First Day of School 2008

Tuesday was the first day of school for Justin and Caleb. The morning went rather smoothly. I was really impressed because in the summer, we don't have a schedule at all. We sleep until - well, I won't tell you how late we sleep in - and we don't follow a strict bedtime routine. Like I said, all went well until we were ready to pull out of the garage. Justin decided he would check out his lunch and in the process, we found that his thermos was leaking. I took the lid off to check out the damage which made it worse. We had chocolate milk dripping EVERYWHERE....We got it cleaned up and I gave strict instructions to keep the new lunch boxes sitting up and to not inspect lunches before school when you know that the only sandwich you will eat is peanut butter and jelly! Really, did he think he was going to find a ham sandwich or a hot dog?? I did however, remember to get the first day of school picture of both of them. Justin is in 4th grade and Caleb is in 2nd grade. Happy learning!

Apples and an Ambulance

Last Friday, a friend asked us if we would like to come to her house and pick apples, so the kids and I loaded up in the van and off we went. We spent about an hour picking apples. The boys enjoyed climbing on the ladder...





On Saturday, we worked almost all day making applesauce. The girls helped the most, but this a picture of Caleb watching the process...



Later, that afternoon, Caleb slipped on the stairs and knocked the wind out of him. He came around the corner looking at me with panic in his eyes and saying that he could not breathe...I believed him because each shallow breath he took sounded like a mouse squeaking. They say not to panic, but of course, I did panic. We called 911 and Caleb was whisked away to the hospital. He said his back hurt, so we wanted to make sure he didn't break something. Sean could not resist, so he took a picture. We were at the hospital about 2 hours. They took a chest x-ray and checked his back. He ended up being fine, but I think I lost about 6 years off my life! Thank you Lord for your protection!

Summer Vacation 2008 - Part 6 - I Want To Be On the Beach

At the end of our vacation, my cousin, Calvin took us to the beach for a few days. We had a great time just chillin in the sun. We love going to Gulf Shores and it's becoming quite the tradition. Here is a picture of the guys before bed...



On the beach...





Calvin, properly displaying a firefighter's hat...



Calvin's friend, Ida has a set of twin granddaughters that they were babysitting for the weekend...



Cousin's hanging out together...



For dinner, we went to the Hangout on the beach. Great food and fun...





These are some of my favorite pictures from the beach of the boys and Sean playing in the ocean...





Thanks for a great trip Calvin and thanks to Ida for letting us stay at her place. We had a wonderful time!

Summer Vacation 2008 - Part 5 - Eating at Steamers

This year we went out to eat with family at a place called Steamers. This is the sign as you walk through the front door. I love it...



This is us with my cousins, Sandra and David...

Summer Vacation 2008 - Part 4 - Sweet Aunt Lola

Each year, we stop by and visit Aunt Lola. Aunt Lola is very special because she is the only sibling of my grandfather that is still living. She is 92 years old and my kids just adore her. Can you tell...







Aunt Mary and Aunt Lola...

Summer Vacation 2008 - Part 3 - Figs and Fun

For those of you that know me, you know that I love to cook, can veggies from my garden and will put up any kind of food that people give me. While I was on vacation, I was able to pick figs at a friend of my Aunt's (I forgot to take the camera with me). We had fun making strawberry figs and regular figs for biscuits and toast. Did I mention that I have eaten almost an entire pint of figs all by myself since we've been home? We made about 24 pints of the stuff and I'm not sure if it will last us until next year!!! Here we are cutting the tops off the figs...






Sean even joined in on the fun...








Here are the figs after we cut all the stems off. Now, that's a lot of figs!!



This is me, mashing up the figs for strawberry fig jam...



Then, Aunt Mary decided she would give me a hand, literally...



Thanks for showing me how to make figs Aunt Mary.

Summer Vacation 2008 - Part 2 - Fun With Aunt Mary

After some time at the space museum, we headed down to Ralph, Alabama (yes, it's very much far out country!) to visit my Uncle Frank and Aunt Mary. One of our favorite activities is swimming in their pool...





One tradition of our summer trips is to have ice cream cones out by the pool...YUM!!



No summer trip is complete without lunch by the pool too...



We also love going to church with Aunt Mary at Grant's Creek Baptist Church. Here is the before church picture...



One night we went to town to eat pizza and go to the mall with our cousin, Madison...



We also went to play in the fountain in town one morning...





We always have a great time with Aunt Mary. Thanks for letting us come and visit!

Summer Vacation 2008 - Part 1 - Huntsville Space Center

One of the stops on our vacation was the Huntville Space Center. We had a BLAST!! (no pun intended!!) We left Lafayette at 5:55 AM and reached the museum at 1:05 PM Alabama time. Here are some pictures of what we did while we were there. Let's start with the traditional group shot of the kids in front of the museum...



Next stop, the Blast Off ride. There is a reason why they tell you to keep your head back...





They had a smaller version of the Blast Off ride for the girls...



Next, Caleb and Erin decided to go rock climbing...





Then we took in a really cool 3D movie...



One final group picture with Daddy before heading down to Aunt Mary's house...