Merry Christmas

We pray each of you have a very Merry and Blessed Christmas and New Year!

...from the Fosters – Lance, Heidi, Riley and Owen

Christmas Baking

We baked last weekend at Nanny's house (my Mom). We made Divinity, Gingerbread Cookies, Chocolate Covered Pretzels, Toffee, Praline, Sausage Balls and Monkey Munch. The pictures are of the boys all decorating their gingerbread men and one of them stirring the monkey munch.

We did more baking yesterday with Nana and made lots of cookies. They all decorated another gingerbread man and also made lots of chocolate chip and M&M cookies. Somehow I forgot my camera yesterday, but hopefully Nana will share some of her pics with me that I can post here. She had the cutest aprons for each of the kids all with matching hats. Owen's was Santa, Riley wore the Gingerbread one, Abby's was a cupcake, Kalyee a puppy and Tyler's was red/white checked. Very cute!

Here are pics from last weekend at Nanny's:

Polar Express

*** 12/22/08 - UPDATED WITH PICTURES ***

I'll add pictures later. A stomach bug is making it's way through our house this week. This is all I could muster up the energy to publish today...

Wow! What a fun day we had on Saturday. As I’d mentioned, we drove up to Chattanooga to ride on the ‘Polar Express’ train Saturday evening. It was one of those experiences that I know the kids will remember for a long time.

We boarded the train in our pajamas about 5:30pm. Soon after we boarded and got settled in our seats, the hostesses made their way down the aisle serving everyone a gingerbread cookie and a YooHoo! Owen was quick to notice that these cookies they served us, which were made in by Santa’s chef and served with ‘magic dust’ sprinkles, looked suspiciously liked the Little Debbie ones we had at home. I think I was able to convince him that although they looked similar, ours at home certainly didn’t have Santa’s magic dust.

After the train departed the station and we oo-ed and ahh-ed over the light displays outside our windows, the story-teller came out and read The Polar Express and she walked up and down the aisle. It helped that the kids had all just watched the movie on the ride up in PawPaw and Nana’s Navigator, so it was all fresh in their mind. Owen wondered if the conductor would be by to punch our ticket. And Abby asked about whether we would go down the out-of-control hill they did in the movie.

Soon after the story ended, we heard the locomotive whistle blow which they’d already told us meant we were about to enter the ‘magic tunnel’. Once we made our way through the tunnel we were in the North Pole. Soon we were seeing Santa’s Workshop and feeding stations for each of the reindeer. We even made a dramatic stop when one of the pesky reindeer decided to block the tracks. In a few minutes, Santa’s came into view as he stood track-side and waved at all the passengers. Once our train came to a stop, he boarded the train.

He started at the back of the train and began making his way row by row, to greet each kid and sit with them for a few minutes. When he got to Riley and Owen, he took a few items from their list but then really focused on making sure they knew they must behave and be very good if they were to get any gifts on Christmas morning. Before he moved on, he gave them each a high-five and let them sit on his knee for Daddy to take a few pictures. He really did a great job with all the kids and gave each child a silver bell to remember him by.

Once Santa left our car, Mrs. Clause joined us. She led the kids in several Christmas Carols and even had Tyler lead everyone in a song and then picked Riley to lead one as well. I don't know why I would have expected anything different, but Riley loved the microphone. Definately doesn't get that from his Momma!

That was it, soon we were back at the depot and our trip to the North Pole was over. We stopped at Cracker Barrell for dinner and then hit the road to head home. What a fun day!

Busy Time of Year

Like I'm sure it is for each of you, this year is very busy at our house. We did enjoy a somewhat lazy Saturday last weekend. We decorated our house and tree but did so in our pajamas. I don't think any of us put on clothes until at least 4pm. After that we headed to see Santa and grab a bite to eat.

Sunday we went to my company Christmas party. It was fun. I always enjoy meeting the spouses and children of all my coworkers. Some I'd met before, but many I hadn't. There are LOTS of babies in our group. I think we counted and in the last 5 years there have been something like 15 babies born among the 30 employees in the IT Network groups. I guess we were destined to be next. There have already been at least 3 born this year and I know of at least one other besides myself that is due in 2009.

This weekend is going to be busy but should be a lot of fun. The boys are heading to PawPaw and Nanny's to help setup their Christmas tree and spend the night. I think Nanny is nuts asking for all 7 of her grandkids on one night! I hope to get a lot of my shopping done tonight after I drop them off.

Tomorrow we are going to Chattanooga with the Fosters to ride the Polar Express train. It should be a lot of fun. Everyone wears their pajamas and the kids are fed cookies and milk while a story teller reads The Polar Express on our train ride to the North Pole. Once we reach the North Pole, Santa boards the train and rides back to the station with us, greeting all the kids and listening to what they want this year.

Sunday after church we are heading back over to Nanny's to do our Christmas baking.

See what I mean, busy, but all fun stuff. I'm looking forward to it all. I'm just not sure how the laundry will get done or the house cleaned in between all the fun stuff. I'm sure we'll manage.

No word yet on Riley's baptism. We will meet with our pastor one day next week and pick a date then.

I pray each of you are enjoying an equally fun Christmas season. I have to remind myself to pause and remember the true meaning for this celebration, Jesus!

Thanksgiving

We've had a great week. Sad to see it coming to an end and know that as our heads hit the pillow tonight, we'll return to our 'regularly scheduled programs' tomorrow. Lance and I had a great time last night at the Zac Brown concert and I think the boys had an equally good time at their sleep-over with Nana and PawPaw.

Our week kicked into celebration mode on Tuesday with Lance's birthday. The boys were kind enough to wake him at 7am with homemade cards and specially wrapped presents. We had bought poster boards for each the previous weekend and they had labored 2 nights with glitter paint, water colors, markers and stickers to make just the perfect cards for their Dad. Definately keepsakes! Owen also picked out a nice new, red coffee-mug for his Dad and Riley bought him a UGA fleece blanket. When I got home from work, I surprised him with a new Gerber knife and the tickets for the show we saw last night. I think he had a great day. We ended with a celebratory dinner at Longhorn with Lance's parents, who were celebrating their anniversary which falls on the same date as Lance's birthday. Before we went to bed we had to sample the chocolate/sprinkles cake that the boys and I had made for him on Monday night.

Thursday was another special Thanksgiving. We had lunch with the Helton's and then supper with the Foster's. Of course we didn't over eat, why do you ask? Really, it was a great day with all of our family and of course great food too. And aside from all the food, the highlight of any special gather day for the boys is always seeing all of their cousins and getting in lots of play time.

Friday Mom, Alice, Aunt Amelia, Kaitlyn, Nathan, Owen and I all did our traditional shopping trip. We hit I think 5-6 stores and made a little dent in our Christmas shopping lists. I left it up to my boys who would go and who would stay home and I was right in guessing that Riley would choose to stay home with Daddy and Owen wanted to shop with me. We ended the night with dinner at Red Lobster thanks to Aunt Amelia.

Saturday and Sunday were mostly spent hanging out at home. It was nice since it rained most of both days and gave us a good excuse to take naps, eat leftovers and watch football. We also managed to do a little garage cleaning, clean out the boys closets and dressers from out of size clothes and get most of the laundry caught up.

See what I mean? A good week. We had a few fun, busy, family days mixed in with a couple of lazy, rainy days. I can't think of a more perfect combination. I only wish all of my weekends were 4 days long so I could squeeze it all in each week.

Now the countown begins for Christmas. I really enjoy this time of year so I'll do my best not to let the money and shopping lists stress me out. It's too easy to get wrapped up in all that and forget the real reason for this season. I hope each of you had an equally wonderful Thanksgiving week!

Go Tech!

Go Georgia Tech! Georgia Tech beat Georgia today 48 to 45. After 7 years of losing to UGA, I had to include today's score in my blog. Of course with 3 UGA fans in this house and myself being the single Tech fan, it was maybe even a little sweeter. Is it wrong that I enjoyed watching both my sons and my husband grumble and pout after the game :)

With that part of the day behind us, Lance and I are heading to see the Zac Brown Band tonight in Athens. The tickets were part of Lance's birthday gift from me. The boys are excited to be heading to PawPaw and Nana's to spend the night and Lance and I are looking forward to an adult only night with some great music.

More on our Thanksgiving weekend and Lance's birthday later. For now, it's time to drop off the kids and head out for a fun date night.

My New Brother

That's right. I have a new brother. A new brother in Christ. And it's so special that he's my son too. Riley thought it was so cool that he is now a 'brother' to Lance and I. I think it's pretty darn cool too. Thank you, Jesus!

Sunday night, Lance had gone to his brothers to play cards with him and some of his former youth group. The boys and I were home watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. One of the designers was doing a little commentary about how they were helping out this family that was in need. Riley said to me, "Mom, I can tell he's a Christian." I said, "You can? What does that mean? What is a Christian?" He went on to tell me that he must be a Christian because he was doing something nice for someone (obviously oblivious to the fact that this designer probably gets paid big bucks to do this nice deed, but that's OK). I just responded, "Yeah, your right. Christians do do nice things for other people. And he is doing something nice, he might be a Christian." A few minutes later he asked if he (Riley) was a Christian and I tried to explain that he wasn't one yet, but when he was ready and older it was something he could do. His reply, "Well if I'm not a Christian, does that mean I'm a democrat?" Too funny! Obviously he's heard one too many political conversations this election year. Anyway, I told him it didn't mean that at all and we went on and finished watching the show.

Thirty minutes or so later as we were doing our bedtime routine and saying bedtime prayers, Riley started asking more questions. I really hesitated. Not sure if he really understood or was old enough to take this step and especially didn't want to go on with this without Lance. He insisted! He was ready and he didn't want to go to bed without becoming a Christian first. He said he'd just wait up for his Dad and we could do it then. Well we ended up making 2-3 phone calls to Lance instead and before his head hit his pillow, he was my brother in Christ. Oh how special that is! He, Owen and I sat on his bedroom floor, held hands and he repeated after me the sinnners prayer. We talked some more before he went to bed again trying to make sure he really understood.

Lance had to teach Monday night, which means another night where we couldn't really have a family discussion since we only pass each other for about 30 minutes as he leaves as soon as I get home. Tuesday night though, we sat at the kitchen table and talked with Riley. Lance and I both just really needed to be sure he understood what he was doing and what it all meant. We went through a series of scriptures my youth minister, Chip, had given me a long time ago to help lead someone to Christ. The first one talks about why we need him and then the next explains what he did for us and then one that tells what we have to do to get to him and finally last verse talks about the glory of heaven and the hope we all have as Christians. I've had them written in inside cover of my Bible and they were a great guide in helping my 7 year old understand what it means to become a Christian.

Below are the verses if you are interested. I have the first one written in the cover of my Bible and then the next one written at the bottom of the page where the first one is found and so on. That way you can turn from one to the next without having to go back to a list at the front.

1. John 1:14 - Revalation
2. John 3:3 - Need
3. John 3:16 - Response
4. John 3:36 - Consequences
5. John 10:28 - Security
6. John 11:25-26 - Hope

We talked to our pastor tonight about baptism. He has a workbook he likes kids to complete about baptism and salvation, we'll get that from him on Sunday. Once he works through the book we'll schedule a conference with the pastor and again make sure Riley is clear on what he's doing. Then we'll pick a Sunday for the baptism. What an awesome thing to experience. No doubt a moment that not only he will remember for the rest of his life, but Lance and I will as well. My son, my baby boy is now a fellow Christian, my brother in Christ.

I love you, Riley! Mama and Daddy are so proud of you!

Halloween

We had a great Halloween on Friday. I telecommuted that day which made it much easier (for me anyway, not sure the kids noticed) to get everyone in their costumes, fed and ready to head out for the night. I closed my laptop at 3pm and we headed out to the deck to carve pumpkins. Riley insisted on doing his all by himself this year, he was a bit annoyed that we wouldn’t let him handle the knife all on his own. He did draw what he wanted cut-out and using his hand on the knife, with Lances on top of it, they got it cut out together. He loved digging out all the pumpkin guts too. Owen was not as fond of slimy insides of his pumpkin, but did stick his hand in a couple of times although he quickly ran inside to wash off in the sink each time. He opted instead to clean it out as best he could using two big spoons. In the end, Mom ended up elbow deep in his pumpkin. He was happy to instruct me on drawing and cutting out his jack-o-lantern. Triangle eyes, diamond nose and a smiley face with exactly two teeth. He didn’t mind at all not being able to wield the knife. Not sure what that says about their personalities, but they’re definitely each their own.

"Take my picture, Dad. I'm going to eat my pumpkin!"

"Oh, I can do that. Watch this, I'm going to eat the gross insides of my pumpkin!"

We picked up pizza for dinner and when Scotty and his crew arrived we ate, dressed everyone and headed to the fall festival at a nearby church. The kids had fun on all the inflatable’s, getting their faces painted and the cake walk. The only downer for the night was Riley left there with a nice goose-egg on his forehead. He and buddy were in the inflatable boxing ring and managed to fall into each other, head to head. Apparently Heath’s head is harder than Riley’s (imagine that!). Heath walked away unscathed but Riley had a huge knot which has since turned several shades of blue and green.

Riley as Commander Cody (Star Wars) and Owen the Power Ranger

We left the fall festival and headed to a nearby neighborhood to trick-or-treat. We hit 15-20 houses and all the kids loaded up with plenty of candy. The kids and 2 adults piled into the back of Lance’s pick up truck. Being pregnant this year, I wasn’t allowed to ride in the back of the truck. I rode with Nana in her Navigator, following the pickup through the neighborhood. This neighborhood has relatively large lots, each no smaller than 1 acre, so if we’d done it all by foot I’m sure we couldn’t have knocked on as many doors as we did. The pick-up works great and the kids all love it since it’s the only night of the year they’re allowed to ride back there.

We headed back to our house when we were done where all the kids picked a spot on the living room floor to dump out their loot. The parents inspected all the candy and then the kids proceeded to trade and swap favorites with each other. Everyone was pretty wiped out but had a great night, adults included. The next morning Riley and Owen dumped their candy on the kitchen table and did a little more trading.

The morning after, sorting/trading candy and being silly.

It was a fun and memorable night. I thought several times during the evening that this time next year, I’ll have a little girl bundled up in her stroller in a costume of some sort. She’ll be here before we know it!

Saturday was another great football day. Riley’s team came away with a victory which sets them up for the semi-finals this coming Saturday. After his game, we stuck around and watched Tyler’s game. His team is also headed for the playoffs next weekend. Another exciting season! We left the football field and visited Mom and Dad’s church to hear a Korean childrens choir. They were very good and the boys enjoyed it too. They ended up spending the night with Nanny and PawPaw and sounds like they had a lot of fun. I picked them up the next morning before church.

Sunday was a nice, lazy day. After church we went home to eat lunch and hung out there for a couple of hours. Then we made a trip to Sam’s Club and afterward stopped at a park for a couple hours so the boys could ride their bikes. Riley managed to organize 5-6 other boys with bicycles into having races. Owen volunteered as the referee (he was the one to say “ready, set, go”) although I think he raced a couple of times too. It was a beautiful day for it! Before going home, we had dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant.


Like all weekends, it came to an end too quickly, but at least we were able to squeeze an extra hour out of this one.

Movies and Corn Mazes

Friday it rained all day. We decided it was a good night to stay home and watch a movie. It turned out to be just what we needed. We made a huge pallet on the living room floor, everyone had a bowl of popcorn and a coke and we enjoyed the new Transformer movie together. Lance and Riley had seen it at the theatre, but Owen and I hadn’t. It was a good movie, kid friendly except for one ‘suggestive’ scene that we were able to skip over. When it was over Riley was ready to watch something else, and Owen was sound asleep on the floor. Again proving Owen’s point a week or so ago, that use blue-eyed family members like to turn in early and the brown-eyed ones like to stay up late.

Saturday was another football day. Riley’s team won their final regular season game, 24-0, which pushes them into the playoffs. I never would have guessed I could get so wrapped up in 7 year old football, but it is so much fun to watch. It’s even more fun knowing that Riley loves to play so much. After a day on the field, he wants to do nothing but come home and run plays in the living room or on the trampoline with Owen. We watched the UGA, LSU game that afternoon which added even more to the football-mania in our house. Mom and Dad came by to deliver the boys pumpkins they’d picked up for them in North Georgia. Riley managed to get Nanny outside to play a game of two-hand touch football for a few minutes. I don’t think the football was out of his hands for more than 5 minutes all day long. We ended the day with steaks on the grill. A delicious end to another fun day.

Sunday after church and lunch, we headed to Southern Belle Farm with Scotty and his family. It was a beautiful day for it, mid-60’s and sunny. We twisted our way through the corn mazes, rode the hay ride, the boys had a ball on the pedal car track, rode the cow-train, got soaking wet with the duck races, cheered for the pigs in the pig races and had fun burying each other in the corn pit. We also saw lots of animals – cows, horses, pigs, goats and donkey’s. Our plan had been to come home and carve our pumpkins, but since it was 7:30 before we got home and we’d been going hard all day, we postponed. I wish now we’d done it then because here we are a day before Halloween and we’ve yet to do our carving. I’m hoping we can do it tomorrow afternoon before everyone gets on their costumes.

Another weekend of football and fun heading our way. I love the Fall!

Eyes

Owen noticed a long time ago that his eyes were blue like mine, and Riley's were brown like Daddy's. I was tucking them in bed last night and Riley was saying how he wasn't tired and didn't want to go to bed and Owen said, "Mom, blue eyes like to go to bed and brown eyes like to stay up late, right?"

He is absolutely right! Riley and Lance are definately night owls and Owen and I like to hit the sack early. It's funny to get a glimpse into how kids categorize and understand things with the information they have about the world.

He's An Alright Guy...

It’s hard to believe it’s been 12 years since Lance and I were married. Although I’m a day late (our anniversary was the 12th) I thought I’d celebrate our marriage by listing 25 things I love about my wonderful husband (in no particular order):

1. His sense of humor. I love that he tells a joke and laughs harder than anyone else he’s telling it to.

2. That a lot of folks don’t ‘get’ him but I do. I like that I can know what he means and is trying to say when other people still have a puzzled look on their face.

3. He’s a great Dad and by far our boys (and soon our daughter’s ) fiercest protector.

4. That he let’s our boys be boys. Although sometimes I can get a little irked when he gets them all excited with a father-son wrestling match 10 minutes before bed time, I know it’s times like that my boys will forever remember. Horse-playing with their Dad.

5. That he’s not too proud to stay home with our boys. He’s taken his share of criticism for it and I know he’s put off things he’s wanted to do so he could be home with them. Instead, he’s persisted and done a great job with them at home.

6. That he loves and serves the same God I do. We can pray together, worship together and
love our God together. We both understand that we have to put him before each other.

7. That his jet black hair is turning a ‘distinguished’ salt and pepper. I love it! No fair that gray is not as ‘distinguished’ on women!

8. That I can finish his sentences and he mine. I know it probably drives him crazy sometimes but I love that we know each other that well.

9. The freckles on his shoulders.

10. The huge personality and non stop energy my boys have that has to have come from their Dad.

11. That when my boys scrape a knee or get hurt, they want their Dad. They know he’ll be much more concerned and sympathetic than Mom.

12. That he loves and is genuinely concerned about our country’s future. I love that he watches every debate, scrutinizes every candidate and can talk so intelligently about politics with just about anyone.

13. Just like with politics, he loves to watch the stock market and is always ready to recommend a good stock purchase or talk investing with anyone interested. I love that he can surprise people with his knowledge of the market.

14. I love the photographs he takes. Both the ones of our beautiful boys and those of a more ‘artsy’ nature. He’s good at what he does and I’m so proud of him. Check out the photo's on his blog.

15. His entrepreneurial spirit. He loves to brainstorm about possible business ventures for his and our future. We have fun brainstorming our future together.

16. That we talk and communicate well, even after 12 years of marriage. If he’s busy working outside doing something or even in the bathroom shaving or getting ready for church, he call me to come sit and talk with him. He likes my company and I love his.

17. That he’s so protective of our family, our boys and me. There are times I accuse him of being over-protective and we often disagree on how much freedom to give our boys. But I love that he cares so much and wants above everything else, to make sure they are safe. He still meets Riley’s bus at the end of our driveway every afternoon.

18. I love the wanna-be-farmer I’ve discovered in him since we moved to Locust Grove. He loves his garden and his chickens and would love nothing more than if we could afford lots more land and he could farm full time.

19. That he’s my one and only. We started dating in 9th grade and he’s been my one and only since then. How many wives can say that about their spouse in today’s world?

20. Although he would disagree, Riley is his little clone. I love looking at Riley and seeing Lance.

21. And even though he and Owen don’t share a lot of the same physical traits, they share a lot of the same habits and mannerisms. I love seeing Lance in Owen.

22. I can’t wait to meet our sweet baby girl. What will a female Lance look like or act like?

23. Maybe it wasn’t a good attribute during his school years, but I love that he has a short attention span. I love that he is always ready to finish one project and move onto the next one.

24. That he’s a careful spender. He doesn’t make many hasty purchases. It took us almost a year to replace our totaled Explorer after our accident in 2001. Not because we didn’t have the means, but because he had to find the perfect vehicle. He carefully researches all our big purchases with consumer reports and online consumer guides. Does it drive me crazy sometimes? Yes! But it has paid off with every purchase!

25. Finally, I love our compatibility. Although we may look like complete opposites on the surface, we fit perfectly. He’s good at what I’m not and vice versa.

We’ve learned to look to each other and depend on each other to fill in each others gaps. We click. We work well together and I love that we are us. I love the beautiful family that we’ve made and look forward many, many more years together. I can easily imagine us rocking on our porch one day waiting for our kids and grandkids to pull down the driveway for a visit.

I love you, Lance! Happy Anniversary!

Riley on Prayer

Riley brought home a sheet this morning from Sunday School which ended a discussion they'd had on the foundation of prayer. I thought it was very sweet and so I had to share, it's all in his own handwritting so I'll type it here with his spellings and all -

PRAISE - "Thank you for my family."
REQUEST - "Plese help me to pla beder football."
ADMIT - "Plese forgive me for being bad."
YIELD - "Please help me to do will not mine."

It's a.....

G I R L

She looks great and as far as they could tell is very healthy and most definately our perfect little princess!

Owen-ism

Owen, in the car on our way home from church this afternoon.

Owen - Mom, look at that big cloud up there.
Mom - I see it, it is big, maybe it's going to rain.
Owen - That's the biggest cloud up there, that must be the one Jesus lives in.
Mom - Maybe your right, maybe that's the one.
Owen - Yeah, that has to be it. It has to be the biggest one cause a lot of people come up there with him, right?
Mom - Right! You've got it exactly right, buddy!

BTW - Don't forget to check in here Wednesday late afternoon. We hope to find out the sex of our little one at our appointment that afternoon!

Apple Pickin'

Well it's back to business as usual this week, but we enjoyed a little break from the routine last week. School was out for "Fall Break" and I took Thursday and Friday off from work.

Tuesday Lance took the boys to see the new Star Wars Clone Wars movie. They thought it was the greatest movie ever although Lance didn't agree. It sounded like they had a lot of fun.

Wednesday night the boys spent the night with their three Foster cousins. I think they all had a lot of fun. Trina was on her own for the night since Scotty was out of town. She had all 5 of them by herself. Really though, they entertain each other pretty well and play together good. Usually Riley and Tyler end up in his room while Owen plays with Abby and Kaylee in theirs.

Friday we headed North to find an orchard and some fun Fall things to do for the day. We ended up in Ellijay, GA and visited two orchards. The first one is where we picked our apples. The boys were way more excited about it than I really expected them to be. Maybe they were just relieved to get out of the truck after the 2 hour ride! Really though, they seemed to have a lot of fun. Riley was excited to purchase a new bottle of honey and has enjoyed several peanut-butter and honey sandwiches since we got home. Both boys loved the apple cider and of course we had to visit the ice cream counter too.

The second orchard we visited was more for fun and play. They had a petting zoo and a cool playground with a zip-line and a long slide built into the side of a hill. The boys may have had more fun on that playground than they did in the orchard.

After leaving the orchards we stopped by Lance's friends' house, Tommy, who lives in Ellijay. We had a great time visiting with him and it was a nice coincidence that we timed our visit to the arrival of his son and his family (with 2 little boys of his own) who had driven from Alabama for the weekend. We ate dinner with Tommy and his family, visited his garden (he's quite a gardner) and just enjoyed the beautiful scenery around his cabin. We headed home after that and made it to our beds at about 11pm. We were tired but had a great day.

The finale for the weekend was having the three Foster cousins over to our house Saturday night for a sleepover. The kids had a great time together and really played great, with very little arguing. They were outside most of the day Saturday - jumping on the trampoline, playing 'army' and hiking in the woods beside our house, riding bikes and we made a trip to the school playground for an hour or so too. Needless to say, I think they all slept good Sunday night!

We enjoyed our fun week but are getting back to our regular routine this week. Awana tonight. Football tomorrow night with a game Saturday morning. Life is busy but oh so full, I wouldn't want it any other way. I think this first picture says it all (and it wasn't even posed!).

Nathan Chase Messer

My sister gave birth to her 3rd beautiful boy, Nathan Chase Messer. He was born Friday morning at 12:04am and weighed in at 8 lbs 12 oz and was 20 inches long. He'll no doubt learn to be a pretty tough kid, growing up with two big brothers. He's a beautiful baby and I'm so happy for Alice and Ronnie and thankful that Nathan is healthy and Alice is doing well too.

Jacob (Nathan's biggest brother) is spending the night with us tonight. I just finished tucking them all into bed. They've had a busy day so they ought to all sleep well. Riley and Jacob both had football games this morning. The rest of they day they've been jumping on the trampoline and playing football in the yard and in their bedroom. It's been a football day for sure! Riley did sit still for a few minutes to watch the 4th quarter of the UGA game this afternoon with his Dad.

In other news, we are thankful to hear that our family in Texas all faired fairly well in the hurricane that hit yesterday. They've all lost electiricity and my Uncle had a tree fall on his truck, but we are thankful that everyone is safe and no one had any major damage to their homes. We are praying for you all and also for your neighbors to the South who are undoubtably dealing with more damage and consequences from Ike.

We are looking forward to some time-off next week. School is out for Fall break and most of our regular activities (football, Awana) are cancelled as well. I'm taking Thursday and Friday off too so I'm hoping we can enjoy a couple days doing some fun things together. We're thinking about possibly heading to Ellijay to pick apples or maybe to a local farm that advertises a corn maze. It's still a little warm to think of Fall-time activities, but we'll make the most of it and get ourselves ready for the cooler weather.

I'm doing great, I'm feeling great and the baby is growing as she should. We don't yet have confirmation of a boy or girl but we've already formed a habit of referring to "her". My next ultrasound is October 1st and we should know more then. The boys are excited and Owen especially seems to think a lot about the baby and ask questions about our new addition. I think seeing and holding baby Nathan got them all excited (and me too!) and made them even more anxious to meet their new sibling.

Catch up Post....

A lot has happened in a couple weeks since I last updated. Let's see if I can cover it all in one post.

Owen started preschool last week and is doing great. He's usually not excited to go in the mornings but always has a good time and comes home happy to tell you what all they did. He started last Monday, but since I was in training all week I couldn't be there for his first day. I was able to work from home today, I had the privilege of driving him to and from today. Since the church where he goes to preschool had just put down new sod a couple of weeks ago, today was the first day they were allowed to go on the playground. That and snack time seemed to be the highlights.

We had a great Labor Day weekend. We spent Saturday and Sunday at Lake Oconee at the GG's (Lance's grandparents). His Mom, Dad, Brother and his family all joined us there. We had lots of fun boating, swimming and jet-skiing. Owen is still not a huge fan of the water at all but did get in at least once to swim with me and rode a couple times on the jet skii's. Riley is a fish. He loves the water. Surprisingly he, and all the kids, prefer to swim around the boat more than anything else. They all rode the jet skii's at least a few times but would rather jump off the boat into the lake and swim more than anything else.

A couple of weeks ago, Riley had the "most exicing-est day of his life." He had been anticipating this day since football season began. His coach managed to arrange for his team to play a 10 minute game during the Falcon's half-time at the Georgia Dome. What a cool thing! No doubt something he'll remember for the rest of his life. I think all of the Dad's were envious of their sons. It was very cool. They arrived at the Dome about 2 hours before kick-off. They were able to go on the field with the Falcons during their warm-up. A few of the players even tossed the ball back and forth with our boys. Then they had their picture taken with the cheerleaders. Unfortunately all the parents were watching this from the nose-bleed section so I don't have any pictures to share. I plan to get copies of all the close-up ones that the coaches were able to get though. During the 10 minute half-time game Riley made a good tackle that made it onto the big screen in slow-motion. That was the best view of him we had the whole night. That was cool! Lance did go down to the lower-level to video the game, but I don't have anything I can share here.

The pregnancy is going great. No real news to report. I won't see the Dr. again till the end of the month and I'll have another ultrasound then which should tell us with more certainty whether we're having a girl or a boy.

As you can tell, things are as busy around here as ever. I'm thankful that I'm allowed to work from home 1 day a week. That started today and has worked well. I got up a couple hours before Riley did for school and got some work done that way and then once he and Owen were both off to school, I had a good 3 hours to work in quiet. It's worked well. I feel like I'm getting my work done and still able to spend more time home with my guys. It's only 3:30 and dinner is already on the stove and Riley is working on his verses for Awana's. This is going to work out great!

It's a.....

Well, we had an ultrasound yesterday and it was great. The baby looks just as she should, healthy and exactly where she should be at 12 weeks. Did I just say 'she'? I did! Yes, the ultrasound tech made an early guess on the sex and said she thought it was a girl! She did give us the prediction with some caution....don't paint the room just yet. She said she was 85% certain it was a girl though and that sounds pretty certain to me. 12 weeks is pretty early to tell, and it's possible 'things' aren't done developing down there yet. But in her estimation, it's a girl!

Time will tell. I'll have another ultrasound in 6 weeks and we should have a more difinitive answer then, but for now we'll go on the assumption that a little girl is growing in there.

Owen was with us (Riley was in school) and he was so excited that he was right. He's said all along he wanted a baby sister and he thinks it's a girl. We tried to tell him it could still be a boy (and by the way, that'll be fine with us too), but he is so certain that it's a girl.

I made a comment later that night that I wasn't sure I would know how to raise a little girl. I was experienced with boys, but not girls! Then Riley said, "Well, they're basically the same, Mom. You just buy them pink stuff instead of blue. Besides, your a girl, Mom! Geez!"

Owen-isms

I'm in VA this week, so thinking about my boys at home a lot. Lance has made it through a busy day - school, dinner, homework, football and baths. I have to admit, I'm missing my boys like crazy but enjoying the quiet time to watch "Mommy Shows" all I want and even blog a little. And did I mention I have a 42" plasma TV in my room and just returned from having lasagna at Olive Garden?!

Lance sent me this Owen-ism from the football field tonight (via a txt message) and I realized I had a couple more to share as well.

Owen-ism #1 (tonight @ football field)
"I have an itchy spot and it won't unitch!"

Owen-ism #2 (last week @ football field)
Owen - "Mom, I don't think I'm want to be a grown-up."
Mom - "Really, why?"
Owen - "It's taking too long!"

Owen-ism #3 (couple weeks ago @ home)
Owen - "Mom, can the baby really hear me when I'm talking?"
Mom - "Yes, the baby will even know what his big brother sounds like when he's born and recognize your voice already."
Owen - "But he won't know my name when he's born, right?"
Mom - "That's true, we'll have to teach him your name."
Owen - (spoken directly to my belly) - "My name is Owen!"

Owen-ism # 4 (one night at home last week)
Owen walked into the kitchen as I was cooking dinner. He had on a skateboard knee pad on 1 knee.
Owen - "Mom, look what I found." (pointing to knee pad)
Mom - "Cool. Was that in your toy box?"
Owen - "Yeah, now I can jump off the bunk bed and not get hurt, right?"
Mom - "No! You can't jump off the bunk bed! What about your other knee?!"
Owen - "I'll just land on one knee, Mom. Please, just one jump?"
Mom - "NO!" (laughing just a little)

Although Owen is my cautious son, I guess this proves he is still a boy! The difference between him and Riley here is that Riley never would have asked permission to jump off the bunk bed. I would have just heard a big thump!

He Made it Home

He made it safely off the bus. Owen and I nearly melted waiting the long 10 minutes for the bus to round the corner, but it was finally there and our 2nd grader was the first one to jump off.

(scroll down for post from earlier today)

Back To School

I can’t believe it’s already that time again. After a weekend of tax-free shopping, today was the first day of school. Riley is a big 2nd grader this year. What happened to my baby??! He wasn’t exactly excited about going back to school. But at the very least, he was ready to see his old friends and buy an ice-cream in the lunchroom (the only thing he talked about this morning before leaving). Boy it really would have ruined his day if I’d forgotten to put that $.50 in his lunchbox this morning.

About 2:40 this afternoon, Riley will climb off the school bus and walk down the driveway home. It’s a first for him, to ride the bus home from school. In fact this may rank above his friends and lunchtime ice cream. He was very excited about no longer being a car rider. Because the bus comes so early in the morning, Lance will still drive him in the morning, but he’ll jump on the bus in the afternoon for the long ¼ mile ride home.

Saturday, along with the rest of Henry county and possibly all of Georgia, the boys and I went to the local office supply store for school supplies. Tax free weekend is great, but it’s almost not worth fighting the crowds for the discount. It’s a lot like the day after Thanksgiving, although who am I kidding, I go out into that madness every year too. Anyway, we at least found a one-stop-shop and got all his supplies in the buggy and then joined the other 50+ people in line for the 3 registers. After only a 30 minute wait, we were out of there, not too bad really. And the prize purchase for the day, a locking pencil box. Riley was so excited about that little box, it was funny. I never knew how important it was for him to protect his pencils in a special box. In fact that one purchase may have made him just a little bit excited about going back to school.

We had already stocked the boys closets with new clothes, thanks to PawPaw and Nana the weekend before. But Sunday after church we met Nanny to do it all over again. We tried to make the boys look for more winter, long-sleeve, type clothes this time. They made out with several great outfits each. Riley chose his new Star Wars t-shirt for this first day, along with some cargo shorts and his new black and white Nike’s.

Owen has a couple more weeks before preschool starts. Unlike his brother, I think he is a little excited about going back to school. He can’t wait to be in the big 4-year old class this year, the biggest kids on the preschool campus. He’s not one for change though, so we’ll see how he fares at his new school – First Baptist Locust Grove. I think it’ll be a good move for him, a little bit bigger school than last year and they have a brand new building that they just moved into this summer.

School starts today. Football practice 3 nights this week. Guitar lessons on Tuesday. Awana’s starts back Wednesday night. Ready or not, here we come….

Callaway

Since our vacation, I had planned to take one more day off work this summer to do something fun with the boys before school started back. When my buddy, Dan offered me his season pass to Callaway Gardens a couple of weeks ago, that settled our plans. I called Alice and Mom and we made plans to go this past Wednesday.

I have a lot of fond memories at Callaway, so it was particularly special. Every summer when I would spend a week with Granny, she would take us to spend a day at Callaway. We'd take one of our Dawson friends and she would take Mrs. Edith and off we'd go. She and Mrs. Edith would sit under the pavillion reading books in their rocking chairs and my buddy and I would swim in the lake, ride the train, ride paddle boats and have lots of summer fun. Callaway is special because of those memories and I was excited to share some of that with my boys.

It has changed some over the years, but really is a lot like it was when I was a kid. Riley, Owen and Jacob loved the water and spent most of the day splashing around. Ethan wasn't very interested in the water but hung out with Nanny in the shade while the others swam. They have a play area out in the water with lots of inflatable toys - rock climbing walls with slides on one side, 2 huge trampolines and several smaller ones. Riley and Jacob loved playing there, especially jumping on the trampolines and landing in the water. Owen tried one of the smaller trampolines but was a little more cautious and ended up watching the older two. You'll notice in all the pictures below, his hair is dry. He absolutely hates to have water over his head or get splashed in the face. We'll have to overcome that sooner or later, but for now he prefers to stay in water where he can stand.

We all enjoyed a game of putt-putt too and a ride on the paddle boats. Unfortunately the train was out for repair and the circus didn't have a showing on Wednesdays but I don't think the kids missed either of those, there was plenty else to keep them busy.

The cousins all played really great together and except for a few arguments over who was going to pick the movie for the ride back, they got along great. Thanks, Dan for sharing your pass with us, we had a great time!

Owen playing putt-putt.

I guess we need to work on his form.

Riley playing putt-putt with Ethan watching.

Three silly boys.

Three Muskateers

You wouldn't believe how many shots I have like this with none of them looking at the camera. At least Jake and Ethan are smiling in this one, better than my two managed to do for the camera.

My 3 Guys and Me....no more?

As most of you probably already know, I may need to change the name of my blog pretty soon. We are expecting a 5th member to our family next March! We are very excited about our new addition. Riley and Owen were very excited when we told them the news. I think the newness has already worn off for them. I'm guessing it probably won't be till March when the reality of it all really hits them. Riley wants another brother, and Owen would like a sister. Actually, Owen would like twin sisters, he said that way our family will be 'even' with boys and girls. We'll have to wait and see. I'm about 6 weeks along now and it won't be till 20 weeks before we know the sex of the baby.

So far my pregnancy is going great. I've always loved being pregnant and have been blessed with very easy pregnancies. I'm praying this one will be no different. Knowing that this will likely be our last, I'm trying my best to savor each moment of this pregnancy. I know it will go by all too fast.

Owen's prayer as I was tucking him in a few nights ago, "Thank you for God, Thank you for Jesus, Thank you for Mommy and Daddy and thank you for our new baby. Please help our new baby to come here in 2 days. Amen." I couldn't help but giggle at his request and had to explain that it was important that the baby grew inside Mommy for 9 months before he or she came out. I'm not sure he understood, he seemed a little disappointed but again 9 months will be gone before we know it.

The boys have been camping this week with my parents and Jacob in Parrott. It sounds like they've had a great time. Four-wheeling, collecting fire wood, playing in the irrigation system of the neighboring sod farm and even swimming in the neighbors pool. Mom said one night as she was cooking dinner, Jacob came inside and asked her if they could just stay 100 more days. Owen chimed in and said, how about 1000 more days! I think that must be some indication of how much fun they have there. They are on their way home now and should be here in the next hour or so. I'm anxious to see my 2 monkeys and get some hugs and kisses!

Lance and I have enjoyed the quiet time at home this week. Lance has finished washing our deck with a pressure washer and then with a deck wash. Now he has to let it dry for several days before sealing and staining it. What a job! Today we both worked in the yard. Cut grass, ran the weed eater and I actually got a lot of planting done. I put 4 rose bushes in the ground that Mom had given me for Mother's Day and also 10 azaleas that I've had even longer than the roses. It feels good to have that all done.

I'll try to post at least weekly updates as I have pre-natal visits and changes in my pregnancy. My next appointment isn't until July 29th.

Guitar Lesson

Tonight was a first for us.  Riley began guitar lessons.  Santa brought him a 'real' electric guitar for Christmas.  We really thought it would be an interest for a week or so after Christmas and then become more or less a toy.  We were wrong.  He is very into it and has been begging for lessons and says he plans to ask Santa this year for an acoustic guitar.  For his birthday we told him we'd get him signed up for lessons, so tonight was his first one.  

It's only a 30 minute lesson.  His teacher is the minister of music at a nearby church.  He was recommended from a friend and is very reasonable as far as cost.  We are sort-of trying this out for a month and we'll see how it goes and how serious he really is about it.  His teacher seemed great, very patient and talked on his level but also was very informative.  He started with the first and second string and with the first and third fret.  Riley was all grins and has been anticipating this for a week or more.  The last thing they did was play Mary Had a Little Lamb.  Granted the notes had 5-10 second pauses between them, but he did hit them all.  I think we'll be hearing that song all week since that is his homework for 10-15 minutes a day.  His teacher warned him that his fingers would be sore but he'd have to work through that to make them tough if he wanted to learn to play.

As soon as we got home, he had his guitar back out of it's case and was practicing.  He tried a few of the exercises the teacher taught him and then proceeded to find a spiral notebook.  I had no idea what he was about to do, but he drew the 6 lines for the 6 strings and proceeded to start writing his own song.  His music looked exactly like the music his teacher had given him, only in his 1st grade handwriting.  It was complete with 'o' for open string notes and '1' and '3' for fret's 1 and 3, each drawn on the appropriate strings.  It looks like we'll be into this for more than this first trial month.  

I'm so excited that he is genuinely interested in music and his guitar.  It's not anything we ever pushed on him or even encouraged, yet he has completely requested all this and persued it on his own.  I love seeing him grow and getting glimpses of what the grown up Riley might be like.  Who knows, we might see him up on a stage someday with that guitar around his neck.  

Water Park and Fish Fry

Sorry I didn't get a chance to blog the last 2 days of our vacation. We had a lot of fun and were exhausted at the end of each day. I had good intentions to blog Thursday night but when I went to write, I realized our laptop was in Scotty's side of the cabin and they already had their lights out and doors closed.

Thursday the Dad's stayed at the cabin to fish all day and I think they managed to get in about 14 hours worth of fishing. They started at 6am, stopped for lunch about noon and then were back out on the water till about 9pm. They did catch 8-9 fish between them, 2 were keepers.

Trina and I decided to take the kids to a local water park while they fished. The kids loved it and all had a lot of fun. It was a small park with a walk-in pool, lazy river, 2 water slides and a kiddie area with 4 smaller slides. Riley, Tyler and Abby tried it all, but spent most of the day doing the 2 bigger water slides, over and over and over again. Kaylee and Owen preferred the smaller slides in the kiddie area. They were both so proud of themselves for doing a slide all on their own. Trina and I took turns, one of us with the younger ones and the other with the older kids.

Since it was late when the guys got back from fishing, we decided to have our fish fry on Friday at lunch, before we headed home. They also managed to get in a round of golf on the 9-hole golf course that morning too. The Dad's hit the drives and let the Abby and Riley putt them in on the green. The kids got in a few more bike rides Friday morning too. Owen even discovered that his bike with training wheels could make it all the way to the pool with the big kids (Mom walking closely behind).

The fish fry was a success. The kids all surprised us by liking the fish. None of them were excited about eating it, but all ate a plate full. After cleaning up lunch, it was time to pack up and head home. We did stop for dinner at Cracker Barrel (Owen's only request for our vacation, we had to eat there!), which was good but delayed us almost 2 hours. It was after midnight when we got home. What a great trip! The kids had trouble deciding what activity was their favorite. I think it was a tie between the water park and the beach for most of them. But they all loved the bike riding (and the freedom that involved) and the battleship visit too.

Although it's always nice to get home after a trip, it was sort of sad that it had to end. We had a great time and no doubt will visit there again on a future vacation.

Beach

Today was another full one. We had a 9am appointment for skeet shooting, which was a lot of fun. The Dad's and Tyler shot and I even shot about 5 shells too. The highlight of the trip so far for all the guys, they loved it. And I must admit it was pretty fun.

After that, we all suited up and drove out to Folly Beach. It was a great day for it. My lobster-red thighs are proof of that. I was so careful to cover the kids and my shoulders and back and Lance's, that somehow I forgot my legs and that is what suffered. Riley loved the water and playing in the waves. He was the one kid of the 5 that preferred the water over the sand. Everyone had a lot of fun and everyone was very tired and very hungry when we got back to the cabin. We grilled out our steaks and made homeade ice cream for dessert. Yum!

Here are a few pictures from yesterday and today. There are so many beach pictures, I had a hard time picking but here are a few....

All five of the kids saluting in front of a Naval helicopter aboard the USS Yorktown. (Click on pictures to make bigger)

The four who were too young to shoot at the skeet range, eating their breakfast and watching with their ear protection

Here are the 3 shooters. No pictures of them actually shooting since I got to be the "puller" and press the trigger when they yelled "Pull!" for the clay to release. The ranger wanted to be by Tyler's side as he shot, so he asked me to take that duty.

Owen, enjoying the beach.

This lasted for a good 30 minutes or more, all 5 of them working on a sand structure.

Battleship

Today we all slept in the latest we have all week (except Scotty who got up early to fish). It was 10:30 before everyone had eaten breakfast and was ready to step outside. We had our 11am wagon ride, which was OK but not all that exciting. After about 10 minutes of pine tree's and deer stands, you can't take much more and this was a 1 hour ride full of just that. It was a covered wagon-style trailer that was pulled by a tractor.

After the wagon ride we headed to downtown Charleston. Our main objective was to see the battleship, USS Yorktown and that is what we did. Our tickets also got us in to tour a submarine, a destroyer and a Coast Guard ship. Most of the crew was done after the USS Yorktown, which is a huge air craft carrier. Riley wanted more and insisted we see them all. He loved it and is such a big military fan, it was fun to see it all with him. I think all the kids liked it, but the heat and all the walking got the better of most of them. No doubt they all enjoyed the air-conditioned souvenier shop. Owen came away with a air-craft carrier toy and several mini-airplanes to land on the deck. Riley bought a plastic, camo gun that shoots darts with little suction cups on the ends. Tyler and Abby bought Pirates of the Carribean, replica guns and Kaylee got a Pirate dress-up kit. They all enjoyed spending the money PawPaw and Nana sent them for their souvenier shopping. Riley has about $10 of his money left, but I think everyone else spent it all in that one shop.

Dinner was at Hyman Seafood in Charleston. Outstanding! It was so good. If you're ever in Charleston, this is a great spot to eat! A co-worker had recommended it and now we know why. Owen ordered crab legs and loved them, he's now hooked. And did I mention those aren't on the kid's menu?! An expensive meal for a 4 year old, but it was worth it to watch him down them so fast. Abby ordered them too, but wasn't a fan of the meat although I think she enjoyed cracking them open.

It turned into a late night back at the cabin. They are all just settling in for the night. Tomorrow will be another day of adventure but this time at the beach. Before we head out though, the Dad's and Tyler are scheduled to do clay shooting at the shooting range at 9am. That will be fun to watch. Riley is so evious, but you have to be 10 to shoot so he has a few more years to wait.

I have more pictures, but they'll have to wait. It's late and I'm tired.

Lots of Fishin'

Fishing is indeed what today was all about. Scotty started at about 6am on the Bass pond and had some success with 2 fish on his hook. After breakfast we all headed out to get on the john boats and troll around the lake. It was fun, except it was getting pretty hot by the time we made it on the lake. Owen absolutely hated it. He was terrified that the boat would turn over and freaked out anytime anyone moved. Needless to say, he and I were back on dry land after about 30 minutes. Everyone else stayed out another hour or so and then fished on the bank for another hour after that. They caught 3-4 fish in all. The most successful fishing adventure was this evening. Lance, Scotty and Abby headed down to the Catfish and Bass ponds and caught about a dozen fish. The keeper was a 5 pound catfish that Lance caught. He is still on the stringer and they're going to go get him after dinner and clean it to cook later this week.

Of course we also made a trip to the pool which was necessary after the very hot, boating and fishing adventures this morning. The Dad's and big boys played a game outside with their air assault riffles this afternoon and had a lot of fun doing that too. And of course the day was filled with lots of bicycle riding and eating too.

Tomorrow we have our wagon/tractor ride scheduled for 11am. That will give us a chance to see more of the 6000 acres here at the Forest. I think we are going to go into Charleston tomorrow too and tour the big battleship and whatever else Charleston has to offer.

And as promised, here are some pictures from our day...

Owen doing what he loves to do at home and on vacation, play his Gameboy.

Riley climbing a tree.

Owen and Kaylee, best buddies.

Ready for an air-assault war. Can we just fight, Mom?! Enough pictures already!

Another pic in my fighting gear.

A Full Day

Our first full day here. It was nice. There were a few rain showers, but nothing that kept us from doing what we wanted to do.

Everyone slept well last night but I suspect we'll all sleep even better tonight. That is what a 4 hour visit to the pool usually means for our nights sleep. We are all tired. Poor Owen and Kaylee were so tired at dinner, they looked sad.

The Dad's made a trip to Walmart this afternoon to pick up a few needed grocery items and came back with a few new toys for the big boys. Pellet guns. They had a quick pellet gun war around the trees in front of the cabin before dinner. Riley was *so* excited about his new gun and all of them (Dad's included) can't wait to have more fun with them tomorrow.

Dinner was a BBQ buffet in the main lodge tonight and an overview video of all that The Forest has to offer, as well as a few safety reminders. The dinner was good and Lance and Scotty had the ranger cornered for a while afterwards with questions about skeet shooting and fishing limits. Plans for tomorrow will definately revolve around fishing. The Dad's have plans to rig all the lines tonight so they can hit the water with their rods first thing in the morning. Depending on how successful the day is, tomorrow night we might have our fish fry.

We are all having a lot of fun. Owen has referred to our cabin, more than once, as our camper. "I'm ready to go back to the camper." "Is this one our camper, Mom?" The big kids have corrected him several times and I think he'll be calling it cabin from now on, but I sort-of preferred calling it the camper. I know it will make Nanny and PawPaw proud!

Riley has had a lot of fun too and has perfected his cannon-ball into the pool. I suspect before the week is over he'll be brave enough to try that in the deep end. He came close today, but would change his mind and head to the shallow end each time he tried. He was beside himself with excitement over his new pellet gun. It's a battery-operated gun that shoots little plastic pellets. They sting a little when they hit, not quite as bad as a paintball, but it's perfect for hunting and playing capture the flag out among all the trees. They are wearing goggles when they play so no one is hit in the eye.

Hopefully tomorrow will bring tall tales of our fish adventures. I will get the camera out too and will try to have some pictures to share here then.

We're Here!

We made it to The Forest. Safe and sound and without too much whining in the 4 hour car ride. We are glad to be here and so far, impressed with the facilities and all that is offered to us here.

We checked in about 5pm and after finding our cabin, explored the grounds some. We walked around the lake, skipped some rocks, rode our bikes and took a quick dip in the pool. Not a bad start to what we expect to be a great week. Scotty and his crew should arrive late tonight, around midnight. I'm sure after a full day tomorrow, there'll be more to report. I'll try to include some pictures throughout the week too.

Happy Fathers Day, Dad! Happy Father's day, Steve! Sorry we are not with you this year but plan to celebrate what great Dad's we have when we get home.

It's almost time....

As I told Owen tonight, only 3 more darks till we're off on vacation. I can't wait!

We are going to a company owned resort that the railroad owns. We'll be staying in a log cabin, enjoying lots of fishing, bike riding, golfing, swimming and hit the beach a few times too. We'll be about 30 minutes outside Charleston, SC so there'll be lots of things to do when we leave the resort/park area as well as all the fun things to do on site.

No doubt I'll overload you with stories and pictures when we return. And if I get really inspired, I may try to blog a few times from our cabin. Keep us in your prayers for safe travel and lots of time to make precious new memories.

Another busy one...

It was another busy weekend but definitely full of fun. Saturday was all about baseball. Riley and Owen each had their final games of the season. Both boys played well and finished the season with some nice hits and good plays. Owen had 2 balls hit to him at first base and stopped them both and then proceeded to get back to back hits off a pitch. Way to go Owen! Riley’s team struggled the first few innings of their final game, but rallied in the last 2 innings. Riley squeezed out 2 solid base hits and looked good fielding a few balls out in left field with strong throws to the infield.

Sunday after church we headed to an ice-cream shop for Owen’s end of year t-ball party. Owen was so proud of his trophy and we were proud to hear the description his coach gave of our O. He said, “This young man is a great ballplayer and an excellent team player. He always responds with a ‘yes sir’ and I don’t think I ever had to remind him to get back on the field or pay attention. That is rare for this age group. And he’s a great left-handed hitter too!” That is consistently what we hear from his teachers and now his coaches, that he is well behaved and very obedient. I’m so proud! I only wish he behaved that way for Lance and me but I guess he knows how to cut a few corners at home and it doesn’t help that his brother is pretty good at pushing his buttons.

We left Owen’s party and headed to the park for Riley’s birthday party. We were a little worried about the weather forecast – thunderstorms. It turned out there wasn’t any need to be, we had beautiful sunny skies the entire time. We had his party at the BMX track and used the picnic pavilion there. The kids were in a hurry to hit the track so we cut the cake, opened presents and off they went to ride. The track is a double-‘S’ so a couple times around and they are ready for a break. We cooled them off with popsicles and they headed right back to the track. Riley had a couple of falls, but nothing too bad and he was back on his bike after dusting off the dirt. Owen declared himself the ‘coach’ and positioned himself at the start gate to watch and coach. Our niece Abby had a good tumble on the paved berm, but thankfully she was OK too, only a few scratches on her hands and chin. Riley told me later that night that it was his favorite birthday party ever. That is all I needed to hear to declare it a success. I’m so glad he had fun and all his friends, most of which had never ridden on the track, had fun too.

Keepsake

Riley came home from school with a homemade book they’d made in class this week. Here are a few quotes from his book, spellings as he had them with my interpretations in parenthesis. What a keepsake! I love this!

When I grow up I want to be a…..
I wunt to be a rme (army) man. Rme (army) mans fite in wars for fredum and justiz. It is fun to be a rme man.

Home sweet home…
I like my home. My home has no lekes (leaks). I have buk bez (bunk beds) in my room.

My favorite movie…
My favurit movie is Inne Anna Jons. In Inne Anna Jons they look for tresur. I like Inne Anna Jons.

Ok, so we’ll keep working on his spelling but as his Mom, I’ll treasure this precious book for years to come.

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great Memorial Day weekend and although I didn’t get to any of my projects I had planned, we had a lot of fun and enjoyed our time together playing and relaxing. Our grass is still tall and my azalea’s are still in their pots, but we shared lots of fun and laughs and for that I am grateful.

Saturday was of course the big day for our now 7 year old. He enjoyed the day and as I described in my previous entry, had us pampering his every whim.

Sunday we headed out to the lake after dropping off Owen with PawPaw and Nanny who were taking him and Jacob camping for the week. It sounds like they are having a lot of fun. We talked to them last night as Owen and Jacob were playing in the water, splashing in the irrigation system that was spraying across the road from the neighboring sod farm. They had enjoyed the day riding four wheelers and playing in the sand and a sprinkler. Nanny was worried her earlier bath had already been un-done and they would be heading to the tub again before bed time.

Lance, Riley and I had a fun Sunday and Monday at the lake with his family. We took full advantage of the beautiful weather on their boat and riding their two jet ski’s around the lake. Riley enjoyed a couple of rides on the jet ski’s but I think enjoyed swimming and jumping off the boat more than anything else. After getting a late start on the water Sunday, everyone voted to spend the night with the GG’s so we could start all over again on Monday. Unfortunately my sister-in-law ended up miserable all night and after a Monday morning visit to the emergency room learned she had a kidney stone. After a dose of some powerful narcotics, she slept the day away while the rest of us played some more on the water. PawPaw bought all the grandkids new fishing rods that were very cool and sparked a new interest in fishing for all of them. They were rocket-launching fishing rods which meant no casting skill was required and added a whole new element of fun to the day. They alternated fishing and jumping into the lake for a swim to cool off. Of course our sweet O was missed terribly but knowing that he was having the time of his life on his camping trip put a smile on my face. It was a fun day and a great end to a great weekend.

On a side note, I have an Owen quote to share. This was while eating dinner at Longhorns Friday night.
Owen, "Mom, I know what it means when you're full."
Mom, "What?"
Owen, "It means you can't eat anymore, right?"
Mom, "That's right. Good job."
Owen, "Well how come it hurts to be full?"
I went on to try and explain how your tummy was being stretched, etc. I'm not sure I did a good job but thought it was funny that he described being full as painful. He's right! That's exactly how we all felt as wel left Longhorn that night, in pain!

Seven

Happy Birthday, Riley! I can't believe my firstborn is already 7! Wow! Time does fly, no doubt about it.

As Riley requested, he started his morning with gifts and then breakfast in bed - bacon, eggs, toast and chocolate milk. He had been up a good hour before breakfast was served but quickly tucked himself back in for his meal. Lance and I gave him a couple of action figures - Indiana Jones and Ironman as well as a book and $20 plus a promise to get him signed up for guitar lessons. He is most excited about the guitar lessons. Owen gave him the new National Treasure II on DVD. I'm not sure who was more excited about that gift, Riley as he opened it or Owen so proud of himself for giving his brother the perfect gift.

His party is next weekend. We've found from previous years that if we want his friends to be able to come, we don't need to schedule a party on Memorial Day weekend. So next Sunday afternoon we'll all gather at a local BMX track for cake and bike races. Riley is looking forward to it.

Riley, your Daddy and I are so proud of the young man you are becoming. A great athlete, a smart student, a compassionate brother and an incredible son. You are learning and growing so fast and it has been amazing to watch you learn and become independant on so many tasks just in this last year - reading, showering and riding a bicycle. I love your excitement about church and going to Sunday School as well as Wednesday night Awana's. You have an appetite to learn and you love to be around kids your age, whether you know them or not. You don't meet a stranger and it's so fun to watch you interact with others. We're looking forward to watching you grow more this year as I know you'll continue to surprise us. Do me just one favor, would you? Slow down! I love my 7 year old Riley but I miss my 1 year old boy at the same time.

We love you, Stink! Happy Birthday!

Riley the Brave and Owen the Astro

Riley is making big plans for his birthday weekend. He wants to see the new Indy movie this weekend and has already asked for breakfast in bed Saturday morning. I think he got that idea from Mother's Day since Lance and the boys served me. Too funny!

More later on the birthday boy, but I wanted to make a quick post to share the boys baseball pictures from this season.