First Fall Hayride!

We volunteered to host our Sunday School class for a hayride last night.  It was very warm -- in the mid 80's today.  Probably the hottest day we have had for a hayride ever.  Even though Sumner county schools started their Fall Break this weekend we had a great turnout.  There were over 50 people there, including all the kids.  We did two hayrides this year - one before dark and one after.

A guy in our class is a pit master.  He enters those bbq competitions you see on TV.  He came up early in the day and smoked whole turkeys and some bologna.  Some of the other guys from the class came early, too for set up and to help with the food.  The meat turned out awesome -- I see how he places in some of these competitions.  It seemed like everyone had a great time.  We cleaned up as much as we could last night and then went back today after church to finish everything up.  Bill is out of town so we wanted it to seem as though no one had been there, but since we are having another bonfire next Saturday we left the trailers hooked up and some other things so we wouldn't be doing double work.  Hoping next week is a little cooler!

Katherine's First Friend Birthday

Katherine was so excited to go to her friend's birthday this morning.  She has been to plenty of birthday parties, but they have always been for Luke's friends and she has just tagged along.  She has been talking about this party for weeks since she got the invitation.  She had fun picking out the present.  It was a big decision and took quite a long time.  Let's just say she wanted to be very generous with her gift.  I finally reigned her in.

When the party was over we headed to Gallatin to get ready for the hayride and bonfire we were having for our Sunday School class.

An Adventure for Backpack Bear

We went to Baskin Robbins for an after-dinner treat tonight!  Backpack Bear went along for the ride.  The kids had fun "feeding" him ice cream.  We turn him back in at the end of the week.  Can't say that I will miss this little responsibility!

Homework!

We are still getting used to homework around here.  Luke has a quite a bit each week.  He has a homework packet from his homeroom teacher and then a homework packet from his reading teacher.  Luckily they come home on Fridays and aren't due until the following Thursday.  The reading packet is probably the most intense.  You are supposed to work on it five nights and the parent is to initial for each night.  It mainly consists of reading sight words, additional words and sentences.  It also has some writing as well. Each night (Monday-Wednesday) a small book is sent home for Luke to read to us.  During his recent reading conference we learned he excels in reading and he is one of the top readers out of all the Kindergarten classes.  The teacher stressed the importance not to let up and to continually challenge him.

The homeroom packet is math, science, etc.  He does well with this, too.  Since Luke works on homework most every night Katherine wants to work on homework, too.  She is doing better at identifying her letters and numbers.  She is not quite where Luke was at this point, but each child is different!

Backpack Bear Goes to Church!

Watching cartoons together

Katherine loves Backpack Bear, too!

As part of Student of the Week Luke got to bring Backpack Bear home for the week.  He is a cuddly teddy bear with his own little backpack.  The idea is to take him wherever you go, take pictures and then journal in a class scrapbook what all you did.  Today Backpack Bear went to church with us. One of Luke's friends from school saw Luke with him and got so excited!  We will have to see what all kind of adventures we get into!

JonJon's Birthday

Jon's birthday is next week so we thought it would be a good time to get together for a happy occasion!  We all met at South Street. After some initial mix up over a large enough table we had a great time!  It was a beautiful night.  The kids were great and had so much fun getting a lot of attention.  Kristen brought a chocolate pie - one of Jon's favorites!  The kids each had a piece and loved it.  Jon and Kristen leave for Italy next week so this was a nice send-off!

After we all parted ways Paul decided to drive down Broadway to show the kids all the lights and hub-bub of downtown Nashville after dark.  It was packed!  The kids were mesmerized by all the lights, the horse and buggies and the live music.  It is great to live in Music City!

Apple Of My Eye!

Luke was selected as the "Apple of My Eye" for this week.  It is kind of like Student of the Week.  In addition to having a bulletin board all about him he also got to take his favorite book to school for the class to read and fill the class "estimation jar".  To help teach the children how to estimate the teacher has a large plastic jar that different students fill with items from home.  We chose bouncy balls.  The students get to estimate how many items are in the jar and the count the items by 2's, 5's, 10's, etc.  Luke said the bouncy balls were a big hit.

The questions he was asked for the bulletin board were:
           Favorite Color - Green
           Favorite Food - Cotton Candy (in my defense he has only had it twice in his life; it obviously made an impression!)
           Favorite Animal - Elephant
           Favorite Toy - Legos
           Favorite Book - Mega Movers
           Favorite TV Show - Busytown Mysteries

More Sadness..

Paul's uncle (Paula's brother) passed away this morning.  He has been in poor health lately and recently had an episode he didn't recover from.  The next few days are going to be hard on everyone.  We are still coping with Paula's passing earlier this summer.  It doesn't seem right to lose someone else so quickly, but we know he is in Heaven with his sister now and God never gives us more than we can handle.

The After and a Titans Game

Luke helped me remove the door knobs.

His favorite - cotton candy!

She was not happy that she was not going to the game

Really unhappy...

Front door, after

Back door, after

We went to church this morning and Paul decided that he would like to go to the Titans game and take Luke. He tried to find tickets beforehand, but wasn't able to.  We went home a while before the game.  Katherine thought she was going, too.  She got her ball cap on like Daddy and Luke.  She was so happy right until they left without her.  She cried and cried.  She literally cried for 30 minutes and fell asleep on the couch.  She was so mad she couldn't go.  We knew it was going to be warm and didn't think we were ready for all 4 of us to go to a game.  We would hate to spend the money on 4 tickets and she would be ready to go after 30 minutes.

While she was napping I finished up the doors.  I am fairly pleased with how they turned out.  They  both required several coats.  I have a lot of paint left so I might pain the entry door from the garage into the house.  We'll see.

Luke and Paul had a great time at the game. They found tickets at a reasonable price and stayed until the very end. They were glad they did because the Titans pulled out a last second win over San Diego!  Fun memories for both of them.  We will wait a little longer until we take sis to a game.

Before....

I have been contemplating painting the exterior doors for a while now.  I finally decided on a paint color and Paul had it mixed for me this week.  The weather is supposed to be great this weekend so I figured it would be a great time to start on the project.

Another Saturday, another craft...

This week we went to Lowe's for their kids craft.  I am definitely a Lowe's girl, but not when it comes to their kids' crafts.  Home Depot is much better equipped to accommodate all the kids.  At Lowe's we literally sit on the floor to work on the project.  The kids don't care, but it is not too comfortable for the adults.  We enjoyed breakfast at The Red Rooster before heading to Lowe's.  We are relishing the free weekends in September because when October hits we will go non-stop for several weeks.

Fun Day in Murfreesboro!

Luke changing a tire!

Working on the car -- his favorite activity!

We had a fun day today.  The kids have been asking to go back to the Children's Museum in Murfreesboro for a while now.  We went to Home Depot this morning for the monthly kids craft which was a plane from the new Disney movie.  Then we had to go by Bill's to do some things.  After that we headed to Murfreesboro.  The museum was packed.  When we got in we realized why it was a free admission day to promote family wellness!  That was a nice surprise!  We stayed for a few hours.  There really is a lot to do there.  The kids love playing in the water area.  Luke's favorite thing was the "garage" which is sponsored by Nissan.  The kids can fix tires, fill the car with gas, work on the engine, etc.  For some reason Katherine would not let me take her picture today, but Luke was all about it.

When we finished there we enjoyed a very late lunch at Chuy's which is always a hit!  We had  great day!

Big Helpers

We grilled out for Labor Day.  The kids still love to help us in the kitchen.  They helped Paul slice onions which they thought was fun.  Our weekend is low-key. I had to work yesterday and am working tomorrow.

Morning with Daddy

Katherine being silly in her baby doll bed!

Ice cream goodness!

Fun at Chik-fil-a

Wore this girl out

I had to work this morning so Paul and the kids spent the day together.  Today was the kickoff to college football!  This is, by far, our favorite time of year.  It was great to have ESPN College Game Day back on TV this morning before I left!  The kids and Paul found plenty to do while I was gone.  They worked outside, played and went to Chik-fil-a for lunch.  When I got home this afternoon they were both asleep upstairs while Paul watched football.

Rushing Fall

The kids had a great time with Mom last night.  We had several things to do today so we picked them up fairly early.  Katherine and I got our hair cut this afternoon.  This was the first time I have taken her to the salon with me.  She did great and really liked it!  She looked so cute when she was finished.  The girl put some "curl enhancer" in it; that along with the humidity made her look like Shirley Temple!  She would not let me get a good picture of it though.

Tonight we went to the farm to visit Pop.  We took some thick cut pork chops from a new meat market in.  town.  They were great!  We had corn on the cob and a salad.  Luke really wanted to build a fire and make s'mores so that's what we did. It was a pretty night, but probably too hot for a bonfire.  We all enjoyed sitting outside.  Anytime we are outside at night the kids like to talk about Nene being way up high in heaven, past the stars.  They talked about her a lot tonight.  I think we were probably all a little misty-eyed but it was dark so we didn't know.  The kids miss her bunches and go in waves talking about her.  We are all still adjusting to our lives without her in it.

Unexpected Night Out

Luke has been asking to go to Texas Roadhouse for a while now.  For whatever reason those type of steak houses are not my favorite.  We have  actually only been there one other time.  Mom called while we were on our way to Hendersonville and she was in the area so she joined us. The kids were so excited!  The food was actually really yummy.  The kids were entertained by the singing/ dancing wait staff.

Mom asked if the kids could go home with her and spend the night.  We jumped at the opportunity!  She took them home from the restaurant. Paul and I weren't really sure what to do since we don't go out very much and never go out in that area.  Normally we go to Nashville.  We ended up at a lakefront restaurant/ bar called The Rudder.  It was such a nice fall-like night that we sat outside and listened to the live music.  It was so nice and relaxing -- just what we needed!

Making Progress

Luke is getting settled in to being a Kindergartner. Paul and I are adjusting, too.  He loves going to Extended Care which is good since he is there almost everyday.  It is overwhelming how much communication goes on between the teacher and parents.  It is great, though.  He gets a little progress report sent home everyday. He had one day that he was not a nice friend on the playground and had a negative comment sent home.  Since talking to him about it he has had much better days!  He really seems to be making friends and loves his teacher!  We are so thankful!

Five Guys

I picked Luke up from Pop's after work.  They had a great day together!  Luke ran errands with Pop, rode on the tractor.  He feel asleep in the swing when I got there.  He was worn out.  We left there and went to get Katherine. We decided we wanted to go to Nashville to meet Paul for supper. Luke chose Five Guys which is always a favorite.  After that we went to Green Hills mall to shop for a little while.  We were on the hunt for a new lunch bag for Luke.  We looked, but finally decided to order one online.  Excited that the weekend is upon us!

Day Two.

I rushed from work to get Katherine then we rushed to get Luke picked up.  I was so anxious to hear about his day!  When we got there he was so quiet.  I kept asking him what was wrong.  He didn't want to get in the car.  Finally, after I was driving he told me he didn't want to leave school.  He was having fun!  I was so relieved!  I thought maybe he had not had a good day.

He is going to spend the morning with Paul and the afternoon with Pop tomorrow.  Friday he will be with Pop all day.  Hope he will want to go back to school on Monday after a long break off!

First Day of Kindergarten!

We were all up and at it early this morning!  Paul started the day by cooking a special "First Day of School" breakfast - pancakes!  Mom came so she could take Katherine to school so Paul and I could both take Luke this morning.  We took a lot of pictures.  Luke was a little nervous when we got there, but he did fine when we left.  None of us shed any tears -- I couldn't believe it!  A little girl from church is in his class and a lady mom knows from work has a little boy in his class, too.  The boys go to school today and tomorrow then the girls go Thursday and Friday then they all go next Monday.  Kind of a funny phase in schedule but I guess it works!

When I picked him up this afternoon he didn't have a lot to say about his day.  He will be in extended care in the afternoons.  I know he will get used to that, too.  Hoping this is a great year!