Back to School and Labor Day

Our Summer has come to an end...and school has begun.  This year Katrina is in 2nd and Katie started Kindergarden!  The Monday they started school was a very busy morning because I had to report at the courthouse at 8:30. 
  Everything was pretty much ready the night before which was a big help!  We even had time to snap a few pictures of the girls before taking them to school.  Unfortunately, it was SO hot and humid outside that my camera lense steamed up right away :( So the individual shots of the girls were really "fuzzy" because of the lense fog.  I'm going to restage those photos so I can have them "unfogged" HA

This one of Daddy and the girls turned out much better!  I thought they looked really cute!  I know I'm definitely not partial or anything like that!  :)

I dropped Courtney off with a friend and went on up to the courthouse.  I was probably there all of 15 minutes from parking, going through security and then being dismissed because of "caring for a child under the age of 4."  On my way back down, I made a few stops.  The most exciting was the deal I found at Staples.  We've been out of photo paper for ages, literally.  I've waited so long alot because of the price.  It just seems like too much to pay for.  Unbeknownst to me, they were have a Buy One, Get One Free sale and you could mix/match the sizes!  I was SO happy about that!  Thank you Jesus!
  Then back down to School AKA Gammy's house and found two excited and happy little students.  They finished up their studies for the day and then we joined Courtney at our friends house for a little playdate and I was able to get the "grand tour" of my friends new home!  We are so excited for them!

Labor Day - 
  Saturday afternoon we were invited over to some friends of ours, along with a few other families.  The ladies all chipped in with the menu - standard barbeque fare!  I did take my camera and never pulled it out once - shame on me!  We had a really great time though, playing games and visiting!    Then yesterday, the girls hung out with Daddy at home, while I went and picked up a few things at Walmart.  Jaron finished up the project he had been working on for the girls - they have hardly been able to contain their excitement for when Daddy would have their project complete!!  More on that later :)
  After a nap for Courtney and quiet time for the oldest 2, we went to Gammy and Grampa's for some pool time.  Oh my word, did the girls wear themselves right out!  Katie especially would just launch herself into the water! 

Courtney is getting much better in the water, she still wants to hold on to someone though :)  Sometimes I hold her just by her hands and tell her to kick her legs - she calls this "riding her bicycle"  :)

Course all that swimming works up a grand appetite...yummy grilled goodness.  I tried a new marinade - it was GOOD!  I'm thinkin' we'll be trying it out again, maybe even this week :)

 We had a really fun weekend, just being together with friends and family!  Today was back to the grindstone.  School for the girls, work for Daddy and 3 cleaning jobs for Mommy! 

How was your weekend?

Snap-shots from August

Just a little bit of rambling here.  Looking through Picassa I discovered I didn't take many pictures during the month of August.  (Mental note to do better in September.)
 

Courtney enjoying her breakfast.  Many times she eats alone because she is up before her two sisters.  Subject to change starting tomorrow, due to the new school year starting for said older sisters.

This month we've tried out a few new recipes.  Sweet Onion Bread (pictured above) pairs really well with a soup and salad.  Highly recommend Reluctant Entertainer's Old-Fashioned Peach Cobbler - gone in less than 24 hours!  We also made Country Living's (July/August 2011 issue) Baked Potatoes with Bacon Butter.  The bacon butter was a nice touch, I didn't feel that rubbing the potatoes with the reserved bacon fat added any flavor to the potatoes themselves.  I'll skip that step the next time.

We had some friends over for dinner one night.  We should have done this a year ago!  Mom and Dad kept the girls overnight for us.  After dinner was over and our guests left, Jaron and I enjoyed a nice leisurely walk on the beach.

Our family was invited out for supper on a Friday night.  I got to play with my burlap and baker's twine for the hostess gift :)  Love me some baker's twine!

I promised the girls that before school started we would let them buy ice-cream from the melodious ice-cream truck that circles our neighborhood.  Just the right treat after getting back from swimming in Gammy and Grampas' pool.  This may or may not have been a large part of their supper that night.  Hey, it was still summer :)

As soon as I post this to the ole blog, I've got ironing to do for tomorrow's clothes.  The first lunches of the school year are packed.  Katie told me tonight as we tucked them into bed, "I am SO excited!"  and she is.  We have been counting down the days, since this past Monday with Smarties. 6 days left = 6 Smarties, 5 days left = 5 Smarties and so on.  Very appropriate, don't you think?  :)

Courtney will be enjoying a playdate with a friend, while Daddy is working hard and Mommy is fulfilling her civil duty at the local courthouse.  I'm about to find out what this jury duty stuff is all about - first hand.  I remember going on a highschool field trip with Mr. D - somehow I think this will be a bit different :)

It's a good thing!

That I'm not one of those paid bloggers!  'Cause we'd be starving with the way I get these posts up so intermittenly!  HA  and I for sure would not like that kind of pressure, although I love looking at their blogs :)  Anyway, you didn't get on here to find out what I feel about 'pro' bloggers, did ya?!
  The last field trip of the school year was to the Palm Beach Zoo.  Katrina loves anything and everything to do with animals, botany and science.  So this was perfect for her and the rest of us just tagged along!
  There aren't many animal pictures, but lots of my pretty little ladies - Enjoy!

This peacock was very intent on winning the attention of a little white bird, who had no use for this guy with all his pretty feathers!  It was interesting to watch the display!

We love the carousel!  To bad they charge per ride now, they didn't use to :(

Courtney is the perfect baby-of-the-family!  I think Daddy is going to be carrying around LOTS of amo before long! :)

Mom has done a fantastic job of teaching Katrina this year!  THANKS MOM!

I thought Court's expression was cute here....

I know she'll kill me (in about 7 years) for posting this picture of her!  LOL  This was her imitation of the peacock :)

Lunch was a picnic at the park/playground across the street from the zoo.

  Great end to the 2011 school year!  I can't believe next year we'll have two kiddos in school!

  Our 1st field trip of the year was to Busch Wildlife Sanctuary.  All the years I lived in Fl. and I never even knew this place existed!  They had snakes, many kinds of birds, raccoons - albino racoons!  yes, they were odd looking :)  and many other sorts of critters!  This is the view I mostly had of the girls - their backs!  HA  They were SO interested in each and every animal or amphibian!

We did manage to snap a couple of shots with their pretty smiling faces....

and with their Momma (how blessed I am!).  Although, for the life of me, I know don't know WHY I didn't get a picture of the girls with their Gammy!!  (Sorry, Mom!)

Katrina and Katie comparing their 'wingspan'....

This picture cracks me up...Katie - standing on her tippy toes and biting her lower lip as if that will SOMEHOW help her to be a little bit bigger :)

After we finished there, we went to a local park to enjoy our picnic lunch and then the girls had some time on the playground - that's always a winner!

We had our 1st picking of beans in our garden :)  They tasted absolutely delish!  You just can.not.beat homegrown flavor!  Katie even said, "Mommy, I didn't use to be a bean-eater, but now I'm a bean-eater!"

We did have a few squabbles over who was picking the most beans :) and Courtney needed help with knowing which beans were mature enough and which ones needed to keep growing...

We didn't plant that many, so the yield wasn't huge, but it was enough for a meal.  Hopefully, if the weather holds off tomorrow, we can check on the second batch and see if they are reading to be picked!
  We have potatoes planted in the bins that are pictured behind the girls.  The blue bin potato plants have blossomed, so I'm anxious to see how those potatos look....the other plants still haven't blossomed.  It's being a bit of a gardening learning curve down here, but 'ya gotta start sometime!'  :)

Our 3 citrus trees have about blossomed themselves to death and smelled heavenly!!  Jaron has commented many times, even if we don't get fruit they are worth just the fragrance!   We have had quite of few of the blossoms set fruit, though.  I know that will be exciting when they are ready to eat!

This past week, Katie had her 1st Daddy date - you can just imagine how EXCITED she was!  I  love that! and now the girls have "scheduled out" when each one of them get to go on Daddy dates!  When I asked them "what about Mommy?"  They looked at me like - YOU need to go on dates?!!!!  HA  They did graciously 'work' me into the 'schedule'  :)