New York, Day Two

Today our transportation was much easier...2 days in NYC, and we are already getting the hang of using public transportation...I like not having to drive in the traffic....Believe me..the traffic here is ridiculous...so were are very happy on the buses/subways...=) James and the kids....
Well, I know what most of you are wondering...(well, grandparents anyway...) Macey had her interview today at 12:30 with FFT Children Modeling Agency....Everything went great...We talked with them for a little bit, and then they paperwork, ect, and ended up signing Macey!!! We def owe a big thanks to our friends at AMTC!The boys were pretty happy for her too...Ian smiling for me...We are so excited....We are planning on coming back to NY in June for an extended amount of time for Miss Mace to do some "modeling work"...She was so excited about this opportunity!! This agency is primarily print work...and tomorrow we meet with a tv commercial agency...So still remember us in your prayers...But we feel like God has a plan for Macey...and we are just praying and following his lead....God is so Good!!!

It is late...so, I will post pics from our day tomorrow....Today we visited Rockefeller Center, Grand Central Station, NBC Studios, Times Square, M & M Store, Toys R Us...and much more...Our days have been packed full of sight seeing...but we have had a great time...Going to bed...We were going to do the Today Show tomorrow morning, but have decided to sleep in tomorrow, and do it on Thursday...so be sure to watch for us...Good Night...
****New pics added****

New York, Day One

Day One in New York...

Transportation is a process...From our hotel, we have to take the hotel complimentary van to the airport, from where we get onto the New Jersey Transit, into the city...then get on the Subway to our destination....We got all of our tickets, ect this am...so then we were set....Our first stop was Ground Zero. It was breathtaking to see how big the area was. Very emotional, to think about. I shot a few pics of the reconstruction site....
The kids watching the construction.


Awesome picture of the building right next to the site. This picture is AWESOME!!! I am going to print this one for sure!!!

Here is a pic of me and the kids at Battery Park. That is the Statue of Liberty in the background. We really enjoyed walking around this area, and getting to see all the sights. We then got onto the Staton Island Ferry, and took the trip across the river, to see the Statue of Liberty. The boys, especially liked this part of the trip. There she is...The Statue of Liberty....Breathtaking...Wall Street was C-R-A-Z-Y!!! Today was the biggest drop in the stock market in decades. And we were right in the mess of the whole thing. There were newscasters, protestors, and people everywhere. We took lots of pics here. It is history in the making. A protestor was speaking (yelling) here...People were taking photos like crazy...unbelievable.The Trump Building...We had a great first day...but we are exhausted...so off to bed...Macey has her first interview tomorrow...Remember her in your prayers....Good Night....

Just to think...If it weren't for AMTC, we wouldn't even be here....

Start Spreading the News....(New York...)

Well, we have arrived at our destination....New York City...We are actually staying in New Jersey, 12 miles from the city...We are all tired from traveling today..We made pretty good time, other than having to wait in traffic for about 40 minutes for a wreck to be cleared up....Thanks to all of you guys who prayed for us while we traveled...(Gas here is 3.32-as compared to 3.85 at home-Unbelievable!)

James took the kids to go swimming at the motel pool, and I decided to log on and blog a little bit...I am on my way down there too-to catch a few photos of them swimming....We are going to hit the hay early tonight, and then get up early to begin our first day in the Big Apple...I am so excited...I can see the city in the horizon from our hotel...and I can't wait to get there...Who knows? I may end up being a "city girl"...=) Say a prayer for Miss Mace this week. As of right now, she has 2 interviews with agents...One on Tuesday, and one on Wednesday...Her director is supposed to call me tomorrow about a possible third one...We are anxious to see what the outcome of this little dream of hers will be...God is in control of this one...Definitely...Have a good night...Will try and post a little something tomorrow...God Bless...

My Little Girl is Growing Up

Happy Birthday Macey...Nine years old...Where does the time go? Seems like only yesterday, I was in the doctor's office and they told me that there was a 90% chance I was having a girl...I was afraid to believe them...because I wanted a little girl so very bad...She is such a special little lady in our family...She puts up with a lot being the middle child, between two brothers. There are many times that she would rather be doing "girl" stuff, and she is spending hours on a baseball/football or soccer field...She is very patient, and loves her brothers...Cade is like her only little "baby"...She treats him like he is her very own. She helps him with anything and everything he asks her to...Her and Ian are close in age, but they sure do like to argue..The one thing I do know, is that if Macey is gone to a friends house, or something, Ian misses her-whether or not he wants to admit it...=) We Love you Macey!!! Hope you had a wonderful birthday!!! Here are a few pics of her over the years...Posing as only Macey does best...=)

At the beach...Too cute...In Midsummer Night's Dream-Macey's love for theatre had began....At a Braves game with the Wallen's....This was last summer...but this pic cracks me up...this is the " I just got salt water in my eye" pic...

Today has been very busy, but we still got the chance to take her to eat at her favorite restauraunt, Salsarita's....I took a few camera phone pics of her, and then we took her to Justice to let her pick out a few things she wanted for her bday...She has been wanting some earrings, that "hang down"-so I caved, and let her get a few pairs...To me, that just means she is growing up...She got a few things to wear and of course a cute pair of shoes!!! We told her we would get her something while we are in NY too...

Well, I have lots to do, to get ready to get out of here tomorrow...Look for us on the Today show this week...because we are planning on trying to see Matt Lauer!!! Yay!! Hee hee..Hope you all have a Blessed Weekend.....

Happy Birthday Macey!!! We love you very much!!!(will add pics from today later-gotta pack)

A New Fellow Blogger

My friend, Lisa, now has a blog...She has joined in on the craziness....hee hee....She has wanted to
create one for some time now, and had asked me to help her out...I just recently got the chance to do so. Her family is on vacation right now in Florida-so what better time to begin blogging!! Right? Be sure to check her blog out The Salyers Suite!! (One of her good friends created the absolutely amazing background and header that she has...Wonder who that could be? Hee hee)...

She is one amazing person, and I am honored to be able to call her my friend...I love you girl..Hope you have a great vacation...Miss you lots!!

New York, Here We Come!

Yes...You read that title correctly....Remember Macey's AMTC convention this past summer? Well, if you don't remember or are new to my blog, you can read about it here and here. Anyway, 2 of her callbacks were from NY. So, we are going to the Big Apple!!! Yay!! I can't wait...Our awesome director, Stephanie, has already gotten an appointment with one of the agents for Miss Mace...and we are so excited...James and I have prayed about this from the beginning...step by step...and with each step of this process....God has opened one door after another..It has been absolutely amazing to see his hand in each step this journey has led us. We are even getting a great deal on our hotel for this trip. I, for one, am not a person to "push" my kids into anything...There has to be an interest...and for something this big...a BIG interest....Which, of course, Macey has....So, prayer has been the major deciding factor in each of our desicions...Whether of not to pursue AMTC, how to pay for our trip to Florida, Photo Shoots, and now our trip to NY...God has been so good to us, and it is amazing to see how he is guiding us through all of these choices/paths...Just remember our family over the next week...We are imbarking on a journey that we haven't been before...and there definitely could be some changes for us...We will see..I am open to change...I think it is good for us...=) Once again, a few of my friends, have asked me that I blog about our trip.(Some of you who are going to be in Disney World!!) ...So, I plan on doing so....We won't be leaving until the latter part of the weekend, but I will be sure to keep you updated...(those of you who care =) Have a great day....

Lunch with a Blogging Buddy

I got the opportunity to spend some quality time with an old friend/blogging buddy today.....Bethanne(as she is known in the blogging world) and I met up today for lunch at a local restaurant (Cheddar's-yummy) We chatted and talked about our high school days, our families, churches, and of course the subject of blogging was brought up...=) I even shared with her, my very amazing skill of learning what is going on at the table behind me, and still appear to be involved at the conversation going on at my table...Ha ha...Come to find out, she has that skill too!!! Who would have thought? We spent 2 hours talking, and taking up the waitresses table...I think she asked if we needed anything about 15 times...Did she want us to leave? Good Grief! Well, as we were leaving, Beth ran into her sister, who kindly took a photograph of our "girl's day out without kids"...everyone needs a photograph of that event...if you are lucky enough for it to happen...and we were...today...Beth jokes about her Kodak Easy Share...and "makes fun of my Nikon"...so, I left my camera in the car...and the following pics were made by the easy share....not too shabby....Thanks for the great lunch...The time spent with a new friend, even though we have "known" each other for quite some time...I will have to agree with Beth...our outfits clash horribly...Better planning next time....(I made the above photo b/w-you can't tell about the color clashing near as much.)

See You at the Pole

My oldest son is in middle school...He told me last night that he had to be at school early today. Me, not being sure why this time....(because he goes early often for one thing or another)....asked why? He was quick to tell me that it is "See you at the Pole" day today. How awesome that our kids are coming together to pray-to God-on their own...We should follow in their footsteps. By taking such a unbelievable stand for our Lord. I thought the following was very cool about the event....

"While the prophet Samuel was young, he lived in the Temple under the spiritual guidance of Eli. One night God called Samuel’s name, but he thought it was Eli. After this happened several times, Eli realized the truth and told Samuel to go back to bed and if he heard the voice again to respond by saying . . . “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening!” 1 Samuel 3:9b. God did call and Samuel listened. This began a relationship with God that went on throughout Samuel’s life. In fact, in verse 19, it says, “The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of his [God’s] words fall to the ground.” At another point as Samuel was an old man, he addressed Israel: “I have been your leader from my youth until this day. Here I stand.” The people agreed that Samuel had led them with integrity and honor all his years, but it began when he was young. It all started for Samuel when he made a connection with God at an early age. And he chose to continue to connect with Him daily throughout his life. It’s tough being a Christian student today, isn’t it? You have to make a lot of choices about who you are—and who you’re not. You have to try and follow God in a world that misunderstands Christianity and tolerates its principles less and less all the time. What if, like Samuel you: —made a connection with God as a young person? —declared, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening”? —never let any of God’s words “fall to the ground” in your own life?

See You at the Pole™ is a great place to connect with God, connect with other believers, and connect with your campus in the name of Christ. SYATP connects believers together at the beginning of the school year, so you can stand strong together throughout the year. See You at the Pole™ is all about prayer. It's about you coming together and laying aside all the labels and groups for one day, to simply connect with God in prayer and connect with fellow Christians in unity around the flag pole."

I am glad to know that my son wants to make this stand. He is a special boy, and I just want him to know that I am proud of him...Love you, Ian.

Is it Monday Already?

I honestly can't believe the weekend is over...I guess the saying is true that time does fly when you are having fun....We started our weekend out with Macey's birthday party...She had a Scrapbooking Slumber party. Ian before he left for the football game....handsome guy : )Me and my girl....(Her actual birthday is the 27th-will do a birthday post for her then)Loving on her Daddy....Singing Happy Birthday...You can tell James is singing...Hilarious pic..honey..=)We let Macey open her gifts before the Scrapbooking began....The party was a big hit...The girls had a blast creating...I took some pics of all the girls together when they first got here...and James ran them to Wal-mart and printed them off...While he was doing that the girls ate pizza, and talked and giggled. Cade volunteered to pray for his sissy and for the food....love this pic...I have been using a few new ps tricks...Made this "mask" to make this pic look 'old'..They were the best behaved girls!!! I am not kidding when I say that...I was sort of dreading having 10 girls over ALL night...but I was pleasantly surprised...Everyone got along, and they seemed to love the things we had planned for them to do...Scrapbooking was a bigger hit that I could have ever imagined....The girls sat at the table and worked on their projects for about 2 1/2-3 hours....once everyone's page was finished...I placed their page in a frame and we took pics of all the "Masterpieces"...Macey and her friend, Kendall...posing for me..(I took pics of all the girls-but don't want to bore you by posting all of those pics too-I probably am boring you already...)PJ time, and then everyone was ready to get started on their friendship bracelets(weaving thread together-I did this in middle school-too fun-I am wearing the bracelet I made as I type this =)The girls made bracelets, told scary stories, and played truth or dare....Jayme(a good friend of mine) stayed over to help me out...and she and I enjoyed 'playing' with the girls too...I even went with a few of them on their dare to go to the mailbox in the dark....S-C-A-R-Y!!! Hee hee....I laughed my head off...Off to bed at 2:30am...then up for chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast...James loves to cook breakfast, so he took on this job...He made pancakes for all the girls, then he and the boys were off to the first football game of the day....Girls were all picked up by 9...then our busy day was off....

I want to thank Emily (love you!) for helping me out with the party...The girls just loved you...and I am glad to know that I have created a fellow scrapbooker....You and me will have to hit the Scrapbooking Superstore in Pigeon Forge...I see a girls day coming on!!!!

I also want to thank Jayme for helping me too...James and Ian went to DB's (our local high school) football game, and so I couldn't have done it without you...Thanks friend...This pic is of Jayme making her self a "scrapped" bookmark...Desicions...Desicions..Desicions...

Well, I was going to post about the boys football games too..but the phone just rang...and it was the school...Yes, the dreaded call...but it wasn't bad...It was Miss Mace...She forgot her glasses...So, gotta go, and take them to her....

So, I am seeing two posts in my future today...Another one coming later...not so girly...not so much pink....=) "Are you ready for some football?" (This one is for you James--How 'bout them Cowboys?!?!)