Ramona & Beezus

Some of my favorite childhood books were by Beverly Cleary, especially the Beezus & Ramona or Ramona Quimby Age 8 series...LOVED them :)  I never had a sister, only 2 younger brothers, but I always imagined what it would be like to have a sister and the stories in these books were so entertaining, I could just imagine!
When I saw they were making a movie based on the books, "Ramona & Beezus-A little sister goes a long way"-I knew I wanted to go see it and who better than Emma who will be 8 in January!  Here's "the story" from the movie : The adventures of young Ramona Quimby and her big sister Beezus come to life in this all new film based on the best-selling books (over 30 million…and counting) by Beverly Cleary.  Ramona’s vivid imagination, boundless energy, and accident-prone antics keep everyone she meets on their toes.  But her irrepressible sense of fun, adventure and mischief come in handy when she puts her mind to helping save her family’s home. 
A friend and her little girl asked if we wanted to go with them to see the movie this past Saturday and we gladly accepted!  One of our college students went with her Mom too :) I don't have any of my old Beverly Cleary books, so I looked them up online to show Emma before we went to the movie, Emma is now intrigued with the series!

I didn't get any pictures of us at the movie theatre because we all were running late and there were bad thunderstorms when the movie let out!  But the movie was great, a great movie for all girls :)  Emma absolutely loved the movie, I think because Ramona is close to her age, and it had something for the mommies...not going to give anything away, you'll have to go see it for yourself!  Ramona reminds me so much of my little Anna (Emma even said so too), I know Anna would have loved the movie and I think Lizzy would have enjoyed it as well :)   The movie had a great story line, no profanity, no violence, no sexual content (all musts for me), what a great reminder for parents, siblings and even little sisters of how life is shaped by everyone around us, even those who annoy us sometimes!!!

They've been found!-2

We also went to our neighborhood pool a few times while my parents were here!!!
Let me give you some background on the pool and my kiddos...Emma was timid at first this year to get in the water without any and all safety equipment, she's fine now.  Anna & Lizzy will jump right in without any hesitation, even though the pool is 4-8ft deep and they cannot touch the bottom, gotta keep your eye on those two!  And Jack loves the water, but not you holding him in the water and definitely NOT putting him in his floatie, he would rather sit by the side and splash away.  Emma is the only one that has had swim lessons and she was quite a bit smaller, hence the swim vests and floatie...

Grandparent time in the pool, I have no idea where Papa is?

Jack splashing around...then trying to get out of his floatie, which he could not :)

Lizzy jumping to Wanka!  

On a side note: ALL 4 kiddos now have swim shoes they wear to the pool, they hold onto the sides of the pool when they didn't have their vests on and their little toes had cuts all over them :(  Wanka to the rescue!

Sweet Anna & Emma...Anna doesn't like the water to get in her eyes, goggles 8)

and goofy Emma...

We always have a great time when we go to the pool, especially when grandparents are in town!!!

Can a youth pastor preach?

Since our pastor and a group of church members were on mission in Lake Placid this past week (returning today), Jody had the opportunity to preach this past Sunday at both our 8:30am & 11:00am services.  Jody really enjoys preaching, but definitely does not feel called to pastor a church, youth ministry is where it's at for us :)  I am so proud of my husband and the way he is using his God-given abilities and talents :)  If you would like to hear his sermon from Sunday click here (this is a sermon...it's long)!  
So the answer in my book is YES a youth pastor can preach!

They've been found-Fathers Day June 2010-1

I finally have some pictures of when my parents came to visit while Jody was in Honduras!!!  Thanks to my little brother Josh for getting them to me!!!  By the way I lost my Mom's camera cord so I couldn't upload them to our Mac while she was here...whoops!

It was Papa's choice for lunch on Father's Day, he chose Cracker Barrel (one of our favorites as well)...

My parents and 4 of their 5 grandchildren...

Patiently waiting outside for our table, rocking in the big rocking chairs...

And patiently waiting on our food to come while coloring (one of our favorite things to do)!!!

 We had a great lunch out after church on Father's Day!!!  So thankful my parents could come and visit, especially to see my Dad on Fathers Day!!!  More pictures to come on the grandparents visit :)

Camp Wallaballa

A few weeks ago Emma had the opportunity to go to music camp at our church!  She was in a musical at our church in the spring but was nervous when it came time for the actual performance, so at first when we heard about the camp she didn't want to go, but after some of her friends signed up she was thrilled to go!  This year they performed Camp Wallaballa.  Here's what the book's description says: Camp Wallaballais a fun musical about a group of children going to church camp. On the way to camp, they are sidetracked because their bus breaks down, but during this "speedbump" on the road, they learn some of God's promises. The promises the children learn through this musical will help provide encouragement and help in the ups, downs, and speedbumps of life.Camp Wallaballashowcases a variety of musical styles ranging from high-energy fun songs, blues, rock, ballads, hymn-arrangements, and a stomp-like rhythm number complete with fog-horns, sticks and pine-cone scrapers. Thoughtful, clever and Biblically rich songs make this musical and it's camp theme accessible and delightful for kids!  

We dropped Emma off every morning at 9am and picked her up at 2:30pm.  Friday evening all 70 kiddos performed the musical they learned all week in camp! 

The older kiddos created and painted the set...

They had crafts, games, ate snack and ate lunch together all week!

Emma missed the first day of camp because we had family in town from North Carolina, and she was pretty bummed she didn't have a "speaking" part, but she was able to be in a group!  She was the only one they trusted with the air horn :)

Here she is practicing for her "part"!

The entire "cast"...

The just completed Kindergarten & 1st grade group (Emma's group)...

The just completed 2nd, 3rd & 4th grade group...

And the just completed 5th & 6th grade group!

And the pictures wouldn't be complete without a silly group shot!

Emma had a blast at music camp and can't wait until next year!!!

Oldie but Goodie

I found this clip of Jack while cleaning off our video camera and thought it was too cute not to share :)  It was in early March of this year when he was just starting to walk!!!

A Group Shot...

I forgot to add this group shot of my brother & Paige to my original post (Day 1 & Day 2) from their visit a few weeks ago!  

Josh and 3 of his nieces and his only nephew :)  For some reason Lizzy & Emma had to sit on the back of the couch, but the picture did turn out decent :)

Wordless Wednesday, Rare sight-middles playing nice together :)

Last week...

was a crazy week for me!  Jody loaded up the charter bus and headed out Monday morning to Panama City Beach Florida to take our students to summer camp (BigStuf)...I wasn't able to go this year :( My brother & Paige left Tuesday a little before lunch and I was on my own until Friday evening!  Now many of your husbands travel a lot, but I'm not used to being by myself with our 4 little ones, so it was a bit stressful for me!

Emma had music camp at our church everyday from 9:00am-2:30pm and LOVED it!!!  It really was an uneventful week, we didn't go out much (besides church), but we sure were glad to pick up Daddy Friday!  They pulled into the church about 15 minutes before Emma had to be at the church for her performance Friday evening!  We got a few pictures of Emma, but there were around 70 kiddos in the performance moving around, singing and dancing, so it was harder to get a good shot!

All in all our summer here in Georgia is winding down, believe it or not!  They only have traditional schools here (no year-rounds) and school is starting back up August 5th, a little over 2 weeks!  Emma is pretty excited to get back to school, not because she's bored, she's had a pretty busy summer, but because she loves school!

Hopefully this afternoon I'll be able to get through pictures and get caught up on blogging!  

Until then...what have you all been up to this summer?

Uncle Josh & Paige Visit-Day 2

Sunday morning we woke up, got ready, grabbed an extra change of clothes and off we went to church, it was a great morning at KFBC :)  After church we changed clothes and headed out to Six Flags in Atlanta! Six Flags is only about 30 minutes from our house, so we grabbed lunch on the way!  Our family has season passes and were able to use our season pass holders coupons to buy tickets for Josh & Paige for only $10 each, a one day pass is $45 regularly!  We also had coupons for food, I believe we spent less than $10 for all 8 of us on snacks & drink refills for the day :)   Jody was thrilled to finally go to Six Flags with people who would ride the big roller coasters with him!!!

Here are the girls waiting on Jody, Josh & Paige to ride the Batman...

Here's Jody, Josh & Paige on the Goliath (third row from the back)...

The girls finally got to ride on their first roller coaster!!! I was trying to get a shot of their faces but they went by too fast, so all you can see is their little heads next to Jody, Josh & Paige :)

And Jack watching for his sisters as they rode the Wile E Coyote Coaster :)

We had so much fun at Six Flags!!!  What a great day with family :)

Uncle Josh & Paige Visit-Day 1

We've had so many NC guests at our house the past few weeks!   We've had so much fun catching up with our family and friends and showing them around our new stomping ground. My baby brother Josh and his girlfriend Paige came to visit us last week!  They arrived Saturday evening just in time for an early dinner :) What better way to welcome them to Kennesaw, Georgia than Big Pie in The Sky, a local pizza place that was featured on the Travel Channels Show Man vs. Food (click HERE for the video clip from the show)!

  As you can see Jack thoroughly enjoyed his dinner, with shades of course...

After showing them around town, we stopped at The Varsity, the world's largest drive-in restaurant, they have 6 Atlanta area locations!  We headed to the one closest to our house for some ice cream and milkshakes :)

Jack shared everyones ice cream, so I didn't get a picture!  We also learned cones are a BAD idea for Anna & Lizzy, their little tongues could not eat the ice cream fast enough before it melted all over their hands!!!  Stay tuned for more from their trip :)