Where's the Chicken?

We have a Rooster! When we got them, they were too little to tell if they were hens or roosters.

Now, we know that we have one of each. We are still working on the chicken coop. It should be done this week. In the meantime, this is where John found the rooster a few days ago. I'll be painting the run today.

Fall Carnival

Hayden and Rachel's school had a carnival this weekend and they had a great time. Hayden's favorite thing was the "Pit Stop Challenge". He got to take the wheels off and change them.

Look out goats, he's learning how to rope!

Pa Bob tried giving Hayden lessons in roping. Hayden decided to rope the goats. It was so funny to see him run after them as they ran around the field. He was not able to rope one, but he had lots of fun trying.

Hedley Cotton Festival 2008

This weekend, we went to the Hedley Cotton Festival and Hoggard family reunion. The whole town came out for this huge event. When I was a kid, we used to go every year and they had a parade, booths and a carnival. It has considerably decreased in size, but everyone still came out. The good thing was, we didn't spend as much money as my parents used to and all the money we did spend stayed in Hedley. Every booth was a fund raiser. This is nothing like the festivals most of you are used to, but it was still fun and the older girls got to run around and do what they wanted. They ended up in the BINGO hall most of the day. Kate's friend Savannah played four corner BINGO for an afghan. Actually, they all played, but Savannah won. There was a lady sitting across from her that had 6 cards spread out in front of her. She was devastated when Savannah yelled "BINGO". Savannah offered the lady her winnings and the lady gladly pulled out her wallet and gave Savannah $25. I'd say that is a pretty good trade for a 13 year old.

As for the chickens, well, Rachel loves animals and ever since we gathered eggs in Childress, she has been wanting a chicken. Well, they happened to have a Chicken drop BINGO at the Hedley Cotton Festival. (You buy a square and if the chicken poops on your square, you win $250) The local ag teacher's son provided the chickens. My dad thought it would be funny to ask him if he'd sell those chickens to Rachel. He was half kidding, but as soon as Rachel got wind of it, she was not going home without a chicken. We told dad that he may have some extra animals in Hedley until we could build a coop. Sure enough, the boy gave Rachel and Hayden a chicken each for FREE. He even brought them a can of feed. Rachel was thrilled! Me, well not so much. The boy is in FFA (Future Farmer's of America). Watch out, Rachel may be showing chickens at next year's fair. We ended up bringing them home and found out that it is okay to have them. They are not considered livestock, so keeping them in your backyard is fine. Now, we have to put our French door project on hold so we can build a chicken coop. You are sure to see more of this endeavor.

By the way, I will be changing my blog again soon. Driftwood was a temporary name. Remember, I had a contest to rename my blog? Well this time, no contest, but I may let you vote on a new name. I have to get some good ones first and then I'll let ya know.

French doors and more

French doors for Sarah and Rachel's room

We still have some work to do: painting, handles, blinds...

The Tin Man

My big helper

New pictures and moved the bookcase

The craft room has already been put to great use! We love it.

What's in Hayden's pockets?

Well, they started out in his pockets, but didn't get dumped before I did the laundry. The funny thing is, I didn't hear them in the wash. It wasn't until I started moving the clothes to the dryer that I heard these little things dropping on the floor and then bouncing into oblivion. They were tiny little pebbles and some of them were really hard to see on a hard wood floor. I made him gather them all out after I moved the laundry over. It took him about 20 minutes to get them all out. Boys and the things they put in their pockets. I guess I can be thankful it wasn't a frog!

Our biggest catch

Harry

Playing with a couple of neighbors

As you know, the kids love to catch things. Well, a few weeks ago, they informed me that there was a tarantula by our back door. Apparently tarantulas are roaming around these parts this time of year. Yip, they caught it. Well, John and a neighbor kid Blake actually caught it, but it stayed on our front porch for several days until someone let it go. Did they feed it? Of course; they caught some crickets for a tasty lunch. I'm not sure I want to know what is next...

Texas High School Football

A couple of weeks ago, I took my family back to my old stomping grounds. It is, after all, just an hour from here. We went to Homecoming! I had not been back to anything since I graduated in 1991. There were a few people that I graduated with at the game, but everyone in Clarendon came out for the game. It was the first time our kids had been to a football game. It was also the first time John had a date to Homecoming. He's so sweet! There were so many people that we had to sit right in front of the fence on a cement ledge and they even brought in extra bleachers for the game. It was so fun to see a couple of girls I graduated with. Minde and Shonda and their kids. It was great to catch up on where they are and what they are doing and to see Minde's mom. I had plans to meet another friend there, but she forgot her phone (Tammy). I did get to see her briefly and plan to get together for some scrapbooking.

We have since gone to a Canyon High School football game and the kids had a great time roaming around and hanging out with their friends. It's good to be back in Texas!

A Work In Progress...

Kate's Room

The Entry

Hayden's room

The Den
Dining area

Sarah & Rachel's room

The Craft Room

The Living room

Okay, I know it's been a while. I have been super busy unpacking and trying to get everything where I want it. I think having more space can be a bit harder. When you are shoved into an 1800 square foot house with 6 people, you just make everything fit as best you can. Here, I find myself thinking, "should it go here, or should it go there?".


We have got most of our stuff. We received 2 different shipments a week apart. Makes unpacking fun when you have stuff, but no dressers to put your stuff in. We are settling in and enjoying our new home. We still have projects to do, but it is kind of fun doing things that you know you'll enjoy for more than just 2 years. We still have not painted our entry, because we are planning on hanging French doors for Sarah and Rachel's room and the living room. We have finished painting everything else though. We still have pictures to hang and things to move from one spot to another, but it feels pretty good so far. I know, for those of you that are not military, it seems impossible to unpack this quickly, but when you do it every two years, you get a lot of experience. You also get rid of things you don't need. This time, we realized after getting here that we didn't need a few more things than we thought, so we are planning a big yard sale!



The kids are doing GREAT in school. We are very happy about the Canyon schools. They are also loving the neighborhood. We have become Kid Central in the neighborhood. We love that, because then we know where they are and what they are doing.



We have had some fun things going on the past couple of weeks, so I will try to post those things as soon as I can.

Wallpaper and primer and paint, oh my!

3110 Conner Dr. Canyon, TX 79015

The day we closed, we started tearing it down.

From bad to worse!

We're sure glad the kids like to help.

I gave Hayden a paint brush and let him go to town with the primer. It lasted about 5 minutes.

Kate helped texture Hayden's wall.

Ah, the start of something new. The cocoa colored Media room.

Well, we closed on our house and we are officially home owners! We have been busy painting while the house is empty. We are not expecting our stuff until September 11, so I have plenty of time to get everything painted. We have removed wallpaper from 4 rooms and advise any of you thinking of wallpaper to reconsider. It is a mess to remove. We started in Hayden's room and pulled down the gold velvet wallpaper. Underneath it, another layer of wallpaper-Ugh! We found the same thing in the formal living, formal dining and the entry way. We tried steaming down the second layers of wallpaper and they wouldn't budge. Solution, we are priming and painting over it. I have textured Hayden's room and will sand it and prime it tomorrow. I finished the media room today and got Rachel and Sarah's room done too. They have lime green walls with a blue ceiling. It looks really cute. We will be painting the entry, our room and Kate's room. We are painting every room except the large living area and kitchen. Yes, I have been dreaming of painting and removing wallpaper. If you need any painting tips, let me know; I could probably write a book.

The kids have been great. We are still in the hotel in Amarillo and drive to Canyon everyday to take them to school. I drop them off and go paint. I try to be done and then go back to the hotel after school. It's not working the way I planned. Even though I have good intentions, I paint until 3 o'clock and then hurry and leave to go pick the kids up and then we have to go back to the house to clean up my mess. We can't wait to be in the house and drive 3 minutes to school every morning instead of 25 minutes.

God has already brought some new friends into our lives even though we are still displaced. (Believe me, staying in a hotel for a month without your things is not the lap of luxury as most of you military wives already know.) John's sister Erin has a lady that goes to her church that just moved to Canyon also. She and her husband have two daughters Abbey and Emma. They are Sarah and Rachel's ages. They actually knew our last name and were told to keep their ears open. Abbey walked up to Sarah the 2nd day of school and asked if she had an aunt named Erin. The next day, Emma did the same thing to Rachel. Instant friends! We went to the park with them today after school.

Be very quiet, we're hunting Lizards!

Our new house

XIT Rodeo

"National Miss Rodeo"
Nickel Scramble

Hayden is in the center of the photo in the brown & white polo.

Our kids had never been to a rodeo until Saturday. We took two trucks full of people up to Dalhart to the XIT rodeo. It is a big deal around here. Saturday was free BBQ night. You can't beat BBQ and a rodeo. Most kids from Texas that go to the rodeo just want to run around and see their friends. Not our kids; they were there for the rodeo. They loved watching all the different events. Their favorite by far was the bull riding. They did enjoy the clown and the trick riding and barrel racing also. Hayden's favorite part was the Nickel scramble. They called all kids under the age of 10 to come out in the arena. Hayden jumped up and headed to the fence. We tried to call him back, but he wanted to go. He said, "but mama, they said all the kids under 10 get to go and that's me." I took him and put him over the fence and told him not to get run over. He was so excited and had no idea what he was about to do. They dumped nickels in the arena and let the kids dig in the dirt for all the nickels they could find. He didn't find any nickels, but he got to go into the rodeo arena at his first rodeo. He thought it was pretty cool.