Springtime adventures

The kids have had some fun spring adventures that I have not documented on the blog, so I thought I would do one big post about them!


Cooper and Dan went on a roadtrip with their friends Josh & Cade to Chattanooga one weekend and were able to squeeze in lots of fun activities!




Cooper has been playing t-ball this spring! It has been lots of fun, and he has gotten to know alot of little boys that he will be in school with this fall that are on his team.


The dads all help out alot in this t-ball league so that the chaos on the field is minimized. Coop and Dan are all smiles in the dugout.


Edie and I decided to brave the cool morning and take the kids to the Strawberry Festival in Humboldt a few weeks ago! The kids liked the parade, but loved the junk food at 9:30 in the morning!






Dan borrowed G-Chip's jeep for a few days, and the kids both had a blast riding around town in it!

Easter Festivities!

We had a wonderful Easter this year. I think because our Thanksgiving and Christmas were so altered because of Ashlie's illness, we appreciated and enjoyed the time spent celebrating the Resurrection of Christ even more! We had several Easter egg hunts, time with both families, and lots of yummy Easter candy (which we all loved)!


our Easter egg hunt at church was great, but it was freezing outside!


Cooper loved the hunt and party at school (as did Reese Ann who loved the preview of the playground for next year)




Dying Easter eggs with Sis-sis, Edie, and Momma was alot of fun- can't you tell by the face!


We had a fun Easter egg hunt with friends and neighbors


Reese Ann's favorite part was the jumper- her heaven! She could throw herself down and all around and bounce right up with no blood involved! She would not get out for 45 minutes and then wanted right back in!


The kids thoroughly enjoyed their Easter Saturday egg hunt & celebration at Edie & G-Chip's complete with lots of fun, toys, and a creepy visitor to the egg hunt that Uncle Eric wrangled!








The Easter bunny was sure good to the Jedi


and his princess sister!


Cooper was running around the driveway in his policeman costume that the Easter bunny brought him when some police officers drove by, stopped, smiled for a picture, and gave Cooper a "Junior Police officer of Jackson, TN" badge. It made his Easter!


And lastly, my sweet kiddos who do clean up very well and look really sweet here despite the 4-year-old goofy smile!

18 Months!

Our baby girl is a year and a half! Time truly is flying by, and Reese Ann could not be any more fun! Each and every day is such an adventure with this little one- she is so full of spunk! I think "spit-fire" is the term I use to describe her the most. My sisters and I were all such sweet, cautious, girlie girls, but I think this little girl takes after the female member of our family that she looks the most like- her Edie (my mom)! My grandmother still tells stories about how wild my mother was as a child, and RA seems to be following right along in her footsteps! She is such a contrast to her cautious, careful, obedient older brother- but a fun contrast!

Reese Ann is still firmly planted in the 25 percentile of growth although she still is not a great eater. Thank goodness this child is not allergic to milk because all she eats is dairy. She is a huge talker and absolutely loves being outside! She loves to roll around in the grass, play in the mulch , and soak up the sunshine!




This picture was taken one cool afternoon that RA decided to find water and play in it, so we stripped her down and she & Coop took off for the "stage" in the yard to dance!


RA loves to be the center of attention and in the middle of whatever we're doing. You can see the evidence of her recent "boo-boo" between her eyes when she thought she was big enough to walk down her grandparents' brick stairs by herself, and I managed to catch her by her foot as she fell down them. Lots of Mederma in this little one's future for sure!


She loves her "Booper" and asks for him every time she wakes up. She loves to aggravate him, and thankfully, he is a good sport as you can see in the above picture (she plopped down in his chair, so he just sat in hers).


We are so thankful for this little girl and are excited about the spring & summer with all of her adventures!

It's March!

Yay- March is here and we are happy to have made it mostly through this last winter! Things have been good around here! Sister Ashlie is doing so well, we are loving the sunshine and warmer temps, and enjoying each day as it comes! Since I am way overdue updating, I thought a photo update would be the quickest way to sum up the last month or so...


little einsteins has been a daily occurrence at our house this winter- Reese Ann caught onto the rocket motions pretty quickly! pretty sure this one is "Blast Off!"


one of our many snows this winter- don't know how my good southern friends who have moved north do it- we were over the snow after one day, but played in this one for a few minutes at least!


Dan trying to get a snowman going- didn't happen this round of snow- he sure is fun in the elements, though!


Cooper playing a game at his Valentine's party at school


RA and Addy loving their Minnie Mouse Valentine cookies!


Dan and his little Valentines


Cooper is really into guns these days, and this little girl needed in on the action one day!


Sister Natalie had a birthday in February, and we had to make a run to Memphis to celebrate! After the last two family birthdays were spent in the hospital, it is lots of fun to celebrate in the real world!


The happy auntie! And for the record, the pictures with RA and the pacifier have all been taken very close to her bedtime. I am trying to get up the nerve to take it away!


The boys and the birthday girl

"The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy!" Psalm 126:3

Christmas round 2- finally!

We just now were able to celebrate Christmas this past weekend with the Edwards side of the family- if you can call it a true celebration! The weekend before everyone was in town, my mom had a big meal planned for Saturday, and we were going to celebrate Christmas that day. Instead, Cooper came down with the flu on that Friday, so the weekend's festivities were promptly canceled! Natalie & Eric were not able to come celebrate with us on Friday, but we figured that once everyone was healthy that we needed to open presents before someone else became sick!

Our dinner was Los Portales take-out, and the dead Christmas tree at my parents had to be taken down the weekend before, but we didn't care! The kids had a blast as did the adults!


RA and Edie with RA's new my little pony doll


RA making sure that pacifier tasted good! She is addicted to her "pa-pa" these days!


Cooper proudly sitting in his new chair and Sis-sis looking on in the background!


Cooper so proud to be wrapped as a present!


RA & G-chip solving the world's problems!


Coop & RA in their Christmas pajamas that we have finally retired! They were too cute to not put on again!


RA riding in her new grocery cart! Cooper passed out on the couch around 8:30 but RA continued to be the life of the party until 10 or 10:30! She loved the attention!

Christmas Round 1!

I am a little behind here, still, but trying to catch up. We still have not had Christmas with the Edwards side of the family- hopefully that will happen this weekend, but I wanted to go ahead and blog about our actual Christmas celebration on the birth of Christ!



We started Christmas Eve with Nan and Uncle Rob, lots of food, and Christmas Eve service at church. Reese Ann loved the paper, but she also loved her baby doll and feeding her (and herself with the baby bottle, too).




Cooper got some great gifts that night- a guitar from Uncle Rob & Optimus Prime transformer from Nan being the favorite.



Christmas Morning started with Santa and his loot! The kids had a blast- as did their mom and dad!






and my favorite picture- our little junk-food-junkie getting caught finishing off Santa's cookies!

After playing with Santa's toys for a while and a quick breakfast with Nan and Uncle Rob, we packed up and headed to Memphis to be with Sister Ashlie at the hospital and spend some time with the rest of the fam at Natalie & Eric's house. We had a wonderful Christmas day with them considering all that was going on with Ashlie. Dan and I spent a big part of the day up at the hospital while Mom, Dad, Nat, Eric, and Granny got fun kid time. We only had a few presents for the kids to open, and the rest of the presents are still waiting, but everyone truly appreciated family, the gift of the Christ-child, and time together this Christmas day. Ashlie was truly blessed with a wonderful Christmas gift the next day in a new, healthy liver! We are so thankful! Here are a few pictures from the events that day...






Reese Ann loved Cooper's basketball goal from the Carruths!




While I spent the Christmas night at the hospital with Ashlie, the rest of the Edwards family had a slumber party at Nat & Eric's house. They had so much fun that they had another slumber party later in the week!