Climbing....

One day we went to a friend's birthday party at this kid place, like Chuck E. Cheese but not, and they have the best climbing thing that I've ever seen. You go to this place just for the climbing thing and the kids love it! And, we went during a weekday, so there wasn't hardly anyone there! It was great!

Here, Indy is riding this bar downhill. He must have done this 10 times or more! I think this was his favorite!

This is Levi (in green) and Indy coming out of one of the tunnels going down this soft ladder thingie. Man, trying to get them to slow down long enough to get a picture was very difficult!!

Now Levi is on this metal rolling thingie that went uphill. He kept slipping in his sock feet on this one, but finally made it up.

And, here's Indy climbing up the backside of this triangle mountain thing. I'm sure it was hard to pull himself up, but he kept doing it. I know I couldn't have done it!! (Well, maybe when I was 8 I could have!! lol)

Miscellaneous January

These are just some more misc. pictures from January.

I caught Levi putting together this kitten floor puzzle we have from when the girls were little. He really likes floor puzzles, so when he remembers we have them, he goes to a corner someplace and puts one together.
Working hard....almost finished!

Whoo hoo! He finished! Great job, Levi! :-)

Another day, I heard my boys and one of the neighbor boys making a lot of racket outside, so I peeked out the window to see what was going on. They were taking turns running and jumping onto then off-of the trampoline we got Levi for Christmas (so he'd stop jumping on my couch!!).

Indy is running to the trampoline...

Then off he goes!

You can see Levi in the background of the others, with his arms of victory in the air. lol

And, there goes the neighbor!! (Please don't get hurt!! )

I finally stopped taking pictures through the window screen and went out the door. They were only too happy to show me their accomplishment!

Indy

Levi

Neighbor (Yes, I know his name, I'm just not telling you. ;-) )

Then, a couple days later, I found yet another Like Father, Like Son picture. Here Nicky and Indy are actually sleeping after church!! Too funny!

Wednesday

Well, Mamo just left us. She's on her way home to NC and it's awfully quiet around here. Not that she's so loud, but everyone is kinda melancholy right now. I have a ton of stuff to do including the laundry and dishes, picking up the house, putting away the dog kennel we used for her dog while she was here and some general pick up. Then, after I finish my chores, I am going to pull out my scrapbook stuff! Yippee!!

Nicky and Indy have gone hunting til tomorrow, so we're all on our own. Perfect opportunity to scrapbook!! No cooking (eating leftovers)! Whoo hoo!! Hopefully, my chores and scrapbooking will keep my mind occupied so I won't be so down about my mom leaving. The day she leaves is always kinda a down day for me, but by tomorrow, I'll be fine. She'll call me tonight when she settles into her hotel and we'll talk then when I get up tomorrow, she'll be gone from here for so long and nearing her home that it'll seem like she's been gone awhile and I will feel normal again. But, I must say, it was a very nice visit. I hope she had fun, too. Hey, it's only 10 1/2 weeks til she comes back!! lol

I think tonight the girls have a couple parties to attend, so I think I'll take Levi out since it's just him and me. That will be fun! Dealing with only one kid is so easy!!

Tuesday

Today has been a very hectic day for some reason and I'm not quite sure why. I went and had two tires put on my car since they were nearly bald, so that took awhile. All day long, Nicky was working on his truck, doing an oil change among other things and then he began gathering stuff for his hunting trip tomorrow. The boys were playing with the neighbor boy, Zeke. Mamo was packing. The girls were both sick, thus laying on the couches all day. And the worse news of all was that Savannah's kitten, Tigger, who went missing on Sunday night, was found dead today in our back yard by Levi. The dogs had "played" with him so much he died from internal injuries, I'm sure, as there were no external wounds. Such a shame, too, cuz he was a really sweet cat. And, he constantly played with my mom's dog. They were so cute together! So sad. And, of course, that put a real damper on the day....kinda just hung over my head (and others I think) all day.

Tonight my mom and I went out to dinner at Outback, just the two of us, which is always a nice treat. We also stopped by my friend Sandy's house to get some avocados for mom and then to the Hallmark store to get some cards. It was a nice time we had to visit without the chaos of home. I'm glad we did it on the last night. It gave us something to look forward to and by then we could really savor it.

Though I love my mom visiting, I'm always glad to get my life back to "normal" after she leaves. I don't wish her to leave at all, but I kinda put my life on hold while she's here, doing just the necessities. That gives me more time with her, but it also causes my routines to go out the window, which can be difficult with children and so many different schedules. I'm really glad she was able to be here at Christmas when the kids had no school, sports, clubs, park meetings, etc, so we had the freedom to do other things and not be tied down by our schedules. Now, the next time she comes in March, it will be different. They will be nearing the end of basketball, but still doing school, Scouts, park, enrichment classes, etc. So, that will be a little more hectic, but at least she'll be able to see them participating in these things, which will be nice for her. So, until 10 more weeks, I will be busy with my normal life, savoring memories of her Christmas visit. :-)

Monday

This morning I went to the bank and then went and had my oil changed. After that and on my way to the next bank, I got a flat tire. Thankfully, the wait for the AAA guy wasn't very long. After that, I went home and then Mamo, the boys, and I went over to Fairchild Gardens. That was fun, but MAN, was it COLD!! The wind was attrocious!! Ugh. After that, we went to Pizza Hut for lunch and then on to the Hallmark store. We had tacos for dinner and then after the boys went to bed, we watched The A Team. That was fun. Having seen and known the original tv show, we really enjoyed and critiqued the movie. We decided it was a success and that we liked it. :-)

Tomorrow is Mom's last full day and I think we're going out to dinner tomorrow night. We'll see.

Sunday

Today Mamo went to breakfast and to visit with her cousin Betty Kay. They had a nice visit. I pretty much stayed home and tried to get the house in some semblance of order. Ha! We had leftovers for dinner, which was delicious, of course, and after dinner, Mamo and I played her new board game, NCIS. That was interesting.

Oh, that afternoon, Mamo, Ashton, Nicky, and I went to see True Grit at the theater. Mamo wanted to see it and so did Nicky, so it was fun. It was a pretty good movie. Now she says we have to see the original one with John Wayne. Big surprise she wants us to see that one!! haha Anyway, after the busyness of yesterday, it was a nice relaxing day. Mamo's time is running out and the time for her to go home is fast approaching. So sad. Seems like her visits are so short. Argh. Well, at least she'll be back in March.

Friday...Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve!! Today I went out to take Savannah to work and then to buy the shrimp for dinner tomorrow and it was pure madness out there!! Ugh. The traffic was horrible and while I was waiting in traffic, I wrote a song...well, sort of. It's sung to "Let it Snow" and says, "Oh the weather outside's delightful, but the traffic's awfully frightful, so since my shopping's done, I'm stayin' home, stayin' home, stayin' home." ha ha I think I've been around Nicky too long! lol

When I finally got home, I cooked dinner, finished up the treat bags for neighbors (then had the kids deliver them), and prepared the shrimp for tomorrow. And all day long, we tracked Santa on the the NORAD website. It was very fun for the boys, especially Indy. He was fascinated by that. And, I was fascinated by the Google Earth view of the tracking!

We exchanged our Love Gifts tonight and everyone did a really good job in gifts. I was very impressed. Nicky got some special cookies Indy baked, I got an ornament Ashton made, Savannah got a turkey feather and tiny turtle shell Nicky found, Ashton got a mini hand sanitizer in her favorite scent that I was saving for myself, Indy got one of Grandfather's hats from Mamo, Levi got a roll of coupons from Savannah for fun stuff like ice cream and playing her guitar, and Mamo got one of Levi's Mickey Mouse golf balls. Everyone really liked their gifts.

After dinner, Mamo, Ashton, the boys, and I went driving around to look at Christmas lights. It was a lot of fun. We just love looking at Christmas lights!! Ashton says that's her favorite part of Christmastime and I think it's right up there for me, too! After we got home, we put out milk and cookies for Santa and oats for his reindeer then we read the Christmas story from the Bible and the boys were off to bed. After everyone else had gone to bed, I sat in the dark with only my inside Christmas lights and tree on and just relaxed and enjoyed them. I could sit there all night....if I didn't have boys who got up at 7am every day!! I wish I could keep them up all year long, but I know I'd get sick of them and Nicky would definitely freak out!! lol SO, sadly, next weekend, down they go until next year. Also, I've been reading my annual read of Two From Galilee, my favorite Christmas book.

Waiting for Christmas....

Thursday

Today was baking day! We baked all...day...long. It was fun, but exhausting!! About 4pm, the dogs escaped and after an hour and a half of driving around looking for them, they came back on their own. Dumb dogs. (I know, not too dumb if they found their way back, but still...) After dinner, me, the boys, Mamo and her dog, Pheeby, went for a walk through the neighborhood looking at everyone's lights. It was a bit nippy, but such Christmasy weather. So nice. :-)

Tuesday

Today Mom and I took Levi to a nearby mall where they have a wonderful miniature train display set up at Christmastime. It's a little far for us, but it's well worth it to see this fantastic display. Levi also got to ride on a train they have set up at the mall that goes through this whole Christmas decoration thingy. It's really cool with reindeer and snow and candy house tunnels and they love riding it!! Indy wasn't with us because he left with Nicky yesterday to go hunting for 3 days. They come back tomorrow. So, Levi was the only kid I had with me....too weird. I kept thinking I was missing someone!!

Something cool happened, too. On the way to the mall, the radio station was having a contest where you name the song title and artist to one line of a song that they say (not sing), and I knew one!! I figured I wouldn't get through, but somehow I did and I won two tickets to Santa's Enchanted Forest to see all the Christmas lights!!! That was fun!! So, after the mall, we stopped over at the radio station, which was no more than 15 minutes from the mall, to get my tickets. How convenient that I was already that close!! lol Pretty cool, huh?? Levi is very excited because he thinks he's gonna get to go with me! He probably will. :-)

That's it for today.

Monday

Today we went to Jungle Island, which is the new Parrot Jungle. Personally, I'm not all that impressed with it, but Mom wanted to see it. The boys and I went with Leslie and her boys back in June when they visited. Since we were residents, we got a year pass for the price of the one day ticket, which came in very handy yesterday! I only had to pay for Savannah, who went for the first time yesterday. She really liked it, but then again, that's no big surprise since it's full of animals!! lol But, I think my mom enjoyed going and seeing the new place. I'm pretty sure I won't go again unless I have out of town company again. But, it was a nice day and they had some special performers and stuff for Christmas. We did get a cute picture of all of us with a bunch of parrots. I look so impressed.... :-)

Still wrapping presents. I think I'm almost done!! Whoo hoo! Can start baking soon!! :-)

Sunday

Today we did church all day....or at least it seemed that way!! lol In the morning, we went to our new church for Sunday School and service. Levi and Nicky played golf this morning with one of Nicky's friends from work and his son. Then, we went home, had lunch, and rested. This evening, we went to our new church to watch Ashton and the youth choir perform two numbers with handbells. It was sooo pretty. I just LOVE handbells!! They sound so beautiful! Then, right after that, we went to Wayside to see the WAVE team perform their Christmas concert. They did a fantastic job and we enjoyed watching them so much! I miss being in WAVE..... :-( My mom really liked watching them, too. And, it was great to see so many friends from Wayside who I have missed. But, I'm still glad to be at our new church! :-)

Saturday

This afternoon and evening, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Drury's house for Christmas. We had a nice dinner and exchanged gifts. It was nice for my mom to visit with Nicky's parents, as they haven't seen each other in awhile. The kids always love to go to Grandma's house at Christmas, because Grandpa puts up lots of lights in the back yard and they can all play out there. We didn't have a fire this time, but we did have a very nice visit. Grandma and Grandpa are going to Disney World with Connie and Tommy, some cousins from SC over Christmas, so we did our Christmas early. We'll miss Grandma and Grandpa at dinner on Christmas day.

Mamo Visits

My mom arrived last night for a visit over Christmas. We are very excited to have Mamo here! She brought her dog, Pheeby, too, so this house will be very active during the next couple weeks!! :-)

Today we pretty much chilled so Mamo could rest from her trip. In the afternoon, we went to Wal-Mart, which wasn't quite as busy as I had anticipated. Thank goodness!! :-)

Fair Entries

The kids always enter projects into the fair when it comes around each spring. Here they show off their hard work.

Levi entered a t-shirt, model car, painted glass vase, and flower decoration. He placed very well on all of it! This was actually the first year Levi was eligible to enter, so he was very proud. Indy entered a t-shirt, model tank, clay eagle, Fourth of July decoration, painted glass bowl, and popsicle stick tank. He placed well, too.

This is the popsicle stick tank he made. I thought he was going to try to build a 3D tank, but when I wasn't looking, this is how he did it. What a great idea and it came out so well! I love the clouds, glued-on grass and rocks, and coloring on the tank. So creative!

Savannah entered a pair of her old sneaker she'd decorated with markers, which went into a recyled clothing category, and a painted glass platter. She graffiti'd the platter with sharpie markers. It looked great!

Ashton entered some stuff, too, but I didn't get a picture of her and her stuff. They all had fun making their projects, finding out how they placed, and getting the money they earned!

Flat Miguel

Our cousin from NC, Miguel Miranda, sent Indy and Levi his Flat Stanley for a school project. We took Flat Stanley to our zoo class to meet Ms. Stephanie. He also got to meet this animal, which was not a skunk, but was stinky.

We saw the river otters up close and even called them by name (which I now have forgotten...ugh).

Later that week, we took Flat Stanley to Indy's baseball game. Here he's posing before we left for the game.

Sadly, that night, Indy got nailed in the side by a pitch from our neighbor and friend, Zeke, who was pitching for the other team. Because Indy didn't cry and shook it off like a pro, he earned the game ball that night. He was very proud.

We had a lot of fun with our visit from Flat Miguel and hope he can come visit again someday! :-)

Strawberry Picking!

We always have so much fun when we go strawberry picking! We usually go with our homeschool group, but not always. This year we had a field trip to pick strawberries and for the first time, Ashton didn't get to go because she was in school....but Savannah did get to go since she was homeschooled this year.
Showing off her finds... Levi gets in on the showing off, too!

Mommy helps Indy find some good ones.

"See? This is a good one." lol Finally! A picture of Mom!! :-)

Indy showing off a good one he found.

Funny kids!!

Indy, Levi, and Chris found this giant tire to play on. Always something to climb on!

We love going strawberry picking! We bought lots of strawberries, which mom took home and made strawberry shortcake with and even froze some of them. We also bought some homemade herb bread sticks and cinnamon rolls. They're awesome! That was our lunch!! After we all finished picking strawberries, we went over to a nearby park and had a picnic lunch. The kids ran around and played and generally we all enjoyed the cool air! Very refreshing! :-)

USA Day and Valentine's Day

Instead of an International Festival this year, we had a USA Day with our homeschool group. Each kid or family picked a state to do a display on. This was a lot of fun and very interesting. We actually learned a lot. Indy wanted to do Massachusettes because he played on the Boston Red Sox last year for baseball, but someone else really wanted to do that state. They asked Indy if they could have Massachusettes and he said yes, so then he picked Maryland because he later played on the Baltimore Orioles. We learned a lot about Maryland....many interesting things!

Here he is showing off his Maryland display. Levi did North Carolina, mostly because I did most of the work and research, but he really did learn a lot. He learned about the Wright brothers and about lighthouses. He still remembers a lot of what he learned! Here he shows off his NC display.

We had a Valentine exchange and party at park on the Tuesday before Valentine's Day. The kids always love doing that! So much fun to give and get Valentines! Here Levi is trading with one of the little boys at our group.

And, here's Indy with his friend, Chris, checking out their stuff. "Which one do you want?"

Miscellaneous January

This is how Ashton went to a friend's Sweet Sixteen party. It was a semi-formal event with required converse sneakers. The funkier the better. Ashton is very proud of her flourescent orange converse! So cute! :-) Levi was playing his gameboy, but since it needed to be charged, he was "tied" to the wall, so ended up laying on his bed to play. Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do! lol

Savannah was taking a nap and when I went to check on her, I found Chaser sound asleep on her....nearly upside down! Too funny!

Checking out cool stuff at our new zoo class.

Savannah's FFA group, went to this reading thing just a couple days before the annual rodeo opened up. The big kids help the little kid guests (school kids) read Black Beauty to the horses. This was a lot of fun. I went to observe) and take Savannah, but I also took the boys. Indy held the book for some of the little kids to read from, plus he read to one of the horses himself. They also got to see some of the cowboys and rodeo riders. Pretty cool. Indy was fascinated with this guy who was working with a lasso.

Levi liked petting the horses. He thought they were really sweet.

Indy and Levi petting the horse Indy read to and that Savannah helped out with.

Last Environmental Class

Last Tuesday was our last environmental class until January when we move over to the zoo. We arrived a little early, incredibly (!), so we just walked around for awhile to take a nice last look. We walked out to the water to see if we could see any manatees. One of the workers told us he'd seen some that morning along with some stingrays. Unfortunately, we didn't see anything except some beautiful water in the morning light. Here the boys are goofing around while I'm taking pictures.

This is a gopher tortoise that was rescued from an abusive owner. His name is Scooter. We brought food during the term so we could feed Scooter. He's a nice tortoise and the kids love to go visit him.

This is the boys with our teacher, Mrs. Yoelly. She was very sweet and great with the kids. They all loved her! This was taken on our last day of class when she and the assistant teacher, Mr. Elias, had planned a surprise for us: They set up a fire in the fire pit for the kids to do smores! They had a blast!

We interrupt this tale of a fire to bring you a bird house we liked that hung waaay high up in a tree.

Now, back to the fire tale.... Here the boys are roasting their marshmallows for their smores.

Yummy smores....mmmm.

Maybe scraping the last of the marshmallow off the stick is better. Hmmm.....

We will miss this place and our teachers when we go over to the zoo.

Joy! Joy! Joy!

This past weekend, our church had it's annual Christmas program. The children's choir sang two songs with the adult choir. It was cute and Indy did a great job! Here he is just before he went in to perform.

Front row, center, with a red scarf...Indy.

Singing at the top of his lungs!

During rehearsal, without the scarf.