summer fun

Sunday night we took the kids to the drive-in theatre.  It was a first for Hope and Benjamin and they LOVED it!  Like crazy people we stayed for both movies, Despicable Me 2 and Monsters University.  Bedtime was 1:30am Monday morning.  Monday night bedtime was 5:30 for H and B and they slept 14 hours.

We had an incredibly unhealthy dinner but they LOVED that too!  




Monday was spent in the pool- ALL DAY, with the exception of lunch and tie-dying t-shirts.

More fun planned this week before I leave on my trip, 9 days away!

the past few days...

We have been praying for our 5 year old friend, Kate.  She has battled Epilepsy for the past 4 years.  With no success in controlling seizures via meds they have chosen to do brain surgery to give this little girl some relief.  So to show our support we wore our "Team Kate" shirts and prayed for her throughout the day.  With Benjamin it left a lot of questions about what is a brain and how will the doctor get in there and how will they close it up and so on and so on.  Recovery is underway for Kate and God has been faithful.

 We found ourselves some wild blackberries:)

It rained here ALL DAY on the 4th.  We were going to go see the fireworks in Murfreesboro but decided to spend $12.99 and enjoy some at home instead... in the rain of course!

And with a short break in the rain today we went back out to gather some more blackberries while Hope was napping...

Everyone uses a tractor to pick blackberries, right?

It started to sprinkle and then the bottom fell out of the sky, again.  We ran for the neighbors barn and then decided to make a dash for the house.  Rusty driving the tractor and Benjamin and I running with the berries.

We had to let them dry before we bagged them up to freeze.

Earlier in the week I had some help in the garden.

A Cicada beside a shell of a Cicada.  A first for me to see.  I told Hope to listen to the sound of a Cicada (she was not looking at this).  I asked her if she heard it and she replies, "oh yeah, she was in my class one time".  What?  

A very mild week here led to lots of time on the front porch.  I moved this little picnic table out there and it has been great.  Not sure why I didn't think of this sooner.

Rusty bought Benjamin a 4-wheeler at the scrap metal place for $50.  He is in love!  With his daddy and the 4-wheeler.  I have never seen him so thankful for anything before.  He would ride for a minute and then get off and hug Rusty and thank him.  This went on and on and on.  So genuine and so sweet...

The big kids are due back tomorrow night late:)  YEAH!

Picture Highlights from Summer 2008

During June we took a trip to Sandestin, Florida with the Simmons family, the Bobo family and the Diaz family. The kids were able to hold an alligator at one of the restaurants where we ate.

In August this summer we took a trip with Rusty's bothers and mother to Pigeon Forge, TN. We had a great time and all the cousins had tons of fun together!

Late spring we took a quick trip to PA to visit the kid's Great-Grandma Ellison! It was fun seeing where she lives and Laurel Greer (a cousin) did a fabulous job of hosting our family!

In July we took a day trip to Percy Priest lake in middle Tennessee with the Simmons and Bobo families! Both Aubrey and Carter learned how to water ski on this trip!

During the weekend of July 4th we took a trip to Tim's Ford lake with the Wrather family! Aubrey and Carter learned how to knee board.

This is Andrew, Great-Grandma Jeter, Carter and Aubrey! We made a quick trip to Gleason, TN to visit our grandmother!

ALEX-JACK-CARTER-ANDREW-JACOB-AUBREY-SARA

We had a fun family birthday party in June this summer with the kids extended cousins!

Our good friend Stacey and her girls (Abby and Ella) came for a visit and we had the Wrather and Renfrow families over for a visit!
Abby + Reese + Andrew + Houston + Aubrey + Carter

This year all Aubrey wanted for her birthday was flowers in order to have her own flower garden. Early summer Aubrey took her Lowes gift card and purchased flowers of her own to plant and take care of! Aubrey loved watering but we decided she needs a bit of practice weeding!

Rusty purchased some go-carts from the scrap metal place and got them running this summer! The kids have had a blast... even though Mom thinks they go a little TOO fast!

OUR FAMILY!
Our small group gave us a very generous Christmas gift which included a sitting with Lea Bartch (Whimsical portraits with Personality) and developing though Shutterfly! This is one of the shots that was taken! We had a fun time and got lots of great pictures!


Aubrey has been selling garden vegetables to raise money so she can purchase rubber mulch for the Good Shepherd Children's Home here in Murfreesboro! She is about 1/3 of the way there!

Carter, Aubrey and Andrew walking hand in hand at a local park.


Another shot from our family pictures!