The Moore Clan

Day 3 and 4 of New York City

2010-05-19T18:26:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know it's been a very long time since my last post, but here is our 3rd day in NYC...... We got up, dressed and headed to the subway. On the way to the subway we stopped at a little mom/pop market and got bagels and cream cheese for breakfast. By this time my allergies and sinuses are so bad I can't taste a thing. But I eat for my strength..ha... We then headed toward the Brooklyn Bridge. Once there we walked across it and back. It's exactly 1 mile but it seems like forever.... Once we got to the middle we all had a moment of reflecting the Miranda/Mike scene in Sex and the City.... After walking the Brooklyn Bridge we headed toward Manhattan. We walked around St. John's Cathedral. It's the largest cathedral in North America. Truly something to see. It was unreal!! Once we did that we found a little cafe and ate lunch. After lunch we started to make our way to 5th Avenue...Shopping baby.... We made a stop in Tiffany's. We also had a moment of reflecting the Tiffany scene in Sweet Home Alabama.... I found a necklace so I called Jimmy and asked him if I could buy a Tiffany necklace. His answer was "well, you're gonna buy it anyway I don't know why you're calling to ask". I then told him it was 2.5 million dollars and he changed his mind we quick. But I did find a cute little necklace and bought it for myself. This was my only chance to get a true Tiffany necklace, so I splurged. We then went into more stores and shopped around. After shopping we headed toward the apartment for some much needed rest. And yes, the elevator was working!! Woohoo!! After a rest we decided to get tickets to see the Lion King. It was unbelieveable. The costumes are unreal! After seeing the Lion King we went to Bond 55 for pizza, very expensive pizza. One of our pizzas had a lobster on it..ha.. After that we was too pooped to walk, so we took a cab. Man, after that cab ride, we all woke up! I think the cab driver was trying to see how fast he could go. Jennifer held my hand the entire time!! We finally got back to our apartment in one piece and went to sleep. By this time we all were so tired I don't remember my head falling on the pillow!!

Day 4: Our last full day:

By this time I was completly miserable.... I was taking allergy and sinus meds around the clock! We got up very, very early and headed toward the subway. We went to the Brooklyn Tabernacle Church for Sunday service and also to see the Brooklyn Tabernacle choir. The choir was awesome!! The entire service was so uplifting and the people there were extremely nice. You felt like a part of their lives. I can't say how great the service was!! But, I did have meds in my system and I fell asleep during the preaching. I just felt so bad!! After church we went to the original Jonathan's Cheesecake for brunch and also cheesecake!! It was so good!! We then headed back to Manhattan. After changing clothes and resting a bit we decided to hit Macy's and any other place we missed or want to go back a second time. We ended back at Times Square and say the freakey little man dressed as the tooth fairy running around. Hugh Scott warned me of taking a picture of him, saying if we took a picture he would come up too us. He was really putting on a show!! Later we went back to the apartment and got dressed for our fancy meal, Gramercy Tavern!! Hugh Scott snuck out and had purchased all of us girls a necklace. It is gorgeous!!! The resturant serves a 6 course meal and you don't have a choice of food, they bring you what they make. And if you don't eat what they bring you, you will have about 10 waiters asking if anything was wrong with the meal. It was very, very nice. After 6 courses, we were stuffed!! We kind of got special treatment because Hugh Scott knows the manager of this resturant. So we got about two more courses "this is from the kitchen"; and an extra bottle of wine "from the kitchen". We were pampered!! I could not force another bite!!

The next morning we got up and headed home. The man on the 9th floor came up to get our keys. Remember me saying that on the first night we got to our apartment from seeing Wicked, there were these "do not enter" signs on the door of the building. Well, we asked the guy on the 9th floor what had happened. He said that the people on the 4th floor apartment got caught selling knock off designer handbags and the Po Po raided them. Selling design handbags!!! I really enjoyed NYC, with the crazy sinuses and allergies!! But, I was so glad to get back in Mississippi. Not only did I miss my husband, I missed the south and my privacy. In NYC it was so crowded that nobody has any privacy!! I love living in the south!!

2010-04-04T17:40:00.000-07:00

Day 2 of New York City:
We woke up very sore from the two stair climbs we had to do the previous day. I actually thought I was not going to make it out of the bed! Plus, my sinuses were starting to go haywired on me, so I doped up on ibuprophen and Alavert. We all got dressed, very slowly and made our departure (yep, down 12 stories of walking the elevator still wasn't working), I guess around 8:00 or so. Our first stop was Chelsea Market. It was a big warehouse, the first floor was all of these resturants and little markets, the upper floors is where the shows from the The Food Network is filmed. The public is only allowed on the first floor. It was really quite neat. We ate bagels with about a block of cream cheese on them. Which, I had peanut butter on my bagel. After breakfast we made our way to Ground Zero. It was very surreal seeing the same place where such a tragedy happened. We walked to Wall Street and saw the International Stock Exchange. After that, we made our way to the ferry for the Statue of Liberty. After standing in line, getting security checked, we finally boarded the ferry. It was cool seeing the Statue of Liberty. We didn't go up because after climbing up and down the stair at the apartment, we just didn't have it in us, especially since we probably would be walking up 12 stories when we get back to the apartment. So we just walked around the outside of the statue and took pictures. After the Statue of Liberty we ventured toward Little Italy and ate at a place called El Cattrell. It's an authentic Italian place where they have the back room for "the godfather" to meet. The food was good, although I was so conjested from my allergies I couldn't taste my food, I was just so thirsty. I did make my way to the basement to the bathroom. While on my way there were all of these photos of what looked like, to me, to be "the godfather". After eating a late lunch we went to chinatown. Chinatown was a little scary, and it was in the day! I can only imagine how it would be at night. Everyone was wanting us to buy from them. Scary people would come up behind you and say "Louie" saying they had the Louis Vuitton purses to sell, or they could just say "Lou" letting you know they had some Louis Vuitton to sell. Of course, it illegal to sell designer knockoffs, so that was their suttle way of letting you know they had some Louis. At chinatown, every store I walked in I would start sneezing so I would have to walk back out. My allergies went "postal" on me while in NYC. After chinatown we decided to make our way back to the apartment. When we got on our street we notice our little Rosa's Pizza Place sold cupcakes. So, we decided to see how theirs were. When we got to the cupcake counter Jennifer told the guy what cupcake she wanted and his response was, "Woa you guys are not from here....". We told him that we were from Mississippi, so the rest of the week when we walked in he would hollar "Hey my Mississippi friends". After buying the cupcakes, we went to the little corner store and I bought gatorade, water, and Mt. Dews (I needed caffine big time) preparing for the 12 story walk up. I had already decided that I was going to take my sweet time in the walk up. Once we got to the apartment building, guess what, THE ELEVATOR WAS WORKING!! We all was saying a prayer!! We went up and decided to check out the cupcakes. They were so much better than the Magnolia Cupcakes!! They cake was so moist and the icing was wonderful!! It was pure bliss!! We all took a power nap, got refreshed, and then ventured out for the night. We went to the top of Rockerfella Center. It was absolutely beautiful! If you're ever in NYC I highly recommend it! After we got back down we walked around Rockerfella Center and saw the famous ice skating rink, the flags and all. We then went to Big Daddy's Diner to eat dinner. It's a nice little 50's diner. After dinner we went back to Times Square and walked around some more. Late that night we then went back to the apartment and crashed!! Next post, I'll talk about day 3!!

New York City (378 photos), by Amy Moore

2010-04-02T18:41:00.001-07:00

I'd like to share my Walmart Digital Photo Center photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

Here are the pictures of my New York trip. We had a great time!! Here is a play by play of our trip:
Day 1:
Got to New York and had our first cab ride to our apartment. We were able to rent an apartment cheaper than getting hotel rooms. We stayed in the old business district. Not the most beautiful site outside, but it was true New York style! Our apartment was on the 12th floor, which was the very top. We got in the elevator with a guy and the first thing he asked us was "Are you guys with the movies?" We just kind of looked at each other and said a very slow, "nooo" and then he told us that Law and Order shoots a lot on this site. He told us that when they shoot inside this building they will shut down the elevator. Then he told us that Jay-Z has an apartment across the street. I thought that was very cool.... We then got settled in the apartment. We had a great view of the Empire State Building (which Amy Nell called it the Eiffel Tower the entire time) and the apartment was really nice and big. It was on 28th Street. When you looked down our street we was looking at the School of Designs. We walked down our street and found a nice little cafe and ate lunch. It was really good. Anyway, we took the subway to Rockerfeller Center and just walked around. We walked to Central Park and took a horse and carriage ride. It was really cool. We then walked around Central Park and took pictures. We went to Magnolia Cupcakes (the same that's on Sex and the City) and got some cupcakes. We then went back to the apartment, and guess what, the elevator wasn't working. So, we walked 12 stories to the apartment. When we got to the 4th floor, there were cops in the doorway not letting anyone on the 4th floor apartment. Which had our minds wondering what was going on... Once we got to the apartment we all had to catch our breaths!! We ate our cupcakes and were very disappointed in them. The cake part was dry and the icing had no flavor!! After resting a little while we got ready and went to Broadway to watch Wicked. It was AWESOME!! After Wicked we walked Times Square. The lights, people, traffic was all amazing!! I had never seen anything like it. We saw the famous New Year's Ball!! We then took the subway back to our street and stopped at the corner pizza place, Rosa's Pizza, and got pizza for dinner. After a long night we got back to the apartment. There was a note on the complex door saying "Court Order, this building has been condemmed. Anyone entering can be arrested" or something to that effect. Our first instict was to panic because all of our stuff was up on the 12th floor, but then we decided to take a chance as to it was probably talking about the 4th floor. So we decided to go in. Hey, what could the do, arrest us? And yes, the elevator still wasn't working, so walking upstair we did!! I thought my heart was going to leap out of my chest!! I think I crashed when I went to bed.

Well, my next post I'll talk about our second day....

Birthday

2010-03-03T06:46:00.000-08:00

On February 14th I celebrated my birthday! I am so blessed to be able to survive another year, and hopefully many more years to come! The night before my birthday David & Elizabeth cooked dinner for the family. It was great! For my birthday gift, Andrew, Kate & Claire got me a heart full of chocolate! And it just wasn't the cheap assorted filled chocolates, it was the yummy chocolate truffles! Below are a few pics from that night:

Kate couldn't stand the thought of me not having any candles to blow out. So, these two candles were all Elizabeth could find. So that means I'm 21, ha..?

I think Claire was screaming "cheese" on this first pic... She is really growing!

Kate & Claire has gotten their hair cut, don't they look so cute!

My actual birthday was on a Sunday. So after Sunday School, Jimmy and I played hookey and skipped morning service, Jimmy took me out for lunch. We then went to Bass Pro and I got some walking boots and smartwool socks for my NYC trip. We just had a nice day out, we went to a little western store south of Jackson (Jimmy is looking for a new pair of boots). We then just rode around Jackson. It was a great birthday!

Oh, when we got back home from Jackson, I was told that during the church service someone announced, "Amy's not here today because Jimmy took her out for her birthday and then they were just spending the day together". That's a small town for you, your business is everybody's business..., ha!! Gotta love Vaughan!

Snow in Vaughan!

2010-03-02T13:24:00.001-08:00

February 2nd we celebrated Tracy's birthday. How old is she now??? 40??? ha..!! Big sis, I love you, even if you are getting old..he..he...! Also IT SNOWED IN VAUGHAN, MS!! Yep, you heard me right and I have the pics to prove it! It was the perfect snow that lasted for about a day and it was over!

In front of our house On Moore Road

Jimmy's brothers place Jimmy throwing a snowball at me!

My church, Ellison United Methodist Church

This tree really stands out! A little hidden pond beside my house.

December.....

2010-02-26T06:32:00.000-08:00

Yes, December came and went in a flash! The first part of December the christian group Casting Crowns came to Jackson. I had no intentions of going to the concert. The past couple of weeks before we had lost two special church members due to cancer and I was totally in an emotional state. Sometimes when bad things happen it doesn't really hit me until a week or so after it happens and at the time of the concert I was emotional. But the day before the concert a lady from another office calls me out of the blue and tells me she has tickets and wanted to know if I would go with her. Something inside just urged me to go, so I told her yes. I also warned her that I may cry during the entire concert. The concert was unbelievable!! Totally amazing!! If you have never been to see Casting Crowns I strongly urge you to go! My friend is married to someone in who has some "coliseum pull", so she had us great seats!! I will always be grateful for her asking me to the concert. It was exactly what I needed. Below is a few pics.

Every December Dee (my mom), Tracy and I go to Tupelo shopping. We always go the weekend of the Tupelo Flea Market. This year was a blast! It was cold, it was raining, but we had the most fun! While making my way to Tupelo I stopped at Starkville and had lunch with my girlfriends, Janna, Tina and Mary Ann. It was great seeing them!

My girls!

One night while in Tupelo, we went to Outback to eat. While waiting for a table we all were sitting on a couch, behind the doors, a place that's kind of hidden from everyone. I got out my camera and wanted to get a picture of the three of us together. When I say that my mom is not very photogenic, I do mean it to be ugle, I'm being truthful. We would take a picture, look at it and just start laughing. Those of you who knows Dee, when she starts laughing, she has a very loud cackle that she can't just shut off... It goes on and on and on... It took a lot of tries to finally get a picture that we all were happy with. Below is the good, the bad and the ugly.... Dee would kill me if she knew I'm posting these pictures, ha....

Mom, open your eyes!! Tracy, you're halfway out of the pic!

Ok, mom, put the glasses back on. Tracy is still all not in there..

Our best two pics....

Look who we caught trying to catch a snooze in the massage chair at Bed, Bath and Beyond...

I think they were ready for us to leave...ha..

I took off work the week of Christmas. The day it decides to rain (all day) Jimmy finds a pack rat in our camper, and he was doing damage!! Needless to say I was not a "happy camper"! We had to get everything out, clean up the damage in the pouring rain!! Below is a pic of it's nice little nest we found when we pulled the drawers out. Yes, those are my dish towels, washing towels, towels, leaves and acorns. Tons, tons, tons of acorns.... He was ready for the cold!!

How gross!! Even after finding the nest, we still haven't found the rodent! Pack rats are not stupid! He knew exactly where the traps were. It was like he was teasing us. But, finally, on Christmas Day morning, we went to the camper and guess who we caught!! Needless to say, no more pack rat!!
Christmas was great! We went to Philly on Christmas Eve. Unwrapped gifts with our immediate family, then all of the cousins, aunts and uncles came over and we played dirty santa. We always have fun when we play dirty santa! I got a Calvin Klein perfume gift set, love it!

I always enjoy the ride home on Christmas Eve night. I love seeing all of the Christmas lights and listening to the Christmas music on the radio! Christmas morning we got up early, went to Little David and Elizabeth's house and watched the kids (Claire, Kate and Andrew) open up Santa gifts. Then we went to Jimmy's parent's house, had breakfast then unwrapped gifts over there. And back at the house around 8:00 a.m. for a quick nap!! And I didn't take the first picture during the Christmas holiday!! I actually forgot my camera!! But I did enjoy watching everyone this year and not saying "look this way", "smile"....

Getting Caught Up

2010-02-26T06:08:00.000-08:00

I know, I know. It's been forever since I've made a post! I hate to use the excuse "I've been busy", but I have. It seems like everything happens all at once! We had a great Thanksgiving. Mark (Jimmy's brother), Sarah, Benjamin and Nicholas drove down all the way from Holly, Michigan to spend the holiday with us. Benjamin and Nicholas is getting so big! Below are a few pics of their visit.

Blowing bubbles

Playing with Uncle Hugh!

Playing with the grandparents!

Thanksgiving in Philly

2009-12-04T11:07:00.000-08:00

The Wednesday night before Thanksgiving we had dinner at Uncle Keith and Aunt Marsha's house. We had a full house; but loads of fun. This year our family had added two new additions; My cousin Brian and LeAnn had their first baby this past November, Miss Adela Lillis. And my cousin Brock and Allyson added another addition this past August, Mr. Knox Lillis. Brock and Allyson lives in Clarksville, TN, so this is the first for a lot of us to see Knox. It was also great seeing Knox's older sister and brother, Mia and Brax. From the pictures below you can see how much fun we all had.

I'm holding Knox; and Casey is holding Adela

Knox really took a liking to my sister, Tracy

Mia holding her cousin Adela for the first time

Brock, mom and Knox

My nephew, Jake, has a soft side when it comes to little babies...

I think Brax is proving that he's swallowing his food, ha..

In Rememberance

2009-12-03T13:24:00.000-08:00

Today our community all got together and said goodbye to a dear friend. Brian Campbell was not only our choir director, church member, neighbor; but he was also our friend. The last couple of days, people shared their favorite "Brian" stories. When I first met Brian I thought of him as being soft spoken, just a kind of person who kept to himself. And in a way he did, he was not a boastful person, but once you start knowing Brian (and his wife JoAnn) they were such fun people who enjoyed life to the fullest. If I ever saw the perfect soul mates, it was Brian and JoAnn. They complemented each other very well! The always did things together, it was never just Brian or just JoAnn; it was always Brian and JoAnn. When they did things it just wasn't "ok", they believed in putting everything into what they did; they always gave their 110%!! And I just want to share my favorite "Brian and JoAnn" story:

It was 2006. I was over the children's Christmas program that year. And the program was split between a classroom, with a teacher telling the children about a story that took place in mexico years ago, and the story actually being acted out in "mexico". So the children was part of the classroom scene and they would sing their songs; then the youth acted out the "mexico" scenes (and I had to bribe the youth with a pizza party). Well, I only needed one adult male to play the mexican granpa. The only problem, my mexican grandpa also had to sing a song (solo) and the children joined in. So, when I asked Brian to be my grandpa and then I smiled and told him "oh, there is also a small song with a small part that you would have to sing, oh, and some of the singing you will be doing by yourself, he, he." At first Brian just kind of looked at me; he sings very well but he don't enjoy solos. So I told him "Brian if you do this I will owe you one." And he just smiled and said, "well, in that case, you have a deal. And I will be getting you back." But the way he said it was all in fun. So, here we go. We all start practicing and start learning the songs. Everything is going well. A few weeks before the production Brian asked me what he needed to wear. And I said just some overalls and maybe an old flannel shirt and a walking cane, just something a grandpa would wear. I was already tired and I really didn't care at that point what my characters really looked like just as long as they showed up that Sunday morning. Well, the morning of production when Brian and JoAnn came to the church Brian was a bonafide mexican grandpa. From the clothes, the hair, JoAnn even drew a little mustache on his face. He looked like a true mexican grandpa. The youth guys thought Brian's mustache was so cool, so JoAnn had to draw mustaches on them, too. And when we had the production, Brian came out there speaking with a mexican accent. He even sang his solo with a mexican accent. He was the bomb! Like I said, when Brian does something, he puts his all in it and JoAnn was right there with him; she had him fixed to a tee! I was just in awe! Even with it being a small children's program; it became this huge fun production. Oh, and remember, I told Brian if he did this favor for me, I will do a favor for him. Well, he made true to that, too. That next year when we had our adult cantata. I had to sing a solo, and Amy does not do solos well. I sing better when I'm blended with other voices. I'll always watch what I say to people now..ha.. But it was all fun. But I'll never forget the effort he put into his grandpa part that year; he gave it his all. And that was the type of person he was. He gave it his all.

Last fall when he got sick he still fought for all he had. Today at his funeral the preacher told us that when Brian was in the hospital he told the preacher, "this won't end in death". And actually it doesn't end in death, it stays in eternal life. Death may be the end to this worldly life, but it's not the end... The preacher also talked about the earth as being an inn, a place where people stays for a while and then leave. We stay here on earth for a little while and then we will leave for eternal life. But yet, there are so many people who are so focused on this "inn" on earth that we forget about where we go when we leave this earthly inn.

I just wanted to share a little bit about a person who meant so much to so many people. Even though many of you may not know Brian, maybe you can get a glimpse of who he was by reading this blog. Above is a picture I made of them this past Halloween. You may not can tell, but Brian was very weak in this photo. It took all he had to climb the porch stairs. But I wanted you to see his precious family. And see, even for Halloween, they give it their 110%!!

Adela Lillis

2009-11-20T08:54:00.000-08:00

My cousin, Brian, and his wife, LeAnn, finally had their little bundle of joy. Miss Adela Lillis came into this world on November 4th weighing 8.06 lbs and 21 inches long. She has a head full of dark hair. Mom, baby and dad are doing great. Below are some pictures:

Don't you want to pinch those cheeks?

The Lillis Family

She's ok now that her Amy has her..

Proud dad!!

Precious door wreath

Tribute To Our Farmers

2009-11-16T07:51:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, it's been a very long time since my last post. So many people has told me that I needed to update my post.... So here goes... Things have just been so hectic for a while. The farming year wasn't a good year, not just for my guys, but nationwide. Please keep these farmers in your prayers. Some people may not think of "farming" as a real job. Yes, once the crops are out, equipment washed, oiled and put up for the next year, the guys have about three months off; but what people don't realize is that farming is not an 8-5/5 days a week job. There are many, many nights that I take Jimmy's dinner to the field or he not come home until on in the night. And they always work on Saturdays. Their job just don't end at 5 p.m. If it's not for our farmers we would not have food to eat or clothes to wear. So many kids nowdays think food comes from the grocery store, they have no clue how food gets to the grocery store. I guess it magically appears. It's very sad. It takes great faith to be a farmer. Once that seed is planted in the ground, the rest is up to God. It's very scary at times but it can also be a great learning experience. My faith has tripled since I married Jimmy and live life as a farmer's wife. But I wouldn't trade it for anything! So the next time you go to the grocery store and buy your food, think of these farmers and say a little prayer for them.

Goodbye Summer!

2009-08-04T08:29:00.001-07:00

I can't believe this summer is almost gone! My, where did the summer go? I thought it would be nice to go back and recapture the happenings of our summer:

May started off with my niece, Claire, 1st birthday! Notice big sister, Kate, is helping her with blowing the candles out. At first, Claire didn't know what to think about her cake, but it didn't take her long to figure it out. She had a good time!

May ended with my first "baby girl" Casey graduating high school. This was an emotional time for me. Casey and I have this special bond since she was born, so, it's hard for me to let go. I'm so proud of her! She is planning to attend Co-Lin this fall and play softball. As of right now, she wants to attend Ole Miss next year and apply for the Pharmacy program. I think she will be great at it! But come next week that could change.... Oh to be young again... The second picture is my sister, Tracy, and her entire family; husband (Robin), Casey (graduating girl) and my two nephews, Jake (14) and Buck (10).

Jake has changed so much over the summer, even from this picture. He now towers well over me. I now have to look up to look at him; and we're not even going to talk about the change of his voice... And he has become such a nice looking young man! I just hope he can keep the girls off of him when he goes back to school! Or, do I need to come down there myself and knock the girls off of you?

And Buck, well, he is in a class of his own.... He is this happy-go-lucky kid who tries to see the good in everything. This summer he went to army camp at Camp Shelby and LOVED IT! I think he's going to be our "soldier boy". Last night I got a friend request from Buck. Seems like he has his own facebook page.... What else will these boys do....

My mom and dad at Casey's graduation, and Buck and I goofing off before the graduation ceremony.....

June started with my niece, Kate, 3rd birthday. Jimmy wanted to get her tools, he so wants her to be a tomboy, but I won that argument and we got her makeup. Above are a few pics of us playing with her makeup. In the second pic I was putting her hair up and it looks like she was in pain, but she wasn't.... Now, Kate really has Uncle Jimmy wrapped around her pinky. She has such a spunky personality. This past Sunday she was sitting in Uncle Jimmy's lap during lunch. He was feeding cake to her, not like she can't feed herself... But she looked at him and said "Jimmy's so nice". They have a habit of playing a bit after lunch. Once Sunday not too long ago they were "sword fighting" and she started pointing, with her sword, the boys in the room. As she pointed to them she would say "you're a boy, you're a boy and you're a boy, boys are yucky" then she would point to the girls and say, "you're a girl, you're a girl and you're a girl, girls are sweet". Then she would start fighting Jimmy with her sword. Her mom finally said, well Kate, since you're a girl and girls are sweet, you're not being too sweet fighting with Uncle Jimmy. She then said "Well, I'm Kate the Great".

I just had to post these two pics of Kate & Jimmy. She's not spoiled at all!

June also included the cruise Tracy, Casey and I went on. I told Casey that I would either give her money for her senior trip, or, the three of us could do something. She really wanted the three of us to go someplace and just "chill". Our first night on the cruise a lady fell overboard, which wasn't good; but, after the shock wore off we had a wonderful time. Cozumel was beautiful but the highlight was when we went to the Myan Ruins of Tulum and swam in the ocean. That was so much fun! And no, y'all will not see any pictures of me in my bathing suit. That says in Mexico....

I really love the pic of us at Margarittaville's

It felt about 110 degrees that that hat of mine was hot, hot, hot....
Notice in the right pic: the rain storm behind us, was cool to see that.
Jake gets to go on the next cruise, but he has to finish school first, ha....

The month of June my cousin, Brock along with his wife Allyson and their children Mia (4) and Braxton (2), was in Philadelphia. They live in Clarkville, TN and they come down for a month during the summer. Mia and Braxton are getting so big! Mia turned 4 in June and Braxton turned 2 in July, so we had a birthday party for them while they were down.

It was great seeing them. Allyson and the family are getting ready for baby #3, which I think could be any day now. Funny story that happened on the day of their party. Notice Mia's swimming vest, well, Braxton has one like it except his is a frog, too cute! After a little while of swimming Braxton decides he's had enough and gets out of the pool to play. So we take his frog off and he's playing. Well, Mia (who has been scared of the water) starts jumping off the side of the pool. When she started doing that we started cheering her on. Braxton decides he wanted some cheering, too, so he walkes over to the pool and we hear a "plunk". You guessed it, he jumped in without his swimming vest. There was enough people around to get him, but it did give us a scare. He's just a little daredevil, but a precious one!

Mia getting dressed up with her jewels, and Braxton playing with his golf clubs..

In July, Jimmy and I drove up to Holly, Michigan to see his brother Mark, Sarah and their two boys Benjamin (3) and Nicholas (6 months). While driving up Jimmy gets sick so he is basically sick during the entire trip. But there were times he felt like putting on a smiling face for the boys. Benjamin and Nicholas are getting so big! This is the first time we got to see Nicholas. I just wanted to squeeze him to death. He is just so sweet and loveable. Benjamin, he has too much to do to be loveable but he is very sweet. On the Friday of our visit Benjamin got to stay home with Jimmy and I (we sent little Nicholas to daycare..). So Friday was all about Benjamin. We played, played and played. We had a great trip but I wish Jimmy had felt better...

It's so amazing to see Benjamin with Nicholas. Before Nicholas was born Benjamin was so excited to be getting a playing buddy. He was a little disappointed when Nicholas was born and couldn't get down in the floor and play cars with him. But now as Nicholas is getting more active Benjamin is having more fun with him. It's so cute to see Benjamin talk to Nicholas. Benjamin will hold Nicholas' hand and say "Hey little buddy, how's it going?" He's going to be a great big brother!

Benjamin getting some Uncle Jimmy time and Nicholas just happy to be here!

That was about the extent of our summer. We did go to Grenada Lake camping, twice, but I don't have any pictures of that....

Soon, Jimmy and the other farms will start harvesting the crops. That's what the fall season will consist of, being in the field. Let's pray that all the farmers have a good year! Hopefully I'll get some pictures of everyone out in the field and I'll post them...

The main excitement of the fall will be in September. My cousin Tyler will be getting married to his highschool love, Brianna. They are such a sweet couple and I just can't wait until their wedding!

Michigan Trip

2009-07-16T05:48:00.000-07:00

Last week Jimmy and I took a trip to Holly, Michigan to see Mark, Sarah, Benjamin and Nicholas. This is our first trip up since Nicholas was born, so it was great to get to meet him! He is 6 months old and growing fast. He wants to walk so bad, but he had to learn to sit up by himself, crawl, pull up and then walk. I really look for him to skip the crawling part. When someone is holding him he wants to be stood up and his little legs just kick away! Benjamin is growing fast, too! He was a little shy around us at first, but that only lasted a minute. One time I stuck my tongue out at him he told me "a bird is going to poop on your tongue". That's what Mark and Sarah tells him when he sticks his tongue out. It works! Below are a few pictures of our trip. Enjoy!

Benjamin is a great big brother. He can't wait for Nicholas to be old enough to play with him. Benjamin calls Nicholas "Little Buddy". So cute!

On Friday Benjamin stayed home with Jimmy and I. Jimmy realized how much energy a 3 year old has. When Benjamin took his nap we were right there with him taking a nap!

Riding to the playground!

He thought the skid mark was pretty cool! Then he gets tired, so tough!

Dancing to Thomas the Train! A bird is going to poop on your tongue!

They get to have Christmas trees all year long!

Happy Birthday Kate!

2009-07-02T11:49:00.000-07:00

My niece, Kate (we call her Katie Bug), turned three! I can't believe how time flies for it seems like yesterday I was holding her for the first time. Kate is the daughter of Jimmy's youngest brother, David. David and Elizabeth has three kids, Andrew (13); Kate (3); and Claire (1). Those of you who don't know my husband, Jimmy. He is the older of four boys. So, Kate is the first girl of the family. She really has Uncle Jimmy wrapped around his finger! She has me wrapped too, but, I know how to enforce rules around the house. But Jimmy, he is such a softie! I thought Jimmy and I were going to get into a fight because he wanted to buy Kate a set of play tools (he is thinking she's a little tomboy) and I wanted to buy her girlie stuff. So, instead of the tools, Jimmy saw this bubble maker that you hook up to the bathtub faucet, this thing makes these foamy bubbles, so he got that and I picked out a little girl's makeup kit. She liked them both, but between you and me, I think she liked the makeup more..ha.. Below are a few pics of our little Katie Bug!

These two pics were taken last year.

I think putting on makeup is in a girl's genes!

Trying to get the tangles of her hair! I promise, it only looks like it hurts...ha..

Casey's Graduation Cruise

2009-06-25T06:30:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it back! We had a great time on our cruise! The only tragedy was the first night on the cruise a woman fell overboard and was never found. My heart just goes out to this person's family! Even though none of us knew this person, we all still said a prayer for her and her family.
When we got to Cozumel we went to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville and ate dinner. Casey was wanting to get Bryce (her boyfriend) a shirt from there. We also got a coupon for a free appetizer, so that was our purpose of eating there. The fried calamari was fine!! But the rest of the food was ok. When I go back I'm going to try this mexican resturant that the rep. on the ship recommended. We walked by it and the food smelled wonderful! After dinner we walked around downtown and then took a taxi back to the port and walked around the shops at the port. The only drawback to mexico is people is begging you to buy their stuff. It was hard for me because I'm a tender hearted person and I wanted to help everyone out. But eventually I got the hang ignoring them. You just have to do that or they will bug you to death!
When we got to Calica we took and excursion to the Mayan Ruins of Tulum. Absolutely worth going to see! We saw so many iguanas there. The tour guide said it helped to keep the snakes away. But we did see a snake on one of the ruins. The ruins overlooked the ocean, beautiful! We were able to walk down to the ocean and swim for a few hours. That was the highlight of the trip. The water was awesome! We did drank our share of salt water from the waves that were too big for us to jump. But eventually we got the hang of jumping the waves and was pretty good at it.

The cruise ship, Holiday, was ok. It is Carnival's oldest and smallest ship. So it wasn't the most elaborate ship but the crew and the shows made up for it being an older ship. I think we had to best waitress, Saifon. She was so funny. Each night the crew had to do a song and dance for all of us and Saifon had no rhythm! It was fun to watch. The food was good, especially the fresh fruit!
FYI for those thinking of going on a cruise, the Holiday is being sold in November. The ship, Fantasy, that currently leaves out of New Orleans is moving to Mobile and New Orleans is getting another ship. Fantasy is a newer and bigger ship, so it will be nice once that happens.Below are a few pics from the trip. Enjoy!

Check out the iguana behind Tracy!

Graduation Day!

2009-05-26T08:54:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official, Casey is now a graduate! Congratulations! It rained off and on all day Friday. The graduation ceremony is usually outside on the football field, but it was touch and go for a minute... Finally the school board (or who even makes the decision) decided to go for it, to keep it outside and pray that the rain holds off. I started drizzling around 6:40 and out came the umbrellas.. But by 6:55 it had stopped raining and the ceremony started. It was really nice, the temp was cool, but at least it wasn't sticky hot, and the rain wasn't great for the hairdo's, but it was still nice.... After graduation everyone went back to Tracy and Robin's house for food. It was really good. We had regular fried shrimp, shrimp wrapped in bacon and fried, boiled shrimp, shrimp alfredo, do I sound like Bubba from Forest Gump??ha.. Vegetable tray with dip, pork loins, baked beans, squash caserole, and I don't know what else, but it was all good! Three weeks left until Tracy, Casey and I head off to Mobile for our cruise. I'm so looking forward to it! Below are a few pics from Friday night.

More of Casey

2009-05-21T11:55:00.000-07:00

My first two years of community college I was on the dance team. Casey loved watching me practice. While I was in my second year and she was a year older she would memorize my dance moves. I would be in my room practicing and she would be right beside me dancing. It was so cute! During my second year on the dance team we wore these high heeled dance shoes; so I would practice wearing my shoes. One time "we" were practicing and she got a little too close when it was time to do kicks. Yes, I kicked her right on the head. I would almost swear she did a backward flip. After that I paid close attention to her where abouts while I was practicing.

Casey was real good about smiling for the camera when taking the candid pictures. But she WOULD NOT let you take her to Wal Mart to get her portait taken. She would cry, cry and throw a fit. One day I got her all dressed up and was determined to get her pictures taken if it took all day. This photo of she and I took two hours of coaxing before she would let the photographer take her picture. The photographer insisted that we have a picture taken together.

She wanted her hair to grow sooo bad, so she could wear it in pigtails. This was her first pigtails.

I think she's buck naked in this picture, I'm hiding her naked booty!

When brother, Jake, came everything changed. She was no longer the baby! Tomorrow I'll tell you how she helped me through one of my toughest trial.

Casey Faye

2009-05-20T07:51:00.000-07:00

My girl, Casey, is graduating Friday night! I can't believe that she has grown up on me. It just seemed like yesterday she was born. She and I have a special bond since she was born. When Casey was little Tracy was going through a bought of health problems and Robin was either going to school or working. So I kept Casey with me as much as possible. There has been many days when I would go straight from school, pick her up from daycare, and spend the night with Tracy and Robin so that I could take her to daycare the next morning and then I go back to school. In the summers when I wasn't going to school or working, Casey was with me. Over the years we had so much fun. Now, we did have our share of fights. And, I think I have spanked those little legs much more than her mom and dad.... But in the end, we always love each other. So the next week or so I'm going to devote my blogging to Casey. Don't get the wrong impression, I love all of my nieces and nephews and when each one of them graduates I will devote blogging time for them, also.

Our first meeting. I swear she's smiling, love at first sight!!

I thought it was fitting that we start with my graduation and end with her graduation.

Tomorrow, more stories and pics...

Happy Birthday Claire!

2009-05-20T06:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Claire's 1st birthday! This year has went by fast. It just seemed like yesterday she was born. David and Elizabeth had cake last night. Claire wasn't shy with the cake. She dove right in! She had fun doing it. It's amazing how much a child grows from year to year and how much they learn. Their little brains is like a sponge! Big sister, Kate, was a little jealous b/c of the attention Claire was getting, but hey, this was the first birthday experience... She'll get better. Below are a few pictures of precious Claire!

This Week at the Moore's House

2009-05-14T05:51:00.000-07:00

Not much has been going on in the Moore house this week. Monday Jimmy traded his truck for a new truck. It's very nice! Bright red Ford F350 dooley. He is on cloud nine! Every night this week he had told me that he is really, really enjoying his truck. All of you that knows Jimmy knows he is not a flashy or high maintenance person. But while we were looking at different trucks and this red one came along he just fell in love. He doesn't get excited about a lot of things but he got excited about this red truck! So now we both have red vehicles! Tuesday night Jimmy and I both had sinus headaches, so we were good for nothin'! I fixed tuna salad for dinner and we laid around and watched the Biggest Loser finale. I was rooting for either Mike or Tara; but Helen shocked everyone and won it! Last night I had UMW Night Circle meeting (United Methodist for Women). It was really great to have a bible study and just have a fellowship with the women. I really enjoy those meetings. This weekend pray that we don't receive rain until Saturday night. Jimmy's cousin, John Robert Pepper, is getting married Saturday afternoon and it's suppose to be an outside wedding. Saturday we have 50% chance of rain in the forecast. I just pray that it won't start until Saturday night! Hope all have a great weekend, be safe!!

Cleaning House

2009-05-06T12:13:00.000-07:00

Do you ever get in those kinds of moods where you need to do things but you just can't seem to get around to it? That was me this weekend. Friday was my day off and I had planned to clean house. But instead of cleaning I did other things like slept late, went walking, cooked lunch, got clothes together to take to the cosignment shop (never got around to taking them yet) before I knew it, it was Friday night. So I put off house cleaning until Saturday. Saturday I woke up, drank a few cups of coffee and ate breakfast. I then got dressed b/c I really needed to go grocery shopping before I started my cleaning. When I got ready to go grocery shopping I called Jimmy just to let him know where I'ld be. He told me if I would wait about 15 minutes he would be finished and would go with me. So, once he came home, took a quick shower, dressed and we were off to the grocery store. We ended up going to Jackson, then Dogwood, then lunch, then grocery store. By the time we got home cleaning house was the last thing I wanted to do, also I had to bake a cake for Sunday. So it was, again, put off until Sunday afternoon (already made plans to go to Philly on Sunday morning). Sunday, we got up, I taught Sunday School, then we headed to Philly. We had a good lunch with my parents, Tracy & Jake, and my Uncle Keith and Aunt Marsha. After that the ladies headed off to a tea for a cousin who's getting married. So we didn't get back home until late Sunday afternoon. By that time I gave Jimmy an ultimatium (is that how you spell it?). "You have the choice of doing floors which means vaccuuming and mopping or dusting and cleaning bathrooms...... But we were too tired on Sunday so I told him that Monday was THE CLEANING DAY! While at work on Monday I called Jimmy to see if he was psyched about cleaning that afternoon and to also tell him we would clean once I got back from the tanning bed.... He had spent a good portion of his day doing little odd jobs to the camper and he was getting ready to wash it. Once I got home Monday afternoon the cleaning began! He had the floors vaccuumed and I was STILL cleaning his shower. I soon realized why he wanted floors... By the time I got our bathroom cleaned and ready to tackle the front bathroom, he was finished with the entire floors. So he thought it was time for him to take a rest, yeah right.... When I got to the front bathroom I noticed that around the toilet area the floor was turning blue. I thought "How odd..." And funny how Jimmy didn't notice while he was mopping the bathroom floor (that's how observant he is when doing house work). Anyway, I called Jimmy to the bathroom the investigate and turned out that the toilet had been leaking quite some time. Because we hardly ever use the front bathroom, it was not noticed. So, Jimmy pulled up some of the floor covering and saw that the floor was beginning to rot. Yuck! Jimmy's job was just beginning.... He, his little brother and dad worked on the bathroom well over two hours. Once they removed the toilet and pulled up the flooring the rottened floor wasn't as much as they thought. They were able to cut the wet floor out, replace the floor and then put another piece of floor covering to pretty much match what we already had. One of Jimmy's Uncle had been remodeling their house and they had everthing we needed to fix the bathroom. Once we put the toilet back on, my magazine rack and waste basket, you really can't tell the floor covering isn't the same. I'm just glad we didn't have to fork out the money for an entire new floor. Or I would be crying as I'm blogging this story... By the time we got finished with everything we were pooped and it was late. We both slept so good Monday night! But I think we both learned a lesson to not procrastinate the house cleaning! I'm just so thankful that I have a hubby who doesn't think house work is a "woman's job"!

2009-04-30T08:29:00.000-07:00

How long has it been since my last post? Two weeks or more? And did I not say that I would be posting Easter pics soon.....? I know, it seems it's been one thing after another. We had a great Easter. Saturday before Easter I went to Philly. My sister and her bunch came up. We had a great time. One little incident.... Earlier in the week Jake stayed a few days with mom and dad. Well, he was in the woods and came across a king snake. I know, king snakes are not poisonous, but I don't care. Snakes are my NUMBER ONE fear. Just the thought of them freaks me out. I was first to arrive Saturday. We were outside when Jake told me, "I have something to show you, wait here". I asked dad and he just said to wait and see. I had a bad feeling about it.... Then here come Jake holding this snake and it's wrapped around his hand. It was not a huge snake but it wasn't a baby snake either. Jake didn't want to scare me with it, he was just showing me, but I LOST IT. I think I scared dad (and maybe Jake) a little when he saw that I was almost to the point of hyperventilating. Jake didn't try to bring the snake close to me and dad informed him to not come any closer to me. Dad told me that he didn't realize I was that scared of them. I really am.... When Tracy and the rest got there, Bryce (Casey's boyfriend) and Buck (my little nephew) petted it, but they didn't feel the need of holding it. After that they walked to the woods and let it go free. After eating a big meal, we had a little B-day party for Jake and Buck. Jake turned 14 on April 18th and Buck turned 10 on April 14th. Then, it was time to hide eggs. The only person excited about it was Buck and I. He's ten years old, so this won't be a big deal to him too much longer. Buck and I filled the plastic eggs with candy but someone (not calling names) snuck $20 into one of the eggs. Nobody knew about it. While Tracy and I was outside hiding the eggs, someone inside let the secret out, that there was a $20 egg. So when Tracy and I went inside to let Buck know he can come and hunt the eggs, well EVERYONE ran outside to look for that $20 egg (and they were saying finding eggs was babyish...ha...). It was fun to watch b/c we had almost 50 plastic eggs hid... But Jake finally found the $20 egg. Buck pouted a little, but he did find it fair and square.... Easter Sunday was a quiet and peaceful day. My sister-in-law (Elizabeth), Kate, Claire and Andrew went to Missouri to see her parents since it was a long weekend; so, we didn't have any kids to hide eggs for and such. So we had a nice meal and was lazy the rest of the day. It was great! Below are a few pictures from Easter at Philly....

Congratulations, Jake! Buck, so sad......

Easter Preparations

2009-04-10T13:37:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pictures of Kate and I doing some Easter cooking on Sunday. We baked sugar cookies and cupcakes. That night we had an eating at church and we took the cookies and cupcakes. They were a big hit, especially with the younger crowd.

Kate kept on popping sugar cookie dough in her mouth when she thought I wasn't looking...

When you're just the aunt, you can let them eat what ever they want....

I may spoil her, but I do make her take a nap! As you can see, we had a great day!

I'm going to Philly tomorrow for Easter lunch/Buck & Jake's B-day party with my family. Hope to come back with pics... Happy Easter!

2009-04-06T12:27:00.000-07:00

I know, it's been a while.... There haven't been much to talk about... Last weekend, I along with the Moore girls threw a lingerie shower for a soon to be Moore cousin, Stefanie. Below are a picture of us girls, left to right (Beth Moore, Amy (Moore) Russell, Stefanie (bride-to-be), Elizabeth Moore, Jennifer (Moore) Smith, Becca Moore and me...

We had a blast! We put panties (thanks to Becca) on the light fixtures and had glitzy cupcakes. I took my ring home and told Jimmy I wanted a ring like that, but real. He told me in my dreams...

We played games such as hot potatoe. And the famous "macho on the male". It's kind of like pin the tail on the donkey; but you're pinning make parts on the male. The person who get the closest to the bullseye wins. I bought this game several years ago and it's always a blast to play at lingerie parties. I keep the game underneath my bed in the guest bedroom, so if you come to my house, don't look underneath the bed..ha..

Stefanie had a wonderful party. She got lots of cute and fun things, especially the chocolate flavored mouse.

It was nice to for the girls to get together and hang out. You know, these parties are excuses to do some major "girl talk". There were some red faces, but most part, we had a blast!