Finally a successful haircut

Today Tanek got his hair cut and there were NO tears, no fighting, just sitting there like a big boy and getting his hair cut. I guess he finally realizes that it doesn't hurt him. In the past trying to get his hair cut was a big job and not much fun. I have cut it many times because they would not cut it because he would not be still. I am not a beautician and don't know how to give a good hair cut, but cut it just so it would be cut. Today we passed a milestone and now (hopefully) getting a haircut will just be routeen.

He just sat there and it didn't take maybe 10 minutes and he was done.

He has a LOT of hair and he likes to wear it a little long so that when he shakes his head his hair will fly. (Like Chandler and Garrett). He got that idea from watching them shake the water out of their hair when they were swimming. His hair is so heavy when wet it still will not move when it is wet, but when it is dry he can make it fly.

See....Nothing to it!
All Done!

After the Rain!

I love a good rainy day. Yesterday afternoon we got a very nice rain. A little over an inch of much needed rain. It really felt like fall yesterday and it was very nice. Then just before dark
the sky was doing it's color show. I love to watch the sky and clouds. They are just so beautiful and intriguing. My dad always said (at sunset) the sky was "skybluepink." And it really is.

I just love all the colors in the sky at sunset. I really prefer sunsets over sunrise. Maybe because of the time of day, but I also think the colors are more vivid at sunset.

Children's Choir at Trinity Baptist

Here are some pictures and a video exerpt of the Children's choir at Trinity Baptist. These kids sing their hearts out. They are so cute to watch and it is amazing how quickly they learn the songs and how they enjoy singing. A special thanks to all the adults that work with these kids.
They are learning so much and hiding God's Word in their hearts at such a young age. My sweet grand-son is the little dark haired boy in the front row.

Just look at the sweet faces of these children

I am happy to be involved in a church that is teaching the young children in so many fun ways. Tanek loves choir and he loves his Sunday School class and is learning so much.

Harvest Moon

I have been watching this moon all week. It is SO beautiful. Tonight when I was cleaning the kitchen it was shinning through the window. I had to try to catch it with my little camera. Had I had one of the more powerful camera's (that I wouldn't know how to use) I might have got a better picture. Of course since I wouldn't know how to use a high powered camera I might not have. Anyway, I snapped a few pictures and I think they are ok. This moon is so bright that it showed up even with the small camera.

It is so awesome and makes you realize just how awesome our God is. How anyone can think any of this happens by chance is just crazy. Our God is so awesome and just in creation alone it proves that.

How do you teach a moving target???

We have been doing home school for about a month now. It has really gone well. I wasn't sure what to expect or if I could do it. It is amazing to me what you can teach a 4 year old even when they are a moving target. There are times that he sits and does his school work, but most of the time he is on the move. However, he is still absorbing it. He has certain things he really likes to learn about. He has a great memory. We are working on the ABC Bible verses. There is a verse for every alphabet. The C verse has been a little confusing because he is learning two other verses that are almost the same but a little different and found in different books of the Bible. They are all about children obeying their parents but each is phrased a little different. We also are working on the 23rd Psalm which he almost has completely memorized and I have taken video's of him saying it but for some reason it will not upload. Maybe it is too long. He is doing very well at reading, spelling, math, language, science and history. History is my least favorite subject so we sometimes don't like it too much. He is dong better on his handwriting and has just about decided to use his left hand all the time. He likes doing work sheets a lot. He loves it when it is cutting and pasting, coloring and doing things like that. He is learning all the capitals of the U.S. and can say them and point to them on the map. He usually sings them, because that is how he is learning them. It is amazing how easy it is for them to learn to memorize when they are singing it instead of just saying it.

I think so far it has been a great experience. I like that I get to spend so much time with him and I like having the choice of when and where to do it. We can do it in whatever time table we want and that leaves plenty of time to do the fun things that a 4 year old loves to do. We try to keep it all fun and there are many games we play that are helping him learn too. I am really happy that I have the opportunity to share this time with him and help him and his mom in this home school adventure. I think I may be learning a lot of things too, and that is a good thing.

Happy Birthday Doris

Last night we celebrated Doris birthday with dinner and our normal game of Phase 10. Tina won this time. 9 out of 10 times the women win. Every now and then one of the men win, but it is rare. We had a great time eating, talking, and just having fun.

Doris opened her gifts and got some very nice things. We have been celebrating our birthdays for a lot of years together. Don, Austin and I have birthdays in August. Doris has hers in Sept. Tina's is in April and Gary's in November. That plus Christmas is almost the only time we have to all get together. Everyone stays so busy, so we are really glad for birthday's and Christmas and any other time we can squeeze in a night together.

We do like to get gifts and it is always fun to see what everyone gets.

Doris got a Stable and tractor to go with her Christmas village. Every Christmas she has quite a display with her Christmas village and it is very neat. Very nice that Kohl's already have their Christmas decorations out.

She got a book, a shirt, a candle, & some candy. She made quite a haul. (Don patiently waiting probably for dessert)

A book on where to find any subject in the Bible.

Doris love plaid.

This candle was so yummy. It smelled and looked good enough to eat.

Tina makes some of the best desserts. We always enjoy the many different desserts she makes. All from scratch. Last night she made a pistachio cake and was it ever yummy. Well, I guess this might do it until Gary's birthday. We might need a few more birthday's to celebrate.

Tanek and his Cars

Tanek loves his "Cars". He has watched the movie so many times he can act it out. He has a whole bunch of the cars and he knows each of them by name and the part they play in the movie. He will play in his room for a long time and it is so much fun to listen to him acting out the movie.

His bedroom at home and at our house is decorated in the "Cars" theme. His PJ's are from Cars. He just loves Cars. We are anxiously waitng for Cars 2 to come out.

Papa's Fall Garden

My hubs is quite the gardener. He works very hard out there and produces a good garden. We will have SO many fresh peas.....if the deer don't find them. They are already sprouting and in just a few weeks he will be picking, shelling and putting them up. He does All that. I do cook them and help eat them and take pictures of them, but for the most part it is his garden and he gets to do all the work. I tried growing a couple tomatoe and pepper plants in pots this fall and they are not doing anything. I guess it is best to leave the gardening to him, which I am happy to do.

Now that is a nice looking garden, and the gardener isn't bad either. Has his garden hat on. His old Bama hat. He has a new one for when he gets dressed up:)

Whatcha think papa? Are they looking good?

Yep, they are looking very good!

Flying through the air!

Tanek loves to be thrown up in the air about as much as he loves to swim. He has really learned to swim well this summer. With the swimming season coming to a close shortly we try to take advantage of every opportunity to swim. Today his daddy took him swimming and when I went out there I saw Tanek being tossed in the air and he was having the time of his life. I had to grab my camera and get a couple more video's of him.
Tanek is just such a happy little guy (most of the time). He is loving school and he loves his mom and dad so much. He talks about them all the time and how much he loves them and how he is going to be just like his daddy when he grows up. He ask me often "do you love me"? I always tell him I will always love him. He has such deep feelings for a little 4 year old and loves deeply. He was so funny today. We went grocery shopping and Papa put the shopping cart up on the ledge in the parking lot so that it wouldn't roll into any cars. Tanek was sitting in his seat and he said " he is such a tough little guy". I said who and he said Papa. Papa is such a tough little guy. I had to laugh. I said Papa is kinda tough but he isn't a very little guy. He said well I am a tough little guy. I said yes you are. He just keeps us laughing all the time. I am so thankful for the time we have with him and to be able to share so much of his life. It is a great reminder every day how little eyes and ears are watching and listening to everything we say and do. That will certainly humble you. He has almost memorized the 23rd psalm and has memorized several other Bible verses. He is reading very well. Today when he got through reading one of the stories from a reader he said "I did that good". He is very pleased with how much he is learning. It is amazing to me how quickly their little minds pick things up and it stays with them. I on the other hand forget more than I probably ever knew. :) Another week has come to an end for us and mom will take over tomorrow. It has been a good week although short. Below are the two video's I took of him and his daddy playing in the pool.

Labor Day - 2010

This was such a nice day today. All morning into the afternoon it was clear, sunny and hot. We had a great lunch and a swim this afternoon with some of the family and then this afternoon we got a big rain which we really needed. I saw that it was still raining and the sun was out so I went looking for the rainbow that I knew should be around somewhere. And here it is.

I didn't even realize it was a double rainbow until I uploaded these pictures. If you look close you can see that there are 2 rainbows.

I love rainbows and I just like taking pictures of the sky and clouds. It is just such a great reminder of the majesticness of God's creation.

I love how the light is coming up from the clouds here.

What can I say, it doesn't take a whole lot to impress me. haha I have always loved clouds.
It was a beautiful Labor day and now that the fun part is over I am back to work. I am stripping off some old wallpaper border in the bathroom. That is another thing I won't do anymore. Put up wallpaper or border. What a pain to take down. Hope everyone had a great Labor Day. By the way. That rain storm brought us 2 1/2 inches of rain in less than an hour and then it was over.

Yep, that is Florida for ya.

Library & Playground Day

On Wednesday Papa and I took Tanek to the Library for story time at the Keystone Library. We have lived her for 37 years and that was the first time I have ever been in That Library. I have gone to the one in Starke and Gainesville but never this one. It is a small Library but nice enough. Tanek enjoyed the story time and even saw Hannah and Nathan from church there. We got a Library card and checked out some books. Afterwards we went to the little playground behind the Library for him to play awhile.
He went down the slide many many times.

He loved playing like he and Papa were going somewhere on this old truck. The steering wheel on this thing made the worse noise and I was ready to leave the park if he kept driving it.

Someone may need to put a little WD40 on the steering wheel.

I am not sure what I was trying to take a picture of here, but I think the clouds are very pretty.
I was using my phone camera so there is no telling what I was doing with it.

They have story time twice a month, so it may be something he will get to enjoy often.

Happy Birthday to my Sister!

Tomorrow September 4, is my sister's birthday. I wanted to post some pictures of her with some of the people she is closest too. She lives in Vancouver Washington and we don't get to spend much time together, but the times we have had in the past years have been very special.
This picture was taken on Thanksgiving 2008. We are planning on having Thanksgiving together again and I can't wait.
Lori (her daughter, Rena, Me and my daughter Stephanie

Rena, Lori, Tanek, Stephanie and me

A few years ago when Tanek was one, Stephanie and I took a trip to see them before her husband Gerald passed away. He had been having health problems for years and it was just a God thing that we got to take this trip and spend time with them. They had decided that they were too old to just be Aunt and Uncle to Tanek, but that he had grand-parents so they took on the names of Aunt Grandma and Uncle Grandpa. It was so sweet. Tanek learned to walk while he was at their house and he had a special bonding time with his Uncle Grandpa and Aunt Grandma. This was on that Thanksgiving trip. Aunt Grandma and Tanek looking at his album.

This is my sister with her favorite boys. Her two sons, Bob and Jerry and 3 grandsons, Austin,

Bronson and Remington.

Here she is at Lori's birthday party with Lori, Jerry and Bob

And Rena with her other little grand-son Tanek dancing at the birthday party.

We are so looking forward to having a lot of the family together this Thanksgiving. Hopefully Richard, Heather and grand-daughters will be able to make the trip to spend with all of us. Lori is coming and of course Ricky, Stephanie and Tanek will be here. We are planning a "half" family reunion. Rena and Lori haven't even met Hannah and Emily and Kirsten was only a few months old the last time they saw her so we are hoping to change all that this year. Happy Birthday Rena. You have been a great sister and we look forward to you coming to see us again.