AFC Girls c/o 2000 Reunion at Camp Creek

Two weekends ago the AFC Girls class of 2000 had another reunion at Jenny Winter's parents lake house at Camp Creek. The Russells have a beautiful lake home that they offered for us to use that weekend and it was perfect! The kids and I were headed to the beach on Saturday so we only dropped by for Friday night's festivities...but we had a GREAT time.

Paige took us out for a little paddleboat tour, Zeke and I enjoyed some pretty intense dock diving. I said a little prayer each time before we dove in...hoping there was not a submerged tree in our diving path. Fortunately, Zeke and I came out without broken bone or injury. Of course, Zeke thought it was a blast!

Later that evening we enjoyed a great crawfish meal, created by Chef Katie. It was yummy...Zeke kept saying, "Wow Mom, I really like this food." After dinner the kids went outside with Jenny to feed the deer. It was unbelievable how close they would walk up to us. You could almost reach out and touch them.

Before bed Zeke read his sister a couple of bedtime stories...they were so sweet laying there together. I am so proud of the way that Zeke takes care of Kaelyn...he is an amazing big brother to her.

We sat around for the latter part of the evening sharing about the latest "happenings" in our lives...who had new babies, new jobs, new homes, new adventures...it was wonderful to see everyone and have the opportunity to catch up. God has richly blessed my life by giving me the friendships of these remarkable women.

Clean Out

One thing that I have been working on recently is cleaning out my house. Due to circumstances, "spring cleaning" has not been on the top of my list for quite some time and my house was REALLY starting to show it. So, a couple of weeks ago I took a morning or two to clean out a few closets, my bathroom, and even the attic. Yes, I realize the attic is probably not the smartest area to clean out in July while the temperatures peak at 106, BUT I could hardly get into the attic and I really needed to! And, it is always fun to pull a few hundred kids clothing bags down to give to Bryan Hanna to torture him. Lisa and I do a lot of kids clothes swapping and Bryan LOVES to haul all those bags back and forth...it is his favorite activity!

Busy Summer

As I am sure many of you have noticed, I haven't blogged anything for the last 2 and a half weeks. We have been so busy with friends and travel, that I just haven't taken the time to update. So, here it is...the last few weeks in one fell swoop! Get ready. :)

Jack Attack!

Later in the evening we gathered at the back of the building to watch the kids run through the obstacle course and to watch the 3-legged races. There was an area off to the side that held a small kiddie pool with water and oversized sponges.

At one point while I was talking to Janel Hopper, I caught a glimpse of Jack racing towards me with 2 large RED sponges that looked like they were covered in paint. I stop mid-sentence and because I am wearing all white, begin to quickly reach down to save my dress from certain disaster. The frightening part was my "knee-jerk" reaction was to grab my skirt and raise it up over my head to avoid paint getting on my clothes. Luckily, just as my hands touched the hem of my dress, my brain kicked in to alert me to the fact that flashing my church congregation just to avoid red paint was probably not the best idea I had ever had. So, instead I caught Jack by the arms and tried to keep from getting completely covered. FORTUNATELY, the sponges just looked like they had paint on them and really only had muddly, grassy, goopy water on them so that was not as bad.

As the realization of what I had almost done began to set into my mind, I was practically rolling with laughter. As I bent over laughing, I lost my balance and nearly fell into the kiddie pool on the ground. That certainly didn't help me regain composure. As I started to steady myself, Jack had managed to regroup and came at me from behind, dampening the back of my legs with those muddy sponges. I screamed in surprise and laughed only harder.

That Jack...you really have to watch that kid...he is a sneaky one!

4th Fun

Each year Southeast does a special 4th of July celebration at our church building...complete with watermelon-spitting contests, pie-eating contests, homemade ice cream contests, a cookout, a dunking booth, and fireworks! In my opinion, it is one of the more laid-back, fun events that we do all year. I was so thankful that I was well enough to go by Saturday evening. YEAH!

Life Group Ladies





Callie was a little upset that Zeke and Kaelyn were not at the 4th celebration...she is quite opinionated when it comes to her expectations. That arrangement was clearly not run by her before we decided...she would NOT have approved!

Kids In Kerrville

Last week while I was down with a horrible case of tonsilitus, sweet Krista, Gena, MeMe & Dan took care of my kids in Kerrville while I recovered. Thank you Bosse/Robertson family! I was pitifully useless and was in desperate need of rest...I was so grateful that they were able to take the kids so that I could recover and get some of my work done without interruption.

While the kids were there, Nonnie & Granddad came for a visit too. Zeke and Kaelyn were thrilled to see them...what a treat!

My monkeys are coming home tonight...it feels like they have been gone for such a long time...I can't wait to see them! :)


This is Zeke's rendition of Shamu "breaching" the water (in case you weren't sure what he was doing here).



Who's crazy kids are these?











Additional stories from Gena during the visit:

Zeke went with me and the boys to see the fireworks at the title company
because it is a great spot--really up close. He loved them but as soon as
he got in the car I was asking him which ones he liked the best, etc. and
finally he said, "Ok, enough talking, I am going to sleep now!"

Also, all day yesterday KK kept saying that she didn't want to go to the
fireworks because she didn't like them and they scared her. We kept
reassuring her that she wasn't going to go that she could stay there with
Dan. Anyway, when I was leaving last night she wanted to go with me and
Nonnie told her that BB was going to see the fireworks and that she didn't
like fireworks so she needed to stay there. KK looked right at her and
said, " I LOVE fireworks!"

The next pic is K laughing at Ryan's dancing and then a pic of them
dancing together. She is really taken with Ryan this trip. She told Meme
yesterday that Ryan was KK's boy not MeMe's boy. Ryan is, of course, eating
that up!

A Day In The Life of Kaelyn Denise

Zeke was sick a few weeks back and while I was tending to him, Kaelyn was left to her own devices. These are a few of the things that she did to entertain herself while I was distracted with her brother.

#1 Used the barstool to climb into my kitchen sink. Then removed her "dirty" diaper and proceeded to clean herself off with the kitchen sprayer...along with most of the kitchen (she did this twice)
#2 Used the barstool along with climbing the shelves to help herself to a snack
#3 Found a beautiful shade of bronze 607 and decided to cover herself from head to toe in it....along with my floor, walls, cabinets, fridge, & shelves.
#4 Removed multiple pages out of the spiral binding of a book that I loved.

It was a that point as I was still cleaning up after the first "creative entertainment attempts" that I decided to put her in her room and shut the door. (She hasn't yet quite figured out how to open that...it will only be a matter of time). As I was scrubbing foundation from the grout on my floor, I could hear her crying from her room. After about 5 minutes the crying stopped. I walked to her room and put my ear to the door...nothing. I opened the door to see that Kaelyn had climbed into her crib & had put herself to sleep. I thought this was a wise choice on her part. I believe it helped her live through the day. :)

This face says it all...it has TROUBLE written ALL over IT!