Escape from Iceford!

Team Mitchell decamped today to Pontotoc with a big assist from Jimmy (Thank you, Jimmy!). We will monitor conditions from here and ease back towards home as power and water are restored.

Ice Storm 2026

We are huddled around the fireplace, using a Coleman stove for hot meals, and running our generator a few times per day to run space heaters and recharge devices. This is day 3 without power or heat in bitterly cold conditions, but we are hopeful that the worst is over. More to come.

End of Summer Recap

 Well, today was the first day of school, so I suppose I should write about our summer. I haven't written this yet because I've had so much to day (being lazy) and had so many places to go (staying at home for the past 3 weeks.) So, let's begin the recap!

Double Baptism

The first big thing we did this summer was go to a double baptism with our 2 new baby cousins, Mae Katherine, and Joseph Lasseter. While we were there we celebrated Big Daddy's birthday (No images for the event sadly.) We had a great time meeting with family and meeting the new cousins. (The food was good too.) 

Mom holding little Joseph.

Joseph and Mae getting baptized.

Mae's photo with her family.

Big family photo 

(I clearly look the best here, no bias... None at all.)

Me holding little Mae. (She woke up as soon as she left my arms and then started playing with MC instead, so I suppose that means we're mortal enemies now.)

The Beach Trip

It was hot down in Florida, luckily we had the ocean water to cool us down. We had a fun time there. (As well as multiple sinus infections.)

Mom taking family photos during the sunset.

Another family photo, with me nowhere to be seen.

A photo that my dad took of me early in the morning, you can clearly see in this image I'm the "golden child" of the family.

Me and Mary Claire woke up early in the morning to hunt for shells, we only really found one good one. All the others had been taken. (Curse you old people with nothing better to do!)

Valdosta Trip

After this point I have no more images, so just use your vast imagination to picture what I'm typing here.

Down in Valdosta it was hotter than the surface of the sun, so we mainly stayed inside. Me and David played with Andrew and Maddux (Half of said playtime with Maddux was trying to decipher what he was saying.)

 Andrew, Maddux, David, and me all had a water balloon fight to cool down, it was certainly very helpful in that regard. 

You can't go down to Big Daddy & Gram's without grilling! Me and Big Daddy grilled some smoked sausages, and then cooked some really good steaks! I made some nice focaccia bread to eat with them.

Mitchell Family Reunion

The last big thing of the summer was the Mitchell Family Reunion. We went down to Cleveland and met a ton of nice people on dad's side of the family. We took some big photos (It took a long time to get every person there to get in place for the picture.) There was a big buffet and a lot of speeches but overall, it was a great time.

End of Summer

After all the vacations and meeting family we came home a closed out summer with relaxing at the house. After such a great summer we inevitably had to go back to school so, I suppose I will tell all of you. It was a good first day of school for all of us.

  

Big wins for the Mitchell boys

Where to start? John went rappelling and enjoyed the camp's giant zip line today. David won an award for his work in the film merit badge class (photo courtesy of John). I'm sure he'll have a full report when he returns, but for now, I'm going to say that I'm a mama who is crazy proud of her guys.

Substitute reporter at your service...

Two camps in one day! We dropped off MC and had a mid-week family visit with the boys. We’ll pick up MC on Friday and the boys on Saturday (very early, per David’s request). You'll see John working with his knife skills (bottom photo) after his dad and I convinced a leader that he did, in fact, have his totin' chip. (Nobody ever asked about David, who cut his finger moments into his first time at camp.) John also braved a tick experience in his tent this week.

They're all facing challenges (heat, bugs, and terrible pizza at lunch today). But they're doing great and we're so proud of them! You can also tell I'm a substitute blog reporter because I have no idea why these lines are highlighted.

Filling in for John

John and David are away at Boy Scout camp this week (photo evidence of the sendoff is below), and the girls are drawing on the driveway. As John's mom, I'm stepping in so his public won't be disappointed by a lack of posting.

David lost 5 lbs during his haircut. (or something like that)

I've haven't been able to get photos for the blog recently and the only ones I have been sent are pictures of David's haircut so I guess I'm writing about this now.

                            David's rat's nest before the haircut.

                        David rapidly losing weight.

Hope this was a somewhat interesting post. If not, file a complaint. (It won't be acknowledged.)

Mitchell Fried Chicken!

 To celebrate David and my start of the summer, Dad and I fried some chicken tonight! I've collected a group of photos (all taken by David), and I'm going to show them off here!

Happy summer!

Focaccia Night!

Tonight I decided it'd be nice to make some focaccia and test our new oven!

                                    Start of the baking

                                      Finished Product
(And no, we can't mail you any. Sorry!)

Last Day of School! (For John and David)

After a long time of the school teachers saying don't come to school on the official last day (Monday) and then to come on that day, and then not to again, David and I have finally been released from school! Now for 2 months of sitting around and doing nothing!

-John

We love Mary Claire!

Hey it's Mary Claire otherwise known as MC, I hacked John's account because I wanted to talk about something that's not reading or grammar In my opinion that subject is BORING (but don't let Gram OR Big daddy know I said that! ) ! My dad came and ate lunch with me yesterday and it was delicious!! We also took a photo tonight to send to my second cousin, Mary Margaret Mitchell! My parents are coming to my school tomorrow because tomorrow is my awards day for my class! I hope you will/are having a great day!!! Love ~ Mary Claire 💗💗💗