7 Years

Seven years ago today my precious Sara Abbett made her grand entrance into this world. My how she has grown. Happy Birthday my angel.

Quality Family Time

Nothing says togetherness like a bunch of guns blasting. Timmy and Will were target and skeet shooting Saturday night in the field and woods behind the house. Not girls to be left out of anything, Jill and I each took a turn shooting. She was quite a good shot but alas I was not even able to see the target through the scope on the rifle. The kids actually thought it was fun to pick up the spent shells and to look at the target for holes. Jeff Foxworthy will probably want to feature our family on a program of You Might be a Redneck if... Life is good!

We Made It

We made it through the first week of school. It was a short week but nonetheless we managed to get up and out on time every day. Woo Hoo. I hope we can keep it up for the entire year. Since Gracie and I are not morning people this may prove to be a challenge. I am trying to get everything organized so that our days will run as smoothly as they possibly can. We are doing our best to get lunches packed and clothes laid out every night so there isn't the scramble that we had EVERY day last year. I am making the children take responsibility for these tasks. I will help as needed but they are capable of making sandwiches and packing lunch. I haven't needed to be fashion police yet but no doubt that will be the case before long. My babies are notorious for putting on things that are totally inappropriate for school. I let it ride during the summer but not during regular school.

I am also thrilled to report that all three loved their first week of school. AG loves her class and Mrs. Manuel. I hope Mrs. M will continue to encourage Gracie's love of books as her past teachers have but push her a bit harder with math. Gray does not like math at all and will probably struggle with it some this year. I plan to get my lazy rear in gear and work with her on it. The kid would rather read in math class.

Rab, the easy going baby, is just as happy as can be in Mrs. Welch's class. She is thrilled to have two of her best friends in the same class with her. She has brought home papers with beautiful handwriting already. We just know SA will be reading chapter books before much longer. Gracie was reading the Bible by the time she finished Mrs. Welch's first grade. Surely Rabbie will read the Bible and maybe War and Peace. hee hee Seriously though, I am thrilled to have Mrs. W again this year. She is the best teacher ever!

Josh is going to keep us all on our toes. He got one of his smiley faces taken on the second day for hitting. I asked him why he hit Jackson and he gave me his standard, "he hit me first" answer. I told him that there is no excuse for hitting and that he was gonna have to tell his daddy himself what happened. When Tim got home he had enough sense to ask J why Jackson had hit him (a question I didn't even think to ask) and Josh sheepishly said, "because I tried to bite him." WHAT?!! The kid is gonna be the death of me. I talked to "Miss" Bebe today and she said all of this occurred in the bathroom and that Josh had tried to bite Jackson on the behind. Pray for me people cause I don't know what I am gonna do with that boy.

School is in Session

Summer Vacation is over and we are back in the swing of school. Actually, it is yet to be seen if we are gonna really have it all together but my beautiful angels started back to school this morning. They were so excited to get back that I didn't have a bit of trouble getting them up and moving. Josh woke up at 6:30 which is good since my alarm failed to go off and somebody (me) had to herd my family through breakfast, teeth brushing, hair fixing and loading all of their stuff to the car. We had a quick photo shoot

before we left home and were even a few minutes earlier than normal arriving at school. Traffic in the mornings of the first few days is always a nightmare that makes me seriously contemplate getting on some medication. Hard to believe I know but I have no patience and the insanity makes me want to say bad words. Anyway, my children walked happily to their own classes and I am now at work pretending to do something really important.

FYI -that is fog in the pictures which I don't know how to edit out. This morning we could hardly see anything for the fog.

Only Two More Days

Where has the summer gone? It feels like we just got out of school and it's already time to go back. The children begin on Wednesday. That gives me just two days to get it all together. We have purchased all of the required supplies including new lunch boxes and book bags and sneakers for the girls. Now to get ourselves in the habit of eating supper before it's dark, getting to bed at a decent time and, the hardest task, getting up and out of the house on time. I have been horrible about sleeping too late every day. Surely I have mentioned before my need of lots of sleep. We did have a trial run this morning as I had to be at school to help serve breakfast to the teachers and remarkably we made it with time to spare. Hope that is a sign of things to come in the next year.

A Few From Aunt Lindy

Aunt Lindy e-mailed me a few of her pictures from the beach. She is the official family photographer and has been forever. We always take a group photo of everyone who is with us and she is willing to individual family pics as well. Hers are always the best. We look forward to seeing what she gets every year. Check these out:

Outdoor Wonders by Anna Grace

Let me introduce you to the newest member of the Kirven bloggers. Anna Grace will be filling in for me tonight with her story and her own pictures. I have to say I am very proud of her photography skills and am sure she is an even better writer. ENJOY

Hey everybody, Anna Grace speaking here. See that picture above this Amazing isn't it!

Thought so anyway Outdoors gotta love it right . Your gonna see great pictures some I took some mama took!

See that corn plant surrounded by soy beans. I love love love that one.

Tonight I rode the golf car to take some pictures with my mama I had sooo much fun.

See this picture Beautiful isn't it.

See that white line in the center of this pic a ... Spider Web!!!!!!

I'm really not sure what that is but it is pretty. Right?

This purple flower is Mamas favorite it is Beautiful!!!!

Another spider comin' your way see that big white thing. I think it's dinner time think so? It is. That's dinner. Gross!!! Think about being a spider!!!

And last but not least the moon a great night it was!!! Storm coming gotta go.!? Bye-Bye!!!!!!!!

Cheerleader Camp

The girls completed a three day cheerleader camp at school last night. This is the first year since AG was in K-3 that we haven't been at the beach for cheer camp. They had a blast. They have practiced their moves for me all over the house. For two and a half hours the Varsity and Jr. Varsity cheerleaders taught these little girls cheers, chants, dances and even a few stunts. Last night was their chance to show off for the moms and dads. They will all perform again at a pep rally and at one of the home football games. All of those adorable girls did a fabulous job. Though, I believe, a hot gym full of overstimulated little girls may be the greatest form of birth control. Those teenagers may never have kids after this week.

A Special Visit

After our marvelous vacation we had another wonderful mini vacation right in our own home. My aunt Amy and her husband Eric came in with their two beautiful daughters for a couple days. We absolutely loved having them here and hope like crazy that they will come back again real soon. We haven't seen them in over a year. I can not imagine any better house guests than the Mabley family. It was so comfortable with them around. You know the kinds of guests that blend perfectly with your own household. My girls adored their girls. I think having a not yet one year old in the house gave my angels the idea that a baby might be fun to have around. Even though Vanessa was a perfect angel I don't have that baby fever. The Kirvens will have to settle for visiting friends. Rabbie and Claudia, their six year old, were getting along like the best of friends after only a short while.

Josh did have a bit of difficulty giving up his bed but he got over it. He told me, in true Josh fashion, that I would have to wash his sheets because that man and lady slept on them. Little creep!

Beach Week 2008

My 2 favorite guys

The Kirven Three

Waiting for the ice cream truck.

People say they look alike.



Our Olympians



Run Joshie Run

A Superman tattoo just like James Davis

cool dudes

pretty girls

Mommy and Rab riding on a boat



too cute

best buddies

cannonball

Coppertone boy

Lacie running fast



hamming it up

the Martha Washington

my girls

peas and carrots

riding the raft

Cameron watching Miss Heather cut hair.

I love this one!!


We're home!!! Vacation was wonderful this year. I, being the one who can get kind of cranky, had a long talk with myself and God on the way down about remembering how excited the children are about being at the beach and trying to keep my cool when things are not exactly as I want them to be. Pat me on the back, I stayed pretty calm most of the week. I only lost my temper once or twice with my oldest because her attitude at times makes me insane. She is a mini me.

As the children get older it gets easier for the grown ups. We are completely out of diapers now and the two youngest have learned to swim without life jackets. Huge steps in saving our sanity. We swam in the ocean and the pool, tried our hand at fishing, went crabbing one night and just hung out together. The highlight of the week though was Mary Ellen's Birthday Olympics. Since her big day was the same as the opening of the Summer Olympics, Mere planned some great games and races for the kids to play on the beach. Mom and her sister were in charge of the opening and closing ceremonies. I wish I had the video of their singing . People all around us just smiled as they walked by surely thinking we were all nuts. Life is good.