Smurfs

Nana and Grandpa took us to see the Smurfs movie. It was so good, and Mommy loves that the children are so into the Smurfs because she was a looooong time ago, too.

Trip to Natchez with Daddy

We tagged along with Daddy on a work trip to Natchez. While Daddy was at his court hearing, we played! We started at the Natchez Visitors' Center where we watched a movie about Natchez. After the movie, we headed to the Natchez Indian village. There is a display of Indian artifacts that children are actually allowed, and even encouraged, to touch. The children were thrilled! They especially loved the squirrel hide, of course. We saw several Indian mounds and went inside a real Indian house. We also went on a nature hike. We had a great time! It was very hot at the Indian village, so we cooled off riding around downtown Natchez and looking at all of the beautiful antibellum homes. When the children tired of that, we found a park near the Federal Courthouse. The children loved the Civil War monument (Charlie wanted to know how the soldier got up there), cannon, and fountain. Charlie was especially in his element - he enjoyed skipping rocks in the fountain and climbing the old oak trees (those chains aren't to protect the trees - they are for climbing, right?). We caught up with Daddy at lunch - he treated us to a restaurant on the river. The view was amazing!

Easely Amused

Some of Mommy's friends and their daughters painted a peace sign painting at Easely Amused today. Jane Gray's painting looks so good, and she is mighty proud of it.

Griffin

Griffin Brown, one of Charlie's buddies and the son of one of Mommy's best friends, Betsy, just moved to Jackson. He came over Sunday so that his parents could unpack. He fit right into our family because he loves to play games. Here is a picture of the kids playing Uno.

Fun at the Eisenhauers

Aunt Stacy and Uncle Tony invited the kids over to spend the night so that Mommy and Daddy could have a night out to celebrate one of our friends' birthdays. Charlie apparently had a big time because Aunt Stacy sent us this picture of him sacked out on her couch and ottoman.

Jane Gray's feathers

For her birthday, Jane Gray asked us for feathers in her hair - the latest trend for pre-teen girls. Mommy agreed - it's her birthday, after all - so we headed to Angie's at Renaissance for some feathers. We took two of her best friends, Sayley and Rebecca, who also have recently had feathers put in their hair. Jane Gray picked out two pink and white zebra-patterned feathers. Jane Gray said it hurt a little, but she is thrilled to have them and couldn't wait to show her Daddy when he got home from work.

Dinner with the Dehmers

We had dinner with one of Mommy's "oldest" friends. Jane Gray was at a spend the night party, so it was just Charlie, Meg, and Mommy and Daddy. Charlie and Ridley hit it off immediately and ran all over the house together. Meg and Rimes have had several playdates, and they loved seeing each other again. It was a fun night!

Jane Gray's 8th birthday

Jane Gray is officially eight years old! Doesn't she look so big in her tennis outfit (she's had tennis camp this week)? Mommy took her for her annual check-up, and Jane Gray is a very healthy 75% percentile in height and 50% in weight - we are so blessed! We celebrated Jane Gray's birthday at her favorite restaurant, Cock of the Walk. We fed the ducks, of course, and then came home to a yummy cookie cake. Happy birthday, Jane Gray!

Abby's visit

Abby is in town for the week. Jane Gray, Abby, Meg, Ella, and the Gibsons played at Pump it Up this morning (Charlie was at baseball camp). We ate lunch at Chick-fil-a and then played at Nana and Grandpa's house before picking up Charlie for a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's.

Church bells

One of the best parts about Daddy ushering at church - ringing the church bells!

Viking Classic

Daddy and Charlie went to the Viking Classic at Annandale. We started on hole #16 and slowly worked our way to the 18th green. This was Charlie's first experience with a golf tournament, and I wasn't real sure how he would handle the quiet and still aspects - but he figured it out very quickly. One of the first shots we saw ended in the water - Charlie thought that was great. We eventually made it to watch the approach shots to the 18th. Charlie befriended a nice old man who bought him a large lemonade. After watching all we could handle, we started walking back. When we passed the final group, we crossed the fairway to look for golfballs in the weeds. We soon found a ball and a discarded golf glove - Charlie was fired up over the finds. As we were approaching the car, Charlie proclaimed that this was his best day ever spent with me - pretty cool.

Swim team banquet

The swim team banquet was tonight. We played bingo, ate dinner together, and most importantly, the children received their trophies.

Playing at the Greggs' house

The Greggs invited us over for watermelon this afternoon. Kathy sent us this cute picture of Charlie, Meg, and Paul hanging out in the kiddie pool.

City swim meet finals

Jane Gray and her freestyle and medley relay team (Alden McNamara, Rebecca Burrow, Jane Gray, and Sarah Sullivan) swam so well this morning. They improved their time and placing and had a ball swimming together!

Willie Morris awards day and pizza party

We celebrated the end of the reading program at our library with a pizza party. Sayley tagged along with us. The children "won" books and candy and thoroughly enjoyed their pizza and cake.

City swim meet

Our swim team swam in the city meet this morning. Jane Gray and Charlie had a great meet and swam their best times to date. Jane Gray even won her freestyle heat! She and Charlie came a close second in their backstroke heats. We were so proud of them, especially Charlie, since this was his first time to swim the backstroke. Jane Gray's freestyle and medley relays made the finals, so she will be swimming again on Saturday - she is thrilled!

Silly girls

These girls are so silly together!

Ice cream Sundays

Our preacher, Dr. Duncan, suggested to our Sunday school class that we find special ways to set apart Sundays for our children. One example he gave was ice cream Sundays. So, tonight, we had vanilla ice cream with all of the fixings.