Snow in Georgia?!

It's not every day in March that you get a snow storm. At least not in Georgia! Maybe a few flurries......... but enough to cause a power outage??

We came home after Church on Sunday and we were so happy to see that it was snowing! We just didn't know that soon there wouldn't be any water, warmth, or Wii.

Actually, we were pretty cozy. With ten people in one room it can't be cold for too long! We had tons of fun playing in the snow, too! Miles had no clue what the white stuff on the ground was but he sure loved it!
The rest of us polished up on our snowball making skills and had a blast!

In short, we got to experience what it's like without things.....but with just each other.

Boys' Trip to Baltimore

Instead of having Boys Night Out, Dad, Lane, and James had a Boys Weekend Out. They drove to Baltimore late one Friday night to pick up a motorcycle that my dad bought on Ebay. Yep, a motorcycle. A Honda Interceptor to be exact. My mom said that he had nostalgia--a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life(dictionary definition). He had a motorcycle just like that in college and you know how tempting it is to bid just once on it......and then, well, maybe one more time couldn't hurt.....

So that's how we have a motorcycle sitting in our garage right now.

Anyway, before they stopped in Baltimore the boys decided to visit Washington D.C. They went inside the Washington Monument, looked in the Smithsonian Museum, and gawked at the price of the $9.00 hamburgers at McDonald's. All in all, they had some good "Manly bonding time." =)

Blueberries--Miles' Best Friend!

Somebody really likes Blueberries!

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Cake Icing at Camp....

Sweet. Slimy. Oozy. Greasy. All adjectives that describe cake icing....on your face. Believe me I know what cake icing feels like....on my face!

Lane, James, Cammie, and I went to Neighborhood Gospel Mission Camp July 7-12. It's a Christian Summer camp in southern Georgia for kids. It also has a time called Surprise hour. Which explains why we have cake icing all over our faces. =)

Naturally if something is a surprise you don't know what it is. At Surprise Hour we didn't know what we were going to be doing. Whether it be having a water balloon fight with another team or getting your face "made up." That's what the cake icing was supposed to resemble. The guy that did Surprise hour called up four boys and four girls and told the reluctant girls to sit in the four chairs that were lined up in the front. The boys stood behind us. Then he gave the boys, "makeup"(cake icing in a tube) and told them to "make us
up." After we had got our faces smeared with the sweet gunk and were looking absolutely gorgeous, we did the boys' makeup......but with real stuff! I think they looked better than we did. We couldn't stop laughing--but we also couldn't wait to hit the showers!

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Happy Birthday, Bronwen!

Better Late than Never.....

We took some pictures of Miles on Bronwen's Birthday and decided that they could be used as his birthday pictures since we didn't get a chance to snap some photos when he turned one. Always better late than never I guess!

note: Miles actually did not touch the candle in the photo below so you can rest easy.... =)

Vacation at Lake Russel

Strangely, as we were at Lake Russel for about a week, we didn't get one single picture of anybody skiing, tubing, or knee boarding--on the lake! Just photos in our cabin.Our friends, Megan and Hulet Smith, and their three girls, Sophia, Olivia, and Ava, invited us up to their cabin they were renting on Lake Russel for a week. We also did some bike riding on the bike trails while we were there, played Volleyball, swam, and ate hot dogs. That about sums up our vacation! But now, we almost need another vacation we're so worn out. A vacation after a vacation......hmmm. I guess something to talk to Mom and Dad about. =)


Anyway, I hope you are having a great Summer! May God bless you and happy Fourth of July!

Miles and Dad Chillin' Out

I just couldn't resist posting this picture. =)

The Purple Pinata Kitty

VBS 2008,Crooked Creek Baptist

Paper mache is fun. It's super fun. Especially when your purple pinata cat that you and your team have worked hard on all during VBS wins the competition!

Our purple paper mache feline did win the contest, the contest that all of the teens of Crooked Creek Baptist made their own pinatas for. But our team took home the prizes......giant Hershey's Chocolate bars.

The pinatas then went to birthday parties for families who couldn't afford party decorations. I would like to say that I was thrilled that our team had won. And I was--for the moment! But wouldn't you be kind of disappointed if your prized creation was going to be destroyed in a matter of weeks by some candy-loving kid?

Anyway, I had a great time and so did Cammie, Bronwen, and Silas. Lane and James didn't get to come because they were helping Dad build cabins at Grace Farms for their camp they were having in less than two weeks. Freddie Coile is the owner and evangelist and he spoke at our church recently. The boys decided to help him out as he was in desperate need of some help to get the cabins ready in time!

Last but not Least....

Last but certainly not least.....Miles turned 1 May 27th. We didn't have a very big celebration on his birthday as he wasn't feeling himself and was therefore crabby most of the day. You can understand why there are no pictures in this post. But we made him an angel food cake, anyway, and he cleaned his plate.

Happy Birthday, Miles! Crabby or happy, we still love you!

Silas turns Five!

Happy Birthday, Silas! Silas turned 5 May 20th-- two days after Breck's birthday--so we had a double celebration with Grandma Pemberton for them both.

If you haven't noticed, we have a LOT of birthdays in May!

Which maybe is a bad thing as you don't have the whole month to yourself to celebrate turning another year older. But looking on the bright side.....people are less likely to forget your birthday because so many people have their birthday in that month. Hence, more presents! That's always great, isn't it?

Anyway, Happy Birthday, Silas! Hope you have as great a year this year as the last one.....

Out of the Terrible Two's.....

Breck turned three May 18th and moved out of the "Terrible Two's." Though I don't think that title quite applied to him as his year as a toddler was anything but terrible! Well....actually let's not go there. :)

Grandma Pemberton came and visited us and helped us celebrate Breck's birthday, and all of the other boys' May birthdays. She gave Breck an electric stingray that swims around in the pool. Breck proudly named it Pepper.

Happy Birthday, Breck, and many more!

Happy Birthday Lane!

Lane has had the first of a long line of birthdays in May. He turned 12 May 10th and we had an interesting treasure hunt for him. Cammie, Bronwen, and I made up clues and riddles that we hid all over the "Pemberton Grounds." The clues eventually leading him to the trunk of our Accord where his prize lay --A Ripstik. It's a type of skateboard but, "Much easier to master," as Lane says. You can click on the link to see what the Ripstik looks like. I wasn't able to get a picture of him on it as he hates having his picture taken. He always groans and asks, "Is this for your blog?" He drives me crazy sometimes but all in all he's a great brother!

Happy Birthday, Bro!

Picking up the Tools Again....

We pulled out the tools, gloves, and seed packets last week and went back to work gardening. We planted some peppers, corn, tomatoes, spinach, carrots, peas, and lots more!A helpful hint that my mom found from someone who also has a garden: to use cornstarch as an ant killer. Sure it looks weird heaping boxes of cornstarch into your grocery cart, but it really does work! And it doesn't have all of the chemicals that regular ant killer has. Which is great because who wants to eat squash that has been grown in the same soil that chemicals have been dumped in?

Now, after all our days toiling in the hot sun, all that is left to do is wait. I think it is amazing how a plant can start from something so small as a seed and grow into a strong, healthy plant which produces food for us to eat. All from something so small. God really is amazing, isn't He?

"Date" Night With Dad

Cammie and my dad had their "date," last night. At about seven or eight years old my dad takes each of us girls out on a "date" where we go to a play, or a concert, or somewhere special to just spend time with Dad. It was Cammie's turn this time and she chose to go shopping. They went to the mall and she came home with clip-on earrings from Claire's. Yes, very confusing but it was the store, not me. :) Cammie and Dad had a good time shopping, eating at the food court, and simply hanging out.

The Weekly Spelling Bee.....

Our weekly Spelling bee is usually held on Friday nights. Our "host"? None other than......my dad! We've had a lot of fun having Spelling bees and it has been a sort of family tradition-- and if nothing else a fun highlight of the week! While we don't get prizes per se for the Spelling bee, we usually have our memory passage contest then and that usually heralds a prize or two. If we're lucky. And if we've been good for the last month. And......I'm kidding! But the thing is, we never know when there's going to be a prize. So our attempt "could be in vain" (as some of the lazier people in our family say) or we could receive a great and wonderful prize! Our latest passage was Isaiah 53:1-8. If we wanted to, we could also say verses 9 and 10 as a bonus. Me and Lane both said the bonus passage and the prize is still being decided....which for me is torture because patience is not one of my strong character traits.

But God is still working on me and teaching me new things every day--thankfully!

No Tooth Fairy But Still Happy......

Bronwen lost her first tooth the other day! Although my mom and dad tell us from a pretty early age that there is no such thing as the Tooth Fairy, she was still really excited. Because actually we do have a tooth fairy--my Grandpa Hindt. He doesn't exactly leave the money under our pillows at night but he sends us a dollar in the mail whenever we lose a tooth. And for her, a dollar is a pretty big deal!

Carving Like the Assyrians

One of our activities for School this week was carving designs on linoleum. We imitated the Assyrians who we studied last week and their artwork reliefs and friezes. It was fun, but tiring! I sure have an incredible respect for all those carvers back in ancient times!

~ Happy Spring to you!~

Travel Miles for Flowers!

The only thing Miles enjoys more than crumpling up paper, is playing and looking at flowers! Yes, I am serious. I have no clue why he is so intrigued with paper(or why he enjoys squeezing flowers for that matter)! But he is now 9 months old and crawling and pulling up on anything he can get his chubby little fingers on!

Lane and James' Basketball Season

New Addition

Behold, the newest addition of the Pemberton Family. Grandma Pemberton came up and visited us a couple weekends ago from southern Georgia, bringing her small 9 week old puppy, Buffy. She certainly was well loved during her stay as everyone was wanting to pet her and play with her! We went to Lane and James' basketball games Saturday morning, and about every quarter or so, someone would come up and ask to pet her. She is a mutt--part Schnauzer and part Yorkie(a mix of something else, too, but it has escaped me at the moment!). Welcome to our family, Buffy!

"Over the Hill"

Happy 40th Birthday, Mom! She is now, "Over the Hill," as some would call it. Grandma Hindt and I had a birthday tea party for my Mom. We invited Megan Smith and her three girls, Sophia, Olivia, and Ava. We had a good time with them, and Megan gave Mom a sort of mini blender that you can use to puree vegetables. That was the perfect gift for her because lately we have been eating recipes out of a cookbook called Deceptively Delicious. It has all these, "regular" recipes but with not so, "regular" ingredients. Like putting spinach puree in brownies, cauliflower puree in scrambled eggs, and sweet potato puree in muffins. You can see why that little blender can come in handy! After dinner we had another party for Mom. And, as a Birthday/early anniversary gift, my dad presented my mom with a card that said they had been chosen to receive two free cruise passes! I made the card that said that for my dad, and had to sneak around without her seeing what I was up to. They still have to decide where they're going and what cruise line they are going to take. But as can be imagined, my mom was really surprised! Happy Birthday, Mom, and many more!

Back to Reality....

Well, Grandpa and Gramma Hindt have left and we are suddenly back to reality. They stayed at our house for about two weeks. Then we drove them to Uncle Brian and Aunt Patricia's house after church yesterday. We stayed and watched the Nascar race which Lane and James are crazy about! We then had "Pasketti" for dinner. After saying our good-byes, we left in our twelve passenger van to go home. We had just pulled out of their subdivision when Silas said, " Hey! We forgot Gramma and Grandpa!"

We arrived home around 10:30 p.m. and crashed.......all of us except Miles. He had a good nap on the way home! He was still banging away, pushing buttons on his Crocodile keyboard, and bouncing up and down to Fur Elise while the rest of us had "hit the hay." :)

February 4th--James Turns 10!

Soldiers Ready for Battle....

Bronwen and Silas really like to dress up in their, "War Gear." Lane and James outgrew their play armor and handed all their equipment down to this pair. Although I'm pretty sure they didn't have guns back in the Roman empire, they've been having a ball playing with it!

Carried by Jesus

One night a man had a dream.

He dreamed he was walking

Along the beach with the Lord.

Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.

For each scene,

He noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,

One belonging to him, and the other to the Lord.

When the last scene of his life flashed before him,

He looked back at the footprints in the sand.

He noticed that many times along the path of his life

There was only one set of footprints.

He also noticed that it happened

At the very lowest and saddest times in his life.

This really bothered him

And he questioned the Lord about it.

"Lord, You said that once I decided to follow You,

You'd walk with me all the way.

But I have noticed that

During the most troublesome times in my life,

There is only one set of footprints.

I don't understand why when I needed

You most you would leave me."

The Lord replied,

"My precious, precious child,

I love you and I would never leave you.

During your times of trial and suffering,

When you see only one set of footprints,

It was then that I carried you."

Bazillion Books

We love books at our house. The problem was, though, that before we had these shelves built, we had to dig through boxes and boxes filled with books to find the one we were looking for. Not very convenient to go search under Biology textbook after Biology textbook to find the next Nancy Drew book in the series. You can see why this bookshelf is such a blessing! Lane, James, and I helped our Dad build them, and Mom painted them. We also made the shelves with spaces and drawers underneath for games(our Game closet was overflowing with games!) . We dusted off the books and set them in order. Now we have a sturdy bookshelf that's a whole lot nicer to look at than stacks of books piled in heaps!

My New Year's Resolution

This is my New Year's Resolution: to drink only water. Yep.....no soda, juice, tea, coffee or....... anything else that isn't water! What inspired me to only drink H20? I'm not really sure actually but my friend did the same thing last year so that could be part of it. I have to admit I thought she was a little crazy at first! I was thinking, "Water? For a whole year?! You've got to be kidding me!" Now I know drinking water really isn't all that bad. It's going pretty well, actually. Although it's does get a little uncomfortable when everyone else at the table is opening up their can of Sierra Mist and I have to sip meekly on my water.

I already have a confession to make, though. We were at McDonald's last week and my dad gave me a cup to fill up for somebody. So I filled it up with my special blend of Sprite, Orange Hi-C, and Strawberry Fruitopia. And, without thinking, I took a sip. I didn't realize what I had done until I got back to my seat and sat down! (It tasted really good by the way!) Uhhh! What does that mean now? Do I have to drink even more water? Do an extra day at the end of the year? Needless to say I was pretty mad at myself. Well, what's done is done I guess. The fourth day and I had already broken my resolution!

Anyway, I would love to know what your resolutions are! Just click, "Comment," and let me know! Thank you and I hope you have a great 2008!

Twin to a Doll

Silas was given a doll from a lady at our church(Mrs. Gwen Parker) a while ago. The doll had belonged to her mother but she thought it looked so much like him that he should have it!

Pemberton Kids

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Happy Birthday, Dad! My dad turned.....well I guess I shouldn't say. Anyway, we had a party for my dad and made him a cheesecake! Mom decorated it with chocolate frosting in the shape of a flower(not very manly but very creative!).We had a great time playing Settlers of Catan and as it was his birthday we had to let him win. No, not really(did you actually think I was serious?). We're too competitive at our house!

Upward and Onward!

Upward and onward they always say! Lane and James recently joined an Upward basketball team at a church near us. They're really excited to be playing basketball and they proudly showed off their uniforms to us!

Updated Picture of the Miles Man!

Miles will be 7 months old the 27th of December! He really is a cute little guy! He's starting to scoot around and every time he sees the nativity scene that we've set up in our living room, his eyes twinkle. You can tell he really wants to mess it up! :)

Popcorn Mania!

"Anyone want some popcorn?"

Aunt Gerri sent us a big tin filled with butter, cheese, and caramel popcorn! She also sent us some popcorn balls and candy to decorate them with. Breck tries one out....

"Thank you, Aunt Gerri!"