Nadia is One!

Many of you may remember the newborn and mom that came to stay with us for about 4 months last year. Well, this Tuesday, Nadia will be one year old! Nadia has been living with our dear friends Jud and Donna since January. God has done mighty things this past year and we praise Him for this little life and for the family he has grown and put together.Nadia is having some fun with her cake!
Karlee loves Chuck E CheeseKalie even loves to ride the new horse ride!Kate thought Nadia was hilarious!
Jud, Donna and Nadia- what a precious blessing they each are for each other. Thank you for allowing us to be apart of the fun celebration!

Club Soccer

Eloise's brother, Ford plays Club Soccer along with some other children we know, so we went to watch Saturday morning. It was a great game and they won! YEA! Drew played on the first club team Florence had MANY MANY years ago (ha ha) Molly, Eloise and Kalie
Eli Carter- Graham plays on the team too. Eli is doing great!
Mary Claire- is she not the cutest? Her brother James plays as well and he is in Kalie's class too.
Mary Claire took care of Kate and played mommy the whole game. I thought this was so sweet.
Ford in action- way to go!!

Spontaneous Trip to Montgomery

Drew has to go down to Montgomery once or twice each year for his PhD. This was the final trip for classes that he has to take. Kind of out of the blue on Sunday of last week, Drew mentioned Kalie going with him. To make a long story short, in an hour, she was packed and we had cleared it with her teacher. Her teacher was so supportive of Kalie having this time with Drew. They left Monday morning and came home Friday night. While he was in class each afternoon, Kalie worked on her schoolwork which allowed her to stay caught up. They went to the zoo, ice skating, the mall, slept in, watched tv, out to eat and played tennis and basketball. In other words, they lived it up! We have never done anything like this and I am so glad that we did! What a special treat it was for them both! at the zoo
eating at Carabas
of course they had starbucks, the little turkeys!
kalie working on school work and playing on the computer

HAPPY 40th BIRTHDAY DAVID!

David's centerpiece was a buzzard tied to a rope on a tree- it was hilarious!
Is he blowing out the candle or trying to eat it? I am not sure!

And yes, he even serenated us at his own party!

We, along with 3 other couples, celebrated our friend, David's 40th birthday this weekend with a great dinner at Turtlepoint. We had a great time and my sides are still sore from laughing... David, who is a talented singer, went up and sang with the musician for the evening. Well, actually, he took her place on a couple of songs- ha! He sang his wife's favorite song- Moondance ( ha! love you Leslie!) and another one. And David, I know she may hate me when she reads this, but I hope all your birthday wishes come true! (okay, Leslie, it IS his 40th.....) Thank you for including us on such a fun celebration! And Happy Birthday David!

Hiking and Camping- Fall Favorites!

Fall weather came for a brief moment this weekend and we took advantage of it. We had planned on going camping at Bankhead, but due to the overabundance of rain, we opted to postpone that idea. Also, Kalie's friend Eloise has claimed to not be much of a camper but was willing to try it with Kalie. Well, she injured her knee this past week, so hiking was not going to be a possibility for her. So, we ended up camping right on our back deck. This was Kate's first time to ever camp, so it was a great place for a dry run. Now, you have to truly appreciate this adventure. Because this is typical in the life of Drew and Lori. We have a 4 man tent but needed a bigger one, so we borrowed one. When we got it home, we had a twelve-man tent but the poles that went to a 9 man tent. Where were the 12 man tent poles? No one knows even today. Where was the 9 man tent? That too remains a mystery. So, back out with the 4 man tent and we borrowed my brother in law's two man tent. Somehow, Drew, Kate and I ended up in the two man tent but it was fine- Kate truly does not take up much room. Then we roasted hotdogs and marshmallows using the grill! ha! It worked and we didn't have to fight wet firewood. Kate did end up falling asleep before midnight which was good. Keep reading for more of our weekend saga....eating hotdogs...roasting marshmallows for S'moresYes, we enjoy them too.So, do you think she liked camping??? YEP! She is keeping up with Jamieson girl tradition!
Now, these next few photos tell of our next adventure. On Saturday, we went out for a day of hiking at the Dismals. The rocks and waterfalls are AWESOME. Everyone made the hike quite well, of course, please take in account Kate stumbling over all the roots that she views as huge, us going off every normal trail and all the other happenings....Getting started.... The water was 58* and the girls walked all in it. It took Karlee and Kate a while to realize that they really could get in the water and climb on the rocks, etc.I am so glad I caught Kalie's initial reaction to the water- her face says it all. Notice, there are no pictures of Drew and me in that water! And the picture of the memory of the day. NO WHERE does it say in the rules they gave us that you can't climb on the rocks- who in their right mind would go on a trail with tons of huge boulders and not climb on them anyway.... Well, Drew found this rock with these divets in it- and we were all climbing around on it but Drew went on up. This worker man came up and said, "Now you know if you fall, we aren't responsible." We assured him we knew that. Well, he kept on. He proceeded to hatefully tell Drew that if he fell, he would surely kill himself and how could he leave his three daughters without a daddy or imagine his wife with another man? And then went on to say how dangerous Drew was... blah blah blah..... Well, the look in our 9 year old's eyes was definitely concern. Great opportunity to discuss the importance of LIVING this life and not just sitting around waiting for something to happen. We still had a good time in spite of that man.

Kate, Karlee and Kalie sitting on a tree limb
Drew and me lying on a rock. (And no, we didn't fall- ha!)

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Our friends Tyler and Stephanie have baby Olivia! Please keep them in your prayers as they adjust and make this transition. These days can be so difficult. Check it out at www.oliviajilan.blogspot.com

Ma-ma O Me

These three precious words came out of Kate this morning- Mama..O....Me... translates to Mama hold me. Of course I did!!! After 17 months of naaa gaaa daaaaa, 3 months of speech and less than one month of therapy, in the last few days she has said cu (for cut), cu (for cup) and door (door) and then today I got the sweetest sentence. She can also look at pictures and say my, peas, bye bye, boo, mow, bow, moo and pie. Now she doesn't use all of those in conversation but she is learning to pronounce. We are just so excited. AND another big thing for Kate... she is going off to sleep basically as soon as we put her down at night. She has ALWAYS fought it for 2-3 hours minimum, and for the last two weeks after we rock and stuff, she goes off to sleep almost immediately. I asked the therapist today why is she responding now because I did these same things when we brought her home and she couldn't have cared less. She said now she is ready. She is at the right point in her life to accept this from you and that's what she is doing. As she enjoys going back to babyhood, she has started having accidents at home. It's all so crazy. Man, we just keep learning and learning. But anyway, I just had to share that this morning as I rocked our sweet Kate it was because this mommy finally heard the most beautiful request.

The Last Week

Just catching up on some pictures of various moments over the last week or so.

Kalie had Beach Bum Day at school. This is her first year to be a big buddie. She and Eloise have Isabelle and they took such motherly care of her the entire time!
Karlee and Kate after being at the Mommy Spa one morning. They had their hair done, makeup and a manicure and pedicure! They thought they were pretty cool! ha!

Labor Day was spent with our great friends the Greens and Morgans- we started the tradition last year. We have added a child since then- little Will- also pictured above. Isn't he adorable? I told Drew that Will makes me want to get a little boy! ha! So sweet. All the children had a great time. Thanks Jerry and Connie!
Lily Grace, Kalie, Will, Ashleigh, Sarah, Karlee and Kate
Karlee and Kate painting with shaving cream. This was a first with them and it took them a while to really believe that they could do whatever with it. But, by the time they were finished, their arms were as white as snow as well as the table, their clothes and the chair! What fun!Dance started back up and we are now at a new studio where Amy is one of the teachers!! Kalie is taking competitive acro, lyrical and a production class along with a solo and duet and some private ballet and tap when we get that put together. When I started teaching, Karlee and Kate had to change gymnastics because of the time problem, so Karlee started Acro with Amy too. Kate is still a little young, so we practice at home. Everyone loved it!The new Company Elite- Anna Cagle, Eloise, Caroline, Khloe, Miss Amy, Keeley and Kalie!
You can't see the actual story in this picture but Karlee was holding up Mollie and Rooby's bones and running around the house. They are behind her chasing her and sliding all over the hardwood floors while barking as loud as they can trying to get those bones back and Karlee is laughing her head off! It was hilarious!
These shots are a big deal. Karlee is our tumbler- her love for gymnastics is like Kalie's passion for dance. She has been working on her cartwheel and got it this week. She will go back to more tumbling classes next semester or summer just for additional opportunities. She loves it!FOOTBALL is here again!! We went to UNA's first game tonight and they WON! YEA! I loved the picture of our girls- they are so adorable in their UNA attire! GO LIONS!

First Week as Teacher Again

Well, I have just survived my first week as instructor at UNA! Maybe I should say the students survived! ha! I have students from India, China, Turkey, Africa, Japan and Nepal all together! It is awesome! I am convinced though just after 5 days that I will be the one who in the end has learned the most. I think they are still trying to figure me out but are learning that I love to laugh- one of my classes even played a joke on me Friday and just giggled! It was funny. I have a Reading class and a Listening class. These students are so interested in learning and the most polite I have ever been around. I absolutely love it and hope that there will be a need for me for many semesters doing what I am doing right now. Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes. The girls did well too. I have a girl coming to my house on Tuesdays and Thursdays that is one of my sister's best friends and Karlee and Kate love her, so its perfect. And most of the time I am gone on those days, they are napping. This is just such a unique experience!