Sunday, June 24, 2012

Lovies-tissue alert

Oh wow, this post makes me cry just thinking about it.  I have wanted to do this one for a while-a long while.  Summertime was the best shot I had at getting time together to do it.  I decided that the kiddos are growing MUCH too fast.  Toy Story is becoming my reality and I do NOT want to let that magic slip out of my fingers.  I wanted to get a "nice" picture of each of their lovies.  I wanted to capture that purity and the essence of that "First Love".

This week our friend Marty from church passed away.  A gentle reminder that life moves too fast and my kick in the pants to finish this project.  I cried when I remember that she was the one that gave us Ryan's Puppy.  Not to Ryan but to Jared.  Puppy was the church bucket toy.  Nice and quiet.  Jared would play with him on the ride to church and during the service, same thing with Kevin.  Ryan on the other hand would never let go.  Church would be over and she would grab that little guy as fast as she could from the car seat.  Love at first sight!

Most vividly I remember when Kitty Kitty got lost at our friends house.  At nap time little  Jared was sobbing, "but did they look?!?",  "Did they find her?!?", "She's the one with the sad face and the beautiful eyes!"...those words will haunt/stay with me forever.  I called my friend no less than 4 times that afternoon.  The next day when Kitty Kitty was found and returned to us with a bow around her neck...the door bell was rung and Jared ran to the door to find her on the stoop...PRICELESS!

That was one of the longest nights of my life.  It also made us think to have dog tags made up for each one.  Just their name and our phone number.  We figured if someone found it laying around in the mall with "Kitty Kitty, Woofy or Puppy" on the tag they would know that it was special and to please call and return.  Puppy was lost in the mall and returned to us thanks to the tags and that incident caused us to look online for a second puppy "just in case".  After NINE months searching on eBay, Daddy Guy found one.  Unlike Jared who had Kitty and "Left" kitty (because she would get left behind), Ryan took to the second puppy immediately and we now had TWO creatures to keep up with.

Woofy rarely left the house but was usually missing at bedtime.  I remember Grandma Lou and Rob looking and looking and looking one night.  Grandma loved to tell that story about how crazy it was searching but just how happy Kevy was when he was found.

I love these little guys and their stories almost as much as my kids do...maybe even more.  I will forever cherish the birthday parties, tea parties and mischief these little critters had a hand in over the years.  I know exactly where each one came from and the trips we all took together.  Thank you for the memories!

Ok, sadness over.  I set up a Photo shoot for the animals.  I let each of the kids pic their favorites and I will have them framed for my room.  Silly?  Maybe, but I don't care. :D Here are the results!
 Jared's pic of Kitty Kitty
 My favorite
 The "sad face and beautiful eyes" got a facelift eons ago.  She now has a radiant green smile.
 Kevin's favorite of Woofy
 The woofman
contemplative woof
Ryan's favorite of puppy and new puppy (chosen because of the woof-goober in the background ;))
 My favorite of puppy and new puppy
love how new puppy is looking up to puppy :) Such a metaphor for life...

Monday, June 18, 2012

Pool time 2012

 WOOHOO-Kick off to summer swim team.  GO CHARGERS!
 I love this picture, there is so much going on.  Josh being Josh, Gretchen being Gretchen.  Ryan sitting on Jared and he is letting her and being nice about it, Kevin in the back ground worming his way in for the best "goober" angle.  Love it!
 Pinkie and Alex
 Me and the boy.  I heart him :D
 Hanging at the pool after church on Sunday is the B.E.S.T!!!
 Pinkie and Jared each picked one Long Course meet to go to.  She picked the Georgia Tech pool and he picked the Mountain View Pool.  Nice for me cause if they had picked the same meet I would be in for a double shift Long Course.  Ew. This is Pinkie with her girlfriend Kylie.  Two of the sweetest darn kids on the planet! Great swimming ladies :)
 2012 MVS Chestnut Hill Chargers coming at you on the fly!  Go, Pinkie, Go! 
BTW, she streamlined 12.5 on this event...whew!
 Jared during the 13-14 Medley Relay doing what he loves best-50 Breast
 The return leg of the 50 BR, recognize the bloke on the block waiting for Jared to touch?
Oh Yeah!  That would be my Bu coming down for the 50Fly leg of the 13-14 (you heard me correctly) 200 MRR.  Kevin stepped up to help the team and went up to the 13-14's for the night.  I LOVE that they got to swim together.  They went 1-2 on the 100 Free and the 100 IM.  They swam together for the 200 MRR and 200 FRR and took 1st in both. We ended up winning the meet by 1 (ONE) point, amazing night! I was hoarse from screaming--I am one proud momma bear.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Summertime 2012

 YAHOO!  Kick off the summer by heading up to the lake to hang out!  Water was nice and warm, fishing was great and sun was shining :D
 Ryan caught a nice catfish off the dock
 Before the summer rains hit we needed to get a tree removed from the side of the house.  Every time the wind would blow it would scrape and scare me half to death-needless to say I couldn't sleep thinking the gutter would rip off at any minute.  It was neat to watch the guy scurry up the tree like a squirrel.  He had the tree down in 5 minutes flat!
 Momma turtle laying eggs in our yard
 Pretty :D  
My neighbors are all blue, guess my soil content is much different!
Ryan's very first pumpkin.  We have 5 on the vine right now and just hope that we can get 3 full sized ones for the kids to carve at Halloween.  It's her new summer tradition.  Not to mention her tomato plants that have kept her fed this summer.  We will have more plants next summer for sure.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Sky Valley 2012

Family picture at the Tallulah Gorge Upper Rim
 This was our 35th year at Sky Valley.  For some reason they washed the carpets in our place-A5- so we had to relocate to a new home for our short visit.  We always look forward to sitting on the deck and drinking a cold drink after our picnic and horseshoe game.  This year after the move the guys were able to sit on the deck but the view was less of the valley and more of the woods.  :)
  Gran brough a couple buckets of dirt that she had bought at the mines years ago.  They have just been sitting there so she said the kids could go through them.  Since we only had 2 days instead of 3 we decided to mine in the yard.  Always exciting to see what's in the buckets!
 Growing up so fast :(  The kids on "spiderman rock" so named from when Kevy tried to climb up the face of it like spiderman when he was about 3...did NOT make his momma happy but it did make for a cute video :D
 Ryan on the famed picture rock spot
On the "goober rock"....
Me and the boy with our goobers in the back ground.  Yes, we are so proud ;)
 Kevy & Uncle Ricky
 I love this pic of mom...no clue what she is looking at, everyone else is behind her acting like goobers.
 Great pic of the folks :D

  oh...yeah...now we know where the kids get it :D 
Another beautiful trip.  Lots of new memories. Who knows where this years road will take us...