Friday, August 21, 2015

Aging Rockers - Tim Hawkins

From time to time, I like to post something from our family's favorite comedian, Tim Hawkins, just to make you laugh...

-Kara

Monday, August 17, 2015

Day One of School

 Today was our first day of school and things went great!
 John, our 6th grader:
 Anna Jean, our 3rd grader:
 Christopher, our 8th grader:

We have so many subjects to learn this year: math, English, science, history, Bible, Greek, spelling, piano, and reading.  And ontop of all that, we have a homeschool Phys. Ed class at the YMCA and a Science Club filled with labs that the Discovery Place in Charlotte is doing for Rowan County homeschoolers at the Salisbury library.  Christopher will have art and guitar lessons, Anna will be in a dance group and be taking violin lessons, and John will be playing basketball.  Whew! So we're gonna need to get to bed tonight and get rested-up, because Day Two is coming bright-and-early in the morning!
And here's a little study music for our first day of school.
This is going to be our BEST YEAR EVER!


Thursday, August 13, 2015

A Big Day for A Little Girl

Anna Jean had a BIG day turning 8 this week!
Mommy and Daddy gave her a few gifts, including a new carousel charm for her charm bracelet.  The little horses actually spin around.  (Anyone who knows Anna knows how she LOVES carousels.)
And Anna was very happy to take her spending money from Nana and Papa to Concord Mills, the biggest mall around.  It is one mile to walk all the way around Concord Mills: in two hours, we only made it through about half the mall. She sure had fun on her birthday evening shopping!


Anna used her birthday money to buy a pink unicorn at Build-A-Bear which she named "Polly," then renamed "Nichole," then renamed "Samantha."  The poor unicorn is so confused it doesn't know what its name is.  
Anna also bought high-heeled shoes for Polly/Nichole/Samantha, along with a hairdryer to dry its hair and a phone to call it on.  
And on the way to and from the mall, Anna got to ride in a car without a carseat in the front seat.  She was sooooo excited!  North Carolina law lets kids out of booster seats and allows them to ride in the front at age 8.  For the first time in 13 years, Tim and I do not have a child in a carseat!
Anna was also SUPER stoked to receive three new Thea Stilton books - her very favorite book series in the whole world - from Mike and Kathy Geers.  Thank you Mike and Kathy for remembering and celebrating Anna's birthday with her!
And thanks also to everyone for the cards and Facebook wishes that were sent to Anna.  She read them all on her "big" day.  She had a GREAT 8th birthday!

p.s. - And thank you to Mamaw and Papaw for sending Anna's card.  She had a great time at Walmart!

 


Sunday, August 9, 2015


Tim and the kids and I had such a nice visit to West Virginia the last few days.  It's amazing to me how much love can be packed into 48 hours! 
On Friday morning we drove to Jackson, Ohio - which is exactly halfway between Cincinnati and Charleston, WV - so we could have breakfast with our very good friends Mike and Kathy Geers.  We hadn't seen't the Geers since we left their church over 2 years ago... and their hugs sure felt sweet!

 At Mom and Dad's house, John and Anna got an extra birthday celebration!  Our trip fell in the two weeks between John's 11th birthday and Anna's 8th brthday.
And of course, a trip to WV wouldn't be the same without the kids being able to hang-out with always-cool Cousin Megan.  This time the quartet engaged in an intense game of cornhole, complements of Nana.  Fun times.
-Kara