::August...err, I mean September, NOPE...now...October...GEEZ...November 2010!::
Wow, August and September flew by and then October and now here it is November!
We have been beyond busy around here and with that said I've been really neglecting my blog diary! As you can tell from this post!
So...
This is pretty much My Brain Dump!...
Activities, thoughts, lots of photos. You name it it's in here! And from way back, a couple of months worth! Heck, someone turned 11 months and then turned a whopping 1year!What??!! Someone started school! Where has the time gone?! My babies are growing up too fast!
Anyway, I'll send this post with updates through September. Then the next will have October and so on.
It might seem strange the way I've thrown this together, but I just needed it finally out of my brain and in text! Then the next will have October and so on.
Be warned...this is a HUGE posting!!!!...
Ok, so...July 29th we left for the Hill Country for a last minute summer get-a-way before Hunt started school.
I know I've said this before, but we LOVE the Hill Country!
On our way down hubs decided to stop at Inner Space Caverns.
It was a nice beginning to a good family weekend! Hunt really thought it was super cool when our tour leader started talking about the bones that have been discovered there. The animals that were around there many many years ago were the ones similar to the movie Ice Age. So of course Hunt perked up! There were drawings depicting these animals down in the cavern that they added to show what they looked like. We found out that the cavern is more like a cave. After riding the mining type cart down a little ways and walking the rest you go down about 70 feet. We saw stalagmites and stalactites, but didn't get to see the bats(Eastern Pipistrelle) that call the cavern home. They must have been on a trip of their own. These type bats don't migrate like some of the others. And they call them "chicken nugget" bats because they are about the size of chicken nuggets. We also learned that the land owners family still get money from the tours and such, so they are sitting pretty!!!
We decided to stay in Kerrville again. It's usually where we stay when we go down there. After arriving in Kerrville and unloading all our stuff at the hotel we ate dinner at Mamacitas. It was really good! And boy were we tired and stuffed!
{my little nearly bald, baby girl}
{my sweet Bubba!}
{look at those legs! I call these her booty shorts..hahaha!}
Friday we decided to go through the shops at Fredericksburg.
{ready to shop}
{some of Fredericksburg's shops}
{LOVE this boot jack}
{just look at that silly kid of mine! nice wig and rollers grandma, I mean Bubba!}
{Hunt loves these little town sets!}
{someone tuckered out}
I found a cute Hereford painting print on canvas and HAD to have it!
I love it! The artist is Diane Whitehead. It was my favorite purchase from the weekend.
I also found some other goodies like this cute tank and tutu set for Em...
A sweet buckle ring and 2 other jewelry items, monogrammed bloomers, 2 new fabric pieces, 2 more knitted finger puppets, some nice hankies, ...........
I saw this adorable boot jack! It's in one of the photos above in a store window. Oh I wanted it so bad...until I found out the price was $250.00! Can you believe that?!! CRAZY!!!
Hubs said he could make it! Well honey...it would be a sweet gift to your wifey dear!HA!
We had lunch at Wheelers. And dinner at Billie Gene's. Billie Gene's has a good variety of food with tasty deserts!
Some photos I snapped outside Billie Gene's...
Saturday we decide to go do some geocahes. We had 5 total that we were looking for. The first one was suppose to be at the "stone hinge" site. But...they are now moving stone hinge to a different location and it said closed and some of the rocks were downand a bull dozer was near it. So we didn't even attempt to get out and look. The second one was outside the "Y O Ranch". And we did find it!YAY!
(geocache photos)
{Hunt...such a boy...he found a jaw bone(and other bones) of a deer and thought they were so cool! He wanted to bring them home for the nature table. But mama said no}
And the next 3 were a bust! Either they had been moved, lost stollen or washed away. We searched and searched, but didn't find them!
We also stopped at the Guadalupe River to dip our feet in. Just Hunt and I got out and walked in the riverbed. The rocks looked much smoother from the road driving by. We found that they were rough on the feet!
Sunday after stopping for fresh peaches, tomatos and okra we headed home. We always hate to leave!
Here are a few interesting photos of sights around Fredricksburg/Kerrville and surrounding areas...
{I love the color of junipur berries}
{boots on fence posts}
Monday was a slow day of just hanging around the house for the kids and mama, but it was back to work for daddy!
We made our final trip to Henrietta Creek Orchard to pick peaches the 3rd of August. And lucky for us we went because it was their last day to be open for the peach season. The peaches were scarce and kinda sad looking(lots on the ground), but we managed to get enough. We also picked some apples, a few figs, some okra and some beans. Sue, the owner, is such a sweet lady! We had planned on going back in September for apple time, but never made it. There was only one type of apple this day with just a few ready to pick.
Thanks again Henrietta Creek Orchard for the fun and yummy food!
Hunt and I used some of our peaches and made a peach cobbler. Yummmmyyyyyy!!! we used the recipe in the Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook. It turned out so good last time when we used it to make the blackberry cobbler, so I figured what the heck. I didn't take any photos of us making it this time. I had a horrible headache and only got a photo of it after it was done.
I showed Hunt how to make peach sun tea the next day.
We filled our glass jug with water, added the tea bags and as a special treat, and because we had fresh picked peaches, we added cut up peaches to it. We left it out in the sun for about an hour and a half. We brought it in and I added a sugar syrup. So refreshing!!!
While we were waiting for the tea, we practiced out t-ball skills.
Someone discovered they like peaches!
August 5th! Someone turned 10 Months old!!
Emma, you're 10 MONTHS old...
So what's been going on?
*you got some new teefies(teeth) coming through...we noticed the top right one coming in on Wednesday July 21st and July 23rd, another one on the bottom left. Then the top left tooth started in on July 28th. so many at one time!
*when you pull on me wanting up, I say ...up and you answer with your "yes" babble...too cute!
*you feed me a piece of your corn the end of July...it was so sweet, but then you wanted it back, trying to reach in my mouth.HA!
*you are still SO VERY cautious when a stranger speaks to you. you look at mama or daddy as if asking if it's ok. I guess it's a good thing though, but your brother was never like that. He knows no strangers.
*when mama doesn't wear her glasses, or when she wears a cap or bandana you always just look her in the face. I guess because she looks different.
*you've started to throw some fits, throwing yourself either down or back and bouncing around all the while crying or screaming. Mama is NOT a fan!
*you've been clapping alot.
*when we speak to you or ask you a question, you always try to answer us or communicate with us with a grunt or a noise.
*you've also been doing a lot of standing by yourself. you let go of things, or me and stand so proud sometimes clapping...it's so cute!
*you've been hugging your babies and animals and an occasional weird item like daddy's cap or a car.
*you've been giving a very few kisses
I bought a coconut a while back and had Hunt punch the holes, drain the milk and crack it open... We tried it and talked about it. Hunt thought the meat wasn't too bad, but did not like the milk! Pobably because it wasn't sweetened. He really enjoyed using the hammer and hitting the coconut...a boy and a hammer, need I say more?!!!
We had lots of fun on the 6th of August! Grandma treated all the grandkids to lunch at Chuck E Cheese! And of course they ALL had a blast! Even little Miss Emma liked it! Hubs had taken a trailer over to have grandpa help him work on a few things and my rug rats played for a while.
Then we meet Aunt Misty and cousins "M" and "R" at Chuck E's! Thanks for the fun grandma!!!!
The 7th of August I started a beginners knitting class. I had been wanting to learn and can't seem to teach myself...I've tried several time. The only knitting I was able to do was on a loom. The classes were on the 7th, 14th and 21st.
This was what we completed...
a dish/face cloth.
It was a fun time and the instructor was great! Thanks Trudy! So I can now say that I know how to knit! It may be basic, but I can knit! I hope to go take more classes in the future!
I registered Hunt for school on August 9th. It was neat to see his reaction when we first entered the school. He thought the wall murals were cool! Wow I can't believe he's in kindergarten!
We meet some of our Early Childhood Mommies at a Jump house.
Both kiddos had a blast!
On the 18th we meet some new friends Michelle and her daughter "K" at Pepe Le Potter to have some pottery paiting fun! We let the kiddos pick out a thing to paint while we watched/assisted. "K" painted a hand print plate and Hunt picked out a train. It was a good time and I can't wait to go back and do more! I have a few goodies I want to do and maybe a few gifts for others as well! Afterwards we all had lunch at Chik'fil A. The kids played and we talked which was really nice! Thanks for a fun time Michelle and "K"!
{and the finished train}
This is strange, but I decided to get a photo of Hunt getting his hair cut for school. Just something I threw in here...
The 19th was meet the teacher night at his school. His teacher's name is Mrs. Stephenson. She has been teaching for 11 years. And thankgoodness she has 2 boys of her own close to Hunt's age(and older step children as well)! So yay...she knows how boys can be! There is also another teacher in his class, maybe a student teacher, her name is Miss. Burke. We gussied up a hand sanitizer with ribbons and peeled off the label to add a large hand print vinal sticker. It was cute, but I forgot to take a photo. We also gave the teacher a teacher journal.
{waiting in line to go in the school}
{Hunt meets his teacher!}
{Hunt giving Mrs. Stephenson her gift}
{First time to use a school bathroom}
{trying out the "weird" sink. boy it brings back memories}
The school PTA offered free ice cream! SO of course we got some! Em loves ice cream!
{Hunt got to meet the school nurse}
On the 20th our family headed out to the Hunter's Extravaganza! Both kids LOVED seeing all the animals and had fun! We hung out with some friends there and later ate dinner at Dos Gringos. I had not been in umpteen years, so it was a nice change.
I took an old pair of Hunt's camo shorts and made Miss Em a skirt and flower pin!
August 22, the day before school started, we got all of our stuff together.
We picked out our clothes and decided on a lunch. Since it was the first day, we wanted to look our BEST(or close to it)! So we decided on a blue button down shirt, a black and grey rock guitar tie, a dark blue sweater vest, blue jeans, and suede boots. We decided a lunch of carrots, pretzels, a jelly sandwich and cookies would work for that day. I wanted to be sure it was food I knew he would eat.
The next morning before we left I got it all packed up in a rocket ship lunch box. I made some snack baggy and sandwich wrap sets so that we don't have to keep using bags all the time. Here's a few photos of the western theme one I made.
{bag set}
{sandwich wrap}
{opening it up}
{velcro closing snack bags}
August 23rd...First day of School!I think I was just as excited as Hunt that morning! It's not everyday that it's your FIRST day of School...Kindergarten! I was anxious to see if Hunt was going to get up on his own. We went to Walmart and purchased an alarm clock for his room. I wasn't looking forward to getting him up in the mornings. It sometimes can be tough! I thought if he had his own that he might think he was a "big boy" and get up on his own. And what do you know...he did! He got up, turned it off just how I showed him and came in the kitchen. YAY!!! No fights! And he has done it ever since!
Anyway...He looked SO HANDSOME that morning!!! I told him that he could take the sweater off once at school. I knew he would be a bit warm. All I could get him to eat for breakfast was half a granola bar. The kid usually isn't hungry until later.
We took photos outside before we headed to school.
I almost forgot to take a photo of the adorable little gifts that we brought Mrs. Stephenson and Miss. Burke on the first day. So here is the photo I snapped quickly in the car...
They each got a cute apple in an apple cozy sweater. I love these!
Once at school I parked and walked him to his room. There was no way he could carry all the school supplies by himself and plus I wanted to see my baby boy just a bit longer before I had to leave him!
I helped him find his locker and cubby and a seat at a table.
With camera in hand a snapped photos. I ran down my list of things I say to him like... the I love yous, have a good day, make good choices, listen and keep your hands to yourself, I'll see you later, etc...got my hugs and kisses and left teary eyed!
Walking back to the Tahoe I couldn't help but to think about all that we've been through. All that we've done. The day he was born,February 3rd, on MY birthday! The day we found out that he had a stroke and the hospital stay that followed. The neurolgist visits. All the therapy visits. The first time I heard him giggle. A seizure on Christmas Day! Getting his ankle braces. The first time I heard the word "Mama" come from his sweet lips. The day he turned 1. His first steps. Growing and learning all the time. Me getting so very lucky to stay home with my sweet boy! When he first told me he loved me. Then he turned 2! With all the energy in the world(still has that)! All the running and climbing and limit pushing(actually that was before 2!) Then 3 came. How could it be 3? Didn't we just meet? Didn't he just enter the word yesterday? Didn't our lives just change with the birth of our son? Growing still in size as well in mind. Such a smart little boy! So smart and sweet! Everyone telling me that he is very intellagent for his age. Along came his 4th birthday. Oh 4! It seemed that 4 got a little harder. He started pre-school. Which was difficult on this mama to. It was a rough time for him. With the trouble he had with his behavior. He had to learn that not everyone wants to be hugged or even talked to. And to keep his hands to himslef and be considerate. He became a brother and his world was changed in an instant. Now he had to share HIS parents! Share the only 2 people that he had spent most of his days, his life with. No longer getting all the attention as before. But how exciting it was. Soon it was 5! 5 years old my baby boy is now! 5! Starting his school years! And away from mama for so long. Why has the time flown by so fast? Why do the days seem to sometimes be a blur. Rushing through life at times. It's often hard to imagine when he was 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, or even 4 years old. We can't stop time. We can only just try and remember all the fun times we had and learn from mistakes. Try and replay our children's smiling faces and laughs in our minds. Try and do the best we can for them and love them unconditionaly!
So I get in the Tahoe, I sit there for a minute, wipe my eyes and smile. Look how far he's come...how far we've all come! I've learned how to give more love, have more strength, more patients, more understanding and to even let go a little. For me letting go is so hard. But I'm learning how to do it, one day at a time!
Picking Hunt up after the First Day of School...
I was just as excited to see him!!!
I had written down some highlights from his first week of school, but can not for the life of me remember where the notebook is, so maybe I'll add them here when I recover them. Just to have a record of it.
Just some before school photos...
At Hunt's school the kindergarten has a special disciplane type plan that envolves each child having 2 popcicle sticks and a close pin. If the child is called upon he is told to remove a popcicle stick. Once both are gone, then his clothes pin clip is moved down the board to different colors and the action is taken such as principles office, call to parent, etc., etc. So the other day we were in the car and Em was doing her little load talk/yell and I had told her to be little quieter. And of course she didn't. So Hunt looked at her and said..."Em when we get home, pull a stick"! Which meant she wasn't making a good choice and needed to get a popcicle stick taken away. HAHAHA!...kids!!!
Homework fun...
{Hunt's mini me}
{after school goofies...}
{Some shirt I made...}
Also in August Hunt went to his last library story time...for a while anyway! Since he will be in school, he'll miss it. And Em is still too young for me to take her by herself. So here's some photos of our story time morning...
We meet Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle David and Aunt Misty, Cousin "M" and Cousin "R" for dinner at Edelwise to celebrate some birthdays. It was a really fun time!!! The kids loved dancing and doing the "chicken dance".HA!
{Kids doing the Chicken Dance}
Labor Day weekend was nice. Daddy took off that Sunday and Monday so that we could all be together for the long weekend. We left Friday for the lake. We hadn't been since the Fourth of July! The kids did pretty good at the hotel again.
{fun in the hotel room}
{they loved getting in the night stand! and of course Emma doing her usual...pulling everything out of mama's bag!}
Hunt enjoyed riding his four wheeler, watching the baby birds, some fishing, riding in the boat and swimming.
It was Em's first time to ride in the boat. She didn't seem to care for it that much. And when we stopped to get out and swim, she cried and cried. So Daddy stayed in the boat with her. Hunt loved it as usual and kept jumping off the boat into the water. Some family friends had fun skiing, wakeboarding and kneeboarding. Even the 50 something year old neighbor there at the lake house did some skiing. This mama chickened out. I wanted to do it, but am so overweight and out of shape that I didn't want to embarrase myslef! HA! It has been 3 years now since I had even tubed! And wow...can't believe summer is over and we only rode in the boat this one time! Kind of a waste! Times have changed from what they use to be. I wanted to get Hunt on a tube, but didn't...maybe next year. I know he would have loved it! He loved it when he rode with me once a few years ago. And he didn't get to do his fireworks again either...sad! Poor little guy! Maybe they'll keep until next year and we can take them somewhere and shoot them.
{Here's the T-Rex dinosaur tree we see every year while riding the boat}
{Some tired kids}
{Daddy bought Emma this cute cap!}
Bubba and Daddy did a little fishing before we left.
11months!!!
Em...you're 11 months old now!
{likes to find eyes on animals and dolls}
{look at the way she's looking at the bear!..funny!}
EMMA...11months!
what are you doing these days?
*eating up a storm!
*you make a goofy smile and scrunch up your nose and show your pearly whites.
*you really like bananas!...and I mean REALLY!
*Em you're crazy about caps
*you got your first "real" tooth brush, instead of the finger brush that mama had to use on you.
*you have been standing by yourself for a long time, ready to walk, but not there yet. it will be soon I know it!
*you wake up still once or twice after I put you down at night and you nap once a day.
*you have 5 teeth through, and two more on each side at the top poking through.
*you like to bend over while your standing and look through your legs...I guess you like the look of things up-side-down.
*Em you are so, so silly!!!! One month and you will be 1 year old!!!
We had an ackward experience last month that I thoguht I'd share...
We went to a resturant to eat and there was this drunk man that came over to our table and started to talk a little to us and alot to Emma. Well she started crying, really loud! He just kept standing there and talking. Leaning down almost in her face and showing her a photo on his phone of his son. He was saying "it's ok". I had pulled her high chair close to me and was trying to comfort her, but she was very upset. And Daddy was getting very upset to! So he finally walks back over to the bar. Emma calms down and we try to enjoy the rest of our meal. After about 10 minutes or so he comes back over and is telling us bye, like we were all good friends or something. Again he gets down close to Emma and is talking to her and some to us and she starts crying again. By this time Daddy is about to clobber this guy! We try to stay polite to him and just let him finish and leave. After about 7 minutes he heads to the door. I was watching to see if he was driving and if so I was ready to call the police. He had NO business being out on the roads!!! So as he's leaving through the door our waiter comes over and asks us if we were doing ok or if we needed anything. I say that "we are fine, but is that man driving(as I point out the door to him getting into his truck)"?!!! The waiter looks at me and says yes. I then say..." he doesn't need to be". Hubs says..."he's had way to much to drink"! The waiter replies..."he only had one"! So I was like..."really, well he didn't act like it"! He then says...yeah, I think something else is wrong with him, in the head". Hubs says he acted more like he had been drinking. Maybe only one here, but he had to have had more before, you could smell it all over him! Well hubs told me later that he was about to jump in that guys s***! He kept telling himself I don't want to go to jail! It was just a strange thing!
The first time I went to eat lunch with Hunt at school was September 10th. It was just Em and I. Since then Daddy had got to come with us to.
Here's some photos of our lunch...
{trying on sister's bow...goof ball!!}
Saturday(11th) we didn't do anything special. We had lunch and came back home. That afternoon Hunt helped daddy build a hog feeder thingy for the deer lease. It was a large pvc pipe with one end glued shut and the other with a screw on cap. A chain with a ring is attached to an end so that the ring can be hung over a t-post. Then you drill holes in the side of it some that corn or whatever you want to put in it can fall out as the hogs push it around and play with it. Hunt loved helping daddy drill the holes for it! Mama had to take a few pictures...
We tried an experiment a short while ago where we used heavy cream and shook it in a jar to make butter. Hunt and I took turns shaking the jar. I got the instructions from a book I got at a thrift store that has some neat experiments to do with kids.
Daddy was having some trouble with his truck, so he and Hunt worked on it one day.
I got a homemade granola bar recipe and gave it a try. They turned out pretty good! So I will be making these again!
Our neighbors yard had some mushrooms back in September so I walked down and took some pics...
I tried my luck at strawberry freezer jam...actually it's been a few months back!!! It turned out SOOOO good though and I just wanted to share this important info(HAHAHA)!!! The consistency is a little weird. Not sure if it was the fact that I put it in the freezer and fridge 2 hours before the recipe called for or maybe I didn't cook the sur-gel long enough. At any rate...it tastes really yummy and no one's died yet, so it can't be that bad.HA!
And...Had to add...
My Hunt...the other day we were driving and this mama just wanted some quiet time in the car. I told Hunt that I wanted it to be quiet for a while and I didn't want to hear any talking or noises. So a few minutes go by and Hunt says..."Mama, turn around"(wanting me to look at him) I say..."What Hunt"? He says..."Read my lips". I then reply..."Why"? He says to me..."Well you said I can't talk, so you can just read my lips"!
And then there's this...
Weird child...I walked in the living room the other day and found Hunt sitting on the floor and in his toes, this...
{chop sticks!}
Weird-O!!! I wasn't sure if I should be affraid or impressed.HA! I guess if I actually see him using them like that I will decided...hahaha!
So...I'll be stopping it here...
And will try to keep this blog diary more up to date! Updating at least ONCE a week or TWO! HA!
Next blog will include Em's 1st birthday party, the Pumpkin Patch, some farm visits, a zoo visit, trick or treating/Halloween and more!!!
Thanks for hanging in here and reading this!...until next time...
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