Johnny Appleseed Day

Kindergarten is in full swing!

The first fun celebration the kids have had 

was to celebrate Johnny Appleseed Day.

Johnny came to visit and ready them a story.

He even hung around and had his photo taken with the kids!

He gave each child an apple as a treat.

Jackson kept saying he didn't want an apple because he 

didn't like apples...I think he ate 4 that day along with all

kinds of different apple treats!

The kids had lots of fun making home made applesauce

and it made their classroom smell sooo good!

One of the fun things the kids did was to make a 

Thank You card for Johnny coming to see them.

They made an apple tree out of their hands and then

made apples with their thumb prints and their name

to say "thanks"

They had so much fun dressing up and doing all of the fun

activities that Mrs. Hall had planned for them.

All About Jackson

Whew....

We have been running in a whirlwind around here lately...

Time for a little catch up!

A few weeks ago, it was Jackson's 

All About Me week at school.

The kids get to have a bulletin board in their classroom decorated

all week with photos and things that tell all about them

and then on Friday it's their All About Me Day.

They get to have a special snack and do 

whatever activity they want...

crafts or games...

I had gone the Friday before and set up his board.

We had photos of him as a baby,

Halloween photos, vacation photos,

family photos, birthday photos,

Auburn photos and just having fun photos.

I thought his little board turned out really cute.

All decked out in orange and blue!

We all dressed in Auburn colors for his all about me day

and had lots of fun telling his class all about the pictures we

choose to put on his board.

Jackson's favorite treats are Lemonade Popsicles and

ice cream, so we had both on hand and let the kids choose 

which treat they would like to have. 

Then we were off to do Jackson's favorite thing at school.

Playing on the Playground!

All the kids had fun outside and it was a beautiful day to 

be outside playing!

Scott had been out of town that week and flew back in at lunch and made it

to school just in time to start Jackson's All About Me...

he was so excited to see Scott!

It was a lot of fun and Jackson had fun telling his friends all

about the things that make him special.

At the end of the day, Jackson's treat from Mrs. Hall was

to take home their class mascot, Boomer.

Boomer went every where with us that weekend.

We took photos of all the fun things that he and Jackson did

and wrote in Boomer's special journal that

keeps track of everything that Boomer does with all of the

kids.  It's going to be fun to read all about Boomer's adventures 

at the end of the year.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out

"All About Jackson"

Austin's Diamond in the Rough

Today we got Austin a car...

he's only 14...and it's a good thing...

cause it's gonna need a little help!

For a while now, Austin has been talking to Scott about getting a 

classic car and the two of them fixing it up.

And a wonderful one popped up.

A '66 Mustang...

Today we had it hauled to the house.

Hauled because that is the only way we could get it here!

The guy from the wrecker service made it look 

easy peasy....

And just like that it was loaded up and ready to go.

And then it was home.

They have a lot of work ahead of them, but,

I think it is going to be a great project for the two of them.

And Austin can't wait to see how their project

turns out.

The only problem with this new little project is that we have 

now run out of garage space!  Scott's truck moved upstairs and the 

Mustang now lives downstairs with the 'Vette.

Someone had to move outside.

And with winter coming,  Scott was gracious and let me

stay in the garage.

We may have another project pop up before this is all said and done.

It will be in the form of another garage out in the back yard!

We'll keep you up to date with their progress.

Hopefully they will have it running and ready to go

by the time he turns 16!

Grandparents Day 2013

Today we celebrated Grandparent's Day

at Jackson's school.

Mama and Papa came over and had lunch with Jackson...

Austin is too big for Grandparent lunch...I guess they think that 

High School kids don't want to have lunch with their Grandparent's.

After lunch we headed back to their classroom and listened to a

special song they learned about how special our Grandparents are and then

they sang us their Months of the Year song and also they sang a song

where they have learned to count to 10 in Spanish.

After the performance they had a special gift for their Grandparents 

with a sweet poem and their hand prints on it.

This was a cute little poster they had hanging outside their door 

about all of the fun things they do with their Grandparents.

Today was lots of fun and we were so happy that 

Mama and Papa could come and share this special

day with Jackson.  We sure missed Nana and Grandpa being here...

Back to School!

Both boys started to school last week.

Austin started 9th grade and Jackson

is a big Kindergarten boy now!!

On Tuesday night, the kids had orientation.

Austin went to grab his schedule and we took all

of Jackson's supplies in and checked out his room.

He was so excited and couldn't wait to get 

to his room.

Mrs. Hall has her room decorated in a circus theme 

and everything looks amazing.

She was introducing them to their class mascot,

Boomer,  he will actually get to come home with

the children and they will get to write in a journal

what they and Boomer do while he is visiting

their house.

I have always taken Austin's picture on the front porch

every first day of school.  Last year he wouldn't

let me take it...this year I told him that

there would be a photo taken and there would NOT

be an argument or I would take my camera and

follow him down the hall at school and take it there!

Needless to say, he was on the porch, first call, smiling and

I was happy I had my first day picture!

I walked in with Jackson on the first day to help him

get situated and of course, snap a few dozen photos!

After I took this photo, Jackson turned around and said 

"if you don't stop taking my picture I am going to walk off 

and go into Kindergarten by myself!"

Mrs. Hall was excited...it is her first day of Kindergarten, too!

She has taught sixth grade at the school for several years,

but switched to Kindergarten this year.

Coloring before school started for the day

Outside in the hall, the kids have a place to hang their work

and the sign above reads "Welcome to the Greatest Class on Earth!"

I can't wait to see what wonderful things this year brings for Jackson.

It has been so much fun hearing about his day...

who made him laugh...all of the new rules...(that thankfully he seems to 

be following!)...new challenges and new adventures!

I left after their class headed out to chapel.

All of the Mom's looked like the paparazzi out in the hallway...

snapping that one last photo of their babies before they headed 

on their way.

Here's to a GREAT school year for both of the boys!

I'm Still Here...

I think!

WOW

We have been so busy since school has been out but at

the same time we have not gotten a thing done!

Austin has been to camp twice and I 

think most of his summer running is over!

On Sunday, June 30th we took him

to Camp Boxwell in Lebanon, Tennessee for 

Boy Scout Camp.

Loading up the car before church...he was so 

excited that I was taking his picture every step of the way!

We met the rest of his troop and drove up to Boxwell

and dropped him off for the week.

They were getting all of their gear together and meeting

"Mongoose" their site manager for the week.

We followed them down to camp.

He was even MORE excited that I kept taking photos...

hee hee hee...He only thought he was getting rid of 

me for the week!

Jackson had fun checking out their tent and seeing where we

were sending his big brother off to for the week.

We decided to stay and watch the boys take their swimming 

test.  Each boy has to jump in and swim certain distances

to see if they are a non-swimmer, beginning swimmer or full swimmer.

Austin had told us before he waked to the docks that

he was not going to try the swim test and just be a 

non-swimmer this week.  We tried to talk him into

trying, but we were not getting very far...

but he jumped in and did the entire test!

Full Swimmer for the week!

Whoo Hoo!

We watched until he got his arm band with the other

boys and then Scott, Jackson and I headed home.

We returned back on Friday, July 5th to pick him up!

I was so happy to see my little camper!

We decided against staying for the closing campfire.

It had been raining for two days straight and there

was more rain on the way.

Austin had a lot of fun, but was ready to come home

at the same time!  He told us stories all the way home about 

what happened this year at camp.

Great summer memories made indeed!

Bustin' Up Around Here

When you own a house, you always have a 

"To-Do" list a mile long.  It seems the older our house

gets, the longer that list grows...

We decided it was time to tackle one of our BIG

projects on our list...

The Front Porch Steps

As you can see, our sidewalk has settled away from the garage wall

and in turn was making our steps fall forward and away from the house.

It's a little hard to see in this photo,

(I was trying to get a few 'before' shots

before Scott got a little Jackhammer happy!)

but there was a gap in the top step that was 

big enough for me to put my hand in.

You can see on this photo that the steps had moved down 

almost an entire brick row...

Scott thought about trying to break out each brick,

one by one, and save them for a future project...

Then he pulled out the Jackhammer to see 

how hard it would be to tackle the sidewalk.

Did I mention that he decided to try all of this one night

about 9:30  PM...I'm sure my neighbors loved him!

He quickly discovered that this was going to be one tough

job...

He then thought he would see how the Jackhammer would

work on the brick steps...and quickly decided that trying to 

save the bricks was for the birds!

Bright, but not too early the next morning he was at it!

Uncle Rick came over to lend a hand and Austin and his 

friend Andrew went to work as well...

By lunch they had the steps almost done.

Many, many buckets of broken up bricks were

taken one by one to the trailer and then hauled off

to a spot down the road and unloaded.

After they finished the steps, they called it a day...

And they were right back at it the next morning...

Scott quickly discovered what should have been a 3-4 inch sidewalk

had been poured anywhere from 5-10 inches thick...

No wonder our concrete bill was so high when we built!

Jackson decided he would get in on the action

and went with the guys to unload a trailer full

of busted up concrete.

They were almost done with the sidewalk,

but after hanging on to a Jackhammer for two

days straight, Scott decided he was done for the day.

The barn-swallows we also ready for him to be done.

They were quite upset that he was so close to one of their nests! 

Finally, they finished up Sunday afternoon and

were ready for the brick mason to come and do his work.

Bright and early last Tuesday morning they came to 

pour a new sidewalk.

A few hours later I had a new front sidewalk.

Now we had to wait a couple of days for it to dry so they could come

and add the steps.

Friday they came and started working on adding my steps back on.

I snuck out while they were on a lunch break to take a quick picture

of their progress...it's one thing for me to stand over Scott's shoulder and 

take photos of every little step he takes,

but I was not sure how total strangers would feel about

me snapping a shot every 5 minutes...

And here they are...all finished...and not falling off

the house!! Whoo Hoo!!!

So happy to have this project DONE!

Scott and I both agreed that after walking up the new steps

we realized just how bad the old steps had gotten...

Now to clean up a little bit of the mess they made...

the concrete guys splattered concrete on my

front porch planters and the 

barn-swallows have made a mess

on my porch...

Like I said...a "To Do" list with a house...

never seems to get done!