The Day Before the Night Before...

It has been a busy fall. John graduated from DARE program at his school. DARE stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. The DARE officer was so nice and sweet and all the boys had crushes on her. Here she is giving John his diploma:

Here she is giving her speech:

Here is the keynote speaker, a Charlotte morning show host from Fox News Rising, Steve Lyerly. He was very good and joked that after hearing the essays from these kids he was, "definitely not smarter than a fifth-grader". He was actually filling in for his co-host Beth Troutman, who was a Miss Cabarrus County years ago and is now a Charlotte celebrity too.

...and finally here is our very local celebrity, the principal, Mr. Cochran with John:

It was an exciting day for everyone. These kids learn so much from the DARE officer and have a good basic knowledge with which to fend off offers of drugs. I hope they can all remember what they've learned and take it with them into middle and high school. Sadly, there are rumors that this is the last year that DARE will be offered to our school due to funding, which I think would be a huge mistake. I remember when Jen and Dave had it and they still remember their DARE officer very well and what all he taught them. I will find out more about that after school starts back up.

We also did a lot of hiking this fall. Here are the boys hiking...I was there too, taking the picture. I made it almost to the top. What a beautiful day that was. I love the mountains!

 The boys made the walking sticks. They made me one too! We were such hikers...we looked just like the signs that indicate hiking areas all over the parkway.

This past week we had parties at school. Here is John and one of his friends at lunch before they got all hyped up on sugar. I think they were anticipating it though...

Jen came in to the school to help out with the parties since we had two at once and her Christmas break started a week and a half ago. Here she is helping Michael build his gingerbread house.

Jenileigh gave Michael some really good ideas and I was able to go around and help some of the kids whose parents couldn't make it to the party. Sadly, there were quite a few.

 

I wanted to share this with you all...what a difference five years makes...

I cannot believe how young the kids look in the 2002 photo. Why does the time have to go by so quickly?

Merry Christmas to all!

Rain, Rain Come Today!

Evidence of the drought in this area. It looks pretty bad around here. Luckily our lake looks better than most. These pictures are the large lake (left) and a smaller one that feeds into it. Pray for rain for us please.

November is Upon Us!

November is here with Thanksgiving only 16 days away. Time for turkey and the fixings. Jenileigh tells me she is looking forward to coming home for all that. We are all looking forward to all six of us sitting down to a big dinner again.

Recently we spent a few days up near the Boone area where Jen is in school. It was beautiful. The trees were in peak fall colors and it was crisp and cold. They had just come off of 5 days of rain which they badly needed as do we in the Concord area. I don't know if the rain helped or what but I thought the colors were the prettiest I've seen since we started going up to that area annually 6 years ago.

Jen is so happy at Appalachian. Her grades are great and she is staying very busy. She gets to travel around with Gospel Choir and that's been fun for her. I'm so happy she's happy! Here are a few pictures of when she was home for her fall break.

Some fall color in the Boone area.

Pretty tree in the mountain neighborhood.

Appalachian State

 

Our little cabin in the big woods in the mountains...no really, our new house...no really.

There is the cabin upper left. We already have a driveway too. :)

Toothfairy Visits Wax Family Again

*By the way, in case you couldn't tell, this was his first lost tooth.

First Day of School!

...and the boys are off!

It's a bit sad this year, not only missing Jenileigh but the fact that this will be the last year the younger boys will be in school together. They are big buds. They had a great day and were so chatty on the way home talking about their first days. John is committed to not pulling any below the lines. He got a collection of them for "inappropriate talking" which he thought the first time meant he had said bad words, which he knew he hadn't and was upset more about that than the fact that he got into trouble at all. He gets it now. No talking when your not supposed to. I think this 5th grade year will really prepare him well for middle school next.

Long Week

This has been a long week at the end of a very short summer. The boys all start back to school tomorrow and I will hopefully be able to post their traditional first day back photos. Davis goes into 11th, John into 5th and Michael into 1st. This will be the last year that John and Michael will ever be in the same school. Kinda sad, dontcha think? Jenileigh left around 3:00 pm  to head back to college. She came home Friday afternoon. She missed her exit and drove about an hour out of the way, a mistake I doubt she will make again. Anyway, since we drove to the mountains midweek last week, we aren't having too much trouble with separation. She will plan to come home on weekends, at least until Kenny leaves for NY.

So, I will be driving the younger boys to school as the bus was not the best situation last year for them. That should be okay, especially since I plan to meet a friend downtown and walk for an hour or so after I drop them off. I really need to come on home and catch up on all the laundry that has accumulated over the summer. It is amazing how bad it can get. I did manage to get all of Jen's done Saturday so she had a bag full of clean stuff to take to her dorm room. She seemed excited to get back to classes and all the activity on campus. I guess my next project will be to organize what is left in her room, box up stuff, get rid of clothes she doesn't want anymore. It makes me sad and tired.

Storms are rolling in. I love summer storms.

Jen leaving to go back to college.

Moving to App

We move her on Wednesday. What will I do without my girl here? Can she really be this age? I feel my heart breaking.