Memorial Weekend

It has been a tradition to spend Memorial weekend at my parents cabin. This year, it was the weekend after, but the fun and relaxation was the same. Pictured is Andie with my dad, Grandave. He has worked incredibly hard to make his cabin a wonderful mountain retreat. I know it brings him tons of joy to watch his grandkids enjoy the place.

Here are the boys doing one of their favorite activities. Over and over they would ride on the truck down the ramp trying to lauch them selves as far as they could.

Other favorite activities:

Playing Star Wars with PVC pipe light sabers and forts made from limbs

Walking in the ice cold creek

discovering what floats in the creek

rides on grandave's 4 wheeler

& we always love my mom's cookin'

Andie was feeling left out watching all the boys play with their trucks, so daddy came up with an awesome alternative for his girl. Wheel barrow racing!

We had a really scarry event happen involving Dean and the creek. Dean was playing on a large rock that was on the egde of the creek. Hunched over with his back to the creek, he fell in the creek backwards. He could have stood up, but he was too shocked to know what was going on. Trey ran over as fast as he could to fish Dean out. It was a very scarry event that left my chest hurting for hours. Apprently I screamed very loud, as my mom came running from the cabin with a towel. Dean will say, "I fell in the big water. I was scarred. It was cold. I fell in the biiiiig water." I think many kids would have steered clear of the stream, but here is Dean the very next day having a great time.

Always wish we could stay longer and can't wait for the next time.

Picture Time!

My sister-in-law flew in from Ohio, so we seized the opportunity to take photos of all the cousins together. Our friend Shawn agreed to meet out at my in-laws place to take the pictures. The pictures are amazing. Here is a sampling of the 550 photos he shot:

This is Trey's grandpa, Dad-aw. We love how this shot captured Evan and Dad-aw... priceless.

Sweet Andie Grace at home in the flower garden.

My Dean...What you can't see is the right sleeve...he stuck his arm up a muffler, and turned the sleeve jet black!

Awwwww......

Growing Boy

My oldest is growing up. Several milestones occurred the last few days. Today, we enrolled Evan in kindergarten. We had a great time meeting some of the teachers and the principal. Evan's grandpa, Papa, taught at this school for several years. Trey, his siblings, and many other relatives have attended and worked at this school district. Evan doesn't know all that - so he was absolutely floored when the principal greeted him by name as we walked in the door. Evan enjoyed the special attention. He loved the "test" they put him through. He also received cookies and juice, and a bag of books - he cannot wait to go back!! We are excited for Evan, he loves to learn, and is very ready for school. No saddness yet from this momma. We'll see how I feel when the fall comes.

Evan mastered riding his bike without training wheels this week. Lack of confidence was holding him back, but once confidence caught up with his ability, Watch out! He's a bike riding machine! What joy it brings me to see him master this challenge!

He lost another tooth. We have not got to see him with the cute little no-tooth-gap that most kiddos have when they loose a tooth. His two bottom teeth grew in right behind the baby teeth. So when the baby tooth fell out, it's replacement was fully visible.

I tried to snap a picture of Evan today to add to this post, but he wanted no part of that. So a recent picture of Evan with two good buddies will do.

I love how Evan loves life, how excited he gets about any and everything. Oh, here's something some of you will like: When asked if he was going to be a Jim Ned Indian, Evan replied,"Ummm, no, I'm gonna be a Jim Ned Jedi."

Autism Speaks Walk at the Zoo

The kids and I attended the Autism Speaks walk at the zoo last Saturday. It is our second year to attend. Evan's friends Kade and Konner are twin brothers. We attend the walk in support of Konner and his family. Evan and Kade are in pre-K together this year. Most all the boys, if not all of them are super crazy about Star Wars. So it was an extra special feature to have Star Wars caracters at the walk. These guys came from a galaxy far far away in Houston, TX. In this picture this guy is letting Konner wear his helmet. He wanted to do something really cool for Konner, which was really cool, but it so didn't stop with Konner. Almost every kid present took their turn trying on the helmet.

This is Andie checking out the stormtrooper. She kept patting and rubbing his leg. It took me a little bit to get through the crowd to rescue the stormtrooper from my admiring girl.

Here is the gang. Five of these guys are in pre-K together. Konner is on the far right, with Kade and his light saber right beside him. You might see the top of Dean's head beside Evan. He is still staring at the stormtrooper in amazement.

Magic Eraser

Three and a half years ago, a relative went on and on telling me how great the Mr Clean Magic Eraser was. She even bought me a box that contained 4 sponges. I didn't go for the sales pitch at the time, I just continued using my usual cleaners. The box has been under my sink this whole time. Last week, while I think my two year old is driving a car up and down the hall, it turns out he is pressing a blue crayon back and forth along the full length of the hallway. He did it about four times. (That's what I get for watching Dancing With the Stars, but anyway.... ) I tried a couple cleaners. One was ineffective, and one was stripping the paint off the wall. Then, I remembered the Magic Eraser. This product is crazy good! I got the sponge wet, and barely wipe, and the crayon is gone. I was so tickled by this. I was telling a friend this same story, and she tells me how it's amazing at getting out stains on a counter top. So I pull out another sponge, and it magically erases several stains on my counter top that I had not been able to get out with other products. It so lives up to it's Magic Eraser name - the marketers pegged this one perfectly. I get pretty irritated with the false and misleading marketing and advertising that most products seem to have. But not the Magic Eraser -

Now, I'm hooked. I used another sponge and cleaned where my leather couch had rubbed and stained the wall behind it. I figured I was going to have to paint the wall - but no, a little scrubbing, and my wall looks like it's had a fresh coat of paint! I'm sounding like an infomercial, I know. But , I'm telling you, you gotta have this! Knowing that the product has been out for a few years - you might all know about it already, but in case you don't.... Go get you a box of Mr Clean Magic Erasers! Whatever it costs, it is absolutely worth it!

Happy Birthday Husband!

Today is Trey's 38th birthday. It got me thinking back to when we first met. Trey and I met a couple days before his 30th birthday. He turned 30 while we were on a medical mission trip in Cusco, Peru. I don't think he planned on telling anyone on the trip that it was his birthday. But I saw it on his passport, and word got out. Everyone had a fun time celebrating Trey's 30th. The hotel workers made him a huge chocolate cake - I don't think it had any sugar in it, but it was very pretty. (Probably why Peruvians are small, and we are not.) He was sung to in many languages. I love the image of the Peruvians surrounding his pharmacy belting out their version of "happy birthday."

It's fun to know that this is the 9th birthday I have celebrated with Trey. I am just tickled at the idea of growing old together. Happy Birthday Husband! Much Love!

Sweet moments

I still do not have a camera, so sorry no updates lately. I can take pictures with my cell phone, but it is just a hastle to get it to get it to the computer. Right now, a long movie is keeping the kids occupied so I could share a picture of the kids wonderful Saturday morning. Can't get much better than the donut shop. I can still hear them shouting the color of icing they wanted. If you look hard you can see that Evan lost his first tooth. The tooth fairy made her first visit to our house Thursday night. Before Evan went to bed that night, he prayed that God would make tooth fairies real. Evan was very excited about the result of his prayer. He loves the silver dollar and would love to show it to all who will listen. I love these sweet kids and love all the donut shop and tooth fairy moments. Makes the stressful days, well, more sweet.