Sleeping Angels...

When I was a child, my favorite movie was The Little Colonel. I watched it over and over. Shirley Temple's character was "Lloyd Sherman," and she was adorable in that movie. Hattie McDaniel portrayed a maid called "Mom Beck." As Mom Beck looked in on a sleeping Lloyd, she declared, "When your sleeping, you look like an angel out of heaven. Nobody would ever know you're a regular little devil." But try to envision Hattie McDaniel saying it as only she could. I must admit there is some truth to that sentiment. There are few things sweeter than looking at a sleeping child.

Sometimes You Wanna Go...

We needed some time to relax. I needed to get away. The children needed a break. I will compose a "real" post later. I am too stressed to write coherently. Let's put it this way...just when I thought things couldn't get worse, Ella fell in a toilet. Less than 24 hours into "vacation mode" we had to seek medical attention and then find a pharmacy for Layton's three prescriptions. None of the children packed their toothbrushes. My grandmother cut herself when we went out to eat. A cockroach that had been mutated by radiation attempted to carry the many small children to its roach den. The slogan for our relaxing week off is..."I want to go home." It's storming.

Shiner, Stealer, Sofa...

Last weekend, my sister's children stayed with us. Layton and Charsy didn't quite get along. The evidence of their tiff is the huge black eye Layton has been sporting all week. Thank goodness it is almost gone. You can see the lingering yellow and purple below.



As I was getting pictures off my memory card, I noticed a lot of pictures that looked odd to me. After a more thorough examination, I realized Layton had the camera at some point in the last few days. A sample of his photographic styling has been added to this post for your viewing pleasure. Or, so you can laugh because you know you have found pictures like this on your camera before...I once heard of a woman who discovered nude photographs of herself on her digital camera. Turns out, her children don't respect her privacy while taking a shower. What's the strangest thing your children have captured with your camera?

What's Cancer to a Giant?...

Village fun...

Lovely ladies...Kate, Elizabeth, and Laura...

The Pepper clan...

A glimpse of the dancing and stage area...

Pearly Cephus Jones....I don't actually know how to spell this band's name.

I love this picture! Kim looks so happy!

Caught Jim dancing with his mother...how sweet is that!?

Saturday evening, Jay and I attended a benefit concert for Will Haney. It was hosted by the Village Pizza. I think I have mentioned our local pizza parlor a time or two. Will and Emily (his wife) have a positive attitude about the whole situation. Will is the last person I thought would have cancer so young in life. He has always been very athletic and healthy. In fact, he was Mr. AHS in high school. That probably means nothing to those of you who are not from our small town. Anyway, please click on Will's name to learn more about his fight against cancer and what you can do to help.

Pictures from the Party...

On Saturday, we went to a company picnic for the company that employs Jay. It was a lot of fun. Hadley was at a friend's birthday party, so we were down to 67% of the nuggets for the day. We had a cold spell this last weekend. Believe it or not, it was warmer in New York than my hometown in Alabama! The children tried to swim, but it just wasn't warm enough to suit them. Ella got quite cold! And no, I still haven't figured out why Layton makes a "Richard Nixon" pose every time I try to get him to smile. He enjoys adding the tongue with his eyes closed. Hmmmm. Any idea why he would find this appealing?

Nebo...

Last weekend, Jay and I had a party to go to. The drive to the party took us by Nebo Community Church. We paused and asked Ella to take our picture in front of the church. She was a little perplexed but did a great job. We explained that this small, quaint, country church is where we got married...just before God created dirt. The church has a lot of meaning to me. It is located in a small community referred to as Jones's Cross Roads. My father grew up at the cross roads; my grandfather owned a grocery store at the cross roads; and my great grandparents were a huge part of the church. In fact, the day we got married, the only decoration on the altar was the set of sterling silver candle sticks my great grandmother bought for the church decades ago. It may not boast impressive columns or a large sanctuary, but Nebo is a beautiful church to many in our area.

Just Another Manic Monday...

Without a doubt, I have mentioned my younger sister numerous times. She has two precious girls, and I am lucky enough to get to keep them at my house on a regular basis (especially the older girl). Last night, they both got to spend the night with us. This is a picture from the driver's seat of my car. Thank goodness the Volvo seats seven!!

The Last of the Pictures...That I am Posting...

Hadley slipped and scraped her elbow. After that, she wanted to sit and read her book for a while. Then, she wanted to nap for a while. I can't believe she went to sleep in that heat!

At the playground area, there was a great set that was modeled after a train. Layton kept calling it the "choo choo play ground." It was just the right size for smaller children.

Splish Splash....

Some of you may know that I choose not to work on Fridays during the summer months. I try to come up with fun activities to do with the children. This last Friday, we went to
Florence to play outside the Marriott. This park is one of my favorite parks I have ever been to. It will take more than one post to get everything covered.


Ella climbed the rock wall and was so pleased with herself!!

I love to take my sister's children with me on Fridays. She rarely lets me take the baby, but Charsy is always up for fun!

Amanda's Animal Adventure...

Apparently, my theme for this past weekend was animals. Jay and I took the little ones to the drive through animal park in South Huntsville. Ella and Layton had a blast! Ella is very interested in zebras right now, so the fact that Harmony Park has several zebras made her day! They also have a monkey that does back flips. Layton was almost uncontrollable when he saw the monkey flip. His favorite movie is "Curious George," but he calls it "Monkey George." Needless to say, the drive through animal park was a hit. Also, I couldn't resist the alliteration for the title...

Legal and Loving It...

Last week, Jay took off half a day of work. We had some items to renew and update. We stopped by the sheriff's office for each of us to renew a permit.


My children behaved as if they wanted to be thrown in back in a cell. I couldn't resist taking their photo.



We also had to stop by the court house annex to renew a driver's license. I had Ella and Layton (the only two I had with me) stand in front of the blue sheet, so I could take a driver's license picture for each of them.

Layton wasn't tall enough to get his whole head in front of the blue in the photo. He sure is sweet though.

Ella was tall enough for the blue screen to be entirely behind her. She was so pleased to pose for this picture.

The next picture is of our lovely court house annex. It is located one block off the square. If you have to pay property tax, renew a driver's license, record a deed, or buy a car tag (among other things), this is where you go. It's nice to have such a lovely facility to go to. It takes the extreme pain out of writing the check.

My Secrets Revealed...Blame MckLinky...

It's Bog Hop Tuesday!

So, this week is titled Three Things You Don't Know About Me. Since I am the queen of "too much information," it was hard to come up with three things you might not know about me.

1. My aversion to guacamole has nothing to do with its taste. Ramona Quimby's dislike of it lead to a ruined party dress in one of my favorite Beverly Cleary books. When I read the book as a young child, I was determined to never ruin a party dress. Pathetic but true.

2. I have Rubbermaid boxes full of "treasures" in my bedroom. I save all kinds of things and jot down their significance. For example: Jay and I began our journey to the altar in trigonometry. One day he drank a 20 ounce Mello Yello in class. That same day, he took my picture. Before class let out that day, I took the label from the bottle to remember the occasion (obviously, this makes me seem like a strange stalker). The label still rests in an envelope with "Jay" scribbled on the front. Also in the envelope: a valentine card he sent me, a fortune from a cookie, a receipt from one of our early dates, and his picture. Some day, when I am old and frail, my children can open the boxes of goodies, and hopefully, help me remember the days that seemed insignificant but made me who I am. Strangely enough, our trigonometry teacher signed my year book... with a prediction that Jay and I would marry.

3. The first beer I ever drank was a Corona. I was a young teenager, and the minister of my church handed it to me. We were in Mexico building houses. We ran out of water, and the only thing we could find that was safe to drink was beer. It tasted so gross. I remember thinking that I was drinking moldy water and would certainly die. The temperature was well over 100 degrees that day, and I was so hot and thirsty that I drank it anyway. In the sixteen years since that day, I have rarely consumed beer. I just don't like it. Sometimes, I will see Corona in the grocery store and think fondly of my beer buzz on a mission trip. Hey, Presbyterians can do that in moderation.

.***

Birmingham Zoo...Not My House...

Yesterday, I took the nuggets to the Birmingham Zoo. It was a nice change of scenery. Usually, I refer to our house as a zoo.
I was a little concerned at first because we went through a massive rain storm. Then, the sun came out and fun was had by all.
Sadly, my camera took its last picture on Friday. All of these are from my phone....not good. I bought two disposable cameras in the gift shop. I will get those pictures later today. It was odd using a disposable camera. I kept looking down expecting to preview my shot, and then I would remember that I wasn't using my digital camera. It felt like 1998!



Charsy, Hadley, and Layton playing in the water area of the zoo. I'm not sure where Ella was in this shot. Layton loved the water spouts!

Ella and Layton on the train.

Hadley and Charsy on the train.

The girls checking out the ostrich.

Four nuggets smashed into one train seat.

Layton being the flirty boy that he is. The humidity in the air had his curls out in all their glory. I hope I got some good shots of him from the back. We'll see when I pick up my photos.

Ella doing her best super model pose.

Hadley. She was so precious the whole time. She is the quietest most relaxed child I have ever met. Clearly, she got that from her dad because I am not relaxed...AT ALL! She carried her Harry Potter book in her American Girl backpack all over the zoo. I think she kept expecting us to sit a spell. Unfortunately for her, we were on the move the whole time.

I expected all four of them to pass out on the ride home, but not a one went to sleep. They chattered the whole way to Athens. More later...