Life in a "Nut Shell" Lately

September has flown by.  I've been meaning to post, but it's almond harvest and it literally takes every minute of everyday to get through the day.  This week is my seventh straight week without a day off between both my jobs.  Life has been nuts lately.  Here's a bit of what's been going on with us.

A few weeks ago we decided to take a Sunday drive to look at our old house in La Grange.  From there we went to Lake Mc Swain and let the girls do some fishing.

Our ward had their annual Daddy-Daughter Campout on September 23rd.  John and the girls went to it.  While I went and had my first ever Brazilian Blowout (compliments of my mom).  For anyone who has frizzy, curly, unruly hair.  I definately recommend a Brazilian Blowout.  I now have perfectly straight, soft, shiny hair that doesn't require straightening everyday and doesn't frizz up the minute I walk outside.  Four minutes of blow drying and I am done.  Whoever invented that treatment deserves a Noble Peace Prize or something.  It's great!  Here are a few pictures of the campout.  Needless to say, it started to rain on them in the middle of the night and John had to wake them up to move the tent.

Hannah (a girl in our ward)

Savanah and Hannah playing in our tent

John is now up to ears in chickens and rabbits.  Those chicks we recieved a few weeks ago are now much bigger.  Here is what they look like now.

1 day old chick

6 week old chicken

Ashlee decided to go for a walk one Sunday afternoon around the farm.  Here is her attire.

They carved the walking sticks in activity day.

And lastly, a month of school without at least one homeowrk project assignment seems to be unheard of.  Mikayla and Ashlee both had projects to work on this month.  Unfortunately, Mikayla's project went to school before I could get a picture of it.  Here is Ashlee's "project of the month".  A plant cell.  Designed and created by her and John.

We also received news that we are getting a grant to help pay for some new hearing aids for Mikayla.  Her new aids were ordered today.  Zebra print with pink and silver glitter.  Can't wait to see what they look like.  I will post pictures when they arrive.  That's our September in a "Nut Shell."  Thankfully the drenching rains we experienced on Wednesday this week have given us a little bit of break this week.  Hopefully we can catch up.

The Ugly Bug

The ugly bug keeps attacking Mikayla.  The ugly bug being the STREP bug.  Mikayla has had strep throat 4 times this year already.  3 times since April.  Wednesday she was diagnosed with strep once again and spent 2 days home from school.  She is only 4 weeks into the school year and has already missed 2 days.  This isn't good.  The doctor said there is a rule that if a child gets strep back to back or 4 times within a calendar year that they have to see a specialist.  Tomorrow we are going to see the specialist to see what they recommend.  I think she is going to have to have her tonsils removed.  5 years ago when her adenoids were removed we were told the tonsils were large, but they thought it was due to the adenoids being so infected.  Every visit to the doctor I hear how big her tonsils are.  We will see.  One thing for sure, the ugly bug must die.  Mikayla can't keep getting sick like this.

Mikayla's Glasses

After noticing some problems with Mikayla's school work and homework I decided that she should have her eyes checked.  Last week I took her to the eye doctor and my suspicions were confirmed.  She is farsighted.  That caught me by surprise.  Ashlee and I are both nearsighted so I figured if she did have vision problems she would be nearsighted.  She got her glasses yesterday.  Here is how she looks with her new glasses.

John's New Projects

 The last month has been spent preparing forms for a new rabbit barn.  Last weekend John and Paul poured the cement for the new barn.

Friday morning at 7am 62 Poulet Rouge chicks arrived.  Yes, John is now in the business of raising chickens too.  The guy the distributes the rabbits for us has a demand for chickens as well.  So he asked John and Paul if they would raise chickens too.  The first 62 arrived Friday.  The rest will follow over the course of many more weeks.  Supposedly all the chickens are already sold, it's just a matter of raising them up the the desired size.

Mikayla couldn't wait for school to end so she could go and see the chicks.

Rabbit Event

This weekend we had the opportunity to go to St. Helena, CA near Napa Valley for the first time. We attended an event where the rabbits that John and his friend Paul raise were prepared by chefs from all over the United States.  The event was called Heritage Meats Cochon 555.  The event featured pork, chicken,  salmon, duck, veal, rabbit and goat along with fresh vegetables, cheeses and wines.  All the meats were cooked whole on wire stakes over the top of a log fire. 
It was a neat experience, but lets just say, the food was not to our liking. We are very glad the tickets were given to us and that we didn't have to pay the $100-$200 per ticket.  I tried some salads and lets just say, they were GROSS.  I don't know how you can mess up a salad, but I tried three salads and they were all yucky.  John, Paul and Nevia all tried the meat and salads and the only thing they all liked was the rabbit (they weren't just saying that because it was from their farm), and some little slider hamburgers. 
We were glad we got to experience the event and see Napa Valley for the first time, but we all agreed the food just wasn't good.

Here's a few pictures-

These are the rabbits cooking.

This is the chef getting ready to serve the rabbit.

John eating the rabbit.  His favorite was rabbit tacos.

The rabbit menu.  The chef cooking the rabbit was from Chicago.

Chefs preparing some food.

Whole salmon

I think I have seen this RV on TV so I took a picture.  It was at the event.

Nevia, Paul, Libby and John

 Since the food wasn't great and I was starving.  We stopped at the Cheesecake Factory on the way home.  We had never been there.  I don't like cheesecake because I don't like cream cheese.  But after having the Hershey's Chocolate Cheesecake, I think I may like some cheesecake afterall!  We definately need to go there again sometime.

Nevia had salmon.  John said I had to get a picture of it, because it looked so fancy.

First Day of School

Summer vaction has officially ended for us.  The girls went back to school today.  None of us were thrilled about the idea.  We (me especially) just weren't ready to get back into the whole routine of things again.  The rush here and there, get through homework, dinner, and bedtime in limited time routine again.  But unfortunately the time has come.  Ashlee started 5th grade today.  Ashlee's teacher is Mr. Sundy.  Mikayla started 3rd grade today, her teacher is Mrs. Crawford.

Mikayla-First Day of 3rd Grade

Ashlee-First Day of 5th Grade

Some more pictures from the first morning of school-

Allison and Mikayla.  Jordan on the side coming by to see them and then realizes he's in the picture.

Another picture of Allison and Mikayla without Jodan in the picture.

Ashlee is the 4th one in line teal and white stripes.  This is her class and her teacher Mr. Sundy waving bye to their parents.



Mikayla in the green and some her classmates.

 The first day of school went well for both of them.  Ashlee loves her teacher.  He is very fun and lively.  He lets them do lots of fun things while learning.  He was a kid himself, (not too long ago) and he doesn't force them to do anything he didn't like to do.  I guess that could be a good and a bad thing .  Mikayla has the same teacher Ashlee had for third grade, so I am familiar with how things happen in that class.   Hopefully we won't have too many suprises.

We celebrated the first day back to school by going to dinner with their friends at John's Incredible Pizza.  The girls had fun.  Sorry for the picture quality.  They were going from game to game so fast that I couldn't keep up with them.

The green blur is Mikayla and Ashlee

Mikayla, Ashlee, Alyssa and Allison

White blur is Sarah, Ashlee and Mikayla