More Photos...My College Graduation

My sister gave me the photos she took of my college graduation that took place over a year ago. I went back to finish up my degree at the University of Memphis in Business Administration. My major was Accounting with a minor in Finance. That was a great feeling to cross that stage as a college graduate. No more school for me!

Old photos

My sister, Kim, and I have been going through a lot of family photos since my papaw has passed. We have found old love letters and telegrams between my mamaw and papaw. We have a lot of pictures that he took while he was stationed in England, Germany and France during WWII. In the future I hope to scan them and scrapbook them to pass them to my children.

My sister found some photos of family trips we have taken a couple of years ago that I never knew she had. It is fun to see how eveyone has changed in just this short time. We went to a family reunion (my mamaw's side)in Jackson, LA. We got to visit with a lot of family and eat Cajun food (YUM!) These pictures are of us doing some site seeing.

Remembering my Papaw

I knew this time would be coming soon. My papaw passed away this morning. I am sad, but happy he is no longer suffering. This is so hard losing my first grandparent. I have been so blessed being able to grow up with all four of my grandparents. My kids were blessed knowing their great-granparents. Not many kids are able to know all four. I just hope Brayden remembers Papaw. We named Brayden after him in a sense. Papaw's name is Thomas Howard Shelton, Sr. but his nickname was Jack. (Don't ask how he got that nickname, cause I couldn't really tell you.) We named our son, Jack Brayden after him. I remember telling Papaw that we were naming him after him and he just smiled. Papaw was not a man of many words, but you knew he loved you. When he did speak he always had a funny comeback that made everyone in the room laugh. We will always remember all the great memories we had with him. We love you and miss you, Papaw!

Make a Smilebox postcard

Where's Waldo?

I mean where's Ashton? Can you find her in the picture? Today was a great day at Smith Academy. We started our morning at the library. Brayden had storytime led by Ms. LeeAnn, who reads the kids books, sings songs, and does a craft. I love to see how Brayden gets so excited when he sings the cute songs and does all the hand motions.

During this time, Ashton gets to look for books to read during the week. I am so proud of her. She reads about 3 books a week not counting her school books. She definitely gets this from her father!

Afterwards, we went to the park for a little recess. Since the weather was so nice, we ended up doing some school while Brayden continued to play on the playground. I suprised Ashton with her school books. Believe it or not, we got alot accomplished for the two hours we were there.

Love Brayden's hair!

Ash

Ashton's new hair doo! We had to do something with those roots before we have school pictures taken next week. She wanted to go more blonde but I think it turned out more natural with a subtle blonde highlights. Hank wasn't so happy with the price, but his little girl was worth it!

Wordless Wednesday!

Fall is in the air!

A day with Aunt Kim having fun in the backyard enjoying this great weather!

Letter C

The Letter of the Week is C! (We stopped school for about 2 weeks with Brayden so we would be on the same schedule as his Mother's Day Out program. They also do the letter of the week.) We made a Caterpillar using an egg carton, a pipe cleaner and some markers, paint, and stickers to decorate with. Brayden's new thing is stickers! He could spend hours peeling stickers and putting them on paper.
Ashton helped with the painting.
Putting on those stickers!

Here is a video.. hope it works!

4-H Pancake Breakfast

This weekend Ashton helped raise money for our local 4-H group that she is a member of. They sold tickets for an All-you-can-eat pancake breakfast at Applebee's. While having fun with her friends, she helped be a hostess and a waitress.

Serving her dad...

Gran and Popa came and joined us for breakfast.

Ashton and her friend, Lysa.

Soccer Season

It is that time of year again as we enjoy watching the kids play soccer. Today was Ashton's 1st soccer game of the season. They call themselves the "Highlighters" due to the bright colored uniforms. The girls played hard, but didn't win. 4-2 was the ending score. Before the game started, they warmed up.

Brayden decided to warm-up and run laps with them. Big sister there to help him!
Brayden decided he wanted to be the team mascot as a knight.
She played a good game!

Thankfulness Thursday

I can't believe it has been 7 years since 9/11. I was working at Union Planters and I just got to work that morning. At my desk I had a TV radio and heard the breaking news. That whole day all of my co-workers stood in front of a TV in a conference room as we saw the towers fall. It just didn't seem real, we were in such shock.
In honor of the firefighters who lost their lives, we baked cookies for our local firestation to let them know how much they meant to us. We thanked them for the service they provide for us and our community.

Tubes in the Ears

We took Brayden for his 3 year old check-up back in July. The doctor said his speech was not where it ought to be so she suggested a hearing test and speech therapy. We took him to UT Medical Group for his hearing test and he failed both ears. They said he had moderate hearing loss due to fluid in both ears and that it could be corrected with tubes. I was really shocked because he has never had an ear infection. So we scheduled same-day surgery and we were at LeBonheur very early this morning. Everything went smoothly. Here are some photos...

My mom went came along with us... Brayden was happy to have his Gran!

Getting his vitals checked.

We went to the Bunny Room where he got to pick out a toy. He chose a tool set.

Hank and Brayden played with his new toy until they called him back for surgery. He looked so cute in his gown.
This picture is after surgery...he had a hard time trying to wake up.

Schooling Outside, Enjoying the Great Weather!

One of the great benefits of homeschooling is you can do it anywhere. This morning we did a little math, grammar and Bible sitting under a tree enjoying the great weather God blessed us with today. Grabbed my camera to remember the great moment!

Dreaming of Cars

Brayden fell asleep watching the movie Cars and this is what he looked like! He had Luigi in his mouth. Zoom! Zoom!