Welcome, Fall!

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year! I have loved the past few weeks with the cooler weather. I have my pumpkin spice candles out and apple cider in the fridge at all times. We are slowly making the transition from summer to fall clothing in the closets and drawers. Both kids had a growth spurt recently, so a shopping trip in going to be needed to round out the wardrobes (at least until Christmas).
This past weekend we got to go to one of our absolute favorite fall events....The Goat Roast! We have been going to this event, hosted by family friends, since before Blake and I were married. Now, the kids look forward to it year round. Saturday, we made the trip to Hardy and enjoyed time at the Young's home. They have the most beautiful setting. We were able to sit in the sun room and use binoculars to watch wild turkey cross the pasture below. The food, well it is simply the best! Just imagine the best church potluck you've ever been to! I don't think I need to eat a thing this week after what all we had Saturday! My favorite thing this year was watching my children interact with the older people there. There were several older ladies that adopted Avery as an extra grandchild! She spent the evening showing them her digital camera and all the pictures she was taking (will add those to the site soon!). She just talked and talked to them! Wil did his job entertaining. One lady told me that another couple was unable to attend this year and that they was sad to miss "the boy"! Everyone remembered that he had started Kindergarten and wanted to know how it was going. Wil's other favorite is the Young's spiral staircase and loft. He has come home before with carpet burn on his stomach from sliding down the stairs!
Hooray for fall! We are looking forward to all the fall festivals, our fall outing to Six Flags in Dallas, the Miley Cyrus concert, Thanksgiving and Christmas (which Avery told me tonight was only 72 days away!).

First Day of School Pictures

Another School Year Begins

It's funny how the beginning of a school year can make you totally forget things (like having a blog!). The Barnett's have had quite an interesting first few weeks. One new and wonderful thing is that Daddy is taking the kids to school in the morning! My school starts earlier than theirs do, so it is nearly impossible for me to drop off in the mornings. They have figured out their plan for the morning and all is going smoothly. Blake is enjoying the time with them. I am so thankful that he is in Jonesboro full time now!

Wil is enjoying Jonesboro Kindergarten Center very much. He is in Mrs. Star Martin's class. He has been doing very well behavior wise. He still doesn't like to come home and tell me all about his day, but I have learned that if I wait, he will eventually tell me. I especially enjoyed hearing about the day that they had a substitute. He said, "Mommy, she was old and didn't know what to do or when to do it!". Wil loves routines and I guess it was frustrating to him to have someone there that didn't know their routine. I hope he wasn't rude to her!

Avery is ecstatic about being in 4th grade at Visual and Performing Arts. The first day, she was beaming with joy as she told me, "we get to dissect Owl throw up!" Yes, you read that correctly.... This is the first year that she gets to switch classes during the day. She has Mrs. Clines for math and science and Mrs. Farris for language arts and social studies. She is also thrilled that it is time for after school academies to begin. Her first choice of the year is to learn about making movies! We somehow forgot to take her picture on her first day of school, but I had her recreate her outfit so I could take it. I will post that and pics from Wil's first day when I find the cord that hooks the camera up to the computer!

My first days of school were some that I will NEVER forget! The teachers returned to school a week before the kids. I worked for two days and came down with what I thought was a stomach virus. It was awful! I stayed home for two days and then headed back to work. I noticed that I was not feeling 100%, but thought it would just take some time since I had been so sick. WELL, on the first day for students, it hit me again! I was there for 1 hour before getting dizzy and light headed. I somehow managed to stay, although everyone was telling me I looked like a ghost. By the time Blake got home, I was ready to go to Urgent Care. After 3 hours of tests, we found out that my gallbladder was to blame! So.....after additional tests, I go to the surgeon on Tuesday to see when I can have it removed!!!! I will be so glad for this to be over. Everyone tells me that it is the best medical procedure in the world and I won't believe the difference. I can't wait!

Silver Dollar City

This year's Barnett family vacation was a trip to Branson and Silver Dollar City. We had not been there in about 5 years, so we had so much fun looking forward to this trip. Avery was 4 the last time we went, so only remembered what she saw in pictures. Wil, being 1 on the last trip remembered nothing. We drove up on Friday afternoon, so that we would be ready to hit the park Saturday morning. Unfortunately, it was a rainy day, but that didn't slow us down much. We started out by touring Marvel Cave. It is a 1 hour hike with about 600 stairs. I had not done a cave tour since we went to Blanchard Springs as a kid. Avery and I were a little slow to get going when we stepped into the HUGE Cathedral Room and saw how far down it went. After a few flights of stairs, we were loving it. Wil, on the other hand, had a great time. He decided that he was just like Indiana Jones!

We spent all of Saturday and Sunday at SDC. The rides, shows and food were great! Avery really enjoyed all the water rides and both kids loved walking through Grandfather's Mansion, which made me incredibly dizzy! Monday morning, we did a little back to school shopping and then headed home. It was a nice getaway!

CRYC 2009

For 5 years now, Avery has enjoyed spending a week at Crowley's Ridge Youth Camp each summer. It is the camp that Blake attended and served as a counselor at when he was growing up. One of Avery's ambitions is to be a counselor at CRYC when she is a teenager. This is her last year to attend day camp. Next year, we will drop her off and not see her for a week. I am sure she will handle that better than I will!

Birthday Party!

Avery turned 9 on June 27th. Wil's 6th birthday is July 2, so we had a joint party at Pump It Up. The kids (and a few adults!) had a great time jumping and sliding. Since it was Avery's actual birthday, she got to choose where we ate all day long. After the party, we headed to Wendy's for lunch and then to Target and Wal-Mart for the kids to spend the small fortune that was gifted to them. It is so funny to me that Avery had planned to spend any birthday money to help pay for a camp that she wanted to attend, UNTIL she saw the money! All of the sudden, she didn't want to go that badly! After the shopping trip, we came home for a few hours to open toys and eat a piece of leftover cake and then headed to Mazzio's for dinner. A wonderful day. Wil gets to pick where we eat tomorrow since it is his day. Needless to say, I have gained back the three pounds that I had managed to lose!!!

My Summer So Far - By Avery

So far this summer I got my hair cut the shortest it has ever been. It is right above my shoulder blade. I 've started guitar lessons at Back Beat. I got an acoustic Hannah Montana guitar. Sunday night my friend Mary Beth called. She said she wanted to have a sleep over. I was so exited. We went on her trampoline , played Nintendo and all sorts of stuff. Her older sister and her friends ran in the kitchen doing a race to get on the computer. In the morning We made play-doe. Once on the Trampoline, Mary Beth was on her club house that was a stack of bricks and I was on the trampoline, I tried to throw my shoes on the clubhouse. The first try it landed on the grass and her Golden Retriever hid it in the bushes and Mary Beth Had to crawl through and get it. In her basement ,on her radio we were singing and dancing to Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus CDs. We took very funny pictures on her camera. I am looking forward to the rest of summer.