Beth and Ben's Birthday Party November 2011

Beth turned 17 in November and Ben turned 14 in November. They both love to dance, so we had a combined birthday party for them. They both invited several friends and we all had a good time!

Mamaw, Grandma, Grandpa, Daddy and Aunt Janet

Ben and his cousin, Alley.

My niece, Susie, putting raspberries on the Raspberry-Mocha Cupcakes

My great-nephew Daniel with his daddy, Robbie.

Laura and Beth swing dancing

Ben on the right

Time for food!

Looks like the girls claimed this table!

I made Keylime Cupcakes and Raspberry Mocha Cupcakes

We had hot dogs, potato salad, mac and cheese, cole slaw and chips.

Beth and Alek dancing

Getting ready for a line dance.

Myrtle Beach - November 2011

We were blessed to be able to spend a few days in Myrtle Beach in November. We went with my mom and we stayed in a new hotel.

Definitely a great place to stay!

The other side of the hotel was rounded. Every room has a view of at least part of the ocean!

Neal spotting some dolphin!

Ben celebrated his 14th birthday while we were there. In addition to a ticket to Word of Life Superbowl, he also received gold fish (his fav) and sunglasses.

Neal and I got up early so we could write this in the sand. It ended up staying the entire time we were there!

This was the view from Mom's bedroom balcony.

Cool view from the living room.

This was our first sunrise while we were there.

I love the pink hues!

Ben chose Chinese food for his birthday dinner!

Family! Myrtle Beach 2011

Hello there! lol

Beautiful Beth!

Fun shots under the pier!

Walking on the Boardwalk

Me and my hubby, Neal

My two beautiful children -- Ben (14) and Beth (17)

Movie Star Ben

Under the pier

I LOVE this picture!

A serious side of Ben

Lounging on the Adirondack chair

What a handsome young man!

Neal and Teresa

2012

Ben with the Chicks

This was taken a month or so ago. These chicks are now two months old.

Ben letting one of the chicks perch on his hand.

The one out front stretching her wings is Frost...Ben's chick. The one in the "first row" in the center is Parfait...Beth's chick.

Ben had a piano recital back in the spring.

Here he is playing...it's a bit dark, but you can see his white shirt. :)

Living Life

Living Life ... that's what I've been doing, but I haven't been recording it as much as I would like. Maybe that will be a new year's resolution, to spend more time on my blog!

As I go through the days of my life, I tend to think I will remember everything important that happens, and that I might even remember the not so important things. Now as I sit here trying to sum up the year, I find that I have forgotten a LOT! That's why I need to make this blog a priority, so that I can remember the important, and not so important, things in my life!

Thinking back over 2010, there was, of course, good and bad. I lost two special cousins this year. They were both named Richard. The first Richard, Richard Johnson, passed away in March. Richard had been in a wheelchair for probably 25 years or more. I always saw him with a smile on his face and he didn't seem to let his paralysis defeat him! He did however contract an illness from a blood transfusion and that was what ultimately killed him. It was a very sad time, but I believe Richard is in heaven now and I look forward to seeing him walk and run some day!

The second Richard, Rick Reynolds, left us very unexpectantly this summer. I saw Rick in July at our family reunion. It had been several years since I had seen him, so I'm very thankful for that last opportunity. Rick was in a car accident in August and hit a tree. He was killed on impact. He was such a talented and fun-loving man. He is missed by so many!

One thing I remember about 2010, was that it was an extremely hot summer! Hotter than any I've experienced here in Virginia! It was so hot that most days we didn't even want to go to the pool because the water wasn't even cool enough to be refreshing! Now, here in December, it's so cold that we could probably ice skate on the pool if it had water in it! :)

I didn't lose the weight I wanted to lose in 2010...probably gained about 5 lbs instead. :( Hopefully 2011 will be a better year to get focused and lose weight. I did, however, walk/jog in a 5K in October! It was mostly walk, but I DID IT and I FINISHED! Beth walked it with me and I so appreciated her company!

In June we went to the annual homeschool conference. We went as a family this year and thoroughly enjoyed our time away. We stayed near Neal's sister, Janet, so we were able to spend time with her as well. It was a fun weekend!

We had a great trip to Ohio/Indiana/Kentucky in June/July. My brother, Darrell, celebrated his 50th birthday on June 25th. We were able to go celebrate with him, so that was a special treat! We also were able to spend time with my brother, Robert and his family, and my aunt Alberta. At the end of the trip we went through Kentucky to go to my family reunion. It was so nice to see aunts, uncles and cousins that I hadn't seen in a long time! After the reunion, we went about an hour and a half away to spend the night with my mom's sister. That was a sweet visit, too!

August brought our annual camping trip with friends. Although it rained, we still had a great time! We had great hopes of camping once more this year, but it did not happen.

In September, Neal's cousin Ruthie and her mom, Mary Beth came for a week. We had such a nice visit. We went on a couple of walks together, went up on the Blue Ridge Parkway, went to the D-Day Memorial, and to Colonial Williamsburg. I loved spending time with Ruthie and Mary Beth...I wish they lived closer!

September also brought Myrtle Beach! Mom, Beth, Ben and I went to the beach for a few days. It rained every day, but we still had fun! Well, I take that back, it didn't rain on the day we left. :P We were blessed with a beautiful sunrise that morning and Ben and I took a quick morning walk on the beach before we had to leave. Ben and I also went for a walk on the beach at night. That was fun!

October brought the women's conference from church. It was a good time of relaxation and refreshment in the Word.

November brought a round of birthdays: Neal, Ben, Mom and Beth. Ben became a teenager! I can't believe both of my children are teenagers now. Beth turned 16! Wow! It's hard to believe that my kids are getting that old!

Now December is upon us and it's been busy, busy, busy! The kids had their Christmas cantata at church, we had a 90th birthday party for Neal's grandpa, Beth started working, Neal and I had a fun date night while the kids went to the youth Christmas party, and Mom and I went to Colonial Williamsburg for two days. Now to enjoy the rest of the month and celebrate in our Savior's birth!

God bless each of you as you celebrate Christ's birth this holiday season!

Endings and New Beginnings

Some Endings:

The 2009/2010 school year at the Dogwood Academy is coming to a close! Tomorrow is the last day of school! WooHoo!!! The pool opens on Saturday and we have at least 2 1/2 months to enjoy the summer vacation!

The school year went well this year. We stayed on track better than any other year so far! It was a very encouraging year as a teacher, and I believe the kids felt good about it, too. It was a very difficult year for Beth...her first year of high school; however, she did an outstanding job and I'm very proud of her hard work!

Ben finished 6th grade and is now moving on to "middle school." I can't believe my youngest child is going to be a teenager this year! Time sure does fly by! Ben finished Awana last night. Awana is a program at our church for ages preschool-6th grade. Ben received the Timothy Award last night, which is the highest award a 6th grader can receive for completing all of the Bible memory books. I'm so proud of him!

Some New Beginnings:

My best friend's daughter, Heather, is getting married next weekend (June 5th). She asked me to make her wedding cake and she picked out a beautiful cherry blossom cake. I haven't made a wedding cake in about 13 years, so I hope I can do a good job. I practiced a bit and here is my practice cake:

The real cake will be 4 tiers and the icing will be much smoother! I was really practicing on the "tree" part of the design. I'm so glad I practiced because it taught me a lot of things not to do! For example, I will use a smaller tip for the border, and I will use a bigger cake pan for the 2nd cake. I'll be using 6", 10", 12" and 14" cake pans.

New Beginning #2: Chickens!

This is our chicken coop! It was a tree house that belonged to Neal's sister (she's 24 now) and we had it taken down and placed on blocks in our yard. This was before we did anything to it. (by the way, do you see my "Amish Man" in the pic?!!)

This is what it looks like right now. We still have to put another coat of paint on it and paint the trim an Eggplant color.

The chicks arrived on Thursday, May 20th in this box! 21 chicks were inside (we ordered six for some friends and we kept 15)

This is their new home for a couple of weeks.

The chicks started drinking the water right away.

Two of the cutest chicks! We bought 5 Delaware chicks, 5 Welsummer's, and 5 Blue Andallusion's.

Our dog, Suzi, is very protective of the chicks. She growls anytime the cat gets near them!

This picture was taken yesterday. One of the Blue Andallusion's flew up on top of the water dish. We had to put some chicken wire over the crate so they wouldn't fly out!

Also, taken yesterday...this is one of the Delaware chicks. You can see the wings growing and the feather's coming in!

Last weekend, both of Neal's sisters came in for a visit. We had a big dinner on Saturday night, talked and played games. It was great spending time with Neal's family!

We played Pit!

The color is off on some of these pictures, but this is Neal and his mom, Betty.

Neal and his grandfather, Randolph.

Some of us sitting outside on a nice, cool evening!

A couple of weeks ago, Neal and I went out with some friends for supper. On the way we stopped by this pretty field and took some pictures. This is down the road from our house, and that is red clover growing in the field!

We had our end of year homeschool banquet last week. This is Ben receiving his certificate. Each year we choose something in particular we want to honor our children for. This year Ben's certificate was for "New Endeavors -- Construction and Child Care." He's been helping his daddy with the chicken coop and he's been helping me with childcare and he'll be working with kids this summer at church.

Beth received her award for "New Horizons -- Guitar, Dissections, Counseling and College Courses". She started learning the guitar this year, she did four dissections (worm, frog, fish and crayfish) in Biology, she'll be working as a camp counselor this summer, and she is taking three Bible classes (I'm taking them too, at a local Bible institute) for college credit.

This was Beth's photography project at the end of year banquet. She is very good with a camera and would like to start doing more with her photography. Right now she is taking pictures of some of our friends for practice, and they are getting very nice pictures out of the deal!

Well, that's the latest for us here in Virginia! More later...