Back to School

Today was our first day of school at our new school, Lighthouse Baptist Academy.

The hairbows that I made for about $4.00. They sale these in the stores for $16.00.

Chloe

Abbie

And Asher....

and Asher.....

and Asher.....

and Asher again....

and Asher

Aaron took tons of pictures of him. This isn't even all of them. I just laugh everytime I see ALL of these.

The kids in front of their new school.

Abbie by her desk. She is in 1st grade this year.

Asher in his desk. He is in K-4.

Chloe in her desk. She is in 3rd grade this year.

We all had a great first day. The kids came home very excited! They really like their new school.

I had a good first day too. My students were very good. However, my classroom is VERY HOT!! I have lots of students in a little room. I have got to get a BIG FAN in there.

Best Friends

Abbie has a best friend, Savannah. Savannah lives in Indiana, but....Savannah's aunt and uncle live right here in Mobile. Savannah's aunt is our girls' piano teacher. Soooo Abbie and Savannah will still get to see each other every now and then. Savannah's family was here this past weekend. We invited her over to spend the night. Even though it had been 7 months since they had last seen each other, the two girls were back together and giggling like it had only been a few days. Abbie was so happy.

Abbie and Savannah this past weekend

Savannah and Abbie on Abbie's last day of school in Indiana.

Abbie and Savannah on the first day of school last year.

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

This is just a bunch of pictures from when Aaron's family was here to visit. We had a good time! Rachel, Elizabeth, Abbie, Asher, Justus, Chloe, and Hannah
Our newest niece, Emily

Rachel, Julia, Justus, Asher, Chloe, Hannah, Emily, Elizabeth, and Abbie

Everyone trying to be patient as Grandmama passed out some gifts! :)

Justus wanted to wear it all right then.

Handsome Dude!

Rachel and Aunt Nola

Julia wore her sunglasses upside down most of the time. A true blonde! :0

CHEEEEEEESE!

The BIG slumber party!

The hike to the beach from our beach house rental.

The kids did not like having to walk through the tall grass.

The view of the lagoon from the rental.

A late night card game. I have no clue what it was, but they had fun.

Chloe's 8th Birthday

Last Thursday, our first baby, Chloe Irene Smith, turned 8 years old--I am getting old ;0!

We bought her a monogram cake. Well.....it turns out that her monogram is CSI :) :)

What's Going On Around Here

Let's see...

Aaron's Mom, sister, our five nieces, and an aunt were here with us from last Wednesday through Sunday afternoon. We had quite a time with 9 kids 8 and under! Chloe's 8th birthday was last Thursday. We had a small party here at home. Barbie seemed to be the theme this year. I do have some pics to post from our time with them all, but for some reason I can't get them to upload right now. I will post them later.

Saturday night Abbie got sick and was throwing up until Tuesday morning. I do hope that the bug is gone and no one else gets it.

Monday night we had parent orientation at our new school. The kids, except Abbie, got to see their classroom and meet their teachers. I got to meet some of my students.

Tuesday I had more teachers' meetings. Wednesday I spent time getting my classroom ready and then King's Kids that night.

Today, we went to an IBF preacher's fellowship.

Tomorrow, I have got to get some major cleaning done around this house. Also, Bryant and Heather Harvey from Indiana are down here visiting family. They are from Blackford Baptist where I taught and the kids went to school in Indiana. Their little girl is Savannah, Abbie's best friend from Indiana. We are going to meet up with them sometime so the girls can play. Abbie is soooooooooooooooo excited. She hasn't really made any close friends like Savannah down here yet. Hopefully this next school year she will find a close buddy.

Monday is the first day of school. We are all excited! The kids can't wait to make new friends, and I can't wait to have a routine back in this house. We need it! I need it!

Teen Camp

We had Teen Camp the last week in July. We took 15 teens with us. We didn't go to an organized camp with other churches this year. We just did our own little camp for three days. We went to Flint Creek in Wiggins, MS. Pray for our teens. They need to open up their hearts to God's will in their lives. Praise the Lord, we had one teen boy saved!

We stayed in cabins. This was the girls' cabin.

We had three services a day. This was one of the illustrations for Aaron's sermon. We had our services inside of Aaron's cabin. We had to have a make shift altar. Here the kids are gathered around a table to pray. (sorry it is small--I resized it wrong)

We roasted marsh mellows.

One day we had a swimming day--yes separately. Then we all met up in the pavilion for grilled hamburgers and hot dogs.

One night we went out for pizza and bowling.

Chloe went with us, but the other kids stayed behind.