» kids

Haleigh Bug

Beth — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 03:37:59 +0000

Our niece Haleigh- she needed some photos for her portfolio and graciously let me ‘shoot’ her. She’s a pretty girl, and even sweeter than she is pretty.

Photography Challenge – Photo a Day

Beth — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 02:14:14 +0000

Joseph on New Year's Day

Here’s my first day’s entry in the Photo a Day challenge. I shot this one with my Canon Elph.

I always love having a camera or my cell phone with me- most kids love to look at pictures of themselves, or other kids. My cell phone (a Palm Centro) is loaded with lots of pictures of kids and animals, and a video of some dogs my husband shot. No matter how shy, I can usually get a child to at least stand near me when I offer to show them pix!

Rutledge July 4th Parade

Beth — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:03:11 +0000

Yesterday we had Rutledge’s first 4th of July parade. While we only had a few people to come, everyone there had a great time, and we hope to make this an annual event.

We started out with the pledge of allegiance, then everyone lined up behind Mayor Joe Dexter. Randy took his bike to the end of the parade route, and kept traffic from coming into the group, and Jennifer blocked the entrance to the other end of the street.

After we got back to the community center, we spread out blankets under a tree, and while Jennifer poured pink lemonade for everyone, I cut this beautiful cake made for us by the ladies at the Piggly Wiggly.

As I said, we hope to make this an annual event- a very small town in a neighboring county has turned their small-town parade into a large event, usually having at least 200 participants; we may not ever get that big, but I would like to eventually get other towns in the county to participate in some way, and I’d also like to see more of our citizens to come out for it too.

Next year’s route will be a lot longer, Mr. Joe’s dad has said he’d bring his 1947 tractor and wagon along to haul kids, and we’d love to get at least one fire truck in as well. We may also change the time to later in the afternoon, and cook out hot dogs for everyone too.

Happy Independence Day!

Kids, Trains and Motorcycles

Beth — Wed, 13 May 2009 12:40:00 +0000

My friend Chessie has a great post on train clubs, trains and motorcycles; it reminds me of how much I love trains (and of course motorcycles) as well.
How many of you remember hearing the train whistle when the train came through town? We always wanted to be in a spot to see it when it came by. It was even better when it crossed the street to the school- you had an automatic excuse for being late!
My dad and brothers had a train set when we were young; as much as I enjoyed watching them play with it, I never got to run it as much as I’d like-after all, I was a girl!
One of my favorite places to visit is Chattanooga – besides Rock City and Ruby Falls, they’ve got a great train museum downtown, complete with a miniature version of Chattanooga and the trains that run through her. You can also have lunch in a train car, or buy gifts in the gift shop.
And that brings me back around to motorcycles- as much as I loved trains as a girl, I loved motorcycles more. My older cousins always had bikes, and if I begged my mom enough, I could ride behind them.
I love to see kids’ faces when I’m riding my bike. They almost always want to wave and smile (unless they’re afraid of the noise) and of course, I wave back. The parents aren’t always so friendly, but the kids are! One little boy in a Wal-Mart parking lot just kept yelling “hey motorcycle!” as I rode past.
Last year, when several of us were on a ride together, we stopped at a small gas station for a break before heading home. There were about ten of us, all in one corner, standing by our bikes, drinking water. A very small boy, about 3 or so, and his Nana, came out of the store, and started walking across the parking lot towards their van. All the way across, he kept yelling “Wild Hogs, Nana, Wild Hogs!” I walked over to them and asked if he’d like to come see our bikes a little closer, and he did. He wouldn’t get too close (guess there were too many of us) but he did seem to enjoy looking at them.
I wonder what it is about our chemical makeup that makes us so drawn to bikes and trains? Do you think that maybe, even at that young age, we recognize that those things are outside “normal” for most folks? Or is it the sense of wonder and adventure we all have as children – when we see things that are different, we’re drawn to it.
As we become teenagers and adults, most of us fight to fit in- we want to be just like everyone else, so folks don’t think we’re weird.
But for those few of us who want to be different… ah, the freedom to be who we want to be, no matter what anyone else thinks. Ride on!

Do children really need cell phones?

Beth — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:37:00 +0000

Check out this blog post about children and cell phones- http://www.christianity.com/11599436/ – this guy is on the money- if we don’t have time to monitor our children’s phone and texting history, we don’t have time for them to have a cell phone.
We sometimes tend to treat our kids like they’re grownups, when they aren’t. I saw a family movie a couple years ago, where the 15 year old daughter told her dad she had the right to date who she wanted, and the mother was standing there agreeing with her!
My fifteen year old is a very bright, loving, caring person, but she’s still only fifteen, and she doesn’t always have the wisdom or discernment to know that people can be other than what they seem- and it’s my job, and my husband’s job to help her find the right path.