4th of July 2010

We got to be in Louisville this 4th of July. It was nice to be with family the whole weekend.

We went with Hunter to church where he sang. I felt a little bit like I was back in rural Pikeville with the Baptists. They even talked about sex and condoms - but they did not use the big word, i.e. fornication.

This was a very friendly church and they all made us feel welcome. The kids were very curious.

This was a Christian Church and similar to what I was used to growing up. They had communion every Sunday. The wine and the little bland rectangle, white, chalky "bread" was passed around. Jacob and Layne are used to taking Communion at the Methodist Church we attend - but everyone goes down front, takes a piece of real bread and dunks it in the "wine" / grape juice.

We were sitting in the 2nd row and Communion started before I was even aware of what they were doing. Matthew was first in our row, then Layne and then me. Matthew, being the gentleman and awesome father that he is - held the platter with the wine and bread for Layne to take. She tried really hard to dunk that little piece of nothing in the little plastic, individual communion cup. I was able to show her (and Matthew) that they needed to take the bread and eat, then take the wine and drink and place the cup back in the communion tray.

It was interesting to watch them in another church. I think we may try and visit some other churches around us just so they have some exposure to how others worship.

This is the kids with Uncle Hunter after the service. They really do love Uncle Hunter and he is great with them.



The night of 4th of July the kids did Sparklers with "the girls" from across the street. They seem to really have a good time with "the girls" whenever they visit.

Layne was asking me why everyone always says "oooh" and "ahhh" when watching fireworks. This is how she looked when asking me -




And then - not too long after she looked like this -

So I tried to "show" her in pictures. She still didn't get it. So I told her I say it because Grandma always did (tee hee) and THAT she understood.

Getting ready for the beach! Yeah!

Aarrgh!

Well, I think Joshua has finally been caught by the lure of Pirate Lore.

It probably started a long time ago when we went on a pirate ship ride in the Gulf of Mexico with Aunt Melanie. This was August 2008. We start 'em young around here.

This is the "I can't believe I have a sword and no one is yelling at me".

And this is the muscular, tattooed, pirate face (with the flyaway hair - yeah, not that scary).

His cousin Mitchell has always seemed to like pirates. He even had a pirate birthday cake once. When we were at Aunt Melanie's in June Joshua wanted to dress up as a pirate in Mitchell's costume. He spent 2 days just "hanging out" like a pirate. (the silly bandz take a little away from the fierceness, though)


Then - just a few days ago - we saw the puppet show Everybody Loves Pirates - and I think Joshua really did fall in love. The puppet show had such characters as "Aye Aye, No Eye" and "Super Lobster". He has wanted to go to the dollar store and get a hook for his hand. I guess he saw one there at one point.



Yesterday, he asked Daddy for knife. Daddy wanted to know what he wanted it for. Joshua told him he wanted to cut his hand off so he could get a hook for his hand instead.

Yeah - he might be taking it too far.

We really need a trip to Dollar Store.

Another Hot, Stormy Weekend

Well, I missed Friday. But - that was partly because I was at work until after 4:00 a.m. Ugh! But I wanted to have things caught up before being out for 6 days - as I am sure there will be plenty waiting when I return.

Sounds like the kids were wired last night for Matthew. They went to the pool in the afternoon - which for some reason in the summer means that counts as a bath.

Matthew was very nice and let me sleep in this morning. Slept until after noon. Feel a little icky but hopefully will bounce back shortly.

Grandma and Papa Jack were over bright and early to put a new canvas on the Tree House. Layne says she helped (hope that is true).

Had all kinds of helpers in the kitchen for dinner - Matthew made bacon, Jacob made scrambled eggs, Layne made pancakes, Mom did gravy and hash browns and biscuits - and we all tried to find special jobs for Joshua. It was yummy. We are trying to eat what is at the house as we leave Wednesday for the beach.

One of the fun things we did this summer was I got to go to Aunt Melanie's the week of June 14 with all 3 kids and we did fun things in East Tennessee (I know, hard to imagine fun in East Tennessee).

We went to Dollywood and Joshua loved all the rides. He rode the little pigs - and waved every time he went around to the woman in the booth.



And he rode the bumble bee with Mitchell after trying to figure out the abundance of seat belts.


And a little along the lines of Rain Main - he was a very good driver.


And it was very, serious business. He just KNEW he was actually driving the car.



I am slowly going through the pictures that Melanie has copied on disc for me. Hopefully I will find some of the other kids soon.

Girl Scout Day Camp

The same week that Jacob had Cub Scout Day Camp - Layne had Girl Scout Day Camp.

She got to go with Marisa and stay with Aunt Melanie in Knoxville the whole week - by herself! She had a great time. She was excited every time I spoke with her. She got a really cool patch for her vest (I should have taken a picture of that).

Unfortunately - the pictures I have come across that Aunt Melanie took - she doesn't look too happy. At least this one has a glimmer of a grin:


In this one she is trying to smile - Aunt Melanie will have to tell me who the other girl is with Layne and Marisa:




When she came home she said she wanted to go again. Hopefully it will work out next year, too.

I might have to re-think the whole "summer schedule" next year. Layne hasn't had enough "at home time" this summer and need to figure out a way to spread things out some. Unfortunately - you got to do the camps when they are offered - even if back-to-back.

Camp Glisson 2010

Layne, Jacob and Marisa went to Camp Glisson at JCUMC again this year. And they had just as much fun as last year. I am so glad that they have this camp at the church.

I think our girls had a crush on one of their counselors. His name just happened to be Mitchell. This week was the first time that Layne let me put her hair in curlers. It looked really cute - but most of the curl had fallen out by afternoon. But - they were outside in 90 degree weather all day running around. She also wore t-shirts this week other than sports shirts - and ....... she put on jewelry and laid her outfits out the night before. Zackary said that "Layne thinks Mitchell is cool".

This picture is Mitchell:

And here is a picture of Mitchell with Mitchell:




Here is Marisa and Alice Ware - I think they became pretty good buddies this week - hopefully Alice will go to sleep-away Camp Glisson with the kids next year:

Here are the kids while the male counselors were singing - that is Lexa behind Layne - not a very good picture of her - but she is one of the counselors that the kids fell in love with - and lucky for us she goes to our church!


They had a theme for each day. I just remember that Tuesday was friendship day. They made friendship bracelets and Layne and Jacob became obsessed with making them. I bought some more floss for them and they have it laying all over the house in order to make bracelets. I think we will take the stuff to St. George Island and then they will be done with it.

Jacob and Layne got to sleep over at Zackary's last night. Sounds like Layne was supposed to sleep in Lauren's room and got caught "sneaking" in to the boy's room twice. Sounds like they were all asleep by 11:00 p.m. and most importantly - Miss Wendy survived.

Oh - and the big news of the day - Jacob said tonight that he can't wait for school to start! Whooo Hoooo!!!!!!! (oh, yeah, I can't wait either)

Grrrrr!

Okay - Matthew and I have "just Joshua" tonight as Layne and Jacob are having a sleepover with Zackary.

Just now - while Joshua is in the bathroom - we hear "grrrrr!!!!!" while he is trying to open the door. Then we hear a very loud "Darnit" which made me start giggling. But what really got me - was him screaming "I am going to be in here forever now!".

Not once did he ask or yell for help. I was laughing so hard. And trying not to hurt his feelings Matthew told him I was laughing at something on the computer.

I don't think he believed us - but there had been no more yelling.

I think I need to just start posting - even if I don't have any pictures. I get to a point where I am not motivated if I don't have a picture.

And - since I broke the MacBook's CD drive when I dropped it (can't believe I didn't try to blame that one on the kids) - I don't even have a way to add pics to the laptop unless they are still on the camera.

Oh, well.

I know I am going to be sad that I haven't kept this up this year.

Too Early to Be This HOT

Jack came over this morning hoping we could finish the chimney before it got too hot. Little did we know it was going to be the hottest day of the year in Atlanta. I tried taking pictures of the fabulous work we've done, but I burned my hands trying to hold the camera, then the damn thing just melted it was so hot, so there won't be any pictures with this post.

The A/C's are struggling today with the heat and humidity (had I mentioned it was hot). I still need to cut the grass too, but that may wait until later this evening when it's cooled off a touch. Been eating frozen icee's trying to keep cool, not really helping.

Well, it's a good excuse to work on some the stuff inside. The shower keeps calling me so I may have to heeds it's cries and tend to my work. So long for now.