The kids have all begun a new school year. This year, even Alex is in school. He's attending the First Baptist Preschool. Megan is in 4th grade, and Sam is in 1st grade.

After Megan's party, we went bowling. Everyone had a great time, and even Alex bowled!

On July 13th, Megan celebrated her 9th birthday! She had a wonderful party and a sleep-over that night.

The 4th of July was celebrated with patriotic cupcakes, painted fingers, and toes. There were some fireworks, too, but I have no pictures of those!

The second season of gardening is going well. Megan brought a cabbage plant home from school, and it made a very nice head. There's nothing like fresh vegetables from the backyard!

We hiked to the top of Table Rock Mountain, which was 3.6 miles one way and a rise of about 1,000 feet. (I left out the pictures of us gasping for air and limping around afterward.)

Adam and I went camping for a couple of days in Table Rock State Park near Greenville, SC. Beautiful!

Samantha has officially completed her first year of school. Congrats to the graduate!

Alex turned 4 on May 16! He's now old enough to move from a toddler car seat to a camouflage big-boy seat!

Samantha's kindergarten class put on a play called "Stone Soup" recently. Samantha sang and danced and did a wonderful job!

This year, both girls got to participate in their school Field Day. They both won ribbons and had a lot of fun!

The kids in their Easter finery - thanks, Grandma Fern!

Nana left us an Easter surprise this morning - homemade Easter cookies! They are so good.

It was about 35 degrees when we took the kids Easter egg hunting on Saturday. (Our battery ran down before we could get a picture of Megan.)

It's gardening time again! So far, we've planted onions, potatoes, strawberries, and cabbage. The kids are a big help!

The kids are loving having their Aunt Angela stay with us. We just hope Angela's patience holds out!

The finished product. We're so pleased with the new roof.

Progress continues on the property next door.

Apparently, the roof on our house had 2 layers of decking and 3 layers of shingles in some places. We figured it was time to have it redone right.

According to Appalachian folklore, if you wear your pajamas inside-out and backward, flush two ice cubes down the toilet, and put a spoon under your pillow, it will snow. The kids did this last night, and it worked! This is the first snow we've seen since we moved here almost 7 years ago.

The kids got a tent for Christmas, so we set it up in the living room for a day or two. They love it!

We decided to take our presents to Bill and Debbie's house on Christmas Day. The more the merrier!