New Classroom

Here are some pics of my new classroom.

It isn't completely finished yet, but is close!

Branson trip

We got a call at around 11 p.m. on Friday night from some friends inviting us to Branson for the weekend. We left Saturday morning and enjoyed a great weekend!

While we were there we swam, shopped the outlet malls, visited Branson landing, played mini golf and took the kids to a little kid amusement park.

Both Allie and Ryan made friends with Drake the dog, who was VERY sweet and put up with lots of rough love from Miss Allie :)

Thanks to Dan & his family for hosting us in their beautiful home!

We loved the place and had a great time. :)

Ryan's Basketball Camp

Ryan's attended his second basketball camp last week. It was the Tyro Christian Church Basketball Camp and was instructed by the ladies basketball team coaches from CCC. After the second day he had a little trouble with some friends at the camp and didn't want to go back. Jeff talked with him that evening and convinced him to continue the last two days of the camp and just focus on his basketball skills while he was there and not worry about socializing so much. His last two days of camp went much better.

I am glad he took Jeff's advice, because on Thursday when I picked him up from Jeff's office after the camp, he had won 2 trophies! He is only 5, and the camp starts with age 6, so they moved him up to the 6 year old group and he took 2nd in the free throw contest and won a trophy for a drill called the Mikan drill. I am very proud of him for sticking it out and enjoying the last two days of camp. The camp had a big attendance and it seemed like an excellent camp with focus onworking hard, working as a team and respecting God.

Digging for Dinosaur Bones....

While in Joplin we picked up blocks of plaster that had dinosaur's buried inside. It was a messy task, but the kids enjoyed digging for bones!

We went to Joplin on Friday and stopped at Toys R Us. We were looking at bikes for the kids and Ryan found this "bike" instead....

Allie & Her Kitty

Happy fourth of July

MySpace Graphics

Sparkler Fun!

This was the first year we purchased real "fire" fireworks for the kids. I wasn't sure how they would like doing sparklers, snakes and smoke bombs, so we bought just a few to see if they liked it. We were finished in less than an hour and will probably have to make a trip into the fireworks stand again on Friday! They suprised me by really enjoying the fireworks. Looking at the last picture I just uploaded of Allie with the sparkler, I realized that it looks like it could have been me about 27 years ago! In this photo, she looks so much like I looked in a few photos when I was little!

Lightening bugs!

Tonight the kiddos had a blast catching lightening bugs! Ryan also caught a real live locust that was climbing on the tree. After I showed the the lightening bug catching technique, they caught quite a few!

I must admit, I don't remember it being that hard to see those little bugs when I was younger. I was very suprised how easily the kids could track the bugs even when they were not glowing. I was having a hard time seeing the little bugs in flight when they were not glowing!

I am thinking my difficulty in seeing those little bugs must have just been because it was too dark and not that it had anything to do with my age/eyesight!

I didn't teach my kids this, but I remember my cousins Jeff and Tracy showing me how to pull the glowing part off the bug and stick it to our shirts to wear.

No Teeth

Yesterday evening we went to swim and enjoy dinner with some other families we know. I was holding a friend's baby boy during dinner and made a comment to Allie that the little boy couldn't have my dinner because he didn't have any teeth. Allie really didn't say much at that moment.

Later in the evening when we were at home and it was time to go brush our teeth before bed, Allie told her daddy that she didn't want to brush her teeth. When Allie refuses to brush, Jeff always tells her that she needs to brush her teeth so that they don't fall out. She looked at Jeff and told him that she didn't want her teeth anymore and she wants them to fall out so she can be mommies baby! I told her I was just holding the baby boy at dinner and he wasn't my baby and he belonged to his momma. After a little more reassurance that she was indeed my baby, she went and brushed her teeth.

Too funny what kiddos think of!