HAPPY BIRTHDAY TED!

Ted turned 35 yesterday. We had a great day. We ate breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Then we went on a Treasure Hunt (see post below to find out about our family's new hobby). Then we had lunch at the Cruze's pool. The Mazons and Cards were there as well. I brought some brownies and we shared the love with our friends!

Ted and I went to the movies with Mack and Cindy Card. We went to see Bourne Ultimatum. IT WAS SO GOOD! Emily babysat for us while we were there (thank you Emily!).

We finished our birthday day up by eating dinner at Chillis (a family favorite!).

It was a GREAT day!

LIke Father...Like Son

I couldn't resist! I thought these were too funny to pass up! :-)

HE CAN SWIM!!!

I probably have mentioned this in a previous post but AIDAN CAN SWIM! He learned this summer through many trips to the pool. I probably take the kids to the pool an average of 3 times a week. He was determined to learn and HE DID!

He practiced for the longest time in the shallow end. Then one day I convinced him to jump off the diving board and I was in the deep end on a noodle ready to catch him. He did and then I would get him close to the ladder and let him go and he'd swim to it. Then I bribed him one day and told him if he would just jump off by himself I would drive him to get a new Webkinz as soon as we left the pool. Well, it didn't work (that time) but eventually HE DID IT! And now, he swims all over the place! I AM SO VERY PROUD OF HIM!

FIRST DAY OF CO-OP

Today we started our first day of co-op. We go to Thursday co-op. It's a homeschool co-op here in the Knoxville area.

Avery went last year and I spent a lot of time up there. I really enjoyed being there. This year I am teaching three classes. Today went really well. I got to teach and also see what the kinks were so next week I can work those out. I am teaching three different classes. A Bible class and 2 math classes.

Avery is taking 4 classes. She is taking my bible and math class but she is also taking Spanish and Critter Critter (science class about animals).

We had a great first day.

Watch out Super World!

Click on the pictures to see them

"bigger"

Today the Randall kids were over. Well three of them. Tori, Audrey and Bruce. Aidan and Bruce love to play super heroes. The minute they get together they plot to take over the world... or save the world... or destroy the world :-) They do well at destroying a room... haha. I could not resist taking some pictures of them today. They are precious. Aidan's spiderman costume has seen better days. It was a hand me down to begin with but now it's very tight and looks like the "Capri" version. I don't think Spiderman wore Capri's. My favorite picture is the one at the very top.

Christy (the Randall momma) is gonna have baby #5 any day now! YEAH! I know she is ready. I can't wait to meet the sweet baby! We'll see if it's a boy or a girl REAL SOON!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

We started school today (home school). It went really well. Avery put forth much effort. I was so proud of her. We started our day with the calendar. Which we will do every day after our devotion time. We will talk about the date, the weather, etc. Then we moved into phonics. We did reading after that. Then we did math. We need to take a trip to the library so that we can start our Five in a Row curriculum. We will be incorporating Science and Social Studies along with Art and Language in that curriculum. I am real excited about it. Today was a GREAT start to our year.

We made a WORD WORM (thanks Kristy for this great idea). Avery's worm is named Sarah. We went through all the site words she knew and added several of them to the worm today. She knows several more but as I see words she knows, we will add them to the worm. She's excited to see if the worm will grow all around the basement. I am too :-)

What a great first day! Many more to come!

Treasure Hunting!

Our family has a new hobby. TREASURE HUNTING. Ted bid on a GPS system and got one off of ebay. He is into treasure hunting with the kids. It is actually called GEO-CACHING. He looks up where these treasures are on-line and then logs the coordinates into his GPS system. The treasures are put there by locals and they leave a scroll with the treasure (usually in a jar or can or something) that you sign showing you found it.

So they went on Saturday morning to look for treasure. They actually found one at Pelissippi State (where we meet for church). This treasure had a jar and there were kid's toys in it. So they signed the log and each one of our kids took a little toy. They were SO EXCITED.

Tonight we met some friends at the park. The Beebe Family. The Beebe's have 4 boys... so they went on the adventure as well. They found two treasures tonight. One was in a cow pasture and the clue was "If cows could fly". It was a bird house up in a tree. Mason was actually the one who found it. So they took the little bird house down and signed the scroll and put it back. Aidan found the first treasure. It was a film canaster with a scroll in it up in a tree. (I stayed behind with my friend Robin and we just visited).

Some of the treasures have little toys in them and some the prize is finding it. The kids love it. Addie brought a plastic shovel with her yesterday in case she had to dig :-) Ted said it was hilarious seeing her throw dirt everywhere.

I'm sure we'll have many more journeys to share about our treasure hunting. We are wanting to plant our own treasure. Then we'll put it on the Internet... give it time... and go back and see who all found it. HOW FUN!

TED IS A SEMINARY STUDENT

Ted is an official student again! His dream come true. He loves to learn and loves to study (please Lord, let our children take after him). He registered for seminary yesterday and will be doing correspondence courses to earn a Masters in Pastoral Ministries. He will be getting this degree from TRINITY SEMINARY. He spoke with an advisor and is on his way! He will begin this weekend with his studying. I'm so excited for him!

We are proud of you Ted!

VACATION WEEK!

Ted has been on vacation this week. We have had a GREAT WEEK! We did a knoxville vacation... it's affordable :-) We have had a wonderful time just being together. We started our week by going to the pool (at the Cruze's). Then Tuesday we headed to the Mountains (I will post pictures soon). Wednesday we took in a FREE movie at the Pinnacle. We saw Happy Feet. Which was really cute. The kids enjoyed it and Ted and I did as well. They show free movies every Tuesday and Wednesday during the summer. Then Wednesday afternoon we took the kids to Josh and Julie's. They slept over at their house and Ted and I headed to SPLASH COUNTRY - BY OURSELVES! can you believe that?? Before you start thinking ... how cruel... they didn't bring the kids... we went after 4pm and so we go in the next day for FREE (we had to buy tickets for just one day). So we took our kids back today. IT WAS A BLAST!!!! We loved every minute of it. That park is amazing. My favorite part? The LAZY RIVER! You just float around the entire park. It's great! The kids loved it too because they could swim and float and splash around and we loved it because we could FLOAT and FLOAT and FLOAT some more! They have 3 great kids areas there that were AMAZING! We enjoyed it so very much. I wish we could go back tomorrow (the kids do too!). Wish I could post some pictures but how do you take a camera to a water park? I could have rented a locker but no thanks. We had a great time.

A favorite quote of mine from this trip to Splash Country was when me and the girls were sitting at the picnic table at Splash Country and Addie wanted to sit where Avery was sitting. She tried to squeeze in because she said she wanted to sit next to me... I told her Avery was already sitting there so she could find another seat. She got mad and sat on the ground to POUT. It was a good pout too. (She's so cute when she pouts). Anyway... Avery said "Mom, when is she gonna learn that the world does not involve her!" - I think the quote goes "when is she gonna learn the world does not REVOLVE around her. SO CUTE. I just smiled. Forget revolving around her... Avery says it doesn't even involve her. Poor Addie :-)

Addie's Photo Shoot

This is SO Addie. She is a HAM! I loved taking these pictures of her and I was cracking up at her poses. She even would throw her head down and flip her hair over... where does she get that??? SO CUTE! I had to share the funny pictures as well!

Avery's Photo Shoot

I took pictures of Avery and Addie this morning to enter a Johnsons and Johnsons hair contest. I was really doing it to enter Avery but then realized that she is too old. BUMMER. I entered Addie. Not that I think Addie's hair is not as beautiful as Avery's but Avery's is more grown in. Addie still has crazy baby hair - which I love! Here is the photo shoot of Avery.

DOLLYWOOD... here we come!

So my friend Robin called today and said "hey, they are giving away free Dollywood tickets at this McDonalds that just opened right next to my house at lunch time today." She had me at the word FREE. We loaded up the car and headed to KARNS! Sure enough, we got 4 tickets to Dollywood. We have to go on Labor Day but that is fine with us! We are grateful! The Beebes will be coming with us (that's my friend, Robin's family). The cool thing is Addie gets in for free. So the ticket they gave her, Ted can use. He wasn't able to go with us to get the free tickets... he was working.

I am so excited! We are gonna try out Splash Country this week. Ted is taking his vacation time. We are gonna spend time around the house but we are gonna treat the kids to SPLASH COUNTRY (it's Dollywood's water park). My dad would just be tickled pink to know that I am going to Dollywood. He was a fan of Ms. Parton. :-) WHO KNEW she had a theme park (well, everyone in TN does but we didn't know that living in Texas).

CELEBRATE!

We went to Mancinos (a pizza place in town) after church today to celebrate Avery's baptism. The Randalls and the Mazons joined us. Our kids love Mancinos. It's a kid friendly resturant. Avery sat with her friends and had pizza and Ted and I got to visit with our friends. It was a sweet time. Later in the day we had cookie cake and the Cards came over to celebrate Avery's big day with us.

BAPTISM SUNDAY

Avery was baptized today. We are so proud of her. She gave her heart to Jesus about 5 months ago and today she professed her faith to our church by being baptized. She approached us about a month ago asking about baptism and asking us if she could be baptized. Ted and I both have had several talks with her and she was ready! We are so very proud of her! It was a precious day for our family. Thank you Lord
for giving Avery the gift of faith. Our prayer is that she will walk faithfully with the Lord Jesus Christ and have a passion for Him all the days of her life.

WELCOME NANNY GWEN AND NANNY BECK

Ted's sisters were in town from Sunday to Thursday (they left early this morning) for a visit. We had a WONDERFUL time with them. They came craft prepared! We made some fun crafts while they were here. We did sand art (which was really salt art). It was so much fun! They made picture frames and glued things on them. They gave each one of the kids a wallet with $8.00 in it and took them to the dollar store.

We LOVE it when Nanny Gwen and Nanny Beck come for a visit. They both live in Port Arthur. They actually live next door to each other. They are 17 and 18 years older than Ted. Ted was a "oops" but a GOOD ONE! His sisters are such fun to have around!

Thanks Nanny Becky and Nanny Gwen for making our week so much fun!

WE LOVE YOU BOTH SO MUCH!

Here's what's happening

So the latest thing that is going on in our house is a lot of adoption talk. We started a blog just to share about that. So you can check it out www.anceletadoption.blogspot.com.

Some other things going on are that Avery tells us she is ready to be baptized. She gave her heart to Jesus about 6 months ago. She tells us she is "under God". Which is such a sweet picture. She says she isn't under the enemy but under God. She has such a precious heart. Ted talked to her about what it means to be baptized and she says she's ready. He later asked her what it means and she could tell him exactly what it means. We'll keep you posted on what we decide. We want her to remember the day she made her commitment public.

One thing that I get a giggle about often is Addison doing a knock knock joke. Here is how one goes for us :
Mommy: Knock Knock
Addie: What's there?
Mommy: Boo
Addie: What Boo? (it is suppose to be "Boo Who" and then I would say "Why are you crying?" but she says "What boo?" so it ruins the joke. Though to me it made the joke so much better :-)
Mommy... "ugh.... nevermind" - as I giggle.

haha. We get a kick out of it so we've done every knock knock joke we know with her to hear her say "what ------"

Aidan recently told me as he had his head on my chest that he could hear my heart beating. I said yes... that how you know I am alive... and he looked at me puzzled and said "Is that God in your heart?" HOW CUTE!

Happy Independence Day!

We had a great 4th of July! We started our day with the Swobodas at the 4th of July Parade in Farragut. CONGRATS TO THE SWOBODAS.... They just had a precious baby girl! Her name is Maggie Raine Swoboda. She was born on June 25th. She is so tiny and so sweet. Maggie is their 6th child. Betsy amazes me! Brandon does too!

We had a great time at the parade and after that we headed home for a relaxing lunch. After resting for a while, we headed to the Cruze's swimming pool. We didn't take pictures but we met our new friends, Josh and Julie at the pool. Julie's friend Kelly joined us as well with her precious boys, Devon and Marcus. We ate dinner out there and then headed back to our house for watermelon (that was HORRIBLE!). We had such a great day!