Meet the Generals and Great Grandma and Grandaddy Mears!

Last Thursday, Steve, Laura Beth and I went to "Meet the Generals." We got a few pictures of Laura Beth and some of the youth from our church.

These girls run track, cross country, cheer, and dance. We love ya'll...and they love Laura Beth. :)

Leah! She plays softball. She is also a youth at our church. LOve love love ya Leah!
Nelson and Andrew...you two are so great. They both love making Laura Beth smile. This is a funny picture because if Steve and I ever have a son, we've always said we want to name him "Andrew Corban Mears." Nelson's last name is Corban and then Andrew, the guy on the right, would have the same first name as our son. We think that is pretty funny. They think we want to name our first born son after them. ha!
Laura Beth stared at Ethan for a while. His hair was a little "new" to her.
Then, Steve's grandparents (Jack and Doris Mears) came to stay with us on Saturday night. Yesterday they celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary. Grandaddy (Jack) said it has been a long time of Grandma putting up with him. ha! They were on their way to Oklahoma to visit other family. They said they didn't come to see us, but rather they came to see Laura Beth. ha! We had a great visit. Steve cooked ribs on Saturday night and his grandparents took us out to eat after church on Sunday morning. Laura Beth loved rocking with her great grandma. She also loved watching Baby Einstein "first signs" with her Great Grandaddy!

My parents also came to visit Saturday in order to see Steve's grandparents AND Laura Beth of course. ha!
We've gotten alot of rain from Hurricane Fay. But maybe the sun will come out soon. Before we know it, the beautiful fall weather will be here...well, maybe it'll be a little while longer, but I'm hopeful that it'll come soon. MSU football starts soon and Steve is getting excited. Also, High School football starts to have first home games soon. Our weekends are about to get really busy :)

Since Mommy's been at work!

So I've been at work and Laura Beth has been doing alot. She is so big. She got a new toy about a week ago. She started playing in it immediately. The seat she is standing in moves around the entire table. We can also adjust it to be a stationery seat as well. It has a little piano, food tray, teether toy, etc. When she is too big to sit in the seat, then we can take the seat off and she can use the toy as a play table to pull up on.

Not only can she walk around the table. She can get to anything that is next to her new toy. I caught her playing in her diaper bag. She getting in to things already. ha!

She has put her pacifier in her mouth several times with absouletly no help. (This is exciting to me.) She also holds her own bottle, except when she is really playful, then her hands are just too busy for the bottle. Oh and she has really started to scoot in her bed. I never know what position she'll be in when I go to wake her up.

Not too long ago we went to "Meet the Saints" at Greenville Christian School see some of our youth be introduced. This is when and where Laura Beth discovered Sonic Route 44 drinks. It was too cute watching her play with that giant cup.

6 Months already!

Laura Beth turned 6 months old last Saturday. She is doing so well. Yesterday she got her 6 month shots. She didn't like that too much. However, she is doing well with the post-shot symptoms. This is a picture of her right after we got home from the shots. (ignore the spots on her outfit. ha)

She is now eating 4 bottles a day with 3 solid food meals. She loves carrots, peas, squash, green beans, pears, peaches, and applesauce. She is still sleeping well at night and playing hard during the day with her friend "Tee" (her caregiver). She takes baths in the bathtub now. Yes, that is Greenville water in the picture. Crazy...we know. Laura Beth is now tri-pod sitting which is fun for us to watch. She also likes to eat her feet. Makes us so proud. ha!

Steve and I finished tiling the kitchen floor. We still have some painting and "putting-back-together" to do.

Layne Parrish came to visit Laura Beth yesterday. Layne lives in Texas and is attending Seminary. We are glad she came to visit.

This coming weekend we are having a bake sale at Walmart for a mission trip that our youth are going on. They'll be heading to Honduras in December. Steve and I believe that God uses missions to change the heart of a missionary and the people receiving the gospel. Please pray for this group as they prepare to be changed and God prepares them to do His work.

Working in Greenville Public Schools has been interesting this year (as well as all the years I've worked here). I definitely feel like I am making a difference everyday. However, progress is slow. I am in the process of moving my room again secondary to a shortage of space in our building. I just moved into the room I am in today a week ago. Yeah, it's a little crazy.

Laura Beth's Lauren Kelly is coming into town today. She is staying at our house until Sunday. We are so excited to see her and celebrate her birthday with her.

Welcome Home and a Wedding!

Wow, since I have been back at work, I haven't had much time to update our blog.

Last weekend we went to Jackson and visited family AND friends. For lunch we met some great friends of ours, James David, Sonia, and Cayden Wells. James David has been serving in Kosovo flying blackhawks for over a year (15 months, we think). He is a wonderful christian man with a sweet family. James David and Steve have been friends since 7th grade. This was James David's first time to meet Laura Beth. We enjoyed our time together, and we were sad that it was so short.


After eating lunch with the Wells, we headed to Bampa and Mammy's house (Steve's parents). We visited with Bill, Laura, Aaron, Hannah Claire, and of course, Bampa and Mammy. Laura Beth wanted to watch Bully (their dog) the whole time. After visiting with them, Steve and I went to the wedding while Bampa and Mammy kept Laura Beth for the first time without us. They said Laura Beth was really good. Laura Beth told us that she loved every minute with Bampa and Mammy. She also said that Mammy has a special touch at putting her to sleep. :)Hannah Claire and I read MANY books. SO many books, in fact, that we had to lay down because I was tired. ha! She doesn't have clothes on in our pictures because right when we got to Mammy and Bampa's house, Hannah Claire got Ketchup on her dress and it had to go to the wash immediately. If you're wondering what Hannah Claire is feeding Steve, it is cashews. Steve loves cashews and apparently Hannah Claire does too. The two piles on Steve's chest represent "Hannah Claire cashews" and "Teve's Cashews." It was way too cute when Steve would try to feed himself, Hannah Claire would get upset because SHE wanted to feed him. She fed him Cashews REALLY fast and we all laughed because Steve was trying to chew really fast instead of telling Hannah Claire to slow down. She also did NOT want Steve to eat ANY that were in her pile. ha! We love her so much. She is so much fun! Also, I must say, since I'm a speech therapist and all, her speech is just phenomenal :).
After the wedding, Steve and I took Laura Beth to the reception to meet some of my college sorority friends (Theta! Whoo Hoo!).

Laura Beth had a great time meeting everyone. Steve and I really enjoyed catching up with Katie Hill and Jason (soon to be Katie Bushby, in October), Heather Far, Lauren and Kyle Jefferies, and of course Shana McGraw Ireland and Patrick.

Katie is basically going nonstop with wedding duties and being a lawyer. Her soon-to-be husband is a lawyer as well, so they are pretty busy.

Heather was the maid of honor at the wedding, and she looked beautiful. I didn't have time to catch up with her much because she was busy doing her maid of honor "duties." Lauren and Kyle are still the cutest couple. They are busy with work and loving life in Coffeeville, MS. This is Kyle's busy season with Landscape Architecture. Lauren was catching me up on the joys of living "near" her in-laws. She wouldn't have it any other way right now. :)

AND, of course, Shana is happily married. Her wedding was beautiful! Congrats to the newly weds, the Irelands!

Yesterday, we took Church Directory pictures. Laura Beth's first professional photograph. ha! She looks like an angel in the picture. She did well smiling for this really "interesting" man.

We also finished tiling half of the kitchen floor. Steve is so amazing to take on this huge task. We will need to paint under the chair rail in the kitchen now that the floor color has changed. We are quite happy with the new look. It's coming along nicely.

Steve starts school in a week and a half. He'll be traveling to the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in Jackson every Monday. He'll be gone every Monday from Sun-up until sun-down. He is planning to take 10 hours (plus the 2 hour drive to Jackson and back), which doesn't seem like much EXCEPT all of those hours are in one day and he works the rest of the week. He is such a trooper. Pray for him as he begins another tough semester of traveling and studying.

Laura Beth has been making us smile more and more everyday. My heart is overwhelmed with happiness when I think about her even for a moment. What a joy!