Back to School!

I know that I should be excited about back to school...especially after 3 months with 3 kids around ALL the time...but I'm always a little sad when school starts. First, I have to be more scheduled...yuck! Second, the pace of life torpedos into warp speed - for example, we also begin soccer practice today. And thirdly, I miss those girls - and this year, SO DOES LUKE! I cannot count the number of times I have answered the two questions - "Where is Kyla?" and "Where is Summer?"

However, my lack of excitement about school starting is countered in the universe by the extreme excitement that the girls had about school this year! Do these pictures capture it, or what...

The girls knew what outfits they would wear weeks ago and school supplies were all purchased back in July.

Summer had a countdown going just for the "Meet the Teachers" night - which was last Thursday...and she continued to ask me "How many days until school starts?" multiple times all weekend. At first, I was concerned about her - I wondered if her short term memory was failing her at a young age...ha!...but then I realized she just liked hearing how close the school year start was.

For the first time, the girls set alarm clocks to wake themselves up this morning. Since it was the first time, they popped right out of bed and promptly got dressed. I hope that the trend continues, however, if they are anything like me....and maybe you...over time the sound of the alarm clock can become incorporated into dreams, or just ignored completely and suddenly you're not getting out of bed at the time that you thought you would.

One of the best treats of the morning - Dad's Egg Bread. For those of you unfamiliar with egg bread...you may call it 'french toast.' Kyle had been in Bristol, TN all weekend...watching the NASCAR races with his friend Brian Evans...and the girls hadn't seen him since Wednesday night. They were tickled when they came downstairs and Dad not only was home, but was also cooking them one of their favorite breakfast treats.

Before school was out for the summer, I put in requests for the girl's teachers...something I hadn't ever done before, but I did at the encouragment of Kyla's teacher, Mrs. Lanham. I feel fortunate that we were able to get the teachers that we 'wanted,' and both girls have close friends in their classes (that can be a positive or negative...depending on the "talking factor"). Summer's teacher is Mrs. Coronado - a familiar face to her because she is only a few doors down from her classroom from last year. Kyla's teacher is Mrs. Maryfield - she is also a familiar face because she is in the second-half of the same portable that Kyla was in last year. Well, at least that is where their classes are for now...come December/January...if everything continues on schedule...they will move into their new school facility. Mrs. Maryfield actually hinted that they may begin to use the new gym and cafeteria even before that!

And now it begins...another year of reading, writing, 'rithmetic', and all the rest. It will be the last year...until high school...that the girls will be at the same school due to the intermediate (5th/6th) and Jr. High (7th/8th) campuses. Can my girls really be starting 2nd and 4th grade?

Do you notice anything different??

Just wondering if from this picture...can you tell what is different about this girl? Look closely...just above the bottom lip. That's right! She has lost a tooth!! And let me tell you...to say she was excited is a gross understatement! ha! To be 7 years old and to have never lost a tooth was making Summer very anxious. Plus, her permanent teeth were beginning to come in behind the baby teeth and that was unnerving to her as well.





She was funny about letting Dad pull the tooth and it soon became his mission to succeed at getting that tiny tooth out of her mouth. I say 'tiny' because I have never seen baby teeth as tiny as Summer's. They have always been small, but the 7 years of wear have worn them down even farther. The dentist remarked that they just weren't made to hold on this long, however, her permanent teeth look strong (and rather HUGE in comparison) and should come in without incident.

The tooth practically fell out in Kyle's hand...it had become sooo loose. And we promptly went upstairs, found the tooth fairy pillow that I used as a little girl - my Meme made it for me, and tucked that tiny tooth safely in the pocket. We didn't want to risk loosing that little chip of a tooth.

By the next morning, the tooth fairy had left Summer a $1 bill in the place of the tooth. It should be the first of several visits from the fairy in the next year. As loose as the other bottom tooth is getting, I doubt it will be more than a month until we 'see' her again. I'm just thankful that Summer will be able to start back to school with a tooth 'gone.' She can't wait to see if Katie Jo has lost a tooth too!

The beach was a blast!

Thank goodness we had a vacation at the beach to look forward to when we left north Alabama...I wasn't really ready to leave. There were not enough days to visit all the people and places, but we were thankful to spend time with and at the ones that we did!

We stayed at the Phoenix All Suites in Gulf Shores, Alabama. I highly recommend it! There was a bedroom with a king-size bed, bunk-beds built into the walls (the girls LOVED them), and a pull-out couch we didn't even use, 1.5 bathrooms, and a FULL kitchen. It was everything we needed...and all the rooms are gulf-view. I couldn't believe how much Gulf Shores had changed...we hadn't been there since 2000...long before Hurrican Ivan. There are sooo many more hotels and condos now, but it was still clean...and you just can't beat those beautiful white sand beaches!

I don't think Luke remembered the beach trip we made last year to Port Aransas, because he just didn't know how to react to all of that water chasing him on the sand. ha! He had fun...but he didn't get out too deep. He spent most of his time either just on the water's edge or asking us if we could go to the pool.

The girls received some birthday money from Kim when we were visiting and they promptly spent it on boogie boards once we arrived in Gulf Shores. That provided them (and even me) with hours of water enjoyment! However, every now and then we would find ourselves bolting out of the water due to some strange stinging sensation -- never seeing jellyfish, but feeling like we had been dipped in some of their 'poison.' We learned that if we walked up to the showers at the pool and showered off, we would be fine by the time we walked back down to the beach. It was very strange...we never received a 'good' explaination of it.

Once again it was time to leave BEFORE we were truly ready...although the prospect of everyone in their own beds and no more sand in mysterious places was appealing. More than likely, we won't be making a trip to Alabama every year...but it sure was perfect timing for us to go this year. It made me appreciate both where we have come from and where we are now. It was refreshing to see that being gone for a year hadn't changed the friendships that are still so important to us. I don't know how to describe it...but it made it easier to embrace my life away from Alabama once I got back. Don't get me wrong....I LOVE being back in Texas! The only problem...being back in Texas meant I had to leave Alabama...and I LOVED Alabama too. I think the best way to explain it...this trip taught me that I am allowed to LOVE them both!

Friendship Church & a Pool Party

When we arrived in Alabama, one of the first things we did...even before stopping at the Evans' house...was to stop by our 'old' house in Cairo Hollow. We just couldn't resist getting a peek at what the Craigs had done to it. We were impressed with how great it looked...although we were surprised when we later found out that they hadn't moved into it yet. We stopped back by on Wednesday...just before leaving town....and just after eating breakfast at Sportsman's Park (yummm!)...and took a peek through the windows once we realized that no one was there. The inside looked AMAZING...they had redone all the floors (which would have required some subflooring repair)...redone everything in the kitchen except for the cabinets...redone the master bath...repainted all of the walls...and I'm sure much, much more. After seeing all they had done, it made sense why they hadn't moved yet...they hadn't had time!

I didn't know how it would make me feel to see all the changes to "my" house...especially since so much of ourselves went into it...but it made me sooo excited for them! I can't wait for them to enjoy that space - I hope that it brings them many, many years of happiness!

As I mentioned in the last post, one of the reasons for traveling on the 4th was to be in Alabama in plenty of time to go to church at Friendship. We ended up attending both services...and Calvin even performed an impromptu...no warning beforehand...interview with us in front of the whole congregation...BOTH services. He still calls us their 'missionaries to Texas.' It was a wonderful service...BOTH times...John David Crowe, the Contemporary Worship leader, lead everyone in an hour long worship service. I had missed the worship time at Friendship more than anything...so I couldn't have planned a better Sunday to be there! (No offense to Calvin's preaching...it is great too!)

After church, we were invited to the Parish house for an afternoon cookout/swimming party. It was so nice and relaxing to sit by the pool and visit with so many good friends. We had been gone from Alabama for just a couple of months when my dear friend, Lori Donatelli, found out that she was pregnant. For anyone who knows her story...it had been a long road filled with many obstacles that seemed insurmountable. Although we know that 'NOTHING is impossible with God' it was quite miraculous news! This trip meant that I could finally meet little Laci Grace Donatelli in person, and let me tell you, when I first saw her I cried and cried tears of joy! I felt like I was looking at Jesus' love in the flesh.

Laci Grace & Kyla

Allie & Luke

Isaac enjoying the pool

Summer soaking up some sun



The hours just flew by and I couldn't believe the day was over when the sun began to go down. Unfortunately, all of the days we were in Alabama were that way...and it was Wednesday before we knew it! At least we had the trip to the beach to look forward to...we might not have gotten the kids into the van otherwise. ha!

For the 4th of July we hit the road...

OK - at some point I am going to have to speed this up...or else my blog is going to be like my scrapbooks and I am going to be writing about things that happened months ago, instead of the current things we are doing/dealing with...ugh!

Well, the day that Kyla got home from camp was hectic! I had her laundry to do...as well as some of our own...AND we had to get her stitches removed....AND I had to get all of our clothing/toys together for our trek to Alabama. We decided to travel on Friday the 4th because we REALLY wanted to be in Athens on a Sunday morning and be able to go to church at Friendship. That meant that about 2:30 a.m....I crawled into bed...and by about 7 a.m....I crawled out of bed. yawn. However, we still didn't get on the road until about 11:00 a.m. How is it that time packing luggage and packing a car seems to go by so quickly, but the time spent IN the car can draaaag on???

I took these pictures so that Granny Gerry could see the kids in their 4th of July outfits...a traditional gift from her to them. You can tell that they are excited about the journey ahead - plus, they have had a good nights sleep. No really...I'm not bitter about that or anything. ha!

With DVD players ready and a lunch packed for the road (thus the peanut butter on Luke's face in this picture), we headed out for Texarkana, Texas. We originally planned to watch the fireworks celebration they held there on the 4th - Sparks in the Park. I looked it up whenever we began to plan the trip around the holiday and we were excited to see they would have something planned. However, this year, due to budget constraints Texarkana, Texas was not able to host it.

Texarkana, Arkansas was willing to pick up the festival...but they wouldn't be hosting it until the Saturday AFTER the 4th. So we were one day early on that one. Fortunately...or was it unfortunatley?... for us there was a group of teenagers that decided our hotel parking lot would be a perfect spot to shoot off some fireworks and the kids got to see fireworks after all. We were lamenting that we weren't in Alabama already so that we could have watched the Sportsman's Park fireworks - but once we got to Alabama, we were told that they weren't able to have their fireworks either! Bummer! Something with their 'new' insurance company and the fireworks and how close they are to the gas pumps...you know...I'd always wondered about that!

Let me just say that the stay in the hotel went great and the kids traveled BEAUTIFULLY! The fact that the hotel had an indoor pool didn't hurt. I also must say that I still LOVE my van. The trip in the van just went so smoothly compared to the long trips we use to take in the car. By Saturday evening we were in Alabama at the Evans' home...what a wonderful sight Kim and Isaac were...but I'll post more on that later....