Living Debt Free

I started a new Sunday school class this past Sunday and I am hoping it will be life changing.  I have heard that this Dave Ramsey class is fantastic.  I have never been involved in adult Sunday School before.  Our church loses the most people in their 20's but we are hoping to change that around soon.  SO, I know that Blake and I have a ton of work to do in our finance department and I can't wait to see what Dave will bring to our table!

Indiana Bound

My grandfathers passing allowed Blake some time off of work and I wanted to go north as soon as we could.  We left Thursday and made the quick 6 1/2 hour drive.  It is an easy drive straight up 65 and change to another interstate in Louisville.  Not hard at all.  I drove up for 4 1/2 hours and Blake finished the rest up.  Bryce didn't sleep the whole way up.  Not at all!  We were flabbergasted, to say the least.  And that boy's mouth runs the entire way.  He is hilarious.  Steven is at the age where he puts on headphones and passes out.  Can't say I blame him. That's what I would do but I keep Blake company.  We were able to go to the Cincinnati Zoo on Friday and it is spectacular. 

The boys were up early ready to go.  They had no problem making themselves at home.  Bryce believes that he should live there too.

Erin stayed with us on Thursday night and got up to go to the zoo too.  Bryce was very happy about that!

He was a riot on the way over.  There are some smokestacks that is along this highway leading to Cincinnati and I remember it from as long as I can remember and now he will too!

I am not sure why Steven has that lovely look but he was just as excited to go.  Maybe this is teenager angst pic.

Me and my Sis

They had all sorts of things.  They also have an insect demonstration.  Bryce liked this guy.

We are now moving into acting like ants.  They learned the different types of ants and what they do.  Blake is a worker ant.

Here's Bryce the worker and Erin the Queen

Bryce loved this gorilla and so did Steven.  You could climb on it so that is always fun for boys.

The real guy.

There again...teenager face and Bryce saying cheese.

He had to put his head in the jaw of course!

Lions

Siegfried and Roy White Tiger

It was hot but there was almost no humidity.  So, for us Alabamians, we were in Heaven!  Here's Bryce getting some mist.

This is Bryce and his cougar(koo-grrr).   He loves to say that word and sounds hilarious when he does.

8th grade

Steven begins 8th grade soon. I am praying for a new year, a refreshed Steven. He has become much more serious about football recently and with band. This make me hope that will help him stayed focused with a goal. He has to make grades for those classes. It is not that he makes horrible grades but he forgets to turn his work in and as we all know(except Steven) not turning it in is really bad on your grades. He has just finished his summer reading book and we are going to start on the questions asap. Plus, now that he finished it I will allow him to watch the movie. It was The Hobbit. I know, blah. I remember reading this type of stuff that is boring and hard to read but it is all for a purpose. There are some classics that some grow to love. I love Hemingway, Shakespeare, and E. Dickinson. Steven is just at the age where he has the opportunity to learn and enjoy what he is learning. I am going to work more one on one with him with his work. Just to be sure that it is getting finished properly. He does have a teacher who was a teacher when Gare, Blake, and I went through school and this teacher is a toughie but he can do it. I just know it.

He does have issues taking tests. Especially timed ones, like the standardized versions. I remember tons of people who had a hard time with that though in school. He missed one area of his testing by 3 points. 3 people! That was like 1 answer. He is a slower reader than me and probably some other people. However, he can read. The school is wanting us to make him quit band and put him in a reading initiative program. That is great but he did these classes last year one day a week during band and it didn't make his score any better than the last. He always freaks out with tests that are timed. His semester grades are not bad, he is an A/B/C student. I did not allow them to take him out of band completely! He likes band and enjoys playing the drums. I also believe that a musical education is just as important as coursework. There are many people I know who use music as their jobs. So, Steven will be on lockdown with studies this year and hopefully he will absorb these study habits so he will make it one day on his own.

I did talk to Steven about this and he really doesn't want to drop band. Yet, this is a make or break year and he must do better or he has a list of threats that he knows that me and his daddy are not afraid of….

TGIF

Kiddie Carnival

One weekend, we loaded up and went to a carnival that has been going on for over 50 years for kids.  It was so wonderful.  My brother in law and his family came and Bronson and Bryce were super excited. 

The daddies loaded them up on the trains first.  It is a favorite. 

They were ready to go.  

Bryce is really into waving right now.  He waved for everything.  It was awesome since our vacation was a no go on the pictures.

All the kids loved the swings.  Teenagers could still ride on it so Steven went once.  Then he told me that he felt like a goob so he only did it once. 

The last thing we did was ride the rocket ship and it went fast!  No, not really just trying to play on my camera.

Oh no...Check out girl

I was making a quick run tonight to pick up some meat.  We were going to eat luxuriously this evening and have some good ol' hamburger helper.  After I burn some of it for not using a large enough pan, which just so happened to be when my sister and her hubs were standing in my kitchen!  Yes, I know, SCORE!  Anyway, way too fast!  Ok, so I was at the grocery store waiting in line to check out.  I had passed an employee on the way to the line and noticed after I was in line that she was in the line next to me.  When I had passed her, I thought that she was on duty and restocking...that would explain the amount of food in her cart that was all the same.  She had stacks of pizzas, lunchables, and other such.  Then I spied a handful of coupons in her hands.  These were not just your printables or anything, they were actual ones that you pull off in the grocery store.  This irks me beyond belief.  I so wanted to say something.  See, our publix is horrible about not having anything in stock when it is on sale.  Now I know why.  If you do coupon remember that coupons are for all and it is completely inconsiderate to take a stack full of coupons and clean out a grocery store.  Number 2: It is super inconsiderate to take the coupons that your workplace puts out in massive amounts.  Truly, think about it...it can sometimes be considered stealing!