Ella's Class Performs Their Recital Piece

On Thursday, Ms. Leslie asked for Ella's class to wear their costumes to today's class. One of the little girls in Ella's class is not going to be able to attend the recital so they did a "mini" recital today for all the parents. Here are some pictures and video to enjoy. The video had to be broken in 2 parts so you will miss a few seconds in between.

Ella's Ballet Pictures on Tuesday

Tuesday was picture day for Ella and Sydney. Here are a few pictures and videos of the ordeal.

This is a video clip I took of Ella's teacher trying to get everyone placed for the group picture. Ella is sitting on the stool to the left of the screen.

Trent's Baseball Game Monday Night

Here are a few pictures of Trent's baseball game Monday night.
Trent played catcher again at this game.


Ella and Mommy have a little fun while the other team is up to bat.

Ella is very lucky that there are other little sisters on the team this year!

Jordan and Emily go to the Prom!

We are all so excited that Jordan and Emily finally decided to go to Prom together. They are going to Emily's Prom and Jordan's After-Prom. We were invited to Donny and Chris' for pre-prom pictures. Then we went and ate dinner with our friends, Stephanie and Bill. Then it was right back to Donny and Chris' for Adam's college graduation party. Here are a few pictures from the exciting afternoon.

And where would these 2 be tonight if it weren't for John helping to get them together?

Terry had a great time entertaining Trent and Ella during Adam's graduation party!

Strawberry Festival

This weekend was the Strawberry Festival downtown. We went, ate our shortcakes, walked around, and then went home. Not much excitement but it sure was delicious!

Of course, we had to make a stop at the old #1 fire station. Even though it officially closed up last year when the new station was built the city sends a few firefighters down there when special things are going on in the downtown vicinity. They do it so people like us can come in and see some of the older engines that are stored.

Ella always asks if they make PINK fire fighter coats. We will have to ask cousin Robbie about that one!

John Camps Out For Chick-Fil-A

Many of you already know how much John LOVES Chick-Fil-A. He eats lunch there almost everyday and knows everyone in the store by name. We were even sent an invitation to attend Premire Night last night. Premire Night is an invitation only event in which they do the ribbon cutting, give tours of the new store (including a behind the scenes in the kitchen), raffle off prizes (John won an I Love Chick-Fil-A t-shirt), and give away tons of free food. It was kind of neat pulling up to the parking lot last night and having to show our special invitation to even step foot on the property.

Tomorrow is opening day...6:00 am. Chick-Fil-A has a tradition of giving the first 100 people in line a year's supply of chicken sandwiches. However, in order to be one of those 100 people you must camp out overnight to reserve your space. So John packed up his stuff and went out at 8:30 this morning to reserve his spot. He is number 48. I later found out that several people camped out last night in order to get a spot and the last spot filled up at 3:45 this afternoon.

Since Trent got out of school early this afternoon Grammy picked him up and took him to see daddy. Ella and I went before church so we could get a few pictures to remember this event...even thought it is a weird one.


The staff at Chick-Fil-A has taken really good care of all 100 customers. They provided them with lunch this afternoon and dinner tonight. They also have supplied the bottomless glass of tea and water. There's going to be an ice cream party, karaoke, and a DJ later this evening. If you will notice in this picture John is picking up his dinner...it's not very often that you get to walk through the drive-thru to get your food. Even Ella got to have a bag.

No joking - this is only half of the Chick-Fil-A "Camp". John said a lot of the people here are college students but I did see several dads with their kids. It was definitely a crazy sight.

It is supposed to get into the 40's tonight. Hopefully, he will stay warm.

Dogwood Festival ALMOST Rained Out

Saturday was a busy day for Trent. The morning began with a fishing trip (see the post below) and ended with the Dogwood Festival. It appeared that it was going to be a fairly nice afternoon for a parade. The weatherman did say there was a possibility of scattered thunderstorms in the evening but everything was clear after lunch so we decided to go ahead to the parade.

There we were...sitting out on the side of the road, complaining about how hot it was, Trent and Ella are having a great time playing with Dylan and Sydnie. Then it starts to get a little gray over in the distance. We figure it's nothing to worry about and the parade will be over and done with before it starts to rain. BOY, WERE WE WRONG! All of the sudden, without even one tiny rumble of thunder as a warning to seek shelter, the skies open up and the rain pours. Luckily, we sit in the same place every year and there was a porch of a local business available for shelter. After standing there for 10 minutes the rain dies down and we walk the 2 blocks back to Aunt Rinkie's house.

Well, the parade started 30 minutes later than expected but the show did go on (and I found out from Aunt Rinkie that the Dogwood Festival has only been canceled 1 time in its longstanding history). Here are a few pictures of our second try. As you can see, Ella is not at all excited about being back with the possibility of getting rained on again.


It was nice to have the umbrella for shade. It got very hot after the storm.

Trent and Ella's cousin David, Sydnie, Dylan, and Trent wait for the parade to start.