Stephanie's Report Card

Last tuesday was my very first parent/teacher conference with Stef's teacher. We went over her report card and her behavior in class. She is excelling in class with just about everything. She has a little trouble with her sequence words and gets some of her shapes mixed up. Ms. Stotts says that is normal but she is above average. They are going to start reading this sememster. Yikes my 4 year old reading!!!! I think she is going to have to skip kindergarten next year :-) She loves writing her name and one project the teacher has done is in the first week of school she had the kids do a self portrait,then at the end of October she had them do another one. What a difference 6 weeks or so makes. I am so proud of all her acomplishments!!!!

Fun Saturday afternoon

One of the perks of living in Las Vegas is the local and teacher discounts to see shows. This was the case with "The Lion King."

Neil's parents came down over this past weekend for his birthday and wanted to get together with everyone (Neil's friends) and thought going to the this show would be a great opportunity to do so. Right now there is a 2 for 1 deal until the end of December for teachers to see "The Lion King" and we took advantage of it.

What a FANTASTIC show! Even if you are not a theater type, you will enjoy this. Take your kids if you ever get a chance- I can't gush enough about this show! VERY family friendly. Aside from stressing getting my assingments done and preparing for YW in Excellence, I had fun! Flat Stanley didn't make it because he wasn't where he was supposed to be :)

Christmas Fun

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Mad Libs

I used to do Mad Libs in school when I was little. Well months and months ago Donnovan and I were out and saw them in the Target $ bins ( I think). So after cleaning his room thoroughly the other day he wanted to do a few of them. So this is the one that he gave me all the words for. Needless to say he is still quoting it!!

Still Trying to be cool

Yesterday I had to take Donnovan to his drs appointment. After I took him with me to go to mine (just blood work). I asked him if he wanted to go back to school and he said no, so I said we are going to look for pants for you then. This boy is growing like a weed, I can't just go to the store anymore and pick something up for him he has to try things on. So I said we were going to stop at the thrift store first and see what we could find, he tried on over 20 pairs of pants and we bought 7. He was so excited because most of them are Old Navy jeans and there was a Abercrombie pair in there as well. Talk about being a cool mom, he couldn't wait to get dressed this morning. He was up and dressed by 6:15am I bet you can't guess what pair he wore today!

What is cool?

We are dealing with how to be cool at school this year with Donnovan. When we went clothes shopping it took twice as long as it normally has since he had to inspect everything and match everything. A few weeks ago I was helping Donnovan organize his binder and came across a note, I asked him what it was and he said I could read it. A big moment for a mom in my opinion, reading a note that wasn't for "my eyes only" Anyhow there was a list of things written down by a girl no less. She was giving Donnovan tips on how to be cool, such as: get your teeth whitened (I told him to brush everyday) dye his eye brows (he has the light light eye brows like me)skinny jeans ( I told him no way, I thought those looked stupid and he agreed) baggy skater shirts, VANS (mind you he keeps bugging me about these) talk like a skater, get contacts, dye his hair blond with red highlights (he really liked this idea) get awesome belts, listen to music that I have never heard of, and she went as far to tell him that he needs to have a favorite color of black or green and my all time favorite she told him to get a spray tan (what do people have against being white?) So now he is on a mission to get contacts and other things on this list, when did becoming cool become so hard?

Waiting 4 the bus

This is Nene on her first day of school waiting for the bus that never came:



John took her to school but she was so disappointed.

First Day of School

We made through the first day of Pre K and 6th grade. A few fumbles along the way but all in all it went well. For whatever reason the bus company never called us about Stef's route so she didn't get to ride the bus, then the school tired to put her on the bus to come home but luckly John was there to intercept, Donnovan got off at the wrong drop off and had to walk in the heat (he said he wasn't sure if the bus driver was going to stop). Ben enjoyed a quiet morning to himself watching movies and not having to share the couch or anything.

I am still taller

A few weeks ago I needed to take Donnovan in to get his back to school shots, yes he had to get 3. There was a new requirement that all 6th graders have a 2 shot of the chicken pox, anyhow he was weighted and measured. He is 5'2. So I am copying a picture from my friend's blog and here it is:



I am still taller, but for how long?

Ben

The kids love playing outside on the trampoline with the sprinkler. I love it too since in this TX heat they can play outside for a long time, yes my water bill may be a little high but it is worth it. Well when it is time to come in I can bring them in one at a time and shower them and then so on to the next one, well Ben wanted nothing to do with the waiting so I wrapped him in a towel and put him in the sink, he couldn't get out but I got some great pictures!!!

Picture show

Here are a few pictures from camp and what Flat Stanley and I have been up to!

Update

I survived another year of camp! This year we had a nice wind storm. I've never heard the wind sound like a freight train before, but am now a believer! We had a good group of girls up there and just enjoyed our time.
I have about a week left of my first masters class- yay! I've enjoyed going back to school so far. I received the books for my next two classes so I guess I'm really in this.
We go back to school this week (teachers at least). I'm "excited" to start a new year because I'll be working with the K-3 grades. It'll be nice to not have to spread myself all over so much. I have some new ideas for decorating my room and am anxious to get going.
I'll post pictures of camp later.
Hope everyone is doing well. Good luck to all my nieces and nephews in school! Donnovan- a middle schooler?!?!?! Yikes :)

-Tia

Big Red Glasses

The kids and I were going through tubs of memories this week while John was gone. I came upon some glasses that I had to wear while I was in HS. I put them on and didn't say anything to the kids, as soon as they saw me they were laughing so hard. They all wanted to try them on, then I got a laugh. Enjoy!!!

Happy Birthday DAD

Today is my dad's birthday!! I think he is 29 or somewhere close to that. I am grateful to have him as my dad and I appreciate all that he does for me and my family. I love the fact that he is forgiving. I know that I have disappointed him in the past but he has forgiven me and has moved on. You know they say you tend to marry men like your fathers and when I was little I remember thinking, no way, no how, no way, well many years later I did just that. I just didn't he was such a great guy until I got married. Thanks dad for all the lessons you have taught me, the hugs you have given me, the advice that I get whether I want it or not, the way you treat mom, and best of all for being my dad!! I love you!!


-Katie
The favorite

Mom and dad's

Nene and dad putting in the new garbage disposal.

Mom and dad putting in the new garbage disposal, yes it did get put in and works fine.

Seth and I playing with jewelery.
Seth playing all by himself.
The boys playing whatever.

Updating

Howdy!
Thanks to all of our military moving experience, I was able to "properly" load a 10 ft. UHAUL last weekend and help one of my friends move. I had some rope left over from when I was moved out here (because we Cary's keep everything...) that I used to tie stuff down. My friend called some other friends of hers to bring their pick-up truck because she didn't think we'd get it all in there. HA! So little faith! There was enough room to put another couch and some boxes on. She cancelled the pick-up.
I was also nominated to drive the truck. Everyone else was too 'chicken' we'll say :) They claimed that I had the most recent experience driving a larger vehicle with my new SUV and all- give me a break! I guess it's one of my many hidden talents, hehehehehe :)
I start my masters program on Monday. Yikes! I'm a little nervous. I thought this school year would calm down a bit in the summer but it's just gotten busier and crazier. This program will take a little less than 2 years and it's one class at a time. That's good for me!
Our stake had camp kick-off last night. We're getting geared up to go. Should be fun!

There's your latest update from Las Vegas. You'd think there be more interesting things happening here...

-Sarah

Vacuum Cleaner

We went to the Thrift store on saturday evening. This is something I enjoy doing and if we are not rushed for time I can get John into as well. The kids love it and enjoy searching for the perfect "treasure". Well this is a new store for us and they were having a sale, that is kind of funny huh? Anyhow the sale was 10 books for $2. What a bargain. My kids love to read and such an awesome price. So as I was searching for just the right books, ( I found 30 and they all looked brand new )John found a vacuum cleaner. He called me over and I came over thinking it was one for the house. No, it was a Barbie one that Nene wanted. Well apparently I took long to walk over to John because 2 little boys took off with it, which started the tears and the drama. So I said no big deal, they are not going to buy it ( mom sense) we will just get it when they put it done. So we followed them for about 10 minutes ( no not stalking ) just wondering up and down the aisles looking for stuff. The boy's walked away from and I walked over to it and asked the mom if she was going to get and she said no and I said thanks I will take it. The best thing, it was $1.75 and didn't look used at all. Happy mom and happy girl!!!!! My house is clean! John can't figure out why the kids like to clean? Gee I don't know.

Glitter Toes

This is the finished product. I think they are so fun and look really good in the sun!!!

The House

End to the car saga

Eddie is sleeping in my parking space tonight! Everything is done and looks good.

-Sarah

Field Day

If you can believe it Donnovan got a third place in hurdles!!!! And he threw a pig, if you want to know more you can call and ask him about it :-)


-Katie

Stupid Blood #3

Well my numbers are still high so I am on 7.5 mg of cumidin everyday and I am getting a new prescription for my cholesterol, if my mail every gets here. I have to go back in on tuesday to get rechecked to see what I am again and what needs to be done at that point. We are almost all the way unpacked just a few little odds and ends to put away. Looking forward this weekend, I need some sleep. John has been "out of town" this week so late nights and getting the house in order by myself is hard. I will take some pictures this weekend to post. Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend!!!!

Stupid Blood #2

Well went to the appointment and still don't know what is going on. The dr said my blood thickness was at 11.4 and I should be at about 2-3. HE has no idea why it is so high so I got another blood test and should get the results today. He says if we can't get this under control fast back to the hospital for me. Not only that but he is still concerned about my cholesterol, he checked that as well so I am hoping the number has gone down some.

-Katie

Beast vs. Man

The "13th" day of any month has to be bad- it's not just reserved for Friday's any more.
One the way home from work today, two big dogs ran across three lanes of traffic to get cornered by the front driver's side of my fender. Yes, of my NEW car!!! This picture looks like it's of a dirty car, but that yellow stuff came from one of the dogs. The damage wasn't as 'bad' as I thought. I'm guessing it's still gonna cost a penny or two to fix because bits and pieces of the plastic broke off. There's some damage underneath that I can't see, but can feel as I drive- mostly whatever was holding the bottom section of the fender on. Yippee.
-Sarah

House Pictures

Here are a few pictures of our new house.

Stupid Blood

Well I am off to the drs today after getting a phone call yesterday saying that my blood is to thick and the dr wants me in right away!!!! He doesn't understand why since I am taking 6mg of cumidin, that is a lot I should be pretty thin. I hope that there isn't anything wrong, will post the results later.

-Katie

My Birthday

Just wanted to post a friendly reminder that my birthday, yes the Favorite as most of you know me as, is having a birthday in 16 days. I wanted to give you plenty of time to get your shopping done and if you need ideas let me know, I have many :-) Hope you have a lovely day and happy shopping!!

-Katie

Dirty Grandpa

Grandpa and Stanley were doing yard work last Saturday. Actually, Stanley was hiding in the house while Grandpa did all the work. As you can tell, Grandpa really, really gets into his work The yard looked good, but I laughed and laughed when I came home from the store and saw how dirty Grandpa was from head to toe. Yuck!!