More Geocaching Fun!

We had fun climbing huge boulders with Aunt M.













Here is Janny with her first Geocache find and our first of the day at Moss Rock. CashFamily (that's us) has logged 9 finds in three days... I think we are addicted.
















Here are some serious hikers. We spent nearly 5 hours at Oak Mountain and the kids were great. We did some treacherous climbing with each of us falling at least once - yes, even mom and dad!

The Preserve

We heard about the Preserve (250 acres with hiking trails and a nice waterfall) and the neat Boulder field somewhere inside and we decided to visit. After our second non-challant visit with no success of finding the Boulder field we decided to do a little research to make sure we found it today. Finally SUCCESS! Just a mear few hundred yards from where we had been before. Topos (rock climbers) were everywhere. We quickly moved on to find some more caches with J (G's Mom) and M (G's sister) in tow. J found her first cache at the top of the waterfall area between two rocks. The second cache was discovered across the creek and behind a stump. To end the day we all got our picture made on top of one of the boulders.

GeoCaching!

As you can see K is very excited to go geocaching!
Geocaching is a phenomenon that is catching on world-wide. People hide items and publish the coordinates on the web. People like us can use our handheld GPS units (that Santa brought) to try to find them. There are many different sizes from a small pill bottle to a large rubbermaid container. The larger ones contain treasures which you swap with something you brought. The smaller ones may only contain a small log book to sign in proving you found it.

Do you see anything that looks like it could be hiding something more? Of course you could stick your hand down that hole to see what you find, I'm not!!











If you look closely you will see a small fishing line coming out of the hole. Well if you pull that line out comes a small container that can be opened. This cache is a multi-cache. Which means it only gives you clues to the coordinates of the next cache. I almost gave up before finding this one.

The Big Morning

The big morning started off a little shaky, since the firetruck came around on Christmas Eve with Santa on top. We were standing on the balcony (a little higher than Santa) and the firetruck had to manuever around a car parked by our house and it looked like the firetruck was coming in the driveway. With the loud sirens and lights flashing it was all K could take. K was in G's arms and she about jumped down and back into the house. She screamed something about wanted to get under the bed. After K was convinced that Santa was no longer here she came out. They both wanted to open the stockings first, before the maylay began.

W's and G's favorite new game - Screwball Scramble.














K now has enough Little People to fill the pre-school and then some.

ZOO LIGHTSAFARI

That's a STRONG, MEAN looking Gorilla!














We all had a great time at the zoo.

Merry Christmas!

Does this look familiar? K's first Christmas card picture showed that she was not happy to be sitting in brother's lap in front of the tree. Now 4 Christmas later our little monkeys are growing up.




That will probably be the look on Christmas Day!

W finished Kindergarten Math and I was almost arrested!

W finished Kindergarten Math today. Here W is pictured
with his certificate stating he has finished the first PRIMER
Math set.

The complete ceremony will be held this weekend on Saturday. Please no gifts. Hononary gifts to W's private fund "Mensa Here I come" can be donated in his name ;-)

Also last night I (B) was almost arrested. Around 9:00
the doorbell rang with G going out on the balcony to see who
it was (I was already in bed). A police officer asked if "B (but he said my name) was home." I put on some pants and went to the door. I thought it was some sort of joke, since the police officer was so casual about asking if I was home and not stating my last name. I thought I would see my other brother B (in uniform) come around the corner laughing or something. He asked me to step outside and to take my hands out of my pockets. He asked me to put my hands on my head and the other police officer proceeded to pat me down. They asked me if I had ever lived in California and what was my middle name. It turnsout that they were looking for B Wilson A a parolee. They ran my drivers license and apologized. When I walked back to the front door a third police officer was there and stated he was around back looking in the kitchen window and commented on how nice the homes were around here. The other cop knew G from the Co-op. Needless to say that really shook up G for a few minutes.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY K!!

What a great time we had at Build-A-Bear with 16 of K's friends and relatives! After some Dora cupcakes and chicken nuggets it was present time. K got to open all of her wonderful gifts before heading to Build-A-Bear. At BAB K decided to get clothes (pajamas) for her existing rabbit that W made for her before she was born. W could not decide if he wanted to build a new one or get clothes for his horse. After two last minute changes he went with a new bear named Roary. One friend picked a monkey and named it Swing. All the kids got to pick one extra heart and they were all placed inside K's rabbit.

The girls are ready to hit the shopping mall.

Some more Tsali pictures!

Tsali Mountain biking Trip

I finally got some pictures from the Tsali trip. This is the first posting of yours truly about to navigate a creek crossing. The first day consisted of us meeting and travelling up to Western N. Carolina. We planned on an afternoon ride, which turned into a night ride. We got a late start and it was a slow go with some of the other riders. So the last half of the ride was literally in the dark. Even though we were in the middle of a National Forest without even the light of the moon it still was pretty fun. The next day consisted of a couple of rides and some awesome downhills. The rain came Sunday and it was so messy on the final ride. I went through two shirts and one is still stained with mud. Thanks to AT for the great trip!

Fireballs

The soccer season has come to a close. The Fireballs closed out the season Saturday with a victory that set our record at 6-2. Not to bad for a first time coach. The climax of the season was the make-up game against our previous coach from last spring. They had us beat with experience and ability but our Fireballs worked together to pull out a 3-2 vitctory despite a yelling episode from the opposing coach and a very wet field. W had at least 5 awesome goal saves. Last Saturday was the last game, which we had it well in hand from the beginning. To finish off the season we let all five kids play at the same time for the last 5 minutes. We wrapped up the time with a team party and handed out the trophies at a local restaurant.

Next up is Upward Basketball. Practice starts next month with games starting in January.

Happy Halloween

Young Annikan and Snow White made the rounds on Halloween. Everyone had a good time and a lot of candy was eaten by all. Yet we are still plagued by another snake incident. W almost stepped on it when he was getting out of the road to let a car pass. I saw a black snake about 2 feet long right behind W's feet. G alerted the house owner. The snake was black and had a narrow head. Since we are all now snake experts, we calmly stated that it was not poisonous and they swept it into a metal bucket and let the snake go out in the woods behind their house.

Quote of the night came courtesy of W. After leaving one particular house (and not far enough away from the front door) W stated, "Man, it was a mess in there!" - B

Fetch!

That is NOT a ball - the dog was carrying a pumpkin around in his mouth!

Weekly Update!!!

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great week! My updates are becoming more and more spaced out. We were so busy last week I didn't have a minute. If all of this just totally bores you - that is okay! My primary objective for this journal is for me not to feel so nuts when one of you asks -"what have you all been up to?", because I usually can't remember!!! I am printing all of this so that maybe one day the kids can have it to remember what an average week was like when they were little. Here's our summary:

Monday and Tuesday we were so happy to be able to get together with friends who were out of school for fall break.

Wednesday we visited another family friend to deliver a meal and just play!

Thursday we took the cats to the vet and the kids played inside while it rained and I worked.

Friday kicked off "Mom's Extra Special Weekend of Fun" as I had the kids all to myself for three days. B left early Friday for a mountain biking trip with the guys. The kids and I packed our lunch and headed to Old Baker Farm where we ate in the top of the barn before loading up for a hayride to the pumpkin patch. We spent the day there with friends from our homeschool support group. K fell in love with a little calf and they both loved the pig.

From there we went to the $1 movie and watched "Barnyard". An awful movie from an adult standpoint, but the kids enjoyed it. I have to admit I kind of liked Wild Mike. Besides, it did help us carry on the farm theme for the day. Finally we wound up at Chic-fil-a for dinner and some crazy playtime. We wrapped up the day with hot chocolate, popcorn and cuddles. W was especially excited about sleeping in Mommy's bed for TWO WHOLE NIGHTS!!

On Saturday the Fireballs were victorious over their opponent, but not without a struggle! Afterwards, we met friends to play putt-putt golf. Saturday night we played board games until bedtime. Our new favorite is Disney Yahtzee Jr. (thank you Moores!). We also played a few rounds of Disney DVD Bingo - our old favorite!

After church on Sunday we planted some flowers and ordered pizza for dinner to round out a great weekend. We miss dad and hope he gets home soon! W has already claimed his spot in the bed if he is not home by bed time!

The famous pumpkins...

Busy, Busy, Busy!!

Sorry it has been awhile since the last post. We have had a busy week!

Aunt M visited last weekend and left on Monday. She spent Sunday carving the Snow White and Mickey Mouse pumpkins for the kids.

Tuesday was a relatively uneventful school day. W was excited to be learning "algebra" in math- (X+2=5, X=3). He loves math! We started our unit study of farm animals for science. Our chapter book this month is Charlotte's Web to tie in with the Farm Animal theme. They are both enjoying it. I am never sure if K is paying attention. She stopped my reading and said "Now who's Wi-bur?" - so I guess she is! The picture of K wearing her "Positive Outlook" glasses was an activity from our Christian character study. We also made a big mess painting different kinds of paper with colors of the fall leaves.

As much fun as we have with school, Tuesday's highlight was a Fireballs win against the Blue Tigers. The Fireballs are now 3-1 for the season.

I took the kids to one of my clients' office on Wednesday - armed with a bribe for lunch at McDonald's and a trip to the Dollar Store for good behavior. That worked fairly well. However, before I paid off I took them for an experimental trip to the art museum since we were downtown anyway. I was surprised at how interested W was in exploring every room and hallway. I was not surprised at how soon K was ready to get out of there. (Were those security guards REALLY following us - or was that my imagination?)

Thursday we had an uneventful school day. K accompanied me to another client after Dad got home from work. He and W played football in the backyard as W usually prefers to do ALL the time. B wanted me to add that he folded a load of whites while I was at work.

Friday's plans were uncertain until the last minute. We decided to go to MaMaw's and play with the cousins to take advantage of a rare school holiday in their county. The kids had a great time. We popped in Nan & Pop's for a few and picked up K's beautifully hemmed Snow White gown. Thanks Nan! None of those sewing lessons you gave me as a child have paid off yet!

We wrapped up a long week by playing Mexican Restaurant for dinner. I cooked quesadillas, B stopped off at the store for chips and dip, and W and K delivered the food to the table. W loves to play waiter. K loves to do whatever he is doing!

Everyone have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to my sister (Aunt M) and Uncle H (no pictures!). W & K just call him the mac & cheese delivery man :-) For those of you not familiar with our family feasts, Uncle H always comes through with his delicious mac & cheese!

Have a great birthday, Sis!

Love, G

Red Fireballs Update

The Red Fireballs fell to the Lime Green Sharks today bringing their record to 1-1 for the season. W said the final score was 3-7. Coach B was unavailable for comment.

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday this week to Nanny and my "little" bro (on the left in the green shirt).

Love, G

Me & My Shadow

We had a nice walk in the beautiful weather today and some fun with shadows along the way...

Happy Fall!

Good Monday Morning everyone! Thanks for reading our Blog. We have had a good time putting it together. I hope you all had a great weekend! We started our Saturday off with a great soocer game - the first of the season for the Red Fireballs and the first career game for Coach B. I am proud to say that the Fireballs are an undisputed 1-0 for the season. Enjoy the beautiful and cool weather this week!

Also, please join us in praying for the family of the pilot, father and son who were killed in the plane crash at the air show this weekend. We actully saw the plane go down but did not find out until hours later that there were fatalities. We don't know them, but can only imagine the loss that these two families must be facing.

Even More Beach Pictures

Day at Nannie and Pop's

We enjoyed a fun day at Nannie and Pop's today! I don't know who enjoys the tractor ride more- the kids or Pop! Nannie threw W a few pitches and I worked the outfield, but he says he won 12-1 against us. They finished the visit with a little music on the piano. We love you Nan & Pop! Thanks for lunch!

Kindergarten Update!

W started K5 in August and we are having a great time homeschooling. Our biggest worry was whether we would find new friends to play with as most of his buddies are in school all day. We miss them all so much! However, W is quickly forming new friends that are homeschooling too. K never meets a stranger and has not had a minutes trouble meeting new friends. W loves going to computer class on Wednesdays and he is so glad that soccer is finally starting up. K is great and participates in Bible and science lessons with us. She does her own workbook while W does math. She plays on her own (usually dress up) while W has his reading lesson. Not a day goes by that I do not realize how blessed I am to be able to teach them at home and enjoy being with them. I guarantee that I learn more than they do on any given day! It has also been awesome to be in the background as they make up new games and "tending" (pretending) together. K has an unbelievable imagination while W is more of a realist like me :), so he really benefits from her creative play. It is true that the house never really gets cleaned the way I would like and if it does it certainly doesn't stay that way for long! But I have found peace about that in realizing that there are things in life that are not worth the risk of missing out on for the sake of a clean house. I can't thank B enough for being such a kind, supportive and patient husband in this journey we have begun! I have never done anything close to deserving a man like him!

More Beach Pictures