Funny Day

I'm going through all of my pics from 2010, working on my new calendar...when I came across this jewel of a clip that I don't think I've shared with anyone. John-Robert, this Summer, said he was going swimming in the Pacific & it was COLD! Guess he's trying to take after his crazy Dad that jumped in Crater Lake a few years ago!

Summer Fun

Experimenting with this movie maker, lots of photos of the kids having fun this summer.

Happy Belated Halloween

Happy Belated Halloween! I forgot to put a pic up of my little pirate & ninja, they got LOTS of candy & we had a blast!

Pumpkin Party

Last night we had our annual Pumpkin Party! Perfect weather, friends, & great food (think potato soup & David's special apple cider).

Roasting some hot dogs by the fire & listening to The Nightmare Before Christmas...it's tradition!


Crazy boys!
The Dads are the official "de-gunkers!"


Esha & Jordan's pumpkin


Nice picture...
Scary picture...
Dark picture...the 3 picture thing is all part of the annual tradition :)

He's Our Goalie

Yesterday was John-Robert's last soccer game of the season. John-Robert says in his little matter of fact way that he was born to play goalie, looks like that may be the case. :)

Fall Fun

In between school & work we've been having some fun!

Aunt Steph with the kids about to go on the scary night ride! They all took the 4wheelers to this old haunted house by the cemetery & some of the Dads were waiting for them there to scare them!

John grinding some of the nails down on the fence panel we repeaired. The kids thought that was awesome!
Emma-Rae's foot down in the hole...we had to dig this huge piece of concrete out of the hole to put the new fence panel up, what a pain.
Brats @ the Zoo having fun!
Cutest prairie dog ever!
Oops! Except for these too...they are the cutest prairie dogs ever!
An egg picture...if you know the Mempis Zoo you'll understand the relevance.
Won't be too long & all 4 of them won't fit on this cow anymore!

What We've Been Up To...

We've been busy...here's what we've been up to! :)

We went to Members Night at the Zoo...awesome time! We met the Thorne family & Dr. Godfrey's family for a picnic before enjoying the zoo. We spent some time watching the sea lion show (as usual), letting the kids play in the geyser at Teton Trek, & watching the kids swim in the Nile as they danced to music from Grease. Fun & FREE! :)


Can't wait until these hippos get to move into their new home!


This dude wouldn't let me into my car to pick the kids up from school...he's a repeat offender!
This is Alice & Bella. Alice is the tabby...she's lived with us the past two months but went to a new home on Thursday. Alice went to live with Mr. Jason & his family on 16 acres in Mississippi, she's going to be a top notch barn cat! Alice just couldn't seem to get the hang of using the litter box consistently, I'm glad to say that she has left me her LAST poopy present!
We had a little bit of other animal drama...Gigi woke up limping one morning. An anti-inflammatory & a brief call to Dr. Godfrey fixed this girl right up...notice the Get Well Soon sign Emma-Rae made for our poor pup!
Emma-Rae and I made homemade...I'm talking from SCRATCH cake donuts. Too bad John's not a big fan of cake donuts. The kids loved them but they were an awful lot of work compared to running down to Howard's Donuts. We probably WON'T be doing this again.
This is the super fancy, super heavy, donut cutter that I asked John to make for me, John asked Mr. Brian to make it...it turned out really nice!
We're in non-stop soccer & volleyball mode...have been since August. John-Robert has found his calling as the team goalie, as he said after the game last week "I was born to be a goalie." Gotta love it!

Sports mean always carting around extra kiddos...gotta help each other out & get our kids to the game! That's Emma-Rae's team mate squished in the middle here, we love to have her! :)
Not many volleyball pics because they just don't come out too well in the gym...bad lighting, insufficient flash, beats me!
That's the jist of what we've been up to around here...I'm in school, kids are in school, John's working. Dad's still in the hospital, recovering well at this point from his amputation. Mom was in town last week & made it to one of John-Robert's games & one of Emma-Rae's. We definitely enjoyed having lunch with her both days! We're planning on decorating the house for Halloween today & tomorrow, the weather is gorgeous! Maybe I'll get another post up tomorrow evening.

Oops! John-Rob's Kindergarten Graduation

How in the world did I miss posting this??? I was scrolling back down my blog posts & saw that I had Emma-Rae's last day of school, but no John-Rob. I am immediately rectifying the situation. John-Robert graduated Kindergarten with flying colors, we are so proud of him...what a big boy!

John-Robert & his teachers Mrs. Harty & Mrs. West

Brother & Sister after graduation

John-Robert was SO over the tie!

And I quote "Enough with the pictures woman! " Yes, he said it! :)

Back to School!

Emma-Rae is trying REALLY hard to get her religion homework done but her psycho cat Bella is too jealous & wants all of her attention!
We're back to school! Last Thursday was their first day & today we're officially finishing our first week, woo hoo! John-Robert started 1st grade, Mrs. Smith is his teacher. Each class has a mandatory parent meeting...all the parents come & squeeze into their kids' tiny desks & listen to the teacher talk about the class rules & how badly they need you to volunteer for xyz. When I got to the classroom that evening John-Robert had already been moved to another desk because sitting in the far back corner next to one of his buddies from last year wasn't a good idea & of course Mrs. Smith had a story to tell...about this little boy who looked at the clock all day long & asked if it was time to leave yet, yes the little boy was John-Robert. Did I mention that she found it particularly hilarious because the little boy openly admitted that he had no idea what time it really was because he wasn't really good at telling time just yet, oh my yes. :) He's had a great week, he's stayed on "Excellent" behavior & hasn't had a hard time with any of his reading assignments, I'm so proud of him.


Emma-Rae has started 5th grade, Mrs. Metaxas is her homeroom teacher. Emma-Rae had Mrs. Metaxas as her 1st grade teacher & as a tutor...she LOVES Mrs. Metaxas. :) When you are in 5th grade you start changing classes...different teachers for each subject in different classrooms. Emma-Rae was pretty overwhelmed by her schedule but Mrs. Metaxas helped her hi-lite it so she knew where she was supposed to go & everything has been okay. Rae's had a good first week of school...she had to write an essay about her heritage & her family traditions. It was cool to hear what Emma-Rae thinks are her favorite family traditions...birthday cake for breakfast on your bday, our annual Halloween party with our neighbors where we carve pumpkins, have a bonfire, & cook s'mores, going to Grandma's for Thanksgiving, putting up our Christmas tree in time for my bday, Maw-Maw & Paw-Paw Frank's Christmas visit, our annual Christmas Eve party with our neighbors (we track Santa Claus online and they have to send their friends home & get to bed before he gets to TN), having Christmas dinner with Emaw, Poppy, Esha, & Maw Maw Shorty...she had a decent size list going. Emma-Rae's also started playing volleyball this year, she's loving it so far. We have soccer & volleyball practice tonight, I may get some practice pics up this weekend. I'm the team Mom for volleyball, Emma-Rae is super excited about that...I'm so proud of her, she's such a sweetheart. I sent her to school today even though she didn't feel well at ALL this morning, seems like she has a cold...but no fever. I hope she can make it through the day without having to come home, we'll see. :)

Emma-Rae's Last Day of School

Emma-Rae's class 4C
Emma-Rae & her awesome teacher Mrs. Christian
Rae & Jaia...we're going to miss Jaia she's going to a new school next year
Rae & Jaia & Julia...Julia's moving too! :(

Cleaning their desks with shaving cream...a 4C tradition
We are so proud of Emma-Rae!!!

John-Rob & Emma-Rae last day of school lunch at SoulFish