Monday, June 18, 2012

Father's Day

The kids, completely on their own, wrote a candy bar poem for Dave for Father's Day.   When Taylor & Dave left to go to the range, Lauren used the time wisely and wrote out the poem . . . 
It was LONG . . . she worked hard!

It said, "Dear Dad,  Happy Father's Day!  You're one hot tamales of a guy and we just wanted to let you know that your 3 musketeers appreciate you.  You are so tall that not only do you reach the sky, you can touch the starburst too!  But it takes a smarties  of a dad to reach that high, even if you are as tall as a mountain.  Lucky for us, you are xtremely smart!   We love that you don't have to be the Mr. Goodbar and that we can always have an almond joy time with you.  You always know just what to say to make us snickers so hard we end up roloing on the floor laffy taffy.  We also love that you  lead us warheads into battle every Sunday against M&M to try to miss church.  If we were you, we would be going skittles if mom told us we had to go to church on Father's Day!  Instead, we would be shooting at the range.  Unfortunately, you are not the cool kit kat in the shooting department.  That title goes to the guy with the bazooka.  We would tell you to get one but we're afraid that your butterfinger will slip on the trigger and you'll end up one sour patch kids down.  Just kidding!  You have ice breaker shooting skills, always blowing your target into reese's pieces; even if you do look like a nerds while your shooting.  If you could have a dollar for every book you have read, then you would have 100 grand.  But that's not how the world works.  If you want a pay day you have to work for it; so not only do you have 100 grand, you have a million.  It drives us gobstoppers when you let on rips in our air heads.  The smell is so bad that it's going to make us go bald even faster than you.  That is why as soon as we turn 18, we're going to twizzlers out of here.  Lauren and Taylor think it's hilarious when you twix Carter so that he ends up screaming like a baby ruth and jumps so high that he reaches the milky way. Carter doesn't think it's funny.  But what we love most about you, is that through all the pop rocks in the road, you are always there to give us hugs.  You help scrape the gumballs off our shoes so we can become the best that we can be.  So have a tootsie roll of a Father's Day because your a popcorn  of  a dad.
Love your little jelly beans,
Taylor, Carter, & Lauren"

I was so impressed and Dave loved it!

We had Dave's favorite for dinner . . . 
cooked by my favorite . . . 
It was a good day!
 
 We hope y'all had a Happy Father's Day!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Ouch!

These two . . .
. . . have been just a tad bit under the weather.  Although they look really grumpy, they actually can't smile because their cheeks are too swollen.
 
*If looks could kill.  (Which might happen when she realizes that I posted these pictures on my blog!)

Can you tell?  Yep, last Friday, they both had their wisdom teeth removed.  Carter also had 2 baby teeth pulled.  He's a bit on the young side to remove wisdom teeth but his were blocking his 12 year old molars from coming in, so he had to get them out early.  Lucky boy.  :)  They have been doing pretty good. The first day was definitely the worst.  Carter was very concerned about the stitches he felt on the roof of his mouth, so we all decided to take a look . . .
* I love Taylor's expression in this picture!  Ha-Ha!

 It wasn't as bad as we thought it would be.  Plus, they got to eat nothing but ice cream for 2 days . . .  
Yum.  Sign me up!  :)


Tuesday, June 12, 2012

5th Grade Graduation

We've been out of school for just over a week.  Lauren will be starting middle school next year!  I can't believe it.  May 31st, was her 5th grade graduation.  She was so excited.  It seems like just yesterday, she was starting kindergarten . . .
(Lauren's first day of kindergarten.)

It's hard to believe that my baby is no longer in elementary school.  Crazy.  Well, graduation day did not disappoint.  She received her "diploma" . . .

and enjoyed refreshments after the ceremony . . . 

. . . with her friends!
~ Lauren, Emily, & Amber ~

I had to get one last picture with her teacher . . . 
~ Ms. Matsuda & Lauren ~

. . . before they headed out to play.  They spent the rest of the school day playing outside in the water, eating free snow cones, and hangin' with their friends.  Lauren thought it was "the best school day she'd ever had!"  

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

A Near Tragedy

Yesterday, I realized that when our server crashed in December, we lost all our pictures from June of 2009 to June of 2010.  We thought we had restored all of them.  Unfortunately, we missed that year.  I was not too worried as we also back all our pictures up on DVD's.  But, when I tried to pull them off of the DVD we realized that DVD had gone bad.  Dave didn't think we were going to be able to get them back.  I was in tears.   Literally.  I think I cried for 2 hours yesterday.  In 2009, we had gone on a cruise to Alaska for our 15 year anniversary.  All those pictures . . . gone.  Not to mention the kids birthdays, Halloween, Christmas, etc.  I was devastated.  As a last ditch attempt (& long shot according to Dave, my hero) he bought a hard drive restoration program.  After letting it run all day, we were able to get ALL our pictures back!!!!!  I am thrilled, and so thankful.   I was devastated to lose all of our Alaskan pictures, but this one . . .
Well, that would have truly been tragic! :)

Thursday, May 24, 2012

A Day at the Lake

Yesterday, while all the kiddies were in school, our good friends (Denise & Brad) took us out on their boat.  It was the perfect day.  We enjoyed beautiful weather, great company . . .
~ Shannon, Julie, Laurie, Wendy, & Halli ~

and lunch on the lake at the Hula Hut . . .
 ~ Laurie, Wendy, Denise, Brad, Julie, Shannon, & Halli ~

It doesn't get much better than this!  Thanks Denise & Brad!

Friday, May 18, 2012

Quest Independent Study

Lauren has been working hard on her Quest Project for the past couple of months.  This year, she did it with a group . . . 
(Becca, Lauren, & Hannah)

 They chose a topic, researched, gathered information, they each did a service project & created a presentation board 
of their own . . . 
(Lauren's board)

They made up their own game . . .

And presented all the information they learned to their 
class . . . 

I think they did a great job!  My parents came down to watch her presentation.  

The following week was the much anticipated 
Quest Fair . . .
That's where you get to see all the kiddos projects from kinder through 5th grade.  Quest has been a great program for my girls.  They have learned so much and made some great friends!
(All the 5th grade Quest students)


Way to go "Questars"!

Thursday, May 17, 2012

My Mother

Yesterday, I got to spend the day with this beautiful lady . . .
I am so thankful for my mother and all that she has taught me.  She is the best woman I know.  She is leaving to go back to Wyoming soon.  I am going to miss her.  I feel so lucky to have such a great mother.  She  makes me want to be a better person.  She always makes me feel like I am important and that I can do anything.  She has always been there for me and is the best listener.  I know she loves me.  She is selfless and kind.  As I get older, I see more and more of her in me.  How lucky does that make me?  I love her, more than she'll ever know.
Thank you mom, for everything.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Mother's Day Weekend

Last Friday afternoon, my friend Lynn & I . . .
. . . headed to the JW Marriott Hill Country Resort & Spa for the weekend.  We had a fabulous time.  We worked out, relaxed by the pool, sat in the Jacuzzi, ate great food, got in a lot of "girl talk", laughed, caught up on sleep, and got a massage (my favorite part!)  It was just what I needed.  I came home rejuvenated.  Thanks Lynn for a great weekend . . . I loved spending time with you!

I came home Sunday afternoon to some special treats from my favorite people!  Lauren made me the coolest decoration for my scrapbook room . . .
 I love it!

Carter wrote me a little letter and got me my favorite candy bars . . . 
I thought his comment on the bottom was so funny.  Whenever my kids start to argue with me, I say, "I love you too much to argue."  They usually roll their eyes and walk away.  They know when I say this that there's nothing they can do to change my mind.  I guess I must say it more than I realize!  :)

And Taylor had this for me . . . 
I LOVE the lotion.  She cut out a "foot design" and taped it on the bottle.  She wrote, "For when your feet start to ache."  I have plantar fasciitis on my right foot and Taylor is often kind enough to rub my feet after a long day (she's really good at it too!)  I think her gift was so incredibly thoughtful and perfect!  I love that girl.
 I feel so blessed to have such great kids.  I love being a mother.  I think it's the best gig' around.  

While I was away, Dave needed a hair cut and didn't want to wait for me to get back (I have cut his hair since we started dating) so he had Taylor (who has never cut any one's hair before) cut it . . .
OOPS!  I told Taylor she's never touching my hair!  :)

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Dogs, Art, & Driving

Last Saturday, Lauren & I headed to Austin Dog Alliance so she could help train their therapy dogs.  It is a wonderful non-profit organization that offers pet therapy, summer camps, dog training classes, dog rescue, & adoption.  In fact, we got our dog from Austin Dog Alliance and the CEO is a good friend of ours.  So, Lauren was thrilled when there was an opportunity to help out.  Lauren's favorite part was reading to the dogs . . . 

. . . and loving on the dogs!

 Afterwards, we headed to the school Art Show.  It showcased art from kinder through 12 grades and all three of our kids had pieces in the show! 



Have I mentioned that Taylor recently got her learners permit and Dave & I have been teaching her how to drive?  She has improved a lot but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't frightening at times.  While we were at the Art Show, we saw this masterpiece (which totally depicts that experience for us) . . . 
Yep, that pretty much sums it up!  We can totally relate.  ;)