Crazy HAIR Day!!!

Today was "crazy hair day" at EJE for their Red Ribbon Week. Its so much fun getting to do silly things with Anna that make her day!! She thought I was pretty awesome when she looked in the mirror this morning. She said "Mel Mel, do I really get to go to school like this?". LOL!! She knows how I am about her hair being fixed every morning so it was actually a break for me to not have to flat iron her hair today!!

I love being a mommy and being able to enjoy crazy days like this!!!

Happy Hump Day!!!

PINK!!

This past Saturday was my little girl's 9th birthday and we celebrated it with a few family and friends at Pizza Hut on Thursday night. Disney World was their big birthday present for the year but it was a fun gathering for pizza, cake, and presents.

My Birthday Girl!!!

Daddy's little girl

  Anna and Brooke Robinson

 Presents and Presents!!!

 We (Anna and Casey) are huge Harry Potter fans so Anna wouldn't have it any other way than this!!!

Being a volunteer for the American Cancer Society has become a very big hobby of mine. I am the Co-Chair for the Jones County Relay for Life and have dedicated alot of my time to that one event. Over the past 3 years, I have taken on another part of the ACS which is alot of fun. October is Breast Cancer awareness month and it has given me great joy being a part of some great fundraisers and activities with our great staff partner (and friend) Paige McCardle!!!

This past Friday, NEJ (my favorite Jones Co. school) had their "Pink Night" at their football game. The football players wore pink wrist bands, the coaches wore pink pins, and we released 10 pink lanters at halftime. For the first time since I graduated high school, I attented the peprally Friday morning. Let me just say, it was GREAT being back in the Jungle!!!!

 Daddy Rah Rah still puts on a Great show!!!

 Paige, me, Heather, and Amy at "Pink Night".

 Just some of Daddy Rah Rah's work of art!!!



Thank you so much to Coach Braddock, Mrs. Cindy Rice, and the NEJ Annual Staff for all their help!! It was a great night!!!

If you are wanting to be involved with Relay for Life, please let me know. I can definitely get you plugged in somewhere so you can help in finding a cure for this terrible disease!!!

mpickering33@gmail.com

Friends and Birthdays!!!

Getting together with friends from high school is usually very hard to accomadate when everyone's lives are going 100 mph. This past Tuesday me and 2 of my best friends from as far back as elementary school, Brandi and Krissy, got together for about an hour or so to let the kids play. We went to Krissy's in-laws farm so the kids could run wild!!!

Tripp (Brandi's), Cayson, Brandon (Krissy's)

 Anna is use to being with a bunch of boys since she is the only girl grandchild in mine and Casey's family!!

My sweet baby girl will be turning "9" on Saturday the 22nd so we let her have a few girlfriends over this past Friday night for her birthday slumber party. I use to love slumber parties when I was little so being able to do the same thing for my little girl makes me just as happy as it does her. They had a blast and so did I!!!

Some of the pictures that are pretty terrible where taken by one of the girls.... They stole my camera when their "fashion show" began!!! I love it!!!

Our magnolia tree that is the perfect "climbing tree"

 Anna and Raine

 Paige

 Lindsie (LuLu) and Raine

FASHION SHOW!!!!

Cake and Presents Time!!!

I tried to calm them down about 10 but when I woke up at 12:55 from a noise, it was 3 of the 4 giggly girls still up watching tv and playing board games. Poor Paige passed out, but the other 3 weren't giving up just yet. I have no clue what time they finally passed out but I had to wake them up at 9 the next morning!!!

I love being able to enjoy stuff like this with my kids. I had a cool mom that all my friends loved so I hope my kids will say the same thing about me!!! It makes life a whole lot more enjoyable when you can act like kids again!!!!

Have a great Monday!!!



DISNEY WORLD!!!

Yes, we have been back from Disney World for almost 3 weeks and I have just now had the time to sit down and share this extra long post.... there will be LOTS of pictures!!!! We had a MAGICAL time with 10 of our closest family members. 14 people is a very group to travel 12 hours with but it really was wonderful. Trying to find time to post these days are few and far between... normally the only time I can find to post is during a slow day at work (dont tell my boss!!), which is usually about once a month..... although I did skip September!!!
For those of you that don't know the whole story, we did not tell our kids we were leaving for vacation much less to Disney World until about 30 min before we left the house. Keeping this secret for 6 months was EXTREMELY difficult but was well worth the wait when we got to see their faces!!!

 Before the news.......

 and after the news......

 My mom got them all Mickey Mouse suitcases for the trip.

Packed like sardines and ready to go!!!! We drove from 10:30 p.m. till 9:00 a.m.

Casey and Roy were struggling by 7:00 a.m..... Me and Lacy drove the final 2 hours (fair I think??)

 Our first "Disney" day was a relaxing day by the pool!!

 Let the park hopping begin!!! Here are all 7 kids!!!

 On the monorail

 Character Breakfast

My mom and Pat with Mickey!

 Best part of the trip were the strollers!!!

 Sci-Fi Restaurant - you eat in old cars!!

 Anna was so excited she conquered the "Expedition Everest"

In order from left to right.... Cayson, Blake, Cruz, Lane, Bryce, Jax, and Anna

 Digging up dinosaur bones was definitely a hit!!

 We took a family outing (just us 4) one night and went to play goofy golf at the Christmas Winter Wonderland Course... It was definitely not winter temperatures though!!!

and yes if you are wondering, it was a bad hair day EVERYday we were there... HOT and HUMID!!!

 Test Track!! :)

Lacy's Birthday celebration at Planet Hollywood...
Her friend Tori that lives in Gainesville came down for the day.

Riding the buses

Our Mickey Ears!!!

Their cute painted faces.

Cinderella and Princess Anna

All 14 of us in front of the castle.

My favorite.... All the character pictures!!!

My step sister Amber and her 2 boys

The Pickerings

The McCarthys

Probably my favorite picture!!! My sweet babygirl and Minnie!!

The Sullins

Me and Cayson at our "mommy and son" character breakfast.

Daddy and sissy went to Harry Potter's castle and the Sullins went to Seaworld

Our last night in Disney chilling in the guitar shaped pool!!

It was a vacation with LOTS of memories!! It was hard to pick from 950 pictures but I am sure you can tell that everybody had a great time (even the adults). We hope to do this again in about 5 more years!!!

Have a great day and I am going to try and post later this week!!! We are having a small slumber party for my sweet Anna Friday night for her birthday so I am sure there will be several interesting pics!!