Peppy the cat

Our neighbors a few doors down have a cat named Peppy that comes to visit us regularly. He is such a nice, gentle cat, that we let him in. He puts up with the little kids pulling his tail, using him as a pillow and trying to pet him in various ways. (This is the same cat that caught the mouse that Zack was able to set "free," without getting bit. Here Kammie is holding "our" kitty.

Confused Azaleas?

Every year on our azalae bushes out front, there are one or two azaleas among all the white blossoms that bloom purple. It's kind of strange, but they are "their own kind of beautiful" among the sea of white (and green). This year the two blooms are hidden below the white blossoms, but we caught sight of them anyway. There are also a few blooms that will have a streak of purple in them, but not many. I guess it's a recessive trait that comes out in just a few blooms. We love it.

My Boys...

Zack participated in the school's jog-a-thon fund raiser on Friday the 23rd. He ran the whole time and completed 32 laps. Mom ran with him pushing Spencer and Sidnie in the jogging stroller. He was worn out by the end. Way to go ZACK! Kammie ran as well and did 29 laps, but we didn't take any pictures of it because mom was too busy helping mark laps for all the kids. Way to go Kam!



Spencer must have been worn out as well after being at the elementary school all morning long while mom helped with the jog-a-thon. He came home and curled up under the table and fell asleep.

Azaleas in full Bloom

Here are some photos of the beautiful flowers in our yard. The azaleas have really blossomed this year--literally. We have these white ones in the front yard.

Look at all those blossoms.

An up close look...

In back we have a few pink ones.

I love the detail up close on these.



I'm not sure what the these red ones are, but they are pretty.



And so far my vinca's are doing well too.

Jordan's gymnastics performance

The Maumelle Gymnastics and Cheer squads performed at the Maumelle Family Fest yesterday at Lake Willastein. Jordan has been taking gymnastics for a long time and was able to perform with the group.

Waiting her turn to tumble...


Over she goes...


What a landing...


A back walkover...


A salute...


A cartwheel...(love the ponytail)


Taking a bow...


With the gymnastice and cheer teams on the back row, second from the left.

A Turtle and a snake

Busy day for reptiles around here yesterday. I was watering my flowers, when Zack and Kammie got off the bus and excitedly ran home. There was a big box turtle in the road where the bus and dropped them off. We went and got it out of the road and played with him for a while, before letting him go. He was the biggest one we've seen yet.



Zack was eager to pick it up.


Later I moved to watering the garden. Near the house, the ground cloth we had put down (to prevent weeds) and then the mulch was coming up. I thought maybe a sprinkler head was the reason, so I stepped back into the flower bed to fix the cloth and mulch. As I put my had down near the cloth, there was a SNAKE! It scared me, and I didn't know what kind it was, so my kids helped me get a bucket and catch it. Later we found out it was just a brown garden snake, not a Poisonous one, so I was brave enough to hold it and then let it go safely back into the flower bed.

Whole Wheat Bread

I love it when I get 5 nice loaves of bread. It's a beautiful thing.

And we had yummy scones too for breakfast.

Race pictures

Someone from James' work gave him these pictures from our 4H race this past Saturday.

Waiting to start. We are in the far left corner--some of us behind the front row, so we aren't seen very well.


And we're off.


Jordan and James at the finish.


James getting his 2nd place medal.

Sidnie

With the Indiana Jones craze at our house, Sid's siblings helped her with this "rambo" type get up. Funny girl.



Sidnie also likes to do things her "self." Whenever she can get her hands on the dirty laundry that Mom is sorting she finds things that she wants to put on. Here she is with a pair of her sister's underware on wrong. Silly girl.

4H 5K Run

Jordan and Kammie, with Mom and Dad, participated in the annual 4H 5K race. Jordan was running it for the 5th time. James stuck with Jordan and they ran the whole time. Mom stuck with Kammie and since she is not a conditioned runner, we ran and walked. Mom even put Kam on her back and carried her up the BIG hill. A good time was had by all. Jordan placed 1st in her age group (female 9-11 year olds). Kammie amazingly won 2nd place in her age group (the female 8 and under catergory).

Here we are reenacting Mom carring Kammie on her back.


Jordan and Kammie

The Primary Talent Show

Our Primary had their annual Talent Show on the 17th. Because of a mix up, only Kammie was there to participate. She demonstrated her TaeKwonDo form. She did this after running her first 4H 5K race that morning.

Kate's Ragstrip Quilt

For a personal progress project, Mom and Kate made this denim and flannel quilt. Mom cut out the fabric squares and the batting and Kate sewed all the squares with an X. Next, we made the pattern and got the layout in the order we wanted. Then we pinned everything together in rows and labeled them. Kate was then able to sew all the squares into their rows and then sew the rows together. Mom did the binding and we both clipped the seams. YeeHaw!



The "raggy" side. Oh it's not fun after awhile clipping all those seams.

Ruffles GALOR!

Here are the skirts I've been sewing all week long. (And I mean ALL week long!) I got my box of chiffon on Monday and Tuesday I started on Kammie's and Kate's skirts. Thursday I finished Kammie's and Kate's and then decided that Jordan needed hers to wear on Sunday as well. I figured Sidnie could wear the new dress I recently made her. Well, after getting Jordan's done, after staying up well past midnight on Friday, I decided Sidnie wouldn't want to be left out of the frilly ruffles display at church. So I sewed like a mad woman all day long and did nothing else but sew on Saturday. It was long, but I finished her skirt as well. They were all so cute at church on Sunday. Nice!


So, here they are...



Now for the cute girls in the skirts...
Is she not the cutest thing in the world? (O.k., so I'm the biased Mom!)



Kammie in pink.

Jordan in purple.


Kate, the teenager, with a different style skirt [going for an older look for her]and she even helped make it for personal progress.



Don't they look so cute! The boys are grumpy. Pehaps because they don't have the frills? But they are handsome little guys nonetheless.