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.

Pool Fun

Here are some pictures of Amira and Amanda in the pool after church. I started out with very very very cold water....I don't know if us having well water has anything to do with that. Well the girls weren't having it....Amira would only stand up and Amanda would hold on to me super tight when I put her big toe in the water so as to say...."Mama pleez don't put me in this artic water!"

About an hour of me sitting out there trying to get them to get used to the artic water Jacquelle comes home and puts a big cooler full of hot water in the pool. Let's just say I'm happy I was able to get them out of the water without a fight. They had such a good time after the water warmed up! I wish I would have video taped them splashing with each other....it was hilarious.

NC Zoo Trip

We took a trip to the NC Zoo and we had a good time although somebody should have told us to stretch before going in since the zoo seems about 300 miles from one end to the other with steep hills in the middle.
Here's a picture of Amira and the giraffes:



Amira in the helicopter:
My exhaustion from pushing the stroller up the mountain of a hill:
This is the beginning of them getting tired:

And this is the end result:

Fun Friday at Day Care

Here are some pictures from Fun Friday at the girls day care. This is the day after Amanda's surgery so I was off work at home with her although she probably could have gone to day care just fine. We decided to drop by and watch Amira and her friends get wet up.

Amanda's recovering WELL!!!

Miss Amanda had her surgery today (tubes in her ears and little bumps removed from the sides of her pinkie fingers). She has recovered extremely well. We weren't expecting any side effects from the surgery but we were expecting her to take a little while to get back to herself after the anesthesia. She was fine by the time we got home from the hospital. Although the surgery was with two different surgeons it only took maybe 10-12 minutes total but we still don't like our little lady to have to "go under" for any amount of time.

Here's a video from yesterday and just so happens you can see one of the little bumps. I'll have to post an after surgery shot when we take the bandages off so we can see how well the award-winning plastic surgeon at Duke has done.

Here are some pictures and a couple videos of her (with her bandaged hands) and her big sister this afternoon in the yard doing one of their favorite things ......riding in the infamous red wagon (thanks Grandma Holmes).

Amira starts posing with her eyes(you have to watch America's Next Top Model to understand:). She thought I was taking a picture. That lil girl is hilarious.
It's funny to watch Amanda imitate her sister "snatching" (although all she snatches is air):

I'm getting over it quicker this time....

Well well well Miss. Amanda is done nursing. We lasted 11 months and I was hoping for one more month or at least until she turns 1 on the 24th but she spent time away with The Leggetts while I had to travel for work and when I went to pick her up she was not interested. I felt like I would cry.

It was almost as if she felt my sadness so when we got back home that night she nursed for the last time. I had a feeling it was the last time so I prepared myself just in case. It's funny because I complain complain and complain some more about pumping my milk when I'm away and at work (Jacquelle can definitely witness to this) but when she decides to stop nursing I'm all sad about it. I guess maybe I'm a control freak sometimes and I want to stop when I want to stop.

I had a much harder time when Amira decided to stop nursing 2 days before her 1st birthday. I have recovered a lot quicker this time.....and who knows maybe I'll get to nurse again in my life.........that's still in the air for now:)

New post....but old post...?

I had some old posts that I’d saved but never posted dated back to April so I posted those and some other old ones with some old videos and pictures. Be SURE to go down to the clip from April 8th about Amanda sharing....it is hilarious. However, here are some fairly up to date pictures of the girls in the slideshow. They are from here at home, Father's Day at Grandpa Leggett's house, and when we were in Memphis for Rico's graduation.

Click here for slideshow:http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=63661d2cd83a7a64e9438e&skin_id=402&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=email

Yet another graduate!

Jacquelle's younger brother Myron graduated this year too so we have two graduates in our family. Myron will attend NC A&T on a scholarship as well. Myron was very excited to be DONE with school I must say. The Leggett's did a cookout for him but I didn't get any pictures there.However, here are some from the raduation. Myron is working not one but two jobs this summer to support his fashionable wardrobe and shoe collection:) You betta go Myron!

Click here for slideshow:

http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=6364a25deff677f9cc830e&skin_id=405&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=email

Amanda's a Christian now...

One of Jacquelle's cousins asked me a couple months ago...."When are you going to make Amanda a Christian?"....which translates to when is her dedication ceremony at church. Well Amanda became a Christian on June 1, 2008....she will give her life to Christ at her own will in the future but we dedicated her to the Lord on this day in front of her grandparents, both aunts, uncle, great aunt and uncle, and great-granddaddy. We did a dinner at the house but unfortunately I was too busy to take any pictures. Here are some pictures from before and after church:

So proud of my oldest nephew....

As you may know my sister has 7 children.....well Rico (the oldest) graduated this May!! It was a very exciting time because not only did he graduate but he graduated in the top 10% with a scholarship to Lambuth College. I am sooooooooooo very proud of him and he is such a great role model for his 5 little brothers and little sister (and stepsister too).

My sister gave him a breakfast at the church the morning before graduation so here are some pictures from that.

Rico with Cardiss and Celena (our beautiful cousins)
Rico with Phillip and Aaron (more cousins)

My hard working sisters and I

And here is the beaming graduate after graduation:

Devonte (2nd oldest) holding Amanda

Rico and KeAirr (the coolest of the younger brothers)

Click here for slideshow:
http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=6363faffcf3706e2e39e26&skin_id=405&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=email

Amira has something to say.....

Amira luvs being on the camera and watching it play back so I decided to tape her over and over and over again. I won't humor you with all the clips but here are a few. The last clip she got a little frustrated by her daddy interrupting her in the middle of her thought asking for another request:)

Amanda's trying hard to crawl!

Reach out and touch somebody...

Amanda sleeps with us more often than she sleeps in her bed. She is such a touchy feely baby and likes to be close and feel your warmth. Well when she sleeps with us she snuggles right up under Jacquelle and she usually tries to have one hand touching him and another part of her body touching him to make sure he’s still there. This morning was no exception…..here is a picture of them sleeping with both her requirements filled:)

I'm still here!

I'm still here but just busy busy busy these days. I'm starting a new project at work so I may not have time to post until the beginning of June which is my "soft" deadline for getting this project up and rolling. I have some material to post but I need to upload the pictures and videos as usual.

I have a meeting in New Bern this week so the girls are here with me and we have had a ball!!! I am so happy Aunt Dorothy was able to come and keep them during the day so I could have my evenings with my little ladies.

Anyways, just wanted you to know that I will have some posts coming soon!

I experienced my first and last earthquake!

I did a talk at University of Missouri and at 4:39am on Friday (April 18). I woke up to my bed shaking and all the doors in my room shaking. I was in a bed and breakfast that was an old house so things were creaky anyway so I tried to convince myself that someone was walking really hard in the hallway. Then I realized that my bed was really shaking and I KNEW in my heart that it was an earthquake. I decided to let it go but couldn’t get back to sleep. I tried to convince myself that it couldn’t have been an earthquake but I knew it was. I was relieved when at breakfast someone asked “Did you feel the earthquake?”…..I knew I wasn’t crazy! Thankfully I had a flight out of there soon after so I was hoping not to experience any aftershocks.