We almost made it without any tears...

The first day of school was Monday and the kids were so excited. They had everything picked out and packed the night before. That morning they even all got up the first time I called (not normal) and were ready early. Hannah was starting the 3rd grade and Jacob was starting the 1st. As we walked in they still seemed pretty excited. Hannah only cared about finding her best friend from across the street and I never really was worried about her. Jake's looking good so we head to his class first. He walks right in and straight to his desk still looking calm. Now he would be one I might worry about but he's doing great and I'm impressed with him. Then he hears his teacher telling another student to go put his backpack in his locker and that was all it took for poor Jake to lose it. His eyes well up and he makes a beeline for me. I asked him what was wrong and he tearfully said "I forgot to put my backpack in my locker". I look back now and think there were two reason for this reaction.

1: He'd been trying so hard to be brave it just took one little thing to set him off.

2: At meet the teacher the week before someone had jokingly told him he had the meanest teacher in the whole school. This didn't go over well then and I think he remembered it at that moment.

Well, after some brief reassurance from me and the teacher that everyone was forgetting that he was fine. He went back to his desk and didn't look at me again. I dropped Hannah off (no drama there) and then it was Jonny's turn.

Jonathan is starting Kindergarten and he is at a separate school about 7 minutes away so we pile in the car and head there. He walks in confident, goes straight to his locker (he learned from Jacob's mistake) and then into the classroom. He did act a little shy but no real problems.

Now it's just me and Rachel till it's time to pick everyone up. She was great over the summer playing with her siblings and having fun on her own but it will be interesting to see if she gets clingy again now that they're gone.

At the end of the day everyone said they had a great day and wanted to go back. Let's see how long that lasts.

Oh The Aches and Pains of It All...

Well, this has been a week of manual labor for me, and if you know me at all you know that it's not something I enjoy. It all started Tuesday (it was supposed to start Monday but my procrastination kicked in), with the garage. Now we've been here about two months and I've been ignoring the garage. I would even park the car in the driveway and walk with groceries all the way around to the front door to avoid it. But I couldn't take it any longer, neither could the rest of the family for that matter. Every time the kids wanted a bike or ball, or every time Jeff wanted some tool I would have everybody stand back while I waded through broken down boxes, weight equipment, shower curtain rods with the curtain still attached (don't ask) and who knows what else. I really think the city could have condemned it if they wanted to. So anyway bright and early Tuesday morning, well 9:00 anyway I went at it. Pulled everything out into the driveway, separated it all into piles, and then it started to rain. Have I mentioned I don't like physical work. Now the Gods are against me. So I pulled things back in just far enough to not get wet and went to work. Building shelves, going up and down the attic stairs, and sweeping spiders from everything. About 5:30 I decide I'm done for a while and Jeff comes home. Good Thing---He says it looks alot better, Bad Thing---He tells me I stink. Well of course I stink my body isn't used to this. It's physically rejecting work. Really, it happens. You'd think it would be the end of it but oh no I've got another day and a half to go. But now I'm happy to say we can fit both cars into the garage, which is good because Thursday my car window broke and wouldn't roll up all the way.

So now Friday rolls around. Jeff has decided that he is going to build the garden beds. (I think because the wood was taking up space in my beautiful garage.) I'm thinking great, good for him, he enjoys gardening so. Late Friday afternoon Jeff is off so he gets out his work bench and his wood and his oil and starts treating the wood. I watch from inside the house where I should be. About dusk he comes in (these mosquitoes are killer) and says to me "Would you finish up oiling the boards tomorrow morning so when I get home I can start building?" WHAT...haven't I done my work quota for the year by now. Well being that he's so cute and can reach the really high things, I guess I could help. It's just wiping some oil on a few boards right. So the next morning I'm up bright and early again, (9:00) and I go out to the garage to survey the situation. There are 20 boards left, and these are big boards, and it's AUGUST IN TEXAS! Fine, it will take a couple of hours then I'll be done. I finish about noon. Then HE gets home.

They're all done I say.

Great, will you help me build them I can't do it by myself he says.

What's that part about together forever again......

After a VERY VERY long day, many many bruises, and some choice thoughts I don't care to reveal here, it's all done. Everything's been measured, measured again, cut, screwed, unscrewed, and rescrewed. They actually look pretty nice.


Now we really have six of these and they're each 4 foot by 8 foot. They still need to be flipped over, secured to the ground and filled with dirt, but then we can start planting. And after that it's all easy right? All I know is he better be growing me something chocolate, or at least be bringing it home.

We'll see if I'm any better...

So now everyone I know has these great blogs going and I'm all jealous but Jeff doesn't quite have the time to keep ours up so I'm going to give it a try. Since the last post we've baptized Hannah, watched Jonathan turn five, went to Utah for Christy's wedding, and Oh Yeah, moved to a new city and started a job. (Well, Jeff started a job and I'm an unofficial personal secretary.) We now live in Sulphur Springs, Texas. I know, I know you've never heard of it. Go east from Dallas about 1 hour and you'll find it. Jeff has started a solo practice so the month of July was spent trying to get that up and ready. For me that meant lots of trips to Dallas and Ikea (gotta love that store) for random office supplies. (Maybe I forgot to mention that in this town of ours the only stores are Wal-Mart, Brookshires, and Lowes. At least nothing is too long of a drive away.)

We were able to take a couple of trips this summer. The end of June we traveled to Provo for Jeff's sister's wedding. I actually drove out with the kids and Brad and Karrie and Milo (an adventure too painful to write) and Jeff got to fly out (he said he had to be back to work but I'm pretty sure he could have worked around that if he wanted to). Utah was fun. We partied with the siblings and cousins, mostly playing Rock Band. Turns out Hannah wants to be a pop star when she grows up and Jeff wants to be in the band. Christy's wedding was great. The kids all thought they were so special with their matching outfits. Hannah keeps asking me when she gets to be a flower girl again.

Our second trip was too our favorite vacation spot...Galveston. Now I know you might be thinking--Galveston, really?--but we get to stay with Uncle Brad, Aunt Karrie, and Milo and go the beach. Jeff and I even got to spend the night in Houston for our 9th anniversary by ourselves. THANKS BRAD AND KARRIE!!!!!

Alright, well being that it's taken me about an hour to get this far, we'll see if I make anymore posts. Even if I don't I still love reading yours.

Turning Over the Reigns

Well, if you hadn't figured it out...I, Jeff, had initiated this blog and maintained the few posts that it had... As of tonight, my lovely wife has informed me that we have gotten some complaints on my lack of recent interest in the site (thanks a lot Lorie!). So, the rest of the posts should be up to Kari and all blame for the content (or lack there of) should be directed at her (author's disclaimer)!