Christmas 2009

Well, Christmas has come and gone and I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! We sure did at the Perry household. Busy, but merry!

The week started out with festivities at the in laws'. The whole gang was together and everyone was happy with their gifts and the kids had tons of fun outside, it was rather warm that day.

On Christmas Eve, my mom and stepdad come up and stay the night so that they can see what Santa brought the next morning. We had our feast and watched the traditional National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and added A Christmas Story to the agenda this year. We baked cookies for Santa and the kids set them out for him. They awoke to many gifts that were wanted and some that they didn't even ask for.

On Saturday, we had Christmas with my brother and sister and then traveled to Ashdown to my dad's and visited there for a bit.

Hope everyone has a HAPPY NEW YEAR and after turning the big 3-0 tomorrow, I can't wait to see what 2010 will bring us!

Christmas Time is Here!!!

As you can see, everyone in the Perry household is ready for Christmas, even Lola, the cat! She loves to lay under my tree every year and then gets mad at me when I put presents under it. Isn't she sweet?!

This is our tree this year. You can't see my spriggly things that I'm using this year for the tree topper, but I was just playing around with my camera on this picture.This is my attempt at the kids' Christmas picture for this year. They were super good and sweet!! I think it turned out ok!

They continued to pose for me even after I got the picture that I wanted. This is usually a task for my kids. They are not the ones that love to pose! I guess anything with Santa though, will get you in the mood! :)

Love his picture of Jackson!! Looks so sweet and innocent!

Last, but not least, my neice, Ashley, was the lead in her senior play. She played Alice from the play "Wonderland". She did a very good job and we are super proud of her!!!

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!! Not sure if anyone even reads this anymore, but I know Debbi will see it! ha

Our Summer in Photos...

I haven't posted since the last day of school and here it is, a week and a half into the NEW school year. I guess you could say I took the summer off or was addicted to facebook in a bad way, whichever you prefer....(your fault Debbi!! haha I would never have been on facebook if it wasn't for you! ha) Anyway, I hope everyone had an enjoyable summer. I have kept up with everyone's blogs even if I didn't comment. This summer was very uneventful, which is good in a way. I needed some peace and time to slow down since last summer was so busy and spent living at my in laws out of boxes!

The summer started off with the 52nd or 53rd (can't remember) Annual Bradley County Pink Tomato Festival, which is what I blogged about on my very first blog on here 2 years ago! It was a sweltering 103 this day and with Arkansas humidity, you might as well say it was 115! This is the only pic I got of the kids together. They had their hair painted by the local cheerleaders.

Next event of the summer was the 4th of July. This is, once again, the only pic of them together. Chris was shooting fireworks while we watched on the porch. We weren't able to do very many fireworks since there was a burn ban and we didn't want to set anything on fire!

Sometime in July, we went to visit my dad who moved to Ashdown a year or so ago. This is the first time I had been there. My grandfather (dad's dad) from St. Louis was in town and we went to visit. He is 89 years old and drove all the way from St. Louis by himself. He got lost 4 times....


Next the summer brings August 19th...the first day of 2nd grade for Jackson and

the first grade for Lauren!

And also, 9 years of marriage was celebrated by my hubby buying me a 2 carat black diamond that I picked out a ring for!! I love it! I got him a new golf bag and golf balls! ha

And this brings me to this past Saturday...Jackson's 8th birthday! I could remember the day of his birth like it was yesterday!! He weighed 8 lbs. 7 1/4 oz!!

It was also a momentous day not only for him turning 8, but he received as his gift from us, his very first set of golf clubs. We are a golf family and this is special to us!! I can't wait to take pics of him when his dad takes him to play on the course this weekend!! I know a tear will be in my eye! I always wanted him to play golf even before he was conceived! :)

That brings you up to speed on the Perry Family!! Hope to post more often as we get back into the swing of things!!

Graduation & Vacation!

Lauren graduated from Kindergarten Monday morning. She was so excited and sad at the same time. She had a great teacher this year. Jackson also had an awards ceremony that morning after her graduation. It was definately a busy day!

Here's the Class of 2021: (doesn't that sound mucho weird???)

Lauren received a trophy for Perfect Attendance for the whole year, she also had all A's this quarter, honor roll for the year, Citizenship Club for the year and Numberjack awards!

Jackson received awards for being a Handy Handwriter and Perfect Attendance. He did wonderful this year...a vast improvement. He had all A's except for his math and that is what held him off the honor roll. Go Jackson!

Thanks to Maury and Brian (Dena's hubby) for recommending places to stay in Gulf Shores. We have picked this one. It is in the Phoenix I. Not the most beautiful place, but hey...who says we will be in the room very much!? haha I'm soooooo excited for the kids to see the beach! This will be our first official family vacation. I can't wait!

Lauren's Birthday

Saturday was Lauren's birthday and her party was supposed to be at the city park. Unfortunately, it started to rain an hour before her party and didn't let up until that night, so we had to have the party at Mazzio's here in town. It was a disappointment, but I think the kids had fun.

Here's the cake that Tiffany made. So cute and soooo yummy! Thanks, Tiffany!

Lauren enjoying her cupcake.

Jackson taking a break to eat a piece of cake.

Lauren and the girls from her class:

She had a great day and thanks to everyone that came to the party or called to tell her Happy Birthday and Thanks, Kristy for the gift!! She got it on Saturday, we just haven't slowed down enough for her to call yet, but we will!

Happy Birthday, Lauren!

On May 23, 2003, my sweet baby girl was born at 7:35 p.m. weighing 7 lbs. 12 oz. and was 21 inches long. After only 11 and a half hours of labor, a wonderful epidural this time and one push, she was brought into this world! Nothing has been the same since! She and Jackson may fight sometimes (most of the time), but they do love each other. She is growing up to be the girly girl that I always wanted and I swear she thinks she is 26 sometimes! She loves her friends, family and horses! No, we do not have any horses, but she is convinced that she is getting one at her birthday party this year. Sorry to disappoint, but at least it is a My Little Pony themed birthday party! We love her very much and can't wait for many more birthday's to come!!

**I really wanted some pictures on here of her through the years, but I haven't set my printer/scanner up at our house yet**

This is Lauren on her birthday last year..

Going to preschool in 2007:

Jackson and Lauren being goofy, Spring 2008:

Lauren and Jackson in tub, 2007:

I'm so jealous of her tan already...I will never be that dark! :)

Our Week

New Moon Movie Poster:

Hope everyone is doing okay. I think most of us have slacked off on posting. It's so easily done considering time always seems to get by me. It has been a whirlwind the past of couple of weeks, that's for sure. In addition to the time slip, I have been uploading my pictures to my laptop at home and for some reason, the pictures aren't wanting to post to blogger. Very weird. So I have to go ahead and upload them to snapfish and copy them to my computer at work to even post...I have to admit, I am rather lazy..ha

Here is the picture of my rings. The main one in the middle is my engagement ring and if you squint and look really hard, you can see the teeny tiny thing that is considered my wedding band. So, I went and had these two bands put on each side of my existing ring. What do ya think? I likey! :)

The week started off with Lauren losing her very first tooth!

Lauren had her first real dance recital on Saturday. She had an informal one at Christmas, but this was full on with costumes and everything. It was very chaotic. She had practice everyday last week after school and on Friday was suppose to have pictures done, the photographer never showed up and the location that we were to have those done and do the dress rehersal was double booked by the mayor's office, so we got booted out. So, on Saturday morning, we had dress rehersal at 10 a.m. and then had pictures at 6 p.m. and recital at 7. Whew! I was glad for it to all be over, but sad in that it was something Lauren loves to do and she won't get to do it again until school starts in August. It was a Disney themed recital and the first song was Sebastian from The Little Mermaid singing Hot, Hot, Hot. So cute! The second song was Everybody wants to be a Cat from the Aristocats movie (not my fave). She did a GREAT job and we are very proud of her. She will turn 6 on Saturday...where has time gone? She is my baby!

Hope everyone has a great rest of the week!

Wordless Wednesday

Monday, Monday..

Hope everyone had a great mother's day! Mine was great and consisted of a nice day of relaxing, listening to the rain and I got two new rings to go on both sides of my wedding ring (pic to come later)! One from each kiddo! I have been wanting to do this for quite sometime and Daphne and Michael at Fugua's did not disappoint! Thanks Chris and my sweet children! :) Now, if only I could get rid of this cold that has been plaguing our house, I will be set!

Prayers go out to the family of Tasha Strong. She was a sweet girl that graduated the year before Chris and had an accident early Sunday morning, submerging her car in the overflow from the Saline River by the Possum Valley Road turnoff.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Wordless Wednesday

Boring..

If anyone had wondered (Debbi, :) ) where I have been...I have been around, just not busy. Absolutely nothing has happened around the Perry household. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining...but it hurts my posting. haha

I'm glad that the school year is winding down. Lauren will have a field trip on the 14th to the Pine Bluff Nature Center (Jackson went a couple of weeks ago). I was kinda bummed about this because normally every year for decades the Kindergarten has went to the zoo and I was looking forward to going with Lauren to that. I don't know what happened, but they aren't going this year. Lauren's first official dance recital is next Saturday, the 16th and I'm ready for that! She did such a great job at the Christmas one! And then, her 6th birthday is May 23rd! Where has time gone? Jackson will be 8 in August and that is crazy to me too!

I took the kids to see Disney on Ice last Saturday. It was fun and cute, but not as good as Finding Nemo on Ice. I have never really been a Peter Pan fan and the whole second half was Peter Pan. The kids had fun and that's what mattered!! They wanted to eat at Chuck E Cheese's, but I had to draw the line somewhere, so we eat at T.G.I.Friday's! I know, bad mommy!

Hope everyone has a great week!

Swine Flu Ad

In 1976, the U.S. had a swine flu outbreak..not a big one, but I saw this ad and had to share! So funny to me!

Wordless Wednesday

What a day!

My day did not start off good at all. Lauren argued with me over what outfit to wear (she's 5, what the crap?) and then on the way out the door, she argued about what shoes to wear. I tell her to wear a certain pair and, of course, she doesn't want to wear them and just sits on the porch. I tell her we are going to be late for school, she doesn't care. She finally gets up and comes to the car. Upon getting in the car, one her of her flip flops falls off. I tell her to get it and get in. She gets it, tries to get back in and it falls off again. I get out and get it and tell her to get her seatbelt on. She sits on the third row seat. Jackson sits on the second. When we arrive at school, Lauren climbs over to the second row and knocks over Jackson's Dr. Pepper that was in the cup holder and it spills on him. He starts bellering like someone has killed him and will not get out of the car. I have to drag him out and I tell him to have a good day. He then snarls and says that it is NOT going to be a good day! Wow, okay. I then go to the Donut Palace to get breakfast. While in line waiting, I put my makeup on. I poke my eye with the mascara wand and mascara goes all on the spot under my eye and makes me look like I have been crying for days. I get that cleaned up. I'm thinking to myself...it's going to get better! I get to work and get out of the car and drop my purse. As I lean down to pick it up, the large sonic cup I was holding gets smushed and dr. pepper runs down into my shirt, into my bra. I know have a sticky chest area to go along with my black eye! Things seem to calm down after this for the most part. I get home and Jackson has a note in his backpack from the principal. He and another boy got into trouble and will miss their recess tomorrow because they hit each other. Ugh! The one boy had his hand in Jackson's face, telling him to quit talking to him so Jackson slaps his hand down and tells him to get it out of his face. The boy then hits Jackson in his stomach and Jackson hits the boy in his back. Geez! On top of that, he brought home 2 strikes for playing and talking in class. Boy, I sure hope tomorrow is better!

Easter Weekend

***I have had this post ready for two days, but have been having trouble loading my pictures on here from my laptop. I will just have to post them later, especially the window ones.***

Hope everyone had a great Easter!! Judging from all the pictures, looks like everyone had fun! Our weekend started off with one of my neices coming to stay the night. She brought me some Fortune Cookie (yum!) and we watched the movie New in Town with Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick, Jr. I have to say that I was very disappointed! Not that great!

On Saturday, my mom came up to stay the night and we worked out in the yard. My father in law came over to bush hog and in doing so, got a piece of rebarb caught up in the bush hog part and it went slinging onto my back porch and and went through one of the windows. It even bent the little window pane thingees. Lovely!

On Easter, before it started raining cats and dogs, the kids went outside to look for eggs and the Easter bunny left their baskets on the inside of the house while they were gone! How nice of him, right? haha

P.S. For us Arkansas folks, if you are wanting to take the kiddos to see Disney on Ice next weekend at Alltel, you can go to ticketmaster.com and pick 4 tickets with the promotion code "mom" and get them for $10 each!! We did and I can't wait to go! :)

Have a good weekend!

Seven Pounds

Has anyone seen this? It was horrible and wonderful all at the same time. It was a good movie, though. I was shocked and still cried for over 20 minutes all the while my hubby is laughing at me. I couldn't help it! I'm an emotional person anyway, but there were some hormones thrown in there to boot! Gosh, wild movie.

Advice

Awww!! thanks everyone for making me feel loved again!

Now, I am in search of some parenting advice. My little boy is a sweet little boy, but when he gets mad, he is stubborn and very angry. If I tell him no, he just keeps on. I have finally told him that once I say no, that is it...quit talking about it because my mind is not going to change. He and his sister fight constantly. I know this behavior is pretty normal for 7 and 5 year old siblings. But, today for instance, his teacher just called me. She said that yesterday afternoon they did a writing exercise after they were done doing standardized testing, so many of them were sloppy as the kids were tired. She had several of them redo the exercise this morning. Jackson didn't want to do it, so he slopped down the writing and wouldn't even put his name on the paper. When she told him that he could do better and wanted him to erase it and start over, he got mad and broke the temple off his glasses. UGH! What do I do? Of course, he will be in trouble when he gets home and the Wii is definately off limits for a while, but he has gotten to where he has a smart mouth (something else that I read was typical of his age, but I don't remember being that way) and when told to do something, I have to stay on him until he finally does it. Many a night we have struggled getting homework done due to the fact that he just didn't want to do it and then I pressure him to do it and he loses it and screams and just throws an all out temper tantrum. I'm spanking and he finally will do it. This is not everyday, just only every once in a while. The teacher he has this year is the same one he had last year and as wonderful as she is, I sometimes wonder if he knows how to play her? I don't know..I need help and advice. What should I do? We have tried taking things away, spanking, being stern and we are at our wits end.

comments

It's really sad that no one comments on my posts. I had 0 with the last post, 4 with the one before and 1 in the one before that!

Our Weekend

Hope everyone had a beautiful weekend!! Ours was beautiful, but boy, was it windy!

Jackson finally lost his first top tooth, making it his fourth tooth to lose and the Tooth Fairy left him a little cash that he immediately spent the next day on a toy airplane and stuffed dalmation. I try to encourage him to put it in his savings account, but not this time...he wasn't having it! ;)

Friday night, my washing machine (which is only 5 years old) went out and so Saturday morning was spent going to Pine Bluff and getting a new one. I wasn't upset, because I wanted one with a bigger tub. Mission Accomplished!! I can put two loads to my one usual load in my new one!! I was done in the half the time! LOVE IT!

Saturday afternoon, I went to Monticello to take pictures of my neice, Ashley's first prom. We decided to take some at the lake.

Yesterday was spent cleaning and resting. How was your weekend?