Shout out to the BFF Becky from Philly

This is my BFF Becky from Philly (she is in the pink).
I met Becky through Chick-fil-A. She is one of the most awesome people I have ever met. We spend time together at any CFA event we can get to together. This picture is of Denise Boston,myself and Becky from Philly (btw-she does have a last name, it is Lockwood). We were on a river boat at Stone Mountain, Georgia this past fall. We spent a week laughing, talking and being really silly. Isn't that what bff girlfriends do? So here is a shout out to my dear friend, Becky.

Look at him now!!!

Here is Chip and Lindsay. Doesn't she look great? The boys will be here sometime in April. This past weekend Mom and I threw them a baby shower. I must say Mom and I had loads of fun, decorating, shopping for food, picking up lots of baby clothes times 2 and getting to be apart of this special time. But, the most exciting thing is to see my older brother finally getting the life he has always wanted. For years he has wanted a wife, children and a family of his very own. Chip goes to Lindsay's doctors appointments. They have taken lots of educational classes at the hospital. He washes and folds mounds of new born clothes. He takes care of her. He dotes on her and open car doors for her. Don't get me wrong, Lindsay does just as much for him as he does for her, but to see my brother do all these things is wonderful. Check out his smile..I think he began to smile the day he met Lindsay. For that and many more things she does for him, I will be forever blessed and thankful. They are going to be wonderful parents. I am going to be a wonderful aunt!!!!!


Anyway, back to the shower. Instead of buying a table cloth, I decided to purchase two baby blankets and have them monogrammed with the boys names of them. Check it out, I think it turned out cute.


Greg carved out two baby strollers
out of watermelons and we put fruit
in them. I was so proud of how they
turned out. And we made a center piece

out of a tin with diapers, wipes and baby items. The
stollers were so easy to do and added so much to the table.

I was so excited that we had a lot of family that
got to the there. All my dad's brothers and sisters were there but one. It was a great time to visit and catch up .We all had fun talking, eating and sharing stories that were meant to scare the pants off expecting new parents. ex. 650 diaper changes per week and way back when there were no disposable diapers, they only had cloth. Can you just imagine?

Now that all the excitement is over from planning the shower, and the nursery is decorated, we are just waiting for Parker and Whit to arrive. I will go down to Lindsay and Chip's soon and take picture of the boys room to post for you.

Before I go, I wanted to say "hello to Angela". My bestest, most favorite cousin. She lives in Raleigh now and I miss her. I am glad we can catch up through this blog and emails. Can't wait to see you and Clint after the boys get here. Let's do plan that beach trip. Clint, give her a big hug for me. Love you girl.

On a side note about Madison, she is having a great time. She has text me several times, sent me pictures messages from her phone and called me this morning to say hello. She knew I would be in the car taking the kids to school. It makes me feel good that she is calling me so much. She is excited to share all that she is seeing, doing and experiencing. Gotta love it when she is calling tha Momma!!!

Putting your baby on a bus

This morning I put my baby, Madison on a bus to Washington, DC at 6:00am. She has been so excited about this trip for weeks. The planning, packing, talking, texting, and myspacing to friends about this week has been fun to listen to. The many decisions of what to wear, what shoes, how many sweatshirts, bathing suit or not, phone charger, ipod charger, ihome, camera, batteries, hair straightner...I don't know how we got it all in that suitcase. But, as I watched the bus drive off today, I realize my baby was growing up. She will be staying in a room with four of her friends without a parent chaperoning them. She will be able to walk around our nations capitol without me holding her hand and telling her to watch both ways before she runs out. Though it was hard to let her go I knew this will be the trip of a lifetime for her. She will make memories there that she will share and laugh about for years to come. She graduates from her school in a few short months and goes off the high school. I will have 2 in high school, one in middle school and one in elementary school at that time. I must be old. I can remember saying, I have a 4 yo and 2 yo. Now, I have 4 of them and 2 of us. I prayed for her this morning that she would be a light to all her friends and make good choices. I prayed protection for her and her friends. And I prayed she would miss me too. haha. She text me while I was driving home and wrote "I love you momma". Here are pictures of her and that huge suitcase, her and her friends and the bus getting ready to leave. If you will this week say a prayer for her and her friends. I will try to post more details of her trip later this week, she will be sending me pictures over her phone.

Happy Birthday Courtney!!!

This is my favorite niece Courtney. She turned 3 years
old yesterday. Is she not the cutest thing that you have
ever seen? What a little princess.Greg's brother, Brent and his wife, Sue have 3 wonderful children. Brandon, Micheal and Courtney. Sue is one of my scrapbook buddies. These are my only nieces and
nephews until Whit and Parker join them.

Three of my favorite people had birthdays all on the same day yesterday, Courtney, my pastor Steven Furtick, and my boss, Art. Kinda Cool. If you want to read about my cool pastor. Click on his name to the right.

Mom and I are working on last minute details for the baby shower for Whit and Parker this Saturday. I am excited to see the nursery and all the new things the boys have gotten. We have family coming in from out of town that we do not see often and I am looking forward to seeing old friends and all the family.

Jessica and I just gave Wilson a haircut. Can I say that boys are just as picky about their locks as girls are. I have never such gripping going on as I just went through. He wanted to make sure his hair still bounced when he jumped up and down, or when he is running down the soccer fields.

Speaking of soccer, please say a prayer for Olivia-her first day of try-out for middle school soccer is tomorrow. It runs through Saturday and I guess we find out next week if she made the team.

And talking about "teams". Greg will be coaching Wilson's Mint Hill soccer team this year. Practices two nights a week and games on Saturdays or Sundays. Say a prayer if you will about that one too. Greg-coaching. hahah. Little 9 year olds calling him Mr. McKinney-cracks me up!

I am happy that the next few months will be focused on Wil and Olivia. We just finished up cheerleading with Jessica and Madison and now they can come support their brother and sister. I will post pictures soon of our soccer players and coach.

Today was the first day that I can say that I feel better. It has been 10 days since the "Crud" attacked me. Last night was my first night of great sleep. I have not slept an entire hour in 9 nights. I slept from 11pm till my eyes opened at 830am. Awesome!!!!

"Not too fast there Missy, get back into bed!"

Just when I thought I was ready to go out and hit the town I was struck down very quickly. Friday I seemed to feel better so I decided I would be a good mom and go to Jessia's last game of the year(she cheers for her local school). Isn't that what every good mom would do. This was the last game of her sophmore year.Madi and I decided to leave early because I wanted to new pair of jeans. My jeans have not been fitting too well lately. They were not only tight, they were cutting in my stomach tight. You know when you take them off and they have an imprint of the button in your stomach. That tight. I did not want to go up on the size so I decided to extend the jeans like you do when you are pregnant. I was using a rubber band to extend them. You would think that I would just stop eating or something. So after I had endured the permanment markings and rubber band ordeal for a while, I finally decided to break bad and buy myself a new pair. So, Madi and I took off to Kohls so we could make my new purchase. I knew the kind I wanted, the color, the style, and price. I knew what size my pair currently was and I decided to go up one size. As I walked into the dressing room, I thought I would dig inside the current jeans to take one last look at my now to be past size of jeans. hahahahah I began to laugh, I began to laugh louder, I was laughing to such Madi knocked on the door. "Mom, what is going on in there" she said. I looked again at the tag insided the jeans. "Who's jeans are these" I said to myelf. You see these jeans should have been killing me, they were 4 sizes too small. Stupid me. Even if I was a size 4, which I am not, could you see me pouring myself into a size 0. (pants size changed not to embarrass myself even more)What was I thinking? How could I have been wearing pants 4 sizes too small for months. Well the good thing is I did not have to go up a pant size to purchase those new jeans. I just purchased my correct size. So off to the game we went.
That is where the ceiling fell in on my head. I began to feel achy again. I felt like my throat was on fire. I became dizzy and my stomach began to hurt. I took about 2 hours for me to decide that I had to get out of there and back home as soon as I could. I told everyone goodbye and had my bed in my sights. I had to pull over on the side of the road and be sick. I got home disrobing as I was walking down the hall. I made it to my bed. My ankles hurt, my wrist hurt, my eyeballs hurt, my hair hurt. You know you are sick when your hair hurts. My sickness had comeback with a vengence. I felt bad all week, but compaired to what I was going through, this past week was a walk in the park. I don't remember who all I have talked to, or what I may have said to them. Please forgive me if I said something ugly. I called the doctor and they asked me to go to the emergency room. I was not going there. I would rather suffer in my own bed then go there and sit for hours. They had the nerve to tell me that I had not suffered long enough to get meds called in. I called back Saturday to tell them I could not swallow, could not breath and that my glands looks like something off the haunting. It has been a great thing for the family because I can not talk. This nurse took pity on me and called me in a zpack. Even though I have only taken it for two days, I think I will be better soon. I am sitting up in the bed and able to get back on my laptop. I have eaten lots of popsickles. I hope this does not come back again.
I may try to go into work tomorrow..I know I can hear my mom saying now. "Dont go too soon". I won't stay long...
Hope you enjoyed my jean story. It still makes me laugh..on a up note..I have lost 5 pounds..not on weight watchers on the flu diet..not recommended

Happy Valentine's Day

I am feeling a little better today but just can't seem to break this fever. I think I can become mobile and then I feel terrible. Not wanting to even think about going anywhere tonight.. I decided to cook. We had a wonderful "Red and heart healthy meal".
Spaghetti with veggie pasta circles
Asparagus-baked with red spices
Toasted Heart shaped bread with pink colored butter (I used my pampered chef heart shaped bread tube and colored butter with red food coloring)
Pink Lemonade
Angel Food Cake with strawberries and whip cream (I made the angel food cake myself)

The table was decorated with red place mats and white plates.

Everything was wonderful and we had my dad over for dinner. Mom is still down. Get better soon mom.

The children cleaned the dishes and I asked them if something ever happened to me would they remember that their mother always wanted to make even the simplest dinner special for them. Ok..Here is where you should start belly laughing.."No Mom..Are you kidding..we don't care about this mess..we just want to eat" Why do we try so hard as mothers to do things for them that they probably don't give two cents about now. I am holding out that one day they will be just like me, say things just like me and care about the smallest details of holidays just like me..so I can sit back and belly laugh at them..all the while I am tracking in mud on their carpet, scratching their newly painted walls, stopping up their toilets and giving their children candy before dinner. ha ha.

Hope you and yours had a Happy Valentine's Day.

What to do when you are down with the crud?

This week most of us have been battling the flu. Jessica returned to school this week, it hit her last week. Wilson has been in and out of school for over a week. Madi has been hit the worst. I always worry about her when she is sick because of her asthma. She usually coughs herself into an attack. She is going back to school tomorrow and I am much happy about it. The crud has come and gone and come again and I was happy to have avoided it. Until about 4am on Tuesday morning. I felt terrible...I looked terrible and sounded terrible. Today I did get a shower and that made me feel better. One thing about being sick is that it grounds you. I have worked for 4 1/2 years and when I get a break from working it usually is to benefit the children or take time away from home. Well this week there has been no children activities for me and no venturing outside much. I have laid up in bed on my laptop or reading some books. It seems like I have been down for about 2 weeks and yet has only been 2 days. I have recommitted myself to work on my weight-I have researched the mess out of weight watchers. I have organized all my financial accounts and bills online-to view and pay them monthly. I have listed my 12 books that I am going to read this year. I have started a "want" list of all the latest gadets online. Do you know that they make something called "kindle" that you can download books to it and read it. It is mad crazy to much money but heah, I put it on my "wants" list not my " I'm getting this fo sho list". And I saw this gadget called "slingbox", you attach it to your computer or phone and wherever you are you can watch tv programs that are on your tv from home. Cool right? So if you are somewhere and you can to watch a show that you can get on your cable network at home then you can watch it on your laptop.

I also made of list of things I want to accomplish with the kids and at work. I thought about what I wanted to have for Valentines dinner at the house. I read lots of blogs. You people are way more interesting than me. I have researched everything on Voddie Baucham-I proudly am the newest member of his fan club-right behind Curt Whalen-We are Voddie stalkers. I researched baby shower stuff. I looked up all my favorite Hollywood friends- you know Jennifer Aniston-today is her birthday. I looked up all my past soap operas and read up on them. I am current now. I looked at gobs of craft websites and scrapbook sites too. And lastly one of my favorite things to do online is look up the webcam at Carolina Beach in Wilmington. Man I miss the beach. We are counting down the days until Spring Break here. After I watched the ocean for a while-I thought of places I would like to visit one day and googled webcam in those areas and watched them for awhile too. I know you are laughing at me by now. I know you want to know where all I visited with a fever in the comforts of my bed. I visited Ireland, Paris (eiffel tower, if you know me, its my dream to go there one day), Russia, Iceland (dont ask me why ---lol-theres alot of snow there, Washington DC-(lots of webcam there-Madi is going there in two weeks-I was just curious, the beaches of California and also I watched many webcams of several cruise ships. By now you get the feeling that I am bored out of my mind don't you. Me too haha. It really was interesting but I thought to myself--"Self-I sure am glad you have a life-a husband, four kids, two dogs this week, parents, family, church, friends and a job, cause this is what I could see occupying my days". So this crud will pass soon and when it does I will be right back in the thick of my crazy life. I am really looking forward to it.

have a great day

Paige



p.s Mom and Dad are back from their 3 week Mickey and Minnie adventure-She did return home with the crud of her own. Boy was Bear so excited to see them. We will miss Bear.

Resurfaced, Revolve, Rememberance, Reverse, Rejoiced and Refreshed

Where in the world have you been? I not only have been checked out of updating my blog, but I have been checked out of life too. Now that I have resurfaced I can tell you some of the things that we have been up to at the house.

I did join the momtourage group and enjoyed the first visit. I received the book and am working on reading the first four chapters. BTW the second meeting is tomorrow night and I only read two chapters so far. I am looking forward to going again.But tonight I will not be able to read because I am taking my girls to a volunteer only concert at church. That means you have to volunteer to hear the wonderful music that Elevation puts out each week. I love that my girls want me to go. I am wearing my cool new tennis shoes, even though I don't think they call them that any more. I am wearing my "puma's" and jammin with my girls. OK-I will try not to embarras them too much or throw out my back like I did last time we jammed.

I took Madi to the "Revolve Conference". It was a teen christian conference for girls. It was awesome. We got to meet some of the speaker team and artists. For me it was very inspirational and Madi was siked about it too. Here is a picture of Amanda, Meredith and Madi at the conference.

Olivia is trying out for the Queens Grant soccer team in two weeks. We have been taking her to lots of practices and I hope she makes it. Greg and I love going to our kids sporting events. Soccer games, cheerleading, basketball, dance, tumbling..you name it and we love going. I think my girls get cheerleading honest..they have parents that are their biggest fans.

Both Olivia and Wil received honors this week at school for perfect attendance and grades. My children love going to school. They love getting good grades and working toward those paper acolates. As long as they will strive for them..I will encourage it.

Jessica was in a reverse homecoming court at her school. That is when boys are on the court and they ask girls to escort them. Her grandparents took her to buy some dresses and this is the one that she chose to wear that day. She is also recovering from some funky fever thing. She could not eat for a week. She survived off saltine crackers. I think she lost about five pounds... like she needed it. I dont think the cracker diet would work that great for me. I also

added a picture of

Amanda, Zack and Madi

at their middle school winter

social. These three have been

best friends for years.

This month will be the 5 year anniversary of adopting Olivia. Remembering back of what it took leading up to our decision to add her to our crazy family and all it took makes me tired. It truly was a God thing because I don't think that I could do it again. This week I have remembered her brother that ran away the weekend he was to sign away rights to her. I remembered finding out in court that her parents are still alive. I remembered telling the judge I would love her like my bio children. I remembered the wonderful man that helped Greg and I through some tough times there. I remembered armed men taking my husband away to a dark, locked room. I remembered how my heart ached not to see or hear from my family for 3 weeks. I remembered the smell of Belarus, the smell of the house we stayed in, the smell of the foods that were prepared for us each day, the smell of the people on the plane to Poland, the smell of fear, the smell of the steak house in Chicago and the smell of my dad's cologne as he hugged me when all the family was at the airport welcoming us back to America.It seems like yesterday that my brother was in Afganistan telling my mom not to let us board the plane.And yet it seems like 20 years that Olivia has been with us. We seem to be alot diffent then we were back then. Sometimes I think we are crazier but most times I think that she has made us better. And a quote from Mrs. Danner (Greg's sweet grandmother that has since passed)"that foreign girl that ya'll bought looks nothing like ya'll". She has grown into a beautiful, hard working, caring daughter of mine!!!!

I know this is a little long-but what do you expect? Life just didnt sit still while I was not blogging you know!

I wanted to go to the Everlasting Love tour with Voddie Baucham. But we couldn't go because Madi had a cheerleading competition. I was bummed because I thought Greg and I would enjoy it. We have been married for almost 17 years. Lately we have been wrapped up, ran over and over whelmed with life, health and children. So this seemed like such a great thing. When Madi's comp. was canceled I briefly thought that it would have been nice to be able to go. The tickets were $90 for both of us, not including lunch. This week my very sweet, long time friend Teri called and said that she had won tickets off the radio and wanted to know if I wanted them. I could not believe it. I rejoiced that God was that darn good.And Kemp and Teri thought so highly of us to bless us with their tickets. Greg and I went and I must say that it was a day of inspiration, confiction and guidance. Not only do I feel better as a mom but a wife too. I am going to try to use my new found wisdom this week. I will let you know how it goes. My friend Curt Whalen is a Voddie stalker and I think I am too now.

I wanted to post a picture of the "Saturday Night Sista's" They are the group of fabulas girls that spend the night at our house each weekend. I think now that I could have been Ma Walton. I can get them all to bed, cook Sunday morning breakfast, load them up in two covered wagons and haul them off to church service... on time no doubt. I love each one of them and tell them so every night before they go to bed. They all say "Night mama, I love you too". It is a good feeling.

My parents have been in Florida for three weeks. Hooping it up with Smokey, Hazel, Mickey and Minnie. Before they left my dad celebrated his birthday. (the picture of my dad looks like he has some funky beard going on, but really it is his collar)They will be coming home next Wednesday and they are coming straight over to get Bear. Bear has been an angel. We all love him. Even GREG!!! He even told Bear last night that he did not know what he was going to do when he left. I think I saw a tear..This is huge people..remember my husband does not like dogs that are not shepards and that he did not pick out. Anyway-back to the parents..them coming home means we are in the home stretch of baby watch. Mom and I are giving Lindsay a shower next weekend. She is already out of work. The baby clothes are currently being purchased and washed. Chip and Lindsay are taking classes at the hospital and Aunt Paige is getting giddy.

Whit and Parker are less than two months away. You know twins come early...stayed tuned for baby watch countdown.

And lastly..my baby turned 9 years old this week. Wil was 9 on Friday. He had his BFF Nicki over to eat pizza and brownies. We all watched the game plan with The Rock. And I enjoyed having a layed back evening with the entire family. As I looked around the room, I thought to myself that it is not often that we all together doing the exact same things at once. It felt good to have everyone home Friday night. Wil wants to have a laser tag party with his friends and we will have Mom,Dad, Chip and Lindsay over next week for his family birthday. Doesn't it seems like birthDAYS and birthWEEKS now a days. It must be great to be a kid.

Thats it for now. Hope you have a great day. I am going to read my two chapters, slip on my "puma's" and begin to get my groove on. I feel very refreshed that I have gotten all this out for you to read.Catch up with you soon.