Pictures of Devon

Christmas Decorations...

We decorated the Christmas tree over a week ago. Here is Devon trying to put ornaments on the tree. He put it on and then took it off. Devon was wearing his "Who needs Santa when you have Grandpa?" shirt. Below is a picture of Olivia in front of the tree.

Devon's Birthday!

Here are a few pictures from Devon's birthday. His birthday was on Thanksgiving. We did cake that evening and he opened his presents the night before.

Devon & Olivia

Yesterday, Jamie was able to bring his daughter to our house so Devon and I could meet her. She is so cute and funny. In the beginning, she hid behind Jamie and Devon behind me. Then Devon starting jumping... well more like hopping in place and Olivia started hopping and following him while they hopped together. Then I brought out the camera and she posed. Then she popped up and sat next to Jamie to have their picture taken... see below. The they started playing with the toys. Whatever Olivia had, Devon wanted and vice versa. The Devon got tackled a few times and only cried when he didn't get his way. Then we took more pictures and I asked if she could put her arms around Devon and well, the pictures below speak for themselves! :D She had so much fun and didn't want to leave when Jamie went to take her home. She wanted to watch tv at our home. When they drove off, Devon screamed more than normal, he didn't want his new friend to leave. There will be many more times for Devon to play with his big sister. Oh and while we were eating dinner, she said to me "I don't remember meeting you for a long time." Kids say the darnest things!

Olivia Ann

Most of you don't know I have a step daughter named Olivia Ann. She is 3 and 1/2 years old. Due to certain circumstances, Jamie has not been able to be a part of her life until recently. Olivia knows him as Mr. Jamie until she gets to know him. Jamie felt it wouldn't be fair to her to spring that on her. She loves Mr. Jamie. Hopefully she can have a healthy relationship with our side of the family and I am very excited for Devon to meet his big sister. I came into an instant family when I started dating Jamie and that family is very unique and I love it! My family is now complete!! ~ Here are some pictures her mom sent Jamie via picture text

So my son is High Maintenance...

So if any of you know my man, he can be high maintenance and he is spoiled. He has me cut his toenails because I do such a great job! So Devon saw me doing this and decided he wanted his toenails cut too. He tried to lift his leg on top of the bed and when I continued with what I was doing, He proceeded to climb on the bed and get right by Jamie's feet and continued to lift his feet. So I cut his toenails. Then I put some Biofreeze (Bengay like cream) on Jamie's back, and Devon decided he wanted Biofreeze on his back. He lifted his shirt to show his back, saying he wanted some on his back. So I had to get some lotion and he laid on his tummy while Mommy rub his back down. He is so cute and smart! :D

Dancing with the Stars... I mean Dancing with Devon!

So one of my favorite shows to watch in the evening is Dancing with the Stars. I especially enjoy watching big macho athletes succeed in dancing! Well, the last couple of shows, my 2 year old has not allowed me to really watch as he wants to dance just like the big macho athletes! He loves to dance anyway but when it comes to Dancing with the Stars, he has to dance with Mommy. When the music stops though, so does Devon! I wish I had video of it but he loves to have me twirl him and do the lifts with him and when the dance is over, he claps as though he is the greatest dancer alive! He's too much like his Daddy! :D

Swing County ~ Swing State

Here is a great story on how Hamilton County... where I live, helped Obama win Ohio!!

CNN anchor John Roberts recapped the national election this way: "It is probably Hamilton County that gave Barack Obama Ohio. That was what really began to seal the deal. Florida, Virginia - just gravy on top of that."

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081106/NEWS0106/811060355

Ohio for Obama!!

Yes We Can.... And Yes We Did!!!

"The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. But America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there." ~ Barack Obama

The day has come when a Black man can and will be the next President of the United States!! I can't explain the feelings I felt last night as I watched abc announce the projected winner of each state! Then when they announced the next President of the United States would be Barack Obama! It proves that people are sick of the Republican way, the scare tactics, the lets tell them this, so we can get our way and take all of their money and we will live comfortably while the American People struggle! Obama ran a respectful campaign where there were no scare tactics, he focused on the issues, not Sarah Palin's inexperience, or her daughter's teenage out-of-wedlock pregnancy cause those were not the issues affecting the American People. He took the high road when it came out that Palin's teenage daughter was pregnant and said they were off limits and he wishes them well. The McSame/Falin camp allowed people to chant "kill Obama" during their ralling as if they were the foreman of the KKK. Well guess what KKK, a strong Black man IS the next President of the United States! And God will protect him and his beautiful family! God Bless America and it's new First Family!

God Bless America!

It's now Election Day! I pray for change and I pray that Barack Obama and his family is safe and protected during these emotional and historical times! I pray God takes care of us Americans who are struggling! With God, all things are possible!

The raccoon we caught...

Too bad, a week later I was looking out kitchen window and his buddy was chillin' on our window sill! But there is one less than before!

The Winds from Hurricane Ike

So it started out a normal day, just a little windy. I remember thinking to myself "man, it's windy out there, I guess it will be a windy day." Then I did some homework and then went to the store. Well I forgot to get some stuff at the store, so I went out and also got gas. Well as I was driving home, over tree branches that had fallen from the strong winds, I started thinking, I need to get home. Side note, as I was driving to the store a second time, the traffic lights up the street went out in front of me. Then Jamie called to tell me the power went out. Well I was driving home and there was a bus in front of me and a tree in front of him split in two and covered the entire side of the street the bus and I were driving on were now covered by a large tree branch... 2 and a half lanes large. The bus and I had to drive into oncoming traffic to get around it. It had landed on a parked car. So then I really knew I had to get home. I had never seen so many brnaches in the road before in my life. So when I got home, Jamie, me and the kids watched tree branches and trees snap in half out of our kitchen window. We also watched out tree sway back and forth and if it had been raining, it surely would have gone and landed on our neighbors Escalade. There is a video below showing the strength of the winds. I wish I would have let it record a little longer. Well, our power came back on at 5:30 the next morning, so we didn't loose any food but my office didn't get power back until Wednesday late evening and the storm occured on Sunday Sept 14 and the babysitter lost power until Sunday at 5:30 pm. She was without power for a whole week! My office has been ssssooooooooooooo busy since the storm up until a few days ago, things are back to normal now.

All the shrub looking stuff below the pine tree is trees snapped in 2

The 2 sections of our fence blew over

Some of the branches that fell from the neighbors yard into our yard.

Don't know if you can see it, but in the middle, you can see a light brown dot,

that is where a branch snapped off

Some Random Pics...

Here are some random pics from the last couple of months. Life has been crazy juggling a full time job, going to school almost full time and taking care of 2 kids and a man.... the man has been worse than the 2 kids! : \ We've had a hurricane like storm... well the leftover winds from Hurricane Ike, we have caught a raccoon. But those pics will be posted in a bit and here are some randoms pics!

Blake got a hold of my camera and

thought he would leave me a suprise! :D

Devon was ready to go!
Not sure who won... Devon or the spaghetti!
Devon was tired of waiting... so he found a pillow

and blanket and laid down!
Devon showing out!

School Time...

So the time has come, school is about to begin. It starts tomorrow. I have anxiously waited for this time to come and now I am wondering how I am going to manage! ARGH!!! I am in Mommy mode... I am no longer in school mode. I am a little nervous that I will not be able to do this. Then I think about the time I get on the internet and then I think... ok maybe I can do this. Not sure I will be able to do 9 credit hours each Term but I can do this. I have looked over the course work for 2 of my classes and it's do-able as long as I get help from the crazy man aka Jamie... with the kids! Also, I think Devon will be spending some Saturdays at the babysitters so I can study! Wish me luck!!

Better Pics of the boys on the horse... and Daddy's shoulders!!

Camping with the Murphy's... the pics!!

Camping...

So this last weekend, Jamie's family went camping in Kimbolton, Ohio. We stayed at a resort that had tons of fun stuff to do. We made it up there Thursday evening around 8:15 pm. While Papa Murphy was coming down to show us where the cabin was, Jamie's brother Jeff decide to build the fire of all fires!! He decided to use gas to start the fire... (that was an expensive fire starter!). But anyway I guess it got a little out of control. Jamie's Mom ran out with a pan of water... it didn't do anything to the fire. In her defense, she didn't realize the size of the fire... Jordie, Jamie's 6 year old nephew was screaming "HELP!!" He was no help! :D But luckily, Jeff saw a fire extinguisher across the dirt road and was able to put it out before our cabin was in flames. Then we get there and there was gas spelled in the dirt road and we drove over it and it kicked up the fumes so we were checking out our car for a gas leak. So I will show pics of the hillside later... it sounds a lot worse than it looks... but the pics are at home.

Then we sat around the cabin's porch and talked. Then took it inside for a game of Catch Phrase. It was good times. Until my curious son came up to me showing me his finger that had blood dripping down and then Jamie saying he thought he was bleeding because there was blood on our bag. Devon grabbed Jamie's can and cut himself but he never cried a single tear... he wanted down to go play. So I had a first aid kit in the car (thanks to Mom!) and it had ointment and bandaids. Then he kept trying to pull the bandaid off. Once the bleeding stopped, we took it off so he didn't put it in his mouth. That put an end to the game and everyone went to their cabins and went to bed.

The next day was filled with mini golf, cornhole, horseback riding (Devon rode his first horse and now points at every horse and says "horse") and swimming. Then we relaxed and I was able to look over what I am getting myself into with school. I looked at the textbooks and I thought I was looking at a foreign language! Hopefully that's not the case once I get started... but that's a whole other blog for another day! But the night ended with eating over at Jeff and Bebe's and taking on another game of Catch Phrase... while I had a migraine and I had my glasses on, but Devon didn't want me to have them on, so when I wouldn't let him, he threw a fit which made the migraine worse! It was a catch 22. He is out of control when he doesn't get his way and he has turned into a big time Mama's boy. I told Jamie's mom, I wasn't coming next time just so Devon would go to everyone else. He did have fun with his cousins though and enjoyed sitting on Mama Murphy's lap while eating Dorito's!! :D


***pics to come***

Great minds think alike!!

So I just realized my sis-in-law had the same title on her blog "I'm a Slacker" What can I say? Great minds think alike! :D

I'm a Slacker...

So I can't believe, it has been 5 weeks since I have posted anything. I will have you know, I updated my Facebook and MySpace... so if you have access, please check it out. I posted about 80 new pics on MySpace.

So nothing has changed in live, same stuff, different day. My brother did get married and we had a great time in Salt Lake. It was relaxing and I didn't want to come back to da Nasti Nati. The wedding was beautiful. I did find out the night I went to Utah, I was reading the 1st reading in their wedding. I found out by reading the program! Let me tell you how excited I was... I hate public speaking! And I was cool until I walked up to the podium and looked out at the crowd and then I was like "oh sh!#... don't mess up!!" But I think it turned out well. I'm glad Billy and Becca "asked" me to be a part of their special day... even if I had to read it in the program, it makes it more memorable! It's a story I can tell his kids! But here are some pics taken from the photographers website http://www.opiefoto.blogspot.com/

Yes, my brother is short, balding and gray... but he makes up for it with enthusiam and personality!! :D .... Like I have any room to talk!

We're going to the Chapel and ....

They're gonna get married!! :D This week, my family is going to Utah to share in the festivities of my brother and his fiancee getting married! It seemed like last month, they were engaged and now it's already here! But with that, it will be gone before you know it and we will be back in Ohio with nothing to look forward to. We have a lot planned for the week... a shower (so I could be a part of it... thank you), a rehearsal dinner, getting ready for the wedding (i.e. getting our nails done, tanning, buy waterproof mascara) and of course the wedding! I can't wait... Becca is going to look so pretty! Jamie and Blake will also experience the 24th of July which Jamie can't figure out how there is a holiday special to Utah where softball games are cancelled... he's not the only one! So they will get to experience that too! Then we get to relax on Sunday and come home on Monday and back to the grid stone! Well, I will be back next week, hopefully with pics of the fun week! :D Congrats Billy & Becca!! Love you!

College...

I have been wanting to get into a college program for computers for over a year now, but wasn't sure I could with my other student loans and responsiblities I have... well I found out I can put my other student loans in forebearance and I can go back to school!! I have enrolled in Cincinnati State to take classes online and will receive a Associates of Applied Science and the major is Business Computer Programming and Database Management! I am so excited!! :D I met with my advisor the other day and he said that when I do start looking for a job, my Bachelor's degree from Xavier will be very helpful in getting a good job because companies call him all the time looking for students with business and IT education and my major was Sport Management which is basically a Business major with a sports concentration! It should only take a year and a half! So now I am waiting for financial aid and to register for classes!! I will keep you updated! Pray for me, that I can do this! :D

The Festival... well almost!

So we were suppose to go to St. Rita's festival last Sunday. It was going to me, Jamie, Devon and Jamie's good friend Gary and Gary's wife Terri. We were going to Gary's for a BBQ and then we were heading over... well then Milldog came and then Byron came with his 2 kids... then Milldog's girl Amanda came with her friend ans their 6 kids... needless to say, we never made it to the festival BUT we had a great time hanging out at Gary and Terri's. Devon was up from 8:30 am and would not take a nap... he fell asleep on the way home at 9 pm and then woke up to eat. Then was knocked out! He had a blast playing with the other kids and the dogs. He also wasn't very fussy, the only time he threw a fit was when I was trying to get him to sleep, otherwise he was chillin'! But here are a few pics Terri took while we were there and I have more on my camera but I haven't downloaded anything from my camera in about a month and a half!

Devon playin'... sportin' some braids!

Family PicMilldog, Gary, Byron and Jamie
Don't remember her name but can you tell she is half black??

Didn't think so! Devon wouldn't hold still for a pic with Mommy! ...and he had a death grip on his chicken bone!!