The Parlier Family

Well................so much for my last post! Shew!

2012-01-24T22:56:00.002-05:00

As I typed the last post LAST Wednesday, I felt GOOD about chores and exercise and making "to do" lists! I was up-beat and ready to tackle the world (and the entire house's clutter!). THEN.....at 4:30 exactly........kaboom! I was suddenly in the tight grip of my second Kidney Stone attack. My first attack was 11 years ago just before Mark and I were married. That time, the pain started and wouldn't let up for anything.....this time (thank goodness) the pain came and went much like contractions.....contractions that lasted a LOT longer than actual contractions!

Mark was working (as is the usual route for our family emergencies), but I called him and demanded that he come home. THEN.....as the pain got worse, I decided that I needed to go to the ER. I was gonna drive myself (why not?), but Mark got his father to come up and get me to bring me in to town. My mother in law came up and got the boys and took them to her house. I think I scared the boys to death as I hobbled around moaning saying "Get your clothes on! Get you shoes on! Get your coats on! Mommy has to go to the Hospital! Hurry!!!" Bless their little hearts. I hate that I scared them, but boy howdy! Mommy was hurting!

Soooooooooooo..........needless to say, Martha hasn't done my Push-ups, and the cleaning schedule has gone by the wayside for the last week. I'm hoping to pick it all back up again full-force tomorrow. (hopefully!)

We're all fighting a cold at the moment......Creston stayed home from school today with a bad cough, but it seems to have gotten better throughout the day.

Oh! Forgot to mention that the 3mm stone passed by itself last Thursday after a really bad period of horrible pain ~ just before we had to leave to go to the doctor. THANK THE LORD! I prayed and prayed that it would come on out and it did. I know that doesn't always happen, but I'm just ever so glad that it did.

We're going to have some tests done to figure out what is making them in me, and also in Mark. With both of us having them, the boys are very likely to have them as well. I can't stand the thoughts of them having an attack this young....or at any age for that matter.

Sooooooo.........keep us in your prayers and pray that I will get all of my energy back soon! I soooo want to get the house in order and feel better in general.

Hope that everyone has a great rest of your week!

Making Changes!

2012-01-18T08:36:00.006-05:00

It seems that from Halloween on, life just spins out of control until Creston's Birthday at the first of January. Every year I say that I won't let everything get piled on us, and that we'll actually be able to breathe a little during all of the holiday rush, but that never seems to happen. Sigh!!! This picture below is of me...............(just pretend there's a little brown hair in there too!). CRAZY WOMAN MARTHA!!!!!

I've decided that I'm tired of being crazy! I'm tired of being tired! I'm tired of all the clutter and chaos in our home and lives! I'm tired of always being aggitated and aggravated! I'm just plain old TIRED!!! :)

Soooooooooooooooooooooooo........................I'm going to make a cleaning schedule and STICK TO IT! I'm going to start exercising and STICK TO IT! I'm going to make an active effort to eat better and STICK TO IT! Just gonna do it! That's the only way to go.

Mark has been doing this Pushup thingy for the last 3 weeks that will supposedly have him doing 100 consecutive pushups in 7 weeks. I can already see the change in his arms. He's got muscles there that I have never seen before! I don't in any way mean that badly towards my really great looking hubby, but I kinda like the arms being all buff!! :) My arms???? Flabby and floppy are two words that I would def. use to describe them. Never thought that I'd have floppy arms at 35, but there they are. I hate tank tops due to the lack of tone there. So.................after seeing his progress I'm going to start doing the pushup thingy too! I started this morning and did 16! Mind you........I CAN'T DO PUSHUPS! Never have been able to. NO UPPER BODY STRENGTH EVER! Ever!!!!! "Girl" pushups have even been a stretch for me my whole life. P.I.T.I.F.U.L.!!!

If you follow the plan, and only do it every other day, then you can really work yourself up to something wonderful in just a few short weeks. (I also need to find a good crunch plan to tone my post baby belly jiggle!)

Here is the link to the Pushup challenge........really.......you all should try it! From what I've seen in Mark, it is AMAZING!!!!!

http://onehundrespushups.com

THEN.......................I WILL control the clutter in my home this coming year! I WILLLLLLL!!!! So.................along with making a cleaning schedule, I am going to follow the Fly Lady!

http://theflylady.com

I have started her program before, and thought that it was not "fast" enough to get the house in order RIGHT NOW- NOW-NOW-NOW!!!! It is actually slow going.......the first day....the only thing you are supposed to clean is your Kitchen Sink and make it SHINE! As the days go on, you add more daily tasks and at the end of 28 days, you supposedly have made all of these little things a habit for your daily routine. Supposedly it takes that long to create a "habit". I think I can do that.......if I won't get in that "CLEAN IT ALL NOWWWWW!" mode again.

Ok..............gonna go clean my sink!

Oh........and by the way.....it is COLD here this morning! Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.................flurries every now and then, but no snow accumulation like we thought that we'd get last night. :( Want at least one REALLY good snow this season........not looking too good so far!

2012-01-07T19:42:00.000-05:00

Today was Creston's 7th Birthday Party with his friends! We had 17 little people and their parents come to celebrate with us and we had a GREAT time! He wanted an "Army" themed party, so we had the kids wear their Army clothing, and then we did a few Army themed games to go along with everything!

The boys all had a GREAT time chasing each other out in the field. The weather was really nice for the 7th of January! They got to play outside quite a bit and that was good considering how many people we had in the fellowship hall!

Getting ready to blow out his candle!

Me & my beautiful mom!

Our first game was to guess how many Army men were in the jar!

Our second game was an Airplane Flying contest! The boys had to make their airplane and then we took them outside to see who could get theirs to fly the farthest. The wind kept blowing off and on, so we'd have to wait until it stopped for a few seconds. They really seemed to like this one.

Our third game was "Hot Grenade" (played with a Potato) and the kids loved this too!

We finished off with a Pinata!!! It wound up not working quite the way that we wanted, but they got the candy anyway, so that was all that mattered! :)

I think that everything went pretty well. We hadn't ever had a BIG birthday party for either of the boys before, so it was nice to see everyone come out and have a good day with him. We love our little guy!!! It was a good day!

Happy 7th Birthday, Creston!!!

2012-01-03T15:31:00.000-05:00

Today was Creston's Birthday. Daddy had to work, and it snowed, so instead of going to school and having a party at home, Creston got to stay home, and then we all loaded up and went to Boone to eat dinner with Daddy at Hunan!!!! Creston LOVES Hunan!!!

This is Creston crawling under the table so he can open his present!!
Mackie stayed a good couple of inches away from the present.....but then hollered "Where's MINE????"
Yay for finding "CHEAP" Legos!! He's been wanting some, but Lordy! They are expensive! We found 2 of these sets so he can combine them and make a bigger set. They work with regular Legos, so that was good! We actually found some that look a little nicer for his "Fake Birthday Party coming up on Saturday! With all of those and the "real" legos that he's already got, he'll have a nice little pile going on! Yay!!

He's a happy little nut!!! :)

Me and my sweet older baby! Can't believe how fast 7 years have gone by!

This was too funny and cute to not take a picture of! Read the fortune. Toooooo cute! Esp. with all the "girlfriend" talk that he does!

We're so proud of our little guy!

We love our little Chinese Waiter that took our picture! I should have taken his picture too!

Nana & Paw-Paw had the waiter bring Creston a "Birthday Plate of Chinese Donuts!" He really liked that!!!

Even though Mark had to work, it was a good, cold, snowy day! He's out of school again tomorrow, so the party will just keep on a goin'! His "Fake" birthday party with his little friends will be on Saturday. He decided that he wanted an "Army" themed party, so we'll see what we can come up with! I'll post pics of that after the party is over! Shew! Between Halloween, helping to plan a Fall Festival for Creston's School, Thanksgiving, planning the Church's Christmas Play, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Years, and now Creston's Birthday, we've been preeeeety busy for a long time! Maybe after this Saturday we can rest for a bit!!! :)

New Year 2012!!!

2012-01-01T00:13:00.000-05:00

As this past year has come to a close, I feel kinda sad that I didn’t keep the blog up better than I did. All of my sewing took up most of my “free blogging time”, and as the days/weeks/months went by, I kept thinking that I should go back and “back-blog” and do one of my famous “blog-bursts”, but as more and more time went by, it became more stressful to think about posting all of those many moments that I take pictures of.

I also overdid it on Facebook this past year, so rest assured that any of our most treasured
moments are posted there for any of you to view. Facebook keeps changing around and the
security features there are so iffy, that Mark and I have talked about posting fewer pics. and reducing our comments on there. Not that Blogger is any safer since I still allow this blog to be
public. However, somehow it seems safer and it is more personal……so one of my resolutions that I’m going to make for this new year is to Blog more……Facebook less…. and promote my sewing business more than ever!

A few of my other resolutions for this year are to clean and de-clutter my house from top to bottom! I want us to move Creston into his own room this year, and unfortunately, the other bedroom is our "computer" room where all the clutter goes to die. I am a pack-rat, and I have kept things from when I was little, and from when my dad was younger, and from when my sister was small. We have a full basement, and can't use it for the "stuff" down there. I want to be able to use my basement!!! :)

I want to do less this year, but have the few things that I do participate in mean more than ever. I want to find more time for "ME" to just be able to relax. That is something that we don't do in our household. And speaking of needing to relax, I had to go on Blood Pressure Meds. the first day of December. It was running 160+/100+ for a while, and it was time. I'm hoping to change some of my eating and exercise habits and get healthier and hopefully control this mess and feel better, but you never know!

Soooooooooooo................I want to blog more, Facebook less, eat better, and exercise! That's a good start to my year! Creston's birthday is January 3rd, and so I will be posting pics of his big day and his party that will be on the 7th in a few days!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!

Our NEW Addition! THOR!

2011-08-13T23:26:00.005-04:00

After a LOT of heartache over our doggie Bear aiding in and personally killing 8 of our so far 15 chickens that we've had sine March 26th of this year, we decided to either give Bear to someone, or take him to the pound. Well.....Bear caught wind of this and has been trying ever so hard to become the dog that he should be and has been going above and beyond the call of a "guard dog" and a constant companion since this past monday (the date of the last kill). Soooooooooo.......we're keeping him! AND.......through the process of thinking that we were going to get rid of him, and knowing that we NEED a dog to be here with me and the boys on those days/nights that Mark is at work, Mark found the little cutie that is in all the following pictures. He had already been wanting a BIGGER dog to have around the house, but this "series of events" caused him to actually FIND something. And find something he did!

This is THOR! Thor is a Great Pyrenees that will hopefully get BIG! And I do mean BIG! HE is currently 7 weeks old...was born on 6/21/11. He is one BIG ball of adorable FLUFF!!! Mark compared him to a pot-bellied pig! He is truly the cutest little thing I've seen since the boys were born!! We are currently trying to go to bed in a few, and this breed is nocturnal, so tonight might be a little interesting and remind us of life a few months back when the boys were still getting up all hours of the night. Enjoy the pics!!!

Meet our Newest Additions! Our CHICKENS!!!

2011-03-26T08:05:00.000-04:00

My Three Guys...

2011-03-23T07:58:00.001-04:00

This was a posed picture.......can you see Mackie smiling in this first picture? However, the end result was adorable!

The Many Faces of Mackie!!! (and there ARE a Lot!)

2011-03-21T23:34:00.002-04:00

Spring has FINALLY Sprung!!!

2011-03-21T07:53:00.000-04:00

Creston's new Fire Truck! Thanks Auntie Carrie!!!

2011-03-20T23:31:00.000-04:00

Using the NEW camera!

2011-03-19T23:30:00.000-04:00

Cookin' up a STORM!!!

2011-03-15T23:25:00.000-04:00

Nana's Birthday!

2011-03-08T22:54:00.000-05:00

We helped Nana celebrate her special day today. Mark made us Philly Cheese-Steaks (the REAL kind too ~ YUMMY!), and we had cake and ice cream with Nana & Paw-Paw. THEN....Mark for them to looking at "interesting" things on the internet, and that caused the evening to go in an equally "interesting" direction! :)

The Jazz Band at Lees McRae

2011-03-03T01:16:00.000-05:00

Cat in the Hat day at School!!

2011-03-01T01:15:00.000-05:00

The Duck Pond in Pigeon Forge...

2011-02-26T01:07:00.000-05:00

The Convention...

2011-02-24T01:02:00.000-05:00

Going to the Sugar Sorghum Convention!

2011-02-24T00:58:00.000-05:00

Valentine's Day Brush Fire

2011-02-14T01:11:00.000-05:00

The NEW Me!!!!

2011-02-13T00:43:00.000-05:00

The Old (REALLY BUSHY) Me.....

2011-02-11T00:41:00.001-05:00

SUPER BOWL PARTY!!!

2011-02-06T00:37:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday, Paw-Paw (you old groundhog-you!)

2011-02-02T00:31:00.000-05:00

BEAUTIFUL Flowers from Carrie!!!

2011-02-02T00:29:00.000-05:00

These came today for me from my good friend Carrie! She always knows just the right time to send me flowers! Especially SPRING-Y looking ones!!! Thank you so much, Carrie! Loves ya!

First time at the Tot-Lot in 2011!!!

2011-01-30T00:26:00.000-05:00

They are SOOOOO Happy to be able to get out and play for a bit! Even if it IS REALLY cold outside!!!

More fun in the snow!!

2011-01-23T15:30:00.000-05:00

And.....MORE Snow again!

2011-01-13T15:12:00.000-05:00

Snow, Snow, and What we do on Snow Days!

2011-01-07T14:24:00.000-05:00

Creston's 6th Birthday!

2011-01-03T13:29:00.000-05:00

The time has gone so fast these past 6 years! Creston is growing into a really COOL little guy and we are sooooo blessed to have him be OUR son! Here are a few of the pics. from this GREAT day!

New Years Concert!

2011-01-01T13:14:00.000-05:00

There's nothing like a little music to start the year off right! Now.....Creston can NOT yet play the "fiddle", but maybe one day he'll play up a storm that actually sounds pretty good! Haha!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2010-12-31T01:02:00.000-05:00

It's the End of the Year!!!!

2010-12-30T01:00:00.000-05:00

Christmas Day 2010 at Nana & Paw-Paw's

2010-12-25T00:37:00.000-05:00

Christmas Day 2010

2010-12-25T00:30:00.000-05:00

Christmas Eve 2010

2010-12-24T00:27:00.001-05:00

Our Christmas "Picture" 2010

2010-12-23T00:16:00.000-05:00

Elk Valley Baptist Church Christmas Play 2010

2010-12-22T00:09:00.000-05:00

Southern Accent Christmas Concert 2010

2010-12-18T00:18:00.001-05:00

Boone Christmas Parade 2010

2010-12-18T00:05:00.000-05:00

Nana & Paw-Paw's Tree!

2010-12-16T00:02:00.000-05:00

Cookie Ornamets for Creston's Class!

2010-12-15T23:56:00.000-05:00

We don't need a stinkin' sled!

2010-12-13T23:44:00.001-05:00

My 34th Birthday Party!!!

2010-12-12T23:38:00.000-05:00

Look at Our View!

2010-12-10T23:36:00.000-05:00

The Many Faces of Our Boys!

2010-12-09T23:22:00.002-05:00

The old snowy barn...

2010-12-08T23:18:00.000-05:00

Snow, Snow.....everywhere!

2010-12-07T23:16:00.000-05:00

Diamond Rio!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-12-03T23:10:00.001-05:00

Mark & I LOVE Diamond Rio! We used their song "The River" in our wedding. When we heard that they were coming to Wilkesboro, we HAD to get tickets! They were GREAT! It was their Christmas show and they sang some really beautiful Christmas songs as well as some of their more popular ones! It was a REALLY great evening.....(and Nana & Paw-Paw watched the boys for us so that made it even better!!!)

Decorated for Christmas!

2010-12-02T23:02:00.001-05:00

We finally got everything all together! I just LOVE decorating for Christmas!!!!!

Putting the GIGANTIC tree up!

2010-11-29T00:22:00.000-05:00

Bringing home the Christmas Tree!!!

2010-11-28T00:17:00.000-05:00

Our BIGGEST Tree Ever!!!!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-25T00:09:00.001-05:00

We hosted Thanksgiving this year for my family at our house! We cooked the Turkey!!! :) Everything turned out great and we had such a good time visiting with everyone! THEN...we met Paulette and her family for a Movie in Ashe County at the Parkway Theater near the Cheese Factory!!! We saw "Tangeled"! Mark even liked it!

Sittin' on the top of the world...

2010-11-22T23:59:00.000-05:00

The MOST beautiful view from on top of Ski Sugar Mtn!

Ummmmmm.........WHAT?????

2010-11-21T23:56:00.002-05:00

Yeah.......it is what it looks like......now HOW my kids thought to do this is the part that is stumping me.....I'm not sure that they've ever seen a mommy doggie with her puppies, but the MUST have seen it somewhere!!

Thanksgiving Lunch with Creston!!!

2010-11-17T23:53:00.001-05:00

Isn't this the CUTEST thing ever???? All the little Pilgrams and Indians said a prayer together before we went down for lunch! :)

Definate Identity Crisis and just plain WORN OUT Mackie!

2010-11-16T23:51:00.000-05:00

Our Hiking Expedition!

2010-11-10T23:46:00.001-05:00

It warmed back up, so we went "exploring" with the dog!!! The boys LOVE to go "hiking" behind our house!!! :)

Snow and more snow....

2010-11-06T23:44:00.001-04:00

11/5/10 11/6/10

HALLOWEEN with Carrie!!!

2010-10-31T23:42:00.002-04:00

Mark had to work tonight, so Carrie came up to hang out with us for the evening!!! Yay!

Trick-or-Treating on Saturday Night!

2010-10-30T23:34:00.000-04:00

Halloween is actually on a Sunday this year, so we did our "neighborhood" treating on Saturday night. Here are a few pics. of a few places we went tonight!

Trick-or-Treating at the Downtown BOO!!!

2010-10-29T23:15:00.004-04:00

Here are some shots of us getting ready to go trick-or-treating and of us at the "Downtown Boo" in Boone!

Carvin' Punkin's at Nana's House!!!

2010-10-28T08:38:00.000-04:00

Carvin' Punkin's at Nana's House!!!

2010-10-28T08:25:00.001-04:00

Carving the Punkin's!!

2010-10-27T07:51:00.000-04:00

Punkin' Carvin' Time 2010!!!

Fall Festival with Beech Mtn. Community Club!!!

2010-10-23T14:27:00.004-04:00

Here is a picture of Mack's barn there in the upper middle of this picture.....if you look to the left of the barn, in the grove of trees, that is where our house sits...all nestled in among the tall-tall trees!
Here we all are at the Harvest Festival!

Creston got to draw the names out for the raffle prize winners!

We had a good time! Mark is the only one that BINGO-d! The boys kept saying "Did we WIN??? Did we win yet??? Can I yell BINGO now???"

Bear-Bear!!!

2010-10-18T14:04:00.000-04:00

Here's our little Bear!!! He's grown quite a bit, hasn't he???

Cute little booger!

Riding down the Blue Ridge Parkway!

2010-10-16T12:23:00.000-04:00

Mark decided that we'd take one last trip this fall and go to PIGEON FORGE via the Blue Ridge Parkway! This is one of the BEAUTIFUL Views that we had along the way! Sun is in our eyes......poor Creston!Here we are at the big Arts and Crafts place going towards Ashville...

No trip is complete without a stop at McDonalds! This one was in Ashville!

One of the 20+ tunnels that we went through on the parkway...

Honk....HONK!!!!!
Here is a picture of Creston, Me, and Mackie......the nice hiker took this, but Mackie was soooo scared of him and his girlfriend that he hid behind me the entire time!

My sweet little boys!

Throwing those "gang signs" again!

I like how Creston is holding on to Mark's leg in this one...so sweet!

This is a shot coming down from Cherokee towards Gatlinburg!

And here is a shot of the traffic that we got into coming from Cherokee into Gatlinburg...

Here is a picture of the sign for Maples Motor Inn....where we've decided that we like to stay! Clean, cheaper, and friendly.....Christian People and did I say cheaper than everywhere else???

At Dollywood!

In front of the "Fire Emergency" sign... :o)

Cute little Mackie...
Mackie Moo!

Creston Bear!

Creston showing us that he's NOT AFRAID of anything!

My little boys!

Woolly WORMS!!!

2010-10-14T12:06:00.001-04:00

This is the weekend of the Woolly Worm Festival here in Banner Elk!!! This is the weekend where all of the Crazy Nuts collect their worms and go race them up a string to see whose worm will be the "Winner" and get to predict our winter weather for the coming cold season.........

It's ALLLLL True!

Anyway.........we collect Worms each year and sell them to the Chamber of Commerce or to the Banner Elk School for $1.00 each! This year, we found 30! One died, so we only had 29, but once there, a nice lady gave us 5 to add to ours (she was over her limit of 50 by those 5), so we wound up with 34! $17.00 each for the boys to feed their piggies with!!!

This is what Fall looks like to me...

2010-10-12T11:36:00.000-04:00

Priceless...

2010-10-10T11:35:00.000-04:00

Do we want PEACE, or 11, cause I'm just not so sure anymore........and if we get 11, what do we get 11 of??? Now THAT'S the question!

Playin'

2010-10-10T11:29:00.000-04:00

After Church and the Baptising, we went to Boone to see Daddy, but he was on a call, so we got some "Cook Out", and went to the park and ate and I let the boys play. They had FUN!!!

Elk Valley Baptist ~ Baptising...

2010-10-10T11:22:00.000-04:00

I was able to witness three baptisims today in the creek behind our church! It was a BEAUTIFUL Day and a BEAUTIFUL thing to get to see!

Freedom Trail's Harvest Festival 2010

2010-10-08T11:12:00.000-04:00

Here are a few pictures of the Fall Festival at Creston's school this year...

DOLLYWOOD AGAIN!!!!!

2010-10-02T11:01:00.000-04:00

We decided that we'd go to Pigeon Forge with some of our friends this weekend, but the plans fell through...so we came anyway and stayed a night to have yet some MORE fun at Dollywood! We've REALLY gotten our money's worth out of these passes this year! Golly!

Mark & Creston are waiting to squirt unsuspecting passengers of the Rampage... Watching "Sorghum" being made.

Mackie on the bees!!

After getting off of the "Blazing Fury"! Creston was EXCITED!!! (and so was Daddy!)

Mackie is sleeping, but we attempted this shot anyway!

Climbing on the obstacle courses...
Daddy is helping Creston...

Squirting the people on the "Squirt-Squirt" ride...

My men in front of their FAVORITE Ride!!!

Makin' Apple Butter with Mommy!!!

2010-09-30T11:41:00.005-04:00

A pictorial view of Making Apple Butter! While Mark is gone this week, we decided that it would be a GREAT time for doing this and I LOVE my mommy for coming up and helping me!!! (Please, just don't look tooo cosely at the pictures of ME and you will have an enjoyable viewing experience!)

Tot Lot with Daddy...

2010-09-25T10:57:00.000-04:00

Mark is leaving for Pennsylvania tomorrow for a week to go take some Fire Department training

with Kent Brown...

So..............today, we decided to take the boys to the tot lot and get some "Cook Out" and eat it there under the picnic shelter and let them play! They had a good time and we had a good day!!

Eli's Birthday Party

2010-09-24T10:18:00.000-04:00

We were able to go to Eli's 3rd Birthday Party this evening!!! We had a really good time! Melissa ALWAYS makes sure to have the nicest parties for her little men!!! (And the Pony was pretty cool again too!!!)

Playing "Pin the Badge on the Toy Story Character!"

Creston is excited!

Melissa and Billie hard at work!!

Mackie and his balloon!

The PONY!!!
Finding "Moon Rocks" ~ FILLED with Candy!!! CUTE Game idea!!

Billie and Dorothy! LOOOOONG time friends!

Apple Pickin' Time!

2010-09-24T01:56:00.002-04:00

Mark's 35th Birthday!!!

2010-09-20T01:39:00.000-04:00

We made Mark a pretty little card for his birthday... Creston is explaining it to him...

Giving Mackie a big hug!!

At Ridgewood in Elizabethton!

Being sung to!!!

His cake............so sorry about this cake......I'm losing my touch!

Blowing out the candle...

Having a "interesting" photo op...

This one is better!!!

Creston's first Report home!

2010-09-16T01:37:00.000-04:00

Creston's first Progress report!!!

Trouble with his letters, but other than that, he's doing pretty good!!!

The many faces of Mackie...

2010-09-15T01:33:00.000-04:00

Creston's FIRST Field Trip to the AVery Fair!!

2010-09-08T01:24:00.002-04:00

Mark and I BOTH went on this field trip with Creston's class! It was fun! It rained a little bit, but wasn't tooooo bad! :o) I think that all of the kids had a good time!

2010 Wilson Reunion...

2010-09-04T01:10:00.000-04:00

The day started out with MOM getting on the Motorcycle.......some of you may remember that Mom was always AGAINST ME getting on a motorcycle....but she hopped on this one like she didn't have good sense!!! HAHA!!

And there she went!

Some of the YUMMY food!!!

Getting some sun! This was a PRETTY day and the wind was blowing and gave the air just a tad bit of chilly-feeling!! Aahhhh! FALL is coming!

Kathy brought crafts for the kids to do! THANKS so much!! That was a GREAT idea!

And the day ended with Megan riding off on the Motorcycle! :o)

It was a nice day getting to see a lot of relatives that I've not seen in a while! We'll have to start doing MORE reunions!!

To the Lake with Grandma!

2010-08-28T00:55:00.000-04:00

We went down to see mom today! The weather was sooo nice, we decided to drive up to the lake and look around for a bit. It was HOT! BUT....that water coming off of the upper dam was COLD!!! Brrrrrrrrrrr..........it always is!!

Creston fixed his hair for Grandma, but then got self-conscious and brushed it all down. I thought that it was toooo cute!! Look at that sweet little face!!!

In the "lookout house"!!

Looking at the spillwell! That thing is BIG!!

Me and the boys!!

Mom and the boys!

Here's that cold water!!

Mom's feet in the stuff....

Now Creston is attempting it..... We ventured out onto a rock! My feet are FREEZING!!!!!

Note the toes out of the water!!! :o) I LOVE THIS HOUSE!!!!!!! It sits overlooking Wilbur Dam. ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!! I think that this is what I want to do the the bottom of our house, with the rock, and then add the special touches to the porch railings and posts......I think it would work out nicely!!! Now.....to just get Mark to a spot where he can do all this stuff for me! (He works HARD for us! I hate to ask him to take on any extra projects!)

Sunflowers...

2010-08-25T00:48:00.002-04:00

GETTING OFF THE BUS!!!!!

2010-08-13T23:59:00.000-04:00

Here we ALL are, waiting for the bus to bring our big baby boy home!!! I can't believe I agreed to let him ride it home this afternoon.........BUT....he wanted to!! I PRAY that he gets off with a SMILE on his face! I'll die if he doesn't! Heeeeeeeere comes the bus!!!

I was so excited, that I didn't take a picture of him getting off! BUT......I made him stop so I could take THIS one!!! Looks kinda perplexed, doesn't he??? Mark is wrestling him!!!

And he's SMILING!!!
And now he's looking a bit............something......again........

Shew! he was only HOT! the bus ride home was H.O.T. he said!

He had a GOOD First day!!!!!!! YAYAYAYAYAY!!!! Thank you Lord!!!

I do believe that he wants to try it again tomorrow! I hope that this is a good sign of things to come and that he'll continue to LOVE school as much as he did today!

Cookies for Creston!

2010-08-13T23:48:00.000-04:00

Mackie helped me make these CUTE School Bus Cookies for Creston for when he gets home from school this afternoon!!!

They turned out CUTE!!!

Now....we just have to WAIT for him to get off of the BUS!!

Creston goes to Kindergarten!!!

2010-08-13T13:55:00.004-04:00

Could it be that Creston is old enough to be starting Kindergarten? For some reason, I find it hard to wrap my mind around today. We took him to School this morning and entrusted his precious little 5-year-old life into the hands of the very capable school employees. I hope and pray that he's had a good day. As I type this, he's loading the bus to come home. They get out at 2:35. The bus should be here around 3:15ish. I HOPE that he gets off of the bus with a smile. If he doesn't, my heart will break!!! I love this little guy and have been so amazed to watch him grow these last 5+ years of his little short life. You always hear that time goes by so fast, but until you have your own little person, you don't fully understand that statement. I've looked for him all day. the house seems empty without him here. Mackie is with me, but since they only fight when they are together, the noise has decreased a LOT! We've got a lot of changes ahead, but I think that we'll be just fine!! :o)

Here are the pictures we took this morning before school and when we dropped him off....none of us broke down, and he actually seemed REALLY excited to get to it! I'm glad for that. He's the best little buddy around and I want him to really enjoy this experience!!!

Here goes...

Posing for his "First Day of School" picture!

Creston & Daddy

Creston & ME!!!

Creston & Mackie

His school sign
Getting out of the car to go in...
Going to his classroom.....sorry for the blur...

Mrs. Hannah! She is currently the assistant teacher, but will take the class over after the Christmas break when Mrs. Patsy retires...

Getting ready for class!

Showing Creston his locker!

Daddy handing out $$$$!!!!
See you this afternoon!!

And off he went!

I'll add the pictures of him getting off of the school bus later tonight!

Two nights before Kindergarten....

2010-08-12T00:37:00.001-04:00

We decided to have a Weenie-Roast!!! We had several of those this summer. Pretty good stuff over an open flame!!! :o) We had Paulette and her boys to come over to help us roast them! It was actually a pretty warm evening, and the open flame added to the "hot" factor....we decided to do the weenie roasts later in the evenings from now on!!! :o)
Here is Creston's finished First Homework Assignment!!!

Creston's FIRST Homework Assignment!!!

2010-08-11T00:28:00.003-04:00

Creston wanted me to take this picture of him and his trucks together!!!Creston is supposed to cut out and color this flower however he wants to! He decided to draw all of the kids in his classroom on it! (He's not seen the other kids yet, but who am I to ask questions????)

Mackie had to get in on the action!!!

IRON MACKIE!!!

2010-08-09T00:23:00.003-04:00

And we're STILL celebrating Mackie's 3rd Birthday! Such a BIG boy!!! Auntie Carrie sent Mackie a card and he got this Iron Man costume with what was inside. He's sooooo excited!

Boom-boom-boom-boom!!!!!

Where's Mackie?????????? HERE I AM!!!!!!!!!

Blog Burst Alert!!!

2010-08-08T01:46:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone!!! I've updated our blog as far back as the end of May! SOOOOOO.....if you check it to see what we're up to, and see that it's not been updated in a while, LOOK BACK NOW!!! May-July 8th! I'll be finishing up the rest from July 8th-now hopefully tomorrow, since Creston starts school this week, and I want to be up to date!!! :o) Soooo much to do!!!

And.............BACK to Dollywood again!!!

2010-08-05T00:09:00.004-04:00

This trip, I got us to sit down in front of the Dollywood Butterfly!

Here the boys and I are! A nice lady took this one of us together!!! THANKS!!!

I LOVE this one due to Mackie's finger in close proximity to his little bitty nose!!!

This is more like it, but not quite as cute!!!

Doesn't Mark look pleased with something???

He was BORN ready to drive!!! He LOVES this ride! He always looks so serious when driving and hardly ever wants to look away from the road....this was a rare moment!
Just a cute little kid, isn't he?

After the scrambler.....Creston LIKED it!!! This tickles Mark and he finally has someone to ride the "spin you around and around until you throw up" rides with him!

Look at the clouds that "happened" upon us! They looked a bit "Woolly" as mom would say!

The Carousel is another favorite!!!
Mackie attacking Daddy and Creston on the "Squirt-Squirt Ride"!!!!! Daddy's all wet!!!

This is me waiting in line to ride the "Mystery Mine". Yes..........Martha rode this ride and lived to tell about it. I would even ride it again!!!

Here is Mark on the BIG wooden Roller Coaster. He's the one in the RED T-Shirt towards the front right........screaming like a little girl...... :o)

Mom's Birthday!!!

2010-07-31T00:01:00.003-04:00

Today was mommy's 63rd Birthday (or is it 64????????)!!! Cute little mommy!!! Lookin' all happy and stuff!

Getting ready to blow!

And whoosh!!! (look at Creston's Face!)

Now look at Mackie's face!!!

Here she is allll happy again!!!
Me and my Mommy!!!!! I LOVE you, Mommy!!!

Mom and Aunt Ida...

Aunt Ida, Mom, and Uncle Paul...

Meggie and Mackie restin'...

Pickin' Blackberries...and Moonflowers!

2010-07-29T23:50:00.004-04:00

Mark LOVES Blackberry Jelly, so this morning, we all set out with cups and buckets in hand to get as many as possible!! We found the all over in the pasture and all along the fenceline. We even found some that were BIGGER than my thumb!!! Sooooo sweet too!

Just Creston!

2010-07-27T21:12:00.000-04:00

Random pictures of Creston that he WANTED me to take!!!

Playin' in the Creek!

2010-07-21T20:42:00.000-04:00

I had Michelle and her 2 and Paulette and her 2 meet us at the Banner Elk playground this morning for some creek fun! We packed a picnic and talked while the boys all romped in the creek and played on the playgound together! It was a good time! We'll HAVE to do this again!!!

Bush's Baked Bean Plant!!!!

2010-07-17T20:28:00.000-04:00

We had NO IDEA that Bush's Beans were from Chestnut Hill, TN!!!! Just outside of Pigeon Forge! You go right by the visitor's center if you go out of town the "back way". We stopped to see what the NEW visitor center was all about! We were IMPRESSED!!!

BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS!