The First 4th of July Celebration

The Sunday before 4th of July we headed to Bellevue Baptist Church for their annual celebration...We always have such a good time...this year, Mandisa and Matthew West preformed and they were both great!












Apparently, Avery has decided that CJ is her boyfriend and is adamant about the fact that they are going to get married (she is really into the whole princess thing, she is going to wear a pretty dress, get married, the works!) and it seems that she took full advantage of the fact that they were together on a hot summer night, under the fireworks...she tried to make her move...and succeeded, I think! :) (yes, I pray daily for her...she wears me out! But I love her to pieces!)

It's just so hard...

When Avery was 13 months old, we decided (ok, I decided, because I am a hygienist and all...very conscious of teeth and such...) to take Avery's pacifier away... i must first let you know that Avery LOVED her pacifier...ALOT


...and so when we decided to take it away, she quickly formed a bond with something else...HER STINKIN FINGERS!!!

I will go ahead and admit that I was wrong..we should have never taken it away so soon, because now she is attached to her fingers and we can't get rid of those!! So we are trying EVERYTHING under the sun to try to get her to stop sucking her fingers...this is the latest...






P.S. that stuff DOES NOT work...at least with Avery it doesn't! Any suggestions??

Mini Photo Shoot..

The girls and I went to Nashville to meet my sister in law and nephew to have their pictures professionally taken by Katie Dunlap...After the "For Real" photo shoot, I decided that I wanted to get out my brand new camera and try to act like I knew what I was doing...The girls were so cooperative and we had lots of fun!! and got some fun pictures in the process!

Brenly is a diver

While Avery was getting comfortable with the water, Brenly decided that it was time to step up and perfect some of her skills...Grandfather worked with her throughout the week and she is now a diver (sometimes a belly-flopper)




and here is another dive...CAn you tell that she is REAL proud of herself (and we are too :)





Brenly LOVES her MiMi and Grandfather...and now she LOVES their pool!!! :)

What a difference...

a few days in the pool can make...Remember the days of swim lessons...

THEN

NOW

THEN

NOW

Brenly and Avery spent a week at MiMi and Grandfathers last week...I dropped them off knowing that Avery was still quite fearful of the water, wondering how a week in the pool would affect her...and I have to say that it did her LOTS of good...I go to pick her up on Sat. and this was the what she showed me...




and this was her next trick...





She has come a LONG way and I can now say that she LOVES the water! Thank you Lord for giving her the confidence she needs to overcome her fear of the water!!
Looks like it will be a fun summer after all!! :)

ANY white animal will do...

Last week, the girls got the awesome opportunity to got to VBS with some of their very best friends! Misty would come pick them up from my work, take them to VBS and then would keep them until after I got off work...
One day we ACCIDENTALLY forgot to take "LAMBY"...then it came time for Avery to lay down and well, she realized that "LAMBY" wasn't with her...so she went rummaging through all the stuffed animals and happened to find a while lamb...Nothing like her own, but it seemed to work just fine!!

A LONG time ago...

Avery is REALLY into getting married these days, she constantly talks about wanting to grow up and be a "Princess Mommy" marry a daddy and have big boo-boos (Avery's word for boobs!...I know we are in BIG trouble with that one!!) ANYWAY, tonight we were sitting at the table eating and Avery was talking about how when she got big that she was going to marry CJ...a few minutes later she asked when we (Ray and I) were going to get married? Brenly speaks up and says, "Avery, they have been married for a LONG time...They got married like in 1987!" Ray and I cracked up laughing! We then had to explain that in 1987 I was 10 and daddy was 11 :)

She never wants us to forget...

Do you remember back on Christmas Day when we got the shockingly tragic news that dad had been killed in a tragic car accident???
Well, just hours before he passed away, Dad had called both Chad and I to ask about what the girls got for Christmas...HOWEVER when Dad called Chad something pretty crazy happened...Chad picked up his phone and looked at his caller ID...It was my dad's phone number, but it said "BRENDA DEATON"...Chad immediately called me and let me know that mom was making sure that we were remembering her on Christmas Day! And after what happened with dad its was almost as if she was "calling him home"!!

We just a few short months later my precious baby nephew was born!!! But before that day something crazy happened...My brother and sister in law have been in their house for about 5 years and this has never happened before...But on Sunday night before Ty was born (on Monday) Chad went to his mailbox and found THIS...


A Lifeway Bookstore Flyer...address to "BRENDA DEATON"
How crazy that on two of the the most important days of our life...the day that dad was called home, and the day that God blessed us the a precious angel from heaven...Our momma wanted to make sure that we never forget that she is still very much a part of our lives!!


Momma, it has been almost 11 years since we have seen your face, yet the memories we have of you, and the fact that you "contacted" us twice in the past couple of months keeps you very close to our hearts! We love you like crazy and miss you more than you will ever know!!