May 11th Mother's Day and My Brother's Birthday!

Boys being silly!

Paul, Sarah and Katie
Frank and his Mom Pat..... My Mom was there too we just don't have pics of us together to prove it! ;)

We went to Sunday school and church where the boys sung "Happy Mother's Day to you" in a group with the other kids and then they gave us each a flower. They were so sweet! After we got home from church we picked up Granny and headed to Hopkinsville to my brother's house to get together and cook out. It was a chilly windy day so we let him cook and we ate inside. Frank's Mom, Skip and his Mom Eloise joined us. Laura and the girls made Paul a cake and the kids played all afternoon. It was a really fun day!

just realized...

I just looked at the calendar for the first time today and noticed the date- May 23. It's been 20 years since the night of my high school graduation. Here I sit right next door to where I grew up and I remember how when I graduated I couldn't wait to leave town.... now I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

20 years seems startling though when you see it on the calendar!

Marla

Home from our Trip....

We took a short two night trip and now we are home. I'll post pictures as soon as I get a chance to sort through them, but here is an idea of what we've been up to....

We thought about the aquarium and all of the neat stuff they have in Chattanooga, TN but that is a 4 hour drive each way so we decided to do Cave City, KY since it is just an hour trip. We ate at a place in Bowling Green called Double Dogs, the boys loved it. They bring your food in dog bowls- for 4 year olds that was cool.

We got to the hotel and then went to Dinosaur World, swam in the indoor pool and rode the go carts across the street. Honestly we could have just done the swimming and go carts and they would have been happy! The next day we went to Kentucky Down Under and they got to pat kangaroos, feed baby sheep with a bottle, birds, etc. we went on a cave tour. It was a beautiful place. We swam and rode the go carts again that night too. They loved staying in the hotel- the hotentel as they call it.

We came back home on Wed. so they could go to Awana at church and on the way home we came back through Bowling Green and went to the National Corvette Museum which they loved! There was a woman there picking up her atomic orange convertible corvette and she let them sit in it so they had a ball! Then we went to this dairy farm where they have a restaurant and they make homemade ice cream- toasted coconut ice cream was sooooo good!

They were fussing in the car asking if we were there yet on the hour trip- actually the half hour until we had lunch, then the half hour after lunch until we got to the hotel! Definitely makes me rethink the trip to Florida to visit relatives we had been thinking about!!!!! We had the dvd player going too- how sad is that?! lol!

I'll add pictures as soon as I get a chance but wanted to check in and let everyone know why we've been out of touch for a few days.

:) Marla

A great quote from my friend Elaine....

"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car,wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails.

I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp.

I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children.

I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden.

I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder.

I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived.”

Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Carnival in Clarksville

we have been in Clarksville a few times in the past week and the boys have seen the carnival but it hasn't been open. We decided to take them after Sunday School and Church. We ate at Zaxby's and then went to play at the carnival. They had a blast and would have taken a ride on everything there if they had let them on- they were fearless!!!

Josh is wearing Green, Jake is wearing Blue.

they won some goldfish playing a game where you toss ping pong balls into glass bowls. we went to Walmart after we left the carnival and got a new fish tank and all the goodies to get it set up. We also got another goldfish for the tank. They named them Chris, Mr. Henry (from the Mexican restaurant) and of course they have one named Taylor Swift!

They are already begging to go back again!

Starting our new garden....

We decided we wanted a garden this year. I've wanted one for a few years but haven't had the time to do anything before this year. Now that the guys are 4 we thought they would have fun with it and could help out and it would be a good experience for them. They jumped right in and are loving getting things started. Jake is a huge fan of watermelon- he's already had 3 this spring so far and at $7 each the garden is looking like a good investment! They are anxious to get the plants in the ground so they can start seeing some progress. Josh had a great time helping Mom add the dirt once the box was built and Jake and Granny put the seeds in the starter. He wanted to plant all watermelon seeds!!

The boys are helping Dad build the box for our new garden.

Beautiful Spring Day!

it is a beautiful day today! The boys got out to play and they helped Granny mow the yard too.
Jake paused for a minute to let me take a few pictures....
Josh has learned to pose for a few good shots and you can be on your way really quick- I love this picture of him!

Ruben's 4th birthday party!

Jake is in blue, Josh is in green and Birthday Boy Ruben is in Red....

Last Saturday we went to Hopkinsville for Ruben's birthday party. He is a big Star Wars fan so he had a Star Wars themed party. They played bubbles. busted balloons, played with light sabers that Kiesha made and then they had cake and played some more. The boys had a great time. Happy Birthday Ruben!!

Dinner at DQ with Sarah and Katie

My brother Paul came over and brought his girls Sarah and Katie to play with the boys. We went to DQ for supper and I lucked out and got a picture of all four of them still and looking at the camera- I'd much rather have a pic of all of them outside, but you take what you can get! lol! Katie and Jake are in the back, Sarah and Josh are in the front.

the consignment sale is over!

Frank and I took over the van packed full of stuff, the jeep packed full of stuff and the trailer stacked high and packed to capacity and I came home with the van packed full and I was like a sardine in there on the way home. My friend Carolyn sent her son in law over to take one of my big racks to her house but everything else fit in the van so the sale was a success! I only spent 31.50 at the sale too so I got home with most of my money- I see some goodies from the new Close to My Heart catalog in my future!

It was nice to sell in the sale and not have to help run it this year. It is a lot of work to get ready and I'm always worn out when it is over. The boys got a bit of a cold a few days ago and Josh had a fever last night and I stayed up with him so I'm sick today. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for all of us. I have my class to teach at the county extention service this week so I'm busy working on that- hopefully my voice will be back to normal by then! :)

it's official they are nuts!

the boys were playing quietly in the bathroom last night- never a good thing but you take a little quiet when you can get it sometimes right?! they were talking about being the patient and the doctor and doing surgery and putting on bandages. after hearing that I had to check it out- I should have taken pictures.... the bandages were pantyliners and they were giving each other shots in the arm with tampons. They would have been mortified by them in a few years. At the time I just wanted to clean up the mess so I didn't take any pics. They had pulled a pillow and blanket in the floor and were taking turns being the patient. It's the best they had played together all day!

never a dull moment! ;) Marla

Granny's Birthday!!!

The boys woke up on Granny's birthday and made her cards, then they called her to wish her a Happy Birthday. We took her to eat lunch at Chili's and then we played outside. We gave her her gift after supper- along with an Elvis card that said "I'd be a hound-dog if I didn't wish you a happy birthday" She also had a cheescake and we all sung to her. This weekend we met Paul, Laura, Sarah and Katie for lunch at Applebee's and celebrated again.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANNY!!!

Playing our new game- Monopoly Town

We went to the PX with Grandma and Skip today and we got this new game- Monopoly Town. It was fun at first but tends to drag on forever..... the boys switched spots midway through the game to shake things up a little. We kept them honest though and Jake was the big winner- you can see the excitement on his face- it made the whole thing worth it!

Visiting Daddy's post office

Today the boys got to go to the post office where Daddy works. They had a ball- they mailed letters in the mail slot then got to sort them, put them on the belt- they rode along too!- they scanned them and then sorted them into the slots to go out for delivery!
riding the belt and scanning a package below. Jake took his jacket off part way through the trip to the post office if you want to know who is who that will make it easy to figure out.

April 2, 2008 trip to Jefferson Davis State Park

I'm finally current on the blog again! yay! After Frank got home from work we loaded the boys up and went to the Jeff Davis park in Fairview. They played on the playground, dug in the sand and played on the big rocks. We saw a few helicopters flying over while we were there and they loved that.

Meeting the Bible School Man! 3/28/08

The boys love Jeff Slaughter- aka the Bible School Man!! He is the guy who writes all the songs for vacation Bible school. Granny and I took the boys and we met at Elkton Baptist Church and rode the bus (their first bus trip!) to McD's in Hopkinsville then we went to First Baptist Church to see Jeff sing. He did the game day central songs from last year and the boys got called up on stage to sing and do the dances- they had an absolute blast! After it was over they got autographs and gave Jeff some hugs. It was a really fun time!

Playing in our yard 3-25-08

It was a beautiful spring day and I took the boys out to play. They are really looking forward to when this nice weather is here to stay!