Capturing the Flag--September 2014

I love this picture!  I took it one afternoon from the front parking lot of my school, looking up the hill to where the kids had run.  It would look even better cropped, but this program won't let me do that.  I miss you Live Writer.

Anyway, the theme of September was not cute hill pictures. 

It was FOOTBALL!

Flag football, that is!

The boys played flag football for the first time and had a blast!  

They learned a lot about football that they didn't know before playing and certainly gained new skills, but most of all they had a whole lot of fun!  It didn't matter if they weren't that good or that their team lost every game except one.  They always came off the field all smiles!

The Rest of August 2014--Pajamas, Friends, and Family

Here are a few random moments from last August to finish up that month:

First we pay homage to an awesome friend for the hand-me-down pajamas.  I love it when hand-me-downs come in threes!

Next, we say hello to not-so-baby Grant.  It was great to have a visit from him and Laura right before school started back for the kiddos.

Enjoying some ice cream with the Light kids

Jonathan was named a Star Student the very first week of school!

Quite an honor!

And last of all, the cousins came for a visit, but somehow I only have pictures of Avery.  This one of her and Reagan is my favorite!

First Day of Third Grade--August 2014

The kids started third grade last August.  It was really hard on me to think of my kids as third graders.  Second grade still sounds little, but THIRD GRADE sounds like BIG KIDS.  I remember third grade so much more vividly than I remember the earlier grades, so it feels older.  I don't have little kids anymore.  I have big kids.  Sigh.

Jonathan, Zachary, Reagan, Thomas

Here's the tub of school supplies we took to school.  It may look like less stuff than previous years, but I think that is just because some of the supplies fit inside other supplies.  There may also have been some of the larger boxes, like Ziploc bags, that weren't in the tub.  I can't remember.

This year we will break with tradition and make the kids carry their own stuff.  I know certain people will be disappointed because seeing Jim haul in the giant tub of supplies brings them such joy, but it draws a lot of unnecessary attention to us, and we get enough attention as it is!  Besides, the kids will be fourth graders!  (Sigh) They are plenty big enough to carry their own supplies!

Fishin' with PawPaw--August 2014

The first weekend of August we made a trip to Jasper and rented a boat on Nickajack Lake to go fishing with Jim's dad.  We didn't catch anything, but we had a good time, and the kids enjoyed getting a chance to spend some time with their PawPaw.

BB Guns and Tornadoes--July 2014

I'm a year behind on the blog again, (not that you would expect anything else!) and have had a lot of trouble with Live Writer, my long-time trusty blogging program, and have finally given up on trying to get it to work.  So I am back to creating my posts actually in the Blogger program.  I don't like it as much, but that is where I am.  So let's get this party started!

Last July, Jim finally got a chance to give the kids (well, the boys...Reagan wasn't interested) some shooting lessons with their BB gun.  It was a fun time, one that should be repeated more often than it is!

We also had a tornado warning which sent us to our safe place.  It's a rather small space, so we were quite cozy, especially after adding pillows and blankets.  I can't remember if the electricity had also gone out or we had just turned the light off to keep down the heat, but we took a few pictures and we are clearly lit up by a lantern and not the ceiling light.

Don't worry, Thomas was not as scared as he appears in the picture!  Don't we look prepared?  Even Jim has a helmet to protect his head from falling debris!  If only we had thought to make Thomas put on a shirt!

The last pictures from last July will give you a shot of our summer garden harvest, and Zachary in his second favorite socks.  Second favorite?  Yes.  He has identical yellow ones and THOSE are his favorite!  He picked them out on a birthday shopping trip in Memphis with Bud and KayKay.  Never have you seen kids so excited about new socks!

July 2014: Fun with Friends

So, today is my tenth school day in a row off work due to winter weather.  After a mostly mild winter, we have been slammed with one bout of snow and ice after another for the last two weeks.  Admittedly, I have loved every minute of it!  I got to sleep in.  I graded ALL of my papers.  I’ve cleaned most of the house and caught up on the laundry.  I’ve played with the kids.  It’s really been a great snowcation!

And now that I’m all caught up, I can do some blogging!  Woohoo!

So I will channel warm thoughts of pool parties and summer fun and go over last July, since that’s as far as I got last summer!

Our good friends Josh and Cris put in a pool last year, and were kind enough to share it with us!

Reagan and Kennedy

Carter

We also got together with our former next-door neighbors from the old house.  Here I am with Liz and Laura—two moms and one mom-to-be!  It was a good thing we got together when we did!  Liz had her baby that night!

Baby Hugh Henry!  What a cutie!

A couple of weeks later, I got to go and see him in person!  Liz even let me hold him!

He was such a sweet, cuddly baby!  He never cried once, and Liz and I were able to have the nicest visit!  I’m so glad I was able to get in a visit before school started back the next week!  What a great way to end the summer!

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!

More Cousins! More Fun!

Didn’t I tell you that June was busy!  We went out of town three times…and then had company!  But we had so much fun doing all of it!  I wouldn’t take any of it away, even if it did make the month go by entirely too quickly!

We arrived home from our Memphis trip really late on a Friday night.  Two days later, we went to Jasper for a family reunion and saw many of Jim’s relatives.  So fun!

Uncle Millard, Clay, and Tyler

 

Grandparents, brothers, and cousins galore!

 

Jim with Aunt Jayne, Cousin Josh, and little Cousin Brantley

 

PawPaw and Eddie

 

Ainsleigh with Cousin Caleb, her new best friend

 

Shooting off rockets for a grand finale!

 

After the reunion, Clay and his family headed to Knoxville to spend a few days with us.  What better way to have fun with the cousins than to all go to Dollywood!

 

Now, Jim and I are bad parents who had never taken our kids to Dollywood before, despite living so close, so we didn’t really know how this was going to go, especially with Ainsleigh along for the ride!  We figured by dinnertime we would all be DONE and ready to go home!

 

Boy, were we wrong!  We closed the place down!  We had so much fun!  The kids rode nearly everything they were tall enough to ride (except Zachary, he’s Mr. I’ll Pass on the Rollercoaster, Thank You!)  Maybe next year, we’ll get season passes!

 

 

The kids were also really sweet about spending some time on the baby rides so Ainsleigh could have some fun too.  Look how happy she is!

 

This picture CRACKS ME UP!  No, Jonathan is not ducking for cover or hiding in fear.  He’s literally hiding from the camera because he doesn’t want his picture taken on the baby ride!  Notice all the other boys are having a blast!  Not Jonathan.  This ride was so beneath him!

So yes, we watched the closing fireworks, didn’t get home until nearly midnight, and can’t wait to go again!  I hope every day in Disney will be as much fun!

“Hey, let’s talk our parents into taking us back to Dollywood!”