Dressing Up!

The girls are all about getting dressed up and doing each other's hair and makeup these days. Here are a few pictures of them after they got all done up for "Gracie's Wedding!"

Bike Ride

This past Saturday we decided to go for a family

bike ride at Flatwoods in New Tampa.

We had such a great time and the girls both biked 6 miles!!!

Abbie didn't understand that what ever she biked one direction she had to turn around and bike back, so she was a little upset when we turned around at the 3 mile marker. I was glad we did because after 5 miles she was ready to give up and have someone carry her. The problem with that is when everyone is on bikes you can't carry her and her bike, so we encouraged her and went slow that last mile and she did it! She biked all 6 miles!

Gracie on the other hand had no problem biking the 6 miles she loved it and beat us all back to the car! Her and Papa had fun racing one another.

Here are some pictures from our fun day.

Getting Ready to go!

Can't forget the Helmets!

Abbie is so excited!

Half way mark! Ready to turn back.

Taking a pit stop!

Do we have to turn back?

Family photo!

My Little girl is all grown up!

I can't believe that Gracie turned 7 this Past Sunday.
It seems like just yesterday Stephen was rushing me to the hospital to have her.

Where has all the time gone.

She has grown up into such a precious little girl.

Here are a few pictures of her over the years!

(I only have digital pictures on the computer since '03

so she is 18 months when they start)

Yes Gracie use to have curly hair.

I have always wondered if we cut it will the curl come back!

So excited that she was about to be a big sister!

Her first time meeting Abbie! (She is 29 months here)

3 1/2 years old!

Trip to Disney World!



4 1/2 years old! She has lost her baby look!


5 years old and still loving her Sister!

6 years old and looking all grown up!

Her 7th Birthday! Boy has she grown up!

Moyster the Oyster

Yesterday we went to the beach for a fun family day. While we were there Abbie found herself a friend! An Oyster stuck to a large shell. As most of you know abbie loves animals so for 3 hours her and Moyster hung out. She named him Moyster, because she thought that was what we were calling it when we said Oyster.


She washed him, let him sit in the sun to sun bath and played with him in the sand. She had so much fun with her new little friend. She even brought him home in a water bottle.


She was so cute playing and talking with him! I couldn't believe she could have so much fun with a little slimy blob, but she did! She told me that she loves animals and when she grows up she wants to be a veterinarian.

By the way we never had the heart to tell her that Moyster was not alive anymore!

Here are a few pictures of Moyster the Oyster and Abbie!

Ever wonder what keeps me busy all day long?

here they are!

Gracie stays busy most of the day trying to finish up 2nd grade!

Abbie stays busy playing and driving gracie crazy while she is trying to concentrate on school!

Parker and Kenzie keep all of us busy, since they are now crawling and getting into EVERYTHING!

And with twins it seems they never go the same direction or get into the same thing so we all spend the day running a diferent direction!

But would I change my life?

NO WAY!

I love being a stay at home mom and I love watching the twins.

My life is busy, fun and I never know what will happen next!

Rotavirus!!!!

If you have never had to deal with it

believe me when I tell you

that you don't want to ever have it or be around it.

Last Thursday our life changed very quickly! Abbie woke up and within a few minutes she threw-up. I did not think much of it since she had been coughing a lot so I figured she must had a lot of mucous in her throat that needed to come out. That was of course until 15 min later she did it again. I then became a little worried and started hopping it would be over soon. Well every 15-20min for the next 8 hours she threw-up. I could keep nothing in her and she became very lethargic with a fever of a 102.5. So off to the Urgent walk in clinic we went.

They looked at her and immediately said she was dehydrated, so they put an IV in and started the fluids. She was so out of it that she did not even flinch when they put the IV in her arm. After 700cc of fluid and a shot to stop the vomiting she was asleep and I took her home. We spent all night trying to keep the fever down it was now up to 103.5 and trying to get her to drink, but she was so out of it.

The next morning she woke up and seemed better. She went to the bathroom (first time in 24 hours) and was awake, but once again by mid afternoon she started throwing up and her fever spiked again. I called her Dr. and they said to go to the ER. So off to St. Joe's we went. She was lethargic again and could not sit up. When we got to the children's ER it was packed and I was so scared. She was not doing well and I was afraid we would not get to go back for hours. 1 1/2 hours into our wait things turned for the worse. She started throwing up and having explosive Diarrhea. Thank God that within 2 minutes of all this happening they called us back. They rushed her back and had an IV in her within minutes.

(She was so dehydrated that it took 3 sticks to find a vein)

5 minutes after that the Dr. was in a said they would run blood work so they could see what was going on. So Abbie and I curled up on the bed and that is how we spent the next 4 days. 2 hours of getting into the back of the ER we were sent up to a room in the Children's Hospital. That night they did some more test and she came back positive for Rotavirus!!!

For the next few days we laid in the bed with her hooked to IV's trying to get her to eat and keep her fever under control. She hated being bothered every 2 hours at night and she could never get her arm comfortable.

She was so happy that the let us go home last night. Neither me nor her had left their in 4 days so we were happy to see the outside world again. It is so funny how much you miss your shower and bed when you are stuck in place like that.

Even though she has not thrown up or had a fever since Sunday, She is not out of the woods yet and I still have to keep an eye on her now that she is not on constant IV fluids.

I must make sure she keeps drinking so she does not relapse.

I am so glad that we are over the worse part and hopefully she will be back to normal in the next few days. Here are few pictures of her during her stay in the hospital.

This is Thursday night after the Urgent Care visit! She got a cool purple bandage that she just loved!

Here she is in her hospital bed. She loved changing channels on the remote and moving the bed up and down!

Just laying in bed! That is all she could do!


Trying to get comfortable!


Gracie was reading her all the wonderful cards that friends from church made her!
She felt so special!



Trying to sleep! She is a belly sleeper and with her arm all wrapped up and cords everywhere she could not get comfortable!

This is her yesterday morning looking a lot better. Her hair was so crazy because she had not had a bath in 4 days!

They had taken her off the machine she got a bath

and we were waiting to go home!!!!

I am THIRTY!!!

Now that I am thirty I decided to look back at my twenties and remember all the things that stood out to me! So here are the things that I can remember about my wonderful twenties:

· I married my wonderful husband Stephen
· Had two wonderful girls
· Got a AA in Early Childhood Education
· Got a BA in Criminal Justice
· Was the North Florida Director of The Princeton Review
· Was a surgery scheduler for a Women’s OR
· Lived in Gainesville FL
· Traveled out of the country for the first time to Jamaica
· Owned 7 new cars
· Was a telemarketer from home
· Bought my first house
· Sold my first house
· Moved to Tampa
· Got my first speeding ticket (57 in a 30)
· Took my first trip to New York
· Saw my first Broadway Play –Beauty and the Beast
· Lost my father-in-law to cancer
· First memorial service and funeral
· I Was pregnant or nursing for 5 straight years
· Wrote and produced 2 Christmas plays
· Organized and raised thousands of dollars for different charities
· Started a new Children’s program at church
· Stared in a commercial
· Sang on the worship team at church
· Was in my first car accident when Stephen hit a deer
· homeschool my girls
· Watch twins
· Been on more antibiotics and had more procedures done to my kidneys and
bladder then I can count
· Burnt down the Kitchen in my Apartment
· Saw and heard an angel (Neat story let me know if you ever want to hear about it)
· Have changed hundreds of diapers
· Had many sleepless nights
· Stood by Stephen’s side as he went through EMT school, Paramedic school,
Police Academy and College
· Racked up $30,000 in loans for a college degree that I don’t use
· Last but not least all the wonderful times I have had with my family and friends!!!

I guess I did a lot in my twenties I can only pray that I have as much fun and excitement in my THIRTIES!!!!