TARA OAKS TIGER WALK
The kids school puts on an annual Tiger Walk to help earn money for the school. They collect donations and walk just like they would for a community walk/marathon. The school also had a cookout, dances for the kids (Carson showing his moves above), and cheer competitions. This is the first year we let the kids go out to collect money door to door. They did so good. They earned almost $200 together. I thought it was a great learning experience for them and a great way for Carson to learn his door manners. haha!

Reflections

The kids both decided to compete in photography for the Reflections contest this year. The theme is BEAUTY....

Of course Carson said right away that baseball and football were beautiful and Cara wanted to find a butterfly...and she did. This is what they wrote~

Carson-"Baseball is America, America is Freedom,Freedom is Beauty."

Cara-"Beautiful as a Butterfly!"

We'll see how they do. To be continued................

Great weekend in Nashville

We headed out to Nashville last weekend for the annual National Guard convention. We had a blast! It was so fun to be with just my sisters and parents. We don't get to do that very often. After this weekend I can definitely say that I now know my military ranks. I've never seen so many guys in uniform....not a bad thing. haha! It was so neat to be surrounded by so many men and women who serve our country, almost a spiritual experience.
One night each one of the fifty states put on a party. It was so fun. We danced, drank lots (DC of course), had lots of comfort food (thanks southern states), and got to meet lots of fun people from around the country. Pretty much it was like one of those college hotel parties that you're not supposed to go to, however this time I had my parents approval.

Some Nashville sites~The Parthenon at Vanderbilt University, the old Ryman Theatre, Opryland Hotel, and Ellendale's for brunch. Each state had a pin that represented them. These sashes we have around our necks held the pins. We spent lots of time collecting all 50 pins. Unfortunately I did not get them all. BTW-Alyson asked not to be in any pics (doesn't like the prego belly in pictures)

The Grand Ole Opry. This was so different than I expected. I didn't realize it was always a live show with commercials and all. Pretty interesting.

"A little dust on the bottle"...one of my favs!

We got to see lots of performers. I've never seen this many celebrities at one time. I'm a huge country music fan so this was so cool. Wynonna was definitely the power house. Her voice is amazing. Kelly Pickler was actually really good too. Funny thing is while she was singing to us, her BFF Taylor Swift was being dissed by Kanye at the VMA's...LOSER!

I had a wonderful time and can't wait until the next one.....MOM-DAD????

DELTA FAIR
Our day at the fair.....HOT, HUMID, EXPENSIVE, YUMMY FATTY FAIR FOODS, SCARY CARNIES, FAT PIGS, OSTRICH RACING, CRAZY "PEOPLE WATCHING", FUN RIDES, OUR SMITH FRIENDS, "MOM I WANT THIS & MOM I WANT THAT", oh and did I forget to mention HOT AND HUMID....Yep, that pretty much sums up our day at the fair.

Project #1

So now that the kids are back in school and I have a few hours to myself I've decided to work on some projects I've had lying around for a while now. I started with this one~I took all of my kids artwork that I wanted to save and made it so I could store it without having to buy a large bin that would just take up more space. My friend gave me this idea and I loved it. All you need is the 4 supplies shown in the pic. You place a piece of clear tape at the top of your artwork (so it won't rip), label it, punch a hole in it, place a key ring through it, and hang the ring on a hanger. Hang it in your kids closets and wallah, all of those big, awkward, projects are easily stored. If you want you can laminate everything but sometimes that takes away from the creation. Thought this was a great idea so I wanted to share.

Well the day has finally come for Ryleigh to go to Preschool. She's been so anxious and so patiently waiting for her turn to be a big girl. She was so excited and just like Cara, hopped out of the car and said bye to Dave and I without even looking back. I'm so excited for her and so glad that she finally gets to be her own little person. I'll definitely miss my little buddy and I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with all of my time now, but one things for sure, it's time to start doing some deep cleaning now that everyone is back in school.

Ships Ahoy! We started our vacation with an unforgettable trip down Bourbon Street. I didn't even think it was legal to see what my innocent eyes saw. However, I did eat the yummiest piece of pecan pie I've ever had. Lets just say this-My kids will NEVER be allowed to step foot on that street. ever!
We were all first time cruisers so the whole life jacket safety lecture was pretty funny. A room filled with people of all sizes in bright orange life jackets was pretty hilarious.
We didn't waste anytime....we boarded the ship, put our luggage down, swimsuits on, and we were ready to hit the decks.
Formal Night-----Vavavoom! Dave couldn't wait to meet the Captain (middle). He was a bit arrogant for our taste though. Not so NORMAL!
We decided once we landed in Cozumel to rent a jeep and head to these Mayan Ruins. We were sweating from every pore of our body walking through what I thought was a desert but it was pretty worth it. How many people can say they've stood on an ancient Mayan temple.
Dave went down into a cave filled with bats. Bats freak me out so I didn't even peek. There were lizards the size of crocodiles everywhere we walked. After a while we got pretty used to them though.
We stopped at a little Cabana on the side of the highway in the middle of nowhere for nachos, Pina Coladas, swimming, and jet skiing. The stop in Cozumel was a blast. We had a wonderful time on our visit there.

We really had a great time. Carnival cruise lines are said to be a lower class cruise line, but we really didn't care. It gave us lots of interesting people watching. Parts of it were like a redneck booze cruise, but that's what makes for part of the fun. We had a blast with Brandon and Amy and made lots of unforgettable memories with them. Until next time.......