Brody's first Halloween! Halloween (in Oz) was so much fun. We worked and played at our festival at church, then trick-or-treated and hung out with friends at their house. We were so proud of our family costumes- bought, borrowed, reassembled, and some homemade. It all started with the ruby red slippers Bella saw at Walmart...

Update

It's been so long...my friends got me into Facebook, and who has time for it all! First of all, you've got to watch my lastest youtube video of the girls and the pigs (click on it below). We got new pig babies recently, and Bella learned to catch them! In other news, Cassie (Caroline from Germany) came to visit for 2.5 weeks, and we had a great time with her here. Sam and I went to Alabama to Gianna's house for the UK/Alabama football game, and had a great time with several of our college friends...some we hadn't seen since '99. Then Brody got a tooth, learned to crawl, and started pulling up. Mia started wearing big girl panties and is also writing her name...so we think she's going to be smart like her sister Bella, who continues to amaze us.

California

Sam and I enjoyed a fun ag leadership tour in California without kiddos in late July. We had a lot of fun taking field trips for adults, basically! I got to pick celery with the illegals, and saw how all kinds of food, from raisins to almonds, went from the field to the box and the grocery store. Pretty neat! We also had some fun with wine tasting and other general tourist activities. My greatest moment of shock was seeing dairy cows on their way to be milked. Of course, I, with my breastpump in tow the whole week, was almost ready to step right up to the milking carousel with my bovine sisters.

Bella's First Day of School

I have been really behind on my blog entries, so here's the first one...Bella started kindergarten...and first grade! She loves school...all except for not wanting to go the 4th day, which was last Monday after being home for the weekend. She wanted to stay home with me and cried all the way there, breaking her poor mama's heart. Of course, she was fine by the time she got to her room. Since she can already read and write (she's into writing "scrips" with an acting part for each of us), they moved her to first grade for half of the day. She'll stay with her age group the rest of the day so she can do all the fun kindergarten things and be our baby a little longer. Did I mention that after Sam and I dropped her off and were driving home trying not to cry, the song "Stealing Cinderella" came on the radio. Sam turned it off immediately and said, "I don't think so."

Home for a minute

Hi, friends- we're home for a minute again. We have been out-of-pocket for a while, and are getting ready to do it again. Last Thursday we drove to Rough River Dam Lake to spend the weekend at the lake with my extended family. However, Friday morning my grandma Phyllis had a "stroke" which we soon found out was actually a large brain tumor and bleeding in her brain. She wasn't expected to make it through the night, so we abandoned the lake and drove to Cincinnati to see her in the hospital. We spent a couple of nights there, and they moved her to Hospice care in my hometown, Hamilton. She was asleep most of the time and did not seem to feel any pain, and she reacted to us with blinks and attempted smiles, so that was a blessing. She responded to Bella and got to meet Brody before she passed. She actually hung on for a week and passed away early this past Friday morning. Please keep my family in your prayers. We did take the kids to the Cincinnati Zoo and the Newport Aquarium since it was our "vacation," and I'll post some pics of that soon. Then, we were home for a day- enough time to unpack, do laundry, and pack it back up. Taught Bible School for 2 days and drove to Lake Barkley for Sam's Soybean Board meetings T-TR and a family weekend for his ag leadership group Fri-Sun. So we enjoyed all the lodge-sponsored activities "Dirty Dancing" style. Had so much fun with the kids- Bella even learned to swim! The girls also enjoyed crafts and "working on their ping-pong game." Bella cried when we left today. Now, we're home for another day to do laundry, unpack and re-pack, and throw a huge reelection campaign fundraiser for our district rep Steven Rudy w/ an appearance from secretary of state Trey Greyson at our house. Then back to Ohio on Monday night after the party for the funeral Tuesday. It's crazy busy, and somewhere in there I have a birthday coming up. The craziest is that when I get back I'm opening up a dance studio in SOuth Fulton- have yet to blog on that- but the Broadway Dance Company is the real deal, and Open House/registration is on the 24th. Hope it will be ready! More when I get back in town. Love, E

Happy Father's Day, Sam!

Happy Father's Day to a wonderful husband and father.

Swimming

We've been enjoying swimming at the pool and in our new hot tub. Bella will finally put her face in the water...only with her mask on, while Mia is my fearless little water baby. She will jump off the diving board and go down the water slide (unlike her big sis), and if she takes a dunk underwater she comes back up smiling. Brody enjoys the pool in the evenings when it's not so hot and sunny.