Amber Waves of Grain

School has started!  (*insert happy dance*) Keegan started 2nd grade last week.... Here is is outside his new classroom: He was told to pick his own desk ( unassigned seats... every student's dream, right!? ) but he was so intimidated he kept asking me to do it. Lots of new faces.  He finally chose this desk in the back. Getting some last minute words of encouragement from his Daddy here.  Kennedy started Pre-K (preschool year right before Kindergarten) today. She'll just go in the mornings. She loves school and was excited to go.     She has the same teacher as last year who we love! Here's Kennedy being dropped off.  Savannah grabbed the teacher's hand to go inside too. Savannah looked back and said, "Bye, Mommy!".  Not so soon, Savannah!!!     Another year and more blessings.  Looking forward to this great school year!

We just got back from Disney World ! Let me start by saying it was MAGICAL ( that sounds cheesy but I mean it! ). We stayed an the Art of Animation hotel in the Finding Nemo themed family suites.  Disney thought of every detail and made our stay so nice ( except for the cheap 1-ply toilet paper, of course ).  Our living area had a table by day..... Which came down into a murphy bed at night: The couch turned into a bed too for Kennedy: We had lots of space (with our own master bedroom) and 2 bathrooms.  And, the hotel pool was Finding Nemo themed too.  So fun. We went to the Magic Kingdom two days, Animal Kingdom one day, and spent 4 days on the road (and I still have a *little* of my sanity left).      My favorite part was seeing the kids with such BIG SMILES . Happy, happy, happy. I didn't think Savannah would be old enough to appreciate things and I was SO WRONG (mark this day on your calendar).   She LOVED ...

For the past 12 years, we've used the 'standard' deck that came with our house.  It was just big enough for a grill..... and that's about it. About a month ago we had it ripped out. It happened so fast that we weren't ready to replace it.  So, we had a redneck backyard for about a month.  I'm sure the neighborhood association loves us. Watch your step .... as you plunge a few feet down when you step out the back door.  We finally got it replaced this weekend.  It took one random man from Craigslist ( hopefully not the Craigslist killer ) only about 5 hours to build this entirely by himself. While it's not our 'dream patio', we got a huge area for a fraction of the price.  And, it's just big enough for the kids to ride their bikes in circles.  Score . We just need some landscaping around it and we're all decked out!