Can You Believe I’m Still Not Done with June!

I think this will wrap it up though!  This will probably also wrap up my posts for this summer.  July may just have to wait.

First, we discovered the awesome-ness that is Safety City!  We went twice this summer to play there, once for a birthday party and once just to meet friends and play.  Safety City was only open on Mondays and Thursdays, but it was totally free! (See the genius of having a birthday party there!)  Of course, it’s also all outside, so you have to time your visits with nice weather!

If you’ve never been, you should pack up the bikes and scooters and take the kids!  (Well, take them next summer.  I think they’re closed for the summer now.  Sorry.)  Basically it’s a miniature town where kids can ride around to their hearts' content.  Just make sure you follow the traffic rules, or the police may give you a ticket!

Never fear! Thomas had a helmet, but he took it off to rest and I made him pose for a picture before he put it back on.  Helmets are required at Safety City!

 

Here is Reagan riding a horse at Food City’s Kids Day.  None of the boys would ride one!



Cokesbury United Methodist hosted a stunt riders night, and Jes and Lily invited us to go, so we went to watch bike riders, skateboarders, and skaters do there tricks.  It was a lot of fun, and Reagan and Lily got to be part of the show!

 

One afternoon I played Children’s Bible Trivia with the kids.  Reagan and Jonathan beat me.  I couldn't believe it.

 

 

Another day, we saw this incredible rainbow!

 

We were all just sitting at the dinner table eating when Zachary looked out the window and drew our attention to the rainbow.  It was huge, and the colors were so vibrant!


And on a final sad note, we said good-bye to our sweet neighbors, Zoe and Sloan.  They moved to another city and will be missed, especially by Reagan who gets pretty girl-time-deprived!

Alright!  That’s it for June!  And that’s it for me and posting today!  Go ahead and place your bets on whether or not I post again before next June!

Making Memories in Memphis

Two days after returning home from our big birthday weekend, the kids and I packed up and headed for Memphis.

This trip was a big deal because we were making a big announcement to all the kids that first night.

WE’RE ALL GOING TO DISNEY!!!

 

Each of the kids got a Disney shirt and a personalized ticket like the above to announce the trip.  They all opened their tickets and read them at the same time.  It was really fun to watch their faces as they read the tickets and realized what it meant!

Of course, the grown-ups have been planning this trip for a long time, so it was great to finally let the kids in on the secret!

The next day we met up for lunch at Steak n’ Shake.  Yum! Then we took the six big kids to see Maleficent.

Everybody say, “Milkshake!”

 

Slumber party!

 

We also got to go to kallen’s birthday party at Jump n’ Jamz.  (I think that’s how it was spelled) This was a big bounce house place, and the kids had a blast!  The party room was huge!  And I loved the big, cushy throne for the birthday kid to sit on while opening presents!

 

The trip home was less than fun.  We got stuck in some really terrible traffic on I-40, due to an traffic accident. And poor Jim was waiting on us the whole time at Opry Mills mall in Nashville.  (He had been in Nashville that week for work)

What do you do in a car with four kids when you’re moving so slowly that it takes you an hour to go 5 miles?  Watch movies, of course!

Yes, that is my laptop.

 

Yes, it is attached to the passenger seat headrest with a luggage strap and an old bib.

 

Yes, I am incredibly resourceful in the face of a broken portable DVD player and a long car trip with four kids.

Much Ado about May—Lots of small things lumped together

Woohoo!  I’m closing in on summer and catching up to the present day!

Here’s a shot Jim took of us on Mother’s Day, all eating dinner together on the patio.  Eating outside on the patio is one of our favorite things!  I’m so glad we were able to do it on Mother’s Day!



A few days later, the kids had field day at school, and I was able to run over there and see them for a little while.



After that the boys had their crossover ceremony at cub scouts where they were promoted to the next scout level.  I think that makes them Bears this upcoming year.



All the scouts had spent the last couple of weeks building rockets, and they blasted them off that same night.  I think they were much more excited about the rockets than the ceremony!

Here are the boys’ rockets (Thank, Uncle Clay!).  Never fear, Reagan had one too!
 

Thomas had a fancy two-stage rocket, so powerful it blasted all the way across the field and got stuck in a tree!
 

Jim went after it to try and get it down, but to no avail.  Sorry Thomas!
 

Clay and Carey and the cousins also came back in May for a quick visit one weekend.  The special occasion was the wedding of Jim and Clay’s good childhood friend, Jason!

Handsome Jasper boys!
 

A family affair—Jason, with his two kids, and Kelly, with her two kids
 

I was in charge of senior luncheon at school this year.  Here is a shot of The Foundry, minus all the kids.  Isn’t it beautiful!  Big thanks to The Foundry and Janine for helping make it a fantastic luncheon!
 

Red, white, and blue popsicles!
 

Fun times with Jake, John Pierce, and Avery (and their parents) Memorial Day evening
 

Spiderman strikes again!
 

Stopping a moment to take a picture outside our favorite Target!
 

Men on a mountaintop!
 

Jim, with Michael, Bryan, Graham, John, and Brian on Mt. Le Conte

I have one more thing to blog for May, but it’s big, so it will get its own post!

Oops! Missed a few! Camping, Artwork, Safety City, Lysa, and RISK

I should have known that I would miss some pictures!  These came off my phone and didn’t make it into the correct folders.  Now they are in the right place, and I’m ready to share them with you!
First, in September 2013 over Labor Day weekend, we took the kids on their first REAL camping trip.  That is, we camped in a tent for more than one night  somewhere other than our back yard!  It was miserably hot, but the KOA had a pool and our camping buddies, Josh and Cris and their kiddoes, had a camper with air conditioning, so we managed to survive and have a great time!

Jim holding the big fish Cris caught.  She used hot dogs as bait, and now my kids think that is the only bait anyone should ever use!

All the boys on the playground—clearly it was a game day!  Go Vols!

Actually, I know it was a game day because Jim and Josh worked their tails off in the heat trying to hook up a TV to watch the game!

Also in September, Thomas painted this picture for me.  He said it was a blood machine and told me all about how the different parts worked to carry blood to people who need it.  He’ll make an excellent blood donor someday!

In October, the second graders went to Safety City, and Jonathan and Zachary’s sweet teacher snapped this pic of them and sent it to me.

In November, I went out of town one weekend with my friends Michelle and Katie.  We went to hear Lysa TerKeurst speak and even got to meet her.  It was a great weekend!

Jim also taught the boys to play RISK!  (Reagan and I were gone to ballet and a birthday party.  She wasn’t purposely excluded!)  They had to take a couple of breaks, but they finished the whole game!

Okay, now I think I’m caught up! 

Back to School—August 2013

Second grade, here we come!

Like last year, the kids were grouped two and two in their classes, which is such a blessing to me and Jim!  This year, Jonathan and Zachary were in one class and Reagan and Thomas were in the other.  That’s a different pairing from last year.  Last year, Jonathan was with Thomas and Zachary with Reagan.
Overall, the kids had a great year.  We loved their teachers!  They learned a lot, academically and socially.  We faced some challenges with friends, but learned, I hope, some valuable lessons. 
I can’t believe they’ll be in third grade this year!  That just seems so BIG.  I’m not ready for them to be so big.  It’s going by too fast!  But I suppose every parent feels that way.  They are great kids—not perfect, by any means—but truly great!  I LOVED third grade, and I hope they do too!

The Month that Doesn’t End—More of May 2013

Cute pictures of the kids on the slip n’ slide!

I LOVE this picture!

Dominoes, Easter Eggs, Kite-flying, and the Bane of My Existence! March 2013

This is my beautiful daughter Reagan.  Notice the missing teeth.  Soon she would lose another one, and things would get bad, VERY BAD.  Just wait.



Bud and KK came for a visit over Spring Break, and Bud taught the kids to play dominoes.  They had a lot of fun!  Thanks Bud!

We also had an Easter egg hunt while Bud and KK were here. 



After their visit, it was time to get ready for Easter, so we dyed our eggs.



On Easter, we had a visit from the Easter Bunny, enjoyed a moving church service, and hunted more eggs in the afternoon.



Don’t skim by those pictures too quickly!  Can you see it?  The bane of my existence during that time?  Look closer.


DO YOU SEE IT?!?!? When Reagan lost one of her top front teeth, the other one held on for what seemed like eternity, CROOKED, right in the middle of her smile.  It was so gross to look at.  It makes me cringe just to look at it!



A couple of the kids got kites at our church’s Spring Festival.  One afternoon, when the wind was blowing, Jim took the kids out and gave them their first flying lessons!