LeeAnn's Spring concert

WOW! That's all I can say to describe the amazing talent that is in the Anderson Area Children's choir. I am so proud and blessed that LeeAnn is a part of that organization. Her choir teacher for the past two years has been Sue Hartzell. She is an amazing lady who we have known forever from our church. She has so much patience and love for children. Unfortunately, LeeAnn will be moving up next year to the next level. It is bittersweet for us. Because we are proud of our girl for all her accomplishments and all that she has learned to move on to this next level, but at the same time we really love Mrs. Hartzell and hate to leave her. :( The concert yesterday was a combination of all the choirs from second grade all the way through high school. I can't even begin to express how talented this group of young people are. Sandi Patti's twins sang a duet with the oldest choir and they were absolutely amazing! I hope that someday LeeAnn will be able to pursue a career in music because I think she is definitely capable of it. She loves music more than anything. She is constantly singing no matter what she is doing. And she likes to make up her own songs. I am going to post some pictures that I took yesterday and there is one that I have already posted with us and Mrs. Hartzell. I just wanted to include that one again since she is so special to us. We love you Mrs. Sue and we will miss you! (We'll still see ya around though)

After the concert, mom, dad, me, Eddie, LeeAnn, and Jean all went out for dinner at Cracker Barrel. It was such a gorgeous day and we had a great time. Thanks mom and dad and Jean for going to see LeeAnn's final concert. It meant a lot to her! Unfortunately, Eddie had to work and missed it but I bought a CD recording of it. It won't be the same but at least he can hear the music they sang.

I guess it's time for an update....

I don't even know if anyone still checks my blogger cause I know I haven't posted for awhile. Ruth I am still reading yours just so you know.
Anyway, so much has been going on with me. I am struggling with anxiety BIGTIME and it is really affecting my normal functioning in life. It is causing me some depression as well. I am not sure why it has gotten so bad again but I am back on my meds and hoping that they help real soon. I have had some problems with numbness in my foot and my neck. It is getting worse. I went to a neurologist about it and he was clueless....I am scheduled for an MRI on Wednesday on my brain. I am so nervous about that. (of course)
On to a happier note....my baby girl is about to have her ninth birthday. She is so excited just like every year. We are letting her invite one friend to go with us to the zoo and Pinheads to bowl. We got her a vanity table this year so that she will have her own little place to fix her hair and her Me-Maw is getting her her own little blow dryer so she can do that at her vanity also. She has "make-up" which consists of basically lip gloss and perfume but she will be excited to display that as well. We told her we couldn't find the vanity because we really did have trouble finding one and she was soooo disappointed. I just want her to be totally surprised! She is growing up so fast and it makes me sad at times but she is really becoming quite a wonderful young lady and I love every stage she goes through. People at work have talked about how they couldn't wait to get their children out of the house and they assure me I will feel the same when LeeAnn becomes a teen. I don't think I will ever feel that way. She is my only baby and I wouldn't care if she lived her forever! :) Also, she got her midterms yesterday and she had honor roll. We are hoping that she keeps that up for her final report card. She really is struggling in school this year, but she is working hard! Her final music concert for the year is tomorrow. I am glad choir is coming to an end just because I have been choir coordinator this year and it really keeps me from enjoying her programs. I don't think I will continue being coordinator next year. Although, LeeAnn really likes having Mommy there and I should take advantage of that while she still feels that way~! :)
Eddie and I are doing good. He is very supportive of me no matter what I go through. I know he gets tired of my health issues but he never complains. We are struggling on finding a way to do home repairs. We just had a home appraisal and it was insanely low. So, we couldn't get our loan we thought we had. We have decided to look on the bright side and just be thankful we have a home even though it needs work. Sorry for the novel. I guess I got wordy since I had so much on my mind.
Not sure how many pics I have that are new but I will look and post a few....

LeeAnn's first kiss! :)

Good times with family

LeeAnn hunting eggs. she's in the purple coat

in the middle.

LeeAnn absolutely loves spending time with her cousins playing.

Just some updates. We have been spending time with family a lot lately. I think what happened with Dad has made us realize how important that time together really is. LeeAnn is so excited when she gets to see her cousins and play. Yesterday, Mom, Becky, and I took Courtney, Jason, and LeeAnn on an Easter egg hunt at Gaither Family resources. It was fun but there were tons of kids there. I only got one picture of LeeAnn running off...it happened so fast that I didn't see anything. She did get the golden egg though and won a free Lil' Kinz. She was so happy. Afterwards we went to Moms for some family time. The kids had lots of fun playing.

Next weekend we are taking LeeAnn to see High School Musical live. We are all very excited about this. We just decided spur of the moment last night that we only live once and while LeeAnn enjoys doing things like this with us we need to take advantage of that. It will be a very busy weekend because we are having Easter here at our house with both sides of the family. I am looking forward to that and I am hoping it will be a nice day!

Also, Eddie and I are looking into get a home improvement loan to finally get much needed repairs done to our home. I can't wait till those are done as well. We are going to keep our car after it is paid off here in a few months so we can concentrate on paying that loan off. Our car has very low mileage and has not been to bad of a car for us...it serves its purpose.

Other than that not much is new here. I have been fighting off the flu but I am getting better everyday and hopefully can get back to normal. Enjoy the pics!

Eddie's birthday

Well, today was Eddie's 39th birthday. Man, are we getting old or what? Seems next year we are going to have a couple of major birthday parties as Eddie and Rachel will both be the big 4-0!!!!! So our day started off with trying to figure out how to celebrate the day as a family. Of course there is absolutely nothing to do in Anderson. We wanted to take in a movie but nothing good was playing. So we thought about Chuck E. Cheese. Mom happened to have Ronnie and Gracie so I called them to see if they wanted to go along so LeeAnn would have someone to play with. When we got to Chuck E. Cheese there was a line out the door! It would have been madness in there. So, we decided to just head to the mall and eat and let the kids play in there little playground there. Everybody else had the same idea! You would have thought it was Christmas in that place! But in spite of it all the kids had fun. I let them go to the Disney store and pick out something small for a treat. And of course Aunt Sarah picked out Gracie's with a little help from Grandma. (you will get that Ruth when you see what she has...lol) Notice Ruth the picture of Gracie sucking on a ketchup packet...aren't we the best babysitters ever? LOL We had a great day.

After that Eddie and I went to Cracker Barrel for dinner. I told our waiter that it was Eddie's birthday so he got a free dessert but he wouldn't let them sing to him! I wasn't going to give him a choice but the waiter listened to Eddie not me. :) Happy Birthday Eddie. I hope you had a great one!

just stuff

What an awesome day we had yesterday as a family. We went to Cincinnati, Ohio for LeeAnn's chamber choir concert tour. It was so much fun! We went to another church to meet with another children's choir. They taught each other new fun games and just had fun learning and making new friends. Then we all ate lunch together and each group performed for each other. It was awesome! After we left the church we went on to the Newport Aquarium. LeeAnn made some new friends within her group yesterday. At the aquarium we took twins Sarah and Sierra with us. They all had a great time. I am putting in some pics that we took yesterday.

As far as my diet goes....I am not doing very well. But I am not giving up. I am getting healthier though and that is my main motivation for the diet. Everybody has been sick from my parents to my husband and daughter. Also, lots of people at work have been out sick. I have not gotten it yet and pray that I steer clear of it!!!

Enjoy the pics!

update

I don't know if I have blogged on here about my diet or not....so if you don't know I am trying to get in shape and just all around feel better. I am not going to lie and say I don't want to look better as well cause I do but that is not my motivation. I just want to be healthy and have more energy. I am doing great with working out. I work out at the gym 3-4 times a week. I push myself a little bit harder everyday. Today I tried to do a 5k walk which is a little over three miles. I didn't make it the whole way but I went 2 1/4 miles. I was proud of myself and I will work my way up to that.
If only I was doing as well with the food part. I just can't seem to find things to eat that are good for me and taste good at the same time! I am really struggling with this part of it. But I have noticed that I already feel better and have more energy. I have cut out all fried foods (except on special occasions) and I don't eat sweets that much anymore. Sooner or later I have to start losing something....I am hoping anyway.

On a different note....Sunday was my 18th anniversary and I am really proud that we have made it all these years. Life is good for us! We had a great day with dinner and a movie. Eddie is my best friend and he is always very supportive of me. He encourages me with the weight loss but doesn't come down on me when I cheat. Tomorrow is a new day he tells me. I am just really blessed and I hope that I really do get the weight off for my healths sake!
I don't really have to many new pics to share right now so I will post some pictures another time.

It's been awhile...

Okay so I haven't blogged on here lately. That is because quite honestly, I prefer myspace. I don't even think anybody checks this blog but I am going to blog anyway. We have decided officially NOT to have a baby. I know this game is getting old (as are we ) but I promise this is the final decision. There are so many things stacked against us and I just don't want to stress about things anymore than I have to, as I have been having health problems again lately. I am honestly sad in some ways to think I will never have another little one. But I am so totally blessed with LeeAnn. She is my heart and soul and I LOVE being able to just focus all my time and energy on her. We have a very special bond in our little family of three and I am thankful for everything that God has blessed me with! Not much else is new here. We had a wonderful Christmas with the family. I will post lots of pics since I haven't posted any for awhile. I have been back to work this week and haven't felt that great all week. But I am hanging in there and doing the best that I can! Enjoy the pics!