Will Be Updating Soon!

Now that we will have a couple of weeks out of school, I hope to be updating our family blog soon. I have gotten so far behind on just about every project I am working on. (Getting bits and pieces done on a lot of stuff - just not finishing anything - UGH!)

Check back soon and hopefully, I will have some updates for you!

Special Visitor at ABS 6th Grade Science Class

Chase's 6th Grade Science Class had a special visitor today.

Chase asked his teacher if he could bring our cat, Josie, to school today for an "extra credit show-n-tell project". Mrs. Denton allowed him to do so. He had to tell the class where we got her from, her age, what kind of cat she is, and why she has such a funny hair cut. (You may remember a previous post about Josie's hair cut.)

The kids seemed to love her. She allowed them to pet her. But, after the presentation, this was the first time she ever acted glad to go back in her pet taxi.

Here are a few pictures:

First Day of School

Chase went back to school on August 9, 2010. It is so hard to believe he is in 6th grade now. He is looking forward to school more than I thought he would. Of course, he did not want me to go inside with him and take any pictures with his teacher this year. So, I snapped a picture of him at the house before we left that morning.

Hunter did not get to start KG until August 10th, 2010. The girls went to school on Monday, the boys on Tuesday, and they were all together on Wednesday. He was sooo ready to go. Here is a picture of him outside of his classroom.

Mrs. Nave shows him where to hang his backpack.

Mrs. Nave gives him his cool KG name tag.


Hunter will have two teachers this year. He will spend part of the day with Mrs. Nave and part of the day with Mrs. Adams. They will be doing some team teaching this year. I'm really impressed with what they have planned this year.

Hunter and Mrs. Nave

Hunter and Mrs. Adams

Hunter colors a booklet about himself

Hunter's class lines up to go to Chapel

Going down the hall to Chapel

First Day in Chapel as a Kindergartener (I got a little teary-eyed in Chapel when I heard all of the children singing. But, I composed myself until after I left the school building.)

A gift from Mrs. Nave and Mrs. Adams to the parents made me cry. I did not read the poem and letter until after I got in my car. Then I cried most of the way home. Inside the little baggie was a bag of tissues, a tea bag, and a hershey's kiss with a cute little note from the teachers telling us what to do with each item.

Hunter and Chase both had a great "first day" of school. I miss them. But, I have so many chores to do while they are away to keep me busy! Hopefully, I can get a little more organized this year and keep things neat and tidy while they are at school. I have their rooms and closets done. Now, I will have to work on the playroom, kitchen, and my room. I have many plans and ideas and hopefully I will get them done!

Thanks for checking up on us today! I hope you all have a great day!

Wallace Family Reunion (Papa Kelley's Family)

Last Saturday, Kelly, our boys, and I went to the Wallace Family Reunion in Cullman, AL. It was fun seeing everyone. But, it just makes me miss Papa Kelley even more. I miss his sense of humor and his stories of growing up with his brothers and sisters. He really had a way of making everyone he came in contact with smile. He and Mama Neanie will always hold a special place in my heart. Below are a couple of pictures from the reunion.
Down in front: Hunter and Brock
In Back from left to right: Chase, Kimberly, Kelly, Dalton, Mom, and Aunt Jenny

Kelly and Kim turn 42 years young!

Dad and Chris invited us to their house for mine and Kelly's birthday celebration! I can't believe we are 42 years YOUNG! Chris cooked dinner for us and baked a yummy cake!


Daddy was not feeling all that well. But, he still had fun. This is a picture of us with Dad and Chris (and Brock).


Kelly and Mark


Since my husband had such a hard day, there is no picture of us together because he did this before I could get someone to take a picture of us. He's gonna kill me for posting this one!


Brock, Hunter, and I enjoyed a little game of "stacking the chairs".


Chase and Dalton


I took a few more photos, but did not post them all here. If you want to see more, just look at my photo album on facebook. Have a great day! Happy Birthday, Kelly! Love you! Many thanks goes out to all of the sweet birthday wishes that came our way, too!

Josie's New Hair Cut

Our cat Josie's fur became so matted because she would not let us brush her. So, she had to take a little trip to the vet to be groomed. They gave her a "lion cut". She looks cute. But I will be glad when her fur grows back out and we have our old cat back. She acts like she feels humiliated. But, if she would have let us brush her, maybe she would not have had to get her hair cut!

Here are a couple of "before" photos:


Here are a couple of "after" photos of her "lion cut".


I never could get her to look at me for her "after" photo. I think she is mad at me!

Limestone Bible Camp

Chase spent this past week at Limestone Bible Camp at Camp Neyati in Guntersville. He had a great time. When I arrived, they were gathered at the pavillion for Awards. Hunter and I found Chase and sat down next to him. Then a lady that worked at camp all week tapped my shoulder when she realized I was Chase's mom. She pointed to Chase and said to me, "You didn't have to worry about that one this week because he did great! He was very enthusiastic and had a great time." That made me feel really proud and relieved. Of course, as a mom, I worried all week about whether or not he was having fun, fitting in with the others, behaving himself, etc. Before I left, a couple other people told me how well Chase did that week in the Bible class and at the cabin. Two of the boys from Chase's cabin were baptized this week, too.

In Bible classes, they learned about making choices. They went to chapel in the morning, had a daily song service, two bible classes per day, and enjoyed other fun activities such as arts and crafts, egg toss, volleyball, canoe races, and swimming. They also performed in a skit and had a banquet one night.

I found this picture on the camp website of Chase's Bible class.

This is an award that Chase's cabin received for the last three days of camp for keeping their cabin clean.

In this picture, Chase is all packed up and ready to go. And, Mom is so ready to bring him home!

Luke (one of Chase's roommates) and Chase

Chase's group (called the John Deeres) won first place in the athletics competition during the week. For each activity this group participated in they were given points for how well they performed. At the end of the week, their group had the most points. Also, Chase and his canoeing partner Colby Phillips came in second place in the canoe race that week.

Hunter was so glad to see Chase!


Dalton and Brigett are up in the stands.

Chase, Dalton, and Brigett (All three of these are from Holland's Gin)

Dalton's Volleyball Team were the champs in the Volleyball Tournament

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Happy Birthday, Grandma! We love you! Here are a few pictures from the birthday party!

Chase is gone again...

Kelly and I dropped Chase and Dalton off at Limestone Bible Camp yesterday in Guntersville at Camp Neyati. There are about 100 campers there this week. I think there are about 10 boys in the sixth grade cabin. As opposed to his humble sleeping quarters at Boy Scout Camp a couple of weeks ago, Chase will be a lot more comfortable this week in an air conditioned cabin.

When I left him, he had chosen a top bunk near the front door. He and Dalton cannot stay in the same cabin because they are not in the same grade. Chase was a little disappointed because he did not know anyone in his cabin. But, he was fine when I left. This will be a good experience for him to learn how to meet new people and not rely so much on his older cousin.

Their Bible curriculum for the week is about learning to make the right choices. He will be in two Bible classes per day. They will also have a song service everyday. He will have some free time to go canoeing, swimming or make some kind of art project daily. They will be doing a skit one day this week and have a banquet one night this week, too. This year's theme for the banquet is "country fair".

They have some great views of Lake Guntersville. It looked like they built some new benches set up like an outdoor classroom in several areas overlooking the water. Maybe they will enjoy the scenery as they study from God's word.

To find out more about Limestone Bible Camp visit their website at www.limestonebiblecamp.org.

Alabama Adventure, July 5, 2010

Kasey took the boys and me to Alabama Adventure in Bessemer, AL on July 5, 2010.

To find out more about this theme park, click on the following link.
http://www.alabamaadventure.com/index.html

The boys were so excited. Hunter was a little unsure about some of the rides, but after getting on, he really enjoyed it. Chase wasn't afraid to ride anything. I was afraid, but rode anyway. Kasey rode on three rides. But after the third ride, he got really sick. We thought we were going to have to leave. But, he held out a little while longer to let the boys have a little more fun. On the way out, he won a giant Pokeman Picachu which Hunter claimed right away. It was almost as big as him. Not long after we left the park, Kasey felt even worse and asked me to pull over to stay the rest of the night at a hotel in Fultondale. He was feeling too sick to ride the rest of the way back to Athens. I hated that Kasey spent most of the day feeling sick. But was very appreciative of him for sticking it out as long as he did for the boys' sake. We don't get to spend much time together as a family, so we made the best of it. Enjoy the slideshow of some of the pictures from our day together.

This picture slideshow generated with Smilebox

Boy Scout Camp 2010

Chase went with ABS Troop 21 to Boxwell Scout Reservation in Lebanon, TN for Boy Scout Summer Camp during the week of June 20th - 26th.

Kasey and I dropped him off on Sunday at camp. We didn't hear a word from him until we went to the family night program on Friday night. As a mom, I could not wait to see him. But, I made a promise to myself on the long drive to camp that I was not going to embarrass Chase by running up to him and hugging him in front of all the other boys when I got there. I was pleasantly surprised when we saw Chase and he wrapped his arm around me and told me he loved me and he missed me this week. AWWW!

When we arrived at the reservation, we purchased our meal ticket at the "Cripple Crab". They gave us a map and told us how to get to Chase's campsite called "Camp Craig".


I think we walked about 1/2 mile to get there. His campsite was located right on the waterfront in a beautiful location.






This was Chase's humble abode during the week:

After we saw Chase's campsite, we went to the flag lowering ceremony. As all of the boys gathered in their formations, it was such an amazing site to me. All of the boys were required to wear their uniform shirts. They had to remain silent during the formation. Suddenly we heard the staff scouts marching from another area of the camp toward the flag pole. There were about 30 of them marching and singing in unison. When they arrived, they shouted out some commands to all of the boys and the flag lowering ceremony began. Then they entertained the scouts before dismissing them for supper. Here are a few pictures from the flag ceremony:





After the flag ceremony, we went to the cafeteria for supper. The scouts had to enter the cafeteria in silence, wait for the prayer, then sit in silence until their table was "tapped" by a staff scout.

When their table was "tapped" they were allowed to enter the line to get their food. The scouts served us BBQ sandwiches, baked beans, salad, and peach cobbler. It was actually pretty tasty.


The staff scouts were quite talented. Some of them formed a Camp Craig Band and they performed for us during our meal. They also got the scouts involved in a "buffalo dance" which was hilarious!



After our meal, the boys were responsible for cleaning their tables. They each had assignments: wiping off table, taking trays to the garbage can, sweeping, and mopping. Guess what job Chase got to do? He can put this new skill to work at home!


After they finished cleaning up, we had a little free time. Chase took us on a little tour of Camp Craig. This was one of the sites where they met each night for the campfire ceremony.

Here are some pictures of their swimming hole. Chase had a lot of fun here!


We met at the flagpole at 8:30pm to prepare for the closing campfire ceremony. Some of the Scout Staff led us by carrying torches to the campfire site on the waterfront.


All of the scouts were getting pretty tired by this time.

The Camp Craig Band performed for us again:


At the end of the campfire a member of the Scout staff stressed the importance and honor of achieving Boy Scouts' highest achievement - Eagle Scout. As he talked, other staff members used torches to light a flaming eagle across the lake from our campfire. Then the staff members gathered in a circle around the campfire and sang a scout song.

As we were being dismissed I heard another scout tell his mom, "I love this place. This is the best place on earth. I want to come here every Summer." I think Chase feels the same way. He had a great time. We have already noticed some great changes in him. He not only fulfilled many of his rank requirements and earned two merit badges, but I think he learned way more from his peers and scout leaders this week than we will ever know. He has so much more confidence in himself and just seems all around a much happier boy!