Wow! It's been a long time since I blogged. A lot has been going on but of the most interest is this last week. I entertained about 21 guests through the week, cooked insane amounts of food, did lots of laundry, did some interior decorating, and will need at least a week to recover. BUT I loved every minute of it!!!!

The week began with welcoming my sister Debby and her family to my home for the first time since we moved out to Arizona. My parents also came out for the weekend. We had a great time relaxing and playing games. It was so nice to have the girls here to love on Caleigh, play superheroes with JoJo, and act goofy with Elijah and Markie. Caleigh absolutely fell in love with Deb and would cry every time she left the room. We took them to our favorite and ONLY sit down restaraunt in Buckeye, Cracker Barrel for Brunch on Sunday - YUMMY!! That evening we had a special dinner to celebrate my mom's birthday. Deb and I made a yummy pot roast nad Margaritas!! The Benis fam left on Monday evening and my folks left Tuesday afternoon. It all went too quickly but it was a wonderful time and I look forward to having them again - but next time for longer. So as of Tuesday, guest count - 6.




























Tuesday evening I got a call from my husband informing me that his cousin's car had broken down in Phoenix on his way home for Thanksgiving and needed a place to stay. So we picked up Austin and we spent the evening watching Ironman while awaiting the arrival of Marcus' brother Marlo and his wife Dolly. They arrived around 10:00 that evening. At about 11:00 pm I received a call from another of Marcus' cousins, Tanya, asking if she could crash on her way to Casa Grande where all of my husbands relatives were coming together for Thanksgiving. Why not? The more the merrier right? She even brought some friend for Lando, Thumper a toy poodle and Flower, a king charles spaniel. Wednesday 12am - guest count grows to 10 (12 if you count the dogs)

I awoke Wednesday morning having received 8 more guests who found any spot that they could to catch some Z's. More family on there way out to Casa Grande. My father and mother-in-law, Great Grandma Bratton, Aunt Geraldine, and bro and sis-in-law Aaron and Ashley. I cooked breakfast for all of the crew and they all spent the day at the house. I loved having them there and showing the family our home. All but Aaron headed out that evening to get their hotels for the rest of the holiday weekend. Wednesday guest count - 16





Thursday. Thanksgiving. No cooking for me. YEAH!!!! We drive out to Casa Grande to celebrate with Marcus' family and spend the day eating and laughing and taking pics.It was a whirlwind of driving, eating, and passing my little girl around to tons of people (she was a trooper and smiled and made everyone fall in love - was there any doubt?)












So..we are wrapping things up in Casa Grande and I get he call from my other sis Barb and her family. They are in Buckeye and on their way to the house. Yeah!! I load the kids up and we head home. We get there around 9:00 and we are so excited for them to be here!!!! We got a lot of fun and food and decorating done. Barb, who is my personal interior decorator, spent her time putting together and designing Caleigh's nursery and painting my family room a beautiful rust color. Now my house looks a lil more "me". We also managed to cook a Thanksgiving dinner for them on Saturday since they were on the road all day Thursday. Again, a wonderful time but too short and it was so hard to watch them go. Ending the week with a final guest count of...drum roll please - 22 (again...23 if you count the dogs)And I wouldn't change it if I could!!!!

Okay....so who's next?

Last Blog

I won't be blogging anymore. The main reason I did this was to have a way for my family to keep in touch, but they don't really read it.

Heather, Shannon, and Cathi thank you for reading it, but I just don't really enjoy writing it anymore. It has become more of a chore so I am signing off for now.

I will try to keep on on Caleigh's blog, so you can always check in there.

I've been tagged

A. Attached or single? Attached
B. Best friend? Heather,Aliki, Kristi
C. Cake or pie? lemon cream from Maries or my Mom's temple Delight or my homemade apple pie - really just about any pie will do
D. Day of Choice? Saturday or Sunday
E. Essential Item? laptop, flip flops, and Pepsi
F. Favorite color? brown
G. Gummy bears or worms? bears
H. Hometown? Buckeye, AZ Yuck
I. Favorite indulgence? Brownies or McDonald's Fries
J. January or July? July
K. Kids? 4 Yikes
L. Life isn't complete without? God' love and sovereignty and letter B
M. Marriage Date? July 9, 1994
N. Number of brothers and sisters? 2 sisters
O. Oranges or apples? apples with peanut butter or cheddar cheese
P. Phobias? I fear that my marriage will stay in it's vicious cycle till I die
Q. Quotes? R. Reasons to smile? Faithful God, fun & good kids, loving family, amazing friends, trips to California
S. Season of choice? summer - get to go to Cali a lot and go to the lake and the beach
T. Tag 5 people: I don't even know 5 people that will read this, and most of them have already done this but here goes - Heather, Shannon, Cathi, and Kristi - one short
U. Unknown fact about me? I don't believe in happy endings
W. Worst habit? besides M? procrastinating and short temper
X. X-ray or ultrasound? X-Rays! no more ultrasounds for me please - it always means there's a baby
Y. Your favorite food? steak and shrimp
Z. Zodiac sign? Taurus - whatever

Karaoke Fun

American Idol Baby!!!!

Okay - the American Idol game for the Wii is so much fun!!! Kristi was back in AZ for the week and we got to play it for, um I don't know - hours, and we had a BLAST!! I got to sing "Sister Christian" - nuff said. The kids all had a ton of fun playing it too. And just in case you were wondering - Paula Abdul is equally annoying as a computer graphic. The slideshow I had attached to this wasn't working, so please look at the "karaoke fun" post above.


And here are some pictures of a cute, chubby cheeked baby.

Caleigh is 1 month and it's Father's Day

My sweet baby girl is one month old already. Can you believe it? It has gone by so fast. She has grown some, mostly in her cheeks, but she is still petite. She sleeps well at night 4 to 5 hours at a time. She is becoming more alert every day. I think she has Markie's big eyes. We were looking at all the boys baby pictures today and it is amazing how much she looks like her brothers. Here are some pics of the boys that were the most like Caleigh.

Today was Father's Day too! We spent the day at home just lounging, which is Marcus' fave thing to do. The boys swam a little and then I made Marcus' fave dinner - tacos!

"Enjoying" the Heat

Well, we've been hold up in the house for awhile now waiting for me to heal up and we are finally going to venture outside. My girlfriend Kristi drove over, picked the boys and me up and took us up to the Surprise Aquatic Center. The boys had a blast! There were waterslides, diving boards, and a water play area that was perfect for JoJo.

Kristi, Caleigh, and I just lounged and enjoyed the day. Later in the day, Kristi's girls joined us and the kids played tag and had water fights. It is a really fun place and a nice option for escaping from the heat!

Caleigh just Chillin'

My baby is in high school now!!!!

My big, goofy boy!

Marcus Bratton Jr is now officially a high school freshman. YIKES!!! On Thursday, May 22nd Marcus graduated from Jr. High and will be attending Buckeye Union High School next year. He has already been practicing with the freshman football team and is very excited about being i high school. I, on the other hand, am terrified and feeling very old! I am very proud of him for getting his grade up at his new school and he has made a wonderful friend that we really like, T.J. They have become best friends and will be playing football together.

He looked so grown up and handsome the night of graduation. After the ceremony, we went and had dinner at the Cracker Barrel. we've never eaten there, but the food was outstanding and he prices were really good. Since it is the only sit down restaurant in town, that works out nicely for us!

Marcus and his teacher. Mr. Rasmusen

PopPop was there for the big day and got to meet T.J.

Mommy and Caleigh's first outing! (It was sooooooooo windy)

My two handsome Marcuses