I made this bag!!

Look at me! I made this bag! I am so proud of myself! I have sewn a lot of things in the past, but this bag is significant, because this is the first thing I have made using a pattern. Everything else I have just made up as I went along. It is an Amy Butler pattern (frenchy bags) using Amy Butler fabrics. I love it! Just call me crafty!

our trip to the lemur center

Ever seen the kids show Zaboomafoo? Well, if you haven't, it is about lemurs, and it is actually filmed at the Duke Lemur Center, where we visited last weekend of Sept. For a little background as to why we would spend our leisure time on a Saturday driving to Durham to visit the very remotely located Lemur Center... Samuel had to do an animal report for school and he chose the Lemur. The lemur center was very neat. There were a lot of different species of lemurs and we learned a lot of interesting facts about them, such as they are female dominated, they only come from the island of Madagascar, there are some that are nocturnal and others that aren't. There was a lot of heavy influence on our tour suggesting that lemurs were part of the chain of evolution which includes monkeys and as we learned in school, supposedly then humans. Thankfully, we have taught Samuel otherwise and he thinks the idea that monkeys eventually turned into humans is hilarious. In fact, every time our guide mentioned anything about evolution, he started giggling. The interesting thing to me is that so many people just accept evolution as fact, when really, there is no scientific evidence to prove it. Darwin never actually saw anything evolve into anything, he just made it up. I do not consider myself articulate enough to explain what I know, but if you are reading this and I have either riled you up at the idea that I do absolutely believe in creation or if you are just interested in learning more, visit the creation museum website link I have over on the side of this blog. There is a lot of info there, and they have a lot of resources as well. --- just a side note, we learned on our visit that the show Zaboomafoo was actually filmed there at the Duke Lemur Center and the actual lemur they use in the show lives there, but his name is not Zaboo. Also, Samuel got a 100 A+ on his report!

firsts

Nora Kate started preschool Sept. 23. She was on a waiting list for a good preschool here for the 2 day class and they had an opening come available in their 3 day, so we put her in the 3 day. She goes T, Th, and F 9:30 to 12:30. She really likes it although she does cry every day when I drop her off. I'm not sure if she's doing that for my benefit, or her own, but she is really enjoying learning new things and they always tell me she has had a great day! She is even going potty independently there! So big!

Samuel started his first day of second grade at North Raleigh Christian Academy Aug. 18. He is having a really great year so far. He is learning to write in cursive and LOVES it! He does an excellent job with it too, getting A's on most of his writing tests. He just got his first quarter grades which were straight A's in 6 subjects, his lowest being a 97 and he got commended on his positive attitude! Tonight we go to the school for parent teacher fellowship and get to see all the things he has been doing, and he has a field trip to the fire station on Thursday so something to look forward to! Our little man.

a couple random pics of Nora Kate

Such the princess.... We've been working on this for about the past couple of months. She is doing great! Completely trained except while sleeping! Big Girl!

eye love it!

Still having problems with posting photos, but wanted to mention that today is the 1 year anniversary of my eye surgery! It has been so wonderful to be able to see without the help of glasses or contacts. It has been so wonderful to read a book at night, to have so many moments of clarity seeing every little tree branch, to see better while driving at night, to just see. Josh describes it as "seeing in HD" and he's right. I am still having problems with dry eyes as I did prior to the surgery and a little worse after the surgery, but it's nothing major and a few eye drops will usually help. I am so glad I had it done, and that it went well! Praise God for Lasik!

stay tuned...

having photo difficulties again... and here I am in my photo catch-up stuck back in the 4th of July. All of a sudden I can't find my photos on the computer anymore to upload. It is weird, or most likely, operator error. But be looking soon (hopefully) for updates including Samuel's 1st day of 2nd grade, Nora Kate's 1st day of preschool, potty training, our trip to the Duke University lemur center!, Covidien family fun day (carnival at Josh's work), and my most very recent b-day! There, I've given you something to look forward to, and now I will leave you with a funny....

Last Saturday, Samuel awoke with a bad dream (at 6:30 am) and came to get in bed with us because he was scared. This was all fine and good, we were lovin on him so he wouldn't be scared anymore. But he was awake now, and was getting chatty (at 6:30 am). He was apparently studying his Dad who like always (and I know it's like always because I sleep next to him and get elbowed in the head several times a night) had his arms up above his head. Samuel says this: "Boy, it sure is taking my armpit hair a long time to come in." I completely lost it (at 6:30 am)!

4th of July family cookout 08

These were taken on the 4th of July at my Dad's cousin Larry Rush's house. They had a family reunion out there in London, KY and let me tell you it was packed (with people and with food). It rained pretty much the whole time we were there, but that didn't seem to stop any of the fun. There was fishing (pic in the middle is of Dad helping Samuel fish), volleyball, swimming, rides through the woods on some type of 4 wheel vehicle that I am not educated enough to know what it was, and a genuine outhouse (with toilet paper and a light)! I haven't seen too many outhouses in my day, but with all the ammenities this one came with, I would consider it pimped out. One of the highlights of that evening for me was ... no, no, not when Samuel got the fish hook stuck in his finger; no, not when Nora Kate ate 3 different types of dessert for her dinner, but getting to talk to and catch up with Larry's daughter Becky. Becky is some type of cousin to me (our Dad's are 1st cousins) and I have known her all my life, we are about the same age. She and I were pregnant at the same time with Samuel and her son Caleb and they were born very close together. So, we had just arrived at this very populated cookout and I was feeling a little shy not feeling like I knew anyone as it was mostly people I did not know, and all of a sudden I hear this little boy throwing an absolute fit. I immediately looked around to see where Samuel was as this sounded EXACTLY like him, when I realized this particular screaming fit was coming from another young man that looked to be about Samuel's age. I then saw Becky deal with him and a smile spread across my face. She looked at me and said (and this was the first thing she said to me at the cookout) "you thought you were the only one, didn't you?" Becky and I bonded that evening over our boys.

King's Island ~ July 2008

I know I am back-tracking here, but I was looking through some of the pictures that we were able to save (after losing literally HUNDREDS of pictures ~ did I mention that already?!) and these were just too cute not to include. Every summer since we have moved far away (aka 2004) I have travelled back to OH with the kids to spend a week with Mom and Dad. It usually includes a trip to KY to see extended family which is my only opportunity to see them at all. And it also usually includes a trip to Kings Island, the amusement park I grew up going to. The kids love it. This year, Nora Kate really came out as the dare devil of our kids and Samuel looked like quite the scaredy cat next to his little sister who wanted to ride everything! Here she is with Mom riding her first roller coaster, the "Little Bill Coaster".

This year Rachel and Elizabeth, my sister's 2 girls were staying with Mom and Dad a couple of the days that we were there and they got to come along to KI with us, so that was an extra bonus getting to spend some time with them. Here we all are (except for Dad who is taking the picture) on the train at the end of the day. Rachel and Elizabeth are in front, then Mom and me with the kids in the back. You can see that someone is getting a little sleepy, but I won't name any names. The funny part about this is that Dad took the pictures at the last minute before the train was taking off so it had already started to move when he took the last picture. So then, in pure Dad fashion, he disregards the warnings and swings around the outside of the train while it's moving to get back to sit with us. I can't remember if they said anything to him or not, but it was funny!