After dinner

After a wonderful dinner of pancakes, eggs and turkey bacon, Julian and Kathryn told Jason and I that we needed a break from washing dishes and doing recycling, so they were going to do it tonight. And they did a really good (wet, messy!) job and had fun doing it.

Tina Fey as Sarah Palin

In case you missed it last night on SNL - this was hilarious! I thought her impersonation was dead-on.

Playing school

I'm taking a break from cleaning house to share these pictures, which I thought were really cute. I thought I would have to sneak the picture since Julian has become more and more reluctant to be in pictures, but he posed for it in the end, as you can see. Since about 7:30 this morning, the kids have been playing school. It is now 11:00 and they have now stopped, only because Kathryn went grocery shopping with Jason. Julian is the teacher (of course), and Kathryn the student. But! She is not a Kindergarten student; she is a college student. She takes a test about every 5 minutes and always does very well. And, Julian must have some very sharp dressed teachers, because to be a teacher, he had to dress in his church clothes. What a handsome teacher he is!

Kathryn's writing

Kathryn brought these home in her Thursday folder. I think she is doing rather nicely! She has had next to no interest in writing until she went to school, so I am very excited that she is working on it for her teacher. These pictures must be a couple of weeks old - we have really been working on her name, and it looks great!

Getting gas...

It was really weird. When I went to get gas yesterday, Walmart was actually OUT of everything except 87 octane. Of course my car runs on that normally anyway, but I began to think of what would happen if the gas stations were out of all gas. What in the world would we do?? Forget high gas prices, what about no gas at all???

Last one, I promise!

These are the pictures from Jason's camera...I promise I won't post anymore from Kathryn's birthday parties - this year!

Heroes....finally!

I am so excited that Heroes season 3 will be premiering tonight! Unfortunately, I will be in class at 8:00, but will definitely be recording it to watch when I get home. I was pretty annoyed when the writers' strike stopped the show mid story last season, and I've been waiting impatiently since then for new shows. If you haven't seen Heroes yet, you should check it out - I was surprised at how gripping it was (the first season anyway).

Kathryn's Birthday party ... again

Here are some pictures from the small party we had at Grandma Knight's house the Sunday before last to celebrate Kathryn's 5th birthday.




My batteries were dying, so I used Jason's camera quite a bit...so there on more on there that I'll work on getting off and posting. I just didn't want to wait any longer - this week has been pretty busy with school and work, and I meant to put these up several days ago!! Sometimes, there just isn't enough time in a day!

Awana last night

Just wanted to update:

Julian finished his "Start Zone" last night, earning his New T&T shirt and his first T&T book. The Start Zone has 9 verses and some "life truths" in it, which he had to memorize and recite. A couple of the verses were repeats, but several were new.

Kathryn also finished her "Flight 3:16" book, earning her Sparks vest and first Sparks book. She had to memorize and recite John 3:16, which she did in front of her whole class.

They didn't have the right size on hand for either of them, so it will be next week before we get them....

Just a good morning!

This morning when I took the kids to school, Kathryn actually asked me if she could walk to class by herself! I am so proud of my shy butterfly. I told her I would be very proud of her if she did and that she is such a big girl! I am just really happy today that Kathryn is getting comfortable with school, which has been a concern for the last couple of weeks.

On top of that, Julian has 2 checkpoints to pass off tonight at Awana! He is so smart. Grandma gave us an extra Start Zone she had from teaching last year (Julian had left his at the church last week), so we were able to work on some verses last night. It brought tears to my eyes to see Julian EXCITED to find the verses from his Start Zone in his Bible. He thought it was so cool that the words matched exactly (he got a NKJV from the Awana store last year).

And of course, Kathryn is working on John 3:16 to earn her first Sparks book, BUT we have a great problem with her ... she just won't say the exact words of the verse - she keeps saying what they mean instead! (i.e. instead of "shall not perish", she'll say "will not die" and instead of "will have everlasting life" she says "will live with Jesus forever"!!!!). So cute.

Ok, I'm off to class - I think I'm going to be late, but my cup was overflowing this morning, and I wanted to share!

For Robert ...

We saw this on the way home from Charlotte, and Jason wanted to show his Dad....

Happy Birthday Kathryn

Today is Kathryn's 5th birthday. I can't believe how fast the last 5 years have gone! Kathryn is growing into a beautiful girl; she is so sweet, so kind and so thoughful. I feel really blessed to have her as my daughter! Here are some pictures from her birthday party in Charlotte yesterday...I'll post some from her birthday party today as soon as I can.

Kathryn again

Well, now that we've seen all of our families, I can finally post these pictures of my baby with her new earrings. She got her ears pierced last weekend - and of course had to get pink flowers! What else?

I have actually wanted to get her ears done for a while, but I wanted it to be at her request. Last Friday, we saw a baby in a restaurant with her ears pierced, and we all started talking about ear piercing in general. I was honest with Kathryn and told her it would hurt, she would have to leave them in for a long time before she could take them out, she would have to clean them a lot, and it would be a while before she could switch to other earrings.

Well, Kathryn decided she wanted to get hers done - right then! So we tried to find a place here, but couldn't. It says a lot that there is not even a place to get ears pierced here (well, there are a couple of tattoo shops...) We ended up driving to the mall closest to us and had it done at Claire's. There was another little girl getting her ears done - she was 7, but small for her age. Kathryn got to watch her do it, and thankfully that girl didn't get upset about it - didn't cry or anything. And she actually came back a few minutes after hers were done to watch Kathryn. She talked to her and encouraged her. It was very sweet.

Kathryn was very brave and didn't cry at all. She was, um, we'll say reluctant to do the 2nd ear after the 1st was done, but when we let her know it would look kind of strange to go around with one earring, she let the Claire's lady do the 2nd one.

She has done really well with them since, and usually reminds me that it's time to clean them (3 times a day for 6-8 weeks). She has already picked out some earrings at Claire's that she wants to get - we'll hold off on that for a while...I now she would ask everyday "is it time to switch earrings yet??"

1 Peter 4:12 - 19

I just found this really encouraging today, and wanted to share it with you:

"Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And,

"If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?"

So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good."

Kathryn

Well, I've been sick since we got back from the beach, and haven't been doing a whole lot besides studying and working, but I got this picture of Kathryn last weekend. She and Julian were playing together with the erector set, but he wouldn't let me take his picture...you never know with him :)

A visit

Courtney and Jackson came for a visit last week. I'm so glad she and Jason got to spend some time together while I was in class, and I'm glad I did get to see her and Jackson for a little while before they had to head back home.

The kids did great with Jackson, and even Julian wanted to hold him and touch his feet and hair. I can't wait to see the 3 of them (and maybe more added along the way) grow up together and be playmates once Jackson is a little more mobile. I hope they play together and like each other as much as my cousins and I did growing up...

First day of school

Monday was Kathryn's first day of Kindergarten and Julian's first day in 3rd grade.

Kathryn was very excited to see her teacher again and to see what school would be like.

And Julian was excited to get back and see his friends. 2 of his good friends from last year are in his class again.

We walked Kathryn to class, but no one was there! We were pretty late... We met her class coming from the cafeteria, and she fell right into line and went to class. They stagger days for everyone, so there were only 5 kids there on her first day. She has not been back to school yet, but tomorrow she'll go along with her whole class, and everyday after that. Unfortunately, she is not as excited to go back tomorrow as she was the first day. She said she wants to stay home with me. I told her I won't be home either, and neither will Daddy (he's going back to work tomorrow!). I know she'll enjoy herself once she's there, but it's hard to make her do something she doesn't really want to do. I'm going to miss our time together....

I'm in school now too, and things are going pretty well. I am relieved that my classes this semester don't seem to be as demanding as last semester (so far). Of course this is only the 2nd week, so there's still a lot of time in this semester for things to get crazy. But so far, it's been wonderful - the only homework I've had is reading and studying my notes. Much better than the 2 or 3 hours each night last semester between math and Spanish! I did have my first speech for my public speaking class - I'm glad it's over with and I am already dreading my next speech, which will be in late September, I think. I'll be glad when this class is done!

It's not school, but Jason will also be going back to work tomorrow. He got a good report from the doctor at his 2nd post-op visit this week, so he will be on "light duty" for 2 weeks and then after that, no restrictions at all on what he should do. I'm worried about him going back, but I guess it was inevitable....

So we all seem to be getting back to somewhat normal routines, and our family summer break is officially over tomorrow.

Videos from the beach...

At the pool at our condo:



On the beach:

The beach

We returned from a week at Carolina beach last weekend. Here are some pictures from our trip



We were really impressed with Carolina Beach. The stretch of beach in front of our condo complex was not crowded at all, and it was very clean. There was very little trash on the beach and no firework residuals.

Most days of our vacation, we spent our time playing in the ocean and the sand (Kathryn's preference), and swimming in the pool. We did take one day trip to Fort Fisher, which was just down the road from us. We rode the ferry from Ft. Fisher to Southport and back, visited the aquarium while we were there and did a short hike into the Ft. Fisher state park. It was a lot of fun, but very tiring. We also spent one evening at a local park, which had a lake with paddle boats. Why do I always forget how much work it is to move one of those things?!

I was a little bummed that our trip fell at the same time as the Olympics, because I really look forward to watching them. We did watch some of the swimming, and the synchronized diving was amazing!

Jason took some great pictures while were there. I've been trying to convince him to start his own blog and post his work, but we'll have to give that some time.

The kids today

Just because....

Julian cooks dinner

I jokingly asked Julian what he was cooking for dinner the other day, and he immediately ran to the kitchen and started getting things together to make hot dogs (our standard quick meal). He proceeded to cook dinner - by himself mostly. All I did was strain the pasta and tell him when to add things and when to stir. He did a great job!

Our winged visitors

We have one of the "lucky" yards that have become the home of a group of Easter Cicada Killer wasps .

The first year we noticed them, we were pretty nervous. They are big - over an inch long - and there are a lot of them. The first year (2003, to the best of my memory) there were hundreds flying around the backyard. We got Lucy the next year, and she has helped control their population - in our yard at least. She digs them up and eats them. This is one time she does not get in trouble for digging holes! We are down to less than 30, I would guess.

They don't sting, they don't bite, unless you try to catch them in your hand or something. From what I understand, they'll sting then, but it is not the typical wasp sting - much less potent. They do charge, though. They'll fly at you and run into you, I guess to get you to move away from their nest. Pretty annoying when I'm trying to mow the grass.

They are actually pretty cool - they dig holes in the ground for their eggs, hunt cicadas (locusts), and take them into their holes for the next generation to eat when they hatch. We pretty much leave them alone unless they won't leave us alone.

This is a picture of one trying to get the cicada to its hole...

No story, just pictures

"Can I play too?"

Cute pictures of Lucy

School

The beginning of the school year is almost here. I start on the 18th, and the kids start on the 25th. We took advantage of the tax free weekend last night. Both kids seem to be pleased with their new book bags and lunch boxes, but Kathryn has told us several times today that she doesn't need baby wipes!