1 proud papa, 2 proud mamas, and 2 energetic young boys=priceless entertainment, and proud moments

We went to the Spelling Bee today. Mike, Brandy, Brandon, Danny, and I. It was a moment to see your child up on stage, nervous, (the turning green nervous), and realizing how very proud you are as a parent and aunt, to see, witness, this moment. Brandon won third place, and Danny won an out on his very first word. I am still proud of him. I wish you could have seen him sitting up there, giving me the deer in the headlights look (course this could have been his signal for telling me...PUT THE DARN CAMERA DOWN!, nah..he loves having his picture taken!), and gulping a few times. Brandon sat up there and beamed. He was nervous, but he was smiling sitting up there. What an honor I had today, witnessing the greatness of adolescence. So very happy they could experience it together.

whimp

Touching Base
Riles has decided to play tball again this year. She said she DIDN'T want to play soccer (WHAT??). I can't believe I won't find a soccer ball cooling off in my refridgeraor this year, sigh.
I am home from school today, as is Danny. I cancelled due to the windchill, danny had a 2 hour late start, and I am sick. So, he gets to play hookie (i am sure i will go to hell for being a bad mother). Riles on the other hand, went to school :) The bus picked her up, and will drop her off at grandma's so I can get homework done.
We went and saw The Spiderwick Chronicles on monday. We took kenna with us, and we all liked the movie. I thought the books were so much better, but I usually think that. I know they can't fit it all in a movie, but I sure wish they could try.
Danny picked up a new DS game (zelda) with a gift card Grandma Pat gave him for christmas, and riles' picked up a furreal puppy friend. Kenna couldn't find anything to buy, and said she would put her money on her gift card her dad carries for her! Lol..i love it when she says things like that.
Guess what Miss R and Danny are getting for their bdays? BIKES. yep..we found a john deere one for miss riley, and Danny wants a new red one, and hopefully he will attempt to learn to ride it..oh well. He is good at other things, like SPELLING. Yep, he made the spelling bee, and we get to go watch him and Bubba spell next week.
I will include pictures another time. Blogger is being naughty.
Staying home,
whimp

Here she is in all of her glory...

Introducin Miss Riles and her dancing cowboy boots(please do not use the term cowgirl...she is a cowBOY!..whew..glad we got that settled...after a much heated debate about why i called her a cowGIRL uh..cause maybe she's a GIRL didn't matter..) she was using them to tap dance with her "cooties" bugs this morning. Don't ya just love snow days?

Here she is.. performing to her very own music and choreographed by Riley..the dancing boots.

What do you think?

Danny doesn't eat well at school. He eats maybe 1-2 things on his lunch tray. So I thought about packing his lunch, but want to do more than the standard sandwich and chip variety. I had heard about this laptop lunch box awhile ago, and thought it was a neat concept. I like the idea I can pack leftovers or different things in it, different than the brown bag concepts. So, what do you think? I hope it will make it easier for me, I can add the main course, fruit, veggies, (and dipping sauce in the little container provided..even caramel dip for an apple!) and silverware. It also comes with a nice bag to carry it in. If he likes it and wants to take some soup or something with him, I can get a thermos for cheap to go with it. Now, if I decide to get it, I hope I can at least get him to bring it HOME.

(want to look up something fun? Go to flickr and search for bento. They are so freaking cool!)

whimp

Look what we have now!

Aren;t they the COOLEST thing since marshmallows? I went to get hamburger at no frills, and had to park in front of the cowboy store. Well...these little buggers were sitting in the front window, as pretty as you please. So, of course I went in to investigate, and came out with them in hand. They are for Miss Riles of course, and she absolutely loves them. Now, yes they make these in pink, but we all know miss riles would have told me, "PINK IS FOR GIRLS!" so we went with the green ones. Here is a picture of what they look like, yes it is an internet picture, because my house is too dirty to take a picture of riles in the boots inside, and since it is 1000 degrees below zero, we aren't going outside either. (the boots are green with yellow stitching)

happy kicking,

whimp

The glory of parenthood...
It all started on Wednesday of last week..at about 11pm. Riles had fallen asleep in the living room, and I had just let her sleep (who messes with a time bomb?) So at 11 she comes into my room crying and says, "Mommy...come look at piggy (stuffed animal she slept with). MOMMY! COME LOOK AT PIGGY!" So I get my kiester out of bed and mosey into the living room, w/o my glasses by the way..and see her pointing to the chair where she had crawled to sleep. I couldn't see what she was pointing too, so i get closer for a better look...WHAM! The smell hit me, and I almost lost it there right along with hers..yep...you guessed it..VOMIT. WOW..so we get her cleaned up, I tucked her in with daddy, and i come out and sleep on the couch. Thursday morning, she dry heaves, eats a pancake, noodle soup, and goes to bed about 8ish. Friday morning, 5:30 she had crawled in bed with us, i heard her swallowing, ya know the swallowing I am talking about, the "too many times to be normal" swallowing? Yep..she throws up, but it hits the spare blanket on the bed, so not a big deal..strip the bed and her, and daddy stays home. She eats all kinds of stuff, drinks lots of water, and goes to bed at about 8ish. Saturday, she wakes up throws up at 6:00 am, drinks some water, eats all kinds of junk, skunks momma pat at chutes and ladders, and sorry, and goes to bed at 6:30ish. Sunday was a good day. Didn't eat real good, but mostly healthy things. Then we have this morning, I heard this little voice from my doorway, "mommy, will you take me to the bathroom?" Now, mind you she had to pass this bathroom to come to ME. I said yes, and she took off for the kids' bathroom, and proceeded to, yep you guessed it. Now, I stay home, and she is acting FINE!
So.. I am wondering if we will EVER get over this, and what happens if danno gets it? Is it another week of this fun activity?
UGHH!!
whimp

Congratulations Danny!
for bringing home the bestest report card ever! I am so proud of you! Let's hear it folks, he brought home ALL A's and B's! GPA is 3.5! Honor roll for quarter and semester! I am so proud!!!!
Love ya dude!
mom

Update on miss tucker,
Well, we had to bring miss tucker and her litter inside because of the temperatures, and guess what my friends? There are TEN puppies! We talked to the vet about how to go about giving them away, screening people, etc, and he gave us some good information. So when the little suckers are ready to be weaned, we will have a game plan. Then, miss tucker will be spayed so we have no more unplanned pregnancies in this house! lol..they sure are cute!
whimp

I am a Grandma..

well almost anyway! Our sweet dog, Tucker, had puppies on Saturday night. So far I have counted six. She is in the very far back of the "dog house", and the door isn't very accomodating to a person with a rear end the size of mine. They all look to be black and white like their daddy whose name is Oreo. Tucker seems to be a good mommy, she is keeping them warm, and staying with them. Let's hope she raises them well. So, my friends in 8 weeks we will be giving away FREE PUPPIES! Any takers?

Hugs,

whimp

Aching for you,
I just want to give a shout and a prayer to Fickel today. Right now she is at her brother's visitation as he passed away on Thursday. Riles and I went to see her this morning, and told her we loved her. We are saying a prayer for you and your family. Please remember we are keeping you in our thoughts and prayers and will be here for you always.
love,
whimp

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..

please don't die, please don't die..

Meet Riles' new pets (aka goldfish) Gold and Fish. This is our second set of fish, the first didn't last more than 24 hours, cause miss r decided they were lonely and she needed to pet them. Yeah. Good thing these little suckers are cheap!

happy swimmin,

whimp

What a merry Christmas...

Kiddos are both happy. Danny's favorite gifts include the roboraptor, and the nerf tommy gun. Riley's favorites include her RC jeep, her digi camera (fisher price) and her fish. Yes. Real.Live. Fish. Daddy decided to buy the bowl, gravel, and food before christmas and then give her a gc to get the fish. She is absolutely in love.
Danny has been chasing army men all over with his raptor, and shooting every thing he can stand up with his nerf tommy gun.
I hope everyone had a merry christmas. Enjoy the new year, and be safe.

whimp

Lookie what i made...

I made this for Riles' bus driver, Joann. It opens up and is a mini album. So very easy to make. We are also giving her some chocolates, and an ornament. Danny chose to give his bus driver just some chocolates. He said he didn't want to give him anything homemade, because it is too "girlie". Oh well, I think Mr. Nelson will like chocolates just the same. I am going to throw in some homemade cookies as well.
Happy Holidays,

whimp

Christmas Program

Riles' preschool teacher really outdid herself this year. The program was absolutely wonderful, and I am so glad we kept her in Pooh. She has had an amazing experience in preschool, and I hope she has one all through elementary school.
Here are some more pictures from her program. We did not make it to Danny's program due to the weather that night. We got a bunch of snow, and the roads were pretty yucky. I feel bad, but you should have seen danny do the happy dance. It seems the new music teacher hasn't made a great impression on the students. I still inform him to use his manners and be polite.
Here they are
whimp

Santa Claus is coming, to town...

He sees you when you're sleeping,

He knows when you're awake.

He knows when you've been bad or good,

So be good for goodness sake!

I think for THIS littlest sheep, it will be mighty difficult to be good!

Happy Holidays!

from,

chris, wendy, danny, riley ( this picture was taken at riles' christmas program. The teachers get the students a present, and they get it from Santa! This year, Riley got a see through put it together frog ,including organs, a stuffed frog, a package of rubber insects, a package of rubber spiders, and some candy. Do they know her or what? Not a girly thing in the package!) Danny informed me this year, I am not sitting on santa's lap. I am entirely too old to do that! (Said to me in his most forceful 10 year old voice.) So, i will try to get him to at least pose by the big snowman at the mall.

whimp

(ms goofball at her finest!)

Here is another one..

I took this photo of chick when i did a (not so good) photo shoot of mike/brandy kids. This is one of chick.

enjoy

whimp

More tweaking in photoshop...

what do you think of these?

I posted befores and afters..drop me a line. Let me know which is your fav.

whimp

before after

before after

Here is another version of this photo..

Happy Birthday Mike and Michelle!
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear wierdos,
Happy Birthday to yous.

love whimp, chris, danny, and riles.

LOOK what I can do now...

I bought a set of actions for Photoshop Elements. It helps make my pictures look much better. These are simple steps I could do on my own, IF i understood this chaotic program. I didn't realize how much better my pictures could look if I just new how..

what do you think? I am posting before and after shots.

whimp

before

after
before

after
before

after

before
after

Wahoo! Snow Day!!
I don't have class today, today. I don't have class today! Yeah! Yippee.. can you tell I am excited? Of course, this means I am going to be homebound with a rambunctious 4 year old, BUT hopefully the roads improve so logan can spend the night with danno.
Yippee!! I don't have class today!
whimp

WHEW!
I have to stop and catch my breath. What a nice long weekend. Chris and I had Pat and Blackie over for Turkey Day, then we went to my mom's for appetizers and punkin pie. The kiddos stayed the night with the grandma's (and papa) so Chris and I could go shopping on Black Friday. WOW! I am done christmas shopping for the monkey brats. I just need to get our parental units done, the fruit loop (kenny), teachers, and the babysitter. Then, I will be officially done xmas shopping. Whew.
I met fickel for scrapping on saturday, bought a cool little something for ms. patricia, (mama pat) and cannot wait for her to get it. Hee Hee..can't share cause she's a follower (reader of the blog).
Then, as i was reading karen's blog today, I see this..find your elf name..of course i had to do it! lol..

Your Elf Name Is...

Fuzzy Cartwheels

What's Your Elf Name?

happy reading.
whimp

Only 4 more sleeps! Then it will be Thanksgiving Day!

Riles told me this at 7:00 this morning, after I had just gone to bed at 4:30. She is excited because she is spending the night with Grandma and Papa. Chris and I are going shopping the day after Thanksgiving, and he wants to get up EARLY. He is the one who is excited. Me, i just want to get all the shopping done. I have a good start, but need some little stuff for the kiddos. Including stocking stuffers. I have danny's jolly red fat man present, but need ms. riles'. I think she is going to get the VSmile..but not the pink one, that's for girls! (geesh..what was i thinking!)

I have to renew my teaching license this month. OUCH! It is expensive.

Ok..here are some pictures of Mindy and Fickel when we were in Kansas City.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

(Mindy) (Fickel)

why do you suppose?
the grass is green instead of purple?
smurfs were blue?
kamakazi pilots wore helmets?
Riley doesn't like pink cause its for girls? (go figure on that one)
Danny won't let me take his picture anymore?
On a side note, to all the family Riles' xmas program is on Dec. 2nd this year at 4 or 4:30. I will double check the time (this is a sunday) from what i understand it will be the christmas story or something similar. I don't have all the details yet, but will probably get them soon. I have no idea why it is a sunday this year, other than the fact Pooh services students from 4 school districts, and with all of their school programs and only 3 weeks in December to get them done, they ran out of options.

Update on Hadleigh,
I guess they will be doing her surgery sometime the week after Thanksgiving. Stacy said they really won't know the exact date until the time gets closer. I am planning on going up the day of surgery. Just to be there for stacy, turtis, and of course granny (aka kathy).
ok.. later gators, i have homework to do..gots me a 10 page paper to write..do on the 1st!
(Also, on Dec. 8th. we are scrapping at the store..it's my birfday...JEN if you are in the area STOP BY, or call and see if you can get on the list!
whimp

Amazing isn't she?

I think she has to be the most easy going baby I have seen. She let stacy and I prop her up, mess with her headband, and keep taking her binky away..and she barely made a fuss. She did smile at us a couple times, and i don't care what anyone says..they were smiles. She has the BIGGEST feet! So adorable. I am posting just a couple of pics, cause i don't want to post the ones stacy wants to give out..

whimp

To those who have served...

Thank you!

Pictures from last weekend...
Went to mike and brandy's last weekend and took pics of their kiddos. Now..these are not professional, nor do i pretend to be one. I hope they make them happy, and i need to get katydid alone so i can get some different shots of her. I wasn't impressed with the ones i took. Of course, i wasn't too happy with any of the shots, but here are some i photoshopped to see if brandy would like them any better..

Pics of bubba

I couldn't decide which one i liked so here are two

Chick



and Mister:


Tomorrow i am going to go take pics of hadleigh. I can't wait to see her!
peace,
whimp

Just some pictures...

Not much to say, just gonna post some pictures.