Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

Well, we have had a long weekend full of excitement, sadness, rejoicing, happiness, and celebration.

Last week my dad told us all that my Granny (Edith Bruton) was going down hill and that the nurses at the nursing home said that it appeared she was in the final stages of the sickness that had attacked her body. He said that if we wanted to see her we probably should do it in the next week or so. Then on Thursday, the 19th, Dad went to see her. During his visit he told her that she didn't have to stay around for all of us. That if she wanted to go ahead and go to Heaven to see Jesus and Papaw, to go. Well, that was about 2:00 p.m. and not even 10 hours later, she went to sleep and gave that old body up for the Victory she has been waiting on her entire life. Eternity with her Savior Jesus Christ. Although we are all sad and miss her; we are rejoicing for her.

Meanwhile, a huge surprise birthday party was in the works for my Dad. On Friday, February 20th, he turned 60. My mom, along with others, had been planning for weeks (or months). In order to keep him from finding out, we had a family dinner at Kyoto's in Rockwall. This is a new Japanese Steak House. There were 20 of us in all and we had a great time. After eating and opening gifts we all headed back to the church. There, waiting on us, was most of our church family. Sitting in pretty much their normal Sunday morning places. As dad walked in he heard, "So you say its your birthday?" He was literally speechless. It was great! We watched videos, ate cake, and mingled. It was so much fun. We really pulled it off. He had no idea until he pulled into the parking lot. He was totally surprised. Even his grandkids knew and kept it a secret.

Daddy, I hope you had a great Birthday!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!

Fast February

Ok! So I got a comment that a new post was long overdue. Yes, I agree. We've just been going, going, and going. The last few weeks have flown by.


Caitlyn's Birthday was February 5th and I haven't even got to post anything about it (sorry Caitlyn). Her celebration lasted for 3 days. Thursday the 5th, I took her shopping for a birthday outfit and to La Madeleine's for dinner. On Friday she had a couple of friends stay the night. We went out to eat and just had a girls night. Then on Friday was the real party. All of our family was there. I hope you enjoyed you birthday. We Love You!


And then....Happy Valentine's Day! The girls have been wanting for months to go to Firewheel and build-a-bear. So, for Valetine's that is what we did. Caitlyn built Cuddles the Bear, Denim built Kitty the Kitty Cat, and Dalton built Blackie the Karate Bear! (He wouldn't let me take his picture) They all had alot of fun, but I think it will be the last time I can talk Dalton into going with us.


That night, my parents kept the kids so that we could go out. We went over to Allen and ate at Ralph & Kacoo's. This is a seafood restaurant that I absolutely love. They only recently brought one to the DFW area. The first time I ate there was actually in Bossier City, years ago. We had to travel there for a funeral and the whole family stopped to eat afterwards and I have never forgotten how good it was. Anyway, Chad and I had a great, peaceful time alone. We really needed that. I don't think Chad really needed the speeding ticket he received on the way home, but we did not heed to the warnings we both received the two nights before. (HaHa) So I guess we deserved it.


Ok, so I hope this has filled everyone in because I am out of words. I will try to post sooner next time.

Cold Nights at Home

Some of the best memories I have as a child were when school was cancelled because of ice or snow. The ice never slowed us down. We went to Colorado skiing at least once a year since I was 4 and my dad learned to drive on the ice very well. So when school was out, we always loaded up to go eat Chinese food and some Hot 'N Sour soup. All afternoon we played outside building snowmen, making snow angels, or sliding around. We even got to ice skate on our swimming pool one year. I loved it and I hope to give my children fun memories like this! We have set at home all night waiting to see if the ice comes in like is predicted. Greenville ISD (where I work) has already announced a two hour delay, but I haven't heard anything about Caddo (where the kids go). They talked me into letting them sleep late whether they have to go at 8:00 or not. So.. they are really happy anyway.


We only have 44 days until our Ski Trip and this cold weather has got me thinking about it. So I posted some of my favorite pictures from our last trip. It sure makes me want Spring Break to come sooner.


For those of you that know about the financial situation we have been involved in over the last couple years; I just wanted you all to know that...................................

OUR GOD STILL PERFORMS MIRACLES!!!!! RESTORATION!

Our Nephew: Joey Colt Crow

Joey Colt Crow (JoJo) was born on October 15, 2001

"Colt was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma in May 2003. He underwent 5 rounds of chemo,2 stem cell transplants, and radiation. He relapsed in July 2004. After having several more roundsof chemo and radiation hepassed away on Dec. 14, 2004"

"He was a brave fighter,and still won his battle in the end. He received the ultimate healing and is now home free!"

I failed to transfer my picture and link of Colt to my new blog. When I walked by his picture today, the thought came to me about why he wasn't on here. It wasn't because I forgot, because I think about him everyday. Denim talks about JoJo every time she walks by one of his pictures. I just hadn't took the time to sit down and do it because I wasn't for sure which place to put him. So I just added him to they blog and the list.

Colt's Life, Battle, and Victory are very important to us. All of our lives have been changed for ever and for the best because he was born into our family. We will always love and cherish him.

The quotations above are just a tiny piece of Colt's story from his website. You may click on his picture to learn more about JoJo and what he is to us.

Well, it seems like the New Year has started out in a run. This last week just flew by. Probably because we've stayed so busy. Work, both the older kids practice basketball two nights a week and at least one game a piece, tumble, church, and housework. Go, Go, Go! I wouldn't trade the sports for anything though. We have so much fun watching them. Today, Caitlyn had her best friend over to play awhile. They tried and tried to make Denim play what they wanted, but she wasn't having it.

We also had two birthday parties this week. Two of our nieces have their birthday on the same day, January 3rd. Breanna turned 11 and her party was last weekend. Bayleigh Jo turned 9 and her party was today. Girls everywhere. We had a really good time at both parties. They are all getting so big. It is kinda sad that it happens so fast, we can't have simple little girl parties anymore, they have outgrown all of that. That's life.

Tomorrow's a new week. May seem like a whole new school year to me. I had a big change in my classroom on Friday, so I am starting in a new situation tomorrow and I am really looking forward to it. My days are going to consist of alot less stress from now on.
Everyone have a great week and God Bless You All!!!

Happy New Year!!!!!! 2009

Ok,I know some of you will think I am crazy. But... Yes I changed our family site again. Well, it isn't really a change. I cancelled the website and went to a blog. The other site wouldn't let me add the stuff I wanted unless I paid a yearly rate and why do that when I could have this blog for free. Thanks for the tip Christi. I transferred all of my other entries and changed some pictures up. Hope you enjoy!

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!!!

Well, I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. I know we sure did. I feel like we have just ran and ran the last few days. On Christmas Eve we went to Wills Point and had Christmas lunch at Chad's grandfather's. The fun included us, mam-maw and papa, Chad's mom, his brother Joey and family, and his two sisters and family. That evening we had Christmas with my parents and my brother Monty and his gang. We let the kids open presents first and then we ate an enormous traditional Christmas dinner. It was an awesome day. Of course, we did have to hurry home to prepare for SANTA to come.

Christmas morning we got up and had our family tree together. It was amazing watching Denim she was so excited this year. SANTA brought her a babydoll, Dalton a mini-frig for his room (SWEET), and Caitlyn a new purse and wallet (a more grownup one). After that we had breakfast and Christmas with Sheryl and Peeper (sorry Chad told me to) and Joey and Christi. Then off to Granny's in Mesquite with the whole gang (Chad's aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.). That evening was Christmas with my Mom's family at her house. This was also a large gathering. There are a bunch of us; however, there were a few that had to miss out because of illness and we sure did miss them. After all of this, would you believe that there is still one side of the family we haven't even seen. We hope to catch a couple of them this weekend.

So, you can imagine that we are really resting this weekend. Actually, yesterday I spent the whole day finding places to put all the new gifts and my house still needs to be cleaned. I'll get to that sometime. Well I have already babbled on enough. Check out the new pics.

We wanted to tell everyone that "WE LOVE YOU ALL. WE WISH YOU A BLESSED AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!"