Puppy Love

Yes, we have a new addition to our family.

Fellow bloggers meet Rascal.

Rascal is six weeks old and weighs around 1-2 pounds (if that).

His mother is part Pomeranian and part Maltese,

while his dad is a Yorkie.

As you can see there is a BIG size difference in Penelope and Rascal.
However, so far Penelope loves her new play mate.
Enjoying the afternoon breeze on my lap.


Special thanks to Ava for letting us have such a
special little dog.

One Proud Momma

Jonah was awarded Male Bible Student of the year,

last week at Bible Camp.

I am so very proud of this accomplishment.

Way to go, Jonah!!!

Also, Emily Johnson, was awarded Female Bible Student of the year.

Way to go, Emily!!!!

Ready for a Nap (and it's not even lunch)

What a week it has been! With Jonah at Bible Camp this week and Phillip in Florida, Courtney and I have had the best time together, just one on one, Mother Daughter time (for the most part). Along with Courtney making two pairs of flip flops (I'll have to post the purple and tie die flops later)on Monday, Scrapbooking for 13 hours on Tuesday, Celebrating the Fourth on Wednesday, Courtney spending the day Thursday playing with a friend while I scrapbooked and organized some old photos. Then every night Courtney and I crashing in my bed late after staying up watching HGTV. Which is our favorite TV channel. It has been a great week.

On Friday, Jonah came home and OH, how we missed Jonah. Courtney and I picked Jonah up from camp around 3:30. He nearly talked our ears off on the way home and if I did not know any better, I would say he had a great time. However, I did dissappoint him this morning when I asked how bleach got all over his camp shirt and he told me that someone squirted him with bleach. He then looked at me and said "you can get it out, right". Unfortunately, that is a laundry trick that I have not learned yet.

Last night the kids and I went with some friends to the drive in, something that is normally a "daddy thing" to do with the kids and we even stayed for the second movie, which I have never done. Last time I went to the drive in, I crawled in the back seat and went to sleep. Anyway after leaving the drive in at midnight, I realized how crazy I was because the kids had to be at our neighborhood's "Alex's Lemonade stand" at 8:00 this morning. What was I thinking?

Since the Lemonade stand is just opposite of our house. I did let the kids sleep till 7:45 and sent them out the door with breakfast in hand. This is the kids second year helping with Alex's Lemonade stand and it will be something that we will either start or continue once we move to Florida. All proceeds goes towards the fight for childhood cancer. What a GREAT cause!!!


"I think Jonah is awake"


"Fighting Childhood Cancer one cup at a time"

While the kids were selling lemonade, I decided to mow the grass. It is funny how a little much needed rain can suddenly make dead grass or should I say weeds grow. However the grass would look better if I knew how to weedeat. I guess I'll be making some phone calls before my nap. Any takers? Well I have rambled on long enough. It is getting closer to lunch and then I think we all may take a nap or maybe I'll take the kids to the pool and I'll nap in a chair by the pool.

Fourth Of July

Courtney and I had a wonderful Fourth of July!!


On Monday, Courtney made these adorable flip flops with a matching ponytail holder. Does she look patriotic or what?


Since Jonah is at Bible camp and Phillip is in Florida, Courtney and I were invited to spend the Fourth with our adopted family (The Word's). Jason and Jonathan grilled hamburgers while the girls cooled off in the pool.


Firecracker Popsicles, YUM, YUM!!!!

After lunch and a short nap. We all gather up at Western for music by the B.G. Orchestra and a spectacular firework show. Several of our friends joined us for the music and fireworks. We had a wonderful time!!!
Lizzie, Courtney, & Rachel

Sweet Music to my Ears

Phillip and I feel so blessed to have two wonderful children who have a love for music. At the end of last year, Courtney decided that she wanted to learn how to play the piano. Well as most of us know, a piano is not a musical instrument that you can rent month by month, like you can a guitar or violin. Phillip and I were clueless as what to do, we could not just go out and buy one with the hopes of Courtney loving it and wanting to play forever. We let sometime go by and still Courtney would bring up the thought of learning how to play the piano. Little did we know that with the wait would come a piano given to us for Courtney from a wonderful couple at church and it is this piano that brings "sweet music" into our house along with Jonah's guitar. However, he is at camp this week so you only get pictures of our sweetpea. Today as Courtney was practicing, she was getting frustrated by the mistakes she was making, but in my ears all that I could hear was the sweet music that her little fingers were making.


Courtney has been a very quick learner and has a wonderful teacher whom we will miss dearly when we move. A few months ago for her daddy's birthday, Courtney asked her teacher to write out the notes to "Happy Birthday" so that she could play it for Phillip. What a sweet and wonderful daughter she is.

Oh Where, Oh Where, Has Our Little Dog Gone,......

.......Oh Where, Oh Where, Could He Be!!!! We are so sad! It seems that sometime over the weekend, either our dog Sam ran away or someone took him. When I went to feed the dogs this morning I could not find Sam and he is usually the one laying around waiting on his food. I know this sounds horrible but I do not remember exactly when I saw him last. On Sunday, I was in bed all day with a migraine, so Courtney put the food out for the dogs that morning and since I did not get out of the house, I did not miss Sam. I remember seeing Penelope Saturday night when some friends left after scrapbooking but I do not remember seeing Sam. The last time that I can clearly remember seeing Sam is when they showed the house on Friday. I always put the dogs in their kennel when the house is being shown. And for the record, Yes, I have checked the laundry room. However, we are all so sad. He hardly ever strays away from the house and if he does, he only goes to our neighbors house and back. We miss him and hope to find him soon. By the way, I just took these pictures of Courtney and Sam only a week ago. She loves this dog and do all of us.

Father's Day with a SPLASH

Due to the craziness (I think that would be an appropriate word) of our life, we celebrated Father's Day, a day early since Phillip is leaving for Ocala tomorrow after lunch. (He will be gone for 12 days, so please remember all of us in your prayers.)

Phillip and Keith thought that we should spend a relaxing afternoon at the pool and order pizza for supper. Which was easy for J.P. and myself since pizza did not involve anything except for ordering and paying and also I think the guys did not feel like grilling out. With Phillip be out of town a lot during the week, the kids and I are usually at the pool without him, so today was his time to swim with the kids and watch Courtney do her "new thing".

We are so proud of Courtney's recent accomplishment. Since spending the afternoon with her friend Reagan on Tuesday, Courtney has overcome her fear and thinks nothing about going off of the high dive now. Thank you Reagan! In fact since Tuesday, Courtney has went off the high dive about 30 times.

WAY TO GO, COURTNEY!!!

She takes a bounce on the diving board.......

And she is off the diving board.......

in mid-air, nothing under her feet except for the water below..........

SPLASH!!!! In the water she goes, holding her nose, with her cheeks puffed with air.

Jonah, again our no fear kid, loves to do front flips off the diving board. We do feed him, I promise (look at his ribs).

A true workout.
Poor Keith did not get to rest with Jonah and Tyler around. Both of them talked Keith into throwing them up in the air numerous of times.

Well I hope that all fathers,
rather this is your first or like my dad this is his

44Th Father's Day, I wish all of you,

the best Father's day ever!!!!!

A Day at the Zoo

Well, just like several of my friends, we have recently made a trip to the zoo also. A few weeks ago we had to be in Nashville to pick Phillip up from the airport at 8 in the evening. So the kids and I decided to make a day of the trip to Nashville. Our first stop was shopping (of course this was for mom and not the kids), then we picked up lunch before heading to the skate park in Nashville. Jonah had been bugging me to take him for some time now, his goal is to skate at the park in Nashville and Louisville before we move (one down and one to go). The park was very nice and not nearly as crowed as the one here in B.G. There were nice benches and plenty of shade.

After the skate park we headed to the zoo. The last time that we were at the Nashville Zoo, it was lacking a lot. However, the zoo has made some improvements and it is becoming a nice zoo. All the animals were out and about which is nice, who wants to pay $$ to see animals sleep. While feeding the Lorikeets, one thought that my curly hair would make a good nest (how fun that was). Jonah and Courtney enjoyed watching the Meerkats and of course every kids favorite attraction at the Zoo is the huge jungle gym. I wonder sometimes if we go to the zoo for the animals or to act like an animal.

Can you call Lorikeets, Lovebirds?

I paid a lot of money (ha! ha!)
to get this giraffe to stand behind the kids!!


The elephants cost even more money to pose with Jonah
and Courtney since there were three of them.

I guess our next big adventure before we move will be the skate park and the zoo in Louisville.

Beach Bums

It has taken me a while to journal this trip and I have had several friends ask me when was I going to post some pictures. Well, let me just say again I took a few too many pictures but this year there was no film like last year so I should be able to be a little more selective when I go to print (isn't digital great) and scrapbook this trip. Speaking of scrapbooking, Alicia and I found a great scrapbooking store at the beach. It was awesome!!! Thanks Jason and Phillip for letting us have "our time".


We had another beautiful week at Gulf Shores with the Sowders. The kids enjoyed the pool as well as the beach. We again dug the infamous hole, which was a popular hit with our kids as well as any of the kids and adults walking by. This year we decided to take bigger shovels so it was easier and faster to dig the "infamous hole".

We spent several nights crab hunting which is a favorite with the kids. Courtney and Jonah enjoyed playing in the waves with their boogie boards and Jonah enjoyed riding some waves on his skim board. We buried the kids in the sand and the girls were tickled when Jonah would take in a deep breath and the sand on top of his chest would move. Jonah met a boy at the pool who lived in our subdivision (what a small world), they had a good time playing together. Again, we ate lunch at LuLu's (Jimmy Buffet's sister Lucy's restaurant), played putt putt, ate ice cream not frozen yogurt and took the challenge of getting that perfect picture on the beach. Speaking of which I am very pleased with our pictures this year even though the wind was horrible the night that we decided to take them.

Yes, we decided to go with tan and navy this year and I was very pleased.

Our family

Memorial Day - Proper Respect to Old Glory

Memorial Day -
A day to honor and pay respect to those who have served our country and to those who are still serving.

Jonah, along with his boy scout troop, was given the honor to participate in a flag retirement ceremony this morning. Over thirty flags were retired this morning by way of inspection and then burning. These were flags that once blew in the wind in front of public buildings or personal residences. Flags that stand for our freedom in this country. There were large flags as well as the small flag that attaches to a car window. Some of the flags were soiled, while others were torn and faded.

Along with the National Anthem, a 21 gun salute, an explanation of the 13 thirteen folds of a flag (which was very interesting), each boy scout unfolded the flags that were brought, carefully walked with the flag to the fire, threw the flag in and then paused before another flag was burned.


On our way home, I asked Jonah how he felt about the ceremony and in his words he told me that it was the greatest honor to be part of a ceremony like this one.

No, the umbrella was not because of rain but instead Courtney, along with many other spectators, used the umbrella to shade the sun during the ceremony. It was a very hot morning.

Heading to the Beach

Just a note to say that this blog will be quite for a week. We are heading to the beach with the Sowders and also going to Ocala for a little house hunting trip (wish us luck, the houses are a lot different then here).

I thought these pictures fit the blog. This is Zoey, the kids hamster and a little mommy to 5 baby hamsters. Courtney and Jonah took Zoey for a ride in two of Courtney's barbie vehicles. We think that Zoey's favorite was the red Volkswagon.

Flying High

These are such fun photos of Jonah on the trampoline with the sprinkler on the ground. He definitely has no fear and will try anything once.

Mother's Day

To all moms, I hope that you had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday. The weather here was beautiful. The sky was clear and there was a light breeze. In fact I think I can honestly say that yesterday was a good day. Yes, I missed my mom yesterday and a few tears were shed.

We started and ended the day yesterday by attending church. For lunch we enjoyed the company of some friends at a local restaurant and even though we had an hour wait, the company was good and I would not have went elsewhere. After lunch we spent the afternoon together as a family with taking a few moments to remember my mom. Since my mother has passed away, every Mother's day we release a balloon with note to my mom. The first year it seem kinda silly and the kids were not to sure on releasing a balloon. However this year the kids made sure that we bought a Mother's Day balloon for "Shishee" (that's the name Jonah gave my mom when he was little and it stuck). We went to the park after attach a note and watched it float away until we could see it no more.

I thank God that he made me a MOM!

What a Week

What week it has been? One of those weeks when it feels like it should be Saturday and it is only Thursday. Not a horrible week, just crazy as we try to get so many things done before we begin the next chapter in our life. We started the week off with church on Sunday and an afternoon nap (YEAH!!!). Monday we celebrated Courtney's 9th birthday. It is so hard to believe that our little girl is now 9. It seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital. She looked just like Jonah but with a pink dress on. Courtney has decided to wait until June for her birthday party so that she can have a pool party. But she was able to open her gifts from Phillip and I, as well as from Jonah before we took her out for her birthday supper.

Happy Birthday Courtney!!!

On Tuesday, we celebrated Phillip's birthday. I won't tell you how old he is, but he did receive his daughter as his 30th birthday gift. The kids gave Phillip this Florida Gator Football Championship shirt (go Gators!). Phillip chose to delay his birthday supper until Wednesday evening, which little did he know we would eat at our favorite restaurant Carrabba's for his birthday.

Happy Birthday Phillip!!!

On Wednesday, Phillip and I both woke up at 3 am unable to sleep. It did not help that both of us was awake and kept each other awake talking about different things. Then around 5 we turned on the news and I was trying to fall back asleep I hear them mention on TV, fires in our hometown. Well, immediately I sit straight up in bed (going back to sleep was out of the question by now). Too early to call my dad, I decide to research it on the internet (what did we ever do without it). Sure enough 3 different fires are burning around my hometown. I was able to learn that no houses have been destroyed at that time. Later, that morning I was able to speak with my father and he was not in any danger at the time, but he was informed to be on the alert and watch the direction of the wind. Please pray that Florida gets much needed rain.

Wednesday was also Grand Jury day for me which I am happy to say that we were done by mid morning which made in possible for myself to ride to St. Jude's Children's Hospital in Memphis with Phillip and the kids to deliver right at 1400 books. Phillip's store had collected these books and he wanted to deliver them himself before he changed positions. Which was a great experience for the kids. We never imagine the hospital being so large and so spread out. Jonah and Courtney helped delivered the books and were able to see several kids from a distance. (Can you believe I left home without my camera?) It was an enjoyable day, one that makes you appreciate life. The kids did great on the fast trip and it was a fast trip. I would have loved to been able to see a little of Memphis, maybe another day. We did find a Carrabba's, which made Phillip and I very happy. I won't go into the long details but the 4 hour trip home ended up taking up over 6 hours. Due to an accident on the interstate, we sat between the two exits in Franklin for 2 hours, in fact the kids turned on the DVD player and was able to watch the entire Cheaper by the Dozen movie while we sat in traffic.

Thursday was a catch up day for us and a preparation day for Friday. On Friday, the kids helped me clean the house, which there will be a reward for next week, b/c they were a great help. Our realtor and friend came and put the official sign in our yard Friday afternoon, the sign that had all of our neighbors wondering what was going on. Friday, was also Phillip's last day as store manager. The store threw him a going away lunch and even a few employees were teary eyed (imagine that).

I guess today we will be busy again moving furniture around making the house an "inviting place with useful space" (yes, I watch way to much HGTV). By the way, we have a showing on the house today (YIKES!!!).

Well, to all my friends out there, I hope you have a great weekend. To all the moms, Happy Mother's Day, we all desire it!!!

School's Out for the Summer

Last Friday was our official last day of school for the 2006 - 2007 school year (yeah!!!). This year has flew by. I can not believe that I now have a 4th grader and a 6th grader. Where does time go? These pictures were taken last Thursday at the Home School Association's field day (yes, home schoolers do have some activities like the public schools).

Check out the tennis ball in mid air and Yes, that is Andrew G. with his mouth WIDE open. Of course, I am sure that Jonah is going to love having a picture of him on a pink tricycle.

Go, Courtney, GO!!!!

Can you do this? I surely can't!



Both kids took a semester of Martial Arts through the home school co-op. These pictures were taken of Courtney showing off her stuff (watch out boys).

673.5 Miles Away

673.5 miles away is our new home.
The word is out, we are moving. I am not sure when and I am not sure address wise where. I do know that somewhere in or around Ocala, Florida is a house that soon will be our new home. An hour from Disney, an hour from the Gulf of Mexico, an hour from grandparents and family and an hour plus from the Atlantic Ocean. Yes, we are leaving Tornado country for Hurricane country. Ocala does have rolling hills and lots of horse farms just like B.G. and I think size wise its very close to the same. Ocala also has a Hobby Lobby and a Joann (so Judith when you can't find that paper pack that you just got to have, call me).
The kids are excited and Phillip is looking forward to the new challenge that awaits him with his new job. As for myself, I wish I could have it all. I am sad to leave my scrapbook buddies, my spoon playing friends, the Mafia group, our neighbors, and our wonderful church family that has been there so many times over the last 6 years. We have been blessed with such wonderful friends who have touched our lifes forever, friends that we will never forget.

We will truly miss our friends here, but look forward to many visitors in Florida. Come crash at our place in the "Sunshine State" is what I am telling everyone.

What a day?

Do you ever have those days when you just want to crawl back into bed, pull the covers over your head and stay there all day? Well, today has been one of those days. Not that everything has gone wrong and I probably have no reason to complain about anything but I will surely be glad when tomorrow arrives. I had to start my day out in a rush, which is not the norm since we home school. Don't get me wrong we still get up early however during the school week we are usually not in a rush. But this morning when I wanted to stay in bed for a while I had to get up and go to jury duty. How lucky I was to be chosen for Grand Jury. Which means for the next five weeks I will spend 1 day a week at the court house. I still can not get over the judge not dismissing me since I home school, take care of a 87 year old and about to move. Don't take me the wrong way. I have no problem with serving as a juror, but with everything that is and about to happen, I do not need another egg in my basket right now.

Well my biggest struggle today was that on this day 3 years ago my mother passed away, it does not seem like it has been that long and then some days it seems like it has been forever. I miss her everyday but it seems like I miss her more now that we are planning to move back to Florida. I have to realize that she is not going to be hour away and I know that, but some days I want to believe that the distance between her and I, is the same distance between Starke (my home town) and Bowling Green. Days like today makes me realize how short life really is. It makes me wish that I would have picked up the phone more often just to tell her that I love her and how wonderful she is. To anyone that is reading this, if your mother is still alive call her and tell her that you love her, don't wait until Mother's day.

Courtney, the sensitive and caring child that she is, reminds me so much of my mom, that I feel like she is always near. She can sense when I am truly missing my mom, because she will give me a big hug and sing a song that my mom used to sing to her. Just like my grandmother, my mother always loved to sing and now Courtney enjoys singing.

Tomorrow is a new day!!!!