Here we are dying the last of the eggs...Kayla, JoMarie (in background), Madison and me

the girls waking up to find out that the Easter bunny was able to find them in the motorhome!! Good thing about! +)
Kayla going through her basket
Madison going through her basket

We went Camping in Myrtle Beach for Easter and Spring Break. We went with Nancy and Kraig and family...Chad and Christine and family....I have some random shots of them preparing for Easter


Here is Nancy helping the girls with dying their Easter Eggs...we did it out on the picnic table...lucky for us it was the warmest day while we were there...after this day it dropped to the 50's.
The girls are dying more eggs
Kraig hard at work watching the girls dye their eggs....=)
Mee and the girls doing eggs

more egg dying

This past weekend we got a new puppy....it is a Cockapoo. The girls have named her Montana (for Hannah Montana...go figure!) I don't think this animal will ever learn how to walk because they carry it around EVERYWHERE! Here are some picks of the new pup

We went to a VERY local bull riding competition this past Saturday. My girls were all pumped up for 2 weeks to ride the sheep (they had done it last time they went)....they ended up chickening out....But JoMarie got on it....she says she won't do it again! =) I say give her another few years and we may have a bull rider! This video is JoMarie showing us her sheep riding skills! Enjoy!

The weather here is starting to turn to spring....and with the coming of spring comes Easter....and normally Easter brings DJ's birthday but this year Easter falls a few weeks earlier...but still it has me thinking of him. I thought I would put the video of his last birthday. It was at the skate track....we had him and Kayla share a party....she was turning 1 and he turned 5. This year, Kayla on her own, has decided she wants a skate party for her 6th birthday. anyway I hope you enjoy the video as much as I do....I especially like the smile on his face!!! I think that is priceless....he looks so happy!

Our girls love Hannah Montana....here they are pretending to be her!




the poor dog got dragged into it as well!!!

the girls love Hannah Montana and MeMaw brought over some dress up stuff....so here they are rocking out to Hannah. Butterbean you can see thinks that they are crazy!!

Williamston had a pro-rodeo this weekend (http://www.visitmartincounty.com/Default.asp) and we decided to take the girls from some good family time...nothing like a rodeo!! The 1pm show was the family show...they had ponies set up and they had cowboys walking around teaching the kids how to lasso and some other stuff. They had a great time!




Here is Madison riding her pony...she liked it sooo much that she had to ride 2x's!! She told me when we left that she wanted to lasso a cow....and ride the bull!!! NO FEAR!

one ride for Kayla was enough! She likes to dress the part...but that's about where it ends. She was more interested in looking at what the cowgirls were wearing than anything else!

Here is Kayla holding onto Jerry for dear life when the rodeo started...she was scared to death until she realized they weren't going to come into the stands and get her.

Here is Madison LOVING every minute of it and really into it! She couldn't get enough. We had GREAT seats too!! we were in the 2nd row...the 1st row was the handicap row...it was perfect viewing for the girls. Madison says she wants to go again......

picture came out blurry but here is Jerry and Madison learning how to use a Lasso...Kayla wouldn't let go of my leg long enough to even walk over and get into the picture.

NOW THAT IS FAST!!

Here is Jerry's attempt at using the lasso!

Williamston had a Pro-rodeo this past weekend and we took the girls on out there. Kayla of course was too scared to try or do much of anything....Madison on the other hand was right out there with the cowboys learning how to lasso!!! of course she wouldn't let go of the lasso! My future Cowgirl!

This is me and DJ's grave. I changed the winter flowers out and put some spring flowers in. The daffodills are already starting to pop up around here!





This is DJ's part of the grave. His poem says: "In my heart you live on, always there never gone, precious child you left too soon, my precious child." We have his picture on the grave.
This is my side....all Jerry or the kids will have to do is add my date of death...Jerry already has my poem picked out...he says he will write "FREE AT LAST! FREE AT LAST!" I asked him..."for who? you or me?!?!?!"

Jerry and I had to go to the grave today to fill in a sink hole. We think that there are moles down there and a dog in pursuit of the critters.....so there are mole holes and then there are dog dug holes...which is all making the ground very soft and making it sink in spots...and of course one spot having to be DJ's grave. If you look at the first picture you will see the black dirt...that is where we had to fill it in. His grave has been there for over 4 years now and do you know there is still no grass growing! Almost like the grass it too sad to even grow over his grave.

We have tried many different hair products...and we may have finally found some that will straighten without making it a big frizz ball....it is still a little puffier than normal straight hair but she LOVES it. she can't wait to go to school tomorrow to see what all the kids say about her new hair. It seems funny to see her with straight hair. Maidson was so amazed by it she kept walking behind her saying "kayla's hair is like mine...Kayla;s hair is like Mommys" and she kept rubbing her hands on it...She was just as amazed with Kayla's hair as Kayla!! Of course it took me about a good 3o minutes....which I guess for us women is not so bad...but I told her that this is not an every day deal...I would have to get up at 5am to do her hair and my hair...and that just isn't going to happen!

the boys had to stop here and check out the "outdoor" stuff....

Cheeseburgers in Paradise...restaurant we ate at during our lovely rainstorm all day Saturday.

one of the things we did: Ripley's Aquarium I had to put pictures like this in the blog...because dummy me...forgot to put my SD card in my camera...so I couldn't take any pictures!

We had an awesome time away at Myrtle Beach with the girls and the Sullivans! Saturday it rained all day but we went in the indoor pool, out for lunch and RELAXED! That is what was so good about this trip...a lot of time to relax. Sunday we went to the Ripley's Aquarium and then watched the playoff games...and of course took the girls swimming again. The resort was beautiful. Tot and I went in the hot tub outside and got to look out over the ocean while we sat in 25degree weather (hottub was 104)!

As football season comes to an end....and playoffs are going on....Superbowl is about to take place...I would like to share with everyone the Heisman trophy that our son received...you can see it below or go to the website and read: http://www.nceyebank.org/html2004/eb_s.html

Derek John Sneed
On January 5, 2004, we lost our son, Derek John Sneed. Derek was 5 years old and in kindergarten when he was tragically killed by injuries sustained from a car accident.His favorite things were playing flag football, Power Rangers and soldier men. Derek was a sensitive, happy, loving, caring and wonderful son! Two weeks before he went to Jesus he told everyone at Christmas that “it didn’t matter how many presents you received, it was who you loved in your heart!”
Our son will never go on to play any sports but we received his Heisman trophy when we got our letter from The North Carolina Eye Bank stating that two other people can see now because of our son! It is a blessing knowing that the gift of his eyes will bring joy to others

Fairfield Resorts at Myrtle Beach South Carolina: https://www.fairfieldresorts.com/ffr/resort/details.do This week marks the downhill slope to my 40's! Yes this week I will be 35 years old! I remember when I was on a countdown to 21. The teasing of Tammi that she still had 4 LONG MONTHS to wait until she was able to join in on the "club" scene....namely the "Knight Club." Hard to believe that Jerry will be 40 this year. How did we get so old??? and so fast?? I know...some of you are saying that 35 is not old...but it's closer to 40 than it is to 30! =)

Anyway you may be wondering why the picture of the resort is up on this blog. On Friday my family along with the Sullivan family leave for Myrtle beach. We are going away on a 3 night stay to celebrate my birthday and Latasha's big 30! We have the same birthday. Every year we go somewhere (works out that MLK day falls around our birthday weekend so we get some extra time off of work...which we use our time share points to go away with). We have gone to the New Bern resort before and this year we decided to do something different and go to the beach....in JANUARY. Luckily the resort has some indoor pools. Now the funny thing with this is...on Jan. 11th we had a thunder storm here in NC and the old wives tale is 10 days after a thunder storm in winter you will have snow (that is how it worked with Madison...the snow she was born in was 10 days after a thunder storm). and 10 days from the 11th will be while we are away at the beach...how funny would that be...?!?!?!? Let's hope this time the old wives tales proves to be wrong.

I am back tracking some with this post. I thought I would post the girls Christmas/Santa pictures. We went with the Longs...and we have a nice one of them altogether but I haven't gotten it printed yet....so I thought I would just add the ones of each set of girls. I think this was the first year I didn't have to drag Kayla up to sit on Santa's lap. They both did a good job at telling him what they wanted. It was nice to have them both so into Santa this year. It was nice to be able to have Madison old enough to understand. Only 11 months to go until next Christmas!!

Thanks to their Uncle Rob the girls room is now COMPLETELY covered in stars!! And Rob no...we didn't put up any constellations, galaxies etc..... They are just randomly placed around the room. It does make a funny combination of fluffy pink princess stuff, Dora and Stars...but they love it. Here are some pics of them putting up the final touches. Rob we saved all the real little stars for you to put up for them on your next visit here!

I couldn't resist putting this picture up on the blog. My friend Joanne and I always laugh about this picture. DJ was born in April and her little girl Cassidy was born that following August. Somehow we were able to get them the same PJ's...and I almost think that I remember it wasn't planned....so of course we had to take pictures!! We sat DJ up and Savannah held Cassidy and then history was made! =) Boy is it funny to look at that picture...Savannah looks so little...Cassidy has Mr T's haircut and DJ looks like a rolly polly baldy, but I LOVE IT!!

It's hard to believe but it has been 4 years since we had Christmas with DJ. Every year something seems harder or easier to handle than the year before. For example in the past one of the hardest things to deal with was his stocking...do I put it up or not...etc.... This year it was Christmas cards. Do I send them without his name listed with the family...or do I do it...or the option I went with...just don't send any at all...

Anyway the video isn't that good...it is a video of a video...but I wanted to share with everyone. This was his last Christmas...it was 6 days before our accident. I hope you enjoy this video as much as I do...it is short but sweet. I love his expression when he sees that Santa found him at his MeeMaw's house. It is also funny to see how young Kayla was in the video. I have calculated and figured out that Kayla will be officially older than DJ on January 27th.

Here are the kids opening up Santa presents....they were so excited and it was so much fun this year because Madison was really into it...so we had two that were just over excited and just couldn't wait until Santa came!

Kayla excited and opening presents on Christmas morning
Madison showing off some gifts
Daniel opening up his gifts...the last gift he opened was the key to his own car...he is getting his license this week!
Madison showing off another gift
Kayla opening up another present

Of course we had to prepare for Santa's arrival...so we went outside and threw some reindeer food out for Rudolph and the bunch Butterbean had to try out the food for the deer...

Kayla throwing out food in our "Santa Land here" runway
Jerry and the girls getting cookies out for Santa...Jerry had them stop at 3 cookies each...he told them that Santa may not want that many ...=)

The girls decided that this year they wanted to make a Gingerbread house...wow...who knew it could be such a mess! But we gave it a shot. My mom came over to help out with the process... I read the directions and realized that we were suppose to attach everything and then wait a few hours for it to stick...the girls and I decided we were going to skip that part and just jump right into the fun part.



Here they are showing off the final results

Messy, Messy, Messy
But they enjoyed themselves...they asked if they could make another one!! I told them one a year is enough for Mommy!
Our final Gingerbread house!
As Mr. Food would say....OOOhhhh so good!