Back to school

Another summer has come and gone..... School has started.

Luke is now a second grader.

Luke LOVES school, he was so excited to go back. This kid is the definition of calm cool and collected. Totally unconcerned about a new teacher and kids in his class. In his mind its school so it must be awesome. (oh please please keep that attitude)

A week or so in and he is signed up to be in the 2nd grade orchestra. I have to be honest and say I had no idea this was even a possibility. My brain can't wrap itself around the thought of second graders and string instruments. (to be fair that's coming from someone with less then zero musical ability). But I can appreciate that this is a wonderful opportunity to learn about music and open up other parts of the brain. (there are parts of the brain right?)

Luke decided on the Violin, can't wait to see where this leads.

For some reason Luke started a week or so before Kolby. Kolby was great to see him off but then had a hard time dealing with the fact that Luke was in school. They had such a fun summer spending everyday together in pre school he missed Luke instantly. But all is well now as he started school yesterday.

Kolbys first day post coming soon.

Soccer season.....in full swing

Or should I say full kick? Either way soccer season has begin. This year Dewey is coaching Kolbys team. Both Luke and Kolby begged him to be their coach. In the end the soccer powers that be asked him to coach Kolbys team. Luke was none to happy about this fact (while Kolby danced around thrilled )until Dew told him he could be his "Assistant coach" for Kolbys team. (when Dew picked up his coach's bag and packet Luke was seriously offended his name wasn't listed as assistant coach.....seriously offended)

To give you an idea of our schedule. Last week we had two games on Sat, game on Tues, practice on Wed, game on Thurs, game on Sat. You might recall my recent post about not having enough time....more has not magically appeared. Some of the parents asked if the boys played spring soccer. (picture horrified look on my face and are you freaking kidding me in my mind) "Um no we feel two months of fall soccer is plenty"

It turned out even better for Luke since Dew was only given three boys for his team. They play three on three but if you know anything about five year olds you know there are 101 reasons why they need a break. So every game Luke dress's for Kolbys games and acts as a sub.

There is not much cuter then watching Kolbys games, this kid smiles and runs the whole game

He is just happy to be playing, especially since dad is right there with him the whole time.

Luke has a great team with a few of the same boys that were on his team last year.

He makes sure he in always in the thick of things (can you tell I don't know much about soccer or I would be using correct soccer terms) I think he must have watched a soccer game on TV and learned this slide/kick thing he does...... a lot and any time he is near the ball. He has his own way of doing things but has fun while he does them, that's all I care about.

Let the good time roll (get it soccer ball.....roll)

Generations

Last weekend was Grandma Warner's 89th birthday. She is the amazing woman who just happens to be my hubby's grandma and my boys great grandma. When I found out we would be driving to Utah County for her birthday I remembered a pin I had seen on Pinterest and knew exactly what I wanted to do....

A generations photo.

I started with Luke and Kolby

Added Dewey (dad)

Randy, (Dad,Grandpa)

Mryl, (Mom, Grandma, Great Grandma)

I love how it turned out and can't wait to have it made up in a much larger size. We left the framed photo with Grandma Warner for her to keep.

If there was an award given for sweetest cutest grandma ever, Grandma Warner would win for sure.She never forgets a birthday and always has a kind word for everyone. I'm so glad we were able to go up and share the day with her.

Its always fun spending time with family, especially ones we don't see all that often. Dewey's cousins all have kids around the boys age so they had a blast playing at the farm with cousins. This farm has been in the family over 100 years, isn't that amazing? It is a beautiful place, with stunning views from every direction. This picture doesn't do it justice.

Why blog??

Yesterday Kolby wanted to look at baby pictures. So we hopped onto the computer and pulled up our blog. We spent a half hour going over old posts. Kolby Love-loved looking at all the pictures. And once again I thought about how much this blog means to me.

PK (PK=prior to kids, dew and I use it a lot as in "what are those dusty things in the corner of the garage, oh yea our golf clubs that was a PK thing") I assumed I would make beautiful, intricate scrapbook type photo albums, chronicling each and every milestone. Bahaha-ha once actual parenthood set in and I realized I barley have time to keep my own self washed and semi-groomed and that the term "spare time" is a word that only exists in the world of make believe, (wasn't Snow White always lounging around?) I knew I had to come up with a plan B.....luckily for me our blog was already in place. So this serves as our family scrapbook/album. At some point I plan to have it printed out into albums by year.(brilliant right?) Until that happens my genius (I'm super nice when hes doing me a favor) brother backs up our blog on his secure server.(Ok not sure if that's the right term, I mostly don't understand half the stuff he tells me, but in my mind its safe and sound in a vault somewhere and that's whats important) Another reason I blog is that my memory is TERRIBLE. Its a well know fact in my family, if anybody needs past information they come to me last, either I don't remember it at all or if I do its pretty scattered at best. Each and every day with Dewey and the boys are priceless to me. The thought of not being able to remember them is terrifying to me. So I keep track of the ordinary and extraordinary (really its all extraordinary to me)

Like Kolby chasing a balloon outside

I just snapped shots of his expressions,

It took less then a minute for the balloon to pop

But in classic Kolby style he was over it and running back a few seconds later. I just love each of these pictures.

I'll note that our current favorite family time is spent playing UNO

Yep the game that was invented the same year I was born (meaning its been around a long long time) is a huge hit in our family.

We play at least 4 rounds almost every day. Luke and Kolby are really good and win more then they lose.

Pay no attention to the shoes, animals and laundry basket in the background. Unless you want a pretty accurate picture of what our family room looks like all time :)

And last but not least, at some point the boys will be able read every thing I have written. They will know they are the loves of my life, my greatest joy. And because I know that you never know what the future holds, if the need arises they will be able to read this and know my personality, a little about who I am. My dad died when I was 6, I would LOVE to have had something like this from him. Hearing only 3rd party stories about a person is like putting together a puzzle with half the pieces missing. You get an idea what its supposed to look like but you can't see the whole picture.

So there you go, I thought I would explain a little about our blog and its purpose, and hope that you enjoy reading it.

Back to school shopping

Two weekends ago we headed to St. George to do some back to school shopping. As it turns out 5 and 7 year old boys care as much about school clothes as they do the price of beans in Timbuktu. NOT AT ALL. So we split up with Dew taking the boys to Target to pick out backpacks and me going next door to Ross. A short time later we met back at the car, them with their shiny new back packs me with 8 pairs of size 6 Levi's. (the cashier asked if I had taken all the size 6's they had........I did and informed her my two boys that were going to wear them would likely need more in a few months so they best get some more :)

After a quick stop at the mall to get the "all important" first day outfits. (All important to pretty much just me) Dew was in the dressing room helping the boys while I grabbed sizes. I heard one of the boys ask "dad why do we have try all these on?" to which Dew replied "cus mom wants us to". Ha its good to be queen :) We (me) decided on two outfits, the boys official opinion was "yea great can we go now".

We stopped at one of our favorite restaurants, "Mongolian BBQ" for lunch. By "our" I mean me and the boys, its not Dews favorite but because he loves us we can usually talk him into going. Its a family run restaurant so its always the same people every time we go. They are so nice and give extra special attention to the boys and remember them every time. Kolby and I fill our mostly veggie bowls (he tried a little chicken this time) on one side. Luke and Dew go down the other getting their mostly meat bowls. Literally Luke gets just meat with a few noodles. Which makes this place perfect we all get what we want.

We topped off the day with a stop at the city's water park.

It should go without saying this was by far the boys favorite part of the day.

It was almost as fun for me taking pictures

All natural no posed smiles

A big part of the fun was playing "lets try to get dad wet"

I just LOVE our boys smiles

Seeing their pure joy made sitting in 105 degrees worth every minute.......every sweaty minute :)

Irony.....

I know everyone knows the definition of Irony but in case your ever asked and need to whip out the perfect example of the word I'm here to help.

You might recall that last year our garden was a lush jungle providing us with tons-o-yummy veggies. All winter my mind was in a fevered pitch as to how I could make it bigger better. I would have a whole salsa section and can dozens of jars of homemade salsa. I would have a herb section and learn to do all the things you do with herbs. Not to mention trying new veggies like soybeans and artichokes. (please picture my hands rubbing together with a glint in my eye for the above section)

In spring several weekends were spent enlarging the garden to fit all my new plans. We bought new fencing to cover the big new wonderful expansion. When you have chickens you need to fence your garden. Chickens are great to prepare the soil before and after the garden (a free little garden fact for you) but they like squash almost as much as I do so once all the good stuff starts growing they treat it like their personal salad bar. So Chickens = fenced garden.

I planted at least 100 seeds in the house weeks before they were ready to go in the ground. I lovingly placed them in front of our sliding glass door. I turned them everyday so each one got all the sunshine it needed. They grew fat and happy and I was giddy with anticipation to plant. However I heeded the "old timers" of the area. After Memorial weekend, check. No snow on the second peak on the mountains to the east, check. (these are real people) Dewey rototilled and added the mulch, the garden was as ready as can be for my little plants. One full day was spent planting, we ended up running out of room even with the expansion. But everything was in the ground just waiting to grow. Its at this point if we had set up a camera to go off a 5 minute intervals you could have watched every plant wither and die. It might have been the drought we are in causing the ground to be bone dry. It might have been the TWO freezes we had or the constant wind, its hard to say but every single stinkin one of the plants we planted died. Ever the optimistic I replanted seeds and plants Neighbor Don gave us.....didn't come up and or died. My last ditch effort was planting Winnie's extra plants from her greenhouse. So we do have a few squash plants and a cucumber plant that survived and have veggies on them.

Are you still with me?

We have had chickens for years which I really enjoy. They lay yummy eggs that I will eat (unlike those gag white ones at the store) and they play in the yard. Well not play but definitely do chicken stuff in the yard. We needed a new rooster and somewhere in the planning stage for a new rooster it was decided we would get all new chickens. So Dew and neighbor Don special ordered a BUNCH from a catalog. (don't you love that you can order anything through the mail) Don kept the chicks at his house getting up in the middle of the night (every night)  to check one them (I swear). Here's the thing with chickens you can't put new ones with old ones. We tried a few years ago and it didn't end well. Its easiest to think of the old chickens as a hardcore gang and a rival gang enters their territory...not good. So it was decided to give away all of our old chickens in preparation of the new little ones arrival. Off they went to what I am told is a happy green farm where they play all day. (Dew might sugarcoat things a bit for me) And the new chicks all 14 of them were ready to come to their new home. Things went swimmingly (don't you think that word should be used more) for all of one day. Normally Dew goes out to feed in the morning and I do afternoons but he had an early appointment so it was me that went out to find..... a chicken slaughter. Every single one of the chickens had been killed. It could have been a fox, coyote, skunk, badger,we live in the country with all manner of animals about so no way to know really.

So to recap...... enlarged garden that now holds a few skinny little plants, new fencing to keep out chickens that we gave away and or lost to a mass killing.

People if there is a better definition of Irony I dare you to find it.

Feel free to use above definition if ever needed. It might be a little long for say Jeopardy but maybe some trivia board game :)

P.S no photos for this post as dead gardens and chickens don't make for good pics.

Texas ya'll

Who visits South East Texas right smack dab in the middle of summer????

WE DO!

Well three of us do, Dewey stayed home to work and take care of the farm all things animal and green.

The boys and I drove to Las Vegas, hopped on a plane, stopped in Dallas and landed in Houston last Tues, July 3rd. And if I can just brag for a minute, the boys were both so good on the planes. I'm sure everyone has an "annoying kid while flying" stories. I'm proud to say my kids did not provide any stories for strangers. Luke seriously acts like an old pro while flying. On one of the planes we hit turbulence and the plane started bouncing. Kolby and I held hands with our eyes wide open. (there may have been a slight look of panic in them) Luke was chatting away about something totally unconcerned with whatever the plane was doing.

We made it safe and sound only to be slapped in the face as soon as we stepped outside by the heat and humidity :)

My brother Steve flew down on the same day to meet us there. We packed in loads of fun stuff the whole time.

Including stopping at the lovely little town of Columbus to see the birth place of the Texas Rangers.

My little brother Jordan is starting at TLU in the fall. (so proud of him, he got a full academic scholarship plus playing on the football team) We stopped by the campus so we could look around. Its a beautiful campus. Luke is holding a Bucky beaver. We also stopped at Buc-ee's which is holy cow the biggest and nicest truck stop I have ever seen. Of course the boys had to have their very own Buc-ee beaver. You will also notice everyone in the photo wearing Nike's I didn't get the memo and wore gasp sandals so they wouldn't let me be in the picture. Ok so really I was taking the picture but that would have been funny, and almost true.

I just love this picture of my brother Steve and Luke, holding hands in their little almost matching shoes and shorts walking the streets of San Antonio.

I burst out laughing when I saw this picture. Luke is doing his classic eyes closed looking into the sun forced smile. Kolbys is pure hot and tired forced smile. For some reason I remembered the Alamo being a lot bigger the last time I was here. Of course it was 102 years ago and I was not much bigger then the boys but still.

We made our way to the San Antonio river walk which I loved! Lush and green with lots of yummo restaurants. We ate at a British Pub for lunch, they even had a gasp vegetarian section to the menu. I had a delicious veggie BLT. (you would be surprised how easy it is to make me happy)

We took a river boat tour, mostly because I'm a nerd and love all the fun facts you can only learn from a tour guide. Luke made it all of two minutes before he was out, fast asleep on Uncle Jordans shoulder.

Back in Katy there was park time with a roller slide a hit with the boys.

In case you didn't know it was hot, this is a picture of how Kolby looked most of the time..... wet and drippy. (he bit a hole in the bottom of the water bottle....don't ask hes a 5 year old boy)

The last day before we left we went to the Houston zoo. This is the first zoo for Luke (we took Kolby to the Guatemala city zoo when he was one, he slept through the whole thing so really this could be considered his first time too) Needless to say they LOVED every minute. I have asked them several times since we have been home what their favorite part was and they each say something different each time. But if I had to guess Luke's favorite would be the dinosaurs.

I mean look at this pure happy smile on his face. Kolby was a little sure that the dino robots were going to eat him up. Luke wanted a picture taken with each and every one.

I think Kolby's favorite were the monkeys.

We had a wonderful vacation. The boys simply adore their uncles, all three of them. Adore to the point of the uncles being near super hero's in their eyes. They could not have been happier hanging out with them. I'm so thankful that we were able to make the trip and spend time with everyone. Huge thanks to our Katy family for everything you did for us we really appreciate it!!!

Adventure on our way back when one of our flights got canceled as we stood at the check-in counter. They got us on a different airline different layover city with us getting to Las Vegas two hours earlier. Great except there was not an extra two hours in our timeframe. The boys and I literally ran to make both flights. (kolby holding onto the strap on the carry on and me yelling "knees up, run run" We got to each as they were boarding. For those of you that know me know that this is something that would make me CRAZY. Luckily I have the very best hubby who took a shuttle to Las Vegas to meet us at the airport and drive us home.