It takes a Village...........

to build a playground. Neal and I participated in the building of the new playground in Capitan. I helped by sanding and sealing this swing structure. I was only able to do as high as I can reach. I don't trust myself on ladders any more so I held the ladder for someone else to do the top beams and top 1 ft of the uprights. I also sanded and sealed a few other smaller things.

Neal had to work for part of the morning but when he got there he helped build the firetruck. The theme of the whole playground is Smokey Bear/Ranger station since it's beside the Smokey Bear Park.

The main structure is a fire tower with climbing wall, slide, and a rope climb.

The kids are going to love it once it's done. There were not nearly enough people there to help but those that did show up gave it their all!! When it's completed I will add a few more pictures.

Out with the old, in with the new (to us)

As long as I've known Neal (just over 8 years) he has never kept a vehicle for more than 18 months or so. Yesterday he sold his old '76 Ford pickup and bought a little '86 Nissan pickup. The gas for the Ford would have killed us for him to drive it to work this winter. I'm not even sure it got 10 miles to the gallon. This new little pickup should get a lot better mileage since it's also a stick shift. It's 4 wheel drive so I will be able to drive it to work if I need to. I was never able to drive the Ford because 1) I had to have a milk crate to climb up in the stupid thing and 2) I hate driving a stick on the floor. I have the hardest time finding the gears that way. I jumped in the Nissan earlier and took off in it. I guess you never forget how to shift after you've learned to drive a stick.

Goodbye old Ford

Hello new (to us) little Nissan

By the way, that's our camper in the back ground. We should be able to tow it with the little pickup. It will be great to be able to tow the camper, carry the 4 wheeler, and then be able to go mudding in the truck! Neal is finally getting all his "toys" back.

Has it been a month already?

Back to school and pre-school starting has kicked my butt this year. We have a lot of younger kids in pre-school this year and they take a lot more work than our previous years. We also have a few more babies that before. Two days a week we have a 7 month old...wow! I think we forgot how much work a baby is.

At the beginning of the month, I went to my Mom's retirement party in Pecos. She worked for over 40 years and decided to retire this year. The next day we left to go to Central Texas to visit family and go to my great-Aunt's 90th birthday party. We had a great time. I got to visit Waco, Tx where I went to college. It was interesting to go back and visit places I used to go and work. Here are a few a great picture of the suspension bridge over the Brazos River.

First day of first grade!

It was back to school today! Kinsey started 1st grade this morning. She has been raring to go for about a month now. As we got in the truck this morning she told me I could just drop her off at the door but I told her that as her Mama I got to walk her to class on the first day of school...lol!

Here she is ready to go.

Kinsey and Mrs. Rice. I don't know why she is making that face......

Yard Sale finds for $13!

This post is inspired by one of my favorite bloggers Sarah of Mommy, Are the Toys on Sale?. I got to go yard saling today and wanted to post my great finds like she does. There weren't a lot of sales today but I did get some great deals. The first yard sale on our list we never found. Why don't people put up signs?? When I have a yard sale I make lots of HUGE signs so people know where I'm at. You can't sell your junk if you don't advertise! The 2nd sale was a bunch of junk. At the 3rd my friend who went with Kinsey and I found a bunch of clothes for herself. It was like looking in her closet...lol! Kinsey found a cute black and leopard print hat for $1. At the 4th sale I found tons of children's books. Since I work at a daycare, I always ask what the price would be if I bought them all and mention that I work at a daycare. This bunch had quite a few hard back books including several Dr. Seuss (Kinsey's favorite!). I always let Kinsey pick what she wants and the rest go to the daycare. I was thinking $5 but the lady said $15 so I said no. She offered $12 so I told Kinsey to pick what she wanted and we would just pay for those. Finally the lady offered $10 so I took that. Not to bad for this box of children's books.

My friend bought 2 wreaths and a baby toy (she owns the daycare).

The next sale we went to I found a football for my friends son for $1 and she bought some under counter lights and a bracelet for Kinsey. I had to drop my friend off after that so it was just Kinsey and I now. We went to a dollar store near by for a few things then hit an Estate sale that started at 10am (why so late??) and bought two little plastic measuring jars. I'm sure they went to some Oster blender or mixer at one time but I think they will be great to mix small things in. They were $.25 each. The last sale we hit was at a storage building and they had stuff strung out every where. I found an adult life jacket for $.25 and Kinsey found the game Trouble for $.25. Here is a picture of all the little odds and ends.

Kinsey and I grabbed some lunch and were home by noon. We've already played several games of Trouble and looked through the books. Not bad for a Saturday!