well. hello there.

it seriously is just time to bite the bullet and get back at this blogging thing. my last entry was in august. august. august 2009. it's now february 2010. holy cow, i'm a blog slacker. how in the world do i go about this business of catching up? it's been suggested that i just pick up with today and forget what i've missed. but i really don't want to do that because i know that by forgetting what i've missed, i'll forget what i've missed. and although, quite honestly, while there are some things i would totally LOVE to forget, it all is a part of my life and i don't want to forget any of it. i always write on my kitchen calendar - it has big squares so i can put it all in there, all those things we do every day. so i flipped back to august this morning and jotted down the major things and i'm just going to use that list to document those months so next year when i wonder what happened on a certain day (month, in this case) i'll be able to have a little memory jogging because here it will be. okay...

august 2009. our trip to tennessee is all blogged up. i believe i left off by saying that we were on our way to my mom and dad's place at sunset beach. as usual, it was wonderful to have time with them there. some people might not like vacationing with family, but we've been there without them before and it just doesn't feel right. our days were filled with the usual - beach and ocean time, pool time, watching the gator in the pond, putt-putt golf, sunset gourmet lunches and coffee, lots of 12A time, good family time. my mamaw was still in NC at that time so we got to visit with her, too - had silly gigglie laughing loud time . and i also was blessed with some precious, quiet conversation time with her. that is one thing that i hope to never forget, as long as i live. words just between my grandmother and me. the decision was made to take her to the seattle area to live with my aunt. and my grandmother will be 100 in april. realizing that i could still call her and talk with her, but knowing also that she would be so far away, in my mind and heart i treated this time with her as a goodbye of sorts. on a sidenote, my mom and i are going out to see her in march...we are very excited. =) we had our usual really good time at sunset - love relaxing with my family.

our cousin connie and her 3 crazy precious little men paid us a visit. it was so fun watching our 3 boys with her 3 boys, and i think ALL the boys loved it. great to have time with connie - we even snuck in a testosterone-free trip to starbucks.

my max turned 11...time truly flies by.

the boys went back to school...this year we have a junior, a sophomore and a 5th grader.

blake began his year in YLC (youth leader core), something that has been so good for him in so many ways.

luke has been...luke. he'll read this sometime and say "i never do anything!" he does plenty - he is our spice, which we notice most when he's not around. fortunately that doesn't happen very often!

max and luke were involved in upward football, in its first year here locally. august was just evaluations though, no pics from that. max got to play and luke got to ref. they had a blast and what fun it was to watch.