I love the South

I love the South.

Family.        Fried food.         Guns.

I just have to giggle as I type this. I was born and raised in the Southeast US and up until two days ago I had never held (much less shot) a loaded gun.

This weekend we were visiting my sister in Alabama. My brother in law is a police officer as well as a firearms instructor so Simon and I had the pleasure of sitting in on a Firearms Safety course he taught on Saturday.

We learned about pistols, revolvers, rifles, shotguns. Automatic. Semi-automatic. Single action. Double action. Single action/double action. Let me just say I put my grammar/logic/rhetoric skills to the test that day!

In the afternoon, we hit the shooting range and I made my Annie Oakley debut.

Do I dare say that the class was fun? Maybe I should say "informative", "educational", "enlightening".

In any case, there may not be much more to Southern culture I haven't experienced, so I soaked this one in.
(Well there are always chitlins to try, but then again, I think I'll stop here.)

The First Sign of Spring

Sure, most of us can tell it's spring when the trees start to bloom, the pollen covers our cars, and we're all sneezing and wheezing, but around here the first sign of spring is what.......?

Skinned knees.

Week 42- Can you believe it?

Well, at least I'm closer than ever before! I have been crampy today and having other signs (that may be too much information to share) that things may be picking up. I definitely think he's dropped from last week's picture. C'mon Whitaker!

Even the kids are sporting their new shirts today that mom made. I couldn't resist! Notice the bid wads of gum in their mouths- lovely!

Did you notice that even my 42 week pregnancy ticker to the right has run out and is telling me to upgrade to another ticker type? Ouch!!! :)

Family Fun at the Beach

We had a great time at the beach with everyone this week. I hope the kids remember this time with their cousins forever. I'm biased but I think this is one fine looking clan!

To top it off, we had the chance to celebrate Mom and Dad's 40th anniversary. They renewed their vows on the beach.

What a great week. Just way too short!!

Oh yeah, and a not-so-great belly shot, but it's about the only one that we got. I can't believe I'm 23 weeks!

Belated Birthday

We wrapped up our busy birthday month last week with my 35th birthday. For my birthday dinner I chose heavy hors d'oeuvres that Dad made to perfection and a friend made me the BEST cheesecake I have ever had. It was a great day.

It definitely competed with these birthday memories from celebrations long, long ago...

7th Birthday - Strawberry Shortcake was the theme!

9th Birthday - Care Bears!

11th Birthday - Backwards Party (not sure what inspired this theme, but everyone came with their clothes on backwards!)


15th Birthday - 1989 was such a cool year!!

Celebrity Sighting

Before I go and read A Cup of Cold Water's post on this and copy everything she says, I wanted to add these photos from the Homeschool Conference last month in Atlanta.

Does anyone recognize these celebrities? If you don't, you should! I don't see it getting much better than this!

To the left is none other than Junior, the coolest and wisest money-saving 8 year old boy in the world! He of course, is Dave Ramsey's sidekick that teaches children the world over how to be financially wise.

I look forward to doling out our children's SPEND, SAVE & GIVE envelopes when they get a little older. It will be great accountability for me since I have a tendency to fall back on my bad habits even though Financial Peace University has been one of the best things that Simon and I have ever done for our marriage.

To the right is the ever-so-appropriately named author and homeschool pioneer, Jessie Wise. (Can you imagine having to live up to that last name??)

She spoke at numerous workshops- my favorite being, If I Had to Do It Over Again. She was such a wealth of heartfelt advice. Ali and I just could not get enough of her and wondered, "Should we or shouldn't we ask her for a photo op?" We were like two giggling school girls and thankfully Ali had her camera.

Let me tell you paparazzi- you're following the wrong people that's for sure!!!!

Here are a few picks that her and her daughter (Susan Wise Bauer) have authored:

Well Trained Mind

Language Lessons

The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading

The Story of the World

Brotherly Love

I just had to share this storyboard of my children taken and designed by a local photographer who I love. The verse she used is Romans 12:10-

Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another.