Fall Festival & Halloween

Last Wednesday, our church had a Fall Festival & Trunk or Treat in conjunction with Awana. At some point during the evening, my camera went missing & is still lost. So all my pictures are what I took with my phone.

Throw a pie at the pastor was a big hit!

I forgot to take a picture of my trunk but instead of decorating it with the typical Halloween/Fall decor, I decided to go with a UGA theme. I took everything UGA we had in the house & even downloaded some UGA music to have playing while the kids came by! I don't know what everybody else thought about it, but I loved it! I may or may not have continued to listen to the UGA music throughout the week.

On Halloween, we were looking forward to trick or treating in our neighborhood. Emma dressed up in an 80's outfit & volunteered to hand out candy. Dougie didn't dress up but wanted to walk with the little boys & help Asher carry his basket, which was his UGA helmet. (Dougie's idea!)

I tried to get a video of Asher going up to a door & saying "tick-a-teat!" but it was really dark & you couldn't really hear him. =(

When we got back to the house, Emma told us how she had run out of candy & had to resort to handing out gummy snacks. Good thing I'd just bought a bunch of them!

We had a really good time & made some great memories! Love y'all!

That kid....

I've been posting some funny things that my kids say on Facebook & since I want to be able to remember them, I'm going to share them here.

Last Friday morning, as Dougie was getting out of the van to go to school, I told him, "do good on your tests." From the back seat Caleb yells, "Make us proud!"

We were at Walmart buying a new shower curtain rod & I was letting Caleb carry it. As we're walking through the store, he points the curtain rod towards the sky & yells, "FOR NARNIA!"

We were at Dougie's football practice & I made the comment that I didn't know which one was Dougie (they don't have #'s on their practice jerseys) & Asher says, "big bubba right dere, in da white hamet (helmet)." Thank you, Captain Obvious.

Today we were walking into the bank & Caleb says to me, "let's pretend we're bank robbers." I immediately told him that was a very bad idea!

Lately, whenever Asher is tired, he comes to me with some kind of toy or stuffed animal & tells me that it's tired. It goes something like this, "Momma, my do-eee's (doggie's)tired. He need to yay (lay) down in my bed."

I'm sure there are many more that I'm forgetting but as you can see, life is never boring with these guys!

The Circus

A couple of weeks ago we took Caleb & Asher to the circus. This was the 1st time they'd ever been. Caleb was so excited. We didn't tell him that we were going until we were in the car on the way to the arena.

This is the only picture I have and I took it with my phone. I left my camera at my SIL's a few weeks ago & haven't gotten it back yet. We bought a disposable camera (yes, they still make them!)& took more pictures but who knows when I'll get them developed.
Asher wasn't really into the circus, he would watch some things. He was more interested in flirting with the little girl sitting in front of us who was sharing her popcorn with him!
Caleb, on the other hand, enjoyed most of it. There were a couple of times when he was bored but to be honest, I was too! He really enjoyed the clowns and really got their humor. In fact, that was his favorite part.
The funniest part of the night was towards the end of the show. The ringmaster/magician put his assistant inside one of the lion cages, locked the cage and covered it with a cape. He did his magic and when he pulled the cape off the cage, the lady was gone and a lion was in the cage. We all clapped and cheered. Caleb watched as they began to roll the cage, with lion in it, off the stage. He looked and me, all worried, and began yelling, "They gotta turn her back! Aren't they gonna turn her back?!?"

Overall, we had a great night. The only thing that would've made it better is if Emma & Dougie could've been with us.

Love y'all!

Visiting Santa

Before we get too far into 2011, I figured I better get my Christmas posts done!

Because of our schedule with Emma & Dougie, we have to be intentional about when we take the kids to see Santa. We had planned on taking them to the mall in Augusta one evening. But since Steven doesn't get home until 5, the thought of driving an hour and then facing the crowds just didn't appeal to any of us. So we decided to take the kids to the much smaller mall in Statesboro. As a bonus, the Chick-fil-A was offering free chicken sandwiches to everyone wearing a Santa hat, so we enjoyed some yummy, free food before seeing Santa.

When we arrived at the mall, there was NO ONE in line. Seriously, we walked right up without any wait! We were all bracing ourselves for Asher's reaction. I was sure this would be the year that he would be screaming in the picture. You can't really tell in this picture, but when Emma tried to put him in Santa's lap, he went stiff as a board.

Santa sweetly recommended putting him in big brother's lap. I didn't really expect Emma to be in the picture this year but she told me she wanted to, which made me so happy.

Since we were the only ones there, Santa took his time talking with the kids. And instead of having a chair, he had a kind of love seat so all the kids could sit and chat with him. Notice Asher is doing the "if I don't look at him, he doesn't exist" tactic.

Yep, he's still there.

I love this. Caleb so enjoyed talking with Santa. He really understood it all this year. So precious!

And when it was all done, we had a beautiful picture without anyone screaming and lots of precious memories!

A little Christmas fun

Ju....July?!

Excuse me July, I know that you are an exceptional month filled with birthdays and beaches but couldn't you have let June stay just a wee bit longer?!?

I cannot believe that it is July 1st! Before you know you know it, we'll be heading back to...ok, I can't even say it!

Well, here's an update of what took place during the last few weeks of June.

Dougie played on our 9 and 10 year old All Star team. We had high hopes for our team but unfortunately, they lost the 1st game, won the 2nd and then lost the 3rd game, which knocked us out. Dougie played right field and did well. He caught several balls that were hit to him and he got on base everytime he batted.
Here's a team photo: Dougie is on the front row on the far right.

Asher has started pulling up but once he gets there he doesn't really know what to do. He gets frustrated and starts fussing, so I thought I'd document it because it makes me laugh!

These were taken about a week ago, so now he's figured out how to squat down. He's not cruising yet but it won't be long, well hopefully, but knowing Asher, you never know!

Emma went to church camp last week and had a great time. She seemed to have a clumsy streak and slipped and fell 3 times! She now has the nickname "Splash." She has been such a big help around here this summer. It's so nice being able to run to the store and not have to load everybody up!

Caleb is just being Caleb. He still says the funniest things and cracks us up!

Life is really good and we're enjoying a relaxing and easy going summer. We changed our beach plans from going to the Gulf and now we're going to St. Augustine. I can't wait!!

Hope things are going well for you!

Summer Ingenuity!

On the way home from church Sunday afternoon, the kids started talking about playing in the water. Emma and Dougie are good sports and will even play with Caleb in his little pool. They began talking about different things they could do. After lunch, they quickly changed their clothes and headed outside. I was cleaning up and putting Asher down for his nap and when I finally made it outside, this is what I found!

With Daddy's help, they had hooked the hose above the slide, put the pool under the slide and created their very own water slide!

And since they had the nozzle on the hose, they could change the way the spray came out. Summer ingenuity leads to summer memories!

Helllllooooo Summer

Well Summer is here and we've been soooo lazy this week!

So let me catch you up on what's going on in our lives, I'm sure you're so excited.

Dougie finished his baseball season! They were 9 and 3! woo-hoo

Dougie was selected for All-Stars, so they've been practicing a lot to get ready. And although I've always vowed that I wouldn't let my child be sucked into the black hole that takes the lazy days of summer and morphs it into a baseball tournament (aka travel ball), we've given in this year. (I heard that! You just called me a sucka!) The coach promised that we would only play one tournament a month, and I'm going to hold him to it! :) Our travel team coach is also the coach for our All-Star team, which is really nice because he's holding off on tourneys until A.S. are done. whew!

Emma's getting ready for cheer leading camp. She's a little bummed because in years past they've attended camp in Jekyll Island. But this year they're going to a college in middle Ga.! :( My girl loves the beach as much as her momma but she can't complain, she's going to get to be at the beach 2 weeks straight in July. One week with her dad and the other with us!

Caleb and Asher are doing great. They are both growing so much. Caleb continues to crack us up with the things he says. Yesterday he told me he didn't feel well, when I asked what was wrong, he said, "my throat's coming back." Last week Steven was preaching a revival at the church where his brother is pastor. On the way to church one evening, Caleb said, "we have to go pass the bible to get there." Steven and I were completely stumped. When turning onto the street that the church was located on, Caleb pointed to the church's sign and said, "see, we have to go pass the bible." There was a bible on the church's sign!
Asher is crawling all over now. And more than once, we've had to do a house search to find him. He's pulling up on things to his knees but won't stand up yet. He finally has a 3rd tooth coming in. But the lack of teeth hasn't affected his eating habits. He gave up baby food several weeks ago. He's been very picking lately, and kind of fussy so I think he must be getting some more teeth.

I got a phone call today with some VERY exciting news (no, I'm not pregnant!) but I can't share just yet.

Hope you're enjoying your summer!

Eat some ice cream!!!

THE wedding.....

I'm pretty sure I mentioned a while back that Emma, Dougie and Caleb were going to be in my cousin's wedding and if you would have been around us lately, you would have heard phrases like, she needs shoes for the wedding, get measured for tuxes for the wedding, get a haircut for the wedding. I think you get the picture, it's been all about -the wedding. Well the wedding took place this past Saturday and it was absolutely wonderful. The bride and groom are honeymooning in a tropical location and I think we have pretty much recovered from all the festivities. Now for more pictures than you care to see of -the wedding! Ok, that's the last time I'm going to say it, I promise!

Dougie and Max were Junior Groomsmen and Chaz and Caleb were the ring bearers. A few days before the wedding (sorry, it couldn't be helped) Caleb tried to persuade to buy him a ring pop because he was a ring bearer!!

Mia and Emma, Junior Bridesmaids.
The Groom, Jacob with the ring bearers!


Emma and the Bride, Kaylan.

Max escorting GiGi, my grandmother.
The Wedding Party
The Pastor that married them, was the pastor who led me to the Lord. I haven't seen him in many years, so that made it extra special. Ok, I'll stop there. The Wedding pt.2 The Reception coming soon!!!

So long....

I'm outta here!!!!
Well, not really but we are heading to ATL later this evening. I'm attending this with my mom, my sis and a few thousand other women tomorrow.

Steven and the kids are just going along for the ride. We have a bridal shower on Sunday afternoon, so it worked out perfect for us all to be there this weekend. As a bonus, we're going to Sunday services at FBCW and Travis Cottrell is going to be leading worship!
We've been super busy this week. Dougie has baseball games every Mon and Tues. and Emma has been having cheerleading practice every afternoon. Her tryouts are today. On top of that, 2 different teams have asked us about letting Dougie be a part of their travel teams this summer. I jokingly asked him when the MLB scouts were coming to watch him?
As I mentioned earlier, we are going to get to attend a bridal shower Sunday for my cousin, Kaylan who's getting married in a few weeks. Emma, Dougie and Caleb are all part of the bridal party!! I said all that to say, the next few weeks are going to be extremely busy for us, and I'm sure your family is busy too. I may not be around very much, but I'll try not abandon the blog.

Love y'all dearly!
Have a safe and blessed weekend!

Easter 2010

On the Saturday before Easter, the church where Steven was serving as interim, had an egg hunt. Caleb really understood the concept this year except for one thing. You see, Caleb's favorite color is dark blue. Not blue, light blue or any other shade, just dark blue. He's quite obsessive about it and when he began hunting for eggs, he walked right past any egg that wasn't dark blue. I finally convinced him by telling him that they all had candy in them! As you can tell from the pictures, it was sweltering! Gotta love South Ga., we skip right over spring and go straight to summer! (Except now this week, it's back to 60's and 70's!)

Here's what Asher did pretty much the whole time at the egg hunt.

Since Steven finished his interim position at the church, we were free to attend Easter services with his family. We had a great time and it was really nice to get to be with extended family on Easter Sunday. That's a draw back to being in the ministry and living several hours away from family. It would have been even better if Emma and Dougie were with us.

Here's some pictures of Caleb and Asher before church.

Asher was distracted by Jack, our dog.
After church, at my in-laws house.
This picture cracks me up! Caleb has had enough!
This last picture has nothing to do with Easter, I found it when I was downloading the pictures from my camera. This is from one of those times when I let Caleb exercise his photography skillz!

For some reason when I look at this photo, I keep thinking, "Good grief, Charlie Brown!"

The week after Easter was Spring break so we loaded up the van and headed to my mom and dad's. We spend all week with them. We ate good food, slept in, watched some great movies, visited with family, ate some more great food, the kids camped, some had pink eye, some shopped others fished, celebrated a 1st birthday, ate again, and basically had a super time! It went by waaaaay to fast. We came back home because get what started Saturday? BASEBALL!!! More about that and the 1st birthday celebration later!

Because I want to remember.....

Because time goes by so quickly, I wanted to take the time and write down some of the things that I love about my kids during this stage of their lives. They're all at very different and unique stages and because I want to remember, I better record it now!

Emma~
I love that you are the exact definition of a 'tween'. I love that you will play Twister all by yourself just so Caleb and be the spinner. I love it when you get frustrated because he says right foot yellow, over and over again. I love the way we can look at each other and laugh about something that no one else understands. I love the way you tell a story and you have to make sure we hear every.single.detail. I love the way you still says, "Goodnight, Momma."

Dougie~
I love the way you love to wrestle and 'tussle' with Caleb. I love the fact that you LOVE to read. I love it that you think Jackie Robinson is a hero. I love the way you love all sports and that you enjoyed watching the Olympics as much as I did. I love it that you think you're still small enough to sit in my lap. I love it when you get up! (kidding, but your tail is so boney!!!) I love that you've discovered bird watching out your window and that you want me to enjoy it too! I love that you want to protect our home with an air soft gun when a strange man knocks on the door! I love that you remind me, "I won't always want to snuggle with you Momma, so you better enjoy it."

Caleb~
I love it when you do something great and you want celebrate, you say, "high five, big hug!" I love it when you ask us a question and we tell you we don't know, you respond by saying, "you better ask me." (instead of you better tell me.) I love the fact that you could eat cereal for breakfast, lunch and dinner!I love the way you say, "I want a whole big" when you want a lot of something. I love the way you want to wrestle with Dougie and Daddy but when it gets too rough, you run to mommy. I love the way you love to sing Toby Mac, especially "Boomin." I love it when you laugh so hard, your face turns red and you drool! I love that just a few weeks ago the thought of not being 3 caused you to lament ALL day long! (I'm not kidding!) But now I love that now you can't wait to be 4. I love that you believe that when you're 4, you're going to be "Super Boy." I love that you don't ever forget anything!

Asher~
What's not to love!? I love that you light up when you see your sister or brothers. I love that you will "carry on" a conversation. You will babble, we respond and then you babble some more! I love that you love to laugh and play. (Although I do wish you'd start crawling!) I love that you are turning into a really good sleeper! I love the way you love to see Daddy and Mommy!

I'm very blessed with wonderful children. Steven and I pray daily that our children will grow up and love God will all their hearts.
Kiss your babies today!