Isaiah lost his first tooth!

Tonight while we were at Nehemiah's football game, Isaiah lost his tooth! It's one of the bottom teeth. The one right next to it is very loose too.

He was shocked that he was bleeding and was amazed at how small the tooth was. He asked me to carefully place it in my coat pocket so he could put it under his pillow tonight. And he wanted to know if the tooth fairy has wings.

Isaiah thinks he's kinda ugly now. He's been worried about losing his teeth because he likes to look good. I think he's an adorable snaggle tooth boy!

Can't wait to see what she brings!

Parents Nite Out!

Ray had a great but simple idea. We should sometimes go out WITHOUT the kids. Good thought, sometimes difficult to accomplish. Anyway, Saturday night when I got off work, Ray had everything arranged. Ray's mom watched the kids while we went bowling with some friends. Our friend Tina and her fiance Sean, my brother Dustin and another friend of ours named Vanessa came with us. I had my first Long Island Iced Tea. It was pretty good, but strong, I only needed one drink! Anyway, I rarely drink, so though I wasn't drunk, everything was extremely funny. So this is why people like to drink! It was a blast. I told Ray we need to do this at least once a month. Here's some pics:

Eisenhower State Park

On Saturday, October 13, after Malachi and Isaiah played their football games, we headed north to Eisenhower State Park. We already had the trailer rented and packed so we were able to go immediately after the game. We rented a screened in shelter since we tore up our tent this summer at Rocky Ridge when we were out riding 4 wheelers. It was a good thing too since it poured down rain the last day we were there and due to the shelter we stayed dry and comfortable. Ray thought ahead and brought the microwave so we just heated up our leftover hamburgers, hot dogs and hot links and had a delicious meal. We had a picnic table in the shelter too. We played Uno, talked, laughed, listened to the rain, hung out and just did nothing. It was great. We had fun before the rain too. We went fishing, rode bikes, played at the playground, rode 4 wheelers, and found spiders. Isaiah hooked his own worms and caught several fish. One of the perch he caught was big enough to bring home and eat. Trent caught the tiniest fish I've ever seen on a hook, it looked like a fishing lure. I think he was mad. I rode Nehemiah's bike for a short time. Malachi told me I looked funny on a bike. I slowed down to stop and talk to him and when I leaned over to put my foot down, my jeans got caught on the pedal and I fell to the ground. How embarrassing.
We met another family with small children when we were fishing at the pier. Samara, being the social butterfly, walked right up to the other kids and made friends with them. She introduced them to me as her "brothers". I guess in her world, all her closest friends are her brothers. Anyway, Ray overheard her telling them that they are her friends but they "can't come to our house because we live in a porch"! She was referring to the screened shelter! How funny.
I guess everyone liked the shelter. When we were packing up to leave, Malachi told me he didn't want to go. He said he liked it here in the "stick house" and thought it would be ok if we were to move to another "stick house". Funny how they like things like that, even without t.v. or video games or computer.

Samara gets her ears pierced!!!

On October 9, Samara chose to get her ears pierced! She was so excited and eagerly walked around the store picking out all kinds of dangling earrings. I had to explain to her that she wouldn't be able to wear that kind of earring yet. I also explained that the actual piercing may hurt a little. But she didn't back down. She boldly sat in the chair and hugged the Claire's boutique bear. She chose the pink earrings which represented the October birthstone. (I thought it was perfect, knowing how much she loves pink and how she unknowingly chose the earrings that stood for the month in which her ears were pierced.) When the first ear was pierced, she jumped a little and then slowly reached up to feel the earring. She didn't cry or move and wasn't afraid to get the 2nd one pierced. I am so proud.

The rest of the Mississippi Trip

I apologize for taking "forever" to post the rest of our trip. Believe it or not, our trip was only 2 days! We left Texas on Sunday, September 30 and came back home Wednesday October 3.

Anyway, the second day, we went to visit Ray's paternal grandmother, Mrs. Laura. She suffers from Alzheimers and did not recognize Ray and was not able to talk to him. But she was willing to pose for this picture. Sorry about the quality of the pic, it came from my cell phone and I didn't realize that I was able to change white balance, etc on the camera phone.

Several other family members were there. Aunt Mae, her daughter Sheeka and Sheeka's twin daughters. We also saw Uncle Jimmy Dale and Aunt Laura. Here's Ray with his Uncle Jimmy Dale. One of his dad's brothers and the one who looks most like Ray.

Here's a picture of Aunt Mae and Sheekas twin girls sitting on the porch with Samara.

After visiting with Ray's family, we headed to the coast to ride on a shrimping boat. Ray's sister Brittney came with us. It was cool because there were only 2 other visitors on the boat. So we got an up close and personal tour! Here's Nehemiah, Isaiah, Malachi and Samara on the upper deck of the shrimp boat.

Here's a picture of our shrimping guide. He explained everything you ever wanted to know about shrimping. He had lots of pictures on the boat of things they've caught over the years, including a sea turtle. He also had before and after pictures of the area due to Hurricane Katrina.

We were disappointed that we only caught a handful of shrimp. There were a few other fish and lots of jellyfish and "sea sourcrout". Here's a picture of one the shrimp we caught and threw in a tank.

But the good news was, we caught some small non-stinging jellyfish and the fisherman gave one to each kid to hold.

The twins posed for a silly picture while sitting on the back of the shrimping boat.

Here's Ray sitting on the lower deck of the boat.

Next we headed to the beach. Here's Brittney and the twins walking along the beach.

Then we rented jet skis. Brittney did not want to ride. She said she can't swim and didn't feel comfortable riding out in the ocean. We tried to convince her but to no avail. We rented two 3 seater jetskis. They let us put 4 on each jetski since we had little ones. Trent, Isaiah, Malachi and Nehemiah rode on the first one. Ray, Seth, Samara and I rode on the second one. The twins were having a blast, laughing and carrying on, until Ray tried to turn the jetski and we flipped over. Then they were both terrified and screaming. The lifeguard guy rode his jetski over and helped Ray to flip our jetski back over while I held onto the twins. Ray climbed on first, Samara hesitated but was convinced to get back on. Seth refused to get back on, instead crying and clinging to me. I finally pushed him back up with the help of the lifeguard. We headed back to shore and Ray and the twins got off. I got to ride alone for the rest of the trip. Trent was able to keep his jetski from capsizing, but rode too fast on the waves and knocked Nehemiah off the back! Of course Isaiah and Malachi were terrified that they just lost their brother in the ocean! Nehemiah was able to climb back on before the lifeguard guy was able to rescue him. Here's Trent and Nehemiah after they dropped Isaiah and Malachi off on the shore.
Me on the jet ski.

Here's a picture of the bridge that crosses over the Mississippi River. We took this pic on the way home. Goodbye Mississippi! We'll be back soon!


While on our way home, Ray saw his dream bike so I took a picture of it. A picture of the stretched Hayabusa for all to enjoy. Thank you stranger for letting us take your picture!!!

More of the Mississippi Trip

After visiting Mrs. Harper and Rev, we stopped by Ray's dad's house. We visited and went outside to ride 4 wheelers and bikes. Here's a picture of Ray's sister Brittany, step-mom Faye, and Ray sitting on the tail-gate.

Here's a picture of Isaiah riding his bike in Grandpa's front yard. See the bus in the back yard? Grandma Faye drives the school bus and gets to park it in her front yard each and every day! Is that cool or what?
Of course, Malachi and the twins played in the bus for hours on end. They pretended to go to school. They had to climb on and off the bus to get "lunch money" and pick up their "homework", etc. They took turns being the bus driver and Malachi observed that he could not see if kids were walking in front of the bus! How cool is that? Seeing things from another perspective is really educational! Here's a pic of Malachi and Samara standing on the bus.

Here's Samara and Aunt Brittney.
Samara and Grandpa Billy Ray.






Seth and Grandpa Billy Ray.

Nehemiah learned to ride the Raptor. Here's Nehemiah taking Malachi for a ride.





Trent taking Isaiah for a ride.


With all the motorized vehicles moving about, Grandpa pulled out his "zero turn" lawnmower. Ray and Nehemiah took the mower for a ride. Difficult to navigate but fun once you learn how.


There were little bugs everywhere! Faye said they were called Love Bugs. Seth caught some and wanted to take a picture.

That evening, we went out to eat at the "Western Sizzlin" Restaurant. Dinner was delicious. Ray's other sister, Ernestine, also showed up. Here's a pic of Faye and Ernestine's daughter.

Mississippi Trip

We had fun visiting Ray's maternal grandparents. This is a picture of our family with Mrs Harper and Rev. They live in Gulfport, Mississippi. Mrs. Harper gave all the kids a stuffed animal to bring home with them. Thank you! Wish we could've stayed longer to visit!