The Earthquake

I sort of had a strange experience this afternoon. 

Mom went to meet A. Diana this afternoon because A. Diana's husband (U. Wayne) is a dentist and Kaitlyn needs 4 teeth pulled (for braces - and from experience, I say it's totally worth it!). So anyway, Mom, Kaitlyn, and Karissa all went. So it was just me and Kaleb and Katrina at home. 

I was sitting here at my desk working on my transcription reports. My laptop isn't all the way up against the wall because my battery stick out about an inch behind it and there's also a little space between my desk and the wall. But then both my laptop screen and desk started bumping the wall. My book shelf (which doesn't touch the wall either) was also shaking. Usually when our drier runs, things all over our house shake... a little... not like it was this afternoon. And it sounded like Katrina was running through the house or pounding on the wall downstairs or something. 

So I went downstairs and the drier wasn't running, so I was like "Katrina, what are you doing?" 

She and Kaleb came out of the office with great big eyes, and they were like "We're not doing anything. What's going on?". 

At that point, I thought possibly there was something wrong with the addition. So we walked down behind the house to take a look, and didn't see anything that would make the house shake like it did. So I told the kids to stay out of the addition for a little while to see if it would happen again, and I called mom. I told her something weird happened and was telling her about it when the phone cut off. I figured her phone died and that she'd call me back when she got it plugged in. But she didn't call back and I couldn't get a hold of her. Her phone either went into voice mail or rang busy. So I waited a while and then called Dad... but his phone rang busy too, but sometimes he is in an area with minimal signal, so I didn't connect anything. 

Later, Ashley called. She was asked, "Are you guys okay?" And thinking it was just a normal "whatcha-doin" call, I said "Fine. How 'bout you?"! Then she told me they just had an earthquake there in Virginia. Ya, everything connected real fast then!! I was like "Oh my goodness! Are you serious? Our house just shook!" She was like, ya. They had to evacuate the building and they were evacuating airports and stuff in her area. She people were standing in doorways and pictures frames started falling off the wall! 

Ashley asked where mom was I had been thinking, "She's in VA in her phone cut off! I hope nothing happened!" But Ashley said the phone service was down... which is why I couldn't get a hold of mom or dad. 

Later mom called, and Kaitlyn asked "Hey, what did you need?"
I didn't even answer. I was just like "You mean you didn't feel it?"

"Feel what?". 

"There was an earthquake."

"What?!?!"

"You didn't feel it?"

"No! Are you serious!"

Well... you get the picture!!! :) 

Then I got a couple calls. Mrs. Cathy (from our church) called and asked if we felt it. She said her daughter (Elizabeth) was next door and felt it but Mrs. Cathy said she didn't feel it. 

Then our neighbor called to see if we were alright. She said she thought one of her big poodles was leaning against her desk scratching it's ears, but when she looked around, all the dogs were asleep.. .then she her blood sugar had probably gotten low until her husband text to see if she was alright. 

Kent texted mom to see if everything was alright. He was worried cause he couldn't a hold of Ashley, but the phones were out for a good while. Dad told us at supper that Kent had texted Dad just saying "Hey. Everybody ok?" Dad said he didn't even connect the earthquake ( which he had a little about) with Kent's question. He just answered saying every body's fine, been busy! 

Then mom talked to Khara this evening (this was Timmy's first day of kindergarten btw!). She said she got to work and everyone was kinda chattering, but she didn't think anything of it. Then Tim text her asking if she had called to check on her family. She was like "no, why?". But he never answered (phone service went out). Then mom texted her to see if everything was okay there and she answer "yup, yup, ok."!!! Then she was talking to somebody at work and was like my husband asked if I checked on my family then my family was checking on me. She still didn't what was going on until somebody said we had an earthquake. Then she like, well that could be the reason!!!

So it's been a pretty eventful day! 

And to put a cherry on top (for me at least), I only have 5 reports left in my next to last module!!!! 

Simply gorgeous

Just try to look at these pictures without smiling!!

Her smile is incredibly infectious!!! 

Plus... She is amazingly beautiful!! ... As anyone can see :)

My beautiful, beautiful Ava...

Berry Lovely indeed!!!!

Just look at that hair!

*Deep sigh* Wow. What a sweatie!!!!

Goodbye Grandma

Grandma Wilda Fitzwater

May 2, 1931 - July 30, 2011

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Memories of Grandma Fitzwater: 

-Tea parties she would fix us girls, with Coke, red hots, and marshmallows (and other miscellaneous things). 

-Playing dolls in her basement and getting our doll clothes fixed by an expert :)

-Sleepovers with cousins in Grandma's basement. 

-Hot chocolate with marshmallow cream and toast with either cinnamon and sugar or peanut butter for breakfast--- after the sleepover :)

-Birthdays at Grandma and Granddaddy's house. 

-Riding home with Grandma and Granddaddy after church and having root beer floats when we got home.

-Watching Five Mile Creek movies at Grandma's house on New Year's Eve (though I don't remember which year).

-Picking grocery bags full of acorns up from in front of Grandma's house (just for fun). 

<-Catching butterflies for Grandma, which she would pin onto her curtains in the kitchen. 

-Picking bluet flowers for Grandma... She would put them in a little cup beside her sink in the kitchen. >

I love you, Grandma.

Two blinks ago...

I found these videos on my camera the other day, and I was so surprised!! I mean, I knew Timmy and Ava have grown up a lot, but after watching these videos I saw just how much they had changed!! 

I also saw a whole lot that was still the same, too! They're both still as cute as anything; Timmy's face hasn't changed drastically and Ava still has that beautiful dark brown hair!!

So this is Ava... playing peek-a-boo with Kaitlyn on my bed.

And this is Timmy playing silly putty with Kaleb in the living room.

Brings back so many cute, happy, funny memories!! 

Congratulations Timmy!!!

Last Wednesday, Timmy graduated from Preschool!!! And we got to go to his graduation!! 

Khara is the secretary at Grace Chapel Community Church which is also where Timmy went through preschool. The pastor told us right when we walked in the door, "We love Khara!! She runs the place!"

They were actually having the Discovering Preschool program along with the Kindergarten Preparation program that evening. 

This was just a cute little schoolhouse that was sitting up front. Each of the little preschoolers walked through the door to receive their diploma. 

There was a slideshow with a bunch of pictures of all the kids, and we spotted a couple with Timmy in them :) He's the one on the right in the picture below. 

Where's Timmy? 

There he is!! In that camo, he just blends into his surroundings!!! Just kidding :)

Saying their pledges. They said both the "Pledge of Allegiance" and the "Pledge to Myself".

 Timmy is in the blue shirt on the left.

This is the words to their "Pledge to Myself". You can enlarge the picture by clicking on it. 

Timmy's class also sang a song. Can anyone spot Timmy?

He's that cute little dude in the center in the blue shirt. ;-)

Standing up there with all the other kids... He looks so big! How did he grow up so fast!?!

Oh, and these are the words to the song they sang. 

And here is the video of their song, "When I Grow Up". 
It's a little bit hard to see Timmy, but he is the first kid to the right of that lady sitting up there.... He's like right beside her head and he's in a blue shirt. 

 Isn't that little cap and gown too cute?!! 

The lady who presented the diplomas shook each little boy and girl's hand.....

.....Timmy and another little boy just gave her "a five"!! 

Congratulations buddy! 

Here, there is a diploma and no tassel...

... and here, there is a tassel and no diploma!!!!!! 

This is a portion of his classmates. See the 3 boys in the center back? Timmy is in the middle of them.

Can you find Timmy here?! He's the one with his diploma in his mouth! 

Awww! 

What a ham!! 

Timmy is the tallest in the picture... that's slightly rare!! He was one of the few kids who didn't knock his cap off when he walked through the little door of the schoolhouse! 

This is Timmy's whole preschool class.

This is part of the church... "the cafe". They had some refreshments set up back there for after the program... but we didn't stay. We all went out to Dairy Queen for ice cream :)

There's the little graduate! I see a word written all over his face that says "ornery"!!! 

Poor Tim was having a hard time. He had eye surgery several days prior and was still having difficulty with seeing and focusing and everything. He said that seeing at night was harder and that bright lights were sorta painful, too.  

All the little kids came out with these shirts after the ceremony. Building Blocks is Grace Chapel's Learning Center. 

A family picture! You can't really tell, but Khara already has a little bitty baby bump!!!
I felt so bad for Tim. He said he was trying to keep his eyes open... but you can tell that the lights shining right at them were making that pretty hard...

Khara, Timmy, Abbey, and Tim!!!

Does someone look a little tired to you?! He did really good through the whole program though!

What a cutie :)

Afterwards, we went to Dairy Queen, got some ice cream and visited for a while.
Mom and Dad got Timmy a set of police Legos, and a few days later, Timmy called to say that he'd followed the instructions and gotten all of his Legos together!
He's so smart... I'm sure he'll do fabulous in Kindergarten!!!