1st Day of School!

Today was the first day of school and of course I had to take the kids pictures before they took off on their three separate ways.
Austin gave me a hard time about taking his picture and we had to do it really early before anyone could come out and see us because that would just be "SO EMBARRASSING". Gosh, he sounds like a Junior Higher or something. Probably because he is! Austin loved the first day of 7th grade! Hurray! I'm been so stressed about this day coming, feeling like I was preparing to throw my baby to the sharks. It went great though and he can't wait to go back tomorrow. I'm sure that will wear off as the homework starts rolling in. The girls also had a really good day and they both got excellent teachers that are known for being super nice and lots of fun. I think it's going to be a great year!

I CAN SEE!!!

Well, it seems that miracles do happen these days. After a 15 minute procedure and only 4 hours or so of mild discomfort I can see perfectly. It was truly amazing to wake up this morning and be able to see without putting on my glasses! I had absolutely no pain or discomfort today. By late afternoon my eyes felt a little tired but after resting for an hour they were fine again. I'm so glad I finally went through with it this time. I'm kicking myself that I didn't do it sooner!

Sooo Nervous...

This is how I am feeling today, on the eve of my Lasik eye surgery. After many years of thinking about it and wanting it, I am finally doing it! Yep, I am scared but I am also really excited to live life without glasses and contacts. I think I am definitely going to take them up on the Valium they offer before the surgery. Never mind that I've given birth to three babies completely natural. Slicing into my eyeballs is a completely different matter and I'm willing to accept any amount of help offered to get me to go through with this! Any positive vibes and prayers appreciated.

My Goodness...

... she's such a natural beauty. This is the look she'll give the boys that will have them pounding down our door. Heaven help us.

Catch and Release

Yesterday we took a spontaneous, overnight camping trip to our favorite spot along the river. Aaron and the kids decided to do some fishing and Austin got the catch of the day. His fish was just a little guy so of course, he went back into the river. The girls caught plenty of rocks, grassy goo and even each other, but no fish. Aaron seemed to spend most of his time tying on lures and helping the kids pull their lines free from the rocks in the river but he didn't seem to mind. Maybe next time he'll get to spend a little more time with his own line in the water.

Downtown

It's been a bit of an uneventful week so for lack of anything interesting to say, I've decided to just post some photos I recently took of Main St. At first I felt a little silly walking up and down the street snapping pictures but I got over it pretty quickly. Once I hear the click of the camera shutter (love that sound!) I begin getting really excited about what I am capturing and the embarrassment slips away.

Blackberries

One of the neat things we have here in our town are wild blackberry bushes. The bushes are huge and offer bounteous berries to all who are brave enough to pick them. Why is bravery required? Because wild blackberry bushes are extremely thorny and will almost certainly draw blood no matter how careful you are (believe me, I have the scratches to prove it!). A couple of days ago my friend Angie invited us over to her house to pick berries and make blackberry jam. Angie is the same friend who invited me to "do corn" with her a couple weeks ago. She does things the old-fashioned way and makes so much of their food from scratch. Here she is with a two of her six children. And this is our friend Kelly who grew up on farms and also does things from scratch. You can probably see she has a daring streak in her.
Lauren was a great little berry picker. She loves to work and hung around to help even though all the other kids had run off to play.
After a couple of hours of picking we had a couple of buckets full of berries. Do you know what you would pay for those in the store ??? We then turned them into jam which is definitely a task best done with a team. After splitting the "fruits of our labor" I went home with twelve containers of blackberry jam. Yummyyyy!

Silliness In San Antonio

One of the things I love most about my friends is their silliness and ability to have fun. We may be in our thirties now but you wouldn't think we were a day over sixteen if you hung out with us long. On the last day of our vacation we kept asking each other what the best part of the trip had been. For me it was just being with my friends, watching and listening to their hilarious antics and laughing 'till my stomach hurt. Back in High School Leah would carry Mandy as a baby on her hip. This is for old times sake.
We saw this cute guys outside the deli we ate at and Thorey just couldn't resist giving him a little kiss!
Whenever you point your camera at Mandy, you never know what she's going to do. In fact, I could do a whole post filled with goofy Mandy pictures, but I think I'll spare her. This is her Marilyn Monroe pose, one of my favorites.
Frog races anyone? We discovered that the house we rented is surrounded with frogs in the evening. Jodi and Leah caught themselves a couple of hoppers and brought them in to have a race.While shopping for souvenirs we found this store that sells tons of silly hats. Of course we had to try them all on and pose for pictures!