Last night Caroline had the two of the Keigley kids come over for a sleep over. As a birthday gift for London, the girls enjoyed hanging out together on Tuesday night and then making a big brunch for the siblings and moms this morning. During the cooking process, I enjoyed documenting their work as it progressed. They worked together seamlessly and prepared a lovely and delicious feast.

All summer long we have prepared for the start of school. After a very short summer, the start of school has sprung up without much thought. Really this week everything started happening all at once. We went to Ikea, installed shelves, and had many a meeting discussing the up-coming school term. Mom had originally wanted to start on Tuesday, but a friend had requested earlier that she wished to drop her child off at our house. Since Travis goes to a co-op on Mondays and Wednesdays, Wednesday wouldn't work either. And every Friday we do a different kind of school, so Thursday was the only logical day to start.

Now I can start discussing our very amusing first day of school. After we ate breakfast and did our morning chores, Mom had an unusually long phone call. While we waited for her, I judged an act-it-out game. The game required the contestants to group up into two teams and perform the category I gave them the best. The team that did the best imitation of the category won five points and the round. Afterwards, Mom came downstairs and took our usual start-of-school pictures.

When the picture taking was over with, we started a group session that we call "Convo." After Convo, Mom took the little boys to the library while Caroline and I made lunch for everyone. 

   Finally, a movie that will make kids stop singing "Let it Go" and start reciting quotes from their favorite emotions. Inside Out, rated PG for mild thematic elements and some action, is a fun- filled, kid-friendly movie that is loved by all ages. The film features Riley Andersen and her wildly amusing emotions. The movie stars the voices of Kaitlyn Dias as Riley, Amy Poehler as Joy, Mindy Kaling as Disgust, Lewis Black as Anger, Phyllis Smith as Sadness, and Bill Hader as Fear. The film also stars Kyle Maclachlan and Diane Lane as Riley's parents. It begins with Riley as an infant and Joy (the first emotion made in Riley's mind) inside her head watching over her. With every new thing that Riley learns while growing up, a new emotion pops up into her head. Soon four new emotions have joined Joy up in Headquarters. Within the first few months of her life, Riley can smell Fear lurking in every corner, Joy throughout every inch of her home, Anger at her parents when things aren't fair, Disgust at the food that is served to her, and sometimes, though rarely, deep Sadness. When Riley is 11, her family moves from Minnesota all the way to San Fransisco, California. On her first day of school, Sadness touches one of Riley's very few core memories. When her finger tips touch the memory it rapidly turns from bright gold to a dull blue. All of a sudden, Joy and Sadness are swept away into long term memory. To get back to Headquarters they need to travel through "Dream Productions," Imagination Land," "Memory Dump," and the subconscious. Without joy in her life, Riley turns bitter against everything and everyone she cares about. It's soon up to Joy and Sadness to return to Headquarters and fix everything before it's too late. The movie is really well made, funny, sad, and a major emotion picture that you have to see. Inside Out gives viewers a mind expanding experience while still making it easy to follow. 

Seeing as how school is only three days away, Mom wanted to make some last minute purchases from Ikea. Sadly, the nearest Ikea is in Charlotte, NC. When the little boys found out (for the second year) that they weren't old enough to have a desk in the school room they were pretty bummed out. So, since we were heading to Ikea anyway, Mom thought to surprise them with two new desks. Here are some pictures of while we were there.   

When the idea to make an Ikea commercial came up, I don't think it left our minds until we had finished the editing process on iMovie. Surprisingly enough, the employees that saw us filming the video didn't even try to throw us out of the building. Here it is!

                                                               

   For a few years now its been our grandparents plan to build a home on our property and it is finally becoming a reality. Within just a few days the site had grown from just a piece of dirt to already pouring the concrete foundation and walls. 

   Yesterday, when I saw the workers still working through the intense rain and thunder, I was really impressed. The storm was so crazy and big that the rain was coming in onto the front porch. When the rain finally let up our pasture was in complete disarray. The mud was so thick down by the road that one of the concrete trucks got stuck.

 

A few days ago the Keigleys invited us to spend the day with them at Carl Sandburg's home in Flat Rock, NC. From the beginning of 1878 through 1967 Carl Sandburg wrote poems, played his guitar, and wrote a biography on Abraham Lincoln. You can click here to read more about him. 

    Afterwards they and another family that they had invited took us to a barbecue place a couple minutes away. And if that wasn't enough we topped off the trip by going to Skytop Orchards.