As Promised

I have finally taken pictures of Ali & Emma's room. Here they are . . .

We've now been in our new home for almost 3 months. Many of you have already seen it, so pictures aren't so exciting for you. But for those of you who are far away . . . sorry it's taken so long! The biggest problem has been the fact that the girls' rooms have been pretty consistently messy all summer. They actually slept in the basement for much of the summer (When the Schafers were in town we moved Ali & Emma's bunk beds into the basement and Aaron and I slept on an air mattress in their room - and even after they left they stayed in the basement for quite a while!) We have just finished a "fall cleaning" of their room. It's amazing how much stuff of mine (and Aaron's) was still in there. Poor kids!

Anyways . . . here's the American Girl Paradise . . . Enjoy!

Expensive Tastes

Today for lunch I enjoyed some yummy crab! It was a gift to us from Tim Daniels when he came a few weeks ago. Aaron's not a big crab fan, so it was all for me! : ) I ate the first half when we first got it, and the second half was in the freezer until today. Yum!

Ali and Emma thought it was alright. Ali didn't like the smell. Meg and Julie hovered dropping little hints like, "I'm so hungry!" Once I was full, I fed the rest to them and they were in heaven! They enjoyed a nice little feast. When it was gone I got up to throw away the shell pieces and Julie looked at me with a half confused, half indignant look . . . "I'm not done" (With a tone of "Mom, obviously you don't understand something here, because I still want more and you're walking away. So, I thought I should just let you know . . . " I told her (more clearly) "It's all gone, there's no more." Her face fell and she started to whine.

I hope you enjoyed it while you could girls, because crab is not a regular on our menu!

A Little Face Lift

I needed a blog change. Tired of the black. Ironically I spent ages on Pyzam trying to find something more interesting, but no luck. So, enjoy a little change of pace!

**Update:
Okay . . . so I changed my mind again. I found something in Pyzam that suited me with a little HTML editing. We'll see how long this one lasts!

Just another Julie-ism

My kids have loved watching the Olympics this summer. Volleyball has been a big favorite . . . even little Julie is fascinated by it. Every time the Olympics are on, she's asking to watch volleyball . . . I think that's rather amusing.

Yesterday we were watching bits of the women's marathon. Julie, of course, asked her usual question, "Can we watch volleyball?" Aaron said, "No honey, we're watching running." Julie nodded . . . "Oh, we're watching running-ball"

What a Great Weekend!

I feel like it's been forever since we've had a weekend like this! All summer we have been so busy. Mostly we've been busy with fun stuff, but we have been REALLY busy! This is the first weekend that we've had in a long time where I haven't been preparing for company of some sort, preparing for me or Aaron to go out of town, or preparing for school, etc . . . It was heavenly! We got to make some headway on some projects that have been neglected all summer. We got lots done and I was even able to take 2 naps! : )

Saturday morning we woke up to some loud banging. Our contractor was finally pushing our road through! We had all hoped that we would be able to have a dead end street, but the fire marshall wouldn't go for that. The good news is that once construction is done, we should be able to have our mailbox on our street! We also found out that the last lot on our street has sold, so now begins the crazy construction traffic! Oh well . . . best get it over and done with! : ) Now our street is the tourist trap of the subdivision . . . everyone wants to see the new road! Once construction is completely done, the county will be paving our road. Yeah!


The weather here has been unseasonably cool . . . SO unusual for August in St. Louis. On Saturday we went out for lunch at a local Mexican place here in Pacific. We got to sit outside in the shade, and I was even a bit chilly! We enjoyed a great lunch followed by a family shopping trip. We bought a bunch of things that we've been needing to buy for a while now, including some mulch and a weed whacker. We grabbed dinner at McDonald's, ate in the van, then when we got home we were able to spend the evening outside. Aaron did some weed whacking (we're not mowing yet as we still have lots of rocks that need to be taken care of!) I did some mulching (the garden looks great!). The girls worked and played intermittently. It was so nice.

Aaron picking up rocks


Emma picking up rocks


Julie having fun with her "baby soccer ball"


Meg mowing the rocks

Back To School

Okay, it has taken me a few days to get this blogged . . . but we are officially back to school. We started Wednesday and (with the exception of an unexpected trip tot he doctor's office) things are going really well. It's funny b/c this summer has been so crazy and school snuck up on me so fast . . . it has been a source of pretty intense stress for the past few weeks. I REALLY didn't want to start school! I could have pushed it back, but that would have messed up our academic calendar. We do four 9 week quarters with a break in between each (a week of for fall break and spring break and 2 weeks off for Christmas). If I wanted to finish our semester before Christmas, now was the time to start. I managed to get things ready (still dreading it all along!) and we actually started. The reason it's so funny to me is because I'm really loving it! It's so nice to be reminded of the fact that I love teaching my kids! : ) It's also nice because school forces a routine. No more choas . . . it's time to get back into the swing of things . . . and we are all thriving!

I did manage to take real back to school pictures this year (if you remember, last year I went out to take pictures before we started school and then realized that I had left my camera at my mom's house. I ended up using the camera on my phone!). So here are my girls for the '08-'09 academic year.

The fabulous four!
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Ali is starting Third Grade this year. She is really enjoying Geography and always loves Reading. She is dreading Math but is already encouraged by the progress she is seeing in herself with her Math Facts.
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Emma is starting the First Grade (according to her age anyway . . . the Kindergarten cut-off for Rockwood is July 31st and her birthday is August 1st. So she should be in first grade, but all of her work is second grade stuff). She is also enjoying Geography (maps fascinate her). Math is a favorite with her, though she hates practicing those math facts. Language Arts probably ranks at the bottom of her list.
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Aren't they cute?
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Meg is four and is starting reading lessons this year. She is very eager to learn, and her lessons will begin on Monday.
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Julie is 2 and is just plain cute. No real school for her yet, but she loves coloring. Yesterday she sat and colored for a good hour and a half . . . I was impressed! She and Meg are often heard saying "I want to do school!"
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Don't you love the strangle hold?
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Here's Ali, hard at work copying her memory verse for the week.
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Emma working on her reading journal - The Boxcar Children . . . how fun!
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I love this one of Meg! Like I said, she is very eager to learn how to read. She also knows that when you learn how to read you track with your finger. So, here she is "reading" Ali's Bible - no pictures . . . she's just tracking line after line!

For Grammy . . .

Amber's mom wanted to see pictures of all of the stuff I bought now that they're in their places. I know she'll be thrilled to see it all, and undoubtedly, the rest of you couldn't care less! : ) So this one's for you, Grammy! Enjoy! (you can click on the pictures to see them larger)
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(I do feel the need to mention that I did not buy all of this stuff while we were in Indiana! : ) You're seeing years worth of collecting, and gifts that have been given to me . . . with a few newbies sprinkled in . . . We didn't do that much shopping!)

That's your gold colored plate that you gave me . . . I added the "SIMPLIFY" it's one of the Uppercase Living Expressions that Jessica sells.
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On top of my kitchen cabinets

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I have this hanging on the wall in the place where I was planning to put the ladder. I wiped it out after I got home and I love the fact that you can see the rings from the soda bottles in the bottom! (P.S. Amber did all of my shelf arranging for me - I can manage the nails, anchors, screws and drill . . . but I'm a bit of an idiot when it comes to the cute part!)
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This is in the hall bathroom. This shelf is actually hung upside down (Amber and I discovered that as we were trying to figure out how we were going to hang it) I like it better upside down.
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This is in our bedroom (obviously) . . . I love it! Happy Birthday to me . . . thanks Amber!
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This is my dining room wall. Sharon Vincent gave me those star hooks and they were just waiting for candles . . . so see . . . your "old junk" suited me perfectly!
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On top of the entertainment center. The shadows kind of mess with your eyes in this one - the blue heart box in the center is the one I got at the hot Treasure Mart.
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I love this one!! A big hug and kiss to you for the ladder!! It's my favorite!

Aruba, Jamaica, Ooh I Wanna Take Ya . . .

I have just returned from Kokomo! Sounds luxurious, doesn't it?

Okay, so my Kokomo was in Indiana . . . and I didn't actually stay in Kokomo (but it was fun to sing the song any time we were there!)

For my birthday, Aaron gave me money and 4 days away with my best bud Amber! What a guy! Amber's parents live in Galveston, IN (just outside of Kokomo) and we decided to spend a few days with them. Amber and I were in serious need of some kid free time! It was so nice to not have to listen to chatter in the back of the van, cut up any one's food, or wake up and make breakfast for 4, etc . . . I have to say that I have the coolest job in the world, but I needed a break! Especially with school starting next week : ) On the other end of the spectrum, Amber's mom has had all of her children out of the house for years and LOVED being able to pamper us! As Amber's dad put it . . . "She's been eating with two feet in the trough this weekend!" So it was a win-win for all of us!

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We left on Sunday after church (we would have left Sunday morning, but Tim Daniels was preaching that morning and I was completely unwilling to miss that! His sermon was awesome!) We arrived Sunday evening and enjoyed a layed back dinner and chat time. The next morning we got to sleep in!!!! : ) We spent Monday shopping at some local places and found some great stuff. Tuesday morning we got up at the crack of dawn to drive 2 hours to Shipshewana, IN. We experienced the flea market of all flea markets, found some fun treasures, and wore ourselves out. We returned to Kokomo for a yummy Pastarrific dinner and ended our evening in our jammies, watching a movie and eating brownies! : )

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The next morning we packed up our bags and our treasures (we even managed to fit it all in the Civic!) and headed home. Overall it was a trip filled with LOTS of laughs, LOTS of shopping, yummy food, and only one trip (going the wrong way) down a one way street. What a blast!

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Thank you hubby! Best birthday present ever! Can we make it an annual event?

Happy Birthday Dear Emma!

I can't believe my little Emma is 7! For some reason, every year I feel like I need to panic right around Emma's birthday. It was no big deal to me that Ali turned 8 . . . but Emma turning 7? I know it's completely illogical . . . but it's a huge shock to the system!


Baby Sheep for Halloween (1 yr)


I have always loved this one of Emma! She tends to be my more melancholy one, so to catch a good grumpy face on her just makes me laugh! (4 yrs)


She looks like such a big girl and I love the toothless grin.

Birthday festivities for today will include Daddy coming home from work early (yeah!!!) and dinner with the Alligoods at Ponderosa (don't ask . . .it was her choice!) Then tonight the Kellers and Mr. Daniels (my old Youth Pastor who is in town from Friday Harbor, WA) are coming over for a visit. In the mean time . . . I have a house to clean! : )

Happy Birthday Emma!