Nearing the end, or should I say the beginning?

I've not posted in a couple of weeks because I've been SO busy getting ready for baby. I've had some WONDERFUL baby showers, so writing thank-you notes has occupied lots of my time lately. The picture I've attached is just to show you how big I've gotten. It was taken 2 weekends ago after the baby shower hosted by Mama's aunts. It took place in Burlison at my home church. Today, we are 26 days 'til due date. My weekly visits started this week. My doctor said everything is on target for the due date, but this being my first we may go past the due date.....maybe your birthday Jackson!

Speaking of Jackson, he & Melissa were scheduled to get back into Ireland today after a few days in Belgium. If y'all see this, hope y'all had a great time!

I've been washing all the baby clothes we have. One thing I'm excited about is a little ghost outfit Mom got the baby for Halloween. It's so tiny & cute! We've yet to pack a bag for the hospital or put the carseat in the car, but we'll get there.

M started back to school this week. Please pray that God will continue to carry him through this with the success that he has so far. After this semester, he'll be a SENIOR!!!!

On that note, our precious Avery started kindergarten. That has been really hard for me. I'm a queen worrier. Krystal has reassured me that she is doing fine, making friends, and likes school.

Steve & Lisa, some friends from church that are missionaries, will be headed back to Costa Rica this weekend. They've been here on furlough. Our church had a Memphis themed send-off for them Sunday night. So, Steve & Lisa, if you see this....we've already been praying for you and will continue to.

the simple times of the 80's

Jackson, for some reason the other morning Fred Penner's Place crossed my mind! Of course, Marty had never heard of him or the show, so I found the intro on YouTube. Here's a flashback:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cjgNARNeqk&feature=email

For the others of you that don't know Fred Penner.......he had a show (on Nickelodeon, I think) when we were kids. It was more in Jackson's time than mine, but I watched it with him. Fred would start the show by crawling through a log made into a tunnel that led to his place in the forest. He would sing and had animal friends there. One of his favorite songs to sing was The Cat Came Back. I guess it was kinda like Mr. Rogers. Jackson & I would make our "place in the forest" in Mom & Dad's bedroom using pillows, blankets, & chairs. One time, we even made a place in the real woods behind our house. We found this shady clearing, near an old creek bed I think. Some big stones had been piled up by Daddy's shed, left over from building the house I think, so we hauled them down there. I suppose they're still down there.

Some other Nickelodeon shows we watched were: Doug (with Patty Mayonaise, of course), Eureka's Castle, Denver the Last Dinosaur, Cat-Dog, and Sharon, Lois, & Bram's Elephant Show. What simple times those were!

While I was walking down memory lane with Jackson's shows on YouTube & Google, I remembered some shows I liked. I've mentioned some of these shows over the years, but no one EVER knew what I was talking about. Anyone remember the cartoon Beverly Hills Teens? I found some YouTube videos of it. It now looks horrible, but at the time, I loved it. There was also a "real" (not cartoon) show called Rags to Riches. I think it came on on Friday nights for awhile. It was probably when I was around 9 or 10. It was really good. It was about this group of girls adopted by this rich man. They sang alot because the show was essentially a musical.

Anyway, the internet can provide great trips down memory lane!

They're tearing down TRA.

Tipton Rosemark Academy, as I know it, is being torn down. They've built a new building right behind it, so the school still exists, just not the old building. I think the building is about 100 years old. This is the high school M graduated from, but I think I'm more sad about it than he is. We drove past this school alot as I was growing up. All the schools I ever went to were newer and I was always fascinated by the idea of going to an old school. As you can see in the first picture, carved above a door was "BOYS ENTRANCE". The "GIRLS ENTRANCE" had been covered up by a fire escape for years, but I was always intrigued..........did boys really have to use that door?

ELVIS WEEK

Saturday was the kick-off of Elvis week. Here I am with an Elvis impersonator before the Redbirds baseball game. The theme of the whole night/game was Elvis, of course! We were able to get tickets to sit in the Campbell Clinic box where there's air conditioning!

finally got the videos off the video camera!

Here's a video I've been meaning to post for awhile, but we just got it off the camera. It's from our afternoon @ the spray park that I talked about a few weeks ago. (Jackson--this is not the funny one I was telling you I was working on. I'll get to that later.)

DAY OF WEDDINGS

Yesterday (Sat. 8/2/08) was a day of weddings. In uploading the pics, the order was reversed. The first pictures are actually at wedding #2 of the day--Skip & Amanda. The wedding was at 6:00 at Smyrna, my home church, where M & I got married. Avery was the flower girl & did her job beautifully! The 3rd picture was taken in the car leaving the ceremony for the reception---she was telling how the outside of her dress was prettier than the built-in slip. Oh, and she loved the baby's breath halo so much she wore it to church the next morning.

Here are shots from the 1st wedding of the day--Matthew, Martin's cousin, and Laura. The wedding was @ 2:00. M went to it, but didn't go to wedding #2 because he had homework to do since finals are coming up this week.