Brotherly Love

Michael, my brother, came to visit this week!! We had a great time! We laughed, shopped, ate, played games and watched a movie!! Here we are at Yana's. It's a quaint little restaurant here in town. The food is sooooo good!! (Dan had to go to Midland, so he couldn't join us there.)

Michael loved being with the dogs. He is the Dog Whisperer II. He was sooooo good with them! He got Pluto to stop barking at him almost immediately!!!

And he also helped me help Pluto stop being mean to Goldy when we pet her instead of him! Thanks Michael!!!

We had a great visit and can't wait until the next one!! Come back soon Uncle Mike!!!

Best Friends

Now that is what I call a good friend. :)

What 22 Kindergarteners can do:

This is me today after a day with kindergarteners. TGIF.

All because I asked

Recently, I saw a friends pictures of her and her families holiday together. In some of the pictures, they were taking turns shooting at targets. I thought "what a great time!"

One day as we were headed to the boys basketball games and thinking about what we could do later, (being tired of spending the afternoons painting and repainting) I spat out "I want to shoot a gun."

My thinking was....what do boys love to do??? Guns! Hunting! I told Dan I wanted to shoot at targets with the boys. So that got us to thinking and we decided to get a skeet shooter and give it a try!!

There are a couple of things that don't make this an easy sport.
1. You can't shoot a gun in your backyard at targets. This would get the neighbors talking.
2. Guns kill. (I didn't think about this one until Dan had already purchased the gun.
I nearly lost my nerve and secretly wanted him to take that gun back. Someone might get hurt!!)

To solve problem #1 - we used Dan's family land in Big Spring TX (about 1 hour away). We love going out there anyway, so now all we needed was a good day. We decided to go Sunday after church.
Dan is such a good teacher. He worked with me until I was able to actually hit the target! He has the patience of Job!! Thank you Dan! Y

Dan made me learn how to load the gun and everything! He is relentless!!! But in the end, I'm glad to know how to use it.

Dan got first shot. He was dying to shoot it!!!

We all got to shoot it, I just didn't get any of Drew. The boys were happy running around and climbing the fence and happy to let me and Dan play.

I even got "Good shot Mom!" from the boys! That felt great!

Dan is loading the skeet shooter. That was very fun! Dan and Drew each shot a flying "skeet" - Zach and I need some practice!

Can you spot the skeet?

It was a great way to spend time with my boys. "Playing" with a gun is not my favorite thing and will probably end up being something for Dan and I to do together (for a while). It is something different for sure!!

Happy Valentines Day!

Our Meaty Adventure

I found these giant Turkey legs the other day at the grocery store. I just knew my boys would love them!! Y (Zach doesn't look too in love, does he??)

Yummy!

Ahhhh, satisfied! :)

Spelling Bee Continued

Today was the school wide spelling bee. Zach was very nervous. I treated him to lunch at Jack-N-the Box since he had a big afternoon. While he wasn't the "Champion" he did great! We are so proud of him and he will always be our "Champion"!
Zach spelling "Earthenware" (some of the words were crazy! I hadn't even heard of some!!)

He is seated behind #1.

Here he is before the Bee with one his basketball buddies Devin. (Devin is in the 6th grade)

It was great to have his grandparents there to cheer him on!!

I wish I had taken a picture of the winner. He is a 5th grader too. He did great and it was quite the competition between him and another girl. His parents (the winners) are Zach's new Sunday School teacher at First Baptist Church. :) (Just some added facts! :))

Spelling Bee

Today was classroom Spelling Bee's at school. Zach was dreading it, but I was so excited! I remember when Zach was going to be starting school and Dan and I were discussing his schooling...and Dan said he wanted Zach to be a great speller and win spelling bees...(or something like that).

So I encouraged Zach to do his best and have fun. He came home with the news that he was a finalist in his class for the school wide Spelling Bee next Friday!! You Rock Zach! We are so proud of you!!

Before and After

Living room: Before
Living Room: After

Pictures: Before

Pictures: After

Dining Room: Before

Dining Room: After

Home Office: Before

Home Office: Before

Home Office: After

Needless to say, there has been a lot of painting going on at our house. We are almost done (and Dan is soooo glad)!!! Of course, you can see we aren't finished yet. But so far we are really enjoying the changes!! It's amazing what a little paint can do to change the look and feel of things.