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Winston is THE laziest dog. This is how he eats...lying down with his head in the bowl.

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Another piece of family memorabilia. Did you know Social Security cards were originally metal?

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My Grandaddy Jim (grandma's first husband) died when I was six. I've never really known much about him...until I began working on the tumbleweed. I've now tracked is lineage back to the early 1800's.

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His masonic ring is one of the family "heirlooms" Forrest showed during his family tree presentation.

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My sister and I met at our aunt Patti's house to go through old pictures and memorabilia looking for missing dates in Forrest's Family Tumbleweed. I think that they have to be two of my most favorite people in the world.

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Sophie's birthday menagerie.

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Sometimes it feels like we are being overtaken by Webkinz.

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Mark's Saturday morning pancakes are the *tastiest*.

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Happy Happy Birthday Sophie! We love you the most! (No one fret or worry that we play favorites, we tell all of the kids that).

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p.s. You get extra brownie points because you asked me to make your birthday cake instead of buying one and when I asked why you said "because yours are prettier and they taste better".

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Because she fixed her hair herself and because after she asked me if I liked it and I said yes, she pointed to my camera and said "well, take a picture of it".

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This is one of my most favorite plants around the pond. Not only did it survive being dug up by Winston three different times, it has also survived my lack of watering.

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We picked Chloe and Cammie up from Carol's house pretty early this morning to head back to Nashville. Cammie fell right to sleep. It amazes me that she can sleep bent over at the waist with her head in her own lap. If her gymnastics career falls through, she could always be a contortionist in the circus, ha.

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We went into Savannah for lunch at Lady and Son's. Fortunately, we were able to walk right up to the hostess stand to get our reservation.

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We walked around and explored the little shops until it was time to head back to the restaurant.

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This was the first time that I had eaten at L&S in it's current location. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed. Mark and I ate at L&S for the first time several years ago and the food was much better then. Paula was still cooking and her sons were running around the room refilling tea glasses.

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Don't get me wrong, it was good...just not remarkable.

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Amy and I decided to take a stroll along the beach on Hilton Head. It lasted for all of 10 minutes. It was HOTTTT and HUUUMID and it was the most crowded beach I have ever been on...

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Despite of the heat and the crowd, the ocean was as breathtaking as it always is. For me, it is impossible to stand next to the ocean without being in awe of how big our God is.

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On the way to Savannah Amy and I spotted this guy on the interstate (this was just after I won the "which one of us will get a ticket in Mark's new car first" contest).

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Dirt bike...check

Ankle socks...check

Neon yellow rain slicker...check

Dismembered bike attached to large metal trunk...check and check

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Is there anything better than new school supplies? Instead of fighting the masses for tax-free crayons, I decided to go today.

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Kids that love to read are cool.

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This. This makes me happy. When the tops of the washer and dryer are bare, when there is nothing hanging above them, when there are no piles heaped up to the window sill... I am happy.

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There was a stretch between 11 and 13-and-three-quarters where I was sure that one of us would not make it to his 18th birthday...it was rough.

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Right before he turned 14, things changed. Hallelujah!

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Seriously, he has turned into the coolest guy and it is actually fun to be his mom again. Not only did he bring his grades up, stop back-talking, and start listening... he also mastered the ollie.

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Mr. Winston, pouting on the deck.

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Another creation by Mark and Forrest. This one was for World History... an ancient structure. They spent hours cutting down dowel rods to the right length and then gluing them together

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A few years ago, I asked Forrest to save me a tag off of a new pair of jeans. I liked the texture and shape and wanted to use it on a layout about him. Two or three years later and he still savs me tags that he thinks I might like.

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Random, miscellaneous toys. Forrest always had a couple of toys in his pocket, I remember him playing with all of these at different times. It makes me so sad to think that there may only be a few, if any, days of playing with toys left for him. Next year, it will be a drivers permit...

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Mark and Forrest built this "airplane" out of recycled/found items when Forrest was in the 5th grade. It had eye bolts for wheels, but they have since been lost. I've always thought that this was the coolest project...I'm glad to see that Forrest evidently thought so too.

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For some unknown reasons, Forrest has amassed a collection of cereal bar wrappers. This is about a third of them. I threw the other two-thirds away before thinking about taking a picture.

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The next few posts will be of the random things that I found while ceaning out Forrest's closet.

This is a hat that came with cotton candy at the circus. Forrest likes to wear it. The first time he wore it, he was just being silly. Once he realized that it irritated me, he decided that he should wear it at various random moments...like when we have company over for dinner...

Teenagers...

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I love the new water camera! The kids do too. They wanted their picture taken under water over, and over, and over...

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This was taken while we were on a gi-norm-ous water slide at Holiday World.

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We spent the 4th of July visiting Mark's uncle in Smithville, Tn.

This pic was taken at the Smithville Jamboree. Lot's of singing, fiddling and banjoing...Yeeehaaw!

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We are going to Holiday World this weekend, so I bought this fun little toy.

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When we went last year, I tried using a disposable water camera...it was lost within the first two hours. There was no strap on it and it had to be carried everywhere. This little baby has an attached wrist strap and is waterproof to 10'.

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Cameron and Clay... permanent fixtures in our summer time landscape. I am so thankful that Forrest has these guys.