A Taurus No More-us

After 8 years of owning and caring for her, she has decided to call it quits. We tried time and again to give her a chance at life, but she decided that her time with us is done. Of course, once she is in the hands of another family, she'll probably give them 15 years. But that's how it goes, right?

Goodbye!

Hello!

Enjoying your first rain?

Jay is pretty excited about his new ride. I don't know if he's most excited about the car or the fact that he won't be calling the tow truck once a week anymore. Jay came home today and announced that he drove over 35 miles in his own car and did not once worry about stalling in the middle of a busy intersection by the 3,000 student high school--right as school let out. :)

A Weekend Away

The batteries died in my bigger camera and I kept forgetting to charge them. So I am just now uploading these pictures. Of course, I only had my camera out for a few minutes while Jay and I were away. Oh well.

Jay and I went to South Carolina for a clergy/spouse retreat last month. We went with two other couples on staff from our church and had such a great time. Jay and I cannot seem to get over what a beautiful part of the country we live in.

Here is Jay on the beach. Unfortunately, it was too windy to be able to really enjoy.

This is a picture of the cabin we stayed in. It doesn't look that great from the photos, but it was a really nice place. I've never slept at the beach before. What a great experience!! We slept with the windows opened and listened to the waves. I always thought how strange people were to want to live on the beach with hurricanes and all. But now I see why it's such a great thing.

We were told that dolphins were always jumping around out in the water. So I promised the boys a picture of a dolphin. I scanned and scanned the waves, but didn't see a dolphin until my camera bag was already packed. But I found a dead jellyfish on the beach. The boys were pretty impressed. :)

Granny's Visit

My grandma came to visit us for a few days. It was fun to have her out and show her a little bit of our life.

The only pictures I got were of a day at Isaac's first flag football game and a day under the bridge at an Arts Market.

At church on Sunday, Granny was introduced by Isaac and Josiah as their "Great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandma." :)

How many great-grands can fit on a lap??

They were having a pizza picnic in the living room and watching Little House on the Prairie.

Defense!

Isaac's loudest cheerleaders.

Granny and Josiah watching the game

After the game.

It took some coaxing to get a smile out of him. He's suddenly become cool and poses without smiling.

Loving having his Granny!

Granny paid to have some balloons made for the kids. I love Olivia's "cheese!"

Under the bridge

Josiah waited for a few minutes for this lady to finish talking so that he could hold her kitten. He is our animal lover.

Eating and listening to live music

Granny is always amazed at how much my kids can eat.

Granny and the great-grand kids

They watched on, but they were a little unsure of how safe it was to be so close...

to this guy.

I love that Granny thought this was a painting of Elvis.

The artist did this in under 5 minutes.

Josiah was fascinated.

Another animal to pet.

It was so fun to have Granny out to Fleming Island. I love that my kids know and appreciate my grandma so much. Thanks for air mailing her to us, Uncle Gary and Aunt Amy. :)

Josiah's Last Soccer Game

We are so proud of Josiah and how much he improved in the 6 weeks of his first soccer season.

During the first few practices and during the first game, Josiah cried and begged to never go back. He has never done anything on his own before. Isaac's always with him. Once he got the hang of venturing out and enjoying himself, we learned that Josiah is quite the athlete. He had a blast and we had a blast watching him.

Final tunnel

The coach called him the "Ghost." He said that Josiah would vanish and pop back into the game and stun us all.

He received his first medal.

Somehow they always end up together.

We never saw Isaac during Josiah's practices or games. He was usually hanging out with Pedro. After Isaac's first flag football game, he ran into Pedro. Pedro was so excited and said, "I thought I'd never see you again!!"

It's Almost Been A Month!

Let me catch you up. I'll have to do it in stages.

The day after Disney, Josiah got his birthday waffle (1 day late). You can see by his eyes how exhausted we were.

This month, Olivia took her first shower.

She loved it.

Josiah finished his last reading lesson and is such a great reader.

Isaac finished his last day of school.

We celebrated like last year...with Maggie Moo's!

Olivia slept on a pillow for the first time.

I'm not sure why we've waited until now to give her a pillow, but that's just how it happened. She was so proud that she carried it around all day long.

Disney

Magic Kingdom

We learned the art of waiting while at Disney World.

This is the boat ride from our hotel to the park.

Both days were beautiful!

We're here!

Yes, Olivia had her shoes off. She was all about being comfortable.

We arrived right in the beginning of a show at the castle. The boys liked it until the witch from Sleeping Beauty appeared.

To infinity and beyond!!

This is the first thing we did. I can't believe we saw him as soon as we came around the corner.

Dumbo ride

We rode Dumbo, too.

The boys LOVED the tea cups. We had to ride those twice.

Olivia and I waited and waited to catch a snapshot of the guys in the race car. I looked down for a second and here they came! And look who's driving. :)

This was my absolute favorite part of Disney. The parade was a blast and Olivia really got into the dancing.

I love that they are still young enough to really get into the waving at the characters.

He was shooting at Olivia.

Peter Pan ride.

We rode this at about 9:00 that night. We were exhausted, but it was one of the boys' favorites.

It's A Small World is how we finished the night.

Animal Kingdom

Here we are...

Ready for another day!

Posing at the Tree of Life

Drummer Boy

It takes full concentration.

Flick!!

Is this the character from Tarzan?

Olivia wasn't too sure.

Is it safe yet?

Can I come out now??

Baloo gives the best hugs.

Josiah said, "He hugged me and it was dark in there."

I wanna walk like you, talk like you, doobdeedoo.

What a beautiful vine.

Oh, wait. That vine has a face.

We were all mesmerized and a bit weirded out at the same time.

Safari time!

We weren't too sure about this rhino. The tour guide said that it wouldn't hurt us, but there are a few banged up buses because of the rhinos. ha

Poachers? Gun shots? Lost baby elephant?

Whew! We helped save the elephant.

Isaac was ready to get off of the ride by this point. It was all a bit too real for him.

Rainforest Cafe

We were sitting by the loud gorillas.

Happy Birthday, Josiah!!!

5 years!

This is after we ate. How can you tell? Check out Josiah's left leg, shorts, t-shirt, and face. All covered in ketchup. :)

We had fun.

Where's Waldo??

Actually, where are Isaac and Josiah?