More ballet recital pics

So I just found some pics from the recital last May that were HIDDEN on our computer. (Computers!) They are so good I wanted to add them. I'd add Halloween pics if I could figure out how to get them from the new fancy camera to the computer. (Computers!) Maybe hubby will help me. I've asked about it four or five times now. (Husbands!) Love him! Mean it!

Isn't she lovely?

This is Tanasee, Audrey, and Dixie.

Hey, this is Dixie. Here is me and Sadie with our matching skirts. I really like Sadie's cute hat. She's eating a bag of Pringle's. We are best sisters. Love, Dixie :-)

Here is me, Dixie. I am in Ms. Linda's pool. Johnny Mac said I shouldn't put this pic on the blog because he thinks my arms look weird under water. I think I look cute with a ponytail and everything. Love, Dixie :-)

Isn't this frog cool? We saw him at the zoo. I love frogs, you know. Love, Johnny Mac :-)

These are some of our friends in our backyard. From left: Sadie, Jillian, Brittany, JohnnyMac, Madelyn, Dixie, and Addison is standing up. We were having a beach party outside. Love, Dixie :-)

Dixie's 7 year old birthday party!

A close up of the cake. Dixie and JMac decorated it and decorated themselves. Lotsa fun!

Among other games we played such as the fruit memory game and the run-around-outside-in-the-dark-with-only-your-glow-in-the-dark-bracelets game (which includes the try-not-to-run-into-each-other-and-cause-major-bodily-harm game), we played Pin the Bow on the Hello Kitty! (Thanks to Miss Davita!) Here's Dixie-doodle going first.

JMac won the award for pinning his bow furthest away. It's not even on the same wall! Funny!

They were so sweet to include Sadie, too.

Posing in front of the finished game: Tanasee, Audrey, sleepy Sadie, Sophie, Johnny Mac, Madison, Meagan, and, in front, Dixie. The funny thing is, there are MANY pictures of me at this age posing just like this!

Having cake. My big 7 year old girl!

The partiers: (clockwise from Dixie) Dixie, Sophie, Audrey, Meagan, Sadie, Madison, Tanasee, and Johnny Mac. I love this group shot!

And this is the birthday girl the next morning. Notice the earring shining? She got her ears pierced! So pretty!

Sadie sings "Be Happy" for Grammy

What's on my plate

I was having dinner with a few of my closest girlfriends the other night when one of them asked how my mom was doing. People ask me this all the time because Mama has breast cancer. She said something like, "How are you doing with that along with all the things you've got on your plate?" I told her that it's as if the fact that my mom has cancer is the plate and everything else sits on it. Her cancer is a part of everything now. Somehow it influences every part of my life - marriage, parenting, homeschooling, meal planning, laundry, prayer, laughter, playing piano, doing my nails, reading a book to my children, eating too many miniature Reese's cups - you name it. I really wouldn't have it any other way, though. I live so far away that I want to feel connected to her and all she's going through. This blog is mostly pics and happiness, but since Mama was diagnosed, the anxiety about her cancer is ever-present. It's an undercurrent running through everything now. I just wanted to acknowledge it somehow.

Father in heaven, thank You for being so near to my precious parents...

Granddaddy's 65th birthday!

Here he is, my wonderful daddy, Bruce Peacock, surrounded by all eight of his grandchildren. From left: Tyler Peacock, Johnny Mac Byrd, Alex Gahrmann, Justin Gahrmann, McKenzie Peacock, Sadie Byrd (in front of McK), Dixie Byrd (left of McK), and Jesse Bruce Byrd on Granddaddy's lap. Precious!

Peek-A-Boo

The kids have bikes!

In our "new" neighborhood, we have sidewalks, so bike-riding is super-fun! Here's everybody on their new bikes, and Jesse hanging out in his bouncy seat in the front yard. Notice the big kids' cool helmets and knee and elbow pads, and notice Sadie's basket for purple teddy. And, of course, who can't help but notice Jesse's DREAMBOATness. Aaahhh, motherhood...

Late night craziness

So it's almost 2 am and I am still on the computer. Once I get on, I can't get off. So much to read! So much to think about! So much information on every possible subject I could ever possibly want to know anything about! Links to everything at my fingertips! Just one click away! Homeschooling, parenting, marriage, housekeeping, menu planning, my dear friend Stephanie's life and thoughts and pics of precious girlies - it seems limitless! And no one is interupting me (yet)! And I'm not anticipating that they will ANY TIME SOON! (OK, except maybe Jesse - it's possible, though not probable. And maybe Johnny-poo, if he wakes up in his recliner before the normal 4 or 5 am come-to-bed-from-the-recliner time.) I get absolutely HIGH on uninterrupted time by myself - like MANIC! I had coffee with Steph (decaf, though) from 9:15pm till 11:00ish, and the stimulating conversation gave me my second wind! Whew! I have got to CALM DOWN. And go to bed! I don't know how to do the fancy "Click Here", so here are links to some of my dear friends' blogs:
Steph - www.punkin-press.com/blog
Kristy - http://www.incredi-beasleys.blogspot.com/
Mills - http://www.cowboyhenry.blogspot.com/
Terrell - http://www.babyreichow.blogspot.com/

Goodnight! (Morning!)

AWANA end-of-year award night

The kiddos both do AWANA, a program at our church to help them hide God's Word in their hearts. They love it! We are so proud of them! (AWANA stands for Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed and comes from 2 Timothy 2:15: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”)

After the performance

Kristy and her girls, Madelyn and Jillian, came to see the recital. Their coming made it so special! Later, we hung out at our house and played in the backyard and ate chicken fingers and mac-n-cheese. What could be better? God is so kind!

Awaiting the performance

Gorgeous, poised, talented, kind, I could go on and on...

With her teacher, Miss Lindsey.

With Sadie, one of her biggest fans. (Purple Teddy came, too).

Ballet recital!

Ahhh, ballet recitals. This is our third one. We love it - the hair, the makeup, the costume, the excitement, the music, the dancing... Sooo fun! Enjoy the pics:

Gorgeous in a ballet bun with a pretty headpiece.

Front tooth snaggle!

Being the boy that he is, Johnny Mac almost knocked his front tooth out when he was three, then again when he was four, and now at five it has come out! Soooo cute! My first kiddo to lose one of the front two - I love it! And he loves doing something significant BEFORE Dixie!

Jumper and Lisa, JMac's two frogs

Johnny Mac's frogs! He loves them!

Brother Sister Book

In the car one night recently, we heard the kids talking about making Brother-Sister Books. The books were going to include pages about each of their favorite things in different categories (favorite color, favorite animal, favorite food, etc.). They planned it all out and over the next two days they diligently worked on them in their "office" - a sheet draped over some boxes we've not unpacked yet... (Yet, yeah right. How about never will). I was amazed when I saw the finished products. Each book has their own favorite things along with the other's favorite things. For example, Johnny Mac's book has a page all about his favorite animal, the frog, as well as a page all about Dixie's favorite animal, the bunny. (You can see their drawings of each of these animals on the covers).

Their relationship is such a blessing to me. Sometimes they fight and drive me crazy, of course, but a lot of the time they are really precious with each other. They were so sweet working on these books together.

Cute kiddos

Here are all the kiddos with "Flat Stella." She was mailed to us from NC by Abby, my friend Kim's second grade daughter, as part of a class project. Flat Stella participated in our family activites for a week, and then we wrote a letter about her adventures with us and mailed it back to Abby's class. It was fun!

More Jesse Bruce

Jesse loves to grab his toes. Those little piggies are delicious!

Snaggle-toothed Johnny Mac

On April 7, Johnny Mac lost his first tooth!!! It was soooo exciting!! What a handsome fella!

Springtime breakfast outside!

(Jesse was taking a nap).

Two sleeping angel girlies

One night last week, the two girls decided to have a camp-in (as opposed to camp-out). It got really quiet, and when we checked, this is what we saw. Notice the globe-type light; it serves as the campfire, and they even "roast" marshmallows over it on toothpicks. Adorable!

Big Alex and little Jesse Bruce

We had so much fun when my mother, Grammy, and my fifteen-year-old nephew, Alex, came to visit! He was so sweet to spend part of his Spring Break with us, and she was so sweet to come with him so he wouldn't have to fly alone. We had to really twist her arm to get her to come, as you can imagine. :-)

Dress-up fun!

Granna and Papa's visit at Easter

Granna and Papa arrived and before they could even really get in the door, the big kids bestowed them with gifts: a homemade crown and ring for Granna and a homemade golf ball and golf club for Papa. We had a great visit!

Adorable Jesse!

Okay, so two weeks ago or so I tried to post a video Johnny Mac made about his frogs. I mean, I tried and tried. As you can see, it never worked. So for a MONTH now, I haven't posted one thing because my FEELINGS HAVE BEEN HURT. Yes, it's true, this stinking computer hurt my feelings. (Happens all the time, actually). And, of course, I don't really have time to do any of this (four kids = dishes and laundry and more dishes and more laundry), but it's so fun to know that the grandparents (and my precious friends and anyone else who's interested) can see how blessed we are by our amazing Lord. But I'm already on shaky ground even having a blog because of my love/hate thing with technology, so once I spent a couple of hours and had nothing to show for it, that was IT. But now that I've had a month off, I think I've somewhat recovered. Just wanted to explain where we've been. Hopefully, stuff will be coming soon!

All four kids playing on our bed

Here's Sadie on the swing with Mommy while the other two kiddos are running around.

She thinks she's just as big as the older two, of course. She tries to do everything they do. Johnny Mac got hot and took of his shirt, so Sadie decided to put it on (sort of) and wear his sunglasses. Look at how she's mugging for the camera. All my kids love an audience!

Is JMac a rock star or what?! Backwards cap, sunglasses, air guitar... I could just take a bite out of him!

Our first day of feeling like Spring! Yay!!! We loved it! Lunch and supper outside and lots of playing on our playset (thank you, again, Grammy and Granddaddy!)
Sadie especially loves the tire swing. Ah! They're soooo precious!

kiddos with Mr. Stephen

Here are the kiddos with Mr. Stephen. He's our friend/cousin who just moved here from Raleigh, NC, and is staying with us until he finds a place to live. He's a lot of fun and is great with them: he lets them play guitar with him, lets them come in his room pretty much whenever they want to, and here he's reading/playing a game about sharks with them after supper (with a toy from Chic-Fil-A).

Here are three videos of Jesse (this and the next two posts). They are all so cute - I can't narrow it down! You'd think with his being number four that I'd be over thinking every little move he makes is so unique and fabulous that it's pic/video worthy, but I think it's worse with each kiddo! So here goes...

Jesse & a little of Dixie

Jesse grabbing

Jesse "talking"

It snowed!!! What fun!!!
Daddy and Mr. Stephen (our friend/cousin who is staying with us for a while) did a great job on these snowmen!

Dixie, Johnny Mac, and Sadie are outside in our front yard. (Look hard for JMac by the tree).

Here are Johnny Mac and Sadie being adorable, as usual.

Here is Dixie being as beautiful as ever. Mommy and Jesse stayed inside, but we did make snow creme for everbody - yummy!