The Incredibealls

Red Bluff 2010

2010-04-05T19:30:00.013-05:00

This was our last day before school started back after Easter break, and we decided to go to Red Bluff. We had a blast!

We always head down the easy trail on the far side, go over the train tracks and down the stream, and end up at the Pearl River. From there we come back up the stream, travel down the train tracks, and end up at the derailed train cars. Then it's back up the stream to the bottom of the bluff. Ian usually loses a shoe during this stage, as there are several places that look solid but when you step on them your foot sinks to your knee! Once at the bottom of the bluff, the kids play on the dunes for awhile. Although steep, it is pretty safe because even if you fall the sand is soft and the slope eases you to a stop. Once we start climbing out, it is very intense because every step sinks into the sand so it takes 4 climbing steps to equal one regular step. We end up on a thin ravine back where we started and have to shimmy our way out onto flat land. Yay! It is scary, but a great morale builder. Our own Mt. Kilimanjaro!

See the slideshow below, and click the full screen button in the lower right after it starts playing.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T19:17:00.001-05:00

We had a great Easter this year! We usually just use plastic eggs with candy in them, but this year we actually dyed real eggs. It was a learning experience. None of our eggs looked at all like the examples on the box, no matter how long we kept them in the dye. But we did have some other super-camo eggs that are textures like rocks, grass, wood, etc. We put out 182 (including 6 prize eggs) and found 176.. Not bad!
See the slideshow below, and click the full screen button in the lower right after it starts playing.

Pink Eye and Chicken Pox

2010-02-22T14:28:00.000-06:00

Emily has come down with Pink-Eye:

Keighly seems to have Chicken Pox:

UPDATE: It is not Chicken Pox as we thought. After going to the doctor, we found out it is a skin virus called Pityriasis rosea. Not itchy, but has to run its course.

Happy Birthday!

2010-02-21T14:22:00.001-06:00

We combined Uncle Andrew, Aunt Angie, and Chandler's birthday party into one and celebrated in their new house! Here is a slideshow of the day's activity (watch full-screen by hitting the button on the bottom right after you 'Play').

Our Pinewood Derby 2010 car

2010-02-13T11:07:00.003-06:00

This year, Ian went with an original design for a Pinewood Derby car.

Behold! The Perry The Platypus Pinewood Derby Car!

We don't have the wheels on yet, but it is supposed to be Perry the Platypus riding a skateboard. The race was supposed to be today, but it got postponed until next week. Unfortunately we will miss it as we will be out of town.

Painting for Church

2010-02-12T23:03:00.001-06:00

Keighly's Sunday school class got to create paintings to hang in their new Sunday school classroom. Keighly's is a Bible. Here, Incredi-Mom writes in the verse so Keighly can paint it in.

Snow! Again!

2010-02-12T10:51:00.002-06:00

For the second time this winter, we have gotten snow!

We made a very tall franken-snowman in the backyard, then made a snow family in the front. Here is a slideshow of our fun (watch full-screen by hitting the button on the bottom right):

The snow is fun, but I don't see how people deal with it all the time. But, we had fun while it was here.

Strike!

2010-02-06T11:14:00.001-06:00

While we were in Lumberton checking in with my grandmother Mama Flo, the kids became fascinated with the gas heater. It has been there as long as I can remember. We have central heat and cooling, and just a space heater or radiater here and there, so the kids aren't used to an open flame heater.

The heater puts out tons of heat, and if you aren't careful it will burn the hair off your legs (if you are in shorts). You light the heater the old-fashined way, with matches. When the kids saw the matches, each of them wanted to light one. Mama Flo said it was OK as long as she helps them.

It must be a wonderous feeling to strike a match for the first time. You are holding a stick, you scratch the tip, then a small explosion ignites the tip. Wow!

Ian was the first to give it a go, and after much scratching he managed to actually strike the match. He looks kinda worried here that I may not take the picture before it burns his finger!

Keighly went next and had no problem striking the match.

Little Emily went last, and with much help from Mama Flo she managed to strike the match.

I am proud to say no children, grandmothers, or furniture was harmed in this experiment.

Tiger in the 'Burg

2010-01-21T21:03:00.004-06:00

On the way to school this morning, I saw a tv live remote crew setting up for a Good Morning America segment about Tiger Woods. He is staying in the little house area over the green car.

What's in the center of a baseball?

2010-01-18T21:08:00.000-06:00

We were playing at the loop around the big magnolia and we found an old baseball with no cover on it. We decided to bring it home and pull off all the string to get to the core.

All the small, fine string is gone and the ball is getting smaller.

Getting smaller!

Keighly pulls off the last of the string. Whats in the center? Cork? Plastic? Rubber?

Answer: the core is a hard plastic orange ball!

Strep 2.0

2010-01-18T11:00:00.001-06:00

After Emily and Keighly got sick with strep throat, I guess it was invevitable I would get it. Of course, it happened when I really needed to be working. But after almost a week of extreme throat pain, Janet finally made me go to the doctor. As usual, the whole family went for 'support'.

It's hard to tell, but my tonsils are HUGE. They are touching each other, it's hard to speak and breath, and very painful to swallow.

At the doctors office, the kids stayed entertained with their Nintendo DSLites and kept the exam table held down.

A battery of tests were called for, and this is the 'nasal swab' to check for strep throat. She starts by saying 'just around the rim...' and then pushes it in and scratches your brain while saying '...and now deeper..' This will make your eyes water and you'll probably sneeze!

The throat swab to check for the flu. Not nearly as bad as the nasal swab.

A blood test to check white blood count, etc.

The tests came back positive for strep throat, and I asked for a shot instead of a perscription. A short while later, a nurse comes in to administer a shot of penicillin.

To the delight of my kids, the nurse 'shot' me before I could even get comfortable on the exam table. Once cheekage was seen, I was pierced and feeling the burn!

Penicillin is very thick. It took awhile to all go in, burning the whole time. My cheek was sore! As the Weird Al parody "Headline News" Singapore Kid's book said: "Ouch! My Butt!"

Strep

2010-01-11T22:10:00.000-06:00

When you have kids, you are in and out of the doctor's office often. Emily had just been sick last week, but we rode it out at home. Keighly got sick, and we took her right in to the doctor. She can't miss much school, they move fast and she doesn't need to get behind.

While waiting for the doctor, Ian works on his homework.

Time for a battery of tests. Nose and throat swabs and a blood sample. Keighly just had her nose swabbed, and seems to have taken it quiet well.

Time for a blood test. The nurse freezes Keighly's fingertip so the needle prick won't hurt.

Sure enough, no pain!

The tests came back positive for strep throat. Keighly stayed home one day from school. It was a light case of strep throat (or we caught it early), it was mostly fever and a light sore throat.

Murry

2010-01-11T21:12:00.007-06:00

It is with sad news we share that Murry has passed.

Murry was a great dog. We called him 'Murf' and 'Murf-Gurf' and 'Murf-the-Gurf-Lurf'.

He was a large chow-bird dog mix that my Pawpaw gave us. We thought it would help us make the decision to have kids, for if we could raise a dog certainly we can rear children!

In his better days he was very full of energy and had a beautiful thick coat of soft hair. He saw all of our children born, and faithfully defended us from the dreaded UPS, FedEx, and mailman everyday.

Everyone who met Murry loved him and wished they had a dog like him. While he could be ferocious, he was also very easy-going and put up with babies pulling his hair and throwing up on him, the dreaded BATH, and even bagpipes. He was our Aslan, and we felt safe with him around.

The latter months were very hard. He recovered fairly well from (we believe) a stroke, but eventually started showing his age again. He eventually had a very hard time getting up and down and lost control of his bowels. We did our best to keep him clean and comfortable, but had to keep him outside more. We think he had another stroke today and passed away.

Murry was 15 and a half. He lived a long, healthy life and brought us much happiness, laughter, security, and love. He was faithful to the end.

We love you Murf!

Nerd alert

2010-01-09T21:56:00.000-06:00

Fun with $1 nerd glasses at the dollar store.

Farkle!

2010-01-02T21:48:00.000-06:00

We learned a new game over the holidays: Farkle!
A fun and simple game, we started hunting for it and eventually found the LAST ONE at Target!

The Next Generation

2009-11-15T16:17:00.000-06:00

It is sad to know that this is the next generation we are rearing.

What other 'cool items' could possibly be included? Aren't "Grillz" enough?

Whiz!

2009-11-15T16:06:00.000-06:00

Some of the toys we wanted to use for the Operation Christmas Child were too big for the box. One was a propeller that had LEDs that activate when you spin it to make it fly. Emily did it outside at night, and I set the camera to long-exposure 'night' mode. The pics ended up being cool!

Operation Christmas Child

2009-11-15T15:53:00.001-06:00

Our church participated in Operation Christmas Child. We made three 'shoeboxes'.

You fill the box with hard candy, personal hygiene items, and small toys.

The church sent out this many boxes. We were able to track ours, and found out it went to Colombia!

Highlands and Islands 2009

2009-11-14T14:50:00.002-06:00

We went to the MS Gulf Coast Highlands and Islands Scottish Games this year, and met our good friend Heather and friends Michael and Jenny Lee (and family) down there. It was a fun day, and the jousting was actually entertaining while you eat your lunch.

Be sure to watch the slideshow in full-screen (button in the bottom right)!

Funky carpets

2009-11-13T14:43:00.001-06:00

We only have two rooms with carpet in the house (I pulled it all out to put down laminate flooring). We rented a very large carpet cleaner and put it to the test in Ian and Emily's room. Wow! You don't realize how dirty carpet is until it is really clean (or you rip it up and throw it out).

Veterans Day 2009

2009-11-11T15:13:00.001-06:00

I attended the Veterans Day ceremony in downtown Hattiesburg, and it was a beautiful day. The bagpiper was Jessie Langham, and I also ran into former aquaintance 'Soup' Campbell (he was the actor in my very first television commercial for WarZone comics).

A slideshow is below. Watch it fullscreen by clicking the button on the bottom right.

Nap time

2009-11-11T14:35:00.001-06:00

Jude and Candy sleep on the couch in exact mirror-images of each other.

(Please ignore that trash under the couch)

Can I cook?

2009-11-09T14:32:00.000-06:00

No.

But I can stir a mean taco meat mixture (if it has been properly prepared by Janet)!

Fall

2009-11-08T14:24:00.000-06:00

Janet and I have started walking around the loop at the bottom of the hill. Today we noted several 'fall'ish things.

Geese in a perfect 'V' flying south;

Leaves turning colors;

And Ian taking a leak under the big magnolia.

Ahh, the seasons.

Incredi-Mom the destroyer!

2009-11-08T14:18:00.001-06:00

Janet killed a snake today. Well, it looks like it was more bludgeoned than 'killed'.