A new fence, a load, and a birthday boy

Hope is standing next to the beginning of our latest (and now completed) project--the construction of a stretch of cedar fence along our backyard.  We decided to build this fence to give us some more privacy, and cedar pickets seemed cheap enough, so after constructing a wooden framework out of pressure treated pine lumber, we started putting up the pickets.  As you can see below, even Kenny pitched in:

This wasn't a long stretch, only about 70 feet or so, and it went up quickly.  Below, you can see how it runs behind our shed:

In addition to being pretty and smelling great, the cedar should be more decay resistant than untreated pine, and it provides a nice screen for the neighbors...

We also went to a special fundraiser held every year for Arkansas Children's Hospital called "Log A Load For Kids".  This fundraiser is run largely by the timber industry, and all the proceeds are donated to the children's hospital in Little Rock.  Below are some pictures of some of the auction items--loads of logs!

This nation-wide charity (http://www.logaload.org/index.html) has been well supported for years by the timber industry, and have contributed large quantities of money to help support Children's Miracle Network hospitals in many different locations.  In addition to the loads of logs (one of the trucks with big oak sawlogs like the ones below went for about $7,000!), other items are also auctioned...

...including the wooden wine box below:

We knew we weren't going to be able to afford many of these items, but Hope was obsessed with getting this wine box, and she actually won it in the live auction (at a pretty reasonable price):

They did very well at this particular fundraiser--between the auctions, raffles, and $20/person catfish dinners, they made something like $70,000 or so!  Our other big event this week was, of course, a birthday party for Stephen:

Hard to believe, but he turned 5 on Sunday!  We had a pretty low key birthday party for him--most of his little friends were out of town or otherwise unavailable, but he had a good time anyhow.  Oh, and by the way, his big sister Beth helped by decorating his birthday cake:

He got several nice gifts that he's already been playing with hard, including a new bike from Rich and Ann Pruden:

Later this week we're going to a business meeting of mine, and then (Yeah!!) the kids start back into school!  They're all actually really excited--they miss their friends, and they miss learning, too...