FOSTER's MILL

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Thursday, December 30, 2010

First Time for Everything...

Can you believe I have never been to Bellingrath Gardens in Mobile? Well, we all went last night. The boys went ahead with Grandma, Johnathan, Uncle Chris, Sam, Aunt Kathy, and her parents. Miriam and I waited to go with Jason when he got home. We were supposed to meet up but that got delayed once we were inside the Gardens because someone, who did not have to go before, suddenly HAD to go…NOW!!   Sigh.

But even though we missed going as one big group it was a really nice experience and I recommend it to anyone in the area.
http://www.bellingrath.org/












"I'm on a BOAT!"



My mom took these...I see it runs in the family.

One of all of our favorite parts...

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

"Let me 'splain...No, let me sum up"

A lot has happened over this past year. The first and most major change was our moving to Mobile. We moved for several reasons, the main reason was to help my family with my father’s fluctuating health. I thought it was going to be easy to find jobs, house, and get my school career back on track. Not so. It has been one “Roller Coaster” ride after another. And each “ride” is never the same. Did I mention I hate Roller
Coasters? 

After many disappointments with getting a house of our own we decided to stay with my parents until we sell our house in Birmingham. So, we are living with my parents…God love them. We just got the kids settled in the biggest of my parent’s 4 rooms. We put my baby brother’s old Bunk bed and then the boy’s bunk bed into the room so that everyone (and my nephews when they came to visit for Christmas) could have a place to sleep without taking up floor space. Having three kids in one room makes for some interesting play times…for example, did you know that the Fisher Price pink doll house’s windows are at an excellent height for Star Wars Galactic Heroes to shoot an enemy? Me either, until recently. 
Now…as I mentioned before, we
moved here to be with my family as my dad rides on his “Roller Coaster” of medical issues. His newest battle is against “ignorance”. The Doctors are stumped as to what is going on…first his heart rate started fluctuating, next his blood count was REALLY low (they had to give him 4+ Units of blood), and then came an extreme drop in blood pressure. The team of doctors are now thinking it could be that all the medicines my dad is taking are starting to counter act with each other. He has more testing this week…a Stress Test, an
Upper GI test, and the Tilt Test. During all this he is suffering from major pain from his C5 and C6 vertebra rubbing together. He was going to have surgery but with all that is going on it is not certain if he will ever have that surgery. Now he has a horrible chest cough and feels very icky. Only time will tell. So, please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

As for the kids…they started at
St. Dominic Catholic School (SDS), which is just around the corner from my parent’s house. It took all three kids and us parents a long time to get use to the way SDS does things. Aaron played Soccer, started Wolf for Cub Scouts, and is onto Basketball. He also received his first Reconciliation this December in preparation for receiving his First Communion next Spring. I think he is starting to like it. As for Russell, he is the brightest one in his Kindergarten class, thanks to Prince of Peace’s AWESOME Preschool program! He is so bored. He is so popular too. I am not bragging. Everyone seeks him out
and they all yell, “Bye Russell!” when he leaves from carpool. This is kind of funny to hear since Russell was my introvert. He has also informed me that he wants to try out for SDS’s first grade Football team next year. Yikes!

As for Miriam, I do not even know where to begin with my “Spitfire.” She is such a busy body. Everyone knows her name too but not in a good way.  J She and her Grandma are always at odds, which is funny since that was how my mom and I were when I was little. Ah, good times.  J I signed Miriam up for all day Preschool, which is something I NEVER wanted to do but it helps with our schedule never being the same at home due to doctor visits or hospital stays for my dad, work, volunteering, etc. It gives Miriam some sort of “ground” which she needs. Plus, she is doing Ballet right after school, once a week. I think she would be great in gymnastics too...Note to self, find a program in Mobile.
Jason hit the ground running trying to find a job (that would give us retirement, stability, and meet our family’s “Basic Needs”) and get us into a house. So far, a total bust. But he has not given up nor has he sat still. He has volunteered at SDS, instructing the Middle School kids on basic computer inner-parts and functions, and aiding in Yard
Duty. He has found “Consulting” jobs with IT companies (he fixes computer issues one may have at home or office) and is taking computer courses online to get some certifications under his belt. We are very proud of him and I have never seen him happier…
 

I am working at a Mother’s Day Out program three days a week. That is all I have to say about that… I am also trying desperately to get my Associates Degree from Bishop State. I started out at South, but it was just too expensive. Then was told Athens State offered online courses to attain an Education Degree, but that is not so anymore. So I am now at Bishop State…still not sure if I can afford it, really, but would love to have the degree to go along with ALL my experience in Early Childhood.

Just for fun...

Sam puts on the last light onto "Ya-ya's" outside Advent Wreath

Do you see that? There on the TV...Lydia is getting applause for her awesome job of decorating the tree.

Forget it...Pop has the power to make children nap.

Decorating Santa's cookies...and checking to make sure safe to eat.



"Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters..."

Me and my Godmother

Just a cutie...and Sam's a keeper too.















Baptism...
The Mobile Wimberlys and Proud Parents

These pictures are from our Penelope's Baptism.
Held at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Mobile on December 26th. It was so nice to have us all in town for this blessed event.
Her Godparents are her Aunt Kathy & Uncle Chris.


Christmas Eve...
 
All the Wimberly grandchildren, so far...
Aaron (8), Ben (6), Russell (6), Sean (5), Miriam (5), Noah (2), Sam (2), and Penelope (3months)
The Wimberly's...
The Georgia Wimberly's
The Farren Family
  

Christmas Morning!!

Ben made a really cool pottery dish for his "Ya-ya"
We had to wait for Sam and his parents to come to Pop and Grandma's house before we could open any of our presents...even the one's Santa brought.(Santa wrapped our presents this year) So you can imagine the excitement when they showed up.

 

 It has been a really long time since we were all together to open gifts Christmas morning. The Family room floor was a sea of wrapping paper and boxes.
Everyone loved all their gifts...thanks Santa!!

Cute Cousins...
Yo Gabba Gabba was on...it's AAAWESOOOME!!
Noah, Sam, and Sean...waiting for dinner
The Farren's Last Day
Not sure who made this a tradition and I am not complaining at all...It is the Farren's last morning with us so we have Krispy Kreme Donuts.
Cute picture, again.
 I hope to make more time to type our stuff that goes on...we have a lot coming up in 2011. May you have a Happy and Safe New Year! God bless! 
 

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

ZOINKS!!!!

I found this and just couldn't resist!

Coffee

 Coffee. Nectar of the Gods! My own anti-zombie serum.

The bane of my mornings for the past several months has been the damn coffee maker. You see, I am very particular about my coffee cups. I have tried all kinds! Metal cups mess with the taste of the wonderful morning syrup while most plastic ones are just designed wrong (won’t fit in the car’s cup holder or just not tall enough).

I have even tried Longaberger cups. This cup should be the top choice. Everything else they have is top shelf! It’s tall enough, made of ceramic so the taste is unaffected, it fits fine in a cup holder, and you would think that that would work. Its flaw is in the design of the lid. Every time you take a drink, just a trickle will escape running down the side. Picture the person trying to drink from this thing having to constantly lick the sides to prevent spillage while driving or in a meeting. Plus it breaks if dropped. FAIL :(

Of all the places to go and the cost that has been spent in search for my holy grain, I find the perfect cup at Wal-Mart for $1.99. I bought 3 of them! It’s tall, doesn’t break, leak, microwavable, and is cheap. So now I have my cup.

The only problem now is that the cup is too tall for the coffee maker. SOB! Tilting it will not let me get the cup full. So I had to get yet another normal size cup and fill it up. My mornings shouldn’t be so complicated!


Enter Will. William Wimberly: sinner, saint, father, salt of the Earth, all around good guy, and human.

Today, Will is no human. He is a God for the day. Will fixed the problem with the coffee maker that plagued my coffee cup. It was a very, very simple fix. By removing the REMOVABLE trey underneath, I can now fill my wonderful TALL coffee cup without hassle.
I understand that this is a big deal about nothing to most people.  Kim and I laugh at how silly I have been about this but it’s the little things in life that make life go smoothly.  Maybe it just took an extra set of eyes to solve this issue.  No one else could figure it out (they may have not known it to be a problem).  If you know me, you know that I am not a morning person in any stretch of the wild imagination.  I AM A ZOMBIE IN THE MORNING WHO CANNOT THINK BEFORE COFFEE AND I WILL EAT YOUR BRAINS WITHOUT IT. 
I just wanna give credit where it’s due.  Thanks Will!
Will Power

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

YEP I B STILL KICKn

Sorry for the lack of post from me.  You see, I hate computers so much that I can't stand to be near them preventing me from posting on the blog.  Just kidding.  In fact, I am steadily evolving a business handling handling IT issues for various IT companies in Mobile.  These companies have spill over work that they either have too much to do or not enough to justify hiring another employee.  So in other words I am a hired gun/geek or free lance IT guy. 

So far I have two solid clients and possibly a third doing phone and PC repair.  Crazy hu?  My fee is $18 per hour with a minimum of an hour.  It's nice to be back in the IT saddle again.  This gets me out of the house and I meet a ton of new people. 

When the rent-a-geek job has a lull in calls I'm volunteering at my kid's school.  I am working with Mrs. Powell in the (where else) computer lab.  I go around and help the kids if they get stuck or fix some IT issue that they may have.  Last week was special.  I got the honor of teaching the all 8th through 6th graders about hardware.  I had a blast!  I had a DOA computer to break apart and explain what each part was called and what it did.  I put it all in down to Earth terms that, well, even a 6th grader could understand.  The kids seemed to like the whole thing and they all asked a lot of questions.

Next week I'm going to explain how the internets work.  This should be fun. 
You can check out the write up on the school's website here: SDS SCHOOL LAB HARDWARE DAY

What's scarier: that I'm dealing with 8th graders or that I'm the one teaching?

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Our Favorite Time of the Year...

      Cannot believe it is already October. All that know us KNOW we LOVE LOVE LOVE the month of October.  We live for this month and to decorate our house in all our Halloween best. This year, since we lack a space of our own and do not have any of our decorations, the kids and I decided that their playhouse/fort was a GREAT place to put some Halloween "color". But do not worry to much about us...I grew up in a Halloween loven' house so we got to have a little fun with my parent's front yard...no picture yet but let's just say that many a car AND firetruck sllloooow down to pass my parent's house to see the decor'.    :)

        We also, as a family, got our Flu "shots". The Children's Medical Group had a Shot Clinic and we were able to get our Flu Mist and Jason and I got a "Whooping Cough" shot too (our arms are still sore). As you can see by the boy's expressions their father had not told them they were NOT getting a shot.
      
       Also this month we found out the house we were trying to get was sold and a family with kids moved in this past week. We think it is nice for the neighborhood that the house is occupied and hope that the family enjoys the house.
       In other news, my sister-in-law has started back to work and we get to watch Penelope. How fun is that?! Expect more photos, I am sure.  :)   Aaron has already asked when HE will get to be Penelope's babysitter.
This was just a cute picture...Pop and his grand-daughters (October 17th)
      Up coming events for this month, besides Halloween, Russell's "Nifty-Fifties" Day - Aaron's Grandparent's day -  and the Blessing of the Ghouls...