The Blankinship Family

Fun with Reed and Cass

2010-11-04T21:44:00.004-04:00

Alas, the whole of October passed without a picture or a word posted to the blog. So, I feel compelled to prove that we have actually been enjoying all that Florida has to offer. Take, for example, this lovely first photo from Oscar Scherer State Park.

Yes, we went swimming.

Hot (a very key word) on the trail of the elusive Florida Scrub Jay.

We did, in fact, get a great look at one. Very pretty bird.

Camping a Fort Desoto. Very fun.

Fishing with Pa David. They are holding a bonnethead shark.

My little flower and her Star Wars crazed brother dressed as Boba Fett.

What, you don't know who Boba Fett is...well, just ask Reed. But be ready for a

LONG conversation - Star Wars is his life.

There you have it, folks. Five pictures to sum up about 8 weeks of our lives! And to think, I am frequently accused of being too wordy!

Party Girl!

2010-09-22T10:24:00.004-04:00

Cassidy has successfully celebrated the Big #6! She enjoyed her family party on her "real" birthday and her big party last Saturday. She picked a butterfly theme this year and we had a good time getting everything ready.

Cassidy and her Mommy-made butterfly cake.
Blowing out her candles.

Opening presents with her friends.

Popsicles in the pool.

The poor, smiling butterfly pinata is about to meet a bitter end.

Family presents!

More family presents.

We do love our little Cass and we are SO glad God gave her to us!

The Agony and the Ecstasy

2010-08-23T11:16:00.003-04:00

"Who is agonizing over school?", you ask. One word - Reed. But he has enough wisdom in his 8 years to know that you still have to smile for the first day of school picture!

And the ecstatic...why Miss Cassidy! She has been counting down the days until kindergarten started. I am praying that her expectations are going to be met!

Ready to face the rainy drive to school on the first day of school.
Even though we can't wear pink clothes to school, we have managed
to accessorize with her favorite color! There are no rules against pink
headbands, shoes or backpacks!

Cutie Cass with her teachers. Notice how they are smiling...maybe
I should take a picture at 2:55PM today!

My beautiful kindergartner! I am so proud of her!

Happy Birthday Reed!

2010-06-17T09:55:00.003-04:00

Reed turns the BIG 8 years old today! What a great kid! Of course, I am a totally biased source! Here are some photos of Reed from the past few months for your viewing pleasure!

Playing ball (March)
His South Texas Trout (April)
In the bluebonnets (March)

Off Egmont Key (May)

Yum!

2010-05-22T16:02:00.003-04:00

I grew bell peppers and jalapenos in my earthbox this spring for

just such a day as this! I'm making jalapeno jelly!

The fruits of my "labor!"
I actually had to pick the bell peppers last week and we've been eating them.
There were 15 bell peppers and are more still growing.

Ready! Set! Puree!

Double double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble!

Bring on the ham!

Our sweet Cass!

2010-05-14T19:45:00.003-04:00

Here are few pictures from the last few weeks of sweetie Cassidy. May is proving to be VERY busy, but fun. Cassidy enjoys soccer and we enjoy cheering for her. See her cutie smile? In her soccer gear.

We went out with Paul, Lori and Andrew on Paul's new boat. And what a boat it is! Of course, everyone with iron stomachs enjoyed it much more than I. But Paul was nice enough to drop me off on the island and my life was MUCH better.

What beautiful sand and water...oh, and a beautiful little girl!

See her cutie smile?

SEE HER CUTIE SMILE?!?

Cassidy lost her 3rd tooth last night! And this one was a doozy! I am still getting used to her new smile! I'm calling her my gappy girl! What a cutie!

The view from our kitchen table

2010-04-22T13:52:00.005-04:00

The American Alligator - not so rare or endangered in Florida!

The picture isn't very good (You can click on it to enlarge it some). There ARE, though, some good reasons for that:

1. We don't have a camera with any kind of zoom. (I think this may instantly label us as "bad" parents because I've noticed that all the "good" parents have really fabulous cameras and editing software. I'm guessing Reed and Cass will survive.)

2. I refuse to creep any closer or go to the other side of the pond...It is an alligator after all.

I do, though, enjoy seeing him each morning as he suns himself (It could be a female...I'm using the universal him.) and then he spends the rest of the day in the water at the edge of the pond.

No, the kids don't play in the backyard much - mostly because there is NO shade back there so they prefer the front yard.

He really isn't very big in terms of an alligator - maybe 5 feet. That never really makes my mom feel any better.

Spring Break - Harlingen

2010-04-15T13:07:00.006-04:00

After we spent a great weekend in San Antonio, we headed south to my parent's house in Harlingen. We were celebrating my Dad's retirement and ending the week with Easter. Needless-to-say, we had a wonderful visit!!!

The happiest kid in the world.
The happiest kid in the world and his very happy Dad!

Laura, Cassidy and Vivian on the pipe.

(My siblings, friends and I spent MANY happy hours playing on this very

pipe!)

Reed and Colten in the pipe, Hallie and Vivian on the pipe and Cass
observing the pipe.

Dad's Retirement Brunch in Mom's backyard gardens.

The ceremonial "cutting of the tie" to symbolize the end of Dad's

supervisor years.

Dad

Ready to hunt eggs.

Please note that we slowed down the 3 oldest kids by giving them little tiny baskets they had to fill, run back, dump into their big baskets and then run back for more eggs.

Happy kids in their jammies

Happy kids all ready for church!

Spring Break - San Antonio

2010-04-13T15:52:00.005-04:00

We had quite a whirlwind Spring Break and we LOVED every minute of it! We had a great time visiting with our WHOLE family over the week and a half we were in Texas. The hardest part was getting home and jumping immediately back into "real" life!

Aunt Becky with the kids on the grounds of the Alamo.

In case you can't tell, Reed is brandishing a knife...surprising, I know!

The beautiful Texas bluebonnets!

Cassidy and Uncle Mark at Casa Rio on the Riverwalk.

Oh yes, we did! Team Blankinship taking a family

picture in front of the Alamo.

A nice,but windy, Blankinship family picture.

As you can see, the newest Blankinship had not quite made her appearance yet.

She waited until Aunt Arwen returned to Florida. We are

already counting the months until we can see little Marin face to face!

Our next stop...aka - the next post - Harlingen!

I've got a bone to pick...

2010-03-19T13:55:00.003-04:00

...with the Gu*ness Book of W*orld Rec*rds. Why, you ask? Well, let me relate a conversation Reed and I had a few days ago.

The Scene: Reed just arrived home from school and is rapidly shedding all accouterments of civilized life (shoes, socks, shirt, etc...).

Reed: Mom, how can a man have a baby in his stomach?

Me: He can't Reed. Only women can have babies.

Reed: Uh-uh Mom, I saw a picture today in the GBofWR and it was a man and he was pregnant!

Me: (in my head) Well, great.
(Out loud): Well Reed, that wasn't really a man. On the inside it was still a woman or she
couldn't have a baby in there.

Reed: Why only women?

Me: Because only women have a special part inside called a uterus and that is where the baby
grows. (in my head) Please let this be enough.

Reed: But Mom, he looked like a man with a beard and all. How could a woman look like a man?

Me: Well, she wanted to look like a man so she had special shots and stuff to help her grow hair.

Reed: What kind of shots?

Me: (in my head) For goodness sakes...can't we just let this go?
(Out loud) It is called testosterone and it can make hair grow and muscles get bigger.

Reed: Mom,...

Me: (interrupting)Reed, let's just move on. What did you eat for lunch today at school?

So, there you have it. Some things don't need to be world records!

And here are some completely unrelated photos from the last couple of weeks:

Astronaut Cassidy at her school's Space Day
At the ball field

Coach Randy and Reed.

I'm #1!

2010-02-04T19:07:00.002-05:00

As Reed and I were sitting at the table doing his homework this afternoon, I was joking around with him about how much I love him....a little, as a friend, not at all, etc...

I always end this exchange with telling him that, "of all the little boys in the world, you are my favorite and I love you the most because God gave you to me!"

So we keep working, and after a few minutes he says, "Mom, of all the girls in the world, you are my #1 favorite. And my #2 is....(are you ready for this)...

...Harriet Tubman!

I laughed and laughed, but hey, I am keeping GREAT company!

And yes, February is Black History Month.

Thawed!

2010-01-17T20:26:00.004-05:00

Team Blankinship was very happy to spend a nice day outdoors yesterday after the last few weeks of freezing weather! We explored Alafia River State Park about 45 minutes from our house. We hiked a few miles and the kids kept the whining to minimum. Well, at least they quit arguing about who was the "leader" when I finally woke up and started timing their turns with my watch. The kids shimmied up the hill and then slid down on their bums. Yes, their Dad agreed to the plan. No, he doesn't do the laundry.

I love to see all the palm trees and old growth forest. Oh...and I love to see these two cuties in the forest, too.

Cassidy took our picture. She did a good job. She really enjoys taking pictures and does a surprisingly good job with centering and all.

Can you believe this?!? Same song...second verse. Reed's other front tooth came out last night! He has quite a HUGE gap in his smile. The tooth fairy is going broke. Yes, Reed is wearing the same jammies as last week...the pictures look practically identical. Well, with the exception of teeth. And yes, I washed those jammies during the week.

A New Year...A New Smile!

2010-01-10T20:48:00.002-05:00

Friday fun!

2009-10-24T16:50:00.004-04:00

We took the kids to the downtown Palmetto Halloween festival last night. They got to dress up in costumes, play games, trick or treat, get their faces painted and...IT WAS FREE! Now that speaks to me!

I've actually been somewhat annoyed with all the "Fall Festivals" going on around the area. There is a big one nearby that so many people go on and on about. We went 2 years ago and it was okay. My biggest problem is that you have to pay to park, pay to get in, pay to ride any ride or play any game, pay to eat, pay to bounce in the bounce houses, pay to get lost in the corn maze, pay to pet the animals...pay, pay, pay. So, by the time we left, with children crying because they didn't get to do all of the fun and exciting things they wanted to, we had spent $75.00! And, we live in Florida, so it was 85 degrees and humid. So there.

But we had fun last night. The kids had their baseball and soccer games this morning. Randy cleaned mold out from behind the dishwasher (long, sad, Arwen has dishpan hands story), I weeded the front bed (can you hear my neighbors rejoicing?) and now I have to go fix supper. All in all, a good Saturday.

Here they are in front of the pirate ship. Yes, it was Reed's favorite attraction. No, that is not a storm trooper Bobble head...its Reed.
Cassidy getting her face painted.

My cutie lil' pumpkin!

Reed getting his face painted. What should he have painted?

A blue light saber, of course. We're in the Star Wars phase. Reed cried last night

after his bath because he forgot that he wasn't going to wash his head (ha...little did he know) and he laid down in the bathtub. By the time he remembered his plan to save his light saber, it was too late. Poor little guy. But it did save me from having to force him into good hygiene.

Unlocking the treasure chest. What was the treasure, you ask? Why, it was plastic fingers with long pointy nails that you stick over your own fingers! Treasure is in the eye of the beholder!

Wow! We can really BIRTHDAY!

2009-10-04T20:53:00.005-04:00

My little Cassidy is now 5 YEARS OLD!!!! She had a great birthday that seemed to go on and on and on! We had her party a few days after her "actual" birthday, so she really was able to celebrate MANY times. In fact, at final count, she had 3 birthday "cakes": cupcakes at school with her class, a cake a Chik-fil-A on her birthday with the fam, and cupcakes at her party.

Here she is the morning of her birthday with her new, big-girl bike from Dad and Mom. She was able to take it for a quick spin in her jammies before getting ready for school.

We had a family party on Wednesday afternoon where she could open ALL of the fabulous gifts her grandparents and aunts and uncles sent!

Hog heaven!

Playing with some of her loot.

Cassidy chose dinner at Chik-fil-A (big shocker) for her birthday dinner and requested a...

PINK (shocking...I know) cake. Of course, Mommy complied! Strawberry cake with cream cheese icing is actually quite yummy!

Cassidy at her birthday party. We loved having Grandma Jane here to celebrate with us!

Cassidy was SO excited to wear a crown and sit on a "throne" to open her presents.

All I can say is...well, there is really nothing to say about this.

Blowing out candles!

I was finally able to get her to slow down to get one picture in the actual bounce house area!

Randy and Reed sliding down the big slide.

Fun was had by all. Cassidy felt very special. She is extremely happy to be 5. All in all, a success.

Busy days

2009-09-15T14:30:00.004-04:00

Here are some pictures from the past few weeks. Life has been the usual hectic "start-of-school"
pace, thus the blog has suffered. Or maybe it is me that is suffering. Or maybe it is the floors that are suffering. Well, at any rate, here are some pictures of 2 kids who are NOT suffering (unless you count having to practice addition facts as suffering...and you might have point.)

Reed's first day of 2nd grade at Rowlett. Can you see my "fake it 'til
you make it" staging of this picture!Cassidy's first day of 4 year old preschool!
She LOVES everything about school!

Grandma Jane is here and we are loving it - especially Miss Cassidy who has found

a willing audience for her ENDLESS chatter! I'm loving it too! Grandma is such a positive person and a HUGE help to me!

Here is Miss Cassidy at her first soccer practice.

She was one big ball of energy! I loved seeing her run

and run and run and run! Click on the picture to see

her look of concentration as Coach was teaching them toe taps.

And here is red and sweaty Cassidy at the end of practice!

She loved it and I loved a channel for some of her energy!

Why Daddy gets the "Rock Star Love"!

2009-08-18T09:12:00.003-04:00

I love my husband. He is the greatest guy I know. He goes to work every day and then comes home and is 100% involved with the family. A really fabulous husband and father.

With that said, I am occasionally slightly jealous of, what I have termed as, the "rock star love" our 2 kids have for their dad. You know what I mean...rock star love - sheer devotion and excitement induced just by walking in a room. But as I was looking at the newest pictures to post on the blog, I saw the hard evidence and solid proof of WHY they adore their dad. And boy, am I glad to have him! Thank you, God for Randy!

I mean, really, who else wants to launch the canoe in the tiny pond behind our house? And then spend the next 45 minutes just paddling in a circle.

What was I doing while they had this "awesome adventure"? I was doing the dishes...in a wonderfully QUIET house. And, for the record, Reed has asked EVERY night since this if they can launch the canoe again. Rock star love.

Let us not forget all of the cool things we would NOT have in the garage without Daddy. I certainly have never even owned one pair of waders...much less 2. Yep, rock star love.

2 tickets. Front row, box office seats. Spur of the moment opportunity to see the Rays. Well, of course Daddy can go! (Now, to be honest, I TOTALLY would have gone too, but we only had 2 tickets given to us.) Reed even got a ball from the game. Rock star love.

Cassidy and I watched parts of the game from home while folding clothes and playing beauty shop. Daddy doesn't play beauty shop. It may be one of his only short comings. Of course, I have no doubt, that Cassidy could convince Randy to play beauty shop if I wasn't around to run interference for him.

Let us not forget one of the joys of going to Tropicana Field. Cotton candy. And, if you were wondering, Randy would not leave the game until he had searched out the last remaining vendor of cotton candy and bought a pink one to bring home to Cassidy. Well deserved rock star love.

So there you have it folks. Without Randy, we would have a semi-clean house, clean clothes, really nice "beauty shop" hair and nails and a decided lack of adventure and fun in the Blankinship home. But we have Randy, and boy, are we, ALL 3 of us, REALLY glad to Randy. Rock star love!

It really was HER idea!

2009-08-11T19:58:00.005-04:00

Cassidy has been asking me for months if she could get her ears pierced. My answer has always been "Yes, when do you want to do it?" (I wanted to pierce her ears when she was a baby, but I kept chickening out.) Then she would hedge a bit and say, "Maybe when I'm 5 or 7." The matter would then drop for a few weeks. Well, recently she changed her answer to, "How about we go pierce my ears today." I stalled her until after our camping trip (thanks, but no thanks to newly pierced ears and bacteria laden, infection inducing lake water!) We also convinced her to wait until her Aunt Becky came.

Aunt Becky arrived on Monday and here we are on Tuesday at Claire's to get our ears pierced. I had explained previously to Cassidy what was going to happen. I was hoping they would be able to do both ears at the same time, but alas, there was only one gal working that day. So the big moment came for ear #1 and, I have to say, I WAS NERVOUS! I was feeling jittery and pacing a bit. But maybe it was worse for the little girl in the hot seat!

It was a little dicey after ear #1 was completed. I was worried we were going to be heading out of there with only one ear done. But I grabbed the Cass in a sweet, loving but quite firm hug and the store clerk was FAST (I'm guessing she is used to this). And before we knew it (well, Cass probably knew it), it was done!

She may have thought, right when this picture was snapped, that she made a mistake. But her tears didn't last long! In fact, she perked up right up and then convinced me she needed a bracelet to match her new earrings!

Here she is! My big girl with pretty sparkly PINK flowers in her ears. You can click on the picture to get the full effect! Oh, and if you are wondering which bracelet she chose, she picked the multi-colored flower bracelet to the right of her. Each flower has a faux diamond as its center! Can't go wrong there!

Cassidy is happy with her newly pierced ears and Randy and I think she looks wonderfully cutie!

Whittington Family Camp in Tennessee

2009-08-09T15:17:00.004-04:00

Boy, where does the time go? Here it is August 9 and I am FINALLY surfacing enough to post a few (and I use that term loosely) pictures from our fantastically fabulous and fun family foray into the wilds of Tennessee in July! We had a great time and LOVED being with our family. In fact, we had one little boy who was VERY, VERY sad to leave because he is old enough now to realize just how long it is between visits. But work and VBS won't wait, so we came home. And now that VBS is over (Thanks Becky!), I've got a little time to post.

Our family photo
Pa Gary and Gram Ava with all the grandchildren.

More Whittingtons...

including my Uncle Mike, Aunt Debbie and Shane, Stacey and

their cutie girls!

This is what happens when you let Becky and Reed go off by themselves

with the camera.

Yep...2 peas in a pod.

Surprise...Reed fishing!

And yes, he ran as fast as he could to show us and then

as fast as he could back to the lake to throw the little guy

back in.
Reed and Marla in the hammock.

Bad Unc and his "rough and tumble" nephew

I think this is a more accurate picture of Aaron, father of 3

little girlies!

Painting nails

Double trouble, but super cute!

At the Grand Ol' Opry.

We had a great time!

Randy and Dad in front of my "castle"!

Reed and Hallie playing cards - a true Whittington

camping tradition!

Another true Whittington camping tradition...if you want to

eat then you get a turn doing KP!

Pa Gary and Uncle Aaron taking the big kids out fishing.

Our rig!

We ate well, played hard and the pop up camper didn't leak in the rain storms! What more could you ask for?! If you said AC...well, we had that too! Whoo-hoo!

Texas Trek Trilogy: Reed's Birthday Party

2009-07-08T08:07:00.007-04:00

Reed turned SEVEN years old on Wednesday, June 17. When I realized his birthday and our Texas trip coincided, I was excited to plan something fun for all the "gang" to do. I spent some time researching possibilities and decided on Fun Trackers in Corpus Christi.

Well, we ALL had a good time. And by all...I mean EVERYONE from the little guys all the way up to the big guys. I guess you can't go wrong with racing go karts and driving bumper boats.

To really enjoy some of these pictures, you have to click on the picture and it will enlarge. You won't be sorry...the facial expressions in some are hilarious!

The birthday boy on his first go kart ride.

Notice how his leg is fully extended. He was just barely tall enough for these.

Uncle Mark,on the other hand, had no problem reaching the pedals though.

Here is Andy who, we discovered, missed his calling as a "full-contact"

race car driver. And he also, by the way, doesn't follow silly rules like:

"No bumping into other cars."
Gram Ava with Reed, Cassidy and Laura.

Cassidy and I racing around the track. Notice, Cassidy isn't as cut-throat

as Andy or her daddy. She had to wave at the other cars and the by-standers.

Mom and Laura getting passed by Randy the Ruthless and his sidekick Reed.

To really enjoy Mom's expression, you need to click on the photo.

Getting strapped in. Note: Uncle Mark is strapping in the car beside us and

Mom and Laura are in the car behind us.

Reed and Daddy

Reed in his bumper boat. I am quite thankful for the rule about not spraying the onlookers with the water blaster. The next few pictures will illustrate why!

Click on this photo!

What a great sport Katie was...soaking wet, but a great sport!

Again, to really enjoy these, you need to click on them to enlarge.

Take that, Uncle Aaron!

Reed spending a moment with Marla.

The kids, minus the 2 babies, at the party. Reed is

sporting his new Storm Trooper helmet. And yes, we

somehow managed to get that thing home on the plane.

I did not let Reed wear it home even though he wanted to because Roger

told him is was a "chick magnet." Thanks, Rog.
Reed and Grandma Jane
Eating cupcakes
"Happy Birthday, dear Reed. Happy Birthday to you!"
Two of our cutie cousins, Hallie and Vivian

So, as you can see, we enjoyed ourselves at Reed's birthday party! What great memories!

Team Blankinship is leaving on our next big adventure in the next few days, so the blog won't be updated again until we return and I re-surface from the mountain of laundry and unpacking I'm sure to have.

Texas Trek Trilogy : Playing in Portland!

2009-07-05T21:57:00.007-04:00

Well, I was lovingly informed by my Dad that I needed to update the blog. He must have been feeling overlooked! Never fear, Pop...I'd never leave you or Mom out!

After spending a few days in San Antonio, we drove down to Portland to Roger and Beth's house. Needless to say, we had a BLAST with ALL of the family and friends! A few statistics:

1 Great Grandma
2 Sets of Grandparents
3 Four year olds
4 sets of parents
5 School age kiddos
6 Little girlies
7 The age Reed turned while we were there
8 The oldest age of any of the kids
9 People sleeping in Roger and Beth's house all week (Thanks, guys!)
10 Kids in all!

Obviously, with all the fun we had it was rather difficult to narrow down which pictures to post. So I didn't really try to. So buckle up and get ready...its a long post. And remember - you can click on any picture to enlarge it if that tickles your fancy!

The grandparents with some of the kiddos.

Here we are with my folks before heading back to San Antonio.

The Mommas

The Men...they look so happy because they had just finished

eating stone crab, shrimp and ling.

Eight little monkeys climbing in a tree! Thankfully,

none fell out and hit their heads. Yes, there are 8...Colten

is hidden behind Hallie some. By the by, this picture was not staged.

All the kids were already climbing all over everything. We just asked

them to look at us and smile.

Reed eating stone crabs...he LOVES stone crab!

Look at all those kiddos chowing down!

Reed and I are cracking up at Miss Marla's cutie "camera face."

Seriously, she sees the light on the camera come on and this is the

face she makes! What a DOLL!

Grandma Jane decided to wear Reed's Aggie cap.

Grandma Jane and Jo Ellen hanging out with some of the girlies.

Gram Ava and Mar-Mar

The "big" kids went fishing with the men one day. Yes, that means there

were 9 people fishing in Roger's boat. Here they are with some of the catch.

Cassidy and Laura were "helping" Beth make something yummy.

Happy Birthday to Uncle Aaron.

Reed and Colten: 2 peas in a pod.

These 2 boys were very glad to see each other. And poor Reed was

so sad on Friday when we had to leave.

We enjoyed our trip so much! Randy and I are amazed that so many people love us enough to clear their schedules, open their homes, cook us food, drive miles in their cars... JUST to spend time with us! We are truly blessed with a GREAT family and with friends who are "closer than a brother (or sister)" !

The last post in the Texas Trek Trilogy will be Reed's Birthday Party. Stay tuned!

Texas Trek Trilogy: San Antonio

2009-06-25T10:42:00.009-04:00

All of Team Blankinship!
What can I say?

This may be gross to some, but Uncle Mark deserves some accolades!
He killed BOTH hogs WITH ONE SHOT! Yep, his new pirate name is Dead-Eye.
And, in case you were wondering, we had hog steaks for supper the next night and they were
YUMMY!
Randy and Mark took the kiddos out to a ranch for hog hunting and a pond where they could fish for bass.
Check out Cassidy's big ol' bass that she and Uncle Mark caught!

Oh, and also admire her pink, sparkly movie star sunglasses. I know.

Grandma Jane and little Cullen.
One of my FAVORITE pictures for obvious reasons.

So, you can tell from these photos which adults were

sent outside to play with the kids. And notice who used

their superior size and strength to commandeer the water hoses! Hmmm.

Here is Aunt Becky using Cassidy as a human shield.
Where's the love?

Oh wait! Aunt Becky indiscriminately used children as human shields.

What does that say about Aunt Becky? For that matter, notice that Randy

just kept right on spraying. And no, the Stringers have NOT adopted the European custom of Speedos...its just Seth in his Spider-Man undies!

I've been going through the pictures of our trip to Texas and I don't know HOW I'm going to be able to choose which ones to post! And since its my blog...who says I have to choose!

We had a GREAT time!

So, in the words of Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music, I'll "start at the very beginning. It's a very good place to start!" Yes, Becky, you can sing it!

We started our trip in San Antonio. The first weekend we were there we saw ALL of Randy's family. So Team Blankinship was all together and that was FUN. Adding to the fun was, of course, my sister Becky. Look up fun in the dictionary and guess whose picture you'll see...yep, its Becky. We also got to see the Stringer family(and since they didn't have swimming suits...we saw A LOT of Seth and Blake :) ) and, most importantly, the newest little Stringer.

Thank you Uncle Mark and Aunt Tamra for the great accommodations, FABULOUS food and for planning/hosting all sorts of fun and excitement!

What happens when Alaska meets Florida? SUNNY FUN!

2009-06-24T10:48:00.009-04:00

The Johnson Family at Emerson Point.
The kids...and a mangrove crab.

No...no one fell (or was pushed) in...

much to the delight and surprise of the adults.

Elizabeth is showing one of her many lizard conquests.

That girl is one mighty hunter...its genetic I think.

Just your usual group photo. Well, don't your photos

have one person trying to cut off their own head and another with a lizard?

Of course Randy, Paul and Jay went fishing off shore...this is Randy, Paul and Jay

we're talking about here.

We are having quite the action-packed summer so far! Loads of family, friends and fun! We just returned from almost 2 weeks in Texas visiting so many of the people we LOVE (posts and pictures to follow)! In fact, we saw so many people and had so much fun, I'll have to split it up into multiple posts!

But this post isn't about our trip to Texas. Nope, its about my dear friend Julie and her fabulous family! The Johnson clan came to our casa at the end of May and boy, did we have a BLAST! They were game to try out all of our favorite places...and even one of our favorite restaurants - Thai Wasabi. Did you know there are children (besides Reed) that list sushi as their favorite food. Well, there are and their names are Elizabeth and Miles. Those 3 kids ate a LOT of sushi that night. Cassidy and I may have stuck to sweet and sour chicken and steamed rice...or not, I'll never tell.

We had such a great time being together. The kids played from sun-up to sun-down everyday: the pool, the water slide, lizard catching, caterpillar watching, Mote aquarium, the beach, Emerson point, Build-a-bear, etc. The Johnsons even managed to pack in an all day trip to Sea World! Needless to say, fun was had by all.

I always love being with Julie! We have the kind of friendship that spans years in the blink of an eye and picks up right where you left it. A friendship marked by laughter and an "easiness" that you don't take for granted. And the fact that Randy and Jay have similar interests, get along and just shrug when we're laughing at something only we understand is just chocolate sauce on the sundae of our friendship!

We love you, Johnsons...come back soon!

End o' the Year Festivities

2009-06-08T16:20:00.004-04:00

Oh so happy...
and yet, slightly confused with the hand motions to the songs.
(he gets that from his dad...not me...never me)

Happy Cass

The kiddos.

Boy, we were certainly happy the school year came to an end! The time was especially enjoyable because we had our good friends, the Johnson Family, visiting from Alaska. I'm going to blame them for the delay in posting these pictures.

Reed was with his class and teacher for two years as they "loop" at his school. So, it was definitely bittersweet to be saying good-bye. Well, it was for me...Reed was all smiles. He was actually laughing at me when I got a little teary during the video slide show thing his teacher put together. He hasn't stopped grinning that he is on summer vacation. I'm thinking it might be a long 11 years until he graduates...hmmmm.

Cassidy hammed it up at her preschool program. Well duh. She may or may not have been one of the only children clapping her heart out during the chorus of, "I've Got the Joy, Joy, Joy." And we may or may not have it on video. And, potentially, she is directly responsible for leading the nice little boy next to her down the wrong path. The path that had him doing a John Travolta finger point for each "I'm so happy, so very happy" in the chorus. The good news is she still has another year at the same preschool! I know the staff is REALLY pleased.

Welcome Summer Vacation!

2009-06-05T12:05:00.005-04:00

Whacha' eating there, Reed?

Nothing says healthy like a Grape Cream Slushie for breakfast!

School's out and it is our FIRST official day of summer vacation. So...I didn't even bat an eye when I found my kids eating left-over Sonic ice cream shakes for breakfast instead of the oh-so-healthy bowls of Frosted Flakes I fixed for them!

I've got TONS of things to post about. So, I'll be playing catch up over the next few days!

Rays Game!

2009-05-21T11:24:00.009-04:00

Reed took this picture...he did good!
Pretty Cass in her huge Rays shirt!

Ahhh...cotton candy at the ball park!

My happy son.

Cassidy thoroughly enjoys her cotton candy!

And when I say thoroughly, I mean....

THOROUGHLY!

Reed(in the yellow hat) and Cass heading out to run the bases!

Reed(again...look for his yellow Little League hat) crossing home plate.

Yep, he fell while running the bases.

I told him not everyone can say they have the red dirt from

Tropicana Field ground into their elbows.
In front of the Rays dug out.

We went to the Rays game this past Sunday afternoon and had a great time! Much of Reed's Little League team was there as well. The kids all got a Rays t-shirt and the opportunity to run the bases at the end of the game. The Rays won which, of course, made the game all the more fun!

Mother's Day cont...More Beach pictures

2009-05-14T10:37:00.008-04:00

Reed boogie boarding...you can't see it, but he's grinning from ear to ear!
Hmm...do you think we took this ourselves?

Daddy and Cass heading out to the reef for her FIRST snorkel trip!

Like father...like daughter!

I really see the resemblance around the eye area...don't you?

This is part of the reef they snorkel.

Check out Reed!

He LOVES to dive down (about 6-8 feet) to see what is under the

ledges and such! (FYI - I don't do this...I'm a chicken AND I'm still not all that great at clearing the water from my snorkel without choking. But my 6 year old has NO such problems!)

And pay no attention to the LONG flowing blonde hair...the boy is getting a hair cut Saturday morning.

Snorkeling Reed

Happy kids in the waves.

Mom and Dad gave us this underwater camera for Christmas. But we haven't really had much chance to try it out because no one- except for those 6 years and under- were willing to actually stick their heads under the coldy water!

But summer has arrived and the water is now quite perfect! So we took it with us to Coquina Beach on Mother's Day. As you can tell from the previous post, we haven't worked out all of the kinks, but I think it is so cool to have a camera we can swim with!

Thanks, parents!

Mother's Day at the...spa

2009-05-14T10:14:00.003-04:00

Natural salt water scrub, sand exfoliation treatment...spa or beach?

Sorry for the distortion! We are still figuring out the underwater camera.

Reed isn't really such a cone head!

Okay...so it wasn't the spa as much as it was the beach. But, hey, it is all in how you look at it! We had a great time. This was our first OFFICIAL trip to the beach this year. We tried to go out when Mark and Tam were here...and Reed did brave the water...but it was so WINDY and the water was still so cold that I don't think that trip counts.

The water was FABULOUS and the weather was great and fun was had by all. This was also Cassidy's first true time to snorkel! What a big girl! She had a blast and they saw a school of sardines swirling around them.

I am one blessed Momma!

Before bed....

2009-04-25T09:21:00.001-04:00

Doesn't everyone try on their snorkel gear before bed?!?

We LOVE Baby Andrew!

2009-04-25T09:15:00.003-04:00

Reed and Andrew were just chillin' out in the chair.

I hadn't noticed just how many patterns the 2 of them were wearing: plaid, stripes and camo!

And no, I have NOT successfully convinced Reed that camo doesn't "go" with everything.

2 cuties!
Look at those smiles!

Baby Andrew comes and stays at our house a couple of days a week for a few hours. And we couldn't be happier! We all love him (and his mom and dad). And he's super cute too!

Easter 2009

2009-04-25T09:02:00.003-04:00

Instead of a bunny cake, I made Easter egg cupcakes.

Thanks Debbie for the cool Pampered Chef squeezy icing things!

Decorating eggs.

The finished product.

Easter morning goodies.

Reed was VERY happy to get a pair of plaid shorts...and I'm not

even kidding.

Hunting eggs.

Note to Gran Debbie and Pa David: He loves the soccer outfit!

Cassidy hunting for eggs.

And notice my legs in the background...see, I really was there!

Full baskets = happy kids!

(and maybe a slight weight gain for the mom who couldn't resist

the peanut butter eggs!)

I didn't get a single picture of the kids in their Sunday "finery". Oops. But we did document the egg decorating and hunting and such...that should count for something!

And seeing as how we don't own enough dress clothes to never repeat an outfit, I'll try to remember to snap a picture the next time they are wearing their Easter outfits again!

Busch Gardens during Spring Break

2009-04-25T08:46:00.004-04:00

Playing in the water at Busch Gardens.

Yep, she was COLD, but not willing to get out.

Soaking wet and very happy Reed.

Look Aunt Becky, we posed with a
flamingo...who did, despite my poor picture, have a head!

I love this picture! Look at my happy son!

I keep thinking I need to post, but then I get distracted by some other more pressing need...think dinner or clean socks! And so days and then more days and then a week goes by and I haven't posted any new pictures of my two cutie pies!

Well, that is about to end. Randy is fishing this morning, the kids are eating their breakfasts while watching TV and I am ...on the computer! So I'm going to do 3 posts this morning!

We haven't had any really exciting adventures lately, but life is good and we are happy. That is bound to be better than exciting!

Oh - Reed is VERY excited that there are only 6 weeks of school left! YEAH!

Potentially, we look ALOT "campy"

2009-04-15T16:40:00.005-04:00

Our kids and the kids from the campsite next to us enjoying pancakes and BACON!
Nothing says red neck like your dog on a big piece of card board.

Did I mention we (dare I say...I) looked "campy"? But notice

the very happy smile

(and it isn't just because I'm wearing a Harding shirt..,I say Harding - you say GREAT!)
Kung Fu Reed
Loving the trees!

My favorite people in the WHOLE WORLD!

We had a great weekend camping in central Florida about 10 days ago. It was the maiden voyage of "The Rio" (our name for our pop up camper). And boy, the AC really makes Mommy nap time in the afternoon AWESOME!

All in all, it was a very successful trip. There MAY have been a few MINOR hiccups along the way.

I did forget trash bags and we only had 2 Almaty bags TOTAL...and we had a dog to clean up after for 3 days...2 bags and 3 days...not a good situation. The irony of this is that I have continual guilt of the ENORMOUS mound of Wal Mart bags stashed in the garage. I keep meaning to take them back to the store to recycle them (although I have my suspicions, completely unfounded of course, that they don't really recycle them, but just pretend like they do, but I digress), but I keep forgetting to put them in the car. Just like all those nice reusable bags Mom buys me when she's out here. They, too, never seem to make it into the store. Hence, my guilt. THOUSANDS of Wal Mart bags...and I have NO trash bags for all our trash and a very volatile doggie mess situation. My Prince Charming saved the day and made a run into town for bags!

Prince Charming also had to get out of bed at 3AM on Saturday night to pick up all of the garbage the raccoons spread around our site. Did our ferocious beast of a dog alert us to their presence? No, she was too busy snoring in the air conditioning with us to hear or smell a raccoon. Nope, the rascals gave themselves away with a growling hissing fight. But they didn't manage to get into the cooler and steal my bacon so all was okay.

So we deemed our trip a success and we are already trying to find another weekend to plan a get away!

Oh, yes you are!

2009-04-07T19:03:00.005-04:00

Cassidy wasn't very pleased with all of our dinner selections.

Randy and I were really struggling to hide our smiles as she tried repeatedly to get out of eating.

She ended up at the table all by herself as we had all finished dinner and cookies. I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of lonely little self.

She did manage to finish the bare minimum required to get down from the table before I finished the dishes. I guess she decided that eating her one plantain was better than having to go straight to bed from the dinner table.

And yes, she is wearing her bathing suit at the dinner table. She wore her bathing suit...all afternoon. At one point, she had on floaties and an Ariel swim ring (those were not allowed at the table for obvious reasons). She was ready to go swimming...it is 60 degrees outside and windy. Her Mom's common sense prevailed and poor Cass just got to wear her swimsuit today and NOT use it.

Fun, Fun and more Fun!

2009-04-02T09:40:00.004-04:00

Sifting flour for the angel food cake.
At Reed's ball game. Go yellow!

Team Blankinship

On the tower at Emerson Point

My beautiful kids...and a lizard.

Reed and lizard...kind of like PB&J.

Looking over Terra Ceia Bay.

Team Blankinship was VERY excited to have Uncle Mark and Aunt Tamra out for a visit last weekend! And we all managed to have a great time even though the weather didn't really cooperate.

Thanks for coming guys! We love y'all (Oh no, Tam! I can't remember where the apostrophe is supposed to go!!!)!

Reed, the Author

2009-03-24T15:20:00.004-04:00

Reed

Amazingly, and I find this difficult to believe, I didn't have a picture of Reed holding a frog...or at least one I could easily find.

Here is a story Reed wrote at school a couple of weeks ago. It makes me smile, so I thought I'd share. No editing on my part.

Wons upon a time thir was a boy. He was walking by the river then he saw a frog.

Hay I wander wy a frog is her? thers usally no frogs around here. I am going to ask my mom if I could have it. Yeah my mom siad yes I Love my frog. I play with him every day. Hes my favorit.

What a cutie kid! I love Reed!

What do you mean you aren't supposed to pick them up?!?

2009-03-10T08:35:00.005-04:00

Skipper - our ferocious protector!

Randy immediately picked the snake up. I was just waiting for him to
say we had to keep it for a pet.

One happy boy.

"Rescuing" the turtle.

I'm thinking the turtle might have a different name for what we were doing as it was trying its best to bite us. But, thank goodness, those shells are rather movement limiting!

If it wanders into our back yard and doesn't pose "too large" a threat...it will definitely get man-handled, boy-handled and girl-handled... not so much Mommy-handled, if I can avoid it and still save face! And potentially, as in the case of the rattle snake, eaten.

Skipper discovered the snake and, as evidenced by the pictures, was very distressed to have it in the yard. Cassidy and I ventured close enough to look closely at it and take some pictures. We waited for Daddy to come home before anyone picked it up. And no, I didn't even tell Reed it was out there until after I had shown it to Randy.

According to an archaic reptile guide that we had on the shelf, it is a mud snake. Very pretty.

Cassidy discovered the red-eared slider right on our front door step. It must have become a little confused in its search for a great place to nest. Reed carried it to the edge of the pond and BOOM...turtles can move really quickly when they want to.

We are REALLY enjoying the fabulous weather March in Florida brings and it is finally warm enough for the beach to be calling my name!

Wintertime Fun

2009-02-25T12:10:00.005-05:00

Don't they look like a little old couple out for a drive?
Cassidy enjoyed all the kiddie rides at Busch Gardens.

Reed running the bases at his Little League opening ceremonies.

Reed batting at his first game. Randy is one of the coaches on the team.

Ready in the outfield...or should I say they look ready.

One precious little kid fielded a ball and was so excited that she just chunked it into the outfield even though there was NO ONE out there! Then about 4 other teammates raced out there and tackled each other to see who could throw it back in. Priceless!

No snow pictures here! We've been enjoying the GREAT weather that comes with winter in Florida.

Someone can remind me of it when I'm melting into a puddle in August, or even October!

How is it I'm 3 weeks late in posting these?!?

2009-02-18T10:20:00.003-05:00

Gram helping us set up the pop up in the driveway...yep - the driveway.

We had a GREAT time with Gram Ava a few weeks ago! We know she was ready to go home and see Pa Gary, but we weren't ready to see her go! What fun the kids had playing "Under the Big Top", walks, dolls, stories, lunching in the pop up camper, tea parties and bug hunts! We loved every minute of her visit!

Salt and Pepper - Together Forever!

2009-02-14T13:19:00.008-05:00

My flowers, Randy's Bible and the card I gave him.

The kids with all of their Valentine's Day loot.

Gram Ava and I had the same idea about what Miss Cassidy would like!

Reed and a rainbow snake from his Pa Gary and Gram Ava!

We are enjoying a very relaxing Valentine's Day! We are going to Emerson Point this afternoon. The weather has been just fabulous and we're ready to head to our stompin' grounds!

The kiddos loved the little treats we had for them as well as all the fun things and cards the family had sent. I hoarded everything until this morning and gave it all to them at once. They both had Valentine's Day Parties at their schools yesterday. They really enjoyed going through all of the little Valentines they received from friends.

Randy brought home BEAUTIFUL dark pink roses and a wonderful box of assorted dark chocolates. Good job, Hubby!

I gave him a new NIV Study Bible (yes, he wanted one).

I also gave Randy a card (pictured above) that shows salt and pepper shakers (hence, the title of the post). He asked me(I told him what I thought) and now I am asking you...Whose who? Which one of us is salt and which is pepper?

Clownin' Around

2009-02-08T21:38:00.004-05:00

Reed clown
Reed with his class.
They were each a letter of the alphabet for their "act."

Reed and a friend being silly!

I know it seems like we must be living very boring lives with nothing noteworthy to post about. But, alas, that is not the case. In fact, we have been EXTREMELY busy this past week and I, being the wonderful and thoughtful mother, forgot the camera 99% of the time!

I did get these few pictures of Reed's class in their circus performance under the Big Top. They had a blast (who wouldn't?) and I thought they were super cute.

I did not, however, get any pictures of Cassidy's field trip to the Citrus Farm. You'll just have to take my word that she had a blast running through the Butterfly Garden Maze, bouncing in the Bounce house and holding the baby alligator.

I also failed to take any pictures of Reed's first outing with his Boy Scout Pack. We met at Rye Preserve at 9AM on Saturday morning to pick up air potatoes and rosary berries. Apparently, these are 2 very invasive exotic species of plants that take over from the native species if left unchecked. We all had a great time. Well, Cassidy did not enjoy getting covered by some kind of seed pod that looked suspiciously like a bug. Yes, there were some tears and a very unsympathetic mother (who was also sporting a jacket with 1000 seed pods all over it.)

We drove from the preserve, to the ball field for Reed's first T-ball practice of the season. Nope, no pictures. We ate lunch at the ball park. Reed and Randy practiced with the team for 1.5 hours (can you say...too long!).

We came home, changed clothes quickly and ran errands from 2:30 - 6:30 (think: boy scout uniform store in Sarasota, cleats at Sports Authority, ice cream at DQ...yes, Randy is very smart and knows just how far he can get for a dipped cone!).

Then at 7PM we went to the Hubbard's house for their party to celebrate the opening of the NASCAR season. No, we do NOT follow Nascar (sorry, Alli), but we love to be with our friends and enjoy free and yummy party food.

And finally, we arrived back at our house a mere 12 hours after we had left it at 9PM. Bathed 2 grimy kids, bathed 2 grimy adults and went to bed.

Today, Sunday, we left for church at 8:30,had a potluck, cleaned up the potluck, spent 45 minutes scouring the playground for neckerchief slider that goes with Reed's scouting uniform that we bought yesterday and he wore to church today, didn't find the shiny little thing, changed clothes at the church building, went and played softball with the church, drove from softball to Sweetberries to have frozen custard (are you detecting a pattern) and finally came home a mere 10 hours after we left!

So, while we have been quite busy and, dare I say it, exciting...I have virtually no pictures to prove it!

And really, I need to go to bed.

I can't believe tomorrow is Monday. I told Reed's teacher I would volunteer tomorrow morning while Cass is in school. I also volunteered to host the Teen Devo tomorrow night. Reed and Randy have T-Ball practice tomorrow evening and should arrive home about the time the youth group gets here. So...I have to sweep, mop, clean the bathroom and cook for 20 tomorrow afternoon.

I need to go to bed.

Those PESKY Vultures!

2009-01-27T22:20:00.005-05:00

There are A LOT of vultures in our neighborhood...hmmm. They apparently roost in the woods across the pond from our house. They also love to perch on the roof of our house and our neighbors house.

Imagine my surprise when I went outside and found these particular pesky "birds" on the roof.

And no, I didn't approve this choice beforehand. It falls under the category of "Why God gave kids both a Mom AND a Dad."

And yes, Randy was on the roof FINALLY taking down our Christmas lights!!! Hey...it is still January!

We're SO Excited!

2009-01-19T11:23:00.007-05:00

The camper has a king(we think) sized on one end and a full bed on the other.

Oh...and it has an AC...now that is really roughing it!

A view of the dinette and the full bed.

What a nice looking rig!

Yep...a pop-up camper!

We have been looking for about 4 months and finally made a purchase this past Saturday. The camper is a Coleman camper by Fleetwood and it is the RIO GRANDE model (maybe a sign?!).

At any rate, Team Blankinship is VERY happy about this new purchase! In fact, Randy and I have "high-fived" each other every time we pass it in the garage!

Let's go camping!

One Happy Kid!

2009-01-08T22:10:00.003-05:00

I am a little late in posting this, but...better late than never!

Reed lost his first tooth over the New Year's weekend and BOY was he EXCITED! In fact, we all were!

He went to the dentist back in October and she told him (and me because I was standing right there) that his tooth was loose. Well...here it was January and he was still wiggling that same VERY loose tooth! I think seeing Maddie with all those teeth missing and all the verbal encouragement from everyone convinced him to just pull it out!

So we all waited, with bated breath (this all occurred right at the end of supper, so all 9 of us were sitting at the table), as Reed wiggled it around and then pulled it right out! We all, spontaneously, started cheering and he was jumping up and down and pumping his fist in the air like he had just won the World Series! It was priceless!

And ,just like that, his whole smile changed and all I can see when I look at him is a BOY...not a little boy, but a boy. Definitely bittersweet for me! It helps that he is still so stinkin' cute.

The tooth fairy left him FIVE BUCKS(I guess the economy hasn't really hit fairy land) and a note (shaped like a tooth) letting him know that he can keep this tooth to show his grandparents when they visit. So the teeny little and easily misplaced tooth is sitting proudly in an 8oz. Styrofoam cup on Randy's dresser just waiting for Gram's visit in a few weeks!

What a GREAT Christmas Vacation!

2009-01-05T21:09:00.004-05:00

Showing off their catch! The 2 big kids got to go fishing with the Dads.

At Emerson Point

The touch tank at Mote

Admiring one of Mote's resident Manatees

All of us at the Manatee Viewing Center at the electric plant in Apollo Beach.

I know I have been mostly absent from posting lately...sorry, but things have been both hectic and BIG fun!

But now, there is only the 4 of us in the house, the 2 youngest are in bed and the last load of laundry is in the washing machine! So, I can sit down and post a few pics for your viewing pleasure!

We had such fun the past 2 weeks and we got to do ALL of our favorite things with fun people! We are so glad that David and Debbie could come for Christmas and that the Andy Bennett Family came for New Year's!

And ,can I just say, that Katie left my house cleaner than she found it! Now that is a visitor who is welcome ANYTIME! Seriously.

The kids enjoyed having Madison, Claire and Gavin around so much! And yes, 9 people CAN co-exist in our house and everyone even had a bed (some filled with air)! We went to Emerson Point (of course), Mote Aquarium (of course), to see the manatees, fishing (of course...its Randy and Andy) and Build-a-Bear (Cassidy and Claire)...all in 5 days!

I know that I should be posting some heartfelt and meaningful essay on looking back at 2008 and all the amazing things to accomplish in 2009...not gonna' happen! I have a few things I'm not willing to commit to cyberspace on my 09 to-do list.

And, while I'm being perfectly honest, I am SUPER excited about...SCHOOL TOMORROW!

2008-12-26T16:31:00.003-05:00

Cassidy with Pa David and Gran Debbie
Happy kids

Cassidy and the dollhouse from Santa

Reed and his scooter from Santa

We had a wonderful whirlwind of a day yesterday! At one point it was 6:30 AM and before I turned around it was 6:30 PM! We enjoyed all the excitement of Christmas morning, a great lunch with family and friends (11 of us total) and a relaxing evening.

My favorite part is, of course, the kids sheer joy first thing in the morning. What fun to watch them exclaim over everything! Needless to say, there are LOTS of toys in our house!

Play doh Nativity

2008-12-20T10:57:00.003-05:00

A close up of Baby Jesus...can you see all the lovely detail of his face. Maybe I should apologize in my prayers today, but He knows her heart! By the way, she thought he was SO perfect and cute!
The 2 pink things are Mary and Joseph and the green ones are the animals.

Cass with her creations!

As evidenced by the previous post of Cassidy's preschool program, there has been a lot of talk about Baby Jesus at our house. Well, Cass decided she wanted to make Baby Jesus out of play doh. Then we added Mary, Joseph, a cow and a sheep. Then she laboriously added facial features and put them all in a bucket/stable. The pictures really just speak for themselves.

School Christmas Festivities

2008-12-20T10:44:00.006-05:00

Soooo...he's no Bing Crosby!

He had, apparently, been in a little trouble right before I got to the classroom

and before they were to perform some songs for the parents.

I'm thinking he needed to be in the back row,

but then I wouldn't have these priceless photos!

I have about 8 photos of the performance and this was his pose and face in EVERY one.

Finally a little happier.
My little "townsperson" between 2 angels.
Don't worry, I told her she was MY angel.

During the play.

Cassidy in her costume.

Thursday was our big day of school festivities. Reed had his classroom party during the afternoon and Cassidy's preschool had their program that evening. We had a busy day and Mommy was the only one exhausted at the end!

Santa Called Us!

2008-12-20T10:40:00.004-05:00

Cassidy talking to Santa on the phone!
Cassidy "waiting" for her turn to talk to Santa.

Reed talking to Santa!

The kids were SO excited to receive a phone call from Santa himself! Reed remembered Santa calling last year and was anxiously awaiting a phone call this year as well. The wait was up on Tuesday night right as we were starting bath time...in case you were wondering why Cassidy is in a towel.

Random Happenings

2008-12-16T10:37:00.004-05:00

Reed dressed up for church on Sunday! Quite handsome!
Self portrait (photo) by Cassidy.

My bell peppers!

My earthbox: 2 bell pepper plants, 2 broccoli, and a cauliflower.

My broccoli has ENORMOUS leaves...a crying shame we don't eat them.

My broccoli growing away!

Who's the little froggy on the window? Croak, Croak.

Another view of afore mentioned froggy!

Cutie Cass (and Lovey) before church on Sunday. No, Lovey doesn't get to go to church.

Things are running smoothly and time is ticking away. I had some pictures I wanted to share that, in no way, all go together. So I'm just posting them all together anyway. It's my blog.

Cassidy asks me 10 times a day if tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Bless her heart.

December Fun

2008-12-10T16:00:00.004-05:00

Reed in front of baseball Santa.

He is wearing my jacket.

Superstar Cassidy

Writing our letters to Santa. I thought Cassidy was paying attention to what we were doing...how wrong I was!

At the Festival of Lights in Palmetto

In front of the Gingerbread house.

Grandma gave them their Christmas gifts early.

By the by, the rocket blaster is TOTALLY COOL!

Can it really be December 10 already?!? I'm sorry I've been MIA! I've been working on a few other things that filled up my "spare" time that I can blog with! I'm still trying to finish Christmas cards and get them all mailed out!!!

We've had nice, cool weather for the past few weeks and it has been wonderful! Up until yesterday...when the high was 81 and I had to turn on the AC or die. The weatherman has promised me cooler temps on Friday...here's hoping!

We have been doing a few "Christmasy" things around town. Cassidy has her program next week and Reed has his party at school next week as well. We are fairly low-key and that suits me just fine!

Oh...and I have ALL my shopping done! Go, Me!

Tree Trimming Fun!

2008-11-29T20:57:00.003-05:00

Precious kids...and they smell good too!

Fresh from the tub!

The bottom heavy tree (must be a girl tree...hee hee)!

Picking out ornaments to hang.

Reed and Grandma Jane hanging ornaments.

Cassidy putting an ornament on the tree.

Can you tell she had fruit punch at dinner tonight?

We finished decorating the tree tonight! It took us 2 days. Yesterday we did tree assembly and lights. Tonight we hung all of the ornaments and trimmings. I actually enjoyed pacing ourselves. The kids were so cute. They "oohed and aahed" over every ornament.

In case you hadn't already figured it out, I'm not a very formal person. I'm guessing we won't win any Hallmark card moment awards with our fruit punch stained kids in all the pictures. I did get the cutie pictures after their baths though.

I was also so glad to see them hang all the ornaments in the one section in the front. How classic! Reed was so funny. He would see an ornament that he loved so he had to hang it on the same branch with another 2 ornaments that he loved. Or he would hang all three gingerbread men on the same branch since they were the same type of ornament.

Yes, I'm rearranging to even out the tree. I'll let you know if the kiddos notice!

Oh, Gobble,Gobble,Gobble Fat Turkey, Fat Turkey!

2008-11-27T22:14:00.005-05:00

Us and what army is supposed to eat all of that food?!

We had a bountiful meal today!

Reed at his Thanksgiving party at school.

Cassidy at her Thanksgiving program. Her class sang the "Fat Turkey" song from which I stole the title. She was also chosen to be the last letter "G" in Thanksgiving. Her line was: "G is for Green Beans." And, if I may be so bold, she was the BEST "G" I've ever heard!

Happy Thanksgiving to all! I rarely use this blog to write anything deep or profound... and yes, I know what that says about me! And I'm not really going to be deep or profound now, but I am going to share some of what I am so thankful for.

I have been trying to be more prayerful and introspective about my blessings over the past few days. I think I am especially guilty of sailing through my days without acknowledging just how amazing each moment is. I will never be accused of being overly sappy or emotional...dramatic, yes, emotional...not so much. And so, I think I just deal with each moment and move on without really relishing some things.

And the Lord has been calling me to take notice lately. So, I've compiled a list of some of the things I don't want to take for granted and I am thankful to God for.

1. Randy: He is such a great guy and I would RUN down the aisle to marry him all over again(He assures me he wouldn't be running the other way).

2. Healthy Reed and healthy Cassidy: These are two good kids. They are crazy energetic, but I am so glad they are happy, healthy and strong.

3. Our extended family: It is always difficult for me around holidays when our families are together without us. I question all the memories our children aren't going to have. But then I remember again that with modern technology, we are up-to-the-day informed with how everyone is. I love being able to talk to my family every day. The miles seem much smaller then.

4. Church family: There are those friends who "stand in the gap" for us. They love us, love our children, include us in their lives, send us on dates, laugh with us, share birthdays, sit at one end of our pew and bring a bag of goodies to distract the Cass, buy the right kind of bubble gum because they know the kids love it, help set up our tent in the dark, search for the perfect ballerina outfit, take Reed fishing and take pictures of the catch and my list could go on. We needed these people and the Lord has graciously given us a "family of friends."

5. Jobs: I have never taken for granted that Randy has a secure job that provides so well for our family...well enough that I get to maintain my status as a "lady of leisure" or, if you prefer,"chief pot washer and floor scrubber." I am also so very thankful that my family all have secure jobs in this time of great uncertainty.

6. Our country: Peaceful transfer of power from one party to the next is nothing to take for granted...just read the papers. Abundant food on the shelves in the stores, freely walking into worship, free public education, mail systems and the list could go on and on. For all that is uncertain and yes, a little scary, in our country - there is much more to be thankful and prayerful about.

7. Cars and a houseful of appliances: I am so glad we have working cars. I am thankful we have a house to live in. And I am REALLY thankful it is CHOCK FULL of useful things like: an air conditioner, a hot water heater, a dishwasher, an oven, a microwave, a washing machine and dryer. Seriously, if you take any one of those things away (there are more I'm not listing), I am in a MAJOR crisis!

8. my Vacuum cleaner: This one deserved its very own number just because I use it all the time. You all know we have ol' stinky brown dog in the house with us. I would go stark raving mad without my vacuum cleaner to suck up all the dog hair...just thinking about it makes me want to go vacuum.

9. our bathtub

10. Books: Mine and the ones I read with the kids each night.

11. The first 5 minutes of each morning with Reed and Cassidy...that's the only shot for cuddles!

12. Bedtime prayers and scriptures: We've been working on this one and I LOVE IT! You should just hear Cassidy say it...adorable! "The Lord you God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17"

13. Chocolate chips

14. God: The giver of all things, including His only Son (John 3;16). The author of a costly plan to save me even though He knows I am not only unworthy, but frequently ungrateful(Romans 5:8). The creator of the amazing world I live in who not only invites me to talk to Him, but longs for communication with me (Jeremiah 29:11-14). Above all else, for there is nothing without Him, I am profoundly grateful to know God, to be known by God and to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

Well, there are some of the things I am thankful for. It is definitely a rewarding experience to write them down. There are more I could have written down and more I will think of and wish I had written down. I am ABUNDANTLY blessed: "...A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over will be poured in your lap. (the middle of Luke 6:38)."

Recovering Chairs

2008-11-23T21:22:00.008-05:00

Seatless chairs
Randy, a.k.a Mr. Perfectionist, hard at work.

The beautiful finished product!

A priceless family photo!

Okay, so maybe this should have been done 3 months or more ago...no maybe about it. Our dining room chairs, inherited from Randy's Grandma Ruth, were in DIRE need of new seat covers...try the seat covers were approximately 40 years old. Now, don't get me wrong, the age wasn't the problem...it was the fact that one was ripped up. And, maybe...just maybe, had been ripped up for months and months.

So, anyhoo...we finally "bit the bullet" and decided to CARPE DIEM! Therefore, after only, 2 trips to the fabric store, 1 trip to Lowe's, 1 trip to ACE hardware, and 1 minor flesh wound (mine) the chairs are DONE. And, if I may say so, they look mighty fine.

May they last another 40 years!

P.S. You HAVE to click on the family picture to enlarge the image! You don't want to miss the full effect of Reed's disgust with this photo session. Can you tell he is ROLLING HIS EYES?! The twit! Oh, by the by, this was one attempt to get a decent family picture for Christmas cards. So I'm giving you fair warning: Don't set your expectations too high!

Student of the Month

2008-11-21T16:54:00.003-05:00

Reed's picture on the bulletin board in the Multipurpose Room.
Reed and the Principal, Mr. Flynn. The Boy's Choir performed following the
awards presentations...that is who is in the background.

On stage with his certificate.

Reed, Mommy and Grandma Jane

Reed and Daddy...don't they look great?!

Reed and a classmate were chosen as "Students of the Month" for their class. The ceremony was today. He was very happy that his Dad and his Grandma Jane could be there to see him get his certificate. We are quite proud of Reed. His teacher wrote some very nice things about him that the principal read before giving Reed his certificate. What a good kid!

Gender Roles

2008-11-16T21:36:00.003-05:00

Reed came in my room to show off his weapons,

so I asked him to stop for a picture. This is what I got.
Cassidy had a friend over on Friday. The girls spent 4 hours playing
dress up and babies. They were SO cute!

If you watch my kids role play for very long, it is obvious there is no gender confusion going on in my house. Now, don't get me wrong, Cassidy is one tough little girl...but she is going to look good stompin' in the pond or wrestling her brother to the ground.

Aren't they cute?!?

Final Count: 17 Bluegills and 1 Giant Carp

2008-11-13T19:32:00.003-05:00

Happy Reed...unhappy bluegill.

On Tuesday, Reed and Cassidy spent about 2 hours at Paul and Lori's house while Randy and I made a quick exploratory trip to Toys-r-Us. While we were gone, Paul took Reed fishing at the pond in the center of their subdivision.

There we were, perusing the baby doll aisle, when Randy's phone rings. On the other end is an excited Paul telling us that Reed caught a 20 pound carp on Paul's ultra-lite pole all by himself. Reed explained later that his arms really hurt by the end, but that it was totally worth it.

When I went back over there to pick up the kids...(yes, Reed was crying because he had to quit fishing - how is it I got stuck with that stinky job?!?)...the guys filled me in on the final tally...17 bluegills and 1 giant carp.

Needless to say, Reed was on cloud 9! They didn't get a picture of the carp, but we have some shots of some HUGE bluegills!

Hillsborough River State Park

2008-11-10T08:35:00.007-05:00

The launch

A beautiful November day on a beautiful river

The hawk. I thought I had some better close up pictures, but they were all blurry.

A little blue heron and a turtle sharing a log.

Randy carried each of the kids over to inspect a

little tree frog warming up on a leaf in the sun.

The little tree frog warming up.

We spent another enjoyable weekend at Hillsborough River State Park. I must say though, it was pretty cold each night. The days were gorgeous and warm, but about 4 AM was pretty coldy! Needless to say, I slept well in my own bed last night.

I've already got the first load of laundry in the machine this morning...there is a mountain of laundry. Everything we took smells strongly of campfire, so even the blankets and such need to be washed. Yeah for me.

The only pictures I took were on our canoe trip on Saturday. We enjoyed a beautiful lazy trip up and then down a stretch of the slow moving Hillsborough River. We saw a number of interesting things, but I think our favorite was the hawk eating a snake. (If we were Aztec or Mayan, that might mean we were destined for royalty or at least royal enough for some hot cocoa.) Reed, the lover of reptiles, was quite upset that the hawk was eating a snake. In his mind, snakes are much higher on the "cool list" than hawks and, therefore, should not be prey.

I'm glad we went and glad to be home...the mark of a success camping trip. I considered, briefly, letting some of the air out of the air mattress or dripping water on Randy's pillow to make his tent experience REALLY awful in an effort to boost my campaign for a pop-up camper. But it would have upset my night sleep too so, obviously, I couldn't do it. The cold nights and restless kids did help my cause some. We'll see.

Fall Party

2008-11-01T21:12:00.006-04:00

Working on a gift for the widows at church.
Egg relay races

Paper airplane contest

Decorating cookies

Yes, Cassidy is wearing her Halloween costume again.

Yes, I let her.

Soaking wet Reed with his prize.

The face of success!

Reed gearing up to get his apple

Randy is "showing them how to do it."

He went first...definitely the least icky place.

Randy and I hosted a Fall party for the kids from church today at our house. We invited all of the kids from Middle School and below. Before you award us too many stars for our crowns though, that really only amounts to 18 kids total. We had 4 families plus ours attend for a total of 8 kids and 9 adults. And we had a lot of fun. Bobbing for apples was the #1 hit...go figure!

Halloween: From the Beautiful to the Spooky!

2008-11-01T20:50:00.006-04:00

Ballerina Cassidy

Isn't she just gorgeous?!?
Yes, I'm her Mom!

So cute...I had to post another picture.

Her grandmas will thank me.

The making of a mummy.

Wrapping his head.

Reed's costume was slightly labor intensive.

He was very patient as we "mummified" him.

Trick or treating at our neighbor's house.

The annual Halloween picture.

To get the full effect, you should click on the picture to enlarge it.

Halloween was so fun this year! The kids have been excited all week and were so happy to put on their costumes and go Trick or Treating! I got them all "duded up", watched them go next door and then sent them on their way...with their DADDY! Yep, I stayed home and passed out candy to other people's children. And I liked it!

It has come to my attention from past year's experiences that I have a major Trick or Treat character flaw. I'm not sure if it comes from some highly competitive gene or that I am too tightly wound(say it isn't so?!) or some combo of both, but I have to FIGHT the urge to constantly hurry the kids along so we can hit all the houses BEFORE all the other kids do!

Now, that is truly pitiful.

I don't want the candy. I don't want the kids eating the candy. But I sure don't want someone getting all of the unwanted candy before my kids can!

I told you...CHARACTER FLAW!

So, I decided it would be way more fun for all involved if "Crazy Mom" stayed home to pass out the candy and "Nice, calm, normal Dad" took the 2 cuties on their way! And I was right. I had fun...I love seeing all the costumes. The kids had BIG FUN! And Dad had fun (or was, at least, enough resigned to his fate to not complain).

A Successful Weekend Trip!

2008-10-30T11:53:00.002-04:00

Sleeping Reed
Sleeping Cassidy

The true mark of a successful family trip...exhausted kids! We had a great time!

Providence Canyon State Park

2008-10-30T10:56:00.004-04:00

Exploring

Looking down into Providence Canyon.

We hiked to the top of the canyons.

The kids found walking sticks to use.

I had to take a picture because it reminded of a certain Pa Gary!

My beautiful kids!

At the bottom of the canyon.

Aren't they cute?!?

Team Blankinship ready to start the hike.

I gave myself a deadline to post the last set of pictures of our Georgia weekend before the end of October...I am ahead of schedule!

On Sunday, we went to Providence Canyon State Park. This park was actually the reason I chose this section of Georgia for our trip this year. In researching it though, I realized there was only one hiking trail we could attempt (the 7 mile hike seemed a little much to ask of Reed and Cass) so we only needed one day to explore this park. That was when I started looking for nearby attractions and cities and found the Science center and Westville.

Providence Canyon was very pretty and a nice 3.5-4 mile hike. It is a huge reminder of how humans impact the environment. This canyon did not exist 160 years ago. It is a direct result of clearing the land for farming and removing the native flora that stopped/slowed erosion of the soils. Most, if not all of the trees you see in the pictures and in the canyons were planted by the CCC in the 1930s in an attempt to replace flora and slow the erosion down. One thing they planted that has had very unintended consequences was Kudzu vine. But we enjoyed the park and the hike.

And yes, if you are keeping track, Team Blankinship did not forsake the assembly. We did go to church. We attended the First Street Church of Christ in Cordele, GA. I'm just sayin'!

Westville Living History Museum

2008-10-24T16:47:00.006-04:00

My pioneer family!
Washing clothes demonstration.

Casting lead bullets

Reed with the school master and the mayor

The cotton that had been sent through the gin

The man running the cotton gin. He would stomp on the floor twice and the mules would start to turn the gin. This was SO cool to Randy and I! I have taught about this, but this was the first time I had ever seen it!

Our mule ride through town.

Stopping for a bite of gingerbread made in the cast iron, wood burning cook stove...very good.

Playing checkers outside the tavern. Reed is looking a picture on glass the man was developing.

Reed watching some of the soldiers drill. Duh.

Talking with one of the ladies about her home and kids.

The kids being recruited for the Confederate Army. That's a big ol' NO SIR!

So, we got all the science/technical stuff out of the way on Friday and it was on to my personal favorite...HISTORY! In researching the area, I found a living history museum that simulates a 1850's town complete with actual buildings and people in period clothes. So, of course, I drug the fam!

In case anyone may be unaware, Oct. 18 is Georgia Secessionist Day. As in: The day Georgia seceded from the Union. Without being too political, I'm not so sure this is something to celebrate, but it is historical. And, in our case, it really worked to our favor! Westville was celebrating the day and had brought in a full "cast of characters" to man all of their buildings. We spent about 6 hours walking through the streets of the town, going into all the homes and shops, viewing the different crafts and chores, and talking to the people. We all really enjoyed it!

The experience reminded me again how glad I am to not have to make my own soap from animal fat (amazingly pleasant smelling, but still inherently icky), plant, harvest and prepare my own produce, wash clothes by hand and all the other amazingly difficult and time-consuming chores that women had to do on a daily basis back then. I really need to stop complaining about how time consuming folding and putting away dry clothes is!

Coca Cola Space Science Center - Columbus, GA

2008-10-24T16:14:00.005-04:00

Cassidy and I forecasting the weather. I may be revealing to much, but this was really fun for me. I found myself going back over there to "track the thunderstorms." Hmmmm...
Reed and Randy (far plane) shooting down enemy craft. Yes, I avoided this ride as it also simulated hurtling and such.

Everybody (Reed is in the far plane) with strong constitutions flying fighter jets

We had a great weekend visit to western Georgia last weekend! They call the part of GA we visited the "Presidential Pathways" because FDR lived in the area and it is the hometown and current home of President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter. And, in case you were getting a false impression, it is also "the boonies." Most of the towns we drove through, including the city of Plains (the Carter's town), probably had less than 1500 people and no lodging. Anyhoo...we drove most of the way and late into the night on Thursday so we would have a full day on Friday to enjoy.

On Friday, we drove to Columbus,GA. It is on the Chattahoochee River (very cool to the history nerd) and, thus, on the GA-AL border. It is also the home of Fort Benning. We went to the Coca Cola Space Science Center on the college campus there. We had a blast (get it...space...blast!)! It is relatively small, but they have a number of cool, interactive exhibits and a planetarium style theater. We picked a fabulous day to go as there were only 2 other families there the whole time. We stayed for over 3 hours playing with all of the gizmos. We also watched a movie about Black Holes. It was interesting (to Randy), nauseating (to me...hurtling through space is not for the faint of stomach) and boring (to 2 small children with the attention spans of gnats and possibly to me who really doesn't care to think about things that are "millions of light years away"). But we had a really good time and it was fun to find something that appealed to all of us!

By-the-by, I finally "landed" my rocket without crashing...it only took me 7 tries and forcing Randy to "go away and quit harassing/heckling me". It really is harder than it looks to keep your little triangle in the middle of the circle! Oh, you might also be wondering if Randy liked forecasting the weather...no, he is apparently "too cool" to forecast pretend weather. Harumph!

Project Due Tomorrow!

2008-10-23T20:14:00.003-04:00

A diorama "symbolizing our family"

That's me on 2nd base...aren't I a shapely gal (and slightly askew)!

Poor Skipper ended up a wiener dog...a fate worse than death in my opinion.

The poster about our family.

Sorry about the flash covering your faces, Mom!

He's just happy to be done. Here's hoping he aces his presentation!

I'm sorry for the forever-long lapse in posting! Things have been slightly hectic...to the point that I have only had the chance to sit down and check email and catch up on the blogs I read twice since we've returned from our Georgia weekend! But I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel...laundry done, floors done (hallelujah!) and rent car parked in driveway (never ending repair on the Suburban). AND...we have finally completed Reed's first official first grade project. Yes, WE all had to work on it. Trust me...the child needed some organizational help. He did all of the writing, coloring and placement...we just helped with the organizational framework and the technical points. And yes, it does take 2 adults and a child 2 ENTIRE evenings to complete a poster about our family and a diorama about our family. So stay tuned...Georgia pictures are coming soon!

Enjoying Pa David!

2008-10-15T17:01:00.004-04:00

Cassidy was Pa David's "shadow" the entire time he was here...

a very chatty, demanding shadow!

Canoeing on the Little Manatee River
Randy and I call this, "Scrunched down with blessings!" I'm sure David is just glad the kids didn't flip the canoe over with both of them up in his space!

Before church on Sunday morning. And the kids are wearing the new duds Pa David and Gran Debbie bought them...thanks!

Can't you see the family resemblance?!? Too cute!

We had such a great visit with Pa David! Thanks for coming!

Who Had More Fun?

2008-10-07T15:14:00.003-04:00

The grease monkeys! Check out Randy's hands!
Reed watching the sharks.
Cassidy NOT watching the sharks, but blantantly disregarding

the rules about hanging on the rails.

A stare off: Cow nosed Ray vs. Reed and Cassidy
In front of the manatees

We were all so glad to have Randy back from his 4 day trip to DC, but there was no rest for the weary...regardless of what you may have been weary of (work-Randy, kids-me)! The Camry (bless its heart) was in dire need of brake work and some other maintenance, so Randy and Paul (a BIG bless his heart) scheduled Saturday to take it all apart and fix it. And they did...12 hours later!

I really couldn't face another day at home with the kids, so Lori (bless her heart) and I took the kids to Michaels, Burlington Coat Factory,Mote Aquarium,Sweetberries (frozen custard place), the Ellenton Outlet Malls (Cassidy only) and Wal Mart. It was a full day.

On Sunday afternoon...WE RESTED!

Animal Kingdom

2008-09-28T20:04:00.003-04:00

At the Nemo show
Standing in front of Mt. Everest
The Blankinships in front of the "Tree of Life"
Reed playing the drums in Africa
Obviously, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a diver picture.

We went...we saw...we conquered! Yep, we used the last of our 4 day Disney passes yesterday at Animal Kingdom. I'm not going to say that Randy and I high-fived each other as we left the park last night - glad that we were done with Disney for a while...but we did. I know...we're fuddy-duddies and probably the only people in the whole world who don't just LOVE Disney.

In all truthfulness, we enjoyed many aspects of it. We definitely enjoyed how much fun the kids had. I think it is just such an expensive day...tickets, food, trinkets. And you have to battle so many people. Hmmm...two of my least favorite things...expensive AND crowded. So, label us however you wish, but we are probably done with Disney for a while. But I'm getting ready to campaign for Sea World!

We crammed a lot of activities into yesterday. The weather was perfect. The boys rode on the roller coaster Expedition Everest twice. Cassidy and I stuck to the Flying Triceratops ride (think the Dumbo ride, but with a friendly looking triceratops). We all rode the Dinosaur ride which was loud, jarring and very dark. Cassidy absolutely LOVED it...Reed said "it scared the pants of him." He doesn't mind hurtling at high speeds, but the huge dinos got him. Go figure. We also all rode the Kali River Rapids ride. In case you were wondering, I could not have been more wet if the nice Disney employees had just picked me up and dunked me in the water. COMPLETELY SOAKED...like dripping wet with see-through khaki shorts! Not one of my finer moments. But hey, I dried out...in 3 HOURS!

We saw the 3-D Bug's Life show. I drug everyone to the Nemo Musical, the Lion King show and Pocohontas and her Forest Friends show. I enjoyed them all thoroughly. Randy may have grumbled a bit...I think I heard a few comments about men in tights. But he was a trooper!

So there you have it.

Pride Goeth Before the...Explosion!

2008-09-27T21:22:00.004-04:00

Well, Team Blankinship survived the day at Disney's Animal Kingdom. I'll post pictures in the next couple days. I know everyone will be anxiously awaiting those...bated (yes, this is the correct spelling - I googled it and now know what it means exactly and who used it first (Shakespeare) and since (Mark Twain) AND, you'll be glad to know, I shared ALL of those random facts with Randy...who was glad, I'm sure!) breath.

BUT that is NOT what this post is about. I had an experience yesterday that could have resulted in losing my Domestic Diva status...if I had Domestic Diva status...if there was such a thing as Domestic Diva status.

I decided to make Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls from my "hot out of my mailbox" Taste of Home magazine. Everything started out so grandly. I was ON MY GAME! I got the kids up, dressed, groomed, fed and loaded in the car to go to school in great time. I had planned my morning THE NIGHT BEFORE, perused the new recipe I was going to make and put the grocery list in my purse (lest it meet the same fate as the hair coupon...see previous post). I even had time to stop by the grocery store before dropping Cassidy off at preschool.

The dough came together beautifully. It rose appropriately, I rolled it, buttered and sugared it and sliced it in to 24 ENORMOUS cinnamon rolls. Those, too, rose exactly as they were supposed to. I baked them up and boy, did my house smell good. Cassidy was salivating. And I'll be perfectly honest...I WAS FEELING QUITE PROUD.

They finished baking and Cassidy and I iced those bad boys and then (this will come as no surprise) we had one. It was good...real good. So, I'll say it again...I WAS FEELING QUITE PROUD.

Cassidy asked to make up some jello. I got out the items we would need and put the tea kettle on to boil the water. The dog need to go outside to "use the facilities" so I took her out. While waiting outside with Skipper to finish up, I hear a loud crashing sound followed by a scream. I recognized immediately that this was not a "I'm hurt" scream, but a "I'm terrified" scream. So I'm trying to hurry the dog up and yelling through the glass sliding doors at Cassidy to calm down. I race inside and Cassidy is yelling, "It blew up! It blew up!" I look over into the kitchen and realize 4 things:

1. I turned the wrong burner on to boil the water

2. One of the 13 x 9 glass Pyrex pans of cinnamon rolls has EXPLODED and glass is EVERYWHERE (including *gasp* all over the other pan of rolls).

3. The cinnamon rolls that were in that pan are now sitting ON THE burner and are ON FIRE!

and

4. My daughter is running around with no shoes on!

Here is the end result:

Cassidy came through the entire incident COMPLETELY UNSCATHED! And, I have to tell you, I am so thankful that God protected her from any injuries...serious or minor.

I'm down to 1 glass pyrex 13x9 pan AND, to add insult to injury, I HAVE NO CINNAMON ROLLS!

It took me 3 hours to clean up the mess as glass was in everything on the counter(i.e. my purse) and had exploded all the way into the dining room, laundry room and kids bathroom in addition to all over and under everything in the kitchen AND I HAVE NO CINNAMON ROLLS!

My floors are SPOTLESS and, in case you were wondering, I HAVE NO CINNAMON ROLLS!

So, there you have it. The demise of a domestic diva...gone up in fiery blaze of cinnamon rolls and charred glass!

You did what?!?

2008-09-25T09:22:00.004-04:00

Stashed candy wrappers
Candy wrapper close up
Silly putty and the purple dress
Silly putty and the area rug

The Blankinship's are having one of those weeks EVERY family with a preschooler has. You know the one I'm talking about...the one where every day (or even hour) you stumble across yet another "surprise" left by your wee little angel. One happy note: Because my little angel is 4, my surprises are, at least, NOT of the bodily function variety (I'm saying that with a prayer on my lips.) We've had those in the not-too-distant past, but I'm going to refrain from sharing.

My "surprises" have been rather plentiful this week, so I decided I just had to share a few.

* The candy wrappers stashed in the mixing bowl in the cabinet.

I stumbled across those while reaching for a cutting board. And yes, I KNOW it was Cassidy. She is the only one of my children sneaky enough to HIDE the evidence. Reed would have snuck the candy, but not thought to actually hide the wrappers. Cass will be the mastermind behind their lives of crime!

* THE HAIRCUT COUPON

Background: Lori gave me a coupon she found for 1/2 off a hair cut (for first time customers) at the salon she uses. I called and made an appointment for Wednesday morning.

So, I remember Tuesday night that I need to put the coupon in my wallet or I'll forget it in the morning. I jump up and run into the kitchen where, to my surprise, my COUPON is MISSING! I start the search. Long story short - Randy and I look EVERYWHERE!

(Side note: How do you know if your husband really loves you? He gets out of bed and digs, by hand, through the full kitchen trash bag for your haircut coupon. Of course, he did point out that he would dig through the trash for a dollar bill and this was worth more than that. But I'm sticking to my own interpretation: He dug through the trash for me...he loves me!)

The coupon wasn't in the trash can. I found it 20 minutes later in little pieces on Cassidy's little flower table. So, I did what anyone would do (right?) and Randy and I put it back together with tape. Yes, I had to explain to the ladies at the salon, but hey...it saved me 13 bucks! We were, though, unsuccessful in our attempts to ascertain WHY Cassidy tore the up the coupon ...oh well.

* Silly putty and the purple dress

Cassidy ground silly putty into her purple dress. And I mean GROUND it in so that it is now ONE WITH THE DRESS. So, again, I did what anyone would do and I put the dress in the freezer. For future reference, that doesn't work. In fact, silly putty doesn't really even freeze. How crazy (or, dare I say, SILLY) is that?

I was a little upset about the dress. I had actually thought earlier that morning how glad I was that the purple dress still fit and wasn't too stained because she could still wear it to school. But I was MORE than a little upset by my next "surprise."

* Silly putty and my area rug

Yes, that is right. Apparently, Cassidy really enjoyed grinding the silly putty into her dress. She enjoyed it so much she decided to grind it into the fibers of my area rug. And here is where it gets a little sad. I saw what she did and my FIRST thought was " At least the silly putty is in the same color family as the rug!" I am going to try a few solvents to see if I can get it up. But be forewarned, if you come to our house, we might have an area rug stained with silly putty! Oh the decorating disaster!

Here's the thing. Kids are just so expensive! Randy and I have had this discussion before (like after the time Reed found a screw in the garage and decided to "write" a line ALL THE WAY AROUND the Suburban at his eye level) and we both remember doing things that cost our parents (bless them) A LOT of money. One of mine involved red nail polish and carpet that was literally 2 weeks old. Randy remembers an incident involving his fist and a wall. I seem to recall a little encounter with Aaron, his skateboard and the wall in his room. So, I know these things are par for the course. And I'm sure it will be so funny to me...MUCH LATER!

Well, so far today (it is only 10 AM) we are surprise free. But it has grown quiet while I type this...never a good sign. Gotta go!

And the fun just keeps coming!

2008-09-24T16:08:00.003-04:00

This is where I found Cassidy yesterday morning - playing on her new "computer" from Aunt Tamra and Uncle Mark.

Please disregard the mismatched jammies...that never happens in our perfectly coordinated house (what? You don't believe me?)

Cassidy followed the directions and made a butterfly using her new "Bendaroos" from Gran Debbie and Pa David all by herself. All three of us sat down and had a ball making stuff!
Reed made a spider and then put him on his head while he finished his homework.
And here is a random picture of me so Mom can see my haircut.

(I know it is hanging in my eyes...blame it on technical difficulties wrangling Cassidy while Reed is manning the camera.)

Cassidy has really been enjoying all of her new, fun birthday gifts. And she keeps getting more. We had two new gifts arrive this week! And boy, they were both big hits with both Blankinship kids!

Cassidy's 4th Birthday Party!

2008-09-21T16:59:00.005-04:00

The birthday girl before the party.

She wore her favorite pink dress and loved her pink birthday cake (boy, was I glad!)
Our family!
Making necklaces.
FYI - I had a boy station set up at the coffee table with sports beads and leather string.

Randy and Larry "dolling up" the pinata stick with pink crepe paper. By the by, they decided to do this on their own...I never suggested it. Smart Daddy!
Cassidy loved Aunt Becky's gifts...a pig puzzle and play doh toys! Good thinking, Aunt Becky.
Here is a direct quote from the Cass: "Girl Legos!
And some of them are PINK!" Great job, Gram Ava and Pa Gary!
Cassidy with her new Dora fishing pole from us.

She said, "I've been waiting for this for a LONG time!"

Making door hangers.
A very happy dancing Cassidy! Click the picture to get the full effect!
Yes, we even had an "Easter egg hunt", but it was really a search for the princess jewels!
Pin the crown on the Princess.
All the kids eating birthday cake.

Cassidy's party was a big success! She had a great time and it seemed that all of her friends did as well. In total we had 10 kids and 11 adults...a very good ratio! I followed my carefully laid out schedule (you know I love those) and everything went very smoothly. And now we (Randy and I) are glad we're done for this year!

Tae Kwan Do

2008-09-21T16:49:00.004-04:00

Getting into place on the mats.
Reed getting some instruction in how to do a sit up martial arts style (think a loud "yah" and hand slaps to the mat).
Practicing a move
Finishing the move.

I'm thinking he was supposed to stay standing after knocking his opponent (the cutie blond girl) down, but Reed thinks falling down is much more fun.

Duh.

I thought a color change was needed from all the pink of the previous 2 posts and the one still to come! So here are some pictures of Reed at his weekly Tae kwan do class. It is a program offered through various local churches and meets only once a week for one hour. The class size is rather large and one hour is not long enough to actually have a really "meaty" class, but it is fun for Reed and that was my criteria! As a matter of fact, just watching his class has (in the words of Jerry Clower) "flung a cravin' on me!" Hmm...maybe I could be a martial arts momma?!?

Cassidy's "Actual" Birthday

2008-09-18T09:20:00.008-04:00

Flowers from her Daddy on her birthday!
Listening to someone singing "Happy Birthday".
The cupcakes. Well, as you can see, I didn't miss my calling as a cake decorator. My saving grace is that Cassidy isn't very discerning...she thought they were "beautiful!" Her birthday cake is going to just be pink...I'm done piping icing for this birthday!
Talking to Gram Ava on the web cam
Grandma Jane picked out the perfect birthday cards...
stickers for her pink fingernails!
Pa David and Gran Debbie sent a "gorgeous" purple boa...
doesn't everyone need one of these?!

The pink sheets.
Paul and Lori gave Cassidy a pink ballerina outfit! It is a big twirly hit! I, too, am quite happy with it as it means that Cassidy's Halloween costume can be checked off my list! Thanks, guys!

Note: Yes, I am in the background WEARING(not choking myself despite how it may look) the purple boa...you know you would too!

Cassidy enjoyed a great day on her "actual" birthday. She LOVED getting all of the phone calls from family. I heard her on more than one occasion demanding someone sing "Happy Birthday" again. I saved all of the singing messages, so she has been able to listen them at will. We also enjoyed the web cam visit from Gram Ava - thanks for working out all the kinks, Mom!

Randy had flowers for her when she woke up Tuesday morning and the 3 of us sang to her. She and I spent a quiet day at the house fielding phone calls, painting our toenails and her fingernails pink, and making cupcakes for her family party that evening. Paul and Lori came over for our special dinner of spaghetti and meatballs (Cassidy calls herself the Princess of Spaghetti) and birthday cupcakes. Then Cassidy got to open the presents from us, cards and gifts from family and Paul and Lori's gift. All in all, she had a great day and was one tired princess when she drifted off to sleep in new pink jammies and sheets (courtesy of Mom, Dad and Reed). Her birthday party is this coming Saturday...more pictures will follow.

Happy Birthday to my Cassidy!

2008-09-15T20:57:00.007-04:00

Brand new Cassidy!

Already blazing fashion trails!

Cassidy...sometime during the first year or so. Isn't she stunning?
Oh...that smile!
Pirate Cassidy!
Lovin' her brother!

Holding the kill...a week before her second birthday!
Daddy brought her flowers for her second birthday. He has some hidden in the laundry room to give to her tomorrow at breakfast.
2 years old in the pumpkin patch.
My fairy princess.
A leprechaun...she is certainly mischevious enough.

Cassidy at her 3rd birthday party.
Last Halloween...she wanted to be a cowgirl princess.
I'm thinking it ended up looking a bit more like a dance hall girl...yikes!
In her best princess attire.
Holding the alligator...she's no shrinking violet!
Cassidy and her favorite brother!

This post has been so fun for me! I have so enjoyed going back and looking at pictures of sweetie Cassidy as baby. Unfortunately, I don't have very many distinctive memories of her as an infant (I'm blaming her 2 year old brother who was involved in many a "shenanigan"), so looking at her pictures is so wonderful to jog my memory. I know I included entirely too many, but...its my blog!

I've said it before, but Cassidy is an amazing little girl. She is one big whirlwind of energy. Everyone knows when Cass has arrived! She takes a lot of energy to parent, but she has the sweetest heart. She is a happy little girl...mischievous at times, but always happy. And I can say with confidence, she is usually operating under the assumption that whatever she is doing or getting into is going to make you happy too. That is not always the case, but her little joyful heart is in the right place!

Randy and I feel so blessed to be allowed to be her parents - from the moment we knew we were going to have a baby, to finding out it was a little girl, to when she made her entrance into this world and to this moment when she is (finally) sleeping peacefully in her bed-we are honored that God chose us to raise this amazingly loving little girl.

We know she is going to grow up to do great things for her God. We pray for His wisdom in guiding her in the paths He has chosen for her. We pray for His safeguards and hedges in her life, health, emotions and soul. I(being a girl and knowing how difficult this will be) pray that she keep her self confident assurance that everyone must love her and be glad to see her - even when she has grown older and gets her feelings hurt. But above all, Randy and I fervently pray and parent so that Cassidy will grow up to be a warrior for Christ and choose Him above all else.

Well, I have to end this post. I need to wash and dry the pink sheets we got for Cassidy's bed. She's going to love them...they're pink. Her birthday party Saturday (you'll see this in the pictures) is one big PINK extravaganza! Did I mention that Cassidy is a rough and tumble, rag-tag, GIRLY GIRL who loves all things pink and sparkly? And if you know me you may be wondering how this happened. I know. Because God is a good God who knows exactly what we need and how to stretch us...well, that and I think He is occasionally chuckling at my expense.

Happy Birthday to my little Cassidy! I love you!

Prodded to FREEDOM!

2008-09-09T17:38:00.004-04:00

In the dirty pool water.

Yes, I drained the pool and power washed it. I 'm letting it air dry and then deflating it and packing it up.

Finally in the great outdoors!
A close up of the little cutie.

Hopefully our little tree frog will spend a fruitful night croaking his love in the bushes instead of on our back porch. I managed to convince him (using a plastic child's coat hanger) to leave his hiding spot on the glass door. He jumped down into the very dirty pool water and tried unsuccessfully to evade me. I scooped his little swimming self up and quickly deposited him outside the porch door. Luckily, I had NO help from Skipper or Cassidy or the outcome may have been much more dire.

Our Florida Alarm Clock

2008-09-09T12:44:00.003-04:00

This is where he went to hide from us. I'm taking the picture from inside our living room looking out of the sliding glass doors to the back porch.

Reed and Cassidy were both awake this morning before I was. I heard feet pitter pattering and whispered giggles. They were both convinced we had a cricket in the house. So, we listened carefully and the sound was coming from our back porch. Cassidy and I went out there and discovered the source of the racket...a tree frog lookin' for love (in all the wrong places!). So, now I'm trying to figure out the best way to move him into the backyard without injuring him in any way. These little guys can move very quickly. They are awfully cute too!

Fishing the Flats

2008-09-09T12:31:00.003-04:00

Reed and a little gag grouper. We released him quickly so he can grow big enough for us to eat some other day!
My little tree frog!
Check out my HUGE sea bass...not. Incidentally, this is the only fish I caught that day that was NOT a pin fish. But I had fun anyway.
Randy with a gag grouper...isn't he cute? Randy, not the grouper.
Reed and the needle(?) fish.

I can't believe I've forgotten the name of this fish and Randy is in Puerto Rico and Reed is at school. I'm sure if I am wrong someone will let me know. By the way, despite the strangle hold my son has on the fish, it did survive.

We had a great time Saturday on Paul and Lori's boat. We spent a couple of hours fishing and then a hour or so swimming before heading in. We saw a couple of dolphins jumping/playing quite near the boat and we also had a bonnet head shark swim by...but I didn't have the camera ready. There were quite a few sea urchins and spider crabs at the place we went swimming. It was neat to see them up close. Of course, my little crab-boy Reed had to fill up a bucket with spider crabs. He had fun. Thanks Paul and Lori for the fun afternoon.

Equal Opportunity Bragging!

2008-09-05T13:30:00.003-04:00

Cassidy writing her name...she's adding the missing I.
Her name.

So far she hasn't asked me why we gave her a long name

while her brother's has only 4 letters.

She decided to write Reed's name on the driveway.It was backwards and has some obvious issues with the "E", but I am VERY proud!

Lest anyone worry, I am equally proud of Miss Cassidy and have NO trouble bragging about her! She is learning and growing so much. I have really enjoyed watching her explore the things that interest HER over the past year. Once Reed began Kindergarten last year, she had 3 days at our house without someone bigger planning all the activities. I was amazed at how quietly she played AND (this is huge) how she would play BY HERSELF! Puzzles, Legos, play doh - she really likes to manipulate objects and bring order.

And she is a big helper in the housework department. My mom taught her about allowances and getting paid for doing jobs...so I keep some quarters handy and she frequently requests a job so she can get her allowance. She can't remember the word allowance, but she describes it as "putting money in her little cup."

With Reed back in school now, she and I decided to work on her letters. She actually enjoys sitting down with flashcards or practicing writing. She knows more letters than I think she does. We had not worked on the letter "R", but she wrote Reed's name on the driveway.

(This is new territory for me. Reed NEVER voluntarily sat down to practice letters or writing...so we didn't really do it at home until he began bringing home homework last year. Praise God that he isn't behind in his class!)

Cass is in preschool 3 mornings a week this year and due to her birthday (Sept. 16), she has another year of preschool after this one. We've got plenty of time to master reading basics.

In short, I love having a few days with Cassidy to myself. She is a delight to be around - an incredibly happy spirit. She is one of the smiliest kids...even when she is systematically destroying something...she's just smiling away and really thinking how proud you'll be of her. There isn't a mean-spirited bone in her body (well, unless Reed tries to take over what she is doing...then watch out - she is no small fry).She is incredibly rambunctious and she wears me out...not to mention frequently bruising her spinning, twirling, jumping, running self. One sweet and, unfortunately, sincere lady at church suggested we purchase a helmet for Cass to protect her head and face. She is definitely a rough and tumble princess (all tangled curls and pink fingernails)and I am SO proud of her!

Labor Day!

2008-09-02T13:12:00.004-04:00

Examining the catch.
A striped burr fish that Reed netted. Click on the picture and it will enlarge so you can really see the little guy well. He is so cool!
Reed fishing
Cassidy practicing with her mask.
Okay, so this is not the greatest picture, but I wanted to prove I was there.

So, guess where we went on Labor Day? Yep...Emerson Point. And yes, we had a great time...as usual.

I'm so proud of him!

2008-09-02T13:06:00.003-04:00

Reed is showing his addition skills off for his Dad.
Randy has been working with Reed each night for about 10 minutes on math. Reed LOVES working with his Dad.

Reed is 2 weeks into 1st grade and I am already so proud of him. Every day he comes home with new skills and knowledge. His reading, writing and math are improving daily. And he likes school and makes friends easily. What a great kid!

Yes, I am his mommy and completely biased...what's your point?!

Soggy Football

2008-09-02T12:52:00.003-04:00

While a simple rain coat was sufficient for 3 of us, someone (read Randy)needed a bit more...or a WHOLE LOT more.
My sticky, cotton candy loving boy!
Sticky, cutie girl!

We had a great time at the USF football game this past Saturday night. A good friend of ours is an athletic trainer for UT-Martin and called to say she could get us some tickets to their game against USF in Tampa. Randy, of course, jumped at the chance. So we got to go to Raymond James Stadium (home of the Buccaneers) to the game. Thanks, Dani - we had a blast!

It poured rain all afternoon before the game. My husband, the weather fanatic, was tracking the storms and said it looked like there would be a break in the weather about the time the game would start. So we packed up all of our snacks and rain gear and left, IN THE POURING RAIN, to go to a football game in an outdoor stadium. And, of course, Randy was exactly right. It quit raining at the kick off and didn't rain again. We stayed through half time and the kids really enjoyed the half time shows (and the cotton candy).

I really enjoyed watching Randy get all decked out in his rain gear before we walked in to the stadium (to his credit, it was still lightly raining at that point). I guess if the game didn't work out, he could have always gone salmon fishing. Can you just see me laughing AT him.

Additions

2008-08-27T09:38:00.005-04:00

Reed's name hanging above his bed. We love the snorkeler!
Cassidy's perfectly pink name announcing the entrance to her room! Great job, Gran Debbie!
Assembling Cassidy's bed.
Hard at work. Where is that child's pants?!?
Reed and Daddy working together.
The finished product.
The fish tank.

We have had a few new additions to our home decor lately. First, Gran Debbie made both the kids a name painting to hang in their rooms. They look fabulous! Thanks Gran Debbie!

Next, we bought a bed for Cassidy's room. We have really been remiss in decorating a room for Cassidy and it was her Daddy who finally had enough. He said, "We are buying a bed for my little girl and hanging some pictures up in her room." Poor Cass - she got a decorating dud for a mom! (I think she'll survive...I'm teaching her other important things like, "Buck up, camper!" and "Don't squeeze the lizard too hard or you'll squish him!") The kids had a blast helping Daddy put the bed together. Cassidy was especially excited to be a helper...that girl is really strong. She and Randy lifted and carried the box springs by themselves. I know it doesn't weigh a whole lot, but it is definitely large and unwieldy!

Finally, my fishy family added a fish tank. Currently, it is freshwater and inhabited mostly by bluegills caught in the pond outside. There is one lone gold African cichlid inherited with the tank. The plan is to eventually convert to salt water, but for now I'm just glad to have fish in the house again!

This is totally normal!...Right?

2008-08-25T10:34:00.003-04:00

The tape wrangler
Various toys attached to rockets...or markers pretending to be rockets. Hey, artists have to work with what they've got!
My personal favorite.

I don't have a picture of the squid rocket, but we've been enjoying him during bath time. One small bit of info...tape and water is a recipe for losing your rocket or your squid.

Notice the progression to duct tape.

This mother quickly squelched their creative spirits with a few stern words about the expense of duct tape, the stickiness of duct tape and how duct tape is forever more OFF LIMITS!

Enjoying inventions.

The creative juices are really flowing around here! Reed and Cassidy (since she does everything he does) have been "inventing" many useful things. I use the word "useful" rather loosely. I think Reed's inventions would be incredibly useful if you, by chance, needed things to blow up, shoot into space or, in any fashion, be attached to a rocket. If you need assistance in any of those areas, give me a call...I can hook you up...I mean tape you up!

Fay Play Day!

2008-08-19T15:03:00.003-04:00

Playing outside (in jammies)
Cassidy is apparently pretending to be a robot. I have no idea what Reed is doing. And yes, Cassidy is wearing Power Ranger jammies.
Hard-working Hubby!

Well, Tropical Storm Fay faked us out. She changed tracks last night and went north and east much earlier than predicted. That meant that the kids were out of school and Randy was off work, but we had no bad weather. As I type this, they are outside fishing for bluegills in the pond. This morning Randy pressure washed the house and the kids played in their jammies until after lunch. I worked on the blog and some other things on the computer. But it is back to the grindstone tomorrow!

First Day of School

2008-08-19T11:06:00.004-04:00

Ready for another year of preschool
Big 1st Grader! Looking good on the first day of school.

The kids started back to school yesterday, Monday, August 18. Reed's school "loops" their teachers, so he has the same teacher for Kinder and 1st Grade. He was in the same classroom with the same students...a few new ones. Due to this, there was no anxiety and his first day went very well.

Cassidy, the resident social butterfly with very high self-esteem, ran right into her new classroom and did not even give her Mom a kiss. I followed her in, introduced us to the teacher and got my kiss. She also had a great first day. She is in a MWF class from 9AM-Noon.

I did the "happy dance of joy" on my way to my car, called my sister (the school teacher) and gloated and came home to a blissfully quiet house all to myself!

Gram's Plan: Have fun!

2008-08-19T10:54:00.004-04:00

Mom and Dad made Reed a "Pirate Den" in the loft. He LOVED it!
Pirate Reed
Reed vacuuming
Cassidy mopping
Walking down Gram's street.
At the Children's Museum. Reed the weather guy.
Cassidy on the screen
Cooking
Feeding Gram
Cassidy and the piglets.

My mom did a great job planning lots of fun activities for the kids during our visit. We had a fabulous time. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Grandparent Fun...Squared!

2008-08-19T10:09:00.008-04:00

No, I cannot explain the Roman soldier helmet in the pool.
Gran Debbie reading bedtime stories.
My parents with us...pictures taken BEFORE dinner...Reed was not a happy camper.
Pa David and Gran Debbie with kids.
Reed and Cassidy with both sets of Grands...blessed kids.

Cassidy in her garden at Gram's.
Reed in his garden at Gram's. Hurricane Dolly took out a lot of the bigger plants in this garden with her strong west winds.
Climbing trees
Teeter totter

Gram Ava and Pa Gary with the kiddos.
Pa David playing.

After we left Corpus Christi on Saturday afternoon, we drove down to Harlingen to Pa Gary and Gram Ava's house for the rest of our Texas stay. Our other set of grandparents were meeting us down there for a few days, so the kids got to have Pa David and Gran Debbie to play with as well. Needless to say, fun was had by all.

Cousin fun!

2008-08-18T10:47:00.007-04:00

Gram Ava and Pa Gary with all their grandkids...a full couch.
The whole gang.
I wonder if they understand each other?
Cutie Marla with Gram and Pa!

The Blankinships loving on Baby Marla
Cassidy sitting with Vivian and holding the unsuspecting Marla.
Isn't she precious?!?
Pa Gary and Marla...with her eyes open!
This picture cracks me up! Reed loved holding Marla, but she was done with all of us at this point. Don't worry, we quickly whisked her off to her Mom for a little snack and all was well.

There are more adventures to come! It is taking me a while to get caught up. The kids started school this morning, so that is one hurdle jumped! We are keeping an eye on Fay and have prepared as best we can.

The Gulf Coast: From East to West

2008-08-18T10:18:00.005-04:00

As mentioned in previous posts...you never know what you'll get when you give Aunt Becky the camera!
Reed and Colten...two peas in a pod.
Fishing
Happy fishing...duh.
Dad with his girls...we are so blessed!

All the kids on the fish cleaning table...aren't they cute!
The Bennett's had A LOT of fun things outside...including Roger, the entertainment committee!
Heading to the pool. Yes, we NEEDED to take the snorkeling gear!
Playing
Vivian, Hallie, Cassidy and Laura

The kids and I had such a great time visiting our friends and family in Texas. We flew into San Antonio with Aunt Becky and spent the night at her apartment. Uncle Mark and Aunt Tamra picked all of us up at the airport Thursday night and then met us for breakfast on Friday morning. It was great to see them and we wished we had more time together. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera so I don't have a picture to post of our cutie Aunt Tam and Uncle Marky!

Then it was off south to the Corpus Christi area. We met up with Gram Ava, Pa Gary, Uncle Aaron, Aunt Tarin, Hallie, Vivian, Sweetie Marla at our friends, the Bennett's, house. We had a great time! Thanks Roger, Beth, Colten and Laura for the great hospitality!

VBS

2008-08-05T09:23:00.005-04:00

The Preschool gang
Cassidy at Crafts Corral
Becky giving a "pardner" a hand slap as he finished the sack jump race.
Reed at Chuck Wagon Snacks
Reed coloring his bandanna at Crafts Corral
Cassidy and friends at Bible Study Campfire.
Here are my children pre-VBS. I always arrive 1.5 hours early to be sure everything is set up and in place for that evening. This means that I feed the kids at the church before VBS starts. I didn't want them to get it all over their clothes...so I shucked them out of their shirts...and took a picture. FYI - They were fully clothed by the time people began arriving.
Randy as John the Baptist
Becky encouraging a little guy!

This is the last of 4 new posts I've posted today...scroll down to catch up on all the fun! This is probably the last post for a while. VBS ends on Wednesday night and the kids and I are heading to Texas to see Baby Marla and the rest of our family on Thursday. We'll be gone for a week.

VBS is in full swing at our church. So, Becky and I have been rather busy these past few days. All is going well and the kids are having a great time. We have a western theme this year and the church is decorated so well. Each evening, I lead the Worship Rally Roundup. That might sound like I'm bragging, but it really involves me yelling things like, "Howdy!" and "Yee Haw!" and huffing and puffing through very active songs...while the other adults point, laugh and snap pictures! But don't think I'm alone in being silly...Becky is the leader of the Recreation Barn. So, she leads all of the games each evening. Last night she was caught crab walking, rolling across the floor and racing kids up the aisles in the auditorium. The kids love going to the Recreation Barn...for obvious reasons.

Our whole VBS is based on the scripture John 3:16 and the idea that Jesus is GOOD NEWS for us and we need to "Saddle Up! and Tell Others!" that Jesus is Good News for them too. It doesn't get much better than standing with 25 excited kids as we holler "Jesus is Good News!" And I am humbled to have that opportunity.

One of the most appealing things about this VBS theme, and the reason I chose it this year for our church, is the simplicity of the theme. We live in a world where there is so much confusion. In many cases, the things that are right and good are labeled as wrong and intolerant. People search for meaning and hear everyday that there is no one right way. But no, there is ONE RIGHT WAY - Jesus Christ! And He is GOOD NEWS! And we need to tell the people we come into contact with about Him.

So, Becky and I will head back tonight ready to huff, puff and be silly just to hear those kids holler, "JESUS IS GOOD NEWS!"