Madison is recovered!

Madison is finally better!  It apparently was a virus that just had to run its course!  She is still taking her antibiotic until Monday, but is so much better!  She wouldn't leave my sight the whole time she was not feeling well.  Now she is getting back into playing with her babies without me and acting like her normal self!  We are so very thankful to see her old self back, we were all worried!

Swimming Lessons

This week Grant and Madison have been taking swimming lessons.  We have a great place for the kids to take lessons in Columbia called "Camp Nickajack".  Before we started going there last year everyone always said they are awesome and the kids will be swimming by the Friday of the week they start.  I didn't believe it, but it is true.  They do and hour lesson M-F and then on the Friday they do a "swim show" the last 30 min of their lesson for family to show what they have been doing all week and it is amazing what they can accomplish!  They have their "swim show" tomorrow so I will post some pics tomorrow of their swimming lessons.

Rollercoaster!

Well the last three days have been a major roller coaster ride with Madison.  She had not been feeling well all week and started running a low grade temp on Monday so I gave her some Tylenol and of course it went away until it was due again.  By Wednesday she was running a 102 - 103 temp so I took her to our Kroger "Little Clinic" we have always had pretty good luck with them and it is always super fast.  Well they tested her for strep and looked at her ears and throat and strep was negative and she just told us to give her tylenol/motrin and alternate them.  We did and felt some better and the next day she was ok till around 5 and it shot back up to 102.6  So then I took her to our Family Health Group walk-in clinic since it was after 5 and they checked her again and said they thought she had a UTI.    So we got an antibiotic and I felt some better thinking we had figured out what was causing the temp.  Well she did fine the rest of the night and the next morning it shot back up again and so I called the Doctor on call to have them call me at home and try to figure out what to do next...  She recommended that we head to the ER in Williamson Medical Center and let them do blood work and CT scan.  We headed to the ER and they put an IV in her and took blood and urine sample and did a CT scan and everything came back fine, they were thinking it could be her appendix.  So they said it has to be a virus...  so we are still fighting her temp.  but hopefully in the next couple of days it will all go away!  She is actually feeling fine this morning so maybe between the antibiotic and Tylenol/Motrin she is getting better!  Everyone say a prayer for Madison that she will be better soon!

Green Tomatoes!

Well our garden is doing well!  I have already ate peppers, onions and squash out of the garden.  The last two years we have had some problems with black birds pecking the bottom of the tomatoes after they are ripe.  I researched ways to prevent this and one of the things it talked about was having a motion scarecrow.  So I looked that up on the Internet and it is actually a sprinkler that sprays water when it senses motion.  It has worked wonderful!  I picked 12 cups worth of Green Tomatoes to make Pickled Green Tomatoes.  Grant was complaining a little about the vinegar odor but he did help me out when I started canning. 

Cooking the tomatoes, onions, peppers and vinegar and sugar!

Getting the jars and rings and lids ready to can.

Grant helping me put the pickled tomatoes in the jars.

 He was happy to help me.

These are all the jars we canned!

Basketball Camp

Grant is really enjoying camp now.  He has two days left for camp and can't wait to go the next two days.  Here are some pictures from today.

They were practicing all the correct techniques

that the coach had taught them so far.

My Little Helpers!

This week Grant has been going to Basketball Camp at CA.  He decided he wanted to go to camp and hang out and play with some of his friends.  I think he gets tired of hanging out with mom and sister all summer so he enjoys the "boy" time.
When I picked up Grant from camp yesterday, he had a good time but said it felt more like boot camp instead of basketball camp..  He was worn out when I picked him up so we went to a friends house and had some down time in their pool.  Today when I picked him up he said it was better today, but I noticed his shirt was soaked along with his hair!  He played so hard he was drenched with sweat!  I need to sweat like that! :o)  I will have some pictures from his basketball camp tomorrow.  I forgot my camera!
Since the weather is rainy today we hung out at home after his camp and rested!  Grant and Madison decided they wanted to help me with laundry and they were a tremendous help with folding clothes for me!  They really do an awesome job!  They have been making their bed daily and they really do a fabulous job with that too!  Madison loves to put the dishes away from the dishwasher, she actually puts everything away in the proper place!  She told me later she climbed up on the counter to put stuff inside cabinet that she couldn't reach.....  we had a little discussion about that!  They are both growing up too fast!!

 Grant folding my towels!

Madison working on the wash clothes!

Sundae's on Sunday!

Grant and Madison wanted their granny to make them a yummy Sundae! 

So of course whatever they want!  Here are some pictures of their Sundae!

 Thanks Granny it is Yummy!

 Grant just wants to eat!

They will be all sugared up for the rest of the day!!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day Eric!  

We think your the best Dad ever!

 We love you Daddy!

Happy Father's Day Granddaddy!

We love you too!

Now Granddaddy can grill us some good food!

Party Time

This morning Madison and I went to a friend of ours named "Selah's" 3rd birthday party.  She is younger than Madison, but she loves Madison and Madison adores her too.  That is one of our sweet church friends we love to hang out with.  Selah had a little tea/cottage party, it was absolutely beautiful!  The girls all had to bring their baby and they had a huge play area to play with their babies!  Here are some pictures from our outing!

Madison and Selah

The little girls that attended the party with their babies.

Here is where the girls sat to eat their cake and fruit and drink their punch.

Me and Madison posing a picture!  

The table behind us was set up for the

baby dolls to sit at while the girls ate.

 The bow in her hair Selah's mom "Sorrel" made 

for all the girls along with the apron 

she is wearing and she also made 

an apron for their baby dolls too!

Each girl had their own two layer cake and

Selah had a 3 layer cake for her birthday!

They all had name tags it was so beautiful!

Sodium

Today the weather outside was a little overcast so we decided to meet some friends at an indoor play area in Franklin.  We meet at a place called "Sodium"  www.sodiuminc.com is the website. 

Sodium facilities are designed to be a coffee house for your family, allowing you to connect with family and friends of all ages in unique ways around art, math, science, and play. Sodium's Franklin Venue includes elaborate villages for Pre-K and young elementary, and for the older elementary there are gigantic tree forts, a rock-wall, ping ping tables, air hockey, Foosball, and lego dens.
The highlight of Sodium's family activities are the art and music studios where children and parents explore art and science projects together while enjoying mocha's, espressos, and cappuccinos as part of their gourmet coffee selections – encouraging the family to connect, refuel, and thrive!

 We had to take a group picture before we left.  

Here a picture of the fort inside for the children to play and climb in.

This is the inside Rock Wall!

This the play area for the smaller children.

 

We had a great time and decided to buy a month
membership for the family.  The children
loved it and it is a fun place for everyone 

to hang out and have a great time!

African Drummers and Dancers

We decided this morning to head to our local public library in Spring Hill and check out some books etc.  I remembered from past times that they usually have Story Time at 10:00.  When we arrived at the Library I noticed there were lots of cars and lots of people just getting there.  When we went inside we went to the "Story Time" room and it was packed full of parents, grandparents, kids etc...  I saw numerous people from our church family and some close friends also.  When we sat down I noticed they had some drums up in front of the room so I knew it was going to be fun!  Grant was pumped because he LOVES any kind of musical instruments.  They were African Drummers and Dancers.  They were awesome and Grant and Madison LOVED it.  The name of the group is "Global Education Center" their website is www.globaleducationcenter.net

 They had three drummers there and most had been playing since very young!

 This guy with Grant had been playing the African Drums since he was 6!

They were all so friendly and nice and the kids really liked it!

 This is a picture with Tyra the Dance Instructor. 

She was very entertaining and awesome! 

She let the children participate and dance with her!

After we watched them perform and listened to the drummers.  

We went into the children area and let the kids look and check 

out books/movies.  I had to go and find me a good book too!

 Madison with a book she was "thinking" about getting.

She wasn't sure which ones she wanted and which ones we 

didn't already have at home!  Being a teacher I have tons of books!

 Grant was reading the title to Madison 

to see if she wanted this book.

The area has lots of things besides books 

for the children to look at and play with!

I took a few pics and then sat on the couch  

and let the children put on a puppet show for us.  

They had a great time and got some 

books and movies for home.

 Before we left the library Grant and Madison had to 

get their picture made again!  There was a little boy there 

and he wanted his picture made with them.  

Madison said she had to be the girl in the middle!

Garage Addition

 A few months ago we decided we needed a garage added on to the house. The picture below is of the garage addition.  We added a two car garage, but it has turned out to be a one car garage because the kids have taken over with their go-karts, bikes, scooter and 4-wheeler.

Pool Time!

This is Grant and Madison playing in our pool.  It is not very big but the kids love it and it is great for cooling off.  They played in the pool while Eric and I worked in our garden.

This is our garden that Eric and I are trying to work and pray it makes it through all this crazy heat with no rain.  We have been watering a little bit, not too much.  We have already been eating lettuce out of the garden it was yummy!  Our neighbor gave us some green onions and cabbage.  We have both planted just not ready to eat yet!  We have tomato plants, corn,okra, onions, peppers, cabbage, lettuce, squash, cucumbers, potatoes and green beans.  I hope it all lives so we will have some yummy vegetables.  We are still beginners at this, but I am determined to keep all the weeds out!  I have sweated buckets I know!

Holiday World

This was the kids on the way to Holiday World Friday morning around 6:00.  They were so excited they didn't sleep very long Thursday night.  They was trying to find reasons to come to our room and ask questions about our trip so they could keep getting out of bed! 

We made a few stops along the way but all in all it took us about 3 1/2 hours from our house to Holiday World.  This is our favorite quick family getaway!  This is our 4th year to go and we can't wait to go back again real soon!  The park opened at 9:30 and that is when we got there and parked and headed into the park.

This is the first picture we took in the park, we usually do this one last but 

wasn't a line and is our new tradition because when we were leaving there were 

people all lined up trying to take a picture as they walked out of the park.

Grant and Madison had to drive the Lewis & Clark Trail Antique 

Cars first!  There was no line so we took advantage of it and got the 

car riding out of the way!  They both enjoyed driving the cars!  

Eric and I both enjoyed being driven around also!

Madison and Eric on the Star Spangled Carousel!  This is Madison and 

Eric's favorite ride!  They were having too much fun!

Madison riding the canoe's while Grant and I were having fun 

on the bigger rides that Madison couldn't and wouldn't ride.  

Grant and I went and rode the Revolution, which is 

Grant's favorite ride we ended up riding it twice.

This is the Turkey whirl we all rode it and I think Grant 

and Madison rode it around 3 or 4 times!  Every time we 

got off my head was spinning and I was walking funny! 

After I got off the Turkey Twirl, Eric and the kids went to eat at

Plymouth Rock and had Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes, mac & Cheese etc.

While I rode the "Voyage" roller coaster.  It is the #1 Rated Roller Coaster on the Planet!

Back behind the picture shows part of the coaster tracks!  That's the one I rode!  

It was awesome!  I ride it each year!  The picture above the one underneath is the 

"Pilgrim's Plunge" I rode it 3 times in a row, the lines were 

not crowded at all!  It is Huge Water Coaster!  It was great too!

We had to try the "Fried Oreos" they were awesome!  

The funnel cake was great too!  Eric was enjoying it as you can see!