Under the weather..

This post may be a little too much information but for those relatives out of town, you might want to know what we've been going through for the past few days. It all began Friday at work when I couldn't hold my head up...just another sinus infection. I came home and went to bed and thought all would be better tomorrow. At 12am, poor little Cam's puking every hour. Thanks to Hank, he got up with him and took care of him. We hung out around the house and thought all was peachy until I started having a pain in my side. I thought, oh no! it's appendicitis but it was on the wrong side. The pain was excruciating so Hank took me to Dr. Zach's and he just wasn't quite sure either. By Tuesday, Hank had the stomach virus, and he couldn't hold his head up, so I drive myself to the ER. I'm thinking to myself I'm going to die! ( I know, I'm a little dramatic) So I stay in ER with IV's all day until I can get a CAT SCAN. And by the way, the dye they put in your veins hurts, so don't ever be fooled! But they did do a CAT SCAN and there was some inflamation in my left small intestines. They thought emergency surgery was going to have to be done to repair the kink in the intestines but a gastroenterologist (in Memphis)read the Cat Scan report and thankfully said that I should feel better in a few days. At this time, poor Hank is home very sick with the virus. So today when I woke up guess who had the stomach virus? ME! Is this sickness ever going away? It still worries me that maybe I do need surgery, but the DR was pretty reassuring that it would get better. I'm going to attempt to go to work tomorrow and hopefully we will be healthy again. I have the strangest things wrong with me. If anyone's ever experienced upper left abdomen pain, let me know. Again, hopefully this wasn't to graphic! Please pray for healing in my family! Love, Susan

Can we say ANGELIC?

Who are these grown up kids? Yes, that's our Cade Carter doing the acolytes at church today along with Neely Turner. You have to be in Second Grade to be able to participate and these two had the honors of lighting the candles today. It's a very big deal at our church when you finally get old enough to participate. Cade Carter thinks he's a big boy now. The only downside is that he has to sit on the VERY front pew and be still and quiet...DID I SAY QUIET???? Hank and I sit directly behind him just in case he gets out of line. He did GREAT! Way to go Cade Carter and Neely!

Our Package has Arrived!

The kids are so excited about our upcoming trip to Disney World in Orlando, Florida. They were jumping for joy when our Disney Package arrived with tickets, coupons and lots of cool books. I cannot believe that our trip to Disney World will be here before we know it! It was a difficult decision to decide what age they should be before we would take them and I'm still hoping we've made the right one. Cade Carter being 8 and Cam being almost 5, we were hoping they hadn't lost the magic in seeing the Disney characters and thinking they are really REAL! Cade Carter being such our imaginative one, has definitely not lost his magic when it comes to MAKE BELIEVE! His SCI-FI movie collection is running us out of our house while Cam is just happy to sit down and watch any Disney movie.

I have put so much of my time in planning this trip that I feel like I'm sure to have missed something. I've read every book I can get my hands on, (I'm such a conrol freak organizer) I've booked character dinings every day of our visit and just yesterday I went ahead and purchased tickets to attend the "Not So Scary Halloween Party" while we are there. (This was recommended by Monnie) Monnie, this better be good! This party is where the kids get dressed up in their costumes and go trick or treating and watch fireworks, etc...

I'm sure I will continue to post about our upcoming trip and hopefully I will not pick up our itinerary again until the day we leave!

AWANA

We are members of the First United Methodist Church in Covington. We attend regularly and enjoy it very much. Just recently I have been approached by some friends informing me of the wonderful nationwide program at Oak Grove Baptist Church called AWANA.

My boys started attending last week and they are enjoying it so much. This program is opened to any child in the area (AND NO, IT'S NOT JUST FOR BAPTISTS!) This program can be adopted by any church and Oak Grove Baptist went out on a limb and adopted it as their own.

Here's a little about it:

Cam is in the Cubbie Club...isn't he cute in his cubbie vest!

Fun – and lots of it!
Awana is fun with a purpose – to reach and train kids for Jesus Christ. Games, puppets, crafts, awards and other activities transform our preschool program into a lively weekly experience where fun and learning go hand in hand.
The Cubbies curriculum features two handbooks written in a fun, storybook style that appeals to preschoolers. The handbooks contain 24 Bear Hug sections along with six optional special-day sections. Each section combines basic Scripture memory with parent-child activities to help a child grasp a simple biblical truth. (Cam is holding his Cubbie Handbook)

In addition, all memory verses are presented at a level appropriate for 3- and 4-year-olds. For example, John 3:16 reads: For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son …

And Cade Carter is in the Sparks Program...

The Awana club for children in kindergarten through second grade builds on the material taught in the preschool clubs. The curriculum takes kids a step deeper into God's Word while giving unsaved boys and girls regular opportunities to hear the gospel and come to faith in Jesus Christ. After being immersed in solid foundational teaching at the preschool level, boys and girls frequently come to an understanding of their need to trust Christ as their personal Savior while in Sparks.

The Sparks program is firmly grounded in Scripture.

I am so excited for the boys because they will learn so much and maybe I will catch up on some of my Bible Verses.

HELP CAMDEN RAISE $

The Methodist Presbyterian Nursery School is having a fundraiser and guess who volunteered to head it up? Yep, me! This year we are using Innisbrook to raise money. Please go to the website at http://www.innisbrook.com/ and put in school id#112824.

I normally HATE fundraisers, but I'm a sucker for wrapping paper, ribbon, cards, etc...so if you would be so kind and check it out, it would be great and it would help the school too.

Birthday Parties and More Birthday Parties...

Children's birthday parties are taking over MY life! Of course it's never about what Mom chooses to do over the weekend, it's what Cade Carter and Cam MUST do! My two boys are invited to one almost every weekend! If there's not a party going on, they are MISERABLE WITH BOREDOM! This past weekend was full of birthday parties and we even had to miss out on one of them! A birthday party with just cake and ice cream is definitely a thing of the past. Us parents have to sit down and plan extensively and even map out what the activities will consist of...Don't get me wrong, I ADMIT, I somewhat enjoy them too because I, myself, love to entertain and throw parties. (when I have the time)

We attended Jasper Hunter's 4th birthday Friday night and you should have seen the obstacle course he had in his backyard! It was all about Spiderman and boys climbing (just like Spiderman) It was awesome and my kids loved it.

Saturday Afternoon we went to Koen Howard's 4th birthday in the bottom. (Yes, I said bottom, meaning the HATCHIE RIVER bottoms). This party was right up Camden's alley! The atmosphere of the river and the club house, not to mention the hayride was all amazing. This party was what little boys are made of! The cake was a boat ramp with a boat being put in the river. Koen's mother, Amy, never seizes to amaze me on her creativity!

My question is this? What will we do for Cam's upcoming birthday? He claims he wants a camp out. So 25 kids in a tent in my backyard? All Night? I don't think so.

Soccer Saturday

Both boys started their soccer games this past Saturday. It was so hot and humid and the kids looked miserable but they all hung in there until the very end. Camden is so fast! He never gave up and just kept up with everyone else. Erik Krull is his coach and it's funny to sit back and watch how they somewhat listen to him. We all end up just laughing the entire game. Kids will be kids! They are all just so little.

Cade Carter is beginning to realize that soccer can be fun. When he was 4 years old, we introduced him to soccer and he HATED it. He said it was "to much running." This year we told him that it would be in his best interest to play, that sitting on the couch all Fall and watching tv is not on our itinerary. So amazingly, he got out there and played a great game. And he even had to sweat a little! Rusty Gilbreath is his coach and you never know what "Mr. Rusty" might say, but in the end we all end up LAUGHING at all of them too!

September 11th...a day never forgotten!

Not sure if my children even understand what happened 7 years ago or not. Maybe when they are a little older I will explain to them the tragedy that occurred. But until then, may we all remember that day and pray for the ones who lost loved ones. A co-employee of mine, Sara Honeycutt went to a memorial and saluted all the home town heros and I thought the cake was too cute! God Bless America!

Apples, Apples and more Apples!

Over the weekend my neighbor brought me some fresh apples that she had picked off her trees. It was so many of them that I really had no idea what to do with them. So I got on the internet and searched apple recipes. By Saturday night I had made apple jelly, apple freezer jam, applesauce and an apple cake. I was worn out by bedtime. Cooking can be tiring. I am going to post a wonderful applesauce recipe that you can prepare in your crock pot!

Crockpot Applesauce

10 medium apples diced

1/2 c. water

3/4 c. sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

In crockpot, combine apples & water. Cover & cook on low for 4-6 hours. Add sugar and cinnamon & cook on low another 30 minutes. This can be served hot or cold! Very yummy!

Cam's 1st day of Nursery School!

Camden started back to his 2nd year of Nursery School today. He acted like he had never left since May. He didn't complain at all about going back. VERY SURPRISING!!! His teacher this year is Ms. Andrea Franklin. She plans to work very hard on getting him ready for Kindergarten. It felt just like yesterday when Cade Carter had her as a teacher too!

DOVE HUNT '08

It's almost 7pm and the boys are so worn out they are almost passed out on the couch. Hopefully they can keep their eyes open through dinner. Today Hank took them to the big dove hunt. Cade Carter finally got to shoot a BB gun and got him a dove...and Cam, (well he just took his FAKE gun) and pretended to kill him some doves! Cousin Chance went along to and helped with the boys! When Cade Carter grows up, he wants to be just like Chance! Boys wil be boys...

Susan