Claire sings her ABCs...

... and her rendention of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.

Watch out British lady on You Tube!

Playdates, Parties, & Holy Communion

Well, we had the pleasure of having Lily Grace for a couple of hours recently while her mom ran errands! The girls just had such a great time as usual. Snacks, of course, we had by all!

The little "Jesse Cookies" we had made for Jesse's Party that he passed out to his friends after the party was over!

Jesse's candle was a sparkler that was an "8" shape and caused quite the smoke problem. Well, we learned not to do sparklers inside anymore!

Jesse and his fellow PRE Communicants after their 1st Communion. Jesse was the 2nd one and just did a spendid jpb. We are so proud of Jesse and the wonderful young man he is becoming!

Jesse processing in at the beginning of Mass...how handsome!

Jesse's 8th Birthday Party..Crossfire Commando Style!

Well, Jesse had his much anticipated Birthday Party this afternnoon, and glad to say, it lived up to his expectations! These are just a few pics, and I will post more. But here are just a few. Jesse and all the kids had an absolute blast and I think they all went home exhausted!(well, maybe a little sugared up)

Jesse flying through the are throwing "molecules" at the scientists.....(his friends)

After tumbling into the pit!

Jesse doing an obstacle course of some mission? (I don;t think I was paying full attention at what exactly he was after???)

Well, I promist to post again real soon with more Birthday pics!
Love,Gretchen

Happy Easter 2009!!

What a lovely Easter we had surrounded by family in Jackson, MS. Claire on her 1st Easte Egg Hunt of the weekend....she was so proud of her finds!!

Jesse checking out what the Easter Bunny brought.......Yummy treats, bubbles, and kites were a hit with the kids!

Jesse is all business as they give the kids the OK to start looking for Easter Eggs at the 2nd Easter Egg hunt, this time at the Hare Family Reunion!

My 2 little bunnies after wome serious searching! Jesse found the prize egg this year with $31 in it! He was so "eggcited!"
Happy Easter to all and will post again soon!

Love,Gretchen

Guess Who Got Braces????

Before........

And after.......

Jesse did well getting his braces on yesterday and picked white and blue braces. No surprise there! He is quite sore today and shoved the wax in his mouth...as seen in this picture....

NYC Weekend and Happy 8th Birthday Jesse!!!!

Lance & I went to NYC for a conference and turned it into a long weekend. We promised Jesse we'd put some photos on here...especially of the dinosaur fossils! We had a blast and just shoved as much as we could into 3 1/2 days! We'd love to go back with Jesse & Claire sometime!

The obligatory Times Square photo op.....

Claire eating some of Jesse's Birthday cake...yum!!!

Look who's 8! He picked his own flavor of cake this year...with some specific instructions! I'm glad we all happen to love strawberries!

Lance and Jesse at his Birthday dinner. I believe they are looking more alike every day......

Lots going on in March!

Well, it's been a while since I've posted Claire in action at gymnastics, so I thought I'd post some photos of her in class today! She is always giddy at gymnastic class...as shown here!

She is getting much better at walking across the parallel bars quickly.

Bridge anyone?

Jesse had his biography presentation last week at school and portrayed Milton Hershey(of the Hershey Company) and did a magnificent job! Way to go Jesse! The audience particularly enjoyed the Hershey samples at the end!!!

Promise to post again soon!

Gretchen

Let It Snow...Again!

Boy did they have fun in it this time! I was just trying to get a picture and they decided it would be funny to pummel me with snowballs......

Jesse really enjoyed his dad coming out and playing with him for a long time on Saturday afternoon!

Jesse's Basketball Team af their end of the year party. Go Magic!

Jesse after receiving his trophy. He was mesmerized by the fact that the ball spins.....

Well, this is going to be quite the busy week...I promist to post pics as soon as I get a chance!

Love,Gretchen

It's Zoo Time!!

Well, the weather was nice enough yesterday for Claire & I to take a visit the the zoo. Claire was fascinated with the Sea Lion Show and was super intense the entire time...

Claire enjoyed the giraffes the most yesterday. I think the 2 baby giraffes really intrigued her!

This is the look we get now when we say "Smile!" I have to get better at taking her picture "on the sly..."

Sorry it's been so long......

Well, this post is much overdue, but I've been out of town taking care of a dear friend following surgery. I spent the last week in South Florida (Hollywood, Fla) and was able to see the beautiful area they live in while still taking care of my friend. Margaret's husband also happens to be an NRA instructor, so I was able to learn a thing or 2 about gun saftey, and went to a shooting range afterwards. I have to say.....it was so much fun!!! He even took me back the next day to get a little more comfortable with it before I flew back to Memphis. Thanks instructor Joe!

In Ft. Lauderdale, these horses patrol the beach. The patrolmen found out we were from Tennessee and apparantly these are Tennessee Walking Horses, so why not take a photo?.....It was a fun outing!

The breezy beaches of Ft. Lauderdale with Joe and Margaret!

My strong little friend! Headed to the beach after a lovely lunch at Casablanca!

Winter Fun!

Nurse in training???

Jesse, playing in the flurries last week before leaving school. Look how tall my baby is getting......

Today at 7 in the morning.....Those kids were out forever! Had a blast making snowballs!

After the snow fun, of course hot cocoa!!

Our neighbors Nina, Cade, & Tori playing in the backyard with Jesse & Claire!

Chinese New Year Celebration!

Well, Claire was as happy as a lark during the year's Chinese New Year Celebration. She loved going from room to room doing the different crafts and trying all the different dishes. She tore up the lo mein! Though she is still too young to understand the importance of Chinese New Year yet, we hope she enjoys being around all the children from China with their forever families also. Jesse, however, learned alot and had lots of questions about it. We want him to learn a bit of Claire's native culture also!

Mommy & Claire enjoying the festivities.

Daddy feeding Claire all the sugar she desired!

Instead of just smiling for the camera, she decided to constantly blow kisses, until the camera was put down, then she decided to cooperate!

Chinese New Year continued...

Claire posing with a child a bit younger than she...they enjoyed throwing the balloons back and forth!

All the kids with their siblings! Jesse and Claire are on the 2nd row almost all the way to the right.

Promise to post soon!

Love,Gretchen