The Adams Family

Rockettes & Christmas gathering

2011-12-17T15:09:00.016-06:00

Our annual Rockettes trip with a special group of girls!!!

These girls are just growing up so fast, it is absolutely amazing!!!

I'm so thankful Kaylee has these girls in her life, its so much fun to have some many friends and so many different groups of friends!

We are so blessed!!

As soon as we finished up with our girlfriends we headed off to my mom's side of the family to begin our Christmas tour!

Our family has got so big that this year we rented the fire hall to fit everyone in.

As usual it was a fabulous time! We had SOOOO much food, so we ate had an ornament exchange and played games, bingo seemed to be the biggest hit of the year!!!

I just love all of those Leverette's!!!!

Waiting for Kaemey

2011-12-12T14:45:00.002-06:00

Baby Kaemey had a cheering section in the waiting room anxiously awaiting her arrival!!

Big sister Kaegan was SOOOO excited!!!!

And she is here!!!

Welcome to the world sweet Kaemey Leigh!

What an awesome family you are surrounded with!

Birthday Party & Santa visit

2011-12-11T21:14:00.000-06:00

Today we celebrated a very special girl's 4th Birthday........

Kaegan!!!!

She choose to have her party a El Mexico and I think her Mommy & Daddy were happy about that, especially since Mommy is 8+ months preggo!!

Happy Birthday Kaegan Leighann....we sure do love you!!

You are going to be an amazing big sister!!

After the party, we were off to visit with Santa!

By far THE BEST PICTURE with Santa, since Kara Brooke has been on this Earth!! LOL

They sure are letting him know what to bring!!!

This month is shaping up to be a busy one!!!!

I love this time of the year!!!

2011-12-10T22:21:00.000-06:00

Catch up again!

I have just now uploaded some pictures off of my camera. So bear with me!

Thanksgiving came and went so fast, Kara Brooke woke up throwing up Thanksgiving morning and could not hold anything down. So that changed our plans all around. Kris and Kaylee went to Kris' Dad's get together while I stayed back with a sick KB. She finally got to feeling better late that afternoon so we ventured out to my Mom's house and Kris' Mom's house, so glad we did.

So many blessings and so much to be thankful for!

The annual Shelbyville Christmas parade is always a must for our family and friends!

And we have been to so many ball games in the last month, high school, college and now Kaylee's league has started up!!!

Celebrating Nana's birthday!

She is the best!

We Love you Nana!

And of course Kaylee has been working the MTSU basketball games as ball girl. She rebounds the balls for the Lady Raiders during warm ups, provides water to the refs and mops the floor!!! AND SHE LOVES EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!! She thinks its awesome that she was picked to work several of the home games and she loves being right in the middle of everything and being so close to the team that she loves!!!!

We have had something going on everyday and of course we are getting ready for the Holidays!!! I LOVE this time of the year, even though I keep wondering how will I get everything done? Are you finished shopping and wrapping???? I'm not!!!! :)

Basketball & Softball

2011-11-26T10:27:00.004-06:00

Well it has been a few weeks since my lost post but we HAVE BEEN SOOOOOOO BUSY!!!

I played in the annual alumni basketball game a few weeks ago.....whewwww I'm getting OLD! This summer it will be 15 years since I graduated from high school and my oh my....my body could sure tell it!! LOL.....We always have so much fun when we "basketball sisters" get together!!!!

Kaylee was very fortunate a couple of weeks ago to work out with the MTSU Lady Raiders softball team! This was right up her alley, she LOVED every minute of it!!!

She loved being with the older girls and she learned a lot!!!

She is ready to do it again!

Our cousin Kelsey plays for MTSU and this is her working with Kaylee on her batting! Actually she will be working with Kaylee all winter or until softball season gets into full swing for her!!

Sneak Peak

2011-11-10T10:30:00.000-06:00

Julie at Relieve Photography did it again!!!

She has been taking pictures of the Adams' since Kaylee was a year old and she just keeps on doing an amazing job!!!

We LOVE these Julie....but you know I'm dying to see the rest!!!

Thanks again you are the best!!!

Getting ready for Baby Kaemey

2011-11-09T22:50:00.000-06:00

Sunday was a very busy day, the girls and I went to a baby shower for my dear friend Kayla and then we had family pictures made right after the shower, (sneak peak coming soon!)

I know I have said it before but let me say it again....WE LOVE THE YOUNG'S and we can not wait to meet Kaemey Leigh!!! This is such a special family and we are so blessed by their friendship and we thank God for bringing them into our lives!!!

Here is BIG SISTER Kaegan and her beautiful Mommy Kayla!!!

Here is just one of the gift tables, they got so much stuff!!

Kayla and one of her sister in laws, Kelly.

These are the two little gowns and burp clothes that we got Kaemey....they turned out so cute and I think she loved them!!!

There is such a funny story about this gift too and since I don't want to forget it, I must journal it.

I had ordered the gowns weeks ago, like six weeks in fact. I noticed on the website that it said allow 4-6 weeks turn around time on all orders...no problem we will have plenty of time I thought. Long story short I had not received these sweet gowns by Tuesday before the shower, I started to panic. Ashley at SheSheMade was awesome and assured me that I would have my gift in hand on Saturday that she would over night the package to me! No problem...everything would work out, right.....WRONG!!!

Saturday morning I had to work and I kept checking my email tracking my little package from TX. The last scan in was at 6:40 am into Nashville. I just knew something was wrong, there was no way I was going to get that. Thank goodness I have some good friends that work next door at the post office, I called them, they tracked it down. It was still at the USPS sorting hub in Nashville. Alright...I'll just go get it!!!

So, my Mom, the girls and I drove to the Nashville International Airport went to the USPS sorting hub and the nice fellow had my package waiting on me!!! Thank goodness! It was a cool little trip though, the girls loved it, seeing all of the airplanes coming and going and I never dreamed that the USPS sorting hub was that big!!!

The gowns were just beautiful and the girls at SheSheMade out did themselves!!!

Kaylee and her twin Kate! :)

Kayla and I...Kaegan helped Kaylee take this picture! :)

Kayla, her MIL Kat and her two SIL's Kelly and Keri.

Everybody always thinks that I am somehow related to these girls.....I can't imagine why!

I think its an awesome compliment cause they are all 4 beautiful inside and out! And they are so much fun to be with!

Kayla and her Mom and sister! They are sweet, sweet ladies too!!!

Kayla and all of her nieces and one of her nephews, two other nephews are missing and then of course Big sister Kaegan and her adopted nieces, Kaylee and Kara Brooke!

Again, we are so excited about baby Kaemey and just can not wait for her to get here. One thing is for sure she will know her name with all of that sweet monogrammed stuff she got and she will be a stylin little baby girl...but really did we expect anything less!!!!

Love you Kayla, Brett and Kaegan!!

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T17:17:00.004-05:00

Happy Halloween....

from

The Hippie dancing queen....

and from the beautiful princess

Cinderella!!!

Hope you all had as much fun as we did!!! We always enjoy Halloween so much, it is so fun to dress the kiddos up and go get a ton of candy!!!

Thanks to BawBaw and Sam Sam too for always having us over and having YUUUUMMMY food....Kara Brooke sure enjoyed her chili this year even the "to go" bowl!!! :)

USSSA Fall TN STATE CHAMPIONS!

2011-10-30T16:14:00.047-05:00

Our girls wrapped up the fall ball season winning the fall STATE Tournament!!!

I can not tell you how proud I am of these girls, they have really worked hard in three months and have overcome a ton of obstacles that was thrown at them over the spring and summer!!!

Just an awesome group of friends!!

Congrats Middle TN High Voltage!

"Good eye" Kaylee, "Good eye"!!

Looking good Abi! This girl has really come a long way with her pitching....she is going to be phenomenal!!!

Kaylee is down and ready!

One is coming her way......

Ohhh yeah...don't move, girl on 2nd, 'cause you will be out too!!!

Good job Kaylee!!!

What makes a great ball team???

A butt chewing, every now and then!!!

Doing their victory dance.....The Dougie!!!

Buddies!!!

Kaylee on 1st after a beeeeeUtiful bunt!!!

Oh there's the beautiful bunt!!!

(Pictures got out of order!)

DANGER: HIGH VOLTAGE!

Silly picture!!

Kaylee and Coach!

Celebrating at Cracker Barrel,

Cole letting it be known, who the champs are!!! :)

Also Middle TN High Voltage had an awesome write up on Youth1 that we knew nothing about!! Go check it out.

http://youth1.com/softball-headlines/10u-usssa-round-up.html

How about that!!! So proud that these home town girls got recognized!!!

Congrats again MTHV!!!

As Youth1 said you are going to have an amazing spring and summer!!!

We can't wait!!!

Ethan's Birthday

2011-10-23T21:17:00.000-05:00

We had a great time at Ethan's 7th birthday party, I can't believe he is a 1st grader....seems just like yesterday that little baby boy was born!!! Happy Birthday E...we love you!!!

Best Buddies, Kara Brooke and Nate...she loves him!!!!

Check out Ethan's awesome cake, the detail on the snake was amazing!!! And once again Valerie at "Wild about Cakes" out did herself!!! Of course it was Yummmmy, too!!

Kara Brooke petting a hedgehog.

And a snake.

And another snake!

This picture cracks me up!!

LOL, They are two peas in a pod!!

I'm telling you she is going to be ONE AWESOME Mommy!!!

Pumpkin Patch 2011

2011-10-22T21:22:00.020-05:00

We had an awesome afternoon at Lucky Ladd's pumpkin patch! Kris took the girls last year to this farm (while I was sick) and he said it was by far one of the best that we have ever been to. We thought about trying out another one but the girls insisted that we go back to Lucky Ladd! It did not disappoint, we had a blast!!! The weather was beautiful too!

We had a very busy weekend (more pics to come) but it was so good to spend time with family! This is what I LOVE about fall! Cooler weather, boots, sweaters, pumpkins, yummy food, football, basketball and spending time with friends and family!!!!

High Voltage

2011-10-08T22:13:00.013-05:00

Middle TN High Voltage brings home another 1st place!!

We got down 2 runs and had to go extra innings in the championship game but this group of girls stepped up, hit the ball and made some awesome defensive plays to win the tournament!!

Congrats girls, you all have come a long way!!

Disney on Ice

2011-10-06T22:15:00.000-05:00

Let me just say if you have never seen Disney on Ice.....do yourself a favor and GO!!!! It was Awesome! We went with our sweet friends The Young's. And we had the best time. Our guys were not as excited as we were but when they saw the big smilies on those girls faces it was worth it!!! Kara Brooke and Kaegan would just scream and wave and giggle they LOVED it!!! Kaylee on the other hand, I think she was glad she went but she wasn't crazy over it like the little ones, of course!!! My big girl is growing up too fast!!!

MTSU Homecoming parade 2011

2011-10-01T21:39:00.002-05:00

Kaylee was invited to walk in the MTSU Homecoming parade with the women's basketball team this year! Talk about excited.....oh my.....excited was not even the word!!!! I think she was a little "star struck" at first but then she just fit right in with them!

Kaylee and the MTSU Lady Raiders!!!!

Kaylee & Nana

Kara Brooke before the parade. We watched the parade from the girls pediatrician's house with her and her family...it was a blast!!!

Kara Brooke & Nana

And here she comes!

Kaylee walked with her new favorite Lady Raider..Jordyn!

Jordyn took great care of Kaylee. When we got there Jordyn remembered Kaylee from summer camp, she was Kaylee's mentor!

I'm so thankful for these super awesome experiences for Kaylee...memories that I know she will never forget!!!

One of the guys from the men's team loading Kara Brooke up with candy!!!

Speaking of candy....oh wow.....it was better than trick or treating!! We ended up with sacks and sacks of candy between Kara Brooke and Dr. B.'s boys. It was the good stuff too, no cheap candy!!! LOL

And here is the softball team...that is my cousin Kelsey at the front of the float (with her mouth open yelling at us!)

Me & my beautiful Momma!!

We love some MTSU!

KB's favorite...Lightening!!! She loves him and will just watch him at the games!!!

Kaylee & Jordyn!

Kris & the girls on the field before the game!!!

In the box pigging out before the game started!

KB watching Lightening come in the arena!!

Kaylee says GO BIG BLUE!!!

We had a great day and lots of memories to last a lifetime!!!

Also we purchased our season tickets for the basketball games today!!! Wheewhooo....we are ready for some hoops...come on Nov. 1st!!!

Heavy Heart

2011-09-25T23:24:00.000-05:00

Today I come and ask for prayers for my sweet friend Julie and her family. Julie's sister Leslie lost her six month old baby girl, Brooklynn this morning.
Julie has always been one of my best friends and in High School I know I spent more time with her and her family than I did my own. We played basketball together and grew up in the same church together. I was in a grade higher than her and after I graduated we kind of went our separate ways but any time we would see each other it was just like we never missed a day. She was in my wedding and I was in hers. She was there when my girls were born and I was there when her boys were born. On the side she owns a photography business and she has done almost every single "professional" picture my girls have ever had made!! Julie is just a jewel.....she has always had a strong faith and she is just an amazing person...so strong and so loving. I just kills me to have to see her family go through this season of life!!! But even in all of this as I weep for The Armstrong's I still find inspiration and strength from my friend Julie.....here are her words...

Last night I went to bed knowing that my favorite time had come...SUNDAY. Sunday is the day I go to church...go to my mom and dad's...spend the day..playing and most recently...enjoying my two favorite things...Gunner and Brooklyn. Holding them...rocking them...taking their pictures... This Sunday would be the same...or so I thought... Then came the sharp knife...

Phone rang...mom screaming...Julie, pray...Julie, please pray...I am coming mom is all I could get out. I am running...fell to my knees in the driveway..moonlight hitting my face....pleading with God...PLEASE DON"T DO THIS...Please GOD!! Get myself together...get in the car...drive....drive..will I ever get there...what will be there when I get there? What am I going to say? I am sure she is fine...just a bad cold..she will be fine.

I get there..no one is there yet...I find my way to the ambulance bay...then I hear it...that sound...it sounds so different when it is someone you know in it. I fell to my knees...looked up to the dark sky...pleaded again, PLEASE DON'T DO THIS GOD! Then it came again....the sharp knife...

Her short life had been lived...God needed her more than we did. for a moment...I am angry...I am so disappointed...then it came...God's love. He told me through many of you, I am here...I hear you...I have her in my arms Julie...She is safe...be still...and KNOW...I am God. Your pain is my pain, God said...Let me comfort you, let me hold you. God is holding us together...through our pain...through our unanswered questions. HE IS and forever will by our ROCK. my refrugee...my saving grace, my everything.

NOW I must be the shining light for my sister. I will..God has asked me too, honestly...HE has asked us all to be the shining light in times of darkness. And there are many times the darkness comes...who are you being a shining light for? Are you creating the darkness? blowing the candles out others have burned? Have we done what God has called us to do. TO LOVE!!! To love at all times and to love EVERYONE. God is Love. He is not angry...HE is not faultfinding....He is not HATE...God is LOVE.

My sweet baby girl...our only baby girl...Brooklyn...I was there when you came into the world and there when God decided to call you home...I miss you terribly...I know Heaven is a beautiful place..I know Grandaddy is so proud and showing you off right now. I bet my friend Jen has even found you and kissed you too. We are sad...we are heartbroken...but God is taking care of us. I love you...forever your juju....

Isn't she amazing??? Please pray for Julie's sister Leslie and the entire family!! I love you Armstrong family!!!! Rest in peace, Baby Brooklynn....as we know you are safe in the arms of Jesus!

High Voltage

2011-09-18T12:51:00.000-05:00

Kaylee's softball team played in their first fall tournament last weekend. New coach, new sponsor and a new attitude was a great combination and the girls won the tournament out of six teams. We were very proud and an undefeated weekend is just what these kids needed!!! Now they are getting ready to play some stiffer competition in a few weeks, the girls know that is what it takes to get better and they are ready for that challenge!!

Kaylee is taking orders!

Orders must have been to hit the ball!!! ha!

Good job Kaylee!!

Taking a break before the championship game.

Champions!!!

Middle TN High Voltage!!

Fun, Fun!!

2011-08-30T22:24:00.000-05:00

Just a fun few days at The Adams' house!!

First Day of 4th grade

2011-08-28T21:05:00.056-05:00

This is Kaylee's first day of 4th grade picture!! I really can not believe it, she is just growing up so fast! She did get the teacher she wanted for homeroom and she will be changing classes this year. For Kaylee I feel like that will be a big adjustment.

This week we are on "horse show break", Kaylee and Kara Brooke are lucky girls because Nana has taken the week off for them to stay with her!! Talk about two excited girls, they will both be so spoiled after this week!! Oh well...they will make some of the best memories with Nana and I know she love every minute just as much the the kiddos!!

We are in the process of remolding our kitchen and man it has been crazy trying to decide on counter tops, tile, paint colors, etc. I don't think I could ever build an entire house because I am too indecisive!!

We are almost finished, actually I'm hoping it will be completely done by the weekend. I can not wait to show you pictures, it is going to be beeeeeUtiful!!! :)

Of course we have been busy with softball. We have been practicing one to two nights a week getting ready to start playing in tournaments in just a few weeks!! We are very excited about our new team and new coach. Things seems to be going very well and the girls seem to be responding to our new coach just as we had hoped!! It is amazing the difference in Kaylee in just three weeks, she is so excited and she is learning so much!!!

2011-08-15T22:51:00.001-05:00

Test post from my phone!!!

Posting from my phone

2011-08-15T22:49:00.000-05:00

Hey guys!!! Guess what....I have finally learned how to blog from my SmartPhone!!!! Oh my....I am so excited because there are so many times I get a great picture on my phone and would just love to journal right then but then when I get home...I just run out of time or forget what I wanted to remember on our blog!!! But now I can do it anytime and anywhere!!!!

However, due to security reasons, I may have to make our family blog private. I am getting tons of hits everyday and I never dreamed so many of you would be interested in our family. So, if you would like to continue to read The Adams Bunch--party of 4, please leave me a comment on this post. If you do not let me know to add you to the private settings you will no longer be an authorized reader and maybe I'll just see ya around on Facebook!!! I already know some of you do not have a google account, just sign in the comments section as anonymous and then give me your name and email..its that easy!!!

I so hate to do this but I must get everyone verified before I continue.....I know you will understand!!!

Beach pictures 2011

2011-08-14T10:20:00.000-05:00

Vacation PCB 2011--Day 4

2011-08-06T20:58:00.000-05:00

Vacation PCB 2011--Day 3

2011-07-31T21:50:00.000-05:00

Vacation PCB 2011--Day 2

2011-07-26T20:44:00.000-05:00

Vacation PCB 2011--Day 1

2011-07-24T21:25:00.001-05:00

This year we could not decide where we were going for vacation, I wanted to go to the beach and Kris wanted to go to Gaitlinburg. It was Friday afternoon before we decided where we were going, with the help of my bestie, Susan, finding us a condo and convincing my husband he would spend less at the beach!!

Tuesday night at 11pm we packed up he car and headed out! We arrived in Panama City Beach at 6am Wednesday morning. The kids did great, Kaylee slept the whole way there and Kara Brooke slept most of the way. It did make the trip so easy driving at night...I was skeptical at first!

Since we couldn't get in our condo until later on in the afternoon we made the most of our first day. We had breakfast and then headed out to stroll down the pier.

After that we went to hang out with our sweet friends, The Sanders family. They were down there on vacation and more importantly their oldest daughter was there to play in the Fastpitch World Series!

After visiting with them and checking in our first condo....and then our second condo.....yes I said 1st and 2nd condo we headed to the beach!! Just a little side note, our 1st condo was not up to Kris' standards...much less mine!!! I will not go in complete detail but trust me it was F-U-N-N-Y...I felt like I was on HGTV's condo hunters or something!! Anyway we got settled in our awesome condo and hit the beach!!

After the beach we got cleaned up and met back up with The Sanders at Pineapple Willies for dinner we had the best time and we are so thankful for such great friends!!

Acting silly before we left!!

Getting ready to ride go carts not real sure what KB is doing in this picture!

KB having fun!

Taylor was the go cart CHAMP.....even though Kris thinks he was...ha!

The first day ended with two tired girls!!!

July 4th weekend

2011-07-09T20:18:00.000-05:00

Hope you all had a great July 4th weekend, we sure did!

VBS, Father's day, house guest and catch up

2011-07-01T09:41:00.001-05:00

Kaylee's friend Taylor O. always invites her to her church's VBS every year and of course this year was no exception. This year the setting was in NEW YORK, the Big Apple!!! As always the decorations were great and Kaylee always learns a lot. We are very thankful for our friends.

A few Sundays ago we celebrated Father's Day!

I know I have said it the last 10 years but our girl's have an amazing father!! He is always there and always find the time to get it all done. Thank you Kris, we love you!!

"Come on KB smile pretty....."

I get this.....

...and then this!!!!

LOL, so typically Kara Brooke!

As many of you already knew our sweet Tom, (Kris' Mom's friend, who she has been with over 30 years but never married, who still live in separate homes--might as well say Kris' step-dad---ok now that complicated mess is understood....) has been very sick and in the hospital for 4 weeks. Today he is doing better and is rehabilitating in a local nursing home but still has a long way ahead of him. Anyway, MeMe stayed with him day and night and since she was gone we had a house guest....

Meet Tilly.....

She is the sweetest little puppy ever and she is sooooo good. However, we did enjoy our time with her but now we realize a dog just would not fit in our lives. #1 WE ARE NEVER HOME!!!

The girls absolutely LOVED her!

And she loved them!

How about them smooches for Kara Brooke from Tilly!!!

Since then we have been playing a lot of softball. Kaylee's team won a championship and we are still improving every game. We have one tournament left and that is a TN State tournament and then we will be off a week or two and then we will be gearing up for fall ball with new coaches and a new name. So excited for Kaylee about that!!!

Also Kaylee attended a church day camp with some friends and absolutely LOVED it. We are seriously considering that for our new church home. More on that later.

Last week Nana was off all week so Kaylee got to spend the whole week with her. Nana fixed dinner one night last week just so we could see our daughter!! ha! I am so thankful that Kaylee got to spend a week with her such fun memories for both of them. One day she had friends over to Nana's to swim, one day Nana took Kaylee and a friend to Chuck E. Cheese to play and then Steak n Shake it eat. And the list goes on and on.....Ahhhh fun summer time.

I remember spending the summers with my Granny and it was the BEST TIME OF MY LIFE!!!

Oh the memories....Thanks Nana for making those memories with Kaylee!!

And still in the middle of all of this summer fun...golf lessons for Kaylee are going great!!! She LOVES it, she will tell you she is by far not the best just yet, but it takes time and years to master that sport!!! ha! Too funny!!!

Seems like all of the above is what Kaylee has been up too and nothing about our sweet KB.....she has been going to her favOrite daycare and being with her besties and has been drug around to all the ball parks, which she loves, I might add! And when we are at home, she is doing something like this.....

a path of destruction!!!!! Here she has emptied two toy boxes, with her Dora dress on because, "I'm wooking for sumpin!!" LOL

We are gearing up for a fun in the sun 4th of July weekend!!

Hope you have a great one!!!!

Double Digits, Kaylee?

2011-06-13T21:29:00.073-05:00

Kaylee,

Really today you turn 10? Double digits? 3 more years until you are a teenager? 6 more years until you will be driving down the driveway?

You have really grown up way too fast!! What a beautiful girl you have grown into. You are so smart and such a perfectionist. You truly have a heart of gold and really would like to be friends with everyone. This fall you will be a fourth grader and it seems just like yesterday you were gearing up for kindergarden!! Your sense of humor is fabulous you make us laugh all the time. You love to scuffle with your Daddy and you love to read to Kara Brooke. You are a great big sister even though you aggravate her sometimes and cause big fights.....she LOVES you to pieces and would follow you to the end of the world.

You love to play softball and basketball and most recently you have taken up golf!! Again, even in sports you have a huge heart and lots of dedication and that is what I love about you. I always remind you that heart, dedication and attitude will take you along way. You always work hard no matter what!!

You are one amazing daughter and I thank God everyday for a healthy you!! I hope you know how much Daddy and I love you!!

Always remember to take the high road KK!!! :)

Kaylee picked Long Horn for her birthday meal, she was wanting some steak!!!

Nana and Papaw surprised you with a Kindle.....ummmm a bit surprised there sweet girl??

The folks at Long Horn sang to ya and brought out a yummy dessert!!!

Tom & MeMe hooked you up with amazon gift cards to the tune of about $200.00 to use with your Kindle.....not to mention the other gifts you got! I think you had a pretty awesome day!!!

Happy 10th Birthday Kaylee Wreanne!!

Kaylee's 10th Birthday party

2011-06-11T21:09:00.044-05:00

Today Kaylee celebrated her double digit party with her girlfriends!! Once again she chose a swim party, she has realized she can have more friends with a swim party!!! LOL

She wanted to theme her party around her softball team whose colors are navy and gold. Yes this was the first blue party I've ever done and yes it just about killed me!!! ha! But that is what our girl wanted so that is what we did!

Another fabulous cake by Valerie at Wild about Cakes.

Here is the whole gang!!

And of course we had to do a funny group picture too!

(Check out KB, LOL!)

Thanks to all of you that came!

Kaylee has truly been blessed with some amazing friends!

Jackson, TN

2011-06-10T21:40:00.000-05:00

We had a good weekend trip to Jackson with Kaylee and her ball team, although the girls did not play very well we still had a good time. Our coaches had promised the girls an overnight trip and boy oh boy did the girls have fun. They could have cared less that we were there to play ball and acted as if they had never swung a bat before!!! As parents we all very frustrated...but oh well...we have to remember that they are still kiddos too!!

This is probably one of my favorite pictures of Kaylee playing ball. That swing looks perfect and she has worked really hard to get there!!!

Next weekend is Kaylee's 10th birthday!!!

This and That

2011-06-08T22:39:00.000-05:00

Kara Brooke's new favorite breakfast food....ICE CREAM!!! She loves ice cream and thinks its the best breakfast food ever!!! Is it bad that I let her eat it, I mean it is milk, right?

The weather has heated up and we are looking for ways to cool off!! Kara Brooke got this pool for her birthday and the girls have enjoyed it so much.

A couple of weeks ago we went to see Kaylee get her honor at Honor's Day. She was one out of four in her class that stayed on the Principals list ( all A's) all year long!!! Such a huge accomplishment and she makes us so proud!!! So hard to believe that she is going to be a 4th grader this fall and she will be 10 in a few days...where oh where does the time go???

Notice that Kaylee does not have her glasses on???? She is now wearing contacts!! I can't believe it, I can't believe that I actually have a child enough to sport contacts! She has really done great with them too. She was having trouble playing ball in the sun with her glasses on and really needed to be able to wear sun glasses so Nana suggested that we get her contacts with her prescription that is the same as her glasses. We went to the eye Dr. to get fitted for contacts and Kaylee's eye's had changed dramatically in just 10 months. I could not believe it, with her glasses on out of her left eye she could only see the E and then the next line down on the chart!!! I stood there in amazement, disbelief and felt very sad that she couldn't see any better than that with her glasses on. She had not been complaining or anything...bless her heart, she said she knew she could see better with her glasses on and just thought that was as good as it got. After she got her contacts with the right prescription, you should have seen the smile on that girls face...it was like we seriously gave her the world!!!

I love that girl...what a blessing she is!!!

Memorial Day we just hung out at the pool at Nana and Papaw's house. We had a very relaxing day and we are so thankful for past, present and future military men and women that fight for our freedom!!

Minnie Mouse was the theme--KB's 3rd birthday

2011-05-16T21:53:00.002-05:00

Kara Brooke choose Minnie Mouse as her theme for her 3rd birthday party and of course I had to add some zebra print!! The party was Sunday afternoon and it was a NASTY, COLD day in May!!! I was so upset about the weather, everything was supposed to be outside but instead we had to move everything inside. The bounce house was a huge hit and I just knew all those kiddos were going to be sick....but they LOVED it and everything worked out just perfectly and Kara Brooke had a great 3rd birthday party!

Once again her cake was adorable!! I knew what I wanted it to look like and gave Valerie at Wild about Cakes my thoughts and ideas and viola....here is her awesome creation!!!

It was Yummy too, the top tier was chocolate and the bottom was yellow!!!

We had chicken salad sandwiches from Bocceli's, homemade pasta salad, chips and dip and pizza for the kids.

As I said earlier it was a great birthday party and Kara Brooke got tons of great presents. We are so blessed by such wonderful family and friends.

Happy Birthday Kara Brooke!!

We love you baby girl!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Kara Brooke

2011-05-12T22:04:00.098-05:00

Kara Brooke,

Today you are 3 years old!!

I can not believe that 3 years have past since we first saw your sweet face. You have been an absolute joy in our lives and we can not imagine life with out you. Your strong will is one of your best assets although some days your strong will makes me want to pull my hair out but I know one day you will be a great leader of some kind. You always know just what you want and there is no changing your mind. You have the funniest personality and we laugh so much at/with you. You love your big sister so much and LOVE going to the ball field with her. She loves you right back, don't get me wrong, even though there are seven years difference in your ages you can still have some knock down fights and arguments!!

I hate to say it out loud only because I do not want to jinks it but I'm thinking just maybe you are past the terrible twos!! You have started listening so much better and you don't get in as much trouble as before, you do still have your times. Like in the mornings when we are all three rushed to get out the door. You do still need your nap because that is when you get in the most trouble these days when you do not get one and you get grouchy when you are tired.

You get drug to so many ball fields and practices but you LOVE it! You ask almost everyday when I pick you up from daycare if we are going to the ball field!

You can carry on conversations just like an adult and you talk just like your sitter, Mrs. Joy, loud, scruffy and with a lot of syllables!! LOL

You always have something funny to say and I need to start writing them down just so we can remember everything. When someone ask when your birthday is you always answer, "May in the 12th!" You love Minnie Mouse and you have started watching more TV. You love your baby dolls and you love real live babies...you just can't get enough of them. I bet you will be a great Mommy one day!! You love your toys and you actually play with toys and you can play by yourself. You love to be outside doing anything. Your eating habits have not changed since day one.....you LOVE to eat and will eat almost anything!!

You love your friends and you think you should already be having sleepovers just like Sissy, although you will not even spend the night with Nana! Speaking of Nana you love her so much, you are a Nana's girl ALMOST as much as you are a Mommy's girl. You get to stay with Nana quite a bit when we are traveling with Kaylee and her ball team. You two have the best time together and you are so good for her.

You are potty trained and have been for a VERY long time except for night and you have no desire to give up your pull ups at night. You weigh about 36 pounds and you are pretty tall, we go soon to the Dr. for your 3 year old check up.

You are a very special baby girl and you are so opposite from your sister. You most definitely complete our family of four and we are so thankful that God saved you for us!!!

We love you Kara Brooke Adams and Happy Birthday baby girl!!

Today it is all about you!!

Love,

Mommy

This weekend will be celebrating Kara Brooke's birthday Minnie Mouse and zebra print style!! Can't wait!!!

We are still alive!

2011-05-11T22:39:00.081-05:00

Goodness....you mean the last time I updated this journal was Easter!!! Wow....We have been pretty busy so I'm going to try to catch up.

--Kaylee's softball team had a 5 hour practice with a family cookout. The girls had such a great practice and had so much fun. We love our Crusher's family and we are very excited about things to come!!

--Kara Brooke won 3rd runner up in a "picture beauty pageant" several months ago and part of her "duties" were to participate in fashion shows modeling children's clothing. I had to work and Kris was at a softball tournament with Kaylee so Nana took on the challenge of KB's first runway debut!! Nana said it wasn't anything fancy but she said Kara Brooke did a great job after she got over her "shyness". LOL!!!

--Kaylee's team took 3rd place in their last tournament. They are getting better and better. They beat a really good team to get back in the winners bracket and of course I have to brag a little bit.....the score was tied, Kaylee was on third base and our batter was in a full count. The catcher dropped the ball about 2 feet from her and our coach sent Kaylee to steal home.....I thought I was going to have a heart attack....Kaylee slide in and the catcher laid a tag on her knee but lucky for us, Kaylee's foot got to home base before the tag.....WHOOOHOOO.....CRUSHERS win the game and advance on!!!

--Mother's Day was very low key and relaxing. Kris' mom and Tom came and got the girls to go to Toys R Us to pick out KB's birthday present. Kris and I went to Wal-Mart and Lowe's all by ourselves, it was a very nice two hour break. We grilled hamburgers and hotdogs for our parents and had a great evening.

The M&M blizzard ice cream cake was so yummy too!!

--Kara Brooke did come home with an early birthday present...a hot pink Cadillac Escalade...thanks Tom!!! She loves it!!

We finished the evening off with some sweet watermelon!!!

--We are gearing up for Kara Brooke's 3rd birthday and next weekend will be her party. I can't believe my baby doll is growing up so fast!!!

I know I have left something out but at least I have got this much added!!! :)

Easter 2011

2011-04-24T22:55:00.000-05:00

We had a very good Easter Day.

We are beyond blessed and so thankful!

Of course I took a lot of pictures, so enjoy!!!

If you are my friend on Facebook...you already know about our Easter Eve mishap....but I will be blogging it in the next couple of days!! Trust me if you haven't already heard...you will for sure want to hear this!!! Lord help....only at the Adams' house!!!

Hope you had a HAPPY EASTER!!!

Crusher Weekend

2011-04-10T21:42:00.048-05:00

This weekend we had a another weekend of softball in Gallatin, TN. Saturday we played some awesome softball but then when we came back on Sunday...well it looked like we had never played ball of any kind before!! ha! Guess those weekends will happen!!!

Kaylee did have some great games though. She is really improving and that is what this year is all about!!

We got to face another team from our home town on Saturday afternoon and so many of the girls are such good friends and a lot have played together on different teams in the past. They actually have more of the older girls in our age division on their team and yes they did beat us and went on take 2nd in the tourney. They are going to be hard to handle this year, just like our team will be next year after we all get this year of learning under our belts!! I think all of the girls enjoyed playing each other and it was a good game.

After the tournament a bunch of us headed to eat at Toot's!! It was YUMMY and the fried pickles hit the spot!!!!

The girls all had a big time hanging out together!! Such great memories!

Kara Brooke and her baby!!!

Our weekend

2011-04-05T22:31:00.001-05:00

It was such a great weekend- it started bright and early Saturday morning before the sun ever came up. We were on the road to our first fast pitch tournament of the year. I think everyone was a little nervous to see how we would compete and to be very honest the first game was BAD!! LOL The first team we played was an a second year team, all of the players had played in this division before and they had an amazing pitcher. But finally our girls settled in for games 2-4 and did a much better job! We were very proud that they ended up in 3rd place!! We know that this year is going to be a year for learning and as long as we see improvement we will be good with that!

While we were at the tournament KB got stung by a wasp!! She was with some of our friends watching our 8U Crushers play and she sat on the wasp and it got her in her little thigh!!! Bless her heart she was pitiful...it scared me to death since Kris is highly allergic, I had no idea how she would react to it. Thankfully our good friend Brett, who is a paramedic was right there with us and he just took over! She tells Brett now that she loves him and he is her best friend cause "him" fixed my boo boo!! We are so blessed by our Crusher family everyone was doing what they could to help us out! Kara Brooke was alright after a little bit and then she went to sleep.

Sunday afternoon this was the view from my back patio! Kaylee was determined to get some practice time in. That is what I love about her love for the sport-she is by no means an amazing player but she does a great job, practices hard and wants to get better! And in my mind after playing sports years and years myself that is what makes amazing players...heart and desire and that is something she definitely has and you just can't coach that!!!

And of course here is wild child, enjoying the beautiful day!! I have started working on her 3rd birthday party...she is so excited about her party this year and has told me exactly what she wants her theme to be! Ha! More to come on that soon!!!

This weekend we are headed to Gallatin for our next softball tournament. Hopefully our head coach will be there too. He also coaches a middle school team and has been very busy with them but soon enough he will have all of his concentration on Kaylee's team!!

Looks like it will be another beautiful weekend-nothing better than sunshine, softball and spending time with friends and family!!

Just a few pictures

2011-03-30T08:17:00.002-05:00

Wow-- REALLY....3 whole weeks.....goodness we have been busy, busy around here! You know it's bad when Kris says, "Hey you haven't updated our blog lately!"

The pants that she has on....yeah, she came home from the hospital in them!! LOL

I know, no pictures of Kaylee but the kid is NEVER at home!!

Kaylee is on spring break this week so I took the week off to spend with her! Even though the weather has not been very springish at all...we are still enjoying time off!!!

We have our first softball tournament this upcoming weekend, I will be so excited to see our girls on the field. They have worked really hard conditioning during the winter but have only been on the field maybe 5 times, if that. But you have to start somewhere...and for us it will be this weekend!!

I hope to get back in my regular blogging mode this week!

Basketball ends

2011-03-06T22:53:00.000-06:00

Basketball has officially ended and the gray team took 2nd place!! I was so very proud of these girls, they all learned so much. But of course I have to brag on my girl. I think she had nine points and about 19 rebounds!!! Seriously I don't think it was quite 19 but she had a lot!! ha! I ~~hope~~ think that basketball is going to be her sport! Don't get me wrong she loves softball too but in my opinion she is a much better basketball player!

After the game we celebrated with our team at McDonalds. And then it was off to softball practice for three hours!

Sunday we watched the MTSU Lady Raiders in the SunBelt Tournament at Nana & Papaw's on pay per view. Our girls were top seeded going into the tourney and unfortunately they just couldn't get it together today. They all had their nails painted purple, wore purple ribbons in their hair, (Tina's favorite color) had black number 20 patches on their jersey's and instead of their usual warm ups they wore black t-shirts with "20gether" on the front and "Stewart" on the back. Also they had Tina's uniform on the first chair of the bench....ahhh soooo sad!!! I think the girls just had too much on their plates this week but its not completely over, we will just have to wait and see how the rest of the chips fall to see what is next for our Lady Raiders!

No matter what happened today....I know a nine year old that is still a HUGE MTSU Lady Raider fan!!!

Gooooo BLUE!!!

After the game Kaylee had softball practice again, Kris took care of that. While I ran to the grocery store with coupons in hand and I saved almost $50.00!!! KB stayed at Nana's and had a nap!

I think this next week will be the first week in a long time that we will have nothing to do but come home every night this week!!!

Missing in Action

2011-03-05T21:37:00.001-06:00

Whewww busy, busy...I have a lot of catching up to do. So hang on I'm going to journal the last two weeks pretty quickly.

Of course as you know Kara Brooke has been pretty sick, the following pictures are her taking her breathing treatment and her cow machine. She is doing a lot better even though I have had to take her back to the Dr. two times this past week with an ear infection. She kept spiking a fever again and basically the first antibiotics were just not strong enough to kill the infection since she has been on so many different drugs in the last month. But as of today she has been fever free for 24 hours. Thank goodness!

Last Saturday, of course we played basketball and lost again to the one and only team that has beat us three times! Wheww....just couldn't get past them. Kaylee had an ok game, had more rebounds than points but we were still very proud!

Saturday afternoon we had to go help out with Kaylee's travel softball team with a chili supper and corn hole tournament. we had a very good turn out and raised quite a bit of money for our girls!

Kaylee has never played corn hole EVER but they had a kids tourney going too and she and her friend Jaley won second place!! They won $10.00 each and they were sooooo excited. They wanted to make sur ethat everyone knew that they got beat by a sixth grade and a eighth grade boys!!! ha!

Sunday afternoon we went to the MTSU game. It was Senior night and the last home game of the year. It was also Kara Brooke's very first MTSU game! She did so good and loved watching "the horsey" our mascot is a horse named Lighting and she tried to keep up with him most of the game.

On the following Wednesday we got very bad news that one of the MTSU players, Tina Stewart was killed by her roommate. Such a senseless and tragic act of violence that was so very hard to explain to Kaylee. She just couldn't understand why someone would do something like that to Tina, "because she was such a great player!" All of this happened two days before the team was to hit the the road to Hot Springs, AR to play in the SunBelt Conference Tourney. So sad....they had a memorial service in her honor on Thursday at Murphy Center. Please pray for Tina's family, coaches, team mates and friends!

If you look closely, Tina is in the white uniform facing the camera. She did have a great game Sunday too!! RIP Tina...we will miss you #20!

Kaylee again with her favorite...Anne Marie

Kaylee and Ebony!

Valentine's Day & sick, sick & more sick

2011-02-20T22:17:00.000-06:00

This has been one crazy week for the Adams bunch. Monday of course was love day and Kara Brooke had to go back to the Dr. You know she had the flu and then pneumonia last week and she was wheezing and coughing again over the weekend and last Sunday night. So Valentine's morning she headed back to the Dr. for more xrays, sure enough pneumonia in the other lung! Good grief....so the Dr. put her on a very high powered antibiotic that Kris had to wait for to come from Vanderbilt Children's Hospital and she got a shot in the clinic. It is the same drug that they use in IV's when kiddos are in the hospital with pneumonia.

That evening, Kaylee started feeling really bad and was coughing her head off too. I was thinking she probably just had a sinus infection so I gave her some meds and she went to bed. Tuesday morning she got up with a fever. REALLY??? I stayed home with both girls, Kris took Kaylee to the Dr. and guess what......yeap Kaylee had the flu too! Two very sick little girls at our house to say the least. I went back to work Wednesday and Kris stayed the rest of the week with them. I'm so thankful for him and that his business hasn't got started real good for the season just yet.

Thursday rolled around and now Kris has the flu....I promise I am not telling a story or exaggerating in anyway....wished I was but nope not at all! Thankfully by Thursday Kaylee had started feeling much better but Kara Brooke wasn't showing much improvement at all.

Thursday night I wasn't happy with KB's improvement at all and I knew something wasn't right so I called the Dr. and she said to try to make it through the night and be at her office first thing Friday morning. So Friday morning KB and I headed back to Dr. She sent us back down for more chest xrays, the 3rd set in 10 days and then back up to Dr. B's office. Thankfully the very expensive drug from Vandy was doing it's job and there was almost no sign of the pneumonia left. Basically what was going on was KB had a kid version of COPD. Her airways had swollen and had infection inside of them. She put her on the breathing machine and gave her a liquid steroid in the clinic. Her O2 saturation was kind of low but not low enough to go to the hospital. Dr. B. sent us home on the steroid and the breathing machine. So far so good. KB still has a cough but not near as bad and I do still hear wheezing form time to time. Hopefully, (fingers crossed) we are on the road to recovery.

Kaylee played basketball Saturday morning...by her choice....and said she felt great. She had a great game too. Actually all of the girls did fantastic, so much improvement by these girls in 6 weeks- we won 27-2. Two more games left and it will be softball season.

Tomorrow is Presidents Day and both kids are going back to school and Kris has to work and I AM OFF! Yeahhhh.....definitely need me time!

I am very THANKFUL that everyone is feeling better here and very thankful that it wasn't any worse than what it was. Even though I thought I was going to pull my hair out at times......

Busy Weekend

2011-02-13T22:42:00.000-06:00

Friday night was the community benefit for the Korley Davis family. And let me just say WOW!!! I can not get over all of the people first of all. I bet there was over 2000 people in attendance! And then WOW...WOW...WOW....

at the people opening their hearts and wallets! Stuff was selling for thousands of dollars and hundreds of dollars. It was absolutely amazing and such a blessing to be a part of a community that came together for such a sweet family in their huge time of need!

Kara Brooke got her face painted and she was hilarious after it dried. She would rub her check and say, "Momma, is my paint still on?" ha! Our girl is too funny and had the best time!!

Kara Brooke her her buddy Zola!

Aren't they sweet? Ha..don't let those sweet smiles fool ya...they are both ring tail tooters!!!

Kaylee was at the benefit too but she was not with us she chose to hang out with her friends in the kids zone most of the night. So I don't have any pictures of her!

Saturday morning we had another basketball game. We did win and the girls all did good-they are improving so much every week!

As soon as the game was over we headed to Kaylee's sweet friend Kayden's birthday party! It was so neat they had an open stage with mics and a dance floor! It kind of reminded me of my junior high days when everybody kindof sat around at first and then it was on after that!!! The kids had a blast!!!

Kayden, the birthday girl is in the middle!

We loved her her tie dyed, peace sign cake!!! Great choice Kayden!!

The crew!

It's hard to see them all since the lighting was so dim!

Of course KB was there too!

We had to leave the party early to make it to another birthday party of one of favorite friends, Jaley!

Jaley and Kaylee went to preschool together and have been playing softball together now for a couple of years. We LOVED Jaley's cake too! PERFECT...for the sports girl that she is!

Of course they had a friendly game of b-ball going!

Kara Brooke and sweet Mattie! KB loves babies!

And here is Jaley's party crew!!

Kaylee spent the night with the birthday girl and KB and I headed to meet Kris, Nana and Papaw for dinner. KB was so tired she slept through dinner and then went back to sleep so after we got home. To much partying for her!

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, so tonight we had to get all of our Valentine's ready and cookies baked for school tomorrow! I was kind of surprised that Kaylee's class was still going to exchange cards but very happy that they are and not letting them grow up too fast!

KB really wanted Minnie Mouse cards but we couldn't find any so she settled for Oliva! Kaylee chose Wizards of Waverly Place!

And my husband surprised my with my Valentines gift today....

a new Vera Bradley bag and wallet!!! I LOVE it and I LOVE him!

He is truly the best!

THANKS honey!

I LOVE you!!

Happy LOVE Day to you all tomorrow too!!

Super Bowl Sunday

2011-02-06T21:01:00.035-06:00

We watched the super bowl with Nana & Papaw at their house and of course Nana fixed an awesome dinner! I wasn't really cheering for either team but Kris on the other hand was a Steelers fan and Nana & Papaw were cheering for Green Bay!

It ended but being a pretty good game even though Kris' team lost!

Nana had fixed ribs, pulled pork, rotel, baked chicken, baked beans, potato salad and two different kinds of cookies. We all made BBQ nachos and ummmm I about died when I turned around to see this plate of food!!!

Lets go in for a closer look.....

OHHHH MYYYY....seriously????

I feel sure there was some serious heart burn after all of that!! ha!

I apparently cut some of the picture off I was laughing so hard, sorry about that!

Our girls were ready for some football!!

This picture is a little sideways too...I was probably still laughing at my husbands plate!!!

Have a great week!

Last week

2011-02-05T12:49:00.000-06:00

As you can imagine this past week as been a very hard one. It's still so hard to believe that little Korley's battle is over and that she is resting and breathing peacefully in the arms of Jesus. She has been a true inspiration to all of us and even though she is gone she will never be forgotten. It reminds us to never take anything for granted and to live everyday like it was your last!

On the evening of Korley's death, we had a very special surprise for Kaylee. First of all she was chosen to be the "Tipoff kid of the game" at MTSU. What that means is she presented the game ball to the referees before the game in front of everyone. She was so excited and could not wait! What she didn't know is that she was going to get to meet her favorite player, Anne Marie Lanning after the game. Actually she got to meet the entire team and get their autographs on her shirt! You would have thought we gave the kid a million dollars!

And this is Anne Marie and Kaylee. I have been told that I have to get an 8x10 of this picture so she can hang it in her room! So glad she has such a positive role model! Too bad she is a senior this year!

After we got home and Kaylee came down from cloud 9, as I was putting her in bed she said to me, "Momma this was the best ending to the worse day ever!" How sweet was that, of course as I walked out of her room tears filled my eyes and was I ever so thankful for two healthy little girls!!

And since I'm journaling all things this week- Kara Brooke came down with the flu! It was thankfully a mild case but never the less enough to weaken her immune system so that three days later we went back to the Dr. and she now has pneumonia. She is on two antibiotics and still the Tamaflu and she is doing really good. She has not had a fever since early this morning. Actually I went to the high school game tonight and Kris said..."She is definitely over it...she has been wild as a buck!!" Yeahhhh!!!

Of course Saturday morning brings basketball game for Kaylee. Last week we won, I don't think I ever got that on here. This week we lost to the same team as we did last time. However it was a much better game and my girls did exactly what was asked of them! That makes me proud! However we had TERRIBLE officiating, on both sides. There was so many bad calls on both teams it was not even funny especially since these refs are official TSSAA sanctioned! And don't think I didn't let the folks in charge know about it!! So, who really knows what the outcome of the game would have been if we (both teams) would have had better officiating!

Tomorrow is super bowl Sunday!! I guess I cheer for the Steelers, since they sent autographed items to be auctioned off at Korley's benefit this coming Friday night! I actually enjoy the commercials and of course my Mom makes the best food. I think we are having BBQ, rotel nachos and who knows what else!

Korley met Jesus this morning

2011-02-02T23:36:00.000-06:00

Thank you for praying for our sweet friend however Korley went to heaven this morning to rest peacefully in the arms of Jesus! Below is the article that our local paper published tonight. Please take the time to read, I promise you, you will be inspired by Korley just the way we are. Please also remember her family and friends during this most difficult time. RIP Korley we love you and we will miss you!

For Korley Davis, the long hard battle is over. The Liberty School sixth grader, who would have turned 12 on Friday, died Wednesday morning at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital.

She was the daughter of Becky and Donald Davis of Wheel.

"Liberty School is in mourning today as we have suffered a great loss," said Principal Mike Novak in a written statement. "Korley was a fantastic student and more than that, an amazing person. She was, and is, a role model for us all. Her influence touched so many lives in more ways than we will ever know. Her strength, attitude, and enthusiasm were unmatched."

Plagued with lung problems, Korley. who already defeated leukemia in her short life, had been on a heart and lung bypass machine for some time, trying to build up her strength for a lung transplant. A donor had been found at one point, but Korley was determined to be too weak for the operation and was taken off the list, with assurances she would be placed back on the top as soon as her doctors felt she was strong enough.

That day never came.

Her plight captivated people from far and wide and captured the hearts of all who knew her -- and many who did not. A beautiful young lady with a big grin and mischievous eyes, she had an entire county showing its support with green and yellow ribbons everywhere and "Pray for Korley" signs on mailboxes, schools, churches and businesses. The night before her death, WTVF television in Nashville broadcast a moving report on her plight and on the community's response to it.

Novak said that parent volunteers were at the school Wednesday morning to give teachers time to speak to counselors, who were brought in from all over the county to work with both Liberty students and teachers.

"I am so proud of my teachers and all of the members of the Liberty family," said Novak. "They have displayed amazing leadership as we all get through this difficult time."

Novak said that Korley was clearly a leader among her peers at the school.

"She strengthened the school, and her classmates," he said. "Her always-positive outlook has given us all hope in dark times."

"Korley is truly a blessing to us all and touched so many lives," said Michelle Bayne, Korley's cousin, in a written statement to the Times-Gazette. "She left a lasting impression on everyone. Lord, you have truly gained a beautiful angel named Korley."

Last summer, as a result of the Shelbyville Central High School's Make-A-Wish Foundation fund drive, Korley was given the VIP treatment at the CMA Music Festival. She even got to meet her favorite performer, Taylor Swift, visiting the singer on her tour bus.

Granting the wish brought particular satisfaction to SCHS students. The school has been active in the Make-A-Wish program for several years, but until Korley, the school had been assigned a series of out-of-county youngsters for whom to make funds -- all deserving, certainly, but with no special connection to the community. In Korley's case, the school had not only a local connection, but a personal one, since Korley's mother Becky is a teacher at SCHS. The ceremony last May at which Korley was informed of her upcoming meeting with Taylor Swift drew hearty cheers from the SCHS students and faculty in attendance.

While the doctors were trying to wean Korley off of the heart and lung bypass machine, Korley's two sisters, Khloe and Kaitlin, were at Liberty, making a short video segment showing the entire school's support. The original plan had been to send the video clip to ABC's "Good Morning America," hoping to have it air as part of the show's 50th anniversary celebration, and its "Your Three Words" promotion.

The entire student body climbed into the bleachers by the football field. Although the school's colors are normally red and blue, on Thursday afternoon, they were green and yellow, the same colors of the ribbons begin posted, the colors of hope and homecoming for the young girl.

Shirts, sweaters, dresses, even socks were bright green, Korley's favorite color. The younger students waved pom-poms made of green crepe paper while the older students held up the three words, familiar to all in Bedford County.

"Pray for Korley."

As PTO president Kristy Weaver recorded the event in her video camera, the children, on cue, shouted the words out loud. The camera then zoomed in on a picture of the almost-12-year-old, grinning from ear to ear. The photo was held by her sisters.

"This school has been so supportive," said family friend Missy Landers at the rally. "She's a very special young lady."

WLIJ-AM announcer Keith Cook played the Diamond Rio song "One More Day" in Korley's honor Wednesday afternoon, followed by a memorial moment of silence so long he warned listeners in advance not to think the station had gone off the air.

"The support for Korley's family, classmates and teachers has been overwhelming," said Novak. "Her journey with us at Liberty has come to an end, but her legacy will live on, and her memory will never be forgotten."

Pray for Korley

2011-01-30T22:50:00.001-06:00

If you are a member of our little community, you know Korley! If not let me explain...Korley is a sweet girl that goes to school with Kaylee she is a year and half older than Kaylee but in our small town everyone knows everyone. At 3 months old Korley battled leukemia and won only the chemo left her little lungs severely damaged. She has done pretty good the last 9 years of her little life, she has been in and out of hospitals and has just been a real fighter. She has been on a double lung transplant list in Pittsburgh for a while now until she got sick again. She had to go back in the hospital be put on an ECMO machine which is a heart lung by pass machine. It basically has let her body rest and heal. The only problem is she can not stay on the machine very long. A couple of days ago they decided to try and wean her off the machine. After several unsuccessful tries her Mom and Dad had to make the decision to completely take her off the machine. It was a very risky call, her lungs had to do what they were supposed to do and there was no way to know if they would or not. After several text messages and phone calls by Korley's mother asking that everyone pray- in a couple of hours, another email came that said Korley was off the machine and holding her own. TO GOD BE THE GLORY!! As of today she has had up and down moments but all in all she is still holding her own. The family has asked that we now pray for her gift of life to come....new LUNGS! Unfortunately when that gift comes she will have to be airlifted to Pittsburgh to receive the transplant.

It has truly amazed me at how our community has come together to pray for this sweet child. Her favorite color is green and then the color yellow is the color of "come home" so everyone has yellow and green ribbons all over the town and signs in yards to "Pray for Korley"!! There are several benefits planned as well in the next few weekends. Facebook is covered in green and yellow as well as, well wishes for Korley and her family.

I know there are several of you readers that may not be from our area so I am asking that you please "PRAY FOR KORLEY" too...would you?

Sneaky...Sneaky....

2011-01-24T22:08:00.000-06:00

So....as I was getting dinner ready and working on a load of laundry tonight, I hear a little sneaky ~~mouse~~, I mean Kara Brooke! As I looked around the corner this is what I found!

She had the Ritz Bitz, taking them apart, eating the cheese out of them and then putting the two crackers under the cabinet! SERIOUSLY......oh yes....that is our Kara Brooke! Would you like to see her stash?

There is NEVER a dull moment with her, it is always something!! She keeps us laughing and on our toes at all times.

Busy Sunday

2011-01-23T21:34:00.000-06:00

Our Sunday started with one of our favorite things.....BASKETBALL! MTSU Lady Raiders had a noon tipoff today and it was a televised game and Kaylee's favorite player was eight points away from scoring her career 1000th point. Not to mention it was a conference game and we were 6-0 in our SunBelt conference so Denver come in ready to play ball. Our Raiders pulled it out by three points and now they are 7-0 in conference!!! Whoohooo!

I feel sure we were on TV several times today since our seats are right behind the visitors bench!! If you happened to catch the game and saw us let me know....haha!

Nana and Kaylee say, "GOOOOO BLUE...MTSU!!!!"

After the game we headed to Nate's 2nd birthday party!!!

It was a great party and the girls had a blast! It's so hard to believe that Nate is TWO!!

Happy Birthday Nater.....WE LOVE YOU!!!

SNOW much fun of a week!

2011-01-16T13:33:00.001-06:00

Saturday we had our first basketball, our girls did real well, they listened and did exactly what we asked them to do and they won by 10 points. Kaylee I think scored 6, not real sure though.

Sunday we got up and headed to Murfreesboro, we still had a few things to exchange from Christmas, so we got that done and headed back before Kaylee had softball practice.

Kara Brooke and I stayed at home and played. I have mentioned before that KB loves to use scissors, she calls them her "cuts", she sat for I know an hour just cutting up paper. WOW...I got so much stuff done and she was so good!

She had her snowman socks on in anticipation of the snow that the weather people were calling for later that night!

The snow did move in about 10:30 SUnday night and this next picture was about 30 minutes after the first flake fell. Sometimes I doubt the weather folks when it comes to snow. Seems like when they call for a lot we get every little! But this time they did get it right!

The next picture is about one hour and thirty minutes into the blizzard of 2011!!

I was so excited, I couldn't believe it!! I think I was up till midnight watching and trying to figure out if I was going to be able to go to work or not.

And here it is Monday morning, everything covered and just so pretty and calm!

We had right at 6 1/2 inches! WOW...that is a lot of snow for southern middle TN!! I did not go to work, mostly because of our Highway didn't see a snow plow until about noon and my van had snow up to the back bumper!!

The kids were very excited and went out to play at like 8:00 am!! I think the BIG kid in the next picture was the most excited!! He is worse than the girls!!

Fun, Fun!!

Of course we had to make our traditional snow cream!

And as usual it was YUMMY! We also made homemade brownies with our snow cream but I didn't take any pictures of that!!

The kids were out of school ALL week! Kaylee LOVED that and Kara Brooke only went to the sitter two days! Some of the best memories were made this week!

Wednesday night the roads were much better and we headed back to watch the MTSU Lady Raiders! This was Kaylee's first college game and she had a blast!!! She loved it! She had so many questions, like the media timeouts, and the shot clock. She thought is was cool that they took timeouts for commercials and she thought the idea of the shot clock was just dumb!! ha!

Thursday and Friday evenings we just stayed at home and hung out!

Saturday morning we had to be at the gym early for basketball pictures and then our game followed right after that!

We had a terrible game Saturday and got beat by 9 or 10 points. We had a bad case of laziness and mental breakdowns! We did have one player out with the flu and then one player recovering from the flu and too we didn't practice this week because of the blizzard!! But like I told my girls there are NO excuses, we will get it next time! Kaylee however, did have a pretty good game. She listened and did what I asked her do and I think she had 8 points, again not real sure!!

After the game, Kaylee went to eat at El Mexico and then home with some friends. Kris, KB and I went to eat with our friends Kayla and Brett at Bocelli's! Yumm-O!

Poor Kara Brooke tried to get a nap in the car as we headed to watch the high school basketball games in Unionville! We had a great night and saw two great games!

And today is Sunday, we haven't done anything today, except Kaylee had Crusher softball practice at Motlow, so she and Kris have gone to that.

Tomorrow is Martin Luther King Day so that is another day at home for us!!!

Wheww....if you are still reading- sorry so much but I just had to get this journal caught up!

Our week

2011-01-07T21:42:00.045-06:00

Since the New Year we have headed back to school and have tried to get back in the swing of things! Kaylee went back to school on Tuesday and then had basketball practice Tuesday night. Our first game is tomorrow morning and we are very excited!

Wednesday night we went to the MTSU men's and women's basketball games against North Texas. Very rarely do you get to see the men and women play on the same night so that was a treat and and even more of a treat that we sat just three rolls back!!! LOVED IT! (We are going back next Wednesday night too!!)

Thursday night we had a night at home so the girls did some playing!

Hope you all have a great weekend...they are calling for a lot of snow in our area...we shall see!

New Year's Eve

2011-01-01T22:23:00.054-06:00

We had a great night out for New Year's Eve. We went bowling with Kara Brooke's BFF Kaegan and her family. They always have their six niece's and nephews over so we took them all to the bowling ally and then went back to Kayla & Brett's house to ring in the new year! We had a blast! Once again I am so thankful for such wonderful friends. We have found some of the best people through our children and we are loving every minute and enjoying making so many memories!

Kaegan & Kara Brooke

Me & Kate...she looks like she belongs to me, huh?

Kara Brooke learning how to bowl! She was so funny the first few times, she would cry after she let the ball go because she thought her ball was gone forever!

Kris!

And let me just add after the first game, our warm up round, Daddy did really good! I didn't know he was such a good bowler! ha!

This was the first round I was telling ya about! Kayla & Brett are the big time bowlers!

They both did fabulous every game!

Me & Kayla

She is such a sweet girl and we have so much in common.

She & I are coaching basketball together this year. I love coaching with her because she loves the game as much as I do and we seem to work really well together. Our first game is next weekend- we are excited!

K-bug having fun!

We had two very tired little girls but after we got back to the Young's house they were both wild and ready to ring in the new year! Kaylee spent the night with all the rest of the kiddos and I think they only slept a few hours but they all had a blast!

Happy New Year!!

Christmas Day at Nana & Papaw's 2010

2010-12-26T00:10:00.000-06:00

After we finished up at our house we got ready and headed to Nana and Papaw's. Of course Nana had a huge spread of yummy food. She is the best, she always makes sure everybody has one of their favorite foods. Right now I'm still stuck on the broccoli casserole! After lunch it was time to dig into all the presents!

KB loves playing with all of Nana's decorations!

Kaylee and that cell phone....she is proud!

Me and my mini-me!

Kris' mini-me!

Our excited girls!

The Adams' family!

Isn't she soooo sweet? ha!

We had a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and we are very thankful that we are so blessed! Our family is so good to us and we love each one so much!

I can't believe Christmas 2010 is now in the books! Why does time go so fast? Now that Christmas is over, I'll tell ya....I stressed myself out this year...big time! Normally, I am done shopping, done wrapping and enjoying the Christmas season. This year I was not, no where near done until the very last minute. Like I had to be somewhere the next day I was JUST wrapping their presents the night before! Wow...that stressed me so so much!

I told Kris that I would never let myself get like that again! I like to be ready! We were just so busy this Christmas season, something every weekend and something most week nights!

But I made it and as you can see everything turned out just perfectly!

Oh and just for the record...we had a white Christmas this year! Nothing prettier than looking at the tree twinkling with snow flakes flying outside! Just magical!!

I sure hope you all had a great Christmas!!

Christmas morning 2010

2010-12-25T22:31:00.000-06:00

Santa made it!!!

The girls got up to quite a few gifts from Santa. I think he was very good to our girls this year. I wondered of we would be on the good list from time to time this year but thank goodness Santa watches us ALL the time even when we are at school!! I think that helped both girls this year! ha!

Kaylee got up at 5 o'clock and I made her go back to bed, she was so excited but I knew we couldn't get KB up that early. So we went back to sleep for a little while and when we got up Nana and Papaw were at our house with homemade breakfast foods and they had the coffee going. MeMe always spends the night with us on Christmas Eve so she was there to to enjoy Christmas morning too!

Christmas morning girls!

Presents from Momma & Daddy!

Kara Brooke's big present!

Yeahhhh...a kitchen! She was so excited. Really that is all I should have bought!!

And then Kaylee's big present.....

a CELL PHONE!!!

And YES she was very, very excited!

Her Daddy and I told her that she could not have one until she was ten, so she was very surprised since it was 6 months early!

We are so very blessed and so thankful for our family!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!