Happy 4 Months Tenten

Tenlee Rose is 4 months as of TODAY! So HAPPY 4 MONTHS sweet cheeks!

 

My second Mom and Dad (Ronny and Debbie Maxey) are headed back to Africa in just a few short weeks for more missionary work. So meself AND the "Diet Divas" wanted to help in some way.  So I asked Debbie what she needed for this trip. 

Guess what we got to buy.......drum roll please.............

 

JUMP ROPES

 and WIFFLE BALLS!!

She wanted things that were small enough to fit in everyone's suitcases.  Debbie has worked so hard organizing everything.  People have donated TONS!

 Check out her link and read more about their exciting adventure ahead:

http://www.gofundme.com/acma1k

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winner

Last Friday I took off half a day of work to spend it with Taydem and my sister and her daughter at Splash Kingdom in Canton.  So glad I did! It was a HOT day and a GOOD day. Taydem and Brittyn had so much fun.  This water park is the perfect size.  It's not HUGE like Hurrican Harbor in Arlington where you freak out in a crowd of people or feel like you are swimming in pee all day (gross right? but I know you have felt the same way).  But it's plenty big where the kiddos have tons of different options and it's like 45 mins down the interstate {score}.  Taydem even got brave at the end of the day and took a tube and climbed the BIG stairs and went down the BIG slide all by herself.  I waited for her down below and was nervous as heck.  But I didn't want her to know that I was.

I kept waiting and waiting and finally....

 she shot out of the slide with a huge smile on her face!

 Come on Devin...she's almost seven!

I mean look at that hand on her hip!

 Saturday we headed to a "little" church volleyball tournament.  It wasn't "little" by no means.  It was in the country first of all.  And they get surious with their volleyball.  Some of Leven's varisty girls asked him to play.  Let's just say, they ended up getting 3rd! Leven couldn't walk that night.  And he was killing that ball ALL DAY LONG! He played awesome.  He needs to do this more often.  He thinks he's old.  The man is just OUT.OF.SHAPE! But he is just too dang lazy to want to do anything. It drives me crazy.  Here I am busting my butt every day trying to get back in shape and lose this baby weight and he won't do it with me.  Come next Monday (2 a days starts) he will be walking around like a wittle ole man because those girls will be running circles around him. And I don't want to hear one peep out of his mouth about how bad he's hurting!  

 My two handsome nephews got to play together this past Saturday and they brought home the trophy...I mean ring. I hate that they don't win trophies anymore! So one day when they get in high school and they finally do get that special RING...who cares....they have like 50 laying around their room! grrrrrr  

  Come on people!  You are ruining little boys hearts across America!

[Even though Ashby does look cute holding up his hand in this picture lookin' all cool!]

 And these three are like three peas in a pod! They love them some TV!

God Bless TEXAS

Pinterest anyone!

 My friend, Alicia, and I decided that we would get all crafty and do a Pinterest made from pallets.  We were going to pull the pallet apart but after hearing from my brother how long it took him to pull two pallets apart, we decided not too. We picked our colors, bought our paint, stain, paint brushes and I headed over to her house last Friday night.  While we were painting the kids swam.  It took us only just a little over an hour. 

 

 We had the hairdryer out to help dry the paint so we could move along a little faster. 

 Check out this finished Pinterest craft! We were so proud of ourselves! Neither one of us can do anything crafty and we joke about it all the time.  We actually made this for her in-laws 40th wedding anniversary party that was held this past Sunday.  So Alicia will end up keeping it at her house.  But she said once we get our house built, she would help me make one for our house. 

God Bless Texas & Friends!

Garden of love

When I see a watermelon it reminds me of my Papaw.  It will ALWAYS remind me of my Papaw.  He loved watermelon and loved when us kids ate his watermelons that he grew in his garden.  Dad took over Papaw's garden when he passed away a couple of years ago and the watermelons never stopped growing.  I seriously could eat a whole watermelon by myself.  So the picture below looks as if I did this.  But I actually cut some chunks out and placed in a bowl. 

 But then sat there and ate A LOT right there in the sink!

 With my salt near by....

 Look at how big Tenlee is getting. Taydem can hardly hold her anymore. This was taken this past Sunday before we headed off to church.  The summer is almost over.  I am planning on taking half a day off on Friday and going with my sister to the water park.  Since using up all my vacation days for maternity leave, we didn't get to go on a summer vacation.  So I want to try and do SOMETHING for Taydem.  Hopefully the bosses understand and not give me the cold shoulder.  Taydem will enjoy it. We actually have two small water parks both within an hour from us. 

Nice and close.  

 I keep going back and forth on what I want my dang kitchen cabinets to look like.  Light or dark.  So I finally decided I better asked Leven and get his opinion.  Well he said light! So now we are back to light. And I actually really like this backsplash. 

 This whole picture I'm loving!!  

The island and built in hutch will both be the same color.  A different color than the rest of the cabinets and I'm leaning towards this color, but will have a little more "blue" to it and lighter.  Put the two pictures below together and that's the color I want.  Yea right.  But you get the idea.  The built in hutch will actually look similar, but not this big.  Smaller version.

 

 I also like the brick backsplash.  

Busy as a BEEEEE

Can't believe it's already Friday.  This week I've been super busy at work. 

 

Taydem's friend Julia has a baby sister as well.  Her little sister is almost exactly one year older than Tenlee to the day.  Well her mother gave me 5 tubs of clothes the last week.  You read that correctly, 5 tubs! I don't think I will have to buy Tenlee another thing of clothing for a year! I started going through the tubs this week and good gosh! Her mom said a lot of the clothes were hand-me-downs and some she had bought.  So I picked through and sorted it all out and still have to go through 2 tubs this weekend.  Some of the clothes don't match with the season.  These are the clothes I can tell were the hand-me-downs. I'm so thankful to have the friends that I have. 

 

My cousin Peyton just found out that she's pregnant! This will be her third child.  They weren't trying [but they weren't preventing either ♥]. And she's due on her Momma's birthday.  My Aunt died when Peyton was about 16.  So this is super special.  We are praying for that little girl! And if it's a little girl, I have TONS OF CLOTHES FOR HER!!

 

Aidan's team placed 4th out of 37 teams this past weekend up in Dallas! It was an 11 year old tournament and Aidan's team was a 10 year old team.  Awesome right?

I have some cute nephews and nieces!

 

All tuckered out! Have a great weekend

A NIGHT to Always Remember

Our trip to Oklahoma City was a special one and one we will always remember. The girls did so good on the way up and the drive went by faster than I thought it would.  Once we got to our hotel, we let the girls swim for about 30 minutes before it was time to get dressed.   

 We had dinner at this really neat seafood place across from our hotel.  We were staying in the "Bricktown" area of Oklahoma City.  Really cool area.   Thank goodness we ate when we did.  When we left, there was a line out the door! The food and atmosphere was good, no wonder there was a crowd. 

 While we were eating I got a text from Amanda letting me know that she was going to stay in her wedding dress after the show so the girls could take pictures with her.  This was there reaction.  Priceless! And this is why I ALWAYS have a camera (iphone) handy!

 Amanda was amazing.  The cast and crew were amazing.  The show was freakin AMAZING! Taydem clapped and yelled after every scene.  I loved watching her watch this show.  It made my night.  I can't wait to take her to another one.  And my friend Amanda. My sweet friend Amanda is just the best.  She asked the Prince and the Mermaids to wait backstage after the show to meet the girls and have their picture taken with them.  I still can't get over their excitement.  Taydem was in heaven.  And that kiss between Arial and Prince Eric. OMG. Taydem was freakin out! She was smiling from ear to ear. 

I really think Amanda playing this character will open up some HUGE doors for her. 

She was simply---amazing! 

 

 And my sweet Tenten was in good hands too.  Thanks to my cousin Peyton for watching her for us! She said she slept from 9:45 until 8:00! Atta girl!

Land to Sea

This Saturday my parents, Taydem, Austyn and I are driving to Oklahoma City to see my good friend Amanda (www.amandalavergne.com) perfrom as Arial in the broadway show The Little Mermaid (http://www.lyrictheatreokc.com/meet-little-mermaid-leads). She lives in NYC and she was just too dang close for me not to drive up (actually my dad will be driving, but you get it) and see her perform.

AND AS ARIAL!

Come on!

Taydem LOVES ARIAL!

It's only her FAVORITE PRINCESS EVER!!! 

So we are excited. 

Taydem doesn't really know what to expect, but she's excited because I'm excited AND because Austyn is going AND because Nana and Papa are going AND she knows we are staying in a hotel AND because we colored these huge pictures of Arial the other night together!

(see below)

 

Just a little peak of what's on the other side of the highway of where we will build.

 

My dad's cows!

 

 This is Austyn. She loves going with my brother and feeding the cows.

 

 And this is Tenlee. She cool. As she rides in the stroller while I sweat to death!

 

 I believe Taydem's Arial stopped off some place and got a spray tan compared to mine.  Taydem says she also put some arm bands on her Arial to make her arms skinny. 

Where can I find some of these?

 

 And this is my niece Macy! Isn't she beautiful? This picture looks like it needs to be in a magazine or something.  It's a good action shot!

Lil' Eagles

You've heard {or I guess read} me talk about it before, but our little town is crazy about football {sports}! And when it's time for football programs to be printed everybody in this small town is going to have their picture put in this football program. I swear every year the program gets thicker and thicker.  The first quarter of the football game is already over by the time you are finished looking through the program! So we asked my cousin Peyton if she would take our crazy kids' picture last Thursday up at the football field.  We were all surprised at how well they all behaved and did exactly what we asked them to do.  Peyton said she tok 270 pictures.  Good gosh.  We weren't even there but for 15 minutes at the most.  She was taking those pictures FAST! We hear people joking all the time about how our kids will probably rule the school one day.  Well....it's probably not much of a joke.  There's so many of them.  Not saying they will "rule" the school, but everytime you turn around there will be another ANTHONY KID walking through the hallway of Tatum High!

 

Out of all of them, I wonder if there will be a valedictorian, a quaterback, head cheerleader, trouble maker, class clown, musician, actor, basketball star, homecoming queen, book worm, etc.  It would be fun right now to guess what each of them would be and see how close we are. 

 

This is an idea!

 D-I-V-A

Decision decision

Happy "ALMOST 4TH OF JULY!"

It's always good when the 4th is on the weekend. Don't you think?

 

 Here's a picture of my brothers doing what they love to do, play! Well not really. They are actually working, but to them it's also playing.  Dustin is on the bulldozer and Darin is on the backhoe.  This lot is to the left of Darin's house and they are getting the pad ready. I took this picture yesterday evening when I was walking around the circle.

 I also wanted to take a picture of my "t-shirt head band!" Here's another cute way you can wear it.  And it doesn't slip off my head and it soaks up my sweat. Perfect!

 I think I mentioned that we had to go with a different lot because our house ended up being too wide for the first lot.  Well here's the 2nd lot that we have found that we like.  I think we now like this lot better than the first one.  But right now we are still just up in the air with what we want to do.  Of course I'm dying to move into this neighborhood with my family.  Of course I want my girls to grow up with their cousins.  But I want Leven to be happy as well.  And he's just not SET on it just yet.  He goes back and forth.  It's a huge decision.  It's a lot of money.  And I understand completely.  But I don't just look at the present.  I look down the road into our future.  I know that for a couple of years or really until we can get Trever out of college, times will be a little tougher BUT after that it will be easier. 

So we'll see..............

 The lot we like is right on the other side of this dirveway. 

 I love it and I LOVE our house plans that we came up with. 

 

Have a safe weekend folks!

Ring it up

Taydem's diagnois- RINGWORM

I should have known.  Taydem is Trever in a little girls body.  I know they are just half brother and sister, but they are exactly the same in every way possible! They may not look anything a like (they are actually starting to favor more and more) but their genes are FOR SURE FROM LEVEN RANCE BARKER!  [I blame everything BAD from him!]

 Here is Tenlee and Taydem both at 3 months.  They look NOTHING A LIKE!

 All my pictures of Taydem when she was a baby are in storage {insert, tear} so I can't do much comparing!

 And when it's summer, there's always cucumbers eaten with everything! My dad's garden is out of control this season. Thanks to all this rain we've gotten. My dad works so hard in that garden.  And this year he has planted fruit trees.  He never stops! Love him.