School Supplies!!

Okay, call me a nerd, but don't you just love this time of year? You know, you walk into Wal-Mart and there are all the fresh, new school supplies: pencil boxes, backpacks, lunchboxes, pens, folders, 20 cent crayons, kleenex, germ-x, etc. And now that I have two school aged children, I have an excuse to actually buy it! Here is the really nerdy part though: I already have all of my school supplies bought. You see, when the new supply list comes out (usually the end of May), I get a copy, clip out the lists for my girls' grades, place the list in my purse, and then I buy one or two things off of it every week when I go to Wal-Mart. That way, I don't have to dish out a lot of money at once to buy it all. I know what you are thinking, "Gee you really are a nerd", and I guess I am, but for someone who is too practical to do much shopping otherwise, it gives me a reason to shop (even if it is just for glue sticks and erasers).

Another one of my favorite parts of back to school shopping is the buying of a fresh, new pair of tennis shoes for each of my girls. (Okay, this is getting even sadder you are probably thinking.)However, shoe shopping is not something we do very often in our house. I guess I am not your typical girl because I don't get into shoes like most girls. When I was a little girl, shoe shopping was usually, mainly reserved for getting ready for a new school year or Easter, so I get excited about taking my girls. This week I took advantage of Shoe Carnival's buy one get one half off sale, and I let Abby and Hallie each pick out a pair of Nikes. I like for them to have a pair of very sturdy shoes because they pretty much wear them everyday to school. I figure it is pointless to send them to school at this age in just flimsy but cute shoes because they are just going to be running around on the playground at recess anyway. AND the playground dust at our school turns shoes and clothes a rusty orange, so even the cutest shoes will be ruined by that dust!

Abby & Hallie's school supplies! They are officially all bought, labeled, and crated up! Only three weeks till school starts!

Uniforms all hung!

Aren't these just the cutest little sandwich/snack holders? Pink for Abby, Abby Cadabby for Hallie, and orange, of course, for Lilly.

The two school girls with their new shoes! Do you think Hallie's go with her wedding dress? :)

Maybe one day I will actually get a life and start waiting until the last minute like every other normal mother in the world! Nah... probably not!

Bunk Beds & Frustration with Hanks "Fine" Furniture

Back on July 5, Justin and I ordered bunk beds and a dresser for Hallie and Abby's room. They said then that it would all be in by July 17. On the 17th they said it would be in by the 23rd. On the 23rd the bunk beds were in but not the dresser & mirror. It won't be in until August 14th, supposedly. How frustrating! However, Aunt Nancy had the girls over for a sleepover last night, so Justin and I were able at least to get the new bunk beds set up, and we moved Abby's old bed to Lilly's room. We counted it up, and in the eight years we have lived in this house, we have switched furniture around in those two bedrooms at least nine times! Here are some pics of the new beds. Of course, we still need to hang pictures on walls, etc., but here is what it all looked like around 11:30 last night when we were all finished putting stuff together and moving it around.

Here are the new bunk beds! Abby will be on top and Hallie on bottom! As of this picture, we hadn't bought a new mattress for Abby yet. We went today and bought her one and have put it up there. Her comforter matches Hallie's.''

This is Abby's old bed which is now Lilly's new bed! She was so excited to get a really big girl bed! We still have to put her purple comforter on, fix her wallpaper, and hang pictures back up!

Another view of Lilly's new arrangement.

I will post more pictures when we get the dresser and mirror in and everything hung back up!

Jump Zone

The girls and I took a field trip to Jump Zone today. It was looking like it was going to be a rainy day, and we needed to get out of the house! Justin couldn't go with us because he has to travel back and forth to Hot Springs all week for AP Calculus training. Sorry daddy! We missed you!

10 Years Ago Today...

Ten years ago today, Justin asked me to marry him! We were married eight months later on March 25, 2000!

Our engagement picture. We were just babies, weren't we?

Getting in shape for Disney 2010

Aunt Nancy, I hope you're proud! Abby got out the walking video yesterday, and talked her sisters into participating. They are definitely getting ready for Disney!

Mo's Sno

Last week Justin and I began the adventure of running our very own "Shave Ice" business. We have unofficially named it "Mo's Sno". Pretty much ever since we were married we had talked about one day owning a sno cone business to run in the summer. Afterall, we were both employed by a school and would have the time to run one in the summer off months. We would have access to all the employees we could ever want since we worked at the school, and we would also know who would be a good employee and who wouldn't. Well, one day last spring we saw that the Tropical Sno trailer just down the street was for sale. Justin called about it and, long story short, we now own it! The girls are especially excited! We have had to limit them to two sno cones a week, but they ask everyday if they can go get one! Abby, Hallie, and Lilly are also part of the reason we bought it. We figured one day that could be their summer jobs. In the mean time, they are having fun sampling the different flavors. So far, their favorites are all the "Bart Juice" (a combination of cotton candy and bubblegum) with cream topping. I do highly recommend the cream topping! It is yummy! It has been a fun adventure so far, and we hope to be able to use it to do things for our church youth group, children's department, as well as the school! Here are some pics!


Our cute green tropical snow trailer! Justin has big plans to add a deck to it one of these summers.



Notice, we don't sell sno cones like I tend to call them. We sell "Shave Ice". There's a difference. "Shave Ice" is much softer and yummier! Really!




"Future Mo's Sno employees!"


The proud owners!


Amy is our main employee right now. She will be working there the majority of the time. She is a former player of Justin's. She's doing a great job!


If you are ever in Sherwood, stop by and get a Shave Ice! We are open Monday through Saturday from 2:00 until 9:00! We are closed Sunday! Hope to see you soon!

Very first blog

After finally getting a computer at home, now I have decided to try my hand at blogging. Those of you who are friends know that Justin and I are not the greatest at keeping in touch with people, so maybe this will help keep friends and family informed on some of the things going on in our lives. To start with, this past week has been quite a busy one for our family. We opened our shave ice business, Justin began work on his master's degree (yeah!), we got the internet at our house (mainly due to Justin's online class), and we painted Abby and Hallie's room lavender. Sounds exciting, huh? It certainly kept us busy!


We also have had a busy past few months. Let me give you a quick update:


In March: Justin's team made it to the state tournament for the first time!! Go Lady Owls!


In April: Our middle child, Hallie, turned four years old! She's our little spark plug who can light up the world with her smile. See?



Oh wait... let's try this again..... She really can light up the world with her smile. See?





Then in May, our oldest daughter, Abby graduated from kindergarten! We are so proud!




Also, in May Justin celebrated his 32nd birthday! Here he is with his Shaun the Sheep cake!




Then in June, our baby girl Lilly turned 3 years old!

So that pretty much catches you up on the past few months. We only have a few short weeks until school starts again. I can't believe I am going to have a 4K and 1st grader and one in her last year at Mother's Day Out! Time really does fly by. I just pray each day that Justin and I can raise these precious little girls in a way that is pleasing to the Lord, and that we can be as great of parents to them as our parents were and still are to us.