9-11 Memorial Stair Climb

The 10th anniversary of 9-11 is quickly approaching! Hard to believe it has been 10 years.  I'll never forget where I was when I first heard about it or how I spent the day listening to the TV and news.  What a tragic day!

What an honor it is to have my husband and 3 other fireman from Brandon going to Nashville to participate in a Memorial Stair Climb honoring the 343 fireman that lost their lives that day!  Ryan, Tyler, Justin and Drew will do a great job at honoring the fallen fireman.  They accept 343 fireman from all over the country to do this stair climb. They will do an 110 stair climb.  Yes you read that right, 110! That is how tall the twin towers were.  The guys will be doing this in full turnout gear and carrying some type of rescue equipment, such as a hose, axe or something.  Each one of the guys will be given a picture of one of the fireman that died on 9-11.  They will wear that picture all 110 flights of stairs, giving those remembered fireman a chance to finish! I get chills every time I think about it or talk about it.  They have been training on these stairs

This picture doesn't really show how tall they are!

And those stairs aren't anything to joke with!! I did them once with Ryan and OMG I couldn't walk for several days afterwards and I wasn't in turnout gear like Ryan was!  It takes A LOT of training and determination to do something like this!  I couldn't be more proud of Ryan doing it as well as the other guys!!! I know they will do amazing and honor the men that lost their lives on 9-11! 

If you would like to go to the website and read more about it, the website is www.nashvillestairclimb.com

Ryan, Tyler, Justin and Drew I am proud of ya'll for wanting to do this and I know that each one of you will do great!! I know that you are training to prepare yourselves for this and I know that ya'll will each finish strong and honored that you were doing this in honor of the 343 Firemen that lost their lives on that tragic day 10 years ago!!

So much going on, so little time!

Seems like yesterday when I got laid off and I thought I would have time to enjoy my summer.  Well I have but it has been at a much faster pace that I thought it would be! We have had a baby shower, the arrival of a sweet baby (my nephew) and a family reunion!  It has been a lot of fun, but it kept me busy and the time passed fast!! Now here we are 2 weeks from the boys going back to school and 3 weeks till I start nursing school.  I am excited and nervous all at the same time!!

So what have we been up to in between?  The boys, of course have been playing outside, swimming and driving each other crazy!! It still amazes me at the Love/Hate relationship between 2 brothers.  But I am sure that it is that way with all siblings.  Clay and I were always like that and still are sometimes.  :) But I  know in the end (at least I hope) that they'll be best friends when they are older!  I remind them that they are stuck with each other and there is no changing that!

We have also be getting lots of down time and time with the family.  And of course getting lots of love from sweet KJ or Kyle Jr (whichever you want to call him).  We are enjoying spoiling him, if there is such a thing at this age!! He is such a sweet laid back little man!!  Colton and Pierce adore him.  I wasn't sure that they would really pay much attention to him or want much to do with him but I was wrong.  (Pierce did tell me that he wasn't excited before KJ arrived because he wouldn't be big enough to play in the mud with him yet...haha sounds just like Pierce).

Love this picture.  KJ is so alert and is looking at Colton like he

is trying to figure him out!! Colton is so sweet with him!

Pierce is crazy about KJ too!! This is such a sweet picture!

Don't forget the lazy days either!  We were spending the day at Grandma's.

Pierce loves to sit in Grandma's lap AND watch Western's with her!

He really wasn't asleep in this picture just acting that way because

I was taking a picture, in true Pierce fashion!!

Another thing is that the boys love to watch us cook.  We let them help every once in a while.. Hey gotta start them young right?  I want them to be great cooks like their daddy and make their wives happy one day! I love having a husband that is a good cook and likes to cook!!

Just a little catch up on what has been going on around here.  I have really enjoyed having the extra time with the boys, even though I can NEVER keep my house clean now that we are home all the time. I just thought I couldn't keep it clean when I worked and the boys were in after school care, but now that we are at home most days it is really hard! But I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.  I know that the next 2 years are going to be rather crazy with all the school work, clinicals and TONS of studying but I am staying focused on the result, which will be well worth all the blood, sweat and tears! I know that this is where God has called me and I know that he will see me through!! We will give him all the Praise and Glory of this journey that he has called our family too!

Loving a Sweet Baby Boy!

Some sweet little boy has stolen all of our hearts!! Hard to believe that sweet KJ is 5 weeks old already.  Man time flies by!! Lucretia and Kyle were in a wedding a few weeks ago so we got to watch KJ before and during the wedding! We had a lot of fun!!

Colton loves holding and loving on KJ!

One proud cousin!

Thinking about something!

Love this little guy!! Proud Aunt for sure!

Love this picture!!!

Grandma getting some sweet sugar! Love capturing moments like this!

All tuckered out!

KJ has brought some much joy to our lives and we wouldn't have it any other way! He is precious and growing too fast!!! The boys love him to pieces and always tell me that I am hogging him (I would never do that)! Grandma is in heaven to have another great grandchild and Nana (aka Reba) is on cloud nine with her first grandbaby!! We love you to pieces KJ!

Who says girls can't play in the mud?

This beloved child of mine would live in the dirt and mud if I'd let him.  He seriously wakes up everyday asking to play outside and get dirty!! He is ALL B-O-Y!!! So it sprinkled one day last week while we were at grandma's and of course what was the first thing he asked to do???

Momma, can I play in the mud?

And of course I said yes, after all that is what

water and soap is for right??

Someone else wanted to join in the fun!

And she had a BLAST!! She was hanging with the boys in the mud

and never thought twice about it! :)

Pierce found a mud buddy for sure!

Colton slinging mud

These 3 had a great time playing in the mud!

The look on her face is kinda like "Hey why are you not letting me do it?"

She definitely didn't let the mud slow her down, she was nasty by the

time she was ready to come in side!

Fun times, except when it was time to hose everyone down, get the nasty clothes off of them and then get them to the bathroom for a bath!! But all in all they loved playing in the mud!!

2 + 2= 1 Crazy Happy Aunt

Where to even start with why I have been absent except to say that I have had my hands full lately.  Getting things ready for school, playing a baby shower, enjoying a new nephew, planning a family reunion oh yea and having 4 kids for a week!! 9,6,5 and 2!! Shew that wears me out just thinking about it.  I had my niece and nephew for a week before the family reunion.  We definitely stayed busy! We stayed in the road for most of the week but it was worth it.

While the kids were here, we met PopPop, Nana Ann and Tyler at the Children's Museum to have a little fun!! They had a great time minus the minor accident with had with Katelyn's finger and the elevator (nothing too serious, thankfully).

Pierce working on the car

Watch out Shane is trying to drive :)

HAHA! This cracks me up.. the kids milking a cow!

Katelyn wasn't getting left out of the fun, she is trying out

her driving skills too!

Where is time going?? Please slow down, ya'll are getting

too big too fast!!!!!

By now I think he might be a pro at this driving thing! 

Love those eyes!

Tyler being a construction man!

A real car in the museum was cool and very entertaining!

Velco Wall

Off to the wall climb, which was a hit

If you know Pierce then it doesn't surprise you that he is at the top

and trying to go higher!!

PopPop and Nana Ann didn't know what to do with 

themselves having all 5 grandkids together!

Enjoying the water games

I see you!

I am convinced the tongue sticking out is a Sanford trait! ;)