We arrived in Mississippi late Tuesday night to spend time with Em's family. Her dad is going through chemo and radiation right now and all the family is here having some much needed together time!! Em is enjoying doing practical stuff to help around the house, take her dad to the doctor, etc. Jeff and the kids have been BIG helpers, too! They are building a patio out of bricks for PawPaw! The kids have LOVED being in the presence of Uncle Scott and Gran and PawPaw. Uncle David, Aunt Stacey, Forrest, and Dakota arrive today, and we're all thrilled to see them, too (we've never met little Dakota)! ALREADY many pictures have been taken of the fun, so trying to narrow it down today is difficult :)! Em's big brother, Scott, checked himself into the hospital with chest pains last night in Nashville (4 hours away - where he had just delivered his trailers on his UPS truck) . The doctors kept him overnight and are wanting to keep him tonight, too. He is quite frustrated and wants to get back to family time!! We're all praying the tests all come back good and that he might be released this afternoon!!

Catching you up a bit with some pictures of Simon's birthday (7-28)! He loved his cards most. He would hold them and "talk" really loud like he was reading them :)!

This week, he started walking across entire rooms!! He got a bit too accustomed to the dining hall at camp. When I enter the kitchen (at ANY hour), he expects food immediately, and crawls or walks in from wherever he's been! One little growing guy :)!

My longtime wish/prayer for a laptop has been granted! Jeff came home with a trunk full of computer goodies - what a wonderful hubby God has given me! I'm thrilled and can even work from the kitchen table (or some place more comfortable :)!!

The boys started school on Wednesday and are excited about the new year. Jacob is now an "old foagie" - which means he is the older/wiser group of his multiage 1-2 grade class. One of his favorite things these first few days has been helping his "newbie" (1st grade) buddies learn the computer. Keith's 3rd grade class is all decked out with things about Africa! We thought this was SO cool, since he's had a fascination with Africa since his toddler years :)! His teacher seems very energetic! Keith loves the 3rd grade cheers they have and says that Mrs Manning told them the year gets more and more fun as it goes! The boys wanted to hold their little dog buddies (souveniers from the summer at camp) in the school pictures :)! Kara and Mommy are trying to do some preschool books at home this year. She is SO ready to be a big school girl. We worked on circles the first day! She is doing LOTS of 4-5 year old work. One preschool teacher at our church saw Kara skipping out of the sanctuary and stopped us later to tell us that some 5 years olds in her class can't even do that!!! Kara was SO proud that she's only 3 and can do it :)!