We have had a good couple of weeks. I've been in Houston this week and just trying to catch up at work. Jason had a bunch of dental work done Tuesday and is still not all better from that...Maggie has her big Valentines party today at school and we are planning a nice romantic evening of dropping off my car at the dealership for service :-)
This weekend is a long one due to the holiday Monday. Maggie is going to spend the weekend in Georgia and I guess Jason and I will just hang out and enjoy some free time.

I know.....

I know....I'm awful at this. Time just seems to not be on my side when it comes to doing these things. So here is the rundwon....

We had a great Christmas, Maggies BDay was a success, she is doing great with her behavior lately and making us proud, I have already started traveling this year and leave agin on Monday for Houston, Maggie and I went to see the Hannah Montana movie this weekend, we bought a Chihuahua and it died (long sad story but Maggie has moved on to wanting a golden retriever).

I know there was a lot more that happened but there are the highlights. We are going to Disney in May, which I am very excited about. I am taking the planning thing a little too seriously for Jason but he will appreciate it later :-) I will definitely try to update more but can't promise anything. Everytime I say that, I fail :-(

Pictures

For those that live out of town, I am posting some pictures from our recent session. All of the kids and grandkids got together and made some pictures.

Update

Work has been busy as usual but we did go to the beach and had a great time. We couldn't have asked for better weather or place to stay. Jason had a good birthday week!
We are going to Atlant this weekend for Six Flags and a Braves game while Maggie visits with Mee Mom and Paw Paw Bobby. That should be fun for all of us. Then I don't travel again until Oct 6th but that is a conference in Vegas, so I am excited about that. We bought Jason a ticket and he is going to tag along. I'll have to give him an allowance so we don't go broke!
The rest of the year is filling up very quickly with trips to Austin, NYC, Laguna Beach and Denver. I really do enjoy going to most of these places but it does get tiring on me and Jason.
Maggie is doing great in school. Her behavior is good for the most part but what else can be expected from a 4 year-old? She really is developing her own little personality and I am excited to see she has a real good sense of humor. It helps that her father is practically a stand-up comedian and her mother was most witty in high school :-). She likes to make people laugh and even makes up her own jokes.
The other day, while I was getting ready in the bathroom, Maggie was hanging out and said "Mommy, I have duck spots". Of course, I was completely confused and asked "huh?". She said "Duck spots!" After some talking it through, I figured out she meant goose bumps. She heard that saying for the first time a few days earlier at the pool because it was freezing cold and I said I had goose bumps. She had me explain what that was. Now I don't really know if she meant to make that funny or it happened because she really had it backwards but she really enjoyed my laughing. I have a feeling I will be getting calls from school for the next 13 years saying Maggie is being disruptive in class. She loves to make people laugh!

Let's Try This Again

Okay, I am going to try this blogging thing again. I has been three months since the last entry and I am being told that I am lazy for not updating. I will at least try to post photos more often....

I am starting to travel for work, alot! It can be fun sometimes but it can also be very tiring. Maggie is in Pre-K now and she thinks she is "Lil Miss Thang" because she is in the older class. Jason is doing well with work and puttingup with us girls.

We had a full labor day weekend with football games on tv, cleaning out the garage, a birthday party and taking family portraits. This weekend, we are going to the beach with friends without Maggie but she is fine with it because she gets to stay with Paw Paw who lets her doing anything she wants....

Last week, I was in Nashville for a conference and we had dinner at the Grand Ole Opry. I actually got on stage and sang with the band and played the cowbell! That was exciting.

In a few weeks, I have to go to Vegas for a conference, so Jason will join me and we will make it an anniversary trip. I'll have to give him an allowance for the days that I am in the conference and he has to "waste" time.

Sorry so long since the last post! We have been very busy and it's about to get worse. Saturday we had a garage sale that went fairly well but not as busy as my past ones... We then had the party for my work softball team at my house that evening. Jason spent most of the day cleaning and I joined him after the sale was over. It's such a shame to clean before a party because you have to clean afterwards as well. Oh well...
Maggie spent the night at my Mom and Dad's house during the party and has apparently learned some new words that she used while she was there. We had to explain that certain words were not meant to be said and she is to correct us when we say them too. I'm sure we will be reminded often. I really didn't think we said bad words often but we will see how many times we get corrected.
I have my last softball game tomorrow night and I'm a little sad about it. I forgot how much I enjoyed playing. We have only won 2 out of the last 11 games but it's still fun and I have enjoyed the exercise. I've actually lost 16 pounds since we started so I need to find a softball replacement soon!
I leave for Washington D.C. this week and won't see Maggie from Tuesday morning until Sunday afternoon. I will miss her during that time and I'm sure Jason will be ready for a break by time I get back. She has invitations to 5 birthday parties over the next 2 weekends and Jason will get to enjoy them all!
Maggie has always been into music but she really has started learning the words to all songs she hears on the radio. I will have to be careful now, because she asked me what "smack that" meant. She already knows all the words to Baby Got Back, I don't need any more rap songs in her repertoire!
Other than that, nothing really new going on. I'll post some Washington pictures when I return.

Only time for a quick picture update. I will write more later....

Wow it's been a long time. I'm just going to ramble as usual so I can give a quick update:
I have been extremely busy at work and it has been stressful but I see a light at the end of the tunnel, so I'm happy. We have stayed busy on weekends as well. Last week I was in Phoenix, AZ which was very pretty but I didn't have much free time. One cool thing that made me instantly think of Maggie was a dusk on Thursday. The way the resort was set up, there is a natural area in a courtyard-like set up and then grassy areas close to the glass hallway. I was walking down that hallway towards our meeting room and I looked out at the people on vacation (isn't that nice) enjoying the lounge chairs. Then I look closer and there are about 100 bunny rabbits in the grass just eating away! They were just a couple of feet away from the people! Maggie would have loved that. But then a cartoon popped into my mind. You remember the one...I'll love him and squeeze him and call him George. That gave me a chuckle. Then I remembered when she was real young and wanted to touch my niece and nephew's hampster. She touched it real light and then squeezed it until it looked like it's head was going to explode! She really does love animals and she is getting the idea that you can't squeeze them but she gets soooo excited.
Oh well, it's times like those that make me miss her when I'm traveling.
Saturday, we went to a "sale" and bought new furniture for the guest / Jason's room when he is snoring. I really like it and it's a bigger bed for when people spend the night at our house.
We went to see a band Sunday night with some friends. That was fun and different for a Sunday night...that is why we took off work Monday! We also had the new furniture delivered which meant we spent the rest of the day shopping for new sheets to go on the bed! Jason can be so picky with homegoods, you would think he was a girl!
I also took off Tuesday because Maggie has her class trip to the zoo. We had fun but I had a hard time trying to keep up with the other kids I was supposed to watch. We then went over to Aidan's house to play. Maggie had a blast. They have a really good back yard for playing and Maggie doesn't get to play outside as much as she would like so she really enjoyed that. It was kind cute to see a 4 1/2 year old boy driving a 4 year old girl on the back of his toy 4 wheeler. Maggie thought she was cool, as she later told me. It kinda makes me nervous because I can see her at 14 on the back of some 17 year olds motorcycle!!!
Well, that is the quick run down. I will post some pictures soon and try to blog more now that work seems to be calming down a bit.

We had a great Easter. Other than being a little cold, it was beautiful day so we took a hike with the dog and Maggie down by Buck Creek. We actually found an old mine and some old houses which was pretty cool.

The one good thing about my job is I get some good perks. I will be out golfing tomorrow afternoon and I am really looking forward to it! The weather should be just right.

Hope everyone is doing well and have a nice week.

Princess Party Pictures

Okay guys, sorry it has been so long but this new job is really getting the best of me.... Maggie is doing great. Her attitude has been pretty good lately. We have been busy with work, softball, helping friends move, birthday parties, etc.
We had to go to the doctor recently due to bad asthma problems probably due to the pollen but the medicines they prescribed have been working well.
I need to post some pictures that I took of Maggie at a friends "princess" party. It was one of those places that dress the girls up, fix their hair and put make up on them. She looooved that! All of the girls were very prissy. I will try to post them tonight.
Pray for our cat or should I say Maggie. Bert who is about 16 years old is not doing too good. He seems to be getting that urinary tract problem that causes them problems with going to the litter box and keeping hydrated. I'm sorry but I refuse to spend lots of money to keep him medicated so he can live a weird life for a couple more years. I am trying to break it to Maggie that he is really old and he seems sick. I tell her to be nice to him because he may not live much longer.... She will be devasted if and when he dies.
We also have been looking at other houses but we still have not decided to move or not. I would like to get closer to work but I love my house. If we move closer than we will spend twice as much on a house that is at least 40 years old. I just can't get over that part of it. Maybe I can say we are going to move so Jason will do all of the maintenance items on our house and then back out...hmmm
I will try to update more often for those that actually read this thing.
Have a happy easter!

Here is a quick update

Well, alot has been going on in our house but here are the cliff notes.

I got a promotion at work which is great but I now have alot more responsibility which means less time to do the things I like.... Oh well, I will make it.

Jason's job is going well considering they were talking about shutting down his division a few weeks ago. They have new management now, so hopefully things will get better...

Saturday, he got to go to Talledega track and ride in real race cars. He was really pumped about that!

Maggie has been very good lately until yesterday. She threw a big fit at Grandmother's house and really showed her what she could do!

Today, I had to get to work early and Maggie couldn't wake up on time so Jason took her to school. He said on the way, they were playing a game and he said something about a cow. She said "Daddy, you know that milk comes from Cow wee wees?" He really didn't know what to say, so he said "No it doesn't, it comes from cow boobies!" Maggie died laughing... I asked him if he went into more detail about udders and why they have them. He said no, we just enjoyed a good laugh. I guess that is what makes Dad's fun....

I am happy to report that Maggie got her brown dog! She was really good this week and earned it. Now we will work on the build-a-bear....
Some things that she talks about are so funny or really deep for a 4 year old. As most of you know, she talks non-stop, especially on the way to and from school. She either makes up stories or talks about whatever pops in her head. The other day she said "Mommy, if Jesus lives in your heart, does he eat your food?". She was so serious but I had to giggle. Try to explain that one to a kid. She also makes up stories about her pretend brother that has been around for 2 years now. We pass his house on the way to school...

Well, after two days of "sad" faces on her calendar we had a good weekend. Since she couldn't go to Build-a-bear this weekend, we have a new plan. If she gets smiley faces for 5 days in a row, she can go. But she has since changed what she is playing for. We were at Cracker Barrel this weekend and I saw this realistic looking puppy curled up on a rug. You've seen them before, they look real and everybody says "awww, they are so cute". But this one freaked me out! It looks like it's breathing. For some reason it really gives me the creeps! Well, Maggie thought it was the coolest thing and she wants it now! She was good Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We now just have to make it through today and tomorrow to get the "real" puppy. School is the hardest test, so we will see if she can make it or if she decides to hit some boy..... Maybe the next prize will be Build-a-bear.
We had a laid back weekend. I was still recuperating from my oral surgery last week but I got into cleaning mode yesterday and rearranged everything. I went crazy in the laundry room which always drove me crazy.
Hope everyone has a good week and I will post pictures soon.

Maggie's Deal

Maggie and I had a deal that if she was good all week at school and home with no time-outs or major breakdowns, she and I would go to Build-a-Dear at the mall on Saturday. She wanted to build a puppy.... Well, I'm sorry to say that lasted 2 days. Today she slapped Anthony on the face. She told him she was sorry but had to go to another class to do her time-out. She told Jason that she went to the other class and got a snack even though she already had her snack in her classroom. I think she was proud of that! We discussed and she will be allowed to go Sunday IF she is good the rest of the week. Any more incidents and the week starts all over. These are the times when it's frustrating as a parent. Everyone tells me it gets worse but I have to deal with it one day at a time. She really is a good child but sometimes I want to bop her on the head and say "what were you thinking!" Maybe my child won't end up in juvenille detention anytime soon.... We will see.

One day I will be able to update this thing more frequently! I have been sick with a nasty cold and it has been hectic around here so sorry for no posts lately. Maggie has been great except for a few "fits". She is having a hard time figuring out how to control her temper. People say that she got that from me but I refuse to believe it :-)
We are off school and work today but Jason had to work.... Maggie went over to Paw Paw's this morning and they took his dogs for a walk in the woods. I cleaned the house during my free time. Not too fun but it needed to be done! Maybe we will go to the park this afternoon because it's so pretty outside.
Nothing new and exciting in our house, just the same old stuff. Maggie is doing well in school and still loves it. She is writing her name very well and has started writing her last name. She is counting to 100 which is neat but it can also drive you crazy. She does it all the time! She is also reading three letter words, so we practice that often.
I'll try to take some pictures and post them today. I realized I haven't taken any pictures of her since her birthday! I am really falling down on the job.

Very late Christmas pictures!

Maggie's big Christmas was her desk and chalk board set. Now she is a real teacher!

Update

Well, Jason's company decided not to shut down his division... Great news but I think he will still see what other opportunities are out there.
I wanted to post some recent pictures since I have not done so in a while. Hope you enjoy.

Wow! Twenty one days since the last blog. Sorry for those that actually read this thing! I have been traveling with work and there has been lots going on, so when I finally get a moment to sit down, I really don't want to blog....
The Gunter family is well although we got some bad news yesterday. The division that Jason works for will be shutting down. He has until March but still, this is something I did not want to deal with right now. But I have an unusual calmness about this. I know that everything happens for a reason and is part of God's master plan so I am not going to worry about it. We have been through this before and probably will again because of the business I work in as well as Jason's. I know this will eventually all work out for the best.
Last week I was in Florida and enjoyed the trip but it was work... This week is now catch-up time!
Maggie has been well and growing up so fast. She makes some of the most deep observations sometimes it blows my mind. She may only be 4 years old but she is an old soul. I don't remember what life was like before her. Always something going on and keeping us entertained! She is still enjoying school and loving her friends. There has not been any major events lately to report on, just everyday life in our house.

The birthday party was a success! Maggie had a great time and all of her friends seemed to enjoy it as well. She received so many nice gifts and was overwhelmed by the amount of cool toys. She still has not been able to play with everything yet!
Last night we drove to Tuscaloosa to buy a new car. Before you ask, Tuscaloosa has better taxes and they had the car I wanted where Bham did not. I got a Dodge Nitro R/T. I never thought I would drive a Dodge! I started out looking at used BMWs and found out how expensive they are to maintain. Then I looked at Nissans because they are reasonably priced and my sister just got one that is pretty cool. Then I moved to Jeeps because Jason would really enjoy that but I ended up with the Nitro because I really wanted to get back to a SUV. I didn't realize how much I missed the "soccer Mom" vehicle until I got this one. But this is not your typical soccer Mom SUV. It has 20 inch chrome rims! I am PIMP now!! It's pretty funny but they do look good on the vehicle and don't look to ghetto.... It has all of the new bells and whistles like bluetooth and remote start and was very reasonably priced. As you can tell, I am very excited.
Maggie thinks it's cool too.
I'm trying to finish out this week as quickly as possible because Jason and I are going to the Tennessee mountains on Friday with some friends. It will be a nice time away and a chance to prepare for a busy 2007. Of course I am driving the new car so it will give me time to enjoy that as well!
I hope everyone is doing well and I promise, I will eventually post some pictures. I did download a bunch Monday night to the computer but I haven't had time to upload them to the blog yet...

A New Year and a Birthday

Sorry it has been so long since the last post. It has been busy.
Maggie is having a birthday party at school today and then her bowling party tomorrow. Jason is trying to be at the school today for that party. Maggie shamed him into it.... This will be an exciting, fun-filled weekend.
It seems that Maggie is the "alpha dog" in her class. She has a little group of girlfriends that hang with her and she has picked her boyfriend, Joshua. The other girls that hang with her have picked theirs also. It is so funny to see how these little groups form at such an early age. Of course I am happy that Maggie is the ring leader but that could change at any moment. Some new kid could show up and be the head of the group. I don't think she realizes that she is the leader but she sure likes to be in charge! One of the Mom's stopped me this morning to let me know that her daughter got a new puppy this week and has insisted on calling it Maggie! (see, she is the alpha dog).
I will try hard to get some pictures posted tonight.

Miss Maggie had a great Christmas. She was slightly sick but enjoyed it anyway. She thrives on chaos and there was plenty of that! She slept late this morning which was great for me and Daddy because we had to get back into the routine of a work day. She really enjoys seeing the whole family and asked me this morning if we could go back to Paw Paw's house tonight....
I came into work this morning and looked at my calendar for January. It is amazing how it is already packed with things to do this month. Of course Maggie's birthday is coming up and we have a trip to Tennessee. I have a work trip and Jason has to work a weekend for inventory... The entire month is already booked up! I cannot imagine what life will be like when Maggie is old enough to have softball or cheerleading practice and school functions to add to this crazy schedule.
Another friend had a baby last week. This is her second boy. This just gets Maggie back on her kick about wanting a baby brother..... I'm just happy to have one that is healthy and happy. I read other blogs about children who have cancer and it makes me cry just about daily. I cannot fathom what that would be like and I never want to know! I guess Christmas is even more special for those families that have children that are surviving cancer. I try not to forget about these people or take my family for granted but I know I do. I guess God has a funny way of putting this stuff in your face so you will learn to enjoy the small things in life. I know I should enjoy the fact that my daughter tells me "but Mommy, I love you!" while she is getting scolded by me for disobeying but sometimes that is hard to enjoy.... I'll try harder.

You are looking at the winner of "The Most Beautiful Eyes" category for the Miss Merry Christmas Pageant in Helena Alabama.
She had a great time and did so well. I was very proud of her for walking out there by herself and actually standing there so the judges could look at her. There was a audience of about 100 people and she did it! We did this pageant to build confidence and I think we accomplished what we set out for. She didn't even really smile but she walked out there and didn't run backstage or anything, so I am very happy and she loved the trophy and the crown!!
Saturday was a very busy day with the pageant and two birthday parties. Then we went to Georgia on Sunday to celebrate Christmas with Jason's Dad's side of the family. Maggie loves these get-togethers.....
This week should be fairly quite but I am having some oral surgery today and Maggie gets her flu shot tomorrow. We may both be grumpy tomorrow.
I'll try to post again before Christmas but if I don't, everyone have a great holiday and be safe.

Jesus' Daddy

Maggie amazes me sometimes with how "deep" she thinks. On the way to school, she said "Mommy, if Mary was Jesus' Mommy and Joseph was his Daddy and no God is his Daddy, then who is his Mommy now?" I then did the best I could to explain an earthly father and a heavenly father......
She was so interested in that subject!
Sorry for the quick post but I need some time to post her Christmas pictures.