Happy Halloween

Hope it's a great day and you enjoy the many wonderful costumes, spooks and candy!

Update on our progress in Arkansas

WE HAVE A HOME!  A rental home but it's a roof over our heads and somewhere to sleep and eat.  We still are in need of furnture but we'll get there.  Got a computer desk and table from fellow Freecyclers and bought a lovely rolltop desk for $25 off of Craigslist.  We have blow up mattresses for now and are using the tubs we brought our clothes in as bedside tables and storage.  We are Girl Scouting it!

So here's the house...

This is the Living Room as you enter the house. 

Bedrooms off to your right and Kitchen, Dining, etc off to the left. 
There is a very nice deck on the other side of those windows!

The Music Room!  Can't wait to line to walls with bookcases and see Grandma's piano in here!

The Guest Room.  Yes it's lavendar!

And it will be ready for visitors soon!

The Guest Bathroom.

The first floor Master Bedroom.  It has a large walk-in closet and a double sink vanity with a seperate shower/tub and commode room.  The girls decided this was their room because they couldn't share the other room AND we certainly couldn't favor one over the other but each of them having their own room.  Hmmmmm...

The bathroom is off to the right and there is a door to the deck.

This is the Dining Room with the Living Room behind you
and looking into the Eating Area.

This is the Kitchen looking back to the entrance and Living Room. 
You can see the doorway to the Music Room, sort of.

The Eating Area and all of our worldly possessions.
To the left is the Laundry Room, Half Bath and Garage entrance
Kitchen is to the far left.  I was standing in the doorway to the Dining Room.

This hallway leads to the Basement (see the half door) and the Sunroom which leads to the back deck.  The Eating Area is behind me and the Dining Room is to the right.

The Sunroom!  I'm going to really like this room and can't wait to find wicker furniture for it!

You can see the small deck leading to the backyard.

The backyard view from the deck.  Nothing huge but it will be great to landscape a little and enjoy entertaining.

On to the lower level...

 

As you come down the stairs you come to a little room where we will put Wayne's computers...  The closets to the left also lead to the "crawl space" which really isn't one.  It's full height and has a partial cement floor but that's where all the utilities are.  Off to the right is a door leading to the patio and backyard.

This will be the "Media Room".  TV and bar will find a home here!

You can see a doorway to another room and a bathroom, the lower level Master Bedroom and currently my room.

My bathroom has this great vanity which has a "makeup station" (am now on the hunt for a bench or cute little iron stool) and a seperate shower/tub and commode room.  Behind the door to the left is a huge closet and a door leading to the bedroom.

And here is my bedroom.  The door to the Bathroom is to the right and a good sized closet is to the left.  I love all the windows on the lower level.  Lots of great light and a pretty view of the backyard.

Well, that's our little house!  We really like it and the neighbors have been very kind!  We love everything about this place!  How corny is that!  We'll keep you posted on our progress and let you know when a bedroom is all ready for your to visit.

A New School Year and New Schools Too!

The girls started school the week of August 18th in Bentonville this year.  They are really excited, very nervous and I couldn't be happier!  Isabela started high school on Wednesday.  Just the 9th graders went to get use to the school without the chaos all four grades would cause.  I went with her for a little bit in the morning (parent participation was strongly recommended and a lot of parents were there) and then headed back to the hotel to spend the afternoon with Rhianna.  There was a spirit assembly in the morning.  We all learned the very important "WE ARE BENTONVILLE" chant and met all the VIP's of the school.  Isa and I then headed to an appointment with the counselor to get her schedule and I then sent her off to her classes.  She is taking Spanish this year and is in the 9th grade Marching Band.  Other then that she is taking the usual classes which includes Civics, her favorite ( I say sarcastically)...

Explain to me again why I have to have my picture taken TODAY!

Isa if you smile it'll be all over with in a jiffy...

OK so I lied...

Rhianna's frist day of 7th grade was on Thuray.  Isabela didn't have school because she went on Wedneday and everybody else started today.  I took Rhianna to school and she met the nurse again, picked up her schedule, figured out where she was suppose to be for that day (both the Jr Highs and High school are on block scheduling) and we headed to her locker.  She couldn't get it open.  After numerous tries she asked me to help.  I couldn't get it open.  We asked the helpers that were close by and none of them could get it open either.  This is not how we wanted to start the school year.  ;)  So we headed to her first class - gym.  The poor kid just wasn't getting a break for the day.  The day got better and she met some nice kids.  Her locker continued to be a problem so they gave her another one and all is good on the locker front.
















While still in the car I tried to snap a shot
- got the "kiss my a&$" look.  She is so good at that!

A picture taken when Isabela was 4 and Rhianna was 3. 

Playing dressup at Grandma's house.

Mom started a painting from the picture a little while ago and here is it so far. 

 Amazing isn't it!  Look how much they've grown!

Headed to visit KC

The first weekend in Augsut the girls and I started on our journey to Arkansas with a stop over in Olathe to visit the family.  We timed it to coincide with Andrew's leave from the Army.  He's been in Afghanistan since late February (or is it March, can't remember the exact date I just know it seems like forever) and had a two week leave starting the first of August.  We had a great time visiting with him and getting to know Claire, his Fiance, better.  We got to visit with lots of family and friends but unfortunatley didn't get to catch up with everybody.  However we are going to be that much closer to everyone so we can visit more frequently!

While on the road we saw the Brooks and Dunne tour truck, Kauffman Stadium, a beautiful sunset  and my two sons' faces as arrived at my Mom's house.  A winner of a day!

We spent Saturday morning with some friends, the Barry's, at Old Shawnee Town.  I haven't been there in years and it's about time the girls saw Shawnee's history!  So the six kiddos (Dave and Jenifer's four and the two tinkerbells) wandered around enjoying the company and the fresh air.  It all lasted less than an hour when we all decided it was just too hot!  We headed to Pizza Street!

After all that fun we headed back to Grandma's house for a break only to find Grandpa Ray and Nick, plus all the animals, snoring loudly.  We thought about joinging them but didn't.  Instead we headed out to do some school supply shopping.



 
 Tigger has decided he really likes Jazzie's new bed.  Which is maybe a good thing since Jazzie doesn't seem to like it much!

We had a pizza night before we left at Zepe's Pizza and one of Nick's friends/co-workers joined us.



A good visit and great memories!  And then on to Arkansas...

Pet Portraits

Or at least my attempt at pet portraits.  I have this lovely chair that the animals are always sleeping in so I thought I'd take a couple of pictures with the intention of sending them to my Mother who paints portraits (her website if you are interested).  I think I got a couple of nice ones of Dean, the Siamese, but not such good ones of Sarah, the Golden Retreiver.  Angus, the Rat Terrier, wanted his picture taken too...

This is Dean - a very typical Siamese even if he is a mix


You really can't tell how blue his eyes are here!




Sarah says, "Are you done yet 'cause I am!"

"I want my picture taken too!", says Angus

I'll let you guys fill in what Sarah is saying here...

I also took some pictures of our baby Cichlids and the inhabitants of the pond.  Not using the big fancy camera with any of these just the silly little Canon that I detest so much.  I'm trying to like it more by using it more but it hasn't happened yet...

A mama Cichlid and a couple of the babies

Not a very good picture but these are three Goldfish and a couple of Koi

There are several frogs who live in the pond.  They are really actuall kinda pretty!