Apple Orchard

Hi all!! I know I didn't get on here right away after my trip, but things have been busy. We went on Friday to the Apple Orchard and picked fresh apples. We also had a small demonstration on honey bees. Fresh honey is the best by the way. Anyhow, the kids also had a hay ride. This was all followed by a picnic lunch at the orchard. It was fun for the kids and adults alike. The kids got to eat as many apples as they wanted free of charge (Anna had three while we were there) and then we paid for what we had picked. It was like eating organic apples. No pesticides are used at the orchard. Here are some pictures from our field trip.

Rows of apple trees:

Red Apple:

Green Apples:

A couple pics of Anna working hard on her apples:

Trying fresh honey:

Playing as a group after eating:

As you can see, we had a great time. The kids enjoyed it and Anna slept great that night after all the fresh air. I hope we can go again next year.

Veggie Tales

Well, we were given the chance to go see Veggie Tales live on stage. Someone was nice enough to give me a pair of tickets so I could take Anna. For those of you who don't know about Veggie Tales, wake up and smell the coffee. LOL!! They have been around for years and years. Now, for those of you that do, it was a cute show. The show is geared for little children, but it runs a little long. We started at 3, had a 20 minutes intermission half way through, and then ended at 10 till 5. See, loooooong, for a kid anyways! The gist of the show was to find Bob, the tomato, who somewhow goes missing. Anyhow, I was able to get a few pictures while we were there, so here goes. (Some are better than others. We really need a new camera!!)

Archibald Asparagus:

Larry the Cucumber:

Larry, with his cowboys and cowgirls (cute number):

Anna dancing in the aisle (yes, I bought her a shirt):

At last, they found Bob! So, here is Bob and Larry:

All in all a cute little show, but lengthy for the age kids we had there. I loved the songs. Any parent would have loved that. I am very glad we had the opportunity to go. Anna did enjoy herself. Now, time to get on that thank-you letter!! :-)

Fair Days

On Monday, we went to the fair. We always try and go on the "school day" so we can get in free, park free and see the animals. We went, of course and saw the animals. The cows were getting bathed and scrubbed for show, so there weren't too many around, but we did enjoy looking at them. Anna loved that they get shaved with the same type of shaver that we shave her Daddy's head with. (It looked almost the same.) We also got to watch them milk a cow. It was great fun.

We got to see the sheep, which you can never touch and then we got to see the goats, which of course we can touch. They were well behaved. We saw camels and a donkey; chicks and chickens.

And for the highlight of the whole trip, we saw a horse. A black and white horse at that. We of course had to stop and see that one. Anna absolutely loves black horses.

And on that note, I will leave you. We did get a little bit of good fair food while we were there. The prices have risen dramatically, but who can resist a little bit. It was good. Hope you all have a good day. Take care and I will talk to you all later.

Eye Doctor's Take 2 & 3

Well, we know that not just one of us can go to the eye doctor. Nope! It was time for Anna to go today and Jeremy as well. Anna of course, has 20/20 vision. Sort of. She is slightly far-sighted, but not bad enough for glasses. Same thing as last year. Jeremy's vision has changed just slightly, enough for new glasses, if he wanted, which of course he does. Anyhow, I will get his picture and post it when the glasses come back, which should be next week some time.



Now, back to Anna. You all don't know how devastated my daughter was to NOT need glasses. Yes, she wants glasses worse than anything or anybody you have ever seen. It is a toss up though between glasses and a horse. Anyhow, she begged and begged and begged. I decided to go ahead and see what we couldn't find for her. She wants them so bad and this is probably just a phase that will last for a little while, so off to Wal-Mart vision center we went. I was just looking, but then the girl came up and said we have a nice little selection of glasses down here (pointing to the left) that are only $10. Yes, you read that correctly. $10. WOW!! I said now surely we can find something in there that will work. And, we did. She picked out a cute pink pair. Some minor adjustments and taking off the demo lenses only stuff and poof, we were out the door with one VERY, VERY happy little girl. Unbelievable!



So, without further ado....here is my little girl in the new glasses she does not need.

You got to admit, they are kind of cute. Now lets hope this phase doesn't last too long. LOL!! I can't believe how happy she is. Was I crazy for letting her get them, maybe, but it made her day. Her whole face lit up!!

Oh and we also went and had "school" pictures done at Wal-Mart today. The package was only $4.99. Again, a great deal! So, we have that done for the year too. Maybe. I might take her again for more pictures. Ok, forget might. I almost guarantee we will go for more pictures again soon. I LOOOOVE pictures.

Ok, that's enough for today. Take care all and God Bless!!

Manipulative

Have I ever told you that my 6 year old is manipulative. Yes, my 6 year old. She always comes up with sneaky ways to get what she wants. Its kind of cute and kind of rotten all at the same time. Here are a few examples:

The other night with Jeremy:

"Daddy?"
"Yes baby doll."
"I'm thinking we need to do something special tonight."
"Like what?"
"Like go to dinner at Ci Ci's!"
"Why is that?"
"Because we haven't done anything special in a long time."

Well, you know where they ended up. Yes, they ended up at Ci Ci's, to do something special of course.

Here is another one with me:

"Mommy?"
"Yes Baby"
"I'm thinking we need to go the donut place and get kolaches."
"I thought you wanted waffles for breakfast?"
"Yes, but I'm thinking that I want kolaches. We haven't had them in a long time."
"We'll see."
"Mom, I'm thinking we NEED to go to that donut place. We NEED breakfast."

Well, you know where we ended up. We did need breakfast, so we got kolaches. Good grief. She is good. And the I'm thinking is always followed by something she would like to do. Do you think we are just suckers or is she just really good at manipulating us? It doesn't always turn out that she gets her way, but come on. Who can argue with that logic behind it?

And the Winner Is....

And the winner is Julie!! :-) Sort of...she picked 2 or 3. I actually went with number 3!! Julie has the satisfaction of knowing she was half right. The rest of you....well, I still love you. I just wanted to have some fun.

Anyhow, yes, I went with number 3. The wine colored glasses. I am so happy. I can actually see. Here is a better picture from last night:

Excuse the funny angle. I absolutely love them. I will get another pair just like them next week. LOL! Yes, these ones were defective. In all my years wearing glasses, since I was 8, so about 24 years, I have never had happen what happened to these ones. The screw that holds the arm in broke in half...yes, the screw. It was the strangest thing. Oh and it is stuck. We can't get it out. They declared them defective and ordered me a new pair for next week. Good grief. Anyhow, they are temp fixed until then so at least I can continue to see. YES! So, now what do you think?!

New Specks!!

Alright, alright. I admit I waited way too long. It has been 7 years since I got new glasses. Yes, 7 years. No insurance, little money, expense to large. You name it, there was an excuse. Well, this year, there is no excuse. I had Jeremy increase his flexible spending account just so I could get new glasses. Lets face it. I could not see straight. It was bad. I do love this eye doctor though. He is pretty good at his job. Anyhow, I thought I would have some fun for those of you who haven't seen me in my new glasses. I took Jeremy up on his idea to take pictures and then look at those and help me decide what I like, since I can't see a darn thing. Anyhow. We are going to do a little game. Please look at the following pictures and pick which pair of glasses I decided on. You can leave your response as a comment. If you have already seen me, no fair. I will reveal my decision tomorrow for those who haven't already seen. (Oh and forgive the pictures...most were taken by myself or my cute little 6 year old.)

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

Alright. Remember to have some fun with this and leave a comment on which pair you liked and which pair you think I decided on. This was only 5 pairs of about 20 or more that I tried on. :-) Enjoy and thanks. God bless.

Good Weekend

Well, I had a good weekend. Jeremy and I went to Amarillo over night on Saturday. Enough to get away, but close enough to not cost an arm and a leg. It is about 2 hours from here. Anyhow, we went on Saturday night after I got off of work and drove into Canyon first. I haven't been there since I graduated over 7 years ago. It has changed quite a bit over the years, but it still had many of the same small town features I liked. Where I used to get my car fixed is now a big Chevron and convenience store. Our favorite Chinese food place is still there. The apartment we lived in is still there and of course the University is still there. There of course were several changes as well. The University no longer is drivable (is that a word) straight through. They have added a nice center court type thing to the middle of the University. It was really nice looking. The apartment my sister lived in was painted green, it used to be brick red; the Dairy Queen is gone; the local small town Wal-mart has been located to another location and is now a Super Center and the Justice Center is now in a new location where the Wal-Mart used to be. I am sure there are more changes, but that all I caught on our drive through town.

We then went on to Amarillo. Amarillo has grown a bit as well. It has expanded further south, but still has a lot of the same things. We had dinner at the mall and walked through it, then chilled and watched a few movies. On Sunday morning we were awakened to the sound of someone knocking and trying to get in...."Housekeeping!" LOL! They came three more time before we left. We went to Chili's for lunch. It was good and it was also the first time that I was charged for switching Salsa to Ranch. Seriously, they charged me for it. I was a little appalled and thought it ridiculous to be charged for something because Salsa is probably more expensive to make. Anyhow, Jeremy wouldn't let me say anything. I wanted to though. We walked Wal-Mart before we left to come home. Yes, I know we can do that at home, but that wasn't the point. We also had ice cream when we got home before picking up Anna from her Grammy's. It was a fun get away to say the least. we are hoping to do more of these get aways and soon. It was fun and not that expensive. It was also refreshing, especially since we have never done this before.

Anyhow, my whole point of this was to say thank you to my husband who thought of the idea and footed the bill for this trip out of his over-time pay, which he originally had other plans for. Thank you honey for a fun trip. I enjoyed it.

It's Done...sort of

Well, its done....sort of. My mom is all moved in here with us for a couple of months. The cats are at a kennel for a day or two and the furniture is in storage in several places. Yesterday was a long day. Now, to get through the maze of boxes that are actually in my mother's room there. That may be a different story. Now its back to the same ole routine of school and work. YIKES!!

Now for something that you may find funny and I found annoying....okay, it is a bit funny now, but still kind of annoying for me...

You know how a few months ago we got those digital converter boxes and went digital? Well, the TV in our bedroom had no issues. It stay up and running and works like a charm The TV in the living room, well, lets just say that half the time we never had a working channel and move the antenna an inch and you lose it all. UGH!! It was very frustrating. How can that be? Well, last night I wanted to watch TV in my living room and it would not come in. I adjusted and prodded and moved those things to no avail. Finally I gave up, turned off the converter box and sat on the couch with the remote. I fiddled with some buttons and it turns out that our living room TV is digital! Oh my goodness. Who knew!?!?!?! I quickly unhooked the converter box, and set up our digital TV. Good grief! The TV works great now and we have an extra converter box in the house. It was too funny. Actually last night I was aggravated, because I had spent money on that box, but now I can sell it to someone. LOL!! It works perfectly. See, I knew you would get a kick out of that.

Alright time for me to wake up the sleeping angel girl. We have school to get done today and she likes some TV time before hand, so here goes. Have a good day and God bless.

It's September

Well, its September. I spent yesterday working. I always work more when Daddy is off work. Tonight, I start a new Bible study. I am excited. Guess I better check the time to make sure I show up on time. LOL.

Update on my mother: Well, there is not much of an update. She will have to be out of her apt almost ASAP. I can't find anywhere else to put her and I really don't want her to move too far away. Limited money and no resources, makes for one tough situation. Too bad something hasn't come up, because she has to be in court tomorrow. (There is a judicial system lesson Anna will never forget.) Basically, this will be the official you must leave the premises hearing... the official eviction. Wish things were clearer about where to proceed from here, but they are not. Still unsure or if all. I am not in control though. God has control of the whole situation. I have been packing her belongings though and preparing her for the move. We need to make sure she is ready.

Added back a site to my blog roll. It was on there for a while, but then there were issues, so I pulled it off, well, it is now back on, for all who are interested. I am reviewing a few others to see about adding them as well.

Alright, I better get on with the day. I need to get ready and do Anna's school for the day, so we can go pack up more of my mom's things. I want it done as fast as possible, so that we get her out before the heartless people can throw her stuff on the street. (I have seen this done before and it is not pretty.) If you can, please pray. Things are kind of hairy, but we are not in control of the whole bit. Take care all and God bless.