This past weekend was my FIRST EVER camping trip. My mom's idea of camping is staying in a Motel 6, so we never went camping as kids. I was never really keen on the idea of sleeping in a tent or having to cook my own food over the fire, but when some experienced camping friends asked us to go last weekend we decided to give it a try. And we had a blast! Of course, we borrowed the tent and the air mattress from our friends... as well as many other things that I didn't bring. How was I supposed to know??? I'd never been camping!!! Anyway, it all worked out and we had a great time. We went with three other couples and it was nice to have lots of time to talk and play. Shannon and Craig even have a flat screen TV, so we were able to watch the Georgia vs. Tennessee game. A very nice man that was camping next to us, had a satellite dish and set up his tv for us so that we could watch the Auburn game, too! Too bad there wasn't much to see! We had a great time and Chris and I are even talking about buying our own camping gear. I definitely am not into "hardcore" camping like killing my food, pitching a tent in the middle of nowhere or sleeping in subfreezing temperatures. I'll stick with campgrounds. It's a great way to spend time as a family away from home for very little money. HOORAY FOR CAMPING!

Craig, Shannon, Chris and I are watching the Auburn. They played terribly! You can tell by our faces that we weren't happy.

Chris and Gavin fix the fishing poles.

Good morning, Sunshine!

The kids really enjoyed riding their bikes. There was also a playground nearby that they spent a lot of time at. It was a great way for my sheltered kids to learn how to entertain themselves outside.

Our tent. Well, actually it belongs to Craig and Shannon... thanks guys for a wonderful camping experience!

My accountability group just began reading "Lies Women Believe" and I have to say that I'm already loving it. I'm sure it was not by accident that we chose this book - God is sovereign. He is teaching me many things about my selfish desires, what I think will make me happy, what my idea of family is, what HIS idea of family is and especially how I have believed the many half-truths and deceptions that Satan has every-so-slyly brought my way... inching his foot into the door of my heart. Yes, I'm learning a lot. The mirror is being held up to my heart and I'm seeing things that I'd rather not. Yet I'm grateful. Being aware of these things means that I can now purge myself of them. I'm ripping Satan's mask off and letting him know that I have no room for his lies in my life.

Last weekend we went apple picking. It was an absolutely beautiful day and the scenery is gorgeous! This is the second year in a row that we've gone and I'm sure we'll go again next year. Everyone has a great time and the adults even got in on climbing the trees this time. The best apples are always at the top!

Last week we spent a much needed vacation in Myrtle Beach. It works out well for those of us in Cherokee County that have kids out of school in September. The rates at the beach drop dramatically after August 31st and there is hardly anyone there. We find a condo that will comfortably fit all of us, split the price and then we're ready to go! This is the second year that we've all gone together and we always have a great time. The kids had a blast, as did the adults, and Gavin is still talking about the 'musement park. We did have a little hiccup with the room - apparently I didn't realize that the additional $120 linen service meant that we wouldn't have any sheets or towels unless we paid it. Silly me thought that linen service meant that someone would come in to change our sheets every day - which we didn't need! (We rented the condo from private owners and not through the hotel itself... big mistake.) The hotel said that they couldn't help us so we took matters into our own hands. We went to the housekeeping room and got them ourselves... well, the housekeepers actually gave them to us... we didn't EXACTLY steal them. And, we took them back before we checked out. Anyway, we had a fun time with friends and are glad that we had the opportunity to go.

Last night as we were sitting around the table having breakfast for dinner (Ivey's choice, but, honestly, one of my favorites too!) Chris decided that we should go around the table and tell one thing that we like about Ivey in honor of her birthday. Chris, Gavin and I all said one thing that we liked about Ivey.

Chris: I like that Ivey loves to meet people.
Gavin: I like that Ivey plays with me and helps take care of me.
Me: I like that when I ask Ivey to do something she does it right away.

It was obvious that Morgan was putting it off. Why is it so hard for him to give his sister a complement? Soon enough it came around to him. He pretended to be thinking, acted silly and then said...

Morgan: I have two things. One is that I like that Ivey always likes everyone she meets...
[Me thinking: Okay, that's exactly what Chris said, but whatever]
[pause]
[Ivey patiently waiting to hear the second thing her big brother likes about her]
Morgan: I forgot the second one.
Ivey: Well, you should have said that one first.

That's my girl.

We've had a really fun birthday weekend with Ivey. She turns 5 today! Friday, I took her and three friends to a "princess" party. Mom went with me to help with crowd control and as we were driving away I said, "I just reminded myself why I've never done this before." Friend parties are not my thing! But, the girls had a great time and that's what counts. On Saturday, we had our family over to celebrate. Yummy food, lots of people and lots of kids! She had a fantastic time being the center of attention - what little girl doesn't?

It was a good picture and I needed something "happy" to put on my blog. Although I kinda look like I have a huge nose... do I, really?? Anywho, can't wait for vacation next week.... aaaahhhh, yes! A week with no homework. Hip-Hip-Hooray!

Update on Morgan: Keep praying. We're still working on helping him to get and stay organized, stay on top of assignments as well as making up others that he didn't turn in. Next week is Fall Break, we're headed to the beach and BOY do we need a vacation!! Chris and I have a parent-teacher conference with all of his teachers this Thursday morning. Pray that it will go well and that we will all agree on some ways to help Morgan. I am planning on talking with Morgan about why it's important to try his best. Not because we care about him getting all A's but because the bible says to do all things as unto the Lord. So, for him and his stage of life, he needs to do the best he can in school. A good education will help him succeed in life and will, hopefully, make his life a little more comfortable which is important. But, we can't forget the big picture and that we should always be more concerned about his heart and his spiritual growth as much as or more than what grades he is getting.

Well, yesterday didn't turn out so badly after all. After I dropped off the little kids at preschool in the morning, I was headed to the gym to run a few miles. On the way there I just felt an overwhelming urge to pray. It was one of those times where I felt like I needed to pray out loud and that part of the reason God wanted me to do that was so that I could hear myself relinquishing control to Him. I struggled with it for a minute and then I just gave in. There's really no since in arguing with God is there? I prayed about Morgan, for wisdom, help, good counsel as well as a couple of other things that Chris and I have been talking about. So, the day went on....

As I was looking at Morgan's grades and assignments just before it was time for him to come home (yes, I can do that on the computer now and I sure am glad that they didn't have that when I was in school! :-)) I saw that, again, he hadn't turned in an assignment. So, at the end of my rope and looking for a fresh perspective and new ideas... who else do I call other than MOM?! My mom is such a blessing to me. She has over 30 years experience in education and was even a middle-school principal for several years. At the very least, I knew that she could tell me that Morgan is normal. I explained the situation to her and, of course, she delivered. We talked through it and she gave me some great ideas. Ideas that would help me to not be so stressed-out and on-edge, but also some ideas to hopefully steer Morgan in the right direction and help him to turn this corner that he keeps running into.

After that, Morgan and I talked. I explained the new "rule" and he was in compliance. He finished his homework in a timely manner and with a happy heart and then we headed off to church. Wow - homework hell averted! As we were driving home last night, I realized what had happened. God had answered my prayer. That prayer that I didn't want to pray that morning and that situation that I was trying my hardest to fix on my own. I obviously didn't realize it at the moment that God was answering my prayer through my mom. I talk to her almost every day. I even see her a couple of times a week. I realized that sometimes I miss God's answers to my questions because I'm looking for some grand, momentous writing on the wall. Something that I can say, "HEY! THAT'S GOD ANSWERING MY PRAYER!" Nope. It was just through something very simple. Something that I didn't even recognize. I thought about how I must miss so much of what he's telling me simply because I'm not paying attention.

Morgan's 7th grade academic year hasn't really started off all that well. The last few weeks of my life have been a bit stressful with trying to make sure he's doing and completing all of his assignments as well as keeping up with projects and tests. He brought home his 4 1/1 week progress reports this past Friday... let's just say I wasn't a happy camper. I already knew what his grades were because I check them online almost every day. His grades are WAY less than acceptable and something's gotta give or I'm gonna blow a gaskit. Among being on restriction from various privileges, Morgan will also be attending a parent-teacher conference with me. But, among all of this, I struggle with knowing how hard to press and when to let up. At what point do I stop micromanaging his assignments and allow him to fail? With age comes responsibility, but he IS only in seventh grade not in tenth grade. How much responsiblity can he handle? Should I offer rewards, threaten punishments or both? It is different for every child. I am looking forward to meeting with his teachers this week and expressing my concerns along with hopefully finding out other ways to support him.

Now pair all of that with hormones (his and mine!) and we have a problem. He turns 13 in one month and we all know what that means... raging hormones. We were having another talk about middle school romance the other day. There's some girl that his "friends" want him to "go out" with and I said, "Well, do you want to go out with her?" He replied, "Well... she's pretty and she's smart... so yeah!" I said, "Is she a Christian?" He replied, "I don't know."

Man... this raising a teenager thing is gonna be a toughie.

My friend, Teri, does a Messy Party each year to celebrate the end of summer and the beginning of a new school year. This year, my sister was in town so we all went together. The kids had a great time, but Gavin wasn't in to getting messy. I actually didn't even have to change his clothes after the party. He liked to play with the bubbles and the squirty colored water. The kids had a great time and I did, too. I was able to play with Timothy (my sister's #3) and spend time with just him. He's such a sweet baby and we all had a fun time!

I love butterflies. They are so beautiful and complex... and how they even become butterflies in the first place just baffles me. This year, I wanted to plant lots of flowers in front of my house because... well... I just love flowers, too. I decided to plant bright flowers, many of which happen to attract butterflies. I've seen lots of butterflies this summer, lots of big, beautiful butterflies. The kids and I have enjoyed trying to catch them, but mostly we just watch them in amazement. Anyway, this particular kind of butterfly keeps coming back. It's yellow, black and blue and absolutely gorgeous. I wish I could have taken a picture even closer, because it's hard to see the brightness of the blue that is at the bottom of the butterfly.

So it's time to clear the dust off the 'ol blog site. I'm going to try really hard to keep up - it just seems like the weeks fly by before I even know what month it is! I have lots to share...but I'll try to do one a day or so.

Morgan started school August 3rd. He started band this year and is extremely excited about that. I must admit that I am, too! I've always loved the band (as you may know that I enjoy watching the band at football games as much or more than watching the actual game!). I played in the high school marching band myself, made great friends, had a fantastic time... and couldn't care less if other people thought we were geeks... we had WAY more fun than they did! So, when Morgan tried the instruments at the end of 6th grade to see which one he could play in middle school, his two choices were flute and trombone. Interesting... So, he came home with the sheet of paper and we had to circle one of the two instruments. I asked Morgan which one he wanted to play, the flute or the trombone, and he automatically replied, "The flute!" Oh, no... What was I to say? I just decided to be honest. "Honey, if you want to play the flute that is totally fine with me. You need to know, though, that people may make fun of you because it's just kind of unusual for a boy to play the flute. But, if you want to play it then that's okay with me." His response: "Ok, I'll play the trombone." Whew! So, as school began this year the band teacher sent home a form about renting instruments. I promptly got on the computer, barely controlling my enthusiasm, and ordered a trombone to be delivered to the school for Morgan. Well, almost a week later it arrived and he's been honking that thing ever since. He loves it and I love it! He brought home an order form from band about needing to buy the music book, metronome, music stand, t-shirts, etc. I was all over that like white on rice! I did have to contain myself a bit because I obviously only needed to buy the essentials (plus the t-shirt!). I was so excited, I just had to call my mom to share in my excitement. I even wanted to order a band t-shirt for me! My mom said, "You're going to make a great band mom!" You better believe it!

The first concert is December 17th. So, we'll then begin our new Christmas tradition of band concerts with squeaking clarinets, honking trombones, blubbering tubas and off-key flutes. I can't wait!

What have we been up to?

The last week or so has been pretty standard at our house. Just hanging out, going to the gym a few times, playing outside and swimming at the neighborhood pool. Chris was gone for 8 days to Jamaica on a mission trip, but he's back now and everything is getting back to normal.

School begins in one more week!!! Morgan goes back to school August 3rd and the little kids go back to preschool on August 17th. We've had a great summer and it has flown by fast, but I am getting ready to have a schedule again. Dave Ramsey probably wouldn't be too proud of us this summer. Since this is the first summer that we've really been on a paper budget (and really trying to stick to it), it's definitely been a learning experience. Our credit cards are still paid off, but money is being shuffled from one envelope to another. The summer months really put a new spin on the financial situation. Well, I guess we'll know for next year.

One more thing I've done in the last week is sign up to run a half-marathon. Not just any half-marathon, but the Disney Princess Half Marathon. Yep, that's right. I'll be running 13.2 miles around Disney World with JUST GIRLS! It's going to awesome, but definitely my first and LAST half-marathon ever! My body just isn't made to run long distances, but I figured that if I'm gonna do it I better do it now!

So, we'll keep truckin' on for now. August will be filled with buying school supplies, getting used to the schedule, early bed times, more time to clean the house and getting used to middle schooler.

Aubie's 50th Birthday Party

Last week, my mom called to ask if I would be interested in going to an event put on by the Atlanta Auburn Club - specifically Aubie's 50th birthday party. For those of you who are so unfortunate as to not know who Aubie is... he's the tiger mascot for Auburn. So, anyway, of course my answer was SURE! Tonight, my mom, Ivey and myself had a girl's night out and headed down to Cobb Galleria for the party. It really was a lot of fun. There were vendors there selling Auburn parafanalia, food, a silent auction, drawings for prizes and a short program to introduce the new head coach. It was a lot of fun and I got several new pictures. I always have a great time at Auburn sporting events because I love the atmosphere and excitement of the fans. I'm still trying to find tickets to a game or two this season, so that's my next big project... Here are a few pictures from our fun night!

Here is one of Auburn's eagles - Nova. He is one of the eagles that flies in the stadium before the game begins. It truly is awesome to watch and gets the fans ready to cheer on the Auburn Tigers. WAR EAGLE!

Here the kids gather around Aubie to sing Happy Birthday. Several former "Aubie"s are standing in the background.

Basketball camp

Morgan went to basketball camp last week at Blessed Trinity High School. I decided back in the Spring that he needed some sort of camp to go to this Summer to help him develop some athletic skills. He has always been interested in sports and fairly natural at playing them. As a mom, I really want him to be involved in something, whether it is band or sports, while he's in middle school and high school. The past couple of years he has shown more interest in basketball, so I decided that's what we would work on. I searched the internet for a legitimate basketball camp in our area this summer and came up with the Nike Elite Hoops basketball camp in Roswell. It was a week long camp that lasted from 9 AM - 3 PM every day. To say that Morgan didn't want to go at first would be an understatement. He was extremely nervous about being at a new place with people that he didn't know. I could totally understand his apprehensiveness, but I also knew that it would be a really good experience for him both physically and socially. So, he went. And... HE LOVED IT! I delegated Chris to the task of taking him the first day and staying a few minutes until Morgan was comfortable. Then, I picked him at the end of the day and he had a huge smile on his face. He made several new friends, got great exercise, practiced and learned basketball skills and gave Mom and siblings a break! At the end of the week, his coach gave him a hand-written evalutation to take home along with several goodies.

Pirate's Cove

Today, the little kids and I met a couple of friends at a new play place while Morgan was at basketball camp. I had heard of this place from a friend's blog and knew that we had to check it out! The place had a HUGE sand box, pirate's fort, cannon ball shooters for foam balls and several big jump and slide things. It's a bit of a drive from us, but the kids LOVED it and played for almost 3 hours. They would've stayed longer but I was starving (I had to do the "good Mom" thing and give my lunch to Gavin since he left his in the garage on our way to the car). Anyway, the kids had a ball and it was nice to be able to sit and chat with friends. Here are a few pics:

Ivey and her friend, Jacob, watch where the ball is going after shooting it! They collected balls from around the area to put in the yellow bag to shoot.

Gavin takes his turn with a cannon ball launcher!

Ivey and Zachary play so nicely in the sand box.

Gavin loves to climb, so he was constantly climbing up into the fort and then sliding down the poles. He had lots of fun and cried when it was time to go.

It's a rainy afternoon here in the ATL - thank the Lord!! We need the rain and I know my flowers are so happy right now! The rain started coming while we were eating lunch, so I told the kids that they could play in the rain when they finished their lunch. As to be expected, they were immediately not hungry anymore and went to get their bathing suits on. I took a few pics of them playing and having a great time together for the photo album. It was raining really hard and we came in just before the thunder began. What fun to be a kid!!

This week is Vacation Bible School at church. Myself and a friend have been teaching Missions to the elementary aged students. We've had such a great time and I love being able to meet ALL of the kids involved in VBS. Our fearless leader, Ginger Debusk, has done an AWESOME job with coordinating VBS this year. And, as always, I'll have the songs stuck in my head until we do something new next year!!

Gavin enjoys a yummy donut before time to go to his class

A picture of Gavin with some of his friends in class. When I walk in the room, it's always nice to have him running to me saying, "Mommmmmyyyy!"

This is a picture of our hair for Silly Day. Morgan's hair was spiked and looked great! Ivey and I pulled our hair in 3 pigtails with bows. Also, Morgan was a "helper" this year for the first time. He did great and I was so proud!

This is Ivey singing her songs at Family Night. Before we left the house she said, "Oh, I can't wait!! I can't wait to sing my songs in front of hundreds of people!" Well, you go Ivey!

Muddy Buddy

Last year, Chris and one of our neighbors did a race called the Muddy Buddy. Well, this year they talked both of their WIVES into doing it with them! We all registered for the race a few weeks ago, went to REI last night to pick up our race packets and then had a very yummy dinner at Seasons 52 (I highly recommed it!) with our good friends, Nate and Kala.

I should also probably mention that the race started at 7:30 this morning in Conyers. So we were up bright and early to be there by 7:00 AM! Actually, it was still pretty dark.



The Muddy Buddy is a race that is 6 miles long, has 5 legs and is a combination of running and mountain biking. The runners and the bikers share the trail, so everyone has to be very careful. You and your "buddy" (i.e. partner) start out with one person riding the bike and the other running. At the end of each leg, you and your buddy each do an obstacle and then switch places - the one who rode the bike then takes off running and the person that was running takes off on the bike. And the end of all 5 legs, both partners crawl through a mud pit and then run to the finish line. It was a lot of fun but extremely challenging. It was much harder than I imagined it would be, but I like challenges and I don't give up easily. So, I did my very best and we had an awesome time. Here's a side view of the mudpit! You actually have to crawl under each set of flags to get to the end.



We ended up running into our friends from church at the end of the race and they were kind enough to take a picture of Chris and I. We weren't very muddy since we had already washed off a bit. I'm excited to see the other pictures of us during the race because there were photographers everywhere taking pictures of the participants as we were all running, mountain biking and gasping for air!




Chris and I have really enjoyed taking on the sport of running because it's something that both of us can do together. We've tried tennis and maybe golf, but neither of those really worked out for both of us. Running kind of "happened" to us by accident and since we're both so competitive, it's great for us to compete against ourselves and with each other (in a friendly sort of way!) Not only does it keep our competitive juices flowing, but is it great for our health and we have fun participating in all of these different kinds of races together. We aren't "serious" runners by any stretch of the imagination but it's challenging and something that we can spend time doing together which, I think, is a very important component of a successful marriage. We'll be doing the Peachtree Road Race in two weeks for the second time. We're excited about that and even more excited that our friends, Teri and Marc, will be doing it with us. Come on, friends, join in the fun!!!