Woe to the Zeglens by Sarah

Alas for the Zeglens! The Garrisons have made it official: they will not be spending Thanksgiving with the Zeglen family. Yes, they are breaking a 12 year tradition. We are deeply disappointed. Yet we knew this was coming when Susan decided to go off, get married and have a baby. Can you imagine the nerve of her doing such a thing? Unfortunately, I can imagine it and thought it was coming sooner or later. As Thanksgiving approaches, the Zeglens will have to think of some new and fun things to do without the beloved G’s. The wheels in our little noggins are turning and some people have proposed having an early Thanksgiving with the G’s. Sadly, that still leaves us with an empty Thanksgiving Day. Also Thanksgiving will be even more dismal and empty as Steve will not be able to make it *sob*. Thankfully, we will still have Kevin *sigh of relief*. We will have to brainstorm for some new and exciting things.

Fall Camping Trip with the Ruffs by Mary

During fall break we are going on a camping trip with the Ruffs! Yay! We went with them last year and had so much fun! We will be staying at Monte Sano Park in Huntsville, Alabama. Here are some pics that we took from last year's trip:

Wednesday Night by Mary

Wednesday night we went to Coolidge Park and Clumpies with the Weichmanns. Here are some pictures I took while we were there:

We invited them to go out with us so Mom and Dad could discuss small group stuff. All the kids loved playing with Christian and Eden, and Mom and Dad had a fun talk with Fred and Christina. For those of you who do not know the Weichmanns, I will tell you about them. First, they are an amazing family we know from church. They also live in our neighborhood and we babysit their adorable kids (Christian, 2) (Eden, almost 1) on Tuesday nights so that Fred and Christina can go to Meg and John Day's small group.

A day in Knoxville by Susie

On Saturday, August 30th we all took a little road trip up to Knoxville to visit Kevin. It was tons of fun. First, we went to the Knoxville Museum of Art. That was enjoyable, although they had too many paintings/sculptures of nude people. Then we went out to eat at Calhoun’s, a barbecue place on the River. It had a really pretty view. After that we went to see the Indiana Jones movie, which, alas, was a horrible waste of two hours of our lives (we should have seen it coming). But, it was something that we wanted to do, and we got to be with Kevin, so it was okay. Then we drove home, ate a little dinner, and watched Numb3rs.

"The rain, rain, rain came down, down, down".... by Mary

Recently in Chattanooga, it has been raining like crazy, and our flat rubber roofs don’t like that. So yesterday when I was getting pencils from the bar (right under the stairs to the boys’ room) I felt a water drop fall on my arm. I looked up and saw many drops falling and there was a puddle on the floor and plastic storage drawers. I got Mom and we pulled down the stairs to find out part of the ceiling had fallen down and water was leaking in from outside. We set up buckets and towels under the leak (which was a hole where the ceiling tiles had fallen down) and Susie and Mom (I took pictures) went on the roof and found over a half a foot of water on the roof above the boys room! We have this problem a lot after it rains where the scuppers (gutter drains pretty much) get clogged and then water builds up (since the roof is flat). So Susie and Mom cleaned out the scuppers and the water drained fine, although we still have a ceiling with a BIG hole in it!

Sprint Triathlon by Susie

The triathlon went great!!! Peter and Kathy had tons of fun! It was fun just watching them, too. Kathy was the cutest little runner ever. She was the youngest participant in the whole triathlon! They did really well, especially for being so young. They came in 17th out of 22 relays! Peter ended up doing the swimming, and Kathy ran with Sarah running alongside her to pace her. The Sutherlands were there cheering for her along with Mary, Mom, and me. Grayson and Grant Sutherland each did the whole triathlon on their own, and they also did really well. Everyone had a great time and we can’t wait till next year!

Triathlon training by Susie

On Sunday, August 3rd, Daddy took Kathy, Peter, and me (Susie) to the Chickamauga Dam to swim in the open water to help Kathy prepare for the triathlon on Sunday, August 10. Peter went just for fun (although, we were going to meet the Sutherlands, so I think that’s why he wanted to go), and I went to help show people where to swim, how far to go, etc. (I went out last year with a friend). We swam approx. 200 yards out, and then back. Kathy was all set to do the swimming in the triathlon with Graham Sutherland doing the biking and Peter running. However, Kathy got tired on the swim and got out a little bit early, while Peter completed the swim with a grin on his face. He then declared in the car on the way home that he wanted to do the swimming, and then Kathy decided (with some slight persuasion) ;-) that she wanted to run. Not quite sure how that’s going to work out….. We’ll post about it later.

Mother's birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Mom’s birthday; here are some pictures I took:


Singing to the Enchanted soundtrack

Tea themed desserts























Mini chocolate chip scones with clotted cream





















mini chocolate molten lava cakes with turtle tracks ice cream

















I baked Mom’s desserts Sunday afternoon and banished her from the kitchen so that she didn’t know what I was baking. I didn’t tell her because I wanted it to be a surprise and because the kitchen was a huge wreck since I was trying to bake two things at once! Kathy helped by picking the flowers from our yard (for decorations on the serving plates) and did some of the dishes and, of course, taste-tested. Susie helped by taste-testing, prep and cleanup. Later in the afternoon, Mom and Dad left to go buy groceries at Wal-Mart and we stayed home to do our own different projects. About 30 minutes after they left, Sarah walked in the kitchen and screamed, “AAHHHH we didn’t decorate for Mom! We are such losers (I am not sure why losers is the word she picked, but that is what she said)!” Then she started frantically bossing people around and decorating. We decorated and cleaned the den and dining room and put on “Celebration” as background music in the office. When Mom and Dad finally came home, we hid behind the sofa in the den and when she walked in the door we all jumped up and shouted, “SURPRISE!!!” (even though there wasn’t much of a surprise besides us saying ‘surprise’).

Picking blueberries with Sarah

Today we went blueberry picking and it was a blast. It wasn’t very hot and the blueberries were just waiting to be picked. We brought home a gallon of very delicious berries. Unfortunately they won’t last long in the Zeglen household.

A Typical Day for Sarah

Today was a very eventful day. First of all a bat fell down the chimney and hit Peter in the head. Then Kathy started screaming and wouldn’t stop. Mary made a very interesting meal that blew up in the oven. Yes, there was shrapnel, if you can call pie crust shrapnel. Susie wouldn’t stop saying the alphabet. She drove us crazy singing the alphabet song. I decided to go into a corner and eat rice all day and gain a million pounds. Mom was at an exposition during all of this and Dad was at a deacons meeting.