Discovery Launch

Last night, for some reason I stayed up way late. At least late for me now a days. At 11:30, the news switched over to the shuttle watch coverage. So then of course I had to wait it out and watch the Discovery go up. Night launches are beautiful. The sky glows and changes colors. It's an amazing sight and last night is supposedly the last night shuttle launch. I'm glad I saw it.

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Veggie Tales

A few weeks ago, our church had a veggie tale night complete with the new movie, balloon animals, face painting, and of course the cafe was fixing kid friendly meals and snacks.

Mike had never seen a veggie tale movie before and I think he laughed more than the kids. It was a fun night.

Play Ball

We (meaning Mike) decided that Braden and Ashlyn should play baseball this fall. So we looked around and Braden will be playing tee ball and Ashlyn will be playing wiffle ball. It will be interesting to see how we will manage being at two different parks each week.

Before we dropped the $150 in fees we ran to Dick's and bought a few things to see how interested the kids were. So far so good. They have fun out in the yard playing. I just hope it continues after practice and games start.

Ashlyn Started VPK

Boo Whoo Whoo! Actually no tears were shed Tuesday when Ashlyn started VPK. It was hard to feel sad because she was so comfortable and happy. All the other kids stayed close to their parents when they walked in. Everyone except for my child who promptly ran to the center of the carpet and began twirling like a ballerina. Then she started saying "Come on friend.Let's play."

She's been having fun. Yesterday she came out crying so I was braced for a bad report. She didn't get one. She was crying because she didn't want to leave. Today, however, one of her teachers ask me to talk to her about sitting quietly during circle time. Apparently they had a hard time reading the story because Ashlyn was busy entertaining.

I'm sure it was the teacher's fault. She should have picked out a more interesting story, preferably one with a pink cover and fairy pictures. It works for me.

Back To School

First he goes to 1st grade and in just a few months he will be 7! I hate the way those two things sound. They both sound to...to...to big boyish. Braden's first day of school was Monday. He's in Ms. Bennett's class. She seems very stern and after 3 days, I think Braden is a little scared of her. She is an older lady with long gray hair that she wears in a bun and nothing on her face but a pair of old school glasses. Everything about her reads Pentecostal grandmother. I don't know for sure that she's goes to a Pentecostal church or that she's even a Christian but that's the vibe I get from her. I would give her the motto...."this is right, that is wrong, do the right NOW and then give me a hug."

Water Wars

What's summer with at least one water war, right? Mike divided us up, 2 against 2, but it didn't really matter because once I stepped onto the grass it was 3 against me. I don't even remember what the teams were. It about 1 minute for Mike and Braden to have me soaked from the top of my head to my toes.

It took a minute for them to soak me and a minute and half for me to surrender and hightailed it into the house. I guess Ashlyn became the next target because I wasn't even out of my wet clothes yet when I heard her yelling "I lose too!"

So the girls changed and watched the boys battle it out from the safety of the kitchen. I'm not sure who won but Mike sure looked intense and Braden was all smiles.

More Arkansas.

Even with full week in Arkansas we still were not able to do everything we wanted to. It didn't help that I was sick the entire trip. Even though I was sick I did still take almost 300 pictures. Here are a few from the trip.

My kids get so excited when we go to Arkansas because of Chucky Cheese. We see the commercial on tv but we don't have one locally. The only time we go is in Ft Smith.

The trolley ride is really cheap and was pretty fun. Braden got to ring the bell as we crossed streets. We didn't know that it was a tour though. We thought it was just a little ride on the trolley. So after we got off of the trolley to look at different trains and the trolleys they are restoring we were all starving. We missed lunch.

I haven't been to the Ft Smith museum since was a kid. Our school went on a field trip one year. The kids of course didn't really care to read and look at the exhibits but they had little dress up areas in a few parts of the museum that the kids loved!

A trip to the museum wouldn't be complete without a root beer float from the soda fountain. Braden and Mike both got root beer floats. Ashlyn doesn't like root beer so she went with a coke float. They were really good.

Mom and Greg took us to the Alma Aquatic Park one day. We had been there before but it was like 5 years ago. They had added another water slide called the toilet bowl which Braden was to be flushed down!

We made a quick stop at the Huckabee center. We didn't have long because it was closing. Next trip we will have to give ourselves more time to check things out.