Noelle had to do a project for school, it was a life chart.  She had lots of questions to answer, then had to either draw or include pictures of each event.  One of her questions was about her first friends.  She ran upstairs then came back quickly with this picture for me to scan and print.  My heart just melted.  She was so cute and little and it seems like it was just yesterday.  She and Celeste have both grown into amazing girls.  They don't get to see each other much anymore, but they are both still just as precious as they were all these years ago.

Noelle really didn't want to settle for the plain draw string bags that all her friends would be carrying.   She wanted something different, something special.  So, as you know, I stayed up the night before school and made her this bag.  Then she got her schedule and learned that she had art.  Her first art assignment was to draw the bag that you carry to class.  Everyone else just had to draw a square bag with a CC on it (that is her team.)  But poor Noelle had to draw her mother's creation.  I think she did a great job, and I guess her teacher did too.  She got the highest possible grade, and she was the only kid in her class that didn't get any critique from the teacher.  Good job Noelle!

My bed has somehow become the central hang out location in our house.  Noelle likes to do her homework in our bed.  Hunter likes to use his limited TV time in my bed because he knows I'll be cool with watching animal planet when the girls won't go for that.  LeeLee likes to use the footboard of my bed as a piece of gymnastics equipment.  And well Hope....she just likes to snuggle.  So it seems like every time I turn around, my bed is full.  This would all be fine with me, but this kiddos of mine keep growing, and keep taking up more space in my bed.  I'm seriously thinking about abandoning ship and finding one of the empty beds in the house to snuggle up in.

Noelle gets to stay up an hour later than her siblings this year.  So, she and I get some hang out time.  She styles my hair while we search Pinterest.  And when a scene like this unfolds, I always have my dog and her dog is always close by.  It just doesn't get much better than this after a long day.

Today is National Dog Day.  What a great day to celebrate the love we have for our dogs.  They got extra treats today, and they got some homemade frosty paws (dog ice cream.)  I think they are quite pleased that someone somewhere decided that they got their own day.  So, if you haven't yet, make sure you give your dog some extra loving.  Ours are giving us lots of extra loving, or maybe it's just the usual amounts, but some of us have been licked to death by their grateful little hearts.  Oh yeah, I have to take this opportunity to say, that if you don't have a dog and want one, then please don't shop...adopt.  The shelter has all kinds of amazing animals big and small just waiting to love on someone the same way that Annie loves on Noelle.  I'm so thankful for all three of our rescued dogs, they make our days brighter just because they are here.

Tonight we got Papa John's carry out for dinner.  Hunter always smiles when we are getting Papa John's because he knows the peppers will be in the box.  He always claims them (like everyone else is just dying for them.)  It is always the same scene.  He takes a gigantic bite....
 panics a little, while his eyes start to water....
then he drinks tons of water.  My grandfather on my dad's side always claimed the peppers too!  It is fun when I see things about my grandparents and parents in my kids.  He is definitely one of us!

I have to do a quick commercial tonight for the Thundershirt.  First of all, I wish I had invented this!  Rags has been getting increasingly worse about thunder storms.  For some reason he thinks he needs to pace back and forth across my head.  He pants heavily and is just agitated.  After having a few nights of storms back to back, I was losing my patience with the lack of sleep I was getting because of him.  I vowed that if I did nothing else that day, he would have a thundershirt.  I kept my vow and got him one.  I can honestly say that was well worth the $40 I paid.  We have had countless storms since I bought it, and he has done great.  He simply lays down during the storms.  I'm was so impressed that I went and got Pippa one too.  She also does great with it!  So, we are ready for Tropical Storm Isaac, and whatever he decides to dump on Alabama.

Three of our four have no problems jumping out of bed to get ready for school.  However, this new school year has been hard on LeeLee.  LeeLee has never been a morning person.  She is a late night person.  She is also spending increasing hours at the gym so she is quite wiped out after a full day at school then an entire afternoon at the gym. So when she wakes up in the mornings, she walks downstairs and grabs some food, then finds a comfortable spot.  This picture has become a regular scene.  She will actually sit there a sleep eat.  She will put in a piece of cereal, then pause, then somehow her brain reminds her to chew.  Then she repeats.  When I catch her, I have to wake her up, because it would probably take an hour to eat at the rate that she does. Hopefully she will get into the groove of things as the weeks progress into this school year.

So for the local folks, you will know from this picture exactly where we were today.  We had to make yet another visit to the monkey dentist.  It's a good thing that he loves my kids as much as he does, because we sure to spend a ton of time there.  Oh, and it is only Hope.  The others just go for regular cleanings, but Hope has a mouth full of problems.

I guess I had one of those not so bright mommy moments on Friday after the kids shopped with me.  On our way out of the shopping outlet, I let them each pick out some candy at Fuzziwigs.  Hope picked a Sugar Daddy.  It made me think of my own childhood and I agreed that it was a good choice.  I would teach her how to suck on it until it melted like butter in your mouth.  However, I stopped at an outdoors store to let Hunter run in the get something.  He took longer than I thought, so I had Noelle watch the little girls while I fetched Hunter.  Next thing you know, Noelle is running into the store with Hope's teeth in her hands.  Yep, you guessed it!  That Sugar Daddy that I had approved of had been torn into and she had tried to bite off a piece.  She ended up losing two crowns.  So today we went to the dentist.  He put one crown back on, and decided that we would leave the other space empty.  He tried to numb her, but she is stubborn like her momma and kindly asked him not to.  She said she didn't want her mouth to feel funny and her lip to swell up.

I do pray for my sweet girl that when all these big girl teeth come in that they are stronger than the baby teeth she has had.  Her little mouth is a mess, and I know it would be a tremendous blessing to her to have a mouth that doesn't hurt all the time.

I just have to rave about Dr. Greenleaf and his staff for a minute.  They are amazing, and they always go above and beyond for our family.  He will be the first to admit that LeeLee has made him money since she was the main picture he used for advertising for years. She is still on his website if you just sit and watch for a second.  He said that not a day goes by that a child doesn't look at her picture on the board and say, "That's LeeLee."  So, he has always for some reason been super fond of our family.  He anticipated the arrival of Hope with us, and looked at pictures we got out of China and prepared and coached us on what to expect with her teeth.  He has been so gentle with her that even if she is having major work done, she doesn't dread going.  He has been a blessing to our family!

I have always let my kids pick out their clothes.  Okay, let me rephrase that.  I have let them always pick out their own school clothes that are within reason, and yes, I have vetoed some interesting outfits over the years, most of those being Hope's last year.  However, I really like for them to take the responsibility of picking out their outfits each day and putting them together.  I like to call it "life training."  So, I just had to smile today when these three all picked out clothes, that just so happened to match.  They are such a bonded little trio.
This face which has now been on here two days in a row is an inside joke with our family.  LeeLee starts it, and it is kinda funny.

 I seriously dread the first day of school!  While all the other parents are rejoicing because their kids are finally out of the house, I am fighting back the tears.
Look at mess of double trouble. They got the same teacher for 2nd grade.....I know, don't you feel for her already.  This was by my design though, because I think they will actually be good for each other.  LeeLee can really help Hope, and they are NOTHING alike, so I think they will be good.
 My Hunter man moved on up to 4th today.  Just doesn't seem right at all!
Love these precious kids, and I sure did miss them today.  Pippa and I worked all day for Paul to try and keep busy.  I just don't think I can handle the quietness of my home yet.

It's the night before school starts, and this is what my kitchen table looks like right now.  Maybe just another hour or so and I will be done.  This particular item is for Noelle.  Since tomorrow is her first day of middle school, we decided that she probably is getting to grown up for a hand made outfit from me, so we had to try and keep the tradition alive by making her something special.  You will have to wait until tomorrow to see what it is.

When most kids are saving up money for electronics or some cool toys, my son is spending his money on rope.  He is very into making things out of paracord lately.  I think this is somehow supposed to turn into a stick ladder tomorrow so that precious Hope can actually get into the trees with him.  I have no doubt that he will succeed (just hope she doesn't fall off.)  I love his creative mind.  He is such a Papa's boy!  Just wish my dad could see all these fun things he makes.

We literally shopped until we could shop no more. We made our annual outlet mall trip to Georgia for back to school shopping. The kids racked up with clothes from their favorite stores. Now all we need is to find LeeLee some shoes she will be satisfied with and we are done!

I seriously fell in love with this bird.  He was hanging out at the boat launch in Indian Pass.  I headed down to the Pass right before be headed back home.  At first he was up on the railing.  Then he flew into the water and just stood there right beside us.  I think LeeLee could have caught him if she tried.  When one of our Captain friends came up with his boat, he said that this guy hangs out looking for handouts.  That's a pretty smart bird if he has figured out that the boaters dump the rest of their bait as they are pulling out of the water.  I just really love the majesty of birds, I think my chickens are cuter though.

Noelle dressed up Hope in a hand me down Mulan costume that we have and even finished off the look with bamboo skewers.
I often wonder what Hope will do when she grows up, now I'm thinking if we can just get Mulan's signature down, that Hope may have a future at Disney.

My kids have an Aunt.  Her name is Demetria.  She is married to my brother.  We don't get to see them as much as we would like, but that doesn't stop us from thinking about them.  Aunt Demetria is great about keeping up with our blog, so I suspect she will see this soon.

This one just makes me smile too!  I think that this is one of the few pictures I have of Hunter smiling with his mouth open.

Four kids and three dogs are not easy to capture.  Christmas card pictures are always easier than beach pictures. The dogs are ready to go romp and play on the beach with all their other doggy friends.
Hope may be the one exception to the "I don't wanna do pictures" club.  She always wants to do pictures.  Honestly, I think she is just thrilled that someone wants pictures of her.
Hunter always gives me the same expression and always wants his dog in the picture with him.  This is the sixth year I have the same picture.  Same expression, same dog....just wish the boy wouldn't grow!
 My Irish friend, Rob, said that when Noelle is older, she is going to be "stunning." I have to agree. (PS-the word stunning with an Irish accent is awesome!)
Then there is LeeLee, always willing to get in front of the camera as long as she can show a little sass. It comes out in the group shots too.  She just can't bottle her personality for five minutes to do anything with a serious expression.
Even though the wind was blowing I ended up with this one picture of the four of them that is worthy of framing.  I'm actually kind of digging the windblown look.

It has been a long day and I am tired, but I couldn't resist posting this picture of the Pips.  This dog is seriously a beach bum.  She loves everything about it.  She knew it was time to head in, so she planted herself if the sand and wouldn't budge.  Her love of the beach really amazes me.  I never expected her to enjoy it like she does.  I also never expected it to be so good for her.  She acts like a puppy when we are here, not like the 10+ dog that she is.  I am so thankful for her little life.

We have had a great day.  Lots of beach time, pool time, and even a bonfire.  But I was able to sneak away with Noelle for one of my favorite things.
 There just isn't much that is better than riding horses on the beach.
 Even the dolphins came out to spend some time and swim along side us as we rode.
 Noelle rode this sweetie named Pork Chop.  He had a pep in his step.
 Noelle was all smiles because this is after all one of her favorite things too.
 I am always in awe of the majesty of horses.  I miss them so much.
So, tonight I go to bed happy! I hope I dream about horses!

Today is marks our 15th wedding anniversary.  It is hard for me to grasp that it really was 15 years ago that we said "I do!"  Somehow, in my mind it seems like it's only been about five years.  However since we have four kids who are all older than five, I know that my mind only wants to stay young.

Fifteen years....that really is a long time.  We have had our ups and downs, our good times and our bad, but one thing is for sure, I have loved this man with all my heart for all fifteen of those years.  I remember when we were dating, the country sound Keeper of the Stars came out, and I felt like that song reflected our relationship perfectly.  We both know who the keeper of the stars is, and I think because of that we have been able to maintain the beautiful family that we have.  God gave me the hardest worker with the biggest heart when he gave me Paul.  After all, how many men do you know that would allow their wife to keep bringing home animals and kids for that matter?  He loves the kids of course, but he actually pretends to like the animals....even Pippa who hates him.  He tolerates her just because he loves me.
I am a blessed woman.  I hope that we celebrate many more anniversaries in the years to come.

Thanks Paul for all you do for me and for our family!  You truly are our rock!