Living the Small Town Life: Mississippi- Madeline's Jr. Miss and Meeting Our Niece

       We have been busy lately (which you can always tell from my lack of blogging). We went to Mississippi for about 10 days then I worked four days over Spring Break while my Mom came and kept Brieleigh (thank you, Mom!). So now I am finally finding a time to blog a bit.
        We went to Mississippi on March 3rd (my birthday- I turned a quarter of a century.. I know, old right? Don't worry... my face is breaking out like I am a teenager so it makes me feel young still.) I at least enjoyed being able to spend my birthday so close to my two favorite people all day- David and Brieleigh. David took me to Cracker Barrel for my birthday breakfast where I got the most delicious Buttermilk pancakes. At one of our bathrooms stops he bought me a Naked drink (my favorite- fresh fruit) and animal crackers. Sweet husband! We stopped by on the way through to say hi to my Mom and Madeline before heading to Maben to see ALL of David's family. His brother Daniel was there from Idaho, so we got to see him and Sara and meet their new baby Tatjana (Brieleigh's first girl cousin). She was quite adorable and such a good baby. For my birthday present this year, David got me a Coldstone cake (well, Ethan picked it up so that I would be suprised- I tried to be at least, but I could hear his mom talking about it through the phone on our car ride). It was a heart- dark chocolate, strawberries, and yummy/divine. I wished I could have brought it home to savor and make last but frozen things at eight+ hours don't usually mix so well. David kept trying to get Brieleigh to say, "Happy Birthday, Mommy!" She would say "Hoppy!" which is now her new favorite word.
      While in Maben, we played Settlers of America a couple times, walked around the pasture with all of us kids, played with the animals (chickens, horse, goat, and dogs), played with the babies, helped/watched the meals be cooked, and mostly visited.

Brieleigh loved going outside at least once a day to bring in the eggs from the nests in the chicken coop.

Usually there were around 30. She would pick up each one at a time and put then in the box. She only broke a few from throwing them too hard.

She loved it as well as watching the chickens run from her. She would say "kicken".
Sadly, her Daddy had to help kill and bury a sick chicken while we were there.

Uncle Nathaniel, Tatjana, Aunt Anna, and Brieleigh- such fun aunts and uncles!

Sara, Jo Anne, and David cooking... and supervising.
(Sorry, Daniel- I don't know where you always were when I hd my camera out.)

Brieleigh and Uncle Ethan chatting on the table. They both seem to be enjoying themselves!

The daughter in laws and grand daughters

Sweet Tatjana

        On Saturday, March 5th, we went to Louisville to help get ready for and to watch Madeline's Jr. Miss (a pagent/scholarship program for 11th graders- if you have not heard of it). We stayed there one night then went back to Maben for a couple more nights to see Daniel, Sara, and Tatjana since we see them only once or twice a year.
       Alot of family was there for Jr. Miss- Katie (my sister), David, and Peter; Cal (my brother); Aunt Sally (my Mom's sister), Uncle Fitz, and Maggie; Uncle Jerry (my Dad's brother); Aunt Jeanette (my Dad's sister) then Jan Hyde (basically family too- our friend from Jackson) was also there (and much help).
     Maddy had to answer a question on stage and had gotten a list of 20 possible questions the night before so we talked about them a little bit then Katie and David took her out to help her get all of her answers on paper. Cal, David, Jan, and I took the two kids to meet Mom who was at Grace Christian School Open House. She enjoyed showing her grandkids off to all the students and teachers.
     We all met back at the house before the extended family all got there. Mom bought us all barbeque sandwiches which they were also selling to raise money at the school. We ate those for lunch then began making all sorts of food and goodies for the after party. Madeline had her interview at 1:45 so we helped her get dressed. She came back and told us how good she thought she did and we all visited until it was time to get ready. The Suttle kids came over to visit too. Needless to say, we had a full house, but it was definitely worth it. I wish I had gotten to see everyone more in the midst of visiting, cooking, and keeping track of Brieleigh.
    Maddy had to leave at 5 for her stuff and a few of the adults went to save us seats. The rest of us got ready and waited for the babysitters to arrive for Peter and Brieleigh. The preacher's wife (Karen Phillips) from Mom's church and her kids came over and kept them for us. We were so thankful, and I think the babies had a great time. They were both out when we got back!
    The show started at 6:30. Some of David's family came too (Ethan, Anna, Sara, and Tatjana). Jr. Miss was very entertaining. My mom was a nervous wreck so I had the job of sitting beside her, holding her hand, and assuring her that even if Madeline forgot every line and fell on the stage, everyone would still clap and life would go on. The Mitchells sat behind us and Michael Cravens sat with us. He had some inside scoop and much more of an eye for how well the girls were doing so we got his "professional" opinion. There was opening number, talents (Maddy did a monolougue of Audrey Hepburn from Breakfast at Tiffany's), Self-expression (question on stage), and physical fitness. Madeline did great. She seemed so confident and comfortable which amazed me. She ended up winning the Spirit of Jr. Miss award which is what all the girls vote on for the person with a great character, leader, etc. We were so proud of that award, and it was perfect!
       We were quite hungry afterwards, so it was great to have so much yummy food waiting on us. I did not take any pictures because my camera is not good long distance, but here are some of Maddy:

Opening number- Madeline is in the background.
The one in the dress is her best friend Faith- last year's Jr. Miss.

Physical Fitness- Maddy is in the back

Physical Fitness- back middle

Maddy just after receiving the Spirit of Jr. Miss Award!

Maddy (on the right) in her pretty dress (from Dallas).

After more time at the Willers house in Maben, we returned to Louisville on Tuesday night. David had to travel for work to Georgia and Alabama (so he could drive and save the company money not flying since we were already in MS). Brieleigh and I stayed with my mom and Madeline which was nice. We went to kindergarten (my mom teaches) and high school two days, and everyone loved Brieleigh. Other than that we went to Wednesday church, shopped at a store closing downtown, walked, watched a GCS softball game (Anna plays), and visited with Grandaddy. We were also there for Madeline's birthday. We ate supper with her at Mi Rodeo and iced her a cake that mom made. The night of her birthday we had girls movie night- Maddy, Brieleigh, and I- so fun! The next night David came home and we prepared food for her birthday party with her friends (Mom was babysitting Peter in Birmingham so we were in charge of food.)
Saturday morning we finally had to leave Mississippi. :( Mom came with us to babysit though so that was nice. David had to do more work in South Mississippi on the way home so we had to drive way down South then back up to Dallas (14 hours in all!). Brieleigh was a trooper, but she needed lots of leg stretching time. She is such a sweet girl and traveler. She is always so cheerful even when we push her limits. (Ok, so she did scream some, but I would have too after driving so long if I did not know better.) We ate lunch at Cracker Barrel again. Fun trip!

More pictures (I did not do very well taking many):