A "Quick" Update

Pardon the pun!

I've had a very trying last couple of days so I'll make this one as brief as I can. But I'm realizing I never got around to posting about last weekend.

Last Saturday, we had one of those very RARE free days. Not one of the five of us had a single prior committment and Jeff was off, for the first time in weeks. So we decided to take advantage of an idea I'd read about somewhere a few months ago and we had a Family Fun Day. Everyone got to pick something (within reason) that he/she wanted to do and we spent the entire day doing all those things. I wanted to go to the Trussville Antique Mall because I'd never been. Jeff wanted to go browsing in the tool store over in Homewood. Dylan wanted to go fishing somewhere. Kayti wanted to make homemade ice cream and Brooke wanted to watch family home movies. So we set off on our adventure!

I think we ALL loved the antique mall! I didn't realize how big it was and they had some of the neatest little treasures! Of course they had the big expensive furniture, estate jewelry, fine china, etc. but they also had old albums, 45's (I had to explain to the kids what those were!), old car tags, toys, books, magazines, etc. They had SO much stuff. Some of it wasn't very old at all, but collectible. One day I hope to take my mom because I think she'd really enjoy looking at some of those things and I'd like to eat at the cafe, too. It smelled really nice!

But we'd already planned to eat at Applebee's so after some refreshment, we headed to the tool store! What can I say? It was a tool store! LOL I know Jeff and Dylan enjoyed it.

Then we headed to Oak Mountain to fish for a bit but they really weren't biting. So we explored the park for awhile until it started to get dark. I think we've decided to spend our Spring Break there--renting one of the cabins and hiking, fishing, horseback riding for a few days.

We came home, made our ice cream and watched our movies! My, the kids sure have grown. You don't realize it until you start pulling out the pictures and videos. But we watched the births and a lot of when they were babies. We watched when Dylan was about to start 4k! I can hardly believe he'll be starting college in just a few years! We watched happy, giggly Kayti learning to pull up and bouncing around in her first girly nightgown and we watched Brooke and her crazy hair playing in her ball pit. We watched the trip we took several years ago to Gatlinburg with Dylan's football team and could hear Adam's mom screaming! She still sounds the same! LOL We watched our Disney trip and I'd forgotten about Brooke being afraid of the characters! We also got to see a lot of Maw Maw on the tapes, too and that was a blessing on the heels of Uncle Gene's passing. I'm so thankful for these tapes and that the kids get to look back and see that there were never a bunch of more loved, more doted on kids than my three!

Sunday, the kids and I went to worship service and then Dylan and I went and met my mom, cousin and her son on a little trip down memory lane. My mom showed the boys were some of our ancestors are buried and we also found the graves of the Tarrant's, founders of Tarrant City. I've never been one much for visiting gravesites but it sure is a shame that the city doesn't care for it's founders graves better. It's as if they were lost and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if in a few years, they are unlocatable. We then took off to the Reservoir of Robinwood/Pawnee where my mom, dad, bio dad and other relatives have so many fond memories. Of course, we were trespassing to be able to see it (ssshhh!!!) and we then went to the Rock House in Pawnee. Everyone climbed it but me. Weak knees and a fat rear end are not a good combination when rock climbing so that's one adventure I do not participate in! Then we went to Turkey Creek Nature Preserve. Nett hadn't been in a while and though we went just last year, it's a nice spot to visit, especially now that it has been fixed up. I'm sure it's a lot different from the days when our parents used to hang out there.

This week has been fairly uneventful--nothing worth rattling on about too much. You can check out our Homeschool Blog for more!