Thanksgiving Fun

All of Brandon's family came into town for Thanksgiving. Nana and Papa's house was overflowing with the sounds of children laughing and football games blaring. It was great fun and a little chaotic at times. I have to give Bette props for her superb organizational skills and being able to prepare such an excellent dinner and it was all done at the same time. I am truly amazed. As always it was great to see all the family and Grandma was happy to be in the middle of it all.

Something New

Something new in our lives right now is that I'm going to venture out into the working world and head back to my old stomping ground at the Moses Lake Clinic Radiology Department. A gal is leaving and she does a job there that I used to do and so it just fell in my lap. I'm excited to get out of the house and be among adults but I'm also a little nervous about sending my kids to daycare. I'm sure they'll be fine and I shouldn't worry but there it always that mothering instinct that kicks in. I start on Monday, I'm sure I'll have a stories to tell.

Soccer and Gymnastics....




Being a mom with kids involved in sports makes to be busy days. Bailey is in Soccer and has games on Fridays or Saturdays with a tournament coming up that will be both days. She's not the fastest runner on the team but she does make a mean goalie. We've played two games so far and won both... even though we aren't supposed to be keeping score yet. Karsyn is in her first year of Gymnastics. I say first year because she's really great at it and loves it. She's been invited to join the "Hot Shots" which is a group of kids that get more practice time and compete in meets around the area. I figured that since she is only 4, I'd give her some time to get bored with this before I invest more time and money into it. Cooper isn't doing anything "organized" right now. He just turned three and is just trying to make it to the van before mommy pulls away to take one of his sisters somewhere. With me going back to work he is going to start going to daycare... hopefully he'll do fine and that can be his activity.

Skateboards & Accidents

Picture this....

It was a nice evening for a BBQ. All the kids were having a blast. There were roughly 25 of them. The line of eager children ran the entire length of the garage each holding a device to speed down the driveway to the target... a wood "home-made" ramp. Each child would squeal as they raced down to then jump the ramp. Brandon watched in delight as his three year old son was being a big kid and doing an excellent job at being tough. One child came in with a scraped nose then there was a bruised elbow and then I came outside to watch all the excitement. "Mommy, mommy, watch this". I watched with teeth clenched to see my baby plummet down the driveway, hit the ramp and then gently glide back down the ramp. Phew. You see, he couldn't get enough speed to really jump the ramp, which gave me a little relief. So 10 more times this goes on, not so scary to the mommy anymore. Then it happened. He goes down the hill, just like before, and then disappears to the left. All I can say, and he said it too was that skateboards can't go over the big cracks in the sidewalk very well, especially when you only weigh 35 pounds and are on your hands and knees.

This was two days ago, he looks much better now. He still wants a skateboard for his next birthday. Thank goodness his next birthday is in August.

First Day of School

Bailey started 3rd grade on Wed. 27th and then Karsyn finally got to start on Tuesday 9/2. They were both very excited to get started on their new adventure. Karsyn will be the oldest in her class since she'll be five at the end of September. She has waited a long time to go to school and did very well. I was a little nervous, as was she...(that was her favorite word all weekend before the big day) about how it would go. She's had issues before about me leaving her, but she did great. Bailey of course was fine and insisted on riding the bus the first day of school. It worked out great for me but I'm a little sad to see her growing up so fast. Karsyn also got to start Gymnastics on Tuesday. Unfortunately I forgot my camera for her first day but I'm sure they'll be plenty of Kodak moments to come in that event. Bailey also started her fourth year in soccer. They play two seasons each year, so we have been really involved with soccer since she was four. There will also be photo-ops in that event too. I hope all the kids have gotten off to school safely and happily... best of luck to all the mommies now at home with nothing to do.... Yeah Right!!!!

Long time Gone

Again, it's been a long time. I guess the summer is just busy with out-door events. Boating, BBQ's, camping and such. I'm going to post a bunch of pictures for all to see. These are from Cooper's 3rd birthday.

Karsyn learned how to ride her bike without training wheels over Father's Day weekend. She is still doing great at it. Here is a picture of the shirt that we made for Brandon for Daddy's day.

We took my mom and my niece and nephew on a little family vacation to Twin Lakes, WA. We've done it in the years past and everyone has a great time. Here are some lake pictures and some of the kids goofing around before bed.

We took the kids down to fish off the dock. I was told that it wasn't the right time of day to actually catch fish and the kids only lasted about 1/2 hour. Oh well atleast we can say we did it.

Our dog Lola actually got to come out on the boat. She proved to be quite the water-dog when she finally got over the thought that she needed to rescue us.

It has been a great summer full of tons of fun stuff. School starts here next week which will be a whole new exciting road to take. Bailey will start 3rd grade and Karsyn will begin pre-school. She'll be 5 at the end of September so she just missed the cut off date for Kindergarten. I'm hoping that she will do well away from me. She hasn't really had the opportunity to venture out on her own much. She'll also start Gymnastics the same day she starts school. Might as well tackle it all at once, right? Oh, she'll be fine... it'll probably be the mommy that has a rougher time than her. Good luck to all the kids that are going to school. I hope that you all have a great year.

Time Flies

Wow, where has the time gone? We've been super busy with our Spring/Summer activities. We've gone camping again since the last post and this time (per Bailey's request) we took our dog Lola. She did pretty well but she had to stay tied up or on a leash. The kids walked her around a lot and she even took Karsyn for a walk one time (well she ran and pulled Karsyn behind her).

Ahh, the days of the slip N slide. Brandon took a work trip to CA in March and brought back the gift for the girls. Karsyn has been asking to use it since he brought it home. We finally had a nice evening to get it out after work. They had a blast.

Boating and the Sand-Dunes. Our family bought a boat last year and enjoyed it very much. Cooper is now big enough to really have a blast. We put him on the tube for a nice slow and easy ride while the girls were on one of our friends' boats getting a wild ride.

Memorial Day weekend has tons of activities for the good ol town of Moses Lake. It's our Annual Spring Festival: Carnival, Parade, Car Show and Sidewalk Chalk display. The kids love going down to draw on the streets of downtown. There is also a fountain thing next to the Post Office now so of course they had to check that out too. Cousins were in town for the festivities so they are included in a few of the pictures too. I'm not sure how many actually look at this site but I'm going to try harder to write more often and post more pictures.

Beef, it's what's for dinner

One of our kids' favorite dinners is when we have Beef Ribs. I, myself could take it or leave it but the kids love em. So we decided to BBQ a big ol' rack of ribs on Sunday night. I had to take a couple of pictures since the portions that they were eating were bigger than their heads. Bailey ate 3, Karsyn had 2 and I think Cooper may have finished his 1. MMmmmm Beef.

Pictures Found !!!

So here are some of the pictures that I previously wrote about. Yes, it's great to have a computer genious for a husband. Thank you my love.