When Scott's away...

...Andrew will play.

The boys love to play together, but Andrew becomes even more imaginative when Scott's not around to direct the playing. Scott and Derrick went to Lowe's yesterday and Andrew put together this sword and shield with the blocks. He even built a second set for Scott to use when he got home.



They loved that when they struck each other's sword, it would burst apart. They'd put them back together and have another (short) duel.

Amanda

Here are some recent pictures of my baby girl:


After heavy rain last week, Amanda enjoyed tromping through the yard in her boots. She loves these boots, even though they are too big.


This child LOVES watermelon...almost as much as her mama loves it.


Dressed up and ready for church this morning. My Mom made this cute outfit (and the butterfly outfit in the picture of her driving below.) It was a pattern that she used for me when I was a little girl.

Oh, and we've learned to not put shoes on her until we reach our destination. She will take them off in the car. We store her shoes in the car for this reason.

Sweet Sixteen

Can you believe my baby is already learning to drive?



Her brothers are strapped in and ready to go. I wonder why there is no look of fear on their faces for the journey they are about to take?

I went to the library by myself the other day, and when I walked in the door I felt as Santa must feel. The boys attacked my bag and poured through what I brought home.


Later, we all read in the typical fashion. The boys each take a side and Amanda manages to find a way to sit on top. Andrew almost always has something in his hand to play with while listening. Legos and superheros are two favorites. Farley is never far from me.


This picture has nothing to do with reading, but I just love the expression on Amanda's face. She is such a ham and this is one of her favorite faces to make. She will almost always make it as I'm changing her diaper and she is goofing off. She loves to make me laugh.

Bathroom Renovation - the Demolition

After 4 1/2 years in this house, we've finally taken the plunge and demolished the ugly hall bath, with its yellow shower and dated linoleum floor. Of course, Scott was eager to help.


Here is Derrick removing the final piece of tub from the bathroom. Farley doesn't know what to make of all this commotion.



A posed picture...


Our entire bathroom looks funny sitting in the carport. It looked even funnier this evening, as it was loaded in the back of a pickup truck.


So now we are down to just one bathroom upstairs. We've moved the upstairs toilet to the basement bathroom and I'm not sure if it is hooked up yet. With just one toilet, I think I'll postpone potty training Amanda!

Summer's Here

I know that the calendar says that summer just started yesterday, but we've had summer in Georgia for several weeks now. I don't define summer by the solstice; nor does it have anything to do with breaks from school. Nope, summer is the season of watermelons and thunderstorms. We experienced both last Tuesday. The disappointment of not swimming due to the thunderstorm was lessened considerably by the juicy red watermelon we enjoyed for dessert.


As with any watermelon experience, I required that they consume the melon outside and shirtless. It worked pretty well, but I'm not sure if Amanda's cloth diaper has recovered from the red stain.

Happy Father's Day!

The kids change so fast, that no other Father's Day will be exactly like this one. Here are some things I want to remember from 2010:

*The kids are still small enough that they all fit on Daddy's lap. Without even asking them to pose for a picture, I noticed that they were all jockeying for space on Daddy as they awoke on Sunday morning.

*Scott always wants Derrick to wear the same color shirt as he wears to church. This week, I heard, "Daddy...will you wear a blue shirt to church today?"

*Amanda's favorite phrase (especially when she is not getting her way with me) is "I need Daddy! I need Daddy! Daddy...Daddy!"

*Andrew stayed up late the other night and enjoyed a good game of Dominoes with Derrick. It seems that he is going to be our "game boy."

They all love their Daddy. I have to say...I also think they have a great Daddy.

back online!

My computer is home and healed (at least for now). After being away for a week, I'm certainly glad to have it back. Actually, it has almost been a month, since we were out of town for two weeks and had VBS for a week. I didn't really miss it while traveling or the week we were so busy with VBS, but I've certainly missed it this week.

We aren't really sure what happened. After we returned from vacation, I turned it on and it started on a "memory dump" cycle. It would stay on for a minute and then crash with a big blue screen.

And now the folks at Athens Microcomputer are my new best friends. Unlike some national computer repair options that I called, a human answered the phone and she was so friendly. I dropped the tower at their store and it was ready in a day.

Here's the thing. They said it was a "malware" problem...something my Virus protection software would not detect. So, they recommend a free malware program, in addition to my anti-virus program and my spyware software. And, Apple just came out with a new Mac Mini computer. And they don't have as many problems with invasive virus stuff. I think we've almost decided to take the money we've been saving for a new laptop and get a Mac Mini. We'll make this our secondary compter.

Hopefully I'll (finally) upload pictures tonight and post a few more stories from our summer.

**Be sure to check below for some previous posts that I just published...strawberries, end of school, swimming, etc.

Home Sweet Home

We are finally home and it felt great to sleep in my own bed last night. In two weeks, we traveled in/through 8 states, plus Washington D.C. and slept in at least seven different beds. In fact, over the weekend, we covered all 8 of those states in 24 hours!

Our travels began by visiting some dear friends in NC. Then, we continued north to Hampton, VA, to visit my uncle and have a very special "scattering ceremony" for my Grandmother and Grandfather's ashes off of the bow of my uncle's sailboat.

Then we landed in Washington D.C. for five days and so much fun in our nation's capital!

We drove 9 hours home on Saturday, picked up Farley from friends, slept in our beds and took off Sunday morning for a 16 hour drive to Texas (broken up over two days). The kids were really good in the car, considering how many hours we spent sitting in one place. Our saving grace was that I found the Chronicles of Narnia CD set at the library, so we had 16 hours of a beautiful reading of the stories. Even Amanda seemed to enjoy parts of the story, as she would laugh or repeat what she heard.

Our trip to Texas was also wonderful. We visited with four of Derrick's siblings and had a wonderful visit with his parents. The kids did all the things that they love to do in Texas, including fossil hunting, snail races, playing in the sandbox, swinging, helping Daddy with any project that Grandad has for him, etc.

I did what I love to do - select a good book from the hundreds that Wilma has on her shelves and sink on the couch and get lost in the book while my kids are being entertained by Grandparents. It was more relaxing than a trip to the beach. I just wish we did not have such a long drive to get there. I'm sure there are some nice people who live in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, but to me they are just miles of roads that separate us from family.

We arrived home on Sunday and have VBS this week. After a morning filled with VBS science, I spent the afternoon unpacking. The suitcases are unpacked; the laundry is sorted and ready to be washed tomorrow; the car is cleared out, but certainly not yet cleaned; the random toys and books that keep kids entertained in the car have all found their proper homes; I'm also looking for homes for the new things that we have accumulated, including several fossils that Scott found and many new books that Derrick picked up from his Mom. Next on my list are the pictures. I'll post some later this week.

It is all so fun and I have plenty of material for more postings, so stay tuned.