Working Hard

First, let me publicly thank my parents for coming to spend a weekend with the girls so that Michael and I could get away for a night. We stayed at a B&B in Tyron, NC and ate dinner in Landrum, SC, Friday night. On the way home, we stopped at a couple of yard/estate sales. Believe it or not, we did not buy a thing. This was the first weekend that Michael had off in a while, so we thought it would be a perfect time to 'drive around.'

This past weekend, he had another weekend that he did not have to work, so I had him work around the house. We went Friday afternoon to Home Depot before going to the local football game. The football game was ok. the weather could not have been better. We beat Gaffney 49-14. It should have been a higher score, but we gave them the touchdowns. Saturday was the day to paint. Michael painted both of the girls' rooms. Sorry, but Abigail's bright yellow room is no longer; it has been replaced with a green hue. Rachel's room is a lavender color. I will try to post some pictures later. I spent most of the day stripping the bed that will be put in Abigail's room when we finish it. Once the stain is finished, we are going to have a friend of ours put a clear coat on it and Rachel's bed to protect them for the next two hundred years.

The final project of the day was replacing the light in the kitchen. We took down the three-light fixture and replaced it with a nice fluorescent fixture. Now you can see everything in the kitchen. If anyone would like the three-light fixture, you can have it. It's a nice fixture for a smaller area, just not in our kitchen.

Abigail goes on her first field trip for the year next week. Her class is going to Stone Mountain, GA. How fitting for a girl who has a Mountain membership? She gets to ride on a charter bus with her class there, but not home. We are going to come for the weekend, so Mary Kay is going to pick her up from the park. the kids can hardly wait to see their cousins.

Summer Vacation

We waited and waited and now it is over. Vacation with the family has come and gone - and we all survived. This is the first (and probably the last year) all of the Brechts have gone on vacation together. We spent a week at a beautiful house at Gulf Shores, AL. My mother-in-law was there as well.

We did family pictures at the end of the week at Fort Morgan. It is a great place to make pictures. This one is where we were trying to get everyone set for the family shot. I am sure Mary Kay will have better pictures (Darrell was the main photographer for this photo shoot). We tried to find a location that was easy to get to and not too much sun for Daddy. He seems to be doing great since his heart surgery.

We spent a little time at the beach, a lot of time at the pool, and some tof the time shopping. The guys went to play golf a couple of times during the week. We also took the kids to Waterville USA and The Track. Everyone enjoyed the water park; most enjoyed the go-karts and I think all enjoyed putt-putt at The Track.

Now, it's time to get ready for school... Hayden and Abigail are going into fourth grade, Sophie will be in first, Rachel and Daniel will be in kindergarten and Emma will be in a Mother's Morning Out program during the week. No more babies in our families. Once schools starts, we will begin planning for next year - we are thinking maybe Disney World.

Summertime Activities

Here are some pictures from what we have been doing this summer. We have gone to Atlanta for Daniel and Emma's birthday party. After that, we brought Emma home to spend the week with us to give Mary Kay a break. We went to Discovery Island, which is a neat water park near Greenville. We had a good time being a family of five for the week.

Darrell, Mary Kay and Daniel came in Friday to spend the weekend and take Emma back home. Darrell and Michael played golf at Furman. Saturday night, we all went to Cheeseburger in Paradise. It was an experience that we might go back again sometime.

We are all ready for the beach. We go as a family in three weeks. Once we get back, I have two weeks before both girls will be heading to school. Abigail is going into fourth grade and Rachel will be in kindergarten.

More pictures from other activities will be posted in future blogs.

School's Out...

Yeah!!! School's out for the summer, and now I have to find things to do with the girls while Michael works.
Here is a picture of Abigail with two of her favorite friends from school on their last day of school. They seem to be the three musketeers. I hope they remain good friends forever.

As for things to do, we went on our first adventure this weekend. We went to visit a couple of SC state parks - Jones Gap and Table Rock. Both parks have nature trails that you can hike; however, we didn't hike at Jones Gap. We may go back there later in the summer to see what else they have to do. Table Rock was beautiful and had more to do. We took the girls out on paddleboats and saw a family of geese. They have a beach area similar to Stone Mountain's. I think we will go back there again later this summer. Mom said that she remembers going there for picnics with her family. It would be fun to do that with family and make new memories.



Michael said Table Rock looks like Stone Mountain with hair. We'll need to take a picture and see if he's right.

Accidents will Happen

Just a quick update on what's going on in Spartanburg...

Six weeks ago the weather was nice, and we decided to finally work on our yard. You know how hard it is to get the weather and finances to cooperate. Well, it did and boy did we find out how wonderful God really is. Michael borrowed a friend's four-wheeler and the neighbor's aerator to prepare it for fertilizer and all the other stuff you put on your grass to make it look pretty. The girls had been begging to ride on the four-wheeler, so Michael obliged. While doing our yard, the neighbor two doors down asked for her yard to be done too. My husband told her that would be fine. He had just told the girls to hold on, started backing up, and then heard screaming from the girls. Abigail had flipped off the back of the four-wheeler and her feet went in between the bar attached to the aerator and the aerator itself. He then proceeded to yell for me. I was in our front yard, fixing an area that we were going to concrete later. Long story short, we ended up in the hospital for four days.

God is good - things could have been much worse than they were. Abigail ended up with stitches in both feet, a walking boot on one foot and IV antibiotics for most of her Spring Break. Thank you all that prayed for us during that time. She is doing great! She played in her first ball games this past week; the doctor has released her to run and jump and do all the activities she could not do with her hurt feet. Her coach has her playing first base. He thought it would help her since it doesn't require as much running as other positions. David did say he may move her to shortstop before the season ends. Below are pictures of the aerator that she fell on; you can see how sharp the spikes are when you see the mulch on it.

School is almost over and our summer will begin. We are in the process of planning what we want to do. Some things on our schedule are: going to the beach, halping family get houses updated, and anything else we can think of that will keep Mom, Abigail and Rachel busy while Dad works.

Christmas 2006

Yes, Christmas has come and gone and we have finally finished all of our Christmas celebrations for 2006. This weekend was spent with my family to open the final Christmas presents. The girls were so excited to get their Doodle Animals - Rachel got a horse to write on and Abigail got a bear. Both are also excited about other toys they received as well.

This was a bittersweet Christmas for us in NC. This was our first Christmas without Daddy Rock. We all spent time remembering previous Rock Christmas celebrations. Mama Rock seems to be doing well. She has her moments, but she seems to be adjusting well. When things get a little rough, she goes on trips to visit family. She was able to take some time and help Pamela get settled in her new home. We are so glad to have her and the family close again.



Below are some pictures from the Rock and Brecht Christmas gatherings. We pray that this year will bring all of our friends and family blessings beyond measure.