trooper island

we recently got the chance to spend a few days at trooper island - one of my all time favorite places! it is an island located in dale hollow lake that is run by the ky. state police. they run week long camps all summer long for kids who would not otherwise be able to afford camp. when i was a kid, it was a boys camp. me and my sisters would go every summer with our dad. imagine us girls on an island full of boys! we loved it. i hadn't been back there in 15 years. it was so wonderful to go back and share it with my husband and kids. the kids had a great time walking along the beach collecting shells. the weather was perfect. it was us and my parents-we had the island to ourselves! we cannot wait to go back!!

pumpkin time!

it was so fun to actually grow our own pumpkins and squash this year. we had fun decorating our pumpkins last night. kaylee and koleman are showing off their creations :)

3D adventure

we saw our first 3D movie last night-cloudy with a chance of meatballs. it was so much fun! aunt becky got in on the action, too. koleman had to concentrate really hard to keep the glasses on his tiny little head. (he gave them up shortly into the movie) i think kaylee would give this movie 2 thumbs up. she was slapping her knee and cracking up through the whole thing. we had originally gone to see the wizard of oz but it was sold out (who woulda thought?) but we definately liked this movie and had a blast.

time flies...

"kole go kool, too" :(


the day i have dreaded for 4 yrs finally came--the 1st day of school :(

she started on 8/12 and is going to the "singing bridge academy", sounds real exclusive, doesn't it? :) it is MWF 8-11 and she absolutely loves it! her 2 best friends, carson and lacey are in her class. between the 3 of them we get a full report on each day.

yesterday, she was picked to take home a class "pet" aka stuffed animal - mr. quackers. he came with an overnight bag and everything. she was so excited!

my little girl is growing up......

God Bless America!!!!

(making banana ice cream-yummo!)

we are so thankful and blessed to live in this wonderful country! God has blessed us so abundantly. we had a great time celebrating with family and friends. kaylee was so excited to finally get to wear her "first of July dress" :) they were so cute doing their little photo shoot with me. they are growing so fast. kaylee starts preschool august 12th. koleman is wearing big boy underwear. where did my babies go? they are so wonderful!

can't we just buy our food at kroger??

men are so funny. this is our first garden venture so in my mind we are gonna have a little trial garden. well, as you can see from the pictures, my husband had a very different idea in mind! he plowed a field!!! but it's been fun. the kids love getting in there and helping. my parents always had a garden and i helped when i was little but i haven't worked in a garden since then. i am enjoying it, though. i forgot how fun it is to get my hands in the dirt. i was going to pull weeds the other day but couldn't find any. i was really impressed by how the corn was growing, though. then mike informed me that the "corn" was really johnson grass! i guess i have a little to learn about gardening...

fishin' fun

i don't want to carry the tackle box!

our little "fisherwoman"

it looks cool but i'm not so sure...

"here fishy, fishy"

worm pickin' is serious business!

we had a wonderful memorial day weekend with lots of family time. kaylee had been dying to use her new barbie fishing pole that she got for her birthday (thanks, neena!). she has been practicing and is really good at casting and reeling it in. we lost count of how many fish she caught. she loved it. kole had a great time, too, but was way more preoccupied with seeing the cows and riding the pony. he is definitely my farmboy.

mother of the year?

i am sitting here eating a banana split and thin mints, trying to recover from a very traumatic afternoon.  i just about killed my childrens' "best friend" (as kaylee so lovingly refers to her).   for any of you who don't know who lydia is, she is our guinea pig.  for all of you who do know who lydia is, you also know how much i desperately hate her.  and the fact that everyone feels the need to remind me that i just had to have her, makes me hate her that much more.  well, back to my traumatic afternoon:   this morning, we took her out to the back deck so that i could clean out her cage.  i am very easily distracted so i never actually got around to cleaning the cage out.  i played in the yard with the kids and then i remembered that i had promised to bring mike lunch out at the farm.  so we spent several hours playing at the farm in the nice warm weather.  i decided that i would let the kids play at the farm while i went home to clean (such a blessing in disguise).  as soon as i walked in the front door, i remembered that i had left lydia outside.  i wasn't too worried until i saw her laying outside of her little igloo in the scorching sun - uh-oh.  when i brought her inside,  she was completely lifeless and breathing really hard. now, i cannot tell you have many times i have wished that she would die but i sure as heck did not want to be the one who killed her!!  i knew i was definitely in danger of losing my "mother of the year" title.  i was immediately trying to decide what my story would be because no one was ever going to know that i was the one who killed her.  i was completely freaked out.  i called the vet and they told me to wrap her in cold towels and put rubbing alcohol on her ears and paws.  so now i am not only completely freaked out, i am also completely grossed out.  i do not like dead things or even almost dead things and here i am sitting on my kitchen floor, trying to revive a half dead rat.  after doing everything the vet said, she was not getting any better.  so - i rushed her to the vet.  i never in my life dreamed that i would take a guinea pig to the vet.   i don't know if i was more motivated by the fact that i thought the vet could help her or that i just did not want a dead guinea pig on my kitchen floor.  either way, a few minutes later i am standing in the vet's office holding a half dead guinea pig (in a box of course) and crying.  yes, i was crying.  they took her straight back and started giving her fluids.  slowly, she started to revive.  while we were back there, i could hear people coming in and the receptionist was telling them "it will be a few minutes, there has been an emergency".  i thought that was really funny.  so after about 15 minute in the office, i was on my  way back home with a groggy but pretty alert guinea pig and a vial of antibiotics to administer twice a day.  so even though she's not completely out of the woods; the vet said her prognosis was "guarded", i think she's gonna pull through.  i am going to go polish my "mother of the year" trophy now. 

happy easter!

we did the yearly "pictures with the huge creepy bunny" last weekend.  koleman was thoroughly freaked out.  however, all it took was a piece of candy to undo the damage.  once he was a safe distance away, he even waved and said "bye bye eastie bunny".  the kids are looking forward to decorating easter eggs tonight.  koleman can't wait to get more "eastie teets" (easter treats).  

i hope that everyone has a very blessed weekend and remembers the real meaning of easter.  it has absolutely nothing to do with easter bunnies or candy.  its all about a loving Savior who was willing to pay the ultimate price for our sins.  i am so thankful to serve a God who loves me that much.  

queen of sass

my little girl is growing so fast i cant stand it! she is so much fun. she is so outgoing and funny. i cant believe she is going to be 4 soon!

where's koleman??

could he be any cuter?? i LOVE my little man! he is so much fun and such a blessing to us. even though he has pretty much secured his spot as the youngest, we love him so much and cannot imagine our family without him.

happy valentine's day!

happy valentine's day (a little early)! we had our annual valentine banquet at church last night. it was such a great time. the kids loved all the decorations. kaylee and her friend carson have gotten their picture taken together at the banquet since they were babies. i need to find them all and keep them together. its so cute to see how they have grown. koleman had a great time, too. it seems that kaylee gets bigger and looks older everyday. she was so cute last night so i got some extra pictures of her. she's a little poser - i don't know where she gets it! : ) hope everyone has a great valentine's day.

snow, snow and more snow............

what a crazy winter! im sure everyone has heard about the ice and snow that has hit ky. lots of people have been without power for over a week. today we got hit again and already have at least 3 more inches on top of what was already there. its pretty- but no fun for those without electricity and those having to work out in this mess. for those of you who long for snow - enjoy the pix!