We got back late this afternoon from visiting my sister Michelle and her family in South Carolina.  After a sleepless night…Noah was up most of the night last night…we’re completely wiped.  We had a blast though, and sleepless or not, it was a great trip with lots of fun memories.

Noah was so excited Sunday afternoon when he found out where we were going…

…and so was Isaac.

Spencer and Isaac…

Noah and Hayley…

Uncle Tim showing Isaac the swing bridge on the Beaufort waterfront…

Tim and Michelle took us out to see the ruins of the Church at Old Sheldon.  The church was burned in the Revolutionary War, rebuilt, and burned for the second time in the Civil War.  Michelle and Tim’s church owns and maintains the property, which is now used for weddings and special events.

How cool is that?

After we got back to the house, Michelle and I went for a run and Hayley and Doug played guitar together…

It was a REALLY quick trip…less than 48 hours…but we had a wonderful time together, laughing and sharing what’s going on in our lives and EATING.  (My brother in law Tim has mad skills in the kitchen…I was a happy, happy girl.)
Well…that’s it for now.  I’m about to drop from sleep deprivation, so I’m off to bed.

Ya’ll have a great night…

The car is (almost) loaded for our trip this afternoon to South Carolina.  We will leave straight from church and head north through the woods.  (The Ocala National Forest is so pretty…”real Florida”, ya know?)

We will return home Tuesday night…likely very late.  Quick trip…but we’ll have a blast.

We will be taking a lot of pictures to load on to Noah’s “talking box”.  I’ll try to post some while we’re there, but Michelle and Tim have Comcast, so…well… ’nuff said.

Speaking of Noah’s box, I found it in bed with him when I went in his room this morning to get him up.  He knows it’s his and is rather fond of it, I think.  Yesterday, he figured out how to ask me for some popcorn.  It’s a little hard to explain, but to get there he had to find the “eat” icon on the main screen and then locate the “popcorn” picture on a different screen.  I didn’t show him how to do it…he just figured it out.  (Yes…he got the popcorn.)  This is what I like about this particular device…it’s not just about touching a picture anymore.  He actually has to do some categorizing, and eventually…form sentences.  It’s a stretch…but stretching is how you grow, so there ya go.

Well…I must finish loading the car so that we’re not late for church.  Not that I’ve ever been late for church before. (ha.)

Ya’ll have a wonderful Sunday…

Doug and I spent three hours at Noah’s school this morning receiving training on Noah’s new Springboard Lite.  I signed the papers…and it’s now “Noah’s”.  (Technically it still belongs to Orange County, but it is for Noah’s sole use and possession 24/7.)

Noah was really happy to see it and Isaac was all over it…

I’ll try to get a better picture up of the screen later.  Doug worked all afternoon to personalize it for Noah…adding personal pictures and appropriate icons.  That little thing can do some pretty cool stuff.  We learned this morning that we can load on a photo and program it so that as Noah touches different parts of the picture, we can make it say what he is touching.  For example, if it’s a picture of Isaac running with a pair of scissors, we can have Isaac’s head say “Isaac” and the scissors say…”is about to lose an eye”.  (just checking to see if you’re awake.)

So woo-hoo for the new talking box.  We’ve got quite a learning curve ahead of us, but I’m really hopeful that this is going to be a great thing for our Noah.

More to write about, but it’s been a busy and non-stop day…

Ya’ll have a great night…

It was work day around the Teel house again.

For the second day in a row, a friend from church came over to help me paint.  And paint. And paint.  We’ve had a blast and I can’t believe how much we’ve been able to accomplish.  What a blessing.

Tonight after dinner, we put out our plants.  Here’s a few pictures of Isaac helping…

So Isaac is holding proof that I know absolutely nothing about plants or landscaping.  I saw this sweet little plant with pretty leaves and lovely pink flowers at Walmart and…oh my goodness…is that a cute little trellis attached?  I purchased 8 of them.

I thought that they were shrubs.

The clue phone rang the other day while I was out riding my bike on our local exercise trail and lo and behold, if I didn’t see that exact same plant growing…all over a fence of a house that I passed.

d-u-h.

I suppose that the trellis was my subtle hint from Walmart that I was purchasing some sort of creeping vine rather than a shrub.

No matter.  I’ll just trim the things up and let whoever buys this house worry about the pretty little creeping vine taking over the front of their yard.

Isaac helped with the mulching…

(Yep…that’s a Bougainvillea.  It’s so cute and little now, no?  We’ll be long gone before it turns into a monster.  The pink is just so pretty against our yellow house, so I couldn’t resist.)

Afterward, it was time to water…

(Clearly, our poor yard needs prayer.)

So that was our busy day today.  Ready or not, I start calling realtors on Friday.

I hope that ya’ll had a productive day today…

So to continue with what’s up around here…

Doug got in a little earlier than expected this morning.  It was about 1:30am…not too bad.  He said that the gig was fun and went well.  The crowd loved the “Jersey Boys” bit with the Frankie Valli songs, so I guess that tells you the audience demographic.

Besides Noah’s annual review, we’ve got more on the educational front this week.  Friday morning, the rep from Prentke Romich is coming to the school to train me on Noah’s new AT device (aka his “talking box”).  Noah’s staff and some other moms will be there as well.  I’m excited…this has been over a year in the making.

Friday afternoon, we’ve got our tax appointment.  just. ick.

Sunday after church, we’re heading to Beaufort, S.C. to spend a few nights with my sister Michelle and her family.   I CAN’T WAIT.  I need to knock off a few pounds this week in anticipation of all the freakishly yummy food that Tim will prepare while we’re there.  Seriously ya’ll, my brother in law is CRAZY in the kitchen.  A visit to their house is always good for an extra 2-3 pounds on my hiney.  Too much homemade guacamole and hummus to resist…YUM-MY.

Well, I’m off to start painting.  Ya’ll have a great day today.