September Birthdays -- and lots of them!

Happy birthday to Justin, Grandmother, Katie, Dad, and Marcus this month!

The North Georgia State Fair (We are soooo in the Deep South)

A friend gave us free passes, so today we went to the state fair, and aside from seeing way too many tattoos, tube tops and fried food, it was SO much fun to go as a family!!

Trevor and Aila had a (pretty much one-sided) hay fight, and they loved seeing all kinds of animals in the petting zoo.








Aila was pretty quiet the whole time--just taking it all in. But she did love this balloon!

This rooster decided to crow right at Aila. The video doesn't exactly capture just how loud that thing was!

Trevor and Justin had fun on the Merry-go-Round! The rides were so expensive that we weren't going to go on any, but a couple was walking past us and gave us some free tickets to go on a ride! What a blessing!

We got to see a BMX bike trick show, which Trevor thought was so cool.

And, of course, a picture I just can't resist including. There was a stand that was selling Confederate flag thongs. And I don't mean flip-flops. Oh, so classy! We're in the deep south, alright!!

Trevor...how you make us laugh

This morning I was brushing my teeth and left the water running. Trevor walked in, looking indignant. "Turn that off," he said. "That costs too much money." :)

So I guess it finally sunk in after all those times I've said it to him!

Also, Trevor came in from riding his tricycle today and announced, "I have two hookers on the back of my bike." I must have had a "Say what?" look on my face, so Justin filled me in: "He took two of my bungee ropes and hooked them to the back of his bike," he reassured me. Phew!

...And finally, today Trevor asked when the butterfly was going to come out of the raccoon that's on the back of our house. :)

Redhead???

I guess since Justin and I were both blondies as kids, I always pictured I'd have two little blonde children running around. Now I'm not so sure. I was one for two, though!

Dedicating Aila

Today was a very important day for our family. We celebrated Aila's baby dedication at North Star Church. This is basically a chance for us as parents to say that we dedicate her to the Lord, and we commit to point her to Christ (by His strength). We did the same with Trevor when he was four months old. It comes down to this: We don't need much in this world. We really don't. But we are absolutely passionate about raising up a son and a daughter to know about the God we love. Is OUR loving Him enough? No. They will have to make their own decisions about what (or should I say in whom) they believe. But it's very much our heart's longing that they'll see in us that He is real, He is faithful, He is personal, that His death on the cross was for them, and that He is nothing short of totally in love with them.

We were joined by Pop and Essie (Justin's parents, Dick & Ali), Uncle Dan & Aunt Connie, Uncle Jim and Aunt Martha, cousins John & Jen (an honorary shout-out to Pete & Julie--Julie, we're so glad you weren't attacked by bees--I need my hearing checked), Angie & Jake, the Kehlers, the Kibbes, and the Evans'. We love you all and are so very thankful that you were able to share this day with us!


We're grateful for North Star Church, and for Pastor Mike's prayer which echoed the desire of our hearts for Aila Grace.

Burt's Pumpkin Patch -- 5th year in a row!

Ah, good ol' Burt's Pumpkin Patch. 4 years ago, Justin and I went for the first time. 3 years ago, Trevor was LESS THAN A WEEK OLD, but we went anyway. 2 years ago, Trevor was about to turn one. Last year Trevor was coming up on his second birthday, and I was 6 months pregnant with Aila. And now this year, Trevor's about to turn three, and Aila is nearly 8 months and standing up, holding onto the pumpkins. What a great tradition that's come to mean so much to our family!

This is now the 4th picture of Justin and Trevor in this pose. The first year, Little Man weighed only 7 pounds. How time flies!

We also went to Amicalola Falls with Justin's parents and Uncle Dan and Aunt Connie after our trip to the Pumpkin Patch.

Aila kept petting this stuffed bear, saying "Dog. Dog." Guess it reminded her of our Sadie!

"Ball"

Not sure how audible it is, but Aila says "ball" in this video. :) This week she's also said "Dada" and "dog." Notice there's not even a hint of a "Mama" on the horizon...

House Painting!!!

We're finally getting our house painted!!

(No, we're not letting Trevor do it for us.)

Trevor was allowed to paint a bit of our siding that will be re-painted tomorrow. He was pretty proud of his hard work!

Happy Birthday Grandmother!

Justin's great grandmother celebrated her 89th birthday on Wednesday!

Trevor, with his face covered with ice cream cake, decided to take Grandmother's walker out for a spin...

Fun with a red wig

We had fun playing with this curly red wig the other day. Even Sadie (reluctantly) got in on the action!

Stand-up comedian

Trevor loves the Claymation Christmas video that Auntie Kelly sent us (which was actually more for me with the hilarious camels singing "We Three Kings"). Anyway, Trevor's favorite scene goes like this:

Guy 1: The last bus just left.

Guy 2: Then call me a cab.

Guy 3: Hey, man--you're a cab!

He doesn't know WHY it's funny, but he cracks up and loves to reenact it. What's next--Trevor doing Abbott & Costello's "Who's on First?"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JUSTIN!

Lots of love to Justin on his birthday today!! Here are some pictures from the day...

Aila vs. the T-Rex

Here's a video clip of Aila beating the heck out of a dinosaur. Watch as she hits, bites, and tackles the poor thing. Perhaps she's in training to defend herself against a certain older brother? :) Looks like she's going to be able to hold her own!

Was it a cookout or a football game?

Mount Paran had a home football game Friday night, a bunch of us gathered (in the shade, nowhere really even near the field) for a cookout. Fun!!!

"Yearbook Pictures"--hilarious!

Okay, so it's pretty obvious that these are fake. But you too can yearbook yourself!!

Here's Justin if he went to high school in the late 70's...

This one cracks me up...although I'm fairly positive I could get my hair to do this.


To me, this one looks just WAY too real. But it's fake. Justin never had a mullet!



Words fail me on this one!

Hello! On the go!

Little Aila loves to wave and cracks up when you wave at her these days.

Here are the kids on the go. Trevor absolutely loves to race around with this blue truck, and Aila likes moving around with her little push walker.

We also want to express our continued sorrow for those who suffered loss on 9/11/01.

Tiny Dancer

Today I turned on some music and noticed that Aila was "dancing" (a 7-month old's version of dancing)... stomping her foot, moving her head around and tapping her hand. It was pretty funny!

I hadn't ever seen her do it before, but she really seemed to like the song that was on ("More Than You'll Ever Know" by Watermark) and was gettin' down. Trevor taught her everything he knows: Here's a clip of Trevor dancing along with the Ellen show back when he was a year old:

Labor Day Weekend

Our 3-day weekend was pretty busy...it included getting together with old friends who are moving back to the area, gathering with more friends, and having a delicious meal with Justin's family. We got to see Baby Nate, who is the cutest thing ever, and at almost 3 months is BIGGER than 7-month old Aila!

It's always a great time with the Grahams. Bruce & Linda hosted, and Pete & Julie, John & Jenn, Matt & Sarah, and James were there. We missed Andy and Sarah (already an honorary Graham) this time around. Great food, great company!