Michael turns 13

Today was Michaels 13th birthday. He wanted Long John Silvers for lunch and no one else wanted to go so he and I went buy ourselves. We went to the one in Frankfort so we could stop by the Goodwill there to look for costume parts. The employees at Long Johns were so nice. They came out and sang happy birthday and then gave him a free dessert!

For dinner he wanted grilled Panni Sandwiches and he picked earthquake cake for his birthday cake. He got lots of cool gifts....a cool t-shirt and gift card to Game Stop from mommy and daddy. Anthony got him a lighting strike in the sand and Jacob got him a rock.

Spent the day in Dayton....

Alyssa turned 20 today and for her birthday she wanted to see her brothers. So yesterday we met her and her family half way in Dayton. We spent the morning at Carriage Hill Metro Park. The sun was shining but the wind was blowing so it was a little nippy. We saw a baby sheep, some horses and a few cows. We got to watch a man make tops on a lathe, then he gave one to each of the kids.

We went to lunch at Cracker Barrel. Without anyone knowing I told the waitress it was Alyssa'a birthday so they brought her Chocolate Coke cake and sang...she turned very red :)

After lunch we found a park and let the kids play. The boys love spending time with Alyssa!!

Warming their hands.

Love this narly old tree.

A very surprised Alyssa!!!

My Grandma

Juanita Mae Ball Wilson

This post is about my beautiful Grandmother who passed away this morning. I remember she use to call me "her namesake." Once when I was around 8 years old she came to visit and had her birthday while she was there. I remember there being a cake with a huge icing flower on it. I don't remember where we were but it wasn't at our house. I remember all the kids wanting the icing flower and the adult who was cutting it said it should go to the birthday person. She put it on a napkin and gave it to my grandma. On the way home, my grandma handed me the flower and said, 'for my namesake.' She always made me feel special and loved. I use to visit her and the rest of my family in Florida and we would have long great conversations about her life and how much she loved her family.

I remember being a young adult and finding out that she was a firecracker!!! She wasn't a stodgy uptight person, she was cool! She took my new husband into her heart and they formed a mutual respect and love for each other. I flew down with an 8 month old baby when my aunt Lynda had her twins. Grandma said, "Your mom keeps going on about how special Jacob is. Everyone thinks their grandchildren are special...but he really is!!"

I had the chance to visit Grandma over Thanksgiving last year. The visit was wonderful. We spent time talking and looking through pictures. We even got her to go out to lunch with us twice while we were there. She had never been to Chick-Fil-A!! I will cherish that time I got to spend with her. I love you Grandma, you will be missed.

Jacob turns 13!!!!

Jacob turned 13 on the 28th. Its hard to believe that it has been 13 years!!! March 3rd will be our gotcha day. Since we started homeschooling we have always taken the day off from school on birthdays. The birthday person gets to pick what we do that day. Jacob had said he wanted to go to the zoo on his birthday but kept changing his mind. He kept coming back to Natural Bridge. Finally he said "Natural Bridge...lets go before I change my mind again." It sure was a wonderful day to be outside, 60 degrees and sunny!

Before heading out we stopped at Franks Donuts and got breakfast. Anthony decided it wasn't worth waking up for, and he didn't want go hiking with us. He hadn't been feeling to well so I didn't make him go.

We hiked up to the bridge. It seems like a different hike in the winter with no leaves on the trees. We got to the top after several breaks for me ;) Michael and Jacob enjoyed running through "fat mans squeeze." They said if you run it makes it feel like it is collapsing in on you. It just makes me claustrophobic. I don't like closed in spaces, but I do it so I can get on top of the bridge.

We took our time walking back down. Then we stopped at the lodge and had lunch. Jacob and Michael shared a catfish sandwich. Then we went down to lower area where the pool and gift shop and other things are. Nothing was open and no one else was around so the boys just spent a long time playing around the water and on the swinging bridge.

One the way home we stopped by Logans and David and Anthony met us there. Jacob loves Logans, when he was little he called it the peanut place. Then we came home and had cherry flip and Jake opened his presents.

We made it to the top.

I just like the was the sun was hitting the clouds.