Construction & Birthdays

Construction on Gracie's room has begun!  Yay!!!  We had extra space in our upstairs area which has been an oversized play area for the kids.  Gracie has been begging to have her own room for the last 2 years, so she is very excited about the construction.  She plans to make thank you cards to the construction workers and has already been giving them hugs!  :)  They have gotten this far in only 2 days and now it is time for the electrical part of things.  My brother-in-law Jared is an electrician so he's going to come this weekend and get everything ready, so that by Monday the workers can start the insulation and hanging the sheet rock. 

 They are building in a small entertainment center on this outside wall, so we can hang the tv and put away the xbox and other consoles.

This month has been a busy month of birthdays in our family.  Including Jesse who has turned 8.   I can't believe how fast his little life has seemed to fly by.  He seems like such a little man this year.  He feels for the most part that he's outgrown a lot of the kid toys.  He's not into the matchbox cars, figurines and such that he was last year.  This year he really likes his xbox games, sports of any kind (just like his Dad), and weapons.  His Christmas list includes a BB gun, a sling shot and a swiss army knife.  I think I am really going to miss matchbox cars and figurines!  :(

New Orleans

Lindy, my Mom and I went down to New Orleans for a few days.  It was a lot of fun!  :)

The one day Lindy and I took a tour out to 2 different plantations which was fun.  One was an American and the other was Creole.  So much history... which I love! 

Here is the sunset from our hotel room.

This is the Oak Alley Plantation  

It was my favorite.  It was just like out of the books I read.  The only thing I was surprised by was that there weren't as many bedrooms as I'd always imagined.  I think it only had 3 or 4 bedrooms.  It was beautiful though as well as all of the grounds.

 

This was one of the slave quarters.  So sad, but again it was neat to see the history.  It was amazing how small these were.  The whole time, we kept saying how we couldn't imagine fitting our families in one of these.

Lindy

and this is the Laura plantation, which was a creole plantation.  

It was also really neat, because they have a different kind of history.  They used the plantation homes differently than the American ones did.  In this tour, we learned that the family that had once lived here, supposedly had sent their teenage daughter overseas to try and have her acne cured, unfortunately whatever they did to her, ended up killing her.   I can't imagine, all because of acne.  :(

One night we stopped at this restaurant and of course we had to try a "Hurricane."  We only tried the category 1, but I don't know what all the fuss is about... I think it tasted like kool-aid chlorine.  Yuck!!!

Mom, me and Lindy

We were only brave enough to venture out onto Bourbon Street during the day and even at that I think we were on it for a block or two and headed else where.  

This was the view from a Mexican restaurant that we ate at.  They had a balcony for us to sit on which was fun because we got to sit up above everyone and people watch.  :)

As much fun as it was to get out of town and to experience a place that I'd never been to before, I was thankful to come home. 

~Jenny

Birthday Weekend

We have sure been busy!!!   We have had something going on every day since last Monday.   Thursday we took the kids down to the fair to ride rides with all of the cousins.

Friday was Emma's birthday, so we met up with Dan's parents for birthday lunch and then headed out to her party.  Since everyone was so busy with it being Labor Day weekend, we decided to just have a small kids party.  We just invited cousins, since there is enough of them on their own to make a small party. 

That night we went back down to the fair for dinner and stayed the night in our camper.  We haven't ever stayed down their before, but thought we'd give it a try.  We thought it might be something fun for Emma's birthday plus we were going down for the Rodeo one night, the auction the next morning, plust the Demo derby.   I think next year we'll skip the derby and maybe just do the rodeo.  If my knees weren't so bad, I think it would be so fun to barrel race.  Not in front of anybody!  Ha!  But just for my own fun!

My 2nd Grader!

Jesse had his first day of 2nd grade today!  I asked him if he had a fun day and he told me he did and that he got candy!   I guess his teacher knows the way to his heart!  :)

 Gosh, it sure doesn't seem that long ago that he was in preschool, clinging to my leg because he didn't want me to leave and now he's very independent.  He is so smart, thoughtful and kind hearted!

I got all 3 kids to hold still long enough to take a quick picture of all of them.  Gracie was in a bit of a crabby mood, but managed to put a half smile on her face for one picture and then we ran out quick to meet the bus.  Emma doesn't start school until November, so I have a little bit more time before we have another first day of school around here. 

On another note, I've decided, "If you can't beat em', join them".  So... I have joined Fantasy Football on one of my husbands teams.  So far my team, 'The Magnificents' have a fairly good team!   :)

And I did finish the book by Nicholas Sparks called 'The Best of Me,' and it was really good.  I was sure that I had the ending figured out, but I forget that Nicholas Sparks is unlike most authors and can usually stump even me. 

My 5th Grader!!!

Gracie is officially a 5th grader & I am hoping and praying that she has a great year! 

 She is playing the flute this year in band...

Isn't she beautiful?  She has such a big heart & is so sweet when she's not giving me that preteen, eye rolling attitude!

Back to the books

Our lazy summer days are about to end!  School starts in 4 days!!!  Eeeek!  We went to Gracie's open house at the school last night.  She got to pick out her locker, meet her teacher and pick out a desk.  I am excited for her as she has moved out of one building at school and into the 5th and 6th grade building. 
 We have gotten most of the school supplies.  We just need to make one more quick trip out of town to get a couple last minute items.  Maybe a "quick trip" isn't the most accurate wording, as the nearest town for clothes and backpacks is 1 1/2 - 2 hours away in any direction.  Makes last minute items, a little more difficult.

 Gracie's supplies

 I have a feeling that 5th grade math is going to start stumping me, as now they have to have a calender.  Are you smarter than a 5th grader???  ;)

Jesse's supplies... he's going into 2nd grade.

Emma's supplies for at home.

 Emma won't start preschool until November, since her teacher is student teaching at an Elementary school until November.   So I'll keep working on some things at home with her during the day to keep her busy and learning.  She barely makes the cut off day for Kindergarten, but we've decided to hold her and have her be the oldest next year instead of the youngest this year.  Her teacher said that she would do fine either way.  So hopefully we're making the right decision.

  While we were school supply shopping, we came across these small little notebooks at Staples for a $1 each.  I was so excited, because these are great for the kids to take to church to keep them quiet and entertained.   We have such a small church and there is a nursery for the little kids, but my kids are all to old for it now, so we make them sit quietly and listen while coloring or doodling.  I think I actually saw my SIL using these for my niece who is a bit younger and I loved the idea, so we've taken the idea and have run with it!

  Lastly, I have just recently bought a couple new books and thought I'd share them.  I ordered 'Empty Promises' by Pete Wilson and just started reading it, but so far it's good.  'The Best of Me' I got at Costco last weekend and really like it so far.  I'm about half way through it.  I think I can predict what will happen, but I'm excited to find out if I'm right or not.  Nicholas Sparks often seems to surprise me with the way he ends his books.  'Brother Andrew' is a book that I just got in the mail yesterday that I have had in my Amazon cart for a while and finally ordered.  It is one that I am planning on reading to the kids.  I peaked through it and it looks to be a fun Christian adventure book.  Hopefully we'll start that this evening.  If we like it, I believe there is a bunch more just like it with different adventures and hero's. 

Four Lakes

I guess it's called Four Lakes, but we actually ended up seeing 5 different lakes on our hike last weekend. 

 Me, Mom & Lindy

 Cabin Lake

 Austin Fishing...  he caught a couple little fish that he would have had to throw back if they wouldn't have jumped off the line before he could do it!  :)

 Mom

 Me

 Lindy

 I think this was the 3rd lake we saw.

 In this picture above we could see our town in the valley below us.

 And this was the last lake that we saw.  I think they said it was called Duck Lake.  We tied the horses off a couple hundred yards down the trail, as the trail gets very narrow and there isn't anywhere to turn around.  So we walked up and isn't this a gorgeous view! 

Here we are for one more shot up on Duck Lake.