My Big Boys & Girl

Finally I am getting the October birthday pics on here. This is Davis and Michael. Ten years and 100 pounds separate them. Aren't they cuuuute?

Sonday

Church today and boy was it nice. Dedicated the new sanctuary which was so exciting and the place was packed. Time to build a new one? What a nice problem to have. Both services met at 10 so we had twice the amount as usual. Music was great, especially the Hallelujah chorus....a glimpse of heaven, truly.

Well, thought I'd share a couple more pics of the half-pipe. Almost done. Tim is going to enclose the base so the little boys have a fort and then I think he is going to start on a tree house. What a good Daddy he is. I love that man, I do.

Half-Pipe

I thought it was time to show the building of the half pipe in the backyard as it has monopolized Tim's spare moments as of late. It is almost ready. These pics show the beginning stages. He has put a lot of sweat into this. Davis and some of the neighborhood kids have really pitched in too. I think we should put up a ferris wheel next, dontcha think? That way kids from all over Cabarrus county can stop by our house. LOL!

Well, today is Thanksgiving Eve! Time to get cooking! Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and enjoy the days off from school and work. It will just be the six of us but we will make the best of it. Davis is most excited to have a feast. He inspires me to make some tasty things. It is somewhat disconcerting, however, to know that his favorite Thanksgiving dish is canned (gasp!) cranberry sauce. LOL! Well, I'm off to prepare. God Bless everyone at this special time of thanksgiving...and let's remember Who we are to thank.

 

Fall Trip-Peak of Color

We had a great trip to Blowing Rock this past weekend. It was a fun trip and we celebrated Michael's fourth birthday. We really enjoyed ourselves and Jenileigh drove her car with me riding shotgun and all the guys riding with Tim in the Avalanche. We traded the Yukon for an RX-8. Fun trade, huh? We went to Tweetsie Railroad. The younger kids loved it, the older ones tolerated it. LOL! It was fun to see Michael's reaction to everything. He had a blast. Check out the pics.I finished another scarf this weekend, working on another. There is so much to do, and so little time!

Gotta go clean some bathrooms....my favorite chore. Yeah, right!

What a weekend, and it ain't over yet!

Yesterday, September 11th of course, I got a speeding ticket! My first one ever. I think I cried all day long, off and on. What a humilitating experience. The patrol man wasn't very nice in that he said I was just being polite because of the circumstances. That really offended me! I am not a rude person, and I knew I was wrong so why be rude? So weird! Icing on the cake of humiliation. Oh well, guess I'll slow down. I really was not aware of how fast I was going as I was deep in thought about events in our lives right now. Like I said, what a weekend. Hopefully, today will be better.

Thought I'd share some pics of our dogs. Cute huh?

Days of our Existence

Closing in on the end of week number 2 with Mrs. Wax visiting and it has been very nice. I finished a scarf for her and she loved it. Tim took her picture with it on along with Precious on her lap and you can see the color is perfect for her.

Today we went out shopping and so forth after she had her bloodwork done at the hospital to see if she needed the Procrit shot. Happily, she did not need it. To celebrate she and I went to Ruby Tuesdays for the salad bar and then to Belk, Christopher & Banks and then the Gap. After the mall, we then went to the Black-Eyed Susan for a few minutes. They were having their sidewalk sale with most things b/w 50 and 75% off. I got a whole sack of goodies for a mere 12 bucks. It was so cool. Also, at the Gap I bought Tim about 4 nice dress shirts for work. He wears mediums now since he is sooo buff. LOL! It was a very good day.

Jen and Dave brought home progess reports yesterday and they both had all A's. This is so awesome. I am so proud of my teenagers. It is a struggle but they are doing very well. Hard to balance honors classes and swimming and football. I am not sure I could have done it at their age. When I think about it, I had a very boring schedule and still didn't manage all A's. They are awesome kids!

Michaels' First Day of Pre-School!

Today was Michael's first day of pre-school and then he went to gymnastics afterwards. He had a great time! What a fun day he had. I think it will be a great year for him. He is such sweet boy.

First Fancy Scarf!

I'm so proud! I just finished my first scarf that I plan to give as a gift. It is soooo pretty! It started out to be for my dear daughter but then decided a college age friend whose birthday is next week might really enjoy it...so....I will make dear daughter another one! I am having a hard time giving it away as it is so pretty, even if I do say so myslef! LOL! It measures 5 1/2 " W by 5 1/2' L. I've named it Chelsea after the friend I'm giving it to! :)

First Day of School

Well, today was the first day of school for Jen, Dave and John. Michael and I had a quiet day at home, with me just trying to organize and get paperwork done. I ran a virus scan on the computer and got scrapbooking stuff in order (somewhat). Here are a few pics of the kid's first day. I sure did miss them. And to beat it all, Tim went back to work after being off all week. I've been mighty lonesome. Did a bit of knitting also. Tried to keep busy so I wouldn't think about how much I miss the kiddos. Davis is still at football practice. Jen starts swimming in September so for now our schedule will be a bit slower. We booked Chetola for October 9-12. Can't wait for that trip. We'll celebrate Michael's Birthday. Yippee!

Trip to the Mountains...

Got back today from Chimney Rock with the whole crew. Had a great time. Lots of LOUD motorcycles and loud people but the actual Chimney Rock was nice. It was so nice and cool and we slept all night with the windows open. It was a last hurrah before school starts tomorrow for the oldest three...they all dread it. Hope it goes well. I will miss them terribly.

Took the car in today. Wow! The lot was filled with terribly torn up cars! Made me feel better about mine. It is still a pain though. It makes me so sad that I had a stupid accident. But like Tim says, it could have been worse. Always keep that in mind. Thank goodness no one was hurt.

Hair Accident

Well, well, well. I had a big day yesterday....I got all my hair cut off AND was in a car accident. A lady rammed me in the side of the Yukon XL as I was turning left. What an ordeal. Poor thing. She was elderly and had Parkinsons real bad and she thought I had hit her. Obviously she hit me and she must have floored it cause she hit me hard. THe most important thing was that neither of us was hurt. I am a bit nervous to get back in the car. My first car accident ever. Scary stuff.

Mama Mia!

Mama Mia! was so fun! What a great show! We all enjoyed ourselves and it was great to spend time with good friends. (that was my favorite part) Today is rather busy with Ed Rumsey this am and a hair appointment this afternoon. I may get it all cut off...am I brave enough for that? We'll see. Ha!

Dentist and Mama Mia Tonight

Davis to the dentist. I am in the process of reading two books. One is "Natasha, The Biography of Natialie Wood" and "Devil in the White City". Both are equally good and I can't put one down to pick up the other. Good problem to have for a reader! I'll have a bit of time to knit in the waiting room. I used to dread waiting rooms but I like em now that I can do something with my hands. Jen and I will be going to see Mama Mia tonight with the Fosters. I think that will be a blast. We'll eat dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery. Can't wait.

Mellow Yello

Today was pretty mellow. Jen's last day to volunteer and I picked her up at the hospital around noon. The boys played outside and video games and just hung out. Davis skateboarded with Ryan and Travis a bit and Jen visited with Jesse when his mom got home. Tim cooked some salmon on the stove and we had leftover birthday cake. Tim's off tomorrow and I have to take Davis to get his tooth pulled in preparation for his braces next Monday.
I know he will be glad of that...to get that underway. He's gonna be soooo cute! Well, I gotta turn in. I'm getting tired and yawny.

Swim Meet

Yesterday Jen swam very well. Out of 5 events she improved her time in 4....her freestyle 200 improved by 16 seconds which is huge. She qualified for state in her 50 freestyle so way cool for her! It was another hot day, but maybe 5 degrees cooler and the sun went behind clouds by late afternoon which was a nice break. Glad to be home! Missed the family. Jen worked her little fanny off. She is awesome! No luck on finding our friends today either. As hot as it was, I am sure they high tailed it out of there and headed for home!

These pictures are of Jen's backstroke...easy ones to take since you see her face the whole time! LOL She improved her time on backstroke by 5 seconds...not too shabby! :)

Shelby Swim

Well, today is day 2 of Lenoir Swim Meet. We leave this am to drive 1 1/2 hours so Jen can swim in three events. She swam 2 yesterday and did great in her 50. She took 2 seconds off her best time and that will qualify her for state if there is a school swim team this year. We looked for friends of ours who are swimming with a different team but were never able to spot them. They swam in the am so maybe we can find them today. We are having a nice weekend despite the hear. John turned 8 on Sat. and we had a  breakfast birthday complete with candles on a pile of donuts. Then Jen and I hit the road for Lenoir. We called onstar to help once we arrived in Lenoir and had a nice conversation with one of their people. He actually was from Charlotte. Anyway, after the meet we drove home to a wonderful Chicken and Dumplings meal that Tim made in John's honor and then we all had birthday cake. What a full day! I was exhausted and slept soundly.

John, Michael and I Swim

This morning I swam with John and Michael for about an hour. I tried to knit a bit, but they wanted me in the water with them so I had to jump on in! We had fun splashing around and diving for the rocket. John and I floated around on the rafts a bit near time to get out and I said to him, "When you are back in school you are going to think back on this and remember what fun we had." He said, "I'm going to think back on this when I'm a grown up and miss doing this." I thought that was soo sweet and insightful for an almost 8 year old boy to realize. We are really trying to enjoy the last few weeks of summer. I know they want school to start to see friends and get into a routine but after about 2 weeks they are going to wish it was summer again. Isn't that the way life works. We humans are never satisfied! LOL!

I want to see if this actually works. If it does...cool!

 

Just a note....I was checking to see if the instant message works with the Journal. It is a nice feature but if you have more than say 10 lines of journaling it won't hold it all. I must make a mental note of that.

What will today hold?

Tim is off today and we have no actual plans. Jen will swim this am but the rest of the day is open and free! I love these summer days.

What's Gong On

Today makes Day 5 since I started knitting! I had attempted it over a year ago and gave up due to vertigo, but I've tried again and it's working out very well. I have already knitted my daughter a beautiful plum colored scarf and I'm starting on my youngest son's blueish denim one. I hope I stick with it! We had a great day today. It was a no TV day so the little ones played games and I helped them with a Spiderman puzzle. Michael, 3, really was better at it than I thought he would be. John and Michael also spent a lot of time outside as the weather has been a bit cooler lately. The older two Jen and Dave rode the dirt bike and four wheeler all afternoon and we finished off the day by meeting Daddy at Chili's and having a fun dinner. He had a meeting at the hospital he had to wait around for, so the rest of us are all back home winding down for the evening.

By the way, the photo was taken at Halloween about 2 years ago. I was Spa Lady. I think I scared the kids at the door to death. One little girl wouldn't come near me...I "kinda" felt bad, but couldn't help but be tickled.