The Byrds' Nest

New Blog

2011-04-30T10:53:00.001-07:00

Hey! This is Dixie. Check out our new blog The Seven Byrds' Nest!

www.thesevenbyrdsnest.blogspot.com

Hope you like it!

Two pics from my 20 reunion (back in October 2008)

2009-06-02T23:57:00.000-07:00

Handsome, handsome Johnny-pooh and me on the way to the reunion!

Sweet Debbie Williamson Mills, my friend from middle school all the way through college! We were suitemates at UNC with the other two "Garner girls," Kristy Jones (now Beasley) and Kristy Jade Peele (now Williamson, I think). We still get together almost every year for a college girls weekend! Love you, Debbie!

My favorite 38th birthday pic!

2009-06-02T20:20:00.000-07:00

Jesse Bruce and me on my 38th birthday, New Year's Eve 2008. Oh, I am soooo blessed!!!! Now that I'm pregnant with #5 and inevitably gaining weight (I mean, of course, but it's still a bit traumatic), I was excited to come across this pic of me relatively thin and having a good hair day. Fun!

Sisters!

2009-06-02T20:11:00.000-07:00

This is me and Sadie about to go to bed in my room together. We are in our matching pajamas that Granna gave us. We are very happy that God blessed us with each other! Good night! Love, Dixie! :-)

Fun Christmas pic w/ grandparents!

2009-06-02T20:05:00.000-07:00

Here we are in front of Great Granny Byrd's house. Matching outfits, everyone smiling (or at least looking at the camera) - good times! God is so generous and kind!!

Update on Mama

2009-02-28T02:34:00.000-08:00

Yay! Her scans came back great - they see no cancer! Praise the Lord!!! Now she can start making plans to come visit me! (hint, hint)

JMac's Kindergarten Thanksgiving feast day

2009-02-28T01:52:00.000-08:00

What a handsome little Indian. And I actually made that costume.

The three musketeers: Josh, Alex, and JMac. They are also all three on the same soccer team.

All the boys in his class - cute!

JMac and his beloved (by us ALL) teacher Ms. Jan. She has got to be one of the greatest Kindergarten teachers in the history of the world! We love her!!!

Jesse opening presents (11-29-08)

2009-02-28T01:19:00.000-08:00

Here we are: Jesse's fan club. We all adore him. (What's not to adore?)

Check out Sadie's face in this one. hehe!

And this one...

Look at that smile - mmmm-MMMM!

Big big fun!

Jesse - checkin' out his cupcake

2009-02-28T00:57:00.000-08:00

Wow! A flame!

Look at those sparkly eyes!

Sweet little smirk! (still a lot of icing)

Same little smirk - no icing left!

More of Ms. Linda and Mr. Richard on Jesse's birthday

2009-02-27T23:30:00.000-08:00

I just love this one - see Mr. Richard in the background? Precious! And Ms. Linda and baby Jesse have such a love affair going: it's adorable!

Pics from Jesse's 1st birthday (11-29-08)

2009-02-24T23:55:00.000-08:00

So I'm finally getting these posted.

Here's our family pic - so sweet. We are sooo blessed!!

Since we live so far from home, we thank God so much for our dear friends, Richard and Linda Kempf. They are more than just the dear friends that we've known the entire time we've lived in TN (our first house was right beside theirs!); we even call them are our kids' "TN grandparents." We get to see Linda at least once a week - usually two or three times, so she is so special to our kids (and us)! She's like a second mom to me in many ways. And yes, Grammy and Granna, you all three give me almost the exact same advice! I'm so blessed to have such wise women in my life! Here's a couple of sweet pics of Jesse and the Kempfs...

Dixie and Johnny Mac singing at church

2009-02-21T17:48:00.000-08:00

Here they are singing a "special" at church. Soooo precious! (Thanks, Mills, for this video!)

Christmas Tree Farm Pic 2008

2009-01-29T21:49:00.000-08:00

We love this tradition! Driving all the way out to Murfreesboro while listening to Christmas music, of course, to a place where you can cut your own tree, which we don't - we buy the pre-cut (go figure?), and sipping free hot chocolate and apple cider and buying a few ornaments and taking a hayride. Sooooo fun. And now, one of my favorite things is the Christmas Tree Farm pic. My mother in-law got me started on this. It's so fun to see how the family changes each year! Every other year so far, my in-laws have been here, so the picture is taken during the daytime, as it should be. This year, they weren't able to be here, so we barely got there before they closed. When I look at this pic next to the other four from previous years, the black sky really jumps out. Strikes me as very funny. Leave it to me and Johnny and you can be sure we will have fun, but it will be at the very last minute every time.

Christmas 2008

2009-01-29T21:11:00.000-08:00

Here's our Christmas pic. Sadie is in the I-will-not-smile phase, but everyone else was very cooperative. Oh! God is so kind and generous!!!

2009-01-12T15:18:00.000-08:00

Here we are at the fall festival at church in October. We always have so much fun!

2009-01-12T15:02:00.000-08:00

Here's the whole Peacock crew back in October at Garner Advent Christian Church. It's so fun to have a pic of everyone! Mama is beaming! My family is on the left (me holding Sadie, Johnny holding Jesse, Dixie, and Johnny Mac). My sister Angie's family is behind us (Alex, Jimmy, Angie, and Justin). Then Daddy and Mama in the middle of it all and on the other side of them, my brother Jason's family (Jason, Cassie, McKenzie, and Tyler). Sixteen in all!

Sadie's dirty, beautiful face

2009-01-12T14:54:00.000-08:00

Sadie had a runny nose, so when we went outside and she started playing in the dirt... you can see the result :-)

Halloween pics!

2009-01-01T08:10:00.001-08:00

This is the only pic of Dixie. She was Princess Lea. That's our neighbor Suzanne walking near her. (I don't know who the other people are).

Sadie the lady bug and Jesse Bruce bear! Adorable!!!

Johnny Mac as a white ninja! His moves were awesome!

More ballet recital pics

2008-11-19T01:15:00.000-08:00

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.

2008-09-16T13:36:00.000-07:00

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 :-)

2008-09-09T13:57:00.000-07:00

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 :-)

2008-09-09T08:49:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-09T08:38:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-07T03:25:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-07T03:19:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-09-07T03:17:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-07T03:14:00.000-07:00

They were so sweet to include Sadie, too.

2008-09-07T03:10:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-07T03:07:00.000-07:00

Having cake. My big 7 year old girl!

2008-09-07T03:00:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-07T02:55:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-07T02:40:00.000-07:00

What's on my plate

2008-08-25T22:29:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-08-25T22:15:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-25T06:23:00.000-07:00

The kids have bikes!

2008-07-25T06:04:00.001-07:00

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

2008-05-27T23:47:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-27T22:42:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-27T22:37:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-27T22:23:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-05-27T22:17:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-05-06T12:24:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-27T22:53:00.000-07:00

Johnny Mac's frogs! He loves them!

Brother Sister Book

2008-04-27T21:50:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-25T08:05:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-20T23:39:00.001-07:00

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

Snaggle-toothed Johnny Mac

2008-04-20T23:30:00.000-07:00

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

Springtime breakfast outside!

2008-04-20T23:19:00.000-07:00

(Jesse was taking a nap).

Two sleeping angel girlies

2008-04-20T23:13:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-20T22:50:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-04-20T22:45:00.000-07:00

Granna and Papa's visit at Easter

2008-04-20T22:38:00.001-07:00

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!

2008-04-20T22:32:00.000-07:00

2008-04-13T21:42:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-03-13T22:35:00.000-07:00

All four kids playing on our bed

2008-03-13T22:28:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-03-13T22:25:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-13T22:19:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-13T22:08:00.000-07:00

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).

2008-03-13T21:50:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-13T21:39:00.000-07:00

Jesse grabbing

2008-03-13T21:23:00.001-07:00

Jesse "talking"

2008-03-08T22:25:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-03-07T07:49:00.000-08:00

And here's the amazing Dixie-doodle. This is her new fashion - "necklace taped to the nose."

2008-03-07T07:47:00.000-08:00

Look at this face, these eyes, these lips... Mmm-MMM!

Flying Jesse!

2008-03-06T18:38:00.000-08:00

Sissy is so good with Jesse. She loves to help take care of him. I don't know what I'd do without her! Love, Mommy

2008-03-06T18:36:00.001-08:00

Jesse and his glow worm - so cute!

2008-03-06T18:25:00.000-08:00

I just love it when I sit Jesse in the bouncy seat up on the kitchen island. He loves to be part of the action, and the kitchen always has action! He is so dreamy!

2008-03-04T09:41:00.000-08:00

This is Jesse being Santa Claus (from December 16, 2007). I think he's the cutest Santa Claus ever. Love, Johnny Mac

2008-03-04T09:32:00.000-08:00

Here's some VIDEO of Jesse cooing! Are we going nuts with our blog or what?! This is soooo advanced for us! Love, Mommy & kiddos

Sunday morning cuteness!

2008-03-02T18:46:00.000-08:00

Now that I know how to put pictures up for everyone to see, I'm going crazy!!! My kids are sooo cute, and unfortunately, none of the grandparents get to see them on a normal Sunday morning. So here they are! Notice how all three bigger kids are wearing boots - fun!

Sadie and Johnny Mac are best buds! A lot of times, the first thing she says in the morning is "Bubby aseep? Sadie vwake him up!"

Dixie sure knows how to pose. She's gotten a lot of practice from posing for Granna (Johnny's mom) hundreds of times!

Two momentous events for Jesse today: 1) This was his first day in 3-6 months-sized clothes (thanks Aunt Ann and Uncle Ray for this outfit) and 2) He rolled over!! Daddy put him on his tummy (see the drool spot?), but the next thing we knew, he was like this! Fun! He's such a dreamboat!!!

Fun at bath time!

2008-03-02T18:43:00.000-08:00

Just a typical Saturday night... there's nothing better than clean, sweet-smellin', cuddly kiddos...

Music time!

2008-03-02T18:36:00.000-08:00

This is me and Johnny Mac playing our guitars. I love my pink guitar! You can see it has blue and pink rhinestones on it. JMac is playing Mom's guitar (which is really Granddaddy's guitar). We wrote a song called Home on the Range. We had a lot of fun! Love, Dixie

Johnny Mac and Jesse Bruce (February 28, 2008)

2008-03-02T18:32:00.000-08:00

Bubby loves to hold me. He's a great big brother!

Love, Jesse

Sadie being adorable - January 26, 2008

2008-03-02T18:28:00.000-08:00

Here's Sadie with Sissy's ballet bag (thanks, Aunt Angie!) and Sissy's boots and Sissy's sunglasses. She's a star!

Pic from January 22, 2008

2008-03-02T18:23:00.000-08:00

Our little Jesse Bruce, on the island in the kitchen. I can hardly cook because I'm so distracted by looking at him coo and smile and be adorable. Doesn't he look edible?

Snow - January 16, 2008

2008-03-02T18:15:00.000-08:00

These are our two snowmen. Miss Davita helped us build them. Love, Dixie and Johnny Mac

Sadie's 2nd birthday - January 4, 2008

2008-03-02T17:13:00.000-08:00

Here's Sadie on her 2nd birthday! We had planned a big party with lots of adults and kids, but illness (ours and everybody else's) along with Jesse's only being 5 weeks old caused us to end up doing a family-only thing. We still had lots of fun, though!

2008-02-29T15:30:00.000-08:00

This is me and Jesse when he was first born. I like to hug and kiss him. Love, Dixie.

2008-02-29T15:10:00.000-08:00

This is Johnny Mac's big fish that he caught from a pond. (August 2007)

2008-02-28T09:50:00.000-08:00

Hey, this is Johnny Mac. This picture was taken on my birthday (11-16-07). I was turning 5 years old. We are at Chuck E Cheese. These are my friends, Levi (on the right) and Anthony (on the left). We are eating Mommy's chocolate eclair cake. It's my favorite! This was the best birthday ever. I'm so happy I turned five on this day!

2008-02-28T09:22:00.000-08:00

This is me when I lost my first tooth. Mom told me I had to call Granna and Grammy right away. So I did.(You can see I am.) I lost my first tooth on Miss.Davitas birthday! Love,Dixie.

2008-02-28T09:17:00.000-08:00

Here we are last August (2007) celebrating Daddy's birthday. New house, new baby on the way - lots of happiness and love! God is good!

2008-02-23T13:30:00.000-08:00

Here are the cousins! Front row: Sadie. Middle row: Johnny Mac, Tyler, Dixie. Back row: Justin, Alex (he's on his knees - he's 6' 3" or something crazy like that), and McKenzie

2008-02-23T13:27:00.000-08:00

This is me and my cousin McKenzie. I am 6 and McKenzie is 9. I have 4 cousins on this side of the family. Their names and ages are: Alex 14, Justin 10, McKenzie 9, and Tyler 6. I love my family and friends.
Love, Dixie.

2008-02-23T12:39:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2007

Jesse is almost a month old; Dixie is 6 1/2; Johnny Mac is 5; and Sadie is almost 2. We are so blessed by God and so thankful to Him for our wonderful family!

The Byrds' Nest

2008-02-23T11:52:00.000-08:00

We now have a blog! We'll be posting pictures soon!

Love,
Johnny, Gina, Dixie, Johnny Mac, Sadie and Jesse