Coffee County Fair

Coffee County Fair time and all the boys have art!  No one won any ribbons but they all won in my heart!

Liam's pumpkin

Kane's apples

Reid's apples

Hudson's pumpkin

Reid and Kane couldn't ride a whole lot because they were too short and too young.  They tried to ride this ride but they wouldn't sit still and kept hopping from jeep to jeep.  The operator made them get off.  He said it was too dangerous.  If he only knew lol

I had a blast watching Liam on this one.  It brought back memories of when I used to ride the same ride when I was young!

Ryan, Kane and Liam sliding

Nana and Reid sliding

Walking through the fun house

Ryan sliding down the slide

I never remember the fair being that hot. 

We paid to let the boys pick up ducks ....

just to cool off.

I think Kane would have flipped in it if we would have let him.

Liam and Bella Hackett riding together

First day of Preschool

First day of preschool -  First Steps Christian Preschool at First Baptist Church. 

Kane (blue) and Reid (orange)

Teachers: Lora Cento and Kathy Damewood

Three brothers in school together! 

 

Liam

Teachers: Libby O'Brien and Sandy Buck

How cute are they with their matching backpacks and lunch boxes!?!!?!

Getting ready to head into school.  I prayed that it would go smoothly and everyone would be excited but....

...as you can see there is always that one in the bunch and it was Reid. 

Mrs. Suzie greeting us at the door.

They did good once we got them into their class but when we left it was over.  I felt bad for Mrs. Lora and Mrs. Kathy.  They put up a good fight for about 5 minutes and then they forget and start playing.

.

Liam jumps right in with all his friends from last year.  He loves school and I am so glad! 

Mississippi Vacation

This year we decided to try somewhere different for vacation.  We found a house we liked in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.  We left that night so the boys would sleep on the way and they did just that!

Picture of the front of the house.

First night we ate at Half Shell Oyster house and it was awesome!

Walking down the driveway and across the road to get to the beach.

Toes in the sand!

Needless to say the beach was not what we hoped for!

But these faces make anywhere I go worth it!

Sweet little footprints!

Just a swingin' with Nana

We spent most of our time in the pool.

Ryan and I left the kids with everyone and had a date night to ourselves.  We chose Mary Mahoney's.

Mary Mahoney's Old French House is said to be one of the South's most unique restaurants, centered around one of the oldest homes in America.

YUM!!!

Two peas in a Pod!

Three peas in a Pod! Lol Doing their favorite thing - playing on the iPad.

We love hole in the wall places to eat.  We found this place to get some authentic seafood! Taranto & Son Seafood.

More pool time

Kenny drove down to visit since we were close to where he lives and he was off work.  We found a fishing pole in the garage and made our way to the beach to catch some fish!

Check out that diaper!

Best friends for life!

Playing a game of connect 4 before dinner

So our trip looked like fun but it wasn't what we expected.  We stayed at a house where the owners stayed in the pool house the whole time we were there.  Let me tell you a little bit about the owners, Scott and Trinity Walker ....

This is an article from the newspaper:
BILOXI, Mississippi — Ocean Springs businessman and one-time mayoral candidate Scott Walker has been released from federal prison after serving one year and almost two months for public corruption convictions.
The Sun Herald reports Walker and his wife, Trinity Ryals Walker, wore broad smiles in photos of themselves together posted Tuesday on their Facebook pages. By Wednesday morning, the photo had more than 200 "Likes."
The story did not indicate how the newspaper confirmed Walker was released from the federal prison camp in Pensacola, Fla.
According to the FPC Pensacola website, Walker is still an inmate and not scheduled to be released until March 21.
In 2014, U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett sentenced Walker to 18 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the government and fraud.

The conspiracy plea came in a case that also involved his father, Bill Walker, former director of the state Department of Marine Resources. The two conspired to supply $210,000 in federal money from the DMR to the Land Trust for the Mississippi Coastal Plain, which then used the money to buy a waterfront lot Scott Walker owned.

Yup ... Prison (insert eye roll).  His house was like a shrine to himself.  It was awkward seeing their faces on a wall or in a frame every time you turned around.  I wont go into detail about the rude things they said about us or the rude things we said about them in the review regarding our stay. We just wont go there ... but we will never be back!



Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

So at night or at nap time the twins always want me to sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.  That is their favorite song for me to sing them.  I think in the past weeks I have sang it literally 1,000 times!  I start to sing another song and they quickly correct me and say "twink twink!!!!" They know every word and my heart melts every time I hear their little voices sing.

I have been battling with a herniated disc since February.  One morning I woke up to Liam laying in my back and me hanging off the bed.  I sat up, twisted around to pick him up and move him over and thats when it happened.  There were a couple trips to the ER and some physical therapy that was unsuccessful for me.  About 3 weeks ago while I was getting the twins to sleep in their new bed I twisted another way trying to crawl out of the bed without waking them up and have injured it again. This time is worse.  Unbearable, intolerable pain at times.  Shooting, burning, cramping pains down my whole right leg.  After multiple trips to the chiropractor with no relief it was time to head back to the neurosurgeon.  I had to make a couple trips to the Urgent care center for some relief and if it wasn't for some of my friends and family who have been by my side praying for me, calling and checking in on me and even coming over to give me a shot to ease my pain, I'm not sure where I would be.  You know who you are and I am so thankful for you all!  Today, August 3rd, I had an Epidural Steroid Injection.  As I was waiting in the room for the procedure I started to pray.  I prayed for the my nerves, for the doctor, to be pain free and everything in between.  When the doctor that was doing my procedure walked in he looked so familiar to me.  I listed to what he had to say and he was so positive.  He told a story about when he had this same problem in his 30's and how the injections helped him and for me to just be hopeful that it does the same for me.  When he walked out I still had this feeling like I knew him.  The nurse came in to take me to the procedure room and I finally decided to ask if the doctor was from Manchester.  He was.  It was Dr. Nunley.  I lost it.  Tears were rolling down my face and I felt like my prayers were answered.  I knew him and he knew my family very well.  What a relief.  We talked about how my family was doing and this weight was lifted off my shoulders.  That day, I witnessed God answering my prayers.  The procedure didn't take but maybe 10 minutes.  He said my sciatic nerve was very irritated.  He had some trouble injecting the medication because of the pain it was causing so he had to move the needle around to find a spot that I could tolerate. After it was done they gave me a couple IM injections for pain, took my vital signs and I walked out of the office!  Mom took me and was there to drive me home, after we stopped at Culver's for lunch!  I was able to go home and rest the rest of the day because my awesome in-laws watched the boys.