Church on Wednesday

Is this not the cutest and sweetest picture you have ever seen!?

I love how darn cute it is :)

Jaina has been enjoying Wednesday night church. She is actually paying attention and learning. She tells me all about the songs they sing and verses they learned.

While she is at church, and we wait on her we always find something to do. I love the beauty of Salado because there is always something to see. We had to return some books, so we got out and walked around the library. I took some pictures of her while admiring the butterfly garden out front.

Then we headed back to the church playground. She played her little heart out and had bright red cheeks when she was done

Then back to pick up her sissy to head home

She's the coolest!

Life with Kids

Just a life update. Jolee is doing great in school so far. Making all good grades. So far, she likes math and science the best. She got picked as the teacher helper at school today and got to feed the class pet lizard. They ride both the bus and I take them to school on my way to work in the mornings. Then in the afternoon they mostly always ride the bus home. 

Jaina is doing great like always in school. They are reading Call of the Wild, and she is taking Spanish this year. 

Jewell is enjoying her time at home shared between me and Justin. She is so smart and knows all her numbers, ABC's, colors, and shapes. She is even practicing drawing her shapes. I have a feeling this child will be bored in kindergarten, lol

I already have put out all my Halloween decorations. I wanted to get an early start this year. I know the girls love the holidays and I wanted them to enjoy even though it's still hot outside! They can't wait until Halloween. Jolee wants to dress up like Edward Scissorhands, lol and Jewell of course wants to be a dinosaur. 

I made the girls some dirt and worm pudding. They gobbled it all up :)

Halverson’s Educational Farm

Last week at Girl Scouts Jolee’s group went to an educational farm. 

This year we plan to have lots of field trips to get us out of the VFW. Our first outing was to this farm located on the outskirts of Temple. Family owed and operated. A small 50 acre farm with lots of fruit trees,  vegetables, and animals

The couple that run it were super nice.

 The girls got to learn about their farm and then they got to crack open a peach seed. Then they planted it in dirt and got to take it home to see if it will grow.

The girls also got to play with goats

And bunnies

And feed the goats

They had lots of fun and learned a lot!

Desert Sky Western Jr. cotillion Dance

This is my last year for decorations chair for the Jr. Cotillion. This year for the western dance we decided to break away from all things Texas country and go with an Arizona desert sky theme. 

We had big plans but they all came to a halt when the hall we were renting double booked several events on Saturday. So we only had a 30 minute window to get in and decorate before the dance started. Meaning we had to keep all the decorations very simple for this dance. We were super bummed but we found several ways to fill in the space and make it look good.

Everything Worked out and we had a lot of positive feedback from both the kids and the parents. Everyone was super pleased with how it turned out.

We had a small backdrop for single pictures and then we had a big backdrop for a big group picture

Even though our backdrops were kept pretty simple I think they packed a lot of punch with how they looked

We had one of the parent volunteers paint these big cactuses for us. We placed them on both sides of a big back drop and it turned out pretty good. We also brought in several lights and place them around the room. They were color wheel lights Which have several different colors you can choose from. We picked the orange glow to place against the wall. It made it really feel like a desert sky

We had 17 tables to decorate. we had a lot of volunteers to help us and we got it done pretty quickly. We decided to go with a white overlay on a table with a Mexican table runner.

Then we had the idea to round up enough glass vases of different shapes and sizes and painted them to look like they were terra-cotta pots. We filled them with pompous grass and eucalyptus. I think they turned out so cute.

We alternated tables and also used hurricane glasses with some tea light candles and cactuses

This was our sign in table. Again we had to keep it very simple

Jaina did not attend this dance because it happened to be the same exact time as her homecoming dance. Since she has done Cotillion for the last three years I let her pick between the cotillion dance or the homecoming dance and of course she chose to go to her homecoming dance. But she will get to go to the two dances in the spring time and if she wants she can continue with the Cotillion once she gets into high school. So there is room for many more dances in the future

 

Last Jr.High Homecoming Dance

This past weekend was Jaina's 8th grade Homecoming dance. Her last Homecoming dance for Jr. High. She was SO excited to go. It took her all day to get ready, lol. 

But doesn't she just look so grown up and beautiful :)

She has been wanting a silk dress like this since 6th grade. Every year I have told her no because I didn't think it was appropriate but this year I went ahead and let her get one. Almost all the Jr. High and High School girls wear dresses like this. I guess that's what is in style. 

We went to Dillard's, and she found the dress and shoes. Her shoes are clear which is good because she can wear them with almost any dress and event. 

She painted her toes, put on some nails, fixed her hair and makeup and was ready to go

She even had a "date" to the dance. The same young boy that asked her last year to the dance asked her again to go to the dance with him

Haha, When I picked her up, I asked her how the dance went and she said good, but I had to show Brennen how to dance, lol. I guess her cotilion dances have paid off!

While Jaina was at the dance, I took Jewell and Jolee for a picnic at Pace park. 

They enjoyed their picnic. We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chips and apples. 

The weather felt great too!

Once we were done eating, I left the girls play their little hearts out until it got dark

They chased each other, raced each other and were having a blast

Peek a boo!

I see you!

Then we slid over to Brookshire Brothers to get ice cream to take home before picking Jaina up from the dance. 

We got in line and picked her up, she topped her night off by having her friend Storie stay the night.