Moving up!

On 5/14/10 Ella Catherine said good bye to the Honeybears and on 5/17/10 she became a Leaping Frog.

1st day as a leaping frog.

What a difference a year makes....

Wow, what a difference a year makes. We are so very grateful that Carter is a healthy happy little boy. He turned 1 on 5/20/10 and decided that he was done with only the occasional walking and decided to take off..literally! He walked from our kitchen to the front door the morning of his birthday and there has been no turning back. He is so very proud of himself as are we. It still shocks me a little when I see him walk into a room. Just seems like yesterday he was a baby and now he is approaching toddlerhood at an increasing speed. He had his 12 mo check up and he is 25lbs 2 oz (81st%), 30inches tall (72%). He has 8 teeth and is working on his molars. He has been off the bottle since he was about 11 months old and LOVES his sippy cup and whole milk. He is now eating what the big kids eat at school...no more baby food. Always a blessing and a curse. Trying to get all the veggies and fruits in is always a new challenge with the difference in textures. We are lucky that he likes food and is a good eater. As you can tell from his stats, he doesn't miss many meals. :)

His teachers and classmates threw him a little party at school on his birthday. I provided the blueberry muffins....no cupcakes in the infant room. :) Then we had a party at the house for family and close friends. He had a ball and we had so much fun watching him.

Annual Mother-son birthday picture.

His classmates made this cute banner for him. It is signed with all their hand prints/ foot prints

Sitting at the big table eating his muffins
Birthday boy!

The birthday cake His smash cake
Getting ready to dig in!

MMMM. Cake!
Taking his bike for a spin

Loving his new lawn mower. He pushes it all over the house.
The Crew: Erich, Ella Catherine, Carter and Reese.

Graduations

We had 3 big graduations in the family this year. Christopher graduated from Christian Brother's High School. Cori and Michael graduated from eigth grade. We are very proud of all 3 of them.
Michael receiving his History award at his eigth grade acheivements ceremony.

Michael, John, Chris and Debbie before Christian Brother's High School Graduation 2010

Lori, Kelly and Cori at St. Joseph Catholic school eigth grade graduation 2010

School Pictures

Carter's DayCare Class "The Lady Bugs": From Left to right: Miss Anita, Molly, Sarah, Gabriel, Sofia, Miss Linda, Lucia, Sloan , Carter

Ella Catherine's Preschool Picture "The HoneyBears": from left to right: (top) Shufei, Micah, Ilan, Ella Catherine, and Miss Kenithia (middle) Miss Kristin, Ivy, Bella, Chris and Tanner (bottom) Zuri, Bryce and Lucy

Nashville Flood

May came in with a BANG this year in Nashville. The first weekend in May, we received over 13 inches of rain in less than 48hours. As a result it caused massive flooding all over the city of Nashville. Before our power went out on Saturday I was in disbelief as I saw an 18 wheeler completely submerged in water on I-24 and the mobile home that it had been carrying actually floating down I-24. I knew that the Harpeth River which runs along side our neighborhood was swelling and that it could come over its bank but I never fathomed how far above the bank it would actually rise. We realized that we were flooded in when Matt tried to run to the grocery store for me. For the rest of the morning we tried to get some work done around the house all the while keeping an eye on the rising water as it continued to rain. Mid-morning Matt put on his waiters and began going from house to house helping our neighbors salvage their belongings as the water continued to rise and start invading their homes. What started as salvaging belongings turned into saving people from their flooded homes. Our neighbor had a bass boat and he and Matt drove around rescuing people. Around 5pm Matt came back by the house and told me to pack a bag for myself and the kids with at least 3 days worth of clothing and supplies. I think initially I was in shock but eventually began packing. The kids and I waited in line to get on a boat and be transported out of our neighborhood to safety. It was such a surreal experience to be taken by boat accross an area that we usually drive and walk. the current was unbelieveable! The kids were excellent through the whole process. One of Matt's co-workers and friend met us on the other side and drove us to Kimberly's house. Matt stayed back and continued to help people get themselves, their children and their animals on the boats and off to safety. He got Baylor and Elway and they took the very last boat out that evening around 9pm. We were not very concerned about our house flooding but we had no power and very little food. The Nashville Rescue team was telling us it could be as long as a week before we had power. Luckily, we were house sitting for some friends and we actually went and sat in their house! We can not say thank you enough to them for letting us invade their home while they were away. We are VERY blessed and VERY lucky that our house did not sustain any flood damage.

Our hearts go out to those that did have their homes flooded. It is devastating to drive through the hardest hit areas and see all the debris on the streets and the gutted homes. You honestly can not imagine the extent until you see it first hand. We continue to pray for all the families affected and are trying to work through our church to reach out to people and help. Please keep Nashville in your prayers.