I've jumped on the bandwagon...

Okay, so I was NOT going to read these books. I mean, they're about vampires and werewolves and raging teenage hormones. But I needed something to read while I was blowdrying my hair at my sister's house and they were the closest thing available, Holy cow--I have pretty much done nothing but read these books since I started on Tuesday afternoon. I finished the first three; now I've GOT to get the fourth one tomorrow! I'm not sure exactly what the draw is because the books are really about vampires and werewolves and raging teenage hormones. But I'm Team Edward all the way now. (I told Aaron I wished he was a sexy vampire and he just looked at me like I was a lunatic. lol)

PS: I'm diasppointed in the guy they got to play Edward in the movie. He's no where near who I pictured in my mind--he's not "greek god" enough!

Day at the Park

The Cousins

My grandparents were passing through town on Sunday, so we played hooky from church (we meet in the afternoon) and went to Fort Yargo in Winder to see them. Cristie & Eli and their kids met us there as well. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins! The only problem was the sugar bees that were EVERYWHERE! Thankfully they don't sting!!

Carissa (8 1/2 years old)

Carsten (6 1/2 years old)

Maddie (6 1/2 years old)

Caitlin (4 years old)

Wesley (15 months)

The cutest kid ever!

(I know you all think you have cute kids, but seriously, Wesley is the cutest! lol)

SHOCKING!!

Two posts in less 5 minutes--it's amazing. (Can you tell I'm infatuated with this new computer. LOL) This one is too funny. (Thanks, Elizabeth!)

YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car): Pinkie Highlander

YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fav hobby/craft, fav weather element + “Tour”): The Sewing Sunny with Rain Tour

YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie): Spumoni Double Chocolate Chip

YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name): W-CLA

YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal): Blue Goldfish

YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born):Wendi Birmingham

YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first): ClWen (That one's weird!)

SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink): The Brown Orange Julius

STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy): Love Spell Dove Bar

WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names): Irene Maury

WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter): Highsmith Hollywood

SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower): Halloween Gerber Daisy

CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”): Watermelon Jeany

YAHOO!!!!

We're FINALLY in the land of the fast computer people!!! We got a new (well, new to us) computer and it is like 1,000,000 times faster than our ANCIENT computer. We bought it in 2001, so it was very much time to get a new one. I can actually go from one blog to the next in less than 5 minutes. :) I might actually post more than once a month and make comments on everyone else's posts. :) YIPEE!!

Camp Nonna 2008

I know it's been almost 2 months since Maddie went to stay at my parents' house for the annual "Camp Nonna," but better late than never, right? My mom sends an e-mail just about every evening to let the moms and dads know what they're kids are up to. Carissa (8), Carsten (6) and Caitlin (3) are Eli & Cristie's kids. (Cristie is my sister and Eli is Aaron's brother--they're married. Very redneck, I know!) This is REALLY long, but since this is about as good as it gets when it comes to journaling/scrapbooking, I'm including it for my posterity. :) I might even make one of those blog books someday. :)

FRIDAY
We had a fairly uneventful drive to Gainesville, Florida. for a mini-reunion with Nonna's parents and sisters and their families. Carissa watched movies in the front seat between Nonna and Poppa, and colored in her coloring book. The ones in the back also watched movies and colored. Caitlin listened for quite a while with her headphones. Later someone discovered the sound was not coming through them very well, if at all, but that didn't seem to bother her. Most the time she just watched without headphones anyway.

Poppa decided they would fill up cheaper at KFC if we just bought a bucket of chicken. Everyone said we loved it (before we stopped). Turns out we didn't, and luckily we had lots of snacks. When we arrived in Gainesville we went to the hotel to unpack. We were very excited about everything. We then went to Aunt Judy's where we swam until everyone came back from going out in the boat with Grandpa Smith. Aunt Barbara gave us some stickers and we had fun putting them on some of our older cousins. John and David were the most cooperative. Aunt Betty brought homemade BBQ. We stayed until around 9:45 and then went back to the hotel where we went to sleep pretty quick. Maddie and Carissa had the bed and Carsten and Caitlin took their turn on the floor.

SATURDAY
We had to be at Judy's at 6 AM Saturday morning so we set the alarm for 5:15. We were going tubing down the Ichetucknee River. Everyone knew where their bathing suit, water shoes and t-shirt were, so as soon as we got up we grabbed it and put it on. Everything went very smooth. We got the impression we would eat at 6 and then leave around 6:15 - Aunt Barbara brought donuts. It was closer to 7 before we left. We wished we had come over later and had a few minutes more of sleep. We were on the river pretty early and had lots of fun. It was pretty crowded at first but not impossible to maneuver. Carsten actually swam for quite awhile. All the kids took turn on all the rafts and floats. It did start to rain at the end, with lightening and thunder, which made us--especially Maddie--nervous. A ranger in a kayak told everyone if they saw lightening to get to the side of the river (what difference would that make?? Except make it easier for them to fish your body out if you were hit by lightening??) Maddie kept saying "What did he tell us to do??" We told her but she was convinced it was something else and we were not telling her. No one heard anything else but her and she had no idea what she heard. Since it was overcast it was not too hot and so while the water was cold it didn't seem too bad. We collected some empty snail shells and what we think are frog eggs to see if we can hatch them here. We got out at the parking lot our car was left in. Uncle Randy did not realize where he was and he went on to the next take out point - and our keys were in his car, so we had to wait for him. He did not enjoy the final leg of his trip. It was rainy and cold and he was miserable. He certainly wished he had gotten out at the right place. Since we had to wait quite awhile for him we wished he had also.

Aunt Betty asked Carsten if his parents were going to rest while they were away. He said "no they are going rafting, shooting, and snow boarding. " First 2 sound plausible, but snow boarding??

SUNDAY
Luckily everyone was able to sleep a little later. Poppa misunderstood the plans and almost took all 4 kids down to breakfast before Nonna was out of the shower. Luckily she stopped him in time. We all enjoyed breakfast - we got what we wanted the first time through and then Nonna got anything else we wanted instead of us going to get it.. We really liked the idea of all the choices. Poppa was really glad he did not bring us by himself! We packed the room up and finally got on the road around 10:30. The only luggage cart was missing so we had to carry everything down. We all did a great job carrying our stuff.

One of the DVD screens would not work. After most of one movie, Carsten said he could fix it and he did! He said the wires were tangled and that what made it not work. He said he also blew on all the connections - "I did everything I know to do" . Whatever it was it did start working!

We stopped at Wendy's for lunch. The line didn't look long but it took forever! We were running behind and had no time to spare to get to Florence and get the car returned. No bathroom breaks!! We got home just in time but Poppa's key would not unlock the front door! The gate was shut and it was not made to open from the front. He tried to put Carsten over but he wasn't going for it. Maddie tried next. Poppa wanted to just hold her over and drop her, Nonna said "NO, NO!! Let her climb down!" Maddie agreed she wanted to do that. No wonder Carsten did not want to do it (he got as far as being held over the fence-Nonna didn't realize what Poppa was planning on doing) Maddie climbed down with no problem and opened the gate.

It was about 10 or so before we got in bed. Maddie and Carsten had napped in the car. Everyone went to sleep quickly- except for Maddie. That is when she starts thinking. She told us in the car about the time she started crying half way through the song "Too Late to Apologize." She was in her parents' bed and was looking at the pictures on the computer when she was little and started crying. She seems a little young to be that nostalgic! Originally Maddie was going to be sleeping in Corie's room, Carsten is in Matt's room, Caitlin and sleep in the guestroom. We spent so much time playing in Corie's room, that is now the playroom. When anyone wakes up they are to go in the "playroom" and watch TV or play without waking anyone else. Maddie is sleeping on the loveseat in the setting room.

MONDAY
We thought Maddie was the first one up at 7 AM but Carissa was already in the playroom watching TV. Carsten was up next and then Caitlin got up. After breakfast Carsten, Maddie and Caitlin went outside to swim and play. We played outside most of the day, even eating lunch on the tower. (Actually we ate off and on all day.) Caitlin became a really good driver in the Barbie car, especially once she learned how to back it up. Carissa went swimming and playing outside for awhile, she spent a lot of time reading. It started raining and so everyone played with water, measuring cups, cinnamon and anything else we could find at the kitchen and bathroom sinks. We watched TV and then cleaned up all of our mess all over the house. We changed our clothes, and went to Hobby Lobby to buy craft projects. We were very impressed at how large the Hobby Lobby is compared to ours at home. We then went to the Dollar Store to spend the $2 we earned by being so good on the trip to Florida. Carissa knew just what she wanted - Candy!! Carsten told her she should buy something that would last (of course just how long does anything from the Dollar Store last?) He ended up being tempted and spent $1 on candy. Maddie had two bags of candy picked out and then saw some lip-gloss and switched one bag for that. Caitlin saw the pack of blow pops and wanted that. She had two in the pack picked out for Nonna and Poppa, two for her Mom and Dad and two for herself - then she saw the toys and picked out two toys. Carsten wanted a police toy and finally he found an FBI set with the party stuff, so he was happy. We came home took quick showers and had a snack of Macaroni and cheese before going to bed at 9 PM. Everyone fell asleep really fast. Maddie looked asleep but soon came downstairs and said she couldn't sleep because the house was too big. Nonna told her that her house with the basement was probably the same size or maybe bigger. She said that maybe this house is too little then. She agreed to fall asleep on the couch in TV room and let Nonna walk her up later. She fell right asleep.

Our BEAUTIFUL cakes

TUESDAY
We had French toast for breakfast and then we went to the movies. We sat in the very last seats way up high. We thought Racing Stripes was about a car race so we were really happy to find out it was about a zebra who thinks he is a race horse. All the animals could talk when there were no people around and they were real funny. We all really loved it! We were the last ones to leave the theatre so we went up front and danced to the music playing. Maddie thought we should write to the people who made the movie to tell them how much we liked it. After the movies we went to the park and played for about 1 1/2 hours. It was breezy and not too hot so we had fun. We made friends with an 8 year old girl and her 2 year old brother. Maddie played a lot with the 2 year old since he reminder her of Wesley. We came home and ate pizza and then played outside with the Barbie car and swam. Everyone was getting a little grouchy so Nonna had everyone come in and rest and watch TV. We also played Old Maid and Go Fish card games It is Corie's birthday today so we called and sang Happy Birthday to her! Later we had fun playing with fondant like it was play clay. We were making decorations for a cake we will decorate later in the week. It took a lot of powdered sugar so it was quite messy. After cleaning up we went outside again to swim and play. We ate dinner and got ready for bed. We then did a craft coloring bookmarkers we picked out at Hobby Lobby last night.

Making s'mores

Caitlin did let us in on a little secret when she was asked where she got such stinky poop from she quickly said "my Mom!"

Maddie decided that wants Nonna and Poppa to live next door to her so she can see her parents! None of us have time to think of our parents during the day but at night when we are falling asleep we do...

WEDNESDAY

We painted some bird houses and then played and swam. We went to Hobby Lobby to find birds to decorate our masterpieces. We had packed a lunch so we went to the park to eat and play. A Boys and Girls club also had the same idea so we did not stay as long as we did yesterday, We went back home and went swimming for a long time. A little arguing started so Nonna reminded everyone that contention is from Satan and if you want to follow Jesus you have to be nice. Almost everyone said they wanted to follow Jesus not the devil. Caitlin quickly said "I want to follow the "debil" When asked why she said "my momma does!" Her momma is getting blamed for everything, from stinky poop to the "debil!" Caitlin really swam a lot today. Carsten was in and out so he could drive the Barbie Car and shoot his FBI gun. Caitlin got out for awhile to ride a long with him. It is Carsten's job to put it in the garage every night to be charged up.

Maddie and her masterpiece

Carsten ended up getting real chapped from playing in his bathing suit too long. He didn't want to put anything on it, but finally agreed when he was told "the secret of men " Baby powder! He now knows the real secret of real men. After dinner Carsten tried swimming for a nano second before his rash started burning and Poppa but "butt cream" on him. Carissa and Maddie tried swimming for a little while but it was irritating where their bathing suit had rubbed. Caitlin had no problems so she swam - with her life jacket of course. Carsten remembered we had not had our traditional ice cream in bed yet, so we made sure we did that. After calling our moms we danced and sang a little before joining the bed train - we have prayer and then make a train to drop everyone off in their beds. We take turns at being the first one dropped off.

On the dune buggy with Poppa

THURSDAY
The day did not start off smooth for Carsten he could not find his green FBI gun from the dollar store. He was in crisis mode all morning. It was too hot to go outside and we all still had a little rash from our swimsuits yesterday so no one went outside much in the morning except too look for the gun, of course. Carsten did enjoy his breakfast - he asked for oatmeal and ate 2 servings. Our late morning craft was sun catchers - well Carsten insisted on using regular paint so not much sun shines through. We then made started making those plastic things that you iron to melt the plastic bits together. Carissa was the only one who actually made any. Everyone actually had a good time separating the colors. We spent a long time working on that. After dinner we went down to the creek at the end of the road. We had a great time using sticks to get the nasty plant growth out of the creek. We were trying to see how much we could pile up; It felt much cooler and a nice breeze was blowing.

We did our normal evening cleaning - we clean up all the rooms every evening, picking up the toys etc. Nonna found Carsten's gun and told him in exchange he had to be nice to everyone otherwise it would be taken away and he could not get it back until he returned from his mission.

Oatmeal for breakfast!

FRIDAY
We started out with everyone wanting oatmeal. Carsten discovered he loved regular oatmeal with maple syrup. He even wanted it for lunch! We decorated our cakes today. We were able to pick how we wanted it to look - how many layers, size (within reason), and color. We used the fondant pieces we made earlier in the week. We are bringing them home - hopefully without too much melting. Caitlin took a lot of time finding the perfect place for - well the most accurate description is a blue turd looking piece- she moved it around a half dozen times, because in her words it is a " talking carrot".

Singing, dancing & being SILLY!

When Poppa looked at the cakes when he came home she pointed out the talking carrot to him also. Maddie made a little tiny one for Wesley also. We all went outside for swimming and popsicles. We played, watched TV and Caitlin fell asleep - the only day she had taken a nap. We worked on our "family project." We picked out our family members and Nonna painted them. We painted some - you will be able to see why Nonna painted and we were the executive directors. We stained the wood ourselves, by putting our hand in a plastic bag so we did not get dirty. We also said what we wanted our title to be, which explains why Caitlin says "I love my family" (on the front)" and "my chicken butt" on the back - her words!
Poppa came home and mowed the lawn and then we went to the dump with him. After we got back we went down to the creek. We continued our "job" cleaning out the creek while Poppa started a fire. We started cooking our hotdogs over the fire - some wanted them uncooked. A neighborhood dog came and sat and watched us. After hotdogs we made s'mores. We came home took showers and then gathered up all of our stuff to pack. We had prayer and our bed train took everyone to bed. Everyone is looking forward to seeing their parents tomorrow.

Cleaning out the neighborhood creek