"Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes..."

What a different week it has been that sets the pace for this month . . .

• Danielle enjoys school and has made a new friend, Lucy. We're a little concerned about the homework - so far has been WAAAYYYY too easy. Will be talking to the teacher Tuesday to find out if this is typical or just review for first week of school.
• We found out that our eldest dog, Sadie, has cancer. Don't know how long she has - sometimes this type is quick, sometimes is longer.
• Also found out that Sadie has been running our house in the "dog pack order". We hired a trainer, Gary, from Barkbusters (http://www.barkbusters.com/) and he is FANTASTIC. It's a non-physical way of understanding and training your dogs and we have just been amazed. We're still working on Sadie (the highly intelligent dog) on her one bark that escapes when the doorbell rings. But it is GREATLY improved.
• Our new office desk was delivered - yea! We're still working on all the computer set ups, etc.
• Had Samantha's 3 month portrait done.
• I returned to work for 1 month. I am helping transition and train before returning to SAHM status. :-) My mom is helping us out with the kids.
• Danielle started soccer practice with her new team.
• Trey received praise and a bonus for a training he did at work. :-)

So it's been a crazy, hectic week. Looking forward to October...

1st day of school

Danielle is off to her first day of 1st grade.

Meet the teacher

Today was meet the teacher at D's new school. The teacher seemed very nice and is big on language arts. That sounds good to me. We also met a couple of the other kids in D's class. We also met the librarian and one of the school counselors. D is VERY excited about school starting on Monday.

We eat all we can and sell the rest . . .

Today we toured Blue Bell. They make the BEST ice cream (though I do enjoy a good Ben n Jerry's). No photos allowed inside but the outside grounds were very nice. First we watched a brief film on the history of BB. Then we watched Snickerdoodle, Mint Chocolate Chip, Cherry Vanilla, Lowfat Strawberry, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough in the pint size and ice cream sandwiches being made. At the end of the tour everyone got a free scoop of ice cream; they were very BIG scoops! I got Dutch Chocolate. Danielle got Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. Alison got Mint Chocolate Chip and Nannie got Turtle Fudge. Afterward we went into old town Brenham for lunch at this cute place called Must Be Heaven.

slip 'n slide

Went to a FUN 1st birthday party for friend, Kathryn, and it had a HUGE inflatable slip 'n slide. Samantha was passed around all the adults who wanted to hold the baby while we all had a BLAST playing.

gearing up for the fall

We registered Danielle for school last Thursday. She is so excited about starting school. We also bought all of her school supplies. One more week to go.

Arggh! Sunday at Pirate's Cove - Galveston Beach

We met this little girl named Sarah. She found a hermit crab and brought him over to show us.

3...2...1...Blast off!! Saturday at NASA

Now on to Dallas . . .

Tuesday afternoon Danielle, Samantha and I headed to Dallas to visit the cousins on the Williams side (Trey's family is much bigger than mine.) Here are some photos:

on the trampoline -

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playing computer games -

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dinner time -

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out front for some photos -

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playing puzzles with the little one ------------------

I've enjoyed working with our vendor located in Dallas so on the way back we stopped by to see them. (Rich and Lisa; Bob was in MN.)

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When we arrived home (after stopping at my parent's for my birthday cake) I was greeted with a drawn message from my wonderful hubby -

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Whew! What a busy couple of weeks. But FUN, too.

swim lessons

D started her swim lessons today.

Happy late Independence Day!

Part of the cousins' visit included the planned late-4th-of-July celebration yesterday at Aunt Donna and Uncle Billy's. Here's a few photos.

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The kids loved riding the wave runner; Trey even taught Danielle how to drive (with him on of course.) I'm sporting a big bruise from a particularily big wave on the waverunner. Scott taught several kids how to waterski. Amberlin actually put down Breaking Dawn to swim. There was a ton of food and we all had a blast.

swim little fishies

Yesterday we all went to cousin Denise's neighborhood pool. It is a really neat pool and all the kids had a good time. We even got Samantha and Sydney in the water for a while.