Introducing......#32

Last Friday we found out that Hannah made the middle school basketball team. We are excited for her. She is really getting into it and enjoying it. She received her practice uniform yesterday, so I couldn't resist taking pictures and sharing the news. This momma is ready for some b-ball! Go # 32! More pictures to come later!

Halloween Weekend Fun

I decorated the back of Kevin's truck for Trunk or Treat at our church on Friday night. The kids had a blast at this event. They helped give out candy after they got done making their rounds. On Saturday night we went to a friend's house for dinner and a night of trick or treating in their neighborhood. Here are the characters I took with me.

Prince Caspian from Chronicles of Narnia...Isn't he handsome? He did have the armor to go with it. He carried the sword around but the other was too much.

Here she is! Lucy from "I Love Lucy!" (Fit her personality perfectly!) I think this costume was a hit!

Hannah joined in the fun also, but I think this is probably her last year to do so. She seems to have outgrown the costume phase. She went as Dr. Seuss' "Thing One". I think she just wanted her hair sprayed blue.

Hannah's friend, T, spent Saturday with us. Since Alli's costume for Lucy from Narnia didn't work out, I told T that she could be Susan from Chronicles of Narnia. She wore a Renaissance princess dress for her costume. It was a busy weekend, but filled with lots of fun!

Down on the Farm

Today Kevin got to enjoy a field trip with Aaron to a local farm. They enjoyed a hayride, the corn maze, and petting some of the animals. The trip was cut a little short by the rain. But I think they really enjoyed their morning together. Kevin agreed to take pictures for me.

Fall Break

October has been a busy month thus far. School work, piano, cheerleading, and church activities have kept us hopping! The kids did have their annual fall break this month, but for the first time we were all in different directions. It kinda made this momma crazy for about a week!

Hannah has been wanting to participate in a mission trip with our church for a while. So this year for fall break we decided that she and Kevin would go on the mission trip to Texas with a team from our church. The team was all set to go to Texas until our associate pastor decided the Lord was leading them to stay here and help the flood victims that lived only an hour away. Kevin and Hannah were gone Sunday evening thru Friday evening. Kevin got to experience a different type of mission trip. He got to turn his medical brain off and participate in some physical labor--pulling up hardwood floors, removing sheet rock, and shoveling mud out of houses. Hannah was part of the ministry team that made gift baskets to hand out as they visited in the community. She was well taken care of by Mama Mel and Grandma Marsha (two of the ladies from our church who were on the trip, who I asked to watch out for her)!

Hannah actually missed 3 1/2 days of school to go on the mission trip, so while they were gone, Alli and Aaron were still in school for a few more days. On Wednesday afternoon, I dropped Alli off at her friend's house. Our friends, T & T asked if Alli could go with their family to Universal Studios and SeaWorld in Orlando for the fall break weekend. Alli had an awesome time. She rode lots of rides and got completely soaked by Shamu! Thank you to T & T for letting Alli tag along! Alli returned on Sunday evening that weekend.

Well, by Wednesday evening, it was just me and my boy. To be honest, he was pretty upset that he couldn't go to Orlando with Alli and her friend. He kept saying that Alli's friend was his friend too. "She hugs me, too!", he would say. I knew I would have to have something special planned for us. So on Thursday, after his much needed hair trim, we headed to Chattanooga for an over night stay. Late Thursday afternoon we headed to the movie theater for "Toy Story 1 and 2" in 3D. He loved it. I did too, but three hours in a dark, cool theater tends to make me really sleepy. So, yes, I dozed off a few times. After the movie, we ate dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, P.F. Changs. By the time we finished, it was time to head back to the hotel. After getting dressed for bed, we laid in the bed and watched "Ice Age 3" and "Up". However, Aaron didn't make it very long after "Up" started. He was so tired!

The next morning after breakfast at the hotel, we drove over to the mall and visited Build-A- Bear. We now have a polar bear named "Snowen". I got to shop for just a few minutes. But as I had promised, we made our way to the aquarium. It was my quickest trip thru the aquarium. Aaron wanted to play outside and we also saw "Under the Sea" at the Imax theater. "Under the Sea" had been playing for a few minutes when Aaron says, "Momma, when is the movie going to start?" I said, "Aaron, this is the movie." He was just a little disappointed, but I thought it was pretty cool. Later as we were playing by the river, the rain drops began to fall. We got caught in a little downpour. We ended our day with a little Ben & Jerry's. Yummo!

See You When That Trumpet Sounds!

Last Friday I went on a little shopping spree to find Hannah some fall clothes. Let's just say I do not enjoy shopping in the junior section without her. She's eleven and we are shopping in the junior section! Around lunchtime on my way home, I decided to call my mom and see how things were going for her and my grandparents. She said things were going okay and that my Papaw had a cold and had vomited a few times due to his cold and cough, but they thought he was getting better.

Just a few hours later, I would learn that my sweet Papaw was seeing his Saviour face to face for the first time. Papaw was in his recliner, his favorite place to be, when the Lord decided it was his time. We are so thankful he did not suffer. It was like he fell asleep in his recliner. Papaw was 87. He would have been 88 next month. I guess the thing that has brought so much comfort and joy to my heart the past week, was realizing the legacy he left us--one of faithfulness to Jesus and one of faithfulness to his family. Papaw was a retired pastor. He surrendered to the ministry at the age of around 33. At the time, he had a good job with Bellsouth and had a wife and three kids to support. My Papaw's best friend was in charge of the message at the funeral on Monday. He totaled the number of churches my Papaw had served either as pastor, interim pastor, revival preacher, or just simply turning on the heat and air and it came to 176. I had no idea. Papaw chose to answer God's call on his life and I believe he served Him wholeheartedly.

Three weeks ago on Labor Day weekend, we went home to see everyone. I am so thankful to the Lord that He orchestrated this trip home. As Papaw was getting in the car that Saturday afternoon, I got to kiss his cheek, not knowing it would be my last. I know this was a gift from the Lord.

As I walked into the living room of my grandparents home for the first time last Saturday, I could tell how different it was not to have him in that recliner as usual. We will miss him greatly, but oh, what a blessing it is to know he has been healed. Papaw, we love you and we will miss you. See you when that trumpet sounds!

Our Crazy July

It is almost that time, time to join the rat race again. The kids will be going back to school next Thursday. I will miss not having them with me, but I think it is time for a schedule of some sort.

We had a full month of things to do in the month of July. We started the month with Hannah's 11th birthday. While lying on the beach in May, she and I planned her party. She wanted to invite a few friends over for a sleepover and scrapbooking. Scrapbooking has become one of her new loves. I am thankful for this because I plan for her to help me get everyone caught up. Her sister loves it, too. One of my friends let my younger two spend the night with her family and Kevin was working the 3p-2a shift, so it was just me with five preteen girls! The moms met me at IHOP and the girls and I had dinner there. Then we went home and started scrapbooking. I think this was a hit. The girls really enjoyed it. I bought some paper albums from Hobby Lobby, along with paper and stickers. We just asked the girls to bring their photos from home. As the night progressed I found out how loud 11-12 year olds can be. And I was sort of in shock because I learned that they still love to play hide-and-seek and "Your It". I think Hannah really enjoyed her party and I am so glad she did.



On July third we made a trip home to visit family. We were there for 10 days. I thought this would give us plenty of time to spend with everyone in the family. I was hoping to get to be there for the birth of my new niece, but she decided to come after we left. But we really had a good time with everyone. We ate good home cooking, went to the zoo, went shopping, and played with the cousins. We played hard, because it took me a few days to recover from the trip!







Once we got back home, I had less than a week to get my two girls ready for camp. They went to camp on a local college campus for two weeks. Hannah has been to Centrikid which is four nights away, but neither girl has been away from us for that long. We were able to communicate only by mail. So for two weeks in July we only had one child in the house. It was very quiet. No fighting or fussing was heard until Kevin started playing the Wii. If he didn't win, Aaron was an upset boy. We are continually working on this issue with him. He's a very sore loser! On the 31st Aaron and I went to camp to get our girls. I think we were all glad to see each other and of course we had to stop at Kevin's work to let the girls give him a hug. Daddy's girl (Alli) requested we stop for the hug. She couldn't wait till he got home. The girls really enjoyed camp. They had loads of fun and are ready to go back next year for two weeks. And Alli finally got to ride a horse! On the day I left them at camp, I told her several times not to be upset if she didn't get horseback riding as one of her skills. They only had a few slots for that skill. By Tuesday or Wednesday I got a note from her saying she was going to ride horses. Her eyes light up when you ask her about the horse she rode. The girl lives life to the fullest! And we learned that Hannah doesn't like camping out. As you begin to listen to her story about camping, I can understand why and I easily have a picture in my head of her trying to sleep that night. The spot she and her cabin mates chose for their tent was on top of some tree roots. She said her sleeping bag was on top of the biggest root. I couldn't help but laugh, listening to her. I think Hannah made some good friends and they are now emailing each other. I am so thankful they were able to experience this camp.



So for now we are enjoying the last bit of our summer before it's back to the books. I am looking forward to this new year. Aaron will be in kindergarten and I know it will be a fun year for him. Alli will be in third grade and she will cheer for the Jr. Pee Wee football team. Hannah will be in the sixth grade. Sixth grade was a hard year for me, so I pray hers goes a lot better than mine. Hannah will play middle school basketball this year, so I am looking forward to that. I asked Kevin where he thought Aaron got his competitiveness from. Kevin told me that I was competitive, so that was where Aaron got it from. I asked him what he was talking about--I am not competitive! He told me I was the one who couldn't be quiet when the girls were playing upward basketball and that I hated to lose. Yes, it is true, I have a hard time shutting my mouth when my girls are on the court. And yes, I probably hate losing, too. Oh well, I lost that one.

Monday this week Kevin's friend, Erik, experienced a great loss. Back in April, Erik's parents were hit by an SUV while crossing the street in New Orleans. His dad had lots of broken bones, but has been recovering well. His mom came out of coma towards the end of April and had struggled with lots of problems due to her injuries. She had been slowly improving, but over this past weekend took a turn for the worse. She has been ultimately healed by her Lord and is in heaven with Him now. Our hearts hurt for them and we pray that the Lord will comfort and strengthen in the days ahead as they cope with this great loss. If you want to read a sweet post about this precious woman, read her daughter-in-law's(my sweet friend, Erin, Erik's wife) blog, embracing my cup. It is the post titled, "In Jesus' Arms."

Under the Sea!

It is quiet at our house tonight. Kevin is on a mission trip. Hannah is at camp thru Friday. Alli is at a friend's house, and my little man Aaron is asleep. This is the week during the summer when I have mixed feelings about my husband and daughter being away from me. I am excited for these trips they are making, but I am so reminded that I am not in control and I have to trust the Lord to take care of my crew. The past few days I have sat around like a teenager hovering over my phone waiting to talk with my husband for just a few minutes. I am so glad to get to talk with him today and know that everything is going well for him. They saw 58 patients today and hoping for 60 plus tomorrow.

Hannah left for Centrikid Monday. She is having a great time. She absolutely loves this camp. It has been quiet this week without her. She is growing up so much. We are now shopping for the same size shoes. She still has 8 inches to catch up with me in height.

Alli is in cheer leading camp this week. She has spent lots of time with her best friend, A. They have been doing a lot of bike riding this week. The child enjoys life fully with a smile, except when her mom tells her it's time to leave the pool.

Aaron just loves to stay at home and chill. He does enjoy the pool, but he also loves the old cartoons his dad and mom grew up watching. Of course, there's the Wii and the DS--Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, etc. Aaron's personality continues to amaze me. He has a little OCD about him, but in a good way. One of his favorite things to do right now is take out all the kitchen washcloths from the drawer, throw them on the couch, and then refold them into squares and stack them neatly back in the drawer. He also told me that he was not going into kindergarten next year, that he was still in the 4 year old class. He says he is ready to go back to school and he loves the work. I can't wait to see what he says come August.

This weekend my mom came to visit for a few days. While she was here, we made a trip to the aquarium, which is also hosting the Titanic exhibit this summer. The kids really enjoyed seeing all the sea creatures, watching Deepo's 3D movie, and seeing the Titanic exhibit. Aaron did not care for the exhibit much. Before you go into the exhibit they give you a boarding pass that has a person's name on it who was actually on the Titanic. Towards the end they list all the names of the passengers and whether they survived or not. So you get to look up your person's name and find out if they survived. We all survived but Aaron. His person had two sons with him. He had been going thru a divorce and custody battle. The sons survived. The man thought that when they got to America things would work out and he and his wife would be reunited. I could have spent a long time in the exhibit reading all the info, but some little boy I know kept pulling me forward. He was ready for lunch!

P.S.- This post was started on Tuesday evening, but didn't get finished till Wednesday!

Back to Reality!

Unfortunately all vacations must come to an end, so Sunday we bid farewell to St. George Island and made our way home. I think I could have stayed for an entire month. I think St. George has been our favorite beach vacation so far. We hope to return again at some point in the future. It truly is a vacation from the hectic world we live in. We did cook, wash dishes, and wash clothes, but the rest of the time was sitting on the beach, playing in the pool, fishing, reading, watching t.v., playing the ds nintendo, and taking a few naps.

I won't forget our fishing trip that Kevin chartered with a guy at Indian Pass. It was planned for Friday morning. I agreed to go as long as they had a bathroom close by the dock. If you have had several babies, you will understand where I am coming from. Well, Kevin checked it out and asked if there was a restroom. The lady told him, "yes, there's one at the dock." The lady also told him we would be fishing on the bay and we would fish for fish we could eat. We finally get there and I asked Kevin to find out where the bathroom was, so I could take care of that issue before we got on the boat. He came back to the car and said, "Karen, there's your bathroom over there." Oh yes, it was a port-a-potty. I could just imagine how long it had been sitting there. I survived and decided I had been in one in Atlanta when I participated in the Peachtree Road Race that had smelled worse. So we all loaded onto the boat, ready to catch some big fish! Well that little boat carried us out into the gulf, not the bay. After about 30-40 minutes, Aaron starts whining about his tummy hurting. To be honest, I think all of us were a little on the nauseated side. You couldn't stand up on the boat without getting knocked around by the waves that were tossing the boat around. After two and a half hours of fishing, Kevin had caught one shark. The guy must have felt bad because he started fishing for sail cats (catfish) and by the time our time was up, the kids had caught 10 sail cats. The guy would cast the line, hook the fish, and then let the kids do the rest. We enjoyed our little trip, but I think we were all exhausted. I slept for about 3 hours when we got back to the house.

We got a late start to our day on Saturday, but we packed a lot in after lunch--beach, swimming in the pool, riding bikes, cooking catfish, pictures on the beach at sunset, and washing laundry. Saturday was a big day for me because I finally tackled something that I have wanted to work on for a long time. All three of my kids know how to swim. Their mother, however, has been dog paddling for years with a fear of putting her head in the water. This has bothered me forever, but I never have been able to overcome this fear. Since we had a private pool at the house where we stayed, I decided this might be the week for me to work on this issue. It took me all week to work up the nerve to put my head in the water. Well, Saturday, with my three little encouragers in the pool with me, I put my head down and swam. I think they were as excited as me. I enjoyed this sweet time with them. What a blessing my kids are to me!

Well, I truly hated leaving Sunday morning. I love the beach. I love to sit and listen to the waves roll in. It's so peaceful! When I am sitting there, I can't help thinking about how big our God is and how great He is! On a funny note, if I was planning life for Kevin and I when the kids are all grown up, it would be for Kevin to get a job on a cruise liner(such as Disney), and then retire and live on St. George Island. Hey, nothing wrong with dreaming! You can tell where my favorite two vacations have been.

So Monday morning, we were back to reality. The girls are enjoying a week of basketball camp and today we got to spend a few hours at the pool with friends. I am savoring these summer days!

Walking On the Beach at the Cut

Pool Time

First Fishing Trip

For some reason I was awake by 6:30 this morning. I had told myself that I would get up early and go walking; however, I talked myself into reading and savoring three cups of coffee. I had several quiet hours to myself which is unusual in the morning. No one else got out of bed till around nine.

After a little breakfast, Kevin and Alli decided they would go out on the pier and fish. Hannah and Aaron joined them for a little while. Aaron decided he wanted to swim, so we got his swim trunks on and by that time Hannah decided she would swim, too. By the time we made it to the pool, Alli was running our direction while yelling that daddy had finally caught a fish. Yesterday when Kevin bought his license, he also purchased a book that tells all about the fish you are able to catch here. He had his brochure out trying to decide which type of fish he had caught. He thinks it was a pinfish. It was funny to this country girl because I only know catfish, bass, bream, and white perch. Later in the afternoon he went back for a few more minutes and caught another pinfish. We didn't get a picture of that one, but he said the first fish could have eaten the second.

By the time Alli joined us in the pool, the rain began. The rain got heavier and the thunder clapped, so inside we went. We finally got to go back to the pool later this afternoon. It was a little chilly!

Kevin picked up our dinner from BJ's Pizza and Subs. We enjoyed staying in for dinner and not having to clean up afterwards.

Our quick dinner gave us some time to ride our bikes down to Bob Sikes Cut and walk a few minutes on the beach. It was so beautiful and the temperature was just right. The sound of the waves and the cool wind blowing added a nice touch to the end of our day. Looking forward to tomorrow. Ready for a little rest now.

A Quick Catch Up

I keep saying that one day I am going to blog on a regular basis. It just never happens, so I am not going to say that. However, school is out for the summer and we are on vacation, so I have slowed down long enough to type a few words.

I think the last time I blogged was about a possible contract on our old house. I can't describe the relief we felt after closing on that home on April 17th. After signing the million papers we had to sign, there were hugs exchanged between me and the new owner and our real estate agent. Our real estate agent, KD, goes to church with us and I think the world of him, his wife, and all of their family. I know he was just as relieved as us to finally sale the house. Even his wife has been praying hard for us to sale the house for those two years and two months. After we started the contract process, we had an appraisal done on the house that didn't turn out as well as we had hoped. I was pretty disgusted (so was Kevin) by the whole deal, however, that is the way the cookie crumbles these days due to the economy. After the closing was said and done, I was convinced that God was in it. The lady who bought our home is divorced with two young boys. They were so excited about the house and to be part of a neighborhood with lots of kids. I think there will be lots of support there for her and she won't have to worry about the boys. They will be out in the front yard playing with all the kids in the neighborhood, because the front yard is where they all come to play. I hope to go by one day and see how she's painted all the rooms. The one thing that I gave up with the sale of the house was my mirror above the fireplace. We left it there to help sale the house. The plan was to bring it to the new one and put it in the master bath. Guess I will be headed to Kirkland's to find another one!

Of course April and May are busy birthday months for us. Aaron turned 5 on April 1st. We had a family birthday celebration with a little Mario cake and played the Wii. Mine was next on April 24th. We celebrated at P.F. Changs, one of my favorite restaurants. It was a wonderful day for me and turned into an even greater day when we got a text message saying that a dear friend's mom had awoken from a coma. She and her husband had been hit by an SUV in New Orleans on Palm Sunday weekend. I am still moved to tears when I think about all this family has been thru and how they are still touching the lives of those who know them and even those who don't know them so well.

Well, May is a big birthday month for us, too. Alli turned eight on May 2nd and Kevin had a birthday on the 3rd. The night before Alli's birthday, we hosted a mother/daughter scrapbook night in our home. What a wonderful night we had together. It was a complete success and our next one is scheduled for June 12th. I have decided that with my girls helping me I might actually get caught up with scrapbooks for all the kids pictures before they leave my nest. We have no furniture in the front part of our house (formal dining and living room), so I just leave my tables up the majority of the time because we have scrapbook nite once a month for the ladies. Hannah and Alli continued to scrapbook on Saturday (Alli's birthday) and would scrapbook every day if we had the time. The night of the mother/daughter scrapbook we had birthday cake for Alli. She requested the strawberry cake I made her last year. It's a recipe from one of the sweet ladies in our church. I also made 24 cupcakes using the same recipe and used my cupcake stand. It was a fun weekend. We had plenty of cake for the weekend!

We celebrated Mother's Day weekend with a quick trip back home to see all the grandmothers. There was really not enough time to spend with everyone, but it was enough to last us till July. I did get to go to my favorite restaurant on Mother's Day; yes, it is P. F. Changs. I will have to enjoy Newk's next time because there wasn't enough time to hit that one. I think we will have plenty of time in July. Looks like I will be there for 10 days!

So, here, we are enjoying our summer vacation on St. George Island, Florida. It's our first trip here. We have friends that come here every year and they love it. It's our kind of vacation. Our house is on the bay. We are surrounded by palm trees and pine trees. We have an enclosed pool outside. It has to be enclosed due to the mosquito population. We drove down yesterday and arrived around five. Kevin cooked shrimp last night. Just a side note, out of the blue on our trip down, Aaron asked if he could have a green vegetable when we got to our house. This is shocking because he has wanted nothing to do with vegetables. So, Kevin told him that we bought the asparagus and the broccoli just for him. Aaron wrinkled his nose up at the broccoli. But to my surprise, he actually decided it wasn't so bad. After dinner, we all put our swim suits on and headed for the pool. The pool is heated, and this is a good thing, because Kevin is actually swimming with us. I think he really enjoyed it. Of course, Aaron went thru his "I'm scared" phase, but when it was time to go in, he wasn't ready to leave. I told him his name was "Nemo".

I am about done savoring several cups of coffee, so the kids and I are going to head towards the beach. We haven't got to see it yet. I hope to post some pictures while we are here, since I have my computer with me. Kevin is working on the schedule for he and his cohorts for July thru September. He will also have to study for his board exam. He's not much on sand and sun. He hasn't had any time to do these things, so he will have to work a little while here.

I have tried to arrange the photos, but blogger won't let me. These are pics taken on Mother's Day weekend at my grandparents' home. The first picture was taken at Bop's. We met my dad there for a few minutes and had some ice cream.

Time for some sun!