To Eternity and Beyond

Merry CHRISTMAS!

2011-12-25T13:40:00.012-05:00

Card and Photos were done by Katheryn Jarvis with http://jarvisphotography.blogspot.com/. Aren't they awesome!

Julia’s First Day of First Grade!

2010-08-16T08:52:00.002-04:00

Julia started first grade today! Her teacher is Mrs.. Salt. She is in a Combo class. There are 7 first graders and 7 second graders in a class. Evidently there are not enough teachers and they couldn’t hire another one, so they took the first graders that scored highest and put them in with the second graders. Hopefully she will do well. I think she will. Maybe she will learn some of the second grade curriculum and it will be easy for her next year. She was excited about the kids in her class. She has 2 girls that went to VPK with her and 2 that were in her Kindergarten class last year so she already is friend with 4 of the other 6 in her class. There is also an assistant that is in there all day with the teacher and for 1 hour everyday another assistance comes in and spends 1 on 1 time with the students. So they should have plenty of help for only 14 students.

Haley

2010-07-12T13:22:00.001-04:00

Ok I’ve not posted anything this month. And it’s Haley’s month, her birthday was on the 2nd. I know I’m slacking. She’s defiantly going to have the middle child syndrome. So a little about Haley….

She loves her sisters, she loves to give hugs, she loves french fries, and pop corn. She likes to dress up, her favorite show is Dora. She can climb ANYTHING. The sound of thunder has always scared her since she was an an infant. She makes the biggest messes. She likes to act like her big sister and follows her around every where. She is the only one of the girls that has had to go to the emergency room. Yesterday for staples in her head. She was playing with daddy and slung herself back and hit the corner of the table. Split her head open. She told the nurse she had a hole in her head. :) She loves to color and draw.

WE CELEBRATED AT OMEGA PARK

BEFORE THE STAPLES

AFTER THE STAPLES

To Eternity and Beyond

2010-06-03T00:31:00.001-04:00

Today marks ten years that we have been married. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father led me to someone that I can share my life with and that shared the gospel with me.
How different my life would have been without him!
There are so many things that I love about Paul,
this list is only a few of them:
his smirk
the way he laughs when he’s telling a joke
the little songs that he teaches the kids
he calls me in the middle of the day just to see how things are going
how he plays with the kids
his passion about life
his patience with me
the time that he spends with our family
his devotion to the gospel
his worthiness to hold the priesthood
the way he kisses me
the way he is always there when I need him
his love of the temple and for marrying me there
This list could go on and on. I LOVE you to ETERNITY and beyond.

Julia’s best day ever!

2010-05-08T01:13:00.000-04:00

Julia’s birthday was May 5. We took cupcakes to school. On Saturday we had a party for her at the Main Street Park. Dad decided we are not going to give her a big party every year. Only every 4 years, though I disagree with this, this year I didn’t feel like arguing about it. She was told she could invite 1 friend from school and 3 friends from church and family. She had 1 friend from school and 1 from church show up. And all her Grammys and Pop-pops, Aunts and Uncle’s and Cousins that live in Florida. It was a big party even with only 2 friends coming. One the way home she said it was the best day ever! Happy 6th Birthday Julia. I love you. Here are a few pictures of her “BEST DAY EVER!”

Easter Egg Hunt

2010-04-03T12:45:00.000-04:00

Saturday we had our cousins Bryant, and Ally over for Easter. We colored eggs, hunted eggs, ate way to much candy, and played hard. Another fun day for Spring Break

Bryant

Julia

Ally Haley

Asparagus

2010-04-02T23:30:00.000-04:00

Cameron got to try her first veggie today. We were having fresh asparagus with dinner tonight so I put a few pieces in the blender for her added a little water and some of her rice cereal.

She loved it! At least I have one child that does. She kept grabbing my hand and bringing the spoon into her mouth, and sucking it clean! Not as messy as I remember. She sure did scarf it down though. I also gave her a bite of mashed potatoes, she didn’t like them and started to gag. It was way to cute.

They grow up way to fast! Make it stop!

First day of our exciting spring break

2010-04-02T12:40:00.000-04:00

Julia’s first spring break. On Thursday was her school egg hunt and party. I went to help with it, everyone had fun. After we left I picked up Haley and Cameron and we headed to the fair for dollar day. (Thanks to Grammy and Pop-Pop Chapman for inviting us to come. ) It was a $1 to get in and $1 to ride each ride. We got to go with our cousin Bryant.

We had a blast can’t wait to do it again soon!

O2B Kids

2010-03-22T12:12:00.000-04:00

Julia’s first field trip. She was in Heaven. She was more excited about the bus ride, until she got inside and got to see what O2B kids was.

Julia getting on the bus Friends she rode on the bus with The reading room. Not much reading was done. The play park area outside. Balancing on the beams outside. Playing with Austin (who has a crush on her and the first few weeks of school she said she loved him and they were going to get married, but not any more. She likes someone else now.)Getting all strapped up to climb the wall. She started up the wall no problem… She made it just above Mrs. Caldwell’s head and got scared! The science experiment. They made GAK out of elmers glue, water, borax, and green food coloring. The boys couldn’t wait to get their hands in it and all the girls were making faces like Julia’s and didn’t want to touch it.

She had a great time and everyday since has said she wants to go again. And she came home yesterday with a free family pass to go back. YEA! This time daddy and Haley will get to come. Maybe we’ll go one day during spring break.

Penguins

2010-03-01T11:33:00.000-05:00

We went to the zoo to see the new exhibit they have of the Penguins. It was packed! I thought the exhibit had opened the weekend before, but I was wrong it opened the day we went. It was so full that we had to park out in the dirt parking lot. We waited about 45 minutes in line to see the Penguins, and I was a little disappointed. The exhibit use to have otters in it and they have moved the otters but didn’t change the exhibit it looks the same except now it has penguins in it. I’m not sure if it’s a permanent exhibit but it didn’t look closed in and will get very hot in the summer. Maybe they are still working on it. The girls had a blast. We took my 2 sisters and their husbands and our cousin Aly. We can’t wait to go again, hopefully next time it won’t be so crowded. (Crowds make me nervous!) Maybe a trip we will take during spring break!There’s a spot where you can climb under the exhibit and see them swimming around. Kassie and Billy Haley, Julia, and Aly trying to feed the bird.(He was full from so many visitors that day!) Aly eating her lunch Aunt Jeannie

Messages from Santa

2009-12-25T23:05:00.001-05:00

This was a website we found it was cute. Julia and Bryant loved it. Paul had one sent to his brother Bryan it was too funny. We were all laughing when Paul played it.

Julia’s message

http://portablenorthpole.tv/watch/be39d1dae8232c199a09b9b3683e28bf

Bryan’s Message

http://portablenorthpole.tv/watch/bb955fe0a16b43c2a3d6ab37806ba909

Everybody needs a little TIME OUT!

2009-12-08T21:46:00.001-05:00

Two peas in a pod. Always in trouble together. But aren’t they cute little messes.

After a few minutes in time out :) ALL is Well

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T08:20:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone has a safe and blessed day. We are thankful for all our many friends, family, and the time we get to spend with them.

Just look at all these SMILES! I am most thankful for them.

Does anybody recognize this?

2009-11-17T20:51:00.001-05:00

Paul decided to organize a few of the closets here at the house before his parents come home and found this hidden in one of them. He said his brothers and sisters would recognize it. I don’t believe him. Can anyone of his sisters or brother back up his stories?

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T20:30:00.000-04:00

Since I recently had a C section my sisters took my little girls trick or treating, and boy did they have fun spending time with there Aunts, Cousin, Uncles, Friend, and Pop-Pop Erwin.

Julia was a pretty witch

Haley was a princess.

Alyssa, Julia, Joey, and Haley

Hope yours was as fun as ours!

Do all girls have to have drama coming into this world or is it just me and mine?

2009-10-29T20:30:00.000-04:00

Here’s Cameron Chapman !

C- Section went ok. Only problem this time was when we went to check out, my Hemoglobin had dropped a lot since I had first checked in. It started at a 12.5, after surgery it was a 9.5, and the morning I got ready to leave it was at a 6.5. It was not suppose to be dropping. I had to go in for a CAT scan and was told I may not get to leave, and if they found internal bleeding or a blood clot I’d have to stay an extra week and Cameron would have to go home without me. My Dr. who had not ordered the scan had my hemoglobin checked again it went up to 8. After I drank the nasty stuff for the Cat scan my DR. came up said he did not think I needed the scan. He Thought everything was ok. I decided to go ahead with the scan just because I had just forced myself to drink this nasty stuff in 2 hrs. The scan showed I did have a blood clot but it was under the incision and Dr Trogolo was not concerned about it, that it should be reabsorbed into my body. He said if I want to go, he’d sign the release papers. So I was released at about 6:50 pm and made it home by about 8pm. We are doing well. Cameron has an appointment on Tuesday, and I am slowly recovering from all the excitement. Hope to see everyone soon!

CRAZINESS

2009-10-22T16:31:00.000-04:00

We woke up to a phone call at 4am. It was a reminder from Middleburg Elementary NO SCHOOL Friday due to teachers planning day. (Craziness) It took me a few minutes to realize they were meaning the next day and they had probably set the time wrong for the announcement. It should have went out at 4pm. Oh well, I tossed and turned for about an hour trying to go back to sleep. With the thoughts of little Somer Thompson from Orange Park that had been abducted and found earlier that day at a garbage dump. (More craziness) And what else we could do to keep our children safe. When the alarm went off I rolled out of bed knowing I had to get myself, Julia, and Haley ready because Julia had school and we (me and Haley) were meeting the play group at the zoo. On the way to school, (listening to Julia whine the whole time because she couldn’t go to the zoo) traffic was backed up horrible. (More craziness for the morning )So I cut down Main street to drop Julia off. As we drove by the back of the school no one was there, no kids walking to class no cars dropping anyone off. (very strange and unnerving) As I turned onto Section street to get into the drop off area. The gates were locked and a line of cars sat waiting to talk to the guy in the middle of the street turning everyone away. When I got my turn he said school was closed due to a threat. I called Paul and let him know and he called the School Board and was told that there was a bomb threat. And all the kids picked up on busses were sitting at the Baptist church, and all teachers had been evacuated, but there cars had to stay in the parking lot until everything could be checked out. No one was aloud in. More Craziness!!!! So I decided to continue with my plans for the day and me and the girls met the playgroup at the zoo. We had a wonderful time with friends, and was able to put the rest of the craziness out of my mind. Afterwards since I had to almost pass my grandparents house to go home and have not seen them in a few months I stopped and spent a few hours with them. Thankfully the craziness stopped and the rest of the day was uneventful and relaxing. We even had dinner waiting for us when we made it home! (Paul cooked!)

What do you think?

2009-10-09T23:30:00.001-04:00

Julia asked me today, “Mommy do you think my new baby sister Cameron, will look like me?” My guess is there is a big chance she probably will! Take a look at these two cuties at about the same ages.

JULIA

HALEY

Pretty close resemblance I’d say!

Whitehead Family Reunion

2009-09-15T12:31:00.001-04:00

This past Saturday we had a family reunion with the Whitehead side of the family. Most of them I haven’t seen in about 2-3 years and some that came I haven’t seen in about 10 years. I got to see cousins that I grew up with that I missed. We got to catch up on each others lives. What a fun day it was with lots of great food. Here are a few pictures that I took. I didn’t get as many as I wanted because I was watching the girls some of the time.

Happy Grandparents day!

2009-09-13T15:55:00.001-04:00

I just wanted to start off with how wonderful I think my grandparents are. I’ve always looked up to them. And though I know they have made mistakes in their lives. I still idolize them. My maternal grandparents are 75 and my paternal grandparents are 72 and 75. Both grandfathers have served in the navy. One for a short period of time and the other retired from the navy. Both have worked very hard to achieve the things in life they have. Both have raised wonderful families, and are willing to assist those around them in need. They have been great examples for me in my life. I enjoy their stories and hope to have them around for several more years to hear more stories. They are also great examples for my children too. Who love to go and see them!

Julia and Haley also have wonderful grandparents for examples in their lives, and I know they idolize them too. Grandparents are wonderful! We all feel their love when we are around them wither it is grandparents or great grandparents, we know we have them to love us and we love them very much. I’ve also got to meet most of Paul’s grandparents and think they are just as wonderful as mine, and can’t wait to meet the ones that passed away before I met Paul. Here are some pictures of them.

Don’t they all look so happy.

Kid’s Grammy and Pop-Pop Chapman

Paul’s Grand daddy and Grandmother Chapman

Paul’s Grandmother Thompson

Paul’s Birdie-Mae and Grand daddy Thompson

Kid’s Pop-Pop Erwin

Ilene’s Grandpa Erwin

Ilene’s Grandma Erwin

Ilene’s Nana and Grandpa Mitchell

Kid’s Grammy and Pop-pop Whitehead.

I also have a great grandmother Crone still alive but can not find any pictures of her right now. I defiantly need to get updated pictures of everyone together! These took hours to find and most were taken 2005! I can’t believe I’ve slacked so much in picture taking!

Atudie tot

2009-09-13T02:45:00.001-04:00

Ok I tried to email this to Grammy and Pop-Pop but the file was too big. So no one tell Paul I put it on my blog to send to them! Yea right I'm sure everyone will tell him right :)It was way to funny. This is a song Julia learned in VPK that I thought was very funny. And I thought it would be fun to share with grammy and pop-pop. Maybe you can teach it to the kids in Barbosa!

Julia’s first day of Kindergarten

2009-08-31T22:46:00.000-04:00

Julia started kindergarten today. She was so excited. He teacher is Mrs. Caldwell. There were no tears. She sat at her little desk and said hi to one of the other little girls (Kaylee) that she met during orientation. Today only half of the class showed up and yesterday the other half came. And tomorrow all of them will be there together. Last night we had her favorite dinner to celebrate (hamburgers, fires, and brownies). Hopefully she has a good day. Haley will miss her.

Outside her door. The teacher has 20 kindergartners

Her new Backback with a matching lunchbag.

Already for school with her name tag on.

Sorry it took so long to post. I couldn’t find my cord to the camera to get the pictures. Just to update Julia had a great first week of school and loves it. And Haley misses her each day.

Update on the new arrival

2009-08-25T12:26:00.001-04:00

Last Monday I went for an ultra sound appointment. All is well the baby weighs a little over 3 lbs. She is moving around a lot and sits in a very uncomfortable position (for me) resting her bottom on my pelvic bone, facing my left side and her spine curves around to my right side. Not sure if she’ll turn to the right position before her due date, but it doesn't mater. Since everything is right on target, we scheduled the c-section for October 26 at 7:30am. I think we have also decided on a name, Cameron Irene Chapman. But with Paul he may change his mind again, but hopefully not because we don’t have any back ups! The ultrasound specialist was very nice and since my sister works there I get special treatment from everyone. She did a 4- D picture for me, not that it shows a whole lot but it was cute.

She has her little hand up by her face like she’s sleeping on it.

Profile picture, moving her hand to her mouth.

We can’t wait to see this new little Spirit, and find out what her personality is like. They are always such fun.

Hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th

2009-07-06T08:38:00.000-04:00

We are grateful for our freedoms that we have, and for all the people who sacrificed their lives so we can have them. And for all the people serving in the military now who still fight and have the courage to stand up for our freedoms. May God bless them and keep them safe while they are there.

This 4th of July we celebrated with some of our church family! We love them so much and are very grateful to have them as friends. I forgot my camera so I have no pictures. We ate, swam, and socialized. And finished with lots of fire works! What a day to remember. And great friendships to cherish.

Haley’s B-day party

2009-07-03T08:27:00.000-04:00

This year we had Haley’s B-day party the day after her birthday because everyone had that day off work and would not be rushing to come, and it wouldn’t mess up any 4th of July plans already made. We had lots of fun. She got a lot of much needed summer clothes, which she wants to change several times a day now, a bubble blower, and a slip & slide from Aunt Kassie and Uncle Billy and Ally brought her swim suite! The little ones couldn’t figure it or work up the courage to do it by themselves so daddy would throw them down it. I’m sure he was wore out by the end of the day! Haley liked just running down it and getting sprayed by the sprinklers along the sides. After a few minutes my youngest sister Hunter, who is 17 decided she would show them how it was done. So I went and found her one of my old bathing suites. What a blast! Thanks for celebrating with us!

Happy Birthday Haley Storm

2009-07-02T07:40:00.001-04:00

A happy baby girl born into our family on July 2, 2007. You were the cutes little thing. We love you very much and hope we teach you everything you need to know to have a happy life. You have a wonderful personality all your own. You are very strong willed. An excellent climber, and very adventurous. Who always seems to stay two messes ahead of Mommy! You hate the sound of thunder, and high tail it to the house when you hear it, (the funniest thing!) You love to eat eat as you now say. You are a wonderful little sister, and will soon be a great big sister. Happy birthday little one. We love you to eternity and beyond!

We need help with a name!

2009-06-30T15:23:00.001-04:00

We normally already have a name picked out for our children by now. With Julia the name was picked out while we were dating, before he ever left on a mission and I just remembered it and loved it and thought I’d use it even if we didn’t get married. With Haley it was a little harder I liked the name Jordan Haley for a girl and he liked it too. Then someone in the ward had their baby first and it was a boy and named him Jordan. So we decided they would be close in age and school together maybe, so we changed the name to Haley Storm. With this one we have yet to agree on any name. I suggested Kameron before we found out it was girl. He thought it was ok now he says Kameron is not girly enough. We went to a dedication for a gravesite on Saturday so I looked at other headstones that were close and came up with Morgan Blake, he says that's not very girly either. He thought I was crazy trying to pull names off headstones at the cemetery! He likes names like Lindsey, Rachel, Gracie, Lacy, Ava , and of course I don’t like them. I also suggested Kaylyn he didn’t like it of course. He suggested Kayla I had to remind him he had a niece in Organ already name Kayla. We’ve only got 4 months left to find something. We’ve went thru a baby name book and he said I was to picky! Whatever ! I think I get the final say! Right! Any suggestions I can throw at him?

Lets play Name that Plant!

2009-06-15T22:44:00.001-04:00

Ok we planted a garden this year and it would have probably done a lot better if all the rain hadn’t drown most of it. The tomatoes are doing great we have about 30 plants or more of all kinds of tomatoes. A few of our squash or cucumber plants made it. The leaf looks the same to me so I’m not positive but I know its one or the other. These are a few of the plants that survived and I have no idea what they are! Do You????? Can anyone help????

1 this one is kind of like a vine about 4-5 feet now growing on the ground. No blooms, no vegetable yet. Any ideas????

2 These are next to each other no idea what it is. It also has no blooms and no vegetable yet. It’s about foot and half to 2 feet tall???

3 This I think is a bean. We only planted green beans. But we didn’t plant them in this row. It does have tiny white flowers on it so I guess we’ll find out for sure in a few weeks what it is????

4 There are 2 of these no blooms, no vegetable. I think they are maybe okra plants but I don’t know they are about foot and half tall. ?????

5 last one it’s about 2-3 feet tall no blooms, no vegetable, and it is growing in the middle of two rows. Not sure what or why it is there. There are a lot of weeds growing around everything but none of them look like this so I figured it was a veggie????? Any Suggestions

We planted a lot of different things: Cauliflower, okra green beans, potatoes, corn, tomatoes, lettuces, spinach, purple carrots, watermelon, squash, cucumbers, about 3 different pepper plants. I think that was it. Some of these I have never seen grow so I have no idea what they look like, and the seed packages i ordered online were all gold wrappers no pictures!

First day of VPK!

2009-06-15T09:48:00.002-04:00

Julia had her first day of VPK today. She was so excited weeks before. Last Thursday there was a VPK workshop that we went to and she got to meet several of the kids that would be in her class, and they read a book called The Kissing Hand. It was about a raccoon who did not want to go to school, very cute book. Two days before she started to get upset about it and told me she didn't want to go, and would cry. So on Sunday after church I told Paul to give her a blessing. Well she cried several times after that. She wanted mom to stay with her. I explained I already went to school and was to old to go to VPK. We said several prayers Sunday night, with her crying before bed. This morning she was ok she did not cry at all. We got there 15 minutes early and I gave her a sticker of lips that went long with the book the kissing hand. She liked the sticker and I reminded her about the book. Then she got to meet her 2 teachers. One we knew from church (Sister Zedenek) that we had not seen in about 2 years so Julia did not remember her. She recognized us immediately and said she was excited when she saw Julia's name on the role. She took Julia over to the table and sat her down with a coloring book, and went out to get breakfast and the few others stragglers that were still coming in. I waited a few minutes thinking she may start to cry if I told her bye. And some of the other moms started to leave so Julia decided it was time for me to go too. She gave me a hug and kiss, and said, "I'll miss you mommy!" Of course I did start to cry so I went ahead and left so I didn't upset her. But as I opened the door I looked back to take a picture of her and she had this cute little face, and of course I cried all the way home!

They grow up way to fast!

The New Chapman Baby

2009-06-04T15:29:00.017-04:00

Opening mouth wide to swallow.

Waving

As You can see from this picture the new Chapman Baby is a Princess! Her Due date is 11/2/2009, but will be a C-Section done the end of October. Probably the day before Halloween!

Everything is noraml all test so far have come back good.

Happy 40th Anniversary

2009-05-29T23:59:00.010-04:00

Hola,
Happy 40th Anniversary. Thanks for being a wonderful example to us and everyone you come in contact with. We hope your days are filled with love. Wish we could be there to celebrate with you. We are sure that your new family in Columbia are surrounding you with love today, with a big surprise CELEBRATION. Hope you liked all the pictures and messages that were emailed. Best wishes for the eternity ahead. We love you and miss you.
Love,
Paul, Ilene, Julia, and Haley
Flowers for you from your garden!

Haley big smiles for Grammy and Pop-Pop!

Julia can't wait to give you hugs and kisses!

Your BRAT!! Hopes he makes it 40 years : )

Happy 40th Anniversary!!

Happy Birthday

2009-05-05T12:33:00.002-04:00

Just as sweet as sweet can be,
Under it all you are part of me.
Little right now, but you are sure to grow.
It will happen to soon, that I know.
All I can do is laugh and play

Every moment of every day.
Vast blue skies and warm sunny days.
Ever and never will cease to amaze.

Cartwheels on the grass put a sweet smile on your face.
Having everything just perfect in pink and lace.
All the love you have and all the love you give,
Put something special into all who live.
Many years will pass and I will grow old,
All the love and hope I have for you this you can not know.
Not until you have spent a lifetime with a daughter like mine.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIA! WE LOVE YOU BECAUSE: You are sweet, and smart and funny, and a wonderful daughter of GOD who is always smiling! And who is growing way to fast!

Things to know about Julia she loves to make up her own songs, she loves fast food, she loves her cousins. She loves to see Bryant everyday. She loves all her friends at church. She hates spaghetti. She loves having birthdays. She can't wait to start school in a few weeks. She likes puzzels. She loves her little sister Haley and wants to have a baby brother.

Our Little Secret!

2009-05-04T11:12:00.002-04:00

Ok the 16 week secret is out 4 people know at church so it won't be long before everyone else knows. We've expecting our 3rd baby.

I realised back in February that I was pregnant. About 2 weeks after I found out I started light bleeding. That's never happened with any of my other babies. So I wasn't to happy about it. I thought I had or was going to miscarried. We still do not have insurance so I waited a day and the bleeding stopped. And 2 days later I was bleeding again and then stopped and 2 days later bleeding again. I did this for 2 weeks off and on. The bleeding was all light, so I had no idea what was going on. The Monday after we came back from our camping trip the bleeding was heavier, so I called my sister because she works at the OBGYN that I go to. She put me online with a nurse who wanted me to come in for blood work. And since I had no insurance and my sister worked there and (I'm sure she was upset after I told her) the Dr told me they would bill for the blood work as if I worked there. My hormone levels went up during the blood test. But I was still bleeding. They explained it may be a Molar Pregnancy or a partial molar pregnancy or ectopic . In either case I'd have to have a D&C done. I was pretty upset and cried all the way to the office. They did an Ultrasound. And there was a heartbeat!!! They could find nothing wrong with the baby or the placenta. The bleeding stopped about 2 weeks after the ultrasound. And everything seems to be ok. (If you want to call being nausea all the time ok!)Hey I didn't make it to 20 weeks like I did last time but almost 17 weeks is pretty long too ;)

Miss MoneyPenny and Felix

2009-05-01T15:05:00.012-04:00

Ok everyone keeps telling me to update our blog and Julia wanted it updated about our pugs because she misses them. Felix and Miss Moneypenny.

Miss Moneypenny

Felix

We got Miss Moneypenny on our second christmas together. (I had been begging Paul for a baby and he kept saying he wasn't ready so he bought a puppy instead!) We payed way to much money for her at a pet store in the mall around christmas. Paul is a James Bond fan so he named her Miss Moneypenny. About a year later around thanksgiving (I was still begging for a baby) so he bought another male pug out of the newspaper (he was half the price) And named him after another james bond character. Over the first few years that we had them they went everywhere with us. And slept in our bedroom in a bed of there own. Until there snoring started keeping me awake and I had to move them to another room! They were the funniest things there favorite treat was pop corn. (They would get all excited and run in circles barking whenever we popped a bag.) We almost lost Miss Moneypenny about 2 years after we had her. We were visiting The Chapman's and Tristian had been playing with her outside while Paul was working on our car. I noticed he had come in and She wasn't with him. He said he left her outside with Paul. So when I asked Paul where she was he didn't know. We walked up and down the neighborhood calling for her but couldn't find her. It got dark so we left and I cried all the way to the interstate. Right before we got on Lonnis called and said that a neighbor had found her.
They were a little Hipper and chewed on way to much furniture. When we moved in with the Chapman's the pugs had to move outside. Needless to say they were a little ignored out there unless we were going off or comming home or playing outside. We didn't play with them as much. But Haley and Julia always ran over to tell them bye and hello whenever they could. Miss Moneypenny passaway a year ago in April and Felix passed away last friday. We had both of them for about 8 years. We had a funeral service for them and Julia went back out after we were done to sing them a song. We told her we'll see them again not to be to sad about it. Haley still runs over to the pin looking for Felix.

I LOVE YOU BECAUSE

2009-02-13T13:07:00.004-05:00

This is from Julia, she wanted to send grammy and pop-pop an email.

Happy Valentines!

Late Tag

2009-02-06T13:09:00.000-05:00

I forgot to post this several weeks ago oops!

A-Z Tag
brought to by Kim
All you need to know about me from A to Z!

A--Attached or Single: Attached for 8 ½ years
B--Best Friend: Jeannie
C--Cake or Pie: cake - cheesecake? Is that cake or pie???
D--Day of Choice: Sundays
E--Essential Item: wet wipes
F--Favorite Color: purple or blue
G--Greatest Accomplishment: starting a family
H--Hometown: Jacksonville
I--Indulgences: blogging
J--January or July: July
K--Kids: Julia (4 ½ ) Haley (19 months)
L--Life is incomplete without: my husband
M--Marriage Date: June 3,2000
N--Number of Siblings: 5 (3) younger sisters and (2) younger brothers
O--Oranges or Apples: Oranges
P--Phobias or fears: SPIDERS
Q--Quotes: “What would you do if you knew you could not fail”
R--Reasons to Smile: My kids, they say the funniest things
S--Singer/Songwriter:
T--Tag 4 Friends: Afton, Melinda, Savannah, Jesse
U--Unknown fact about me: I keep having dreams of triplets…
V--Very favorite stores: Wal-Mart, Target, Burlington
W--Worst habit: picking at my cuticles
X--X-ray or Ultra Sound: ultrasound.
Y--Your favorite food: Japanese
Z--Zodiac: Aquarius

The One-Word Thingy
made possible by Kim

1. Where is your cell phone? Paul.
2. Your significant other? Paul
3. Your hair? bun
4. Your mother? Strong
5. Your father? Loving
6. Your favorite thing? Family
7. Your dream last night? Weird
8. Your favorite drink? Coke
9. Your dream/goal? exaltation
10. The room you're in? Living room
11. Your fear? SPIDERS
12. Where do you want to be in 6 Years? HOME.
13. Where were you last night? bed
14. What you're not? organized
15. Muffins? Blueberry
16. One of your wish list items? Solar oven
17. Where you grew up? Florida
18. The last thing you did? Made pancakes
19. What are you wearing? clothes
20. Your TV? Dora
21. Your pet? Pug (Felix)
22. Your computer? old
23. Your life? average
24. Your mood? discouraged
25. Missing someone? no
26. Your car? jeep
27. Something you're not wearing? socks
28. Favorite Store? Walmart
29. Your summer? Hot
30. Your favorite color? Purple
31. When is the last time you laughed? yesterday
32. Last time you cried? Wednesday
33. Who will/would re-post this? Who knows

A) FOUR PLACES I GO OVER AND OVER: Library, Walmart, Winn Dixie, Church
B) FOUR PEOPLE WHO E-MAIL ME: Aunt Pati, Dad, Emily,
C) FOUR OF MY FAVORITE FOODS: Pizza, Fried Rice, Shrimp, Chili Rellenos
D) FOUR PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW: Hawaii, on Vacation, With my family, cabin in mountains
E) FOUR PEOPLE I THINK WILL RESPOND: zero, nobody, zilch, nada

Tagged

2009-02-06T11:47:00.006-05:00

OK I'm laughing about this because I just scanned these photos from my mom’s box of pictures to get them ready to go into my scrapbooks, and didn't pay attention to what folder they went into. I can't tell you much about the photo except the little curly haired blond is me and the other person is my mom. It must be in Florida because I’m not wearing much clothing. I look like I'm about 2 ½ in the picture. But none of the pictures has dates or names on them, so I'm not even sure where we are. I'll have to ask my mom but she may not even remember. It was probably 26 ½ years ago.

I was tagged by Afton

Here are the instructions
1) Go to your picture folder, or wherever you store your photos on your computer
2) Go to the sixth folder and pick the sixth picture
3) Post it on your blog and tell the story that goes along with the picture
4) Tag four friends to do the same thing

So tag Katherine, Kelly, Kim, and Savannah.

Happy Birthday Grammy

2009-01-28T09:49:00.007-05:00

Julia also picked you some of your favorite flowers.

And we had some birthday cake.

It was yummy! Chocolate with raspberry filling and Buttercream icing. Hope you have a wonderful day! WE MISS YOU.

Merry Christmas Grammy and Pop-Pop

2008-12-24T07:50:00.012-05:00

Hope you two had a Merry Christmas in Columbia. WE MISSED YOU!

Emily and Bryant

Julia

Haley

Christmas Newsletter

2008-12-20T17:54:00.004-05:00

For anyone I missed!

Gingerbread Carousel

2008-12-20T12:22:00.006-05:00

This Christmas I wanted to start a tradition baking a ginger bread house with the kids. Ours didn't quite turn out (good thing I wasn't an architect) the roof was way to heavy for the house and after half the shingles were on it caved in. Luckily I live with a Culinary Arts Graduate, (Emily) who decided to help us build another one. But instead of a house we built a carousel with reindeer. It was fun, it helped get us into the holiday spirit. We really enjoyed it. I let her know I expect her over every year now to help us build one, because she did such a great job.
ROOF

TOO CUTE

Our last trip to the zoo for the year!

2008-12-19T23:18:00.004-05:00

Every year for Christmas my dad buys me a year family pass +2 to the zoo. So this is the last trip of the year. We had a lot of fun! Paul had the day off work and got to come with us. The Jaguar was moving around alot so we got really good pictures of him. The kids love going to the zoo, and this trip it was nice and cool outside not to hot and not cold yet.

Decorating the tree for FHE

2008-12-19T18:01:00.012-05:00

We put up our christmas tree 2 mondays ago for FHE. The kids loved it. Haley likes to sit in front of it and watch the lights flash. She blows at them like they're little candels. After we put up the tree, we had some yummy brownies and sang christmas songs. Paul tried to play the Piano. Grammy has a childrens song book that has numbers for the keys and Paul remembered how to count the keys...Grammy was much better! He played way to slow for us to sing along.
CAN YOU NAME THAT TUNE?

Ward Christmas Party

2008-12-19T17:44:00.003-05:00

This year for the ward party each organization put on a skit and the audience had to guess what they were doing. Kinda like a Who's Line Is It Anyway. It was cute and way fun. The bishopric was acting out Christmas caroling to a deaf person, I think the Primary presidency's was one of the FUNNIEST and kept the kids attention. They helped Rudolf get her light to work on her nose, because she was sick. The Young Men and Elders Quorum together was fixing santa's sleigh, the young women was christmas cooking with the food network, the High Priest was keeping frosty from melting, and the relief society was christmas shoping with a bad GPS system. They were all too funny.

Happy Birthday

2008-11-22T22:25:00.005-05:00

Today is Paul's 31st birthday. We cooked him his favorite dinner shrimp, and his favorite dessert cherry cheesecake. Julia also said he needed some balloons so I blew up balloons. We put little paper messages inside some of them and the others I put stickers on that we're some of the things he brought to us as a family. I also helped the girls make cards for daddy. When he came home Julia ran to the door and said no dad you can't come in yet wait right there! She knew I was finishing up Haley's card. When I was done she ran back to get him. When Haley saw the balloons she was so excited that she would not eat dinner. She kept pointing at them and saying something incoherent to me and Paul.

We love Paul because he is the BEST daddy and Husband in the world. He's FUNNY and plays SILLY games and sings silly songs with the kids. He shared the gospel with me. So I now have an eternal family, and all the blessings that come with it. He has brought so much goodness into my life and now our childrens lives. Happy Birthday

Canning chicken

2008-11-21T21:29:00.009-05:00

Last Wednesday I canned chicken. I never really thought about canning meats before. I've canned pears and tomatoes, and made jellies and jams, and pickled okra, and peppers but never meats. We had a combined lesson a few weeks ago about food storage, and they showed a video clip by Wendy DeWitt about canning and preserving other stuff. I was sick that Sunday so I missed the video, but Paul came home and told me about it and brother O'Conner sent me the link to watch the video on the computer. In Relief Society this past Sunday they were ordering 40 lb boxes of chicken breast for $44.00 so I ordered a box. I put half of it in the freezer and the other half I canned. It was pretty easy. I actually cleaned up the chicken before I froze or canned it and boiled all the skin and other pieces that I cut off and also canned 4 quart jars of chicken broth. It smelled so good. No idea how it will taste, but it is suppose to last for about 5 years. It looked like a weird science project after it was finished. Next thing I have to do is set down and make up a menu so I know how many and what else I want in our year supply of food. Does anyone else have a year supply of food? How long did it take to store it up? The link to watch the video is on my blog.

Our Fun Family Week

2008-11-20T20:26:00.017-05:00

Last Sunday Bishop Graden announced that it was suppose to be family week this week. So we decided to try and do something different each day that we normally don't do as a family.

On Sunday we sat down as a family and tried to read a book on Wilford Woodruff. Julia and Haley got bored quick and we had a small pause on the story when the phone rang. We eventually finished the story but the kids weren't paying any attention.

On Monday we had fun for family home evening. Emily and Bryant stayed and we also had Anthony Holmes over. We had a lesson on how Nephi built a boat to get to the promise land and Paul taught us all how to make boats out of paper. Then we played a few games and sang a few songs. Then for treat we had pecan brownies with marshmallows melted on top.

On Tuesday I talked Paul into taking us to St. Augustine Beach. It was very windy and cold. It was also the first time Haley has ever been to the beach. I've tried to get Paul to take us all summer, the answer was always no. But I guess he finally broke down to bad it wasn't a few weeks ago, when it was warmer. It didn't matter to the kids that it was windy. They loved the beach. Haley kept running toward the water, and Julia and Bryant loved throwing the sea shells back into the waves. We also brought a kite and decided to stop at Volano Beach to fly the kite. It was so windy it only took Paul a few seconds to get it up flying in the air. The kids took turns holding the string on the kite. After wards we stopped at the park on the way home and had a picnic lunch and let the kids ride the carousel and play for a while.

On Wednesday we decided to make it a game night so after we ate dinner we pulled out the game Paul got for Father's Day Disney's Picture it. We let the DVD player draw all the pictures. We had lots of fun. The score got very close towards the end, but Bryant and Ilene won by 1 point. We only got to play one game because Paul had to leave for his bishopric meeting, and Bryants dad picked him up around the same time.

On Thursday we decided a movie night would be fun so after dinner, I popped some popcorn, and we watch Kung Fu Panda. Julia and I likes it but dad was tired and fell asleep after only 15 minutes of the movie. So I guess he thought it was boring. Haley wasn't all that interested either. But she loved the popcorn and laying in daddy's arms staring at the TV.

On Friday we invited the O'Conner's over for dinner. We had a great time. We had roast and dumplings, and carrots and potatoes, and biscuits for dinner. Afterwards the kids had fun playing with Julia's barbie house and all my really old barbies. And the adults got to socialize.

On Saturday I was sick and had to visit a doctor's office. After I got home, I took some Tylenol for my fever, my prescription and crashed for the rest of the day so most of the week we were able to keep up family week.

New Calling

2008-11-11T12:43:00.006-05:00

We've had an exciting Sunday! We got a call Saturday night that we missed they didn't call until about 9:15 pm and I was putting the girls to bed and had the ringer on low so we didn't hear it. The phone rang again Sunday morning at 7:19 am it was Brother Price, again we didn't make it to the phone in time, he left a message wanting to make sure we were going to make our 8:15 appt with the Stake President that morning that we didn't know about until then . So we rushed to get ready and be there in less than an hour. With no idea why he needed to meet with both of us. I suspected maybe a stake calling for Paul (hoping not me). Getting into the jeep it wouldn't start, we had to jump it off. We arrived about 5 min late... To find out that we were getting a new Bishop and Bishopric, and Paul was being called as the 2nd counselor in the bishopric.

I'm grateful that I've found a husband that is worthy to hold the priesthood. And can receive a calling like that. I know Paul will do his best. And I guess he is now the youngest High Priest at our ward now. He turns 31 in 2 weeks. He told me when we got home that he feels old now. My comment was now we can't go to the elders quorum socials, and the High Priest don't have socials.

I know I'll be a single mom on Sundays now, but I was already. Paul normally had meeting for Elders Quorum in the mornings and I already had to get everybody ready on my own. I actually like Paul serving in the Church our home seems to be much happier when he has a calling that he is fulfilling.

Although now he says we can not turn the TV on Sundays and we're trying harder to say our prayers together at night and read a few chapters together at night in the Book Of Mormon. Hopefully we can stay with it. You don't know how many times we've read the book of Nephi together but don't normally get much further than that.

As long as he is serving in the Church I can handle him being away from us, because I know he is where the Lord wants him and we will have what we need without him. And he will be with great men of the Church doing the Lords work.

Trick or Treat

2008-11-02T23:10:00.008-05:00

We went trick or treating with my sister and niece in Greencove Springs. Julia’s favorite house was a big 2 story historical house. They had both stories all decorated, the owner stood out side, a guy in a blow up suite that made him real fat, and he had on a tutu and was dancing. Julia thought that was the funniest thing. This year the kids got to dress up for trunk or treat at church on Wednesday, for trick or treating on Friday and Saturday we went to the last day of Spooktacular at the zoo. They had so much fun wearing their costumes. Julia loves to dress up so of course she’s wore it everyday since Halloween. At Spooktacular she loved the animal costumes. She hugged the poor tiger about 6 times, he almost tripped over her trying to walk away . They had several areas set up where they played music and let the kids dance. Both Julia and Haley loved these areas! It was a little crowded for mom’s taste but the kids had fun!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Make a Smilebox slideshow

FHE fun

2008-11-02T23:08:00.002-05:00

For family home evening a few weeks ago we went to the pumpkin patch and picked up some pumpkins to carve. The kids had fun running around looking at all the different shaped pumpkins. After we finally chose our pumpkins we took them home. They sat on our porch for about a week and on Halloween we carved them up. Bryant had no problems sticking his hands in to clean out the pumpkin. Julia on the other hand wanted nothing to do with cleaning out the pumpkins. She said it was gross! She stuck her hand in but wouldn’t pull anything out. Bryant had fun he said is was spooky!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Strangers in the Box

2008-11-02T22:59:00.003-05:00

I was trying to find questions that I could ask my grandparents to do an interview with them to get as much information as I could from them about them, (my grandparents are all still living, and I have a great grandmother still alive!) and stumbled across this poem. I shared it with Lonnis before she left on her mission I believe she had it posted somewhere in the FHC library. I actually have a box full of pictures I got from my mom. I am suppose to be putting them into scrapbooks for her. I’ve had them for almost 5 years and there still sitting in the box. I need to get busy! Thought I would share it….

Strangers in the Box

Come, look with me inside this drawer,

In this box, I’ve often seen,

At the pictures, black and white,

Faces proud, still serene;

I wish I knew these people

These strangers in the box.

Their names and all their memories

Are lost among my socks;

I wonder what their lives were like,

How did they spend their days?

What about their special times?

I’ll never know their ways.

If only someone had taken time

To tell who, what, where and when,

These faces of my heritage

Would come to life again.

Could this become the fate

Of the picture we take today?

The faces and the memories

Someday will pass away.

Make time to save your stories;

Seize opportunity when it knocks,

Or someday you and yours could be

The strangers in this box!

Author unknown

Boats

2008-10-16T14:17:00.006-04:00

My kids love to play pretend. They are always dressing up in what every they can find to put on. A few weeks ago I brought down 2 king size pillows I was going to get rid of. Julia and Bryant decided they could make toys out of them. One day they were bridges they could walk over. The next day they were boats. They would stand on them and the other would pull it. Well Bryant pulled it right out from under Julia and she fell and busted her chin on the tile floor. When she first come to me crying I seen this thin red line under her chin where it was starting to bleed and I just thought it was a scrape. But as she stood there sobbing the thin line opened up into a gash about the size of my thumb. She probably needed to have a few stitches, but since I stay at home now our insurance has ended and Paul’s doesn’t take effect until the end of the month so I put some butterfly band-aids and Neosporin on it. She’s a tough little girl! She only cried for a few min. until I got the band-aid on it, and that was it. The is under her chin so it’s not that noticeable. They play way too rough with each other. But I can’t seem to stop them.

It's healing up good!

Day after it happened! This morning!

Tagged Again 7 fact about me

2008-10-16T11:45:00.003-04:00

Tagged by Jarvis girls
Here are the rules...
1. Link to the person who tagged you and list these rules on your post.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post, by leaving their names, as well as links to their blogs.
4. Comment to the people you've tagged and let them know they've been tagged.

1. I do not like to have my faced touched by anyone.
2. Whenever I read one of President Hinkley’s books, I can hear his voice in my head as I read it. Isn’t that crazy only happens with his books though.
3. I love to cook and hate to clean up afterwards. When I first got married after I finished cooking, Paul would always clean up the kitchen. Not anymore :(
4. I read this book by Gary Chapman called The 5 Love Languages. Loved the book but I couldn’t figure out what my love language was. So I discussed it with Paul (because he’ll never read the book) and he had to tell me what my love language was. (Acts of Service.)
5. I rarely finish a project I start. I have a closet full of stuff I never finished, going all the way back to an outfit I was making in a sewing class in 8th grade. Even when cleaning I get distracted. I can be cleaning in one room and go to another for something and start cleaning something in there, then go for something else in another room and never finish the first room I started on.
6. I hate to look at pictures of myself past or present, because it makes me realize how much weight I’ve put on in the past 5 years. It’s depressing.
7. I am not a morning person. I much prefer staying up late. Probably because every job I had always required it. Julia wakes me every morning around 9, saying Mommy the sun is shinning in my room it’s time to get up.

So here we go -Afton, Brandon, Melinda, Savannah, and the Thompsons - Tag - you're it!

The ABC's of Me

2008-10-15T22:25:00.004-04:00

A. ATTACHED OR SINGLE? Attached 8 years
B. BEST FRIEND? Paul
C. CAKE OR PIE? Cheese Cake
D. DAY OF THE WEEK? Sunday
E. ESSENTIAL ITEMS? Wet Wipes
F. FAVORITE COLOR? Purple
G. GUMMY BEARS OR WORMS? Bears
H. HOMETOWN? Jacksonville
I. INDULGENCE? Japanese food
J. JANUARY OR JULY? July, I like warmer months.
K. KIDS? 2 girls Julia Eve 5 ½ , Haley Storm 1 ½
L. LIFE ISN'T COMPLETE WITHOUT? My Husband
M. MARRIAGE DATE? June 3, 2000
N. NUMBER OF BROTHERS AND SISTERS? 3 sisters and 2 brothers
O. ORANGES OR APPLES? Oranges
P. PHOBIAS OR FEARS? Spiders
Q. QUOTE? Whatever
R. REASONS TO SMILE? My girls
S. SUPERMAN OR WONDER WOMAN? Superman
T. TAG 5 PEOPLE? I don’t have anyone to tag everyone I know has already done it.
U. UNKNOWN FACT ABOUT ME? I do not like to have my faced touched.
V. VEGETABLES? Asparagus
W. WORST HABIT? Picking my cuticles on my thumbs
X. X-RAY OR ULTRASOUND? Ultrasound
Y. YOUR FAVORITE FOOD? Supreme Pizza
Z. ZODIAC SIGN? Aquarius

Baby pictures

2008-09-19T20:52:00.005-04:00

I guess you don't really realize how much your kids look like you until you pull out baby pictures. I really think Haley looks more like Paul and Julia looks more like me when we were babies. But this says they both look more like me.

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Geneology

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Who is this?

2008-09-09T11:33:00.005-04:00

My husband, is so funny. He just called me and told me about a few jobs that he did this morning. Since he installs cable, he gets to go into people's homes. Normally he's telling me how unkept most of them are, occasionally he tells me how nice they are or different. Today he got to go onto a yacht to fix their cable. He also got to go to a really expensive home where he said everything was nice and they had a Mercedes parked outside. He said he didn’t have to do much there, and was out within about 15 min. He said they had Miami Football Jerseys hanging on the walls so he figured he was a football play for Miami. He asked me to look up the name on the internet a few hours after he left, you wouldn’t believe who it was……the new QB for the Jacksonville Jaguars #17 Cleo Lemon and Paul was clueless! Guess he needs to watch some more football!

2008-09-04T12:39:00.002-04:00

Ok this was crazy trying to set this up. Talk about obsessive, I was determined I would figure this blog stuff out. I stayed at my computer for 5 hrs until I got it all set up. I didn’t make it to bed until 2:30am. Paul would have a fit if he knew what time I finally came to bed. Good thing he is a heavy sleeper, and the typing didn’t wake him up or the light that was on over the computer. I actually heard him laugh in his sleep a few time. But he said he didn’t remember what he was dreaming about! This is the best I can do hopefully it’s good enough. If not maybe someone can send me some pointers on what I’m doing wrong.