DJ AND KATIE VISIT! ("I'm just sayin"...)AND TWO VERY SPECIAL KINDERGARTEN GRADUATES!

One of my most favorite things about The Shaw Family (And I mean ALL of them) is how very close they are! Family takes care of family takes care of family takes care of family! They just absolutely put family above all else and it shows in all they do! I love it! I love that our children will have this foundation to live off of!
So..... that said, DJ, Jason's cousin, came to visit and he brought with him his sweet girlfriend, Katie! We LOVE HER! (oh and of course we love him too! :)So, of course we all dropped EVERYTHING to be with family! Especially out of town family!!
We have had such a sweet visit with them and we're sad for them to go! They are world traveling!! I mean drove from San Diego and have had several stops and several more before they will be arriving in Massachusetts! DJ is going back to Martha's Vineyard to return to his Police Man job and Katie is going to wait tables until she finds her nitch! SO ROMANTIC! Love it! Jason says we'll do that too....(world traveling that is) just after kids are gone - the reverse of them..... We shall see :) I look forward to it!

So, Monday night we took DJ and Katie to Beale Street - pics coming later she will email them to me
Tuesday night we went to a nice dinner at Jim's Grill (we try to make it really nice when people come to visit so they'll STAY!!)
and Wednesday night we all went to an Italian Restraunt in Collierville Square and celebrated "The Graduates!" (Kindergarten Graduates) Harrison and Jack!! (and we celebrated Lauren too b/c she had such a great 3rd grade year! :)

Here are some pics from Wednesday night's Celebration! We wound up with our own room - really good thing, so the kids literally danced around and had a fun time!!

We did miss our Kait though - she had a prior engagment.
AGAIN! Bare with me the pictures are in no order for some reason my blog won't allow me to pic and chose and write with each picture anymore....STILL!

A Cold Rainy, Happy Anniversary!

As a family we all LOVE THE LAKE! We love to JUST GO!! We're always looking for the perfect opportunity to head out and enjoy boating if only for a day! So...Jason and I had an Anniversary this weekend - 8 years - perfect reason! It was definitely debatable weather but we had to just go and check out the weather in Pickwick! We only have one more weekend before we leave for the beach and then I'm off to surgery sooooo we just couldn't resist..... a family trip - JUST US to the Lake!
SO.... IT RAINED nearly ALL of Saturday and then Sunday, no rain but it was a high of 70 degrees - ON THE WATER! ON THE BOAT! AND..... IT WAS JUST RIGHT!
We were all together, laughing, snuggling under towels and running from rain! I love when we have days like that.... you know when it's just the 5 of us and we're in it together and it doesn't matter what the weather is (Kait even knee boarded in the rain) we're together and that's what it's really all about anyway!

AND! Harrison drove nearly ALL DAY Sunday and He was so incredibly proud - and it was a total bonding moment for He and Jason! Kait was content to just hang out and relax - she'll be studying all week for exams so it was nice for her to just relax! Lilly Ann and I were total snuggle bugs - she slept in my arms several times - LOVE THAT!! (this is the life!!) I have to admit I would've loved 80 degree weather much better but there's always next weekend :)
by the way.... my blog is totally acting up and I can not move my pics where I want them or write little notes with the pics anymore.... so you'll have bare with me as I just have to down load them and hope they all make since?! LOVE TECHNOLOGY!AHHGGG!

A NEW SWEET DAY!

“Be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.” Deuteronomy 4:9

YES, I am aware that it is STILL raining! And that it has been for like a stinkin month and that my swing set is on the verge of floating away!
However, it is such a new sweet day! On one of Beth Moore's DVDs she talks about the importance of having an intimate relationship with God and just talking to Him and visiting with Him. An example she gives is how she'll just be driving down the road and say, "is it hot enough in Houston for ya, Lord?! I know this is Your day and you created it but is it hot enough yet?" Laughing out loud at this very thought this morning as I got ready I said, I have to admit Lord, like Beth I am wondering, has it rained enough in Collierville for ya, Lord? I know this is Your day and only You know what we need but I'm just wondering.... has it rained enough yet, Lord?? I know He must just laugh sometimes at the very idea that we would worry about rain! But the sun does make for a much prettier day in my opinion!
Today, thank goodness, I had a relief from life's yuck and I got to play with my sweet kids at KDO! I love it that I'm a sub now because I go so inconsistently that it's just plain sweet time with the kids when I get to be with them and love on them and rub backs and give hugs and even today one little boy told me I wasn't in charge of him -when I asked a group to settle down and be gentle! And it really just made me laugh and I still hugged him and loved on him! Not to mention it's a no brainer when they ask me to sub because Lilly Ann SO LOVES "CHURCH"! In fact DAILY she wakes up and says, "I go to church today?" Church is her name for both Sunday School and KDO because they are both at Forest Hill Community Church - which is such a gift in and of itself! So I have to share some cute little pics of her enjoying her day at "Church" and just stop a minute and love that God gave me a New Day!
A Happy Day! I want to be careful not to forget these kinds of days!

Oh and I also got a really cute pic of Harrison - today was "Hula Day" so we sent him all in gear - had to get a pic of that too :)

I PRAISE THE LORD....

Today, like most of the days these past two weeks I have had an overwelming reminder of my surgery and Kait moving and now my sweet neighbors and friends are moving and ..... EVERYTHING in the world that STINKS! I am aware of all the yuck I have going on in my life and for whatever reason I feel like I have to continue to remind myself of it all! It takes away happy and replaces it with just plain over-stinkin welmed! I was reading a sweet friends blog and searching for a happy place and I read this.... (the perfect reminder from my sweet friend and she doesn't even know and now I've copied it and posted it here - for me.... she is such a good friend she'll love that it was my "happy" if even for just a minute and she hopefully won't mind my stealing it from her :)

I Praise The Lord that He is in control!
I praise the Lord that He can watch over my children when I can't.
I praise the Lord that in my weakness He is strong.
I praise the Lord that He has ordained the steps of my children (and me).
I praise the Lord that it is His will that none should perish.
I praise the Lord that He made me a mommy to the 3 most amazing children this world has ever seen!
I Praise the Lord for you, Sarah and thank you for your insight.... God is so good and He knew I'd need that today! Thanks for sharing!

LILLY ANN'S END OF THE YEAR PROGRAM AT FHCC

What a sweet night this was! I so love each year going and watching the kidos at KDO.... they grow so much year to year and it melts my heart each time I see the little ones grow and get bigger and bigger and the new sweet little tiny babies! This year was the first time Harrison wasn't at KDO but Lilly Ann was and it was her special night to shine! She chose NOT to perform but looked so stinkin cute that it didn't even matter!

CROSSWIND SUMMER BLAST

Harrison's school had Summer Blast today (when I was little we called it Field Day) and it was sooooooo fun!! It actually started pretty chilly but I think they got warmed up and had a great time running relays and competing against some first graders and finally a picnick lunch! Field Day was always one of my favorite events of the year.....I think it's safe to say Harrison loves it too!!

A MOTHER'S DAY TRIBUTE TO MY MOMS!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MOMS!
Today will be precious for me! I will be loved on and hugged on and loved on some more and all day long I will be humbled by the very idea that this little girl with only one dream of growing up to be a mommy got to be just that and with the most fabulous man God personally picked out just for me (who by the way just brought me coffee as I sit and type away! I love you, honey!) WOW! Today I will feel blessed all day that God made ME a Wife and MOMMY!! I still have a hard time wrapping my head around that one! I can still very vividly remember being pregnant with Harrison and having an overwhelming fear that he wouldn't live outside of my tummy - because I do not deserve him! First I got to be married to Jason, a "good guy" and then I got to be blessed with a sweet Kaitlyn - whom I never got to birth but was/am madly in love with and then.... A BABY of my very own - to grow in my very own body not once but TWICE?? That is Grace! The fact that I am a mommy today of both children I got to birth and one precious gift I get to be a mommy in conjunction with her mom is definitely overwhelming and precious and moving and GRACE!
I do have to tell you one early gift I got last night from my very sweet boy, a note he wrote... "I luv you B cus you r my mom!" He just couldn't wait until today - (he's so my child!) I love that he can write now and that he loves me so much he writes me love letters and no one makes him! :) SIGH!


So this day will be full of love and wonderful reminders of how very blessed I am but it will not be filled with my sweet Mom or Step-Mom, Susan!

I will miss you mom, today especially! I am so proud of you and I just wanted to let you know! I think you are so brave and incredibly driven and WOW you are doing so wonderfully! And after all the hard work and crazy busy life you always take time to call me and visit on the phone almost daily and I have to tell you - I will never tire of you calling to catch up! I love that you call!
I love how you have Mothered Ashleigh! You and Steve have started all over with her and that is so amazing and because of you two she will always know what it is like to have two parents that love her and love each other! That is so incredibly important! You make me so proud and I just wish today I could be with you and love on you and hug on you and maybe for just a minute you will take the time to remember a scared 16 year old girl pregnant with me and all the trials of life ahead of you and look at you, at me at these sweet grandbabies and know, YOU ARE SO BLESSED! YOU ARE SO LOVED! We love you so much, Mom! I pray you got our card and you feel this HHHHHHHHHUUUUUUUUHGGGG!! Happy Mother's Day! I love you!

Like Kaitlyn, I too have a Step-Mom! I happen to be one of the most blessed people I know because of my sweet step-parents! I often hear from anyone that meets Susan or Steve, how incredibly "lucky" I am to get to have both of my Step-parents-they are truly FABULOUS!
I like to believe I AM BLESSED! Not lucky! Our whole family is! So I don't want to miss an opportunity to love on you, Susan, too!

You are fabulous! Thank you for always making me feel so wonderful! I have told Jason before that I hope when Kaitlyn is my age and she's counting her blessings she knows I love her as much as I know you love me!! You have ALWAYS praised me! For as long as I can remember You have told me something you think is wonderful about me! You will find a shirt, a dress, a skirt, my home, my marriage, ANYTHING and EVERYTHING and you praise me! You always make me feel so good and I want you to know I THINK YOU ARE FABULOUS! You are incredibly busy and you still find ways to love on EVERYONE!! I hope you feel undeniably loved today!!! Happy Mother's Day! I know you have to work and we won't see you but I pray you got our card and you know we love you so much!! Have a great day! HHHHHHHHHUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGG!!
I love you!

I hope you both have a Happy Mother's Day!