Lots Going On!!!

Olivia sculpted all of us out of Play Dough! She absolutely LOVES art, in any form!!

Gillian and Olivia at the 2nd grade Square Dance Performance. They did great!

Olivia, the square dancer. She was so talented! Seriously! She and her partner, Jeremy, were great! They did three dances for the "parent audience."

This is far away but it gives you a picture of her gym and her gym teacher, Ms. Hartwell, there on the right.

I thought you may like to see a bit (I didn't put on the entire thing) of Olivia's first "published" book. You will have to come to TX to read the rest! :)

(When I took the pictures of her book, she hadn't finished illustrating yet, but I wanted you to see this sentence about the brother! Hillarious!)

Boston is also growing as an artist and writer. He worked hard on these pictures to send to his former babysitter's three children. Since Halloween is close, he taped a piece of candy on each one too! :) This is a picture of Shelby.

For Natalie he drew flowers...and I guess the one for Trey of an RV didn't make it on here! Ooopps!

We went to the Santa Fe Festival to see the Native Americans who live in Santa Fe, Texas dance and craft. It was amazing. The kids made teepees, tasted some foods, and were amazed by the large head dresses worn!

This is a picture of some of the men doing a tribal dance. I couldn't take time to get a better one because Olivia was too nervous with the chanting and drumming so we had to "move on."

And last but not least...Today at Boston's school is Texas Day!! Is he the cutest cowpoke you've ever seen or what? :) This morning he kept touching the brim of his hat, looking at me, and saying, "Hi there, litle lady!" :)

So there you have it...a bit of an update from TX. Our friend, Melanie, comes to visit from KY today and I'm not sure who is most excited to have her arrive. The kids want her to be the one to wake them up in the morning! So sweet! We are anxiously awaiting the arrivial of the rest of you down here too! =)

Picture Update

We have been unpacking boxes like crazy and I think that the Carrollton Public Works Department carried off the last of our cardboard boxes and packing paper today! Yahoo! We still need to hang things on the walls, get a kitchen table and chairs, and a dining room set, and many other things here and there but it is coming along nicely. For someone who doesn't know how to decorate and, for years, has relied on her friends to "set up house" things are looking pretty good. I will take pictures of the house this weekend but first wanted to fill you in on some things we have been doing in the past two weeks... We watched Zoe, Boston's friend from preschool, and her brother, Titus, for the afternoon. The kids got a kick out of dressing poor little Titus up!

Wednesday, October 6, apparently is National Walk to School Day. The weather was perfect for it - about 58 in the morning and 90 in the afternoon. We met "Walking School Bus B" (really just a mom holding a poster shaped like a bus) at a corner near our house and walked Liv to school about .8 miles one way. The kids were all given blinking reflectors, had Carrollton police officers on motorcycles as their crossing guards, and were given bananas and bottled water when they got to school. Liv's favorite part was that all the walking students got to sign a banner that is now hung in the cafeteria.

We have unpacked TONS of boxes! Poor Boston has felt the brunt of this since he is home most of the time. However, he has enjoyed climbing in the boxes and drawing on them.

We have been swimming. The kids love to come home and swim after school. The water is a bit cold (75 degrees) now for my liking since the nights are cooler, but they are still jumping in almost every afternoon! (Yes! Those are banana trees and palm trees in our backyard! We are researching how to care for them...)

The kids have helped Donny head "out to the field." Are they not TOO CUTE??!!