Joy is very infectious; therefore, be always full of joy.

~ Mother Teresa

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

First Tooth... last kid

My last baby... to loose his first tooth!

Those bottom two teeth have been wiggly for WEEKS!
He did not like how it felt to wiggle them, so he didn't.
Today he was trying to bite something open and one started to dangle.
He had melt down!!
(it was so dang funny!)
He could NOT go to bed with it dangling...
...and he could NOT pull it out!
Crockodile tears everywhere!
Drama like a little girl...
(and this from my boy who could be cut open and bleeding and not cry about it)
It took 45 minutes and a Daddy to finally get the tooth out...
WHEW!
Ok... Toothfairy...
Work your Magic!
:D

Thursday, August 18, 2011

First Day of School 2011

Mr. Cameron 
4th Grade this year! 
Mr. Cubs
(a.k.a. Caleb) 
1st grader this year!
(*gulp* gone ALL day??) 
Ms. Lou
(a.k.a. Emmalee) 
8th Grade this year 
Mr. William
(a.k.a. Cody - going by his real first name this year) 
7th Grade this year!
(*gulp* another one in Jr. High??) 
My cute kiddos...
(anyone notice a height problem? Cody is officially...oh way past the tallest...) 
Two in one building... 
Two in the other!

I am so excited for them all this year!
Cam got his same teacher (THE best school teacher any of my kids have ever had!) and is thrilled!
Caleb got to have one of his best buddies in his class... and can't wait to eat lunch at school!
Emma is not excited to be back in school... but she still isn't a fan of the 10 classes she has to keep track of!
Cody seems unmoved by the changes in his school career... he is just glad to be back with his friends!

Monday, August 15, 2011

New Chicks... again?

Our chicken brood has grown by 3!
We had to give away 1 of our chickens because, well, he was a rooster. LOL
Jes really wanted White Leg Horn's anyway, so when we found a last batch of the season at Cal-Ranch, we got three!
A little bold considering our housing crisis of late, but chickens are easy to give away if need be.
So we now have a grand total of 9 chickens.  
The kids just L.O.V.E. them!! And the chicks seem to thrive on the love... 
So sweet!! 
And I have to admit... I adore the little quiet cheeping all day long. I may consider some indoor birds someday!! These were the quietest chicks we have ever had. They are good little babies!

Friday, August 12, 2011

Our $200 car

Jes called me a few weeks ago... he wanted to know if he could spend $200.
He had been working a lot of side jobs... and so I said that I was ok with him being free to "blow" $200.
He was in a hurry and I didn't ask why. 
He came home that evening with this.... a new (used) car!! 
It belonged to a co-worker who was tired of all the repairs he had made of late, and he and his wife had gone out and bought a new car over the weekend. He planned on sending this car to the scrapyard. When Jes heard all that he had put into the car, plus what was wrong with it currently, he quickly asked how much the scrapyard would give him!
$200
So Jes offered him $200 - and the guy handed him the keys and the title! 
Emmalee and I spent 2 full days cleaning and scrubbing this car. It was TRASHED. But some elbow grease and good microfiber cloths and it looked almost loved ;) 
Jes joked he loved this trunk... for all the dead bodies he hauls around! (bwahahahaha) Ok... really... it is perfect for hauling all his tools.

Compared to the gas mileage he gets in his truck, this is going to be a perfect money saver at our house.
And the list of things the guy recently repaired?
* New brakes
* New water pump
* 1 year old transmission
* New heads
* New radiator

Sa-weet! The problem it is having right now? One of the head is dripping oil into the engine block, so it uses oil faster than normal. Jes thinks he can fix it easy, and if not, he can get a new engine for a couple hundred bucks. SO worth it to not have a car payment... and a car with "new" stuff on it! And it has seating for 6!!
*grin*
It does need a new windshield... and then we can register it.
What a blessing!!!!!!!!!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

House Pics ~ Office/"Library"

Welcome to JWD Electric's Office, my Realtor Office, our Homeschool Room, and the family Library/Office...
The kids loved to hang out in here with me while I worked reading books and coloring or making crafts. 
This was my office space 
This was Jestin's  
My scrapbooking "nook" 
The closet was also lined with bookshelves full of books 
And this was our motto for homeschooling
(and all our business licensing etc)
This is my view from my office chair. Jes and I spent a lot of time together in this room making our businesses work, and eventually spending hours applying him for every job we could find available to apply for... for months and months. (*sigh*) 
This is the view out my window. I loved the mountain view! 
And my little "Robot" Caleb made me out of paper - it kept me safe and if you could really see it well, he colored a heart on it so my heart would be good and I would be healthy and strong. He is so sweet! 
And I kept this photo near by to make me smile on really hard days. This was my birthday lunch with my dear friends Amy and Beth.
Amy and I were Beth's Visiting Teachers, and we made a strong friendship that will last forever.
Beth is also the owner of the home we are moving to...

House Pics ~ Boys Bedrom

The boys room was nice and spacious too...

It easily held all three beds - but we liked the bunk bed up for more floor space best.
To keep the toys under control, we had multiple flat totes that fit under the bed 


The view from their bedroom.
(dont tell my boys, but I always envisioned them climbing out on the roof part there - it was the extended front porch - and talking together late at night when they were older.) 
Cam's bed was on top, Caleb's on bottom 
Cody got his own bed. 
Their little walk-in closet 
Cam's favorite memory about his bedroom was that is was big. Cody loved to spend hours on his bed reading. Caleb loved all the space to build his race tracks, train tracks and all the boys (& Emma) spent HOURS building legos on the floor.

House Pics ~ The "Coat Cave"

I guess this is another thing we will miss from our home...
It is the closet under the stairs. The kids nicknamed it
"The Coat Cave" 
All the jackets, coats, and backpacks had a hook. 



The trap door to our crawl space was in here... we kept all our holiday stuff down there, as well as our extra food storage... the kids loved to go down and get stuff for me! 

We also lined the back walls with book cases and kept our movies in there. It was the best little closet ever!

House Pics ~ Kids Bathroom

The kids bathroom was really roomy.  
The medicine chest above the toilet was one I re-made - the doors never hung quite right after that! LOL But Em loved her own "space" for girl stuff.