Houston we've got TURKEY!!!

well today KayLea and i were just sitting around and suddenly we heard what we thought was a very mis-placed goose, we were WRONG.. we had a whole group of wild Turkey's!!! i counted 10 but there were even more that scurried off when i went to take their picture.. they are noisey little buggers (i don't know why i wouldn't think they would croak like chickens or geese).. Ben is sharpening his Bow hunting skills for Turkey/Deer season to start in Nov (i think) i think he's a little excited, we have known we've had some turkey's in the back yard but we've only ever seen 2 or 3 at the most.. so this was quite an exciting development.. they usually emerge after a good rain (it rained last night)... anyway the joys of living in the country!!

By the way, did you know they can fly!! check out the pic of the Turkey high in the tree!!!

So the fact that the thunder storm zapped my little tv in my computer room i guess is forgiven if it brought the Turkey bounty.. we thought it had zapped the living room one too (the one thats less than a year old!!) but it came back to life this morning (dont ask me how!) but the little one that keeps me company when i'm foldling laundry or paying bills is toast, unless i want to watch in purple and green..
ta ta for now!

1st day of School..

Went off with out a hitch, Brad isn't in the dark at the bus stop (at least until daylight savings next month).. and he loves his new school (until they switch to the new; new school in Jan or Feb).. this kid's schedule rivels any college one, they use a 6 day schedule and announce every morning which day they are on, for example, he only has band on day 2 and 4 but because he's on a 6 day schedule that means there will be the occassional week (probably every other) that he only has band once a week.. it's VERY ODD, the important stuff he has every other day, ie: math, science, etc. etc.. he's also taking International Language (I don't remember any language being offered when i was in 6th grade).. Brad seems very excited about the whole thing so i'm trying very hard not to completely freak out!! (at least in front of him!) the New Middle School is under construction and the word on the street (although no offical decision has been made yet) is that they will indeed witch mid year (probably jan or feb) i think it's fine because it will really only effect the teachers who will have to switch over their classes long hours etc. etc.. this middle school now is just falling down around them and is so outdated i think the sooner the better..

Anyway Hunter also had a great 1st day!! his comment was that his Teacher was allot nicer than everyone had told him, it's a good sign i think, and Hunter has resolved to have a new start this year and we've set some school goals right out of the shoot.. He's excited for them and he's also excited that if he keeps up with his goals he gets a later bedtime!!! so Hunter's Bus situation is hopefully going to get better, he was suppose to get home around 3:30 but didn't end up home until around 4:10 because he said of some "mis-placed" kids on his bus so hopefully it will all work it self out today...

KayLea was so excited for her 1st day at home with out the boys, i had my Visiting Teacher come by and she was down right rotten to her little girl (i think she was 18 or 19 months old).. it was very not like her because she usually loves the babies but she was not having it at all.. GRRRRR!!!

Never thought i'd be thankful to do dishes!!

Ok I never thought i'd be thankful for doing dishes but we have been out of water since saturday afternoon, we played hookey from Church because no one could shower and Ben even had to take a shower from a gallon water jug on sunday and monday nights.. he even shaved his head.. poor guy could have taken a normal shower this morning but he had no idea when it would start working normally so he took his chances so he wouldn't be late for work!!

This is what we get for living in the Sticks!!! I guess it was a plumming issue with the Real Estate office that is on our same well.. they were very apologetic but still it was a pain!!! but hopefully all is well for now.. and best news the boys will be able to shower before first day of school tomorrow.. i was thinking last week that Summer was so short but this week the kids have all been at each other's throats and i feel like all i've been doing is yelling at them to stop fighting.. so we are ALL ready for school to start.

Bradley is excited for middle school he's convenced me not to take him the first day.. in his words "it's not like your going to be able to take me to each class MOM, we meet in the gym to go to homeroom".. can't really argue with that logic, he catches the bus at 6:37 tomorrow morning.. I CAN'T BELIVE MY BABY IS IN MIDDLE SCHOOL!!! he'll do great.. hopefully his mom will also... Hunter is excited for 4th grade, and he's also excited he will be the only Fox kid at Elementary school.. i think he's ready to have his own idendity and not be "one of the Fox boys"... i would have thought KayLea would be winning that she wants to go to school too but Nope she has no desire to go to school (i know i've failed in some way...but there you have it!) and we've also decided we aren't going to do pre-school, it's just way to expensive out here and it's really day care.. which she/we don't need! and my justification is that it's only half day Kindergarden and the boys really needed pre school because they needed someting to bridge them to full day kindergarden..

So thats all in our lives now.. i'm sure i'll have more pic's tomorrow of first day stuff..

ta ta

A Princess Party,

KayLea was invited to a Princess Tea party this morning, it was so cute it was complete with a story about the princess' slaying the dragon (1st picture of the girls pelting water balloon's at the pic of a dragon).. and then playing keep away with the witch's head.. and play kiss a frog (variation of pin the tale on the donkey) to see if it would turn into a prince.. she had such a good time..

Also, this was a good opportunity to test out my new camera.. I LOVE IT!!! but it also creates a little bit of the monster in me because there are a ton of attachments for it, lenses, filters, a cool flash.. Ben's goona probably be sorry he got this for me.. but it's fun!!!

i also added a bit to my new found love.. see the pic below.. hopefully this is one step in the right direction so i at least have a fighting chance if i ever loose this one (i'm knocking on wood real fast!!!) Ok after seeing this pic i think i may have to explain what it is.. it's a name tag on my camera case.. it says "reward if found and returned" on it..
There's also one on my actual camera also, not just the bag..

ta ta

3rd times a Charm!!!
Ok so i've been looking and casually bidding on e-bay for a clarinet for Brad.. He's decided thats what he wants to play not so much because he's so excited to play a Band instrument but he deffenately doesn't want to do Choir so by default he's doing Band.. because of this and what I think might become an issue with conflect with Guitar club (a MUST in his book) and eventually sports i didn't really want to shell out the money to rent (to the tune of $30/month) or worse BUY ( cheepest "good" instrument is 199) so i was bound and determined to get him a good starter Clarinet for under 100.. I DID IT!!! i've been outbid by a dollar at the final second the last 2 nights on 2 different auctions.. so tonight i was bound and determined and i got a BRAND NEW (the other 2 i lost were used) Clarinet for 65$ (thats including shipping!!) now it's deffenately a beginner instrument so if he decided's he's in love with the clarinet then we'll have to replace it probably when he's in high school but frankley i think it's worth it to see what lies ahead.. the only real problem is this just fuels my obsession with e-bay.. so far i've gotten everyone's scout shirt for more than half off.. my printer for 1/3 of what it cost's and the ink again for about 75% off what it's in the store.. i've gotten loads more things (my rating is a 47 so i must be blocking out a ton of things i've purchased over the last 5+ years ouch!)
Anyway when it comes in i'll take some pic's of Brad w/ the Clarinet.. (hey maybe i'll have my new camera by then.. oh yea i havn't ordered it yet.. maybenot!! haha)
ta ta for now!

OK,
ok i've been up for the past hour and a half trying to get KayLea to believe me that the Thunder has passed. my kids have gotten so wimp when it comes to Thunder.. we've been away from the South way too long i guess!!! but finally i think i'm in the clear!!!
Nother Sad note, i LOST my camera!! my nice nifty one that i got for Christmas!!! we went to visit some friends from Texas who were visiting Vermont and i left it on the park bench we were sitting on.. so although we had the BEST TIME ever visiting it was kind of marred by my stupidity.. but my WONDERFUL husband said i could get a new one for my BIRTHDAY!!! I know i am so LUCKY!!! he said he was wondering what to get me anyway (thankfully he's not counting my car as my b'day presant! haha) so now i'm spending my time trying to find the best deal.. (he also said i could upgrade a little!.. nice!) so no pictures for a little while.. although i did dig out the old digital but it doesn't work too well and we've been letting Brad take it to enviromental camp and boy scout campouts etc.. so if i get desperate then i'll use that!!
So thats all for now! it's cooling down a ton (i'm not complaining).. and we are going school shopping on Monday, Soccer also starts monday Wednesday we have a supper picnic for incoming jr high kids and then school starts a week from WEdnesday... I"m trying desperately to find a clarinet for Bradley on ebay.. thats another reason i'm up late.. i've got to make sure i don't get out bid on this great cheep one!!
wish me luck
thats all for now!
tata

Pickin Blueberries

Well this morning we decided to go out and pick some blueberries.. the weather has cooled down a ton so it was such a great day to do this!!

the Kids had a blast, it didn't take long to completely fill our bucket.. i think we'll go a few more times the season ends Labor day so we have some time.. it wasn't the cheepest endevor but the blueberries are so good and it was only 1.80 per pound so it really wasn't too bad!

we had a great time!

the only down fall is that i lost my glasses.. i know your asking why wern't they on my face (something i'd ask the boys forsure!) well the sun was kind of glairing on my camera screen so i took them off so i could look through the viewfinder i slipped them over my shirt collar and they must have fallen off on our trek back to the booth to pay.. i've called them and left my number but i don't anticipate finding them.. oh, well i've been wanteing to get contacts anyway (although i really should have glasses also)..

OK i can't believe i didn't mention this in my last post but during our trip I FINISHED HARRY POTTER 8!!!
Ok i almost didn't want to read it one because we always listen to the audio tapes right before bed.. i said we'd start when school started.. and also because i was afraid it would have a cheesy ending and i couldn't bare it..
i can't EVER remember getting "this" involved in any other book series before..
all i can say is IT DOESN'T DISAPPOINT!! it is so good!!! i won't give anything away but go out right now and READ IT!!! i actually got the book for quite a bargain at walmart probably because i procrastinated and didn't get it on the first night..
anyway just had to say that!!!
tata

WERE HOME!!

ok we actually got back VERY late Suday night (around 2am) it was a VERY LONG travel day but we got home with out having to spend the night somewhere along the way.. here are the pictures of our trip to Arkansas..

These are pic's of the kids swimming with Grandpa Jack at the pool at Grandma Merry's condo in Hot Springs.. KayLea's big news was that she finally trusts the arm floaties and she's a little fish she spent most of the 2nd time we swam in the deep end and she even got a little too confident and jumped in (luckely in the shallow end) when she didn't have the floaties on.. i was afraid she would be scard to get back in after kind of almost drownding but she wasn't fazed a bit and went right back in.. GO KAYLEA!

Ok the next big thing we did was the Little Rock Zoo, now i have to say the Zoo in Little Rock is tiny and it has had some very rough press (not at all un-deserved) they have tried to do allot to pull the zoo up out of the mess they made so hopefully in a few years it will all be "done" but we were very dissopointed with the Zoo, it only took about an hour to go through everything and we went early to try to beat the heat so pretty much none of the special displays (the petting zoo, the bird sanctuary where you can walk in and have the birds land on your finger etc.) were all closed.. but the kids still loved seeing the animals and we had a good time!

KayLea's favorite were the Elephants, she also liked getting a face to face moment with the Lion, the boys loved the Gorilla and the Monkey's..

Our final fun outing was the Museum of Discovery also in Little Rock, we did this the same day we did the Zoo (also showing how little time the Zoo took!) this was a total Hit!!! we'll skip the zoo next time and just do this one.. they had a ton of exhibits and hands on stuff for the kids to do including "the big electricity show" where Brad got to be the main helper.. it was very fun!!!

First picture, is of Brad during the "big electric show" presentation.. you can't see it but there was a very bright lightening bolt going from the florescent bulb he's holding, he didn't feel a shock or anything it just freaked him out a bit, the 2nd one of Hunter is also during the same show, i can't remember the name of the thing he was touching but it makes your hair stand up due to static electricity, poor Hunter has such short hair he didn't get nearly the reaction some did (KayLea wouldn't get at all close to the thing).. the rest are of the kids in various displays..

we had a good time.. it will probably be Christmas before we get down to AR again so we had to pack as much fun as possiable.. and i think we succeeded!

ta ta for now!

Fun in Arkansas..
this post won't have any pictures but i thought y'all would feel like we fell off the face of the earth if i did't post anything.. we somehow got so busy the week or so before we left for AR. that i wasn't able to post much.. so here we are at my parents house.. the internet pretty much sucks eggs so thats why there wont be any pic's. it has taken me a good 25 minutes just to get to the page i need to start this post.. (weather or not it will get a fast enough connection to actually publish and post this remains to be seen) but although it is SOOOOOOOO hot we have been having loads of fun, swimming in Grandma Merry's hotsprings condo pool or going to the Discovery kids museum (the kids favorite by far, so far) the Zoo was the dissopointment it always was but more so because they have like doubled the price since the last time we went (when Brad was 1) and they havn't changed much.. just to justify my rant.. we ended up paying like 26$ and it took barley an hour to see absolutely everything there was to see.. now it always has been tiny and didn't take long to get through but when we were only paying less than $5.oo per adult and most kids were free.. you didn't really care... somehow this time i was just so annoyed... the museum was the redemption of the day.. we spent nearly 3 1/2 hours there and we probably could have spent more.. i think we'll just skip the zoo next time..
i got a load of pictures that i'll post next week.. we are hedging out bets and are going to try to get home Sunday night probably VERY late but we'll see....
anyway thats it for now.. now hopefully the dial up connection won't stop on me and i can post this..
til next week
ta ta