Blue Jeans Week 40

Fall is well upon us.  Parts of Halloween costumes are all over my house.  Candy corn fills the candy jar, and life is good.  Here is our week. . .

Sunday:  A sweet moment of family love.  We were singing some songs tonight, and they were nicely sharing a book.  And then about 10 minutes later they were fighting over it (didn't get a picture of that), but we will take what we can get :)

Monday:  Miss E is in an African drumming circle group at school.  She loves it.  Miss A and Miss O were also in the same group during elementary.  They performed on the town square tonight.  They did a great job.

Tuesday:  A restaurant about 30 minutes away does a "talk show" some evenings.  They interviewed my dad and talked about his art.  It was fun to see. 

Wednesday:  The kids get out of school early each Wednesday, and with that extra playtime Miss E and Mr J decided they were going to be explorers today.  They drew a map that Mr J has on his clipboard, filled backpacks with supplies (crackers, blankets, gloves) and Miss E grabbed her walking stick and they explored the yard for hours.  Too fun!  Love kids' imaginations!

Thursday:  Had my parents over to celebrate my Dad and Ben's birthdays.  Love having them close.

Friday:  Today was Ben's birthday.  His cake was a coconut cream pie--so yum and his favorite.  Happy Birthday sweetie!  Sure love you!!!

Saturday:  As mentioned in an earlier post, this was the end of the season, put the lawnmower away day.  Mowed the lawn for the last time, then Ben changed the oil, got it ready for winter, etc, but there was still gas in it, so Mr J and Miss E had lots of fun driving the lawnmower all around going about 1.5 mph to run the gas out.  Good-bye lawnmower!!!  See you in the spring!

Hope you all have had a good week and that you have a spooky Halloween!!!  I think we will have a private investigator, Amelia Earhart, either a dinosaur or Darth Vader, and a just plain teenager at our house Monday night.  Stay tuned to find out. . . :)

Organized Christmas countdown starts today!

Okay, I am such a fan of Organized Christmas!  It is a free website that has several different countdown to Christmas/get ready for Christmas plans.  The one that I love and have been doing for about 5 years (big thanks to my friend Cathy!) is the 6 weeks Countdown to Christmas Plan.  It starts today and has you do little things every day and has themes for each week so by December 3rd you will be ready for Christmas--cards out, gifts bought and wrapped, meals planned, etc .  Yes, I am a Christmas geek, one of those people that thinks about Christmas all year, buys gifts all year, and gets sooo excited about it all year :)  but I truly love this site--it helps me keep myself in check, get things planned and organized so Christmas at my house is much more calm than chaotic so everyone can enjoy it--because it is supposed to be enjoyed, right?  By everyone, not just the kids!! :)  Check it out!  Join me on the Countdown to Christmas plan!

End of the season, good bye lawnmower!

So today we retired the lawnmower for the season.  Ben weed-eated and I moved the lawn for the last time until next spring this morning, then Ben did the end of season maintenance--oil change, etc, and then it still had gas in it.  What to do? 

Miss E had a great time running out the gas.  I think she was going 1.5 mph.

Then it was Mr J's turn (sorry about the color on this photo, I retried downloading it 3 times, and still the color went funny???)  Everyone had to make sure he knew what he was doing.

He got an escort everywhere he went.

That boy is loved.  A blessing and a curse of having 3 older sisters.

But he seems to handle it well.

Bye-bye lawnmower!  We will miss you until spring!

Blue Jeans Week 39

We had a wonderful week with grandparents, hugging them, loving them, mourning one, and remembering them.  So grateful for family!

Sunday:  We had my dad over for dinner because my mom was out of town, and he was giving Miss O some Lego building advice.  Love that my kids get to grow up with at least one set of grandparents close!

Monday:  Mr. J doing homework after school.  We were practicing his spelling words.  What a difference a chalkboard and chalk or a white board and marker make.  It is much more fun to do spelling words on those than with regular paper and pencil, and popcorn always helps too :)

Tuesday:  I don't have a picture for today because we went to an amazing Flamenco Guitar concert by Ronald Radford, and I put the concert program in for my picture of the day.  The kids were especially impressed with how his fingers just flew all over the guitar.  Amazing!  If you ever get a chance to see a Flamenco Guitarist, go!

Wednesday:  I had lunch at school with Mr. J.  Love that boy, the lunch, not so much :)  but it was fun to be there with him and his classmates.  Cute kids!

Thursday:  Took the kids to the park after school today.  The leaves were beautiful and so fun to play in!

Friday:  We had a super fun surprise this week---my grandparents, my kids great-grandparents, drove 1,150 miles to spend the weekend with us.  It was so nice to have them, but also today we got the sad news that Ben's grandpa passed away.  He was 96 and had lived an amazing life full of service and love for his family.  Now all Ben's grandparents are gone, but we are very blessed to still have both sets of mine with us and healthy, so we were especially glad to have them visit this weekend.  So grateful for the wonderful examples in both Ben's and my family.

Saturday:  It was our town's annual celebration this weekend.  We all went to the parade.  My grandparents enjoy being here for this weekend and the parade.  The kids get so much candy!  They love it!

Hope you all have a great week!

Blue Jeans Week 38

I have been trying to blog for the last 2 days, but my computer has not been cooperating.  Love modern technology :)  So (finally) here was our last week. . .

Sunday:  This was our scene in the library as we listened to General Conference--legos, legos everywhere--do not step-beware!

Monday:  Mr J and Miss O put some finishing touches on their lego house this afternoon.  We love legos at our house. 

Tuesday:  Our roof is done, I got some pumpkins for the front porch, and we had some rain.  Life is good!

Wednesday:  We had some dear friends visiting, and they have a 1 year-old that my kids just adore, but I forgot how toddlers that age will not sit still for a second--especially for a picture :)  Too cute!  Mr J especially wanted a picture because our little friend is wearing the outfit Mr J bought for him when he was born--Thomas the train, of course.

Thursday:  Ben and the kids (but mostly Ben) have been working on a new chicken coop.  We are so lucky to have a neighbor that has a huge wood shop and will let us build anything there and use anything he has.  Love our neighbors!  He helped Ben and the kids bring over the new coop today so we could move the chickens in.

Friday:  The new coop with the chickens all moved in.   It is nice!  Way to go Ben and kiddos!!

Saturday:  Ben and the girls coming back from a bike ride this afternoon.  The weather has been so beautiful!

Hope you all have a great week!

Blue Jeans Week 37

We are enjoying the cooler fall which, after this horrible, hot summer, we just love!!!  Hope fall is in your neighborhood too!

Sunday:  I haven't taken a recent picture of the chickens lately, so I got one today.  They are laying now, so we are loving the fresh brown eggs.  We have 6 laying hens.  5 sort-of brown ones in this shot, and then one black and white, but she is her own person/hen and doesn't like to be with the group, so I had to get a picture of her later this week.

Monday:  Miss A's last volleyball game was today, so I caught a picture of her with her awesome coach, who also happens to be one of my best friends.  She is the best coach!!  Love you T!  Thanks for all you do!

Tuesday:  Got a picture of Miss Black and White Hen today.  I think she is the prettiest of the flock. 

Wednesday:  I surprised the kids by picking them up from school today and heading to the Dr. office for flu shots.  They didn't figure out what we were doing until we pulled into the Dr. parking lot.  They were not amused, but we were all brave and survived--even me, although our arms were pretty sore the next day.

Thursday:  After the previous day of traumatic flu shots, I needed a Girls Lunch Out.  So we headed out of town to a greenhouse for mums, pumpkins, and pizza for lunch.  Nothing beats great friends.  What a blessing!

Friday:  Miss E got into the 100 point AR reading club at school and got her t-shirt today.  She was very proud.  She has turned into a super-reader this year!!! 

Saturday:  This weekend was our Church's--The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--semi-annual General Conference.  We don't have local meetings, but we watch our services on TV or the internet Saturday and  Sunday from our church wide General leaders and our Prophet and President.  It is such an amazing experience.  Unlike the unpleasant flu shots earlier in the week, these meetings have been a wonderful spiritual "shot" or boost that I really needed.  I so love my Savior Jesus Christ and all that He does for me.  So grateful for my family, my faith, and my church.  It was a great weekend, and to keep the kids entertained and sort of listening we play conference bingo with Reese's Pieces.  They listen to what the speaker says and find that topic on their bingo card (like faith, Christ, love, etc), and when they get bingo they get to eat their pieces (plus extra too:)

Hope you all have a wonderful week!  God bless!