Class Reunion pics

Angela singing "Jesus take the wheel" Todd Rager joined in with beer in hand... She dedicated the song to him on his trip home after the reunion! LOL!
Me, Dawn Wheeler-Wiles, Sandy Dukes-Tinsley, Terri Martin-Prince and Janet Wiles-Gorham.
Sandy and I were close growing up and had SO many fun times together- can you say road trip to Bucksville? Some of the best times of my life! ;) It was fun catching up again.
Angela, Paul Dickinson and me. We grew up together and were inseparable for years- we had a blast after school too.... Cruisin', bowling, dancing, endless hours of talking. It was great to get together again!!!
We had our 20th... yes, 20th (I'm still in disbelief) reunion last night and it was a lot of fun. It was great to catch up with friends that I hadn't seen in years. I got to reconnect with some of my close friends that I haven't seen in a while. We've all become so busy with life and kids that we've lost touch. Hopefully we can do better keeping in touch than we have in the past. We had fun- we talked, we danced, ate, talked and danced some more. It was a fun night- well at least until I got a speeding ticket on the way home! ;) 60 in a 55 zone is expensive these days!

Eloise is headed North!

Skip's Mom Eloise is heading back home to Wisconsin to visit and she came to visit the boys before she left. They are really going to miss her until she comes back this fall.

What a day! no pictures to back up this story- thank goodness!

Whew! I'm worn out.... today was a bad day! Granny and I took the boys for their preschool physical and shots at the dr's office today. It was bad from the start. We had an appointment at 10:00 in Hopkinsville, so we needed 30 minutes to load up and get there. At 9 I was trying to wake the boys up. At 9:15 Jake was awake. At 9:20 I finally got Josh up and he promptly turned on the video games and told me he'd get ready as soon as he finished his race (didn't happen for him). Granny was trying to get them dressed and I was rustling them back into the room and away from the video games. Chaos already!

We got there somehow, right at 10:00 and I dropped them off and went to park. I got parked and treked across back to the place I dropped them off and there they were still in the parking lot. Granny had been trying to get them in and they were freaking out. We had to drag them into the elevator. Oddly enough the waiting room was a good experience- the best of the day unfortunately.

they freaked out when they were told to take off their shoes and stand to get measured, we had to physically remove their shoes and push them against the wall- the scale wasn't too bad. they are exactly the same height and about half a pound difference in weight- same as when they were born and the way they have been every time they have been checked.

on to more fun stuff..... the hearing test. They put headphones on the boys one at a time. They both did exactly the same thing. The girl running the test would punch buttons, turn knobs and tell them to let her know when they heard something. They just sat there. When she asked if they heard something they would say yes, and tell her what they heard. She'd start over at a lower level and she finally just started asking if they heard something- luckily they weren't declared to be deaf at the end of this test, maybe just hard headed! ;)

on to the room... they got their blood pressure checked and thought that was fun then she left and told us to undress them before nurse Betty came in. sounds easy enough right?! They went into full panic mode and lost it! Bright red faces, tears, screeching, crying... it was unbelievable! They were holding onto their clothes with one hand and fighting us off with the other. By the end of this Jake still proudly wore his shirt and Granny and I were exhausted! I even called Frank at work to hear the noise going on during this fiasco- he thought we were beating them and I explained we were just taking their clothes off. He later told me he put us on speaker phone at work- people probably thought they were listening to a crime in progress!!!

then the nurse comes in and they are still mad about being undressed. Josh fights her off when she wants to use a tongue depressor in his mouth. I finally restrained him and she got to take a quick peek. Jake did better at this but told her he'd hold his mouth open for her to keep the stick away. At this point they are clinging to us like wild animals- I'm wishing I hadn't worn a v-neck shirt because they have stretched it until all of Hopkinsville is getting quite a show but I'm too busy wrestling with them to care. Josh claims the nurse hurt him when she was checking his reflexes and he wants to "get out of here, get out of this bad place now, just go!" We were able to get them dressed which went way smoother than the undressing earlier. Nurse Betty tells us they will be right in with the shots..... you can imagine the reaction that got!

They were crazy while waiting, then we got them settled a bit, still tears, red faces and now we have added runny noses due to hysteria to the list of fun we have going. 35 minutes later- yes 35 minutes!!!! another nurse comes in and I tell her that we've been waiting 35 minutes since Betty said they would be right in and that is too long to leave 4 year olds waiting, stressing over shots. I'm sure she was just thrilled and could also not care less at the same time. Anyway, when she put the charts down she had 8 shots laying on top of them and asked who was first- great way to make friends with a 4 year old who has at this point been in the doctor's office over two hours! I finally got Jake on the table, screaming and crying and clinging to me as he's about to meet certain death. Two shots in each arm and finally he is done. Josh watched that take place and didn't plan to go down so easily! He launched into a fit of twisting, turning, screaming and crying that has never been seen before and hopefully never will again. He was screeching- "don't do that to me I'm not going to let you do it!" It was awful. It took myself and two nurses to get his shots done. I don't think they believed me when I told them these were the same children who took their flu shots, never made a sound and then said how it was no big deal! On the way out Josh told them we were never coming back there again. lol!

I've never worked so hard for two pieces of paper- a physical and a shot record- in my whole life! Granny and I were both worn out after it was all over with.

I saw another nurse from the office when we stopped for gas on the way home and I apologized for our visit today and she told me that they were used to that and she said I should have seen the 16 year old that got shots today too- she said it took 3 people and he was screaming as bad as both of the boys put together.... so I guess that is a silver lining that we weren't the worst patients of the day???? I sure hope it is not a sign of things to come! lol!

oh and Nurse Betty said it was ok to go ahead and start taking them to the dentist now if we wanted too..... yeah, I'll get right on that. Sign me up for some valium first! LOL!

Preschool Eye exam- June 25th 2008

Uncle Paul checks out Jake, then Josh.
After Sondra checked their eyes and showed them how to take pictures they checked each others eyes.

Sondra and Hope shoed Jake how to take pictures of Josh's eyes.

the day we had been dreading was finally here! The boys were really worried about getting their eyes checked at Uncle Paul's office. It turned out not to be so bad after all and they like playing with the equipment and checking each other's eyes. The drops to dialate were the worst part but they handled it like champs. Only one more step to get ready for preschool and that is the physical and the shots they need..... shhhh! We go for that on Friday but I haven't spilled the beans on that yet! ;)

VBS at Plesant Hill UMC

The boys loved to help Ms. Kelly with the music at VBS.

more silly pictures

the boys were clowning while getting ready for VBS Friday night and I took these silly pictures.

We went to the Marklin's for a cookout on Saturday night but I didn't take any pictures- having too much fun watching them swim and I forgot to take pictures!!!!

VBS at Calvary Baptist

On the final night of VBS Jake won a T-shirt and he couldn't have been any happier! He also won a beach ball and a hat so he was really lucky. Josh kept asking when they were going to draw his name. He lucked out anyway and Mrs. Linda and Lori took care of him and he came home with a new Ukelele!!!!

Getting ready to go to Bible School- Josh posing in Blue- such a card!

Holding the flags for opening ceremonies
Singing Let my actions match my passion- one of their favorites.

the highlight of the night was when their teacher asked where Jesus was born and Jake announced proudly and loudly- "In a dirty old barn".... ;)

The boys with Ms. Lori after VBS was wrapped up. Lori is their hero so I don't know what they will do when she goes away to college this fall. Hopefully she will still make it home every Sunday so they can see her at church.

A visit with Great Aunt Mardy and Uncle Joe- June 18th

The boys got a visit this week from my Aunt Mardel and her husband Joe. The boys just love it when they come to visit and they always want them to stay longer. They got Uncle Joe to play Cruisin' with them on the Wii which was a blast! We hope they will be able to come and visit again on their way back to Florida.

Granny ended up with a new dog this day too- I'll post pictures soon!

Father's Day and VBS kick off party!

Lori playing along in the sack races- the boys thought it was great!

Opening Dad's presents- more Wii games!!!!
Josh ready for Bible School
Josh giving Dad bunny ears
Sack races at Bible School
Aspiring Piano players. Josh is on the left, Jake is on the right. They had a ball at the VBS kickoff party!

Lindsey Spurlin's wedding Day June 14th

Josh's preschool teacher for this fall attends our church and I went to her wedding. Jake got all dressed up to go- in my shirt I got for Bible school. I asked them if they wanted to go and they said they did. I told them they would have to be really quiet and Josh said "Maybe we better just stay home then." They crack me up! The church was packed and she was a beautiful bride! I printed copies of the picture of her for the boys and they have carried them around for a couple of weeks now showing them to everyone! Josh is very excited that Mrs. Lindsey is going to be his teacher and that he can still call her Mrs. Lindsey!

Dad's Birthday June 12th

The boys and I got Frank a cake and got him some new Wii games and the boys sung to him. They wore some of their favorite outfits in honor of Dad's birthday.

Happy Birthday Angela!!!

I doubt she'll see this, but I wanted to post some Happy Birthday wishes to my old friend Angela! :) Marla

sorry it's a bit out of order....

Sorry things are a bit out of order. I did the 400 mile yardsale with some girlfriends this year and I think my brain was overheated from being in the sun so long! I got my blog updated then looked back and realized I had left out Memorial day so I tacked it on the end! ;)

Memorial Day 2008

My brother Paul introduced the kids to the sweet taste of summer honeysuckle and the line formed quickly!!! They would get a taste then circle to the back of the line to get another chance- they did it until he got tired of dishing it up!
Katie and Jake in search of snails.
Sarah shows off her treasures.
Memorial Day get togethers are always special since my Dad passed away on Memorial Day 2001. We get together and go to the cemetery, tell funny stories about Dad and just enjoy being together. This year was a rainy day so we couldn't do our usual cookout. We got food from KFC and added lots of homemade extras. We did our trip to the cemetery and when the rain cleared off for a while the kids played outside. Sarah was very excited to find a "snail habitat" in our yard. The kids spent the afternoon collecting snails and were proud to pose for a picture with their collection.

Swimming!!!

What better way to cool off in this crazy heat we are having than to hop in the pool!!!!
Playing in the big pool with Skip- Sunday June 8th
Clowning in the little pool last week. We decided to break out the big pool this weekend. they were having a fun time with the small one but they are thrilled with the big new pool that has more room to play.
This is the face Josh made when we were talking about going to Preschool and I asked him who was going to be his teacher. He said "Ms. Lindsey, and I just love her!" what a cheezer already and they haven't been the first day yet!! I am glad he's out of his funk about not going at all though! lol!

Relay for Life 2008

Josh above and Jake below....

We went to the Todd County Relay for Life this weekend. The boys had a ball in spite of the heat. I can't imagine what July and August are going to be like the way we are starting out already!! It was a nice night. We visited a lot, played games, the boys ate lots of fun foods like cotton candy, fried oreos, pizza and funnel cakes. (Luckily Relay only happens once a year!) They also played some games and had a great time on the bouncer slide- I finally sent them over with $8.00 to go over and over at .25 cents per trip down the slide- it was gone in no time!

When they turned out the lights to read the names of those being honored for having cancer- survivors and those that have passed, the boys seized the opportunity to play on the mini tractor that the Weather's Drug store team had been selling chances on. I think it they could have found their way to the car they would have been 'outta there!! Kenny and Heather are very gracious about putting up with their antics- Kenny said he was glad someone was finally getting a chance to try it out and the boys were more than happy to oblige! ;)

They had a ball on it but unfortunately it ended up going home with someone else!

Playdate with Ruben!!!

The boys had a ball playing with their buddy Ruben and his "baby" sister Marissa. They played cars, watched speed racer cartoons, cheezed for the camera and then we went to lunch at the Mexican restaurant in town. Marissa got tired and the day had to end too early to suit the boys- hopefully we can get together again soon!

Feeding the ducks

Granny and I took the boys to feed the ducks at the pond at Dunbar Cave State Park in Clarksville, TN. The ducks ate all our bread, turned their beak up at our tortillas and were completely done with us when we ran out of food! LOL!

South Todd Pics

Here are some pictures of the boys cheezin' as they are going in for their preschool screening....