Welcome Back

Hi.  My name is Kammy.  And this is my blog.  Oh, wait...
So I've decided to start blogging again.  It is really hard to keep up with sometimes, but I just LOVE being able to look back over the last few years that I've blogged and see the sweet pictures of my babies and be reminded of some of the fun experiences we've had.  I guess my last post kinda caught everyone up on our current living situation...quick recap...we are still living in the first house we ever lived in as a married couple...back at our first church and are very much enjoying being back. I'll start this post though, by briefly catching you up on the major highlights of the last 8 months and then maybe I'll try to start blogging more regularly....
So in December both big boys had a birthday.  Austin turned 5 and Daniel turned 8.  They had a football party and got football outfits...

 

 We had Christmas.  I got this GREAT snapshot of the kids in front of the tree at church.  Doesn't happen often that I get them all looking at the camera and actually smiling too!

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 We got snow twice.  This was the first one we had.  It happened overnight and was gone by noon.  The second one stayed around for quite awhile, but I'll explain why I don't have any pics of that later...

 Peyton is super mobile now.  He can officially climb on the kitchen table now.  Always creates interesting days when that happens...

 And now why we didn't play in the second big snow.  Our baby got his foot caught in the rotating brush on our vacuum cleaner.  It tore off several layers of skin off the bottom of his foot.  It was horrible.  After taking him to the ER and later to his pediatrician, we discovered that the foot was infected.  He developed a type of staff infection called MRSA.  So we headed down to LeBonheur Children's Hospital on completely ice and snow covered roads so little Peyton could be admitted to the hospital and receive IV antibiotics to heal his precious little baby foot.  He thankfully had just learned the word "NO" before we entered the hospital, so he got to use that word a lot while doctors and nurses poked and prodded his little arms and feet.  He wore the most adorable little baby boot for a week and a half so the foot could heal faster and the wound could close fully.  Now he's doing great and the foot is almost completely healed.

 One day while we were at the hospital the big kids came to visit for awhile.  They did an art project while they were there...

 So, those are the big highlights over the last few months.  Oh...I may have forgotten to mention that we decided to put the kids in school this year.  Daniel and Lily are in first and second grade at a local elementary school and Mondays and Wednesdays, Austin goes to a little church preschool.  So two days a week its just me and Peyton...but the other days its me and these two...

They love each other.  So there's our life!  The plan is to post more regularly from here on out.  We'll see.  :)

The Last Two Months...

Howdy folks!  Life since we moved back has been a whirlwind!  There are lots of things I'd love to blog about but instead of feeling really defeated when I don't find the time to catch up, maybe I'll just briefly touch each thing and start blogging more from here on out.  Whatever helps me sleep at night.  :)  So we celebrated the fourth...

 We moved back into our old house...

 We did a VBS in Frazier...

 

We celebrated Peyton's FIRST birthday!!

 

 

 

 Lily started gymnastics...(this is a picture from her glow party to celebrate the start of classes)...

 The boys started playing soccer...

 And above...I ran my first 5K with a friend!!  So its been an eventful two months!  Throw in there that the kids started back to school...my parents moved...and I got TWO new nieces and you could call it down right crazy!  It's been busy...but its all been a blast!  Obviously I will blog more about a few of these events, but I at least now don't feel like I have sooo many blog posts weighing on my shoulders.  Here's to fall (insert raising a cup of something warm and pumpkin-y)!! :)

 

 

 

We're Moving Again?

 Three and a half years ago we moved from this house.  In that three and a half years we have moved five times....
January 2010-to Jason's mom's house
November 2010-to our apartment in Dayton
November 2011-to Maryland
July 2012-to the church's parsonage in Maryland
April 2013-to my parent's house
Now...three and a half years later, in July of 2013 we have just finished our 6th move...back to this sweet house!  I cannot believe I am even writing this!  Never when we moved back to this area 3 months ago would I have thought that we'd end up serving again at Beaver Baptist Church!  Jason will be leaving Chick-fil-A and be joining the team at Beaver again as an Associate Pastor.  He will be overseeing youth, young adults, and missions.  We could not be more excited about the opportunity to be back!  One of the hardest things about moving so much over the last three and a half years has been saying goodbye.  I know had we not said those goodbyes, we would have never met the next set of people that we were sad to say goodbye to, but you get the idea.  At each and every church we've been blessed to serve alongside, we have left some very dear, sweet people behind.  It is such a blessing to be able to return to one of those churches and serve alongside the dear, sweet people of Tipton County again! 

Well, since the move is just an hour north of here we've kinda taken our time moving...which has been nice.  A week and a half ago we took the majority of our things up to the house.  The kids were a huge help...

 Especially this little cutie...

 We also had quite a few helpful hands from family and friends...

Then Wednesday we took our dressers and things we were still using here at my parents house out to the house.  And tonight we are taking the final load and will be officially living there!  We are just thrilled!  Jason and I weren't married yet when we started at Beaver the first time.  So when we got married, he brought me home to that house.  I brought my first three children home from the hospital to that house.  My cousin, Amber spent her last afternoon on this earth with me in that house.  That house holds a special place in my heart and I am just excited to be back!  And we are excited to see what God has in store and how He is going to use Beaver Baptist Church in our community! 

Thirty

Thirty.  That's what I am now.  I just don't know what to think about it!  On the one hand I feel so old!  My twenties were some good times and hold some priceless memories.  I can't believe that time in my life is over.  But on the other hand, thirty doesn't feel near as old as I always thought it was.  And thirty has a level of wisdom and experience that I'm so happy to have (please do not mistake this for me thinking I am the epitome of wisdom or have learned anywhere close to everything I need to know...that is not at all what I mean...I still have a long way to go).  But I am so very thankful for the life lessons I've learned through my twenties and I pray that God will help me to use that wisdom for His glory through my thirties...all the while learning even more this decade! 
My 30th birthday was wonderful.  I had a perfectly relaxing day with my hubby doing some of the things I love the most...

It began with a lunch date at Benihana followed by a movie...Man of Steel (thanks to my sister and her in-laws for entertaining our kids all day) .  Yes I realize it was my birthday and not Jason's.  One thing I have totally learned about myself...when it comes to movies...I'm not much of a chick-flick movie kinda gal.  My favorite kind of movies are action packed and suspenseful.  I am NOT talking about movies like The Matrix or The Fast and the Furious (or any of their sequels).  I am talking about movies like The Bourne Identity or Oceans 11 (or any of their sequels).  Saying all that to say...Man of Steel was right up my alley and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

Then we did a little leisurely shopping and headed back to my parents' house to meet up with our children and some family for pizza and cake!  My mom made the cake homemade and it is absolutely the best cake you will ever put in your mouth.  Usually, I'd rather have a homemade chocolate chip cookie or a brownie over cake any day, but not this cake.  This cake is the best.  The kids gathered to sing happy birthday, so we had them smile for a picture.  They got a little carried away saying cheese...

So the day was great!  I'd say a perfect entrance to my thirties!

Lily's 6th Birthday

On June 18, my baby girl turned 6.  SIX.  She is growing up so fast!  While watching my children grow, I am constantly amazed at how fast time passes.  For Lily's birthday, we spent the whole day together.  We started off by letting her open her presents from our family...

 Then before we took off for our "day of fun" we let her see her cake.  She approved...

 Then we took off.  She wanted to go to the Memphis Botanical Gardens and look at all the pretty flowers and go to "My Big Backyard."  My Big Backyard has a LOT of fun things for kids to do.  They have lots of playhouses, a big playground, a creek/misty rain area for the kids to get all wet and cool off, they have sand pits and tunnels and balance beams and swings and hula hoops....and that is just the stuff to do in My Big Backyard.  Elsewhere in the Botanical Gardens you can feed fish and look for dinosaur bones and look at flowers and run and climb and play...basically you can see why Lily wanted to spend her birthday here!

 

 The kids had a blast there!  So when we were done there we needed to do Lily's other most favorite thing...swim!



 

 When we finished swimming we headed back to Nana and Grandad's for the party!  We didn't have a really big party this year.  It ended up just being some family and it was actually quite relaxing.  And Lily still had a great time!  We made our own pizzas for dinner...

 

(btw...the woman in the picture above is my 86 year old grandmother...you know...the one with the black hair that she never dyes....hoping for her genes...hoping) 

 And of course then we had cake and ice cream....

 And opened presents....

 

 

 It was such a fun birthday.  Lily actually said it was her "best birthday ever!"  Music to a mommy's ears!  Happy Birthday Lily!  We are SO in love with our happy, girly, active, smart, shy little princess!  You are beautiful inside and out and we are praying for many more birthdays as we watch you continue to grow into a beautiful young lady!  We love you Lily girl!!

 

The Last Day of School (in Maryland)

How long ago did we move here?  Two and a half months ago.  So I'm deciding now would be a good time to post some pictures from the kids' last day of school in Maryland.  It's good to post things like this two and a half months later.  (Not really, but I'm going to tell myself that). :)  SO, the last day of school was a hard day for me.  I loved their school in Maryland, and I absolutely LOVED the teachers they had this past year.  They were just wonderful.  On their last day of school I took some cupcakes and drinks for the kids in their class to make it kind of a special "good-bye day."  Lily had 28 kindergarteners in her class so getting a picture with the whole class was a little bit out of the question.  And I have discovered this last year that Lily is in fact very shy, so even getting a picture of her with her teacher was a bit difficult...

But Lily loved Mrs. McDade and so did we!  Everything she said may as well have been Biblical as far as Lily was concerned.  :)

And then we headed over to Daniel's classroom.  Daniel's teacher was so wonderful as well!  Not only was she very sweet, but she was a very good teacher and Daniel learned a lot!!  She had Daniel take a picture with the girls (I don't think he knew what to do)...

 And then with the boys...

 I don't think he's quite as shy as Lily girl.  And here's Daniel with his teacher, Mrs. Blythe...

I was MOST definitely fighting back the tears that day.  I don't know what it is about them having to leave a school that just chokes me up.  They always seem fine, but I am a mess!  We sure do love and miss Broad Ford Elementary!! :)