Preschool

Cade was so excited about his home visit today from his preschool teachers. . .Mrs. Fuller and Mrs. Kerns came to our house today to meet with Cade. They brought their friend, Hermie, the hermit crab and Fuzzy Bear to meet Mr. Cade. Cade was very shy at first. . he didn't really talk very much. He just smiled alot and those of you who know him well, know the way he does his mouth when he is nervous. =) But it didn't take him long to warm up to them, and start telling them about his vacation this summer, and went and showed his turtles to them!!!! Mrs. Fuller introduced Hermie the crab to Cade. In his preschool class this year the students get to take turns feeding him. Cade is excited about his turn to feed the class crab!!!!
This is Fuzzy Bear. . . Mrs. Fuller explained to Cade that Fuzzy Bear gets to come home with him and spend the night with our family for 2 nights this school year. Then we will write in his journal what we did with Fuzzy. Cade is giving him some hugs!! Who knows??? We might take Fuzzy Bear to a football game or to get some ice cream at McDonald's!!!!
I still can't believe that my little boy is big enough to go to preschool. Say a BIG prayer for me on Friday. . .because I think I will be the one having a tough time with this . . . not Cade!!!!!!

First Day of School

Ian and Macey started school today. Ian is in the 5th grade and his teachers are Mrs. Guillon and Mrs. Carroll. He was really happy with his teachers. They are team teachers, and he will have one for part of his classes and the other for the rest. I think this will be really good for Ian because it will help him get ready for middle school.

Macey got Mrs. Keyes. She is new at Jefferson this year. She graduated from college last year, and is so sweet. Macey loves her. The only thing Macey isn't happy about this year is that her class is in the modular unit in the back of the school. She was a little unsure about this, but when I picked her up this evening. . .she was good!

It is hard to believe that school has already started. .My kids are growing up too fast!!! Mr. Cade starts school on Friday. . . That will be a very difficult day for mommy =(

Ian's 10th Birthday

Ian had his "Best Buds" over for a sleepover to celebrate his 10th birthday. Hunter Hite, Tyler and Tanner Holt, and Alex White came over and we took them all to see UnderDog. After the movie everyone came home and had pizza, and then went outside to play kick the can until midnite. . . The kids had a blast playing outside with flashlights. . .even my biggest kid, James. . . He almost injured Ian and Cade though. . .At least it was our own kids instead of anyone else's.


Ian Cheesing for a picture right before we cut into the Cookie Cake. . .
The whole gang with their cool Head flashlights that James got the kids when we went to the beach. They were crab hunting flashlights!! Yeah, I know, CRAZY!! James is funny that way!! The kids thought they were really cool though. . .and they worked great for the game.

Alex, Ian, Tanner and Tyler sitting at the table eating breakfast. . . Everyone had a great time. . They are getting ready to go outside and pass some football one more time. . . School starts Monday, so they will all see each other lots more in the next few weeks. . . Thanks guys for making Ian's birthday one of the BEST!!!! Happy Birthday Ian!!

Macey's Basketball Camp

Macey attended Sunnyside's Basketball Camp this week. . . to all or our surprise. Any of you that know Macey, she typically isn't the most athletic child in our home. . . But she impressed all of this week by choosing to attend Basketball camp. Ian didn't want to go, because of all of the running he has been doing the past 3 weeks, so Macey took this one on all by herself!!!!

Here she is getting out of the van wearing her t-shirt that she won!!! She has had a Great Week!!!!












This was her team, that came in first place during the games portion of the camp. Coach Warren announced the team as the first place team, and said they won because of their "7 foot Center" ---Macey Allen. . . . We all laughed, considering Macey is the shortest one there!!!!!! She giggled and went up to recieve her award. . .and then she got the award for Best Sportmanship also. . .She had a great week, and enjoyed all of the "attention" she got for being so little!!! =)

Warrior's Path

We went to Warrior's Path park today to let the kids play on the playground. . . We ran into the Mumpower's when we got there, and imposed on their "First Annual Back to School Picnic". They had decided to start having a picnic this year, and we just invited ourselves to join them. Thanks Amie!!! and Pat!!! The kids played for an hour or so, and then I had to take Macey to Basketball camp at church. Ian stayed with Parker at the playground,and Cade and I took Macey to camp, while Amie went and picked up Pal's for the kids. . . I didn't get my camera until after I took Macey to camp, therefore the reason she isn't in any of the pics. . .Sorry Macey. The kids had a great time playing together. . . Summer is almost over. . .and Back to School will be here in 5 more days. . . . So hard to believe. . .

Rainy weather

What is the deal with all of this rain??? We haven't had a sunny day since we got home from the beach. . . I have had to go to the tanning bed to maintain my tan!! =) Hopefully we will get some sunshine this week.

This is our last week of summer vacation before school starts. . . Macey and Ian are looking forward to starting school, but also dread summer ending. . . We have had such a GREAT summer!! I hate to see it come to an end. .But our next event coming up is Football Season!!! It is the BEST sports season of all!!

The kids get to meet their teachers this week, and are looking forward to that. We are also going to get school supplies this week, which is exciting, especially for Cade!!!

Macey is getting ready to audition for another play. The theatre season runs the same as the school year, so she is excited about getting started with that again also. She also wants to play fall soccer. She got really good this past spring, so much more aggressive than she used to be.

We are going to let Cade play soccer this fall--he is old enough--which is so hard for me to believe!!! He wants to play though, so we will try it and see how he does. . . We just thought we were busy running 2 kids from one place to another. . . Three will be a challenge--MOST DEFINETLY!!! But I love it!!

James 35th Birthday

Happy Birthday James!!!!!

Here is Cassie being Dorky!!! James wanted me to pretend I was eating his ice cream--so this is my "dramatic" version of eating his Ice Cream cone! Love this pic!! NOT!

We celebrated James' Birthday last night with the Wallen's at the new ice cream shop downtown called Discovery Ice Cream. It was really cool. The kids were able to make what Ice Cream they wanted in a large robot. Nicole has this deal with really cute small things. . and she absolutely loved this "little spoon" She is a clepto, and took a few to take home for her collection!!!

Cade was very proud of his ice cream that he created by himself!!! Very Cool Cade!!! He is such a cutie. . . Gotta love that cute little face!!!

Watching Ian make his Ice Cream --- We just picked Ian up from Children's Camp so we were so glad to get him home with us!!! We missed you Ian!!!

It was really neat. Nicole got James a T-shirt from Pal's that he really wanted (and had been unable to find) So he was really happy with his t-shirt!! Thanks Nicole!!

Sea World

Well, Sea World was everything the kids thought it would be and MORE! Ian, Macey and Cade abosolutely loved the dolphins! We went an extra step and decided to feed them. Macey wasn't too excited over the concept of having to touch a dead fish, but she did it and was so glad that she did!! They are so sweet and gentle. As some of you know--I have that "list" of things to do--and swimming with the dolphins is on that list!!! I would love to do it!! We spent an hour and 1/2 or more at the dolphin tank--James had to pull us away!!!

Ian and Cade were really impressed with the Shark Encounter. Ian has always loved to watch Discovery Channel or Animal Planet shows about sharks. So this exhibit was really AWESOME to him!! I didn't get a lot of good pics -because the shark section is on a moving escalator and it was hard to get good shots. . .I got a couple though. . .

Macey's favorite part of Sea World was the Shamu Shows. We saw 2 of them. The first show was called Believe, and the second one was a night show called Shamu Rocks. We sat in the "splash zone" during the first show and got absolutely drenched!!! We were all cracking up, trying to make sure my camera stayed dry, laughing at each other, and looked down at Cade and he was screaming and crying!!! He didn't like getting wet by Shamu at all!!! The Believe show was very inspirational--it had such a good story--the general point of the show was that You can Be anything you want to be!! Ian wants nothing more than to be a whale trainer now!!! He talks about it every day. . I told him if he moves to Florida, I am going with him!!! Hee hee!!

The only bad part about our day at Sea World was the heat!!! It was almost 100 degrees and you could really tell. . We drank so much water that we could float a "whale"!! But it was worth it!! We all loved it!! and as everyone at Sea World would say , " We had a WHALE of a day!!"

Our Family Vacation

We have spent the last 6 days in New Smyrna Beach Florida. We have had such a great time!! I hate to see it come to an end. . .but today was our last day at the beach, and then tomorrow we are off to Orlando--to spend a couple of days at Sea World. Cade is so excited about going to the place "where the dolphins come to life! Mamaw and Papaw Horne came down Sunday and stayed with us until Wednesday. We were so glad that they came for a few days. They got to spend some quality time with the kids, and also got to help celebrate my birthday!! They got me a cake, and we had a little party!! We have had really good weather. . .Sunny and in the 90's, with an afternoon thunderstorm just about every day. . .but we really enjoyed sitting out on our patio and watching the storms pass us by. . .I got some awesome pics of the very first storm while we were here. . .the lifeguard said there was possible tornadic activity in this storm, and It really looked scary. . it didn't end up doing anything more than rain though.

Cade has absolutely NO FEAR!!! He got a boogie board while we were here, and he was all over the waves!! He dived under them, over them, and loved to ride them in to the shore. Ian and Macey played really well with Cade, and I think he actually does better in the ocean than either one of them ever did at his age. Salt water doesn't bother his eyes at all. . He is just SO TOUGH!! He cracks me up!!
Ian and I played paddle ball just about every day. . We plan to not put the paddle ball set up when we get home to Kingsport. We plan on practicing in the front yard when we get home, so next year people on the beach will be jealous at how good we are!! Ha ha ha ha!!
Macey loves to play in the sand. She rolls in it, and lays in it, and pours it all over her. .She and Cade pretended to be the sandman. . from Spiderman. . . They had a great time too. . .with their boogie boards. .Macey is not quite as tough as Cade--she got flipped a few times by some of the big waves, and she would cry and go back to the sand. . .She loves to swim in the pool--it is much more safe!!!
We saw dolphins about every day. .Ian and I saw some today really close to where we were swimming. . .They are my favorite animal. .I can't wait to see them close up at Sea World tomorrow. . .



Vacation is the best thing for my family. . Quality time spent together--doing nothing in particular, no alarm clocks, no schedules, no where to be. . . I love it!!!

Ponce Inlet Lighthouse

We went to Ponce Inlet Lighthouse while we were in Daytona and the kids absolutely LOVED it!! We climed 203 steps to the top! It was very tiring for little legs. . .and a little scary for those of us who have fear of high places!! I am also nicknamed "Mrs. OSHA" by a couple of my good friends--so this very high place made me slightly nervous!!!
It is the second tallest lighthouse in the United States and the Tallest Lighthouse in Florida. Just a little lighthouse trivia for those of you who are interested. . . =)
These 2 pictures are from the top of the lighthouse. . . Notice I am holding on for dear life!!!!
Here is a shot of Daddy with the kiddos. . . He is a little more relaxed than me. .
Me and James posing for a picture!