THURSDAY AFTERNOON

I thought I would share with y'all where I go on Thursday afternoons. The girls have music classes.

For 2 hours on Thursday I volunteer at the front desk to try to give back a small portion of what they give to us.

Their school use to be in 2 REALLY old houses and now they have such a beautiful building to enjoy.

I am so very thankful for Mr. Jonah, Mrs.Lynn, Mrs. Katie, and all the wonderful volunteer teachers that my children have had over the years.

This is Abby's Musical Beginnings Class.

Shelby takes Music Theory and starts playing an instrument at the beginning of the year. She thinks she may want to learn piano. That is subject to change:)

Shelby is also part of Select Singers so we are there for about an hour on Monday evening.

Here is a video of the school and Abby is the last little girl coming through the door at the beginning.

Here is a video of Trevor's last(sniff,sniff:( ) performance as a music student. He is in the band and you can see him peeking out every once in a while:) He is sitting by the guy with the awesome afro:) It's not a great recording but that's okay:)

And here is Wynonna and the WannaBeatles singing at W O Smith:) Enjoy!!

NOT ME! MONDAY!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did not stick my favorite spatula in the blender when making hummus and chop the top off it. Then, I did not look for the part that had been chopped off and heave a sigh of relief when it was all in one piece. A normal person would have just thrown the hummus out. I did not sit down and eat that hummus for lunch. Not me!



I did not just wash the spatula and put it back in my tool turnabout. Why would I still want to use it after the end was chopped off by the blender? When my husband saw it and asked if he should throw it away I did not respond~Absolutely Not!!! Not me!

I was not late for Shelby's dentist appointment because I dilly dallied around and did not get in the shower til 10:40 when her appt was scheduled at 11:00. That would be irresponsible and inconsiderate. Not me!

I did not threaten my child with a spanking if she ever unlocked my door with a pair of scissors again because she wanted to get on the computer. I am always the picture of self control to my children and would never lose it with any of them. Not me!

When taking Trevor to work last week I did not make my kids sit in the car while I went into Chickfila to get our lunch~for half price. I would never let my kids sit in the car in the parking lot to be able to run in and run out of a fast food place. Not me!

THIS WEEK IN REVIEW

*If you clickon the picture you will be able to see it bigger:)
This was a place outside of Denali National Park. The adults ate Halibut and chips. The girls ate Elk sliders. Delicious!!

Wow!! This week has gone by soooo fast! Blogger seems a little wonky so I think I am just going to make a list~ I love lists:)

1~Mike and I worked out together three times this week. We are trying to make better choices and Mike gets class credit for it~so it's all good. One day we even took the girls because Trevor had to work. They were bored and told us so ever 2 minutes.

2~Trevor's car still isn't running right and that means a trip back to the mechanic. He is a little stressed right now. Court was Thursday and he had traffic school today. Hopefully this is it~please let this be it:)

3~The girls were sick at the end of last week and through the weekend but they are over it now with just some congestion and a cough to go with it.

4~Mike has worked 13 nights straight and tonight I am going to love snuggling with my man. Ahh~blissful.

5~School is going well. Things are progressing nicely.

6~Our garage flooded early Thursday morning. When I opened the door to the garage to unlock the outside door there was about 2 inches of water standing at the bottom of the steps. I thought it was the water heater at first but thankfully it had come in under the garage door. I tried to get out as much as I could before Mike came home. I am sure I looked lovely with my nightgown on and tennis shoes sweeping lots and lots of water out the door. There wasn't much damage~nothing of significance was ruined. So thankful!

7~Mike cooked today and my mouth is watering just smelling it! I can't wait to try the BBQ and coleslaw. ~from scratch~my man's own two hands:)

8~I am in a purging mood for some reason. I love it when I get this way it makes everything so much easier to manage when there is less of it!!

9~Book study started this week!!! WOO-HOO!! We had 25 ladies show up! Can't wait to get to know some of the new ladies and catching up with the ladies that came last year. (Hi, Heather and Emily~y'all made my night! Thanks for the sweet words about my blog:)

10~I think I am getting my blog groove back~oh wait a minute~I better be careful. Last time I said that I didn't blog for 2 months:)

Hope your weekend smells as good as mine!!!

NOT ME!!!! MONDAY

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did not consider wearing pajama pants to work out in this morning. Mike and I were going to the college gym and could run into any number of people we go to church with and I would never wear pajama pants out in public. Not me!

I did not, in an attempt to impress my husband, run on the tread mill. I am way too out of shape for that and would never try something so ridiculous! Not me!!

This past week I did not decide to leave a load of clothes in the washer 2 days just cause I didn't feel like putting them in the dryer and folding them. I am always on top of such household chores that the thought never even crossed my mind. Not me!!

THIS IS MY 300th POST

Fireweed in Denali National Park
The honey made from this flower is delicious!

In honor of my 300th post I will tell you 300 things about me.

Just kidding!!!

I will tell you some things about my life right now~

• We are enjoying Mike's last semester of college~the only class he has at the college is on Monday night. The other two classes are weight training and research with his professor so they are pretty flexible.
• The girls are loving their tutorial class. They have dressed up twice-Abby as an Indian and Shelby as a pioneer woman.
  
• Trevor is having a difficult time with his car and work. It is hard to watch your child learn hard lessons.
  
• We are still praying and seeking the Lord's guidance about Alaska. We are looking forward to moving ahead with plans.
• Fall can't get here soon enough~bring on the cooler weather withOUT mosquitoes!!!
• I LOVE Goodwill!
• Abby used the word cattywampus the other day when referring to her bed and it made me smile~true southern girl:) Made me proud.
  
• My book study starts back on Thursday and I. CAN. NOT. WAIT. In fact, I thought it started this past Thursday and was quite disappointed that it didn't.
• The ladies of our church had a tea at this mansion and it was wonderful. My friend, Carol and I hosted a table and we used a Japanese tea theme. My sister was a guest at our table and I am so glad she came.
  
• Am I the only one that has been considerably frustrated with driving lately? A guy pulled out in front of me today and then yelled at ME. Excuse me?
• Did I mention I love Goodwill? Oh, well~it bears repeating.
• I HATE wrestling and to my chagrin my girls love it. Thank you, dear hubby:)
• If I could I would rip up the carpet in my living room, take it outside, and set it on fire. Seriously! I would. I can't stand it. For real.
• Much to my family's chagrin I could eat hummus EVERY. DAY.
  

That is all. 300 posts done~Woo-hoo!

MARK ALL AS READ

I'm taking a break from the Alaska posts to share something else. I have to put one picture of Alaska up because, well, I miss it.

My son gave me an iPod touch for Mother's Day this year. It was a sweet surprise and totally unexpected. Let me just say, I heart it completely!! I can get online with it and I rarely get on the laptop anymore.

I LOVE it! I have a Google Reader account that has all the blogs I read it one location and I only see the updated blog posts. I LOVE Google Reader!!

But~it can be a bit overwhelming. There are so many recipes and parenting tips and decorating ideas and homeschooling tips and sewing projects and cleaning tips and recommendations of books to read and organizing ideas and well, I think you get the picture.

On my nifty iPod touch, the buttons are real close together and you have to touch the screen and sometimes my little fingers hit the "mark all as read button" instead of the refresh button when there are still LOTS and LOTS of posts still left to read.

And to be quite honest I am a little relieved because even though I love reading all the well written and informative posts, sometimes it is nice to start over with a clean slate. I started thinking about this in my own life.

It's the beginning of the school year and I feel like I hit the "mark all as read button" and the pressure to do, read, make, etc. isn't there because it's a clean slate. O, I'm sure the pressure will hit around January when I start thinking of all the stuff I have to do before the end of the year but for now I'm going to enjoy the feeling of no pressure and no demands.

We can read that book on Leonardo DaVinci we found at the thrift store, we can just sit back and take our time doing math. I'm going to enjoy it while I can. No pressure.

Hope you have a "mark all as read" kind of day:)

ALASKA PART 4,004,886 (just kidding;0)

Abby and Anali playing salon:)

Pastor Ron had to take all three girls om the 4 wheeler at the same time.

Denali National Park

Pastor Ron and the girls

Mike coming out if the drop toilet and yes, it was cool enough to wear a jacket at the end of July.



It was absolutely breath taking to see those mountains. I'm a mountain girl~I like the beach and I would vacation there in a heartbeat but there is something about the mountains that speak to my soul. I loved just standing there gazing at them.