Life for the Last Month or So

I guess you discovered by now that doing this blog has become low on my list of things to do! Plus, I figured you would get tired of me always putting on school pictures since that is about all life consists of, so anymore you will need to be patient with me till I have time and enough pictures to post, sorry!

Fall has come in the South, my favorite time of year! We still get 90* weather, but it is not humid, so it actually feels good! I have managed to get my Fall cleaning done, including renting a carpet shampooer, it was a slightly unhandy one that caused me to scrub my carpets for 7 hours straight, and my house is small. They do look cleaner and since my muscles feel normal again, I can say it was worth the effort!

Treyton loves his 'pet' Alligator

Treyton found out the hard way that Fire Ants don't like him standing on their house! Those little critters may be small, but they sure have a nasty bite!

Rissa is tracing Treyton with chalk. I was surprised he actually stayed still long enough to let her!

I thought this was cute; and yes, the flowers were for me! (~:

Rissa loves to do school work, when I actually get to it. She is the type who expects perfection, so her first day she kept a tissue handy for the tears that were shed when she ''can't do it right''!                                                                                I guess now is a good time to add a school update. Well, it is going. Somewhere between the time of being newly married 9.5 years ago and adding four kids to the family, I lost the ability to handle stress!!?? I am not sure where during that time that ability fled, but it did. So, I struggle with handling everything, but, I manage! /~:

Here is Jenny very patiently cutting fresh beans for me. I am actually getting some garden goods again. My green beans have started producing, being my favorite fresh veggie, I am thankful for that! I have never had tomatoes last this long either. Once I dumped Epsom Salt on them, they grew taller than me!

I tried my hand at making Salsa with my tomatoes and peppers, it actually turned out good! I also had some 'been in the freezer too long' fruit that I turned into jelly... It was a simple recipe that only used fruit, jello and sugar. Simple and good!

Storytime at the library is going again. There usually is only one or two other kids, so we are the majority!

Amber thought she is getting too old for pre-school storytime, so she was glad to be used as a helper.

A couple weeks ago, David had the fun of going with a group of guys to an Atlanta Braves game in Atlanta. We 'left behind' Mommy's met at the park to let the kiddos play together and help pass the evening!

Life is Busy but Good

I don't have many pictures this time, with school I sort of forget about the camera.

School is still going good, thankfully. Jenny told me the other day that she decided that she likes homeschooling cause she likes the schedule and she wants to get smarter than anybody else. I guess if that is what it takes to motivate her, I will use it!!
I haven't done much school work with Rissa yet, but hope to soon hit the books with her too.

Jenny came in a panic the other night cause her tooth fell out. She has been waiting very long for that to happen, but with her personality, it was very dramatic! (~:

The other day I informed David that we needed a family day. He had been home once for supper all week and I overheard one of the girls saying that "they forget what Daddy looks like"! Working two jobs keeps him away too much sometimes! )~:
He agreed, so we decided to stay close to home and go be a tourist in Augusta GA and visit the Savannah River.
We walked the board-walk, and came across a small playground.

The high-light was riding the tour boat. The tour guide was packed full of information, both history and recent. It was very interesting. He was also nice and left the kiddos go for free!
The mansions you see in the background are actually homes. The owners rent their houses out to Celebrities the week of the Masters Golf Tournament for $25,000 for the week!
I must confess that I for awhile thought that a house like one of these would be nice. Customized swimming pools, lots of room, including master bedrooms that are a whole top story of the house, and even an elevator in most of them. But then I thought of all the cleaning and the mortgage payment of $6,000 a month (yes for real), I decided I will keep my humble little home!

Trey thought the boat ride was fun. He has this thing about alligators, so I was disappointed that we could not see the small spot along the river that sports 25 alligators!




It was also 'kids get to drive the boat day', Amber didn't want to, but the others thought it was fun

I promise this is the last thing about these houses. This particular house is one of four that belongs to the man who owns the largest chain of jewelry stores in the state of SC. He built this one for one reason alone, to host parties.

Me and my babies

I have never known a cat like this one is! He actually hugs the girls, seriously, but I am amazed at what he willingly allows them to do to him!

Ready or Not

Well, that time of year has started once again, school time. David left it up to me what we would do as far as school. Both options had so many good and bad points that I couldn't decide, so I told him to decide and I would do whatever. He chose Homeschool. So, we are going to attempt another year. I decided to try someones suggestion of starting early, then doing four day weeks. So I am going to try that. If the rest of the 174 days go as good as the first six, maybe it won't be too bad!!??
Two weeks ago I suddenly came down with strep throat. I hoped that no one else would get it, but Amber started last night. I guess it is slow in getting around to each culprit. Hopefully it will stop there!!

Checking out their new school books, they each have quite a stack!

Jenny's favorite class, phonics and reading, she thought her reading books are too easy!

One fun thing with Homeschooling is, you can do it wherever you want!

Rissa is doing some skills and pre-school work

Summer programs at the library were a highlight for the kiddos. This one is always their favorite.

They thought the baby alligator was neat

For kiddos last week before we started school, I planned several different fun surprise activities for them.
One was having their best friends over for the day. They were busy all day, one thing they enjoyed doing was going to the neighbors and feeding his horses carrots. I think they about fed a bag full. We all went out to McDonalds for supper too.

One evening we went to a new park in town.

Another surprise for them was taking them to a jumping center in Augusta. Trey was not sure about it, but the rest had a blast!

Treyton's new set of wheels

This cute pair of frogs are regular visitors at our porch-light in the evening.

Trey wanted to ''help Daddy'' put together a new book-shelf for our school books

The other week our church had a "Missionary Awareness'' meal where you honored a missionary with food from that country. We did David's brother and his family and also his sister who are in Honduras. David wanted to do the cake himself, he was quite proud of how it turned out! (~:

A Tribute to my Wife

Can you believe it has been 9 years since we stood in front of that crowd of friends and family and said the "I Do's". The older we get the more I realize that we only have one life to live. What we do today can never be redone tomorrow, but as I look back at our journey together the last 9 years, I have no regrets of that decision to join our hearts and lives in marriage; I only wish we had done it sooner. You make me so proud, seeing you pour your heart and life into myself and our children. You are one of the most selfless people I know, taking care of others before yourself. I thank God every day that I get to have the privilege to have you for my wife. Some day you will reap the benefits of all your hard labors.
I Love You! ,Your Husband


PS She is going to have a fit I put this on here but she deserves to be bragged on, don't you agree?

A Song to Share

I have heard this song many times, but for some reason, this morning I really heard the song and the message it has.
Enjoy!
Matthew West~ "My Own Little World"
(sorry the picture is too big for the blog, if you click on the song title, it will open in another tab, bigger)

Our Summer for the Last Month

Well, so much has happened the last month since I last posted, so enjoy the mass amount of pictures!
I had so much I wanted to get done and a whole bunch of fun things I wanted to do this Summer, now its soon over and I did not get them done! Don't tell anyone, but my Homeschool portfolio's from last year are still not done! Where does the time go!?

The month started out with Father's Day. We surprised David with a much needed new grill.

We love you Daddy!!

We also decorated some cookies for him

For the last week in June and the first week in July, my sister came to visit. I took advantage of the extra help and turned her into my slave for awhile, well, not that bad, but I did feel she got over-worked.
We froze 35 quarts of green beans.

We also slaved away doing 42 quarts of corn. We also squeezed in two batches of pickles.

It was not all work and no play, we did spend a day doing our favorite thing, shopping in Augusta!

Relaxing after a hard day!

Lynette brought along a fun activity of making bead key chains

Trey was proud of the frog key chain

We all loved having Lynette around and she is missed

We headed to PA July 1st and spent a little over a week there.
While there, we spent a day with my brother and his family in Myerstown PA.
The kiddos played so hard outside, that I did not manage to get a picture till we loaded everyone up and did a quick shopping trip together.

The girls had fun playing with Alia. They had a couple sleep-overs with her too.

Amber got to celebrate her 8th birthday in PA, having a party at each grandparents house.

Trey helping Grandpa Summy to grill

Opening birthday gifts

Game time! {the dvd sets are to help hide the cards (~: }

It worked out that Davids sister Marcia that is in nursing school in VA was around too! We had fun catching up with her! She was even brave enough to take all her nieces on an evening of shopping and going out for supper.

Marcia had brought home a new game that they all enjoyed playing

For the second birthday party with my family, my sister made all of us our own cake. We each had a birthday recently, my one brother was June 24, I was June 30, my other brother was July 3 and Amber was July 4.

Gift time #2

Ball time with Uncle David

The kiddos had fun getting 4 wheeler rides

Waiting for fireworks to start. I think Trey and Rissa both lifted three feet off the ground when the first batch went up!
Trey is attempting to give Tirzah a stroller ride. Don't ya just love her curls??

It was a good show!

Grandma Heisey got a new game for the kiddos

It was a hot week in PA, so the kiddos had fun in the pool one afternoon

David had fun doing some mowing for my Dad

Trey had been talking about getting a tractor ride with Uncle Brandon. He was scared at first, but he ended up liking it.

One evening we went with all of my family to a truck and tractor pull that is a yearly fun thing that we like to do.

This truck is a lady driver and she is known for the 'fireworks' that shoot out while she pulls.

On the way home to SC, we stopped in Greencastle PA to visit my Grandma Martin. It had been a year since we last visited her, so it was good to have a quick visit with her! We did manage to see my other grandparents too when we were visiting my brother. They surprised us with a very quick visit, and of course I forgot to dig my camera out for that.

Amber was proud when she completed her lego project that was a birthday gift from Grandma Heisey

Amber and Daddy getting ready to go out for her belated birthday supper date