Family Photos

Ava's first Auburn Game

Well, I officially stink at blogging!!! I am going to try and do a better job. Everyone is doing well. Ben is enjoying 2nd grade. He is in the cub scouts and he is also taking hip hop at school. They are practicing a routine with Michael Jackson's Beat It...I can't wait to see it! Peter still loves Kindergarten and he is really into Pokemon cards. In fact, he plans on being a Pokemon Card artist when he grows up. Ava is enjoying pre-k and she is doing SO well. Her teachers and therapists really think that she is going to catch up with her peers. In the last month or so I have seen so much improvement in her receptive language. I think her adenoid/tonsil/nut removal surgery has made a world of difference.

I have uploaded several pix from the summer and this fall to try and catch up...here they are.

This past weekend we traveled to see our China travel group for our first year reunion. It was so good to see all of the families and their girls. Everyone has is doing great and the girls were all adorable. I can't believe it has been a year.October 2008

November 2007

Our Sweet Ava November 2007

Here are several beach pictures from this summer

Granddaddy helping the boys build their sand castle

Grandmamma and Ava

Josie

Ava piling sand on Granddaddy

Ava and Josie enjoying the tub

The "triplets"

Ben went to drama camp this summer. There performance was from Dr Seuss

The Set

peeking out at the audience

Ben beatboxing

More beach photos...Ben's first golf outing

Peter and Ava take their bath together...here are some of them the other night enjoying their bubbles:

These are some pictures from Callaway Gardens...Peter was not happy to be in the tree

Donna and Jim watch the kids during several football games in the fall. The boys

started having fall festivals a couple of years ago and it has really grown. This year there was a hay ride, a scavenger hunt, a pine cone relay, a maze and even a wood chopping competition.

Kim and Ava

Granddaddy and Grandmama (I forgot to add that there was a back drop for photo ops)

Peter at the craft store


Here we are chopping wood

Granddaddy shows us how it is done

This was the free transportation

Family Hayride

Happiest boy on earth

Here is a video of the pine cone relay.

First Day of School

I have mixed feelings about school starting. Part of me is thrilled that I finally may be able to accomplish some things around the house, but I dread the whole morning routine of trying to get everyone out of the door! We were able to get everyone to bed pretty much on time last night, but that still didn't matter to Ben. Both Peter and Ava were already in our bed and got up pretty easily. Ava was up and ready to eat breakfast and Peter was up and ready to have some chocolate milk. I woke up a groggy Ben and carried him into our room...he was very upset that it was still dark outside. I put him in my bed, turned on the t.v. and brought him some chocolate milk to ease him into the day. For the last couple of years that has been our morning routine for school. The boys would get in our bed and drink CM while watching t.v. Ben pretty much just uses that time for more sleep....today was no different. Once they were up, everything went pretty smooth. They got dressed, we took our annual pictures and headed to Ava's school first.

For some reason, the flash didn't work when taking the boy's pictures.

Ben went to morning asembly without a problem. He has been going to this school since pre-k, so he knows the routine. He is not one to let you know if he is anxious, but he did finally admit yesterday that he was a little excited about going back to school so he could see his friends.

Peter has been excited about going back to school; he loves school and misses his friends...especially Abigail. I took him to his classroom and he put his book bag away, found his seat and got started on the puzzle on his desk. I was glad to see that he was seated next to Charlotte, the sister of one of Ben's best friends (Leo). Peter barely even noticed when I left.

Ava was all smiles here, but it didn't last. She got very upset when I dropped her off. It broke my heart to see her crying as the teacher's aide took her away. The boys got very upset too. Peter started to cry and asked me why I was making her go to school on the first day. They were both so sweet. I know that she will have fun and like school once she gets into her classroom, but a part of me worries about what she was thinking when I dropped her off. I wanted her to know that I was going to be coming back to get her. She has gone through so much in her life and we are the fourth place that she has lived (as far as we know) and I want her to understand that we will always be her family. I don't know if she really knows that.

Summer Fun with Virginia

My sweet niece, Virginia, is here and the kids are having such a good time with her. When we are home, I actually hardly ever see them...they go down to the playroom and play for hours. Sunday we went to White Water and we all really had a good time. I didn't bring my camera, but if you've ever been to White Water, you know that some of the sites you don't want to remember (I just don't understand why every pregnant person now feels that they need to wear a bikini). Anyway, the kids were cute and they loved the rides.

Kati happened to pack two dresses of Virginia's that Ava has so I dressed them alike for church on Sunday...they looked so cute. What was even cuter though was Peter and Virginia holding hands walking into church.

We had a pretty busy day yesterday too. Ava has a door plaque on her door that I made that Virginia liked so after Ava's speech therapy, we went to the craft store to buy some stuff to make one for her. Virginia and Peter also bought some crafts to paint. On the way home, we stopped off at the drug store for some milk shakes and then off to Blockbuster for some video games and movies. So last night we did crafts for a while and then the big kids went downstairs to play and watch movies with Derek while I put Ava to bed. I forgot to mention that I also brought out the play-doh for Ava to play with. So right now, I think that every room in our house is a disaster area. You always hear people say that with each child, you become more and more relaxed about what they do. Well, she is definitely the first one that I have let play with play-doh in the living room. It dries up and actually comes out of carpet pretty easily. It is not like it is any worse than all of the danimal/gogurt spills that the living room rug has suffered. (please call 2 hours in advance before stopping by)

I just got up and went into the boys room to tell them something and they are now grouping all of the stuffed animals and putting them on Peter's bed. Peter has a lot of stuffed animals...he has quite a large Care Bear collection. They are having so much fun so who cares that they are making a mess and that I just saw Ava walk by with green play-d0h in her hands.(please call 3 hours in advance before stopping by)

Today we are going to take it easy and just hang out by the pool. Maybe I will clean up later.

Our Wall Art

Peter wanted his on here too

Look Who Has Glasses Now

Isn't she the cutest thing?!

We took Ava to her follow up eye doctor appointment this week and she is now wearing glasses. The last time that we went, the doctor told us that she was far sighted, but just outside the normal limits for a child. He didn't think that she needed glasses at that time, but wanted to follow up in a couple of months to see how she was doing. It seems that she crosses her left eye when she tries to focus, this is called accomodative esotropia. Ben was given glasses (and patch) for amblyopia and anisometropia. Really big words which mean that his eyes were seeing unequally and the brain was starting to favor the better eye. I never knew that there were so many long words to describe eye conditions. I was hoping (for both of them) that their vision would be corrected easily and they wouldn't need glasses long term, but it looks like they both will be wearing them for years. They both look really cute in their glasses. I wanted to take a picture of them together, but was only able to get Ava to cooperate tonight. Ben has had a few things not go his way tonight so he is not in the greatest of moods. On top of that, he just got home from spending several days at one of his favorite places, Jim and Donna's, and he is exhausted!

New Found Cute Photos of the Boys

Summer 2006
Ben is 5, Peter is 3













I love our bug man (Richard). I know that is odd, but he is a really nice guy. He is from our town, but, until recently, he lived about 30 min. away. He has moved back to the area and the last time he was spraying our house he asked if our church had a website. I knew that we did, but I had never even looked at it. We have a pretty small church and we are pretty active in it so I never really felt the need to look at the website to see what was going on. After finding the website, I found some of the cutest photos of the boys at VBS over the years. I remember the first year Ben went to VBS and how much fun he had, especially during the games. This was our first year at the church. Everyone there was wonderful and welcomed us with open arms. It is a very small church, most of the members have been going there all of their lives and almost everyone is related. They have never made us feel like outsiders, but have included us as if we were family. Moving to this area has been challenging for me at times. I don't know what I would've done if we would not have found this church.

Thank you Richard for leading me to our website and old photos of the kids enjoying VBS. It helped me to value what I do have here in a time that I really need it. I have been feeling really down and home sick lately. We just got back from visiting some of my family at the beach and it really made me want to move near them. I still wish that I could have some of my family around and I would really love to live near them. It would be wonderful to be able to see my sister's and their kids on a regular basis, but right now that is really not something that we can do. I am just thankful for the wonderful friends that I have made at Mt Zion.

VBS 2004

Ben LOVING the freeze game

Ben loves that his dad helps with recreation

This is the only picure we have of Peter that year. He is sitting on Lisa's lap across from Morgan on Christine's lap.

VBS 2006

Ben loved digging for treasure

Our group of "Treasure Seekers"

Lexi and Ben wrapped in newspaper

Derek and Jonathan demonstrating the game
Lexi and Ben as partners
Peter making a silly face
The younger group gets to dig for treasure too. That is Morgan next toPeter...she is still one of his favorites at church.

Blowing Bubbles

Peter and Morgan

Unfortunately, no psychological testing is done on the leaders

VBS 2007

Peter joins Ben with the older group

Derek and Johnny

Doing the VBS "moves"

Patricia, Carol and Susan...I would love to know what they are looking at

I just thought this was a funny picture of Kim...I'm sure she will love to see this here!