Daisy

This is Daisy, our new puppy. We got her on Saturday. She is such a sweetie and the kids love her. We think the name Daisy suits her. The kids and Jody came up with some quite unusual names, ranging from Dorito (Micajah's choice) to Hershey Kiss (the girls' choice) and Atocia (Jody's choice).

Coming soon to a Bookstore near you

I just signed a contract with a book publisher to publish my cookbook, Sweet Blessings. It will possibly be out by Christmas, but more than likely after the first of the year. It is a cookbook of all of our families favorite recipes and our favorites from family and friends. I'll keep you posted.

We've got Spirit - Yes we DO!

We've got two girls going to Camp this week. Heyward left yesterday for a week at CentriKid with our Church. Lindsey Kate is here, but going to Kiddie Cheer Camp in the mornings at our local High School. Yesterday, she won one of the Spirit Sticks! She was quite excited!

Beach Photos

The beach provided a perfect opportunity for me to practice my photography. It helps having such lovely subjects!

Space Shuttles & Alligators

We just got back from a wonderful Vacation in St. Augustine. We decided for the 4th to make a trip down to Kennedy Space Center to watch the Space Shuttle launch. It was AMAZING. I was literally brought to tears. I almost broke into a rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, but was afraid no one would join in or they might arrest me for terroristic threats (by exposing those around me to my singing voice).

We made it back that evening to see the fireworks at the Bridge of Lions beside the Fort. Jody's parking and navigation were great, and we were back in our room in less than 10 minutes instead of caught up in traffic! We enjoyed the beach and taking the Trolly tours of St. Augustine. The Alligator Farm was especially fun. They had every form of Crocodile in the world at the park. The kids loved it!! They even got to pet a live anaconda.

Our tourist day in St. Augustine included Ripleys Believe it or Not, which was interesting, but Lindsey Kate freaked in a room or two and had to be escorted out by yours truly. The Old Jail was fun, too, and Jody got diving fever (again) by visiting the Florida Heritage Museum and seeing treasure from the Atocha.

On Friday we enjoyed a lovely dinner and great fellowship with Cousins David and Catherine and their kids Elizabeth and Ben. Elizabeth promised to come visit soon, but only if I make Ice Cream!

Boys night out

Our monthly Bunco game theme last night was "Dress like your husband" in honor of Father's Day. The pictures were too funny not to post.

Nice, quiet weekend

It seems like for the first weekend since April we had nothing planned this weekend. It was SO nice! The kids went to see their papa and Ms. Debby in the "country" and Jody went diving. Saturday morning, I found myself home alone for the first time in a long time! I made a leisurely trip to Walmart and spent the afternoon sunning by the pool reading my new issue of Guideposts (thanks, Kalynn!). How relaxing.

The kids came home to tell us that Muff (Papa and Debby's dog) had been bitten by a snake and was headed to the vet. That immediately sent me into a panic worrying that one of them could have been bitten, etc. Thank goodness Muff's visit to the vet revealed it was not a snake but a bee to which she had an allergic reaction. I believe she is feeling much better today.

Sunday we had several friends over to swim and grill after church. It was not too hot, due to the storm clouds rolling in. Just as we were finishing home made Ice Cream, the rain began to fall. All of the children and several of the fathers continued to swim, despite the down pour. No thunder or lightning, so we just let them swim. We all got a chuckle though when Lindsey Kate came inside to get her umbrella. We needed the rain So badly.

We've got Bunco tonight. Our theme is "dress like your husband" so it should be funny. I will hopefully post pictures tomorrow.

Ahoy There!

Saturday Afternoon was Micajah's birthday party. We had a real pirate (Thanks Uncle Pablo!) and a map to find buried treasure. The weather was great and a good time was had by all. Here a pictures of the Pirate Cake, the birthday boy and all of the treasure hunters with Captain Red Dog the pirate.

Micajah's birthday was actually on Thursday. About 9:00 Thursday afternoon, he said "If it's really my birthday like you say it is, when are the people coming?" Bless his heart!

2 cake weekend

We had two birthday parties this weekend to go to and I made the cakes for both of them. This one for Jessica's party turned out SO cute, I just had to post a picture of it.

Happy Birthday Micajah

Today is Micajah's 4th Birthday. 4 never looked so good!

We will celebrate Saturday with a Pirate Birthday. All the stuff for the party came in today from Oriental Trading Company. Whoo hoo! It should be lots of fun. Uncle Pablo will premier as Red Dog the Pirate. Named so for the treasure chest emblazened with a red dog on it. It was originally designed to be a beer cooler, but it makes a great treasure chest to be buried in the yard.

I will post pictures of the event on Monday.

Hurricane Season.....oh yeah!

Is it crazy that I love Hurricane season? We stay glued to the weather channel this time of the year. I love a good storm, even though they can be scary.

The first storm of the year came through last night. Tropical Storm Alberto. We woke up this morning to Alberto beating on our windows. It has cleared out for the time being, but we expect rain throughout the day.

Of course, we constantly pray for the safety of those more directly affected by the storms.

Resident Treasure Hunter

Last week we got a frantic phone call from a friend of ours who said his wife lost her engagement ring at the river. He wanted Jody to dive and look for it.

On Saturday, they headed down to the river. After one tank of diving, two sandwiches and an experiment with a penny to check out the river currents, Jody saw it sparkle out of the corner of his eye. There it was, sitting on a rock on the bottom of the river.

Here is a picture of Jody giving the picture back to our overjoyed friend Prissy.

Wedding Photos

I am finally getting around to posting pictures from Marilois & Pablo's wedding. It took us a few days to re-coop and then I was waiting for the pictures from Jody.

The wedding was WONDERFUL! I have laughed to family and said it was quite a "trip". Hee hee! Marilois was gorgeous and the children addendants behaved beautifully. Except for Micajah's run in with some ants, none of the children bailed out, cried or refused to walk. Quite a feat with 9 children under the age of 8. God's hand was certainly in it.

We loved visiting with out of town family, especially Aunt Katharine, Uncle Mike and Baby James. How much he has grown and how smiley he has become. He lit up every room he entered. We also loved seeing Dot & Tom Maier, Dorothy and Sophie Gould. We had been hearing of Sophie for years, and were thrilled to finally meet her. Our kids and she immediately bonded.

Here is a picture of the wedding cake that I made for the wedding. Apparently it was quite a hit. It was quite a labor of love. Maybe we will look back on it with great fondness of my launch into the famous world of cake baking.

Set of Professional cake pans : $200
New oven large enough to hold said cake pans: $1100
Pistachio Extract $100
Baking your sister's wedding cake for "free" : Priceless

Here also is a shot of the kids prior to the wedding.

AR Superstar!!

I have been a horrible blogger lately. It seems that we have been so busy between the end of school bustle and Aunt Mimi's wedding and baking the wedding cake, I have hardly had time to blog, and when I have time, I can't think of anything blogworthy.

Anyway, today was a special day. Heyward's school had the walk of fame for the students that earned more than 100 points in the Accelerated Reader program. Well, she not only earned more than 100 points, she earned the most points in the whole school (356) and got to lead the AR Star parade with the principal. She told Ms. Nan (the Principal) that walking in the parade was like doing her moms workout video!

These boots are made for walkin'

Even though the sky is blue and not a cloud is in sight, Micajah decided to wear his rain boots today. Can you blame him? They look great!

Good Citizens All Around!

Today being the end of the 9 week grading period, we find out who won the Good Citizen Award. It is sponsored by Georgia Power and is given to one student in each class during each grading period who exemplifies what a good citizen should be. Well, Miss Lindsey Kate won it for her class this time. She follows sister Heyward, who won it for her class last grading period. The parents are given a bumper sticker that says "My child is a Good Citizenship Award Winner". Now their dad and I each have one proudly displayed on our bumpers! It's nice to know your kids behave at school.

We're SICK of being sick!

We are now entering the third (yes, THIRD) week of someone in our household being sick. Two weeks ago Lindsey Kate woke up throwing up and stayed home from school. The next day, I get a phone call on my answering machine that says "Mama, come pick me up from school, my tummy hurts". I immediately call the school back and tell them to have Lindsey Kate ready, I will be there in a minute. I get to school and check her out. As we head out to the car I said "I am so sorry you don't feel well" She replied "What?!? I feel fine". HEYWARD was the one that called. So after checking Lindsey Kate back into school and checking Heyward out of school, we head home.

Last week, Micajah was sick. After 2 days of running a fever that got up to 102.9° I took him to the Doctor. He had a touch of bronchitis and an ear infection. They started him on a round of antibiotics for the ear infection. We got up to 103.4° (I think that was a household record) that night, but he is MUCH better this week and has gone back to school.

I have been stuffy and coughing the last two days, but mama's aren't allowed to take the day off from "school", huh?. Anyway, last night, Heyward started throwing up. I got up, changed the sheets, cleaned the bathroom floor where she "missed" and laid out an assortment of towels on her bed and floor to possibly aid in clean up later. Now, two sets of sheets, 2 bath mats and 5 towels later, I'm SICK of everyone being sick! Thankfully, spring arrived yesterday, so maybe that will help. No, that just means MORE pollen!!!

YIKES!!

I better run, I've got Lysol to spray!!!

Kite Day

Our local Womans Club sponsors an annual Kite Day in our community. We shut down the airport (only in a small town, huh!?) and just go fly a kite. This was started about 2 years ago in honor of our friends Macy and Brance that were killed in a car accident along with Macy's daddy. The funds that are raised by the Womans Club are used to benefit others in our community.

Saturday proved to be a BEAUTIFUL day with clear, breezy skies and temps in the 80's. Here is a picture of Lindsey Kate enjoying her kite. What a wonderful to usher in the Spring!

Makes me want to sing a little diddy from Mary Poppins....

"Let's go fly a kite, up to the highest height
Let's go fly a kite and send it soaring....."

200 Points!

Our local school has an Accelerated Reader (AR) program. The kids, beginning in 1st grade, read books, take tests and are awarded points for scores on the tests. You are awarded prizes (like homework passes, lunch with the principal, etc) as you reach higher point levels. The "goal" is to get 100 points in a year. Most books in the 2nd grade level are 1/2 to 1 point each. The kids that get 100 or more points are in a parade through the school at the end of the year. Yesterday Heyward passed the 200 point mark! WAY TO GO! Thank goodness for Nancy Drew books. They are 5 points each!

We don't need no stinking wedding clothes

Saturday morning, Bami and I loaded up the kids and went with ML and Pablo's Sister Carmina to shop for wedding clothes for our children and the 4 other flower girls. About half way there, Micajah pipes up and says "Why are we going to by me clothes for Aunt Mimi's wedding, I already have my Tigger costume to wear". Well, needless to say, we got him something a little more appropriate.

After a CRAZY lunch at Pizza Hut/TacoBell/KFC we spent 2 hours shopping for the clothes. We ended up getting adorable dresses, but I was so frazzled by that time, I forgot to get pictures of the girls.

The other photo is of our kids and Carmina's kids after shopping. We got new kites because we have Kite Day here on Saturday and last year's kites "Were too heavy and blew away" as Micajah told me. Anyway, it was LOTS of fun and we loved meeting Carmina, her girls and boy.