First Day of Piano Lessons, School and Visiting the Family Farm & Fair.

Do you like how many words I put in my title? Ha! That's for me to be able to search later when I'm looking for my journaling to scrap the photos. It's been an extremely busy week or so. When I get a chance to breathe and just be, then I have been taking it. I haven't been online that much either. We've had some exciting things happen in the last week and a half though!


Andrew started piano lessons Monday of last week. His first lesson went fabulously. He loved it and didn't want to leave. We went home after Elizabeth's lesson and he immediately wanted to practice. He practiced later that day too. He asked the next morning if he got to have piano lessons that day. I may have myself a little Beethoven. ;) I just hope he continues to enjoy it. He was consistent in practicing the first week and was happy to go this past Monday. Elizabeth is doing well and still enjoys playing too. She says she later wants to learn to play the flute and Andrew told me last week that he would like to learn the trumpet or French horn in a few years.


Soccer evaluations were last Tuesday. Andrew is the only one playing soccer this fall. Elizabeth played for two years and liked it okay but she isn't too athletic. She says she wants to try basketball later this year. Andrew also wants to play. He did great at his evaluations and will begin practice once a week starting next week.


Last Friday was their first day of school. Only a half day but their first day nonetheless. They were excited to get up that morning and get dressed. We did our traditional photos on the front porch. It always cracks me up to see their eyes on the first day of school. They always look hung over or something. I'm still learning the best way to take photos of Elizabeth with her glasses too. They look crooked most of the time. Hmm . . . I wonder if they are!



Andrew wanted me to get a shot of his new tennis shoes. It was the first time he got to wear them.



Wade and I picked them up at 11:30 in the truck with the four-wheeler parked in the back. They were excited. Their classes were coming out by our truck while we were in car line and several classmates made comments about the "cool four-wheeler". :) Andrew especially liked that. We headed to Pikeville for the weekend and to spend Saturday playing at the family farm in middle TN. Elizabeth had requested from Wade that she wanted to fish so he wasn't going to let his little girl down.


Tollette was having a large building delivered to his house and thought the kids would be interested. We waited at the place where he bought it for the truck and trailer to arrive and let the kids play on the huge wood play equipment they sold (several up to $8K for the set!). The kids and adults enjoyed seeing the man back his trailer up the building and tilt it at a 45 degree angle and then get it on the trailer without turning it over. Andrew said he wants a trailer like that when he grows up. I have to admit that watching him even deliver it and see how his trailer's hydraulics would slide the building in almost any direction was pretty cool.


We had a perfect day at the farm. It was overcast all day long and we never had to use sunscreen. We didn't even get pink from the sun. We did get a little hot at one point but not for long. We started out fishing and caught around 20 fish - mainly sunfish and a few small mouth bass. Elizabeth wouldn't bait her hook but she did let it down and reel it in when she caught something. I don't touch fish (yet!) so it was all Wade could do to get them off the hooks while I would put more bait on the hooks and let the kids drop them back into the creek. Andrew discovered a great way to catch grasshoppers - sneaking up on them and slightly stomping them. The fish loved those. He's chomping gum in the photo below. Oh and there I am without a stitch of make-up. Hey, the cows don't care!





Right when we had called it quits on fishing for the day, Wade caught this one (small-mouth bass).



Ben, Stacy and Stone came to the farm and picked up some sandwiches at a local gas station for lunch. They were either really good or we were really hungry.


Afterwards we went riding on our four-wheeler and Ben's Ranger around the farm. We rode around the fields and up into the woods. It was fun for us all! I do tend to get a little scared and rarely drive anymore. Especially after we had a friend's 12 year old son killed a few months ago, it really makes me want to take it easy and not do any rough stuff. Wade knows that too and has always been careful.


Our little rough-and-tumble partner, Stone. :)



Elizabeth made friends with a barn cat. It was extremely friendly. She kept trying to talk us into taking it home or seeing if Papa (Wade's dad) would take it.



Andrew had wanted to shoot some so the boys did that for a while. Stacy and I shot a bit too. Then we all headed back to the house to wash the filth of dirt and manure from our bodies. We were all tired but had a great day.


The trip back home wasn't has fun as our previous day at the farm. We got stuck in traffic of a wreck on the interstate that made our 3.5 hour trip take two hours longer. Ugh! We were all exhausted when we got home.


The kids had their first full day of school on Monday. Elizabeth had a wonderful day but Andrew did not. His day went South when he messed up on putting his order in for lunch that day. It may have been my fault to a degree. I had reminded him probably 2 times that morning to get his order in. They get to eat Chick-fil-A on Mondays for lunch but the school doesn't order any extra meals so I wanted to make sure he ordered it okay. Well, when I picked him up that afternoon his teacher told me that I would have a hungry boy because he didn't order his lunch. She had offered to get him some snack from the machine but she said she thought he was embarrassed and didn't want anything. I think his stubborness probably came into effect too. He said he got confused when he went to put his name on the velcro thing in his class where he showed if he was buying lunch or had brought his own. Poor thing! I know how my boy loves to eat and I felt so bad for him. He was upset and said he did NOT want to go back to school the next day. To make matters worse he lost a point in the last part of the day and a little girl beside him made an announcement to the class which further embarrassed him. He did say that Mrs. Owens got on to her for doing that. He was still mad at her yesterday. We had to give a talk about "forgiving your enemies". LOL I had Elizabeth take her piano lessons first on Monday so I could take him to get some fries at McDonald's. That helped him but he said he was still hungry and thirsty during piano lessons.


Yesterday went much better for him at school thankfully. He had a fun day and didn't lose any points. Elizabeth spent most of the day on a field trip (yes, her second full day of school was a field trip day!) at the Appalachian Fair. We went last night after dinner back to the fair. This year Andrew was tall enough and brave enough to ride a lot of the "adult" rides. They loved them. I enjoyed them to a point but did start feeling a little queasy. Wade didn't do several of the rides because of that. Guess we're getting old! LOL I LOVED roller coasters when I was a teen - the scarier, the better - but now it seems I just get headaches and an upset stomach. We rode maybe 14 different rides. The attendance was low which isn't good but it did work out for us to get on and off the rides quickly. After sharing two funnel cakes and one more ride on the ferris wheel at night, we left around 9:30. We were there for a little over 3 hours. Do you notice something strange? No pictures. Yep, this year I went camera-less. It was very freeing. :) I figure I have enough photos of the kids at the fair but do wish I had got at least two or three. I wasn't going to lug my big ole camera there though and don't have a small one to carry (nor do I dare ask Wade to get me one!!).


Wade and I have been invited to a party with some big-wigs tomorrow. We aren't sure just how many or who the big-wigs are yet but they are sports people. One former NBA player we know of. One of his clients has invited us. I had to go out today to find something "casual" to wear. I HAD to buy this new purse to match. Wade says it doesn't really match but I'm not taking it back! LOL I haven't bought a new purse in a looooong time. I'm talking a few years. I love this one though.