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!!!

Poor Charlie...

At the beginning of the week, I was petting Charlie's ears (because they're so soft and floppy) and realized that she had some sort of squishy, large, water-filled bubble in her ear flap. I asked Chris if he thought we should take her to the vet and he said yes. So, Monday, Ivey and I took her to the vet and the vet concluded that she had a hematoma in ear flap probably due to shaking her head or scratching her ears. He tried to use a needle to drain out some of the fluid, but apparently because of some fibrous tissue he wasn't able to drain it. According to the vet, surgery was in order to lance the hematoma, drain it, stitch it up and then flush out her ears. Tuesday morning we took her back to the vet for her surgery and left. She was nothing short of pitiful when Chris picked her up and brought her home later that afternoon. When all was said and done, we had a very large vet bill - yikes! But, she's like another baby to us, so we felt like we had to do it. Thanks to Dave Ramsey, we were able to work our finances so that we could pay for the visit although it definitely put a damper on our next month's budget!

Updates

Last week I was in Helen, GA with the youth from our church. While we were there, we partnered with Georgia Moutain Resort Ministries in ministering to a nearby trailer park and to the Unicoi Springs RV Park. The team I was on was assigned Pardue mobile home park and we did a kids camp in the mornings each day. The other team did the same at the RV park. In the afternoons we all helped with various service projects: helping clean up a nearby church, picking up trash along the river, etc. At night, we did a little program with singing, skits, balloon animals, face painting and testimonies at three different locations in Helen. One evening we were able to have some free time and went tubing down the river. It was fun for about the first 30 minutes and then I was over it! There were lots of rocks which we had to keep getting out and pulling ourselves over. Right at the very end, I got off my tube and was walking to the exit point and slammed my leg up against a rock in the water. I ended up with a huge gash on my right shin and pretty yellow bruise to go with it. All in all, it was an awesome week and it was a privelege to be able to share God's love and mercy with people that only live an hour away from us. Morgan and I had a blast. It was his first mission trip and he loved it! Here are a few pictures from our trip.

A group shot before leaving our church

Getting a game of ultimate frisbee going

My very first game of ultimate frisbee and it was a blast!

Teaching the bible story

Doing crafts with the kids

My team along with most of the kids that came to our camp at the mobile home park

Helping to scrape paint off of the old church so they can repaint

Facepainting in downtown Helen

I loved learning how to make balloon animals. I can now make a dog, sword, flower and hat!

A few of our kids singing worship songs for the patrons at Unicoi Spring RV park.

Doing a skit at Unicoi State Park during our program

Our group along with the team from Georgia Mountain Resort Ministries

A Day at the Lake

We've been to the lake several times this summer already, but here is our first tubing ride. Morgan loves to tube even though we go slowly due to the boat being a pontoon. Anyway, it was fun and we always love to spend time at the lake with family and friends. It's beautiful and relaxing and a great place to get away. The little kids love to watch and will get their turns soon. The water was so cold this particular day that none of the adults were willing to hop in with them! Below is Ivey and Gavin with cousins, John and Emma.

On Friday, we went on our first of many summer MOPS outings. This time it was to Cagle's Dairy Farm which is just down the road from our house. It was a lot of fun and the kids enjoyed it. At times there was a little more talking from the tour guides than preschoolers are willing to listen to, but they did great and had a good time. Here are a few pictures from our day at the dairy farm.

First we took the kids pictures with their life size measuring stick.

Then the kids got to pet and feed the baby calves who are being held in this barn to learn how to eat hay and feed.

In order to get the farmer to drive the tractor on our hay ride, we had to scream "Yee Haw" when it was time to go. See here, Gavin is screaming "Yee Haaawww!"

At the end of the tour, they gave each child their very own milk carton of white milk or chocolate milk straight from the dairy farm. We had a really good group of kids, but here are my nephew and neice along with Ivey and Gavin.