First Day of School for the boys!

The boys both have new schools this year. Logan was off to the Jr. High and Brandon was headed to 4th grade at his new school. Logan headed to the bus stop at 7:05am. Brandon does not ride Logan's bus anymore,but went down to the bus stop at 7 am anyway. The bus came at 7:15. Logan had a good day and started to really get nervous last night.

Brandon headed to the bus stop (again) at 7:45 and the bus came around 8:00. The stop seems odd without the Hamby clan. The new family from New York was there and also another family moved in across the street and down from the Hamby's. They have 2 kids in 6th grade and 2nd grade and the people in the Hamby house have kids in 1st, 3rd and 5th. Brandon had a great day at school and loved his teacher. He has a buddy over now, Alan, that started homeschooling this year. They are out enjoying the sprinkler.

School Time!

Almost school time

The kids and I just seemed to be getting the hang of Summer Vacation and now it is over. Seriously. Between the boys being out of commision some with their warts coming off and Anna's pre-surgery, surgery and post surgery, we felt like Summer started on July 17 when Anna was cleared from her doctor. I am usually ready for the kids to go back to school because of the boys' fighting. Lately, though...DO I DARE SAY THIS????....they hvae been getting along!!!!!!!!!!!! I have been seeing glimpses of hope. WOW....never thought I would say that. IF it is just us and we are home, things have been going great with all the kids. Add something else to the stew pot and it isn't so good. Brandon enjoyed a playdate with his buddy, Nick, recently, and they also had a couple of their friends...girls!....come over that live in our neighborhood. They are getting that gitty "I like so and so", and I am not ready for that.

Logan enjoyed the last of his Zoo camp and loved every minute of it. We celebrated the end of it with a few that went and had a picnic last Friday.

We also had to finish off the summer with our local carnival. Logan and I sold Snow Cones for Boy Scouts for 9 hours last weekend.

THE CAT picture....We are not pet people! I am allergic to anything with fur and really have NO love for animals that touch me. We like fish! Anyway....a cat started coming around a few months ago and we ingnored it. Well, one day, I had a weak moment and I gave it milk. A few days later a friend gave us cat food to give it. So, there you have it. It adopted us! It will NEVER come into our home, though, with our allergies. I had been feeling sorry for Brandon not having our neighbor's twins around to play with and B was so sad all summer over it all. It was just pitiful to see him mope around. We all desperately miss you Hamby's!

Speaking of the neighbor's moving....Met the new neighbor's that bought the Hamby House. They are from New York and have 3 kids. They seem very nice. We can't wait to see the Hamby's again, though! Anna still doesn't quite understand why other people are living in Ike and Ava's house.

I LOVE my hubby. He has been doing some things off my mental "honey do" list. I have wanted landscaping done around our deck for the last 8 years. Barry got in the mood to do it and I RAN with that. Our drive is complete and the white concrete is blinding. Looks so nice! Barry had to do more landscaping things in around the area where some concrete was put in, so we still need to finish that. Last night the neighbor's son-in-law came and laid down some sod. So, we are getting there! Thanks, Barry!

Fun Day

After Logan got done at our local zoo camp, we headed out of town to Bloomington's Zoo and Children's Museum. A last hurrah before school starts! The highlight of the zoo was the hissing cockroach that each of the kids got to hold. Anna was the first to volunteer, of course, and said that it tickled her arm as it crawled up. I was laughing so hard that I didn't get a picture. She will do anything when it comes to animals. The zoo just put in a "sprayground" and new playground area and mini golfing so I took pictures for our China Travel group to see. Our annual Guiping Girls Reunion is there in a few weeks. We cannot wait to once again see the 10 girls together. We don't enjoy class reunions (other than the show choir ones) but this reunion is looked forward to all year. I am helping host it this year, too!

Justin pictures

I got to take pictures again this year of Justin, Ricky and Iveny. My in-laws yard is always a great spot to take pictures, too. I took over a hundred, but these are my favorites. Of course, Anna had to get in for a few, too. Iveny wants to send pictures to their families in China and Malaysia, so I hope they like them. Justin is so stinkin' cute.

Barry played ball and......

He lived to tell about it! His work had 2 teams playing Saturday for charity. No one was injured...thank goodness! Well, except for Anna who had to go to the nurse's trailer with a scraped knee and was dying for a band aid to make it feel all better!

Fishing/Julie's 40th Birthday

My sister turns 40 this week, so we had a little gathering and went fishing at my parents house. Her boyfriend has 5 kids (4 boys and a girl), so they are in the pictures with my sister. I, of course, am not in the pictures, as usual. The way I like it! Each kiddo caught at least one fish...some a few, someone snagged a turtle, too. Anna and Alijah had fun with the minnows. Anna was dripping up to her elbows in fishy water. She loves that kind of stuff!

Schmidt Reunion

Saturday we headed up to the Quad Cities for the Schmidt Reunion. We got a chance to see many relatives in two days. Barry's dad was one of 11 children and six are still living. That seems amazing to me. We also got a chance to see Barry's relatives that are on the other side of the family, too. On Sunday we checked out of the hotel and the boys were just dying to go to Larry's pond and fish or shoot the guns. I know it is a rite of passage that all little boys must shoot a rifle or something in their lifetime. Well, I have to admit...I shot a 22 caliber rifle and had a blast hitting the clay pigeons. I was pretty darn good, too! Logan had a blast. Brandon, my little sensory guy, did not have too much fun. He is so bothered by loud noises and it was as if he was sick to his stomach and had a headache. His hearing has always been off the charts and loud movies and noises just bother him....much like being on a ferry boat does me!

Uncle Bernard still lives in the house that he grew up in, so I wanted to add some pictures of where Larry grew up.