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:

What we did the summer of 2018 all in one post!

Alrighty! Let's do this!! We had an awesome summer. Super low key and just the way I like it. It did get crazy for a couple weeks, but I'll explain that in just a minute. First we ordered a new pool. It was a lot bigger that what we had before. It took longer than we expected to come in. When it finally did, we sat it up and the kids found a small hole in the liner. By then it was already the middle of July and we decided to just send it back and take a fun trip to Dollywood maybe later on. The kids all agreed to that. So we didn't have a pool this summer, but we had access to our friend's pool who loved having us come over.

We also had fun time with friends.

Lots of walks and bike rides.

#Pentecostalgirlproblems

Made a trip to the water park.

 Amelia won this Candy Bar stick at Kids Crusade through a drawing.  They also won bikes and a water gun for having the most visitors.  I was really proud of them for going out several weekends and knocking on doors.  Seeing the response was very rewarding.

 We also had campfires a few times.  The kids love just roasting marshmallows and hot dogs out in the backyard.

Maynard and I also decided to go to E-town camp as counselors for our church this year.  We haven't been counselors in many years.  Hadn't even been to E-town camp since 1999, I believe.  It was so good to be back.  The theme was "Homecoming" so it seemed fitting that we go.  We had a great group go.  They were really good kids and prayed so good.  They were very obedient and never gave me any trouble.  Well, except the time they threw a frog in my shower, but I soon forgave them. Ha Ha

I didn't get many pictures because they really didn't want any taken or for you to have your phones, but here are a few.







This was Amelia's first year at Youth Camp.  She was actually a pretty easy camper.  She kept all her stuff together and didn't need much help.  She's actually too young to go, but we got permission for her and Titus as long as they stayed with their parent.

It was so nice getting to see all my old friends from my youth.  These girls and I were pretty tight back in the day.  So fun to catch up.

Maynard and I recreated this picture that we had taken when we were dating.  From 1997-2018.  We've changed just a little bit.  God has been good!!

I can't say the week flew by, but finally, we made it to Friday night and it was time to get home.  Both vans were packed tight.  We had stuff everywhere it seemed.

The next day I just dumped all the laundry out in the front yard on a piece of tarp and let them get some air and then we loaded it up and headed to the laundrymat.  I actually don't mind going, but it took awhile and a lot of washers to get it all done.  We were actually leaving the next day for Camp Dove so it all had to get washed and repacked again.

This time Maynard stayed home and I went with the kids and stayed in the dorm.  I didn't really want to go, but had already committed to others that I would.  I'm glad I went though.  Camp Dove is special and it is wonderful to see all those little kids worship.

  These kids had the best time and prayed so good.  Here's a few pictures from the week.

Titus won 1st in soccer kick for the 3rd year in a row.

4 square is a popular game

Charlie Brown theme was amazing during the morning class

Probably my most favorite choir ever!

Girls playing in the dorm.

Heather couldn't help me!

Where to always find the kids!

2nd year in a row, Titus asked me for a pretzel date.  He is the sweetest!!

We got back late Wednesday night and crashed a few days.  Then had to tackle all the laundry again.  Going to 2 different camps back to back, was rough, but so rewarding.

The last hurrah of the summer was the weekend before school started.  We were in E-town for my Mom's birthday party (will blog soon), and I decided to take the kids to the Science museum in Louisville.  I was a little nervous to drive there, but didn't end up having any trouble and the kids loved the museum and I-max.  I hadn't been in years.  We just took our time and played for what seemed like hours.  It was closing time and I wanted to get out of Louisville before the traffic rush hour.  The kids kept telling me "Thank you, for letting us come!"  Here's a few pictures from our day:

And just like that, summer was over and we were on our way back to school!!!