A few new neighbors....

All of our children are morning people.  That would totally come from their father.  We've seen some deer in the back yard lately and haven't been able to catch them with the camera until a couple of days ago...

I know it's hard to see from the picture but there were three bucks at the same time!  The kids, even Houston, were so excited.  The last time we saw them the 3 bucks had 6 doe with them.  We'll keep watching for them and hopefully get some better shots of them--with the camera of course!

Are you ready for some football?

Houston is!  He is loving his big boy jersey.  Every time he sees it he says football.

Reality

So, summer for us is over and we are living in the reality of early mornings, the girls being at school all day, and Houston requiring some serious attention all day....

The girls are enjoying school.  It has definitely been an adjustment.  This picture is from meet the teacher day.  They have a fort in their room that is a "boat".  Did you know 16 kids could fit on one fort at the same time?

The girls were very excited about having new books to read.  They visit the school library every Tuesday and they get so excited about it.  Fridays are computer lab day and that is their favorite!

First day of school....

The pics don't reflect the moment well.  They were very excited.

They weren't the least bit hesitant.

We all waited anxiously for the school bus since the girls insisted on riding it home from day one!  

Here come those big girls!

One More Day Until Kindergarten...

We have been trying to squeeze in all of the fun that we possibly can into our last few days before kindergarten.

We spent a day in the blazing heat to go to the zoo.  The water fountains helped with the heat.

We did take a few minutes to see the animals.

We went to Chuck E Cheese...

We went to the Galleria to ride the carousel....

We tried to make some chores fun.....

Houston enjoyed himself although he wasn't very helpful!

The girls had their best friend in the world over to play one day, we went to the library, and we spent some time at McDonalds eating happy meals and playing.  I'm going to miss my fun with those little girls all day, but I'm sure they will have even more fun at school!

Oh What Fun It Is To Ride

Hugh was out of town with work one day last week and the kids and I were having a long day so we decided to celebrate Christmas in July.  We listened to our Chistmas CDs and we watched a Wiggly Wiggly Christmas and Santa Claus is coming to town.  It did make for a fun afternoon and evening.  Hugh was glad he missed it.

We also got to spend a day on the lake this weekend!  It is the first day this summer we've gotten to enjoy my sister's house on the lake!  What a shame, but we thoroughly enjoyed the day.....

We rode on the boat.....

We swam......

Hugh and I skied--which neither of us had done in a long time.  The girls watched for falls.

The girls road in the tube.  Yes, that is them not holding on to the handles!

Some of us were able to take a cat nap.

We had such a great time.  Merry Christmas in July!

Fun Weekend with Gram & Grandbobby

While we were seeing all of the sites in NY the kids had a fun time with Gram & Grandbobby.  They walked to a Farmer's Market and had snow cones, visited with cousins and other relatives, and took a little road trip to Noccalula Falls.

They rode the train 3 times!

They saw all of the animals at the petting zoo.  I've heard a lot about the deer.

They took some fun pictures!

I don't think the kids missed us much at all.  They're already looking forward to our next trip!

New York, New York

OK, so this is a rare post.  Hugh and I took a little getaway this past weekend and we saw soooo much I wanted to share.  The purpose of the blog was to update everyone on the kids--not us.  The kids had a great weekend with Gram and Grandbobby so I'll post some pics once I snag them off their camera.

Hugh travels some with his job.  It does cost time with the family but it does provide some travel perks!  We decided to go to NY because neither of us had been there before.  Hugh had gotten enough credit through Hilton for us to stay at the Waldorf Astoria.  I was extremely excited about this because of the reputation associated with the Waldorf.  So we get to the hotel and there was a problem with our reservation.  Great start to the trip, right?  Well, we remained patient and they just gave us a double upgrade to the most awesome room ever!  The grandeur of the hotel was everything I could have imagined!  Loved it! Loved it! Loved it!

Too bad we didn't spend much time at the hotel.  Too much to see and do.

We went to the top of the Empire State Building.

We took a bus tour of the city.  I totally looked the part of a tourist everywhere we went.  Huge camera strapped around my neck.  We enjoyed the tour and learned a lot about the city.

We toured China Town and Little Italy.

We toured the financial district and Ground Zero.

We took a carriage ride through Central Park.

We took a harbor cruise to see the Statue of Liberty.  That's the Brooklyn bridge behind us.

 We got to see John Mayer in concert on the Today show.  Not a huge fan, but he sounds great in person.  We got to see the Wiggles perform on the CBS early show.  Just when I thought we couldn't top the Wiggles (ha ha) we were walking down the street and saw a crowd.  Immediately my celebrity radar went off and we joined the crowd.  I jumped right in and guess who I met......

  

that is Constantine from American Idol.   I don't even follow American Idol, but I thought it was fun to meet a celebrity.  We went to see his show and he was certainly entertaining.  Hugh also got to meet a celebrity.....

People will do anything for tips in that city!

A few observations about NYC:

• It's good to be a scaffolding company in NY--it's everywhere!
• Distance is very deceiving between buildings very much like Las Vegas!
• All of the cheesy tourist stops were very interesting and not cheesy at all

most of all it's good to be..........

                                                      home with these little ones!

Blueberries!

We were finally able to pick some blueberries last week.  This is a big event for the family each year.  Houston joined right in and helped pick this year.

The kids pick from the back of Popa's truck to (a) help them reach the berries (b) reduce bug bites and (c) to keep them contained!

Houston ate all the berries he picked.

Maybe Hugh too?

Houston's little face was so hot and dirty, but I don't think he minded it at all.

Thanks Popa for a fun day & yummy blueberries!

Vacation

We've spent the last few days at the beach and had a wonderful time.  The weather was great and the surf was beautiful.  The kids had loads of fun...

The girls looked for seashells...

Houston enjoyed the sand and the water.  

We ate things like this (side note--this is Aidyn's new pose--the wink)

and things like this...

from places like this.

Most of all we had a great time with great friends!