house hunting

Well we've started that process of looking for a new home. Looking was lots of fun but I am definitely not looking forward to the actual moving process. Of course, that is if we can actually sell our house. It's hard looking and finding great houses and we don't even have our house on the market. We have a lot to do around the house before we can do that...but we're working on it. We are filling up a storage unit trying to get the house presentable. Wish us luck!

high pain tolerance?

I swear either Dalton has a high pain tolerance or poor sensation all over. That boy...yesterday on the way home from therapy he asked, "Mom, my tooth's loose, can I pull it." I told him to wait til we got home, so I could check it myself. Sure enough it looked loose but not sure if ready to come out. Next thing I know, Dalton's holding his tooth and blood was coming out of his mouth. Then, last night, Sullivan summons us upstairs because Dalton's toe was bleeding. Dalton's waterworks started once he was getting attention, but somehow he sliced his toe open and we still don't know how he did it! It was a pretty bad slice but he wasn't upset until Sullivan and dad were making such a big deal about it! Yikes! Sullivan on the other hand, takes forever to pull a tooth that is just dangling there, and you better believe we know every scrape, bruise, bump, etc...that Channing gets and how she got it.

Happy Father's Day

I am so thankful for my precious husband. He is an awesome husband and dad. I think one of the things I love the most is how hands-on he is with the kids. Just a few moments ago, he demonstrated great patience as he played UNO with Dalton and Channing. Of course, Sullivan was a little busy with his ipod which has become a permanent appendage for him!




Craig is an awesome dad. Taking the kids to the park, going out to eat with just the kids, giving them baths or just playing in the back yard are all special things the kids love about him.







Today, we got to celebrate Father's day in a very special way, by Sullivan getting baptized. I am so glad Martia and Jerry were in town to be able to see Sullivan take this big step. To me,Sullivan looked so small up there during the service, but to Channing, he looked liked a giant. Both Channing and Dalton were beaming from ear to ear, so proud of their brother. Of course, my eyes were filled with tears...tears of joy and excitement. I definitely was one proud momma.






Afterwards, Sullivan joined me in my Sunday School class and was so excited. He couldn't wait for me to announce to the class that he got baptized. The sweet joy and excitement is refreshing and reminds me of the joy we too should have from that same experience, no matter how long ago it was!







Congratulations my sweet Sullivan! I am so proud of you!

princess camp

Channing completed a week of Princess camp. She had a blast as you can tell from the photos. Even though they provided princess dresses, Channing insisted wearing her own dresses to the camp. I didn't mind too bad, she looked awfully cute.

Monday, Channing was greeted at the camp by Snow White and Aurora.


Tuesday, Channing was surprised by Tinkerbell. She was determined it would be Ariel.



Wednesday, Channing was excited to see Belle and Ms. Potts.




Thursday, Channing loved spending the day with Ariel.


and today, Friday, Channing had so much fun with Cinderella and Fairy Godmother.


While Channing trained to be a high maintenance girl...Sullivan completed his first week of swimming lessons. He was a little jealous of all the fun Channing was having but he had a fun time at swimming.





Dalton missed out on all the fun as he had summer school. Even in the heat, we've found some times where Dalton has gotten to ride horses for therapy and fun.

Bad weather

It seems I have this way of being in the car when severe weather travels through Memphis. Remember "Hurricane Elvis" several years back. I was driving in it! I had to get Dalton to therapy. Craig had called to warn about the storm but I didn't think it looked too bad. That year, I remember driving past downed interstate signs, downed power lines and broken trees. It truly looked like a war zone!

Then last year, we were traveling home from Dalton's therapy in the middle of the tornadoes that touched down in Arlington. I remember hearing the sirens blaring, Sullivan praying and us on a mission to get home. As I was getting off 385, I remember seeing a huge cloud that looked somewhat like a tornado. I later found out that was probably the tornado that was reported to touch down right near my neighborhood.

Well, I've done it again. I was dropping off tables at a friend's house and heading to pick up more from Craig's work when the skies looked green and dark. The radio had continuous interruptions reporting thunderstorm warnings for Memphis but no tornado warnings/watches. I listened intently as I continued to drive toward Craig's work. About 3/4 of the way there, the skies opened up and started pouring. The wind picked up and was blowing the rain laterally. Trashcans were blowing everywhere and trees were being blown over. The rain was so hard I couldn't see 2 feet in front of my car. I got a little nervous and had the kids start praying too. Sullivan commented he had already prayed 1000 times...my little prayer warrior!

The storm kept raging as I kept driving...wondering the whole time why was I driving in this? I got really worried when I saw green/blue sparks in the sky. I'm thinking it must have been some power transformers being struck by lightening but at the time, I'm imagining a tornado tossing power lines, etc... I kept on going determined to reach Craig's work but also scanning the roadside for a "ditch" just in case me and the kids had to do a quick bail out from a tornado.

We made it to Craig's work and waited the storm out. Many of our friends lost power for 1-2 days. We were so thankful to not lose power from that storm but got a little taste when another wave of storms came through Sunday morning and knocked our power out. We were only out for 6 hours but our kids didn't know what to do with themselves without power and stuck inside. We went to church, out to lunch, etc...then once home, they could play outside in the pool. We didn't really have to suffer but I hate that still today, some people are without power on a day that is going to reach 90 degrees or more. Pray they get their power back soon!

breakfast with Cinderella

Saturday morning, Channing was excited she was going to eat breakfast with Cinderella. We got all fancied up in our Cinderella attire and posed for some pictures before heading to Glitz and Glam for breakfast.




We met a friend at the breakfast and took some pictures. Channing loved seeing Cinderella. She picked out a lovely pink tiara and waited to get her make-up and hair done. Cinderella painted Channing's nails and put some glitter make-up on her. Channing was so proud of her glitter face!






After her make-up, Channing made a picture frame, played a game, ate breakfast and danced with Cinderella. She attempted to listen to a story from Cinderella but had a difficult time keeping her mouth closed. She frequently interrupted to ask Cinderella 20 questions during story time.



Channing loved having this opportunity to spend time with her friend and Cinderella. I hope she has as good a time with Princess camp coming up in a couple of weeks.

curls and curls

I think every momma with a little girl, at some time or another, wishes their little girl had curls. I remember when I was growing up, sleeping in those sponge rollers with the plastic ends. I bought some for Channing, probably right after she was born with all that dark hair. When she was a toddler, I tried rolling her hair in them and she did not tolerate sleeping on the sponge rollers with the plastic ends.

Recently a friend of mine told me about some sponge rollers without any plastic. On my last weekly Target trip, I found some. Not sure if they were the same ones my friend had mentioned but these worked great. Channing never once complained of the rollers being uncomfortable when she went to bed.



The next morning, I peeked in while she was sleeping. One roller had fallen out but left behind a sweet thing of curls. It was time for her to wake up anyways, so I started taking the rollers out. Every once in a while, she'd reach up to feel if her curlers were still there. When they were all out, she was still mostly asleep but reached up to find the curlers were gone. She awakened kind of startled wondering where they went. I told her she had some beautiful curls and she should go look in the mirror. She ran to the bathroom and giggled at the sight of the curls. She loved them about as much as I did. Her first statement was, "Now I have curls like Julia." (Her friend with beautiful natural curls.)












I've also included some pictures of the newest addition to the Peterson family...Shadow. He was my mom's miniature Schnauzer before she passed away. After an extended stay with my sister, he has now come to live with us. We are hoping he starts to adjust to the family a little better in the NEAR future. I think my kid's wild ways of running through the house either scares him or makes him want to join in. However, the way he expresses this is my biting the kids. The first couple of incidents were fairly minor but the last one was a little worse when he drew blood after biting Sullivan. We are working both with the kids (to calm down inside) and the dog (desensitizing him to the noise).