Last day in white

Aren't they all just precious!

Animals at our zoo

Guess what this is?

Guess where he was?

Guess who had to chase him out of the garage with a stick? These animals are so stupid. He just kept hissing at me even when we were out side. Look at those mean teeth...he was about the size of our kitten. Didn't I tell you we were the zoo!


In case we didn't already have enough animals running around here, we have 2 more sleeping in the house with us tonight. Today when I was running just outside our neighborhood I happened to hear a noise which made me look over. I slowed because I wasn't sure if I heard something or not since I was listening to music. Then 2 precious black puppies came running toward me. Long story short, I couldn't leave them near a busy road, so they are now shacking up with us. It is a boy and girl, and they are precious. Luckily our neighbors let us borrow a crate to keep them in. We haven't decided what to do with them but the kids love them. The puppies just run and chase after them. The cats don't know what to think, but arch their backs and hiss.
Again, this just confirms the fact that we live at the zoo!! The Wilson Zoo!!

Short line trail

The blondies and I decided to go to the short line trail at Tallulah Falls, and walk there today instead of in our neighborhood like we do most days. It is such a neat trail that is 3 miles round trip. For those who don't know, it used to be an old rail line that they made into a paved path. It is a great place for the kids to ride their bikes and scooters. Most of the trail is shaded and always several degrees cooler. I just hope that this is not one of the state parks that they are talking about closing to save money. We frequently hike down the hundreds of stairs at the gorge with all four kids (the little ones on our backs), so it would be a shame to loose this great exercise outlet that we have so close to our house.




This video is probably not very exciting to most, but I had one of those moments as a mom that you want to remember forever. J.J. ran the first half of the trail which was a 1 1/2 miles. I was just watching those little legs go and he was breaking my heart with love, so I had to capture this moment on video. Keep in mind that I was walking, pushing Pipi in the stroller and filming with my camera!

Caged

Nothing much going on these days except rain, rain, rain. Wouldn't it be nice if we could really do this with our kids sometimes. Try having 2 2 year olds and a 4 year old home all day and you will know what I mean. Especially when you have been inside for 3 days with yucky weather! Nothing to do but love them!

Wonderful, beautiful rain

We spent most of this morning puddle jumping as we like to call it, in celebration of the great rain that we got today. The plants were very thirsty, and thankful for the downpour. The kids had a blast, but they were unsure at first about getting in and getting dirty. Of course when they can... Afterwards a warm shower awaited them. What a great way to spend a rainy day. I do have to admit I did some splashing myself!!!

Camping fun

Jeff took the big boys camping this weekend at Unicoi State park. They were so excited for days leading up to this. On their trip they hiked, rented a canoe, and swam in the lake. Of course fire roasted hot dogs and smores were a must. Sat. night (early morning) the phone rang at 1am. My first thought was that a bear had gotten them or something. Well it turned out that L.C. had been throwing up, so they were packing up and coming home. I waited up for them and helped get everyone to bed. Jeff did manage to snap a few pictures of their adventure.

What a beautiful family!

Jeff took the big boys camping this weekend and took the camera with him, so I couldn't download my pictures. Anyway I thought I would give everyone a good laugh and look into our family. These pictures were taken a while ago. Our computer has a photo booth and you take these hilarious pictures. You don't even have to try to make faces. We have had some great times taking pictures. So here is to a good laugh!!! Have a great weekend!

HERE

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Consumed

This is my excuse for not posting as often. I am completely consumed with consignment sale stuff. I spend all of my spare time (if you can imagine me having spare time with 4 kids) getting ready for my consignment sale which is Sept. 12th and 13th. I have been ironing, hanging, pinning, and pricing like a mad woman. I need to have all of my items ready the weekend before because the week of the sale I will be very busy setting up and putting out signs. It is exciting that the sale has almost reached capacity with consignors. I should have a few more sign up in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully it will be the best so far. This will be my 8th time having the sale and it has grown and gotten better each time. I have a ton of things to get rid of. It usually happens that I do not get all of my things out before the sale starts, and my dear mom works hard tagging my stuff while checking people out during the sale. Not this year though...yeah right we will see!!! Let the consignment sale season begin!!

Greenville Drive

Sat. night while we were in Pickens we went to the Greenville Drive baseball game. Although they are not very good they have a really cool brand new stadium in downtown Greenville. My dear friend Lee was able to go with us, and treated us to supper at the yummy Mellow Mushroom before the game. Papa and Nana were also with us. J.J. kept up with all of these crazy mascots running on the field, and was fascinated with Becky Broccoli! We had a great time visiting with everyone.

Friday nights

This is my husband. This is my husband Friday after school! This is my husband Friday after school at home. This is my husband Friday after school at home during football season!!!!!!!!!!! Many may already know, but he has decided to take some time away from coaching. For his entire life he has always been around and involved in football. Growing up his dad coached football, and he played in high school and in college. Then he went on to coach in college and then at the high school level, so what I am saying is this is a big deal for him not to be coaching. Let me tell you it has been wonderful so far. We have had the best summer ever because there were no camps, and no practices, and no weight room, and no meetings, and no pre-season, and did I say no meetings, meetings, meetings! Tonight the Raiders had there first scrimmage, and we were in Pickens visiting with family! What a change and what a great one.

Scorpions

I killed 2 of these bad boys before I went to bed. That was after getting rid of the ant population that had taken over our kitchen and laundry room. Do you think I slept well? Last summer I was stung by a scorpion in bed!

Pure happiness

Could you not just eat this kid up. This picture was taken on the boat ride that Jeff and Katherine took us on our last night at their house. J.J. absolutely loved it. He was smiling like this most of the ride just from pure joy! He is such a sweet, sweet little boy. It is so neat to see how he and Pipi interact now with each other. They are turning into little people, and they now carry on conversations with each other. Tonight as I was getting supper ready Pipi was sitting at the table and had just wiped off her area with a washcloth. J.J. went and got the cloth and started to wash his end. Here is how it went:

Pipi: JJ the table already clean.

JJ: No Ri-Ri(what he calls her) my side still dirty.

Pipi: Oh JJ wipe it up, wipe it up.

JJ: All clean now.

Our house

It's official!!! As of a couple of weeks ago we made history (for our family). We have now lived in this house for 3 whole years. Yes, that is right 3 years! This is the longest that we have ever lived in one dwelling. I know that most of you can't appreciate it, but when you spend Christmas in 5 different places within 6 years you really understand. I threw away all of our boxes when we moved into this house, and said that I was not moving for a long while. So far it has worked! I am however used to this kind of lifestyle having grown up in the military. We may get the itch soon...who knows. Right now we are just enjoying being right here!
Home sweet home!

Strange happenings

Okay, let me tell you about the strangest thing that has been happening to us this summer. At the beginning of the summer we left for a week and our neighbor fed the cats. We left the food on the front porch in a big plastic container. Soon after we got home we realized that the box of food as well as the bowl was missing. It was very perplexing, but we just put out another metal bowl to feed them. Several days later it turned up missing. Sooooo we put out another bowl ( you think we would learn to bring it in at night or something. Needless to say we have lost I think 5 bowls. I have been very curious as to what would have taken the big box of cat food and all of the bowls, so we set up a "sting" to get some clues. We decided to put baby powder all around the bowl on the porch to see if we could get some footprints. Let me tell you how relieved I am that they are not human. That would be freaky! Any way the next morning I checked, and the bowl was missing. There were a ton of footprints all around that were big, and also the same prints that were smaller. So we did learn a couple of things. The animal is fairly big, comes only at night, and is not alone. Other than that we haven't a clue. I have looked on line and tried to match up the footprints. The closest one that I see is a bobcat! Just what we need bobcats hanging around. The length of the print is about as long as my finger and it is about as wide as my thumb is long. Anyway take a look for yourself and offer any suggestions. We will try again tonight and see what we get!

2nd Grade

My big boy started 2nd grade today. He is such an awesome kid. He was so excited about starting school. L.C. loves going to school, and he loves to learn new things. He is very inquisitive, and a very deep thinker. He wanted me to drive him to school today (instead of carpool), but he said he could walk in by himself!!! I guess he doesn't need me as much...kinda of sad even though this is what we teach our children...to be able to take care of themselves.

Anything for tickets

The kids all participated in the summer reading program at the library. It is a great program, and they have neat incentives from local businesses. They also give the kids tickets once they reach certain levels, and if they do extra projects. The tickets can be used in their "store" to pick out little prizes. Let me tell you it is a big deal picking out prizes. We have more tattoos and sticky slap bugs than I know what to do with. Here the kids had to dress up as bugs (the theme this year) to get 4 tickets.

End of summer last Hoorah

Well summer vacation is quickly coming to an end even though we still have well over a month until summer actually ends. The kids and I went to the spray grounds in Gainsville to end our summer. It is a great place because it is all fenced in and the water only sprays out of things, so it is not like at a pool where you can't take your eyes off of them. They had a blast!

Celebrating Me!

Today I celebrated the 7th anniversary of my 29th Birthday. So, I thought why not write a blog about it. I decided several years ago (when I turned 30) that I wanted to stay in my twenties, so each year on my Birthday I say it is an anniversary of my 29th. I guess that adding a year is not so bad because you get the wisdom that comes with it, and as I am getting closer to the big 40 I may need to adjust that age!!! I really might forget how old I am if I keep this up. Age is all relative anyway, and I believe that you are only as old as you feel. Anyway, getting older has made me a wife, mother, sister, aunt, cousin, teacher, athlete, coach, volunteer, christian, leader, friend and probably many more titles that are wonderful to have. So, this is just a reminder to celebrate YOU, especially on your birthday!!

Boiled Peanuts

Here they are chowing down on some boiled peanuts that we cooked ourselves. Yum, yum,yum!!!