Who knew?

Eighteen years ago, I was nervously getting ready for a first date. Thanks to Eric and a very fun weekend at cheer camp, he was finally convinced I was a catch. There are no "written" rules in the handbook about dating your stunt partner. And look where we are today . . . me, at home, barely any makeup on, lucky to have had a shower, breaking up fights with our 2 girls, keeping the boys from destroying every room in the house, continually asking at least 3 to stop talking about poo-poo and pee pee and for goodness sakes, keep some clothes on . . . and you, moving up the ladder at work, driving your dream vehicle, just graduated from a prestigious Executive MBA program, coming home to a well prepared meal and sort of clean house. You betcha' I was a catch . . . and still am! Love you Ben. (By the way, I would fake sleeping all over again!)

In the paper.

Well, he's made it in The Huntsville Times and it wasn't in the "slug" section. He is one of the "Pacesetters" in the business section. Who knew 14 years ago I was marrying such a big wig.

How do my kids really feel about competitive swimming?

Maybe if I give Daddy these really sweet puppy dog eyes,

he won't make me swim this next race.

Can't I just play my DS?

"Yes, that's my Dad yelling for me.

I was choosing to ignore it"

. . . guess what they'll be doing again next summer.

Keep'n em busy!

Some parts of the show were a little boring!

How many Starbursts did you have?

Ally giving her bio for the audience.

Trying to finish the 2nd tote with a small child in her business.

I decided at the beginning of summer that idle daughters make for much quarreling. Therefore, I signed each of them up for 2 camps plus swim team. Ally took 2 drama classes and Hayden did a basketball camp and sewing camp. (And of course the church camp for Hayden). The truth that I've learned from it all is profound: Non-idle daughters make for crazy Mom and still, much quarreling. But on a positive note(Ben, you're rubbing off on me!) Ally had 2 great weeks of drama classes and made another "Anna" friend and Hayden got to "practice" with Westminster's middle school girl's basketball team(that's all that signed up for the camp) and show off some sewing skills. The boys and I signed up for weeks of car riding with the occasional trip to Nina's or Sonic or anywhere else we could find to hang out until the activity ended.

The fourth.

Since our party planner was on vacation for the fourth, the rest of us had to come up with something. Our big plan? Eat dessert at Nina's and watch the Bridge Street fireworks from the playground. It was a success . . . except for 1 adult and 1 child getting burned by the sparklers. I won't mention names, but I will say they have on occasion displayed the same personality traits.

Tubing.

I am so not a lake person. I like to see what is swimming around my feet. However, since Ben and his family are lake people, when in Rome, or should I say Scottsboro, I try to be like the Scottsboroans . . . at least to some degree. I keep my happy little self safely in the boat and encourage my children to participate in lots of boating activities. I do, however, wear a suit in case I need to use some of my old life guard skills, yet have no intentions of otherwise ending up in the water. We went to Scottsboro today to partake of Pop Pop's new purchase - a ski boat. I think the girls had a good time riding a "tube" behind the boat. The boys, not so much. I think they prefer riding in the fishing boat with Pop Pop. The girls had a little time to learn to ski but had to abort the lessons due to darkness and over-tiredness. We had lots of fun as you can see from the photos.

Driving with Pop Pop

Hayden, Ally and cousin Haley having a calm ride.

Not so calm anymore.

All smiles to start the ride.

I think 2 of the 3 have had enough!

Birthday Party

Thanks to my camera man at the boys party(thanks Dad!), I was able to provide a little summary of the day's events.  I'm guessing Owen was too quick for the camera to catch him! Whenever I can get my technical support(no name given) to figure out my new camera card to computer issue, I will be able to show you more of what we've been up to  - Enjoy!