That's my egg!!!!

Brax had an Easter egg hunt at school today and it was very entertaining to say the least!!! To begin with Brax was all about his Easter basket but just in a different way, He really liked putting it on his head, so much that he said the heck with the eggs by dumping them out and then placing the bucket on his head!!! Too cute.

It was really cute to watch all the kids in his class hunt eggs and take each others eggs. One of Braxton's friends, Asher, liked hunting the eggs so much that he made a game out of seeing how many of the other kids eggs he could steal from their baskets. Brax and Asher had a little sqaul and it was really cute. Brax said no way man that's my egg!!!

Ms. Karen & Ms. Tanya are real blessings to ur family. They are B's teachers and they are wonderful to our little man. Brax really loves his Ms. Karen, even though it doesn't look like in the pic. He was more intersted in the eggs than picture today!!!!

Our little Picnic......

Today we were blessed with a beautiful day and we took full advantage of it! We spent the majority of the day outside. We even had a picnic in the back yard which Brax thought was totally cool. He really liked sitting on the towel in the lawn watching the horses and the tractor in the pasture behind our house. It's really neat to have a horse farm in your backyard!!! Braxton also enjoyed having Duchess staring & drooling at him while he ate his lunch. Needless to say Duchess had a Mickey Mouse chicken nugget and a strawberry or two for lunch. We went to the playground as well and played with some of our friends in the neighborhood which is always fun. Thank you Lord for Sunny days. This was also my first time of the year to lay out, yes sun tan!!! I love this season!!

Picture picture everywhere!!!

Later dude! I got places to go & people to see!!!

Look it's an airplane!!!





So it was a nice day & I wanted to enhance my photography skills!!
LUCKY BRAXTON!!!!!!!!!
These shots are at the Avenues of at my moms house and the Avenues of Forysth. I even took a wordrobe change for B! POOR KID!!!
We had fun and it was a beautiful day!

Spring is here!!!!

This weekend we went to hang out with the cousins at their house! It was an awesome day as it was so nice outside that we were able to play in the water!!!! As you can tell Brax was all about helping Reed & Will hold the water hose. The boys along with Maddie(who is 3 years old and precious, Kim's niece on her side whom we love and hope that she & Brax marries!!! Just kidding but we would definitely approve!!!) all enjoyed playing with the water hose. They sprayed each other and love to run through the water. It was really neat to see them all play so well together!

We all had so much fun, Uncle Jason built a fire in their fire pit for us to make smores, we played in the yard, rode bikes, and of course played baseball!! Jeremy was even interviewed by Carly for a school project which was quite entertaining as Jeremy could not speak properly when he was asked a question, they had to do 5 retakes as this was videoed!!

Grandma & Grandpa even surprised us all by coming up for dinner. It was a great day spent with family!!!

Happy Birthday Nanny!!!

Today is Nanny's birthday and what a gorgeous day it has been. For nanny's birthday we went to hang out at her house. We had so much fun. Brax & nanny called the ducks up to the porch and we ran around the yard playing. Brax even climbed a tree! YIKES!!!

Daddy met us there after work and we all (nanny papa the three of us) met Cookie at Longhorns for dinner. It was nice to have her join us for dinner. I think Nanny had a great birthday and what made it even better was the at big ole wet kiss from Bman!!!

Braxton sang Happy Birthday to nanny and it was so funny. I only wish you all could here him do it. Maybe when it's your birthday!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANNY WE LOVE YOU!!!!!

Too big for my britches!!!!

Braxton is in complete control of Grandma & Grandpa at the Mountain house, well it's actually all the time whether they it's true or not!!!. He loves to do dishes and make them sit at his table to color. I hope that he continues to love to do the dishes as he grows as that would be awesome but I know it's highly unlikely. These were taken while we were relaxing at the mountain house and might I add it was a great time. Brax, Grandma & I went shopping at the Whistle Stop in Franklin NC and then one day we drove to the Highlands to find that it was snowing there so we came right back home. All in all it was a great 5 days spent with family! Braxton also found this Scooby Do toy and his face when he wold make it spin by himself was so funny. I caught him numerous times even rocking to the beat, hilarious!!!

Life goes on.....

It will be two weeks tomorrow that papa passed away. The past week was very unique in many ways. Braxton & I spent the night with Evelyne whom Braxton calls Cookie so I will use both names so try not to get confused!! This was really good for all of us. We went there on Monday March 8th which was one week from the time papa had entered the hospital for the final time. The three of us had a great afternoon we walked to the mailbox and fed the fish in pond, which was too cute! I had never been back to the lake before it's so pretty and Brax had a wonderful time! Later that evening Natalie came over (one of Evelyne's granddaughters) she spent the night with us as well and all of us went to dinner & Walmart! It was a lot of fun. We shared stories about Papa and just talked about life, it was really nice. I love hearing storeis of the two of them because Evelyne got to live the with "the retired stress-free" version of papa. It's so funny to see & hear of the differences of how he acted years ago and how he was more recently. For example: I found a picture of him sunbathing, yeah that's right, papa was laying in a lounge chair with his shirt off, swim trunks on, sunglasses just soaking up the rays on there hotel balcony in Hawaii. Too Funny, but I love it!!

Tuesday (3/9) morning made it a week to the day he passed away. This is one reason why I am glad we were there at Papa and Evelyne's house. I found it comforting to be with Evelyne and to be in papas house, call me weird I do not know but we all really enjoyed ourselves. I felt that this was and is a way for us to move on and still keep papa's memory alive & well in us. I know that he (papa) wants us to move on but move on in a way that is honoring to him & his life and that's just what I want to do!

The rest of the week we went to the Mtn house where we relaxed which was much needed after three weeks of running wide open. I did make my way back to Evelyne's that Thursday to help her run errands and just relax, we took a nap which was great! I really do enjoy spending time with her, I always have. I use to work for her & papa at her old store in Helen so they could travel and not be tied down. They( Papa & Evelyne) always told me stories then but now it's just so much more relevant and Evelyne's stories are not just about her & papa they are about her and her life prior to papa . It's really cool how God works and uses each of us to do different things in each others lives. I thank God time & time again for all of the unique things He does and for the people He places in my life. I look forward to spending many more nights at Cookies house as I love going there and so does Brax. That's his cookie!!!!

We love you Cookie!!!

Forever in my heart!!!

The past few weeks have been pretty hectic & very real to say the least. On February 12 we received news that the doctors were giving my papa 4 to 8 weeks to live. He had been fighting cancer for about 8 years. I mean fighting to. Needless to say for the past two weeks we were with him every chance we got. As you have seen on past post, Valentines Day Jeremy, Braxton & myself went to their house to hang out for the day and we all had a great time. Papa was in great spirits and he and Braxton read books together and it was like you would have never known he was terminally ill. That is who he was, always smiling & in a good mood. Over the next week he spent 4 days in the hospital( all of which I was there to keep him company and be his cheerleader as he was always mine on the ball field) and then came home. When returning home Braxton & I went to see him two times over the next week and that Monday March 1st I got a call from mom saying papa was headed to the hospital. I went strait to his side in Demorest where we stayed for a few hours and then was transported to Northside Forsyth Hospital, where he choose to be because his doctor was there. The whole family came that night to the hospital and we just hung out with papa. It was really cool to have most of us together but we all knew it was for a sad reason. I stayed the night with Evelyne and Papa and I am so thankful that I did. My papa was my hero and I would & did always take care of him in anyway because that's what he did for me andI wanted to. Needless to say it was a long night of tossing & turning and trying to keep him comfortable. Evelyne & I did not sleep a wink. It was quite amusing as well. Papa never failed to amaze me and make me laugh. One of my last memories of him is papa laying in the hospital bed and me sitting in a chair across the room looking at him and he looking at me with his big blue eyes saying "you look at me I look at you." He had the attitude behind the saying as well. He was bobbing his head! I think this was God's way of letting us have one last laugh and making this a good memory!

Early Tuesday morning about 8:53am papa went home to be with our loving God. God took him in a peaceful painless way in which all of us had been praying for and what was a very surreal experience for me. I could go on & on about the course of the night, believe me it plays over & over in my head all the time and I always think of new things that took place that were totally Gods doings. An example of this is Ms. Sharon, Papa's nurse that night. She was the sweetest lady I have ever met in my life. She took care of him and of me & Evelyne. Ms. Sharon prayed with the three of us, she was our cheerleader and most of all she talked & sincerely cared for all of us. Ms. Sharon cried her eyes out when she gave my papa his last shot of Morphine and when her shift was over she came to find me and give me a big hug. I will always be thankful for her loving and compassionate heart with my papa & my family!

I have known this time was coming for a while a now and I think I made peace with it long ago. To me this is how I was able to be strong and at peace with all of the events that have taken place. I have learned a lot about life, God and more so about myself in this experience than I could ever imagine (I am a lot stronger in many ways that I did know). I thank God for papa's life, for his teachings, his caring & loving arms, his gentle & kind words of wisdom and his giving heart! Papa, you were a teacher of many things, you were my teacher, my mentor, my friend, & my papa! I love you for all you were and all you made me to be! Thank you for loving me and I can't wait to see you again someday in Heaven! You will always be close to me and in my heart!