Happy Birthday Gracie!

Never say never.....it was another Chuck E. Cheese birthday! Fun was had by all and we didn't do anything other than make cupcakes and pay the bill. Can't beat that! Hard to beleive our Gracie is 6!

First Day of School

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Labor Day weekend

Labor Day weekend was full of fun, food and friends! We had a great time but we also had to share some sad news with the kids. Sunday we took them on a picnic to share with them the news that Jody has to deploy to Iraq. He brought us all out the the Iwo Jima memorial and we picniced on the hill and looked out at the spectacular view of the Washington Monument, the Capitol, and D.C. We talked about sacrifice and commitment and duty. It was a memorable moment and we spent the rest of the day at Accotink Lake park (where the pics were taken). We trust in God and have complete faith that this is what he wants for our family and that Jody will make a difference in Iraq. Please keep our family in your prayers as it will be an extremely difficult seperation for all of us. Jody will leave in Febuary and will be gone a year.

Graduation Party

We FINALLY celebrated Emily's eigth grade graduation. We had been putting it off all summer and, well, quite frankly she didn't finish officially until the end of July! So we finally had a party which she thought she needed because her cousins had a big party...of course Joseph said "I never had a party..." but he was happy enough to eat all the great food she, Jody and our friend Kelly had made. It was an Asian appetizer feast with dessert. We ended with a presentation of her "memory quilt" that I made from all her elementary and junior high T-shirts. Ramie and Gracie helped. It was a fun night and she is very excited about starting high school on Tuesday. I can't believe I have two high schoolers!

Football 09

Football season has begun and it has been great to watch Joseph become a part of the varsity team. He didn't get to play in the game Friday night but had a great attitude since he had started in the scrimmage the week before and had done very well. Woodson won and we are looking forward to watching him play with the varsity on Friday nights and Em cheer for the freshmen on Thursday nights. We will definitely never want for things to do or places to be! Here are some pics of them...