DARE Graduation

Tuesday at Jessica's school they had a Graduation for the 5th graders who participated in the DARE(Drug Abuse Resistance Education) Program. This program teaches them how to stay away from drugs and alcohol. The local Sherrifs office puts these programs on in the schools and I think they do a very good job. The kids learn to be respectful to the officers and they learn that they are there to help them. The are very compassionate in what they do.
Below are a few pictures from the graduation. My camera seemed to have an issue on a few pictures. Don't know what it's problem is.





Lining up to march in



They had to march in by 2's to their teacher before taking their seats



DARE Officer Stripling



Overview of the five 5th grade classes



Principal Joan Gibbons speaking to the student



Jessica receiving her DARE certificate



Jessica waiting for the other classmates to return to their seats so they all can sit down together

Zach's birthday

We didn't have much for a party. We went to dinner and came home and had cupcakes and ice cream and he opened our gifts. Nothing too extravagent, but a little celebration. Below are a couple of pictures.




Zach with his chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing(his favorite) Not sure why the picture looks so horrible



He got a new Wii game




He also got new Heeley's since his old ones were being held together by tape

Happy Birthday Zach!

Ten Years ago today our ONLY little boy came to join our family. We feel truly blessed to have at least one boy in the bunch. Zach loves to draw and is quite the artist(at least I think so) and he loves to fish, and ride 4 wheelers and loves the outdoors. Although Zach has alot to compete with all girls in the family(especially bathroom time)he does quite well mixing in with this family. We look forward to seeing how Zach grows up to be the man in his family and take care of all his girls. We love you Zachary and hope you have a wonderful Birthday!

Space shuttle!

Friday evening the space shuttle was sent up in space. It's always so neat to watch one take off. We have never actually been to Cape Canaveral to watch one get set off live, but we have watched it many times from right here at home. It's so neat to be able to actually be able to see it when you think of how far away from us it really is. It's about 2 hours north of us, so when it's a clear day or night it's truly awesome to see.






it was a beautiful night, just the right temperature and a full moon!




Right after it took off, the sky just lit up




as it was going up



another shot goin into space



and another shot

Mysterious Illness

I woke up Wednesday morning to Zach being sick. I was informed he had been up earlier in the morning throwing up. So he stayed home from school. He was finished with the vomiting by noon and was wanting to go outside to play by 3:00. He was not excited that I would not let him go out to play. Anyhow,he returned to school on Thursday and I learned that alot of kids and some teachers had been out sick too . As I went home from work on Thursday there were many local news trucks out in front of the public elementary school either leaving or filming a newscast. Later I saw on the news that Hobe Sound Elementary was having quite a few kids out sick (about 120 or so) and that the Martin County Health Dept. had been working with them to find out what might be the cause. So for now, we are wondering what's going on and hoping that Jessica & Andrea do not get sick.

Showing support!

While good friends Tim & Sharron Teed were here they helped show their support for McCain & Palin by holding signs on the corner of US 1 and Bridge Road. So Saturday night they got our kids excited and so they all made signs and colored them so they could go show support on Sunday afternoon. I'm not sure how much support they got, but I think the people were a little tired of seeing us drive around circles trying to capture a few pictures. We managed to get a few. So below is a slode show of them making the signs and standing on the various corners for supporting our candidates.

Trick- Or- Treat

Friday evening was an absolute gorgeous night to be outside. The community we live in allowed trick or treating for anyone who wanted to participate. There were quite a few who handed out candy. The kids sure didn't come home empty handed that's for sure. Hopefully more will participate next year. It was nice having a safe place for the kids to be out and it promoted fellowship with your fellow neighbors. I think everyone had fun! Below are a few pictures from the evening. As usual Meagan was not impressed with some costume even though it was something she had to wear and not some huge animal coming at her in costume. She has this Phobia with costumes I guess. Anyhow, we finally convinced her to wear it. You would have laughed your heads off at us as each one of our kids took a turn going outside knocking on our door saying "trick Or Treat" as Rod dropped candy in their buckets to show her how fun it would be to get candy. She was not impressed! But our neighbors mother who you will see dressed up in the pictures finally got her dressed. She was terrified of her with her mask on and hair, but something just warmed her I guess as Zola took off the hair and mask and got her dressed. Maybe she was scared this crazy woman would take off with her. Once she finally got dressed we headed on out to see what we could get. We got one Trick as neighbors down the road sprayed silly string at you when they opened the door before giving the treat. But we got plenty of yummy treats!!

We have a new Toy!

We acquired a new toy recently. We never told the kids as they would have drove us nuts. But we weren't quite sure how it was going to work out and how we would even get it home. Luckily good friends Tim & Sharron Teed showed up for a visit when they were in the area for a load. Tim is always eager to lend a helping hand! His truck was perfect for the job, even through a few minor glitches,they got it delivered to our house. The fun part was getting his big rig down our street. Unfortunately when he pulled over in the sand he got stuck. Luckily a 2x4 under the tire gave enough traction it came out really easy. So we didn't have to call a tow truck, thank goodness. The next fun part was to get it back through our narrow walk way to where it needed to be. They decided to lay 2x4's on the grass and wheel it back which worked really well. The kids are excited to use this as they always love it when we stay somewhere with a pool and hot tub. We are still working on some minor glitches with heating and some of the jets aren't working but I think it possibly got jarred loose in the moving process. Hopefully we can get it fixed soon so we can relax and enjoy it!