Happy Father's Day!

Nothing quite says happy father's day like a pinata, right?

Well, Leah thought so. With a little help, she created a pinata for Paul. It had spaceships flying around it, and one said, "You're out of this world Dad!" She did a great job, but I think all her hints took away from the element of surprise that she originally intended for it.

Pool and Patio

While mom and dad were visiting in April, we were in the middle of a project in our backyard. We have worked many hours as a family since then moving sand, patio stones, and brick. Here is what we have so far. Paul wants to add a brick walk from the house to the patio, but I am in no hurry. In fact, I would rather never move another stone or brick :)

 

My mother-in-law kindly dug up some of her monkey grass for us. 

It should fill out nicely in the coming year.  

 Nice landscaping or not, the kids are enjoying the pool!

Garden and veggies

We've been working hard in our garden this year. We have had some success. Here is what we have so far.

 In the photo above  are mustard greens (yummy!), cucumber, zucchini, and a volunteer plant that we think will be a melon plant of some kind.

School Awards

In May the kids had their school award ceremonies. Here are some pictures from the events.

Luke received a trophy for maintaining A's & B's all year as well, but I can't find his pictures. Oops!

CERTIFIED

I AM A CERTIFIED TEACHER IN THE STATE OF ALABAMA!

Happy Day!

All Stars

After a GREAT regular season of basketball, Sarah was invited to play on the county all star team. After a couple weeks of practice, they lost their first game in the state tournament. As they prepared for an extra invitational tournament, they were invited back to the state playoffs. It was our county's turn to host the state playoffs, and a lot of the teams from south Alabama didn't want to travel this far. As a result, her team was needed. Friday night she and her teammates WON against a very tall Hoover, Alabama team. It was a great game, and Sarah scored 4 points for her team. She is an outstanding basketball player and a great sportsman.

Today they played again, but this time they played a tall, very athletic all black team from Hobson City, Alabama (near Oxford). Our girls held their own during the first quarter, but once the other team got settled, they scored like mad. Those girls were fast! They beat us by over 20 points. I would love to watch them play again.

Anyway . . . Congratulations Sarah on a great season. You are AWESOME! (I hope pictures will be forth coming).

Biking

The last couple of days Paul has been trying to teach Luke and Leah how to ride their bikes. We have attempted multiple times in the past, but I think we have had real success this weekend. Luke and Leah rode many times around the track. They are begging to ride. On the way home, Leah even asked if she could ride some more when she got home. SUCCESS!!

NEED TO POST

I just felt the need to post something. Unfortunately, I didn't take a single picture while Laura and Bryant visited, so here is another photo from the month. One is proof that Luke played basketball this year. I think the ones of Sarah are on the other camera. So check back.


These next photos are from last fall, but they are so cute I wanted to share. Throughout the football season they have a variety of themes for pep rallies. This particular theme was "Punk."

Liam and Eli
pretty sunset!!!!!!!!!
Cute Gemma!!
Sutton relaxing
Gemma bean happy
Gemma looks so pretty and Happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gemma danceing!!!!!!!
Ezra cute Smile!!!!!!!!!!!!
Eliza and cute Gemma!
Ezz being Silly!
UncleAndy Awesome flip!!!!
Strong Man!!!!!!!!
Too Cute!!
Smiley!
Garrett getting a tan JK!!!!!!

Remodeling

So Thursday Paul said, "Do you want to try pulling the carpet out of the front room?" I agreed and now our home is a disaster zone. The project evolved as the hours passed, and since Thursday we have moved the furniture and "stuff" from the all the kids rooms (except their beds) into our "big room", removed all the carpet from the original portion of our home, removed some base boards, scraped carpet glue and filled the hundreds of pushpin holes in our walls.

Next to come will be painting all the walls in the old portion (about 800 sq ft of house), cleaning and staining the concrete floors, and painting all the trim. We are hoping to get the prep work done tomorrow, painting walls done Tuesday, and then the stain on the floors Wednesday right before we head up to NC for my sister's wedding. I am hoping all will go according to plan so that we don't have to come home to a lot of work. Not only that, but we aren't sure how strong the smell of the concrete stain and seal will be. I'd rather be gone while that stinks up the house.

I will post the finished pictures when we are done with it, but don't hold your breath:)

Happy Anniversary

Today is our 15th wedding anniversary. We had a wonderfully normal day of work and children. I made a beef Stroganoff recipe that has been in my possession for the last 15 years, but I never bothered to make before. It was DELICIOUS! Eliza made a slide show presentation for Paul and I as a gift, and Leah and Sarah made brownies for us. I love that our children are so capable now. We also had someone come and give us an estimate on replacing the windows in the old part of our home. Those will be a very expensive anniversary gift for Paul and I:)


The last 15 years have been every bit as wonderful as they have been challenging.

I love you Paul. I choose you.

I`m awesome!!!!!!!!!!
My cool Team
Me batt`in

Sarah play`s catcher,pitcher,and first base !!!!!!!!!!!!!!