10 Years

Andrew & I celebrated our 10 year anniversary last Friday. We went back to The Victoria, a bed and breakfast in Anniston, where we spent our two night honeymoon. There is not much to do in Anniston, but that was just fine. We got lots of sleep, enjoyed the pool and got to eat out a few times. The one adventure we did take was to Mt. Cheaha, the highest point in Alabama. We cheated and drove to the observation tower at the top. Isabella will be here in 2 months. I was not thinking and climbed to the top of the tower. About halfway back down, I thought my legs would give out.

Andrew wants to go to the highest point in all 50 states. This was the second on his list.

Of course, no post is complete without a picture of Katherine. I gave Andrew an IPhone for Father's Day. He has downloaded lots of games for Katherine, and she can stay entertained by herself with them for at least 20 minutes. It's fun to watch her play them, too. Lauren gave her this hat, which she loves to wear even though it's blazing hot outside.

One of the teachers in Katherine's summer class likes to put her hair in pigtails. Katherine calls them "veggie tails." She hasn't quite distinguished them from her movies. I have no idea how the teacher gets her hair up. It's all I can do to get her hair combed in the morning.

Atlanta - July 2009

Our Southcoastal District Conference of The Wesleyan Church was in Atlanta this week. Andrew & Katherine were able to spend time with his family while I attended the conference. Swimming was definitely a big part of the fun. The three older grandchildren, Ike, Ingam & Rose were baptized in the pool by Grandpa (Reverend) Maxey. Thursday night, I was one of three to be ordained. It was a special service. Andrew's family attended, and my parents and aunts & uncles also came for the service.My senior pastor, Joel, and his wife Tracy were there.

Amber & Lauren also drove over. Of course, no picture of Lauren. Some of the choir members from church were also there as delegates to the conference: Mattie Ruth & Leonard, Martha, and Mona. It was so special to have so many of my family and friends present.

On Friday, 15 of us went to the aquarium. Katherine really enjoyed it. Grace, 5, and Katherine, 2, bonded and have fun playing together.

This little video is from after the ordination service on Thursday. Katherine had a big audience so she performed for everyone. We started the video about halfway through "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round," which is one of her very favorite songs. She is quite an entertainer.

Beach 2009

We went to Seacreast Beach, FL for one week and had a great, great, great time. Amber, Brien, Lauren & Kendall were with us for the entire week. Sara & Coy arrived on Wednesday. Katherine loved going swimming every morning with her daddy. She did not appreciate the sand at the beach but was fine if she stayed on a towel. I have included only highlights of the trip. We took A LOT of pictures. There are no captions - too many to write about. Enjoy looking at the pictures and making up your own stories to go along with them!

Memorial Day Weekend

On Friday, we drove to Atlanta to surprise Andrew's sister for her birthday. His grandmother was also visiting, so we got pictures of all of the cousins with grandma and great-grandma.We met Oni & Jeanette's new baby, Cameron.Brothers and babies. Katherine is currently obsessed with stickers.
She almost took over Grace's birthday present.
Monday, we cooked out at the Howard's house. Andrew had to grill in the rain.

We were able to get in a little swim time before the rain.

Katherine had fun jumping off the side of the pool.

Big smiles!

Brother or Sister?

Spring Break

Andrew's spring break was last week. We woke up Monday morning with a tree down in our yard. The power lines were hanging in the driveway, so we couldn't get out. My mom let us use her car until Tuesday when they finally fixed everything.Since we did not have power, we spent Monday night at the Howard's house. Amber & I got home around 10pm from a meeting with Jen about flowers for Holly's wedding. Katherine and Andrew were sleeping downstairs. She had never slept in that room, so she didn't like it. The rest of us went upstairs to talk and didn't hear Katherine crying. Andrew brought her up about midnight, dropped her in the middle of the bed and went back downstairs to sleep. The other girls left to go to bed, and I stayed to sleep with Katherine. She had other plans and didn't go to sleep until 3:30am. At 6:30am, she sat straight up and said, "Mama, I need milk!" as if she'd had 12 hours of sleep. 3 hours of sleep didn't sit well with me, so I spent Wednesday sick on the couch.Thursday, we took Katherine to the Birmingham Zoo. Mimi went with us, and we took her to lunch afterwards for her birthday. We've been spoiled by San Diego, so after an hour and a half we were finished. She did enjoy the "gee-raffs" and "os-tich."Katherine really wanted to see the monkeys. These were the funniest.For some reason, Katherine would not walk on the smooth sidewalk. She wanted to walk in the rocks.It's becoming obvious that Katherine has a lot of my personality traits. We butt heads just a little. :-) Here we are having a discussion about why she needs to get back in the stroller. It ended with Andrew pinning her down while she screamed and tried to escape. I know ... mean parents.Andrew did a lot of yard work on Friday & Saturday. Katherine was a big helper. She likes to carry the flowers to be planted and then carry the little trays back.Everything must be neat and in order for Katherine.