mrs. lacey

i have been thinking of you all day! i thought that i would send you a little message through the blog and tell you how much i love you! i miss you and wish that you lived right here with me! you told me that you check this blog daily (how i love your dedication) so, because your phone would never work tonight-- i thought that i would let you know that i am missing you and hope that i get to talk to you when our stars align!
hope that jb's tests go well tomorrow and let me know what all they say- and enjoy your leatherwood day- you lucky duck- you've got one heck of a husband!
i'll say a prayer for jb that all is well-

fisher's first hair cut

fisher FINALLY got his FIRST haircut. arnold (chris' buddy from high school) has a barber shop in elizabethton and he met us there on sunday. we took pizza for all of us. fisher did great and looks like such a little boy!!!!

all of the before






all of the during








and the afters

dog jog

saturday was the tri-cities dog jog at winged deer park- chris and i took the dogs when ella wasn't even a year old-- we missed it last year and this year-- i was determined to make it. we took the whole family- bubba, gracie, fisher, ella, chris and i.



it is a one mile "fun run" or dog jog. there isn't a track- they bush-hog a portion of a field and mark the "track" with caution cones. (bubba was a pooper half way through the race)




the proceeds benefit the animal shelter (where bubba was adopted) and i love getting out with the dogs and they got to take a great swim after the jog. there are vendors set up- lots of freebies- and lots of dogs! we were some of the only ones with strollers this year- the hollingers (our canadian) neighbors came to the jog as well with their dogs ryder and dexter-- bubba and gracie's friends.





(chris wouldn't get that dumb look off his face)



we started the jog with a healthy chick-fil-a breakfast (shawn had never had it)




ella and i were throwing rocks to gracie-- she sticks her entire head under the water and digs them out and brings them back-- how cool!





dexter after the race-- he was actually laying in the water- he isn't much of a swimmer- but he was a great dog-jogger! (dexter belongs to shawn, jenn, and emmie)



shawn, emmie, and ryder were so committed to the jog- that they went a second lap! as you can see- emmie took a little snooze and ryder was well over the idea of running again- but he took a good dip after.






fisher and emmie have taken a real liken' to each other lately- and here... fisher looks as if he is putting the moves on emmie- watch out!





the hollingers- shawn, jenn, emmie, ryder, and dexter-

a cheerleader

we went to a football game on friday night- tennessee high vs unicoi county-

fisher and ella loved the game and we stayed through the entire game- ella insisted on wearing her cheerleader uniform to the game- she looked so cute during the game dancing and watching the cheereleaders the entire game. at one point chris even commented about how ella and i weren't even facing the game- just the band and the cheerleaders--

here are a couple of pics

cinnamon toast

i forgot something else from when mom was here. she and ella made cinnamon toast. it very well could be one of the most unhealthy breakfast items that i grew up eating. i have never known of anyone else to eat this or make it for that matter. but, it is delicious- well beyond what delicious really is-

it consists of large pats of butter (five to be exact) placed at the four corners of the bread and one in the middle

then you sprinkle on about four tablespoons of sugar

then you sprinkle on cinnamon

(this is fisher's waiting patiently face)

put in the oven on broil for about two - four minutes (or until the butter is melted and the corners of the bread are turning a golden brown

presto! cinnamon toast... and fisher and bubba thought it to be fantastic!

it's pony time

for all those who know ella- know that she is quite the cautious little chicken. (cautious is my nice word for it) and you also know that this drives me crazy! i was hoping that ella would get some of kelsey's "no fear" attitude- but, nope she got my "let's think this through a little" so- us being alike, she makes me crazy with... not swimming, not touching the horse-shoe crabs at the aquarium, not wanting to feed the horses, not wanting to have other dogs (strangers dogs) come close, uh, the list goes on and on.

so, one moring my neighbor jenn and her little girl emmie decided to take a walk to the other side of the neighborhood and low and below we found a pony. it lives on the side of someone's house and is in a fenced in area. so, we started to "visit" this pony on our morning walks.

so- she has decided to make her momma a very proud momma- she will feed this pony. not only will she feed this pony, she will touch it and talk to it and tickle it with leaves! oh, she loves this pony! fisher- who did get kelsey's "no fear" attitude loves the pony too- i think that he might just love it so much that he could hurt it!

some pictures of mom's visit

i forgot to post some pictures from mom and lucielle's visit. they were here to help me when i had my wisdom teeth out. mom and lucielle were a huge help entertaining the kids when i couldn't.

i was feeling better while they were here, but it was nice to not have all the responsibility on me alone. ella and fisher have a thing for mom- it's great to see how much mom enjoys my babies... even if they are a handful.

thanks again!

by the way, lucielle is fisher and ella's "great" "great" aunt- my "great" and mom's aunt. she is from the "fisher" side of the family and so i think that it gives her a lot of joy to meet her name-sake. so fisher was mom's maiden name and my and kelsey's middle name (for all those who didn't know)

a very nice weekend

this was the first weekend that we were home for the entire weekend since before kelsey got married. wow! it was a great family weekend. we spent friday mowing the lawn and playing in the backyard- *some of my favorite things

saturday we went to try and find one of our neighbors (shawn) at the dragon boat races- never found him, but we did let the kids jump on some of the blow up toys and ella got her face painted. it was a great morning- then the football game that UT won- yeah- and then a little cornhole game to end the evening.

sunday we CLEANED our house- no way! it was so nice to end an evening with a clean kitchen, straight living room, and a very happy momma!

it made me appreciate the very simple things of family and home-life-- beautiful!

by the way- i am feeling much better- the feeling in my bottom lip and chin is slowly starting to return. thank you God! i saw the doctor for a follow-up appointment this evening and he thinks that within six months i should have full feeling in the lip and chin. yah! thanks!

have a great week!

on the brighter side

i am feeling much better- thanks for all that helped out over the past few days- i was pretty rough this weekend, i couldn't have made it through without the help of john and reba (chris for taking them there) and mom and lucielle for coming and pitching in on sunday, monday, and tuesday. it was really great to have this much help. jenn, shawn, jess were a huge help also over the weekend. i wasn't ever lonely- but my space was well respected at the same time- love you all!

fall is for sure creeping up on me- the weather is so iffy, the frequent rain showers and dark skies are tricky, and the "september" title make it all very "fall like" around here. i am waiting for the cool mornings, warm afternoons, and fire filled nights in the backyard!

playgroup is starting back up- and ballet fills our monday afternoons- so its a great season to plan and make attempts to "educate" my kiddies. ella has started some pre-school type coloring books and reading to both the kids is something that we never skimp on. fisher is starting to put sounds and words with pictures and real animals. (bubba and gracie are still called "da-da" but if you ask him "where is bubba?" or "where is gracie?" he can point at each one- who knows?) he is doing really well seeing an animal and telling us what sound they make- momma and dada as well as elda are words that he can say very well- it's funny to see him growing up so quickly.

we are planning on being in town all weekend and not going ANYWHERE! we are thrilled to be taking a weekend off from traveling.

have a great rest of the week!

if you could only see me now!

well... the teeth are out! this morning the remaining three of my "wisdom" teeth are out. who will be "the know it all" now in my house??? the surgery went well- chris tells me that i was only back in the office for about 45 minutes before they let him come into the recovery room with me.

to all who know me... i am a control freeeeeek and i have been soooo nervous about this surgery that i haven't been very nice or friendly to my sweet husband. i've had that thought of "well if i die who is going to put all the clothes that keep sneaking out of your drawers back in????" or "if i die, who is going to keep ella's hair under control????" or "if i die, who will make sure that fisher wears outfits that are 'boy like' without him wearing spiders and snakes????"

so... you should see me now. laying in my king size bed- with bubba and gracie- two phones- a computer- two different types of pain meds- two different types of drinks- two ice packs- one on each side- and a scarf tied around my head to keep the ice packs in place so that i can sleep. oh... i am an attractive sight!

thanks to john and reba for taking the kids and letting me have an entire weekend to recover and recoup! you don't know how nice this is in my house! thanks thanks thanks!!!!

labor day get-together/ ut football season opener/ cornhole

our professional cornhole assistant

his "cheeeeeeeeeeessssseeeeeee" face

labor day was a busy day- if you aren't supposed to work- we missed that boat- we messed up that idea- it was just toooooo big of a day!

jason is about to win

jason won

we came home from g'burg

ella's first dance class

cook-out for labor day/ut football/cornhole

and laundry

jenn and emmie (emmie wore a perfectly orange- ut orange dress- too perfect)

too big of a day- too important of a day

shawn and jeff "action" shot of the cornhole game

here are a few highlights of the evening-

as we all now know- ut lost- overtime- 11:45pm ending time-

he was sooo happy that he figured out how to walk on the trampoline

molly girl

fisher with his women- ava and zoe

*when beau and kendra were in town last weekend- kendra taught ella how to do a seat drop and come back up*