photo 182

Bet ya can't guess what this is...

-

(Rachel and Renee you're not allowed to guess).

photo 181

Shopping for boy toys...

photo 180

Sarah's birthday was on Wednesday...we celebrated tonight at Sambucca. Happy Birthday Sarah!

photo 179

I spent the day in Franklin with a friend picking through antique stores. This tray was my favorite find. I set it on my desk to hold scraps.

photo 178

This lovely specimen of an evergreen tree was planted by my lovely specimen of a neighbor in June. In June, this beauty was only half brown. In June, the weeds were not taller than the leaning brick edging...but almost. Now, it is almost September...the weeds are taller, the edging is leaning-er and the evergreen is ever browner. If it happens to be uprooted and hauled to a dumpster in the middle of the night...it wasn't me.

photo 177

Winston, the six and a half month old Saint Bernard has a paw larger than Cammie, the five year old girl.

photo 176

Sometimes, no matter how sunny it looks, there are a few clouds and stray threads blocking the view...and sometimes, the prettiest wrapped package with the tidiest bow is held together with duct tape underneath...

photo 175

"Photogenic" is not on the short list of good-qualities that I posses...for some reason, I liked this one though.

photo 174

My beautiful Grandma on a good day. I am so immensely thankful for the good days.

photo 173

Me as Strawberry Shortcake, circa 1982. (pardon the weird camera angle...no matter where I stood or how I turned the camera, the shot kept coming out crooked...my patience was on the thin side, and rather than throw the camera or kick the table the layout is standing on, I settled for a crooked picture).

photo 172

Firmly back on the wagon...

photo 171

Forrest continually leaves his retainers lying around the house. On one hand, I want to complain about it and on the other, I'm just happy that he remembers to wear them 90% of the time and they haven't been thrown in the trash or fed to the garbage disposal.

photo 170

Freshly filled cereal-keepers make me happy...(it's the litte things in life)...

photo 169

I forced myself to clean off my desk. I plan to create at some point this week.

photo 168

Consignment sale mayhem is over. While I will be selling things in the Spring sale via Saint Vickie, I think I will forgo the working part...how many of you saw that coming?

photo 167

I love this kid...seriously, "Happy Cammie"...she is just the coolest.

photo 166

MacKenna and I playing with the camera while she tries to color my hair and I try to convince her to buy a water camera before she goes to Disneyland.

photo 165

Today was Cammie's last "Thursday's at Grandma's" visit. Next week she will be in school full time and I'll be going to Grandma's alone.

photo 164

In this picture, she looks so big...obviously ready for her first day of kindergarten. In the drop off line, walking into the school with all of the other kids, she looks tiny...obviously in need of staying home for another year and giving me a reason to nap daily.

photo 163

Cammie and I spent the day being lazy...catnaps and Tivo'd episodes of the gymnastics competitions in Beijing. She starts Kindergarten tomorrow...I'll miss our naps.

photo 162

First day of school, first day of first grade. Over the camera.

photo 161

Poor, poor Winston. I had to feed him by hand for the first few days until finally, he figured out how to eat with the cone on around his head.

photo 160

The Brownie troop went camping this weekend. I drove up on Saturday just in time for the trail ride.

photo 159

Hannah turned 11 on Tuesday. She now wears heels to church, wanted a *real* purse for her birthday, fixes her own hair...and occasionally she will still play with toys.

photo 158

Cammie had her immunizations for Kindergarten this morning. This pic is before the nurse came in wielding 4 needles...when she was still convinced that she wouldn't cry and it wouldn't hurt. Poor little muffin.

photo 157

I helped out at Brea's consignment sale for a few hours today. This is one tiny section of the store...I think this is the boys 12months-3T section. Seriously, there were MOUNDS and MOUNDS of clothes.

photo 156

Winston had his vasectomy (doesn't "vasectomy" sound better than "neutered") yesterday. He wouldn't leave the incision site alone...so, he gets to wear this charming cone for 10 days. I can't decide if he's pouting because of the surgery or the cone.

photo 155

Master Forrest on his first day of High School.

photo 154

My shelves over-floweth. I pulled out some of the books that I have had for years and never read, the books that I thought were poorly written and added those to the Hardy Boys books that Forrest crammed onto my shelves when he decided he was too cool for them and traded them in for a few new-to-me-books at the Book Attic.

-

Perhaps this is a sign that I am over my book issues?

photo 153

Master Forrest just returned from Freshman Retreat. He is a member of the House of Leo.

-

Sometimes, I think his new school takes itself a bit too seriously. Mail from the school is addressed to "Master Forrest L***", am I the only one that thinks that is hilarious?

photo 152

My replacement phone has finally arrived and I officially on the iphone bandwagon. Seriously, this phone rocks!

photo 151

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

photo 150

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

photo 149

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.

-

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

photo 148

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.

photo 147

Sophie's birthday menagerie.

-

Sometimes it feels like we are being overtaken by Webkinz.

photo 146

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

photo 145

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).

-

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".

photo 144

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".

photo 143

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.

photo 142

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.

photo 141

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.

-

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

-

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.

-

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

photo 140

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...

-

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.

photo 139

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).

-

Dirt bike...check

Ankle socks...check

Neon yellow rain slicker...check

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

photo 138

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

photo 137

Kids that love to read are cool.

photo 136

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.

photo 135

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.

-

Right before he turned 14, things changed. Hallelujah!

-

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.

photo 134

Mr. Winston, pouting on the deck.

photo 133

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