Deer Decor

Years ago, I never envisioned having a home decorated with a mounted deer skull. But last night, J.J. found the perfect spot to display this original piece of art.

My darling husband killed this buck last winter. He had someone bleach out the skull. Then J.J. carved and stained the wooden backdrop.

Here's the full view of the space in our living room. I might as well get used to it. Such is the life of a deer hunter's wife!

Hoofin' It

I got to "hoof it" in uptown Lexington on Friday with my first graders. Well, they're "mine" for two more weeks. Then their teacher will return from maternity leave. We checked out many of the pigs only display throughout the city.

We ended our pig walk at the fire station. The children were given a tour and learned about fire safety. The class was well-behaved on the trip and we had a great time.

Weekend Wrap-Up: Birthday Parties And Soccer

J.J. and I got all dressed up Friday night to attend Becca's Sweet Sixteenth Birthday Ball. Becca is a girl in our youth group at church.

Most of the guests were surprised to discover that J.J. owned a tux. Doesn't he look handsome? He's the type that only wears a tie when necessary.

On Saturday morning, we went to Olivia's 3rd birthday bash at Chuck E. Cheeses. Only Hayden, Corinna and I went because Drake had a soccer game.

Pizza.....it was tasty despite the early eating time. But since the kids eat lunch early at school it didn't faze them.

Corinna dances with a girl she met on the dance floor.

Chuck crowns the birthday girl.

She blows out her three candles successfully.

Next we rushed to the soccer field and saw the last half of the game.

There's more competition this season since Southwood switched to a new league.

Here's some foot action.

My soccer star Drake scored his team's only goal. They lost but played hard.

We spent Sunday at church and hanging out at home. I actually need to do some lesson planning for the week ahead. I enjoy being in the classroom, but having to plan for sub pay is a bummer. I've got four more weeks to go. Then I'll look forward to subbing a few days a week, hopefully. I really need some time to get some work done around here.

Youth Retreat

This past weekend I chaperoned a youth retreat at Cedar Grove Retreat Center in Kannapolis. Here are a two group shots. We had a great time. It was such a joy to hang out with the 22 students and other adult leaders. I'm praying that this was a great start to a year of growing closer to one another and to the Lord.

Flashback Friday: Eleven Years Ago.......

Eleven years ago today, J.J. and I were getting ready for our wedding rehearsal. Tomorrow will
be our 11th wedding anniversary. Here are a few pics from our rehearsal dinner and wedding.

a little dancing

more dancing

my mom and dad

J.J.'s grandparents (mom's mom and dad's dad)

J.J.'s mom with her mother

my parents, brothers, and grandmothers

bridesmaids

wedding party

groomsmen

gazebo where our reception was held

cutting/eating the cake

washing it down

getting ready to throw the bouquet

Crazy "Vantics"

We've had a month of crazy "vantics" around here. In other words, our paid for van with over 100,000 miles was out of commission for exactly a month. It all began on August 9th when the van overheated. I'll spare you from my rant, and say that I am glad to have my Chevy Venture back today, 9/9/09.

I'll also add that I was grateful to be able to use one of my neighbor/friend's vehicles for the entire time that my van was in and out of a shop. And I'm also thankful that the van was fixed (new head gasket) and that we didn't have to purchase another one this year. So, welcome home ole van of mine. Here's to another 100,000 miles, well....maybe.

Last Hurrah Of Summer

We were blessed to be able to camp out at High Rock Lake over the Labor Day weekend. The Greene's, a family from church, let us stay on their land. Two other families joined us. Above is a view from our site at sunset.

Here is our campsite from the water.

Corinna got her own worm but had some help putting it onto the hook.

Latte joined us for one of the nights. To her dismay, she got dropped off at home after Drake's Saturday soccer practice.

Drake eats his barely roasted marshmallows. I like mine burnt.

hanging out by the campfire

eatin' some yummy grilled corn on the cob

Hayden kneeboarded for the first time.

Hayden and Maddie on a tube. I went tubing too. It was lots of fun.

One of the boats ran out of gas. The pontoon boat came to the rescue after we were flagged down by some jetskiers.

We ate supper before we left Sunday evening.

Frankie got camp potty clean up duty!

We just stayed around the house and did some labor on Monday. J.J. did yardwork on our new mower and I worked on laundry and getting ready for my 6 week substitute teaching gig. We surely enjoyed our last hurrah of summer. Now we're looking forward to cool weather camping.

Here a couple of vido clips from the weekend. The first is of Drake's best friend, Noah, learing to ski. The next is of Corinna kneeboarding.