School Days

Jim has this adorable tune that his dad used to sing at the beginning of the school year. He now sings a few bars of it every year for us too.

"School days, school days,
Dear old golden rule days.
'Readin' and 'ritin' and 'rithmetic,
Taught to the tune of a hick'ry stick."

First day for Ayla went great. She has really taken to the life of junior high. She's liking her teachers and only got turned around once to find herself in the "8th grade wing" bumping into "huge guys that just plow down the hallway".

Yesterday and today were volleyball tryouts. Ayla has never tried out for anything really. It's always been if she wanted to play, they let anyone play. Now, she has to demonstrate some skills to get by. So, big thanks to her WAYA coaches last year, Sports Country counselors, and everyone that helped her at UT volleyball "bootcamp" this summer. SHE MADE THE TEAM! They have an A/B team and a C team. Ayla made it to the A/B team. She's so excited! (except for the fact that one of her best friends made the C team ;(

Big shout out BIRTHDAY wishes to Uncle Hal! We love you big dog!

That's MR. Henry

Aunt Abbey and Uncle Edward gave Henry this handsome robe last Christmas (thank yall, he LOVES his robe). I kept meaning to snap photos of him looking all dapper and clean.


and yes... he likes getting his teeth EXTRA clean with double the toothbrush power.

New loves

Henry has fallen in love... with the little tomatoes from the garden. I've never seen him so excited about a food. Any time of day just popped straight in his mouth. He lights up when he sees the bowl full of them on the counter. If you give him one, he'll carry it around like a precious jewel before finally devouring every bit of it.


He's also quite fond of the garden grown watermelon we have been snacking on for a week. It's was terribly delicious.

His other new love (and trick) is to sneak into the bottom drawer of the frig, where all the fruit is kept, quicker than lightning before you can shut the door. He's usually sinking his teeth into a giant apple, peach or plum before you even notice he was there. He fondles the grapefruits, but I haven't witnessed him trying to bite one yet. I can't wait for the sour face. I know, evil mom.

Ayla has been consumed lately with "Oh my gosh,I'm going to middle school" thoughts for weeks now. Only 2 more weeks until all these thoughts will be reality. She's beside herself with excitement and apprehension. Her good friend Faith is coming for a visit today and will be staying until the weekend before school ... a good distraction indeed.

I'm so sorry for such a long drawn out pause here in blog-world. I keep thinking I can at LEAST sneak in a short post with a few pictures... but I realized I haven't been taking any pictures the last 5 weeks, so there was nothing to post. My class is over on Tuesday, so our family blog should resume a more regular posting once again. Thanks for your patience... check back in a week.