Life, Love, and Happiness

If Heaven Has Ducks!

2011-11-18T00:09:00.001-06:00

A hunter had a dream of finding the perfect dog. Not only of finding a dog that would work for him diving into icy cold water for a web footed bird, but one that he could call his friend. Not many hunters find this combination. Because God only makes a few of them. Anybody can have a great pet and anybody can have a great hunting dog, but when you find both in the same dog, it is a rare thing.

Kitt, my hunting lab, was run over last night. I can't even begin to explain what I feel right now. Most of my thoughts go to a future without her and the past with her, as I am trying to avoid the present. I think back to all the hunts we shared together. All the ducks she picked up for me and my hunters (When I say thousands, I literally mean thousands.). I think about the hours we spent together in a layout blind together with her laying between my legs. The hours she spent in the house at my feet asleep waiting on my next command. The hours we spent together in a truck riding together. What in the world am I gonna do without her? I think about the hunts of the future. How many times are hunters are gonna ask me, "Hey, Where's Kit?"? I am gonna think back of her and that thing in the back of my throat is gonna form and make it hard to swallow the saliva in my mouth. Who is gonna spot the ducks coming in before they are in my sight? I am glad I let her camp out the other night with Ann Fleming and me. I am glad I took her on one more walk with me the other day. Besides my wife, I don't think I will ever find another thing as loyal as you were.

Kitt: April 14, 2004- November 17, 2011

So Kitt for your sake, I hope there are ducks in heaven or they at least have tennis balls. If they do, I know what you are doing. We will all see you again one of these days. Until then my favorite command, One More Time: SHHHHH' BACKKKKK'!!!!!!!!!! We all love you and will miss you Kitt!

Camp Out!

2011-11-15T22:36:00.000-06:00

Ann Fleming and I decided we were gonna camp out on the screen porch last night. Royann and Taylor came out for a little while, but both were a little under the weather, so they didn't stay long. I thought we would just stay a little while until Ann Fleming fell asleep, but I think I fell asleep before she did. I was really tired from working yesterday on the lodge. Kitt and Cali also stayed with us since we don't let animals in the house anymore. So at 7:00 this morning when I woke up I had a cat on my chest, a dog between my legs, and Ann Fleming wrapped around me trying to keep warm. All in all a great first great camp out for the family.

All Gave Some! Some Gave All!

2011-11-10T22:26:00.002-06:00

You know there are things you love about your Dad. A couple of the main reasons I love my Dad is his courage and love for his country. Yes, there are many other reasons I love my Dad, his love of God, knowledge, wisdom, and simply because he is my Dad, but his courage and love for our country stick out to me every time I look at him.

My Dad was drafted in 1969 to the Vietnam conflict at the young age of 21. One of the stories my Dad always told me was, if I ever get drafted to a war don't tell the draft office I like to hunt. When he appeared before the draft board that was one of the conversations he held with the officers in charge. He told them how much he liked to hunt. So that is what they did. They put him in the bush or jungle to hunt Vietnamese. From what I gather from him, he stayed in the bush for 9 months and spent another 9 months working in camp and searching for mines. You know when I look at the pictures below, I see a kid. A kid that gave all to his country except his life, but some of the others weren't so lucky they gave all. He won't talk a lot to anyone about what happened or what he saw, but you can see it deep in his eyes if you bring up the subject of war.

I want to thank you Dad for what you did and the sacrifice you made for this country. I love you and will always have great respect for you not only because you are my Dad, but the courage you showed in protecting freedom and your love of this country we all live in.

I ask anyone that is reading this, find someone that is a veteran and shake their hand, give them a hug, or buy them lunch for their service on this Veteran's Day. I appreciate all you guys that served something bigger than yourself.

A Peacemaker

2011-11-09T10:13:00.000-06:00

As I woke up this morning my thoughts were no on to the healing process among Christians and the citizens of Mississippi. The greatest thing needed now in the State is a healing process to begin. There has been lots of discord among Christians on who was right and wrong on the Amendment 26. I told everyone from the beginning that no matter how you voted I would still be a friend and a brother in Christ here at the end of the day. I am sure most know how I voted on the amendment by the latest blog post on our family blog, but lets get one thing clear I don't care how you voted. That is between you and God. Please don't feel awkward around others if they didn't vote the way you did. Since the beginning of the church there has always been disagreements among believers. We have to understand there are bigger mountains to climb and bigger battles to fight as Christians I am sure we all agree on. Do I think there are bigger problems in the State than Amendment 26? Yes! If we could get as passionate about Christ as we have about an amendment, man think of how this State could change for the better. So I leave you with one final thing to think about today:

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God

"I am a Christian and Pro-Life, But....." So WWJD on 26?????

2011-11-07T19:45:00.004-06:00

This is a post for friends and even people I don't know that know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. So if you are reading this and don't know Christ and he is not the Lord of your life, I pray that today you will find him and understand his love for all life. I think we need to discuss the religious or moral side of this issue because that is where most of the final attacks by Planned Parenthood have been focused. If we are true followers of Christ we need to discuss WWJD and some of the other tactics being put out there lately by Planned Parenthood.

Over the past few weeks since my last blog post most of the original tactics being used by Planned Parenthood or Ms. For Healthy Families have been tossed aside because they were proven false, but I still see some that believe those things, but they are few. If this were a horse race, this is the final leg and Planned Parenthood is pulling out all the stops to finish strong in this conservative state. What have we seen the past couple of weeks?: The release of medical misinformation about doctors accountability with this new amendment, the use of our Governor's voice without his permission to make phone calls to citizens of the state, the scare tactic of "The law is to vague", and I saved the best for last, "I am a Christian and I am Pro-Life but". Making Christians feel it is OK to vote no in this important vote.

First, I think by now everybody has seen the interview Haley Barbour gave to the news show "The Rundown". I will say I watched it many times and I was concerned about our Governor saying he didn't know how he was gonna vote and that Amendment 26 was vague. Planned Parenthood took the interview and Haley's voice and made many phone calls around the state to voters making it sound like it was directly from the Governor and that he was voting no. By the next day Barbour had already voted yes on Amendment 26 and put a stop to all the calls by Planned Parenthood, but who knows the damage done by the deception of Planned Parenthood. Some of my family even fell prey to the personal phone call from Barbour. They told me "If Barbour was voting this way then they would also". This is the first thing I want you to notice as a Christian. If the no side is on the up and up why would you have to deceive to make people believe your side. Who is the master of deception?

Second, is the medical misinformation being put out by Ms. For Healthy Families about how medical procedures (birth control, In-Vetro fertilization, etc.) and Doctors accountability (ectopic pregnancy procedures, cancer treatments during pregnancy, etc.) will be affected with this new Amendment. I will tell you going into this was one of my biggest concerns. I think I talked about it some in my earlier blog post. If you as a Christian still have concerns about these things here are my two suggested resources about the medical misinformation that is out there. First, a word from one of the most respected OB-GYN's in the state.

Now I can't say I know the hearts of some of the Doctors that have posted on either side of Amendment 26, but for Dr. Webb I do. He is one of the greatest Christian men to share info with you on every aspect of this new amendment and how it will affect the medical community. How do I know him? Dr. Webb is probably one of the most respected OB-GYN's in the state. He is in Tupelo, Ms. I don't know him directly, but I have family and friends that have close dealings with him. I will say it is the first You Tube video I have ever sat through past the first minute, but for the medical misinformation section you can go to around the 24:00 minute mark in the video if that is the only part that is important to you., but I would recommend watching the whole video. Please scan through the video and watch why he says the OB-GYN Association (which he is a member of) and Nursing Association are standing on the "No" side. He topples every deception out there. There is that word again, deception. Why does the other side have to use it?

The other source is a link to the Ms. Center for Public Policy website. They go into great detail how the new amendment will affect medical procedures and doctors:

http://mspolicy.org/mcpp_reports/mcpp_reports_view.php?entryID=304

Third, "Why is the amendment so vague?" Why don't they just say in the amendment, " Abortion shall be illegal in Mississippi". If this is your reasoning for voting no, you are missing the forest for the trees. I think 99.9% of all Christians would agree abortion is wrong and want it outlawed in the United States. How many unborn children have died by abortion? Right at 54 million unborn children have been murdered. In all the wars combined fought by the USA only 1.4 million have died. What? Is that correct? Yes, those are the right numbers. So we agree abortion is wrong? Right? How do we stand up and do something about it? To see the forest we have to look at Roe Vs. Wade:

First we have to understand Roe V Wade was a court decision in 1973 by the Supreme Court and not a law. Decisions handed down by courts are very different than laws that are written by the Legislative branch. Court decisions can easily be overturned with a law passed by the Legislative branch or by the people in a constitutional amendment. Justice Blackmun in his decision said the court had to rule the way they did because "Personhood" had never been defined by a law on the books anywhere, but if "Personhood" was ever defined by a state or states to include the unborn and when the unborn is a person they would have to change their ruling accordingly. So we sit here today as a state defining "Personhood" in a State Constitutional Amendment by the people because the Legislative branch won't do it for us. You have to understand as a Christian, the forest is the overturning of Roe V Wade by defining a person. That is what we are voting on. If the unborn is a person and has rights. Do the proponents of the "Yes" vote want this to go to the court system? My thoughts are yes. We want it to go all the way to the Supreme Court.

Finally, "I am a Christian and Pro-Life but" excuse that has started in the last few weeks. The first time I read this excuse I thought, what better way of deception could the enemy use than to recruit some of God's own children with this excuse. Let me start this off if you are going to call me judgemental of your decision of or leaning to the"No" side, please stop reading now because the information that follows will also be difficult to understand. I mean do you scream at your Bible, "Your being Judgemental" when any writer of the Bible gave warnings to believers or better yet to your preacher on Sunday mornings who is delivering a message from God specific to you. Am I saying I am as great as the writers of the Holy Bible? No! I am not saying that. So please no "holier than thou" accusations. I am simply taking God's word and placing it out there to help you make or change your decision as a believer according to his word. Maybe it is not my words that are disgusting you, but the Holy Spirit fighting with your flesh to do the right thing.

So we are all in agreement that the unborn is a person, right? Then let us proceed. First let's talk Jesus for a second. He died on the cross, the ultimate sacrifice, for our sins to give life to the spiritually dead and to establish a bridge to God for us. We all agree with this, right? It was a totally unselfish act by God in human form putting us first. Now if we are a Christians and we agree with earlier statements, answer this question. Which of these is right in the order of our priorities of a Christian life then?

Me
God
Family and Friends

God
Me
Family and Friends

God
Family and Friends
Others

If you agree with the third, you are in agreement with the Bible. When Jesus died the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus and Jesus's concerns were never on his mind. God was the first thing on his mind by glorifying him through his death and then the sacrificing of himself for the human race's sin were his concerns. It was never about Jesus. It was, but it wasn't. Why do I show you this? Aren't we a living example of Christ or we are supposed to try to be? Back to the excuse, what is always the word or text character that follows "I am a Christian and Pro-Life but,". It is always the word I. As a Christian our concerns come fourth after God, Family and Friends, and Others we don't know. So if we agree that Me comes last in the order, we have to put God's priorities first and then Family, Friends, and Others. So what does God instruct us to do as his children in this situation if he is number one in our decisions and putting our concerns last. First, we are Christ's church or body here on earth. We are Jesus's voice. So we have know what the word says about abortions and standing up for the unborn:

1. Yet God tells us to: Rescue those being led away to death, hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say "But we knew nothing of this," does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done? Proverbs 24:11
2. Proverbs 31:8 Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.
3.Philippians 2:4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others

Does it sound like God was instructing us to vote "No"? It sounds like an indisputable "Yes" vote to me. In all the "No" concerns it seems to me, Me and my thoughts are coming before God's indisputable evidence of wanting us to vote "Yes". Now God does give us discernment to think things through, but at the end of all that discernment and at the heart of the matter, does our decision match up with God and his word? He is first, right? We are his voice on earth, right? Our love and service for others are before our voice and concerns, right? Or are our concerns of earthly matters keeping us from matching up with God? If you look at the majority of the doctors that are voting yes on this amendment, they are putting God first in their decision. Because they know at the end of the day they answer to God and his ways are more important than any earthly ways. If you look at the ones that are pushing the "No", a lot of them follow it up with how it will affect them and how difficult it could, could make their lives.

Finally, I hope and pray you make the right decision based on biblical principals. Remember you are Jesus's voice on earth. If you are his follower, how would he vote in your mind, and I think you have the way you should vote. I hope that one day the unborn have the same right to protection and we will value an unborn child the same as a human outside the womb. I will leave you with two last verses and I hope your vote for the unborn will make others around the USA stand up for their protection also.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. Before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. Jeremiah 1:5

In Psalm 106 God speaks specifically against killing innocent children and babies. He says of His people: They mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. They worshipped their idols which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughter to demons. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan and the land was desecrated by their blood.

I send you all my best wishes and love no matter how you vote,
Rocky Leflore

The Personhood Amendment- Amendment #26

2011-10-26T01:20:00.010-05:00

I have been asked numerous time about my opinion of The Personhood Amendment or Amendment 26 about to be voted on in the State of Mississippi. I will say that I had many doubts about the law when I first read about it. I had the same questions that a lot of people having right now. So what did I do?

First, I read the law. What does the law say? It is a Constitutional amendment that defines when life begins for a human being. First off I really didn't need a lot of help deciding that fact. In my spiritual or biblical opinion, God says that he knew us before we were even in the mother's womb. So life for a Christian believer by God's word begins even before a heart beat. How do you explain that? I don't know. There are a lot of things that God says that I don't understand, but he knew us before we were in the womb and he has great plans for us all.

After reading numerous articles and social media posts about Amendment #26, my concerns boiled down to the propaganda that was being put out. Proponents of the no vote are spending to the tune of millions and millions of dollars putting out scare tactics and spinning anything to do with Amendment 26. What I mean is something was fishy with what the no side was saying and what they were putting out in the media. Something was different each day to what they were saying. Looking back on it now, it looked like to me they were throwing out different scare tactics to see which ones worked on peoples hearts and minds the best. Then they would get the best ones and run with them. While the yes side was constantly sticking to their guns in everything they said. Their information was unchanging.  I admit I had some doubts about the law when I first started reading some of the articles that were coming out. I kind of bought in to what the Ms. For Healthy Families was selling, but something deep down still said something was wrong. So what did I do? I put on my detective hat and read and read and read and made calls to both sides. What did I read? I read both sides of the isle and what both proponents were saying. Who did I call? I called both sides of #26.

I want you to look into the first thing I noticed that stuck out to me. If you look at the material that the no proponents side are using, it contains words such as can and could. If I were a lawyer what do these words mean? There are possibilities of whatever I am talking about happening. Such as:  I could be killed from a herd of stampeding elk while in my yard doing work. Chances are 1 and a trillion, but it could happen. Now look at the other side of the isle. They use words like will and won't. These are very decisive and definitive words.

This was taken from one of the sites I am talking about:

"Amendment 26 could illegalize clinically assisted fertility techniques like in vitro fertilization. The procedure involves implanting zygotes that are fertilized outside of the body back into a woman’s uterus, and many do not survive this process. Since the Personhood Amendment would define each fertilized egg as a person, both the mother and the doctor conducting the procedure would face legal repercussions."

Now from the other side of the isle's site:

"Personhood will not ban in-vetro fertilization. However personhood will not let unused embryos be destroyed."

Now second reason for the doubt: Planned Parenthood and the ACLU  going undercover and working as the Mississippi For Healthy Families that are the proponents of the no vote (please do a search on leaders of the MFHF and then do a search on them). Seemed kinda fishy to me. Why would they do this? Because they know somewhere between 70-80% of US citizens can't stand their organizations and what they stand for and most likely higher in MS. They knew they had to go undercover to get anything accomplished in the state. Because these organizations understand that 80% of the world are dumb and are lazy believers (Will take anything at its word in what they read). That those 80% will not take the time to lift a finger to do any type of investigating into their scare tactics and the way they put spin on facts. These organizations are evil and I don't mean that in a derogatory sense. I mean the things that they do are evil in the spiritual sense. Please I implore you to do a google search on these two organizations. Compare your belief system to theirs. Is this really the team you want to be on? God tells us that love him to stand on the side of good always. The men that wrote this law are Christian men.  How do I know this? I spoke in depth with the founder and co-author of the law as part of my investigation.

Third and finally I investigated (let me stress my conclusions were taken from documents I have read from each side of the isle and speaking at length with the founder and author of the bill and Ms For Healthy Families' information person. So with each talking point this is not my personal opinion, but the facts given to me.) each talking point being used by the no proponents:

Birth control will be outlawed- The only one in my investigation that it will outlaw is the RU486, which is a form of abortion.

Mother's will die because of a pregnancy that has gone bad- No in each case according to the law the doctor will make every attempt to save both, but if not the woman's life will be the focus after that point. (Already a MS. Law)

Women that have miscarriages could be prosecuted- I have thoroughly searched and found that no woman that was ever prosecuted before Roe vs. Wade. It will not happen.

In-Vetro Fertilization will be illegal- Totally false! Only the disposing of embryos will be outlawed. I dug a little deeper into this one. I found out there is a program called the snowflake program and many others that will take any unused embryos instead of throwing them in a waste container.

I will say I had many doubts as some of you when this all starting coming out because of what I was reading. I don't care which side of the isle you are on. Whether you are Pro-Choice or Pro-life or Pro-26 or Against 26, at the end of the day, I will love you just the same.The only thing that I ask is you do your own investigation and not rely on facebook post, break room gossip, e-mail, this blog even, or an editorial or article in your paper. You will find the facts if you spend the time looking, calling, reading, and you will know which way to vote. This is an important issue not only for our state, but for future states throughout the USA on abortion related issues. God Bless and thanks for taking the time to read.

The Two Pumpkins!

2011-10-25T10:13:00.000-05:00

How you ever really thought about love very much? I am not talking about I love Ice Cream or I love duck hunting. I am talking about Agape love. Agape love is the love God gives to every single person created. It is a love that is patient, unending, sacrificial, unconditional, etc. I thought when I married my wife that I got a glimpse into that kind of love. I did somewhat, but sometimes we become impatient with our spouse, we put conditions on our spouses, and with rampant divorce tearing the family down in America spouses must put conditions on their marriage. It wasn't until I had children that I somewhat understood God's love for his own children.
God's love for us as his children is 1000 more times than the love we feel for our own children. God's love for his children went all the way to the cross by the sacrifice of his own son. So how much do you love God's children? If we are to be Christ like we should show love for all. How do spend time loving God' children? Do you spend time gossiping about them and tearing them down? Do you spend most of the day thinking of yourself? Do something good for somebody today in Christ name? Instead of gossiping about them, pray for them. If you are going through a drive-thru today, buy the person's lunch behind you in line lunch also. Find somebody and give them a true compliment. Find something that is unique to them and compliment them on it. I am not talking about a fake one or flattery. My challenge to you today is to show love to someone the kind of love God shows us everyday. You may have your own way of doing it. Just Do It!

So Sweet!

Meri Wilson Turns 1!

2011-10-20T00:15:00.000-05:00

My wonderful niece (I call her), Meri Wison Gnemi, had her first birthday a couple of weeks ago. Our family attended and had a blast. It was good to see my family and Will and Kimberly's friends and family that have gotten to be our friends also. We hung around after the party and cooked out on the grill with the Gnemi's and Pullen's. The kids played and us guys watched football. Happy Birthday again Meri Wilson and I hope you and Taylor will be as close as your Mom and I were growing up since you guys will be in the same class!

Meri Wilson eating her cake

The kiddo's playing!

I love this picture of Ann Fleming!

Meri Wilson is 1!

I think Taylor likes her Uncle Russ!

And Aunt Ashley!

The great ballon launch!

Russell just can't let it go!

Finally, a Leash!

2011-10-19T00:07:00.000-05:00

It may be a greasy one at the moment in this picture, but we finally have hair long enough to pull it up.

Ole Miss Vs. Alabama

2011-10-18T12:08:00.000-05:00

What a great time we had with friends at the Alabama game this past weekend. We had some of our best friends from Muscle Shoals come over and go to the game with us this past weekend. The game didn't turn out very well Ole Miss's way (52-7 Alabama), but it did turn out how our friends wanted it to and we all had a good time getting to see each other. Houston Kennedy and his wife Chelsea, Tre Holland and his wife Caitlin, and Royann and myself and the kids, and Patti all went to the game. Even though the game didn't go very well, Ann Fleming kept us all entertained with her dancing and telling every Ole Miss fan walking down the isle that left the game early "bye-bye". I think by the end of the game my Alabama friends had Ann Fleming converted into a Tide fan. I don't know why we don't have a pic of Tre and Caitlin!

Ann Fleming eating her Cheese Nips

The only reason we had to cheer as Ole Miss fans was a early and only touchdown.

Anybody remember this guy? Make out guy from a few weeks back at the BYU game?

Taylor

Reminds me of Ann Fleming, watching the band!

Ann Fleming and Daddy with Bar-B-Que Nachos

Pi and Taylor

Ann Fleming at halftime showing her love for the band to everyone.

Our life, Our Love, and Our Happiness

Houston and Chelsea

Royann and Taylor

The conversion to an Alabama fan I was talking about with her Tide Pom-Poms

Ann Fleming showing some small dance moves

Low Tide!

2011-10-16T15:18:00.000-05:00

Mossy Lake really doesn't work on a tide (fooled you Ashley), but I would hate if it did. It would be completely dry during low tide. This the lowest I have seen Mossy since I have been living here and according to the old timers living around here it is the lowest it has ever been. I know when I have been skiing the lake at normal levels it wasn't but 8-10 feet deep. Now it can't be more than 4-5 feet in the middle. I marked a spot a few weeks back and it looks like right now it is dropping a few inches a week. If we don't get significant rain this winter it could dry up completely this next summer.

In front of the skeet range.

You can see on the tree it is about four feet below normal.

Water is normally right where I am standing.

There is one Vegetable Farmer in the Family!

2011-10-16T14:54:00.000-05:00

We finally got the harvest in and now we are just waiting on the money to start rolling in. Not really, but we had a great time growing our watermelons. It just about drove me crazy having a vine growing in my landscaping.

The reason I titled this post the way I did is my father in law is picked on alot because last year he grew a vegetable garden for profit. It didn't turn out like he had planned and took some lip service because he spent so much time with it. Maybe he will let Ann Fleming help him on his next garden.

Rolling in the Green!

I am on baby food now!

2011-10-16T14:39:00.000-05:00

Dr. Smith put Taylor on baby food at our last doctors visit. She is liking it very much. She is not totally on baby food, but just supplementing it in between bottles. The first few times more went on her than in her stomach.

Into the Wild with Jack Hanna

2011-10-16T14:30:00.000-05:00

Friday night Royann and I and the kids returned to Starkville, Ms for the Vet. School's 30 year reunion. It was a great time seeing some of her old classmates, teachers, and administrators of the Vet. School. It was held at the Hunter Henry Alumni Center. The feature of the night though had to be presentation made by Jack Hanna. I don't know if I have told you guys lately about Ann Fleming's love for animals outside of just our pets. She has learned numerous pet sounds and can identify any animal by its picture. Royann and I both have been working with her each night with flash cards with numbers, letters, and her favorite, the animal cards and you tube videos of different animals. I will post a video in a few days of her making all of her animal sounds. Back to Jack Hanna, to me there was three highlights of the night for the Leflore family.

The first was, Royann left during dinner to change Taylor and met Jack Hanna while she was in the hallway. They made small talk and she came back to the table and told me she met him in the hallway before his presentation. I didn't think much about it except I would have liked to get a picture of him, Taylor, and Royann. That is until he got up to make his speech. He started it off like any normal speech maker. He used a joke to get the mood right in the room. He started to talk of all of his credentials of working with animals and then spoke of a person with a baby he met in the hallway earlier. That person asked if he was a vet. and he told that person no and that person then said well Mr. Jack if your not a Vet. what is it you exactly do then? The whole room busted into laughter. I turned to look at Royann and she is laughing but red as a fire engine and said that was her.

Second, when Jack Hanna makes a presentation to a crowd he always uses animals and videos of animals. It helps him get across the point of what exactly he does. Little did I know that those flash cards and videos I have been using to teach Ann Fleming would come back to bite us. With each video and animal presentation made to the crowd Ann Fleming would make the animals noise for the whole 500 in attendance. I would have to say when she saw a elephant on video it was the worse. They were doing a video presentation of safari's and a herd of elephants came on the screen and I had Ann Fleming standing in my lap to see the screen. It is one of her favorite animals. It is the only animal she gets to use not only voice presentation but also body language with it. She trumpeted out like a elephant and did the trunk with her hand. Total embarrassment! Then the other was when he brought some type of endangered Egyptian cat on stage with him. Ann Fleming went crazy screaming "KITTY" AND "MEOW" and that was when I decided that was enough and took her outside to the MSU/South Carolina soccer game going on next door.

Little did I know that wasn't the end of the entertainment. We walked over to the game and stood behind the fence to the field in front of the bleachers and I guess it was halftime of the game because they were playing loud music over the speakers. Ann Fleming went on to entertain the whole bleachers of the soccer game. She danced better than any dance I could ever think about doing. Swinging her arms and shaking her booty and head and the bleachers cheering her on. When she figured out everybody was watching her she decided she had enough.

I swear there are never any dull moments in the Leflore household.

Leflore Family

I thought this was a great picture of our family.

There is that cat I talked about earlier!

We Didn't Find Charlie Brown, Snoopy, or The Great Pumpkin!

2011-10-16T13:41:00.000-05:00

The one thing I can say though is we had a great time! While in Oxford this weekend we visited the pumpkin patch of St. Johns church. We took some great pictures of the kids while we were there and they had a great time playing in the pumpkins. Happy Halloween Everybody!

Group Picture!

Trying to take one home!

We heard numerous times yesterday how pretty of a little boy we had! We just agreed with everybody and said "he his".

Ann Fleming wanting Taylor to play!

"Straw" What is that?

"I don't know either, but it is fun to throw in the air!"

Yeah!

We didn't go to buy a pumpkin, but we made a donation to the youth group and they gave Ann Fleming one instead.

She loved her baby pumpkin!

Molly is 2!

2011-10-08T22:29:00.000-05:00

Our neighbors, Chase and Crystal Downing, had a birthday party for their daughter Molly last Saturday. Molly was turning two. It seemed just like yesterday Royann and I were watching out our window the morning they were going by our house on the way to the hospital to have Molly. Ann Fleming, our daughter, and Molly are close in age and I hope for them one day they will be good friends. Royann and Ann Fleming went to the party while Taylor and I put together Taylor's Jumperoo. Molly had a Elmo theme party and it looked to be a blast. Royann and Ann Fleming had a very good time until Ann Fleming decided to pick up somebodies coke and dump it on herself. I thought I would put up a few pictures that Royann took at the party. Happy Birthday again Molly from your Mossy Lake neighbors.

Molly and her Elmo outfit

Ann Fleming and Mrs. Kay Downing

Ann Fleming and Taylor! Wait she only thought is was Taylor.

Crystal and Ann Fleming

All the little ones playing house

Ann Fleming is always gonna find the slide

Molly Downing

When I saw this picture all I could think was this could happen for real in about 16 or 17 years. I can hear Ann Fleming yelling "Pop the clutch Molly!"

Molly and Ann Fleming

Ann Fleming and Missy! Missy is a dog I gave Chase when he and Crystal were dating

What Group of Post would be any Good Without a Nana's House Post!

2011-10-07T22:50:00.000-05:00

Of course we made our monthly trip to visit Nana's house. We enjoyed a night of Mexican Train dominoes and huge steaks with Nana and her friends, Ann Fleming enjoyed blueberries, and Royann got plenty of sleep. Nana, Ann Fleming, and I got up around 6:00 Saturday morning. We had a early breakfast and then we went on a ride. We enjoyed our self riding and talking and even stopped at a local shop that was having a big sale and I bought a new suit. So all in all another great trip to Nana's.

Ann Fleming knows when she goes to Nana's to expect blueberries

This is how Nana and I found Ann Fleming before we went riding. She is a climber.

Happy Birthday Nana!

2011-10-07T22:42:00.000-05:00

We had the honor to host Nana's birthday party at our house a few weeks back. It truly was a honor. Nana is one of our family's favorite people to hang around. All of Nana's family and friends got together to celebrate the big day. We all had a good time and hope you enjoyed it Nana. We love you very much!

P.S. to Nana- While writing this Ann Fleming has been walking around saying "Nana" the whole time. She saw your picture while I was writing it.

I have always been writing Nana with one N. I guess it is spelled with two N's!

The Birthday Girl!

Pi and Foley and Kacki and Nate

Spring chickens: Taylor, Nate, and Foley

Good Times!

Ashley and I taking a picture of each other

Best Buds: Ann Fleming and Twipp as AF would say

Allen, Nana, and Drew

Outside!

2011-10-07T22:23:00.000-05:00

One of the places you will find me if you leave the door open

We had a wild watermelon sprout up in our landscaping this year. Ann Fleming has to check on it everyday. That is until we pulled it the other day. She cried for a while until we ate it and she was all smiles after that.

Delta Snow!

2011-10-06T23:53:00.000-05:00

Growing up, fall was always my favorite time of the year. There is no telling how many hours I spent in a cotton trailer and picking cotton in my paper sacks. The smell of defoliant in the air now just gets my mind deep in memories of the past. I wanted Ann Fleming to go ride the cotton picker a couple of weeks back to see if she would like it. Little did I know how much cotton farming has changed in the past couple of years. From my old days of cotton trailers and riding to the gin with the man that pulled the trailers, to modules in the last few years, and now a cotton picker that spits its own round bale of cotton out the back.

Ann Fleming in the last few months has been amazed with big equipment and playing in the dirt. So I thought this was perfect situtation for her to get up close and personal with both. My cousins Heath and Keath Killebrew were picking close by and I called them to see if we could go ride with them. My cousin Russ, Royann, Ann Fleming, my brother Mitch, and their kids went also. It was a fun time and Ann Fleming loved it like I knew she would. Sometimes I think Ann Fleming may be a little bit of a tom boy when she gets older, but it may be just the southern debutant coming out in her. You know the girl, she can play in the dirt all day long, but at night she is all woman. Enjoy the pics from our day.

Picking Cotton

Looking it over

We were both pretty amazed with the pickers

Great picture from Royann

Like father like daughter!

I thought this was a good picture

Riding in Keath's lap. I knew Royann would enjoy it more than I would. So she took the ride with Ann Fleming

She does not want to get off the picker. Can you guess which one?

Week 13: It Has Been a While!

2011-10-06T01:11:00.000-05:00

I have had a few people ask that were following the blog, why I haven't posted in a while about my weight loss program I have been on. I have been so busy lately with new internet projects, construction around the house, and busy with kids that I just haven't had time to post. I am still on my diet and I am exercising each day. I can say I feel so much better. I feel like I am in college all over again and wearing the same size clothes as I did then, but just a little older. I really was wondering the other day what I looked like now compared to the few days before I started the diet. Now you know when I started the diet I weighed in at 299 and this is a picture of me a few days before I started dieting and exercising.

And this is a picture of me a couple of weeks back. I can't see a huge difference, but you be the judge. I have lost the triple chin though now that I look at it.

Drum Roll Please:

Starting Weight:

299

Weight as of Today:

236

Total Weight Loss:

63 lbs.

Ann Fleming and Taylor

2011-10-06T00:50:00.000-05:00

Ann Fleming still thinks this is her Bumbo

My sweet girls!

We have to do patty cake every night. Ann Fleming has started doing it with Taylor on her own.

Taylor not so happy!

I thought this was a good picture of Taylor.

Ann Fleming meets Fire Ants!

2011-10-06T00:48:00.000-05:00

One of the things going on around our house right now, is we have a construction guy working doing some touch up work to all the mistakes I made when building the lodge. Ann Fleming likes to go outside while we work and play in the dirt and with the animals. She was playing with the cat in the garden and sat down in ant bed. She was just a few feet from where we were working. To me when I first heard her scream, I thought she was just tangled up in the squash. I walked over slowly to help her up and saw what really had her. She had fire ants all over her legs. They ate her up as you can see. Jimmy the construction guy and myself got ate up also wiping them off of her legs. I called Nana for a home remedy for fire ant bites and followed what she said. She told me to touch them up with Clorox with finger blotches and then follow that with some toothpaste on each bite.

The Shower is Where The Action is at!

2011-10-06T00:38:00.000-05:00

Our shower has become a toy box for Ann Fleming. It is amazing sometimes what I can walk in the bathroom and find in the shower. I guess she puts them in there with the hope of them staying in there while she gets her shower. We tell her each night that she is the only one that needs the shower and not her toys.

Her favorite book, some kind of musical instrument, her boots, and of course her animals.

No Horsepower Here!

2011-10-06T00:31:00.000-05:00

So everyone knows from reading our blog, that I have been walking a lot lately. The kids spend most of their days at home with me, if we don't go to the clinic, while I get all my work done. Then I have school time with them. I can say I am a pretty good teacher. I work with Ann Fleming on flash cards each day. She has learned colors, to count, ABC's, picture identification, and I really focus on bible teachings. Then most afternoons they have a nap and then it is off to our daily six mile walk. The kids love the wagon ride. I really think Taylor likes it more than Ann Fleming. I really started having lower back problems from pulling the wagon they ride in by hand. I think it was from having my lower back turned just so slightly pulling the wagon. So I rigged a wagon hitch by using an old belt and and a dog leash. It has worked out pretty good lately and I can say the back problems have decreased somewhat.

Good Sweat!

Family Exercise!

2011-10-06T00:22:00.000-05:00

I got the pleasure of sharing my daily walk with Ashley, Tripp, and of course the regular rider Ann Fleming. It was great to catch up with Ashley and have someone to talk to while I walked. Ashley was the first family member I met when I showed up to pick Royann up for our first date. She is an amazing person to talk to and I love spending time with her when I get the chance. Tripp didn't like it as much as the rest of us, but he came around.

Tripp didn't like the wagon so much!

Showing PDA in front of 55,000!

2011-09-08T12:20:00.000-05:00

Let me preface this by saying the kids may not need to read or watch this video. Ole Miss football has been poor at best last year and the first game this year. Royann and I attended the opening game last weekend and really the only highlight of the game was the couple sitting in the same section as us. They kept the fans sitting around them excited with their PDA, because the game sure wasn't that exciting. They took PDA to a whole new level. We all saw them doing things you wouldn't see on late night on Cinemax to sum it up. At one point during their PDA, Kelsey, who was sitting with us proceeded to throw ice on them. It was probably the loudest cheer at the game when Kelsey pelted them with ice. Kelsey said they needed to cool off, but it only slowed them down for a few seconds.

What's my Name?

2011-09-08T11:48:00.000-05:00

I know this might make me sound a little crazy, but a few years back I wrote a creed for my life, like a business creed, but for my own daily life goals. One of those goals each day is to spend time listening to others, because everybody is an expert in something and all people have a hobby they enjoy and enjoy talking about. When I say listening, I am not just saying hearing another person. Listening and hearing are quiet different. Listening means making eye contact, giving body language to what they say, and responding after a few seconds of really crunching what they say. So with all that said, learning from others can be one of the most rewarding experiences in life. I try to ask lots of questions to people I meet and to people that are close to me. I feel like sometimes I am annoying people because I question why they do the things they do. I am not questioning them or their standards, but the way they do things or something they like to do and I want to learn about. If their way is better and can make my life better, then I am all for it. Like lately, everybody I meet that has children or has had children I may talk and question them about how they are raising or raised their children. Or I may meet somebody that is successful in business, I would question them on their successes in the business world. The list could go on and on.

So remember one thing from all this mumbo jumbo Rocky' Rule #6, "Everybody is given a gift by God and are a expert in some field or hobby. So spend time listening to others, true listening like I explained above. It is a art and could change your life and or some body's life forever. Lots of lessons can be learned by listening to others. When you turn the spotlight on somebody else talking about about their likes and expertise, the light always shines brighter on you when you walk away. Because everybody loves a good listener. The opposite is true when the conversation is only about you and your likes. You may be known as conceited or selfish."

So all that leads me to my point. I was talking to my brother a while back about parenting and kids. I think my brother is one of the best parents I have ever been around. I asked him how he got his kids to be so social with family members they only see a few times a year. He told me his secret to it all. My brother told me that it wasn't true about his kids seeing family members only a few times a year. I took it in and asked what he meant because I went to the same family functions he went to. He told me his kids see all of our family everyday. Again I took it in and questioned him how because they live in Eupora. There is no way they get around and see all the family every day. He told me his secret, and he said, "one of the favorite books the kids look at every night with me is the family photo album Mom made for us for Christmas a few years back." He told me, he teaches the kids all the family members faces and names. So they may only physically see the family a few times a year they are not strangers because they actually see them every day and hence they are not afraid of them.

So I started a few months ago with Ann Fleming teaching her, her family. All of that to get to this video. One of the things Ann Fleming and I look at every night is my family photo album, The Leflore Family Blog pictures, and The Buse Family Blog. She gets to see her best friend Trip on The Buse Blog. Watch how excited she gets to see TWIPPP!!:

Hello 40's: It's been a while!

2011-09-08T10:28:00.000-05:00

This celebration is brought to you by music from the 40's:

As you probably already know from reading the title, I finally made it to the 240's and I am inching my way ever so closer to my goal. Tropical Storm Lee put a few kinks in my walking pattern this past weekend, but I got caught up. I am still walking 6-8 miles per day and in the past couple of weeks I have also added sit-ups and push ups to my exercise pattern each day, just for some tone. The afternoons have been so nice the past few days to walk in. I think at 6:00 when I do most of my walking, it has been around 70. It almost has been to cool for the kids in the wagon by sunset.

Starting Weight:

299

Total weight at the end of Week 8

252

Total Weight at the end of Week 9

248

Total Weight Loss

51 LBS.

Sleep It's What's For Dinner!

2011-09-01T12:26:00.000-05:00

One thing our kids, Royann, and I share is if we get still we will go to sleep. I stay up late every night with the computer programming company I own in India with getting them on track with their task each day so I have gotten use to not much sleep. They are 11.5 hours ahead of our time. If I get five to six hours I am happy, but if I get still in the day I will fall out. Royann works very hard in the day and then comes home and spends time with the kids so her nights are cut short on sleeping time because she understands spending time with the kids is very important. We usually get up around 5:30 to get to the office. Royann needs a lot more sleep than I do so on her days off she enjoys her late mornings and I let her enjoy them. Royann usually reads to the kids each night and they all usually fall asleep after reading so I am left with the task of putting the kids in their own bed. Here are some shots after their reading session the other night:

If things are slow around the office in the day, I will catch a little nap with the kids and Royann loves taking pictures and videos of me snoring because I always brag about how I don't need much sleep.

We are all out!

Who's Yo Daddy?

2011-09-01T12:10:00.000-05:00

Afternoon walks usually consists of myself, the kids in the wagon, and the labs to get them some exercise. Since most days they just sit in kennels all day. Lately I have had complaints from my neighbors about Spoonbill chasing their pets. I haven't paid much attention to the complaints until Spoonbill walked up to me the other day with a dead cat in her mouth. I knew I had to give her some life lessons real quick or my neighbor would with a shotgun. I brought out the shock collar the other day and thought I would establish some boundaries for Spoonbill as far as their yard goes. Now Spoonbill knows exactly what the shock collar is. She fears and starts vibrating when she sees it. She is the best heeling lab you would ever want when she has the collar on. I put it on her the other day for our walk. I had no problems when we passed my neighbors house and their yard had numerous pets in it. So I just put the remote to the collar in the carrier with Taylor because after passing their house I knew there would be no more problems with Spoonbill. Taylor was already asleep and I knew she wouldn't hit any buttons. I usually wear head phones with music playing while I walk and I turn the music up just enough that I can hear the kids and hear the music also. We made it down to the Downing's turn rows about a mile away with Spoonbill either walking on my heel or right beside the wagon with the kids. We made it just a little ways down the turn row and I hear this high pitch squeal and Spoonbill burst out like she has a rocket attached to her butt. I though maybe she was chasing a skunk or any other small animal we have seen on our walking trips. I called her back and she got back on heel. About ten minutes later she did the same thing but screaming louder this time. I turned around to see if there was a problem with the remote malfunctioning, but it was missing. I heard Spoonbill around the corner scream again. I had to find the remote and turn it off or find Spoonbill and get the collar off of her, but we had gone about a mile and a half and it is no telling where the remote fell out. I look through the wagon to see if it was in there and I didn't find it. I finally get Spoonbill almost close enough to get collar off of her and she takes off again squealing. I looked around and figured out why she is squealing. Ann Fleming had grabbed the remote while I wasn't looking and had it hid and was pushing the button to shock her on the highest amount of electricity it would give. It was funny at the time, but not for poor Spoonbill. The remote will stay in my hands from now on.

Week 8: Keep on Moving

2011-09-01T10:29:00.000-05:00

KEEP ON MOVING

Week 8was just another week of moving on toward my goal. One thing I have learned with trying so many exercise programs over the years is it is easy to quit when you get in the lull. I would call the lull when you reach the point it becomes boring and repetitive. I had a coach tell me one time that "All it takes is for you to quit once to quit all the time". I thought numerous times this week, it will be ok to miss today. Then I thought back to what my old coach said about quitting and this Bob Marley song. One milestone I did reach this week is I actually put on and buttoned some pants that I wore in college. Now it was total embarassment what was petruding over the top of those jeans, but I would say within 3-4 weeks I will be wearing them for good.

Starting Weight:

299

Total Weight End of Week 7:

254

Total Weight End of Week 8

252

Total Weight Loss

Week 7: Grinding Hard!

2011-08-25T10:54:00.000-05:00

I wanted to see this week if I increased my exercise that it would mean that much more weight being lost. I know I said in my post last week that I was at my peak in my walking and I would keep the total amount per day at 6 miles, but I guess I changed my mind. I moved my total walking distance up this week to 9-10 miles per day. So how do I have the time to walk that much you ask? I walk at a walking track before we open the office in Greenville about 6.5 miles or on the treadmill before we leave for work. Then when we get home, I walk my usual 3- 3.5 miles on the gravel road and the Downing's turn rows. So did it matter that much increasing that much distance?

Starting Weight

299

Total Weight at The End of Week 6

259

Total Weight at The End of Week 7

254

Total Weight Loss

45 lbs.

I don't see where the extra three miles added each day helped out that much and my hips and back were starting to hurt. So I think I will keep my walking totals each day between the 6-7 miles per day and maintain my weekly weight loss at 4-5 lbs. I am now looking at reaching my goal of 210-215 in about 2- 2.5 months so "I amz goinna keepz grinding hard".

The Furniture Affair!

2011-08-24T23:25:00.000-05:00

Remember the blog post: http://www.theleflorefamily.blogspot.com/2011/08/love-at-first-sight.html and how I thought "Old Blue" was out of the game or fixed per say and we didn't have the floor space for any more chairs in our sitting area in the bedroom. Little did I know about the gestation period of chairs and how fast they could reproduce. I woke up Monday morning to find a baby chair in the siting area and it truly looks like a mix of "Old Blue" and "Greenie".

The results of Greenie and Old Blue

Actually it is Ann Fleming's new chair that Royann and Ashley got for her at The Furniture Market in Tupelo, MS.

She was so excited

15 Months Old and Potty Training

2011-08-24T23:23:00.000-05:00

Can you believe at 15 months old Ann Fleming started using the potty? I know I couldn't. Pi, Ann Fleming's grandmother, started training her just after she was one with putting her on the potty. We continued puttin her on the potty with no pee pee for a couple of months. She hated just sitting on the potty. Then Royann decided to put some M&M's in the bathroom for rewarding her if she sat on the potty after getting up in the morning, because she always stayed dry through the night. So getting her up and taking her straight to the toilet was frustrating sometimes, because we both like to lay around for a couple of minutes after waking up. Then a few weeks back on August 3, Royann and I were brushing our teeth after putting her on the potty. Then we heard this strange music coming from the potty. It was music to our ears. It caused a party in our bathroom. First with the music from the potty that plays when the detectors detect pee pee. High fives were going all around. I think we gave Ann Fleming like ten M&M's we were so happy. Fast forward to today and she is going to the potty three-four times a day. This week alone we have only been using for Ann Fleming about three diapers a day. I see pull-ups in the near future.

Ole Miss Scrimmage and Oxford

2011-08-24T23:09:00.000-05:00

Ann Fleming and I met up with Royann and Taylor at the condo in Oxford to go to Ole Miss's scrimmage this past Saturday. Taylor and Royann were already there because they with Pi, Kelsey, and Ashley were setting up a booth at Sugar Magnolia, a marketplace in Oxford and they also were attending the furniture market in Tupelo. We had a great time at the condo and at the scrimmage. Royann stayed around in Oxford and the girls and I came home after the scrimmage to go to church. Here are some pics from the day:

Foley and Taylor: Foley just found out Taylor was a Ole Miss fan

Taylor just found out Foley is a cow college fan

Happy to be at the scrimmage!

Ann Fleming cheering on the players!

Royann, Taylor, and Ann Fleming with John Vaught

Me and the kids!

Misc Kid Pics

2011-08-24T22:55:00.000-05:00

I took some pics of the kids the other day while they were in matching outfits. I am no means a great picture taker or a expert at setting up scenery. I just wanted a few pics of them and their cute outfits.

I guess we know what Taylor will look like when she is a Grandma! The towel is awful, but I didn't want them to get nasty.

Sweet Sisters!

Ann Fleming's best friend, Bud the Cat.

Papaw's Straw Hat

2011-08-24T22:49:00.000-05:00

Ann Fleming loves her Papaw's yard hat. She keeps it on most of the time she is at my parent's house.

Women's Football Camp

2011-08-18T13:28:00.000-05:00

Every July, Chyna Ward-Polley (shes the football coaches personal assistant) at Ole Miss hosts an event called the Ladies Forum-High Heels and Hotty Toddys. This is my 3rd year to attend. It is a blast. I look forward to going each year. Over 450 Ole Miss faithful ladies attended this year. You start the early morning with a picture with Coach Nutt and then he leads you out on the field-yes, women are cheering Hotty Toddy through the tunnel and they have the smoke blowing and everything as you run onto the field. The Chucky Mullin's Memorial statue is even out to rub on Chucky's head as you enter the field. The rest of the day is spent in different stations learing about football and everything that goes on behind the scenes. You learn plays from the coaches, position play, techniques, tour the locker rooms, training facilities and you even have time to shop with the vendors that bring their Ole Miss stuff to the Indoor Practice Facility. TV timeouts are informative topics that range from organic products to hormone replacements therapies to botox and everything in between. Each year is also highlighted by guest speakers. This years speakers were Leigh Ann Touhy and Micheal Oher. They were great. Here are some pictures from the day.

Getting ready to go thru the tunnel and run out on the field

Coach Gunner Brewer (former Ole Miss Coach Billy Brewer's son) demonistrating "soft" hands that is a good quality for our offensive players to have. The lady in the center in the yellow poncho -Dr. Dinah Jordan-is one of my former professors at MSU-CVM that is a huge Ole Miss fan. They were tossing water balloons.

Action shot-see the water balloon grenade in the air.

Micheal Oher-the former Ole Miss Left Tackle#74 and current Baltimore Raven #74 Left Tackle. Taken int he first round of the draft and subject of The Blind Side with Chyna

Mrs. Underwood and her daughter. This was her 1st time to the forum and to say she loved it is an understatement. She is one of my clients.

We are so excited to have #34 Brandon Bolden back on the field this year!

Coach Decker in the weight room with to the back left-current left tackle-Bradley Sowell, center newest rebel Matt Hall and Brandon Bolden.

Shots from the locker room. It is really neat and so motivational. Whoever designed all of the sayings and lay-out does and awesome job.

Kentrell Lockett's locker

Accountability-something needed for any team. Dr. Jordan is also on the right

We want to be in Atlanta at the SEC Championship Game

Week 6: A Fifties Party With no Poodle Skirts

2011-08-18T12:53:00.000-05:00

Week six is here and almost finished. I have been pushing hard this week with my exercising or "grinding hard" as some college athletes say. Royann actually took up some time this week and exercised with me. I increased my volume of exercise to the peak of where I am going to hold it for a while. When I first started this whole diet thing, I was only walking about 3.5 to 4 miles per day. That was mainly because my legs couldn't handle all the walking or it was the weight that pressing down on my legs and hurting my joints. I am now walking between 5 miles minimum to 6.5 miles maximum per day. It all depends on weather, business at the clinic, or what the family has to do. I try my best on any day to get at least 1 hour of training per day. The treadmill seems to work harder on my joints than walking outside. I have actually found a nice walking trail in Greenville that I have been using lately. I usually drop Royann and Taylor off at the clinic and Ann Fleming and I head for the half mile trail before things get busy around the clinic. I push Ann Fleming in the stroller while I walk. She loves it because there are some stray cats and wild squirrels that hang out beside the track and she gets to talk to them while we walk. If it isn't possible to use the trails in Greenville, I use the roads in front of the house and the turnrow's of our great farming neighbors, the Downing's. MDOT and the county road crews could take lessons from the Downing's on how to keep a road in great shape. So here are the stats for this week:

Starting Weight:

299

End Of Week 5:

263

End of Week 6

259

Total For The Week:

-4 lbs.

Total For 6 Weeks on Diet:

40 lbs.

This isn't Chucky Cheese!

2011-08-18T12:26:00.000-05:00

I recently took Ann Fleming and Taylor to the tire shop with me to get some tires put on my truck. Taylor slept the whole time we were there, but Ann Fleming had to get out and explore. They don't have a waiting room at the tire shop I went to, so it was either stay in a jacked up truck or explore the tire shop. I overheard one of the workers saying, "This ain't no Chucky Cheese!", while we were walking around. Ann Fleming didn't cause any trouble walking around, she just wanted to see what all of the guys were doing with the tools that were making so much noise. We took a few pictures while we were inside.

Wanting so bad to get out of the truck.

So we got out and looked around

The only playground area they had or should I say playpen.

Nana's House

2011-08-18T00:10:00.000-05:00

I know you guys get sick of reading blog post about our family making our monthly trip to Nana's, but if you are gonna keep up with our family, then I guess you can read further or skip this post. Each trip is unique in its own way and it seems like something special happens each time.

We loaded up and headed to Nana's after lunch on Saturday. Royann had to get some rest after our early morning walk. She thought she could hang with me, but she found out she is out of shape just slightly. We just went for a leisurely stroll around the fields of our neighbors, the Downing's. I said it was a leisurely walk, because it was a off day for my exercising. We didn't walk but 4.5 miles. I think by about the third mile, Royann was about 100 yards behind me and the kids that I was pulling in the wagon, but she made it and I was proud.

We made it to Nana's around two in the afternoon. Our main purpose was to visit with Nana and help her move her furniture back around because she has been having renovations done to her house. Her house looks amazing. I know she is real proud of it also. She fixed a nice lunch for everyone. Patti Long, Kay and Jimmy Slater, Nana, Royann, Myself, and the kids were all there to get all of her things rearranged. We got everything situated back around in the house and Ann Fleming, Royann, and I made our way to the yard to play and take some pictures. You all know what I think about Nana's yard from previous post. Nana's yard and surroundings will always throw you a surprise every time we go to Nana's. I would say the unique thing about this trip was Ann Fleming got to see her first horse up close and personal. Whether its a deer, turkey, or in this case a horse that is staying in the pasture behind the house it is always something fun in Nana's back yard.

What trip to Nana's wouldn't be special without playing Mexican Train Dominoes or Ann Fleming finding and trying to eat all of Nana's blueberries. We accomplished both of these along with lots of family time with Nana and Kay. So overall the trip was great and really enjoyed by us. Here are a few pictures below of the day:

Pose with horse in the background

Calling him over

Closer

I think we were both excited he came over. Ann Fleming loved petting the horse.

He was more scared of Ann Fleming than she was of him.

Ann Fleming posing

Swing on the back porch

Ann Fleming's first boo boo. She stuck her hand in my treadmill while it was running.

Blueberry Action

Feeding Aunt Khaki

Climbing a ladder

To the top

Dominoe action

Big Shoes to Fill

2011-08-17T23:38:00.000-05:00

What is it with kids and big shoes? They have to put them on and try to walk around. I have seen a couple of pictures of Tripp on my sister's blog putting on Dennis's boots and shoes. Ann Fleming has started doing it if a pair of shoes are laying around. Here is Ann Fleming trying on her dad's shoes:

Taylor at Nine Weeks

2011-08-17T17:44:00.000-05:00

Taylor is growing up so fast. She is such a beautiful little girl or at least I think so. I think she has some of the prettiest eyes I have ever seen. Here are some pictures Royann and I took the other night. I loved the way they turned out even though Taylor or the camera wasn't very cooperative.

What A Smile!

Beautiful!

It amazes me how she sits up and holds her head up this early

Big Eyes!

I Love These Two Pictures

2011-08-17T17:37:00.000-05:00

I walked in the other night while Royann was folding clothes and she had her back turned to the girls. I took a quick couple of shots of the girls while they were interacting together and they didn't know I was there till the second picture.

Ann Fleming is telling her to put her pacifier in and hush!

Huh! No we aren't fighting!

A Monthly Trip

2011-08-17T17:29:00.000-05:00

Some may call me old school, but I love my trip to the barber shop once a month. A lot of people think of Andy Griffith and Floyd The Barber when they think of a barber shop. There is probably more gossip done in a barber shop than any beauty shop, prayer meeting, or any place a group of women are gathered combined. I grew up getting my hair cut in Lexington, Ms at Zeigler's Barber Shop, so I am used to a man cutting my hair. Billy, my childhood barber, would get excited when someone had juicy gossip and start hooping and laughing like a monkey. I felt like a man's man those days going with my dad to get my hair cut even though I was a mere boy.
Most men these days opt to go to a beauty shop to let a woman cut their hair, but not me. One of the saddest things to me is seeing the old rolling barber pole that represents, a hair master inside, disappearing on main streets throughout the US.
My barber now now is Andy Inman of Inverness, Ms. He has become a friend of mine over the past twelve years. He is a good barber and just a good person to talk to about history of the Ms. Delta. Mr. Andy recently lost his wife to cancer and it has been even more important to me to go over and visit with him and get a cut. I never heard him, in twelve years even before she got sick, utter a negative word about his wife and it wasn't because he never talked about her. It is one his favorite subjects to talk about. One of the other reasons I like to go is he loves Ann Fleming and Taylor. I took Taylor recently to the shop with me and got a few shots of her and Mr. Andy.

The front of the shop

Mr. Andy and Taylor

One of The Best Birthday Parties I Have Ever Been To!

2011-08-16T18:02:00.000-05:00

We had the pleasure of attending Russell Pullen's birthday party a couple of weeks ago. It was at the Children's Museum in Jackson, Ms. I remember growing up going to parties at McDonald's, skating rinks, and people's homes and they were good, but none I have ever attended before could match this party and its location. I think this was the coolest idea in where to have a child's birthday party, but I love museums. There was so many things for all the children to do. It wasn't just fun for the kids, it was learning in all the things they could play with in the museum. There was a play pond that let the kids fish for play fish, items that they played with to teach them about different industries in Ms., cartoon library that made reading fun, a part about exercise and how important it is, teaching about different historical figures from Ms. that implemented playing into them, a medical part that allowed kids to learn parts of the body and make it fun, etc. I could go on and on about all the things they had at the museum for the kids but, it was fun for the adults. Let me tell you one thing though, if you do take your child to a party at the museum, you definitely need your running shoes on to keep up with them. Ann Flemings favorite parts of the museum was anything that had a slide and the cartoon library. I will definitely take the kiddo's back when Taylor gets a little older. Great job Ashley and Russ in planning this party!

Ann Fleming playing with a water display

Can you say, excited?

Betty, Russ's daughter

Going up and down the slide

Kimberly and Meri Wilson

A upper view of the water part

The cartoon library

Betty Pullen and Meri Wilson Gnemi

Another slide

Ready to go again!

Dance machine for exercise

Bryan Killebrew dancing away!

Ann Fleming and a logging operation

Quick family picture

Dr. Smith at Children's Medical Group in Madison, Ms

2011-08-16T13:27:00.000-05:00

We can't say enough good things about Dr. Smith and the Children's Medical Group. I don't think we could have found a better Doctor for our children. If you are pregnant or have children and are not far from Madison, Ms let me tell you reason why to choose Children's Medical Group and Dr. Smith.

First, when they say your appointment is 9:00, it actually means your appointment is 9:00. You walk into the door, check-in, and walk back to the examining room. I have heard so many friends complain about the wait when they take their kids to the doctor. I think it is unprofessional to have people to wait when they have an appointment for a certain time. Most parents take off to take their kids to the doctor and have to be back at work at a certain time. They don't have time to check in at 8:45 and and still be waiting to see the doctor at 11:00.

Second, They do have the waiting room broken down into a sick waiting room and a well waiting room. I think this is very important for children. Children are more likely to catch a illness than an adult from another sick person. If you do sit down to wait at the doctor in Madison, your worries are quickly ceased when you can wait in a well waiting room to see the doctor away from any sick patients waiting at the same time.

Third, The nurses they have working for them love your kids as much as you do. They are gentle with every test and have soothing voices that calm children from the anxiety of being at the doctors office.

Fourth and finally, The doctors are awesome. Dr. Smith who we have dealt with so far is the best doctor you could ever want for your child. He is patient with the children and with the parents. He answers any question you may have to the best of his knowledge without getting frustrated like I have seen with some doctors in the past. His gentleness in his examination of a child is far better than what I was expecting from a children's doctor. He tells you exactly what he thinks about the way you are doing things while he is asking questions in a motivating and gentle tone that gets the point across. Also we have had problems arise when we were not scheduled to see the doctor and he has seen us that day and we walked right in and saw him. Also he has called prescriptions in for us when problems have arose without even seeing us by us describing what was going on with the child. I think the best way to describe Dr. Smith is he is not only our doctor, but he is also a family friend. A big thanks to Crystal Downing for recommending him to us.

I think all of the points I described are very valid points when making a decision of who your child should see the next eighteen years of their life. Don't choose doctors for your children based on proximity of where you live, if they are in a social club with you, or you went to school with them, or etc. Choose a doctor based on good referrals of other people's experiences with that doctor. We did and it was the best decision we ever made.

Week 5: Reality Bites

2011-08-12T12:41:00.000-05:00

Yes! That is what I said. It bites. I went into week five thinking that my body was gonna make the upswing that it did in losing weight in weeks 1-3. It didn't and the wall I hit a couple of weeks ago looks like it is here to stay. My body has definitely slowed down in losing water weight and is working on now losing fat. I met with my dietitian yesterday and that is why I am late posting about my progress. She said that I did hit my wall. That wall is when you stop losing water weight and you start burning fat. She said that most people on the program she has designed don't hit that wall until about the second month, but most people on her program don't exercise like I have been doing the past month either. I am still averaging five to six miles a day of walking. I was trying so hard to break the dietitian's record of first month weight loss and I think I could have if was a little more water and little less fat. The record for the dietitian was 43lbs. I went in and weighed yesterday and fell just shy of the mark. I have just a little competitive streak in me. So now I will march on to second month record and try and beat that. It probably won't happen seeing how now I am working on fat and others in the program were and are still working on water weight in the second month. Its like in some of the recent interviews I have seen of some Ole Miss and MSU football players have said, "I'm gonna keeps grinding". I don't know why they just can't say they are gonna work hard today and the next.

Original weight:

299

End of Week 5 Weight

263

Weight Loss for Week 5

4 lbs.

Total Weight Loss

36 lbs.

Sassy!

2011-08-12T12:19:00.000-05:00

Those of the words of Phil Hartman in a skit he did so many years ago on Saturday Night Live. Saturday Night Live hasn't been funny since those days of Adam Sandler, Phil Hartman, Chris Rock, Shris Farley, etc. The skit of "Sassy" has always stuck in my mind like so many of the others. Whenever I see Ann Fleming doing something special or doing something to stand out, I will tell Royann, "She is so Sassy!". Royann is like, "Huh?" She doesn't get a lot of the jokes I tell, but it is still funny to me.

Lately Ann Fleming has been toting around this purse on her shoulder, or her elbow, around her neck, or just dragging it around. I told Royann the other day, "Doesn't she look sassy carrying that purse?" Royann was like, "Huh?". What do you think readers? Is she Sassy?

What do you think Phil? Is she Sassy? He said most definately

Two month Doctor's Visit

2011-08-12T11:57:00.000-05:00

Taylor had her two month doctor's visit yesterday. Everything is going great with Taylor as it did with Ann Fleming. She is growing fast as can be expected of a child with both parents being over six foot.

Her stats were:
Height- 24 inches 93%
Weight- 14 lb 8 oz 100%
Head Circumference- 40 cm 100% I wonder where she got that big head from? Her daddy!

Getting height measurements

Weight Measurements

Head Measurements

Dr. Smith taking a look.

Dr. Smith and Taylor posing for a picture

Dr. Smith with Ann Fleming and Taylor

Momma and Ann Fleming looking beautiful!

Other fun info.:

She is smiling and laughing.
She loves her swing.
She has been sleeping all night for a few weeks.
She absolutely loves he Momma.
She loves watching and smiling at Ann Fleming.
She coos a lot.
She follows you with her eyes.
She loves her hands.
She loves to be held if she isn't in her swing. A lot more than Ann Fleming.
She sleeps in the bassinet that Crystal Downing let us borrow.
She will stand up if I hold her arms.
She has always had good control of her head.

Love at First Sight!

2011-08-12T10:47:00.000-05:00

Blue has been a member of my household even before Royann came along. He has been much of a loaner his whole life. His only mission in life has been to serve the comfort of me and those that sat in him. Old Blue almost died a few years back of loneliness when we moved to Muscle Shoals, Al and left him at the lodge in Morgan City to fend for himself. Blue's only care in the world was to make people happy. I mean people had fought with me for years just to sit in Blue and he liked the attention the hunters and myself around the lodge showed him. Blue isn't the most beautiful thing in the world according to my wife. I agree sometimes because he does have stains on the outside that make him ugly and he does have some internal problems. The internal problems started back about six or seven years ago when an overweight hunter decided to make Blue his bed for a few days because his hunting partner had a snoring problem. The pudgy fellow gave Blue a back problem or should I say Blue lost some screws from a brace that holds the seat up and the wood that the brace is attached to broke. I, the doctor, patched up Blue as best I could. I fixed the wood and replaced the screws, but Blue stills has a little bit of a lean to him telling sitters he has seen better days. Blue also lost his only arm a few years ago. The arm that raises the foot recliner broke off at the shoulder making it difficult for non-regular users of Blue to use the recline position, but for me Blue kept chugging along. So as you can see Blue isn't the most ideal chair for furniture decorators. When we built the new lodge, Blue got moved to the sitting area in our bedroom. So he went from being the showpiece in the old lodge to a forgotten piece in our bedroom, except by me. Blue really thought is was the end of the road for him, but little did he know he would catch his second wind.

Royann has been ranting and raving about getting a chair in our sitting area for her to sit in. I had told her numerous times that it wasn't enough room for two chairs. I mean this was mine and Old Blue's space. This is where Blue and I for last couple of years have shared our alone time with a T.V. and computer. It was our solitude. It really was enough room, but Blue and I didn't want anybody else moving in. Royann bought a "Best" brand, Nursery Rhyme edition chair, for the nursery before we had Ann Fleming. Greenie, what we call Royann's chair, is everything Blue isn't. She doesn't have a blemish, no stains, no tears, a beautiful foot prop that wasn't attached, and physically is in the prime of her life. If you were to say anything about Greenie, it is she is a little wide, but Royann just calls her big-boned. Now Blue and Greenie hadn't ever met before. They lived just 30 feet from each other and never had bumped into each other. Blue had seen her once in passing by the nursery and it was like Blue saw her and stopped the moving motion of me pushing him down the hall, but that could have been the crack in the concrete that stopped Blue. It was like Blue liked what he saw. Either way Royann over the hot summer wanted to move her chair into our room to feed the baby in as I was sitting in Blue most of the time, but I kept insisting that it wasn't enough room. Blue has never been much of a chair to feed babies in. He doesn't like babies because they climb on him, spit up on him, and just wear on his aging body. Well while I was out of town one day, Royann moved Greenie in beside Blue in the sitting area. My first thoughts was, this isn't gonna work. Then I sat in Blue and it was like he was young again. The sagging and leaning feeling I usually get when I sit in him was gone. It was like his spine was new. In the past few years I usually have to put my feet on the ground, kick the recliner out, and then position the angle of the chair. The recliner part worked now all in one motion without a hitch. Greenie had brought Blue back to life.

I am not a person of change. I don't like it. I like my routine world I work in each day, but when change brings out our or others best, I think it is a good thing. Who would have thought a new, young, good looking lady chair, would bring a ageing, broken down, blue chair back to the prime of his life. Blue was on the verge of going to the junkyard or being put to the fire, but now I think he may have a few years left in him. Thank goodness Blue was neutered a couple of years back. I don't have the floor space for any baby chairs in our house. Here is a shot of how we found Blue and Greenie yesterday when we got home from Jackson.

Can you feel the love. I sure can.

Two Month Comparisons

2011-08-12T09:20:00.000-05:00

I thought I would put up a couple of comparison shots of Ann Fleming and Taylor at two months. We have had numerous people come up to us and say how much they look alike. Rocky and I don't think so, but tell us what you think.

Taylor at 2 months

Ann Fleming at 2 months

2 month doctor visit for Taylor

Ann Fleming 2 month visit

"The Suicide Lemonade Stand"

2011-08-08T17:01:00.000-05:00

There is nothing better than a big, cold, glass of lemonade in the heat of the summer. I was riding down the road the other day and saw some kids had a lemonade stand. They were selling a cool beverage to thirsty customers in this immense heat so I stopped and bought a glass from them. It used to be something you saw everyday during the summer. I think most kids these days would rather stay inside than work for a dollar. Then close to the same day I had a couple of articles come across my e-mail where cops were shutting down kids lemonade stands because they didn't have the proper permit to be selling lemonade in that town or county. I couldn't believe that any officer or law official would want to kill the entrepreneurial spirit of any American as long as they weren't harassing or hurting anybody and they were on their own property. Isn't it better for them to be doing this earning spending money and not sitting in the A/C playing video games, but the Govt. may be missing out on some tax money. I guess the govt. is getting them ready for adulthood early teaching them about taxes, permits, and bureaucracy or wanting to teach them this business minded spirit is not where the country is headed. The last I checked the country was built on the backs of business owners and entrepreneurs. Or could it be the one lame neighbor made a call to the police or sheriff's department because the stand was harassing to them. We have become a country that gives so much to the minority voice and I am not talking color here. What happened to the majority voice?

If they found that harassing, they would have insisted the lemonade stand I ran when I was younger be shut down and me and my cousins and our Mom's be put in jail. Russ, Kimberly (my cousins and next door neighbors growing up) and I would always have a lemonade stand in the heat of the summer in July and August after farm work had shut down for the summer. It was similar to the picture above, but we charged .50 for a glass of our special brew. The biggest difference in our stand and a normal lemonade stand was the name. We called ours "The Suicide Lemonade Stand". Why, you ask? We realized that getting people to stop and shop with us was a difficult task as we lived on a country road that "people flew", as my Mom would say. They drove speeds up to 60-70 miles an hour which was way to fast on a road where lots of kids were playing. So after a few days of watching people speed by and only having a few of the slow driving senior citizens in the community stop by, we made a decision to move our marketing in another direction to get people to stop.

So the next day after a night's planning, we put our marketing plan into action. We got everything set up for business the next morning. Let me explain what we did. Have you ever seen kids hosting a car wash, holding up poster boards on the side of the road to get you to come in? They may be holding the posters in their hands or the poster may be attached to what looks like to me a tomato stake. We had a similar idea and we made a poster and attached ours to a tomato stake out of the garden which was the first wrong in our plan. Country Rule #1-You don't meddle with a country person's garden or neighbors garden even if they are kin to you. Mistake #1.

Mistake #2 was how we attracted the new customers. Remember I told you about the nice church groups standing on the side of the road holding their posters up to attract customers. Well we took ours to a whole new level. We knew that just holding up a poster on the side of the road wouldn't do it because it was similar to what we were already doing. So how would we make the speeding speedsters stop? My plan was to lay in the road flat and hold up the sign we had made with the tomato stake and poster board in the air. I came to the agreement on the plan with my two partners, but my percentage of profits would go from 33% to 50% since I was endangering my life and taking a huge risk to make us money. My partners quickly agreed, I don't know if it was because they were scared to sacrifice their bodies for a buck or they knew the profits would go up that much by having me do it. So here we go, with our first car. It was none other than the speedster herself and we will call her Gina. Gina had a problem with speeding down our road for years. If she did see our stand before, it was was nothing but mere blur out her window. They told me who it was coming, and let me say I almost urinated on myself. Wouldn't you know the first one would have to be her. I don't know how she got her car to stop that fast, but she had to break every braking record for cars in the books. She jumped out of her car and Gina wasn't much of church person, so the only words she used were words you would hear on late night HBO back in the day. We calmed her down some and Russ the salesman moved into action. One sell, Ka-ching! The rest of the first day went on with many sales, many lectures, and many close calls with my body coming close to a lot of grills of automobiles. We finished the day with thirty dollars in profits compared to just six the day before. So the plan was a good one for money, but not so good for my body. Our parents were very impressed with how well we were doing by increasing our profits by 500%. They wanted to know our secret to our lemonade upswing . The only problem with that was, we weren't telling. The next day we got set up in the same place and set the marketing plan in motion again. The sound of a oncoming car was sounding off in the distance around the curve, so I assumed the position in the road. Only it wasn't a car. It was my Uncle Choyce in his propane truck. Choyce was a quiet man, a deacon at the Baptist church, and overall a great guy. If Uncle Choyce had a flaw, it was his vision. His vision wasn't anywhere near average. So I knew when my partners said it was him coming down the road, I was taking a huge risk not only because of his vision but also because of the big propane truck he was driving. If he didn't see me, Splat! I felt the big truck rumbling down the road and shaking the pavement. Then when he got within 200 feet I heard his six wheels lock up and throw black smoke in the air while the big truck came to a screeching halt. Shew! I thought. He was seeing pretty well that day, thank goodness. He jumped down out of the truck with both feet hitting like a thud that I could feel as I lay there. He walked straight over to me grabbed me by the ear and yanked me off the pavement. Now I can't be certain, because I had only one functional ear at the time because his hand had my other scrunched together in his hand while he was dragging me, but I swear I heard a lot of the same words that Gina was using the day before. The words he was using is nothing new for an everyday Episcopalian, but for a Baptist deacon, to me, I couldn't believe he was saying these words. He drug me by my ear eight hundred feet to my house cursing or calling me a idiot the entire way and told my mom what I was doing. I got a spanking that day and I deserved it. Even now when I walk down the road and a car is coming I will move in the ditch to get out of the way. My ear still has trouble to this day from being tugged on so hard. Uncle Choyce then made his way to Russ and Kimberly's house and let Aunt Jan know what we had been doing. They didn't get into any trouble for the suicide marketing, but they did when Aunt Jan saw the sign we made with her tomato stake and her then broken tomato plant that was once held up by our sign holder.

"The Suicide Lemonade Stand" now only lives in my memory and I get a good laugh about it every time I see a stand on the side of the road. The marketing that was done that day is what marketers now would call extreme marketing, but I just call it being a business man making a sale in a extreme market.

July 4

2011-08-08T15:28:00.000-05:00

What a July 4 we had as a family this year! It was so much fun all the way around. We started off our holiday going to the July 4th celebration in Greenwood, Ms on June 30. It was unreal at all the activities they had for all the families that showed up. I hear a lot of people putting down Delta towns and how they are not a place to raise a family anymore. I would have to disagree with them. I love living here and I am proud to say I am from the Delta, but back to the Greenwood celebration that is a whole different subject. We didn't get to the event until late and it was packed. Organizers held the event in between the bridges on the Yazoo River. It was great to see the town of Greenwood come together as a town, black and white, rich and poor. The best thing to me and Ann Fleming about the event was the firework display. I don't think I have ever seen a better display of lights and booms and I have seen quite a few in my lifetime. Here are a few pictures of the fireworks:

I couldn't get Ann Fleming to look at the camera the fireworks were so good!

Ann Fleming pointing!

Look at that face! So happy!

Looking on where they were shooting them from!

WOW!

Finally a frontal shot!

Sad they had to end!

We finished our July 4th holiday off at my Aunt Mary's and Uncle Larry's house. They have such a beautiful place to host an event like this. We ate, swam, and visited with our family. Ann Fleming even met one of her future classmates and they were wearing the same attire. Her name is Julia and is the daughter of my cousin Heath and Mary Taylor Killebrew. She will be in the same class at Pillow with Ann Fleming. I know from previous post, you know how much Ann Fleming loves the water, so I won't go into that again. I think the only sad part about the day was not having Mamaw there to celebrate with us. She loved July 4th because not only do immediate kin of ours show up, but also distant cousins come for the 4th of July. Thanks again to Aunt Mary and Uncle Larry for hosting such a wonderful event.

Ann Fleming and Julia Wade Killebrew

Playing in the kiddie pool!

In the big pool!

Peaking over the side!

Ann Carol holding on to my back!

Julia Wade trying on her Dad's shoes!

Aunt Mary and Taylor!

Ann Fleming and her festive outfit!

Showing it off!

This is how I will remember the 4th. Ann Fleming and I loving the pool.

Dr. Cook

2011-08-06T13:48:00.000-05:00

Royann and I can't say enough good things about Dr. Cook. He has delivered both of our children and has become a family friend in the process. Dr. Cook and I both share a lot of the same interest so it is not just in and out when Royann goes to the doctor. It is usually more talking about those shared interest than about the delivery of our child. Since we were on our second child and everything was very normal each time, the topic would usually turn to Ole Miss, travel, or World War II history. I will say this though, with Ann Fleming it wasn't at all this way. I had a lot of jitters about the health and the delivery of her being the first child, but he calmed those quickly in by sitting me down and having a long talk with me. The biggest plus I could add about Dr. Cook is his strong, Christian faith. The day Ann Fleming was born I was a nervous dad just like most with their first child, and in comes Dr. Cook late in the day and he checks Royann and gives us his analysis of the birthing process and just takes a seat in a rocking chair in the corner. I mean Royann had been in delivery now for over eight hours and this man is just as calm as he could be. I was just the opposite. He sits down and starts reading a book. I am sitting there thinking how in the world can he sit and read at a time like this. I was like in my mind, come on doc, and lets get this baby out. I walked over and started to talk to him. The thing I noticed was what he was reading. It was a book that I saw my preacher reading the week before. He calmed me down explaining exactly what was going on. Well come to find out later on, Dr. Cook actually once almost went into the ministry because his faith in God is so strong, but God wasn't calling him there. God was calling him to bring life into this world.

Since becoming pregnant with Taylor, we also share something very similar with Dr. Cook. Dr. Cook's two children, which are older now, are exactly the same age difference as Ann Fleming and Taylor. So advice about siblings being that close in age was a topic of conversation the last few visits before Taylor was born. His wisdom about two babies that close in age was exactly right so far.

As I was leaving Dr. Cook at Royann's six week check up, I kinda got sad because I knew it would probably be a while before I saw a friend that myself and my family had come to care about a great deal. I told him as I was leaving, " I like you a lot Dr. Cook. We share a lot of the same interest in life and I hope to see you at a few Ole Miss games, but I hope we don't see each other here in the office for a while". We both had a good laugh about it and went our separate ways.

Before we left the examining room, we got a picture of Dr. Cook and the children. He said, "This is exactly what they looked like when he brought them into the world", so I guess this is their Dr. Cook pose.

What Cha Looking At?

2011-08-06T12:32:00.000-05:00

Ashley and her kids came home last week to visit with friends and family and stay for the week. Ann Fleming and Tripp had a ball playing together and Foley and Taylor got to spend lots of time together. We didn't get many pictures of Tripp and Ann Fleming, but we did get a few shots of Taylor and Foley. They are very close in age, with Foley being a couple of weeks older than Taylor.

Week 4 of Drop It: Into the Sixties We Go! No Hippies Allowed

2011-08-04T12:09:00.000-05:00

It seems that in week four I have hit a wall. No matter what I eat or how much exercise I do at night, the weight seems to be shedding at a lot slower pace. I am still eating the same things in low-fat proteins, minimal carbs, and drinking at least 80 oz. of water. I think my body has slowed down on losing water weight and now is starting to burn off fat, which is a good thing. In the exercise dept. I am walking about 4.5-5.5/ miles a day on the treadmill. I am walking a little over five miles per hour with a steep incline. I will be glad when fall decides to get here where I can knock some of the walking and jogging outside. I can't get it done outside right now with temps way above 100.

The main reason I did all of this was I was on the verge of going on high blood pressure pills. It was a driving force to get healthy and live longer and live happier for my children. I have had in the past week lots of people come up to me and ask me if I had lost some weight. I was like "yeah" and "thanks for noticing". Below are some pictures of beginning week one and end of week four. I definitely can see the differences in my face.

Start week 1

Middle of Week 4

Start of week one weight- 299

End of week four weight- 267

Weight Loss for week four- 5 lbs.

Weight Loss overall- 32 lbs.

It is very nice to see the sixties again. I have not seen the sixties since 2006 when I opened the Sweet Peppers in Muscle Shoals, Al. I held my weight for a long time until a couple of years ago right at the 270-275 mark. It seemed it got easier to put on weight in the past couple of years than before.

I think the key to weight loss and the key to holding it off is minimizing bad breads (like white bread and regular wheat bread). Yes, there is a difference in wheat breads. There is whole wheat bread that is very good for you and regular wheat bread that is 75% white flour and 25% wheat flour that is very high in carbs.

I think the second thing is minimizing the soft drinks. One coke has enough carbs for 1.5 days in a regular, average, person.

I think the third is starches. Things like potatoes and rice are good for you but needed to be consumed in modest proportions. One of my favorites is Uncle Ben's Broccoli Rice Au' Gratin and it has 43 grams of carbs per serving. When I was going low fat and gaining weight, I thought something may be wrong with me, but lets just say I ate two servings of the rice at dinner and one mountain dew for breakfast. I have already had 128 grams of carbs with only one drink and a side dish at dinner.

I think another key is watching how much desserts we consume. Royann and I were laughing last night about how when we started dating, I weighed 225 in the fall of 03. In December 03 I weighed 255. How did I get to 255 so fast? Every weekend Royann would either bring me a Oreo Cake or have one for me when I was in Starkville. Desserts are pretty tough on the body when It comes to storing carbs as fat because they have so many carbs.

I think this last one is gonna surprise you. I know it did for me also. Only consuming moderate portions of fruits. Whenever I have gone on a diet in the past, I ate three oranges a day for snacks, an apple after dinner, and some grapes or strawberries for breakfast. This adds up to a lot of carbs.

I hope we see a little better number next week and I hope these tips from the dietician will help those that are struggling with their weight also. I think a neat article that came out this past week on Yahoo.com was called the caveman diet. It pretty much consists of the things I am talking about above.

Yard help

2011-08-03T14:37:00.000-05:00

If I am outside that is where Ann Fleming is gonna be. She loves being outside working with her daddy in the garden, playing with dogs, chasing the cat, playing in the rocks, or dragging duck decoys around. She always finds that one special rock that she has to give to me each time. She and the cat wrestle around in the grass and the dogs just knock her down when she plays with their tails. Her new thing the past few weeks is riding the lawn mower with me. She wants to ride it while I am cutting or just go riding down the road. She even goes and climbs on it while it is sitting under the shed. I met my neighbors, Crystal and Chase Downing, in the road a few weeks back and they couldn't figure out what I was doing riding AF on "Old Betty" down the road. The look on their face was priceless when they saw the mower. I hate to put this fine piece of machinery on the road though. I don't want to get scratches on it or wear on the tires from the gravel. Ha! Ha! I know she isn't cosmetically perfect. The old hood fell off a few years back and the gear shift is messed up, but the old craftsman is a big part of the family. I have had it now for 12 years and it still cuts as good as it did the first day I had it. It just isn't the best looking lawn mower in the world. According to my mower mechanic I take her to, the motor or "Old Betty's" heart, is starting to have some troubles. I will use Betty as long as she runs and retire her to the scrap yard when she dies.

Isn't she beautiful. Please don't call me and try to buy her. I am not taking offers on Old Betty. Ann Fleming is not ahsamed of her. She is wanting to ride

Climbing aboard

Cutting the yard with me.

This what she looks like when she has been outside for a while. I used to be the same way growing up

Those special rocks

Look at that dirty face, we had been in the garden for a little while before I took this picture. I love living in the country and being able for her to go outside and play like this.

Pulling her decoy around

She may help he daddy duck hunt one day

I don't know what kind of fun it is to pull around a decoy.

Showing it to "Bud"

Bud must have not cared for it much

AF and Her Favorite Food

2011-08-03T13:25:00.000-05:00

I think one of the things Royann and I have been waiting on the most is for the blueberries to get ready at Nana'a house. Since they are AF's favorite food, we couldn't wait to see her face when she could just pull them off the bush herself and eat all she wanted. I know it sounds kind of corny, but it would be like a bush that grew rib eye steaks at a perfect medium rare for me. That is how much she loves them. So after Royann felt a little better from having the baby, we drove to spend the night with Nana. Nana and I took her after dinner to the yard to where the bushes were. Here are some shots:

Already eating

Blueberry Heaven

Thank you Nana

She had her own bucket. Even though not a lot of blueberries stayed in there.

Nana feeding the little blueberry monster

The orange flags keep the birds away from the bushes.

Pulling her own.

All you can hear is UMMMM!

We finally got her to stop eating them when it got dark.

We brought some blueberries home from Nana's house and this is what she looks like while eating them. I think sometimes she is gonna be like the girl on "Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory", you know the one, the one that turned purple and expanded and had to be rolled to to the part of the factory to be pumped to get the juice out.

Look at that nasty face.

Filling up

AF and Swimming

2011-08-03T12:53:00.000-05:00

I know in the past I have talked about Ann Fleming and the ocean, but Ann Fleming loves the pools just as much. She loves baths, but hates for you to wash her hair, but get her head wet in a pool and it is ok. Actually I grew up with a pool, at my grandmother's house, next door to us. Having a pool was fun, but lots of work for my cousin Russ and I as we kept it up most of the time. The old pool at my grandmother's house is closed and has been closed now for a few years. So the only pool Ann Fleming gets to go to is at my parents little baby pool, my Aunt's house, or when visiting someone that has one. Recently while in Tupelo for Foley's dedication, Ann Fleming got to go to The Buse's house swimming. Here are a few summer swimming shots.

Ann Fleming and Papaw Leflore in the baby pool

Her loving it.

Do that in the bathtub and she will go crazy

Having fun

Thank goodness Ashley's sister-in-law, Allison was there to help out. Royann or I didn't bring our suits.

I love this picture. I think it is great to see both the excitement of AF and Nana.

Tripp and AF having a discussion.

Loving it

learning to kick her feet

It looks like her kicking water, but it is actually somebody in front of her.

You have to hold on to her or she will just jump in.

Tripp and AF taking a break

The First with Taylor!

2011-07-28T15:38:00.000-05:00

Taylor has had a few first. I was luck enough to catch a couple on camera. She had her first smile on June 30 and of course it was with my Dad. I don't know what it is about my Dad and Royann's Mom, but they get the best out of these children.

That first smile!

I was a little late on this one.

Her first time to swing!

Her first bath.

I love all of my girls with all of my heart. I couldn't ask for a better family. It is always fun around the Leflore house.

First Day Back to Work

2011-07-28T15:11:00.000-05:00

Well we didn't take off very long with Taylor as with Ann Fleming. We had Taylor on June 8 and went back to work on June 27. The nice thing about the vet business is the nice big office we have and being able to take the kids to work with us each day. We are able to work with them and teach them counting, abc's, bible verses, songs, love on them, and about praying. I know some of you may think they are to young for this, but they absorb everything just like a sponge. So my advice for other parents is start teaching them early, start teaching them often, and stick to it.
God has great things in store for our kids. That has been my prayer since even before they were born. I have prayed for their salvation each day and that they would do great things in their life. Now the great things I am talking about are not our standards of great here on earth. I pray they glorify God in all the things they do. Being together as a husband and wife every day all day makes it tough sometimes, but I don't think I could ask for a better life.

The fam at the clinic

Family Vacation!

2011-07-28T14:50:00.000-05:00

Everybody needs a little break every once in a while and just get away. In our case even if its not but for a day and a half. We decided about 8:30 on Tuesday night to make a trip down to Gulf Shores on Wednesday to stay for a couple of days. We had been contemplating it for a while since my second family, The Pullen's, were already down there for the week and Royann was off with having had Taylor the previous week. I had been wanting to play some golf while we were off from the Vet. Clinic and this was the perfect opportunity. We got everything together and called my Mom and asked if she wanted to go. She being not very excited about it agreed to go and help with the kids. We left about 8:00 in the morning that Wednesday and headed out with a quick stop in Madison for Taylor's two week appointment. Since we weren't staying but two nights and not going to be in the room anyway and most condo's require a minimum number of nights, I just got us a suite at the Holiday Inn in Gulf Shores.

We arrived in Gulf Shores around 4:00 and got unpacked and at around 7:00 we decided to take Ann Fleming to the beach for a little while. Taylor and my Mom decided to stay back at the hotel to rest and eat. We didn't know what we were in for. We knew Ann Fleming had always loved baths and swimming pools. She is even brave enough at a year old to jump off the sides of the pool. We get out of the truck and as I am holding her and walking to the boardwalk she spots the water. Now whenever Ann Fleming is excited she will let out a UUGGHH sucking in air and then a five pitch giggle out. She did it three times in a row. So I knew she was pretty excited. We get down to the edge of the water and I can't even get her shoes off without tripping her up while she was trying to get to the water. I get her shoes off and she bolts down the hill at the edge with me trailing behind her and just falls and splats her butt in the first wave that came in. She gets up and then goes a little deeper with water up to her knees and this wave has a little force on her baby body and knocks her down. She gets up runs up beach to her Mama and lets out a laugh and runs back down the beach edge and literally chest bumps the next wave that comes in. It was fun and funny watching her.

Ann Fleming after I got her shoes off. See the excitement.

It is so fun just watching these kids.

Her taking off to the Gulf

Me catching her

Ann Fleming splatting the first wave with her butt

Taking off a second time

Wave knocking her down

Third time after laughing at her Mama and going for the chest bump

No pictures were taken of her chest bumping the wave we were both trying to get to her. The camera luckily didn't get wet when Royann came in the water.

Ann Fleming thinking it was funny

Me holding on to her after the chest bump

So the Pullen's and I got up early the next morning and headed to the golf course, The Plantation, for a little golf action. We joined the Bridger's family that were down there also for a little golf tournament. Of course Uncle Ricky and I won the two man scramble with the best score. One of the best things to watch is my cousin Russ fall apart if he is losing a sport. He goes "ape mad". We got through with the tournament and collected our winnings, which was nothing more than just saying we won and to rub it in to the rest and we headed back to the Pullen's condo. We all got ready and headed to the beach. Ann Fleming acted just a little better with the water, but had to be put on a very short leash. Here are some pics:

Excited again!

Loving the wave action.

We went out deep in to the blue.

We went out to right were the waves were breaking!

Aunt Jan taking over for a little while

We both had to hold her back.

Worn out and asleep. She just fell asleep while we were out in the water.

Out like a light!

We enjoyed our trip and plan on going back down this fall while it is not so busy and hot.

Week Three of "Drop It"

2011-07-28T12:00:00.000-05:00

Alrighty then! It has officially been three complete weeks now since I have been on a diet. I changed up this week on how I got my proteins. In week two I got most of my proteins through red meat. This week I wanted to change it up some and see if chicken would make a difference in weight loss versus red meat. I think the only positive of eating the grilled chicken versus red meat was the ease on my digestive system. What I mean by that is not the bathroom part, but how my stomach feels after eating these types of meat. I have had problems in the past with acid reflux and it seems that happens less with chicken.

I stayed with the all water part of my diet. I can really feel a difference with drinking nothing but water every day. I have gotten used to having nothing but water. Its kind of like now my body expects to drink water at a meal. One thing I really have been practicing with the water this week is drinking 20 ounces 30 minutes before each meal. I get full faster with eating and I think it really aids in digestion. I have been having around 100 ounces a day of water. I also started taking Flinstone vitamins this week just to get other nourishment. This was doctor recommended.

I have not been hitting my target most days on carbs. I will fall just short by one or two servings with like eight or nine servings of carbs. Some days I have also been falling short on my proteins only hitting the twelve to fifteen servings mark. I think I am more worried about not getting my proteins than I am about the carbs. With the exercise program I have been doing I need all the proteins I can get. I have been walking or jogging about 4 miles a day. Yes I came up on the distance this week. I was only going two to three miles in past weeks, but I moved it up to around four miles this week. I have had to use the treadmill in my exercise room this week with all the rain we have had. I am a outdoors person when it comes to walking, but being in the delta there is not really much you can do about the incline. I really like being able to change that setting on my treadmill and getting the burn on. So I have been walking outside two miles and two or a little more on the treadmill with lots of incline. So lets get to the nitty gritty:

I started the diet weighing in at 299

I now weigh, drum roll please:

272

Total weight loss of week three is 10 pounds

So the total weight loss so far since July 8 is 27 pounds

Two Week Visit

2011-07-22T18:06:00.000-05:00

Taylor, had her first visit to the doctor's office two weeks after she was born. She is seeing Doctor Smith, in Madison, just like her big sister Ann Fleming. We can't say enough good things about Dr. Smith. We both wish he was our doctor. Everything checked out great on Taylor. "She is as healthy as any baby could be", the doctor said. With Ann Fleming, she lost weight from birth to her two week check-up. Taylor gained about 6 ounces and grew about 1 inch. So at her two week check-up she was 8lb. 4oz. and right at about 21.5 inches long.

Getting the Length

The Weigh In

Not Real Happy

Dr. Smith and Taylor

Watching T.V.

2011-07-20T12:43:00.000-05:00

Watching television at our house has really changed over the past year. Previously it was CSI, Seinfeld, Food Network, etc., but now that we have a child that likes t.v., it has changed what we watch. One of the reasons I think it has changed it just simply for the morals. I am a firm believer of what you put in your brain is what you get out. So if you put garbage in, you shouldn't expect to get anything else out of it. So I don't want her watching anything that could corrupt her little mind. Second, I never thought I would put a child in front of a t.v to be able to get some things done around the office or the house, but now I see different. I used to think that parents that did that were bad parents. I see why they do it now. Let me say this though, the shows I am letting Ann Fleming watch are constructive shows whenever she is watching t.v. She is learning something good for her brain, such as counting, letters, colors, etc. Her favorite show is a show called "Bubble Guppies". It is a show about little mermaid people under the sea that go to school and learn something each day while teaching the viewers. They have a teacher and his name is Mr. Grouper. I watch it with her every night before putting her to bed. I just wanted to show you what is like around our house when the show comes on. Excuse the dirty baby in this video. We had just came in from outside. Just watch these dance moves! FYI- No babies were hurt in the making of this video.

Week 2 of "Drop It"

2011-07-20T10:08:00.000-05:00

Week 2 didn't go as good as the first one. I am still eating about 100 grams of carbs a day and and about 119 grams of proteins a day or less. The thing I think that hurt me the most this week was the proteins I took in. I took in proteins, like steak, that has lots of fat in it. I have started this week to eat more meat like chicken breast to get my protein grams that doesn't have the fat as some red meats. I have still been keeping my carbs in check. I have also been drinking lots of water. I haven't had any soda's with sugar in them and only a couple of diet drinks. I also found some candy made with no sugar that is pretty good. I am still walking 2-3 miles a day and have never felt better. I wasn't hoping to drop all of this fast and all at once, but I feel it is going nicely. The only thing I think I hate about this diet is there are really no low carb options for side items to go with my meat at dinner. Eating the same vegetables kind of gets old. So this week I have dropped a total of

Drum Roll:

4 pounds!
Total weight Loss- 17lbs.

I now weigh 282. Like I said it is not as much as last week, but I am getting closer to my target of 225.

Ashley Buse A.K.A "Little Hank Lamb"

2011-07-18T12:01:00.000-05:00

We recently went to Tupelo for Foley's dedication at church. So I knew we had to get Ashley, Royann's talented sister, to take some pictures of Taylor while we there. Here are a few examples of her work:

Random Pictures of Taylor's First Few Days at Home

2011-07-18T09:48:00.000-05:00

Aunt Jan A.K.A. My Second Mom growing up

My brother Mitch with his children and Taylor

Aunt Mary Ann with Taylor

Ann Fleming teaching Taylor how to nap

Aunt K.K teaching AF and Taylor how to nap

AF showing Aunt Jan and Uncle Ricky how to kiss the baby

Thank you Nana!

2011-07-18T09:31:00.000-05:00

Ann Fleming, Nana, and Taylor

A big thanks to Nana for making her second trip to the Leflore house for our second child. Nana cooked, swept, vaccummed, mopped, washed and dried clothes, organized, and shopped for us. She is a big help and as I have said before there is lots that can be learned from her. Ann Fleming loves Nana as I am sure Taylor will also. So a big thank you Nana for coming and helping again and we love you very much.

Huh! What is that?

2011-07-18T09:22:00.000-05:00

Watching Ann Fleming when we got home from the hospital was a hoot. She was trying to figure out what this living baby doll was doing in her house, stealing all of her attention. She loves kissing the baby and talking to it. Overall she has been a great big sister.

What is that baby doll doing crying?

What's in there?

Ann Fleming loves that we have pulled all the baby stuff back down for the new baby. She will push the swing back and forth and lay out in the bouncy seat.

She is just a little heavy for it though!

Drop It!

2011-07-13T12:21:00.000-05:00

Well a couple of weeks ago, I decided it was time to lose some pounds. So I talked it over with Royann and some friends that were dieting right now and what they were doing. One of my guides started after duck season this year and has been going now for 5 months and has lost 69 pounds. I asked how he did it and he told me he met with a dietitian. So I set up an appointment with the dietitian he was seeing to see what she could do for me. He told me it would take a while in the appointment because of the different things they do, like blood work, measurements, and sitting down with the dietitian to layout a diet specifically fit for my needs. Well turns out my blood work was good(bad cholesterol a little high), my body fat was 35% (I know sickening isn't it). weighed in at 299(holy moly, I have never even thought about weighing this).

This is what I felt like on the beach a couple of weeks ago.

Then I went in after all this was done and met with the dietitian. I told her about my lifestyle, what I was eating and drinking, and my exercise habits. Then she started telling me all the things I was doing that was affecting my weight. I have always been one that ate low fat items. What I didn't know was all the carbs I was putting in my body. Here are the biggest things that were affecting me the most: Mountain Dew almost every day( enough carbs for two days), Sweet Tea( I am not a big sweet tea drinker, but I drink enough), candy( I love candy, any kind), gatorade( I found this one hard to believe also), and high carb breads and starches( I love my sandwiches and french fries). Listen, up closely if you are reading this. Do you want to lose thirty and keep it off with one change, drink only water each day.

So here is what she did for me, she started me out on a high protein, medium carb diet. I can still have my coffee in the morning, but the rest is water. She said I could have unsweet tea, but I don't really like artificial sweeteners and don't think they are healthy and that includes diet drinks. She taught me how to read nutritional facts on food items and how to figure out how many proteins and carbs I can have any given day according to my chart. She also told me she wanted me to walk or run hard four times a week for at least 30 minutes each time.

So here I am at the end of week one. Remember I told you what I weighed in at the dietitian's office (299). I took my first weight this morning at the vet. clinic and I am now DRUM ROLL PLEASE:

285.6

I know some are gonna say this is a unhealthy loss. She told me though with my metabolism, height, and muscle build that I would lose a lot of weight really fast the first couple of months. She said I could lose all the way up to 30-60 lbs in the first couple of months because a lot of this weight was water. I was like good, because I can quit after a couple of months. She said a lot of people do and this is the reason a lot of people gain back so quick, because after this quick loss they go back to their old lifestyle and they didn't lose any fat. Then she told me her main concern with me was the tire around my belly and that wouldn't come off until months 4-6. She said statistics show that men with a spare tire are more likely to take blood pressure pills, cholesterol pills, and more prone to heart attacks. I am not a pill person, so let's shed the pounds. I am gonna try and keep this updated each week and let you guys know the progress.

In The Room and Out The Door

2011-07-12T14:57:00.000-05:00

That is what it feels like any way. They get you in a birthing room, you have the baby, they move you to a regular room, and then they ship you out. It almost feels like a production line. The one thing about hospitals are there are no five star amenities to most of these rooms you stay in. Now don't get me wrong, Women's Hospital is better than the rest and great for the woman, but still not a Holiday Inn or a Marriot for the husband. I still, right now, can feel little twinges in my back, a month later, where the springs were in my back from that couch bed. It passed by quick and here are some shots from those couple of days:

Taylor loved it all

I finally caught a quick nap while Royann was in the shower.

Dr. Cook

Russ and Ashley Pullen with Taylor

Door hangar

Royann and Taylor leaving the hospital.

A friend, I have known through a duck hunting website I am a member of, had his baby the day after we had ours. We got together to get a picture of the kiddos before I left the hospital

Alec and I with new babies

June 8: A day that will live in infamy at the Leflore household Part 2!

2011-07-12T12:25:00.000-05:00

Following the short birth Royann had with Taylor, Taylor and I made our way to the nursery for mearsurements and getting her vital signs checked. Everyone watched through the window as they did all their testing. Taylor was 20.5 inches long and 7lb 15 oz. She was healthy as any baby could be. She replicated her sister in trying to pull up out the weight machine, which we all thought was hilarious. We didn't find out what Taylor was before hand and so as we did last year, we ran a contest on facebook on who could guess the sex and weight of Baby Leflore #2. If they guessed the sex and weight right, then they would win a gift card to their favorite business. We had over 400 guesses from our friends and when all the measurements were finished, Abby Franklin, a girl I went to high school with was the lucky winner. She guessed the sex and the exact weight of Taylor.

Pi and Pop

She definately has Long in her. Trying to outdo her sister.

Ann Fleming is a little excited

They did all the checks on the baby and within 30 minutes they had the baby back in the room with Mom and family. Taylor was named after Roy's mother. Royann has wanted to name a child Taylor since before Kelsey her sister was born. She begged her Mom and Dad to name Kelsey, Taylor. Well she finally got a Taylor.

Royann with her parents and Taylor

Where did we get the name Killebrew for a middle name? Killebrew is my Mom's maiden name and Royann has always loved it for a name since we have been talking about having kids.

My Parents, Royann, Taylor, and Myself

Ann Fleming used so much energy welcoming the baby, she had to to take a nap.

Mamaw, Royann, Taylor, Pie
A group picture of the women.

Aunt K.K with Taylor.

What a great First Family Pic!
I may be able to send this one in to Awkward Family Photos.

The one thing I can say about Ann Fleming is she loves to give love to Baby Taylor!

Mamaw and Taylor

Pop and Taylor

Where Taylor is most happy.

The biggest and one of the best surprises of the day was Royann's sister showing up for the birth. She just had a baby two weeks earlier. It is no short drive from Tupelo to Jackson after giving birth two weeks earlier and a screaming baby in the back wanting milk. Ashley's mother-in-law drove her down so she could be with the family, so thank you Mrs. Buse for making it happen. We want to thank you Ashley for making that sacrifice and being there with us on that special day and we love you very much.

Rocky, Taylor, Mrs. Buse, and Foley

(Ashley)Aunt Re Re with Taylor