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Since all of our boxes arrived in the beginning of June there have been three things that we have been looking for; at times with great zeal. Before heading to the beach in the middle of June we tore open every box looking for a favorite hat of James' and the Bocce set and then in late July we searched the house top to bottom for a bunch of gift bags that we knew we had saved. We went so far as to try to tell family members that they must have these things. Well, we apologize for all false accusations. Last night I asked James to move some boxes that have sat in the corner of the living room since move in day and we realized that we had never opened the bottom box. In it we found the gift bags, the hat, and bocce set along with James' GPS and many other much loved and missed items. To bad back in June we purchased a replacement Bocce set and a replacement hat.

On another note thanks to me, last night we got to meet two of our local police officers. At 4:30am I woke up to the noise of the floor squeaking, a light turning off, Emma starting to cry and what I thought was a male voice saying something. After a time of being frightened standing in our bedroom with a gun just waiting for the police to come, they came searched the house and found nothing. I fear that I have cried wolf but I really did hear all of those things. What we think really happened is that the door from the garage to the kitchen was not shut all the way and the dog and the cat let themselves in and had a lot of fun messing with us... they still doesn't explain the voice or the light (though James' comment after it all was "maybe our animals talk when we aren't around"). I have to say it shook us both up a bit and I am ready to install a security system again. James is probably ready to make me sleep with earplugs in.

Refrigerator update: As of 1pm today after 3 hours of work by nice service guy "Matt" we have a cold inside food storage place that does not require a daily replenishing of ice!! We have moved what we want back in from the freezer and have emptied all the ice chests. Maybe now it won't feel like we are camping in our own home.

This is not photoshoped honest!! Doesn't she look talented??






















From this picture there should be no question as to whose hair color they have. Richard Scary is the one book that is Daddy's book, he tells the stories much better than Mommy. 

An update on the fridge... a repairman came out yesterday afternooon and said that we had a slow leak in something that was finally causing problems. They are going to replace everything that makes a fridge work without replacing the actual fridge... in 5 to 10 business days. He said I could call Frigidaire and try to rush the parts so after sitting on hold and speaking with someone occasionally for 32 minutes I managed to supposedly get them to rush the parts and give us money for food lost. I'm not holding my breath on either though.



On a happier note here is a picture of the girls enjoying their new swings. They have a wonderful view of the pond... James and I are actually envious as it would be a great place for a large swing for us.














After swinging the girls played in the water for a while until we found the hose which was a lot more fun than the pool.

































Emma loves to splash, this is her attempting to splash in the hose. It kept soaking her which she didn't really care for but she kept doing it. 

We had to make an unexpected large purchase this weekend for a garage freezer. Saturday we started to notice that items in our freezer were not quite as frozen as they used to be and by Sunday morning popscicles and ice cream were just liquid. We realized that turning up the thermostat to colder wasn't helping and began investigating. Well, by the end of the day nothing was working we called Fridgidare since the fridge is only 4 months old and left messages with every warranty repair place in Columbia... We decided rather than completely lose the $70 or more worth of food in freezer we should buy a small chest freezer to at least save stuff. Good thing... now that we have the refrigerator contents in three ice chests in the kitchen and the new freezer up and running we find out that the fastest someone can come to "look" at our fridge is probably Wednesday. Until then we will keep replenishing the ice in the ice chests... I guess on the upside I had been wanting another freezer with all the peaches, blueberries, and squash we had put up the inside freezer was getting a little full. Now we just have to grow a garden so we can fill the outside freezer with fresh produce (or buy a whole cow like Aunt Bee in Mayberry).

James left out the monumental event of the weekend in his post... Emma Grace got into the pool and stayed there. It took some bribing on our part, namely some sips of James' Coke and some peach but once she was bribed she started to enjoy herself.













She still resorted to playing the same game she plays out of the pool which is filling a bucket of water and pouring it on herself, but at least this time she can fill it herself in the pool instead of handing it right back to us to fill up.










I should mention that James wanted me to come and join them in the pool. Does it really look like there is room for one more??? I think next summer we will have to invest in a bigger 5 dollar blow up pool from Walmart.

We are planning a trip to Lake Murray (while it seems like a trip it is really going across the road from the house) early next week while Pappy and Grammy are here. It will probably be our last time to play in water for the season as it is getting quite cool in the evenings now. Dare a Florida girl really say "Fall is in the air"?? I don't even know if I can tell you what fall is...

This weekend, I got a little bit of sleeping in done. Good to have that done, finally. Jenny wanted to go to the State Farmer's Market. I didn't really think I'd enjoy it as much as I did. We drove down, neither of us really knowing where this place was. Its right across the street from the Gamecock's stadium. The big game between UGA and USC was Saturday night. We got to see all the tailgaters and their buses and RVs. Crazy, crazy. We however, had a very non-football game day at the almost deserted farmers market. It was a really good day to go.

First, we bought a big basket of peaches. We got a little basket of muscadines and a bag of fresh boiled peanuts. There is a big plant shop there. I think the both of us have wanted an herb garden for a while. So we bought some oregano, thyme, parsley, chives, and the prerequisited rosemary. We have a little container herb garden on the back porch now. And it smells really good back there.

Thats about all I got.

I couldn't resist putting this one also. The girls are sitting in chairs like big people and Emma is very into singing Happy Birthday to Grandy. If you would like entertainment at your next birthday party just ask and we'll try to book you into our busy schedule!

This is Emma. Doesn't that make you want some watermelon!!! Maybe the girls should go into advertising!

Here are the watermelon pictures as promised. This one is a little blurry but still very cute.

Ahhh three day weekends. Yes they are nice even for people who don't leave the house to work. We had a busy weekend -- On Saturday we went over to LaGrange for Great Grandy's 80th birthday party and then came home Sunday evening after the party was over. We dropped off Aunt Caroline near Athens (we met by the interstate on Saturday due to a football game going on in Athens at the time) and then finished our trek home. Today we ALL slept in till about 9:45 and then this afternoon we went to a Church picnic on Fort Jackson at a very nice lake. Everyone had a great time including the girls who chowed down on everything there. I haven't seen either of them eat that much in a long time. Kate ate her own hotdog and kept going after that on fruit, pasta salad, cheetos, it was a food fest... Right now I'm trying watching FSU play Miami over the internet (though it looks like a tough game and I might be a bad fan and turn it off here in a minute) and James is working on replacing the timing belt in the Camry. Here's hoping he can do it cause paying 23 dollars for the belt is a lot better than paying some mechanic 400 for labor.

Highlight of the weekend for us:

We were outside of Madison GA about to get to the exit we were meeting Caroline at listening to the radio when we hear the announcer saying that they were at a Gas station off I-20 giving out 2.25 gas and free hotdogs and drinks. It was wonderful to realize that this was the exit that was coming up in front of us and though we only got to put 7 gallons in the already mostly full tank it was a wonderful price. We then got back home and today the gas station here was at 2.39 I love South Carolina !! I am only putting that on here because lately every time I get gas I have this very large desire to call everyone I know living in high gas price areas and tell them what we are currently paying for gas... maybe now that it is in print I won't have to brag to any of you this time.

I'll post pictures tomorrow some time of the girls eating watermelon. Was a very cute moment.