More ballet pictures...

Emma Grace is still LOVING her ballet class. The girls were measured this past week for their costumes for their performance at the Fantasy of Trees , in November.
She is so excited. (me too!) :)
It will be sooooo cute!

Andrew, Papaw & Chloe

Andrew loves Mimi & Papaw's dog Chloe. She is a boxer, and is the same age as Andrew. They got her as a puppy right after Andrew was born. They have "grown up" together. She is a great dog and Andrew just loves her...

Emma Grace ~ bad hair day!

This is what Emma's hair does when she gets on the trampoline!

Knoxville Symphony Orchestra @ the Library

This morning Emma Grace and I went to the Karns Library with our friends Beth & Mason Randles. (Mason & Emma are both 3). The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra sent out four different orchestra members with their instruments. After the story time and the mini concert - the kids got to hold and "play" the instruments. We love classical music - especially Mozart! It was fun for the mommies and the kids! :)

Andrew's Baseball game...

Andrew is playing Baseball again this fall for the Twins. In his game tonight he had 2 RBIs. They beat the Cardinals.
Yeah #4!!

Morgan's football game ~ Karns vs Bearden

Morgan had his 4th regular season game of the year on Saturday. They played Bearden and won 14-12. He scored another Touchdown, but had a fumble too!

Andrew & Emma Grace at UT campus- Go Vols!

Morgan went to the Karns High vs Bearden High football game tonight @ Bearden. John had some work to do, so I took Andrew & Emma Grace to the UT campus for some pictures with my new camera. (John got me a new camera for our anniversary.) I am just learning how to use it. I will need some classes for sure - but here are a few of my favorite shots from this evening. I love the picture at the top with Ayres Hall in the background. I had 2 math classes in that building. There was "no air condition" in there when I had those 2 classes - and I was pregnant with Morgan, spring of 1994. I will always remember hiking up that HILL being 7 months pregnant!
Campus was bustling tonight getting ready for the BIG game tomorrow against FLORDIA!!! GO Vols!

Emma Grace's accident update

Emma Grace went to see her dentist on Wednesday to have an x-ray of her teeth. Her dentist also told us that he would not do a "temporary" tooth. She will just be "without one" for 3 or 4 years until her permanent tooth comes in. It still bothers her, but I am sure she'll get used to it. She went today to her pediatrician (Dr. Lowery), who she absolutely loves. He removed her stitches under her chin and said that she was healing nicely.
She has played "hospital" everyday this week. She puts band aids all over herself and her babies. She has used dental floss and given us all "titches" (she now has a lisp.) The boys have always been so protective of her and she is getting rotten from all the extra attention from them.
It will be a week tomorrow since her accident - but we are definitely "on the mend!"

Emma Grace's 1st trip to the ER...

Emma Grace had an accident last night. She was sliding down the slide and somehow landed on her chin. John & I were both in the backyard with her, but didn't see it when it happened. She came running to us with a mouth FULL of blood. There was so much blood we couldn't figure out where it was coming from. John carried her in the house where we then discovered that she was missing one of her front teeth!!!! We also discovered that she had a gash under her chin. (I was almost panicked at this point). We rushed her to Children's Hospital. On the way to the hospital I called as many of my prayer warrior friends that I could find in my phones address book. Fortunately, we were taken right back to a room after triage. When the doctor examined her, she said that the tooth could NOT be saved, because of a risk of infection. She got 3 stitches under her chin and was such a trooper. The doctor and nurses were just awesome with her. After they finished with her stitches, she asked to look in the mirror. (There was one already in the room) . She asked them if they were going to put her tooth back in now. My heart just ached. I could feel the hot tears filling up in my eyes - I had tried sooooo hard not to cry in front of my baby girl. She has had a rough week, giving up her paci just 3 days prior to this. I am just trying to think of the positives - at least it was only one tooth, it was just a BABY tooth & it could have been worse. God took care of her (and us too!)
Thanks to everyone for the prayers, I know that's what got us through this scary evening.

Morgan's football game

Morgan had another football game on Saturday morning.
He scored a touchdown and had several good tackles. He loves football! Yeah #2!

Bye bye Paci!

Visit from the Paci fairy

We have been "talking about" saying bye bye to Paci for several months now. Emma Grace has LOVED her paci since birth. We have never tried really hard to do away with it, because it brought so much comfort and security to her. I have heard ALL the stories about "how to get rid of the Pacifier." We have been talking about how "babies" use pacis - not "big girls". We finally decided to tell Emma Grace about the Paci fairy. This became a family project. The boys have been so worried about Emma giving up something that she dearly loves. They have helped us prepare her for this big day for a few weeks now. Yesterday the big day arrived. We all decorated a tree in our back yard with all of her pacifiers that we could find in the house & cars. (about 20 something). We tied them with pink ribbons all over the branches and even found a "pretend fairy" that she role played with - what was about to take place. I had her explain to each one of us what was going to happen at night, so I could be sure that she understood what was going to happen. She explained 4 times, that "at night time the Paci fairy was going to come and take all her pacis and give them to the little babies. She was going to bring her a Tinkerbell dress ." She has been wanting a Tinkerbell dress for a long time. When the sun was about to set I asked her if she wanted to go say Bye to her pacis one last time. She did - so we went out there one last time - just the 2 of us. She didn't say anything at first . we just stood there and looked at the last pieces of her BABYHOOD hanging there on that little tree. She then started kissing everyone of them as they were hanging on the branches. I bent down beside her and she started to whisper. Not to me, but just quietly to herself. I got closer to see if I could hear what she was saying. I said "what are you saying?" With her little eyes closed, she whispered..., "I 'm just telling the fairy to take good care of them because i luv em' ". It broke my heart, even though I know it is time for them to go.
She did great at bedtime and went to sleep for the 1st time in her life without a paci. She woke up at 5 am crying for it, but went back to sleep. When we all woke up this morning we went outside to see the beautiful tinkerbell dress that the Paci fairy left. I have been weepy all day. I think this has been the hardest on me.

Anniversary Roses!

John sent roses to me @school on Friday. My 6th graders were so cute! They got just as excited about the roses as my 2nd graders used to!

John & Cindy --- Our 16th Anniversary - Sept 5th