My Doodle is 8 with a free Clemson party

From the first time I saw your chubby little face and chunky legs, I was in love.

Eight years ago, almost to the hour, I met you and I loved you right then. You have a smile that lights up a room.

He has always had me.

Shepherd, you are pretty amazing.  I love how you are a mystery to people who dont know you well.  You are not an open book.  Often when you are sad, you disappear.  You dont easily open up, but when its just you and me, you will tell me about your life.  And, boy, you can make me laugh.  You have an adult's sense of humor which ironically many adults dont quite understand. 

You still love to play with toys.  You love legos, Minecraft, Pokemon (yuk), Power Rangers.  But, the thing you spend the most time doing is arts and crafts- from coloring to writing to drawing, you can spend hours at the kitchen table or at your desk lost in your creative world.  It makes me smile.

You are sooo smart.  I fear you are not being challenged this year but I am not quite sure what to do about that. 

You are pretty laid back unless Ashton is around and he has way of pressing your buttons (he has the effect on all of us :)  You bellow STOP at him and it drives us all crazy.  Besides the whines with Ashton, you are easy.

You had a great soccer season.  Everyone saw a drastic improvement in your play and confidence.  You are excited to play basketball this season as well.  Though you are not fast, you are started to use your mind to  make up for it (which will definitely serve you better in the long run (no pun intended))

For your birthday...
One of your buddies, Connor, spent the night last night.  You, Connor, and Ashton had a quite time. 

These three have been friends since Shepherd was 6 months old

Even though you are not a football fan at this point in your life, we all went to the Clemson football game today.  I convinced you, we were not going to watch a football game as much as we were going to hang out with Owen, Caelum. and Connor.  We had a great of 9 kids (and 6 adults) and conquered the Clemson game and ate at yummy lunch/ dinner at Joe's Pizza!

So proud of these boys.  The minute the National Anthem started, they all immediately stopped playing football (without being told) and put their hand to their hearts.  Unfortunately, I snapped the picture right when Connor dropped the ball but I was proud of them

Bennett and Caelum exploring a helicopter - It was military appreciation day

Great crew of boys 

Love this picture- Connor is literally in mid air while clapping along with the band

No words for this crazy kid

Listening to the Tiger band

Just call them photogenic

Parachutes coming into stadium

Watching the balloons and parachuters

Mantis photo bombs the kid picture with bunny ears 

Queenie in her element!

Love this funny ornery little thing!

This is trouble though really cute trouble

Pretty Miss Eva

These guys would play football all day!

________________________________________________________________________

Party 1- Last weekend, you spent the night (by yourself) with Mantis and Queenie.  You had your annual shopping/ eating trip.  When I came to pick you up, you had made yourself a birthday cake with Queenie so we started celebrating a week early.

Happy Birthday to you!

Party 2- you opened all your presents and blew out candles the day before your birthday

Power Ranger cupcakes that may or may not have looked like power rangers :/ 

Presents... we got a lot of fun stuff... Kid is wearing a size 6 shoe!

Party 3- When we got back from the game, we did a quick Happy Birthday song and cupcakes again because it was your actual birthday!

My big 8 year old!

9 kids enjoying cupcakes

I think you had a really fun day.  You have spent the last hour coloring with metallic markers (in the Ridiculous coloring book) that Aunt Anna got for you. 

Shepherd, shine on kid.  You have so much change this year.  For a introvert, that can be hard, but you have handled it all beautifully.  I am so proud of you and thankful to call you my kid!  We are reading the Prince Warriors/ Armor of God books and you LOVE them.  Remember to equip yourself daily with these pieces of armor.  Stand firm!

I love you with all my heart!
~Mom

PS- Just one example of Shep's random funniness.  While I am doing this blog, he is coloring behind me and says.... "You know how Moses and I are the same?  We both are competitive, like to be scratched, and we LOVE butter."  haha- If only I could spend a few hours inside his head, I bet it would hysterical!

Happy 8th Birthday Shep-a-doodle!

Halloween a tad late

Yes, I still despise Halloween but we did the whole Halloween thing this year.

The crew--- Bennett as a dinosaur.  Hunter as Harry Potter.  Ashton as Draco Malfoy (he just finished book 5), and Shepherd as one of 5 million red Power Rangers.  

Silliness

My wonderful friend Jodi invited us ( and some of our other friends) over to her house to eat and then trick or treat around her neighbor.

Some of my people.  Sarah, Jessica, and Jodi.  (Missing Leah as her oldest son had an allergic reaction to peanut butter at school on Halloween).
So glad Jodi insisted we snap a picture, we never do this.

The boys had a great time.  Karson drove around in the golf cart with my kids. 

Some of the kids in the group we trick or treated with (Sarah and her kids were not here yet)

Jodi, as always, thank you for opening your home to us and for forcing me to allow my kids to Halloween.... haha.

Waterfall or Bust

The boys and I spent a few days with  my parents this past week.  I love going down to see my mom and dad especially when there is nothing on the agenda.

I had seen on facebook, a SC watefall roadtrip.  Link here.  Five of the seven top waterfalls are within 40ish minutes of my parent's house... thus the reason we call it God's country.  :)  I told mom that we should go.  We decided to split up the viewings into two days.  The two in Oconee county on Thursday and then the three in Pickens County on Saturday.

We load up the boys, and the two younger dogs along with my both my parents.  We get to our first destination of Chau Ram State Park.  You can literally see the waterfall from the parking lot which sounds great in theory, but turns out to be quite dangerous.  The rock that you walk on is not steep but very very slippery... do you sense where this is going?  My mom is on high alert keeping the boys close to her, my dad has both dogs (problem 1) who are pulling like crazy on their nice, long, extendable leashes (problem 2).  All of sudden, my father is being pulled down the rock, he slips, flies up in the air lands right in the middle of his back, dropping the leash and immediately curls up in a fetal position.  Mom screams, thinks he is dead or paralyzed.  She doesnt go down to him knowing she will bust it as well.  So, I hurry down and also fall.  However, I fall on my nicely, padded rear end but because it is slippery, I slide and my feet go in the water.  By the grace of God, I stop before I go all the way in the water (it is not shallow) with my phone and keys in my hand.

The big flat rock right in the front of this picture drops off a bit... that is where Mantis and I fell. 

Long story short, I get to dad- make sure he can move.  I gather up the dogs (by this point, mom has secured the kids on the grass), and dad crawls up the rock with me.  The word "fiasco" does not quite sum up this experience.

After the fall, we all recovered enough to smile for a shot

We let dad compose himself and he take a small walk through the trails.  He meets up with us on our way back.  Mom takes over driving his car and dad rides with me as he is a trooper and says we can continue on our waterfall hunt.

And another group shot.

Next stop, Isaqueena Falls/ Stumphouse Tunnel.  We had actually been here with mom and dad before back in January of 2012.  See post here.   A much different experience this time since it is summer you could see nothing from the lookout point plus Bennett was not even a thought the last time we were there.  Because of dad's back, mom and dad didnt hike down to see the waterfall.  It was a pretty steep descent but not super long.  The boys loved climbing down.  After the waterfall, we drove up to Stumphouse Tunnel which they loved.

The boys loved this waterfall.  After the last stop though, I was a bit on guard.

As close to perfect as I have snapped with these 4.  Hunt is a bit stiff, but these boys are the best.

Climbing back up to the look out.

Stop for a pic of the Stumphouse trail.

By Friday, dad's back was really sore and stiff but he was at least able to move and walk a bit.  The boys and I were able to meet up at CFA with Olivia and her boys.... again, forget to take a picture!!!

Uncle Nolan came down Friday night and we decided to forego the waterfall adventures and hit Secret Beach (a college, lake hang out.. we hit it before the college kids were even awake) and then the pool.

It was a nice 5 minute walk from the road to the "secret" beach.

Some pics of crazy Riggs.  He did not like anyone but Nolan going too deep in the water.

Some pics of crazy Riggs.  He did not like anyone but Nolan going too deep in the water.

example of Rigg's attempt to "pull" his kids back to the sand.

:)

queenie with her boys.

Nolan with 3 of the 4.  

Two of a kind.... these two preferred the rocks and snacks to the water and sand.

The boys and I hurried back home as my mom's sister, my cousin, his wife and daughter, and my GrandmaDean were coming over to my house for dinner.  Chad stepped up to the plate and got dinner ready for everyone and we had such a fun time.  I dont get to see my cousins much, especially as care free as he was at my house.

The adults getting a look at Nolan's Peru trip pics.  

Bennett and his 2nd cousin (or 1st cousin once removed), Spencer.  Bennett was so sweet to Spencer trying to make her feel comfortable in our wild house.

It was a slammed pack few days but lots of fun.... in the words of GrandpaGordie... we made a memory.

Freedom to...

4th of July is such a good time to sit and reflect on the freedom that we have been given- the sacrifices that are made.  We are free in this country.  

I try to wrap my mind around senseless tragedies.  I try to wrap my mind around the world that we live in where men feel justified in targeting any one group- whether it is attacking a race or gender like the "entitled white man" or the "enslaved black man" or the "encased independent woman."  Or attacking a religious group like the "headwrapped vengeful Muslim" or the "intolerant judgmental Christian."  Or attacking those charged in ensuring our freedom like the "racists police officers" or the "trigger happy soldier."  All these terms are not ones I coined, but ones that I hear often- descriptions to single out or to isolate a group.  And they are wrong.  

As a Christian, I can only speak from that perspective.  Jesus is truly the only one who ever sat on this earth and had the right to have an adverse reaction to us.... but he chose to sit with sinners.  He ate with sinners. He washed the feet of sinners.  He didnt see their color, he didnt see their occupation, he didnt even see their religion.  He saw a people in need of salvation.  A people in need of a Savior.  

We need to live by His example." for this is how we know what love is, that Jesus Christ laid down His life for us." I John 3:16

As Christians, we sit and marvel about how beautiful God's creation is.  We say it is beautiful for the mountains and the valleys.  It is beautiful for the snowy arctic and the sandy desert.  It is beautiful for the tallest oak tree and the prettiest lilly.  It is truly God's unique creation that makes it beautiful.  He used that same ingenuity to create His greatest masterpiece- people.  Why do we have such a hard time recognizing this diversity is what makes us beautiful?  To steal the words of a child's Bible song, "we (plural/ inclusive/ ALL) are precious in His sight."

I should probably have this be a post on its own, but most of you visit this blog not to hear me rant but to see pics of the kids.  Soooo

We had quite a schedule to coordinate for the 4th.  Basically, we are keeping my brother's dog, Riggs (if you have been reading my blog for awhile, you know ALL about Riggsy.)  Anyway, Riggs doesnt get along well with one of my parents dogs so instead of subject my parents and the dogs to that, my dad came up and spent a couple nights up here so that we could participate in July 4th activities.  

We first went to visit with mom just for a night and then headed over to PapaHub and Grandma's.  The 4th of July was spent up at the pool with a cookout and lots of swimming and a little bit of fishing.  Sandee and the girls and my family then went to see some fireworks.   We even got to meet up with Jodi and her kids for a bit before we came home.

On the road.

A side note, I am so proud of my middle two who are 100% swimming thanks to a week's worth of lesson with Mrs Kayla Brook (as well as lessons last year with Mrs Danielle).   Both of these ladies have made my life a bit more simple.  

Daredevil- the next day Shep had to strip in the pool as he had bee go up his shorts while he was at the top of the slide.  It bit his butt and his leg.

Hunter went down this slide about every way you could think of.

The most conservative of my 4 in the water.

PapaHub's got this grandpa thing under control- expertly handling the youngest three!!! 

Bennett was awesome with both a lifejacket and swimmies. haha- he barely went under when he jumped in. His swim lessons will begin next year.  Bennett jumping into Julie

Swoon- This is one of those pictures that I will adore forever.

PapaHub grilled up a good dinner.  The whole group at the cookout.

Attemped some fishing with Great Uncle John.

Patiently waiting

more waiting

nothing was caught by the those using crickets.  But, thanks to Uncle John for letting the boys fish in the pond.

Bennett and Sami sitting with Becca, Julie, and Guneet during the fireworks

Sam, Ash, Char, and Shep with McD's in the background

Hunter, my buddy, sat with me.

 Another fun holiday in the books.   Thanks to all the grandparents for taking such good care of us.

God Bless America!