Where ya been?

When we returned home from Speech today, I saw Zach's car in the driveway behind Karl's truck. Jolie didn't notice, and I didn't mention it. We came in and went upstairs to Karl's "office" and there sat Zach. Jolie was busy telling Dad about speech, and then she noticed him, and stopped in her tracks. At lunch she didn't start out by sitting with him, but then inched over to his side of the table and ate with him.
He asked, "Are you glad to see me?"
She said, "YES!" kissed his face and asked, "Where ya been?"
"I've been at school, but I am home for a Christmas. I'll be here a loooong time." answered Zach.
And to that she smiled. And this Momma is glad to have all of her chickens in the nest at the same time once again.
Let the good times roll....and sometime soon, some people around here need to go Christmas shopping! Since we have not even started. YIKES!

Thanksgiving holidays were too short, but Christmas is coming...

This Baby Boy  was home for a few days over Thanksgiving Holidays. He headed back for the last couple of weeks of the semester at Belmont. Just a few concerts, and exams, and  such and then he heads back home for Christmas. We actually head to see him in a Christmas concert too. Lots always happen this time of year...I'm glad that we are coming up on another break, because family time is the best time in the world.

Sing me a song

During our recent visit to see Zach, he was recording a song for a class project. One of his friends had to do a project for an audiotech class and they recorded Z.  Shek and Karl got to see him in action, and Karl was even  in the background talk/singing vocals? Me and the girls stayed at the hotel. Recording studios are probably not the best place for a 3 year old...

 pretty neat equipment...so I am told...looks pretty high tech to me...

Shek snapped the photos...there are more of the whole gang but Z took those on his phone, and I can't find them anywhere to post them...

"I just wanna see his face."

Parent weekend was this weekend at Zach's college. SO we left Friday with the intent on coming back yesterday, but we decided to stretch out the visit and stayed until Sunday. While there I snapped lots of photos. The campus is just full of persons, places and things begging to be photographed.

 I loved this photo of the bell tower.  It's beautiful in daytime, but I loved how it looked at night. I took it on our way to the School of Music Concert. In fact I took it with my real camera and with my iphone, I had to instagram it too ya know...

For the Parent/Family weekend, the School of Music had a special concert and each of the ensembles were featured. Lots of talented people were singing that night. Here's a  photo of the POPS ensemble that Zach is in.

A photo of all my children....Jolie has been missing Zach and she has been saying, "I just wanna see Zach's face!" 

More Nashvegas photos tomorrow....

Someone turns 20

Someone turns 20 on September 13. First ever birthday that we've not been in the same area on that birthday. Since he was home for Labor Day weekend, we celebrated before he headed back to school.

Publix cakes are pretty awesome

Shek lights the candles and jolie loves to sing happy birthday

Afterwards, we all posed for some photos, it was raining so we just settled for a backporch photo shoot.

my hair looks like I've stuck my finger in a socket, but noone is looking at me. lol

Gam and Pop with Zach and Jolie

Zach and Honey

Zach and Caylene

Hope Your 20th birthday is extra special, Zach, even though you aren't getting to see your sweet momma and dad and the rest of the crew on the day of your birth.





Sunday Snapshot~Belmont Bound

Ever since Zach knew a Belmont University existed it was his dream to one day to go to Belmont and and seek a degree in Commercial music~voice. He wanted to be close to home for the first two years, and was delighted to attend Point University as a commuter for his Freshman and Sophomore college years. There he has met wonderful friends, and great faculty that have been like family. He is especially close to his music professors and has learned a great deal from them that has helped prepare him in his goal to attend Belmont University.

First he had to be accepted to Belmont University! He sent in all of his transcripts and applications several months ago. He received his acceptance in early January. So glad he has maintained a high GPA and and remained on the Dean's List. Glad he takes after his dad in the grade department and not his mom. LOL Once accepted to Belmont, he could then proceed to audition for the school of music, which he did in late January. He even shared his dream with one of classmates, Hunter, and he too, decided to audition.

A letter of acceptance to the University

Once accepted to the university, he could proceed with his audition. He and his friend Hunter prepared  for weeks. The professors judging the auditon asked Zach, "Why Belmont?" and he said it had always been his dream to go there. After his audition they told him he had a lot of potential and a great voice and they were glad he auditioned. He was told that he would know something in about 3 weeks.

After three long weeks, which really turned into 4 weeks, the letter finally arrived. Zach had been calling home everyday during the time that the mail truck had usually already passed...and would you believe it, that whole week that he was waiting and stalking the mailbox, the mail was late 

every. single. day!

He liked how the folder says, "welcome home"...

The long awaited letter finally arrived and Zach called to see if the letter had arrived. He had not made it home yet. He had us open it and read the letter to him over the phone.

AND! HE! MADE! IT!

 This is a photo of THE letter and it says Congratulations on your approval as a commercial music major with a voice principle...
He wants to frame it!

Zach doing what he loves...

He called Hunter to see if he had gotten his mail yet, and of course, Hunter was not yet home, and he had to wait and wait until Hunter made it home and checked his mail. AND finally, Hunter made it home and read his mail and he too made it.

Hunter ripping up the keys.

We went to Outback on Saturday night to celebrate!!! The hard part was telling their friends and professors at Point that they would be transferring.

Signature Voices~Point University

Hunter and Zach are looking forward to attending Belmont in the fall. We are all proud of them, and are thankful that the Lord opened this door for them.

Zach and Hunter
Belmont Bound!!

Nimrod and flu-like symptoms?

This past Wednesday night, Zach called us as he drove home from church. He usually calls the house phone, you know the one attached to the wall  and  hardly rings anymore, because everyone now has a phone on our hip. Karlie says, why does he call the home phone when we would answer quicker if he called  a cell. I said, beats me. She said something like does he think we're amish or something....I chuckle and think yeah,...those amish love those landline phones in their homes. BUT I digress from the story. He called to say how he had the chills, he felt feverish, he ached all over, and was just miserable, and would dad please get him some wonton soup, and help him get his guitar and stuff out of the car when he got home.

A photo of Zach when he was a little under the weather

SO, he came in all miserable, wanting blankets etc. I said how did you make it at church, How did you lead worship in this state? I asked, why didn't you just come home? He said, Well, mom, I had a responsibility. Apparently he waited till getting home to totally let his guard down, and act as bad as he felt.  Karlie said why is he acting like that? I said, he feels bad.

So, Dad, helped him with his stuff, and got him some won ton soup. Zach was afraid Jolie would eat it all up, she's all about noodles, not only chinese noodles, but she's pretty partial to Progresso chicken noodle soup as well. She did have to have her own little taste of his soup.

Karlie said he better not give me this sickness...and what do you know, but 2 mornings later she has it. She feels miserable, wants the blanket, etc...and Zach seems to be feeling fine except his voice is not back to normal yet.

 So, now Karlie is calling Zach a NIMROD, for giving her his sickness. I decided to look up Nimrod. I thought it was someone in the Bible and I wanted to know exactly what that name meant. So having a homeschooling teachable moment, I looked it up and this is what the Urban dictionary has to say. I think Karlie likes the #2 definition, but the #1 definition is nicer...

nimrod

1. A mighty hunter. Now chiefly used in this sense outside the United States. 2. A slow-witted person. The Bible ONLY mentions that Nimrod was a son of Cush, the founder of Babylon, and a mighty hunter. Curiously enough, Dictionary.com attests definition 2 to have derived from a Looney Toons episode, wherein Bugs Bunny mocks his adversary, the hunter Elmer Fudd, calling him a "poor little Nimrod". Warner Brothers' Looney Toons cartoons were not written for children, but for literate adults, and often contained literary references children would not understand. Younger generations, mostly illiterate, and having little or no Bible knowledge not gleaned from their moronic parents and half-wit talk radio hosts, probably misunderstood the comment as being a general insult describing the slow-witted Fudd. Probably from the phrase “poor little Nimrod,” used by the cartoon character Bugs Bunny to mock the hapless hunter Elmer Fudd. I thought that was an interesting, especially the part about children being illiterate and not knowing the Bible to understand why Elmer Fudd was called a Nimrod.  Well, there has been a little sniffly, sneezing, and  achy feelings going on around here, but there are no Nimrod symptoms here.

Gone Batty!?!

 Bats?!?

Holy Batcave, Batman, I believe we do !

We live in a rural setting. We have to deal with "critters" from time-to-time...Like Snakes! and Bats!

I hear you people shouting for the animals' rights out there...and this post is not for you so be warned. At our house we don't like snakes. The only good snake is a dead snake around here. AND when one decides to get in the house he is a gonner...sorry...no catch and release going on around here. AND the 2 snakes that have showed up in my grandmother's apartment downstairs have been copperheads anyway. YIKES!

A couple of years ago, when Zach was still in HIGH School, and Karlie had a friend over to spend the night...we had our first encounter with a bat. Zach had gone on to bed and had shut and locked his door...when all of the sudden he started screaming in a panic...Come to find out a bat was in the room with him and was darting at him. His dad, trying  to get the door unlocked said, Keep the cover over your head, son...and in a paniced voice that son said...don't worry dad!

Anyway the bat was killed with a broom and my hubby threw it outside. Knowing that they carry rabies..I said you better go get it out of the yard so that the cat doesn't get it...and what if had rabies? So he went and got it out of the yard...it was raining...and put it in a ziplock bag....and then put it in the freezer. Later Zach tells us that the night before something had been in his room the night before but he couldn't figure it out and  it would flap around and go in the vent above his bed! THEN being the mom I am I research about bats on line. I expect to read that their bite is like a vampire bite...nope it can be little scratches like razor marks...WELL..he had some unexplained scratches on his foot. AND he sleeps with his feet out. We call animal control who can't come till daylight, and when they do they say they can't test our bat because we froze it instead of refrigerating it. NOTE TO SELF: place your dead bat in the fridge next to the milk so that it can be tested correctly for rabies. WE take the boy to the doc. AND the doc says, we have to assume that the bat was rabid especially since it was in the house darting at him and basically acting uncharacteristic of bat behavior. SO we were sent to the ER to receive YOU know it! THE RABIES SHOTS....we get there and the doc on duty said there was a shortage and that it was not up to our doctor if he received the vaccinations or not...he put in a call to the CDC...so I said it's now up to the government if my son receives treatment? HE was a real smarty pants doctor and he totally lost all respect. WELL, the cdc called and said yes, he was a candidate for the shots. SO he had to receive the dreaded shots and certain intervals over period of weeks... the first shot had to go into the bite sight which was the foot. After finally getting all the shots we threatened to get him the rabies dog tag to wear...

Needless to say...we don't want any bats around here. I know they eat up the insects and all that, but they can do what GOD made them to do without being in my attic or attached to the screen vent above my garage where they were depositing  you know what right in front of the garage. AND From what I hear...their deposits are dangerous too. 

AND That's how we found out that they we were there... we saw an enormous amount of you know what in front of the garage...so karl goes upstairs..pulls down the attic stairs and goes...he comes back down and said there's about 12 attached on the outside...and I see some tears in the screen. He gets some screen and  a staple gun and waits till its dark and hopefully they are all gone. Most had left on their evening hunt, but some stayed...so while he is stapling new screen behind the original screen, he sees bats turning their heads and  hissing at him...GEE! I don't think I could handled it.

THEN he searched the attic to see if any had made it in and sure enough he found one roosting in the top. He sent Shek downstairs for the BB gun. Shek couldn't reach it so I had to get it down. I didn't think this was going to be good...a bb gun?

So I go up there and hand the gun up and THEN HE SAYS, SHut the attic door..I said you want me to shut you up in there with it...he said YEP...WELL, I sure didn't know how I felt about it. I said why don't you get a real gun and he being the wise one said..yeah and shoot a hole through the roof? Well, I said at least it would be dead!

HE shot it with the bb gun...then it swooped him, then it lighted some where else where he shot it again, then it landed on the floor and he shot is several more times to make sure it was dead.

I know bats have their place in the world...but it's not in my house...darting at my family...and causing rabies shots...We don't want that again..

SO BATS! BE GONE!

The last teen year!

19 years ago today or really early this morning at 4:08 am, I gave birth to the first born, Zach. I can't believe it's already been 19 years..where does the time go? We celebrated his birthday Sunday at lunch. He requested some favorites for  lunch: wings and potato skins....and his cake (another NASCAR creation).

This afternoon we are all meeting him for lunch in the ATL, in between his classes...then we'll be heading to the Braves game tonight to see Zach and his group from college sing the Nat'l Anthem.

Happy last Teen Birthday, Zach...Love you lots.