Easter Weekend!

We had a great weekend! Earle, the boys and I went to Mobile to the LTC convention. The kids from our church did really well. They competed in Drama, Chorus, and Drawing. They were a wild and wooly bunch, but they represented our church really well. While we were there, Earle took Ben to the SS Alabama Battleship. They had a great time. I asked Ben about the ship and he told me it was "old, broken and stinky" On the way back on Saturday, we stopped at the Outlet Mall in Biloxi. It was a good trip. Thank you to all of the kids and adults who played a part in this adventure!! Easter Sunday was good. The highlight was Easter Egg hunting in our backyard. Hope you all had a great Easter!!

CB

Happy Birthday Collin!!

Well, last year, today, I woke up with the Doctor sitting at the foot of my hospital bed, and I said, "is today finally the day?" And he said, "I believe so, go get shower and we will get ready to have a baby." I was so glad to hear those words! So, around 7:15 that evening, Collin was born. He was born screaming, but a whopping 3 lbs. 12 oz. and 17 inches long. He also had a knot in his umbilical cord, there was a tear in my placenta, and he had stopped growing in utero...not to mention my state of severe pre-eclampsia....truly a miracle! As you can see from the pics, even the preemie diapers were way too big! Collin spent two weeks in the NICU and came home just weighing 4 lbs. and 2 oz. He is now almost 20 lbs, and I am guessing around 30inches!

I can't believe a year has passed! He does not even look like the same baby boy! We celebrated his birthday with Mops and Pops( Earle's parents) they came down for a visit. He loved his cake, as you can see and had a great time playing with his presents! Happy Birthday my sweet boy!

Home Improvements...2

BEFORE>>>>>


AFTER!!!!!

We spent the past couple of weekends, doing some home improvements. We(mostly Earle while I was watching the boys and keeping Ben from demolishing our house with his own paintwork ) painted the living room and kitchen, and then last weekend, Earle, Lorie, and I tiled the back splash in our kitchen...we think it turned out pretty good. We have been working on our kitchen slowly since we moved here doing one thing at a time. I still may paint our cabinets, but for now, we are at a good stopping place. Here are some before and after shots! Thank you Lorie for helping us! And, to anyone that has never tiled anything...it is so easy! We were shocked. Lowes was going to charge us $700.00 extra to install the back splash, so we said, no thanks and did it ourselves. Thank you, Angela Grace, for making me take the before pictures to e-mail you...even though I was not sure I wanted anyone to see until we had finished! The stove in the before pics was actually one we had to buy, but there was an old one there when we got here.

It is hard to do projects with such young and curious kiddos...I think next time, maybe we will get a babysitter!

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Carrie

Just Another Week....

Sorry the posts have not been coming as quickly lately. It seems like we stay pretty busy around here. I also apologize for losing everyone's weblinks....I will try to get them back up soon, when we change our template, I have not figured out how to save our links...so if any of you have any good advice on that, please share!! The boys are growing up so quickly. Today, Ben started singing to me a song that he learned at school, I am guessing for an end of the year program, but it was about how he was moving up, into Pre-K... and he would be writing his letters next year, and it made me really sad! Also, at church on Sunday, Earle handed Ben a dollar bill to put into the offering and Ben opened it up and said, "look mommy, it is George Washington!" My immediate thought was, wow, that preschool is really doing its job!! I thought that was pretty good for 3 years old...then Earle took it to the next level and asked who was on the one with the 5, and Ben just looked up confused! Boy has time flown! We have been able to spend some time outside taking walks. Collin is actually big enough to ride in the Wagon with Ben this year!! I had to put the picture of Collin, sucking his tongue in here, because I think it is so cute. He pulls on any shirt he has on and starts sucking his tongue when he is tired....this is his first, soothing thing he has ever done...he is a strange one, never taken a pacifier or needed a blanket, you just put him in the crib and he goes to sleep...so never the less, I had to post about this.

Earle and I have just been going through the motions! Our favorite pass-time at the moment, other than the few shows we record each week, is after we put the boys to bed, we rock out to Guitar Hero on our Wii! I know this sounds so silly, but it is actually really fun...and a bit addictive! If any of you have this and also have wireless internet...we have been know to battle our friends online!! Pretty sad, but when you don't live near family, and you don't often have a babysitter...it is like hanging out with another couple! Hope you are all doing well!! More posts coming soon!!

Girls' Weekend in Memphis

Me and Becky Me and Sharifa

Vicky, Jenny and Michelle, in a very stinky bathroom!! Jenny, Me and Lorie, doing Charlie's Angels crazy hair pose on top of the Peabody.

All of Us, Sharifa, Angela, Me, Michelle, Becky, Jenny, Lorie, Jana and Vicky

This past weekend, Lorie and I made a trip to Memphis to meet 7 of my friends from Illinois. We had a great couple of days. We spent two nights, shopped, ate, and just visited and spent some time catching up...the best part...completely kid free!! We had so much fun!!

Earle was great to watch the boys for me...I have to really give him credit, I came home and things were straightened up and laundry was put away. He was so sweet, although I am sure he enjoyed hours of playing Guitar Hero after the boys were down at night! Thank you Earle!!! I love you! You are a Hunka Hunka Burning Love!!

Thank you girls!! I miss you guys! We have to go somewhere every year!! And thanks, Lorie for coming with me, it would not have been the same without you!!

CB

Papa and Cindy come to visit The Big Easy!

My parents came to visit us last week. We had a great time, since it was Mardi Gras, Earle had some time off and we got to have a relaxing time visiting. The boys loved it. They were spoiled and lavished upon. I know they were sad to see them go on Friday. My dad took Ben fishing for the first time ever. He actually caught some fish...two bass and a catfish, so he was extremely proud of his accomplishments! Collin also finally really started crawling the army crawl while they were here, and of course, he rarely spent a minute not being held by one of them. Thanks for coming to see us!! We loved it!!
CB