The Benson Five

Christmas Chorus Show

2010-12-20T06:38:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of the Christmas Chorus show this year at Boynton. I didn't get many good pictures during the show because I didn't have a good view of the girls because they were not on risers...don't get me started on that! The girls did a great job and we got to see Anna Grace bust a move, which made the whole night worth it!

Tanner Signs with Faulkner University

2010-12-20T06:32:00.000-08:00

We are so proud of Tanner! He signed with Faulkner University football team and will be leaving in a couple of weeks. They offered him a scholorship in the fall and he decided to stay in Dalton. He started missing playing football and one of his high school coaches got in touch with Faulkner. They offered him the same scholorship! I know he will love it! Faulkner is where Clint and I met and we have wonderful memories from there.

Thanksgiving with Friends

2010-12-20T06:28:00.000-08:00

I am lucky enough to be able to see my high school girlfriends around Thanksgiving every year. We get together a couple of times a year, but Thanksgiving is when we are ALL here together. I am blessed to have wonderful friends!

Photo Session

2010-12-20T06:15:00.000-08:00

The girls were supposed to get their pictures made one Saturday and the photographer got sick so we went on an impromtu photo session. They ended up getting their pictures made the next day, but here are some of the ones that we took.

Happy Fall

2010-12-20T06:07:00.000-08:00

Fall 2010

Halloween 2010
The Benson Bugs...

Pumpkin Contest

2010-10-24T17:59:00.000-07:00

So...AnnaGrace volunteered good ole' mom to make a pumpkin for the class to put in the Boynton Pumpkin contest. She sprung this on me when I picked her up from school on Tuesday. She gave me a sad story about the class only getting one pumpkin turned in and the class laughed at it. She said she felt sorry for the little boy so she said she would bring one. Well, the deadline was the next day. Tuesdays are Girl Scout night and Clint goes to visitation at church...but, I felt sorry for her so we started making it about 8:30 Tuesday night. We...or I finished it around midnight that night. We were rather proud of our work. :) When I picked her up from school on Wednesday she informed me that our pumpkin was voted to be in the contest. I thought there was just one so I said how many were there? Well, nine other kids brought pumpkins in that day because they also felt sorry for the sad pumpkin that was there the day before! *SIGH* I also found out that we don't get it back unless we win it in an auction...WHAT?? So, of course I had to bid on it at the Fall Festival on Saturday because we put lots of hard work into it! What am I going to do with these girls??

Josie has a pumpkin contest on Tuesday and so we will make another pumpkin tomorrow...isn't life with kids grand!

Here is a picture of our hard work...

Happy 11th Birthday Anna Grace Benson!

2010-10-10T19:36:00.000-07:00

Anna Grace celebrated her 11th birthday yesterday. She had a slumber party Friday night. Here are a few pictures from the night.

Mimi did a great job on her zebra cake! Thank you Mimi!

This child is ROTTEN! Notice the zebra print pumpkin that Josie and I painted the night before. :)

All of the girls...

Silly girls...

Happy Birthday!!

They had fun painting their own pumpkin!

They also decorated a picture frame with a group picture from the party in it. Very creative girls!

Opening Gifts...

Goody Bags...

Pumpkins that we made for the front porch...

Are You Ready For Some Auburn Football? WAR EAGLE!!

2010-10-10T19:30:00.000-07:00

A few Auburn pics from this season...

Last Saturday, Clint and I went to the Auburn game. Thanks Clay for the tickets!

Labor Day Project

2010-10-10T19:24:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, my grandmother passed away a few weeks ago. My aunt had a dresser that was Maw's that she wanted someone to take. I volunteered to take it. We always need a little extra space and it is special because it belonged to Maw. We did make a little change to it though.

BEFORE

AFTER

Grandparent's Day

2010-10-10T19:18:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, the fifth grade had grandparents day. My mom and dad were able to go eat lunch with Anna Grace and they had a program where each child read a story that they wrote about their grandparents. I did not read Anna Grace's before that day and my mom called and said that Anna Grace's was the best by far. Well, I thought she was just being a typical grandmother, but after I read it I realized she was probably right. I read it aloud to Clint and it brought tears to my eyes. Here is a copy of her story...

I know it is long, but it is precious. This is copied straight from her Word document.

My Grandparents

Hey,do you want to know why my grandparents are the best in the world? Their names are Papaw,Mimi,Pawpaw,Nana. They’re the best because they treat me with respect. I hope they think that too and they love me with all their hearts and I know they always will. Now if you want to know the best thing about my grandparents well you better listen up. They are Christian and that’s the best thing about them.

My Mimi and Papaw live in Cohutta,Georgia. When I go to their house they treat me with respect. Sometimes when I spend time with my Papaw we go fishing. It’s really fun and I spend time with my Mimi in the kitchen cooking which is her favorite thing to do. Whenever I have a secret they can always keep it even if it’s really big. Every Sunday I go to their house to have a delicious lunch and every year I enjoy going to the family decoration reunion with my Mimi and Papaw. If I needed any advice this is what my Mimi would say “Live a Christian life and get an education.” One thing I know that my grandparents believe is I can do anything and be anything I want to be. Now I bet you’re starting to believe me about my grandparents being the best.

My Pawpaw and Nana definitely are the best pair of grandparents in the world because they love me with all their hearts. I can tell when they hug and kiss me everytime I see them. When I go to their house we sometimes play Hide-n-go-seek and we color and those are the things my grandparents played when they were young. Every year go to their house for Thanksgiving and Christmas. My Nana makes the best turkey. When we go to their house for Christmas I get the best presents too and if I needed advice this is what my Nana would say “Live the golden rule.” Sometimes when I go to their house they’ll give me things I need and more. My grandparents are starting to sound pretty great,aren’t they?

I think that this has to be one of the best reasons about my grandparents. They are Chrstian. Sometimes when I go to my grandparents house they take em to their church. The people there are very nice and they encourage me to be a Christian and I hope to be one someday. My grandparents have been through some hard times because my Pawpaw,Mimi,and Papaw have all had cancer and my Nana had Chrones disease. One thing I know they do is pray for me and I just want them to know that I appreciate it and I’m praying for them too. Someday I hope to see them in Heaven.

Finally here is the last but best reason of all. They make me smile. When they come in the room they make me laugh and when I’m sad they tell me stories that make me feel better. On my birthday they give me gifts that I really wanted and they take me to a resteraunt of my choice. Sometimes they’ll take me to special places or they’ll let me spend time with them like when my Nana and Pawpaw took me and my family to Disney World and my Mimi and Papaw take me to Lake Whinnie every summet. Now I hope I convinced you that my grandparents are the best in the world.

So what do you think about my grandparents now? I bet you’re starting to believe me about my grandparents being the best. Ok now out of all the reasons that my grandparents are the best I would have to choose the one about my grandparents making me smile. I absolutely had to pick that one because they always make me smile.I can’t help it. I hope you believe me now and if you don’t well I’ll always think my grandparents are the best in the world.

Boyton Elementary School Update

2010-10-10T18:59:00.000-07:00

Switching the girls to Boynton was one of the best decisions we have made. It truly has been an answered prayer. They are so happy! They have become involved in the few months that they have been there.

The girls made chorus at Boynton. This is a big deal considering that AnnaGrace would not even try out for chorus at DGE. She seems to really be enjoying it though. On the other hand, Brinlee loves it. They had their first show on September 11th at Heritage High School. They did a GREAT job considering that they only had a couple of weeks to practice. Here are a couple of pictures that I took with my cell phone...my camera batteries were dead. By the way, the chorus will be making a trip to NYC in the spring if anyone would like to make a donation to help send them. :) They are so excited because one of the fundraisers is having a concert with a former American Idol Finalist. They will get to sing with him on stage and all of the proceeds goes towards the NYC trip!

I walked down to Anna Grace's classroom while waiting for them to come from chorus and I saw this. She got chosen as the Lion of week for showing Pride. I didn't even know it. She takes after her mom. :)

We also found out last week that her teacher nominated her for the 5th grade Leadership Team and she got it. This is a team of 10 fifth graders from each school in the county that gets together to design a school community project. We are very proud of her!

Benson Family Bash

2010-10-10T18:10:00.001-07:00

A friend of the Benson Family, Mr. Rowland, is generous enough to take us out to at at the Capital City Club in Montgomery every now and then. We get to dress up enjoy delicious food along with fun family fellowship! Thanks Mr. Rowland!

Yummy dessert!

Telling Mr. Rowland thank you...

Catch Up Time! (This is for you Lisa!)

2010-10-10T17:24:00.001-07:00

Obviously, I am not very good at keeping the Benson Five blog updated. I started a new position at school this year and it is eating up most of my free time. Don't get me wrong...I LOVE IT, but it is like living my first year of teaching all over again. So I am spending a lot of time researching and finding lessons for my ESOL kids and not to mention I have 2 segments of fifth grade science which is...well, NOT kindergarten! So, I am having to do a lot of studying as well. :) I just thought I was finished with school and homework! I am just going to post some pics from the past month. I will TRY to put them in order...

*My cousin, Lisa, is the only person who reads this blog that I know of. She reminds me when I need to update...sorry it's taken me so long Lisa. YOU NEED TO GET ON FACEBOOK!*

Stanley Family Reunion, Blue Ridge, GA

These pictures were taken in front of the house that my grandparents and great-grandparents used to live in. A lot of memories were made in this old house.

Stanley Church

5 of 9 brothers and sisters

Lisa...I know she is going to kill me for this...

Josie loves Cousin Lisa! Bless her heart, she is still learning how to smile for pictures. :)

It's ok Lisa...you weren't the only one who ate a lot that day! (Carrie doesn't read my blog so she will never know this is on here.)

Happy 12th Anniversary

2010-08-09T18:01:00.000-07:00

On August 1st, Clint and I celebrated our 12th Anniversary. I know, I can't believe it has been that long either! Plus, we are not old enough to have been married 12 years! I am so blessed to have Clint and we three beautiful girls! God is good!

I had a gold party Friday night. If you have never heard of this, it is where guests bring gold, sale it, and walk away with cash. I got paid just for hosting it! I made over $200! Clint and I decided to take that money and celebrate our anniversary. Saturday night, we went to eat at Fogo de Chao in Buckhead (where we ate WAY TOO MUCH!) followed by a Braves game. They won 3-0! It was a fun-filled night!

Fogo de Chao

GO BRAVES!

Update on Pre-K

2010-08-09T17:57:00.001-07:00

Well, it looks like mom won't be the only Dug Gap Bear this year! Josie was drawn for Dug Gap's PreK today!! It is an answered prayer! When she didn't get drawn last year, I was so upset because I knew none of the girls would be with me and I would have a lonely drive back and forth to school. Well...NOT ANYMORE!! Josie is so excited...we all are...including her teacher Mrs. Bethina! Bethina is one of my closest friends. I just completed my Ed.S degree with her and we have taught Kindergarten together. I know that she will take care of our baby girl!

Back to School Time...BOO!!

2010-08-09T17:22:00.001-07:00

The girls started school last Thursday. This is the first year that they will be attending Catoosa County Schools. It was a tough decision, but one that we know will be best for them in the long-run. Mommy was a little teary eyed when we left them. Here are a few pictures that we took with Clint's phone. I wanted to get official first day of school pics, but we sat in first day of school traffic for so long we just got to snap a couple of shots. The girls were not upset about that. They wouldn't even let me walk them in on the second day. SO SAD!!!

AnnaGrace wouldn't even look up at the camera. I don't really blame her considering that she was probably the only 5th grader whose mom and dad both walked her in. :)

Brinlee is always ready to smile!

Josie started Applebrook Pre-K. She is enjoying school, but NOT enjoying the boys. She told me that she does not like boys and she is not playing with them. I told her that sounded like a great deal!

Big girl walking into big girl school :)

Ready to go in with her teacher gifts

Pigeon Forge Getaway

2010-08-09T16:50:00.001-07:00

We took a short trip to Pigeon Forge since we didn't take a big family vacation this year. We got to stay at Uncle Clay's place that has all kinds of pools and waterslides. The girls love it! We also met up with the Cass Family while we were there. I work with Beth and they are a fun family to hang out with!

We had fun with the Cass Family at Wonderworks Hoot and Holler Dinner Show. We laughed so much while we ate a delicious meal!

The Cass Six

The Benson Five

The Loud and Crazy Eleven

Tara Benson, Ed.S. :)

2010-07-25T21:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I completed classes for my Educational Specialist degree through Lincoln Memorial University. After getting my master's I knew I wanted to do this and I am so glad I did and even MORE GLAD I'm finished! I think this may be my third and FINAL degree! I'm tired of being the student and ready to just be the teacher!

Here is a picture of my cooperative group that I worked with throughout the program.

Mom and the girls...Josie wasn't really into the photo session :)

Fun On PaPaw's Tractor

2010-07-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

A while back my dad started attaching the little red wagon to the lawn mower and riding the grandkids around the yard. For Father's Day, we got him a hitch (or whatever it's called) to go on the back of it. The kids LOVE to go to MiMi and PaPaw's house and ride on the lawn mower. I'm not sure if you can get anymore redneck, but they are making wonderful memories at MiMi and PaPaw's house.

Lake Winnie

2010-07-25T18:15:00.000-07:00

Kim came into town last week and MiMi and PaPaw took the kids to Lake Winnie. I was busy riding and didn't take many pictures, but here are a few of what I got.

Girls Night to Huntsville

2010-07-02T19:40:00.000-07:00

My cousin, Jill, invited me on a trip to Hunstville. Her husband surprised her with a night in the Westin and movie tickets to see Eclipse. Jill is my cousin and she was my roommate in college. She has always been one of my closest friends. It has been a while since we have been able to spend time together, but we always have so much fun! It was a nice girl's getaway with a lot of laughter! Thanks Robert for the night away!!

Anna Grace Goes to Fall Crek Falls Bible Camp

2010-07-02T19:27:00.000-07:00

This year was Anna Grace's first year to attend Fall Creek Falls Bible Camp. It was junior week and only 10-13 year olds will be there. It is a wonderful way for the kids to grow closer to each other and closer to God. For the record, this was NOT my idea. It was hers. She came to us and told us she wanted to go and even though I wasn't crazy about the idea, Clint called and got her in. Several of the kids from church go every year and they come back fine, but still...she's only 10 years old! Isn't that too young to take your child and just drop them off in the middle of nowhere for a WHOLE WEEK?? Well, she went...and we are so proud of her! Even though it was torture on all of us back home, she informed me today when she got home that she didn't miss us. That hurts. :( We are so proud of her for staying all week and making some new friends! So I guess this may be a new summer activity for the Benson Family. We took a few pics of her when we dropped her off. She kept asking us why we were still there. Why can't they stay little forever?

Nashville Rising Concert

2010-07-02T19:06:00.000-07:00

We surprised the girls with Nashville Rishing tickets. This is a concert to benefit the rebuilding of Nashville after the flood. I saw where Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift were going to be there along with several other artists including Lynard Skynard, ZZ Top, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Billy Ray Cyrus, Miranda Lambert, Jason Aldean, Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood, Leann Rimes, Micheal W. Smith, Amy Grant, and Sandra Bullock made a special appearance. I called Clint and he agreed that they would enjoy it and gave me permission to buy the cheap seats. We didn't tell them where we were going and it was funny listening to them trying to figure it out. They were so excited when they found out about Miley! It was a great night and we made wonderful memories!

Waiting for the show to begin...

A family shot after the show...

Brinlee's face when they announced Miley...PRICELESS!!

Brinlee and AnnaGrace with Elvis

Goodbye to a Special Woman

2010-07-02T18:38:00.000-07:00

Clint's grandmother, Flossie Carroll, passed away last week. She was a wonderful Christian lady and she will be greatly missed. We went down for the funeral last week and we were able to see most of Clint's mom's family while we were there. While it was a sad time it was also a time to celebrate her Christian life. We were blessed to have such a precious woman in our lives.

This picture was taken in February 2009 when we went by to visit Grandmother on our way to Disney World. It was Valentine's Day and she had a special Valentine's treat for the girls.

Here are some of the family pictures that we took while we were there last week.
The Carroll Family

The Carroll Grandkids

The Carroll Great Grandkids

The Benson Clan

Nicaragua Medical Mission Part 2

2010-07-02T17:50:00.000-07:00

My first post got a little long. Can you tell I am excited about this trip?? Here are pictures of a few things that went on that were separate from the medical clinic.

Every night we walked over to the church a few blocks away from the clinic. The church was down a dirt road and it was very dark when we got out at night. There are many stories that I can tell about the walks that we took down this dirt road, but the most memorable one is the night I lost my flip flops. One night while we were in church it started to rain harder and harder and it never let up. Well, on the way to the bus we had to walk through knee high water and I was in FLIP FLOPS, which was not good! I lost both of them in the gushing water as I was walking. I had to walk through rocks, mud, and thorns all the way to the bus. It was not fun, although everyone else got a good laugh out of it. The next day my wonderful Croc flip flops were recovered from the mud! Anyways, here are a few pictures from the church services. Each night we had a children's bible class and a teen bible class.

I taught bible class on Tuesday night. I was given the story of Lazarus. Here are my wonderful helpers acting out the story as I tell it. The kids loved it, even though it started to rain about halfway through.

And Lazarus arose from the dead!

Here are a couple of pictures from the church.

Here are a few pictures that were taken around the community we were working in.

This is the bus that we rode in all week. I am grateful to be alive after experiencing the bumping, jerking, high speed trips that I had in this bus. I saw my life flash before my eyes many times during the week.

On Friday, we got to go out and have fun. After some convincing, I talked Abigail into going ziplining with me. I have never been and I knew this is something that Clint would NEVER do with me so I was looking forward to it. Well...I was excited about it until we got on the first platform and the bottom fell out and it rained the whole time we were up there. The rain never slowed down and the wind was blowing. We were freezing, but it was still a blast!

This was a trip of a lifetime and I am so thankful that I was able to go. Seeing the people down there and how little they have, but they are so thankful and appreciative for every little thing makes you look at the world in a whole new way.

Nicaragua Medical Mission 2010

2010-07-02T16:34:00.000-07:00

East Ridge has so many things to offer our family including a wonderful preacher, involved and caring elders, families our age, tons of children, and opportunities in mission work. Every year we listen to people come back from their mission work and describe how their lives have changed. Well this year I got to experience this for myself. I was blessed enough to be able to go on our medical mission. There were 85 people total and around 25 from East Ridge that went on the mission. It was definately a life changing experience.

Here is a walk through the clinic that we had set up. This is what the line was like all four days that we were there. These people waited for hours to get into the clinic in the heat and rain. It got a little crazy at times with people trying to pass in line. Nothing can prepare you for this. It made me stop and thank the good Lord for being able to walk into an air conditioned doctor's office that I am in and out of within an hour. Yet, these precious people were so thankful to get to come in and be treated and it didn't matter to them how long they had to wait.

The first step was to register. These four young people are all fluent in Spanish. They were excellent!

I worked in triage which is a fancy word for weighing patients, taking their temperature and blood pressure. I weighed every patient that came into the clinic that week, but not alone...this was my weighing partner, Ben.

This is the whole triage team after a long day in the clinic.

The BEST part of that job was that I got to hold every baby that came in! They were the most beautiful babies with their dark hair and dark eyes. PRECIOUS!

After the patients came through triage, they waited to be seen by the doctor or one of the many nurses that came with us.

There was also a dentist on site who performed extractions.

The patients went through a hygiene class.

If needed, the patients were given a pair of eyeglasses.

Here is a picture of the pharmacy. You would be amazed at the medicine they had in here. It was just like a real pharmacy.

The last station was benevolence. Each person was given three outfits, shoes, rice and beans.

Here are the statistics from our trip...

Bible Studies 211
Baptisms 23
Patients 2164
Registrations 2207
Dental Patients 208
Extractions 147
Pharmacy Patients 2175
Prescriptions 7989
Eyeglasses filled 522
Head Scrubs 52
Benevolence 2259
Children’s Classes 199
Teen Classes 45

God is good!

Another school year comes to an end...

2010-06-10T19:58:00.001-07:00

This years award's day were very bittersweet for me. As far as we know, the girls will be switching to Catoosa County Schools next year and they will not be going to Dug Gap with me. I have been so blessed to be able to take them to school with me everyday. We have decided that next year is a good time to go ahead and make the switch so that Anna Grace can make friends in fifth grade before beginning middle school. Needless to say, I cried through both award's days and I am getting a little teary eyed right now thinking about it. I am going to miss them so much!! Thank goodness, Clint will be just down the road if they need anything next year.

Brinlee had a wonderful year in second grade. She made good grades all year! Mrs. Lowery, her first grade teacher, moved up to second grade so Brinlee had her for two years in a row. We are really going to miss her. She has been great for Brinlee. Mrs. Lowery called Brinlee her little parapro. For those of you who know Brinlee know that she doesn't mind taking control or being the center of attention. Next year, she will be a big third grader!

Anna Grace finished up her fourth grade year. We are so proud of the beautiful young lady she is becoming. According to her teachers, she is the model student and always brings home a perfect report card! Mrs. Wilson was also her teacher in first grade and she was a blessing to our family and to Anna Grace. She is going to be in fifth grade and I can't believe it! It kills me that she is growing so fast.

Running my mouth as usual, but this is the only picture I had with the parents! :)

Tanner Graduates

2010-05-31T18:20:00.000-07:00

Tanner graduated from Southeast Whitfield High School Saturday morning. I had class and was unable to attend his graduation, but we had a party for him Saturday night. We are so proud of the wonderful, Christian man he has become and know that he will go on to do great things!

The Benson Five with Tanner

Tanner and his favorite aunt :)

The Stanley Siters and Favorite Cousin

Cousins

The Girls

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-09T19:00:00.000-07:00

I haven't been very good with my camera lately, here are a couple of Mother's Day pictures that we took with Clint's phone. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family! I love being a mom! :)

Catch Up Time!

2010-03-28T19:16:00.000-07:00

So, it's been a while since I've posted. We've been BUSY with work, school, sickness, and many other things. I am just going to post a few pictures from the past couple of months to show you what we have been up to. Maybe after I graduate in July I might be able to update more often!

Josie's 4th Birthday at Build-A-Bear

My Valentine's Day Flowers from Clint and the girls :)

Girl's Night in Nashville...That is a snowflake on my face :)

Pigeon Forge Getaway

CRAZY JOSIE!!

Brinlee's 8th Birthday...She had a slumber party where they picked out their own clothes, put on make-up, painted fingernails and toenails and put on a fashion show. Brinlee has on platform shoes and that is why she looks like a giant! :)

Fifties Day at DGE...We were the Pink Ladies
]
AND FINALLY TODAY!!
We celebrated Easter a week early because we will be out of town at Lads to Leaders in Nashville next weekend.

Easter baskets complete with new flip flops for everyone!

The Leaderettes did a service for the ladies at church this morning. Anna Grace read a verse and lead a song, Count Your Blessings and Brinlee read a bible verse. We are so proud of both of them and the courage they have to get up and spread God's word with their talents. :)

Anna Grace and Brinlee were in a story line video and Anna Grace is doing puppets. Here are the girls waiting tonight to watch after evening service.

Round Three...Christmas at NaNa and PawPaw's House

2010-01-26T16:47:00.001-08:00

We traveled to Montgomery Christmas Day after celebrating a MiMi and PaPaw's house. We had fun visiting with family and opening presents...AGAIN!! We are very blessed to have such a wonderful family!

Christmas at MiMi and PaPaw's

2010-01-26T16:23:00.000-08:00

The Benson Five :)
The McCutchens

The Weathers

MiMi and PaPaw and 7 out of 9 grandkids

Cousins

Presents, Presents, and MORE Presents!

Griffin and Hampton got a set of drums and cymbals. Needless to say, the house was very loud!! Josie joined in with her Princess keyboard and they had a marching band. Clint reverted back to his Shattered Image days and tried to show the boys how to play the drums. For those of you that don't know, Clint was a drummer in a band in high school called Shattered Image. HAHAHAHA!!!!

Santa Clause Is Coming To Town!!

2010-01-26T15:51:00.000-08:00

We woke up early Christmas morning to find that Santa left a mess coming out of the fireplace!

And he ate all of his treats we left out, except for the oatmeal cookie. Josie could not understand why Santa did not like the oatmeal cookie. :)

He left LOTS of presents for the girls!

LET THE MADNESS BEGIN!!!

Christmas Eve Fun

2010-01-26T15:42:00.000-08:00

Every year the girls draw names and exchange gifts. On Christmas Eve, they had fun opening their gifts. We also got the house ready for Santa...cleaning up and leaving out cookies and milk. The girls decided to sleep together in Brinlee's room, but before the night was over Josie ended up in the room with Clint and I. I LOVE being a mom on Christmas Eve!!! :)

Rock City

2009-12-22T07:20:00.000-08:00

Our good friends, Jeremy and Kelli Kaylor, were kind enough to share free to tickets with us to see Christmas lights at Rick City. We had a fun family night out with the Kaylors. The girls had fun looking off the mountain and seeing all the beautiful lights.

All the girls...

And the boys, being goofy as usual :)

The Benson Family

Josie and her BFF

Family Pics

Mom and Dad :)

Good Friends :)

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-22T07:16:00.000-08:00

The Grand and Glorious Christmas Show

2009-12-21T21:05:00.000-08:00

Anna Grace and Brinlee both did a fabulous job performing in the Grand and Glorious Christmas Show at school. We were so proud of both of them!

Josie got a hug from Santa on his way in...

Christmas Fun!

2009-12-21T20:31:00.000-08:00

Last Friday night, Clint went to the High School Playoffs at the Georgia Dome so the girls and I decided to bake a Gingerbread Man. The pictures are out of order, but you can see that they had fun decorating him. He was delicious too!

2009-12-06T18:07:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!!

2009-12-06T07:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning we woke up to SNOW!!! It was so beautiful to look outside and see the snow covered houses and ground. Josie said, "It looks like sugar mommy!" It was also the perfect background for our Chrsitmas card pictures. We got the girls ready and took them out in the freezing cold to snap some quick pictures. Brinlee was not feeling well, but she was a sweetheart and came out and put on her best "sick and freezing at the same time" smile.
These are also the first pictures with Josie's big girl haircut. It looks really cute on her, but I have to admit I got a little teary eyed when I looked down at the beauty shop and saw her little red curls laying on the floor. :(

We tried to get a shot with Trooper in the picture, but right after this photo he turned around and jumped on Josie and she took off running and screaming! Needless to say, Trooper will not be in our Christmas card this year. :)

Trooper, the reindeer

Elf Yourself

2009-12-06T07:13:00.001-08:00

The girls and I had fun making these funny videos on Elf Yourself. Here is one for you to see. :)

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Thanksgiving #2

2009-12-06T06:15:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Thanksgiving at MiMi and PaPaw's the Saturday after. MiMi outdid herself with wonderful food and we had fun family fellowship! We tried to get a picture of all the grandkids for a Christmas cards, but it was hard to get all NINE of them to cooperate! Here are some of the pictures from our day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-29T18:39:00.000-08:00

We spent Thanksgiving Day with Clint's family in Montgomery. We had a great time visiting with family and eating yummy food. On Friday, I got up way too early to do some Black Friday shopping. Nana and the girls baked up and decorated some Christmas cookies. Clint went to the Iron Bowl with his dad and Clay. Auburn almost pulled out a win, but we are proud of how hard they played. WAR EAGLE!! Thank you for a great trip!

Family Picture Time :)

Baking Christmas Cookies with Nana

Ready for the Big Game!

Friday night, Uncle Clay and Aunt Julie came over to visit. The girls had fun playing with Uncle Clay. As Josie said, "He is the best uncle ever!" :)

The money she won on the game show...

Watching the fun...

New Member of the Benson Family

2009-11-16T18:33:00.000-08:00

As of today, we officially have six members in the Benson Family! A beautiful Golden Retriever joined our family. The girls have been asking for one for almost two years and we have been putting it off, but when we found out about this precious boy today we couldn't pass up the offer. So, Clint drove to Polk County, TN and picked him up and we surprised the girls with him! They love him and he loves them! He doesn't have a name just yet because we can't seem to agree on one, but Josie is pushing for Annie. She pointed out to "Annie" that the garage was his new home and she pointed to the inside of the house and said, "This is our home." So sweet! Here is a couple of pictures and I'm sure there will be more to come!

SURPRISE!!

THANK YOU DADDY!!

Look at that face! :)

Three Little Witches

2009-11-11T18:01:00.001-08:00

The Benson girls had fun dressing up like witches for Halloween this year. We had fun trunk-or-treating at church and trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. They got WAY too much candy and I think that some of the leftovers may be going in the prize box at school!

Ready to go trunk-or-treating!

Best Friends, Little Benson Witch and Super Woman

Clint and Kaylor...crazy boys! :)

My dear friend, Abigail and one of the greatest birthday gifts ever! :)

Fun in the back of Daddy's truck!

Fun on the back of Mr. Gus' bike!

Ready to trick-or-treat in the neighborhood...

First house...Martin Residence

Back home and ready to hand out candy!

First Winning Season in Sixteen Years!!

2009-11-11T17:50:00.000-08:00

We are sad that high school football season has come to an end. We enjoyed so much watching Tanner play, whether they won or not. The atmosphere of Friday night football is the greatest! We are so proud that he helped lead Southeast to their first winning season in 16 years!! Way to go Raiders and WAY TO GO MCCUTCHEN!!!

Tanner's Senior Night Poster

Senior Night, Tanner #11, is one of the captains ...

Senior Night Photo

I am a dedicated aunt! I celebrated my birthday in the Southeast High School stadium. :) Thanks Lisa for the party hats and horns!

Anna Grace's Birthday at Nana and Paw Paw's

2009-11-11T17:40:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, we celebrated Anna Grace's birthday in Montgomery. We had a great visit filled with food, fun, and football! Nana cooked all of Anna Grace's favorites...spaghetti, pizza, and lasagna. YUMMY!!

Crazy Braxton trying to make Anna Grace laugh! :)

Opening presents...

The Girls...

After a long, fun day...

Dug Gap Teachers Tailgate

2009-10-27T19:52:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, some of the DGE teachers supported the Southeast football team by tailgating and cheering them on at the game. It happened to be the coldest game of the season, but we still had a lot of fun!

I finally got to break out my Snuggie! :)

Benson Girls Rock Out

2009-10-12T07:48:00.000-07:00

I know that they will probably kill me one day for putting this on here, but it is too funny not to share. As I was updating the blog, Brinlee and Josie were rocking out. I have no idea what she is saying, but I do get "rock" in there more than a few times. Sorry about Josie's attire, but at least she has a shirt on! Maybe we have some future rock stars in the Benson Family. They wouldn't be the first ones...ask Clint about his rock band days! :)

Sunday Fun

2009-10-11T18:21:00.000-07:00

Today, we celebrated AnnaGrace's birthday at MiMi and PaPaw's house. We had a yummy Sunday dinner with cake and Cookies and Cream Ice Cream, AnnaGrace's request. Thank you MiMi for a wonderful meal! We even had enough to bring home and have leftovers Sunday night.

Ready for church!

Josie, in her new glasses!

After church pictures while we were waiting on everyone else to get to MiMi's house.

Silly Girls...

JoJo...

BrinBrin...

Gracie...

What mommy doesn't love a kiss from her favorite three year old?

Cousins...

MiMi and the girls...

PaPaw and the girls...

Make a wish!

Happy 10th Birthday AnnaGrace!!

2009-10-11T18:09:00.001-07:00

On October 9th, AnnaGrace turned ten years old. It's so hard to believe that she is officially ten. It really just seems like yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital. We are so proud of the young lady she has become. I keep telling her to please stop growing or at least slow down, but she just laughs. We love you Gracie!!

For her birthday present, she wants to redecorate her room. She got new bedroom furniture and in the next couple of weeks we are going to try to get her room painted and fixed up. I will post pictures as soon as we finish.

To celebrate, she wanted to go to the movies to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. So I took her and Brinlee and we had a girl's night out to eat and to the movies.

Another birthday request was to make her own cupcakes. No, she didn't want to order a cake, she simply wanted to have fun making cupcakes. She is not hard to please!

Happy 10th Birthday!

Getting Caught Up...

2009-10-11T17:50:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated the blog in a while. We have been busy with school, church, football, and cleaning out closets and moving around bedroom furniture. Hopefully, we will be finished soon and I will post pics of the girl's new rooms. Here are some pictures to get me caught up.

Southeast vs. Model...RAIDERS WIN!!

Clint's Dad, a.k.a PawPaw, came out to watch Tanner that night.

It was a little chilly at the Ringgold game. :)

Josie and Griffin having fun at the game...

Happy 35th Birthday Daddy!

2009-09-22T17:49:00.000-07:00

Today is Clint's 35th Birthday! We celebrated by having the traditional birthday dinner at Provino's...yummy! Then, we came home and had a little family party for him. Happy Birthday Daddy! We love you so much and are so lucky to that God put you in our lives. You are a wonderful husband and father!

Josie sang a solo of Happy Birthday to Daddy :) Precious!

Daddy with all his girls on his birthday...

Daddy with Brinlee and her birthday card that she made him. :)

Daddy with AnnaGrace and her card...

Josie got Daddy a balloon.

Happy Birthday Daddy! We love you!!!

Circus

2009-09-22T17:33:00.000-07:00

A dear friend at work, Terry Wagnon, was so sweet to give me free tickets to the circus. The girls have never been to the circus and it was definately an experience. Clowns, jugglers, elephants, camals, tight rope walkers, and women hanging from their actual hair...you name it, we saw it! Thank you Terry, we really enjoyed our time at the circus!

Homecoming and Football

2009-09-22T17:02:00.000-07:00

Friday night was Homecoming at Southeast High. Tanner was asked by his friend, Lindsay, to escort him at the Homecoming ceremony that they had at the school Friday morning. She was one of the six seniors that was on the Homecoming Court.

We played football against Heritage High where my cousin, Dakota, is on the colorguard. Dakota is also the World's Best Babysitter...the girls love her! Kim, my sister that lives in Montgomery, and the kids came to spend the weekend.

Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Jackie, mom's brother, also came up from Cartersville so that they could see both Dakota and Tanner in action. It was a good game, but the Raiders pulled out a win in the end. The final score was 21-26.

Mom and Aunt Teresa, mom's sister and Dakota's mom.

The Hunt Cousins :)

Mrs. Debbie, my partner-in-crime and my parapro at school, and he husband Debbie also came to the game. I guess she got tired of me talking about SHS football so she decided to come check it out herself! :)

My BFF from DGE, Renee, also came with her family. Renee's oldest daughter, Hannah, is a cheerleader for North Murray High...so it was really sweet of them to come cheer for a rival team. We love you Haught Family!

FINAL SCORE...

It was a fun night of football with family and friends!

Proud Mom :)

2009-09-13T19:38:00.001-07:00

AnnaGrace had an assignment for her ALPHA class to make a scarecrow from scratch. Well she did and she did it ALL ALONE with no help from me. Being a mom and a school teacher, it was very hard for me not to try to do it myself or at least try to help, but I knew she could do it. She did it and she did a great job! We are so proud of her. She sewed the patches and the buttons on all by herself without any help. We also got a small pair of overalls that were way to big and look what she did with them...she made it into a skirt. Something I would have never though of. I think she is getting smarter than Clint and I...UH OH!! :) WAY TO GO ANNAGRACE!!

Here is her scarecrow displayed in the DGE library.

Happy Birthday McKenzie!

2009-09-13T11:16:00.000-07:00

While Clint was at the ballgame, the girls and I had fun at McKenzie's 3rd birthday party. McKenzie is Josie's best friend. They stay at the same babysitter and McKenzie also goes to church with us. Kelli, McKenzie's mom also teaches with me at Dug Gap. Our family is blessed to have wonderful friends like the Kaylor's in our life.

Josie and McKenzie, the birthday girl...

Fun on the Big Slide!

Josie's turn...

AnnaGrace's turn...

Brinlee's turn...

Mommy's turn (with Maddox)...

Tara, Kelli, and Renee, Dug Gap Buddies...

Josie, happy after a FUN party!

WAR EAGLE BABY!!!!

2009-09-13T10:55:00.000-07:00

Clint went to his first Auburn football game for the year yesterday. The Tigers took on Mississippi State. We were happy for daddy that they won 49-24!

Here is Clint before he left for the game. :) Happy Boy!

Josie sported her Auburn apparel on Saturday and Sunday. It makes me a little sad that Anna Grace and Brinlee are too big for this. :( They are certainly not unhappy about it and tried to talk Josie out of wearing the cheerleading costume on Saturday. What else are big sisters for?

Anna Grace, Brinlee, and Josie have all worn this dress. :)

Football Friday

2009-09-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

Tanner gets to volunteer at our school three days a week. Friday morning, he came to help out in Kindergarten with his favorite aunt. :)

We had a close game Friday night, but was not able to pull it out and win. The final score was 21-26. Here are some cute pictures that I took at the game.

Josie, Griffin, and Hampton cheering for Tanner!

Throwing...

Punting...

Big Win!!

2009-09-07T05:46:00.001-07:00

Friday night, the Southeast Raiders took on the Model Devils. We didn't have the best first half...well, the score was 21-0 at half-time with the Devils winning. The Raiders came out with a different attitude after half-time. At the end of the third quarter, they made an AWESOME trick play and scored! In the fourth quarter, Tanner ran it in to score two more touchdowns, but they missed the last field goal to make the score 21-20. In the last three seconds of the game, they were able to make a field goal to win the game 21-23!! Somewhere during all of this Tanner knocked a boy out! I missed the play because I had taken Josie to the bathroom, but it is all Clint has been talking about all weekend! This is the one game that I forgot to bring my camera to! These are some pictures that I got from my cousin, Ashley.

Friday Night Football...continued

2009-08-30T17:43:00.000-07:00

Friday night was the big Southeast vs. Northwest football game. Northwest is my alma mater and it was fun going back to a football game there. I spent a lot of Friday nights watching football on that same field. Although Southeast lost the game, they played so much better than they did last year. The score was 32-20 and ALL 20 POINTS WERE SCORED BY TANNER!! He played quarterback and punter and scored all the points...we are so proud of him! I wish I could of gotten a picture of at least one touchdown, but I was too busy jumping up and down and screaming!
Our new gameday shirts!

Josie goes to the games just for the refreshments!

Captains...

32-20...20 points by MCCUTCHEN!

Jonas Brothers Concert

2009-08-23T19:05:00.000-07:00

Clint and I are so blessed to have three fabulous daughters! I know that I am their mom, but they really are good girls. They make good grades, have good behavior at school, are polite to others, and the list could go on forever. I am not crazy enough to believe that they are perfect, but they really are three fabulous girls! They get compliments from teachers at school and bible school on how polite they are. We decided to reward them for being GREAT this week with Jonas Brothers tickets. I actually got a great deal on some tickets on eBay at the last minute. We waited to tell them the big news until Friday night before the show. It was so sweet to see the look on their faces. Since Clint missed out on the concert, he broke the news to them. All they could do was giggle...it was precious! So on Saturday, off we went with my friend, Beth, and her daughter, Makayla, and Keaton to Atlanta to see the Jonas Brothers! We had so much fun. I loved watching the girls and their reactions. It's moments like this that I feel so blessed and happy that God gave me three wonderful girls! :)

Jonas Brothers Fans :)

Jonas Brothers Fans and Mom :)

Here we are with the whole crew...Makayla, Beth, AnnaGrace, Tara, Brinlee, and Keaton

Ready to find our seats...

Ready for the show!!

Enjoying the show :)

Happy Girls :)

Jonas Brothers...

Jordan Sparks...

Friday Night Football!!!

2009-08-16T13:57:00.000-07:00

We are so excited that football season is here at last! Cheering for the Southeast Raiders on Friday night and the Auburn Tigers on Saturdays! Tanner had a scrimmage game Friday night at Pepperall High School. You will not see Clint and the girls in the pictures, they were in Montgomery since I had class all day on Saturday. (Yes, I am crazy and I am going back to school to get my Educational Specialist degree. But, along with the degree comes a pay raise!) Anyways, as always, Tanner did a great job as quarterback! GO RAIDERS!!

Fan Club...

Princess Josie

2009-08-08T17:37:00.000-07:00

Today, Josie was invited to celebrate Bella's fourth birthday at the Princess Parlor. Bella is a friend from church and she is definitely a little princess. At the Princess Parlor, Josie got to dress up, they did her hair and make-up, they taught her proper etiquette, and she learned to ballroom dance. We had a great time! Thank you Bella for letting us celebrate your big day with you!

Princess Josie :)

All the princesses...

Princess Josie and Princess McKenzie...Best Friends :)

Bella's big brother, Maddox, and one of my favorite little people at church...he gives the best hugs! :)

Back To School!

2009-08-08T17:27:00.000-07:00

Well, summer is officially over...Friday was our first day of school. Brinlee is officially a second grader and Anna Grace is officially a fourth grader! I am still in Kindergarten! We all had a great first day of school and we are looking forward to a great year!

Happy 11th Anniversary!!

2009-08-01T17:55:00.001-07:00

Eleven years ago today, Clint and I were married. It is amazing how quickly the past eleven years have went by and how much has changed. We now have a beautiful family of five with three of the smartest and most beautiful girls inside and out. We are so blessed!

August 1, 1998...Our Wedding Day :)

Eleven Years Later...

Happy Birthday Paw Paw!

2009-08-01T07:32:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago, Clint took the girls to Montgomery so that I could paint Josie's room without any interruptions. While they were there, they got to go swimming at Uncle Clay and Aunt Julie's pool and got to celebrate Paw Paw's birthday. Here are some pictures that Clint took while he was there and keep in mind that I was not there to fix hair and clothing. :)

Happy 2nd Birthday Hampton!

2009-07-26T18:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we celebrated Hampton's 2nd birthday at the Chattanooga Zoo. It is so hard to believe that he and Griffin are already 2 years old! Here are a few pictures that we took at the party.

Happy Birthday to Hampton!

Keaton was brave enough to hold the snake...YUCK!

Ready to go on the tour...

Amazed...

Josie :)

PaPaw and Hampton...

Mom, Dad, and Josie...

Anna Grace and Brinlee- not happy about posing with the statue...

Lake Winnie

2009-07-26T10:06:00.000-07:00

MiMi and PaPaw took all the kids on a trip to Lake Winnie before the end of the summer. We haven't been in a couple of years so the girls were excited to get to ride on the fun rides they have there. Anna Grace and Brinlee got brave and started riding some of the "bigger" rides on this trip. It took Josie a while to warm up...she told me that she was "too big" to ride. :) She finally got on the carousel and after that there was not stopping her. Thank you MiMi and PaPaw for a fun family afternoon.

MiMi and PaPaw and all the grandkids, except Tanner...

The Benson Girls in the Tiger Girls shirts that Daddy (Clint)bought for us...he informed us that these will be our new "gameday shirts". He did a great job! They are very girly and cute! Thanks Daddy!!

Back of the shirt...

Keaton and Anna Grace on the ferris wheel...

All Aboard!

Get off the road!!

Ready to go!

Me, Kim, and Mandy...sweaty and tired from chasing kids around!

Me and the girls on the swings...Just a Swingin! I found out that you're never to old for Lake Winnie!

Swimming

2009-07-26T09:51:00.000-07:00

For the past couple of weeks, Anna Grace and Brinlee have been taking swimming lessons through Swim America. Coach Todd and his workers have done a great job at teaching the girls swimming. Anna Grace has learned to do all kinds of stuff beyond regular swimming and Brinlee can finally swim. She was scared to go under water before we started.

Here is a picture of Anna Grace swimming a lap in the pool.

Brinlee learning to streamline...Coach Todd is an Alabama fan so he liked to dunk Brinlee under for being an Auburn fan. :)

Josie was not happy because she was not big enough to get in the water. She kept saying to me that she wanted to be taller so she could be big like Anna Grace and Brinlee. She will be old enough next year to get in.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

2009-07-12T18:43:00.000-07:00

Tonight when we came in from church, we saw a beautiful rainbow. We were able to see both sides of it. We talked about how pretty all of the colors were in the rainbow. It is when you see things like this that you realize how awesome God is!

The first one isn't a very good picture of the girls, but you can see more of the rainbow.

Take 2...

Pigeon Forge Weekend

2009-07-12T18:11:00.000-07:00

This weekend we took the girls to Pigeon Forge for a couple of days. We had fun playing in the pools, eating, shopping, and riding go-carts. It was a nice family getaway. Thank you Uncle Clay for letting us stay at your place!

We hate at the Flying Horse Friday night and while we were waiting for out table, we got a free ride on the carousel.

The girls always like to ride go-carts when we are there. This time Brinlee and Anna Grace were able to ride the bigger ones by themselves. Brinlee zipped around the track and laughed loudly for everyone to hear the whole time. AnnaGrace poked around it like a grandma being very careful and cautious...because she said she didn't want to wreck. It's funny how they are so different. :)

While we are waiting on AnnaGrace and Brinlee to have their turn...

Our little race car drivers...

Daddy and Josie watching the big race...

Josie's turn...

AnnaGrace and Brinlee wanted to ride this ride that goes up in the air and then drops up and down. Josie got on it with them and let's just say, it wasn't her favorite. Look at her face in this picture.

Of course I had to get some family pics before we left...

Who said I couldn't cook??

2009-07-07T19:49:00.001-07:00

This post is for my mom, the best cook around! Seriously, ask anybody that knows her. She gave me some fresh vegetables from their garden the other day and I could tell from the tone in her voice and the look in her eyes that she doubted my ability to cook them. Not to mention, that she has called me everyday since asking me about them. On that same day, she took me to the grocery store to help me pick out meat to buy. I may be in my thirties, but you are never too old to learn how to buy groceries...I guess!
Well, tonight I attempted to make fresh fried okra for the first time in my life and look at it! It looked and tasted just like MiMi's. See Mom, there is hope for me yet! :)

Old Family Pic

2009-07-06T16:36:00.001-07:00

This is a picture that one of Clint's cousins posted on Facebook a couple of weeks ago. We have gotten a few laughs out of this! That is Clint in the lower left hand corner making a silly face. His brother, Clay, is next to him in the red shirt. They were cutie pies even at a young age. :)

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-04T18:34:00.000-07:00

This is just a few pictures we took today...nothing special. :)

Girls Trip to Nashville

2009-07-02T18:04:00.000-07:00

The Benson girls were invited to Nashville for a couple of nights by my sister, Carrie and her husband Brian. Brian was doing work up there so we took advantage and joined them for a couple of nights. My sister, Mandy, and her son, Hampton, rode up with us. We had so much fun visiting a water park, eating at Hard Rock Cafe, and on Wednesday we celebrated Keaton's 11th birthday at Rainforest Cafe. Spending time with family is always fun. Thank you McCutchens for the invite!

We all had so much fun going down the water slides!

Here is a picture of all the kids.

Hard Rock Cafe in Nashville

Outside Hard Rock Cafe...across the river is the Tennessee Titans Stadium, which you can't see. :)

Cousins :)

We celebrated Keaton's 11th Birthday at the Rainforest Cafe

Some snapshots of the girls...

2009-06-29T05:49:00.001-07:00

Atlanta Getaway and Braves Game

2009-06-28T19:14:00.001-07:00

A couple of months ago, I surprised Clint with Braves vs. Red Sox tickets. We decided to stay a few nights in Atlanta when we went to the game. We stayed in Buckhead and we ate good and had a blast at the game. We had so much fun spending a couple of days away!

Before a yummy meal at Maggiano's on Thursday night... We had lunch at Fogo de Chao on Friday...DELICIOUS!! Clint was in heaven :) Friday night, we went to the ballgame. We had so much fun watching the Red Sox and Braves play. The Braves didn't really do much that night and the Sox won 4-1. Here is a crazy video of our version of Take Me Out to the Ballgame. You will see that I am a terrible singer and Clint just moves his lips and pretends like he is singing. But there is nothing like hearing that song at a baseball game!

We watched Friday Night Fireworks after the game.

After a fun night at Turner Field! :)

Happy Father's Day...Again!

2009-06-28T18:36:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Father's Day at home. Clint took AnnaGrace and Brinlee to church and I stayed home with Josie who wasn't feeling well. We went to my mom and dad's house for a yummy Sunday dinner. I tried to get some Father's Day pictures, but they didn't turn out so well because Josie was very cranky and it was hot. You know how it goes with sick kids! :)
Daddy and his girls...

Happy Father's Day PaPaw!

Cousins having fun in the kiddie pool...

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-27T06:47:00.000-07:00

We had a big Father's Day weekend. We spent Friday night in Montgomery with Nana and PawPaw. The girls always have so much fun playing in the yard and helping Nana in the kitchen. Uncle Clay came over on Saturday for a little while. It was a nice trip!

Josie, PawPaw, Brinlee

Being Silly...

Josie and PawPaw

Helping in the kitchen...
\
Solving the problems of the world..

Benson Boys

After a long, hot day...

Brothers...

Atlanta Zoo

2009-06-18T05:06:00.000-07:00

Monday, I took the girls to the Atlanta Zoo. We went with Mandy, David, and Hampton and Kelli and the girls. We were able to get discount tickets through Hampton's playschool. We had so much fun seeing all of the animals. Josie would just stand and stare at them for as long as she could. She kept asking to see the kangaroos and thank goodness they had some! They just laid around though and she was a little disappointed that she did not get to see them jumping. We had a blast! Thank you Hampton for inviting us to go with you!

The beginning of our day at the zoo...

The Weathers with Hampton looking out the map planning where to go first...

The Kaylor Girls...

First stop...Flamingos!

Best Friends :)

All the kiddies enjoying the flamingos...

Josie feeding the birds (she is the only one brave enough to do it!)

With the elephant...(Do you know how hard it is to get 6 kids to look at the camera at the same time??)

Watching Tara, the elephant, get a bath. Josie still talks about the elephant Tara! :)

The Benson Girls on the carousel...

Cousins :)

After a long, hot, fun day at the zoo!

We had a great day at the zoo!!

Riverbend Fun

2009-06-13T16:23:00.000-07:00

This morning I did my first 5K Race, the Riverbend Run in the scenic downtown Chattanooga. For those of you that know me, you know that I do not have an athletic bone in my body! But, I agreed to do this with some friends. It has been great exercise for me. I was doing pretty good at practicing until I sprained my ankle a few of weeks ago and I kind of "fell off the wagon". I started practicing again last week and I still did the Riverbend Run and I am so happy I did. We were excited to finish our first 5K! Hopefully, now that I know what to expect, I can keep training and we can try another one in the next couple of months. Maybe I can get Clint in on the action too...

Me, Randi, Kelli, and Jeremy...after the race, all nice and sweaty!

With Randi, my coach and encourager :)

With Kelli and Jeremy...great friends!

Thursday night, we went to Riverbend with our friends Kelli and Jeremy Kaylor to see the B52's. Clint was able to get VIP passes from a guy at his work. We got to enjoy free food and sit up front at the concert. The music was okay, but being there with good friends and FREE VIP passes made it a pretty fun evening!

Love shack, baby, love shack...

Clint and I with our VIP passes...

Kelli and Tara...

Kelli and Jeremy...

Stanley Family Reunion

2009-06-12T06:29:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from the Stanley Family Reunion we went to last week in Blue Ridge. It is always nice to get together and see family that we haven't seen in a while.

This is a picture of 7 of the 9 kids in my dad's family with their kids that showed up. As you can imagine, our family is MUCH bigger than this, but everyone was not able to make it.

The Stanley Men (three brothers and a nephew)...

A picture of my first cousins that were there...

Having fun...

The girls right before we left...what you can't see is that they have mud from head to toe...

Chattanooga Lookouts Game

2009-06-12T06:13:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we took the girls to the Chattanooga Lookouts game with some friends. I didn't take my camera, but my friend Kelli sent me these pictures. Being a family of girls, we were a little bored at the game so we only stayed until the fourth inning. It was still a nice little family outing.

The Benson Girls

Josie and her bff McKenzie

Daddies...

Anna Grace's Third Grade Award's Day

2009-05-31T19:09:00.000-07:00

Anna Grace had her Award's Day on Wednesday afternoon. MiMi and PaPaw were there and Aunt Kim was in town so she got to come too! Anna Grace's certificate had 11 seals on it. She is a smart girl. She loves to read and learn. She is a teacher's dream in the classroom, always on task and never in trouble. We are so proud of her! Mom and dad love you Gracie!! Clint had to leave so I was unable to get a picture of him, but he was there!

Checking out her certificate...

With her class on stage...

With the family...

With mom...

Brinlee's First Grade Award's Day

2009-05-31T18:57:00.000-07:00

Brinlee celebrated her Award's Day on Tuesday afternoon. MiMi and PaPaw were able to come celebrate with us. We are so proud of everything that she has done this year. Mrs. Lowery calls Brinlee her "parapro" in the classroom. Brinlee doesn't mind to take control at any time. She is also the life of the party keeping her class laughing. I cannot believe that she will be starting second grade next year! We love you Brinlee Boo!!

Walking in...

Getting her certificate...

With Mrs. Lowery and Mrs. Susan...

With MiMi and PaPaw...

With Daddy...

With Mommy...

DGE Field Day

2009-05-31T18:48:00.000-07:00

couple of weeks ago we had field day at school. Here are a couple of pictures that I got of the girls. Unfortunately, I had a little fall and had to leave to go to the doctor to be checked out so I did not get any pictures of them in action.

Here is a picture of Brinlee in the opening ceremonies parade...

A picture of Anna Grace with her class...

Here is a picture of my class, Kindergarten Tug-of-War Champions for the second year in a row!!
A

Happy 2nd Birthday Griffin!

2009-05-31T09:51:00.000-07:00

Griffin turned 2 years old! Here are some pictures from his birthday party.

Raider Bowl

2009-05-31T09:29:00.001-07:00

Tanner had his spring scrimmage game a couple of weeks ago. He did a great job! I missed the second half of the game because the girls wanted to play on the inflatables. They had so much fun!!

We cannot wait until football season! We have so much fun cheering for our quaterback! Go #11!!

Brinlee and Hampton were in the paper after the Raider Bowl. I will try to post a pic on here soon.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-16T19:25:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from Mother's Day at MiMi's house.

Visit with Nana and PawPaw

2009-05-05T16:31:00.000-07:00

We visited Montgomery this past weekend. The girls have so much fun playing in Nana and PawPaw's yard. We grilled out hamburgers with everyone and watched the girls have fun.

Church Egg Hunt

2009-04-30T18:04:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, we enjoyed a beautiful day up on the mountain. Allen and Dot Womack from church are always so sweet to host the egg hunt for the little kids at church. They wait to have it so that it will be warmer and the kids can enjoying playing on their beautiful land. They have gator rides, hay rides, and all kinds of fun with a gorgeous view. Brinlee and Josie both hunted eggs and since Anna Grace opted out of hunting this year, she helped her lil sis. :)

Easter Sunday

2009-04-13T12:16:00.000-07:00

We stayed at Opryland Hotel until Sunday morning. We left Nashville and came straight to MiMi's to see Josie, who we missed terribly and for a wonderful Easter Sunday lunch and egg hunt. I wasn't able to get a good family shot in Easter dresses, but don't worry I plan on dressing the girls back up so I can get some good pictures of them. Isn't that the reason that we buy Easter clothes...so that we can get some cute pictures of them?? Here are some pictures from the day.
Josie with her bubble lawn mower from MiMi and PaPaw.

The McCutchen Family minus Brian...

3 of the 4 Stanley girls...

Josie's Bloomers :) She'll thank me for this picture one day!

And her lime green shoes :)

Hunting for eggs...

Even though we weren't home, the Easter Bunny still made sure to leave the girl's baskets for when they got home!!

More L2L Pictures

2009-04-13T07:07:00.000-07:00

Here is a group shot of East Ridge members at the convention.

Being Silly...

At Saturday Night Awards. I wasn't able to get a good family shoet, but you get the picture. People, who I used to call friends, were making fun of me for taking so many pictures. They are just jealous that they are not a proud mom like me!

Dinner with friends at Rainforest Cafe. It was Justin's birthday so they brought him this gigantic volcano dessert! Yummy!! :)

Lads to Leaders Convention at Opryland Hotel

2009-04-13T05:16:00.000-07:00

The Bensons spent this past weekend at the Opryland Hotel for Lads to Leaders. As I explained below, this was our first year to attend the L2L Convention. We had heard that it is a lot of walking and rushing from one place to another so we decided to leave Josie with my mom and dad. The rest of us had a fun time haging out at the Opryland Hotel. You will see from the pictures that the girls had lots of fun. Anna Grace did fantastic on her Bible Reading and Puppets. We also got to see a couple of my cousins and hang out with church friends while we were there. Overall, we had a fantastic first trip to Lads to Leaders!

When we first got in the room, the girls had to explore and check everything out. They discovered this one cup coffee maker and thought it was "so cooool!" She is so silly...

Pictures from our balcony (the girls spent a lot of time out here)...

Some family shots on the way to puppet performance...

My baby, looking precious and like a big girl :( ...

The 3rd Grade East Ridge Puppet Team...

Brinlee and Aubrey waiting for the puppet show...

AnnaGrace is the red headed puppet on the left.

Reading her scripture...

AnnaGrace and Alex after reading their scriptures...

My cousin, Dakota (Best Babysitter EVER!), after watching Dakota at her puppet show...

Being recognized at awards ceremony for oral bible reading...

2009-04-12T18:58:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, Anna Grace had a big day at church. She has been preparing to go to the Lads to Leaders convention in Nashville, TN. Lads to Leaders is a a program that help youth develop strong leadership skills for the future. This is Anna Grace's first year to compete so we kept it simple. She signed up for Oral Bible Reading and Puppets. For those of you that know Anna Grace, know that she is a very bright and talented young lady, but also very shy. We are excited about her being a part of Lads to Leaders so that she can shine in areas that she feels comfortable and it helps her to become closer to the Lord. Anyways, last Sunday, the young ladies our church did a service for the ladies of the congregation. Anna Grace read a bible scripture. The scripture that we chose was I John 4:7-16. This was a simple verse that talks about the importance of loving one another and it was simple for her to understand. My mom and sister also came to see her. Sunday night, the third graders did their puppet skit for the congregation. MiMi and Papaw (my mom and dad) also came to watch. We are so proud of her! Here are some pictures from the day.

MiMi, Anna Grace, Mom, and Aunt Mandy

Sunday Dinner at MiMi and PaPaw's House

Anna Grace is the first puppet on the right.

MiMi and PaPaw enjoying the show...

Dad and Brinlee watching Anna Grace in action...

Birthday at the Chattanooga Zoo!

2009-04-12T18:51:00.001-07:00

We had fun helping Kaylee celebrate her 6th birthday at the Chattanooga Zoo!

Fun with Friends at the NKOTB concert!

2009-03-17T16:44:00.001-07:00

New Kids on the Block was my favorite band ever back in middle school days. I went to see them in concert in sixth grade. I got to go with some of my best friends to see NKOTB in Nashville last night. We had so much fun catching up and laughing. Here is a picture of the group that went.

And some pictures from the night...

Brinlee Turns Seven!!

2009-03-12T17:34:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe it. Brinlee turned seven years old on March 1st. It seems like just yesterday this beautiful, little (well, maybe not little...she was over 10 lbs!) baby was born! She insisted this year that she was going to have a slumber party. AnnaGrace has had a couple of these and Brinlee sometimes get left out so she wanted to do the same to AnnaGrace. Well, AG got smart and spent the night with MiMi instead so that is why you will not see her in the pictures. She had a couple of friends from church come over for the night. We had fun eating pizza and cake, getting pedicures, and singing Disney karaoke. They had so much fun. Josie had fun pretending that she was just as big as them. It was a fun night! But, any of you that know Brinlee know that she is going to have a blast no matter what is going on. :)

Sunday, March 1st, was Brinlee's actual birthday. We had a Sunday dinner planned at PaPaw and MiMi's house to celebrate Brinlee, MiMi, and Uncle Brian's birthday. Unexpectedly, Aunt Carol, my dad's sister, had a brain aneurysm that morning and had been taken to the hospital. Several of the family members were at the hospital, but I went on to mom's to celebrate with Brinlee on her birthday. She went ahead and opened her presents from MiMi and PaPaw and MiMi had made her a High School Musical cake, which was delicious. I have posted a collage of the party at MiMi's. If you look closely, you will see Uncle Brian and Clint over in the kitchen helping to get lunch ready for the kids. Sadly, Aunt Carol passed away late Sunday night. She was a wonderful, godly woman and she will be missed.

Magic Kingdom Fun

2009-02-25T18:22:00.001-08:00

The girls watching the show at the castle...

First Parade...

Second Parade...

Workin Mom's Sunglassess...

Tomorrowland...

Monster's Inc Laugh Floor

This is a picture of Josie and I on the big screen at the laugh floor. They called us a two headed monster and then made up a song with our names. It was pretty funny! :)

This is what I did most of the trip...waiting in line, figuring out what was next. What are mommy's for?

Behind Bars...

Waiting to get Stitch's Autograph...

Stitch...

The Teacups...

The Racecars...

Mickey's Toontown Fair...

Brinlee and Josie got their faces painted. Too bad the rain was about to come in and wash most of it away. Oh well, at least we got some pictures!

After the rain and a short nap, we came back to the park for the parade and the fireworks. Here are some more front gate pictures. How can you not stop and take a picture every time you are there?

Ready for the parade...

The parade...

Wishes, the fireworks display...It was beautiful!

The Benson Five

Christmas Chorus Show

Tanner Signs with Faulkner University

Thanksgiving with Friends

Photo Session

Happy Fall

Pumpkin Contest

Happy 11th Birthday Anna Grace Benson!

Are You Ready For Some Auburn Football? WAR EAGLE!!

Labor Day Project

Grandparent's Day

Boyton Elementary School Update

Benson Family Bash

Catch Up Time! *(This is for you Lisa!)*

Happy 12th Anniversary

Update on Pre-K

Back to School Time...BOO!!

Pigeon Forge Getaway

Tara Benson, Ed.S. :)

Fun On PaPaw's Tractor

Lake Winnie

Girls Night to Huntsville

Anna Grace Goes to Fall Crek Falls Bible Camp

Nashville Rising Concert

Goodbye to a Special Woman

Nicaragua Medical Mission Part 2

Nicaragua Medical Mission 2010

Another school year comes to an end...

Tanner Graduates

Happy Mother's Day

Catch Up Time!

Round Three...Christmas at NaNa and PawPaw's House

Christmas at MiMi and PaPaw's

Santa Clause Is Coming To Town!!

Christmas Eve Fun

Rock City

Merry Christmas!

The Grand and Glorious Christmas Show

Christmas Fun!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!!

Elf Yourself

Thanksgiving #2

Happy Thanksgiving!

New Member of the Benson Family

Three Little Witches

First Winning Season in Sixteen Years!!

Anna Grace's Birthday at Nana and Paw Paw's

Dug Gap Teachers Tailgate

Benson Girls Rock Out

Sunday Fun

Happy 10th Birthday AnnaGrace!!

Getting Caught Up...

Happy 35th Birthday Daddy!

Circus

Homecoming and Football

Proud Mom :)

Happy Birthday McKenzie!

WAR EAGLE BABY!!!!

Football Friday

Big Win!!

Friday Night Football...continued

Jonas Brothers Concert

Friday Night Football!!!

Princess Josie

Back To School!

Happy 11th Anniversary!!

Happy Birthday Paw Paw!

Happy 2nd Birthday Hampton!

Lake Winnie

Swimming

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Pigeon Forge Weekend

Who said I couldn't cook??

Old Family Pic

Happy 4th of July

Girls Trip to Nashville

Atlanta Getaway and Braves Game

Happy Father's Day...Again!

Happy Father's Day

Atlanta Zoo

Catch Up Time! (This is for you Lisa!)