Happy Birthday Mark!

Yesterday was Mark's birthday! Happy Birthday, honey! He is young...2 weeks younger than I am! We celebrated Saturday night with a meal together and cake! We made his favorite chocolate cake with homemade icing poured over the top. It was thin this time so I poked holes all in the cake so it would saturate down in it. It was absolutely delicious! We put 3 candles of one color and 2 candles of another on it for the 32 years it represented. We had such a good time just enjoying being together. The girls enjoyed celebrating "daddy" and making it special for him.

We love you daddy. Thank you for giving us such a wonderful home.

School, Maddie, Hair Cuts, Missing Tooth, Hannah, Etc.

Wow! I guess it has been a while since I posted. We are settling in to our new routine and enjoying it very much. The girls are loving school. They both have wonderful teachers and we are very thankful! Maddie and I are having a good time just being home. We stayed so busy this summer (which we loved too!) that it feels great to just be home!

Miss Qualls and Cassy - First Grade

Mrs. Ruwersma and Abby - Third Grade

Maddie:

I am hearing a lot of "Why?," "I do it by myself," and "What is that?". She is at such a fun stage, although challenging at times. Answering her questions all day can become tiring but I am thankful for her developing mind. We are still working on the WILL.

I guess the banker must wear her high heels!

Mom:

Just more of the same :)

Hair Cuts:

We decided to get their hair cut. It had gotten so long and stringy. We are enjoying this new look :) It is fun to fix.

Missing Tooth:

Cassy's first tooth that she has lost. It was very exciting for her!

Showering Hannah with gifts:

My sister-in-law is due in October. We went to Nashville for her shower last week. We had a great time! I made this bag for her. I can't wait for her arrival!



I will have to post pictures later of piano and t-ball.

Thanks for checking in with us!

We just have too much fun!

We were able to spend the day at Dollywood as a family last week. It was so much fun. The girls and I had a couple of yard sales early on in the summer and we had been saving our money to spend on a fun day together. We decided to go to Dollywood after much thought of how to spend the day and money.

Maddie absolutely loved riding these rides.

The man that worked this ride would squeal like a pig and wave at the children throughout the ride. Maddie thought he was so funny. She would look at me and laugh and say, "He's wavin' at me." She was so funny.I just thought this picture was hilarious. Abby walked around in this part with Maddie in a harness. There is a splash pad and water guns and such and I did not want to get wet. It was so cute to see Maddie dragging Abby around from thing to thing. Abby is really such a big help to us! You can see the "leash" in this picture.

Abby and Cassy were planning to ride the farris wheel. When they got up next in line, they told Cassy she was not old enough to ride without an adult. Abby still wanted to ride. She is so brave. Cassy was not too disappointed. Mark took her to ride the bumper cars while Abby took her turn on the farris wheel.This ride is called the "Shooting Star". It takes you up and keeps you there in anticipation and then drops you quickly. It goes up and down to different heights all during the ride. It looked like fun.

Abby has a smile, it must have been!

Abby, Cassy and I rode the Blazing Fury. It is a small indoor roller coaster. It was Cassy's first time to ride a "big" coaster. She loved it!

We enjoyed ourselves very much and are glad that we had the opportunity.

Visiting with Family

Mark went to the Sword of the Lord Conference this week in Walkertown, NC. He had a good time. Since he was gone, we went to Nashville to help my brother and sister-in-law get ready for the baby (she is due in October). We had such a fun week and we got a lot accomplished! We painted the baby room, painted letters for her name, painted a dresser, and painted and hung shelves. Here are a few pictures of the room....

The chair rail is not hung for these pictures but the room looks great!

While we were there, Derrick took the girls and my mom and I out on the lake in his boat. We had so much fun. We went tubing, swimming, and Abby even skiied with Derrick.

They each had a turn to be the driver...

They drifted away from the boat on the raft...the smile came when Derrick threw them the rope and pulled them back to the boat.

Abby did a good job with Derrick. She loved it!

We have more to post about but until later...thanks for stoping by!

My Mamaw..."Big Mamaw"

We all called her "Big Mamaw." I don't think it was because of her size. One great granddaughter started it and that is what we ALL called her...22 grandchildren, 40 great grandchildren, and 9 great, great grandchildren. Others probably called her that also.

Her great granddaughter needed a distinction between her grandmother and her great grandmother. They lived right beside of each other. Her grandmother was "mamaw." So for whatever reason in her little mind she started calling her great grandmother "Big Mamaw."

She went to heaven on Saturday. She was 97 years old. She has been in a nursing home for the past several years. She has not known us for those last years...she had Alzheimers.

When the family decided she could no longer live alone (she was already over 90), she moved in with my parents. Abby, Cassy, and I visited with her a lot during that time. She did not know us from day to day. She did not know we were family at all. She thought she was in a elderly care facility already. She was usually happy though. The girls were good company for her.

She has a large family. She had 8 children, three girls and five boys (one of the boys died shortly after birth). My daddy was the sixth child. You can read the obituary for a list of all the survivors http://www.legacy.com/knoxnews/Obituaries.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=90808214.

She was a wonderful Christian. She was a faithful member of the church that my uncle pastors, Emmanuel Baptist Church in Speedwell, TN.

She kept me a lot when I was little. My mom worked and I stayed with Big Mamaw. She lived just across the road from us. She taught me songs such as "Oh, How I Love Jesus." I remember gardening with her. Another memory I have is playing a little game we played where we watched the road and one of us counted the trucks and one of us counted the cars. She lived in a very rural community so I can't imagine that there were ever very many passing by. I enjoyed playing it though. I think that probably the trucks won every time in a little farming community. I probably didn't figure that out.

She lived a wonderful life and I am thankful for her godly example for me.

Big weekend for the whole family!

Tomorrow Mark's sister is getting married. Cindy is 41 and she has never been married. She is marring Steve who has 3 grown children and an 11 year old. He also has 3 grandchildren...kinda funny but they are all 3 girls. His wife died several years ago. This was a match made in Heaven. Thank the Lord He brought them together.

I wish I had some pictures of her but after this weekend I should have plenty to post. Please pray that all goes well!

Catching Up...

Well, I have been falling behind on the blogging (in many other things, as well.) We have had such excitment and been busy all the time it seems.

Today, we are finishing up the Youth Congress. Tonight is the last service and then we will have fireworks. I think it has gone well. I have been staying in the nursery but the reports I have received is that all has gone well. There are lots of groups here and that is great! I plan to go to the service tonight and am excited about it!

Probably everyone has seen pictures from the churchwide picnic on Saturday, but I am including mine too. It was a lot of fun. Mark was sick and was not able to go. He did go early and set up everything for the preschoolers to enjoy, but he came home before the fun began.

After we ate, we had a water-war with Pastor. He had the preschoolers divided by boys and girls and gave them each a chance to throw balloons at him. He told them all they were going to get WET!

This was Pastor with the Preschool girls. He let all of them get balloons in their hands. He was going over and over the instructions. I think he was afraid of what was going to happen when it all got started.

The girls loved it! Pastor did too :)
This was down on the field with the big kids. He let each grade have a chance at him and he at them. They all had fun. Pastor said that he won!

I think he was the wettest!

Maddie had fun in the sprinkler and slip-n-slide.

...and the pool!
Playing with the parachute
This is the waterslide!

The girls are in line...on the top they both have a grey t-shirt on.

This is Abby at the top of the slide

We can't decide if this is Abby or Cassy but they both went down the slide and loved it. They both look so much alike, it wouldn't matter if we call this Abby or Cassy on the slide. This was the first summer that Cassy has went down.

What FUN!