In the mornings Luke and I have a little alone time while Laney's sleeping and Sam is at school. We were sitting at the bar reading the new ESPN magazine.

After I took a picture of us, Luke wanted to have a try at the camera. Good job, Luke...

First day of 4K

Although carpool makes life very easy, I walked Sam in the first couple of days of school. He was sweet enough to hold Luke's hand and help him up the many stairs.

Sam sits at Table #2.

Marrison is the little girl sitting to his left. Coincidentally, she lives 3 doors down.

I took a picture of him coming to my car while I waited in the carpool lane. Carpool has been an adjustment, but he's doing great. He was so proud of himself for getting up the first time his carpool number was called. He got in the car and said "Mommy, I love my new school".

Chuck E Cheese

Mama B took all the grandkids to Chuck E Cheese for one last hoorah before school started. What fun! Sam and Luke had only been one time before, and it was a few weeks before Laney was born. So it was time to go again...

Laney wasn't crazy about the rides.

Luke seemed to enjoy himself.

And Sam had lots of fun on the roller coaster ride.

Thanks for the treat, B. We sure had fun...

our precious church family

We had planned on returning to Huntsville on the weekends since it didn't look like we'd be selling our house any time soon. But the Lord had other plans, better plans than we could have asked for. Someone found our house through the for sale by owner website, came and looked at it twice, and we had a signed contract within 4 days. Our realtor graciously let us out of our listing with him, so we saved mucho money not having to pay him a commission. When we told the sellers in Birmingham that our buyers wanted to be in our house by school time, they agreed to move out a week earlier to accommodate us. So they told us we could move in two weeks later. (At least I think that's how it went.)

Several weeks prior, our church had planned a picnic for us on August 8th. Ended up that we weren't even going to be in Huntsville then. But we didn't let that stop us from driving to Huntsville for the day and going to our sweet church and enjoying a day with our family one last time.

I took a picture of Sam in front of this tree back in April of 2008. It's right in front of the door to our church. 2 1/2 years later and attending church for the last time as a Huntsville resident, I couldn't resist the photo opp.

Then and now...

After church, the kids ran around in their Sunday best before going to lunch.

We had a nice afternoon at the Schnorrenbergs then made our way to the picnic. It was hot! The kids ended up going in the church house for a little relief.

Kate and Laney found some ice and went to town.

Laney even found a water bottle for herself.

We got together for a family picture in front of the delicious cake they bought.

Then, to our surprise, there was a gift. What a beautiful vase! We were honored to be at Christ Pres. for 6 years, serving however the Lord had fit at our different stages in life.

I even got the little ones together for a picture. Miss Kate was on the move, so almost every picture I got has her planning her next escape.

We love you all and miss you so much already! Please pray for us to find a new church home here in B'ham. That's been the hardest part so far...we're ready to learn, grow, love, and more.

moving day

moving in to our house brought many memories. the least fun of those? our septic tank stopping up. poor pops spent about 7 hours in our garage "cleaning" it out. thank goodness for pops!!!! he cut away a 3 foot section of the pipes, cleaned it with his super-duper vacuum cleaner, and installed new piping. by the end of the day it was all clean and the smell was just about gone. disgusting!

the more enjoyable part of moving day was having some visitors. jennifer and the kids came to say hello. it's so precious to live 10 minutes away from them. i have a feeling our kids will grow up to be best of friends (and best of cousins as well).

my musicians

just before we moved, the boys created a two man band. they would walk around the house playing their instruments. other than it being a little too loud for my liking, it was sweet. music to my ears...

A girl's room...

We met the Hall's a few weeks ago and their daughter was enamored with Laney. Here they are in Laney's new room... such a sweet family.

War Eagle! Roll Tide!

I stumbled across a new blog that I love. The CSI project: create, show, inspire. Every week they have a challenge. This week's challenge is sewing/fabric. So I dressed the kids up in their Auburn and Alabama outfits and took a picture. I've never linked to another blog, but I'm doing it this week.

My boys are dressed in Auburn shorts while my little girl is sporting an Alabama romper in red with white elephants. I made these outfits for a big family reunion in Louisiana where there were a LOT of LSU fans. All in fun...

Rocket City Beach Bash

This weekend we went to the Rocket City Beach Bash in downtown Huntsville. They brought in 400 tons of sand and placed it on 200 yards of the city street. There were games, inflatables, slip-n-slides, and of course the splash pad. That's where we spent most of our time.

The next three pictures show the kids during the first five minutes. Laney wasn't happy at first, but starting having fun soon after I took this picture. Sam was trying to decide if he wanted to get wet. He played a little better than in the past, now that he has his super cool Speedo. And Luke had fun as always. His favorite part was "sitting" on the water as it shot up.

Rosie's, we'll miss you...

We went to Rosie's Mexican Cantina one last time as residents of Huntsville. We'll definitely be eating there again when we come back to visit. No one can beat their homemade tortillas!

I love my kids! Such cuteness...