Our Little Corner of the World

Monday, June 23, 2008

Pictures and Info from Singles Reunion

Below are pictures I took at the Singles Reunion. I hope everyone enjoys looking at them. I'll do my best to label everyone in each picture. If I have mislabeled anyone, please let me know.

(L to R): Kelley Nichols, Scott MacKenzie, Frankie Bartozzi, Jay Stone,
Richard Kirkpatrick, and Judy Bartozzi

My daughter Hannah being silly

Michelle Brown Jinnette and Cathy Wyatt

Front (L to R): Joey Gibson, Jane Page
Back (L to R): Richard Kirkpatrick, John Hammer, Kevin Brasuell, and Sam Wiley

Carole Leake (green top), Mike Leake, and Phil May

(L to R): Jane Page, Helen Davis, Joey Gibson, Kathryn Riley

Front (L to R): Martha Johnson Nicolas, Sarah Nicolas, Abigail Nicolas,
Robin Consterdine Stone, Joey Gibson
Middle (L to R): Judy Bartozzi, Annie Long, Laura Murley Long
Back (L to R): Rob Long, Sonja Solze Peaspanen, Kevin Brasuell, Meg Turner Brasuell

Denise Hammer, Sonja Solze Peaspanen and Meg Turner Brasuell

Richard Kirkpatrick and Jill Carpenter McLane

(L to R): Stephen Nichols, Kyle McLane, Caitlyn Nichols,
Noah Nichols, Hannah Jinnette, and Kelley Nichols

Phil May, Rob Long, Annie Long, and Marilyn Faulkner

Tom Peaspanen, Denise Hammer, and Helen Davis

(L to R): Richard Kirkpatrick, Susanne Medlin's grandson, Nicole Medlin,
John Hammer, and Leslie Stainbrook Phillips

Richard Kirkpatrick, Mike Leake, Carol Leake, Sam Wiley, and Judy Bartozzi

Hannah Jinnette

Andrew Jinnette

Meg Turner Brasuell, Kyle McLane, Scott MacKenzie, Stephen Nichols, and Noah Nichols

Front (L to R): Nia Phillips, Scott Phillips
Back (L to R): Tara Cannon, Tara's boyfriend (don't remember his name), Lisa Hrutkay Conley, Kim Cavanaugh Rache's daughter, Kim, Jeremy Smith, Martha Johnson Nicolas and Dennis Rache's son

Back (L to R): Carol Wiley, Mike Leake, Carol Leake, Rick Gardner, Phil May
Front (L to R): Frankie Bartozzi, Jack Faulkner, and Carol Dice Temple

Partial Group Shot

Sonja Solze Peaspanen, Charlie Conley, and Lisa Hrutkay Conley

Unfortunately, I missed getting pictures of some of the attendees due to problems with my camera. It was great getting to see everyone and we missed all of those who were not able to attend. Quite a few people said they would like to do this again. Maybe sometime in the next year or two, we can try to get everyone together again.

God granted us beautiful weather, comfortable temperatures and great fellowship. Praise to God for everything He provides.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Quick Post

Because it is so late, I am going to try to make this quick. We had our Singles Reunion this afternoon. It consisted of people from our Singles Sunday school class at church who attended in the mid- to late- 90's. There were almost 60 adults and about 30 kids there. IT WAS AWESOME!!! We had quite a few attend who now live out of town: Montgomery, AL; Atlanta, GA; Brandon, MS and Syracuse, NY to name a few. I'll post pictures and more information later. Right now, I am headed to bed. We have church tomorrow and the kids will be up early.

P.S. Update on Andrew and his cloth. Today, he was missing his cloth bad. His nap today was about 20 minutes long (usually it is a few hours) and he was fussy when he was up and about. (He did fall asleep for about 30 minutes on the ride home from the reunion.) Tonight while I was rocking him, he kept trying to put his blanket in his mouth. When I would take it away from him to stop him, he would start laughing. When I put him to bed, the blanket was in his mouth. We will keep trying.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Happy Birthday Grandma Gladys

Today would have been my Grandma Gladys' 86th birthday. Happy birthday Grandma. We love and miss you!

Big Night

Tonight is Andrew's first night without his burp cloth to chew/suck on while he tries to go to sleep. For a while now, I've known I needed to start weaning him off of it, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. When I took him in for his 15-month check up, his doctor said it was time. This has been harder on me than on him. It has been fairly easy to distract him if he is looking for his cloth but I tend to give it to him when he gets a little fussy. Usually, when I am trying to get him to sleep, I can give him the cloth and he will settle down. Tonight, he wanted to play, talk, kiss me and rub my shoulder; anything to keep himself awake. I started singing "Jesus Loves Me" and he settled down slowly. A few minutes later he was wanting to play a bit so I took him to his room and laid him in his bed. At first, he did fine. He let me cover him with his blankets then sat up when I kissed Will good-night. But, after I shut the door and sat down at the computer, he started crying. The good thing is he didn't cry for long. He is quiet now and I hope he will sleep through the night. Andrew has taken a few naps without his cloth and has done okay. This morning, he woke up early (around 5 a.m.) but started getting loud around 6:15. I took him up front and sat with him on the couch. Andrew went back to sleep without his cloth and slept until 8:45 a.m. Maybe this will be the start of something new. All I need to do now is pack up the ones in his room (he knows where they are and can get the drawer open to get one) and the ones in the wash. I don't know, though; maybe I'll wait a little longer.....

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the dads!!!

We surprised my dad by showing up at his and my step-mom's church for service. Joan asked us about two months ago to think about this. She said her son, Jeff, did this for her one year on Mother's Day and it made the day even more special. Since it is a 1 1/2 hour drive up there, we (Melanie, Nathan, Mike, Hannah, Andrew, Will and I) left our house around 8:45 a.m. There was very little traffic out so we made it to Ripley in just over an hour. When Dad came out of Sunday school, we were milling around in the sanctuary. He was very pleasantly surprised. Afterwards we went to lunch then over to Dad and Joan's. We had a great visit. Jeff, our step-brother, even came by for a few minutes.

Because I knew most of today would be concentrated on Dad, the kids and I celebrated Father's Day with Mike yesterday. We served him breakfast in bed and gave him his gifts: seasons 5 and 6 of Stargate-SG1 and an autographed copy of Glenn Beck's book An Inconvenient Truth. He also got to sleep in later than usual.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Hannah Rides Again

Hannah has been trying to ride a bike without training wheels for a while. Because of ball practices and games, our evenings and weekends have been too full to help her practice. So, today, since our schedules have slowed down, we let the kids get their bikes out. Hannah could ride her bike without training wheels for a short distance but needed help to get started. She was also a little nervous about falling. After giving her some encouragement and a little help, she was off and riding on her own without any help. When asked which she preferred training wheels or none, she emphatically said "NONE! I can ride faster." A couple of times she was half way down the street before we realized it. She fell once but got right back up and was off again. Yes, I know...it is about time she learned to ride without training wheels. It took some time and convincing for Hannah to agree. We also were having to work around ball schedules (she played basketball this winter also) but she has it down pat now. Will has been watching Hannah and wants the training wheels off his bike. We want him to get more practice at riding with them before taking them off. Now it's one down and two to go...oh me!!

Friday, June 13, 2008

Pink Palace and Will's Team Party

Recently, the Pink Palace Museum and Planetarium offered a free family membership from May until July 31 to anyone who called and asked for it before May 22. It took a couple of tries to get through (they do not return calls left on voice mail), but I was able to take advantage of this offer. I remember going as a child and LOVED it, so I was excited about taking the kids.

It started off as fun. Hannah and Will enjoyed looking at the skeletons of different animals, dioramas (?) of local wildlife and fossils of dinosaurs, some found in the area. We then moved upstairs to see a temporary exhibit called "Treasure." It shows different kinds of treasure and the places they can be found. There was a place where the kids could pan for (fool's) gold and colored rocks. Hannah really enjoyed this. You could also see how treasure is protected: alarms, locks and such. The different types of treasure on display ranged from pieces of gold and silver found on sunken ships to the treasure you find in your attic: games, toys, old clothing, etc. There was a place where you could see how much your weight was worth in gold (mine was over $37,500; Will's was around $1500). Hannah found a spot where you could use a metal detector to find metals in the ground.

After we left the Treasure exhibit, we started walking around the history portion of the museum. This area has always been my favorite part. I LOVE looking at and learning about things and events of the past. If I was by myself, I would spend all day there without ever leaving this particular area. Will started getting bored in the Treasure exhibit. It did not improve in the history area. He liked looking at the Clyde Park Circus. It was crafted entirely by hand by one man without using any pictures. I think he started in the 1920s and finished around the 1950s. As we walked through the other areas, Will's attention span decreased to about zero very quickly. So, instead of staying with Mama, he decided to walk around on his own. After looking for him and calling out his name for a few minutes, he decided to show up. I still am not exactly sure where he wandered off to (and yes, I got a hold of his backside really good). Not long after that we grabbed a bite in the museum cafe then wandered through the Mansion portion of the museum. Hannah liked the shrunken head while Will liked walking around.

Will and Coach Keith