The white sock project

 Some people might look at the title of this post and the pictures and not understand what a new deck has to do with white socks. Well, it's because everyday I went out to work on that deck, I had to look at a pair of white socks. Grandpa Anderson wore his white (old temple) socks to work on the deck. But, I am not going to complain about that. Apparently wearing those socks made him work hard. We were able to build the deck in two weeks. There was a lot of prep work to be done before we could put the wood down. We rented a jack hammer and tore up all the old cement that was there, then we dug a trench and laid a pipe for drainage. After that, we dug the holes for the footings (all the digging took forever because we had to use a pick axe because there were so many rocks and roots), poured the cement and then put the support beams down. After all that we were finally ready for the boards. From then on it went really fast even as we decided to add stairs at the end. It turned out really nice. It has made out backyard so much nicer, now if only we could get rid of the Mosquitos! One of the best parts about it, is that it is completely critter proof. No squirrels or opossums will be getting underneath it and dying! We stained it the same color as the top deck, and it looks so good! So many thanks to my dad for all his hard work, even if he did wear white socks to do it. Also, thank you to my mom who watched the kids while we worked. It was all worth it!

Nathan Quotes and AJ's Disaster

We have been collecting nathan quotes for a few days, and we have finally filled up our little dry-erase board, so it's time to share them with our family:

"I've got my bucket; you've got your bucket. Please don't dip in my bucket, please respect me by not tickling me.... NA NA NA NA come and get me!" (He is reading a book in pre-school about buckets, it's a self-esteem/being nice kind of thing)

 "Sometimes a little boy gets hungry and forgets to ask." - After getting in trouble for sneaking some candy.

"TELEVISION!" - When asked about how he knew about magic beans and jack and the bean stalk.

"Did you forget that I HATE handstands?"

"LOOK. Right before your eyes, science is happening now!"

"I just need to get some rest" -After being woken up for his first day of school at 6:30 AM.

"Very impressive." - After seeing our new deck that grandpa and mommy built.


AJ, on the other hand, has chosen to be a terror for the last few days. Here is a list of what he has been up to for the last 24 hours.

-At sams, he refused to keep his shoes on, and did his best to run around barefoot, his feet were black and gross.

- He got into Daddy's deodorant and rubbed it all over the floor, himself and other various objects (like the baby wipe container... SURPRISE).

- He learned how to eject the CD drive on Daddy's computer and very nearly broke it by pushing DVDs way too hard.

- (A mild one) He waited until I swept the whole floor to spill the fried rice that he was eating.

- He hit nathan a few times and got sent to his room

- Refused to take a nap today (He was deliriously tired this evening)

- Chewed on two xbox controller joysticks.

- Spilled laundry detergent on the rug (of course it couldn't have been on the hardwood).

- When Nate was trying to help by moving AJ off of the toilet, Nate fell on the bathtub and may have broken his nose (it bled a lot and he said that it hurt, but there were no other problems, and he says that it doesn't hurt him any more. Another trip to the hospital narrowly averted)

- While I was vacuuming the carpet, he managed to grab and spill about a pint of bright red snow cone syrup on our new-ish tiled floor. (Almost all of the red came out, thank goodness that we sealed the grout.)

All in the last 24 hours!! On an up note, though, he has managed not to hurt himself for the last few days, so we will take what we can get.

p.s., Tessa is doing great despite all the commotion.

Family fun time! (part one)

 We had so much fun when all my family was here! We are so glad they could all come and visit. We did lots of stuff, so much it won't all fit in one post!

Grandpa Anderson & Tessa

 Our 4th of July fireworks were postponed because of rain. They had them on August 3rd so aunt Bonnie, aunt Heather, Jake, Kyler and Zoey got to come with us. We walked down to the Depot and sat right on the street to watch. Nathan sweats like his dad, and by the time we go to the fireworks he was almost soaked.

 Tessa and mommy got presents from my friend Sherri (Overton). There was a mix-up with the presents though and Tessa got mommy's fingernail polish. (Tessa's blankets came in a separate box the next day). But we decided to paint her fingernails anyway.

 We went swimming a lot, both at our pool and at aunt Bonnie's house. Nathan is getting so brave in the pool. He will now plug his nose and put his face in the pool.

 Aunt Heather took Kyler, Zoey and Nathan hiking up Kennesaw Mountain. They had a lot of fun sweating up the mountain.

Family fun time! (part 2)

 We went mini golfing at the Monster Mini Golf (a glow-in-the-dark indoor golf course) because it was raining we couldn't golf outside. This was Anderson's first time mini golfing, he enjoyed it a lot.

spooky!

Taking a break

There is a lot to say about this picture

 We went bowling in Alex City for Kyler kids 9th birthday. The bowling alley was actually struck by lightning earlier in the day. This was also Anderson's first time bowling. The first couple turns he had, he wanted to chase the ball down the lane (he actually made it to the end once) but then he got the hang of it and started pushing it by himself with his fingers in the holes. Grandpa was the big winner and aunt Llew was the big loser.

'

 Bonnie and Russ rented a pontoon boat on Lake Martin. Since Tessa was not allowed to go on the boat (by mom and dad) we rented a stand up paddle board (I have wanted to try it for some time now). It was a lot of fun and so was the boat. Nathan was so brave! He rode on the tube behind the boat with David. He was laughing and having a great time. He told David that he wanted to ride it for 30 minutes. When he rode with Bonnie and I, we flipped, but Nathan held on and never let go. I am so impressed with how well he did. Nate also loved hitching a ride on the paddle board. Anderson had fun in the water, as long as someone was holding him. AJ also had lots of fun playing in the sand and destroying Nathans sand castle.

 We took Tessa and aunt Llew to their first Braves baseball game. After the almost two hour rain delay, they enjoyed it. Nathan and AJ both really liked the Dippin' Dot's aunt Heather bought them.

It was a lot of fun with all of our family visiting. We played lots of games and ate lots of good food, but mostly we enjoyed having all of our family together. We are looking forward to our next family get together, hopefully it won't be too far away!