Dove Hunting 2011

Friday, September 9th, the time had arrived. The long awaited dove hunting trip to Ballinger. Erik, Hagen, Cooper along with our good friends the McMannus', Scott, Grant and Coy, left Friday afterschool for their big trip. Before making it to West Texas, they stopped off in Arlington to attend a Ranger's game. After the game, they headed to Ballinger, an arrived around 2 am. Of course, the boys slept the whole way so they were ready to go that morning. They had a great time on their trip, I tried to talk Erik into blogging about it, seeing that I was not there, but he did not take me up on the offer. He did however take the camera and get some great pictures.

Hagen with his "mojo". And no, I had no idea what they were called. But apparently, they are called "mojos"???

The boys ready to dove hunt.

Hagen shooting with "Mr. Scott".

Hagen and Coy.

Cooper and Daddy learning how to shoot.

Grant with his dove.

Hagen and Cooper with their "dove". They did not kill these themselves, but let's just play like they did.

Hagen and Cooper hanging out.

The Ballinger "Ritz Carlton".

As you can see they all had a wonderful time, and they can not wait until deer season. Harper Kate, Christina and I stayed home. We had a great weekend with crafts, shopping and a movie.

Labor Day

Labor Day Monday, September 5th. We had no big plans, just great time at home. The day started off that morning with a chalkboard paint project. I had seen the most brilliant id a on pinterest, that I could not wait to try. Did I mention that I LOVE pinterest, it has the most wonderul ideas.

Our project started with this old door I bought at Canton.

We first slightly sanded the panels of the door. Next, we painted the panels with a magnetic primer. After allowing the primer to dry for 30 minutes the process was repeated 2 more times.

After applying the magnetic primer, we applied 1 thin coat of chalkboard paint, and then allowed that to dry.

The finished product, a chalkboard. This will hang on the wall of the toyroom. We have yet to hang it up, but hopefully in the near future.

This is the side of one of my kitchen cabinents that we also converted into a blackboard. I am very excited about this, hopefully it will keep track of everyone's schedules.

After our morning full of projects, we headed to Wal-Mart to purchase hunting liscenses. This was Hagen's first hunting liscense and he was soo excited.

Erik and Hagen waited to purchase their liscense.

My boys ready for hunting season.

Shopping wearing their new camo backpacks.

Harper Kate supervising.

And a little Matilda Jane cuteness.

Sunday Bests...

I have been so behind on my blog. For many reasons, weeks full of PTO activities, shingles and strep throat, to name a few. Anyway, here or a few pictures of Sunday, September 4, 2011.

Harper's first pedicure. Courtesy of Aunt Bobo. How precious are her little toes?

All dressed up and ready for church. I love her wizzard of Oz dress.

Hagen and his crab ship lego masterpiece. I believe this is his reproduction of the "Northwestern".

Oh my....8 months already!

Sunday, August 21st Harper Kate turned 8 months old. She is loving discovering her world. She is almost crawling, but still manages to move around the house. Mostly by dragging herself around on her belly, or rolling to where she needed to go. Her big brother, Hagen, was a huge roller back in his day. Little girl is starting to get into everything, pulling my drapes, eating magazines, and finds herself lodged into small places. This has been a big month for her, with many firsts. What fun the next few months will bring.

Everything goes in her mouth these days.

Playing with her baby...Love this!

At 8 months:
You wear size 12-18 month clothing.
You wear a size 3 shoe.
Wearing a size 4 diaper.
You eat most table foods, I blend up most of our meals for your "baby food" and fresh fruit for breakfast, you love it.
You are saying Dada and Mama, you just started that.
You are clapping your hands together and saying yeah.
You feed yourself finger foods, and will drink out of your sippy cup at times.
You stayed with your first non-family, not at home babysitter this month. Mrs. Nancy from church and you did wonderful. She said you "were just presious".
You are so excited to see Hagen everyday after school.
You have your first two bottom front teeth.
You love to drag yourself to where I keep the magazines and try to eat them.
You are so happy most of the time.

Harper Kate,
What a joy and blessing you are to our family. We are so enjoying having a little girl in the house, and can not wait to what you grow up!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Lunch with Big Brother, and White Milk.

Hagen is doing so good at school. He loves it. He has mentioned the last couple of days that he would like to buy a milk to drink with lunch. I put money in his lunch account before school started, and everyone has their own lunch number they have to memorize. The numbers are seven digits long, which I think is a little extreme for a kindergartener. Anyways, I decided to write Hagen's down and place it in his lunch box in case he wanted something from the lunch line. Hagen imformed me "he was too scared to go through the line by himself". So the next day, Wednesday the 24th, Cooper, harper and I went to have lunch with Hagen and help him get his milk. Hagen was so excited when he saw us walk into the cafeteria, he grabbed his lunch and came and sat with us at the parent's table.

My big kindergartener. You may notice his hair style is a little different. He imformed me he needed to be able to spike his hair, this week. We will be visiting the barber shop again to get a more "spike friendly" hair cut.

Cooper and Harper so excited to see their big brother. Cooper was so excited to pack his luch box to bring to school to have lunch with Hagen.

After talking with Hagen a few minutes, it was time for the long awaited purchasing of the milk. I walked Hagen to the line, and watched him choose his white milk. I then went and sat back down at the table, while Hagen waited in the line and handed the cashier his lunch number to pay for his milk. He came back to the table with a huge smile on his face. He did it!

The milk.

Hagen spending the last few minutes of lunch with his little sister. She adores Hagen. I find her looking around the house during the day now, I think she is looking for him. She was so happy an excited the entire lunch to get to see her big brother during the day.

First Day of Kindergarten!

Wow, Hagen's first day of school. Monday, August 22nd, the time had come to send Hagen on his way for his first day of kindergarten. He was excited! I had absolutely no trouble waking him up that morning. He had carefully laid his "first day of school" clothes out the night before, which he had picked out several weeks ago. With his back pack laid out and his lunch kit full and in the refridgerator he was ready to go. Erik, had pushed his schedule back where he could come along, and we were all so excited.

Breakfast before school, his favorite toaster struedels an eggs. I think he was a little nervous, because he only ate about half of his breakfast.

Ready to head off to school.

The front door of Central Elementary. He was able to walk in behind our Friends the McMannus's, he felt like a big boy.

Looking for his desk.

Thinking about opening up the playdough.

Erik and Hagen. I think Hagen was a litlle bit more excited in this picture.

We left the classroom after a few minutes with no tears being shed at all. I was excited for my big boy.

I returned home and was cleaning up around the house, when Cooper rolled out of bed around 9 and asked where Hagen was? I thought he might be upset so I explained to him that Hagen had started kindergarten today and he would be home later. Much to my suprise, Cooper smiled from ear to ear and said, "now I get to watch my movies today". Cooper totally enjoys being the big boy at home while Hagen is at school.

Cooper decided he wanted to watch Swiss Family Robinsons that morning, so we decided it would be fun to build a pirate ship out of pillows and dress up as pirates. Cooper of course, put on his goofy pirate hat, and we made Harper a hat out of an old bandana we found. Harper kept messing up the pillows, and "falling over board" which was really aggrevating Cooper! No tears shed for Hagen at this point.

I was so excited when 3 o'clock rolled around, I could not wait to hear about Hagen's day. When Hagen got in the car, I asked him, "how was your day?" I was so happy to hear, "it was awesome mom." After picking Hagen up from school, I decided it would be a great idea to head to Shorty's ice cream shop. Thankfully, KK was home to keep Harper and Cooper so I could spend this time with Hagen.

Eating his favorite, a strawberry sundae. He told me as much as he could remember about his day. He said, "they went on a tour and saw a music room where you could pick your own instuement and a real doctor's office, (aka. a nurse's office :). We returned home after that where he was so excited to see his brother and sister. Daddy, KK, Pops, mae-mae, bobo and nanny all called or came by and asked him about his day.

He was super excited to go back to school the next day.

Meet the Teacher.

Thursday, August 18th, was Hagen's Kindergarten Meet the Teacher. I was so excited. I can not wait for Hagen to start school, not because I am ready to get rid of him. I think it will open up a whole new world to him, new friends, experiences and places. I did not shed a tear, I am excited. Hagen, will attend Central Elementary, which is literally right down the street from our house. We arrived at the school at 6 pm, and looked at the list on the front door and was so excited to see that he would have Mrs. Busby as a teacher. I have known Mrs. Busby my whole life and know she is a great teacher and Hagen would have a wonderful experience in her class. Hagen was also excited to find out many of his friends were in his class. Meet the teacher was very crowded and I think Hagen was a little overwhelmed. He barely talked to his teacher or his friends. He was very excited to see that Mrs. Busby had a fish tank in her room. After talking with his teacher and looking around the room, we left, We visited with some friends and I signed up for PTO before we left to have dinner at Chili's. What an exciting night.

Hagen, not quite sure about the kindergarten thing.