light show (aug 7, 2012)

Monsoon season again. I have been trying for a while now to get some nifty lightening pictures and tonight I finally did!!! My camera is certainly not fancy. Just a standard point and shoot, but it does have some settings and I had it set on fireworks. I think that's the only reason I was able to capture these.

 

Sierra Vista Ballet (aug 7, 2012)

Paige has been taking ballet and tap for the past 2 years at the community center. It was good while it lasted and it was worth it to see if Paige was really interested in it. She LOVES ballet so I figured it was time to up the stakes. I called around and decided on Sierra Vista Ballet. The lady that does it is intense and it's a very serious place. She built the studio where they practice on the back of her house!!!!! Crazy! The recital will be the Nutcracker put on at Christmas time and I believe the spring recital will be Swan Lake although i'm not 100% on that one. Paige is so excited to be in an actual ballet group and to actually learn new things. I'm so happy for her. I think my little girl has found her calling. :)

Paige is on the far right, she towers over most of the other girls in the group.

 



 

Ms. Hilda is in charge. She demands very specific things and if you can't comply then you don't dance. Wow!



 

Making Rapunzel's Tower (Aug 7, 2012)

This year Paige wanted Tangled as her party theme. I've been looking at decorating ideas and stumbled upon this gem on Pinterest. (Don't get me started on how much I adore that site!!). So I thought i might try to do the same thing. Amy offered to help me so I got what we needed and we set up in the back yard and got to painting.

i do like how it turned out. not too bad at all!

First Day of School (Aug 6, 2012)

Look at all the happy faces! hahahaha! Don't let it fool you, they were all excited to go back. Now it's just me and Bronwyn during the day. I'm not exactly sure what to do with myself. The kids aren't riding the bus this year so I'll be picking them up and dropping them off every day. I don't mind at all. Just hope Bronwyn's nap schedule cooperates.

Dogs!! (aug 4, 2012)

Guess what!!!???!!!!



Amy and her family came here for a visit! Hooray!!!! Garrett is TDY again so they all came for a visit. They also brought their dogs. We offered to keep them here since they couldn't really have them where they were staying (and since they'll be here a month they didn't want to leave them behind).  I agreed so we could test out how Angus will react when we get another dog. He did brilliantly.  The dogs all got along great and they had so much fun together.   It just means that when they leave Angus is gonna get depressed.

 this is just a random picture of the new computer and the kids playing on it.

 

 our new little friends: Hinckley and Bailey. They had so much fun!!!

 

 Paige and Angus....

 

They were a constant feature at the foot of Bronwyn's high chair at every meal. They just waited for her to drop something on the floor. It was so funny to watch. Most of the time she'd oblidge and drop something. 

Meet the Teacher Night (Aug 1, 2012)

We got back from Texas just in time to start back to school stuff. Tonight was meet the teacher night. I'm really interested to see who everyone gets.

Well we got to the school and for some reason the kids weren't on the list. So we had to go to the office and find out why. We met the principal walking out and he told us that the computer system had just done a major reboot and so some info was lost. Like us......awesome. Looks though like we weren't the only ones suffering the same fate. So when we got up to the desk they looked up the teachers and basically gave us our free choice. So happy about that!!!!!!!!!!

 Paige in front of Ms. Henderson's class. I had no preference since I didn't know who was teaching her grade this year. She, however,was thrilled with who she got.

 

 Keegan got Ms. Tabler! I was overjoyed!!!! Seth had her in the same grade so I REALLY wanted Keegan to get her and he did!!

 

I also learned something new this year. Seth is considered middle school now and so he's switching classes. He did, however, get who he wanted for homeroom. He also got Mrs. Masino (keegan's teacher last year) for Math, which he was also happy about. The other teachers I don't know yet so I can't form an opinion.

 

 

 

Everyone seems pleased with who they got and I think this may be another good school year for us!!!



Our Trip to TEXAS! (July 8-17, 2012)

I really miss my friend. Her family got orders for Ft. Hood so they left us. :( So this summer I thought it would be a GREAT time to go for a visit. The kids were so excited!!!  We planned our day and a half drive to there, booked a hotel, and got on our way. It was a long drive (texas scenery is a whole lot of nothing) but it went better than expected. We made great time and the weather cooperated nicely!

 

we stayed the night in ft. stockton, a town with NOTHING in it but a super Walmart, Taco Bell and a few hotels. Neat....  But the hotel was nice and we all slept ok (unless you count feet in your back all night as ok) and the breakfast was yummy. I really can't complain.

 



They have year passes to Sea World so we drove down to San Antonio the next day and spent a very long, very fun day riding rides and watching shows. We really missed Dan on this trip, so we'll just have to go again when he gets home!!!

 



 

watching the Shamu show. It was the first thing we did when we got into the gates.

 



 

 

On the Journey To Atlantis Ride. It was much needed since we were all so hot. We got soaked and it cooled us off perfectly!!

 



Amy has a pool in her neighborhood so we spent a couple of days with it all to ourselves and the kids thought that was awesome. Now they want us to get a pool for our yard. Maybe next summer.  There was even a little kiddie pool for the littles. Bronwyn wasn't really sure what to make of it, but I think she enjoyed it. The rest of the kids were like fish. It was pulling teeth to get them out to go home. 

We spent on of our last days at the zoo. Another hot day, but it was fun.  Got to see some animals we hadn't seen in a zoo before and it wasn't a long drive (about like driving from here to Tucson). It also wasn't a large zoo so we were able to see everything. 

 

 

last morning with Amy and her kids (Garret was TDY here and watching Angus for us) Bronwyn wouldn't cooperate and wasn't in the picture.

me and Amy. for some reason my camera made the picture really dark. 

 

 

After leaving Amy's house we made a quick detour to see Monica and her family. Ethan was getting baptized so we wanted to make it for that. It was also a good chance to visit with her and meet her boys. We had a fun day with her family and went to church with them on Sunday. 

 

 

Long drive home. This sign at a rest stop made us laugh. I really had to convince everyone they were fine to go to the bathroom. 

 

 

 

We passed this big fella on our way home too. I told Dan about it and he said it was probably a team rig. Not sure why he was going west.....It was still neat to see. 

We had a great time in Texas and can't wait to go back and visit with our friends again!!

fireworks!!

Ahh fireworks. Never a dull moment. I wasn't sure we would go. I mean the idea of going to a field with a billion people having to deal with the kids by myself was NOT inticing in the least. But at the breakfast I got talked into it. The weather was a bit overcast and we weren't sure about rain so it was a solid maybe. When the time came to go it was breezy but clear so we decided to go. By the time we got to the fields it was raining and it only got harder and colder before it stopped. By the time the fireworkds started we were all soaked to the bone and freezing. Who says it's always hot here in the summer?! But sky lit up and it was a lot of fun. I'm glad we ended up going. Dan is glad too. He thought I was crazy to even think about staying home and watching the fireworks on tv. How fun is that?? Yeah....but I will say that this year is one that none of us will soon forget!!

just before the bottom fell out

we got there super early so the boys brought their ds'. kept peace in the land.

i found these holiday glow necklaces at the dollar store. they worked out well.