out at 6:20am.
Now I have never been to the outer banks so I printed directions from mapquest and I borrowed my brothers gps. Well they didn't agree on part of the trip and we went by what the gps had. MISTAKE!!!!!! It took us off of the main highway and through 2 towns. Which ended up being 25 miles more than what mapquest had. While traveling through the first town it started to pour the rain and lightning. We then crossed a bridge which looked like was over the ocean. As we were crossing the bridge you could see the lightning hitting the water. It was cool looking but to think about us being over the water during that was kinda scary.
Any way we will be back before the reunion and I will hopefully be posting as the week goes by.

On a totally different note: I am asking for everyones prayers again. My aunt Norma (Nunu) isn't feeling too good and is back in the hospital. Her blood count was low and she had to be given 2 more pints of blood (she just had 2 last Friday) and her white blood cells are extremely low and she has been put on reverse isolation until they come back up. So everyone going to see her has to wear a mask. On top of all of that she has been sick and in lots of pain. So I just ask that you pray that the Lord will give her comfort from the pain, and build her blood cells back up and give her the strength that she needs to get through this difficult time. Thanks.

Casey rides her bike without training wheels

Today we went to my mom's place and took the kids to ride their bikes. Where my mom lives it is flat and has a paved road all the way around the trailer park. Plus Casey has been wanting to try to ride her bike without the training wheels. So we took the one from downstairs that didn't have the extra wheels on it and figured we would let her try. We had originally thought about going to the park but my bike was already at my moms so we just decided that we would go there instead. As you can see from the pictures, it didn't take Casey long to learn. She was a little wobbly at first but she seemed to get the hang of it pretty fast. She did have some trouble getting started but after a while she became better at that also. We ended up going around the trailer park 3 times because she was having so much fun. Twice around is a mile. So she did pretty good. I also video taped it and she made sure that I showed everyone that she could ride her bike without training wheels.
They just grow up way too fast, next she will be asking for the keys to the car.

Dollywood

As I mentioned earlier, here are some of the pics from Dollywood. Since it did rain, I didn't want to get my camera wet. So maybe next time I will get more pics.

Gaitlinburg Trip

This past week our family went to Gaitlinburg for a mini vacation. It was us minus Samie, my brother and his family, my cousin Sheryl and her husband Matthew, My mom, and my aunt Norma (nunu). We went down on Monday and came back on Thursday. While we were there, my uncle Larry and his family came up to spend time with us and Norma. We stayed in a cabin that slept 22 people, it was so nice, we all had king size beds and a bathroom of our own with a jacuzzi tub in each bedroom, and we had a hot tub and pool table. Here are some of the pictures I took down there. The only pictures I got of the inside of the cabin are the kids in the jacuzzi tub taking a bubble bath. The fog scene is from the night that we got there and from the middle balcony. I did take some pics of the neighboring cabins to show you sort of what the cabins looked like on the back side. We went to Cooters in Gaitlinburg on Tuesday. For those of you who haven't been there it is a small museum of the Dukes of Hazzard. I just loved that show growing up. I liked those good ol' Duke boys. :) I got a pic of all of us with the General Lee. Cody didn't want to go with us that day. Samie had to stay home because she had been bitten by her cat and had blood poisoning real bad. She was having to get IV antibiotics twice a day. So needless to say, I am glad that she got to go to Pigeon Forge the week before with her mom and grandma.
We had all went to Dollywood on Wednesday, but we ended up getting rained out before we got to ride any rides. We rode the rapids ride and drove the cars and then it started to thunder and lightnin, so they shut all the rides down. I will post the pics from that later today. So we ended up getting rain checks and are planning on returning in December to use the tickets. We want to see the lights at Christmas time.
Norma did pretty good on the trip, she got a little tired but she didn't get sick and she said that she enjoyed the fact that she got away from the phone ringing all the time. She then had to have her chemo treatment on Friday. So I just ask that you continue to keep her in your prayers.

Casey's Toothless!!!!

Now as you may remember from a previous post, Casey has been babying this last front tooth. Well, this past Saturday it finally got so loose that when she talked it would move. You could even turn it halfway to the right or left. So we went to my brother and sister in laws house on Saturday for a cookout. Well I told Casey that the tooth was coming out before we went swimming or anything. That me and her would stay in the car until we got it out. I was mostly afraid that she might knock it out and swallow it. For it was that loose. Anyway, she would scream and cry when you touched the tooth. So I tried to get her to do it herself. Not gonna happen. So I just kept wiggling it back and forth and side to side. Her fighting the whole time. So finally I got a paper towel and I used it to hold on to her tooth and wiggled it some more. Then I got a good grip and pulled straight down, and at that time I heard a pop. Her tooth was finally out. After I did it Casey asked "Did you get it out?" in a crying tone. It was bleeding a little so I told her to just drink some juice and that I did get the tooth out.
She ended up swimming the whole time we were there. Until the sun went down. She slept so good though. :) And the tooth fairy left her $3. Which she took to the candy store the next morning.

Happy Late 4th of July

Happy Late 4th of July!!!! The top picture was taken right before we went to see the fireworks. Sheryl did the honors of taking the pic for me. This is at my brothers house. The ones of the girls with the sparklers were at the parking lot that we went to to watch the fireworks. And let me tell you, it was great. We were on top of the roof of Eric's Suburban and we had to lay down to see them because they were right above us. The picture of the fireworks is when the finale started and I was laying down looking up. I hope that everyone enjoyed their 4th of July and that they got to spend it with family. We did have a family get together and had lots of food. :)

Casey Loses A Front Tooth

This picture is for Renisa, this is before the 2nd tooth falls out. I better tell you the story behind this one. I will warn you that it may be long. A few months ago at daycare, Casey and a little boy were playing, Casey started tickling the little boy and he kicked her in the mouth. thus knocking a tooth loose. Now this is a baby tooth, so I am not worried that much about it. Well for months she has wiggled this tooth and dodged biting with this tooth. Well a couple of weeks ago, this tooth started to wiggle a little more, and Eric and I thought that it might be ready to come out. Well, Casey throws a fit and won't let you touch the tooth. So it starts to turn crooked, and she gets this gap between her other teeth and this one on one side. Well this past weekend, Lacy's party, the other tooth loosens. So I was for sure that it is ready to come out. Nope, Casey baby's these two teeth, because it will hurt if she pulls the teeth out. Well, this tooth starts sticking out toward her lips, and I told her she looked like she had bubba teeth. Well, yesterday, Eric and me decide that we are going to talk Casey into pulling this loose tooth. So we get some floss and tie it in a knot around the tooth and let Casey pull on the strings. Well she tugs very little on it might I add. So we challenged her, and said, Let's see how many times you have to pull the string to get the tooth out. Well, it took 16. And she wasn't daring to try the other tooth. So the picture above is of her with one tooth gone and the one that is still there is the one that has been loose for months. She did get $2 from the tooth fairy, and she is proud that she pulled her tooth out. I told her that she really needed to pull the other one out now, because it just looks funny. :)

Happy Late Birthday Lacy!!!!

I do so apologize for not posting sooner. So many things are going on around here, that it is hard to find the time to update the blog. :) I owe Lacy a big apology for not posting her birthday sooner than now. Her birthday was June 15th. She had her birthday party last weekend. My brother put up the waterslide and let the kids slide down it until the slide busted. They seemed to have a pretty good time. The first pic is of Lacy blowing out her birthday candles, Carrie had left them out in the sun so they had melted then DJ put them in the freezer and they were all funny turned. After sliding the 3 girls decided to sun bathe. That didn't last long. And I got a picture of the birthday girl with her mom and one with her dad. I didn't get any of Lacy with Renisa, but I will. :)
Sorry I am so late at posting this Lacy. Happy Late Birthday and I love you.

Summer Time!!!

This past Saturday I went to the hospital and stayed with Nunu for most of the day. While I was there my aunt Debbie and her daughter Shayna came in. We did get some good news about Norma. Her bone scan looked good, nothing has spread to the bones. Her echo cardiogram looked good. They could only do this about half way due to the cancer and infection on her chest and breast. The doctor did tell us that the place on her chest is a bacterial infection called pseudomonas. And that it can be treated with antibiotics, but that the bacteria is resistant to some antibiotics so the ones she is having to take are pretty strong. After Debbie got to the hospital, Shayna and I went to get us a bite to eat and then we went back to the hospital for a little longer. Then we went home. We stayed up late talking and catching up on stuff.
Sunday after church, me and the kids met Shayna for lunch, we then went back to the hospital and then we went to my SIL parents house to go swimming. This was our first trip to a pool for the summer, so I took some pics of the kids as they were in the pool. We all seemed to have a good time. It was a way for us to relax a little after this week.



Shayna went swimming with us, and I took a pic of her in her swimwear. Now I need to also mention that she is 13 weeks pregnant. This will be her 1st baby. And see, Shayna is the baby of our family, she was the last grandchild born, and she was born on Mawmaw's birthday. But I am excited that her and Travis are expecting. And I took the other pic right before she left to head back home. I just love this shirt on her. It makes her look more pregnant. :)

Now I will tell you today's news about Nunu, the doctor is seeing about letting her go home tomorrow, they just got to see if they can get a home health nurse to go to her house to administer the antibiotics by IV via port-a-cath, every 6 hrs. But everything seems to be healing okay. Her chest isn't bleeding as bad and is starting to clear up. I do ask that you continue to keep her in your prayers. And hopefully tomorrow I can say that she is at home.

This past week.....

This past week has been very busy for us. I had to work midnights all week plus go to the parade, and go to the picnic. The top two pics are from Memorial Day. Cody's boyscout troop were in the parade and then afterwards they retired old American flags. This is the second year that they have retired old flags. I did not know until last year what it entaled . But before they can be retired in the fire, there is a ceremony that they have to do first. So when you look at the pics remember this is NOT a flag burning, they are properly retiring the flags that are torn and faded.



This picture was actually taken today, and there is a story behind it. It is actually really sweet. This past Saturday May 26th, I went to the Blueridge Parkway with a woman that I work with to take some pictures of a wedding for Diane. I had Casey go with me, cause I thought that it would be sweet to have her at a wedding. Anyway, the girl that was married was like a niece to Diane, so I told Diane that I would help with decorations and that I would do the wedding pics. Anyway. The church was a really old rock, and small church. Beautiful place to get married. It ended up pouring the rain a little after we got there, so it ended up being an indoor wedding. But beside of the church was a cemetary. And Casey was helping get some things set up for the reception. And she looked over at the cemetary and asked if we could go over there and see her Mawmaw B. I then had explain to a 6 year old that her Mawmaw wasn't buried at this particular grave site. And I had to promise to take her to take a flower to her Mawmaw B's grave. So due to Casey being at DJ's last Sunday night, we didn't get to go to the gravesite until today after her picnic. I stopped and let her pick out the flowers that she wanted to put on the grave. We ended up having to put it on her Pawpaw B's though, for Mawmaw B doesn't have a headstone, which Casey fussed at her daddy for that. Anyway, I just thought that it was sweet the way she remembered her grandma and wanted to take a flower to her grave.




These other pics are from Casey's picnic at the park with the kindergarden class. I was just glad that I could make it. Being on 3rd shift is the only reason that I got to go. We had fun and I took several pics of Casey with her friends.
Now before I end this blog, I do have some updates to make. Norma (Nunu) went to the doctor on Thursday this week, and she got good news, the tumor has shrunk a little more. So I still ask that everyone continue to keep her in your prayers, pray that the tumor in her breast and the one on her chest continues to shrink. And that her body keeps the strength needed to fight this cancer off. Thank you.