Punxsutawney Phil Comes For A Visit

We were the Kindergarten family chosen for Phil to spend the weekend with. Sydney has been waiting 12 weeks for this little guy to visit. He's a lot of fun. He did wander away a lot. All weekend all we heard from Syd was "where is Phil?" and "where did he wander off to?". That actually means where did she leave him. He's been a busy guy: carpool, fishing, park, church and the mall. Oh the adventures. The picture with all the kids in it would be the carpool gang. My car can get very loud.

Corning Museum of Glass

We spent about an hour at the Museum of Glass before we left. They recomend 2-3 hours. A museum of glass isn't the place for Syd. She doesn't walk she bounces. The favorite part for both girls was getting to watch a vase get made. They were just amazed at how it happend.

This was our favorite exibit. The hanging glass knives. They just looked so cool. I didn't take a picture of the whole exhibit. The kives were hanging and under them on the floor were houses. Not sure what they were trying to express. Syd and Madi thought it meant the people in the house were going to die. My thought was terrorist attack. Made ya think.
One of many beautiful stained glass pieces. The most beautiful.
Syd loved the fruit.
The girls pretending to make glass.
This was a tower Corning dish ware. They ask you to guess how many dishes it tooki to make the tower. I believe it was 684. All I could think of was lots and lots of pot luck at church. Thank goodness our church now is too big for pot luck. We had a lot of fun in our quick hour.

Homecoming Football Game

Madison and Sydney cheering on the Knights to victory.
Final score 27-26 Knights win. And the crowd went crazy.
The girls wanted a picture with a cheerleader. This cheerleader was the daughter of Madi's kindergarten teacher. The girls asked if they can pick a new cheerleader every year for a pic.
The girls in action. I didn't get a picture of it but Madi and Sydi along with friends kept trying to copy the cheerleaders. Tomorrow we will be back at the school for more sports action.

Flag Pinning Ceremony

The pics aren't great because we were doing video also. Every year the K. class puts on a flag pinning ceremony. They sing all kinds of patriotic songs and do some poems. We went to the program and then jumped in the car and headed to New York last week. I have a little video footage and I'm trying to figure out how to get it on here. Maybe you'll see it and maybe you won't. They song they are singing is in Latin. It's the school song. I believe it means: Not to us oh Lord but to you be the glory forever. I hope it plays.

Flowers At Grandmas House

When we got there my Mom had dresses that she had made the girls. The temp. was in the 60's and they insisted on wearing them.

Before we hit the road to come back to North Carolina my Mom gave them ice cream bars. Sugar them up before they get in the car.

The front of my Mom's house was covered in morning glories. The girls just loved them. They loved going out in my Mom's flower gardens. Sydney kept picking them. My Mom showed them how to find dry pods on the morning glories and get seeds out. The girls have many, many seeds to plant in the spring for their own morning glories.

OWEGO, NEW YORK

For the few days in New York Madison kept asking to see the Indian Princess grave. On the day we were to head home we made a quick stop. When you are down in the town you can see the grave up on the hill. The girls loved the view from up on the hill. They aren't use to mountains. It was just beautiful.

Back From New York

I'm so sorry Mel that I didn't get to see you. Everything was so unexpected. I'll have more pictures to post as the week goes. We arrived in New York at 11:30 pm on thursday. We stayed with my mom that night. On friday we got up and headed over to Corning, New York. We stayed at a hotel to be near my sister. We left to come back sunday night. It was such a sad time. We are able to hold on to the fact that my brother-in-law was a born again christian and is in Heaven. I'll post more pictures from the trip in the next few days.

Signing Off For A Few Days

My sister Sharyl's husband John passed away. We don't have very much information because my sister is actually out of the country on a mission trip. She is expected to get back to New York tomorrow evening. I just can't imagine. Just keep us all in your prayers.

Remembering

Madison had just turned 2 the month before. We got up and turned on the news to see a building on fire. Then I saw a plane and thought they couldn't see the other building in the smoke. I never thought they were actually trying to hit the building. We found out a few days later that we were going to have another baby (Sydney). I just thought I'm bringing a baby into a very scary world. I just wanted to share some memories from that day.

These words are from a song by Bucky Covington. It's not a patriotic song it's just about how different the world is from when we were younger.

We were born to mothers who smoked and drankOur cribs were covered in lead-based paintNo childproof lidsNo seatbelts in carsRode bikes with no helmetsand still here we areStill here we are
We got daddy’s belt when we misbehavedHad three TV channels you got up to changeNo video games and no satelliteAll we had were friends and they were outsidePlaying outside
It was a different lifeWhen we were boys and girlsNot just a different timeIt was a different world
School always started the same everydaythe pledge of allegiance, then someone would praynot every kid made the team when they triedWe got disappointed but that was alrightWe turned out alright
It was a different lifeWhen we were boys and girlsNot just a different timeIt was a different world
No bottled waterWe’d drink from a garden hoseAnd every Sunday,All the stores were closed.
It was a different lifeWhen we were boys and girlsNot just a different timeIt was a different world
It was a different lifeWhen we were boys and girlsNot just a different timeIt was a different world
It was a different world

The Pond Is Done

Thomas finished the pond. Now we just need to finish planting around it. Now he and Sydney will fill it with frogs.

Ok Mom Here They Are

Today I pulled out the sewing machine. It hasn't really seen a lot of action from me. My puts it to work when she visits. I made the red drapes today. I did okay. I think I might laugh someday when we sell the house if someone asks for them. I wish my mom had been here to make them for me.

This Post Is For You Mel

I don't have a scanner but I thought I'd show you a couple pages I worked on the other night. Can you tell I'm a Creative Memories scrapper?

A Great Find

Thomas is hard at work building us a pond at the new house. He had done one at the old house and we left it. We're thinking of moving again and we just weren't sure if we wanted to do that work again. We found out due to taxes we have to stay here at least 2 years and decided to do a pond. A few weeks ago when we were out looking at houses someone had all these rocks out by the road. I joked and said maybe they're throwing them away. Tom went and knocked on the door and sure enought they were. He said he bought them and his wife didn't like them. Oh to have that kind of money. We got $300 worth of rock for nothing. We filled the back of the Honda Pilot and now Tom is at work.

Out on the Lake again.

Madison on the ride home. She was excited to go to Chick-fil-a with her coupon for dinner.

We are under a severe drought here in North Carolina. We're at the point now where they are going to start monitoring water usage in your home. They said they will be watching the usage of the water hogs and want to see it drop. When we first moved down here almost 5 years ago they had a drought. The college campuses were using porta johns. Ewwww gross. The above sign was posted at the lake next to the dock.
I didn't take the camera out this time. I took some pics from the shore to show the drought concitions. When we came in off the lake another boat in front of us had a big chunk of the motor gone from hitting the bottom. The depth finder would go from 8ft. to 40ft. just depended where.

Thomas and Michael cleaning up the boat from our great day out.

Sydney just before she fell asleep in the car and missed eating Chick-fil-a. When she got up this morning she ate if for breakfast. I hope you all have a great Labor Day weekend.

What's Been Going On And A Night At The Ball Park

We've just been busy with school. It's a hard year for Madison. She is enjoying it though. Sydney just loves it. She was the first person in her class to move her bee. That is what you do when your a little or a lot shamefull. Tom told her she was a pioneer. The next day she came home from school and said that someone else was a pioneer too. We've also been trying to spend as much time at the pool as possible before the season ends. We've also finished painting the whole house and are now working on all the trim work. It never ends.



We spent the evening at the Ball Park watching the Durham Bulls. Thomas got us some free tickets from work. I didn't know it when but they are first place in the division and they were playing the 2nd place team. It was packed. The girls had an okay time. They just wanted to know when there would be fireworks. At the end they said it was worth watching the boring game just to see the fireworks. I'm glad they liked the fireworks and food. They also liked the 2 slides to home plate.

A few weeks ago we went to a picture party. It's just like all the other parties except you meet someplace and get your pictures taken. We went to the campus of Duke University. It was just beautiful. Those are just 2 of the many pictures we had to pick from. It was so much fun to have a professional photographer take your pics and not some person at the mall.

Happy Birthday Madison

And you're Daddy's Little Girl You're the end of the rainbow My Pot of Gold You're Daddy's Little Girl to have and hold A precious gem is what you are You're Mommy's Bright and shining star. You're the spirit of Christmas My star on the tree You're the Easter Bunny to Mommy and me. You're sugar You're spice You're everything nice and you're Daddy's Little Girl. You're the end of the rainbow My Pot of Gold You're Daddy's Little Girl to have and hold A precious gem is what you are You're Mommy's Bright and shining star. You're the spirit of Christmas My star on the tree You're the Easter Bunny to Mommy and me You're sugar You're spice You're everything nice and you're Daddy's Little Girl.
by, Al Martino

Tears or Cheers

Grandma here is the Bell Tower at the school. The Grandparent money fund at work.

Sydney the BIG Kindergarten girl.
The car ride on the way to school.
My beautiful school girls. I just can't belive it.
Madison the 2nd grader. She is so grown up.
Today was the first day of school. They have a thing for kindergarten mom's called tears or cheers. I don't go because I'm usually crying too hard and I've got to get back and baby sit. K thru 2nd are in the same hall and Madi keeps telling us that the 2nd grade class is the head of the hall. She is very excited. She will begin learning Latin this year. She tells me soon she can talk about me and I won't know what she is saying. Oh Joy!!!! Sydney told Tom and I it was time for us to go home and leave her alone.