First day of school....sort of

Madison and Carter had their first official day of school today. They have been going to a "Summer session" during the month of August, but today, everyone was back. It was busy and crowded at school. I was worried that the chaos would be too much, but they went willing and excited into their classrooms. Do you like Carter's new "cheese" face? They had a great day. My thoughts.... on with Fall, yay!

A trip to the beach

I had a wonderful Labor Day weekend. Me, my Mom, my Brother, and my Grandparents all headed to Fernadina Beach. We had a very relaxing time. I read 2 books in 4 days and SAT on the beach ALL day. I haven't done anything like that in 4 years. Thank you Mom it was a wonderful and much needed trip. Happy Birthday to you and Jase. I hope it was a good one!

On Sunday, Jase, Mom, and I took a ferry to Cumberland Island. What a cool place. It is a US National Park and you can only get there by boat. They don't allow vehicles (other than the rangers) so bikes are the only mode of transportation. We rented bikes and biked to deserted beaches. It was really weird to think what being on a deserted island might feel like. They have all kind of wildlife on the island. The coolest is the wild horses that roam. They are everywhere and aren't afraid of people. The island was once owned by the Carnagie family and a fire destroyed their beautiful mansion. The island was deserted and then given to the National Parks 20 years later. The island has many tales of interesting history. I hope that I can bring Brian back soon!

The Lake Shoot

I have been so busy with Ellis Avery Photography shoots that I have neglected taking pictures of my own kiddos. I know that they have been very happy for the break! I took them down to the lake and took some yesterday. This was very stressful for me. Like most parents know, your kids are a lot less cooperative for you than for other people (or maybe it is just mine) and as most parents know, you have a lot less patience with your kids than with other people's children. I tried to pull all my tricks out to no avail, just a look like I was crazy to think they were going to enjoy getting their pics taken. It all worked out though. I sat down to the computer, uploaded, and was very pleasantly surprised. Enjoy!

It has been a busy month

We have had a very busy month and a half. I am sorry that I have not posted in so long. It is funny, I don't bother my kids nearly as much as I need to with my camera these days, since I have busy with Ellis Avery Photography (which is going great and keeping me super busy).

We have had a busy summer. Madison continued on with Camp All American and loved it. She had her final assembly and got the faithfulness and the love award. She played soccer and tumbling and did lots of Bible School crafts and stories. Madison also learned how to swim. She loved her swim lessons and has been swimming without floaties since the beginning of July. I am so amazed and proud of her. She has also spent a good part of the last few months on anitbiotics for strep that wouldn't go away. We knew that we were going to have to get her tonsils out but we ended up moving up the surgery because we couldn't get her well. She had her tonsils and adnoids out on August 2. We have had a rough (but as good to be expected) last couple of weeks. She did great at the hospital and is only on pain meds twice a day now. She was even able to start school back this last week (yes, their school started back Aug 3rd!!! Yay!). She really has been a trooper. It has been hard to see her in pain, but hopefullly this will be the end of the illnesses. I have also been amazed how much more sophisticated our conversations are getting. She is asking questions that are at a different level, especially about our faith and God, which is so cool. Along with this little adult that I have on my hands has come a DRAMA QUEEN that is sometimes unbearable.

Carter has also started to develop quite a personality. He is so cute I could just eat him up. He is really starting to talk and put together sentences. He also says things like "cool" and "awesome". He is starting to do more task on his own, like putting his dishes away or putting his dirty clothes in the hamper. He follows commands (when HE wants to) and is very proud of himself when accomplishes something, he screams "I did it". He is starting to show interest in potty training or maybe he just likes being naked, but when pees in his diaper he takes it off and says "wet". He loves to sit on the potty, but hasn't done anything yet. I am not pushing nor am I ready to potty train him yet. He and Madison play very well togther and for the most part get a long great. He is liking school and doing well with all of his arts and crafts and helping the teachers out.

Brian on the other hand is still trying to recover from the gallbladder that won't go away. If you remember back in Feburary he had his gallbladder removed after 6 weeks of misdiagnosis. He developed complications and ended up in the hospital a couple of times for a heamtoma the size of a baseball. Well he is still having pain from the heamatoma. We were at the hospital again on Wednesday. He had a CT scan done and the hematoma has gotten smaller, but it is still big. They went in through his ribs with a very large needle to try to drain some of it to relive some of the pressure he his feeling. They were only able to get 1/3 (about 15 cc) of what was in there. The clots were too big and kept clogging up the needle. They sent him home, with the hope that it will continue to reabsorb and that the little they got out would be enough to take the edge off. If it doesn't they will have to go in and surgically place a drain, a tube that will be stitched into his body and that will run into a bag that we will have to dump. This drain will be in for a couple weeks. Please pray for him that we do not have to go this route. I pray that this does the trick.

Hopefully, it won't be another month before I update again! I hope everyone has a great weekend and try to stay cool!

Our new Golden Girl

A loss of a pet is something I hope that no one has to go through. I know that isn't a reality since pets live a lot shorter life than we do. When you lose a dog that is so much a part of your family there is a tremendous void in your house, your everyday routine, in your life. The 3 weeks that Annie has been gone have been some of the busiest and some of the quietest. We have felt like there is something missing and there is, Annie. We wait to hear the thud of her tail when we get up in the morning or the tags on her collar jingling in the middle of the night. We wait to see her at the top of the basement stairs when we get home. And she isn't there. Then there is the constant conversation with the kids. Madison is constantly talking about missing Annie and Annie in heaven with Jesus. She constantly talks about getting puppy, a young one that won't die. This is a hard thing to deal with.

We have kept in touch with the wonderful people at Adopt a Golden through all of this. The founder of the organization is the one that picked Annie for us and she gave us the best gift that we could ask for. Their hearts mourned with us, especially since Annie wasn't that old.

We knew that we would be getting another dog. Brian and I are dog people. We just didn't think that it would be this soon.

We have been praying as a family for Annie to be healthy and having fun up in heaven. Madison tells us everyday that she has met new friends and loves her daily walks with Jesus. We have also been praying that Jesus and Annie will pick out the right dog for us and send her to us when the time is right. Well Jesus and Annie must have known the void in our life and didn't want us to be so sad.

The crew at AGA knew what we were going through and suggested that we just "take a look" at a couple of dogs, but really pushed one in particular. She is 11 months old and has had it pretty rough. She was a stray and then got sick and had to have emergency surgery. NO WAY. We said we couldn't go through that again. Well a very long and cool story with a lot of "God winks" as my mother in law calls them, we felt like God was giving us a very strong nudge that this was the girl for us. We met her and she was a little Annie. Her demeanor was very similar and she even looks like her. She lit up with the kids and her and Maddie became fast friends.

So we picked her up on our way home from Tennessee. She is a very smart and good dog, but it has been a while since we had a puppy in the house and it is a lot more exciting around here. Last night she was in the crate in our room until about 4 am when I let her outside to use the potty. She then came back in and I let her sleep on the foot of the bed. I woke up this morning to find her spooning me with her arm over my stomach. Oh boy are we hooked.

I have to say that last night when we brought her home was one of the saddest moments of the last few weeks other than when Annie died. I thought how about how much this little one was not Annie. We already are creating fast bonds with little one, but she will never replace Annie Bell. It is so nice to hear the pitter patter of little paws and there is nothing like a dog snout in your lap. Thank you Annie for sending her, you did a good job.

Now may I introduce our newest member of our family, Chloe!

Happy 4th of July

We switched it up this year and headed to Grandma and Pops' house in Franklin for the 4th. We had a wonderful time and it really made me feel like this is what a childhood summer should be like. We went to the pool and rode bikes around the neighborhood. We feed the ducks donuts and went on walks. We decorated the golf cart and were in a parade. We got to see a real firetruck up close and ate snow-cones. Brian and Madison caught lighting bugs at night. We sat on the front porch every morning and ate our breakfast. We went to a festival downtown and listened to live music and watched dancers and ate frozen yogurt and then dippin dots. I loved it and I know the rest of the family did too. Thank you Grandma and Pops for a great weekend.