Junior Cotillion and our Handsome Boy

Last year, Colton and his buddies were asked to join Junior Cotillion for their 7th grade year.  They were a little hesitant when they heard they had to dress up, but were excited to do it as a group.  Colton loves to dance, so convincing him of that was no problem!!

 

Over the summer there was a mandatory practice session held where they learned to two-step, waltz, swing dance, as well as fun songs like the Electric Slide.  He had a blast and was looking forward to the 1st real dance. 

 

That took place this past Saturday night.  We had a little trouble finding khakis long enough, skinny enough and that would fit over his boots, but finally found some and they work great - I just have to remember not to run them through the dryer!!

 

Here are a few pics before we left - he looked so very handsome!!

 

 His friend, Tanner, and his family, hosted a small pre-party for the boys.  According to his mom, Lisa, most of the girls group up and get ready together at someone's house, so she wanted to do something special for the boys.  It was a great time to get pictures of them all together before the dance.

From left to right are Devin, Tanner, Colton, Andruw and Jimmie - the best group of middle school boys ever! 

 We dropped them off at the Ramada at 6:30 and returned a little after 9 to pick them up.  They weren't finished yet, so we got to watch them.  Colton was two-stepping with a girl from school when we got there and then Gangnam Style came on and Colin and I joked about which corner he was probably hiding in, because like his parents, he doesn't dance to anything not country.  It wasn't long after that, we spotted him on the dance floor!! Not doing the traditional dance, but part of a huge conga line full of his buddies and some girls dancing all through the crowd and having a wonderful time.  I was so happy to see him stepping out of his box a little and having such a great time!!

The dance ended about 9:45 and they were all tired, hot and sweaty. Here is an after picture, though (and they were still handsome!):

 I guess its tradition to go hang out for a bit afterwards (Colin and I never did Cotillion so we are pretty clueless), so most of us went next door to IHop where the kids congregated at the back of the restaurant and the parents sat up front and drank coffee and visited.  Here is my beautiful friend, Melinda, with her gorgeous daughter, Arianna:

 I also really wanted a picture of Colton and Mckaela, whom I have been taking pictures of together for every event since they were 4!!  We weren't in time to get it in the daylight, before the dance, but I was able to snap a quick one in the parking lot at IHop before we all headed home.  Mckaela looked so beautiful! Can't believe how grown-up they all are!

The next dance is in November and I know they are all really looking forward to it.

First Day of School: 7th and 4th Grade!

I'm sorry to say that school and busy schedules are back in full swing!  The kids started on the 11th and none of us were ready! We were still getting back in the swing of things and catching up on our rest from our vacation just a week prior, but still managed to fit in a couple of fun things to help close out our summer.  On the Monday before, Daddy and I took them to dinner and to watch the new Planes movie, which was so much better than the first one! On the Friday before, the kids and I met Papa and Gramma at Irma's, our favorite restaurant in Deming, for lunch, and then went and played 2 games of bowling and had a blast:

 We also had ice cream before we told them bye and headed back home!

Cady began soccer that week, too, with a new team - the Tigers.  We are sad she is taking a break from dance, but she loves soccer and she is playing with her BFF Mckynze, too!

 Then, that dreaded night finally came and lunch boxes and backpacks were filled and ready to go the next morning:

 Morning came and pictures were taken:

 

 

 7th and 4th grade?? So hard to believe! They both looked very nice on their first day.

We also did our traditional breakfast at Cracker Barrel that morning:

 I wasn't able to get a shot of Colton walking into school, but here's one of my big girl:

 We are 3 weeks in and everything is good. They both enjoy it, their teachers and being back with their friends.  Praying it is a wonderful, safe year for all!

Garden Update

I am not that great of a blogger anymore! Don't post much anymore period, but it has really been a long time since I've given an update on our garden!  It is still going ... or should I say "growing"!  Everything is still producing and we have even planted more, and even replanted a few things.  I still enjoy it and get out there in it as much as possible, even lately with all the mud and mosquitoes!

 

This is a picture of it back mid-summer:

 We've had some wonderful watermelons - the only thing that would make them better is if they were seedless.

 Cucumbers:

 One evening's harvest:

 Our okra took a while to get going but it really took off!  Some plants are as tall as me!

 A lot of our original bean plants died after a few months of producing, so we replanted and are getting a lot of beans.

 The Armenian cukes really put out the cucumbers! 

 Squash plants fascinate me how they keep building on themselves:

 A baby melon:

The ladybugs love our garden and we love having them:

 Colton's initial cucumber:

 Some harvests:

 Yum:

We planted two rows of corn where the beets were planted and they took off right away:

 Our garden with the growing corn:

 

 I also planted sunflowers:

 And pumpkins - both miniature ones for decorative purposes, as well as large ones for carving and cooking:

We have some great bell pepper plants - loaded with them! One branch so heavy with peppers that it broke!







 The cucumber plants really spread out:

 The melon patch:

 Our cherry and grape tomatoes have done excellent but we had to replant our larger tomatoes and they are currently loaded with green tomatoes so we are keeping our fingers crossed:

 The plants in the middle are jalapeno plants and we have about 6 of them that stay covered in hot peppers:

 Our second batch of cantaloupe is producing large, sweet melons:

 View of the garden looking toward the back of our house:

The corn did so well:

 An afternoon visitor (that we disposed of after a couple of pics because they are not good for the garden):

 

 The corn was ready to harvest on the first day of school and the entire family helped out:

 Colin tossed the ears to Colton who was down on the end with a bucket:

 We had a ton of corn:

 I have 2 sunflowers that were planted in the garden that get regular water from our automatic system that are super tall! This was when it was just taller than the kids - now it is 2 feet taller than me and still not opened:

 Our second batch of carrots were harvested a couple of weeks ago and they were short and plump like they were supposed to be:

 Colin also dug up our potatoes.  The Russets didn't do so good, but we got 18 lbs of the Yukon Gold ones! Potatoes are also the most fun to harvest - like a treasure hunt, digging in the ground!

 

 

The pumpkins are getting bigger:

 Nice bell peppers:

 

 Our first open sunflower:

 There will be more pictures to come soon, as Colin and I have been doing a lot of canning and blanching/freezing.  It has been a lot of work, but more than that - a lot of fun!  We are getting ready to plant some fall plants like spinach, brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower and more beets.  Can't wait!