Dog Days of Summer

This is about what we feel like these days. We counted last night. The kids have been out of school 38 days and they have 40 more. I can't believe that!! The kids are so bored these days. It's just too hot to play outside long. They stay out there MAYBE 30 minutes and come in sweating to death. They are doing a lot of fighting. We can't wait for our vacation to the beach next month. Too bad we have to wait until the end of the month. Next week is 4th of July so we will have to have something fun to do but I haven't planned anything yet. Brice and Shelby will be going to church camp on July 15th. (Big Stuf) Check out the link and see what they will be doing. They are really excited about that. Philip is going as a chaperone. It will be fun to see how he makes it on such little sleep. That exactly why I didn't go. I would have been miserable.

Well, as we count down our last 40 days, keep me in your thoughts as I try to keep peace around here. It's not easy some days. I just want to put my head under the covers and "disappear"!

Honey Do

Last weekend we started a big project. Almost 5 years ago I had this great idea to paint Eli's room like an American Flag. He was born several weeks before the 9/11 tragedy and I have always been partial to flags for him. We worked really hard on this paint job so when Eli wanted his room painted again, we just put him off until we couldn't anymore. We had to sand the red stripes a good bit to not be able to see the lines through the paint. We painted two coats of primer and only had to paint one coat of actual paint. We decided that Brice was out growing his bed because it has a foot board and his feet were hitting the end of the bed so we gave Eli his bed and dresser. He was so excited. Since the first night that Eli slept in his "new bed" he has slept later than he ever has. I don't know if it's the bed or the fact that his walls are darker and it's darker in the morning it there. He loves his room and now is trying to decide what bed spread he wants. He really wants a Star Wars theme but I'm trying to steer him away from that. He won't like Star Wars for long... We will see.

Eli has 12 foot ceilings in his room so we had to borrow the church's ladder. I don't like ladders so I could only paint as far as my arm could reach. Take a look at the before, during and after.

We were able to get Brice a new dresser and head board for his room. He also got a new mattress and box springs. He really likes his new furniture. So do we. (Mom, notice the flags on his dresser.)

Shelby also got a new mattress and box springs. She says she almost needs a step stool to get up on the bed. We all think Brice and Shelby's beds are the most comfortable.

I know Philip is glad that these projects are over. Just wait until I throw the next one on him...

Family Trip

We took a family trip to Atlanta this week. Our dear friends, the Thomas, live in Grayson, GA. Just on the other side of Atlanta. They have 3 children; Andrew (14), Emily (12) and Abby (3). Andrew, Brice, Emily and Shelby have been friends since our days at FBC, Jackson 13 years ago. It is always so much fun getting together with them. No matter how long it has been since we have seen them, the kids always pick up like they we just saw them last week. We spent alot of time just catching up and talking and playing. We swam at their neighborhood pool and we went to Stone Mountain. The big kids were able to be a part of a mission project that Andrew and Emily are involved in. We will hopefully see them again in July at the beach. They will be there the same week we will. We will be staying about an hour from each other but we may try to get together and Brice and Shelby may stay with them a couple of nights.

Brice and Andrew riding the train to the other side of Stone Mountain. They hiked up the mountain. ( I didn't go :) )

Shelby and Emily (best buddies)

On the ropes course. I wasn't too thrilled with this activity!!

Philip made it around all three courses.

Brice taking on the "hard" course.

Andrew taking on the same "hard" course. He said his velcro on his shoes kept sticking to the ropes so he had an extra challenge than the rest of us.

Eli being alot more brave than his mother.

Shelby, all smiles as she made her way around.

Check out this video that Shelby took of the boys. We were on our way to Stone Mountain. Fun times.....

Disappointment

When you play select soccer, you work all year for one goal in mind. That being the State Cup. Brice has trained all year, practiced twice and three times a week. Gone to tournaments to improve the game, etc. Well, last week we had a practice game with a local rec team. Brice had played the entire game and scored two goals. During the second half he was on his way for a third goal when the goalie came out and took him out from the ground and a defender came at him from behind and took him out from above his knee. During that collision, Brice injured his knee. We took him to the doctor and he said there was no tear and nothing broken but we would have to wait and see about playing soccer on the weekend. We went to physical therapy twice but he still couldn't run on it Friday. We were very disappointed to say the least. Our team didn't fare too well in the tournament either. Brice said it was very hard to sit and watch from sidelines. He is doing much better now. Walking with little pain and is wearing a brace off and on. I just wish he had done this two weeks before and he would have had time to heal. Oh well......
Notice Brice on the left. His coach still allowed him to be captain which I thought was nice.

Catch Up...

Okay, it's been way too long! Since Easter we have had lots of soccer and more soccer. Shelby is playing on a D2 team. This is a step up from recreational soccer but a step under select. They travel a little bit. We went to Hattiesburg one Saturday for 3 practice games and we went to two tournaments in Gulfport. Her team did pretty well. The first tournament in Gulfport we went to the finals and lost in a shoot out. They were heart broken. Brice's team has been to several tournaments. One at home, Destin and Memphis. He plays in his State Cup next weekend. We have had several injuries and at one time were down 3 players. Brice was forced to play center defense. That is the total opposite of what he normally plays. We have gotten 4 new players that will be playing with us next weekend. Hopefully we will do pretty well. Brice had Jr. Varsity soccer try outs for the High school yesterday. They have one more try out next week. I can't believe he is going to high school. I'm getting old. Eli will be going to 2nd grade and he is already reading on a 2nd grade level. He has had a great year. We also had class day for Brice and Shelby and my niece graduated from high school. I'm posting lots of pictures of some of the events that have happened since my last post. We have a busy summer planned. We are going to Atlanta and Florida and the big kids and Philip are going to youth camp in July. I'll try to do better with my posting.



Shelby playing at Gulfport, MS.

Shelby playing in goal.

Making a save...

Shelby praying during a shoot out.

Shelby received several awards on awards day. We are so proud of her.Brice received an award for all A, B honor roll. (he has gotten this award all three years at the Middle School) Then he had to sit and wait FOREVER! Boring!

My neice, Hanna, graduated from high school. She was salutatorian. We were very proud of her. She will be attending Mississippi College in the fall. Way to go Hannah!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter! We have had a great day with the exception of the boys not feeling great. They both have bad colds or allergies. Eli is coughing his head off and Brice is sneezing and says he feels like he is wheezing. The joys of spring time and pollen! We went to my mom and dad's last night for dinner with the family and Easter egg hunt. Shelby and Eli were the only ones hunting eggs this year. I think my mom hid over 100 eggs. I believe we found them all too. She hid some special soccer ball eggs that had a special prize inside... a $20 bill. We had lots of fun being together. Today we went to church and had a huge Sunday. Over 200 people. I wish all of our usual people were there, we would have had to go outside for church. After church we came home and ate and then went out to the church property. We just walked along the path and the kids played for a little while. Then we went to the park and the kids played soccer and on the playground. It is a beautiful day and we are not looking forward to school and work tomorrow. Monday is coming...

Eli is finding one of his many eggs.

Shelby is trying to leave the easy ones for Eli.

We are counting the eggs to see how many are left to find.

Shelby's special egg!

Eli's special egg!

Hattiesburg Classic Champions

Brice's team played in the Hattiesburg Classic tournament this past weekend. We actually won it. Brice scored all but one of the goals for his team. It was very exciting! The final game was a little intense. We were up 1-0 at half time and then Hattiesburg scored on us soon after the second half started. We were tied up at the end of the game. We had two 10 minutes over times in which nobody scored so we had to go into a shoot out. I hate those! Anyway, we won it! Our goalie saved two and their goalie only saved one of the five that shot. The boys were so excited about winning. They really needed that after the year we have had. Brice is on the front row, second from left. We are missing two of our boys in this picture. One is injured and hasn't played since November and the other one had to go home for something he had at church.

This is Brice receiving his medal from Coach Britton!

Way to go, Brice and MS Fire U-14. We are proud of you!