The Big 30!!!

This past Thursday I turned the BIG 30 and my baby boy turned the BIG 5!! I love so much sharing that special day with him!!! We had his party on the 18th (which I do not have all my pics yet) and had mine this past Saturday night. My WONDERFUL hubby has worked for months on my party to make it just perfect. I am so blessed to have a man that loves me as much as he does. He totally remodelled my backyard for this party (or so he says lol). My mother and MIL were also HUGE helps and I am so thankful for both of these women!!! Here are a few phone pics from Cayson's swimming party that he shared with his cousin Jax and also alot of pics from my party!!

 

 My perfect family!!!

 The Birthday Boy and Girl!!!

It was rainy and nasty but thankfully it quit just in time for all the kids to enjoy the pool!!!

 

Happy 30th to ME!!!

 Homemade red velvet cake from my MIL (YUMMY)

 Yep my mom did this!!!

 LOVE THIS MAN!!

 My fabulous goldfish pond

 My new back porch!!! My hubby is so talented!!!

 Thanks mom for the lovely birthday attire!! :)

 Some of the greast friends ever!!

 

It was a fantastic night and I have to say the BEST birthday ever!!! I can't wait to see what my 30s bring :)

I pray all of you stay safe during this storm!!!

1st Day of School

Yes I know I have missed the whole summer of blogging but thats just how busy we have been since school let out in May. This summer has flown by and we are really excited about it.
Anna came home from her moms last Wednesday so we have been gearing up for our first day of school.... I now have a 4th grader and a Kindergartener :( I expected today to go alot worse than it did, so I am absolutely thrilled that both kids were actually excited about school this morning and mommy didn't shed a tear!!! :)

It is so hard to believe my baby girl started 4th grade today. She has grown up so much.... I have had her in my life since she was a little over a year old so watching her mature and grow up to be such a beautiful young girl has been a wonderful journey. :) I love my Anna!!!!

My little man started K5 today and turns 5 on the 23rd of this month. It is RIDICULOUS how time flies..... I can't believe it is already time for him to be in big school. The good part is he has been really pumped about it since we did Pre-registration back in April. I was more worried about me today because I knew he couldn't wait to get there and I wasn't ready for this big step. Seeing him walk right in and sit down next to his cousin without even looking back at me, made all my worries disappear. He was such a big boy!!! His sissy was more upset about her "baby brother growing up" than I was :)

  

I can't wait to get home and hear all about their day!!! I love being a mommy and am so blessed to have 2 wonderful kiddos.....

oh and a pretty amazing husband too!!! :)





Graduation

My baby boy has finally graduated from Pre-school (actually last Wednesday) and is now ready for the BIG K5!!! He is so excited to go to school with his sissy. Here are some pics from his graduation ceremony.

 He sang every word to all 6 songs but refused to do the motions :) They were all so cute in their T-shirts they made!!

Getting his diploma :)

 His wonderful teacher, Mrs. Lisa

We are so proud of him and are extremely impressed at how smart he already is. I hope this is a good sign for the many years to come....

Busy Time

With school winding down and summer kicking off, it is busy busy around the Pickering house!!! We had a weekend getaway to the beach for just me and Casey a few weekends back, Mother's Day, Anna's awards day last week, Cayson's graduation this week, 1st t-ball practice of the year last week, and lots of "spring time" yard work this past weekend!! These pics are in no certain order and are very random!!! ENJOY!!!

Beach Trip....

 of course since The Avengers opened the weekend we were gone, we had to make time to go see it in 3D at The Wharf :)

Ready for our Mother's Day supper at Mexican Kitchen

  and this is the reaction i get once they are DONE with the picture taking LOL

 Casey and his mom

 My sweet little man showed up at church on Mother's Day with this beautiful bouquet of flowers :)

 And of course we had to go back to the movies to see The Avengers so the kids could see it. Gotta love the Tom Boy that my hubby has turned my pretty little girl into :)

 Anna's Awards Day

 Yay for Honor Roll!!! WE have worked hard for this all year!!!!

 ready for our first T-ball practice of the year....

Thankfully they are getting alot of use out of the $30 we spent at the EJE Book Fair!

On a more serious note, we have been involved in Journey Church for almost 4 years and I have to say WOW at all the wonderful things that have happened since God plugged us in there. After several months of God really working on me, I gave my life to Christ and was baptized a few months back. It is a wonderful feeling and I am learning SO much about being a TRUE follower of Christ.... well, this past Sunday another wonderful thing happened for our family. My husband gave his life to Christ and is now a candidate for baptism... PRAISE THE LORD!!! We are extremely blessed at what God is doing at Journey Church and within our family. Its amazing at the radical difference it can make!!! Please keep my family and Journey Church in your prayers as I know God has great things planned for us!!!

I Love you Casey and am SO SO SO proud of you!!!

Well, summer is just kicking off.... although I have mixed emotions about Summer being here, I know the kids are super excited!!! Anna leaves for her moms on June 1st for June and July so that change in our routine really takes some getting use to. I know that nobody else wants to wish this.... but hurry up August!!!! We do have tons of exciting things planned for the weekends she is home and the week we go on vacation so hopefully staying busy will make it FLY by!!! Have a great week!!!

Relay 2012

AMAZING!!! is the first word that comes to mind when I think back to this past Friday night. I am one of the co-chairs for the Jones County event and it was absolutely phenomenal!!! We have a great committee that "volunteers" about 10 months out of the year to make our Relay THE SECOND LARGEST RELAY IN THE STATE OF MS!!!! If you have never been to this event, you are really missing out. We have raised so far a little over $272,000 for the American Cancer Society and we still have teams that haven't turned in their money. It is a fun, emotional, and rewarding event. I have over 200 photos but I will spare you and post some of the highlights... Enjoy!!

The Triple Threat!!!
Lauren (co-chair), Me (co-chair), and Christy (chair)

My husband's tent site... He sold gumbo and tea and raised $650!!!

By 5:30, all 78 tent sites were up and ready to go!!

Me and my two babies before opening ceremonies... they love Relay!!!

Over 6,000 people at opening ceremonies!!!

The survivors in the purple shirts are the reason we all Relay!!

Our theme this year was Holidays. This is one of our teams, Ellis and Walters.

Me and my hunny!!

My 2 sisters!!

This year we let each team read their own luminary names... Worked out great!!!

Sky Lanters were a big hit this year. Our first year to do them and we sold about 180. It was BEAUTIFUL watching these float up into the air!!

At about 2:30 a.m., we decided to do a few "Miniute to Win it" games

Who can blow the biggest bubble??

Who can balance 5 ding dongs on their forehead for 10 seconds???

This was 5 a.m. for our closing ceremonies!!!

If you missed this years Relay for Life, I hope you will make a point to attend next year. It will always be the last Friday in April at the Laurel Fairgrounds. Opening Ceremonies are at 7 p.m. and Closing Cermonies are at 6 a.m.