First Day of School-2014 (part 2)

Walking into school

heading down the hallway

Her locker! She asked me to get her a purple mirror for her locker, so she could be just like the "big girls."

Her first desk!

With her teacher, Mrs. Young ... an AWESOME instructor!

Asher in his classroom.

So much to learn!

With his 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Ulmer

First Day of School-2014 (part 1)

Today was the first day of school! Gabriel started 7th grade at Upton Middle School. So it was an especially big day for him, starting at a whole new building. He had a FANTASTIC day! Asher started 3rd grade with Mrs. Ulmer, and Rhylah started 1st grade with Mrs. Young. Everyone had a fantastic day!

eating breakfast, early in the morning!

Gabe, making his lunch!

She wanted curly hair, so she slept in curlers.

My baby heads off to Middle School!

Look at all the stuff in that bag!!

Hostas

My hostas look amazing this year. I'm not sure if it's because we don't have Roxy peeing on them or walking over them anymore... :) But I love how beautiful they are this summer!

Rhylah's new Hair

Rhylah was watching me cut the boys' hair the other night, getting ready for school, and she begged to be next. So, (with trembling hands) we cut. And I have to say....it turned out rather cute and pixie-ish! She LOVES it, and has received many compliments on the new short style. Of course, I think she looks cute no matter what! :)

Taking Down the Tree

We have a monster tree in our front yard that's been dying for ages. Last weekend (Aug. 22) we finally decided to take action and get it down. The nice thing was that it wasn't TOO big, and wasn't near the road or any power lines ... so we could do it ourselves. So Nate was our resident lumber jack, and went to work. It was an all day project, because once it was down, it had to be cut up into segments and stacked in our wood pile, not to mention the branches, that the kids and I hauled to the curb for pickup. The scariest part was all the carpenter ants....the tree was FULL of them. Ugh! What a mess! But we're glad it's down and gone now. :)

County Fair—2014

The County Fair is a summer tradition in our household. Although it always makes us a little sad, because it means THE END of the summer, it's always exciting to see all the animals, ride the rides and stuff ourselves full of strange, fried food. A few years ago, Asher saw a big puffy, grey, hairy rabbit and he exclaimed "That rabbit looks like a Papa!!" Now, every year, we try to find the rabbit that looks the most like a "papa." Asher found it this year. :) Later, we went back at night and brought Nathan with us, so we could enjoy the Midway at night and ride rides with the lights all shining.

Asher and the "Papa" bunny

Asher and Gabriel couldn't get enough of the rides. Especially the spinny ones.

Bumper cars!!

Asher and I were SUPER brave and rode the high high swings together. This is our look of terror, just before we rode.

Rhylah wanted to look at EVERY horse.

Fishing the Paw Paw

Gabriel and I took the kayak and went fishing on the Paw Paw river recently. We didn't get any bites, but had a good time watching several beavers build a dam on the river. They were so cool! Their little heads would float through the water, and if they saw us or we made a noise, they would slap the water with their tails and then submerge for several minutes. It was incredible! We could have sat there all night, watching them!