Jackson Lake 2012: A Family Tradition or Two

This is the yearly seawall picture of the grandkids lined up in birth order. This year we were missing the water.
This year Nana wanted an updated family picture. 

 By the end of this photo time we felt like this:

 This year we participated in the Chick-fil-a Cow Appreciation Day. It was loads of fun. We didn’t get a picture of all the calves lined up 1-12. Too Cute!

Here is my little herd:

Jackson Lake 2012: Fun on the Land

This year we had a blow up slip and slide for three days. We like to add soap to make it more slippery. 

 The girls liked fishing in the little pool.

 We enjoyed a pig one night in addition to a few oysters.

 Cards and a few fireworks are always fun memories.

 Uncle Dan read a story to all of the younger girls one night before bed.

 We had a silly string fight on Thursday.

Look at these sweet girls. Numbers 9 and 10.
 Numbers 11 and 12!

Summer Lovin’

This summer has been extremely busy but so much fun. one days can be exhausting and challenging, but I will never again have a summer with a 7 year old, 5 year old, 4 and 1 year old. I am also confident that we will look back on these days and smile. I pray that we will make fun memories this summer and that my kids will always remember there first summer in Georgia! 

The Baby: Sadie at 20 months

I am SO behind writing this letter. I am tempting to just wait to write her 2 yr letter, but I know I need to keep it FAIR:)

What words do I use to describe Miss Sadie Grace? Crazy. Funny. Spunky. Screamy. Smart.

As of June 11, she is potty-trained and doesn’t have a pacifier. She is very challenging or very funny. I am SURE that the challenging part is just a phase. Right? She screams when she wants something, she screams she doesn’t get her way, and screams “hold you” when she wants to be held.  She wants to be held often, and demands it often. Don’t get me wrong, she is the sweetest and funniest thing ever. I can be laughing at her and then all of the sudden, you better watch out!
She loves watermelon, which she calls Nella.

I look forward to her learning to play with Jake, Judd and Anna Kate. There are times that she will play with them if they are chasing her, and honestly, when she’s in the mood.

Sadie is a great sleeper. She sleeps every night from 8-8 and naps for almost 3 hours every afternoon. She must have her “bank” blanket to sleep and don’t try to give her a fake imitate blanket.

She loves to make us laugh. She likes to wink at us and tell everyone her name is “Shadie.” She also takes roll call every morning when she wakes up. Everyone asks me is she knows how to WALK or does she always run everywhere she goes.

I pray everyday that I will remember the fun memories and laughing more than the exhaustion of this little one year old.

I absolutely love this little sport model!



PreTeen Camp

During the month of June, we have been very busy and out of town almost every week. The week of June 26-28 we were blessed to be apart of PreTeen Camp. Jim was the camp speaker and we could go as a family to enjoy the camp together. We spent our time swimming and playing with the PreTeens.

Let’s set the stage for the following picture. When we first arrived on Tuesday, I realized that I left Sadie’s crib at home and Jim’s bag which included the message that he was going to preach in about 45 minutes after arrival and all of his messages for the rest of the week. We were a bit stressed. Did I mention that we had been in the car with Sadie for almost 2 hours? Have I mentioned before that Sadie isn’t a fun car rider? 
Moving right along…while we were at Norman Park we stayed in a 2 bedroom “house.” It also included an office area. I decided that we would set up Sadie’s bed in the office so that she would have her privacy to nap and sleep at night. It didn’t take long to realize that Sadie didn’t want to sleeping in her crib that we were loaned.  She kept crawling out and LOCKING the door so that we couldn’t get in to get her. Just when I was about to panic each time she would unlock it and come see with a sweet smile. This went on for about and hour. Needless to say, I found a key!

Wednesday we went to Wild Adventures and it was a lot of fun. The kids enjoyed the kids and the water park. Jim and I almost yacked  after riding several of the spinning rides. I think that we are too old for those rides.

 As I mentioned above, we spent time swimming but did I mention that we went swimming at 9:30 both nights. They had a blast pretending they were all grown up.

A Day at Go Fish

This morning I decided to take the kids to Go Fish just a few miles from Mom’s house. We originally went because I thought they were doing a special on turtles, however, the “special” turned out to be a movie about turtles and Sadie was.NOT.interested. Needless to say, we didn’t watch for very long before moving on to all of the fun at Go Fish. We will definitely be returning sometime soon.

We enjoyed seeing all of the fish and other wildlife but our favorite activities were:

  • the catch and release pond
  • the interactive shooting room
  • the interactive fishing and boating simulators


 
Judd was able to catch a fish while we were there. Did I mention I took four children fishing? It was busy but fun! I was excited that one of them caught a fish. 
I kept waiting but they stopped biting. Maybe next time he will catch a one that weighs 10lbs! 

The Museum of Aviation and Bowling

This summer we have been busy traveling but when we are in town I am trying to spend sometime going places with the kids and enjoying our new town. Last summer, we went on a field trip every week with a great group of families and we learned a lot about Memphis. This year I wanted to do the same thing. Today we went for a repeat visit to the Museum of Aviation so that we could see Hanger 2 and Hanger 3.

We returned home for a few hours and then went bowling. We are having FUN this summer!