recent happenings..

first off...wow! it's been a while since my last post..just so busy. i am going to do my best to get you all caught up on our happenings since my last post.

well...the weekend before last we headed back to tn for father's day weekend. it was mainly a work trip, but we squeezed in some fun while we were there.

saturday we headed to hiwassee river for canoeing and tubing. we encountered thunderstorms while on the river complete with hail...we were very blessed to be able to make it off the river quickly before being pelted. Praise GOD!

here are some glimpses from the trip to tn...(which, unfortunately...does not include photos from the river adventure as that was a very wet trip and well...water and my camera do not mix).

a snooze on the way to tn.

one of tina's new kittens getting his bath. ;-)

gary and debi's (my in-laws) first tomato of the season. isn't it a beauty?

first cucumber of the season...and it is so cute!

the above photo is of my sister-in-law tina working on one of her beautiful ceramic creations. you can check out more of her work on her etsy shop, Xarine Creations. she is super talented!!

time at the duck pond

making father's day cards..

then this past week included another VBS for river...he had lots of fun learning about ways we can take care of God's creation through recycling, preventing pollution, leaning more about the animals God created and how our actions can put them in danger, etc.

here is a snapshot from VBS...

'the little zoo that could' brought in animals to help the kids learn more about them. here is one of the monkeys.

while river was at VBS, lily and i got to enjoy some time together..here, she is clearly getting tired of all the picture taking..oh, but i can't help myself. i mean..look at those gorgeous eyes!

also this week we had friends come to visit us from tn....our buddies, kent and his son daniel.
here are some photos from the activities which took place while they were here...

meet daniel.  ('beast')...a new term i learned from him. i will forever remind him i know this word. haha! he thinks it sounds funny when i say it because i'm not a kid. oh, that makes it even more fun to say around him.

oh my! i love this man!!

making pancakes...river supervising. ;-)

i also finished my homeschooling list (which includes the subjects as well as a materials list). you can find the subjects/curriculum list under the 'homeschool' page. i will be frequently adjusting this list (especially once we actually get started...so, you might want to check back often.

and then saturday fires broke out in gulf shores...what a terrible mess. when we were at the beach we saw this....

afterwards we drove around and snapped a couple more photos of the fire...
here is a news bit on the fire in case you didn't hear about it. gulf shores fire news story.
my friend amy reminded me that the trees being burned are the ones that had just started to fill in from being hit from hurricane ivan. how sad!





well, how's that for a catch-up post? ooh...remind me to keep up with my at-least-twice-a-week-posts so, i can keep the posts a bit lighter. ;-)

i hope you all are doing great and have a fantastic week!

love,
kelly

the graduate... ;-)

meet one of my sweet nieces.. "a2".

she just graduated from kindergarten yesterday.

wow, kids grow up fast! way, too fast!!

remember a while back when i said something along the lines of, "pictures from the time my sister and her family came to visit us...well, they will pop up randomly in posts"? well, i meant that.

the above picture was taken during that weekend...a fun beach/pier day.

in fact...i will be playing catch-up on picture posting for awhile...Easter, the time my sister came to visit, the kid's first time at the pensacola navel air museum, and i think one other event, too.

i will be getting those and more up asap (just as soon as i finalize, and place in rocky's hands, the completed homeschool curriculum for the fall). seriously, rocky, i am almost done.   ;-)

anywhooo...

miss, a2.... i am so proud of you!!
sorry we couldn't be there during your big milestone.

love,
aunt kelly




linking up with:

black & white wednesday.

Kids at Play

 Rocky and I have some silly kids..they must get it from us. I enjoy looking at their unique personalities shining through each and every day. They are growing at incredibly fast rates of speed, and sometimes I secretly wish they came with a pause button.

But, alas...that would not be fair to them if I really could head over to an electronic store and purchase such an attachment. Seriously, watching them grow is amazing. But, kind of sad all at the same time. More happy than sad, of course. But, sad moments do creep in. I think that's normal for parents, right? To say that I will experience severe empty nest will be putting it mildly, I'm sure. ;-)

Anywho...on to some play time..first we start at our apartment. Gotta love the airplane. The kids sure do!

Mr. Firefly doing full airplane with daddy

Miss Sunshine doing a mini airplane with Mama

Exploring a new-to-us park in Gulf Shores

 And of course...Gulf Shores and Orange Beach have some very nice playgrounds for the kids...This one in Gulf Shores even has a skate park..which has Rocky, Mr.Firefly, and Miss Sunshine pretty excited. Maybe I, too, should consider taking up skateboarding. ;-) Hey, why not??

Mr. Firefly LOVES tire swings..

Slides are fun!

Rocky was happy to discover that there is a skate park here., too! Rocky can be really good at hiding his excitement. ;-)

Just a random sign at the park..

Smiling is contagious!

 Playtime wouldn't be complete without a good bath/shower at the end of the day, right? I think this is especially  true when the bath is finished up with a warm comfy robe. Am I wrong?

Miss Sunshine in mama's robe after bath time. ;-)

That's all for now...I will be posting soon what is going on in the world of homeschooling prep-work. Yep, Mr.Firefly will be "officially" starting school soon. Homeschooling is where it is at for this family. ;-)

Stay tuned for the homeschooling post.

Love, Kelly