The 2008 TCHS Teacher of the Year Award goes to....

MR. JOHN CAREY!!!!!
So, I have to brag on my husband for a little bit. John was awarded the Teacher of the Year Award (chosen by the students) for Trousdale County High School after only his second year of teaching. I'm VERY proud of him. I truly feel like he has finally found his calling. There for a few years we thought he was going to keep switching jobs every year, but he'll be starting his third year at TCHS this August, so I think he'll be there for a while. He really enjoys helping others and playing sports, so what better job could you ask for than a P.E. teacher.
The first thing my brother said after I told him about John's award was, "You mean the students voted for him even after all the paddlings he has given." HAHA I thought it was a pretty funny comment but I really think it makes the students respect him. I played with a girl who is marrying a guy from Hartsville who graduated in 1990. He was actually in John's moms class. I've always heard that Dianne was a great teacher, but he told me that she could paddle with the best of them too and that she was a great teacher. So I know Dianne was smiling down on John Friday night!
Another little story...John's Aunt Susie was eating at the local Mexican restaurant one night and knew a couple young boys who had been in John's class and she was asking them if he was a good teacher. One of the boys said he is, because he cares! So WAY TO GO John! Keep up the good work! We are all very proud of you!
Mitchell wanted me to post a little something from him about his daddy on here too! Mitchell really thinks that John should also get the Daddy of the Year Award too. When daddy's around he's always full of energy and its nothing but fun and laughing. Mitchell and Daddy's favorite game to play is "hide". Most of the time Daddy is the one hiding and Mitchell is looking for him. When Mitchell hides he doesn't stay in his hiding place too long! LOL Mitchell also loves having a guys day out. Saturday I played ball all day (and night actually-got to bed at 5AM Sunday morning) so they went out to Cool Springs Mall to see some skater exibition going on, then came by the ballpark and visited with me for a while, then headed home for more playing! Mitchell is very thankful to have such a fun, loving, and caring daddy! So whenever you see Mitchell and he can't sit still, we can partly blaim it on his daddy because they are constantly playing, but to me its a good thing, because John is very interactive!

We also want to Congratulate Lisa Carey! (My sister-in-law) She was also awarded Teacher of the Year for Rutland Elementary here in Mt. Juliet! WAY TO GO! Two Carey's get the Teacher of the Year award in the same year...WOW!

Pops' Birthday Party!

We had a great dinner and great time at Uncle Joe, Aunt Karla, and cousin Maddie's house. We didn't get off to a good start-Mitchell fell off a (pretty high) chair flat on his back and head. He cried for a little bit, but once he got outside he was fine. So once the other kiddos saw that he was outside, they all wanted out too. Maddie has a little blow-up pool and it didn't take long for them to all be naked and playing in the water. The poor pool had everything in it last night: poop, throw-up, and i'm sure pee! LOL We all had a blast and the kids loved playing together!
Mitch & Pops catching some rays!

Hmmmm, this pool water sort of tastes weird!!

Love it! Mitchell and Maddie are definetly head to head in the biggest bottom contest! LOL I think Mitchell has her beat but not by much!

Maddie being a good little girl and cleaning her pee off the deck!

Must be something pretty interesting down there!

WOAH! Had to edit this picture a little!

Hang on Maddie!

Wanna go for another ride?

Happy Birthday POPS!

We just wanted to wish Pops a Happy Birthday! It was actually yesterday but I didn't work so we weren't around the computer, so Happy Belated Birthday! Its hard to believe that this picture was taken exactly a year ago from Tuesday! We love you Pops and hope you had a great day yesterday!

Deceiving picture!

Don't let this picture deceive you. Mitchell is not the kid who can sleep anywhere! In fact he's quite the opposite. It has to be pretty much pitch dark and dead quiet for him to go to sleep. The past two days he hasn't been wanting to nap. Tuesday he didn't take a nap, so as I was finishing working out mom took him out to swing and this is what happened, but only for 10 minutes, because we had to get the trimmers to daddy so he could trim some bushes. So Tuesday he had a 10 minute nap (in the swing) for the entire day. He was very good considering. Then yesterday i was laying with him in bed, he didn't want anything to do with napping again. He would just keep talking so he wouldn't have to go to sleep. It was very cute, but after about 2 hours it was getting frustrating. So i had to be a mean mommy and just leave him in his room and let him cry it out. He finally gave in and slept for about 2 hours. He's with his great-grandmother today so hopefully he'll take a good nap for her. He usually does because she wears him out! HAHA

Splish Splash

Mitchell just wanted to say thanks to Aunt Jamie, Nolen, & Trevor for letting him play at their house Monday. John did a trimming (bushes) side job for their neighbors, so Mitch and I played with Aunt Jamie & the cousins! All of the boys love water, so we stripped them down and let them have fun. I don't see how they did it,because the water was pretty cold and the wind was blowing, but they had a blast!
Nolen & Mitchell enjoying some ice cream!

Mitchell telling me" I love this mama! "

Getting some lovin' from Nolen!

Trevor loved going down the slide!

Nolen doing his world famous turn! He kept saying that everyone came to his "party" to see him do his turn! HAHA (After he got down the slide he would turn over to his belly and slide a little bit more)

Mitchell with his own style of going down the slide!

Aunt Jamie got out the sprinkler and the boys loved it!

YUM! Thats some good water!

Trevor was helping his mommy work in the yard! HAHA

Lovin' the sprinkler!

I love this picture! I think I'm gonna send it into to AT&T for the more bars commercial!

Nolen is getting so big!

Mitchell says hello to everyone and he hopes you all have a great day!
Mitchell has rediscovered one of his first toys he got once he started crawling/cruising-his Pooh Car. We always kept it upstairs in the bonus room, so he could never really ride on it fast because of the carpet. Well last week we brought it downstairs and he loves riding it all over since we have hardwood. It doesn't really steer, so he usually ends up hitting the wall or something, but he loves going fast on it and doing wheelies!

Grandma & Papaw's playground!

Grandma & Papaw worked all day Saturday building this awesome 8x8 sandbox and putting the new swingset together. The boys all got to try them out yesterday and absolutely loved it! I think Nolen's favorite part was the sandbox because he got to play with all of his bulldozers and trucks. Trevor's fav. part had to be the slide. He's been watching cousin Mitchell way too much and has become a climber. He just kept trying to climb up the slide and kept falling back down! It's really hard to tell what Mitchell's fav. part was. He's just so busy he just kept going from one thing to the other. After sandbox and swingset play was over, Mitchell and Nolen decided that they wanted to play in the pool, so they sat at the top of the steps and splashed each other. We had to strip them down once they were done, but they had a blast.
Mitchell took an almost 4 hour nap after his morning of playing with his cousins, hey Jamie, you wanna bring the boys over everyday?? HAHA But once he woke up he went straight to my car, climbed into his carseat (very rare) and tryed buckling himself in. Then he pointed to the front and kept saying "keys". I'm thinking that he went to sleep thinking about how much fun he had then woke up thinking the same. We didn't go back to Grandma's (she was planting flowers) so Mitchell settled to going to the park with his mommy and daddy!
The best picture we could get of all three of them together.

Playing in the sand with the "diggers"

Cheese! Nolie loves the sand!

Little Trevor man trying to climb Mt. Slide!

Happy Boy & Happy Mother's Day!

As Mother's Day approaches, I just thank God to be blessed with such a happy, loving little boy. He loves cuddling as he goes to sleep and has to be touching some part of your face/arm. He keeps us laughing at some of the things he does and says (sometimes things he's trying to say) He's full of energy and loves playing outside, unless he gets too hot, then he'd rather be inside the A/C and a cold drink! I always heard the expression, "they grow up too fast" as a kid/adult (pre-kid) I never really understood that statement, because as a kid it seems like forever for your birthday or Christmas to get there. But when you do become a mother time absolutely flies by. I'm very thankful that I'm able to work (part-time) and be around my little boy everyday. We spent a lot of time together, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Speaking of getting to work and be around Mitchell leads me to my mom. She keeps Mitchell on the days that I work and I'm so very thankful for that. Having a child of your own really makes me think about my mom and all of the sacrifices she made for me as a child. She's a very quiet person but has a very loving, caring heart. She loves cooking for us every week and we REALLY look forward to eating what she has fixed. I love the spiritual and family values that she instilled in Craig and I growing up as a kids and I hope to carry those on with my family. Just wanted to say thanks mom for everything you do and I love you! (And hopefully we'll get you a little grand-daughter soon ) ;0)
Being goofy with Pawpaw's boots

Cool shades thanks to Grams. Mitchell loves playing, "Where's Mitchell?" whenever he puts sunglasses on.

Here I am!

Theres those pretty blues!

Mitchell was chasing Grandma around the house this morning, so here are a few action shots. He's so fast the picture is a little blurry HAHA He's still trying to run a lot to get rid of those dimples in his legs. Are almost 2 year olds still supposed to have dimples in their legs?? HAHA

I've almost caught up with her mom!

Coming down the homestretch!

Crossing the finish line!

Wooooo mom, I'm pretty tired!

The Culvert Monster!

A couple weeks ago (yes, i've been slacking about getting my pictures downloaded) we were in the front yard. John was mowing and I was chasing Mitchell around, making sure he didn't go to the road. I was at the end of the driveway adjusting the markers/flashers for our driveway while keeping an eye on Mitchell at the same time. I saw him bend down beside the culvert, so I just assumed he was picking up rocks or playing in the mud, so i turned away to readjust the marker, when I looked back he was gone. I knew he didn't have time to sprint to the road, so i walked towards the house and this is what I found.
Mitchell crawling through our 20 foot culvert.

It was very muddy inside too.

And this is what happens to your hands/face when the culvert monster strikes!

Cousins!

John told me yesterday that he was dissappointed in me because my blogging had been slacking here lately, so i'm gonna do two posts in one day! Whew! We have been so busy the past week or so with getting ready for the cornhole tournament John is hosting, his baseball games/umpiring, and my softball! Our garage/backyard looked like a cornhole factory yesterday. He is setting up 8 sets so he had to make them all. Hopefully the rain will be cleared off by Saturday morning and he'll have great weather for his tournament and for my softball tournament! :0)
Mitchell loves getting to see all of his cousins! A couple weeks ago we ate at grandmothers and all three boys rode in the wagon, not for very long, but long enough to snap a few pictures! HAHA Mitchell was making sure that little Trevor man wasn't going to fall out! Mitchell calls Nolen "Nolo" it's too cute! He and Nolen are becoming buddies. Mitchell used to just be a baby to Nolen, but now that he's getting older/bigger he's become a playmate. Trevor is still a baby to Nolen though. HAHA They love chasing each other around and screaming! Mitchell loves doing anything that Nolen is doing.

Pawpaw (the boys Great-grandfater) pulling them all. I'm sure that was a load!

Don't worry Trevor, I've got you!

I think their time in the wagon has expired!