Lions and Tigers and Bears...Oh MY....

Reed turned 6 years old on the 24th of August and for his birthday he wanted to go to the Memphis Zoo. He LOVES animals, especially big cats and pandas. Memphis Zoo has lots of both plus so many other cool animals that we had never seen. It would be hard to say what our favorites were. Polar Bear ranked pretty high. Cheetah, lions, tiger, grizzlies, the list really goes on and on. This zoo is the best we've ever been to. We arrived at 9am when they opened and shut them down at 5pm. Exhausted would be an understatement but we had the best time. Kimberly enjoyed herself too. She was really checking out some of the animals. Cate and Reed were so excited that as soon as they would see one animal they would want to run to the next to see what was there. Just as much fun as the animals were the treats...Icees, nachos, lollipops...

Enjoy the pics....

In the blink of an eye....

Happy 6th Birthday to the best son ever!

Playing Around...

My brain is not able to put together cute stories or clever thoughts right now but I wanted to share some pics anyway.

First Day of School Pics 2010

Cate was supposed to start school the day after we arrived home from China. But since Wes and I had not seen her in 2 1/2 weeks and we didn't get to bed until after midnight we kept her home to love on that Monday. So her first day of school was the 2nd day of 2nd Grade. She has a great teacher and we are excited about the year. She's growing up and it's so fun to watch but a little sad because she's still my sweet little girl.

Since Reed went to Kindergarten Readiness last year he actually is starting Kindergarten this year. Kindergarten phases in slowly after the rest of school starts. We are looking forward to this year. I think we will really see how sending him to KR last year pays off. He has experience working for him this year. In some ways he seems so grown up but in other ways so young.


I pray this is a great year of learning and exploring for these two precious one. I pray they grown in knowledge, are brave socially, set good examples for others, make lasting friendships and love learning.

Daddy....

...... can I borrow the keys?

Count Your Blessings

As we lay in bed the words to an old hymn kept playing in my head.

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

I mentally counted. Started with the bed, then the house, then Smyrna, Tennessee, United States and the world. Many blessings. It is so wonderful.