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.



"BIG" School

Unfortunately, in order for my little 4 year old to start school in August, we had to go get the dreadful shots yesterday. We (me and Cayson) have discussed it for about 2 weeks and before we reached the doctor's table yesterday, he was ok with the fact that a few little "ant bite" shots would get him to big school.... Well, this is how our visit went.....

 - Arrived and signed in
 - Sitting in the waiting room listening to the other boys and girls getting shots SCREAM!!
 - 45 min later, got called back
 - Checked his weight, height, blood pressure, urine, blood count (which involved pricking his finger... not good)!!
 - Sat in the room anticipating the "ONE" shot he kept telling me he was getting.
 - Doc came in and informed him he was getting "FOUR" shots
 - Cayson's meltdown #1
 - Nurse came in to ruin my baby's day......
 - Nurse held his legs, I had his arms, and my body layed on top of his
 - Received first shot.... HIGH PITCH SCREAMING BEGINS
 - Received second shot..... STILL SCREAMING
 - Had to make Anna leave the room.... SHE WAS HYSTERICALLY CRYING
 - Received third shot..... STILL SCREAMING, this time at me to get off of him!!!
 - What felt like 30 min later, received fourth shot.... STILL SCREAMING
 - Nurse leaves and I try to calm him down.... STILL SCREAMING
 - Anna comes back in the room still hysterically crying
 - Carry him (because he cant walk with holes in his legs) to the cashier
 - Pay and head for the truck
 - Ghost white face and lips and is completely mad at his mommy because I said the shots would not be bad
 - Bumpers for Ice Cream (holes in his legs feel much better)

  Yes, it was definitely an experience I had tried to prepare him for but obviously did not prepare myself for!!! It was by far the worst experience at a doctor's office I have ever been through. Ever been in the doctor's office and this over dramatic child is just screaming to the top of his lungs and refuses to stop????.... Well, if you were in Laurel Pediatric yesterday from 3 to 5 then that was my child you heard!!! AND last night when it was time to remove the 4 bandaids (which I made Casey do), we got to hear the same dramatic screaming again!!! Needless to say we are ALL glad it is over and if he ever has to have a shot again, his father WILL be taking him with me and Anna at the house :)

Here is a funny pic of him doing his vision test.... He had to identify shapes with and without these silly looking glasses on.

Library Fun and Home Projects....

Friday night, the Laurel Library did "Bedtime Stories" for the kids. The guest reader was Miranda Beard from WDAM. The kids wore their pjs and had milk and cookies after the stories.

 Jax, Cayson, and Tripp

Since Cayson normally sleeps in just an oversize tshirt and Anna sleeps in either a nightgown or gym shorts and a tshirt, our choices in pjs were limited.... Anna's don't match and Cayson's are just about too small!!! I guess the important part is they had a blast!!

Saturday, we had a few friends over to grill and play Boggle!!!

This is Zach and Cayson just chillin while the adults cook :)

Sunday after church we declared a "project" day so we could cross off a few things from our "to do" list. So after 2 trips to Lowe's, I was very pleased with the finished products of our hard work!! My hubby worked extra hard yesterday just to make me happy.... Yea, he is kinda perfect sometimes :)

BEFORE....

 AFTER!!!!

 I found this cute table on Pinterest that is made out of 2 pallets. It looked really simple to make so I showed it Casey and guess what????

 I now have one on my front porch with my 2 repainted chairs!!! Yep, I sure do love that man!!! Thank you hunny!!!

After a hard work day, supper, and baths.... we put the kids to bed and sat out on our front porch and enjoyed some "US" time and the cool breeze!!!

His only complaint was how far apart my fabulous table made us :) Awwww!!

Have a BLESSED week!!!

Family Day out!!

With school being out this past Monday, me and Casey took a vacation day to get away and do something fun with the kids. We went up the road to Jackson for a day at the zoo, science museum, and hibatchi. The weather was beautiful and a great time was had by all!!!

First was Zoo fun!!!!

 Cayson pushed an empty stroller almost all day.... until Sissy got tired of walking!!! It wasn't as much fun pushing it with Sissy sitting in it :)

 My 2 silly kiddos!!! I just love em!!!!

After the zoo, we headed to the Science Museum... which was alot of hands on fun for the kids!!!

Before heading home, we stopped at Bonsai for some Hibatchi... It was absolutely wonderful!! Can't wait to go back!!!



THEN.......

Tuesday morning, I woke up to this!!!

$185 later, I have a new tire!!!

We are excited about some beautiful weather this weekend. Gonna enjoy a few fun activities with the kiddos that I will be back to blog about next week. Have a great weekend!!!