Where does time go?

So I dont have any excuse for not posting. But if I may brag on myself, I only waited two months to post this time. Life has been crazy busy as usual. School is in full swing and we are in the sixth week. This is the first day of school this year. I had to be reminded by Isaac to take the picture and after a lot of complaints, I got this shot. I bet you can't figure out who was doing the complaining! Yep, you guessed....I am sure of it. Carson is in the 7th grade now, Luke 5th, Isaac 5th and Grace 2nd. Where does the time go?

It is hard to believe Matt has been home for ten months now. He is still playing poker for a living, which is a lot of fun for him...when he is winning. As of now, we will continue to do that. You know us, up for any kind of adventure and if there was every a time he could give this a go..that would be now.

Luke got a new wheelchair at the beginning of this school year... Raul, our equipment guy said it weighed the same. HE LIED!!!! His old chair weighed 48 pounds approximately. His new one weighs 86 pounds and we know this because Matt got on the scale with it. And yes, we do have to lift it into the back of the van. This leads me to my next new bit of info....

I went to the doctor yesterday. The very first thing that he said to me when he walked in the door is "you have gained 22 pounds in the last year"....I say.." Hmm. I had no idea". Total bogus answer!!!!! I have eaten way awful this summer with the kids home. but we are back in full swing activity now....So the pounds should be coming off. Will I ever just not care about what my weight is? I doubt it, I figure I have a lifetime of lifting Lukers and wheelchairs, I better get it together!

Carson has braces now and Isaac gets them on Monday. Wow, where is that money tree in the back yard. I am still waiting for it to bloom!

Grace is one of the most persistent children I have ever met. I mean, I know you have to be tough when you are the youngest and the only girl, but DAWG....she can drive a car right into a tree with the persistent questions she ask. If you do not anwer her, she only ask more and louder until she gets and answer. That does not mix well with my maternal ability to shut off all sounds that children make. I guess I should work on that.

Overall, we are doing well. I will try to post sooner next time!

Last bit of camping

So I am not sure if I mentioned how bad it stormed while we were camping. PopPop and Patty had a storm the night before we got there so we thought we were safe but that was not so. On the second day we were there about 4pm it started to pour. We shoved everyone into tents except for dad, patrice and matt. Luke and I sat inside our tent safely trying to stay dry. Our tent was closest to the water and all of a sudden it sounded like a waterfall and then came the hail! YES HAIL!!!! that is not snow, but HAIL! A couple of them pelted Patty on the had through the shelter over the food area! What a mess!

Thsi is everything piled up in the middle of the tent. It is really hard to pile up a king size air mattress and a twin....Luke was laying on the other twin air mattress. We eventually started to pile it on top of Luke, which he loved because of the heavy sensory input! What a goof! How was I supposed to know that if something was touching the walls that water would come in! I got in big trouble for that. HEHE~

A little tired! I think this was after dinner at Cowboy's, which is a restaurant on the water, after the hail storm.

Yeah, we forgot hats. Matt got realy fried on his head. What is that saying... proper planning prevents ____ poor performance. What can I say, I tried, but we had hot Krystals!

Look Sadie Kaye! It is barky! I just love this picture of Sparky. Some of you will notice the arctic blonde on his mouth area. He has a stressful life protecting the household. YEAH RIGHT!

And more camping!

Matt and Sparky on the water for a big time! that did not last long because Sparky was worried about the kids on the tube!

Anna and Patty getting the jet ski fired up with the tube. I am driving the boat - yahoo !!

Emma and Grace posing for a picture....

A little more tubing....I got suckered into getting onto this thing this year. I am too tender for this thing.

Let me just put this disclaimer in here. Matt has had neck pain since he was in Baghdad about a 1 1/2 years ago. I told him that he was gonna kill his neck on this thing, but what do I know. Let me just say, he has had three successful visits with the chiropractor since then. He was not right after this...or maybe that was sleeping in the army hammock! hmm....

More Camping

OK, so I am so backwards on this posting stuff. But anyways, here is more camping pictures!

Luke and I on a late night boat ride!

There is nothing like the sunsets on the lake. There is beautiful reflection of the sun on the water with the mountains in the background. And two Sea doos with Matt and Anna on them!

Come on Pop Pop, get the fire started!

Grace and Pop Pop getting the fire going!

I just love this picture of Matt and Lukers! What an awesome father and son moment!

Camping Trip

Well, we were able to go to Pop Pop and Patty's to camp. We did not think that we were going to be able to go, but were able to get up there. Matt has never been out on the lake there so camping was a real blast for him. It was really adventurous and gave us a real opportunity to look on the bright side!

Well, this is us running out of gas just north of Atlanta. But before you say, "how can two smart, reasonable adults run out of gas?" Let me tell you. We saw the light come on in the van, but it was about 10:30 and everyone was hungry. So.....we thought you cant have a road trip without a bag of Krystals! Well, we get to Krystal and we were the first to order gut busters so we had to wait for them to finish cooking.....25 minutes! While waiting, we ran out of gas, but if you notice the van is on a slight hill so we probably would have made it otherwise. Who really cares though, we had HOT Krystal burgers!!!!!! Nothing like a Krystal box graveyard on the dash! Those poor burgers didnt have a prayer!

It didnt take Matt long to hop onto the Sea Do. He really had a blast on it! In fact wants to get one!
Grace and Pop Pop driving the boat! Grace likes letting the wind blow in her hair.

Well, this is not where we roped off the bathroom section. This is actually army hammocks where Matt, Carson and Isaac slept. Well..... Carson and Isaac slept there until 4AM the first night. Matt made it the whole time, except the very last night when it started to rain! He likes to sleep under the stars apparently. I think he was pulling lookout duty or something. But we had Sparky there so he didnt need to...HA!

It's a bird, It's a plane, It's Dumbo...No just Sparky who was a nervous wreck the entire trip....He spent most of his time looking over the edge of the boat making sure that no one fell in the water. NOT that he would go in to save you because he is scared of the water.... We had to throw him in to cool him off.

Presenting Dr. Seuss

Isaac's class had to do a wax museum for the entire school and parents. He was chosen to be Dr. Seuss. Each time someone hit the button, he had to recite his report to tell about Dr. Seuss' life. He did great, but when I decided to record him, he lost his train of thought.

Getting ready to head outside for the wax museum.

TAKE ONE! Turn to the side again! I cant rotate my videos....duh!

TAKE TWO!

TAKE THREE!

FINALLY, TAKE FOUR!

Meet Bubba and Godzilla

So what do you do when your kids all want their own pet? I mean, I would love another dog or cat, but then that leaves me to take care of them. So, for years I have been saying if you want another pet, then save your money and buy one, but it cannot be a dog or cat. Well, Carson and Isaac finally did. Isaac now has a ball phython named "Bubba". When I asked him why he was naming him Bubba, he said, "Mom, I can't call a snake that is five feet long Mr. Twinkies". And there you have it. So now we get to go get a mouse every two weeks and feed it to Bubba (this is one of Matt's many jobs. I draw the line there). Grace almost cried the first time she watched him eat the mouse because it was "cute". YUCK!!!! Matt had to explain to her about the food chain, how we eat chicken and this is the same for the snake.

And then there is Godzilla. Carson was the first to get a reptile and he wanted a bearded dragon. I must say, it is actually very cute. It likes to curl up in the corner of his aquarium and snuggle like Sparky does. He eats crickets, about ten a day.

It has been really good for Carson and Isaac because they have had to be responsible for feeding, watering and holding them each day. I am not thrilled about them, but it is nice to see them take care of them. We'll see how long it last. I may have a snake and dragon soon.

This is Isaac with Bubba! Don't mind the wife beater, but then again, we are in the South!

Closer look in case you are not afraid. By the way, I have yet to hold him. Don't think that will be happening.

This is Godzilla! He is cute and small. He will stay pretty small too.

Close up!

So, now the question Grace ask, "Can I get a gerbil or hamster?" If any of you know me, I get physically nauseous when I see a rat, mouse, gerbil, hamster or anything in the rodent family. So what do we do? Maybe Papa will let her keep a rabbit at his house....hmmm...that is a good idea!