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 36

A busy week this week--we had 3 volleyballs games, and, for one week, that is a little too much.  Thankfully the season is now over, and we can all catch our breathe and stay home more :)  Here is what else be have been doing (besides going to volleyball games)

Sunday:  My sister was in town and came over Sunday afternoon to make bread with the kids.  She is the gourmet of the family, and we got to eat their yummy creations--nothing beats homemade bread--YUM!

Monday:  This was our meet-the-famous-author-day.  New York Times Bestselling author Brandon Mull (of Fablehaven and Beyonders fame) was in our small town, and we had him over for dinner.  Awesome, awesome guy.  The kids loved him.

Tuesday:  This was my major headache day because they started replacing our roof and the pounding gave me a huge headache.  The old roof is brown--the new is dark grey.  I was so glad when they cleaned up, left, and my Tylenol kicked in!

Wednesday:  This is my day to volunteer at the elementary schools.  I am there first thing in the morning in Miss E's class, and I love being there when they say the flag salute.  I haven't said that in a long time, and it was fun to see the kids do it and hear it echo down the halls as all the classes do it. 

Thursday:  One of our 3 volleyball games this week.  This is Mr J, #12 is a friend, and Miss E in blue watching Miss A play.  She did a great job, and those 3 are really good at cheering.

Friday:  Our elementary school carnival was tonight.  Being on the PTO, it is always tons of work, but the kids love it, and we had a great turn out.  The kids got tickets at the little games--pop toss, duck pond, bean bag toss, etc and then they could exchange their tickets for prizes.  Mr J and Miss E combined their tickets and got this movie, and they were so excited!!!  Love Mr J's eyes--they are so expressive.

Saturday:  People in big cities complain about traffic.  This is traffic in my neck of the woods.  I got stuck behind Mr Tractor on the way home from town today, and there were about 10 cars behind me.  This is our kind of traffic jam. 

Hope you are all getting some good, cooler fall weather.  I am ready to hang my pumpkins up.  Happy fall and have a good week!

Blue Jeans Week 35

A week to remember. . .

Sunday:  This is one of my favorite of the thousands of images from the 10th anniversary of 9/11.  I think the memorial is beautiful.  I went to NYC  as a teen and went in and ate in the basement of one of the Twin Towers.  I would like to go back now and see it again.  It is so important to remember.

Monday:  We have a big garden 50' x 50' and we planted over 24 tomato plants and none of those plants are dead, but we have not seen a single tomato yet either, but we have had a huge harvest of zucchini and yellow squash.  We can never get sick of zucchini, but I think my family has had their fill of yellow squash.  Miss O chops some up for dinner.

Tuesday:  Over 2 months ago in July, before we left on vacation, we had a strong storm, and it blew some shingles off.  Ben hurried and bought a tarp to cover the part of the roof that was bare, and we left on vacation hoping for no rain.  Well, waiting on insurance and contractors we have had this lovely blue roof now for over 2 months, and finally this week we are getting a new roof and getting rid of the blue tarp.  Thank heavens this was on the back of the house :)

Wednesday:  Homework, homework, homework is a constant thing at my house "Did you get your homework done?"  is probably the most common question asked after "Did you practice your piano?"  and "Did you clean your room?"  Miss A is quite comfortable doing her homework on the floor.

Thursday:  I snap pictures all the time, all the time, and my kids are used to it and just ignore me.  Ben is not so used to it :)  Gosh, I love that cute boy.  Today he was helping Mr J with his piano.     

Friday:  I actually worked and got paid for my work today--first time in almost 14 years :)  Being a stay-at-home mom is the best job in the world, but the monetary pay isn't so good :).  My mom is the librarain at my kids' elementary school, and today she had to be gone and her para also had to be gone, so she begged me to come work for her that day in the library.  Little did I know the paperwork and hoops I would have to jump through to help out my mom for 7 hours.  I had to get a TB test done and a drug test.  I thought--serioursly?  Oh my, but I had a fun day at the school library.  I checked out 186 books and shelved about that many.  I got to check out books to this cute little guy too--it was fun seeing Mr J and Miss E at school.

Saturday:  This is one of the big trees in our front yard.  The kids love to play in it and under it and around it.  It has a tree swing in it.  We were so sad to find out that the power company is putting in a new powerline down our street, and it looks like our trees are going to have to be cut down.  We are so sad and just sick about it.  Makes me want to cry.  Of course they say they will pay us for it, but how do you appraise the value of a tree?  I love trees.