Bath Time and Blake & Beka's News!

Here are my babies enjoying bath time together. Walker acts silly and Mary Ella laughs her head off at him. It's really fun to watch.

And Blake and Beka are engaged!!!!! Yea!!!!! How sweet is this picture? The wedding is in Pensacola in August. I know it will be a beautiful and sweet ceremony. Love you guys!

10 Year Anniversary

I can't believe ten years has come and gone. Well actually May 2nd is the day but to celebrate we went to Gulf Shores for a week of rest, relaxation and a little business. Zac had a turf conference on the second day.

We went deep sea fishing for my first time....tons of fun! And yes, I caught a fish.. Red Snapper and Trigger Fish. Zac caught a few too. He was playing camera man so we didn't get his fish on tape.

Here I am with Trey our fun deckhand. Zac baited my hook and Trey took off the fish. I don't eat them so you know I'm not going to touch them.

Poor Zac. He really caught several but I couldn't balance a camera and those huge fishing poles. I hate we didn't get it on film for Walker.

Randoms...

Here's Mary Ella with her new walker

This is about the only picture I got of Easter.

Their baskets...

Walker's program at preschool Good 'Ole Noah... He was a monkey! He's the one in the middle dancing like a monkey!

Nanny and Daddy Ralph came to see him.

Huggies Enjoy the Ride Rewards

To all you parents that buy Huggies... Here is another way to save money if you haven't been doing so already. Collect the codes that come on the package of diapers. If you go to http://www.enjoytheriderewards.com/ and sign in you can enter the codes as you collect them and earn points. Codes can be worth 5 points and sometimes 20 points. Even if you don't use Huggies you could still join in on this because you can shop with your points for FREE things! Their online catalog has things like free $25 gift cards to Gap or for gas. If you're already buying the diapers there is no reason to throw the codes away. Plus you can even use your points for free diapers... Win-Win situation! I'm just sick for just now deciding to do this. I can't tell you how many codes I've thrown away. Here are some ways to collect codes:

• Google search Huggies reward codes and you will find page after page (some codes may already be expired but worth the try)



• Ask friends to save their codes for you (everyone can use the same codes, you just can't put the same code in twice in your account)



• Tell your child's daycare/ preschool to save the codes (this has been huge for me! I just got a hand full from them and some codes were worth 20 points!)


• Always open email from this website. They always give you a code for points just for reading the email.
  

I had to share this since there are so many of you buying Huggies. Let me know how it goes!

Look What I Found...

You know Spring & Easter is around the corner when you look out in the field and this is what you see...

Zac had gotten rid of almost all the sheep so I had no idea to be looking this year for babies. As it turns out, the baby Zac bottle fed this time last year became a dad this year! Isn't he cute?

A Healthy and Fun Addiction!

I am hooked 100% on saving money! If you are a Publix shopper you know what I am talking about. I am fairly new to this but since I've started a month ago I have really improved. My first trip I spent $37 saved $37. Today's trip I spent $65 and saved $92. There are several websites that promote the world of coupon purchasing, not to mention all the BOGO free sales. I do this every Wednesday when the sales start. It really is fun to save so much. My friend Christy and I text each other the second we leave the store to tell how much we saved! Here's today's picture.


And here's my sweet baby girl sitting in the table at daycare. She is growing like a weed! We call that little guy her new friend... Andrew. He's sitting in the table every morning waiting on her. He lights up when he sees her.

Recent pics of the kids at home...

yummy, carrots!

Life is Good!

I need to get me one of those shirts... Okay, so I'm sure you were wondering if I was ever going to update this blog. LOL! I took a look at the pics on my camera and I found a couple of "firsts" so here they are...

We took Walker to his first circus...

That is the face of a kid with no nap trying to make it through a n event that started at 7:30 and wasn't over till 10:00. We left before it was over. And check out the toy he had to have... LOL! I thought he would want one of those big swirling light up things and he wanted a big plastic sword that I know I've seen at the Dollar General! The people around us loved us! He kept bonking them in the head and legs. It was funny!

Mary Ella ate baby food (carrots) for the first time...

Notice we are sitting on the living room floor. The high chair has not made its way down from the attic just yet. :)

Mary Ella has learned to entertain herself...

Walker is still running around as Wolverine and is the BEST big brother ever!

and not to leave out a fun change... Mary Ella is not quiet anymore. She cracks us up! If she is not squealing, she is smiling.

To My Friends...

Dear friends,
To all of you... I want you to know I think of you daily! Since a woman's mind never stops thinking of something, I can assure you in between baths, feedings, packing bags, cooking, traveling, going to daycare, school or work, playing with toys, or even reading and watching t.v. you're on my mind. I think of how much fun my life was before we all had kids and how wonderful it is to now have kids. I think of all the times you've been there for me and how you don't let my faults define me. I get super excited each Christmas because I know you are sending a Christmas card of your beautiful family.
Even though all the items on a mother's "to do list" never gets marked off, well mine never does, I promise one thing... I still have GET TOGETHER WITH MY FRIENDS on the list. I keep holding out hope that one day even though we all live in different cities and states somehow we can make it happen.
I love you all and I pray nothing but happiness and most importantly good health for you and your family!

Love always,
Leigh Ann

Christmas '09

This Christmas vacation was an eventful one to say the least. For documenting purposes I am going to try to list it all. During my last post I stated Walker had a fever virus and what we were going to be doing while waiting it out. Thankfully we did get to Santa in time for Walker to tell him he wanted a blue boat, of all things. His fever lasted six days and on the sixth day we happened to go to Dr. Ellis for another check. His fever then was 104.8 and we learned that he now had an ear infection. Crazy, I know! But unbelievably, he took his new meds that night and the next day... no fever for the first time in six days. By this time it was two days before Christmas. We rushed him to the mall to see Santa and after waiting in the very long line, we made it home around nine. The best part of all was that was the night we got Mary Ella home.... The fam complete once again! However, that was not the end of our sicknesses. The next night, Christmas Eve, Zac became very ill and pretty much bed ridden for most of the next five days. Okay, I knew I was going to have to be "Santa" solo, but I was not ready for what I had got myself into. Santa brought Walker a John Deere Gator. Let's just say I gave up at 4:00am because the screws were almost in and who cared about it having power? I hate directions that think you can assemble something so complicated just by looking at pictures! Alright, so Santa came, Walker was happy, and I'll explain more with the pictures.

Mary Ella went with her cousins earlier that day to see Santa. Glad the same Santa was still there. :)

Christmas Eve we made our rounds

Forget Spiderman, we've upgraded to Wolverine

Christmas morning...

Mary Ella doing what she does best, hanging out being sweet!





Oh my! Every year Christmas morning tradition... easy omelets. This Christmas morning... messy pancakes! We thought we'd be slick and get the Bisquick shaker bottle. While I was in the Mary Ella's room changing her diaper, I heard shake, shake, shake..."Oh crap!" So why was I so shocked to see what I saw? I am still to this day cleaning batter of the cabinets and floor. It keeps reappearing. It's the cleaning gift that keeps on giving. Also, keep in mind, I was in the middle of making tons of finger foods and my family was on their way over from Guntersville.


The batter made it's way into picture frames, baskets, all over the cabinets, floor, wall, and not to forget Zac! Now it's funny, but I promise after having 4 hours of sleep, it wasn't!

While we cleaned the kitchen Walker was working on his Buzz toy. He cracked us up that morning. Santa gave him those boots for outside wear. Instead they have become his "Fireman Sam"boots, "Wolverine" boots, "Buzz LightYear" boots, "Barn" boots... He has even worn them to church, I am embarrassed to say. Paw Paw said he had on his ConAgra boots. :)

So Christmas was nice and we enjoyed seeing everyone and really appreciate all the wonderful gifts. We go to bed that Saturday night knowing I was going to take the kids solo to church since Zac was still in the bed sick. My eye was looking a little red Saturday but I didn't think I'd wake up Sunday morning with my eye cemented shut! Zac and I both went to the doctor that morning, asap. Zac had to get a shot, and Chad met me at his office before church to check out my eyes. They stayed red, puffy and goopy for a good week. I'm not sure what that was all about but I learned not to take my eyes for granted. It was miserable not being able to see for a week and not to mention looking like a crazy person with blood red eyes. I didn't want to be seen in public!

Now Christmas break was ending and it was time to end this so called vacation so our normal routine could be restored... HA! Think again! I went back to work Monday, Mary Ella started Day Care, which has been great so far, the students came back to school Wednesday, and before I left work that day...I some how lost my voice and got Laryngitis. I'm sure Zac was happy because my voice didn't come back till Saturday. Oh and not to leave it out, it snowed so we didn't have school Thursday.

Tomorrow brings a new day and week. I have faith that it's going to be a nice and smooth week. Bring it on!

Send Up a Little Prayer

This little boy is sick...

Thursday he gave us a scare. He left school with a 102 temp and when I got him to the doctor they said his temp was 105.6! My heart hit the floor. He has either the Fifth Disease or Roseola. Both are fever viruses and really contagious. Dr. Ellis told me I couldn't even go to work the next day because I might give it to the kids. So I had to miss the Christmas party for the kids. Walker missed his too. So, going by doctor's orders, we have been kept up in this house playing alot of Scrabble and watching alot of movies. Mary Ella, thank God, was not around Walker that day. I was so sad to hear she couldn't be around him till he was fever-free for 36 hours. I miss her so much! He could have his fever for 5 days, then we'll have to add another 36 hrs to that. Please send a little prayer up that he gets over his temp really fast and Mary Ella can come home soon. We miss her dearly. Thanks to everyone who has helped out with her. Oh, and not to forget, Walker really wants to go tell Santa what he wants for Christmas. I don't want him to miss out on seeing him this year... He really loves him now.

Grandmother's 80th Birthday

This was the sweetest picture! All the kids were smiling and happy to be celebrating Grandmother's 80th birthday. They all love her so much, as does the rest of the family. Thanks Grandmother for all you do! We love you!