What We've Been UpTo

Wow! It's been a long time since I've done anything with this blog. Bryan said I either need to write regularly or shut it down. Too bad I don't always listen to what he says. I just do the best I can.

Wesley with Mrs. McNair his Kindergarten teacher.

Wesely and his best bud Parker.

The kids just finished school a couple weeks ago and now I have a 6th grader - WEIRD!! Devon will start middle school in Aug, Allie will be in 4th grade and Wesley will be in 1st. Kailey starts preschool too! Yay for me! Don't get me wrong I love her, she's just a very hard child. Busy, busy!! Good luck to her teacher Miss Michelle! It'll be good for Kailey to have the classroom structure!

Devon and Mr. M. after 5th grade graduation.

Devon, Elle, and Jefferson after graduation.

We've been busy lately with swim lessons, piano for Dev and Allie, Basketball camp for the boys, and dance for Allie. Lots of swimming for fun and playing with friends and a little too much tv, wii and computer games. But we're so excited about our new family job chart. We only started it two days ago, but the kids are just so excited about it and doing a great job. You can check it out for your family too. http://www.myjobchart.com/ My kids have been cleaning by choice all day! Lets just say very happy parents here!

3 P Challenge

Yay! I just found these pics from back in March. Bryan and I did a triathlon of sorts. Now don't get all freaked out by that. It's different from the real deal. Still a really tough race though. It's a two person team and we did the co- ed group. It was 4 1/2 miles in the canoe, 2 1/2 mile run and 12 mile off-road bike ride. Bryan had done it the year before in a men's team and got 2nd place. Well, if you know Bryan, he's really competitive. So we did a lot of training to get in peak shape! Which was a lot of fun anyway. But the morning of the race it was freezing cold (20 degrees). It even snowed for 30 min. before the race started. Yuck! So all we could think was, don't tip the canoe! We were very lucky! The cold slowed us down, but in the end we were VICTORIOUS!! First Place was ours!! It was a blast. Hopefully next year we can keep our title. Here are a couple pics of the race.

Greg and Lisa did the race with us!

My good friend Cherise, who was supposed to do the race with us, but her hubby got stuck in an airport. So sweet of her to come and cheer us on anyway! The hot cocoa was yummy.

My Funny Monkey

Wow! I can't believe I haven't done anything on here for 4 months! I guess it must've had something to do with putting my house up for sale. With all the showings and cleaning up after my crazy monkey (Kailey) I didn't have any time to even check my email. Thankfully it's now under contract! But now the real work begins with all the packing!! This whole thing has been quite an adventure. My friend Wendy says I should write a book. I think she forgot you actually have to be an interesting writer to do that. Just details. Maybe when we're a little past all this I'll feel like sharing some of my story from what's been going on the last year.

Kailey really is my crazy monkey! To give you just a little glimpse of what we experience EVERY day here are some cute pics!

My monkey can't get enough of hair bows and ponytail holders! Ahh! Seriously this happens almost everyday!!

This is one of the newer tricks I've come up with to stop her in her tracks. Diaper removal 101. I can't tell you how many sheets I've had to wash recently because she's torn her diaper off. I've tried layering her clothes. Pants, onesie, shorts, bloomers. She still somehow gets the diaper off and sometimes while she still has the onesie on. On these occasions I usually can't help laughing. The thing is, she actually tears the diapers apart. Well, duck tape will fix anything, right? Actually, I've just found it doesn't. Somehow my little monkey has figured out how to tear that off too! I guess I'm just going to have to start potty training early. Who cares if she doesn't know what a toilets for. I'll make her learn, I will!!

This is "grab whatever I can and run away(monkey's really fast), then throw it in mom's pretty clean tub"!

Fruity Pebbles anyone?

Need I say more?!

Welsey's 5!

We love our Wes! He is funny and energetic and does some pretty amazing cartwheel tricks! He fives the best bear hugs and can brighten the gloomiest day with his smile (especially the Kool-Aid mustache)! I can't believe he's five already! Wesley recently made some great goals for 2009.

1. Learn to tie his shoes.

2. Save $100. He picks up any spare change he can find! So watch out for your money!

3. To swim across the pool.

4. Learn to ride a two wheeler.

5. To write his whole name, first and last.

6. Play T-Ball.

He's going to be having a very busy year. Wesley is doing pre-k this year, but when he's home he can get carried away with tv and video games so we recently started Mom's School. He loves it and I love my special time with just him. Happy Birthday Wes!

Thanksgiving in Atlanta

We finally had a Hammond Family Reunion this year. Aimee graciously hosted all of us. Being that it’s been 4 years since we’ve all been together at the same time, it was a much needed visit. All the kids had so much fun playing together. Never a dull moment with 12 kids running around! Thank you Aimee for cooking a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. Thank you Amy Lynn for my personal training session before dinner! It kept the extra pounds from sneaking on.

We were able to hike to a beautiful waterfall and the kids just loved it. Somehow Wesley beat everyone to the top! We also loved being there for Kirsten’s baptism. She’s growing into a lovely young lady! All in all it was just a wonderful trip.

My favorite moments were the conversion stories of my parents. I found out more details than I’d known before. Thank you Mom and Dad for your testimonies!! I just feel truly blessed to have such a wonderful family!

Now that the holidays are over I finally have a little time to work on my blog. I know it's sad, but here are some fun pics from Halloween!

The whole gang! Allie, Larissa, Kailey, Smores, Wesley, Braden, Devon, Damian and friend Tanner.

Allie the pirate cutie and Larissa as Sharpay

Watch out for our little ninja!

Devon the white ghoul and Damian the warewolf

What a hunk! I just love me a good redneck!

Cousins!

We're so lucky to live by Bryan's brother Greg and his family. The kids have grown so close and are best buds! Love you guys!