Let's see... what did we do over the weekend?? Friday, Mikayla and I went to Lana Beth's birthday party at Hendersonville First Baptist Church. Saturday, we went to my dad's in Lebanon to celebrate Father's Day and his birthday( was the 18th). We visited for a while and then went to eat at Demo's. Sunday, we did the usual (church and Papa & Mamaw's). We did go eat at Las Maracas after church with some friends.

Potty training is going well. Like other kids, she has a hard time stopping to go potty when she is playing.


Here are pictures of Mikayla helping Daddy to water the flowers... she loves helping.

She is trying to give Daddy her sucker.

These are some of the clouds that went along with the storms last night. The sky looked so strange... these pictures don't really do it justice. I was a little freaked out.

Wow- two posts in one week, that must be a record!! I forgot to post this past weekend when I made the previous weekend post so here goes... Friday, we went with Mamaw to the zoo. That was Mamaw's first trip to the Nashville Zoo. We picked a crowded day to go... it was Senior Day(as in senior citizen). There were soooo many seniors there, more than little kids. It was crazy but we had wonderful weather. Friday night, Mikayla had her first trip to Pf Changs. She did not really eat very much just the rice sticks in the lettuce wraps and white rice. We tried to get her to eat chicken but that was a no go. She is really not into trying new foods. I guess she gets that from me. Saturday morning we did the Kroger/Walmart trip. I am really tired of Walmart not carrying the same grocery items every week... so I decided to go to Kroger instead for grocery items. Actually, Mike did the grocery shopping and I did the Walmarting at the same time... I dropped he and Mikayla off at Kroger and I went to Walmart then back to pick them up... to save time. Yumm- O, we grilled steaks Saturday night and had baked potatoes, salad, and strawberry shortcake for dessert!!! I love, love steak and baked potatoes!!! Then, Sunday we did the usual, church and Mamaw & Papa's!!
I have to brag a little... the potty training thing is going soooo well!! She is such a big girl! There were a few days last week when her diaper stayed completely dry and she used the potty all day!! She is even pooping in the potty, which she did today!! I am so excited and thankful to God for this!! I have to thank Him every single day for the miracle that she is and what He has done in her for us to see!!! There is a verse in the bible, I should have looked it up. Sorry, cannot quote it for sure. But someone asks Jesus about a child who is disabled or blind. The person asks who sinned, the child or his parents. Jesus responds by saying, no one sinned it is so God can show his works (miracles) through this child. I think is truly beautiful what we have in Mikayla. Yes, we have hard days and many more to come... there will be many questions to come on her part, but she is such a testimony to God!! I am so thankful for her and the things that we have gone through. God has shown me things and taught me things I probably would have never learned otherwise!! I mentioned before about Mikayla being such a big girl and she is but honestly the Lord is the only one I can give credit to... he took the doctors reports and threw them out the window. We stood on our faith and said we don't care how small the percentage is, we know she will be potty trained!! That just really makes me excited!!!
I have included one picture of Mikayla on the potty... it is a little blurry but I had to post it anyway. She likes to read and play with animals while on the potty. I have been trying really hard to get a picture of the reading and finally I did only to have it come out blurry. She is such a character!! Gotta love her!! She will resent me for this picture later but it is just too cute!!

Memorial Day Weekend

Sorry it has taken me so long to post... this site would not let me upload pictures last week. So here are pictures from two weeks ago. I think I remember what we did. Friday, Mikayla and I went to Bottom View Farm with our Mommy at Home group to pick strawberries. I wanted to take some better pictures than I did but I slacked on the picture taking. I did manage to take a couple. That night we went to Mamaw & Papa's for dinner... we had ribeye to eat, I think. Saturday, I don't think we really did much of anything. Sunday, after church we went to a reunion at Charlie Daniels Park in Mt. Juliet. It was for my paternal grandmother's family. We had a good time. We ate too much food, saw people I had not seen in years, and played on the playground a little. Because we had so many things to remember to take, I forgot to take my camera so no pictures from the reunion. Monday, we went to a cookout at our friends the Bryant's house. We had a good time hanging out with good friends. I hate that it rained and we were not able to swim that much... it was still a wonderful time. As always, Bill and Debbie were fabulous hosts!!!
Picking strawberries

Mikayla is giving her baby at bath!!

Hanging out with friends on Monday.

Tammy and Kate

Ashley and Nate (andrea & kate in background)

Bill getting into the desserts!!

Dj and Kate hanging out in the pool

Mikayla being a teenager

Mikayla and Cassi

Jackson making "the face"

Mikayla and Jackson playing... I think he is playing with her feet

Jackson patting Mikayla on the head

Some pretty flowers from our yard... too bad they don't last long.

Loving on Daddy!!!

Not too much to write about. Mikayla is feeling much better now... finally!! We had a rough time with her sickness- I think the medicine was the worst part. They had her on a steroid and she had a horrible reaction to it. We had a couple of really rough days. One night in order to get her to sleep, we had to sleep in her floor together. Even then we did not sleep good. I felt so bad for her. She is pretty much back to herself except she has started this whining thing that I think she enjoys doing!!! We have also bought Mikayla her own potty. She has really shown a big interest in going. I can't even count how many times she has gone potty and has even pooped in the potty once. Once again she is going to prove the doctors wrong!!!
We had a pretty slow and relaxing weekend. I had a great Mothers Day... hope everyone else did also. My husband got up Sunday morning and made me french toast!! He makes THE BEST french toast!!! Yummmmmyyyyy!!! I wonder if I can talk him into it this coming weekend??? He likes it just as much as I do so maybe. We did eat out too much this past weekend... Olive Garden and mexican!! So much for our nutrition plan!!
I am super excited about this coming up weekend... we are both having nights out with our friends. It has been a while for both of us. Then on Saturday, we are going to the Strawberry Festival here in Portland. Hopefully, the rain will hold off until the evening like they say it is supposed to do. Anyway... more about all that stuff later. Hope everyone is doing very well!! Below I included pictures from before church on Mothers Day.

Not really much to post this week. Mikayla has been a bit under the weather. She went for her 2 year checkup last Tuesday. On Thursday, she started running a fever with a cough but the nurse and I thought the cough was from allergies and the fever from her shot on Tuesday. She continued to have a fever throughout the weekend with a yucky cough and her little voice has been hoarse. This morning, took her to the doctor and she has croup. It is a virus that attaches itself to babies voice boxes and cause airway constriction in little ones' throats. We now have some medicine so hopefully in a few days she will feel better. I don't have any pictures to post today, just wanted to let you know what is going on with little miss Mikayla.

Happy Birthday and March of Dimes

We had a busy weekend!!! Mike's grandparents came in town on Friday from PA to visit for Mikayla's birthday. Mike decided to take the day off from work on Friday so he had a long weekend. Grandparents came to the house with Mamaw after their flight arrived and we all went to Cracker Barrel to eat lunch. I spent a lot of time preparing for Mikayla's party so I was glad that Mike took off work. Saturday we got up bright and early to leave for Lebanon for March for Babies walk. Because it was Mikayla's birthday and she was the Ambassador child, they set up a birthday tent decorated with Abby Cadabby stuff. They even had a cupcake cake!! I was so thankful to Leigh and all the people at March of Dimes for doing this for Mikayla. We had a great turnout for people to walk with us. Some people planning to walk with us had sicknesses at the last minute and could not come. We had Memaw(my grandmother), Aunt Susan, Mamaw & Papa, Mommy, Daddy, Mikayla, Brian & Aimee Lomax, Brian & Courtney Mansell, Chad, Kristy, & Calleigh Kemp; Allie & Liz Courtney, Mike's granparents, Michael, Lisa, Jacob, & Joseph Spencer; and I think that was it. Hopefully, I am not forgetting anyone. We could not have asked for better weather. We won two awards for raising money- Top Overall Family Team and Top in our division. Thank you to everyone who gave toward our walk we could not have done it without each one of you.
After the walk, we went back to Portland so the birthday girl could take a nap(a Very short one) to get ready for her party. The park was a great idea since the kids had a blast playing. We had great weather - I was a little disappointed at the wind. I had table cloths and decorations that I could not even use because the wind was blowing so hard. The presents were blowing off the table and I was a little worried about the food. Mikayla got soooo many presents!!! I need more room at my house or just a bigger house. I have had to change some toys out and put some away to make room for all the new ones. There were so many for her to open that she actually got very bored toward the end. She loves playing with all her new stuff. I had it all spread in the living room for the first couple of days after the party and she would just scoot around the room from toy to toy- it was very entertaining for her and us. She also got money and instead of toys she got clothes, books, dvds, some new cups and utensils, bathing suits, and her own potty chair. She has been showing an interest in the potty lately and has used the big potty twice. She is getting to be a big girl!! After her party we had some family over and had
bar-b-que. I was exhausted!!! Sunday, we got up and went to church. Mikayla moved up to the two year old room. She cried this morning, all the kids wanted to touch her and her chair. Mikayla doesn't like to be crowded and is very particular about the way people touch and push her chair. I guess I would probably be the same way. We went to Mamaw and Papa's for dinner Sunday night and spent time the Great-grandparents. Monday, Mikayla and I went grocery shopping. We met up at Longhorn for dinner with Mike's family Monday night. And today, Mikayla had her two year checkup with Dr. Murray today. Everything is good except her size. She needs to be bigger!!! We have tried lots of things but are going to try some other things. Hopefully we can get some size on her.

I posted some pictures below. The all say Ritz-Pic because I got the printed there and they have an option of sharing your pictures on your blog. Instead of having to post them all (there are many) somewhere else I decided to try this. You can click on any of the pictures and there is an option to buy it. There are pictures from Easter egg hunts, Easter day, just hanging around the house, March of Dimes walk(the orange shirts are from there), Mikayla's birthday party, and at Mamaw & Papa's on Sunday. Hope you all like them. Sorry I have not posted recently. Enjoy!!