Last night's giggle fest

Tim finally let me scrub at his feet.

I know, that sounds weird, but when you consider the condition of his feet, it's a miracle.

For as long as I've known him, he's always had cracks in the skin of his feet. Some are just little ones that might be considered cosmetic blemishes? Others run deep and can be painful. Either way, the skin along the cracks becomes dry and hard. I've been "nagging" on him for months (years) to let me take car of them beyond just slathering them with Vaseline.

So last night we soaked his feet, I grabbed my tools, and we went to work.

For a man that is barely ticklish anywhere else on his body, his feet are extremely ticklish - and normally I can't even tickle his feet on a good day. Last night, however, I almost had to restrain him from jerking his foot out of my hand. If I could have sat on his leg and still scrubbed at his feet, I would have. He was in fits of laughter the entire time!

It took me 45 minutes to remove all of the old, dead, ashy, nasty, uckiness from his feet. At one point I only scrubbed (read filed with the pedicure cheese grater look-alike thing) a small bit of his heel and was amazed at the difference. Uh, yeah. So, scrubbing and trimming aside, his feet looked a lot better, especially after the obligatory coat of Vaseline. I've talked him into doing it again next week with the understanding that if we do this more often, I won't have to work as hard on his feet, and it won't tickle as much.

I must admit that I did receive a "teensy" bit of sadistic pleasure from his uncontrollable laughter as repayment for all of the "tickle Mommy" attacks he's initiated. :D

Over the weekend

With family in town, things were busy!

Friday night Sarah and Mom came up to visit for a while. We got to sit and talk while the kiddos were getting ready for bed. It was nice to catch up, and definitely nice to see Sarah. I haven't seen her since Tim and I got married.

Tim and I also got the wood for our bed Friday afternoon. We've been having trouble with our backs during the day that seemed to be stemming from the bed at night. We could both lie on our backs on our respective sides of the bed and roll towards each other by the end of the night. It caused a few "arguments" about who was the greater bed hog! It didn't just curve from side to side, but also top to bottom which curved our backs in a crazy way because we are both stomach sleepers. So, we made a quick frame that would make Dad proud to replace the dilapidated box springs that only cost us $37 for a few 2x6 boards and some OSB. It was put together in under an hour, and OH MY it feels wonderful! I've slept so much better since we put it in two nights ago!

Saturday was non-stop, too. Tim wend to the DMV to renew the tags on the Nissan; I got to play Star Wars: Force Unleashed while he was gone. :) We went to Peyton's baptism at 3pm where I got to play the first song, and then we went to a dual adult baptism at 5pm where I led the music and sang a solo for the special musical number. I was SO nervous. I keep hoping that I'll get over it, but I never seem to. Both baptisms were awesome, and I'm so happy that the three of them made their choice to join the church.

We went to China City Buffet after the baptisms and met my parents there for an early mother's day/ way early father's day dinner. Mmmm, tasty Chinese food! We didn't know it because no one called my phone, but Tim's family had called his phone (left at home) to invite us to the Olive Garden for dinner at the same time. It's OK, we'll have dinner down there sometime later, but I think it would have been nice to spend that time with his family as well. We ended up getting the kiddos in bed when we got home and spent the next hour putting the new bed frame together. We also watched The Tourist until the wee hours of the morning (awesome movie BTW, it had me guessing until the end!).

We got to sleep in a little on Sunday morning, but not much. I got up and straightened my hair before we left for baby Matthew's blessing at Steve and Hannah's ward. He was so cute dressed in a little white suit! Squee!!! I was so proud to see Tim go up there to participate in Matthew's blessing. He's come so far since I met him almost five years ago. Tim and I were chuckling to ourselves as we tried to sing the hymns during sacrament. They... Were... So... Slow... I couldn't keep up. Just wow. But I was impressed with the members doing ASL. I don't know how they do it, but kudos for the effort!

I had my first taste of Thai food at their house for the luncheon afterwards. It was pretty tasty and toasty, but I've decided that curry doesn't agree with me at all. I paid for it later. I did get to hold Matthew and ogle and coo over him for a while. It makes me happy. It also worries Tim a little. Every time I get to hold a wee one, it rehashes our conversation about having one of our own. It would cost a lot of money, however, if we were to try, and then we'd have to worry about having more than just one. For now, I'm happy with our three. We got to talk to Chris and Lori for a while towards the end as well. If we can get the clearance anytime soon, maybe we can get everyone back out this way for our sealing when it happens.

Sunday evening we had home-made pizza rolls for dinner at our house with Tim's parents while we watched TRON: Legacy. I liked the movie, but I loved the music. :) The pizza rolls were made with a double batch of pizza dough cut into 16 parts and rolled, filled with 9 slices of pepperoni and a little mozzarella cheese, then rolled up and baked for 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven. We used spaghetti sauce to dip them in. Tasty!

Finally before I close, an update on the cross stitch project... because the branches are a full cross stitch and not a half like the moon colors are, they take a little longer, AND I haven't had time in the last two days to do much on it, but here is the progress pic. I'm on the last color of the branches and doing the outline on them as I go.

BEFOREAFTER

Over the weekend

We spent a fun-filled weekend baking and preparing for Easter. I had cupcakes for a special Easter edition of "Singing Cupcakes" in primary that were all shades of the rainbow, a last minute cake order for a white cake with coconut filling, Tim's Mounds birthday cake (for Friday), and an angel food cake for choir practice. Whew!

We had a steak dinner at the house for Tim's birthday. We had a full house and plenty of food. Tim grilled some awesome steak, and I made herb and garlic mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. Mom even brought some veggie pizza that was really very good as an appetizer. I was made with croissant rolls rolled out for a crust, cream cheese spread out for "sauce" and a mix of shredded carrots, broccoli (or green beans for those with a green-tree aversion), and shredded cheese. Tasty!

Saturday night we colored eggs with all 5 kiddos. I didn't know this, but this was Christian and Connor's first egg-dying egg-sperience. :) (you liked that didn't you!). We had 5 colors (one for each kiddo) and we rotated through. Each one got to dye 4 eggs. We made deviled eggs and egg salad sandwiches out of them later. Sunday we went to my parents' house after church and ate tasty ham and had an Easter egg hunt. My sister was the "bunny" and had a "bunny manual" so that she could make sure we found all of the eggs. Don't laugh. It worked.And as promised, progress pics of the cross stitch. Since last Monday, I've completed the third color (darkest in the moon) and have since completed a fourth (med-light on the moon), fifth (darkest brown on the branches) and started on #6 (med-brown on the branches). So what we have here is an (almost) full moon and the beginnings of branches for the eagle to perch. I actually had to scroll over to the left to reach the left most branches. I'm going to finish them and do their outlines before I complete the moon and finish the bird. Then I get to scroll to the right and do that half of the picture. :)

Getting ready for Friday

Tim turns 27 tomorrow! I've decided I'm not throwing a surprise party this year seeing as it is impossible to do anything without him finding out. We're having steak and corn on the cob for dinner, and I'm making his favorite cake (mounds cake) tonight. The kiddos and I already gave him his birthday present - Crysis 2 - so we're not doing much else besides invite family over for dinner.

(and then I just remembered that I forgot to wake him up, oops, better give him a call)

I'm totally looking forward to having Friday off from work. I plan to vegetate as much as possible before the kiddos and I start cleaning for dinner, and I am SO sleeping in!

Oh, oh, and we have good news! Tim received his acceptance letter from Blue Ridge!!! He has orientation in the next week or so, and classes for summer start May 31st. :)

Back to school

Just when you think you understand what's going on, the Lord shakes things up! Tim lost his job earlier this week because of an admittedly stupid mistake. He's learned from it, and that's all that matters. In the mean time, we're adjusting fire. We're taking a look at budget cutbacks (wow, I just sounded like the government didn't I?), looking into college for Tim, getting things straightened out. We'll be OK... I just know it.

After so many messages in General Conference about searching the scriptures, studying out issues, and then going to the Lord for answers, I felt that I needed to seek comfort in my scriptures. Tim was understandably upset and worried about our future and finances (before we decided on school). I said a prayer requesting words of comfort for us both, closed my eyes, and opened my scriptures to a "random" spot that turned out to be Matthew 24. As I read the chapter to myself (and later Chloie when she sat next to me) I felt the Spirit strongly as I read verse 13, "But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved."

So the lesson here? Stay strong, stay faithful, stay focused, and everything will be alright.

And it will be. We've figured out what we're going to do, and going to school makes Tim happy. He's wanted to do this degree in criminal justice for a couple years now. He wants to be a police officer or something similar. While I'm not happy about the safety concerns that arise from such a profession, its been his dream to do this kind of work. Who am I to say no? We've been talking about him going to school for a while, but we couldn't figure out how to do it with him working the hours that he does. Something tells me that this was our answer. So we're looking into different schools, part time work options, financial assistance, GI Bill options, and so forth. Hopefully we'll have something figured out in time for the summer semester.

Is it Chili's in here?

In a move of total spontaneity, Tim decided that we should go to Chili's in Winchester for dinner. We LOVE Chili's. We were delighted when we discovered they'd brought back the classic nachos. YUM!!! The ones they had in place of them just weren't the same. Tim ate his classic bacon burger, I had honey-chipotle chicken strips, Chloie had a cheese burger, Dougie had pizza, and Audie had a corn dog, 1/2 of Chloie's burger, and a piece of Dougie's pizza. That kid can really pack some food away!

A sweet paint job!

I promised pictures of Audie's pinewood derby car, and here they are... Tim helped him pick a design, and I drew it on the block. Then he and Audie cut and sanded the car and painted it with flat black paint. Then Audie and I taped off the windows and coated it with 2 layers of chameleon paint.

From different angles it looks blue, purple, pink, greenish, etc. Finally, we taped off everything except the racing stripes (painted in chrome) and finished with a clear coat or two.

I don't think he cares if he wins or not (which is kind of the point), but he's really proud of his car. I think it looks awesome!

I can't wait to see what we come up with for next year!

When I was sneaky

Over two years ago, Tim proposed to me by sending me on a treasure hunt across the house that finally led me to meet him at his parents' house. It was a lot of fun, and I decided then that I'd get him back some day.

I decided that for our "get to know you" anniversary, the day we started dating 4 years ago in July, I'd finally get him back. Mind you I made sure that all of my clues were clearly legible (on aray) and valid (missing playhouse). I had to be sneaky. He didn't know anything about it, and I even had to hide the last couple clues while he was in the house!

I saw a youtube video on how to make these origami rose cubes and thought they'd be perfect since he used roses in his hunt, and because they are paper I don't have to worry about them wilting. Here they are laid out on the counter closed.
And open.
I left him a letter explaining everything and his first clue.

Then I went to work hiding them.

He said he had a tough time with this one. We took a shower right after he got home in the morning, so I had to hide it after we were done. It was literally the last place he looked because of that.

Another sneaky hiding place. I put this clue in his work shoes after he took them off. :)This is inside our mail box. I hid this clue on my way to work.

I took a nice change of clothes with me to work... Tim had no idea until he went back to the room and found the first clue on the bed. Hehe! He met me at Outback for dinner and a movie for our anniversary (I'd also purchased the tickets in advance as well).

More fun than I can imagine.

I've noticed that weekends tend to be very busy around here. You know, I spend all week looking forward to a nice relaxing day, and end up with an activity explosion!

We invited Peyton over to play with Chloie Friday night. We painted nails, made necklaces, and had ziti while we watched Planet 51. Both of them had been bouncing off the walls with excitement all week waiting for Friday, and I'm glad they had a good time.

Saturday started simply enough, slept in an extra hour or so, kids up for breakfast (Tim made eggs... yummy!). Then the kiddos and I left for my parents' house and Tim went to Virginia to visit friends. My mother had hatched a plan... no, this is serious business. While Dad and I went to the AT&T store to get new phones, Mom would take the kids to Chuck E. Cheese's for lunch and games. I'd finally settled on a Samsung Solstice. It's a neat little messaging phone with a touch screen and more buttons on the sides than I know what to do with. Funny thing is, I remember when you got a user manual in the box. Now you get a quick start up guide and a CD for the computer with the tutorial on it. Who has time to watch the tutorial to figure out how their phone works??? I just want to know how to set up my contacts! Dad settled on a slider like my sister. It took a little longer picking out and setting up phones than expected, but we finally made it back to Cheese's after 1.5 hours. Poor Mom. Somehow she talked me into playing a few of the games, and among the 5 of us we managed to get 433 tickets. We picked out glow-in-the-dark bracelets and were on our way. I'm told that Mom and Dad stopped by Rita's for some well-deserved tastiness.

By the time we got home, Tim still hadn't made it back, so we ate a quick dinner of sandwiches and finished the Avatar: the Last Airbender series while we baked chocolate chip cookies and I tried a Scottish Shortbread recipe. Tim finally got home late after the kiddos fell asleep. He said he had a good time visiting.

We were almost late for church on Sunday. Tim was released as a ward missionary and the Gospel Essentials teacher. Then he was called to be the Bear leader for our Boy Scouts program. They called Tom Hall to be his assistant. It was an inspiring fast and testimony meeting. I particularly enjoyed listening to Bishop Vincent. Tim taught his last class in Essentials about sacrifice, and our Relief Society lesson was on Service. I remembered that talk from General Conference a couple years ago. It's nice to hear references to talks I've heard; it makes me feel more "into it" than when they reference something from before my time in the church.

Tim didn't have to work Sunday night so we watched a few episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space 9. If you can't tell, I'm a big Star Trek fan... and a geek, but please don't hold it against me.

Monday, oh Monday, a holiday! Labor Day! No school! No work! I weighed myself and discovered that I'd gained 2 pounds back of the 3 that I'd lost. Grrr! I hopped onto the treadmill for double the time, determined to get rid of it. 30 minutes, 1.25 miles, and 145 calories later, it wasn't much better. Tim and Audie helped Steve work on his yard for a few hours. Chloie, Dougie, and I followed them down to visit for a minute before the 3 of us went grocery shopping at the Winchester Martin's. Hannah was taking a bath so we just left the cookies on the counter for her, Abbey, and Steve.

Would you believe that I didn't get lost on my way to Martin's? I was so happy! Even better, we're trying to cut back on the amount of money we spend so that we can pay off our bills and save for a house, so my goal for our 2-week menu was to spend less than $100. Our bill came to $99.45. The kiddos helped me unload everything when we got home, and we had lunch ready when Tim and Audie got back. They got clean (wow, they were dusty), and everyone took a short nap before we went to the Galbraith's house for a Labor Day BBQ. It was good to see them, friends we knew, and to meet new people.

And then I realize how long this post has gotten...

I was on the treadmill again this morning for 30 minutes hoping to work off the good food I ate yesterday. Honestly, I was such a pig! I can't tell if it's working, but I hope that it does some thing soon!

I love a good mystery

What do cupcakes, a Primary activity, and yarn have in common?

Me.

We spent a quiet Friday evening at home. Can you believe it? Saturday morning the kiddos and I made peanut butter cup cupcakes for a BBQ at some friends' house. I understand that the left-overs didn't last long at the YSA get-together afterwards.

We got home in time to attempt to watch an episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender, but the Internet went spastic. Something having to do with the PlayStation network being wonky. I was less than enthused. So we turned around and went to the church to drop the kiddos off for their primary activity and to practice for their primary program near the end of September. I can't wait to see what they've come up with! They received their lines a couple weeks ago and have already memorized them.

While the kiddos were having fun, Tim and I drove through Martinsburg so that I could show him the store fronts I've been eyeing. They're about a block from the center of town (where King and Queen street meet), so they just about scream expensive, but he thinks they're nice. Then we went to dinner at Ledo's.Pizza in the new Commons. I was only able to eat 1/2 of my meat lover's calzone, so I have plenty for breakfast.

We got to listen to the Kemer family speak in church about self reliance. Jayne talked about the physical and Joe spoke on the spiritual. I really enjoyed hearing them speak. I particularly liked the idea of having a "no buy" month every 3 months for a couple reasons. 1. It would help us save money. 2. It would help us see what we could use for our 3 month (short-term) food storage. 3. It should help us gain confidence in our food storage and our ability to use them. We've used our food storage before when Tim lost his job and we didn't have any money. It was a humbling experience, but I'm glad in some small part that it happened. I was grateful that we heeded the counsel of the Prophet and had something on-hand to get us through. It would be nice not to have to use it again, but I'd still like to maintain our reserves.

We also had our combined RS/Priesthood meeting with the Bishop. He taught us the same lesson he heard during Youth Conference - Who are you? I learned that all of the things I call myself (mother, wife, teacher, sister, care-giver, etc) also apply (in the male form of course) to our Heavenly Father, and that through these roles I can also show that I am his daughter. How cool is that?!? The best part is, everyone is His son or daughter, they just don't know it. It's our job as Saints to show them. I think that every little girl at one point or another wishes they were a princess; it's just nice to know in some way that it is true.

And now for a moment of cuteness...

I went to pick Dougie up at my parents' house Friday afternoon. We stopped at 7-Eleven on the way home to get gas. As we were waiting for traffic to clear enough to pull out onto the road and continue home, he asked me what a sign attached to the nearest telephone pole said. "Farmer's Market, Open M-F 12-7"

Dougie: "What do they sell there?"
Me: "Fruits and veggies."
Dougie: "Can we stop there and get some peaches?"
Me: "Sure."

So we turned around and parked at the tent behind us and talked to the nice man behind the tables of rather tasty-looking produce. He had corn, melons, cantaloupe, plums, apples, nectarines, peaches, and much more.

Dougie: "Mommy, can we get some plums?"
Me: "No, we're going to get peaches because everyone likes peaches."
Farmer: "He can have one if he wants to pick it out."
Dougie: (picks one up) "This one!!!"

I was over-ruled by a 5-year-old. We got a basket with 5 peaches for $3.00 and took them home. We cut one up and ate it and WOW! that was a good peach! We cut up the other 4 and the plum and liquefied them Sunday night with some ice and a little vanilla and milk and made peach-plum smoothies. They were very tasty and healthy when you consider they didn't have any extra sugar.

Oh, and a couple of other nifty bits of news:

- I went for my interview with the Bishop for my temple recommend. I'm waiting to hear from the excutive secretary for our Stake President for my interview with him. I'm one step closer!

- I also ordered some yarn today from the Bernat website. I've decided to participate in their mystery crochet-along afghan. I picked for my colors: natural, pumpkin, soft taupe, rogue, and cameo - very neutral and warm colors. I can't wait for the first clue to start on September 22. Each week they will post the next clue on their blog every Wednesday. They will get progressively harder, and at the end will produce a crochet sampler afghan measuring 52" x 68" (about 4'4" x 5'8"). I can't wait to see what it will look like!

I think we survived...

Eyebrows? ... check.

Hair? ... yep still there.

Sanity? ... debatable if it was there to begin with!

Looks like the family survived the weekend! All of the orientations are done; I like the kids' teachers this year, and they seem to be ready to go. Audie and I went grocery shopping Saturday morning while Tim, Chloie, and Dougie cleaned up at the house. It wasn't a long trip (thankfully), and Audie downed an entire 20 oz. bottle of orange soda on the way home. I think he's a camel... who will turn orange... and bounce off of the walls!

The birthday party went well also. We tried a new recipe for BBQ ribs from the crock pot cook book that turned out really well. I'm planning on using the left over BBQ liquids for the pulled BBQ chicken we're doing later this week. Mmmm, yummy! I even made ice cream cake for them. I'm liking it more and more!

We took a short nap after everyone left then headed up to Hagerstown to catch a Suns game as part of an Elders Quorum activity. I couldn't argue with the price! A hat, a complete meal at Chip.oltle, and game admission for $6.25 a person. For the 5 of us at Chip.oltle would have been $50 easy. It was a good game; I loved how they kept you entertained with little games, dancing, etc. while the teams switched. The kiddos liked it, too, and I was surprised at how much I knew about the game while explaining it to them. The Suns lost 6-1, but it was a good time, and President Fugate even caught us on camera dancing to the Cha Cha Slide.

We got to hear about the 10th Article of Faith during sacrament on Sunday, and hearing President Fugate speak is always a treat. :^) Our RS meeting was about helping our children stay in the Gospel or come back to it, and applying those methods to fellowshipping other Saints and non-members. I had a complete blond moment and thought we'd be doing a lesson from the manual and practiced songs on that subject. Luckily JaNae is awesome and picked songs related to the correct topic that I could play. The pop practice hymn would have gone badly very quickly had I attempted it, so she was kind enough to play that for me. Whew!

I'm setting up my appointment with the bishop for my temple recommend, with the appointment with President Grow to follow soon afterward. I'm so excited!!!! Can you tell?!?!?!? Hehe! I'm all giddy about it. I didn't realize that going for the first time was such a bid deal. I mean, I knew it would be for me personally, but people are crawling out of the wood work to go and support me, and I wasn't expecting that. Now I'm also kind of nervous that I'm going to royally mess up, but I'm glad that there will be people I know and love there with me. I'm hoping to go the Saturday after my baptismal anniversary, so I guess that is September 18th. I'm still working on the details. After that I have to work on my temple dress for the sealing. More on that later!

The McIntyre clan (and extended members) was invited to Mrs. B's house for a BBQ. My sisters and I went to school with her daughter Ashley. The food was excellent, and the company was even better! I got to see friends from MHS that I hadn't seen in forever! Some more than 10 years. I didn't realize how much I missed seeing them until we spent the length of the party catching up. Some things were the same, others different, but all around a good time sharing war stories and memories.

I think that's enough for now... I'm looking forward to a semi-quiet weekend this week! I think the only thing on the calendar is a date night while the kiddos work on their Primary Program Saturday night.

When Busy is TOO Busy

It seems like we've been running a mile a minute since we got back from Knoxville... in a good way, I suppose. We got our HD Dish setup yesterday, so now I get to try to catch up on the shows I missed in the last 2 weeks. We had Audie's orientation last night, then dinner at Burger.King and grocery shopping at Food Lion. Chloie's orientation is tonight, we still have to pay bills, reconcile the bank statement, come up with our menu and shopping list for the next 2 weeks, but tickets to the Hagerstown.Suns game on Saturday evening, grocery shopping again Saturday morning, birthday party Saturday afternoon, and some where in there pull the carrots from the garden and pick raspberries. Whew!!! I think I need to catch my breath just thinking about all of the things we need to do. Add to all that when Tim moves to days, we'll have no time to do all of these and similar things together.

Speaking of working... I know I should be happy that he's going to have a full time job and all, but I'm not liking only seeing him for 5 hours each day... while we're sleeping... The trade-off here is that I'll see more of the kiddos in the afternoon when I pick them up from the bus. And if you think I'm getting up at 4am to walk on the treadmill, I laugh at you mightily! Still, it will be a challenge fitting everything into our lives. Time to start Tetris-ing our time!

Just because...

I forget now what it was that I had for Tim when he got home earlier this week. Something I'd gotten him while I was out or something I'd been working on that I wanted to show him. We met at the door saying to each other, "I have something for you."

This was his something for me. How sweet!!! Everyone wanted a sniff, though Dougie's idea of a sniff is more like a short snort. Cute nonetheless. I tell you, I am one lucky lady!

Tim's Camaro... and a suprise!

I was a sneaky little fiery dart last week for Tim's birthday! He says he'll have to watch out for me from now on, but I think he'll forget before too long after I lull him back to our normalcy. Hehehe!!!

So why was I sneaky? Well, he said he hadn't had a birthday party in quite some time. I'm not sure how long, but I decided that if I didn't do it as a surprise, it wouldn't happen. I asked our friends and family if they'd be interested, and most said yes. They all knew not to tell Tim. The only inkling that anything was up was when I talked to Steve and Hannah at Hannah's birthday party. The only thing I told him was that Steve and Co. were coming to dinner on Saturday, which was the truth, but not the whole truth.

I got off of work early on Friday and got hamburger, hot dogs, chips, etc. for the party and hid it all in the kitchen where he usually doesn't look. He knew I was working on his birthday cake that night, but because he was on night shift, he didn't know what it looked like or what else I accomplished while he was away (potato salad, cantaloupe, and other prep work).

I let him sleep and gave the kids a bath in the morning. While they were getting cleaned up, I worked more on cleaning out the garage. We went to two birthday parties that morning/afternoon and put everyone (but me) down for a nap. While everyone was asleep, I made hamburgers and swept out the garage. As I was sweeping, I heard the garage door open... I thought one of the kids was up... it was Tim!

After a bout of rather poignant questioning, he tells me that one of my guests was lost on the way to the house and had called Tim's phone for directions. I was THAT close!!! 15 more minutes, and it would have gone flawlessly! So since he was up, he helped me finish setting up.

Here is the cake I was up until 2am working on. The humidity caused a little problem with the fondant, and it looked like the bumpers fell off, but he liked it (his favorite Mounds cake recipe).Here is my little sleepy dude on Mom. Dougie didn't want to get up for anything! Abbey making funny faces at her Aunt Hannah (behind the camera)

Tim's brother, Steve, and Eddie Mueller at the party.

Over all we had a good time talking and laughing while everyone munched on hamburgers, hot dogs, home-made potato salad, chips, soda, Kool-aid, and cake. Some of the kids in attendance got a little muddy playing in a stream they found running under the rocks. Someone proudly brought us a crawdad (yikes!) and Audie's finger got smashed under a rock. Luckily it's not broken, but enter panicked mommy mode (PMM) - I still insisted on a blessing the following day at church. I'm not taking any chances!