Happy Birthday To My Sweet Boy!

It's 3:30 a.m. on February 14, 2006. I wake up thinking I need to use the restroom and as soon as I make it there my water breaks. Wait... this can't be... he's not due until the 25th and I've actually been feeling good! I yell at Stephen from the restroom that my water has broken and he jolts out of bed and starts going in cirlces saying, "What, what, what do we need to do? What are you saying". After he wakes up he decides to take a shower while I tidy up the house. I know Stephen's parents are coming and staying at our house so it has to be clean, of course! I decided not to take a shower because I didn't think it would be 36 hours before I got to have one. What did I know.... first time mom... not very smart! We arrive at the hospital at 5:30 to find out I'm ONLY 1 cm dilated... WHAT... and that my body was really not ready to be in labor. I got my epidural at 10:30 at only 3 cm dilated. We watch the hours go by, and by, and by, and... It's 10:00 p.m. and my doctor decides it's time to start pushing. I push, and push, and push..... for 2.5 hours. It's 12:45 and the vaccuum comes out... Maddox is stuck! 12:56: With another try from the vaccum and one good push out he comes! What a miracle! What a blessing!

This precious gift from God has blessed our lives in more ways than we can count. We have been given the awesome responsibility of being his parents. Our cup runeth over!!!!

February 15, 2006

February 15, 2007

February 15, 2008

Happy Anniversary to Us!!!!

Today marks our 6th year wedding anniversary! I can't believe it has been that long until I reminise. All the memories, places we moved, things we've been through, having Maddox, and so much more makes it seem like we've been together forever. Just when we think we are as close as ever as a couple, something happens to bring us even closer. For this we are so thankful. We are excited to see what is in store for our marriage for the next six years!

It's Official......

Our house is FOR SALE!!!!! Maddox and I put the sign in the yard on Friday! I'll have to admit.... it was very weird. I have been a little sad this weekend. We worked so hard last week and this weekend cleaning, doing touch-ups, etc. Maddox was such a big help. He fell asleep in the middle of the den floor (for those of you that know my child, you know this NEVER happens) with his hand in his cup of Goldfish. We boxed up some things and took them to the Bucklers to help with the "stuffing" under beds and in closets that we have done over the course of three years. On Saturday, I told Stephen that I really loved our house and was sad to be leaving it. He told me that I was feeling that way because we had gotten rid of all of our "stuff" and didn't feel so cramped in this house. He also said he loved this house too, but was ready for something a little bit bigger. I guess I agree with him! The Lord has blessed us in so many ways and we excited about the new road ahead that He has already paved for us.

Yesterday we went to our friend, Madison Bell's, 4th birthday party. The kiddos had a blast as always!

OLIVIA and GattiTown

My sweet niece, Olivia ("idy" as maddox calls her), turned 8 on January 26th! We haven't been able to celebrate with her in four years due to living away. Saturday night we all went to GattiTown. It's a huge Chuck E. Cheese type place without Chuck E. We ate lots of pizza and the kiddos played games. As you can see below, the highlight of the evening was Rett and Maddox bowling!

We hope you had a fabulous birthday livie! We love you!

BAM! BAM! BAM!

riding the motorcycle... very serious!

first time on a carousel.... not real sure about it

neither one of these boys are into sharing

Rett's got the stance!




thinking about rolling it......

rather throw it......

STRIKE!!!!!

it's always fun to end the night with a sugar high!

out of town...

Stephen, Maddox, and I headed to Jackson on the 21st for a week "vacation". We originally didn't have much planned, but it ended up being a whirlwind of a trip! We had a few meetings for the business, ended up looking at houses for two days (yippee!), hosted a children's clothes show at my mom's, celebrated Olivia's 8th birthday, and I think that may be it! We had a great time as always and are looking forward to going back again in March!

Happy New Year!

I know I'm a little late with this post, but HAPPY NEW YEAR anyway! 2008... the year Stephen and I have waited for and waited for is finally here. I can't believe that in five and a half months Stephen will begin is "real" job in Oral Surgery. It's crazy because we've constantly had this to look forward to and now it's here and I'm kind of freaking out! It's time to step into the big, big world where everything isn't so "simple" and we will have so many more responsibilities than we have now. It's been a long 8.5 years and I'm so proud of Stephen and his accomplishments...... we've come a long way baby!!!!!

We made it back from Jackson and haven't done much since. The weather was soooo cold last week! By the way... do you know how hard it is to keep a sick 1 year old, that is obsessed with being outside, inside and entertained all day long. Did I mention that is was cold AND he was sick??? Ok.. just wanted to make sure. I woke up Saturday praising God for the beautiful weather that he was blessing us with this week. He must have seen the agony that Maddox was in last week!!!

When Maddox wears his baseball cap he insists that it sit REALLY low on his face. So low that he can't see where he's going. We think he looks like 90% of the guys we knew in college!

Outside and happy!!!

Santa brought Maddox this tee ball set and I'm so excited that he likes it! He's actually pretty good too! I LOVE baseball!!!

Happy Birthday To You....

Thursday, December 27th was my "little" brother's 23rd birthday. We had a great lunch at Char and then celebrated with his favorite... a brownie cake (not quite sure what mom was doing with the candles)! Jake, we hope you had a great day and we love you!

MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS

We began our Christmas festivities on Christmas Eve by going to church with Katie's family. So Santa could come visit all the kids in the same place we spent the night at their house that night. It was so fun to watch the kids the come down all together to see what was left for them. Maddox got a 4-wheeler, some tools, a tee-ball stand, books, puzzles, and The Jungle Book movie. We then headed to Mom's for lunch... YUMMY! We hope you had a very special CHRISTmas with your family and loved ones!

Greer Christmas 2007

We had Christmas with the Greer crew Christmas night. BB & Grin gave Maddox his very own table and chairs! He will love having his own place to eat & color. We got lots of great gifts and enjoyed the time together!

visiting Maw-Maw

Yesterday my family (minus Stephen) went to visit my Maw-Maw (my daddy's mother) for Christmas. She such a sweet lady and my daddy was so much like her. Below are some pictures from our visit.

Also... yesterday would have been my daddy's 61st birthday. Can you imagine the birthday party he had yesterday??!! I know it was better than any one we could have had for him here!

BARFING with the Greer's

On Saturday we headed to Stephen's parents to spend some time with his family. We began our night with a breakfast dinner... YUMMY! Then we headed out for.....

Ok... not really sure how this tradition began (Suzanne, I think with you) but the Greer family goes "barfing". What they do is go around town (Jackson, Pearl, Madison, Ridgeland, Richland, etc) and try and find the most outrageous Christmas lights. Due to the rainy weather we were only able to see a few things this year. But... what we did see was AMAZING! It was this little cul-de-sac street in Madison and every house is decorated. There were a few decorated more than others as you can see from the slide show. We had to tune our radio to a specific station and the lights moved to the music on that station.

Pics from the weekend

Stephen, Maddox, and I got to Jackson on Friday night and have been going strong since. We had Christmas with Marcia, went barfing with the Greer family (pictures to follow), Stephen's hunting, and we're looking forward to much more!

This is my mom's best friend from college, Marcia. She is basically our second mother and here she is with all of her adopted "grandchildren"!

"The boys" watching Christmas with Barney!

Maddox's new "little sister"

We are proud to announce the birth of our new niece/ Maddox's new "little sister"! For those of you that frequent our blog you have seen many pictures of the Buckler family (mainly Alli and Maddox). You also know that Maddox and Alli are "brother & sister". Well, on Wednesday, Britt gave birth to their second little girl... hence Maddox's new "little sister". Her name is Elizabeth Parham Buckler and she is just beautiful! Maddox was so funny with her. He wanted to hold her for all of two seconds and when he was done he tried to push her off his lap. He has a lot to learn before he has another real brother or sister!!!

Alli helping Elizabeth get her footprints!

The TRUE Reason for the Season

Stephen and I have been talking some much lately about how we want our children to remember why we really celebrate Christmas. Even though it's all fun, it's not about the presents, parties, shopping, baking, etc, etc.
Some of you may have already seen this, but I saw it for the first time on another friend's blog (thanks Amanda!) and just had to do a post on it. It is a song that Sara Evans and Brad Paisley have recorded about the Crucifixion. After watching this I'm still sitting here in tears and in awe. This video is a great reminder to us all of how much we are loved and the TRUE reason for the season. Click on the link below, turn your volume up, and..... grab the kleenex!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NaSROohLzs

Lights of the South

Twenty minutes from Augusta is the most awesome Christmas lights display we have ever seen. We went last year, but this year was much more fun with Maddox being older and more aware of what was going on. Basically, this family owns approximately 100 acres and they fill the entire place with light displays. You take a hayride through the land and they have set it up in sections. Some of the areas include: North Pole, storybook character village, cowboy/western, cartoon characters, Gone With the Wind, and soooo much more. Santa Clause is there for pictures with the kids... which we weren't able to do due to a freak out moment! There are two huge fire pits where you can roast marshmallows and drink the best hot chocolate and apple cider. We went with some friends Friday night and it got us all so excited about the Christmas season!