Welcome Home from SERE Dad!

Happy 6th Birthday Katie!!!

Happy birthday Katie lady!
We love you!

Breakfast in bed.

Slip-n-slide all afternoon.

Fun ladies to visit with.

Schools out!!!!

They will be home in a half hour so I need to get this in the book!

Jake was awarded for getting straight A's here and back home. (His teacher check) and is on the honor role. He also achieved the highest math average 100% and was the highest of all the 4th graders in the school!
They had several field trips and a field day, but they are on the camcorder.
They even got to walk to the Post Movie Theater for a movie.
We moved in at a really fun time of year.
Jake enjoys school. He says the kids are really friendly. He loves the summer though to have free time!

Good job Jake!

Dallas's teacher Ms. Krausz. Sweet lady!

Dallas earned the Presidential physical fitness test. When we told Grandpa Hill he said, "It's all those push-ups he's been doing." When Mike and I need to gain back control of our household we have our children do push-ups and sit-ups. Works like a charm and benefits everyone:)
Way to go Dallas!

Katie earns the "Miss Social Award". She absolutely was born for school. She loves everything about it. She doesn't want summer!
This is her teacher Mrs. Killian and the teachers aid, Mrs. Griffith. Mrs. Griffith, whom Katie calls Mrs. G, her husband is the man who gives check rides to the aviators. She said she would have her husband look out for Mike.
Thanks Katie for making a good impression:)

And Natalie gets to come along for the ride to all the water days, field days, award ceremonies and show-in tell days but she has to stay home for field trips.
This trip she brought a friend, Ally. We were babysitting for a few days. Natalie loves having someone around to play.
Thanks for being my little buddy Natalie!

Happy 10th Birthday Jake!!!

My baby boy is a decade old!

From left to right we have: Natalie, Makayla, Katie, William, Jake, Dallas, Trevin, Anthony

Jake is really into the game Battleship.
This is the USS Jake and it went down in a blaze of glory:)

This boy has been asking for a dog for years. I kept telling him he got a brother, then a sister, then another sister and that was good for now.
I ran out of excuses this year.

Totally worth it!

Happy birthday Jake! We love you!

Boys will be boys

Jake earned his Bear in cub scouts. Just in the nick of time too:)
Jake is having a great time in Scouts here. He has a fun cub scout leader, Brother Gadd. He's a big-kid himself. He understands energetic boys need for movement and knows exactly what to do for that.

Jake earned his archery belt loop. In order to get it he had to fish it out of the jello!
Made his day!

Good job Jake!

Fish on

Built it himself

Always a good sign

The possibilities are endless







(baby hammerhead)
Need I say more?

Just two things...

Yep, that sums it up:)

Where the Wild Things are

This is Katie's soul mate, Faith. They play together nearly everyday. And for anyone who knows Katie...Can you imagine having two of her around?
Faith decided to decorate Katie's face to go along with our Wild Alabama adventure.

So far we have seen an armadillo, poisonous snakes, wild pigs, a baby fox, the regular squirrel, Mike saw a deer, snapping turtles (many of which have been brought home for mom), a tortoise (also brought home for mom), dead possum, lots of frogs (also brought home) and to our delight a forest of fireflies. They are like twinkling Christmas lights throughout the forest. Right out our back door.
Mike caught a baby hammerhead shark. Jake stepped on a catfish head. The spike went through his foot about a half inch. OUCH! And we spent the night at the beach catching sand crabs.

We put up this HUGE snapping turtle as a house guest for a few days. We had it in the biggest, deepest bin we had. One night Mike and I heard something in the garage. We were a little nervous to open the garage door. When we did this is what we saw. It used it's tail to stand up and climb out!

Dream world for little boys and our little girls. Heaven for my husband. I'm not into the outdoor creatures as much, that is why I hold the camera:)