Z is for Zoo

Josh's class had a field trip to the zoo today for Z day. The morning didn't start out looking too good. Besides the rain, Josh was in a foul mood because I would not let him wear a nasty pair of gym shorts and an ugly t-shirt to school. After a lengthy argument we finally came to a compromise, he wore camouflage shorts and a t-shirt. Will, Jill and I rode to Columbia together while the boys rode on the bus with their class. We are obviously directionally challenged because we got lost and ended up at the wrong entrance. Another parent called me to see where I was because Josh was already in the zoo with his teacher. When we finally arrived and met up with our children we had a fabulous time. "Miss" Bebe had the children choose an animal to do a report on when they get back to school tomorrow. Josh chose the monkeys "you know my brothers mama". Isn't he cute.

Josh

his "brother"

feeding the giraffes (my favorite)

petting the cow

Monkey Boy climbed on EVERYTHING

Let's Eat Out

How awesome is this. Spread the word. I stole this from the St. Jude's webpage:

Chili's to donate all profits from September 29 to St. Jude
On September 29, Chili’s Grill & Bar offers an easy way for you to join the fight against childhood cancer: dining out.
Participating Chili’s restaurants nationwide will donate 100 percent of its profits from this Monday to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. So enjoy those famous Baby Back Ribs or one of Chili’s other signature entrées for lunch or dinner, and you will be supporting the lifesaving work of St. Jude.
The special day is part of Chili’s “Create-A-Pepper to Fight Childhood Cancer” campaign. During September—which is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month—guests can make a donation to St. Jude and receive a coloring sheet they can decorate and have displayed in the restaurant.
Guests can also purchase Create-A-Pepper T-shirts ($12) or you can purchase 2008 limited edition Chili’s – St. Jude keys ($5) that you can be cut for use at home. Sixty percent of the purchase price of the T-shirt and keys will go to St. Jude.
“Chili’s guests have enthusiastically embraced the mission of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital over the years, and I’m confident that September’s Create-A-Pepper campaign will once again inspire guests to support our lifesaving work,” said David L. McKee, interim CEO and chief operating officer of ALSAC, the fundraising organization for St. Jude. “We are so grateful for Chili’s partnership with St. Jude and for the company’s commitment to our patients and their families.”
To date, Chili’s has raised $18.7 million as part of a $50 million commitment to St. Jude over a 10-year period. Once completed, the donation will be the largest donation from a single partner campaign in St. Jude’s history.
For more information, to purchase Create-A-Pepper T-shirts and keys, to make an online donation or to create a pepper online, visit http://www.createapepper.com/.

Counting My Blessings

I have not been able to get precious Bayler out of my mind. Every once in a while I feel like the breath is being knocked out of me thinking about what that angel is going through. I can not understand why a child so young is being faced with this. Though it is not for me to understand I wish I could get a grasp on why him. Why a baby? My bad days sure seem minor in comparison. I spent a good long time just snuggling with my beautiful 5 year old boy yesterday thanking God for his little bad self and that he is healthy and strong. I find myself hugging a little harder and tolerating some of the petty things that used to push me to the brink of insanity on a daily basis. As a mom I can't even begin to imagine how Risha must be feeling seeing her baby in such pain and being poked, and prodded at every turn, having test after test run to see where that horrible disease is in his little body. My heart aches for her nearly as much as for her Bayler. I want to help, I want to do something, but am completely at a loss. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I want Bayler to be all better and come home and live happily ever after and that is what I am praying for. Please continue your prayers as it is going to be a very long process until that beautiful boy will be home and all well.

Please Pray

I just found out this morning that a precious little boy, Bayler Teal, has been diagnosed with cancer. He is the beautiful blonde haired, blue eyed five year old son of Rob and Risha. Their family is obviously in terrible shock right now and they need our prayers. Please pray for them now and continue to pray for God's healing hand.

How is this for odd? I found this on another blog that I follow.
September is childhood cancer awareness month.

An Eventful Afternoon

When Sara Abbett thought it was a good idea to pretend to be nauseous so she could have a day at home I decided that I don't spend enough time with my babies. Anna Grace stayed home on Friday and Josh on Monday because they had fever and sore throats so Rab had to have a pretend illness to get some at home with mom time. I took her to school late today with a promise to pick her up after Girl Scouts. We went to the awesome new playground at church.

While we were there Miss Jane stopped her painting to visit and gave the children a behind the scenes tour of the church. They saw where the choir sits and how to turn on the organ (which I hope they don't try) they explored the storage closets and discovered all kinds of secret doors. I spent a few minutes taking pictures of the beautiful windows and some of the other unique things around the building. I think we all got a greater appreciation for God's house.

After all that fun we headed home to do some homework and supper. I was busily doing my thing when someone drove up the driveway to tell me we don't have a mailbox any more. I looked down to the road and saw a fire truck, an ambulance, a police car and several other cars. Oh my, what in the world happened and why am I so oblivious that someone had to come tell me? It seems someone lost control of their car and took our mailbox with it. The children and I went down to investigate (after the ambulance left) and were assured that the man was ok. He cut his head but nothing serious. Thank God for that. The kids had fun picking out a souvenir of the event.

Notice J and AG have tiny numbers from the post and SA has the entire mailbox and part of the post. All of which she wanted to take to school.

My Little Artists

My children love to draw. They are forever pulling out pencils, crayons or even the water colors and making beautiful works of art for me. My office at work has a dozen or more of their creations taped to the walls and even more in a special folder in my desk. Sara Abbett draws people beautifully with jewelry and the works. Josh has learned to add details like arms, legs and faces. Anna Grace is more of a writer but when she does draw I am blown away by her skills and attention to detail. I am always amazed by the creativity of my babies. Look what amazing artists they are. I am so proud of them.



Josh's Dogs - Don't they look happy?




A precious picture from my Rabbie. It was actually a card but I only scanned one side.



Anna Grace's contribution.

Josh Behaves

I talked to "Miss" Bebe this morning and she tells me that Josh is being really good at school. I had told her to be prepared for the worst and she tells me she was expecting trouble from him but he is being good. With the exception of the biting in the bathroom incident he has been staying out of trouble. YAY!!! He hasn't lost any more smiley faces since that day. If he keeps it up for the whole year he will get a surprise at the end. I sure hope he can make it.

Go Cavaliers

REL had their first varsity home game Thursday night. There was concern about the weather for Friday so they bumped it up a night. At half time the little girls who attended cheerleading camp performed the dances they had learned. I was so proud of all of those girls for getting up in front of a crowd and doing their thing. They were fabulous!

Rab loves Mimi

show us those moves girls

Gracie does a toe touch

I didn't get a good picture of Lacie but she too was awesome.

We stayed through the whole game which lasted longer than a college game. Not a smart move on my part. Late nights are not conducive to a well behaved Josh or happy children the next day. Josh was a lunatic by the time we got home. I caught him running across the football field and climbing over the chain link fence. Made him sit with me for the last 8 minutes of the game which in real time was 25 minutes or so. He acted like a maniac fussing and crying about the injustice of having to be with his mother and not playing with his friends. What fun! I didn't think we would ever get up and going on Friday. We made it on time but barely and without many smiles. We are going to have to sleep all weekend to make up for the loss of sleep Thursday night. In the end it was worth it though. The children had a blast and we won the game.

It's all good.

Dove Hunter

After a whirlwind weekend of partying Monday was peaceful. Deer and dove hunting seasons both opened on Labor Day which kept my wonderful husband occupied. He took Josh with him to Lynchburg for a dove shoot and didn't get home until after we girls had finished supper. They came home with about ten birds. Josh LOVED it all. He played with those dead birds forever before I forced him into a hot bath and a thorough scrubbing by me. I considered clorox and a brillo pad after watching him but had to settle for plain soap and water.

Long Birthday Weekend

Mommy made the cake with just a little help from the children.

Somehow we always seem to make a birthday last for several days. Sara Abbett's actual birthday was Saturday but she started the celebration on Thursday. My mama didn't think she was going to be in town for the party on Sunday so she had a mini party with Mere's children and mine at her house. They had a little cake and Mama gave Rab their gift, a Barbie bedroom. Fun and simple!!!

Tim's mom came over before we left for a couple parties to bring Sara Abbett her gift. A keyboard! Pretty soon we will have a whole band. Two of Rab's friends had parties on Saturday so we just waited an extra day to do hers. Lauren E. had a really neat cooking party at the children's cooking school in Florence. They made their own pizzas and decorated cupcakes. How much fun is that? We left there and headed home to the Country Club for Kate's cool swimming party. Kate's mom was so sweet and had them sing to Sara Abbett after Kate since it was Rab's real birthday. I forgot my camera so I have no pictures of those precious girls and their good times.On Saturday night we had a couple friends spend the night. Madison and Morgan came over to keep my girls occupied while we watched the game. Tigers did not perform too well but the girls had a blast together.

When you are seven you can make your own pancakes.

Finally on Sunday evening we got around to a real birthday party for my baby girl. Several of her friends came to play, eat and of course open presents. That took 7.6 seconds and they were off again to play. I have no idea who gave what but she was thrilled with everything. We had a porch party but since it was kind of hot mostly the kids ran around in the house and played in the girls bedroom while we adults tolerated the heat on the porches, men on the front and ladies out back. AG begged to have Madison spend the night again but I told them no way because we were gonna have to spend Labor Day cleaning their rooms. About an hour later they came to find me, and asked me to please come upstairs. Lo and behold those girls cleaned their room and the playroom. We had a spur of the moment slumber party. I have been opposed to slumber parties since I don't like to have my sleep interfered with but these girls were great.

Sara Abbett stood at the window as soon as the clock struck 5 waiting for her friends to arrive. Morgan saw an opportunity to pose.

Papa and the kids

Madison, Morgan, Zeke and Rab

the slumberers