Lions and Tigers and Hannah Claire OH MY!

Steve's parents, brother, and Hannah Claire came to visit for a few days. They are staying until Sunday. Yesterday when Hannah Claire arrived, Laura Beth couldn't stop staring at her. She said her name over and over again. She also loved Mammy! She woke up this morning saying, "Mammy" which she usually says, "Momma and Daddy." ha!

We all went to the zoo today! It was HOT!!!!!!

Steve and Hannah Claire walking in the zoo together.

This is about the time that Hannah Claire said, "I can smell the animals." ha!

Yeah, their cool!

Riding the "bu-tend" elephant.

"I want to ride it too!"
"I'm so cute, I just want my picture taken between these trees."
More elephant loving.

Oh yeah! Stoppin for dippin dots!

"OK...seriously! Enough pictures." Hannah Claire

"Oh no, the pictures have just begun!" -Aunt Lizzie

"I wonder what's down this way?"

"Wait for us Laura Beth!"

Feed the birds!

Hannah Claire loving on another "bu-tend" animal.

"Look Daddy, EARS!"

Some fish...and a shot of Hannah Claire's hair that I braided. It looks rough cause I did it in the van WHILE she was in her car seat.

Petting a ROOSTER or chicken as I call it.

Hannah Claire playing in the farm house (with AC!!! nice!)

AND...the ride home from the zoo. :)

We've been having a great time! We went to Chuck e cheese tonight. More pictures to come soon of Laura Beth riding her first "ride." She's addicted now. GREAT!

In good hands!

It's official. I have started work. I saw my first patient today. So, I left Laura Beth at home with Steve.

Let's see what they are up to....

I get these pictures in emails on my phone throughout the day while I am at work. As scary as they seem, I LOVE getting them. :)

Here, Laura Beth is climbing on a "pushing" toy. It is made for walking behind it. However, today she started a new use for it. So dangerous...and cute!

Here she is shopping for a cell phone. I'm sure she wants an I-phone too.

This is my favorite. The clothes stayed there the whole day. Steve said he tried to put them back in, but Laura Beth was faster taking them back out. Feel free to laugh. I know I did. ha!

VIDEOS!

Yeah, we know the picture looks pretty pitiful. Laura Beth has an ear infection. We went to the doctor yesterday and they instantly said, "She has a pretty bad ear infection." She wasn't sleeping very good and wasn't eating/drinking really good. We're on meds now, so she should be good as new soon.

My job's orientation went well. I will do a "ride along" with an experienced home health SLP this week and then I will get to work. I got a pretty sweet phone, Garmin, and new pair of scrubs the first day on the "job" (Orientation). Overall, I'm excited about the new job.

Laura Beth is adjusting quite nicely. She still says, "Jack's" name alot. Since she moved here, she discovered Elmo. So of course she has a new Elmo "Hokie Pokie" doll. I said, "New" but I meant re-sale. They have AWESOME resale shops here. :)

Today is Father's day and Laura Beth slept 14 hours last night. She slept so late this morning that we didn't go to church today. Steve was a little sad, but not bad enough that Sushi couldn't cheer him right up. I must say, that I have been truly blessed with the most amazing husband/father in Steve. What a great man!

Here is a video of Laura Beth talking. She says alot more than this now, but she was beginning to get an ear infection on this day (probably) and we couldn't get her to say too much. In this video, she is saying her numbers and some family members (Mammy, Bampa, Papaw, Gran, and Lou Lou). She says more names, but this is all I could catch on video. More to come soon!

Before we left MS, Laura Bet started singing a NEW part to the Baby Bumble Bee song. This video is from the FIRST day she started singing it, so please ignore me laughing in the background. :) Enjoy the video!

Hi! From the Lone Star State!

Yes, that's right. We are officially Texans. I have pictures of the process but these first pictures are from when we were still Mississippians. ha. Laura Beth loves my necklaces. She "got into them" while I was packing. She HAD to wear them all. So cute.

"Greenville" is all Laura Beth talks about here in Texas. You see, in Greenville, MS when we would leave a place to go home, I would say "We're going home. Going to see Jack." Today (in Texas) we were coming home from Wal-Mart and I said, "We're going home." She said, "see Jack." Talk about break my heart. She also says, "Wa Wa" (Laura Sipes) and "Bee Bee" (Shelby Reister) sporadically. She pretty much misses everything about Greenville.

We have pictures of family and Laura Beth says all of our families names when she sees them. Oh and today she started saying the number "8" when someone counts to 10. So now she says, "two" when she sees the number 2. She also says, "5" and "8" when someone Rote counts with her. She has a new trick, word, or face everyday.

We will get a few videos up as soon as we get our own internet. Laura Beth is signing ALOT now.

SO HERE WE ARE NOW....IN TEXAS!!! The Lone Star State has been GREAT for us thus far. We have met some really nice people and eaten some really good food. Yes, this big star is on the wall in our Living room. ha!

This is how we actually got here. The night before we moved we stayed at my parents house, Pa Paw and Gran (or Kay Kay, as Laura Beth calls her sometimes).

The next day, Steve drove the moving truck by himself. My mom, Laura Beth, and I packed (literally, check out that picture) into the van and made the 7 hour trip. Don't let this picture deceive you. She only slept about an hour the entire way.

However, we made it! This is Daddy taking time to take "busy body" for a walk the second day we were there. Then we began putting it all together. Yeah, Lauren Kelly came to help. ha!

Officially, my favorite store so far is ....

I've never been in one of these stores before...It was so fun! My dad loved it too... ha! The bag he is holding is mine. He bought all of the containers I needed. THANKS DAD! However, he did get a couple of things for himself. ha!

Why would we need containers? Well....this could be why...
The above picture is our kitchen (unpacked, obviously). The picture below is the living room.

The following pictures are of some pretty AMAZING people. Thanks to these guys (and a few others) we were able to make this move very smoothly.

LAUREN KELLY. Yeah, we know ya'll are jealous. The next picture is of of my family. WE ALL LOOK SO TIRED! I look H-o-r-r-i-b-l-e in BOTH of these pictures...but I posted them anyway. It makes me smile seeing my dad's HILARIOUS expression!

Overall, we are in our home. Most of the rooms are finished. I will post pictures soon. We just got internet tonight (our neighbor let us borrow his). All of our stuff fits into the new place. We are learning our way around Fort Worth. We think we'll go to the Zoo on Monday. When we left Greenville, the weather wasn't TOO hot yet. However, TEXAS is HOT! Our car thermometer read over 100 2 of the days we have been here. Honestly, it feels pretty much just like home. ha! Thanks to all of you for the calls. We appreciate your prayers too. We miss our friends and family in Greenville!

VBS!

We had VBS this week. Laura Beth had a hard time adjusting to the new routine, plus she cut some pretty crazy molars this week. It seems like those take FOREVER to come in. Thanks to some Hyland tablets and some Tylenol, we made it...well it isn't over yet, but We made it THROUGH VBS. ha! We are packing today. Steve is cleaning out the storage shed and doing some yard work. I am packing inside that house, while Laura Beth wants me to play with her. Here are some pictures from VBS. Look close in this one. Laura Beth LOVED the train tracks and playing with the Lizard and Kangaroo on the backdrop. ha!

This is me and Laura Sipes. She helped teach the music class this year. Couldn't have made it without her.

Bee Bee! This is what Laura Beth calls Shelby. She is another one of our youth at FBC. She video taped the entire week of VBS. We'll post that video soon.

Laura Beth in her FUN VBS room.

We move in 4 days (not counting today) to Fort Worth. I pushed Laura Beth in her swing outside in the back yard today and was thinking about when Steve and I were FIRST-TIME homeowners. This house and city provided MANY "firsts" for us... First church to join as a MARRIED couple, First child, first pet, first purchase of a vehicle together, first purchase of furniture and appliances, etc. Not to mention hundreds of memories that we will cherish FOREVER. The people of FBC Greenville and all of ours friends in Greenville have made such an impact on our lives. We are going to miss them so much!

I'll be sending out "Change of Address" cards soon, but here is our new address for all of you who follow the blog. 1815 Ferguson Court North, Apt. B Fort Worth, TX 76115

Summer is here!

Laura Beth went to her first "friend" birthday party. Our neighbors had a birthday party for the daughter, Joanna, who turned 4 years old last Saturday. Laura Beth loved swinging with her daddy, blowing bubbles, and finding a new beverage that she LOVES. This is Laura Beth drinking her first Capri Sun. We never keep those in the house, so she never drank one. She took to the straw pretty quick.

The drink was gone so fast and of course she wanted another one. ha!

She also ate REAL Cheetos for the first time at this party. We've been giving her the "healthy" Gerber cheetos. I never bought the REAL ones. Ha! Of course, she liked the REAL ones better. ORANGE hands and sticky shirt from the Capri Sun was how we left the party. ha! So fun!

We started taking Laura Beth to the swimming pool last week. I want her to "get used" to the pool so that her and her daddy can swim this summer in Texas. Cindy McRight was nice enough to offer her secluded pool so that other children jumping in and splashing in the pool wouldn't be too scary for Laura Beth. The first day Laura Beth was so nervous. I could feel her body tense up at just SEEING the pool. She allowed me to hold her and walk around in it but not for very long. She didn't scream, but she was not caring for the pool AT ALL. We went again a couple days later. She did better, but she still wasn't totally happy about being in the pool. However after the second time at the pool Laura Beth said, "Poo" for "pool." Now every lake, swimming pool, or other large body of water, Laura Beth calls them "poo." It's really cute.

We move to Texas in a week (June 10th is when we are driving out). Our last week here in Greenville has been fast and fun with vacation bible school. I'll post pictures soon. Laura Beth is also learning to ride rocking horses by herself...video to come soon. :)