Summer fun.

I can't believe I ever thought that summer would drag. We haven't had a minute to catch our breath since school let out. The week after school was out Andy and I went to Wilmington for a few days, he had a conference and I tagged along. We had a wonderful time. The kids have been in art camp and vacation bible school. Then this week I went to Virgina for a few days to see my grandparents (by my self) and had a wonderful time. And I am being blessed with a wonderful bible study that Missy has organized and is doing a wonderful job with.

On the whole summer has been a lot of fun so far. As for the rest of it. We have one more trip to Virgina planned in July I am taking Katie and Emma up to spend a few days with Granny B and Papa Joe. It will be there first time away from home without me, which they are a little nervous about. I think I am just as nervous as them but I think it will be good for all of us. And the summer can't be complete without spending some time with the Beam's, not sure how I am going to work that out yet but I hope it is soon. (Kathy if you have any ideas give me a call)

I hope you are all having wonderful summers and enjoying your time with your little darlings.

Summer goal: update picture of the kids on my blog. That picture is from Christmas and they all look very different now.

My brush with the law.

I am kicking myself that I haven't thought about blogging this before now.

Last Monday night I went to the Yellow Mall with my Mom and the kids. We got done kind of late and made it back to Shelby about 8:30 and I was driving the back way home, I was on Graham Street almost at the stop sign when Nathan said he was going to barf. I stopped in the road because there wasn't anyone behind me and scrambled around to find him something to barf in. After giving him instructions and making sure he was OK I drove on. A white car pulled out behind me and when I turned at the stop sign I saw blue lights in the rear view mirror so I pulled over. I wasn't upset because we hadn't done anything wrong. I rolled down my mirror and looked in the side mirror that's when I realized this wasn't some ordinary traffic stop. The officer had His flashlight in one hand and his other hand on his gun. And he was ALL business. Then he hollered "PUT YOUR HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM." I quickly stuck my hands out the window and He immediately relaxed and walked up to the car with a smile on his face. He said "here's the situation Ma'am, we had an inmate get away from us and I saw you stopped in the road back there and I heard voices, I just wanted to make sure that He hadn't gotten in the car with you and your family." I was like "uh no my son was about to throw up." He was very nice and told me I could go. As we pulled off and the kids returned to full volume my mom said "if he had gotten in the car with us he would have turned himself in." At that point I had to agree with her the kids were all quite rowdy. When I told my brother about it he cracked up. He had a few brushes with the law in his younger wilder days and he found it hilarious that his straight arrow sister was told to put her hands where they could be seen.

Any of you who live in Shelby have probably heard about this guy getting away from the police. They lost him at the intersection of Graham street and Kings road about two hundred yards from where I stopped to take care of Nathan. Thank you Lord for your protection.

What time is it!?!?

SUMMER TIME! O.k. for any of you who don't know that is from High School Musical, which I am destine to hear a lot of now that Katie is out of school. Today was her last day. She got an award for A-B honor roll for the whole year. I was so proud of her. Thank you Missy for volunteering to keep the other three so I could be there for Katie's special moment.

Now the fun truly begins. To be totally honest with you all I start dreading summer starting about Valentines day. I know it sounds awful but it is so hard to have all the kids here at the same time. God bless the homeschoolers! I prayed about homeschooling when Katie went to school and I know it just wasn't right for me. However, I still have guilt that I don't want to have my kids with me 24/7. I think the feeling is mutual though. When Andy was out of town last week after about two days any time the door would open Ian would holler "DADDY" I kept saying no sweetie Daddy won't be home for a few more days. After about a day more when he would hear the door he would hopefully say Neenee? (my Mom) as if he needed to see ANY other adult than me. I wasn't offended at that point I was about ready to give him to the Mail man. (Just kidding) (kinda)

After a few weeks we settle into a comfortable routine and before we know it the summer is over. We are excited this year the kids have some opportunities to do some fun things. There is always Vacation Bible School, our church dose one the kids love. Katie is going to go to a few of the summer art camps that the Arts Council is putting on. She is going to do Clay play where she will do pottery and then later in the summer she will have a week of theater camp with my high school drama teacher. I can't wait for Ms. Reger to see her flair for the dramatic. Emma and Nathan will spend a week doing Art Adventure.

I would love to hear you guys stay sane plans for the summer and any fun things you have planned. This year I have the privilege of attending Missy's bible study, so this is shaping up to be a great summer.

Catch up.

I know I haven't posted in a few weeks. I have no excuse except the kids are out of school. It has been quite an adjustment phase having the three children at home all day everyday. They are just finally figuring out how to play together and get along. (Most of the time)

So to catch everyone up... Emma graduated pre-school. We were proud and sad to see our little girl moving on from Rainbow. She is really growing up.

Nathan will move upstairs next year. At Rainbow the upstairs is a real status symbol, the big kids go upstairs. Next year at Rainbow will be his last so he is excited about being a big boy.

Ian will be in the two year old class next year.

Katie will finish her school year with honors. She has done exceptionally well this year. I am so pleased with her progress. I am dyslexic so it is a thrill to me to see her reading and doing math so well. She can read about anything she wants to now. She told me she wanted to read Ramona Quimby age 8, and I was like O.K. baby so she started to read it and about a week later I started reading it to both girls and she knew what was going on! I didn't read with comprehension until the third grade when I had been held back in the second grade and started in a Learning Disabled class. She was writing in a journal the other day and it asked her what her favorite thing to do was and she said "Go to school." Thank you Lord, it is such a blessing.

Andy is traveling this week. He left on Monday and will be back late Thursday night. Which is a bummer because Thursday is my birthday. I will be 29. Somehow I think that will be harder than when I actually turn 30, its like leaving my 20's already. I saw a lady on So you think you can dance the other night who was my age and had four children also. I asked Andy if I looked that old. He was non-committal. He said he couldn't compare because he thinks I am so much prettier than she was and he thinks she looked older than her age. Not sure how to take that.

Anyway that's what is going on with the Gardner Gang. I hope to be a regular updater over the summer even though I feel like I'm drowning in kids. Hope everyone else is doing well.