October camping trip...24th-26th

We had a really good time. These are just a few of the pictures I took.

Checking out the perch pond

Getting a good look!

Posing

At the playground

Playing in the dirt...she loves to dig!Sun setting over the marina

Our Halloween "guest".....Jack O Lantern, pretty original don't you think? Yep, that's what the kids named him...we called him Jack.

Mmmm, smores!!!

Facebook

I started my account awhile back. Brandie had an account so I thought I would check it out. I had a bit more going on at the time and it looked to be a bit time consuming so I did nothing with it...until recently. With Brandie moving back up here, I cornered her and had myself a one on one tutorial....thanks Brandie!! Anyway, little did I know how much fun I was going to have. In the past few weeks, I have reconnected with family that I had totally lost track of....HI Connie and Pam!! Today, I was contaced by a friend from ELEMENTARY school!!! We lost touch when we moved to Texas from Indiana. I was so thrilled to hear from her. It's sites like facebook (and I guess even my blog) that make this such a small world!

Let me know what you think

I obviously can NOT take credit for this....I'm not even the least bit "crafty". There is a new link in the upper left corner....they are the crafty ones. Anyway, let me know what you think. Any and all comments appreciated....thanks!

Shhh, don't tell him!!

But I think I am going to be taking Wyatt to the Dickies 500 at TMS next Sunday!! A HUGE thank you to Granny & Pawpaw! They are season ticket holders and got an offer to send 2 free tickets to anyone of their choosing. Wyatt and I are the lucky ones!! He has been to a Busch race and a few truck races, but never a Cup race and he has been driving us nuts wanting to go to this race! I'm not going to tell him just yet...he'll be so excited we won't be able to stand him if he finds out this soon. We are all going to the truck race on Friday night. That should be a ton of fun. One of the drivers he keeps a close eye on is going to be making an appearance early in the day and then they are going to have trick or treating on the midway before the race starts. The kids know we are going to that race and they are both pretty excited about it. Before all the race action next weekend, we are going to have a BLAST this weekend!! We are going camping!! Both kids are on the countdown....and the weekend is not getting here fast enough for them!

Changes are coming....hopefully!

I'm bored with the blogger templates, so I am going to *try* to make some changes. While I like to play around with some computer things, I get more than a little frustrated with it too. So we'll see how this all works out. Anyway, just a heads up and a "please be patient with me" plea! I may totally screw things up and lose some of the things I have on here. Wish me luck.

Parent/Teacher conferences

We had them on Monday, but this has been a busy week...both kids have been to the doctor and each missed a day of school this week! All seems better today though. Anyway, meetings went very well with both teachers. Of all the testing they do with kinder, Emily scored above the norm in everything. Her teacher says that this testing session is just to give them a starting point...some of the things they test on have not yet been introduced to the students. With that in mind, there are a couple of math/numbers test that the teachers expect the kids to score a zero. They are timed test. Em made it through about half of the test...and she got the answers correct! Her early reading skills are very well developed too...this we already knew as she has been sounding words out and trying to read for a few weeks now. Wyatt's testing has him scoring at a level they HOPE to have second graders at by the end of the year. He does have some issues with his speech, but we are thinking it may have to do with his hearing. We have an appt. with an Ear, Nose & Throat doc next month. Hopefully he will have tubes soon and his teacher feels like we see a big difference then. It was good to hear from their teachers that they are both doing so well.

WOOOO HOOOO!!!

I was sitting here listening to the "Plowboys" game....umm some of you might know them as the Dallas Cowboys.....while typing up the Six Flags post. I am NOT a Cowboys fan....I listen/watch the games and root for the other team, no matter who they are playing!! HA, my time was not wasted today.....the "Plowboys" LOST!!!! Way to go Arizona!!! I am a Steelers fan, have been for years. I check on the Raiders because they are Jeff's team and I think the coach for Tampa Bay is awfully cute so I keep up with them too.

Fright Fest at Six Flags

We took the kids last night. We had a really good time....even though it was way to HOT! Yep, I am more than ready for lower temps....and rain!

So, the boy is....well, for lack of a nicer way of putting it, he is quite a wimp. Don't get me wrong, I love my son, but I swear he is afraid of his own shadow at times. With that in mind, imagine our surprise when he informed us yesterday that if Emily would go with him, (yes, I said Emily....his LITTLE sister!) he would ride the kids roller coaster! We knew she would ride, she rode it last year. First thing we did was to let them walk through the little trick or treat area they had set up and then we headed across the bridge to the other kid rides. As we caught site of the coaster (with very little line) I heard Wyatt say "never mind, I don't wanna ride". Ummm, nope, not gonna be that easy on you son! I told him the line was really short so now would be the time and we ushered him on into the line. At first he wasn't happy. The look on his face said it all. I ask him if his heart was pounding, he said YES. Emily tried to tell him he would like it. He didn't though....untill the second loop around. He came scrambling off off that silly ride wanting to get right back in line to ride again! Emily is more than excited...she likes the ride but would never go by herself.

Later we spotted one of those games where you swing a huge mallet and attempt to ring the bell....only this was a kid sized one and every swing wins a prize. Poor Em, she gave it her all, but still couldn't get the bell to ring. She won a prize anyway, but that just wasn't good enough for her....she wanted to ring that bell. Daddy came to her rescue and with a little help, she made it happen. Their prizes were these capes. Both kids thought they were something special....along with all the other kids walking around Six Flags sporting their hard earned prize! After several rides and a Halloween show we were ready to head home.

Homecoming week

The game is tonight so today is spirit day. The kids wore their purple and gold school shirts and Em even *ask* me to put her hair in two tails!! I couldn't believe it....I had thought it would be cute, but no way was I suggesting it (she usually balks at the thought of tails!). I told her after she requested it that we must be thinking the same this morning. Anyway, they acted a little goofy trying to snap some pictures, but I got a couple of decent ones.

Lucy is learning to love Gidget!

Actually it happened much sooner than I expected! It appears that if she'd been given the opportunity, she would have been a pretty good little momma. She wasn't crazy about having her tail chased, but she is even tolerating that now. Best of all, she is finally coming back around ME! She had totally abandoned me. I guess it was her way of punishing me for bringing this new little monster into her world. A couple of days ago she came to me to be petted and since she has come back into my lap again too.

Truely a baby!

A clingy, cry baby actually! Lucy was always MY baby. She would end up where ever I was. She slept with me. She snuggled with me. She spent a lot of her bitty kitten time with me. That was NOTHING compared to Gidget!! I can't do anything without this silly kitten. At this moment, she is determined to be wrapped around my neck....only because I won't let her paw her way across my keyboard while I'm trying to type! As much as I already love this kitten....I have to admit, she is driving me NUTS!! If I walk out of the room, she cries till she finds me. When she finds me, she cries till I pick her up. It's as if she doesn't want to be by herself.....and she loves, loves, loves to be held and cuddled!!! She might as well be a human baby!

A visit to the Lazy P

The Lazy P is what Phillip calls his little piece of land. Phillip is one of Jeff's best friends. Ok, well he was one of Jeff's best friends when we got married, I now claim him as a very dear friend of my own...along with his girlfriend Lisa. So anyway, we went for a visit yesterday afternoon. The kids had a blast! You see, Phillip and Lisa are not the only residents at the Lazy P. There are also 2 horses, a miniature donkey, a racoon, several dogs and most recently discovered....a family of baby skunks! I could not believe how adorable they were! Yes, I took a bunch of pictures....just hoping to get a couple of good ones to put on here.

Of course I took a bunch of pictures in general. The kids loved petting the donkey.

They thought they were being a huge help pulling the water hose around to add to the water tubs.

Lisa told them they were lil' ranch hands in training!

We certainly didn't intend on invading their time for so long, but the kids were having so much fun and Jeff & I having such a great visit with Phillip and Lisa....well, it was a great way to spend a Sunday evening!

More kitty pictures

Brandie came up a few weeks ago and brought Jade with her. (Jade is a beautiful cat the girls adopted as a kitten when they first got their apartment) She and Lucy hadn't been around each other since they were really little. Lucy did NOT take kindly to her space being invaded! It was funny to watch them. Lucy let Jade know just who's territory she was in, but by the end of the weekend they were actually tolerating each other. Here are a couple of pictures.....mostley just to show how pretty Jade is! The first picture is right after they got here and they were checking each other out.

Introducing Gidget!

Meet our new baby! Lucy isn't crazy about her yet....but Gidget is already having a great time with Lucy. She just loves her long tail! :) I'm sure once Lucy gets used to her she will be just fine. In the mean time I don't think Gidget is going to let her rest. Anyway, here are a couple of pictures I was able to snap.

Maybe she didn't need those whiskers after all?

Lucy came in to greet me this morning....as usual. What was not usual is the way she looked! Wyatt was already up so I ask him, who CUT Lucy's whiskers? Emily did....*sigh*. So when I got Em up, I ask her why she cut them? Cause they were too long! So we had a conversation about what we cut and what we do not cut....the cats whiskers and HAIR were at the top of the do not cut list!! Lets hope she doesn't decide her hair is "too long"!!

If you look really close, you might see the difference in whisker length....

Too big for their own good!

So this morning on the way to school, the kids informed me that I could just take them to the back. The back of the school is the car drop off line! I guess they were telling me that I was NOT to go into the building with them today. Little did they know, I had NO intention of going in today.....I simply ran a brush thru my hair and put on my grungy cleaning clothes this morning. Yep, my house will wonder what I'm up to in just a bit!

They did have a great day yesterday though. While I was waiting to pick them up, Emily came down the steps with a HUGE smile on her face! Before she could even get in the truck she started telling me what a great day she'd had and going on about it....going to the gym for PE was a very important part of it as was going to the *BIG* playground for recess (in pre-k they go to a small playgound area)! Wyatt seemed to enjoy changing classes and having 3 teachers. Funny, going to the gym for PE has always been a favorite part of his day too.

A new school year...a new experience!

Both kids were so excited this morning! I'm glad they both like school so much. We went to meet their teachers and took all their supplies last week so they knew exactly were they were going this morning. Emily is thrilled to be in kinder and able to stay all day this year! Second graders rotate thru 3 teachers, so Wyatt will have some busy days ahead as he adjust to his new schedule. They were more than ready to get the new year started and for Momma and Daddy to leave!

Momma on the other hand....well, I feel like I am starting a new chapter of my own! I did something this morning that I've never done. I came home, after dropping the kids off, to an empty house and no job of my own to go to! I have to say, this is a really weird feeling. The house is so quiet! I am going to give the house a really good cleaning and (hopefully) enjoy the quiet. I have a lunch date with a dear friend this week and plan to get some things done that I have been putting off or have not taken/had the time to do.

Just some stuff...

So have you been watching any of the Olympic coverage? We sure have! Wyatt has loved keeping up with the swimming. You might say he has become a Michael Phelps fan. We have also watched quite a bit of the gymnastics and diving. It has been fun watching the kids get into it.


Only one more week till school starts back up. The kids are ready, me not so much! They can't wait to see their friends again. They each got a letter from their teacher last week inviting us to "Meet the teacher" night this week.


It seems things are finally going to fall into some sort of "normalcy"(if that were even a word!) with Jeffs work! If you didn't know, he found out in late April the dealership he was working for was going to close their doors.....less than a week after they made the announcement! Needless to say it was a little nerve racking. To make a long story short, he didn't have any trouble finding a job, it has just taken a LOT of patience waiting for things to settle into place at the new job. Finally, instead of working nearly every Saturday, he is going to have more weekend time to spend with us. So we will be planning more camping trips. We had such a good time a couple of weeks ago, we can't wait to go again.


Ok, at the moment, that is our life in a nutshell! Hopefully I will have some good first day of school pictures to post next week. Untill then, here are a couple more that I have taken this summer. (the first one is with Freda, our friend across the street...her son had the go cart and the kids loved it when she would come pick them up for a ride around the neighborhood...we have yet to break the news to them that he sold the go cart!)