Luke and his hair.

My cute husband.

Jim and my Mom at the Jefferson Davis Museum.

Zack, Bella, Grandma, Jim and Luke.

Da boys.

Christmas and Such

Isabella with her new stuffed animal, Tigy.

My Mom and Jim Christmas morning.

Our kids Christmas morning.

Daddy's Girl.

Pre-Aftermath.

I'll post more pictures later... we're getting ready to go to Wild Adventures... It's kind of like Kings Island.

Cooper Update

Luke's leg is finally looking better... he had a staph infection. Pretty scary stuff.

We're gearing up for our 1st Thanksgiving by ourselves. :( It's sort of weird... I'll be making our dinner, all by my lonesome. I'm hoping that Brian will get all 4 days off... he really needs it.
We're thinking of driving to Florida the day after Thanksgiving- no real plans... just go where ever the road wants to take us... that should be fun.

My biopsy came back negative! Thank goodness...

The weather has been so nice. It was a lovely 65 degrees yesterday. One of my new friends was complaining about the "cold" weather last night... I told her that she should move up north. We still haven't bought the kids a winter coat and I'm still wearing Capri's and short-sleeved shirts!

I hope all you guys- up there- have a wonderful dinner... we'll be thinking about you.

Getting Back to Normal

Well, I'm officially getting sick of being in the house. The day after my surgery I took Luke to the doctor,,, with what Brian thought was only a spider bite... turns out he had a staph infection on his leg and not a spider bite. So he had to stay home the rest of the week and yesterday. Luke's been taking antibiotics and using an ointment- it seems that it's not gotten worse and it's starting to itch- so it's getting better... thank goodness.
I'm feeling better... I go to the doctor today to find out the results of my biopsy and maybe to get my stitches out. One of my stitches seems irritated and slightly infected, hopefully it's nothing to worry about.
Thanks again for the phone calls...

A Special Thank You

As most of you know- I had outpatient surgery yesterday... and it wouldn't have been possible without the help of many people.

1. Thank you Clara for taking me to and from the hospital
2. Thank you Carmen for getting Clara's kids ready for school so that Clara could take me to the hospital
3. Thank you Luke and Isabella for taking care of yourselves when you got home from school and letting me sleep... Isabella told Brian that Luke was in charge and made her do her homework when they got home... so cute.
   
4. Thank you Brian for working over 12 hours, coming home, making dinner and getting the kids ready for bed
5. And thanks for all the thoughts, prayers and phone calls... it all means a lot.
   

We had a Good Time!

I don't know what my face is all about... but it's the only one of all 4 of us since I don't know when.
This is Gabby, our neighbor's dog. She spends more time at our house then theirs.-That is no joke. She sleeps on our back porch and in the flower bed. She is really super good at playing fetch. She can catch a ball in mid-air. The annoying thing - that is all she wants to do- play fetch. She would play 24/7 if you'd let her. She gets to going so fast that her little feet sound like a horse and her breathing is so labored that it sound like she could have a heart attack at any given moment.
Jim talked Isabella into running laps around the house. On one of the trips around, Jim hid behind this tree and jumped out at her when she came around. It was hilarious.
Grandma Diann & Isabella. Isabella really enjoyed having Grandma around... it really was a wonderful visit.
Here's Jim & Brian unloading the truck. And of course, here's Isabella showing off her modeling abilities.

The Beverly Hillbillies

Mom & Jim arrived last night from Indiana... a highly anticipated visit. They came bearing many gifts. Mom is getting rid of all her things and becoming a vagabond- with a camper. I'm so happy for her. I know she will enjoy being able to go where ever she wants whenever she wants... and I think that is so awesome. I will be posting some pictures of the things she brought me... most of which have been around my entire life. Mom has been an avid antique collector for many years and now me and my sisters are reaping the benefits. I'm so excited to display those items in my own home... one day- I hope my children will do the same.

We went to Northside Baptist Church for a Halloween party with our neighbors, Hannah, Haley & Troy. There was games, food, music, bouncy things, and a huge cake walk... I didn't get a cake, but it's not from a lack of trying. Then we came back to their house for hot dogs and hot cocoa.

The Fulton Park... Tifton

I took the kids to the park. It's absolutely beautiful there. There are Magnolia trees there and last summer when they were in bloom it was really gorgeous.

The Vietnam Moving Wall

I took the kids to the Moving Wall today. The wall is huge and rather impressive. I was going to look for "Cooper," but found out that the names aren't in alphabetical order.

This is Isabella's best friend, Jamecia. She spent the night with us last night. She has great manners and was very helpful. She was cleaning off the table, etc. I didn't even ask her to.

This is the exhibit for the POW's.

Luke has strep throat. They got Thursday - Monday off for fall break and he's spent 3 of those days sick. He's doing better now, but has to stay home until the antibiotics have been in his system for 24 hours. I'm hoping that Isabella won't get it. Or me. Or even worse, Brian.
Brian finally got his motorcycle license. He hasn't drove it to work, yet... he drove it once and got nervous as a big truck come barreling down on him when he was fixin' to turn into our drive.
Speaking of drive-ways... a lot of people here don't have drive-ways. We are one of those people. And it doesn't seem to matter how many times you drive thru the "grass"- it never dies. It's not really grass. It's got a different texture. Most of our front yard is sand... riddled with tons of ant hills. Very big ants hills, too. They get bigger when we have rain. The clay ground just can't hold all that water or ants. Sometimes we will pour lighter fluid on the hills and light them on fire. It's fun to watch them scrambling for their lives. Doesn't that sound evil?

Isn't my Husband Sexy???

He's the one with the hat. :-O

One of Our Buddies

This little guy lives in this plant right by our garage door. We've caught 2 chameleons this past summer... but we killed them off. I've decided to just enjoy them in their natural habitat.

Pine Needles, Pine Needles, and More Pine Needles...

There are thousands of pine needles everywhere here. We've noticed that most people rake up the needles and use it as mulch.

Backyard

This is what we see when we look out into our backyard. It really is beautiful. None of us have ventured into the trees... we're afraid of the critters. Our landlord told us that when they lived here they killed a huge rattle snake that came out from those woods. And I mean the size of snake you'd see at a zoo. Brian has mowed back there, but that's the closest any of us have been.

Our Rental

We were so lucky to find this house. It's on an acre of land and is surrounded by pine trees. We found this house the second day we were here. I knew as soon as we seen it that I wanted to rent it. Everyone that moved down here with Heatcraft can't believe how lucky we got.

Brian & Luke

We had to buy a riding lawn mower because we're on 1 acre. So here's my boy's on their first ride. I think Luke would have had more fun if he could of drove by himself.
It's kind of weird only having to mow once every 3 weeks or so. And then when we do mow... we're just mowing down weeds. Brian misses our grass from back home.

Luke Play'n Ball

Luke caught for his team this last summer. He really got good at it. There were a lot of younger kids on his team... and he would often get irritated at their mistakes. But he said that it was when he was irritated that he would play harder and better.

Luke's Birthday

Luke turned 9 this year. We spent the day at Universal Studios. Luke had a great time.
Notice the tan... I mean the BURN... ouch!

Isabella doing "tricks"

My little girl loves to perform for me... but she
mainly gets a kick out of watching herself.

bella & mom

I got to eat breakfast with Bella when she received her "Student of the Month" award. She was so excited and proud of herself. She said that it was the best day she'd had at school- ever.

Pictures of the house

Luke had to be in all of them.