Leslie Family Reunion (Memorial Day 2018)

Each year we gather at my Uncle Alan's house in Cosby, TN for the Leslie family reunion. It's also known as Camp Cockamamie (Cosby is in Cocke County, TN). We had a great turnout, but were missing many cousins.

My dad and his siblings.




Vince and I shared a condo in Gatlinburg with Barbara and Jerry & the boys. We had a nice visit, but wished the rain had stayed away a bit more than the short time it did. The boys loved the aquarium. I loved shopping in Pigeon Forge and downtown Gatlinburg.

MBA from Gardner-Webb University

For the past three years, I've taken 1 or 2 classes each semester to earn my MBA online from Gardner-Webb University. My co-workers and managers with very supportive and encouraging. I am so thankful for my husband who was my biggest cheerleader. He helped get the boys in bed on nights I had Web-Ex classes. My parents and in-laws helped watch the boys during test times or during long projects. I managed to get a 4.0 (all A's) and graduated summa cum laude. Gardner-Webb does not recognize this honor during commencement or on their diplomas, so I was a little bummed about it not showing on anything. However, I was inducted into the honor society and wore the cords for graduation. My major was in Management Information Systems. Funny enough, this also wasn't on any of my formal documents. The school gave each graduate student a medal with the school's emblem on it. The tassel also had the school emblem.



We celebrated Mother's Day and Graduation at the Piedmont Club.

My work had a celebration set up in my office for me with hundreds of balloons and decorations.


The balloons had lots of handwritten congratulations on them.

Mother's Day

A friend of mine gave me the ideas to use wooden letters in a photo op for Mother's Day gifts for my mom and mother-in-law. Vince helped me paint the heart red. We ran the boys outside 10 minutes before a rain storm hit and snapped some pictures. They turned out better than I imagined! Not bad for having zero photography skills. I'm more shocked that Evan smiled and Alex looked at the camera. The letters got thrown a bit, but we ended up with a great finished product.

We Love You!

Spring 2018

Spring finally arrived after months of cold weather. We attended some spring flings and played outside a bit. The boys had school activities for soccer, field day, and gymnastics.

Sarah's Funeral

My cousin Sarah passed away after a brief illness with dementia, followed by a stroke. We loved Sarah. She was so fun to be around and always came to see us when we were in Florida. She and my mother were first cousins. I decided to take Alex and ride with my parents to the funeral in Florida. Evan and Vince hung out at home and did guy stuff.
Kim flew into Florida and Billy drove to meet us down there. We saw so many cousins. We have a huge extended family.


We saw tall cousins.


We saw short cousins.



It was great seeing my great aunt, Wilma.

Alex had a hard time saying funeral, so he kept referring to it as a funerator. I think it was cross between a theater and funeral. He loved playing with his cousins, and had a hundred questions about why people die, heaven, and grave yards. We miss you, Sarah!

Easter 2018

This Easter seemed to go by quickly. We had a few Easter Egg hunts/fairs, saw the Easter Bunny, attended church, made bunny pancakes, and ate a great lunch at City Range.

Evan's Shadow

At the end of last school year, we wrote into the IEP (individualized education plan) that Evan must have a shadow with him at school at all times. The teacher and assistant teacher were just too busy with many other special needs kiddos to watch him constantly. He was eating crayons daily. He requires a lot of hand over hand interaction to perform activities. He has no sense of safety such as on the stairs or running off.

This year began with Evan having the best shadow I could have ever asked for. I had never met Hannah until meet the teacher day with Evan. She was obviously an angel sent from above. The two clicked and Evan loved going into school this year as soon as I said, "let's go find Hannah." For the past couple of years it was a wrestling match with an octopus trying to get Evan out of the car without him clutching the seat belt in a death grip. This year, he went right in with no issues at all. He smiled every day and reached up to take her hand to go to class.

Since that first day, I found out that Hannah lives down the road from us and goes to our church. We see her all the time now. She has become such a wonderful family friend. Both boys love her dearly. I was very concerned about next year with Evan attending a new school. He's been at the CDC for 3 years. He knew the routine. A new school, all new staff, and longer days were worrisome. I can't tell you how thrilled I am to find out last week that Hannah will be moving to Evan's new school with him to remain as his shadow. They click very well. She helps him communicate with his new device and keeps him on task. We love our Hannah!!