August

Recap of August:

*The month started out with the girls visiting Nanna & Grandpa Rink in West Va. They worked with Nanna @ her quilt shop Acorns & Oaks

*Next, there was Shakespeare camp for the girls at Covenant Life. The middle schoolers learned and performed The Tempest. The high schoolers learned and performed Romeo & Juliet. Both girls had small parts in each of the shows. Great performances at the end of the week.

Emily playing a boy Rachel with friends afterwards.

*And then... Fair Week ~ One of our favorite weeks of the year!! waiting for the parade to start

w/ dear friends, Susan and Char after the parade.

PC: Ron Moore

Em had another first place cake this year that was sold in the cake auction. It was bought by my parents and my dad's 2 brothers, Uncle Johnny & Uncle Billy. :) All the money goes to 4H.

Emily with Great Gommie at the cake auction (the original baker of the famed cake)

Rachel and Char at the Cheese Booth on PetsRUs day. Rachel worked several other days and loved it here.

The girls takin' a lunch break - grilled cheese & nachos!

the pet show - Rachel and Em took the cats

Caiti and Chris

waiting to show their dogs

Sarah with her pet rock and the girls with Josie and Claire

I love the demolition derby on the last night... it's the farm girl in me, I'm sure. ;)

PC: Emily

*Cook-out @ Peggy Ann & Fred's.

Peggy Ann had some things from Mamaw & Pap Pap for the 5 grandsons. So she invited us all to her place for yummy food and memento of the grandparents.

The 5 grandsons

Jeff, Julie, Zack and Tyler

Kevin, Susie, Brett and Billy

Jeff & PA

all the cousins being silly

*Rachel and I had a super time at the youth retreat @ Sandy Cove in MD

roommates: Libbster, Krissy and Rachie

M&M poker

*And we ended the month with the First Day of School - the 26th (no pics, sorry!)

What a neat experience to go on a photo shoot with a *real* photographer! Danielle's friend, Andi, invited her along and b/c I was in town visiting, she let me come along, too. How incredibly neat! We all rode together but poor Danielle left her purse in the other car and they wouldn't let her onto the base so she didn't get to go! Andi is HER friend... and I get to have the fun! awkward! Being positive, like she always is, Danielle turned the disappointment for good - she walked the beach and prayed for the whole hour! You're amazing, Danielle, for sure! Anyway, I just thought I would be changing batteries, holding stuff and LEARNING - but NO, Andi put a camera in my hands and told me to shoot! It was very fun and I learned a ton! The beach at Fort Story was just beautiful, Andi is a fun photographer and really captured the mother-to-be well. Please check out her blog and see the great pics she took! Andi Grant Photography One of my favorite shoots she has posted is the Wolfe Family (posted in March).

Misc January Happenings

We went to VB the beginning of the month and were able to be there for Hannah's 4th birthday party. Danielle did an incredible job, making Hannah's birthday top-notch with a Littlest PetShop theme. Here's the pretty birthday girl: Hannah Rose

Candy dropping from the piñata

Rachel with Juliette (who's SO big and growing way too fast for her far-away Aunt Jen!) More January fun: Emily and her buddy, Sarah got together a few times this month and had a great time together.

Goofy faces

We're very excited about an upcoming trip to see our friends, The Nams, in Phoenix, AZ. I found this in Em's room today - a dry erase board with a "countdown 'til the Nams". I thought it was sweet! It's been a while since we've seen them. Since August 24th @ 4am. But who's keeping track?! (miss you, Ashley!)

And I think I totally whiffed on posting December events. We had fun family gatherings, gingerbread houses with friends, etc.... I'll post that next. I think.

from the white sand to the white snow

We were invited tubing with our dear friends, the Schuchs, Cooks and Hendricks. The girls were thrilled to actually get a snow-day! (homeschooled kids still have school when it's too snowy/icy for public schools!). We drove to Ski Liberty and went tubing for 2 hours. The girls had a great time!

Don't even THINK about it, chickie!

with the Cook boys

Emily

Photo credit: Tim Cook

The girl van - Kim, Em, Rach, Alyssa, Michaela, Di

Misc. November

Good GRIEF, I'm behind!

Here are some final pics of November so I can finish up 2007 with December.

Rachel has had her MC Fair 4H and her Youth Retreat wrist bands on since AUGUST! EEWWWWWWW!

She won the contest with her friends, she wore hers the longest. I tried hard to convince her it was time to be done with them and she finally agreed. My favorite memory with the wrist bands was school pictures. The photographer gave a not-so-sure look and asked, "Can you take those off for the picture, honey?!" We said, "No, they stay on. Any chance you can you position her so they don't show? thanks."

Flashback: I so remember a very large turquoise butterfly ring that my mom would have loved for me to stop wearing. Oh my, I think I was 13 or 14 and I thought it was the greatest thing!! But she didn't make a big deal about it even tho' I looked SO goofy, I'm sure. I bet she danced a jig behind closed doors the day I decided to retire it and put it in my keepsake box.

Remember that, Ma?

Next are photos from working with Operation Christmas Child during collection week. We worked with friends at a local church collecting shoeboxes that have been filled with goodies for needy kids around the world. Boxes come in from all over our area - and the kids welcome these groups by carrying their boxes into the building, sorting and counting, running a shoebox "hospital" and the grouping the boxes for shipment. The boxes arrive from various churches, ministries, schools, clubs, businesses and individuals. Sometimes 3 boxes come in from a mom and her kids. Other times we received several hundred boxes, maybe from a Christian school or a Girl Scout troop. The girls and I worked 4 days that week and had a great time. Special thanks to the Gallaghers who are in charge of this drop-off location. They work the WHOLE week, from open to close, so joyfully! We enjoyed our time with you 4! The shoeboxes have to be packed in cartons. It's like a puzzle, trying to get as many shoeboxes as possible into one big carton. Emily is very good at it! The cartons are then loaded onto a tractor trailer each night. At the end of the week, this full tractor trailer heads to Charlotte or Boone North Carolina. The shoeboxes are distributed to their final destination from there. Here Emily helps (or watches? :) Grace G. stack the cartons in the back of the tractor trailer. Just kidding - Emily worked hard all week!

THANKSGIVING DAY

We went to Berkley Springs, WV to enjoy a yummy Thanksgiving dinner with Brian's family. Here is a shot of all Mom and Don's grandchildren - we were all together this year! First time in many years! So we had to get a group shot.