another year begins

austin starting 10th grade. i don't know what is up with this child. i cannot seem to get him to take a normal picture. he only did this when i threatened him with death. fetching isn't it.

baby girl is starting 3rd grade this year. how the time flies. she picked out this shirt and has been dying to wear it.

and this guy is starting 6th grade. middle school. he was so nervous even though he is staying at the same school he's gone to since kindergarten. he's a funny kid.



and just like that they are gone.

ha! just kidding. i had to race to the school to catch them before they went in. it's tradition :O)

taylor, emily and hailey

taylor and matt

 and we can't forget joel.

emily's special day 8-21-11

emily decided she wanted to be baptized too. there was one more river baptism this year and that was where she wanted to do it. it was so great to have friends and family share such a momentous occasion with us!

emily and hailey

i was happy that austin came to watch her. even if it was from across the river.

the water was a little cold.



we were happy to have keith baptize her.

kiki got baptized today too!

art

for the sake of my sanity we had to do an art project today to keep the kids busy. i saw a fun idea on whatever and i figured it looked easy enough for us to give it a try. all you need is a canvas, crayons, a glue gun and a blow dryer. glue the crayons to the canvas, turn the blow dryer on high and watch then crayons melt. you can do as little or as much as you want. this is how tay and em's turned out.

emily wanted hers in a rainbow. we bought two boxes of 64 so she would have enough colors. i glued and she placed her crayons.

taylor went with the random approach.

corn pickin'

lizzie said she had a lot of sweet corn that was going to go bad if it didn't get picked soon. you don't have to ask me twice. skye and i headed to melba and picked more than our share.

there isn't a whole lot of room to move between rows. and it's a little spooky.

let's talk about the clothes for a minute. we both went out there in shorts. lizzie said that was a bad idea because of the weeds etc. so she offered some pants for us. my wind pants had no lining so those things were sticking to my sweaty legs. skye's preggo belly wouldn't fit in anything of lizzie's so she had to wear dusty's jeans. we looked awesome.

corn, glorious corn. we will be shucking until the middle of next month but it will be so worth it.

my day yesterday

1. woke up at 7. not by choice.
2. woke emily up at 7:02 for cheer camp. yes, she started cheer leading for taylor's football team this year. no, i'm not thrilled about it. but all the other sisters were doing it so i gave in. peer pressure at its finest.
3. tried to pick out rain boots for steph to order before the deal was up at 8. her computer wasn't working so we missed the deal. next time.

4. read the newspaper with a cup of hot coffee. outside. on the back porch. alone.

5. mowed the lawn. one of my favorite summer activities. provides me instant gratification twice a week.

6. cleaned up the remainder of the dishes from our night of ribs, corn on the cob, sweet potato fries, watermelon, apple pie and peach crisp. taylor's happy birthday dinner.

7. chores done so i can finally have some fun. went to see The Help with alyssa. fabulous book. fabulous movie.

8. movie went longer than i thought which made me late picking up emily. i apologize profusely and friend's mom finally tells me to quit apologizing, it's fine. still feel terrible.

9. go home and rob and i sneak in an episode of 24. yes it's unrealistic. yes it's predictable. yes we make fun of how many times they say 'protocol' and 'do it now!' in every episode but we love it and are hooked and plan on seeing it through to the end.

10. head to the meridian speedway for the eve of destruction with megan, ben, rodger, cole, rich and rykon. and when they say destruction they mean destruction. things were blown up, crushed, burned, pulled, pushed and set on fire. it was awesome. except for the noxious fumes. and the drunk people.

11. home for one more episode of 24. i just can't help myself. and finally sleep. glorious sleep.

my heart is happy!

my baby. my last born went to kids camp this year.

how can this be?!

she's only 8!

not old enough to be on her own, away from family for such a long time.

but, indeed, she was.

she made the decision to go to camp and nothing was stopping her.

we got to the church and she found kiki.

born only three months apart they now depart on this new adventure together.

checking off their names.

climbing aboard.

she looks heartbroken to be leaving doesn't she?

and then she was off.

with one final wave my girl was gone.

 

i waited so patiently for friday afternoon to come.

when alyssa saw me she came up and told me that emily wanted to ask jesus in her heart so much but she wanted to wait until she got home.

to do it with me!

my heart melted.

she got off the bus and after many hugs she informed me that she wanted to stop on the way home and get a bible.

she picked out an adorable purple one with a cover to go with it.

we got home and her and i came upstairs.

i talked with her about what it means to be saved to make sure she understood and then we said a prayer together.

and the angels rejoiced!

so proud of my little girl for making the decision to follow christ.