Reese's first post.

Well let’s see, I have been tagged by Ella to write my first post. So here goes…

My name is Reese. I am a few days shy of 17 months. This is very exciting for me because mommy always makes me get away from the computer. Doesn’t she know I just want to push the keys! So here are 8 things about me.

1. My name is Samuel Reese. I was named after my Great-Granddad on my Daddy’s side, and my Great Great Granddad on my Mommy’s side. My daddy’s granddad Mr. Sam Eads is still alive, and I love every chance I have to see him. The funny thing is, both of their names were just Sam, but Mommy and Daddy chose the name Samuel for me.
2. I am already just as athletic as my big brother Brooks. (That doesn’t say much for Brooks HEHE!) Santa brought me a lot of balls and even a Little Tykes Basketball goal. I love it! I even have figured out how to jump and get both of my feet off the floor at the same time.
3. Besides the balls, I don’t really like playing with anything else. I’d rather just walk around and get into Mommy and Daddy’s things. I especially like Mommy’s china cabinet.
4. I am supposedly hard headed. I have hit my head on more things than anyone can count. I always have a bruise on my head.
5. I don’t like riding in the car for a long time. After awhile, I torture my Mommy by continually saying “stuck” until she makes me hush.
6. I have learned that my mommy likes to take pictures. One time she told me to say “hamburger” instead of “cheese”. So now, I think it is funny to say “hamburger” any time I see her with the camera.
7. I am not going to list anything beside this number because I don’t know this number. When I count to 10, I skip this so-called number.
8. And finally, since I don’t like to take naps as well as Brooks, it is time for me to go to bed.

This was fun! Maybe mommy will let me try this again one day.

Reese beats up Brooks

Brooks came in the den crying last night. That is very unusual for him because he seems to have a really high pain tolerance. He just doesn't cry that often. So I knew immediately something was wrong! He proceeded to tell me how Reese had hit him over the head with this wooden dowel thing that came out of one of his shelves. I spanked Reese and told him to tell Brooks he was sorry. I said, "Reese say sorry Brooks." I think I said this 20 times before finally I got a "Brooks.......Srree." I made Reese hug Brooks. My whole point to this is, What is up with the 16 month old beating up the 4 year old.

How did this happen?
Are they on equal footing now with each other?
Am I going to have to let Brooks hit Reese back so he will know what it feels like?
Is a 16 month old capable of comprehending what all is going on?
Is there any hope?

Christmas Questions...

I saw this on another blog and thought it might be fun.....

Colored lights or white lights? I grew up with a tree that had colored lights. My favorite are the old style big ones.

Real tree or fake tree? There are good things about both. Somehow I ended up with a fake tree that still drops leaves

What is your least favorite thing about the holidays? Budgetting for the presents.

What is the one thing that you would like to see under the tree this year? Surprise me!

What is your favorite thing to do/build in the snow? Snow??? What is that?

What is your favorite holiday drink? Hot Apple Cider or Custard (kindof like eggnog.

What is your favorite holiday smell? Baking cookies.

Who is your favorite reindeer? Prancer. I had a Prancer ornament given to me when I was younger.

What is your Christmas Eve ritual? It used to be going to my grandparents house every year. Since they passed away, I haven’t found a new favorite yet.

Are you a Friday after Thanksgiving shopper? Somewhat. I got out this year and had fun.
What is your favorite holiday food? Any party food.

How did you find out that Santa wasn't real? A kid in my class at school told me. I don’t remember his name though.

Who do you want to be under the mistletoe with? With my husband of course!

Have you bought all your presents yet? Almost, I have a couple more to buy.

Do you spend Christmas with a lot of family? Yes – Most all of our family lives close by. It makes it even better during the holidays.

Do you still make snowmen and snow angels? Again, what is snow?!

Do you still have snow ball fights? Enough with the snow questions.

What's your favorite Christmas movie? A Christmas Carol with Patrick Stewart. I am a Patrick Stewart fan.

What do you plan to do for New Year's Eve? No plans yet!

What's the most expensive thing you've ever gotten for Christmas? I saved up all the money I got one year at Christmas and bought a new camera. I don’t know if that counts.

How early do you wake up on Christmas morning? When the kids wake up, which is usually around 5:45.

What do you usually get in your stocking? Nothing, Brent doesn’t put anything in mine.

What is your favorite religious Christmas carol? O Holy Night

What is your favorite non-religious Christmas song? Up on the House Top?

How long do you leave up your Christmas decorations? Until after New Years' Day.

Consider yourself tagged!

Christmas Time

I love this time of year! Brooks and I are getting ready to go to "Breakfast with Santa". Reese has had a fever the past two days-so he is staying home :( but I don't think he will know what he is missing. Brooks is excited about getting to wear his pajamas somewhere. After that, I am going to a Christmas Brunch with my friends. It will be lots of fun. Tomorrow is a cookie exchange at Kristi's house, and I am looking forward to that. I guess I need to go to get started on the cookies.

All in all, we have had an uneventful last couple of weeks. I know I should be thankful.

Here are some pictures of the boys with Santa. This is the Santa that we see every year. Merry Christmas!

Reading

So I am reading a book, which is a big deal, because I just don't read. It is not that I don't like to read, I just can't ever find anything that catches my attention. Generally I would like to read something that is non-fiction, but even then, it is rare.
Anyway, I came to this chapter in the book that really struck me. This lady is talking about meeting a new friend in Italy. The new friend tells her that every city has one word to describe it. They go on to name different cities and try and decide what they think that one word would be. Then the author tries to decide what the one word would be that would describe herself. Now, I can't even remember what that word was. It did get me thinking though,...what is my one word? Obviously, we all want our one word to be "Christian." That goes without saying. But what would my 'other" one word be?

I think maybe it would be "Blessed"

Think about what your word would be. It is hard to sum it all up into one word.

I knew it was coming

I haven't had a chance in a couple of days to sit down and post anything. So here is my story from earlier in the week. Brent and I were laying around on Sunday afternoon, (isn't that what you are supposed to do?) while the kids were napping. At least we thought they were napping. Suddenly we heard this loud thud, followed by hysterical crying. Reese (15 months) climbed and fell out of his crib! Brent jumped up and ran toward his room and by the time he got to the door Reese was coming out of the room.
Brooks never did this. I mean, he never even attempted to do this. I know every child is different, but it looks like this is going to be an interesting next couple of years.
Let's hope that Reese has already forgotten how he did that.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a good thanksgiving. All of Brent's family came to our house for lunch. It was good to get to spend time with everyone. Here is a picture of the whole gang.

I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday!

Update

I just talked to Julie on the phone and they were almost back home with Cooper! He is doing much better and starting to eat a little more. He did have Bronchiolitis. The doctors told them that if an adult had the same thing, we would just feel like we had a cold, but to a baby it can be bad news. Thank you to all who were praying for the family. God answers prayers!

Prayer Request

Brent and my day started with a call to let us know that our dear friends Charlie and Julie's son Cooper had to be air-lifted to Children's Hospital in B'ham last night. He just turned 11 months old and is just the cutest! He was having problems breathing and Julie took him to her pediatrician, which sent them to Baptist South, which sent them to B'ham. We drove up there this afternoon and he seems to be doing better. They are going to keep him at least until tomorrow up there. They should know some test results tomorrow as to what he actually has. (Maybe Bronchiolitis?) Please everyone keep Cooper and the family in your prayers.
The thing that struck me the most about the situation was Julie telling me about how she felt as she was leaving Baptist South and watched her son fly away in a helicopter. I CANNOT IMAGINE!!!
It really made me stop and think about the whole situation. Here I am getting stressed out about Thanksgiving, (do I have all my ingredients for the dressing, where is everyone going to sit, should we use the fine china, etc.) when if you step back and thing about it, it doesn't really matter. Most of the things we worry about in life, really don't matter in the long run. These are all just things. Things don't matter. Family, friends, relationships, and most importantly Faith is all that really matters.
I will try and post tomorrow when I hear more.

Momma...What?

Reese now has a new phrase that I noticed for the first time this weekend. He will say, "Momma...what"! I guess he just picked this up from me responding with "what?" everytime he says "Momma".



I cut his hair this afternoon and I think it turned out ok. Here is a before and after.





Last week I bought a new radio on Ebay for the Xterra because the one I have now has a CD stuck in it. I bought another one just like the one I have. The "new" one is used but it is just like the one I have now. I got it in the mail Saturday and Brent put it in this afternoon. Well guess what, we turned in on and there is a CD stuck in the new one as well. I am so mad! I emailed the guy a little while ago and am waiting on a response. I guess Nissan has a problem with their radios. But beyond that, this seller did not mention that the radio/cd player is not working right. We shall see what happens...

Check up

Reese went for his 15 month check-up today. After an hour in the waiting room we went back to a room. Reese started crying as soon as Dr. Trumbell came in the room. It progressed to the point that I really couldn't hear what the doctor was telling me. I think I got most of what he was saying. We left an hour and forty-five minutes after we had arrived. Reese cried most of the way home as well. Let's just say by the time the kids went to bed, my nerves were shot.

Brent is currently on his way to north Georgia to go on a hiking trip with his friends. bkrenegades.com

I really think they are going to freeze their hiney's off tonight. I hope he has fun!

Saturday the boys are going to get their picture made with Santa. "Santa" is my mom's cousin, which I think makes me and Santa second cousins. He retired a couple of years ago, and decided he wanted to be Santa. He grew his beard out and even dresses the part all year long. (by that I mean he always has on red or green of some kind!) He even has cards that he gives to children that have his picture on them and they say "I met Santa" Here is the boy's picture with Santa last year.

Hard Day

I had to work from home on Tuesday. That may sound like the best of both worlds as in-making money while staying home with the kids-but it isn't all it is cracked up to be. With the job I have, if I work from home I have to be "working", meaning I can't just do a little work, then play with my kids, etc. They keep a log to see what you are doing at what time. So, needless to say it is hard to accomplish.
The boys are generally really good. Brooks understands that I have to work and is really good to get Reese to come play with him in his room. They were being pretty quiet so I decided to go check on them. I was watching them in Brooks' room without him knowing that I was spying. Reese tried to play with one of Brooks' trains. Brooks yelled at Reese and then hit him on the head. It was really hard too! I yelled his name and he jerked around like a deer caught in head lights. I went into this tirade of "What are you thinking?, Have you lost your mind? Do you think that feels good to him?" I spanked him and made him go in mine and Brent's room for awhile. (Just a side note, Brooks doesn't cry when we spank him. So, I never really know if I am getting through to him. If he does cry about something, then we know it is a pretty big deal and we better pay attention to the situation.)
Now fast forward to later in the afternoon, they were playing again, and I heard Reese scream. I asked Brooks what happened and he said, "Do I have to tell the truth?" I said yes and he sighed and said, "Momma, I think I lost my mind." He was dead serious too. That was his explanation for what had happened. I admit I laughed at him, as did Brent later when Brooks was telling him what happened.

Beware!

I am always suspicious when I get an email that is just too crazy or too great to believe. I recently got an email about a new movie coming out called The Golden Compass. I was told "do not take your children to see this movie!" I checked it out for myself and found that what the email included was true. I am going to copy what was posted on www.snopes.com

"There will be a new Children's movie out in December called THE GOLDEN COMPASS. It is written by Phillip Pullman, a proud atheist who belongs to secular humanist societies. He hates C.S. Lewis's Chronical's of Narnia and has written a trilogy to show the other side. The movie has been dumbed down to fool kids and their parents in the hope that they will buy his trilogy where in the end the children kill God and everyone can do as they please. Nicole Kidman stars in the move so it will probably be advertised a lot. This is just a friendly warning that you sure won't hear on the regular TV."

The website confirmed that this was true! I don't usually take a second look at things like this but I felt I just needed to share this. When Brent and I went and saw The Bee Movie, there was a preview for this movie and it actually looked intriguing. I feel like parents will take their children to this movie, without knowing what it is truly about. Please spread the word!

This Morning

Let me tell you how my morning started off. I got ready for work this morning and was going to head out and feed the new ducks. As I am about to walk out the door, I noticed a girl sitting out by our pond. She looked to be around 12 or 13.

IT WAS 5:45 IN THE MORNING!!!

There are a lot of families in our neighborhood that let their children come down to the pond. It doesn't bother Brent and I if they ask first. So that got me to thinking. What child that age gets up at that time of day, and what parent would let them come down to our house at that time of morning.

(Let me also point out that we don't have any blinds across the back of our house, because as we thought up until today, "who is going to see us?" We don't have any neighbors behind us. There are many mornings when Brent or I walk through the house dressed indecently, trying to get ready, because again, "who is going to see us?" Now I have the answer- "random neighborhood girl" is going to see us!)

I am not confrontational, so I just waited a few minutes and watched her try and feed a wild mushroom to the ducks, and then trek on up the street toward wherever. When I went out there, someone had left a big rubber tub and a towel by the pond. (People also leave random junk around the pond-but that is for another day.) I guess someone thought that these wild ducks needed a place to sleep. Of course they are not going to get in that tub! So, now we have more random junk to clean up.

Is it just me, or is this strange?

Day at Home

The boys and I spent the day at home today. Here is our time outside playing in the back yard.
My two sweet boys...(complete with yucky drool)...

Brooks watching the ducks....

Aren't days where you have nothing to do nice?

New Ducks!

We have new ducks at our house! In October, the state fair was in town and they had baby animals for everyone to look at. Well, I guess when the fair packed up and left town, they left the ducks. They needed a home so they came to live with us. We have other ducks that live in the pond, but I am anxious to see how this turns out. I hope they all can get along. There are 13 of them! The pictures are of them arriving today.

Trunk or Treat

We had a great time at Trunk or Treat on Tuesday night at church. Brooks has been looking forward to dressing up in his costume for awhile. Brent even got into the spirit with a costume this year too. Brooks was a rocket (his choosing), and Reese was a bunny rabbit. The neat part about Reese's costume was that I wore it when I was little. Mom replaced the pink bow on the front with a white one. That was really special. It was a great time to get together with all our friends.

Really?!

We went to A.C. Moore after church today so that we could get some last minute items to finish the Halloween costumes. Brent went up to the cashier and asked her if they had any velcro. The girl looked back at him and said...."What is velcro?" I mean are you kidding me?

Football Fun!

We had Mark and Leah and the kids over today to watch the Georgia football game. We had such a great time together. Brent and I can't stop talking about how good all of the children were today. They played for a couple of hours without us even checking on them. What fun! It is always nice to get together with friends. Like Brent said, It is nice to have some adult conversation! It was even nicer that Georgia one. (Don't worry, I haven't abandoned my Tigers!)

This is a picture of Marley and Reese -our two youngest Georgia fans! How sweet!

Officially Old

I guess no one told me that when you turn 30, you are officially old.

Today at work, I asked another co-worker a question and she said, "Yes Ma'am." She wasn't being cute, she was really saying that to me as if I am her elder.

Let's just say, that made me feel weird....

The kids are listening...

Last night on the way home from church, we were listening to the Kidstuff channel on the satelite radio. It plays a lot of Wiggles, Dan Zanes, etc. One of their promos came on and at the end of it said, "Kidstuff!" Right after that Brooks said, "Sirius 116" (which is the channel number). I didn't know that he listened and paid attention that closely to the channel. It made me realize that he listens and pays attention to a lot more than I give him credit for. Have I watched something lately on TV that little eyes should not see? Have I listened to something on the radio that little ears should not hear? I am going to make every effort to try and be the best example to my children on their journey through childhood, knowing that I will need God's help along the way.

Titus 2:7 "In everything set them and example by doing what is good...."

Welcome Home Brooks!

Brooks came home today! I was so glad to see him. He had a few stories to tell about his trip. Melany said that he was really good. Reese has been pretty good since he left. I have decided that Reese just needed a break from Brooks and maybe some one on one time. He has been a different child since Brooks was gone. I am anxious to see how they will interact together since Brooks is home. Here is picture I snapped of Brooks. ( I think he takes after his Dad!)

Brent is going to be gone until Friday so pray for my sanity!

Poor Baby!

Reese has been really sweet the past few days. Brent and I have decided that Brooks not being here has helped. That sounds bad so let me explain. We don't think that Brooks is the cause of Reese acting badly, it just seems that they are not competing at everything- including attention. I talked to Brooks on the phone and he is having a good time which makes me happy.

I worked from home today, which is tough with a little one. He has been really good though. Here is a picture of Reese at lunch time today. Poor Baby. Please notice that he hasn't let go of his food!

Nice Weekend

We have had a nice weekend so far. Brooks left yesterday morning to go with Brent's parents to see the cousins. Brent's brother has two children. Kelly is 13? and Brynn is 9 I think? Brooks loves playing with Brynn. I told Brooks yesterday before he left that Brynn used to have Thomas the Tank engine toys and he was excited to see if he still had them. Brooks has helped me write a Christmas list for Santa and all that is on it is Thomas things and Disney Cars things. That is the same things he wanted for Christmas last year.

Anyway, Brooks will be back on Tuesday and I already miss him. Reese was looking for him last night. Reese has gotten to enjoy playing by himself. We dumped the toys out of the playpen for him and that kept him occupied for awhile.

Today I have to make food to take to our Care Group get together after church. What to bring, what to bring???

Flu Shots

It is quite nice to have a mother-in-law that works at a hospital. Melany told me Tuesday that she had ordered some flu shots for the boys. She took them today to the ER (where she works) and got two of the other nurses to give them their shots. Brooks is a child that has to plan, so he had already decided who was going to give him his, and who was going to give the shot to Reese.
Brooks seems to have a really high pain tolerance. Even as a little baby, he didn't usually cry when he got shots. (Now don't wander off in this story and think that I have it made...) Reese on the other hand is like most normal children and screams bloody murder. Melany said that when she held Reese down for his shot, he seemed to be madder at her about holding him down than getting the shot. I appreciate her doing that for me. Now she gets to look forward to taking Reese back next month to get the other half of his dose. What fun.

On a different note, I was getting on to Reese tonight at supper, about throwing his sippy cup on the floor. After I told him, "No, No!", he pointed at me and said "No, No." Oh no! He is not a baby anymore. I firmly believe he is entering the terrible twos even though he is 14 months old. He likes to fall in the floor and throw a fit if he doesn't get his way. He likes to play and plunder through everything in our house except his own toys. He likes to hit Brooks all the time. I am sure that is normal.
I try to think about the advise that my mom gave me a long time ago. She said that Granny would tell her that she could do anything anybody else could do. For example, you don't have to go climb Mt. Everest, you just have to make it through the day with a 14 month old. You can apply that to any aspect of your life, (job, family, etc). I know that many, even some who will read this, have successfully raised strong willed children, and so can I. Let's just pray that I haven't pulled out all my hair by the time he really turns 2.

It is my fault...

I shouldn't have laid my diamond earrings on the end table. (Let that be said first.)
Now fast forward to this morning. I forgot to pick them up before I left for work. I called Brent to see if he could get them off the end table so Reese wouldn't get them. He said they weren't there! He checked on top of the jewelry box too, just to make sure I hadn't forgotten that I put them there. NO EARRINGS!
I called him back after about 15 minutes and he said that him and Brooks had been looking for them but still...NO EARRINGS! Surely Reese hadn't eatten them? I am like 99% sure that Reese wouldn't eat them. Usually, if he puts something in his mouth that shouldn't be there, (like a leaf or something) he pulls it back out and brings it to us.
So, I called mom (who would be keeping the boys today) to let her know. She told me that she would keep Reese's poopy diapers for me so I could go through them. WHAT FUN! (It ended up that he didn't poop at her house today.)
I got home with the boys after work and immediately found one of the earrings in the floor of our bedroom. That gave me confidence to think he hadn't eatten the other one. I searched and searched for the other one and finally gave up. I figured it would turn up one day. A few minutes later I gave Reese a cup of water that didn't have a valve in it. (Second mistake in this story.) I didn't know that he would take it in our bedroom and shake it and let it go all over him and all over the floor. As I am getting on to him and putting a towel on the floor to soak up the mess, there is the second earring next to the door facing! How could I get on to him after that? His mess is what let me find the other earring. Horray for sippy cups with no valves - Woo Hoo!

Great Day

Some of you may not know that today is my birthday. One of my good friends from high-school mentioned me in her blog today, and I felt honored. Another of my oldest friends came to my work today and brought me flowers. She also gave me a card that read:

We are friends for life.
When we're together the years fall away.
Isn't that what matters?
To have someone who can remember with you?
To have someone who remembers
How far you've come?

I thought that was super sweet. So this blog is for them.

Isn't it good to have friends? Old friends that you can just tell anything to? Old friends that you may have not kept in touch with, but you feel like you picked up right where you left off? New friends that have touched your life in ways that they may never know.

"If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!" Ecclesiastes 4:10

My Man Blog

Kristin tagged me to answer questions about “my man”. After I did this, I realized it was kinda fun.
· 1. Who is my man? Brent
· 2. How long have we been together? We’ve been married 8 years and together 2 before that.
· 3. How long did we date? We dated for 1 year, and then we were engaged for 9 months.
· 4. How old is he? 32
· 5. Who eats more? Depends
· 6. Who said "I love you" first? I honestly can’t remember, I think it was me.
· 7. Who is taller? He is.
· 8. Who sings better? We both sing just about average.
· 9. Who is smarter? He is. He is one of those people that didn’t have to study in college.
· 10. Who has more of a temper? We probably have about the same temper, but mine comes out faster.
· 11. Who does the laundry? He does more of it than I do.
· 12. Who takes out the trash? He and Brooks do every Monday night.
· 13. Who has sharper computer skills? He does. One of his majors in college was computer information systems. (I have to say I am not too bad with a computer.)
· 14. Who sleeps on the right side? I do. Unless we are traveling and then I sleep on the side closest to the air conditioner.
· 15. Who pays bills? We both do. We have separate accounts, so he has his bills and I have mine.
· 16. Who mows the lawn? He does.
· 17. Who cooks? Mainly I do, but that is just because I get home before he does. He is actually a better cook than me.
· 18. Who drives when we are together? Whoever puts the child in the car on the driver’s side. Isn’t that funny? We have never discussed the fact that we do that though.
· 19. Who pays when we are out together? I do. That is one of “my bills” is all eating out and groceries.
· 20. Who is more stubborn? I am.
· 21. Who is first to admit it when they are wrong? I am.
· 22. Who asked out who? Hard question. We started hanging out together with some other people to play cards at night during the summer in college. We went to a wedding of some other college friends together, that was our first official date. With us, it just slowly progressed from a friendship into a relationship.
· 23. Who kissed who first? He kissed me on our first “official” date!
· 24. Who is more sensitive? I am.
· 25. Who has more friends? Probably him. I think that comes from his days working in Admissions at Faulkner. Also, he is a very likable person.
· 26. Who has more siblings? He did. He has one brother and he had a sister that died. I have one sister.
· 27. Who wears the pants? We both do.

Kristin, thanks for tagging me. It was fun. I also saw that Kristi had done this same one. I think it is catching on.

Paces

This picture is not eye catching but there is a story behind it I had to share. Brent and I were at Arlington National Cemetery. We were at Arlington House and were trying to figure out how to get to JFK’s gravesite from there. We decided to ask a national parks service employee. He walked over to this chain railing, unhooked it, and said “Follow me 10 paces.” Brent and I looked at each other with that look that you know what the other one is thinking. I mean who says 10 paces? Why not “follow me” or “come this way”? Anyway, we walked out past the rail and he pointed down this hill and said that was where we were trying to get to. We could not see it if we had not gone past the railing. So, it was really nice of him to do that, and I got to snap a picture that I couldn’t have gotten otherwise. We followed a path down to the gravesite. My only complaint is that it felt like it was 1000 paces to get there. :)

New PJs

I had to share this photo of Brooks. It makes him look so young! Thanks Ibu for the new pajamas. He absolutely loves them.

Home again, Home again

We are home now. It was such a nice trip! We went to the Museum of Natural History yesterday morning and then met my cousing Melinda for lunch. Then, because she works for Texas Senator Hutchison, we got to go on a tour of the Capitol with some other people from Texas. It was all really interesting. Did you know that a lot of the inside of the capitol is hand painted with these elaborate murals? It is all very unbelievable.
Needless to say, we feel like we have seen it and done it all. I am going to post some pictures from the trip.....

Fall in the middle of everyone

Today was great. We went to the National Air and Space museum, and then went to the Holocaust Museum. The Holocaust museum was somber and a little emotionally draining but well worth it. After that, we were just walking around, and I fell down on the side walk. My palms are both skinned up, and my dignity is shot, but other than that I am ok. It was so embarrasing. Tomorrow we are going to meet my cousin for lunch and then tour the capitol. She works for Senator Hutchison's office from Texas. (Isn't it nice to have connections?)
On another note, Reese has been sick since we left and I can't wait to see him. Brooks is doing well according to mom. I can't to get my hands on both of them. :)

Arlington Cemetery

We went to Arlington Cemetery and saw President Kennedy's gravesite, and then we also saw the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It was amazing. Because that took so long, we decided to take a night tour of the city. It was just as amazing as the first tour we went on. Tomorrow we are planning on going to the National Air and Space museum, and then to the Holocaust museum.
I am already planning when I can come back, and who I can bring back with me!

Tour in DC

Can I just say that today was the greatest. You name it, we saw it in Washington DC. We took a tour of the city (6 hours). It was a tour that let you get on and off the bus. It was also nice because we only had like 15 people on the bus. The greatest part of the day was when we went to the WWII memorial. There were veterans all over the place. There was one only gentleman in particular that was in a wheelchair sitting there. He had the biggest smile on his face and his family all around him was crying.
After seeing all of the other war memorials, you just understand more what these men went through to keep this country free. I saw one lady there with her grandad, and she had a shirt on that said, "If you can read this thank at teacher. If you can read this in english, thank a soldier. I had never seen that before.
All in all, it was a great day. We even saw the Capitol and the White House. Tomorrow after church we plan on going to Arlington National Cemetery and then to the National Air and Space Museum. We will see if our plans work out!......
Oh, and I can't get our camera to sync up with the computer, so I will post the pictures when we get back.

Off to DC

No pictures today because Brent and I are leaving in a little while to go to Atlanta and then fly to Washington DC. I am so excited!! Everyone that Brent has talked to says that we will be overwhelmed with all the things there are to see and do. I have never done anything like this! I think it will be great to get to see the sites that I have always just seen in movies. Hopefully I will be able to post some while we are there, but we will see how that works out.

Pictures

Here are two pictures of the boys. Reese has his new bedroom shoes on, and Brooks is feeding the ducks.

See Spot Run

My mother-in-law had me and my mother over to eat on Monday night. When I got there she had a "surprise" for me. She sat down with Brooks and opened this book and he began to read the words! I was shocked. Let me point out that it was very simple words but I was still very proud. She has been having "school time" with him when she keeps him while Reese is taking his morning nap. I am so proud of him!

7 days and counting...

I am counting down the days until Brent and I leave for Washington D.C. We are going there for my birthday! I have only been on one trip that involved an airplane, and that was just in August. So, the air travel aspect of the trip is still exciting to me. The kids are not coming with us which gives me mixed feelings. I am glad to get away and enjoy some one on one time with Brent, but part of my heart will stay here in Alabama with Brooks and Reese. More on our trip to come....

This is all new...

I finally decided that I was going to "get in the loop" and write a blog. I have several friends that seem to enjoy this. I decided to name this "On Golden Pond" because as I sat down to type this, I can look out our back door and see our beautiful pond. It makes me think of how blessed we are and how beautiful this world is. We moved here about 3 years ago and have enjoyed every minute of it.