Here's Beth and some of her compatriots at the beginning of preschool this year. Beth did so well in preschool last year that we knew we'd have to get her in it again this year. Because she's in the older class, she now goes three days a week during the mornings. We've gradually worked back into our late summer routine, with both kids going to school and Hope and I trying to get used to a new routine. Another end of summer happening is the appearance of these garden spiders, or orb-weaver spiders:
This large, beautiful spider has taken up residence on our shed in the backyard, and we hope she catches a whole bunch of bugs... Here's Stephen's megawatt smile:
And here's Kenny's, which is a few watts shorter... Note the missing tooth... As proud as he is about now having lost it, it was a BEAR to get out. It dangled loose in his mouth for a couple weeks and no amount of persuading or our attempting to turn it out did much good. It finally got so loose we were worried he'd swallow it in his sleep that I held him down and Hope grabbed it. Kenny fought back hard, fearing a bloody mess, and was totally surprised when it popped right out without so much as a drop of blood!
I've been keeping busy over the last couple weeks trying to repair the rotting wood along one of our eaves. I've removed the decayed wood, added new pressure-treated lumber, and have been working frantically to get it sealed against the weather. It has been dry most of the last couple of weeks, so I think we're okay--next week we'll start priming and painting, and we should be good to go before the wetter fall and winter weather...
Today the temperature was down into the low 80s (yes, that is considered cool down here for late August), so we hopped in my truck and went around driving some of the back roads. We eventually stopped for a short hike along the Saline River. This stream that was remarkably high just a few short weeks ago is now pretty low, making it easy to walk along the banks looking for petrified wood.
We found a few small pieces (Kenny did pretty good), and Beth found a lot of clam shells (that's what she's got wrapped up in her shirt below). Stephen mostly threw rocks into the river and played in the sand, but that's okay--today was a fun day:
It's hard to believe next weekend is Labor Day weekend, and the weekend after is the beginning of the football season. Hope and I have a fantasy football draft to look forward to this week, but our big event for the fall will be our Thanksgiving trip up north. Just this week we purchased tickets for me, Kenny, Rich Pruden, brother John, Jim Houzner, and brother Bob to attend the Packers/Lions game in Detroit. We are so looking forward to that!! Well, that and the big Bragg family Thanksgiving at Lulu's the weekend before...
Here's Beth and some of her compatriots at the beginning of preschool this year. Beth did so well in preschool last year that we knew we'd have to get her in it again this year. Because she's in the older class, she now goes three days a week during the mornings. We've gradually worked back into our late summer routine, with both kids going to school and Hope and I trying to get used to a new routine. Another end of summer happening is the appearance of these garden spiders, or orb-weaver spiders:
This large, beautiful spider has taken up residence on our shed in the backyard, and we hope she catches a whole bunch of bugs... Here's Stephen's megawatt smile:
And here's Kenny's, which is a few watts shorter... Note the missing tooth... As proud as he is about now having lost it, it was a BEAR to get out. It dangled loose in his mouth for a couple weeks and no amount of persuading or our attempting to turn it out did much good. It finally got so loose we were worried he'd swallow it in his sleep that I held him down and Hope grabbed it. Kenny fought back hard, fearing a bloody mess, and was totally surprised when it popped right out without so much as a drop of blood! 
I've been keeping busy over the last couple weeks trying to repair the rotting wood along one of our eaves. I've removed the decayed wood, added new pressure-treated lumber, and have been working frantically to get it sealed against the weather. It has been dry most of the last couple of weeks, so I think we're okay--next week we'll start priming and painting, and we should be good to go before the wetter fall and winter weather...
Today the temperature was down into the low 80s (yes, that is considered cool down here for late August), so we hopped in my truck and went around driving some of the back roads. We eventually stopped for a short hike along the Saline River. This stream that was remarkably high just a few short weeks ago is now pretty low, making it easy to walk along the banks looking for petrified wood.
We found a few small pieces (Kenny did pretty good), and Beth found a lot of clam shells (that's what she's got wrapped up in her shirt below). Stephen mostly threw rocks into the river and played in the sand, but that's okay--today was a fun day:
It's hard to believe next weekend is Labor Day weekend, and the weekend after is the beginning of the football season. Hope and I have a fantasy football draft to look forward to this week, but our big event for the fall will be our Thanksgiving trip up north. Just this week we purchased tickets for me, Kenny, Rich Pruden, brother John, Jim Houzner, and brother Bob to attend the Packers/Lions game in Detroit. We are so looking forward to that!! Well, that and the big Bragg family Thanksgiving at Lulu's the weekend before...
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