BACK TO SCHOOL

Today is a wonderful day..for the kids are going away....not to the circus, not to the zoo..can't you see they're going back to school! 

This year, McKenna (3rd grade) and Harrison (1st grade) will be in the same class! It's called a spectrum class where there are 1st-3rd graders in the class. Harrison is really anxious to be a 1st grader. McKenna is a little nervous because she won't know so many kids in her class this year. I know they will both do great and I hope being in the same class together will be a good experience for them.

Tyler is starting preschool with "Miss Kris" and he goes twice a week. He is really excited to be like the big kids and going to school.

I wish my kids the best of luck for this school year! I can't believe how fast they are growing!

MONSTER TRUCK SHOW!

Our brother-in-law takes his boys to the annual Monster Truck show every spring. We decided to take our kids this year (minus Addison) and we had a great time!! We went a little early to have our pics taken with some of the "stars" of the show...(so much dust in the air, the camera caught it)

The line-up...

The tricks the trucks performed were amazing! I almost got car sick just watching!

Some amazing jumps....

and some amazing landings...all in all, we saw one tire fly off, this truck land on its side, another land on its top, and we watched the Ghost Rider do a 360 flip!

We already have the show for next year marked on the calendar (along with a note to take ear plugs)!!

ENGAGEMENT PRESENT

Adam's brother, Jake, just got engaged to a cute girl named Rachel. We are really excited for them and some what knew this was going to happen. However, as soon as we received the text that Jake had "popped the question" and Rachel had accepted, Harrison ran down stairs and came back up with a stack of papers and markers in hand!



Harrison decided he wanted to make them an engagement book - it was so cute to see him take his time on this project and do such a great job! He was so disappointed when he had to wait a whole week before giving it to them. The book included:

- 2 pencils and 2 suckers
- illustrations of both wedding rings (atleast what he thought they should look like)
- a great B&W picture of Addison
-a picture of flowers for Rachel and Mickey Mouse for Jake
- illustration of a wedding cake

Harrison is such a cute kid...and so thoughtful! We wish Jake and Rachel the best! Maybe they will call on Harrison as their personal Wedding planner?!?

FAMILY PICTURES 2010

I have always been pretty good about having an annual family picture taken...until Tyler came along...I don't know what happened to my life, but family pictures just didn't happen - for 2 1/2 years! So, I decided that I was going to get on top of it again.


We had our pictures taken the first weekend of November and the weather was just perfect and the colors outside were great! Here's a run down of our family shots ...with my critique of the photos, of course...

First picture taken -

The Good: We are all smiles and all looking at the camera; not a bad shot of us

The Bad: I'm not quite sure where I'm going...

Second shot of the day -

The Good: Once again, love all the smiles and the foliage in the background

The Bad: Addie was having a hard time looking at the camera, and I told the photographer NOT to get a shot of Adam's white socks- grrr...I guess that's what photoshop is for! (is that being too picky?!?)

Third times the charm?

The Good: umm...nice foliage...and McKenna looks good, Addie looks good.

The Bad: This shot is probably my least favorite. I look like I'm getting ready to play a quick game of the hokey pokey (you put your right leg in, you put your right leg out...), Tyler looks less than excited to have this picture taken.

Last Chance:

The Good: We are all, once again, looking at the camera - all smiles even! Great color in the background!

The Bad: Through the whole shoot, I kept telling myself, "neck stretched, chin down" (that's the movie stars secret), but I didn't listen to my own advice....

o.k..all in all, I DO think the pictures turned out great! We are always our worst critic! I'm happy to mark that off my "to do" list and now all I need to do is pick my favorite and put it up on the wall (before it's out of date)!

"HUNDRED-AIRES"

A year or so ago, Adam had a salesman come in wanting to place a small, spinnning vending machine in the mail center - Adam agreed to let him. Well, the man never came and serviced it, so you would always seem to get crusty Hot Tamales, and stale peanuts whenever you used it (yuck).

So, the salesman came in a few months ago and Adam asked him if the guy made any money with the machine and the man told him that he actually wanted to get rid of it....Adam, always the entrepeneur, asked how much he wanted for it. Adam ended up buying the machine and came home to tell the kids they were about to start their first business! (cute huh)

Since then, McKenna and Harrison have been keeping candy filled up in the machine (with a HUGE help from Adam) and they get the money from the machine to put in their bank accounts...I am happy to report that we have two "hundredaires" in our family now from this lucrative business!

The kids love it when Adam comes home to show them how much money he pulled out of the machine, and it is a really good idea to help them learn how a business works! I just love my business minded husband!