May 31

Happy 39th Birthday Clay!!!

 

 The kids made Clay cards for his birthday, which were pretty funny. Lucy gave her daddy $1 "picas he is speshool".

 

One giant chocolate donut birthday cake (it's a dark chocolate fudge Duncan Hines cake with dark chocolate fudge icing). And it has to be in a bundt pan. The man knows what he likes! 

May 30

Happy Birthday Grandpa Tim! 

 

 Elliott, Lucy, and I worked in the yard for a couple of hours yesterday planting flowers, trimming bushes, spraying weeds, and laying mulch.

  

We went to Lexington last night for dinner with Aunt Dale, Uncle Greg, Natalie and Parker, Jeff and Jamie (they are in the states this week from England).  It was fun to catch up with Jeff - I haven't seen him since Elliott was a baby. 

Everyone should have an Aunt Dale.

May 29

 Here are Julia's pictures from our trip to Georgia:

 

 

 

               Aunt Susie and Leigh Ann took the kids to the farmer's market Saturday morning.

May 28

 This is what 11 kids did to poor Charlie. He is whooped!

 

During the church service yesterday, they recognized all the people who served in each branch of the military.

 

 How many redheads does it take to make lunch?

We headed home after lunch. It was good to see everyone. I think Clay felt better after seeing his Papaw and he really enjoyed seeing all his extended family. 

 

 We took the scenic route home because Clay wanted to stop by Dale Hollow Lake State Resort Park to check out their campground. We also ate dinner at the lodge. This picture was taken for the Family Adventure Quest.

May 27

 

 

We went to visit Papaw first thing after breakfast. He had a hard time waking up to visit, but we got about 10 good minutes with him before he got sleepy.

All the cousins arrived - in all, there were 11 kids ages 5-13.

 

 

  

Clay and I got to have lunch with Papaw, then all the cousins/second cousins arrived to see Papaw. He had been dozing off in his chair, but when they arrived, he pulled out his harmonica and played a couple of songs for them. 

 

This is Papaw with 11 of his 14 great grandchildren.

 

 

The three little ones played in the sprinkler because one of them didn't have a swimsuit (it was forecasted to storm all day).

 

 

 Paul, Clay, and I took all the big kids to the neighborhood pool.

May 26

At the last minute, we decided to head to Georgia to visit Papaw G. He moved into an assisted living facility down there in April. Aunt Susie and Uncle Paul were nice enough to let us stay with them. Clay also wanted to see all his cousins and their kids while we were there. Aunt Susie and Uncle Paul went from expecting a somewhat peaceful weekend to hosting 20 people in their home on Saturday (not everyone spent the night). It was fun to catch up with everyone. 

 

 Clay with his Papaw

 

While Clay, Susie, and Leigh Ann were visiting Papaw, Paul and I took the kids to his neighborhood's indoor swimming pool to burn off some energy after a long car ride. Savanna (Leigh Ann's daughter/Paul's granddaughter) is the little girl in the middle. It was storming outside... thus the inside pool.

It was supposed to rain all weekend - thank goodness it didn't!

May 25

 Bapaw Rick took Kat to the driving range yesterday. This was her first time and I warned her that she might get frustrated because it is harder than it looks. She said it was easier than she thought it would be and she liked it more than she expected to! Turd! Bapaw said she was a good student. Elliott wants to go too, but Kat liked having Bapaw to herself.

 

While I was at the grocery store, Julia showed Lucy how to sew a pillow.

May 24

Elliott and Kat played tennis for awhile yesterday. I sat in a chair in the shade and read a book. I am loving this stage of parenting!

The kids still have daily chores. Up until now, Julia and Kat have been primarily responsible for cleaning a room each day. This summer, my goal is to transition those responsibilities to Elliott and Lucy so that Julia and Kat can start taking over the dishes and laundry. 

My goal for myself this summer is to take a room each week and clean it thoroughly. We have lived here nearly 12 years and some of these rooms haven't had a deep cleaning in all that time! I have been busy having babies and then taking care of toddlers/preschoolers, and then keeping busy with homeschooling. This summer, I have run out of excuses! Last week I cleaned all the windows in the house and cleaned all the cobwebs out of the corners. This week I tackled the master bedroom and bathroom. I organized drawers, the closet, moved furniture to clean behind it. Yuck!

May 23

We headed to the library to get some books to begin our summer reading...

 

 A friend gave this building set to us. Lucy had alot of fun building a house.

 

We still have some structure in the summer on weekdays because the kids just seem to do better with it, and two, if I let them do whatever they want, they would spend all day, every day with their faces in a screen. 

May 22

More pictures from field day that I borrowed (ahem, stole) from a friend's facebook page.