The girls - too cute.....my neighbor and I tried to get in on the fun this year - she was a bit more inventive than I was with her outfit!!!

UNC Football 2009 Joe and his friends..Joe had a great first semester of his sophmore year. He has applied to the business school at Chapel Hill and we will hear about that in January.

He seems to be enjoying being a Tarheel and went to most home football games and has made it to a few basketball games.

Fall Soccer 2009 - had a great team this year and lots of wins and fun.. Elizabeth is now in the 8th grade and besides soccer she is on the yearbook staff at school this year. She is loving that. She keeps me busy with all the sleepovers, trips to the mall and church stuff. When she doesn't have a group here, she is somewhere. Girls just seem to always have activities going on....barely a Monday goes by that when she gets in the car when I pick her up that she isn't asking "What are we doing this coming weekend!!"

The fall has gone by way too fast and I can't believe it is already the holidays!! But now that they are here, we are enjoying having Joe home and having a family time with everyone.

Pictures from Move In Day 2009. Boy, this was quiet a different experience than freshman year. It took most of a day to get him moved in freshman year and tons of emotion - this year we left Cornelius about 8:30 am and we were back in Cornelius by 2:30pm!!!!! With the hand truck, lots of friends, and us - we had him unpacked and stuff in the room within 30 minutes (that's all they give you for parking!!!). There was some emotion with it, I really love having him home and being with him but he was so ready to go back. When the "big red bag" was put on the landing on Wed. (We weren't leaving until Friday) I knew he was ready to get back. I can't blame him. I remember college - even though it was many, many years ago and it was hard to be at home where none of your friends are and not much to do. We missed him over the summer but he came home for a couple of weeks before he went back and it was just enough time to get all he needed together and back to school. He has had enough time on his own now that he knows what he needs to do and gets it done!!! Oh, you are asking and wondering - who's the girl???? That is Cameron. She is a girl he has met at Carolina and we just love having her around. ( He does too!!!)

Joe's Adventure on the Appalachian Trail

Once Joe's job was over for the summer - a big group of the counselors got together and walked 35 miles of the trail over 3 days. They saw all sorts of things. It was a great experience for them. The cool thing is they ran into these miniature horses - they came right up to them. It did rain some on the trail but that just seem to be the norm for the summer. Lots of rain.

Summer 2009 - Lake Norman

We had a ball on the lake this summer. Joe got some use out of the jet ski over the summer even being gone for most of it. The jet ski was used almost triple what it was the first summer and I mastered trailering it in and out of the lake!!! Fun....life is good.....

Camp Grier 2009 - A Part of our summer always!!!

Elizabeth headed out to Camp Grier a week after she got home from the Mission Trip. This is her third year and comes back wanting to go a week longer every time. Not sure what's up in them there hills but both kids love it there - Joe worked there for the second summer in a row.....it truly is "The Place To Be" as their song says!!! Check out the pictures of Elizabeth's stay - yes, there is a boy who dressed up like a girl for the dance - the boys let the girls do their hair, yes, that is Elizabeth actually rolling up the tent after doing an overnight stay away from the camp. With all the rain this year, there were bears spotted in camp and snakes. As a counselor this summer, Joe had many new experiences. He got to do bike camp one week, where the kids bring their bikes, he participated in many skits - you'll see some of the outfits he came up with from the counselors hitting the thrift shops and Goodwill on the day off in the Asheville area. It's just an over all good experience for both of the kids and doing bible studies regularly is also a great thing.