Pep Squad!!

As I mentioned in my earlier post about school...8th grade is the year the kids can start being more involved in extra curricular activities. Chase decided last year that she really wanted to join the Pep Squad this year!! It's a tough schedule, she has practice everyday until 5pm and they have at least one game a week. Smokey Rd had their big Wildcat Kickoff (Open House) they introduced the Football players, Pep Squad, and Volleyball teams, the band played, and the Chorus sang!! So Chase came out with the Pep Squad and then had to run over to join the chorus! All the middle schools from Coweta county had a football jamboree at East Coweta High School a couple of weeks ago, Smokey Rd won both quarters they played and Chase did a great job cheering them on!! Our first game was this past Tuesday against Arnall Middle School, Chase was so excited, unfortuantely we ended up at the doctor's office that morning because Chase's foot was hurting so bad, she had pain shooting up her leg!! Thank goodness it was only a sprain, but it did put her on crutches and on the "cheerleader disabled list" Chase was very upset to have to miss out on cheering for the first official game, but better to sit out one game than the entire season!! Her foot is doing much better already and she hopes to cheer this week against Madras!! By the way, Smokey Rd has an excellent football team, they beat Arnall 22 - 0....Go Wildcats!!

These are some pictures from the Wildcat Kickoff Pep Squad and Chorus, from the Football Jamboree, and from the game against Arnall:

Here is Chase in her Game day Polo (they can't wear their uniforms to school, so this it what they wear on game day, so that they are still recognized at the pep squad members)

Chase has an exciting opportunity to go to Auburn and cheer during the half time show with the Auburn cheerleaders...That is closer to the end of September, so I will blog more about that later!

Our First Overnight House Guests!

We don't have blinds on the window and french door around the fireplace, so there was too much light, but they are still great pictures of the Browns!! :)

I have always loved having company, and I especially love having overnight company! It's just something about time spent with good friends, it's just so much fun!! So when Julie Brown, a friend of ours from Wake Forest, NC, sent me a message on Facebook saying they were coming to ATL, I was so excited! We had just seen our dear friends the Dews a few weeks earlier (we met Jamie, Tara, and the kids half way since we are so far south, so they didn't get to see our home and church this time, but we hope next visit that they can come south and maybe even stay with us! ).

So when Julie sent me the email saying they were coming this way too we couldn't have been more excited that now the Browns were coming for a visit!! Their original plan was to come by on Friday and see our new home and our church, but their plans changed some at the last minute, so they ended up not sure where they were going to stay the night! So of course I told them to come stay with us!! We had only been in our house alittle over a week and we still had boxes everywhere, but if they didn't mind neither did we!! The Lord has truly blessed us with our new home and our desire is to share that blessing with others whenever possible!! I wasn't sure it would work for them because we are alot farther south then everyone else they were coming to Atlanta to see, but I think it all worked out ok!!

Because of all the construction on I-85, they got here alittle later than planned on Thursday night, so Nicholas was sound asleep and didn't get to see Chase (Chase started school that Friday, so she was up and gone before everyone else was awake) We had breakfast and we also got to take Daniel, Julie, and the kids to see our church! It was a great time!! I am just so thankful that we got to spend time with the Browns, they became dear friends to us in Wake Forest, and we had such a great time visiting with them and we hope they will make many more trips to GA and maybe even stay with us again!!

Sweet Elizabeth, she was still so tiny when we left Wake Forest, now look how big she has gotten and she is just so sweet and lovable!! :)

Nicholas loved playing the Wii, while Ethan enjoyed checking out all the toys we have here for our grandkids!! All the kids always enjoy having their picture made with Boz!
Here are a few pictures from the church (I think Ethan might follow in his Daddy's footsteps!!)
I also wanted to say THANKS to Julie for the hat you sent us!! Now Tommy can stop fussing about me wearing his all the time! HAHAHA! And Chase loved the chocolates, she said you can have her room ANYTIME!!

Chase starts 8th grade

Chase was so excited to start school this year! She officially started 8th grade on Friday, August 7, 2009...Unfortuantely since we have had no Internet service I am just getting around to blogging about it!! She has a big year ahead of her...Of course, we have all the new and exciting things going on at our church, so on top of all that, Chase joined the Pep squad this year! She is so excited about being a cheerleader and she looks so adorable in her uniform! Chase is an excellent student, she has 3 advanced classes she will be taking this year, advanced math, advanced literature, and advanced social studies, along with science, language arts, chorus, and technology. Chase was also picked to be a part of the yearbook staff!! 8th grade is going to be a busy, busy year, but I know she is going to have lots of fun to go along with all that learning! This is the year that the students have more things available to them to get involved in and Sarah (our daughter in law) told Chase to get involved in as much as she could and as you can see Chase took Sarah's advice!! I will keep you updated on how things are going through out her 8th grade year, so far she loves it!!

Here are some pictures from her first day of 8th grade:

(it's always been our tradition to take her picture with a sign saying what grade and what school she was attending that year and of course the date, we have moved around so much, it just helps keep a good record of where she went to school, she always hates it that first day, but I know one day she will look back and be glad that I did it and maybe she will continue the tradition with her kids!! )

Chase's school supplies this year are all mostly made of recycled materials, her notebooks even say things like..."I am a notebook, one day I hope to be toilet paper" and "I am a notebook, one day I hope to be a party hat" And her pencil pouches are made from recycled Kool-aid and Capri-Sun pouches, Chase helped collect and also cleaned used Kool-Aid and Capri-Sun pouches at her school in Wake Forest to send off to be recycled :)

She wanted a picture with me and with her dad, but Tommy was still in bed!!

Chase is as silly as her daddy...and yes he was really still asleep, he had no idea she took this until I showed him after he got up!!

Our New Home!!

WE ARE HOME!!

Our subdivision entrance sign:

We are very excited about being in our new home!! The Lord has provided for us again and again and we give Him all the honor and glory!! We officially got the keys to our new home on July 27, 2009. I believe our first night here was that Thursday night, July 31st!! Chase had to sleep on the couch a few days because Tommy was in the process of painting her room!!
Here are a few pics of the painting process:

The "dragon fire" orange was alot easier to paint on than the "citrus splash" yellow...Tommy went thru 4 coats and 2 gallons of the yellow vs. 2 coats and 1 gallon of the orange, but in the end it was all worth it...Chase LOVES her new room!! I will post some more pictures of Chase's room after we get it fully decorated!! :)

We had alot of help moving in from our church members and we appreciate all everyone did! It rained several days, so we moved alot of stuff in our van, and Tommy's parents Rodeo, and our son Brian came and helped us and moved some in his Xterra! Tommy's parents were our biggest helpers...They were here everyday working hard and we are so thankful for them and all they have done!! We love you both so much!!

Here are a couple of pics of the Living room...The pictures turned out a little dark, so I tried to take them at different angles!

This is one of my favorite parts of the house...I LOVE our fireplace!!

This is the Kitchen and Dining area...We have a formal dining room as well, but we aren't really formal dining people, so we decided to make that into Tommy's study!!

We aren't fully settled in yet, Tommy is patching some holes and we need to do some touch up painting before I can finish hanging pictures and such!! We are down to about 3 or 4 boxes!! Tommy even cleared out enough space for me to park the car in the garage!! :) Yay!!

This is the Master Bedroom and Master Bath...(yes, Tommy is sleeping)I wish the pictures showed how beautiful our Master bedroom and bath really are!! We are so excited about our room...As you can see our furniture doesn't come close to filling the room and we have double trey ceilings and the bathroom ceiling is beautiful as well!! The pictures just don't do it justice!! :)

This is our guest room (actually it's our grandkids room) We haven't gotten the crib and bunkbeds up yet, but they are coming soon!!

Tommy's dad was generous enough to give Tommy is old riding mower! We have 1.6 acres, so Tommy would have been spending all his time cutting grass if he had to do it all with the push mower!! He looks rough doing it with a riding mower!! Can you imagine if he had to do it all with a push mower!?!