The last four months.....

Oh my goodness....it has been 4 months since my last blog. Isn't that horrible. So if there is anyone out there actually reading this I thought I better update. So I pulled my cyber rear over here and actually logged in to do it.

I would like to put a plug out there for facebook. I have recently joined and absolutely LOVE it. It is so fun and easy to find long lost friends and family on there. It is also very easy to stay connected and communicate with all of them. So much easier than reading through a million blogs all the time. Anyhow I only accept people that I know as friends on there. So if you know me...search for my name on facebook.com.

Now for my update:

In August James had a wonderful swim party with a giant water slide thanks to Daddy:

Justin also took James for a Father/Son camp out to Caddo lake this month. They both had a wonderful time. Justin took some gorgeous pictures of the Lake!

I have to brag about how beautiful my flower garden turned out this year!!! Thank you Oma for all the wonderful seeds. I am hooked now and have to plant them every year!

October was a fun filled month:

Fishing with Daddy at Lake Gladewater

We went to a neat festival in Jefferson called Buckskins and Bar-B-Q where they had old time reenactments. We then had fun walking around Jefferson looking at the sights and eating ice cream at the old general store!

The kids went on a camping trip with my Mom and had a lot of fun.

Justin and Callie went to a Father/Daughter dinner at our church.

Halloween was especially fun at our church's festival called Farm Fair. James and Callie were both leopards and Josh was Tigger. MEOW!

In November we met some friends in Shreveport. The kids had fun playing at Chucky Cheese and we had a nice visit with our friends. We also walked around the Shreveport river walk area for a while. Here is a picture of the kids in a neat indoor botanical area.

We just had a wonderful Thanksgiving time visiting with family. My family was here at our house for Thanksgiving day and then we went to Dallas on Friday to be with Justin's family for the weekend. The kids really enjoyed playing with their cousins.s!I just learned to crochet hats! Doesn't she look cute?

This school year is off to a good start. We just completed our term 1 for the year. Our year is broken down into 3, 12 week terms. We are now in the midst of doing an Exam week where we review what we have learned during the first term.

Callie and James really enjoyed the home school soccer that they participated in the first part of the year and are really enjoying their violin lessons. I am also loving the lessons because I am learning along with them!!

And last but not least... today was Justin's birthday! We went out to eat and came home to celebrate with cake. My Mom, Step-dad and brother were here to help us celebrate. We put on a little violin concert for them for entertainment. "I can't believe I'm 36!! "

Today in real time.....

Well I think I have finally caught up with all the major stuff I wanted to put in the blog from the past couple of months. I had some of the posts from June sitting in the draft folder and forgot about it. Just call me the "once a month blogger" I guess.

Let me tell you about what a lovely day we had TODAY...yes today..not last month. We went over to some friends house for a play date and got to play with their chickens! The kids had a blast and got to see some freshly laid green and blue eggs. I am so jealous. I wish I could have chickens. My friend gave us some of the eggs and I can't wait to eat them. I know they will be good because we sometimes buy fresh farm eggs from a lady I know.

Then we came home and I let the boys swim in the kiddy pool for a while. I was looking in our storage shed and discovered a little nest with 3 small eggs in it. I'm sure the nest must be very old but we are going to keep it open just to be sure. The kids got all excited and James would not leave it's side and started talking to the baby birds and planning how he was going to catch worms for them. I've been trying to look up what kind of eggs they are on websites and in books but am still not sure. They are very small white with brown speckles. They kind of look like cardinal eggs, (I think).

Then later James discovered a live Cicada that had just come up from underground. We picked it up and put it in a little box and got to watch it come out of its old shell. It was such a thrill for them to see the fresh green cicada come out and unfold it's wings! Of course I would have taken pictures put my batteries are dead. Arg!

I also had another thrill today...I got an email from one of my best high school friends! We have not talked is SO long. She now has two cute boys and I'm so happy to be back in touch with her!

Backyard Beauty!

Here are some pretty pictures of scenes from our backyard . I have been really pleased at how my flower garden has taken off. I never knew zinnias could grow big and huge almost like sunflowers....my little baby zinnias that I started from seeds. I also planted some morning glories all along one of the fences and they have just taken over. It is so fun!

I just love dragon flies and we have so many bird friends that visit our bird feeders. Above you can see our friend named Welcome Robin. Everyday we see many hummingbirds, cardinals, finches, sparrows, blue jays, and chickadees. I really want to get pictures of all of them.

Our vegetable garden has done pretty well. Our tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, spinach, and green beans did well. We also had some corn come up. It was really sweet but not very pretty. The ears were underdeveloped. My sugar snap peas got eaten up by something. I planted some Swiss chard late that is now starting to get big. It is so pretty like rhubarb. I've never even eaten it before.