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)

Kejuan’s Send Off Party to Piney Woods School (my alma mater)

My 3^rd oldest nephew is now attending Piney Woods School (one of the few remaining historically African-American boarding schools in the United States). We gave him a send off party so here are some pictures from that. I tried to label my nieces and nephews based on their birth order. People who haven't seen them in awhile will be shocked at how much they all have grown.

Amira being clingy to Kejuan before the party (she rotated which cousin to cling to throughout the day)

My nephew Dacari (6th oldest), Amira and Cousin Phillip

Kejuan with Devonte (2nd oldest) and Cousin Eric in the background

My sister Salama and her friend Angela (she may as well be part of the family)

Brianna (5th oldest) and my brother-in-law Byron

Brianna and Kaylah (7th oldest) strike a pose

Kejaun in the kicthen aggravating the cooks (mama and Salama)

Keairr (4th oldest) and Kaylah made up a little jingle to get the party started

Here are Keairr and Kejuan clowning around before everybody got there....they were imitating some of my mama's African music....hilarious!

Here is their jingle....Kaylah gave a shout out to everybody leaving home for school and made EVERY single person at the party dance with her. I just posted a few of them below.

Here is Rico "twirling" Kaylah for his dance performance

Here is Sandra taking it back ole school for her dance performance


Mama's performance was BY FAR the BEST of all. She had us crying laughing.

We had such a good time sending Kejuan off to school.

Amanda's 1st Birthday!

Amanda had her 1st birthday party at day care. Here's the big girl with her smirky smile waiting on us to sing Happy Birthday!


Here are the vegan, all natural cupcakes I made with some whip cream and sprinkles added. For those of you that are doubters of my vegan food.....they actually tasted very good! Amira and I fixed them together that morning before day care......she felt like it was her birthday:)

NOTE: For those of you like Trina that will probably try making these cupcakes, I never use the coconut extract and they turn out fine. I also use the unbleached flour and natural/raw cane sugar instead of white sugar.

Amira, Farrah and Jill are waiting patiently for their cupcakes.
At least Farrah liked my cupcakes.....Amira liked the whip cream and sprinkles and Jill just wasn't in the mood for a cupcake:)
Amanda is right where she wants to be.....in her daddy's arms. She is sooooooooo much a daddy's girl.

Here are some pictures of my big girls after day care. It's hard to believe how fast they grow up....some days I wish I could pause time for awhile and keep them where they are.....other days I dream about them going to college so Jacquelle and I can go to the movies on a weeknight and then to IHOP at 1am just because.