Our 4th of July

We spent a quiet 4th of July at home yesterday....didn't do much other than spend time on the lake & jet ski. We did have a couple "1st's" though - Trevin had his 1st jet ski ride, and Camden went tubing for the 1st time. Both enjoyed their new experiences!

Tom had a week of vacation this past week as well, so we did a couple fun things. We went swimming at our neighbor's pool Monday, went to a pool party Tues. afternoon/evening, visited the McWane Science center Thurs. where we ran into some friends that we ended up hanging out with, and then I got to hang out with some girl friends Friday afternoon!

So here are some pictures of what we've been doing:

Camden "digging for bones" at the science center

Swimming at the neighbors....the boys LOVE swimming just as much as the girls!

The day that we were at the pool party, Camden wore his floaties on his arms & swam around by himself most of the day. He even jumped off the diving board by himself! He has no fear!

We decided to make tie-dye shirts one day

Camden was being awfully quiet one day, so I went to see what he was up to, and discovered he had opened the drawers to Tom's dresser, climbed in, and was having a ball playing in the drawers and on the shelves!

We made matching red, white, and blue tie-dye shirts and wore them for the 4th

After Camden got done tubing with Jenna, he refused to get out of the tube! He loved sitting in it and was all curled up inside it.

More stuff we've been doing

I've been trying to play catch up here on the blog with all we've been up to. Part of the problem is that my laptop is not connecting to the server, so some of the pictures are on my laptop and I can't get them on here.
Tom mentioned before that Jenna's softball team won the league championship. And yes, they actually tied with another team, so they did a toin coss to pick which team got the title. We won! Is that a redneck way of doing things?? Jenna didn't care, she was just excited to get a trophy.

Then, I ran into Mackenzie's coach the other day at the grocery store, and he said they also won the league championship for her age. We haven't gotten her trophy yet, but she's excited, too, to get another trophy. One of these days I'll get a picture of her in her uniform on here.

It's been extremely warm here, so we've been out on the lake quite a bit, and over to the neighbor's house to swim. Trevin went swimming for the 1st time & LOVED it! Probably because it was so hot! The girls went tubing, and had fun, too. Mackenzie enjoyed it much more than Jenna, but they both love to go out on the jet ski & swim in the middle of the lake somewhere.

Tom & Camden on the jet ski

The girls tubing

Trevin in the pool:

Camden & Trevin in the pool:

One day while my parents were here, Camden took off out the front door w/o us knowing, so we went looking for him and found him working away in the front yard. I snuck out with the camera to get a picture because it was SO funny! He had on a winter hat & was "raking" stuff up just as serious as could be!

Another day, he was playing so hard, and then all of a sudden it was dead silent. I went looking to see what kind of trouble he had gotten into, and I found him sound asleep in the doorway to our room! Not the most flattering picture for him, but it was just one of those things I couldn't pass up!

My parents visit

Tom mentioned in a previous post that my parents were able to come down for a visit at the end of May. We got a ton of stuff done, as well as doing some fun stuff! Last time they visited you may recall we were in the middle of moving, and it was all work & no play :) Plus, that was when Jenna ended up in the hospital, so it wasn't the most fun visit ever....

But, this time was much better!

One day, my dad & I did a tour of the Talladega race track & also visited the museum they have here. The tour was lame, so I don't recommend it, but the museum was pretty neat!

We celebrated Tom's birthday while they were here. Mom & I decided to get creative for his cake (more for the kids' sake!) to make it a little more special

One day we visited a place called Nocalulla Falls State Park. There's some pretty falls, a little "zoo", a free train ride, and a little "primitive" village

The main reason that my parents came to visit was for Mackenzie's baptism. She was so excited and did a great job!

We also visited the Georgia Aquarium one day (Tom already posted pictures), cleaned up the yard, enjoyed a cookout with our neighbors, had a big bonfire, rode the jet ski, and went to the dirt track races. Tom also took my dad to this great motorcycle museum that's down here. I loved having them here and can't wait until they can visit again!

Misc.

A few misc. things from the past weeks...

One day the girls really wanted me to put make-up on them, so I got them all "dolled up" while daddy had the boys out with him.

We had a beautiful rainbow over our house one day after it had rained

Trevin loves to "help" unload the dishwasher now

We were trying to take some cute pictures for a card for Tom's birthday, and I was having the girls sign "I Love You", but this is the best Camden could do

Camden also loves to wear his work boots much of the time...

Kenzie finishes up 1st grade

Toward the end of the school year, Mackenzie's class had an "awards program" in their room for parents to attend. It was really cute....the teacher handed out certificates with different kinds of candy for the awards. For example, sweet tarts for the class flirt, Snickers for the child who laughed a lot, etc. Mackenzie got the "100 grand" award for having the highest overall class average and always giving 100%! What an accomplishment :) We're so proud of her, and can't wait to see what next year holds!

Here's Mackenzie & her teacher, Mrs. Abbott:

Mackenzie holding her award:

Storms are the 2009 champs

Jenna's team won the championship trophey for softball by a coin toss.

Ruth's parents visited us for a week after Memorial Day. We went to the Atlanta Aquarium. I posted some pics of fish..

The girls next to a whale shark.