Memphis Zoo Trip

Here are some pictures from our trip to the zoo while we were in Memphis. Aunt Salama joined us on our excursion.

Lots of pics went into your Christmas card! Merry Christmas!

Here are some pictures of the girls during my efforts to get some pictures for a Christmas card. The last three are the award winning shots most of you saw on the Christmas card.

Click here to see the scrub pics that did not make the cut!

Amira's FIRST Dance Performance!

Here is the big performance that they talked about for weeks before it came. Amira is on the left side of the screen.

You can see it here in small but better quality or click here for a larger but less quality view.




A BIG Thanks to Ms. Nicole for working with them and teaching them the dance!!! They did AWESOME!!

THE DANCERS!

Photo Shoot at the House today

Thanksgiving in Miami

Amira and Jasmine in Memphis

Here are some pictures of Amira and her cousin Jasmine when we visited Memphis a few weeks ago.

Amira's Ribbon Dance Class

Here we are headed to class:


Amira got a lil frustrated in class since some of the girls wouldn't pay attention and the teacher had to stop and give more instructions.

You can tell from these videos that although this is a 2 year old class she is ready for the next level class. Come on Ms. Natarsha!!

Amanda is such a little sister sometimes!

Who likes to eat, who likes to play......Amanda versus Amira?!?!

This video proves who likes to eat and who likes to play in our house!

Pictures and video from last night

My Amanda is turning into a big girl

Amira really likes taking pictures....can u tell?!?!

Amira singing Jesus loves me

Amira luvs being taped!

Amira has memorized books that we read a lot so we try to get Amanda to let her big sister read to her sometimes.....she ain't havin it!

Animal sounds by Amanda

All about that FORCED luv!

Amira comes up with all kinds of ways to stay up as long as she can!

Girlz nite slumber party!

Jacquelle went on his annual Men’s Retreat so Amira slept in the bed with me and Amanda woke up too early so I put her in our bed too. I really enjoy sleeping as a family…..too bad Jacquelle doesn’t or we would have a slumber party in bed at least once a month. Here are some pics of my sleeping beauties. I had just taken Amira’s braids down the night before so excuse the afro!

Da butt?!?!

Jacquelle and I go back and forth about how big Amanda’s butt really is. He tries to convince himself that it’s her diapers but I know her butt is big because I carried that big butt inside of me:) Here are some pics to prove my point:

My 31st Birthday

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My 31^st birthday started out poppin’ in more ways than one. Most people know I’m a fairly simple person so all I really wanted was a popcorn popper and that’s what I got. Amira presented me with the gift that she and Jacquelle wrapped the night before and she was bursting with excitement. Since we had taken the day off from work we had a popcorn party for breakfast.

Tried to get a cute picture for my birthday before they went to school but they wouldn’t cooperate with each other.

I was trying to get Amira and Amanda on tape "Praisin da Lord" but this was a much much milder version of their shoutin dance. I'll try to get a better one of them at a later date.

I had a small cake so there was only room for the number 3!

Amira who's birthday is it?

Our article in the newspaper

In case you didn’t know, Jacquelle loves car shopping. Whether it be for us or some stranger on the street that mentions they are in the market for a car. We both took off work for my birthday and guess what we did for MY birthday…..went car shopping. No we don’t need a car but since they say it’s a buyer's market we just decided to see if we could get the deal we wanted and walk away with a 2009 Camry. They didn't agree to our deal so we didn't get a new car but we randomly ended up getting interviewed and in the newspaper.

Here is the article: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1259634.html

Here is the picture: http://www.newsobserver.com/859/v-pop_gallery/gallery/1259635-a1259632-t4.html

Surprise Birthday Party for Mrs. Leggett

We decided to surprise Mrs. Leggett for her birthday (which happens to be on the same day as mine…..I told Jacquelle we were meant:). Ciara (Jacquelle’s lil sis) and I invited lots of family members and friends at the last minute to come out to Outback and celebrate. She was extremely surprised…..she was even more surprised when her baby boy Myron showed up from Greensboro.Amanda acted like she didn't know Uncle Kent

Amira "helped" eat all of Cameron's fries off his plate and didn't touch her food. He's such a nice cousin to her!

Cousin Laila was rocking her afro-puffs!

Myron and Ciara

My rebirth as a runner!

I joined a Women’s Beginner running group towards the end of the summer so I could get back in the groove of running and so I could finally learn to run long distances with my two little ladies in the jogging stroller. It is definitely an adjustment pushing weight and not being able to use your arms when running. Overall it was a great experience and I hope to keep it going so we can participate in many runs together.

This is at one of our weekly Saturday group run.

This is at the finale 5K run we all participated in together. I ran it in about 30 minutes which I thought was pretty good. I hope to do even better at my next run and I'm looking for running partners so let me know if you want to join me.

NOTE: I would DEFINITELY recommend this running program for anyone interested. It is set up for women who have never run or those who haven't run in awhile. We started out running and walking at different distances and intervals and built up to running 3 miles.

Welcome Monika to Raleigh!

I don’t have any pictures for this post but my baby cousin Monika moved up here from New Jersey. I wish I had taken a picture of her driving that 10ft budget pulling her car behind it. She drove all night by herself from New Jersey.....she is definitely a tough sistah. She is finishing her thesis for her Masters at Seton Hall and working a security position til 10pm each night so we don’t get to hang out much now since she's pretty busy with both her jobs. She’s staying right next door in the rental property so Amira and Amanda like to go over and knock on her door and bug her. It’s so nice to have some family up here in NC.

Welcome Annie to the family!

Here is our new puppy Annie. We got her from a local rescue agency in late August and she has been a handful so hopefully she will remain a part of the family. She has a jumping and nipping/biting problem which is really hard to deal with when you are trying to get to the car for work. If Jacquelle had his way she might already be gone.

I called a dog trainer and they told me to start squirting her with a water bottle to correct her but that only worked for awhile. She also seems to have an incontinence problem because she gets really excited and pees at our feet when we first come out in the morning and when we first get home. Any suggestions would help since I’d love to keep her around!

She's an 8 month old black lab mix.

Rusty still is and always will be my first dog luv:) We have had him for 2 yrs and he was a rescue as well. He's almost 3 years old.

Happy 50th Anniversary Tarts!

Aunt Glenda and Uncle Kent had a great vow renewal ceremony and Amira was able to be a part of the ceremony with her cousin Yassmin. Here are some pictures from the ceremony:

Amira, Cameron and Yassmin

Aunt Glenda and the girls

Amanda wasn't as excited as everybody else:)

Mr. and Mrs. Leggett (my in-laws)