Baptism

Meet the Slawsons! Thomas was the youth pastor at this church years before we got here while he was a student at RTS in Jackson. He and his wife, Cristy, have Isiah and a new baby girl, Nadia.
They are missionaries in Russia and we love hearing about their lives over there and the impact they are having.
They spend a few months in the states every year and we like that too!
This Sunday they had Sam do Nadia's baptism.

Here they are with two of our elders, Steve Nott and Wes Everitt.
These are special Sundays, when we all take a vow to help raise these covenant children.
We love you Slawson Family!

Soccer Season is Here Again!

Above, meet the Sharks!! One of the four 7 and 8 year old teams! This one is special though, Christopher is on it and Sam is the coach!

Below, is Kaitlynn's team. There are only two teams with girls her age (10, 11 and 12), so they play each other every Saturday morning. She is once again coached by Henry Barbour, her best friends dad.
Nettie Taylor, Kaitlynn, and Madeline.
Tiff usually plays goalie. He really likes that spot! He likes to dive after the ball.

Kaitlynn usually plays goalie too! When your children are easily the tallest on their teams, they usually end up as goalie. Kaitlynn likes it because she doesn't like to run, like she had to below. :)

A great action shot! :)




Our goalie in one of my favorite pictures!
I knew I had a few pictures of her in her goalie-action! The first game, she shut out all balls! Her team won 1 - 0.

It is a GREAT league, sponsored by the school I teach for. A great community outreach. It is open for ages 5 - 12 and there must be over 100 kids playing!
The kids are having a great time and getting some fantastic exercise!

Earthworm Dissection Day!

It was time for the first dissection of the year: earthworms. Most loved it, a few tolerated it. One wouldn't even touch it! :)
First we examined the outside with magnifying glasses.
Then we sliced them open and spent some time identifying all the parts. Did you know earthworms had 5 hearts?
I have 12 students, which makes for a perfect sized class and they really are a joy.
After it was over, I surprised them with an Earthworm party!!!!
I found these root beer flavored gummy worms online. I have NEVER seen such realistic gummy worms before.
Meet my 6th graders!
Yes, there had to be a goofy picture!
Didn't have a choice to take this one. She wouldn't touch the real things, but liked the gummies.

Ducky - turned -Lil'Bit

A sweet friend of ours works in the local vet clinic part time. 6 weeks ago she volunteered to hand raise 4 premature kittens who had no mother. Several weekends she asked Kaitlynn to babysit for her, which she happily did! These 4 kittens were C.U.T.E.
The runt of the litter quickly became Kaitlynn's favorite and I think the feeling was mutual.
She had to feed those babies every 3-4 hours pretty much around the clock.

The kittens name WAS Ducky.
But now the the kitten is officially a Smith (did we have any choice, really?) she is called Lil'Bit. And it must be said with a really fake drawn out southern accent. :)
I have some newer pictures as she is a bit bigger, I will find those and post them soon. She is a snuggler and a cuddler and we all really like her! (Except Aubie, our other cat). :(

Christopher is 8 !!

Our sweet boy is 8 today!
We surprised him yesterday with a cake for his class.
Daddy brought it in which surprised him even more!
Meet the second graders at Covenant Christian School and their teacher, Rachel Halpert.
His friend, Will, came home with us for the day and they had a GREAT time playing war all afternoon. It was Tiff's pick for dinner, and he chose Hasty Tasty, so it was burgers and shakes for dinner.

This morning was his real birthday and time for the family to celebrate!
He had no shortage of help opening things. :)
He is old enough now to appreciate cash!

He finally has his own air soft gun and accessories!
He can't wait to shoot it for real, but it takes at least 4 hours for the battery to charge.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTOPHER!
We love you bunches!

Our Baby is 6!

Most often we get the question, "Who does she look like?" I am hearing more and more lately that she looks like her Daddy. But with her blue-green eyes, her blondish hair, her dimples, and her left-handedness, she sure doesn't look like her big siblings! Regardless, we adore her and her uniqueness!
She loves her kitty!
Her sweet friend Lilly. They have way to much fun when they get together.
A Barbie wearing an outfit with HORSES on it!!!!
I think she liked it. :)
goofy girls.....
We all went out for Mexican!!!



Talking on the phone to HaHa!
Another horse! She is jumping up and down with excitement.
Hard to believe it has been 6 years since we heard the words, "IT'S A GIRL!" We never expected a child with such creativity and imagination and the ability to make us laugh and wonder.
We love this girl and are so thankful for her!