Christmas

We enjoyed the past several days being at home with our family. Although we wished our extended family lived closer it was nice taking it easy and not traveling.

On Christmas Eve, Austin and I made some cookies and other goodies and took them to our local firehouse. We so appreciate everything they do to keep us as safe as possible. That night we headed to church for our traditional Christmas Eve service, it was very nice. Then off to dinner with the Kemp family. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed it!

On Christmas morning, we were able to sleep in a little since Austin didn't come out of his room until about 9am, thinking we were still sleeping. What a sweetie:) Terry (Paw Paw) came over and we were able to hang out together and he and Austin played dominoes. For lunch, it was the untraditional steaks and baked potatoes. We ended up watching movies that night and enjoying each other's company.

It doesn't have to be fancy to be enjoyable...we are truly blessed. We are ready to see what God has in store for 2010.

Taylor and Austin

We made our way to Flowery Branch to spend some time with our cousins on Wednesday. It is always a treat to see the excitement of Christmas through the eyes of a toddler. After playing for a while we headed to LaParilla to eat. What a great time. I am glad we had the chance to see them all and exchange pictures. Merry Christmas Leigh Ann, Jason, Taylor and Jan!

Christmas is coming...

This past weekend we were able to go to Birmingham and spend an early Christmas with some of our family. We first had a great lunch with Dad, Nana, Holly, Aaron, Betty, Ricky, John, Kat, and Ginny. We had a great time catching up and guys enjoyed football. Saturday evening we went to see Joan and the rest of my family. Heath unfortunately couldn't seem to find the sidewalk and ended up half in the yard and half on the sidewalk twisting his ankle. Sunday, we came home, spent a few hours in urgent care finding out it was thankfully just a sprain. He has worked this week, but still is having some swelling if he is on his feet for too long.

Our Life Group Christmas party was last night. We played Bunco, a first for many of us.
I am looking forward to a relaxing week catching up on some much needed housework before Christmas and then some time working on my final projects for school. Rest is key and fun along the way, too.

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Birthday!

I had an incredible week. Preparing for Thanksgiving was easier having a few days off. We were honored to have the Kemp family join us for Thanksgiving dinner. Bryan, Missy, and their fun brood entertained Austin the whole day. It was so fun to eat, sit around and get to know our new friends better. The Russell's stopped by for a while from Charlotte. It is always nice to catch up with old friends too. Terry came over for dinner and the guys finished watching the Dallas Cowboys win...it is always better in our house if that happens! LOL!
After the game we headed to Birmingham to see another side of our family. We went to my Dad and Stepmom's. The girls got up early and headed shopping to see if we could catch some deals. Not too bad of a crowd and we each seemed to find some bargains. We made it back and the boys tossed around the football getting ready for the big game. For the Iron Bowl, we headed to see my sister and her family. We were able to stay a while after the football game, enjoy a bonfire, and play our own game, Apples to Apples (very fun)! We went back to my Dad's for the evening to enjoy dessert, which included my cookie cake...YUMMY. My family knows what I like.
I am so blessed with a wonderful family and great group of friends. I am truly thankful for them all:)

It has been a great few weeks...celebrating Heath's birthday, our 17th wedding anniversary and winding down to our Thanksgiving break. This past week was fun at school with the kiddies...making scarecrows, pilgrims, and other activities.

I am excited about the coming week to enjoy our family and friends. So often it seems that we lose sight of what really matters. May everyone enjoy this Thanksgiving and be thankful for whoever is around you, not necessary what things may fill your life.

Austin's costume was supposed to be a Mafia guy, wearing a suit and hat and carrying a toy gun. He asks Friday night when we were going to "get" his costume. Oops...I thought he would be wearing clothes he already had. We went out this morning on the hunt for a costume. He ended up choosing this escaped convict costume. He paid for it himself and was happy as can be with it. He put it on to go to work at PumkinFest, our church's annual community outreach Halloween event. Everyone got a big kick out of it and with him claiming to be "working off" his 100 hours of community service. We had fun even though it ended up being a misty, wet day! He had fun trick-or-treating with a couple of friends tonight, so all is well!

The Fair and Fun

It was close to Austin's birthday, so I took him to the fair. He ate a foot-long corn dog and I attempted to eat a funnel cake...too greasy. I made him ride the flying ship ride, rocking back and forth. He wasn't a big fan. Hopefully I haven't scarred him too bad! For his birthday he wanted to go out to eat with our family to the Japanese steakhouse for hibatchi. it was fun.

We have had so much rain, not much time to actually play soccer. Hopefully, drier weather is coming our way to enjoy the last few weeks of the season. Go Spain.

The Flood of 2009

We are very fortunate that our house didn't get much damage, just a little wet carpet and some water in our garage. There are so many people that live not too far from us that suffered horrific damage. Clarkdale Elementary School was totally lost. Two other elementary schools in the area worked very hard to get ready to receive the students and teachers. Other areas were extremely effected as well. Donations are being taken at grocery stores, churches and schools all around for so many people who suffered. Please donate clothing, school supplies, nonperishable food items, or gift cards wherever you can. Also, keep all of these families in your prayers.

It's the Mafia!

What a great night planned by Eric and Leigh Anne Lynch. Our Life Group usually gets together for dinner and fellowship once a month. This time was much different...Mafia night. From the red and white checkered table cloths, Lasagna as the meal and our Mafia costumes, this night was such a blast. We topped it off by playing the "who done it game, Mafia". A game we must get do again soon:) The gun is real, but not loaded!

Betty's Surprise 60th Birthday Party

What a great time had by all of our family at Betty's surprise birthday party. Holly and I had to be so sneaky to pull this off but somehow we managed to do it! So many people were able to come and share Betty's 60th birthday. Family, friends from church and former teachers made this night so special. Austin had fun trying to catch some video footage of the event. Thanks to Ashley Cox for getting some really good pictures for us and for all the guests for keeping our little secret to make the night truly a surprise.

Come on, Fall...

It is our fourth week of school already. Time seems to be going by pretty fast. Our first holiday coming up next Monday. Yeah!!! A lot has been going on...Soccer is gearing back up, first game is Sept 12th. Terry is moving to town on the same day. We are very excited for that. Wednesday nights at church are in full swing now, too.

I am now in my second set of college classes, after more than 17 years. It is amazing what you can do when you're older than you couldn't when you were younger. It isn't easy, but I am much more prepared mentally to handle it.

Started back to work four weeks ago, also. This year is much different than last year. Working in Autism is not what I expected, it is so much more. I am learning new things all the time. I really wanted my job back that I had last year, but I know that God put me in my current position for a purpose. Is it to show me that there is more options to edcuation than what I had already been exposed to? I am not sure, but am glad for the opportunity for this experience....it is defintely an experience.

Looking forward to Fall weather and the new soccer season..we'll be posting photos soon of all the action. New level and team this year...Go Spain!

The Last Few Weeks of Summer

It has been very interesting waiting out these past few weeks. I had been applying for different Parapro positions around so that I could keep my same schedule and have Austin still go to the school he had been attending. As promised, God does provide. On the last day of my insurance, the Friday before teachers started back to school, I received a wonderful phone call from the principal I worked with last year. She offered me a position that she had just received allotment for. I was so relieved, surprised, thankful...all of the above. My new position will be working with Autistic children. I am very excited. During these last few weeks, Austin has been very busy, too. His Sunday School teachers took them bowling for their "end of summer" party. Everyone had such a great time. This past week, as I went back to work, Austin spent the week with Nana and Pawk. He had a blast going to Backyard bible School, the driving range twice- where he hit a ball 135 yds - not bad, having a blast at a summer party at their church with water games, slides, etc and topping the week off with a Baron's baseball game, with a foul ball souvenier to boot! Thanks Nana and Pawk for a great week! We went to spend some time with Tina, Tim and Teddy at their new home before heading back home. What a great place to shoot Tim's BB gun - he loved this part so much:) School starts back Monday and it will be Austin's last year in elementary school. Is this possible?

Children's Camp

Children's Camp - what a wonderful week we had with these great kids. Where else can you see grown men's shirts being stuffed with water balloons, kids unfolding frozen T-shirts and trying to put them on, a thirty-year old man doing a back handspring, picking up pennies with ONLY your feet out of freezing cold water, carrying water in frisbies above your head, camp leaders blasting kids with silly string and water and singing around a campfire.. all in the same place?

Aside from a few homesick episodes and insect bites, all 71 kids seemed to have had a good time. They were 2nd - 5th graders, mostly from our church. I have to say I learned alot about girls, being in a cabin with five 5th graders heading into middle school and two younger girls. It was so different from my everyday life, but I enjoyed it throroughly.

4th of July

We headed down to Panama City (Water Sound, FL) to stay with Betty (Cork) for the weekend. Nana, Pawk, Holly and Aaron met us there. Thursday we all arrived and went to eat dinner at Reggae J's. We discovered this place last year and had to go back again. This is where Heath found his LOVE of fish tacos. Friday we headed to the beach and pool for the day. That evening we ate at The Club, which is always a treat. At dark, the neighborhood was hosting "Flick & Float" where the kids bring their float to the main pool and watch a movie on the big, inflatable screen. They watched Ratatouille. It was fun, but I was ready to relax afterwards in the A/C. Holly and Aaron's friends (Jessica and Jamie) from Dothan were in town and stopped by for a while. There were lots of laughs, of course. After just a few hours of sleep, we got up bright and early on Saturday, the 4th of July. We were invited to a party and parade. What gracious hosts...they let us hang out, eat and watch the parade. It wasn't exactly the Thanksgiving Macy's Day Parade, but fun and unexpected nonetheless. They threw beads, candy and coupons. It was all over about 9am or so. We headed back to Betty's for a rest. All the guys took a nap, us ladies hit the beach and pool again. Betty made a great dinner for us and we celebrated Dad's birthday. Afterwards we headed to the beach for pictures and then watched fireworks. Betty's two little doggies didn't like the noise much, but survivied. The power went off right before we left to take pictures and wasn't on after the fireworks. Thankfully, it came back on just in time for bed. Sunday morning came too fast and it was time for us to all head home. I hope Betty will allow us to come back..we all had such a great time staying with her. What great conversations we all had, discovering different things about each other... Hopefully, at times like these, we will take the initiative to leave phones, computers and TVs alone and enjoy the people that God surrounded us with.

Poolside Pals

Today was another sticky, humid, and lovely day in the South! The Walden's came over after church for lunch and a dip in the pool. Unfortunately, some thunder ran the kids out of the pool a little sooner than they wanted. We came back inside for some air conditioning and great conversation. It so nice to have such wonderful friends to hang out with that are real, let you be yourself and love you anyway! Thanks to Reese, Lauren and Brooke for coming and keeping Austin company for the afternoon!

Stone Mountain/AtlantaFest

We had such a great family day Saturday. We got to the park around 10:30 am and we left about 10:30 pm. Stone Mtn was great. We bathed in SPF 55 and wre ready to go. We walked alot and sweated alot. We saw a few new shows and experienced SkyHike. That was a new adventure we had never tackled before. Some of the pics may explain this one. AtlantaFest was part of the package we had. It was a several-day event that had different Christian music artists performing throughout the festival. We were able to see Casting Crowns, oh what a treat. They were awesome. It was great to see a couple of thousand people enjoying the same music and worshipping together!

Vacation Bible School

Where do I begin? VBX (Vacation Bible Xtreme) was such a blast. Austin loved it and so did I. I worked on the "Craft Express" where I traveled around to different Preschool and Pre-k classes and did crafts with them. It was so enjoyable meeting a lot of new people and seeing these little ones have such a good time. Count me in for every summer I am able to help. What a great blessing it was for everyone involved! Tonight was our end of VBX celebration, where the kids showed us all of the music they had learned throughout the week. Also Wild Wonders came and shared some cool Australian animals with us. We saw a kangaroo, crocodile, two different pythons, a jackrabbit, kookaburra, and a large lizard. Here are pics of just a few of them.

Loaded and ready...

Austin has been obsessing about guns lately. Playing military games and watching the Military Channel has defintely contributed. Here he is with his new Aerosoft pistol he bought (with Paw Paw's help). He and his friends all seem to have these and love to play together finding targets in the woods, thankfully not near cars, houses or people. I'm not sure what the next toy craze will be, we'll find out soon enough:)

Soccer Party

Soccer is over but we decided to have a little pool party for the soccer team and their families. The guys bonded playing pool and the kids stayed in the pool. Us ladies just hung out and talked. It was fun for us all! We will have a little different team in the Fall since most of our boys are already ten. Three of our players won't be going to the next level yet. We will miss them and know that they will do great on their new team. Congratulations Chelsea Fire on a great season. You all are awesome!

Well, we decided to dive in and tear off our existing "deck" which consisted of a partially rotten walkway and a set of stairs leading out to the backyard. Oh, and by the way, you may can see the non-working grill attached to the corner of the walkway as well. After the walkway was torn off, we found that there had been some water damage on the siding. Fortunately, it wasn't too bad and only had to replace a couple of boards. We are adding a larger walkway and stairs down to a deck. This is the first step of a few that will be done someday down the road. I am excited to have a shaded area to sit and relax. Here are a couple of before and after pictures. I will post more after the deck is stained and underpinned, but it probably be alittle while.

Happy Memorial Day

Heath has been working hard in the yard all weekend, pressure washing, getting rid of limbs, etc. Heath stayed home and got some more work done while Austin and I headed up to see Jason and Leigh Ann. It has been a while since we have seen them and this seemed to be a good day to go. We enjoyed hanging out with them. We gave Taylor his belated birthday gift, a soccer ball and a Curious George book. Austin and Taylor played forever with the soccer ball. We went to the pond to feed the ducks, but ended up feeding the fish instead. After cooling off a bit, we went to the playground. The boys really had a good time playing together today. Taylor is getting so big, I can't believe he is three already!