Labor Day

I took the children to the Train Depot in downtown Hattiesburg on Labor Day to snap some photos. It's a beautiful location and unless I find a better spot I'll be bringing them back to take Christmas photos.

The ole bunny ears trick. Boy am I glad I never did that when I was a kid!

There were other photos I would have liked to have added but it has recently come to my attention that my children count the number of photos of themselves on this blog....they keep a record of the total....and they let me know, very quickly I might add, if one of them has been slighted in the teeny tiniest bit. Therefore, for the sake of my sanity, I'll only add as many photos as I can count without pulling my shoes off....lol =o)

Unsure

One day last week I was browsing through Books-A-Million and came across this Bible cover. I just knew some of you would want to run and buy one before they all sold out. I am completely unsure what exactly to make of this; although, I am completely sure that I won't be buying one for myself. =o)

Amazing Grace

While tucking Lane into bed last night I could tell he had a heavy burden. He finally told me he had been wondering what he had to do to be saved. I brought him to my bedroom and while we sat on the bed I pulled my bible out and turned to the scripture. I had him read several verses out loud that told of the plan of salvation and then we discussed what they meant. When we were finished I asked him if there was anything else and he told me yes, that he wanted to ask Jesus into his heart. As tears rolled down his face he prayed the most beautiful prayer. When he was done I gave him a great big hug and asked him if he died where was he going. His face lit up in a huge smile and he said "Heaven!". He was so excited and kept repeating over and over that this was the happiest day of his life. I told him that it was one of the happiest days of my life too. Not only do I have the assurance that we will one day be in heaven together, but God gave me the greatest gift by allowing me to be there and hear him and watch him as he made the most important decision of all. The joy radiating from his face was indescribable.....AMAZING GRACE =o)

Football Season Has Arrived

Last night Lane began football practice and Lori Anne began cheerleading. It looks like I'm gonna have a Quarter Back on my hands for a while. Since this is his first year to play he's very excited yet nervous too. This is Lori Anne's first year to cheer as well, I think she is most interested in the pompoms and she has somehow come to believe that she will magically be able to perform these awesome back flips. I, on the other hand, discovered that until football season is over we will be spending every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday either practicing or playing....... joy, joy =o)

Photography by Lori Anne

Lori Anne got a hold of the camera while on vacation. I'll let the following images speak for themselves.......

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school. As usual I had to take about a 100 pictures to document the day (actually it was only 41).
Lane started 4th grade this year... 4th GRADE!!! Where has the time gone?!? I thought that maybe since he was older he wouldn't want me to walk him to class anymore, that he would just ask if I could drop him off at the curb.

Well guess what....he asked me if I would walk him, like I always do. When we arrived at his class he was extremely discouraged to learn that there are 14 girls in his class and only 9 boys. He wanted me to have his class changed right then and there. It was not fair that there were more girls than boys. I say give him about 4 or 5 more years and he'll be overjoyed if that happens again.

Lori Anne started the 2nd grade.

Today was a great start to the new year. They got right up and dressed and were excited to go. I'll bet that attitude is not going to hold on much longer....I'll give it a week, tops =o)

Beach Trip

We started our vacation off by taking a ride across Mobile Bay on the ferry.While on the ferry Lane had to go to the bathroom. I told him he would have to hold it until we reached the condo. By the time we drove off the ferry he was squirming around having to go really bad. I asked him if he wanted me to pull over so that he can run behind a tree. Normally he would say no but as I mentioned earlier, he had to go really bad. When he got back into the car I started to drive off but my car would not move....I was stuck!

A nice lady stopped by to help. She wanted us to try and push the car out. I knew there was NO way that would happen....lol. Then a man and his son stopped. They were very nice as well and tried everything they could think of to help, including using some of the kids sand toys to dig sand out from under the wheels. A few others stopped by and then some left to get straps for us to pull it out with. Finally we (actually they) succeeded in pulling me out. Thank God for Good Samaritans. The worst part is that our condo wasn't a 1/2 mile further down the road. If he could have only held it a little longer........lol.

Upon arriving at the condo Lori Anne quickly declared that this was her room and that she was sleeping there the whole time......

Lane, in typical male fashion, headed for the couch and remote and said that he was sleeping here the whole time....... Could this possibly mean that I would have a room all to myself? That I wouldn't have to share with anybody? I was overjoyed! But all good things are not meant to be. By the end of the evening Lori Anne had decided that she would be "really freaked out" if she had to sleep in that room all by herself and Lane quickly chimed in with "it's my turn to sleep by Mama". So we ended up rotating one child sleeping by me and the other sleeping beside the bed on the floor. Everyone was happy with the arrangements.....ahem, everyone except me, that is.

After we were all settled in we headed back out where they enjoyed catching crabs..... Catching waves......

Relaxing in the hot tub....

Swimming in the pool.....
Burying themselves in sand.....

Playing tennis......
Playing golf.......
Fishing......And general goofing off.....

Then we loaded back onto the ferry and headed back home. I thought it was amusing to see these seagulls....they also rode the ferry the whole way from Ft. Morgan to Dauphin Island. Lazy birds! And they didn't have to pay a fare =o)

Curls

Lori Anne has been wanting curly hair. In fact she says she wants it to be curly forever. Last night we tried rolling it. Of course it took longer than 5 minutes to roll which in her opinion is an eternity. She looks like an ole granny with all these rollers in her hair.
This morning when we took the rollers out, I don't think it was quite how she expected it to be. She said it was nice and she'd wear it but she wants her hair to be straight again. Hmmm........sounds like something I would say =o)

Yesterday afternoon Lane wanted to draw on the sidewalk with chalk. This is something Lori Anne does on a regular basis but not Lane so I was kinda surprised. He drew the sweetest picture of our family.
He asked me to draw with him. As you can tell, his drawing abilities are much better than mine =o)

My Stick Family from WiddlyTinks.com


I found this website today and decided to create our family. Ok,ok I know I was at work but there was nothing to do. Is that still considered goofing off?

"not MY child" Monday

McMama's blog is hosting a "Not My Child" Monday. I've never played along before but thought I'd give it a shot.

**** Lori Anne did not call me at work one day last week and tell me that she had just finished brushing the dog and cats teeth but not to worry because she didn't use my toothbrush. She did not then hang up before I could ask her whose toothbrush she did use.

**** Lane did not call me crying because his aunt wanted to take him to McDonald's for lunch and then to the park to play afterwards. What child would actually want to get a happy meal and play at the park? He was not whining saying that he just wanted to lay around and watch tv and that Lori Anne always got to do what ever she wanted to do and he never gets to do what he wants to do, that it was too hot outside, etc,etc,etc.....

**** Lori Anne did not loudly proclaim in the middle of refreshments at vbs that that boy was being "Mucho Naughty". She does not think that she can speak spanish fluently and I have not had to tell her repeatedly that we can only speak spanish at home and not in public

That's it for this weeks edition, I'm sure we'll have more to report next week (if I actually keep up with it) =o)

VBS

We had VBS at church this past week. Our theme was spiritual battle. During crafts the kids made their own armour. The helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth,
The shield of faith, the sword of the spirit, and shoes of the gospel.
They learned how to spiritually arm themselves. I hope these lessons stick with them for a long time to come.

4th of July...part II

Melissa snapped these photos last Saturday. I just saw them today and had to share. I think they're hilarious!
Especially this one of Lane.... what exactly is he doing? =o)

World's Best Son

Last night before we went to bed Lane asked if I'd wake him up early. I told him of course I would but didn't he want to sleep late. No mam he said, I want to get up early so I can fix your breakfast. Of course I told him that he didn't have to do that but he insisted.

This morning I went to wake him up and asked if he wanted to keep on sleeping or get up. He told me that he still wanted to get up early. Awww, is this not the sweetest kid in the world! He wanted to fix scrambled egg sandwiches. Since I usually have plain ole raisin bran in the mornings, this was a treat. He scrambled the eggs.

Got the bread slathered with mayo.

We sat down together, just the two of us, and had breakfast. (That's his lemonade that he chose to drink, I had milk). We always have supper together but very rarely breakfast because I'm rushing about trying to get everyone ready, so this was a very special treat. See, I told you he was the World's Best Son =o)

4th of July

We had lots of fun on Saturday. We started it off by watching the new Ice Age movie (highly recommend it), then it was on to the Leaf River for a quick swim (thanks to Lori Anne who refused to follow proper water safety guidelines) and a visit with family, and then we travelled back to Hattiesburg where they took another swim at the pool and where we got to catch up with some more friends and family.