Happy Belated Thanksgiving

Happy Belated Thanksgiving...if I didn't talk to you...we had a great Thanksgiving! John finally had some days off work, we had fun out @ Stacy & Dave's playing Mexican Train Dominos...Megan won...Maw-Maw lost, then we went up to Louisville to spend Thanksgiving with my Mom & David. Believe it or not...I took not one, single, solitary Thanksgiving picture. Louisville seems like a great city, Mom & David's house is really nice, & we had a wonderful time. John took some pictures & video of John-Robert's Thanksgiving program, the kids were adorable...enjoy!

Disney on Ice

I took the kids to see Disney on Ice Friday night, we had a great time! Check out all the goodies the kids got...cool new hats, sno-cones in fancy cups, Disney knows how to make a night of it! ;)

This section of the program was about the Disney fairies, you know...Tinkerbell & friends, it was wonderful!There they are with those light up toys they just HAD to have...I think if we didn't end up with that sword John-Rob would have had a stroke, boys & their light up "weapons" oh my...Good night from Mickey & Minnie...it was awesome watching the kids wave goodbye to Mickey & Minnie...after the house lights came up John-Robert turned around to me & said...that was GREAT! thanks Mom! Something to remember, thanks for another magical night Disney!

Straight A's for Rae

Just need to brag on my girl for a minute...we had parent/teacher conferences week before last & the kids got their interim reports last week...our girl has straight A's!!! She was sooo excited, A's all the way from Spanish class to Music, we're so proud of her. She's also very proud of her cursive handwriting, here's an example of a recent handwriting assignment.

The Ostrich Egg Surprise

John-Robert's class creates "traveling" books. All of the kids in the class contribute a page to the book. The pages read all the same except for the single element the kids get to choose. Then the kids take turns taking the book home during the week, we read them aloud and it is supposed to help with their reading skills. I really got a kick out of the book this week, the Kindergarten age is just full of wonderful imagination...John-Robert's contribution is the last page, I love it!
Okay...so...each kid gets to choose what the ostrich finds in the egg...






And of course...John-Robert's...oh so practical & logical, the ONLY kid in the class that actually put a bird coming out of the egg!

Bee Beary

John-Robert brought home Bee Beary last week. Bee Beary is a bear that the kids take turns bringing home from school. Bee Beary comes with a journal, you are supposed to write a journal entry describing what Bee Beary did with your child after school. The day John-Robert brought him home I had to work late, Aunt E-sha saved the day & took pictures of the things they did. the next day @ school the teacher reads the journal entry after rest time, John-Robert said that everyone liked our journal entry & the kids all said they liked grilled cheese & pickels too...hope you can see the pics well enough to read our entry.

Missing Teeth & Alien Art

The tooth fairy has been very busy around here lately...(John-Robert calls Aunt Stacy the tooth fairy). John-Robert's lost his two front teeth. They were very loose & "bucky" and they just happened to get "punched" out by his friend James when they were watching a movie in cousin Megan's room...the movie was Nacho Libre...a wrestling movie, go figure! :)


Emma-Rae also lost 3 teeth that same week, she just had a dentist appointment and he did say that she was losing some of these teeth a bit early...problem with Rae is that her teeth take a LONG time to come in...guess she'll be sporting this jack o' lantern look for awhile! :)

John's been working a lot and the kids and I have been keeping pretty busy. I took them to Perkins for breakfast last weekend and they created some pretty cool aliens while we waited on our food.
Totally diggin' Rae's one eye alien...love the spots!
John-Robert asked me how to spell alient...that's what he calls aliens- ALIENTS...he was sort of surprised to find out that there wasn't a "t" in alien

Soccer Domination

Soccer's pretty much been dominating our lives lately. Rae has practice on Monday & Wednesday, John-Rob has practice on Tuesdays & Thursdays...then they both have games on Saturdays and an occasional Sunday...oy vey!! However...they are both doing great this year & having fun, bruises and all. Yesterday both of them won their games, John-Robert scored 3 goals...Emma-Rae prevented many goals from being scored. Incidentally Emma-Rae & her team played in a torrential downpour...it was hilarious, the girls were looking @ us like...seriously, we're still playing. But...no lightning means the game goes on. Here are some recent soccer pics.

Back To School

Kids went back to school last week. No tardy slips yet!!! :) Rae has Mrs. Christian and is in 4th grade. I totally remember 4th grade...my teacher was Mrs. Oetken...she had blonde hair like Dolly Parton, wore thick blue eyeshadow, and a gold ankle bracelet underneath her panty hose. Mrs. Oetken's outfits were always very "matchy matchy" and we always played this flash card math game.

Check out her new chucks...that's what she wanted for shoes this year...a pair of chucks and some wallabies...can you say 70's???

John-Rob doesn't care what kind of shoes he gets...as long as he can test them out @ the store by making sure he can run REALLY fast in them, he's fine with whatever I pick. Coincidentally his foot is the same size as Rae's...and there's a 3 year age difference!

John-Rob started Kindergarten this year...his teachers are Mrs. Harty & Mrs. West, I think he's going to have a wonderful year! I remember my Kindergarten teacher too...Mrs. Connie LaFoy, funny that I actually got to see her again a few years ago when I was visiting Grandpa in Arizona...she is an Iowa snowbird. :)

Yesterday was the first day I had to drop John-Robert off and watch him walk in with Emma-Rae instead of walking him in myself, now THAT was hard! That and the fact that John-Robert wanted $1.00 today for cookies instead of .50 so he could buy a cookie for his "girlfriend" too...I'm NOT ready for "girlfriends."

I've Been Cookin'

I've been cookin' and I have evidence! Thought I'd get these pics up while the plumber is here this morning...unclogging the sink so we can stop washing dishes in the bathtub...note to self...no more potato peels in the garbage disposal...

Saturday Night: Cheese Quesadillas...these were a hit with the kids
John cooking the meat for our burritos...I really DON'T like to cook the ground meat, so he usually finishes it for me once I get it going...thanks honey! :)

My boring burrito...I'm picky so I don't put any nasty stuff like onion, beans, or sour cream on mine...

Sunday morning breakfast...that the kids didn't want to eat...why??? you might ask as you look at the deliciousness I put on the table...because they were watching Ghostbusters...the 1984 movie...the movie they can push pause on and finish watching AFTER they eat...

Sunday Dinner: pork tenderloin, green beans, & hasselback potatoes...the potatoes were a complete waste of time, all that cuttin' & bastin' and bread crumbin'. They ended up tasting like baked potatoes with salt, butter, & parmesan cheese...

Monday night dinner: Homemade chicken salad & chips...chicken salad was good, not great...same scenario as the potatos...an awful lot of choppin' and mixin' for something that was just okay. My Mom did give me a good idea for cooking the chicken I bought to make this slop, she said just put it in the crock pot all day and then when I get ready for it the meat will just fall off the bone & you won't heat up your house. She was right! I turned the crockpot off and took the lid off right before True Blood came on and after the show it was cooled down enough to be picked at.

And last but not least...the jello cake...turned out delish and looks much better after the jello firms up and the cool whip goes on the top!

Whatz On The Menu

So...I'm going to try again...cooking that is. Made a menu this a.m., John & I went to the grocery this afternoon. $60 bucks @ Aldi & $140 @ Kroger...this should last all of us for 3 squares a day until next Saturday afternoon...provided everything I cook this week is decent enough for John to take for lunch the next day. Just for kicks...here's the menu this week. Maybe I'll take pics of dinner each night & post them, we'll see.

Saturday Dinner: cheese quesadillas & burritos (quesadillas for Rae, Rob, Kaitlyn, & Zachary)

Sunday Breakfast: Bacon, Eggs, & Biscuits

Sunday Lunch: Coldcut sandwiches & chips

Sunday Dinner: Pork Tenderloin, Hasselback Potatoes, & Fresh Green Beans

Monday Dinner: Homemade Chicken Salad on Deli buns & Chips

Tuesday Dinner: BBQ Chicken Legs, Corn on the Cob, & Broccoli

Wednesday Dinner: Piggy Pudding

Thursday Dinner: BBQ Chops, Mac & Cheese, Fresh Green Beans

Friday Dinner: Frozen Pizzas

Dessert for the week: In the process of making this jello cake, my Aunt June makes it & it's really good...it's in the fridge now firming up & so far...my jello cake looks like...well, it looks like ass.

Rae & Nikki

Just a few crazy funny pics of Rae & Nikki...

We're #1 on RockBand

We're (I mean John) is #1 on RockBand!!! #1 out of ALL the people that play Rockband...that's our band- Afflicted SIXX, awesome John- Congratulations!!!

RIP Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite legendary news anchor for CBS passed away Friday at the age of 92.

Disney Memory

Great memory! Dinner @ the Liberty Tree Tavern with Minnie Mouse & friends. I remember being so happy to get out of the rain & sit down for a nice warm meal before Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party. The kids had a ball meeting all of the characters...I believe this was the night Dave developed a crush on Minnie.

Father's Day

We went to IHOP (John's pick) for breakfast on Father's Day. The real reason for this post is to showcase this particular talent/thing John-Robert does @ any restaurant he can. He builds things out of jam/butter tubs...maybe he'll be an architect or engineer. :)

Father & son on Father's Day. I didn't intentionally omit a pic of Rae & Daddy, but she was pouting and wouldn't let me take her picture. :(

Happy Birthday John-Robert

John-Robert turned 6 on June 19th. He pretty much wanted the same thing as Emma-Rae...Kaitlyn & Zachary to spend the night & then we went to the movies the next day & saw Night @ the Museum the Battle of the Smithsonian- it was hilarious. I surprised John-Rob with an EXTRA special bday present this year...a kitten! He has named him Edward & loves him very much!

John-Rob didn't even want to put him down to blow out his candles!

I have a few videos of his bday that I wanted to upload but for some reason blogger keeps giving me an error tonight...maybe some other time!

Sam & Ali's Wedding

Sam & Ali got married June 14th. We had a great weekend with family & friends. Rehearsal dinner was Friday night @ the Blue Fish, cookout @ Mom's on Saturday, & the wedding on Sunday downtown @ the Cadre building. Admittedly I took a very limited amount of pics...I really don't even have one of Sam & Ali in full wedding gear (the photographer said no flash photog & I kind of "lost" my camera after that :) We're so happy for Sam & Ali- Congratulations!

Mom & Cameron- chief crane caretakers with some of the strands they strung @ the Blue Fish before everyone arrived, they did a great job!

A close up of a crane on the table @ the Blue Fish.

The happy couple- Ali & Sam!!

Centerpieces in reception area

Rae & Rob...having a ball!

My brilliant Aunt Susan suggested a walk to get rid of the wiggles while we were waiting for the ceremony to start. We walked down to the Peabody, we just missed the ducks so we had to go to the rooftop to see them in their duck palace. Aunt Susan took this family pic of us on the Peabody rooftop.

Daddy/daughter dances- Dave & Taryn and John & Rae

John-Rob walked right up to his big sis & asked her, very formally- may I have this dance. It was so cute!

The girls were gettin' down with Stacy & Dave!

Cute cousins- Alyssa & Emma-Rae!