interrupting my catching up to brag on my little brother!!!

this is an email i received from my little brother who is serving in the air force in afghanistan as an A-10 pilot (fighter jet). i am SO PROUD of him!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

from andy:

Hey ya'll. I got some good news today. Dad, I told you about a mission we flew about 3 weeks ago where we saved some army dudes. We got really low in the mtns and shot the gun about 50 meters away from friendly forces that were being overrun. There were several seriously wounded americans that were later evacuated by helicopters that we escorted. We completely wiped out the enemy forces with 4 gun passes and killed a high ranking taliban leader. I can tell the story with more detail later but the bottomline is we saved about 50 american lives that day. The army guys sent over a rep to meet us and shake our hands and give us their unit coin. Actually, I think I forwarded an email to ya'll that was sent out by some army guys to some other army guys with our picture attached. Well I mentioned to dad earlier that a 2 star general called down to our squadron to tell us job well done that day because it made big news over here. Well I found out today that the guy I was flying with and myself are getting recommended for the Distinguished Flying Cross! This is an huge honor as it is one of the top medals you can get in the Air force. I think it's the 3rd or 4th highest medal. I know the medal of honor and silver star are ahead of this one and I think one maybe two more. How cool is that?

POST ALERT!!!!

warning. warning. warning. there are ELEVEN NEW POSTS below! don't faint and fall out!!!

another movie date...with grace palmer!!!

in july, our friends from way back when, dianna, grace, and brady palmer came to memphis to visit. dianna spent her high school years hangin' with tim and me in our church youth group. when i told dianna that sarah had been to the movies, she thought i was crazy...so i convinced her it was time for grace to go as well!

red, white, and blue...pics from independence day.

a fun family visit...the foster's!!!

WAY BACK in the beginning of july, our sweet family from texas, the foster's, came to memphis for a visit. my cousin julie is a freshman at texas a&m

and we wanted to make sure we got to visit with her ONE MORE TIME before she left the house! we had a nice visit! thanks for coming foster's!!!

also, way back in june...sarah's first movie theater movie!!!

sarah and griffin took in their first ever movie theater movie...charlotte's web WAY BACK IN JUNE. they were really well behaved and had a blast! of course, adding a drink, candy, and popcorn didn't hurt our chances of a successful outing :)

sleeping off the vacation...

goodbye st. louis friends...

a ride on the zoo carousel

monday morning at the stl zoo...

fitz's dinner--sunday night. in june. in st. louis.

after the kids and tim had the longest naps ever on a sunday afternoon (why don't they ever sleep that long on sunday afternoons in memphis?), we met up with the yost's again for dinner at fitz's restaurant. they bottle their own root beer there. and its AWESOME...and they even have a diet root beer...that's AWESOME! the kids were a little rowdy, but we still had a great time!!!

sunday in st. louis...a morning at saint louis university!!!

sunday morning, we went back to kelly's alma mater, saint louis university, to show the kids where mommy went to school. my sweet friend, hannah who used to work with me at methodist germantown hospital in MEMPHIS, who now lives back in her hometown, st. louis, met us there! we walked around the campus for about 30 minutes before the biggest rainstorm in the history of the world began! after hiding out in the new and improved busch memorial center to try to wait out the storm, tim got the van for us. i sent tim and the kids back to the hotel for nap time, while hannah and i hit the galleria. we shopped and dined and caught up...it was a fantastic way to spend a sunday!

call off the hounds...i finally got my picasa back!!!

on the afternoon WAY BACK IN JUNE...when we were in st. louis after we spent the morning at the magic house, we went over to grant's farm. of course, we had to eat lunch in between the two...and of course, we had to go to st. louis bread co. my ALL TIME FAVE!!! the kids were real troopers, as they had no naps that day!

well, well, well...

where, oh where have the woodard's been? busy busy busy! i worked almost every single day in july while tim was pulling 12-15 hour days at his job. poor sarah and drew were the ones who suffered for it...getting spoiled rotten by mimi and nana and their fave babysitter audrey! but, seriously, it was breaking my heart that sarah and drew said, "bye bye mama" every morning after we all got ready...like it was no big deal!

after making it almost 2 whole weeks into august, we are finally as caught up as a family can be at this time of year. we have been busy having fun playdates for the kids, going to the children's museum with mimi, and just hanging out as the 4 of us as much as possible! AND miss sassy pants sarah is turning THREE at the end of september so our birthday party planning is in full force! we are getting all geared up for the kids' preschool year too! sarah is convinced she is in mimi's class this year...i'm afraid its not gonna be pretty when she realizes mimi is NEXT DOOR and not in her room. big boy drew is going to be in the "older" 1 year olds class. he will have to sit at a table in a chair for lunch! what?!? how about drew standing on the table every day at lunch?!? of course, i'm hoping he minds his teachers a little better than he minds his mommy. that boy can climb climb climb. and has NO fear. his favorite thing to do right now is climb into his highchair (alone!) and then climb onto the kitchen table. in the 2.2 seconds that it takes you to blink your eyes. he's a monkey.

the biggest lesson i have learned during my "blogging break" is that girls and boys are different. rocket science, huh? while sarah at drew's age would carefully and meticulously take each puzzle piece out and place it on the floor then ever so gently put the puzzle together, drew thinks that taking the puzzle over his head and slamming it into the floor while yelling, "ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" is a much more interesting game. while sarah at drew's age would never dream of climbing out of her highchair, grocery cart, stroller, etc., drew thinks that standing up out of his seat immediately is the best game ever! he is a little houdini! plus drew has NO CLUE that he is not almost 3 years old like his big sissy. that child thinks that anything sarah can do, he can do better...and faster...and more recklessly! he is gonna give me a heart attack!

but, in all seriousness, the kids are really fun right now. we have enjoyed being able to go out all morning with no tears and a little diaper bag and have a big time. and we have all enjoyed coming home and taking naps all afternoon. its been rough this past week with the temps in the 100's to do much outside, so we have been learning about all the "inside" memphis attractions!

i am looking forward to us getting a little more structure in our lives as the school year begins. sarah is old enough for organized activities this fall! yikes! she is going to be in children's choir (i'm the director for her class...double yikes!) and a preschool tumbling/ballet class. i thought she was old enough for soccer, but it looks like we've got a few more years on that one! how did my baby get old enough to not just be in "childcare" at church?!? we are also getting back into MOPS this fall. i think the kids can handle a few hours on wednesday mornings this fall much better than last. and i'm ready to enjoy some adult company every other wednesday too! well, i think that about catches you up on the basic plot line of our last month. stay tuned for more updates and pics! (tim switched me to a different laptop in the midst of our july chaos and i don't have access to my picasa pictures right now...ugh!)

a few more magic house pics.