Merry Christmas!!

I love this picture of Jackson that April took.  Isn't he precious!  What a great gift our family was given for Christmas!














My camera is taking horrible pictures! This picture of Brady in his flight suit it about the best one.  That is a tragedy because I bought an expensive Nikon.  I am certainly going back to cheap Canon's! 

The NAVY flight suit is from Uncle Chris (and Aunt Jessica).  He loved it so much that he wore it to daycare today.  He said that the other kids loved it.  What's not to love?

We had a wonderful WHITE Christmas.  Brady was spoiled by Santa and we had a peaceful day at home, complete with a nap!

Church Singing

Mom and I worked with the children at church the past few weeks on a few specials for Christmas.  Here is a snipet of their favorite song.  The super star in front is Colton.  The person to the right of him dancing like a Chippendale dancer is Brady.

Christmas with Cindy

Brady posing in front of Nana's Christmas tree.

Abbie & Brady waiting for the gifts.

Charlie putting Garrett to sleep (BORING!!).

Cindy having fun with the kids.

Cindy came up from Jonesborough to spend Saturday with the kids and play Santa.  She brought each child several gifts - what a spoiler!  The kids love Cindy and always have a great time with her.

Early Christmas Gift

What a great early Christmas gift we received!  On December 17, 2010, Jackson Lucas Goodpasture was born!  9 lbs 5 oz and 20 1/2 inches long!  He has the biggest belly and chunkiest legs for a newborn!

So Precious!  Great job Heather & Jimmy!!  Love you all!

SNOW!

We had the first accumulating snow fall today.  Thankfully it is Saturday and we can stay home!  We did not accomplish very much but it was a great day!

Action shot of a snowball coming my way.

Posing with a snowball.

Making a snow angel.

The Big 4-0

Well, I turned the big four - O on November 24 with little fanfare.  With the death of Charlie's mother five days before, it was hard to celebrate.  I did take the entire week of Thanksgiving off from work.  On Thanksgiving, April and Mom had a tiny cake for me.

Charlie and Brady gave me a fabulous birthday present - a KINDLE!  I love it.  My first book downloaded was the Bible.  I also downloaded Crossing Oceans and it was wonderful.  You need a few tissues and be ready to hug your kids while reading it!


One of my main goals before turning 40 was to see Bon Jovi in concert.  That dream was fulfilled in April when I got to see them in Charlotte.

Life Update

Charlie's mom was in the hospital for 6 days and passed away on November 19.  She suffered from dementia/Alzheimer's and only recognized Charlie's sister and one of his nieces.  She was in a nursing home for around 8 years.  The positive note on her passing is that she was a Christian and knew our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  She is having a celebration now in Heaven.

Stella, Charlie & Brady on her 81st birthday in July.

Halloween!

Brady & Owen

We had a fun filled Halloween weekend!  It started Friday night at Marion Primary School with the Monster Mash.  Saturday we Trunk or Treated at the Farmer's Market in town.  We started helping out our church, but April was set up with the police department and needed a lot of help.  Brady and his BFF Owen handed out stickers and I filled candy buckets, tore the stickers apart and served as a photographer. 

Waiting for the Ghouls.

 Brady filling up April's candy buckets.

Taking a break from the action.

Friends from Awana.  

If I talk about Awana - Mark is usually in the conversation.  He is the little one on the right.

 

Friends from Awana and church.  Colton (Scooby) is in my Sunday School and Awana class.

April handing out candy with Jim supervising.

On Sunday we had our church Homecoming.  After eating the HUGE lunch, Brady and I went to a Halloween party hosted by another friend of his - Sam.  It was all boys - so there was a lot of guns, camo, yelling and bad guy hunting.  They had a great time.  I needed a nap!

Pumpkin Patch

 Charlie, Brady and I went to William's Orchard pumpkin patch.  Charlie had never been, so we decided to go on a beautiful fall day.  It was bittersweet because next year Brady will be in Kindergarten and we probably won't go back as a family.  Brady and Dad picked out two pumpkins and one "tiny" one (a gourd).  We ate fresh apple cake, fried pies and Doritos (Brady).  We bought REAL apple juice, kettlecorn and my very favorite apple - Stayman.  Any apple bought at the orchard is better than the grocery store ones!

It was a great time riding the hay wagon, walking through the patch and letting Brady play on the hay slide. 

Brady is 5!!!!

We celebrated Brady's 5th birthday this weekend!  It is hard to believe that our sweet, tiny, crying, refluxing, eating every two hours baby has turned into a camo loving, well mannered (at least away from home!) tall, handsome young man in such a short period of time.  It has been a wonderful five years Brady!  Dad and I love you and are very proud that you are our son.

Camo Party!

Camo cake!

Happy Birthday Bradin!

Bradin is one of Brady's best friends.  He turned six a few weeks ago and had a party at McDonalds.  Is is great for them to get together!  Bradin is in the first grade and we hardly ever get to see him!

AWANA

Rock Rolls through Marion

Bret Michaels' tour bus made a stop in Marion today.  They parked onWalmart's lot for a break.  We did not get to see Bret and the roadie said that he would not make an appearance.  The roadie was pretty disgusting looking.  If Bret was close to being that dirty I am glad that he did not make an appearance.  I will keep his "Apprentice" appearance in my mind!

The Buses:

Dirty Roadie!  People actually let him touch them!

Beautiful eyes!

MY SUPERSTAR!!!!!

Carnies

We went to the ridiculously expensive, terribly filthy traveling carnival that comes to Marion once a year. 

And, as you might expect, the kids loved it.

Brady crossing the bridge in the disgusting ball pit/obstacle course (which was $3 per run through).

Brady & Abbie riding the mini scrambler.

Aunt Jen enjoying herself on the train with Mollie.

Bible School

The Bible School theme this year was Committed to Combat, so Brady was allowed to wear camo every night!  There were soldiers, eagles, karate pandas and Uncle Sam fighting terrorists - pirates, ninjas and a grizzly bear.  It was a lot of fun with singing, bible stories, snow cones, popcorn and pizza!

Sam, Brady, Ethan and Chase

Chase asked Jesus to come into his heart at Bible School!  He is now our brother in Christ.

About a week before Bible school, Brady was asking questions about Heaven (which we talk about all of the time) and Hell (which is where the devil lives).  He said that he wanted to go to Heaven so I told him that all he had to do was tell Jesus that he loved Him and wanted Him to come into his heart.  He whispered a little prayer (that I could hear) and told Jesus just that!  Out of the mouths of babes comes the truth!

Wordless Wednesday

St Jude Trike a Thon

Brady's preschool/daycare had a fundraiser Trike a Thon for St Jude's Hosptial.  Brady raised $200!  He had a great time lapping the field and wanted to know when there would be another one!

Brady lapping the field like a madman!

Brady & Abbie taking a break.

Justin (Brady's favorite teacher) taking a lap int the Cozy Coupe.

Goodbye Chicken Little

Brady went with Nay to April's pool.  He wanted her to take him out in the water, but she told him that he could either sit on the steps or jump in with the life jacket and water wings.  Well, by the time I got there he was "swimming" all the way across the pool, climbing up the ladder and running around to start over again.

Good Bye Chicken Little!

swimming across the pool

climbing up the ladder in the deep end!

Confessions of the Chromosomally Enhanced

I love to read blogs.  I have a few favorite ones that are written by families that have a child with down syndrome.  Click this link to check one out it is very entertaining!




Confessions of the Chromosomally Enhanced

An Exciting Addition!!

If you live here........

which is located here (the middle of nowhere).........

then you NEED this.........

to do this.......

Still not as fast as DSL, but a WHOLE lot faster than dial up!!  I would have never got the pics uploaded with dial up!