Happy 13th Birthday Josiah

For several years now, Josiah has always had his birthday party in form of a campout in our front yard.  This year, however, we had sold our house and so the location had changed.  We decided to have it at the park instead of at our new house.  Which was totally a win win for me because Amelia and I couldn't stay in a tent with a bunch of boys so we didn't have to stay.  I'm getting ahead of myself though.  Let's start from the beginning....


Josiah has been camping since he was a baby.  We would set the tent up in the house for him and Titus to sleep in sometimes.

I remember the first time we went camping. I was about 8 months pregnant with Titus.  He didn't like it so much.  He screamed and cried.  I remember lying on a air mattress and trying to get up with a leg cramp in the middle of the night all while trying not to wake him up.  Who in their right mind goes camping while 8 months pregnant???


The week of Josiah's birthday Mamaw and Papaw stopped by.  We went to Shilohs for supper and then Josiah had to check and see if he was finally taller than Papaw.

Hmmm...I think Papaw still has him beat!

On his actual birthday we went to Kings Donuts before school.  This has become a new tradition seems like.  You do it for one kid and they won't let you forget.

Practice setting the tent up!!!

The night of Josiah's camp out we roasted hot dogs and made smores.  The boys basically just wanted to play basketball.  Josiah didn't have as big as a turnout as he usually does, but they still had a good time.  It got dark fast and I didn't get many pictures.

Maynard called me early the next morning and was ready to go.  It was pouring the rain.  Everything had gotten wet and nasty.  His campout got cut short and everyone went home to rest and dry out!!


Happy 13th Birthday, Josiah!!!!  Hard to believe I have a teenager now.

First Day of School 2018-2019

August 13, 2018 was the first day for London Christian Academy.  My kids are always anxious to get started back and I'm thankful for that.  They love their school.  Christian education is such a blessing and we are privileged to have a Christian school in our community.  I also returned to school working along side of Bro. Schooley in Junior High.  Working in Jr. High has been my favorite class to work in so far.
There were a few changes this year.  We hired a new teacher to take over what used to be in Middle School.  Sis. Bennett would now be teaching 5th and 6th grade and Middle school would become Jr. high. We get to keep our 9th graders in our class!!!!  We are thankful for all the new students that are at LCA and pray they have a good year.

Josiah's first day of 7th grade.  Teachers are Bro. Schooley and Me!

Titus' first day of 5th grade.  His teacher is Sis. Bennett.

Amelia's first day of 3rd grade.  Her teacher is Sis. Schooley.

Mom's 65th Birthday Tea Party

Surprise parties are the worst!!  Somehow we pulled it off.  All of girls plotted, planned, and financed a surprise party for Mom's 65th birthday.  We did finagle Dad into paying for the venue though.  He did agree even though he wasn't invited. Ha Ha


We wanted to do something special for Mom and we threw a few ideas around until we all agreed on having her a tea party.  Mom loves all things Victorian and collects tea pots.  We thought about just attending a tea room for tea with close family members, but knew that would cut out too many of her friends.  So our own tea party it was!!!


In order to get her there we told her of a tea party at the Clarkson community room.  All of us girls said it would be fun and we would go.  Which in reality, none of us would ever go to a community tea, especially Christy.  So, I'm sure she had to be somewhat suspicious.  We told everyone to bring their own tea cup and Mom said, "How rinky dink is this tea party that you have to bring your own tea cup?" Ha Ha  We all had a good laugh over that.


On the day of her party, we drove down early to help Angela decorate.  The boys got to stay with their cousin Kamden, and they were excited about that.  They didn't care anything about a Tea party.


As far as decorating, I pretty much just watched Angela do her thing.  I'm not a decorator and she has the gift.  I was only good at going through closets and bins that didn't belong to us.  That way we could find things we might could use.  Ha Ha  I did find an awesome deal on tea party hats.  I found really pretty ones for .50 cents each.  YAY!!!  That was so fun because not only did we have hats to wear, but now we could decorate with them too.


We had finger foods, tons of desserts, and of course tea.  We did a few door prizes because time was getting away and only played one game.  The game we played was to see who knew Mom the best.  We asked some tough questions that even she had to think about.  Surprisingly, a church family member won the game and none of her family members.  Oops.


We ate, took pictures, and just enjoyed the fellowship.  Everyone had a great time.  Mom was so surprised and seemed to love it.  We were so glad we could do something special for her because she's a special lady!!!!


Enjoy the pictures............

Here are a few pictures of the decorations: