Desperate Housewives....Reunited

This past weekend was such a refresher for me...Meredith, Jill and I loaded up in Mere's van on Friday and headed to Memphis where we met up with Brittany. Meredith, being the talented person she is, put together a "Desperate Housewives Roadtrip Mix" for us to listen to...it was full of some new must have songs and some "old school" songs. I must say....it's amazing that we can still sing some of those old songs word for word!!! We were jammin' and even got a few stares along the way! LOL The drive was uneventful UNTIL we hit the Memphis bridge and the bottom of the sky fell out....not cool when we are trying to find our way to the hotel in unfamiliar territory!! After dodging crazy drivers and a few calls to Britt..we finally made it! Then, we met up with Britt for a little shopping and we got to meet Grey...he's such a little cutie!! We did some fun shopping and then we all went back and got "spruced up" for a fun "Momma's only" night out where we went to a fabulous restraunt called Bahama Breeze. We sat at that table and laughed so hard talking about the "old" days...I haven't laughed that hard in a long time!! We made a run to Target (where I started getting blisters on the heel of my foot and a cashier gave me some awesome DIEGO band-aids that I sported around the rest of the evening!)and looked around a little. We were having such a good time that we weren't quite ready to go back to the hotel, so we went to Cozumel's and had a drink where we AGAIN had some good laughs. We finally decided we better get in bed if we wanted to shop till we dropped the next day. The next morning we met up with Britt and she took us to some really nice shopping places...we were shopped out and headed home around 3:30. It was so nice to have that time together and we have all agreed that this is something we want to do AT LEAST once a year if not twice!!! Thanks girls for such a wonderful time...I can't wait until the next trip!!!

All Aboard Graham's Birthday Express....

Our family traveled to Little Rock yesterday for Graham's 4th Birthday!! We had a great time and as usual, everything was FANTASTIC!!! The kids played a few fun games and Meredith read a cute Thomas The Train book for storytime. Emma was in rare form...she wasn't acting ugly or anything, just clung to her daddy's leg most of the time!! Really weird because she is usually my social butterfly and loves playing games...oh well, she told me later "the party was great mom" so I guess she had fun! LOL I think Graham will remember his Thomas The Train party that his mom made extra special for him for a long time!!!! At the end of the party he handed out the goody bags and thanked each kid individually for coming to his party...I thought that was really sweet!! Graham-Thanks for allowing us to be a part of your special day!! We love you!!!!

Update....

I am SOOOO happy to report that Grant passed his hearing test today!!! I can't tell you how relieved I am to FINALLY have that behind us! He was such a trooper and was flirting with all the ladies! LOL He will still need to go back for a check up in 6 months, but that's just to check the tubes in his ears. As we were leaving, the Dr. asked me if he was having any other problems or if he had been sick at all since he was born and I told him NO without hesitation....he then said "Do you know how lucky you are?" My response "Very much so...he's my little miracle!!!" I told him that I've had several Dr's ask me the same question and he said that's b/c most preemies are in and out of the hospital or Dr's office on a regular basis. This again proves he really is our "little miracle" Thanks for your prayers and Thank you God for taking care of my precious baby boy!!

A little prayer please....

(I love this shirt!!)


Grant has an appt. at Children's Hospital tomorrow for ANOTHER hearing test. They are peforming a "booth test"...basically he sits in my lap facing forward and they produce sounds and talk to him at different pitches and watch for his response. I am praying that he passes, if not, the next step is a sedated test and i'm not thrilled AT ALL with that idea!!! I am really trying to be positive about this, but it's a little frustrating when I KNOW he can hear, yet he's not passing the tests!! Please say a little prayer for my lil' man....and mommy's patience!! LOL

Photo Fun!!!

Well I had a little fun taking pictures of the kids the other day! Emma is such a princess these days and all about playing dress up, so she put on her FABULOUS TuTu made by her "Aunt Mere" and I got some really cute pictures! Grant LOVES bathtime...and what is bathtime without rubber ducky?!! He likes to chew on the heads! LOL On another note...I REALLY have this "nagging feeling" to give photography a shot!!! I have been thinking a lot lately about what I want to do with my life... I would love to take some photography classes and start doing some photography on the side. I feel like this would give me a chance to do something I love and still be free to spend time with the kids! I have been talking about this for a few years now and the feeling just isn't going away...doesn't that mean something?? I am about to purchase my first "real" camera and I'm SOOO excited!!! Hopefully I will have it before Grant's b-day party so I can have some fun with it!!

Celebrating 4th of July...

We had a great 4th this year...it's always a fun time to get together with family and eat yummy food!! We always have a HUGE fireworks display...thanks to my famly that is originally from California (you can't shoot you own fireworks in CA). Since the moved here a few years ago...they go crazy buying fireworks on the 4th and New years. It makes me feel like a kid again...we Ooooh and Aawww at how pretty they are! Emma likes them too, but she despises the really loud ear piercing ones! LOL Grant didn't seem to be bothered by the loud noise a bit....he was SOUND ASLEEP!


Emma wasn't real fond of the "loud squealing ones"

Little Party Animal....

Last weekend Emma went to two birthday parties for 2 of her very special friends!! Let's just say it was a weekend full of fun and she loved every minute of it! Thanks to both girls for inviting us to be a part of your special day!

Ella's 3rd birthday party was at a fun little place called Gymboree!! There was lots of fun things for the kids to do and Emma even got to meet a "parachute monster" LOL



Halle's 6th birthday was at Central Lanes Bowling! It was lots of fun and Emma tells everyone that she "got a big ball out of the cave and rolled it really fast!" LOL She is too funny!

Brickfest Fun!!

It's amazing that such a small town like Malvern,AR can actually been known for something worldwide, but it's true....The Brick Capitol of the World!! Last weekend was the annual Brickfest in town and I decided to take the kids since it was something I enjoyed going to as a kid! Of course, my favorite part is the ever so greasy food that is a HUGE no no!! LOL We enjoyed some nachos and fried pickles along with fresh lemonade..Yummy! My Aunt, cousin and her daughter Hayley joined us for some short-lived fun (it was sooo hot that we only stayed about 1.5 hrs..plenty for me anyway!!) and the kids took a ride on the "train". Of course Emma wanted to play on EVERYTHING, but I finally convinced her to leave by reminding her of the fun evening we already had planned....a birthday party!!!!

YUMMY in my TUMMY...

My sweet daughter has consumed PLENTY of ice cream in her life, but she had never been to an "ice cream shop" as she calls it, where she could sample it and pick out her very own...I know, I'm a horrible mom! LOL Last week we took a trip to Baskin Robbins and her face just lit up when she saw all that ice cream!! She sampled SEVERAL flavors and finally decided on cotton candy, while mommy and Grant shared some chocolate fudge brownie (i think that's what it was)!! She absolutely loved the
"little spoon" and refused to eat her tasty treat with anything else! I expect we will be making more trips to the ice cream shop in the near future...she knows exactly where it is now and informs me EVERY TIME we drive by!! LOL

Forever Grateful!!!

That was THEN.....

I'm not sure where to start....my heart is deeply saddened and I'm so thankful at the same time. In the past two days I have heard of 2 families that have lost precious babies due to prematurity. One family I know (their son passed away after 7 weeks of fighting for his life), the other family I don't (their baby passed after 1 day)...either way my heart is breaking for them right now!! It is sad when a child is taken to soon for ANY reason, but I guess for me, these particular situations just hit close to home. I know God has a purpose for everything/everyone and we aren't supposed to question him or ask "why", but it's times like these that my mind tends to wonder..."Why was my son allowed to live and another precious child didn't?", "Why am I holding my son when another family has to bury theirs?" It is truly overwhelming to think that we were faced with the same possibility less than a year ago, but we were spared that heart wrenching experience because God chose to shelter Grant and allow him to be part of our family!!! THANK YOU GOD!!!
And this is NOW!!!! My big boy!