. . . . . . . . Not so Christmasy please!

Savannah said my mom had asked a few times lately for some pictures of the girls. Savannah is the photographer around here these days. However, it's difficult for her to take pictures she should be in with her sisters. So, on Christmas Day I took these snapshots of the girls. They didn't want them to really be Christmas pictures though.

The matching sweaters was funny to me because we all know if MOM had suggested they get matching outfits it would just not have been COOL at all. However, they discovered 2 of them had purchased the same sweaters and decided the other 2 just had to have the same color so they could wear them for the picture. Only problem was, by the time we got back to Old Navy to get them, there were no more in extra small so Skylar had to have a small. As you can see, she wore a gray sweater and black t-shirt under to help make it fit better. It also kept her warmer while we were outside on that really chilly day.

I believe you can click a photo to get it to pop up larger if you want.

Skylar-age 11, Savannah-age 18, Sarah-age 20 and Sandi-age 13.

. . . . . . . . . . MERRY CHRISTMAS

Wishing you and your family the merriest Christmas ever! I do hope you have taken a little time to remember why we celebrate this season - the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ who came that we might have eternal life!

Our family had a very nice Christmas. The only thing to make it better would have been if I could have spent some time with my extended family in Arkansas. I have missed getting to spend time with them in the past couple of years. Maybe sometime this year we can head that direction for some time with them.

I'll be getting some new to me appliances next week which will be nice. We've been back in our house for 12 years and the appliances are beginning to fall apart. A dryer, stove and microwave will be delivered next week and we are all looking forward to it. There's a chance of a fridge being included as well.

Now that we've eaten our Christmas dinner it's time for a nap while Home Alone plays in the background.

Again, Merry Christmas!

.....YIPEE!!! Fall is actually Here!

I LOVE cooler weather. I'm so happy we are finally having some fall although I would like a little less in the rain department and have a longer time to see the beautifully changing leaves. Seems about the time they turn really nicely it rains and blows them all off the trees. I was hoping for a ride to the mountains to take some gorgeous photos but it seems that won't happen for now. Maybe I can find some beautiful leaves online somewhere to look at.

Well, we're off to pick up one daughter from work, find some lunch and then take the younger one trick-or-treating at a local church's trunk-a-treat. Hope you have fun too!

. . . . . . . . . . She's in the air! . . . . . . . . . .

Well, by the time you see this, my precious daughter Savannah will be in the air on her way home from China! It's been a long five weeks, made longer by the fact we've been able to have so little contact.

We were extremely excited to receive a phone call from her last Sunday during our Sunday school class. She spoke to the class over my cell phone speaker for about 8 minutes. She sounded so excited and upbeat in the little ways she could share. Then we were also able to hear her in the church service. That was awesome as well except for the fact poor Sandi has been missing her sister so much that she just boo hoo'd the entire time and I think for the rest of the service. Watching her made me cry so the two of us were a blubbering mess. OH, and we heard passing traffic and a car horn blow in China. Isn't technology amazing?!

Anyway, she was able to tell us that "Dad" was doing a great work there. She was fortunate enough to get paired with 2 "C" Chinese camp counselors who were able to coach her in ways to share her faith with the other campers. Since she was there as a camper as well, she wasn't as limited as we all first thought in how much and how she could share with the others. She told us she had a conversation with a girl who was working to teach Savannah some Chinese so they could communicate better about "JC" and that the "M" there is going very well. She appreciated everyone's "PR's" and said for us to continue "PRing" for the "M" there.

Now, in case you couldn't figure all that out:
Dad = God
C = Christian
JC = Jesus Christ
M = Ministry
PR - Pray

I'll be back with an update after I've "debriefed" Savannah on her trip. HA!

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . China

So, our 17yo left on Friday for her 5 week trip to China. Keep her and the others (I believe she said there are 34 of them total) in your prayers. Due to the nature of their trip we will not hear from them often but we are trusting God to keep them safe and do a great work while they are there.

It was really busy around here getting to this point. She was gone to church camp for a week and then home working a week. Then off to a teen/tween retreat we did for our home school group at Lake West Point. The next day she was off to beginner camp as a CIT. Home again on Wednesday afternoon and then off for China on Friday. WOW!

She did call once she arrived in LA to say she left her sleeping bag at the security checkpoint in Atlanta. Hmmm... She was able to borrow an extra set of sheets another girl brought so that was good. Then her friend took this photo and text messaged it. She was lying on the floor at LAX waiting on their flight to Hong Kong. She looked none the worse for wear, at that point only about 36 hours into her trip. She was smiling and looked like she was having a great time.

So, the rest of us are just carrying on without Savannah's laugh and dry humor, waiting for the next 5 weeks to fly by!

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. . . . . . . . . . Graduating Daughter #2

So, this has been my favorite pose of the 4 of them. It was taken after the ceremony. Savannah is on the far right. From left to right are Evan McAvoy, Marilyn Wallace and Jamie Noble, the other graduates. It was a great ceremony! I'm hoping to get some good video off our camera when I have a chance to slow down enough to actually put it on a dvd.




This was Terry about to present Savannah her diploma and give his speech. Seems the most memorable part was something about not ever teaching pigs to dance to because it will annoy the pig. HA! He posted his speech on his facebook page so if I get a chance I'll copy and paste it here for you to read.


Here Savannah and Jamie were singing their duet. The were accompanied by another home school graduate, Garrett Washington. They did an awesome job. Each graduate performed some talent and Jamie and Savannah decided to do theirs together.


And here are the graduates as they move their tassels from one side to the other on their caps. They opted not to wear gowns because the girls didn't want to cover up their dresses. I think they looked beautiful, performed beautifully and the parents speeches were awesome as well as the charge brought by Mr. Boice. Oh, there were also slide shows put to music by each graduate. Those were quite entertaining at times. Especially one look Evan gave his mom for a photo she included in his presentation. PRICELESS!

It was a lovely time for all the families. Even my parents drove out for the ceremony. We tried to get some family photos but the cameras (yes 2 of them) messed up and I don't think we got a good one out of the many that were snapped. Oh well, maybe next time!

. . . . . . . . Prom, Birthday, Stuff

WOW! Again, time has flown by and we have been so busy prepping for events that I've not had time to do more than think "I need to get on blogger and do some typing."



Backing up a bit, we had a wonderful home school prom! I think the kids had a great time and I know the chaperons did! I know I woke up at 7 on Friday morning and didn't sleep again until 3pm on Saturday. WOW! I won't do that again simply because I had a hard time staying awake to drive those girls home. NOT good! I did come close to pulling over and asking my 19yo to drive the rest of the way but I managed. Once I got to sleep I slept soundly for 5 hours and then I was good to go again.



On May 1 I celebrated my 45th birthday. The moms in our home school group surprised me with balloons and cookies and rice krispy treats and all kinds of goodies. I didn't have a clue! Then my sis-in-law took me out to dinner at Olive Garden. YUM! I celebrated all weekend. LOL!



Since then we have been busy with last minute preparations for Savannah's graduation. We are looking forward to that this week and then her focus will be on finishing her prep for her trip to China!



Here are a few prom pictures for you to enjoy!




Group picture before we left Stockbridge







Travis and Jesse all duded up in their tuxes - we have some good looking guys in our group!







<-Girls on the dance floor but looks like they are just talking here.

Guys on the dance floor - you can't tell here but they were watching Travis dance (in the white hat). ->

And here Terry had been showing the kids some dance moves of his own. =)





Next time I get to post will probably be after Savannah's graduation. Hope to be able to share some photos!

.....................WHEW!

I just thought I'd drop in and say I'm here, I'm fine, and I'm exhausted! I've tried several times to write something but just haven't had time lately. So, I'm typing this and heading to bed.

At the moment I'm watching "Romance on the High Seas" with Doris Day. She's one of my favorites! I have several of her movies on my TiVo and I'm trying to get them onto a DVD so I can watch them whenever I want but not have them take up the precious space on my TiVo. LOL!

Today the girls and I helped set up a $5 Christian Book Store. They are opening tomorrow morning at 9am and we got most of the books that have arrived on the tables. We walked and carried books and dug them out of box cubes the size of a pallet. When we got so deep into them we had to turn them on their sides to get the rest of the books out. Savannah was sitting in one and looked like a little 5yo. It was cute but no one had a camera out. LOL!

Anyway, the girls will be working however many hours they can get. I'll be working to fill in for my friend and helping out when she needs me. Probably not very many hours over all but could be quite a few next week.

We've also been busy planning our home school Prom and Graduations and all that goes into getting ready for those. They are coming up WAY too quickly now that we are a week and 5 weeks away from them.

And we have an awesome praise! Our little church collected over 1/2 the money Savannah needs for her mission trip to China. If you would like to help or just read about it, check out her blog.

Well, I'm ready to go to bed so I'll try to write more when I have some time and something semi-interesting to write about. =)

. . . . . . . . . .Ice Cream

Last night we took the kids for ice cream after dinner. Actually it was my sis-in-laws idea and I said okay. LOL! It sure was good! Here are Terry and Skylar enjoying their treats.

Another Soaker

I found another wool soaker pattern to make for my friend. I saw the main part of it on the blog I found it on but there wasn't a picture of it completed as a skirter soaker. I think it turned out quite cute. Here is the link: http://withatangledskein.blogspot.com/2008/02/little-fire-crochet-soaker-pattern.html. They are SO cute! I appreciate the fact she wrote a pattern and shares it for free!

I don't have any wool yet so again, this was made with cotton yarn. So, here is a photo of the progress on the one I've made with the exception of a photo with the drawstring tie in it. I still need to take that picture and upload it to the computer.

By the way, if you want to see the photos larger, just click on them. You can get a really good look that way!

Almost completed - still needs the cuff on one leg.

And here is the cuff close up (sorry it's a bit blurry).










Here we go - completed soaker with the exception of a drawstring.
This is the front...










Here is the waist band area a little closer up...

Here I had started the "skirt" portion of the pattern.
It simply says to repeat until it's the length you want.
I wasn't sure so I asked my 11yo who said this was too short.

And so I added 2 more rows and got this...










Then I crocheted the drawstring and threaded it through.
Here is a close up of how it looks when threaded...










And last but not least, the photo with the edging on the skirt

and the drawstring tied at the front.

I think my friend will love it for her daughter. 8-)

Soakers and Saxophones

Well, it's been a few days and I'm still really busy so this will probably be short. It's been pouring rain here for 3 days and I feel like I need to build a boat. HA! However, it should be done now so maybe we won't mildew too much.

A friend asked me on Tuesday evening if I could make "wool soakers." Hmmm... I'm sure I could if I knew what they were. She explained and I came home and did a search for patterns. I even joined a Yahoo group for people who make them and found some free patterns and photos in their files. WOO HOO! I finally settled on a fairly simple pattern (I think by Anita - will have to post that detail later) and made it in cotton. Took about 6 hours I guess but I finished and must say they look cute. Now I'll work on a revision of sorts because I feel the area between the legs is just too wide. Guess I'll try them on baby before I made any adjustments to the pattern though. Here is a photo of the finished product.

Saturday I spent the day where the girls take band and choir. Sandi had a saxophone solo, saxophone trio and a woodwind trio to play in before a judge. We don't have all the scores just yet but we do know she did pretty well.

I need to finish putting our dinner casserole together and get it in the oven. I'm making it from memory so I hope it turns out to be a delicious as I remember. LOL! Mexican Cornbread Casserole - if you know what I'm talking about and have a recipe to share, send it on!

I said this would be short so I'm going to close for now.

Snow! Smoke! Can I exchange a day?

So, this week was a bit exciting for us. Down here in the south we rarely see snow. We got a good one last Sunday. Depending on where you were around here there was anywhere from 1/2" to several inches. Where my daughter takes saxophone lessons there was still snow around the flowers and on the steps on Wednesday and it was at least 3" deep still. It's only a few minutes drive from where we are and I think we only got a good inch or maybe 2 at the most.

Monday schools were closed for snow that had pretty much melted - at least off the roads. However, it was nice to have an excuse not to get out of the house. Terry went to work and had no problems and it only took him 35 minutes instead of 65.

So, the rest of the week was pretty normal except Thursday. I'd like to back up and just not have this past Thursday. My day started when someone contacted me to ask if the rumor they heard was true. I hadn't heard it from anywhere until that point. Ummm... NOT that I'm aware of currently. Maybe it isn't true. Find out sort of the line of the grapevine and decide I'll wait and find out when I see the people this involves later in the week. I go on with my day.

We attended The Irish Music in the Glen. It was fun to listen to Irish music and learn about the instruments. There was a girl dancing some Irish dances and they taught us how to do an Irish Jig. Well worth the $1 each we paid to watch. Then we headed to lunch with friends and had a great time at Pizza Hut. LOL!

Got home and had Sarah start boiling chicken for the casserole we were having for dinner. We needed to boil chicken and noodles and then put it together so it can bake while we are at the dentist. I was in the back of the house when I smelled smoke, the lights flickered and Skylar yelled all about the same instant and I heard the smoke detector going off. Well, the eye of the stove was on 10 and there was a fire under the burner.

Turns out there was some grease that had spilled under the burner that I wasn't aware of since I'd recently cleaned it. We were out of baking soda and the fire extinguisher needs to be charged. I dumped a box of kosher salt (doesn't work NEARLY as well as baking soda) and then dumped a cup of water which did the trick. Having an attic fan and open windows does a world of good for getting the smoke out of the house!

Now, to figure out how to make dinner when we are needing to leave for the dentist. Thought about dropping a child off at grandma's to boil chicken and noodles and be picked up on the way home. Checked the chicken and the water had gotten hot enough for long enough that the little pieces of chicken were actually done. So, told them to boil the noodles using the microwave. It worked.

Sarah and I head to the dentist for our 6month check up and cleaning. On the way, a phone call from another friend regarding the same rumor from earlier in the day. UGH! Different grapevine totally so I think it over and decide I need to find out sooner than later. I need to look up the number for those it actually concerns and get it from them. No time now... it will have to wait until I get back home. And I wonder, why people are contacting me about it since it has nothing to do with me personally. LOL!

Good visit at the dentist, head home to start putting the casserole together and make a phone call. Turns out rumor is true (we find out from an email that showed up about that time). We are losing our AWESOME choir/band director and his wife who plays piano and teaches the elementary choirs after the end of this school year. BOO HOO! We at HMV are all very sad!

So, my sis-in-law took the casserole to her house and baked it for us while we cleaned up the mess in the kitchen. We made tea and had things ready to eat once she got back with the casserole. Had a good discussion over dinner as usual - which included Skylar's guest who had been there through it all.

Skylar and her guest had a great afternoon riding bicycles and playing in the beautiful 70 degree weather. They were worn out so they got their showers and were in bed at a decent time and sound asleep.

What a week and what a day we had!! Can I send last Thursday back and exchange it for another one? LOL!

BRrrrrr! Baby it's COLD outside!

Savannah enjoying the snowfall yesterday.

So, here in Georgia where I live south of Atlanta, I think it's been a good 7 or 8 years since we've seen more than a flurry or two. So yesterday on the way to church I saw a few "flakes" on the windshield mixed in with the rain. I had a child at home not feeling well so I stayed through breakfast, Sunday school and most of the church service. Savannah was speaking about her upcoming trip to China and when she was done the girls and I left in a flurry of HUGE flakes to get home and check on Sandi.

Sandi was feeling better so we headed to meet the in-laws for lunch and Terry was meeting us there after a short deacon meeting after church. Well, the parking lot was already getting slushy and still HUGE flakes of snow coming down. It was beautiful. On the way home I even took a tiny detour so we could get a few snapshots with a camera one of the girls had with them. I know it's not a lot of snow by most people's standards but we are loving it! And here it is 7 hours later (when I was typing thins) and it is still snowing, though the flakes are a lot smaller now.

Can you find our dog, Amber and our bunny, Thumper in the photos here? They weren't too fond of the white stuff. Here is also our front yard and some trees around our place.