Fair Time

You have to love the "Kansas State Fair". It's great for spending money, riding rides, eating entirely too much junk food - the special this year was a "krispy kreme hamburger". Sound tasty - well no one in our family was brave enough to try it - or should I say "crazy" enough to try one. You could get one for just $6.50 - what a bargain. Oh and speaking of rides there was definitely a favorite ride for the girls this year and I have to say it was as good as NyQuil for me. Talk about wearing them out!




This had to be the best ride for the money. The girls had a blast and it was a real "hoot" to see them in it. Of course they rode other rides and it was a great year because everyone was tall enough to ride all the rides.

Now that the fair is moving on we are moving on with the concession stands and counting down days until Thanksgiving break. Oh and can you believe it is time for parent teacher conferences already? Seems like we just started school. It's amazing the progress the girls are making already. Oh dance has started again and the girls are in the same class this year. This should make a fun recital!

So this is not a long blog but something is better than nothing - again. Stay tuned for more!!!

"OMG"

So I have been told over and over that "the only good snake is a dead snake" and that "garter snakes won't hurt you - they are good to have around". Well guess what - here is my belief - the only "good" snake is the snake that is somewhere other than where I am!!!!!

The excitement at our house this weekend was the girls ringing the front doorbell non stop - me opening the door to Kaitlin screaming and Macie explaining non stop (very loudly) that "there is a snake in front of our garage and it is not a "gardner" snake." Of course I first yell at Brad and make him go out first - I was not expecting the snake we saw - check out the pictures...

I shared the pictures with one of our science instructors and this is what I learned: "That is a western garter snake. That is a nice size one. They eat insects, frogs, toads, lizards, and even some fish. They are harmless to humans. Usually they will escape and evade humans. If you back one into a corner it will strike. They have real small teeth, and eat everything alive, usually head first. They are starting to try and find a place to hang out for winter. They usually hang out in a group in the winter in some kind of a hole. Sometimes you will find a big group of them together. No danger to you or the young one's."

It is nice to know they are not a danger to us - especially the girls but the hanging out in a group thing does not make me feel any better. And I can say it will strike because when Brad was trying to move it so he could "dispose of it" the snake did strike at Brad several times. Again - not my idea of fun.

A Day of Firsts

Today was the first day of school - August 23rd! My babies are growing way to quick. It is official I have a 1st and 3rd grader. I would like to keep saying they are growing way to fast - which is very true - but I think I have to add that this means I am getting older. UGH! Every day these girls challenge me, test my patience and make me realize outside of marrying my husband they are my biggest and greatest accomplishment of my life. Don't get me wrong - I cherish all the things I did in high school and college with sports that I will remember forever but wow - there just isn't anything better than watching these two little people grow and learn and think - hey! I might just have something to do with this. Ok Ok - a bit mushy for me - but I am just busting with pride!



As for "firsts" today we also took Sammie to "Dog Days" at Salt City Splash. It was her first real experience around other dogs - other than her brothers and sisters - not to mention being around more water than her water bowl. So just for fun I am adding a few of those pictures too. The good news is that she CAN swim!! Then to top off her day when we got home she got her first bath with us. What a challenge - I think I was as wet as she was.



Macie had her 8 year old pictures taken last night - ok so I am just a little over a month late. Oh well better late than never. Anyway - I had to have some extra pictures taken of Kaitlin also. Can't wait to share a few with everyone - hopefully I will get those tomorrow! Stay tuned for some fun pics of the girls with Sammie...

"Sammie"

Here are some pictures of our new puppy! The girls have been having an absolute blast. She is a very sweet puppy... so far she hasn't chewed on anything!!!! The club house in the picture is something the girls made and Sammie seems to like it as much as the girls!!

Finally - New Information

So I am a little slow at posting new information - and "darn" I was doing pretty good for a while. Well, maybe I will start doing a little better now that we are back in school. Well the girls officially start school on August 23rd. Can you believe they will be in 1st and 3rd grade - well I can't!!! When did they get to be that old?

Well we have news!!! We have added a new member to our family - another girl!! Her name is Sammie and she is a mini Australian Shepherd. The girls are very excited. We were able to keep it a secret from the girls until we drove up to the house. They thought we were going to look at a boat that "Daddy" might be detailing. When we pulled up they asked if they could play with the puppies and after a few minutes we told the girls to pick one out to take home. They didn't believe us for a while - quite funny. In fact - Macie said this morning "it still doesn't seem real - it feels like we are "babysitting" the puppy." It is so fun to watch the girls with her - they will make great mommies some day. I will hopefully be adding pictures this weekend for everyone to see. We just brought Sammie home last night so I haven't had time to take a lot of pictures yet.

The girls are getting all their school supplies together - they have packed their new book bags several times. And - yes I will have pictures of all that fun coming in the near future.

Summer 2010 7/15/10 at OneTrueMedia.com

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Go Go Go...

I have to wonder if we can possibly fit anymore "stuff" into one month, one week, even one day! Everyone told me we would get busier as the girls got older... well they were not joking. But I have to say - how much fun this is. I can't believe Macie is 8 years old. Where did that time go? She has had a very active summer. I think this year she is ready to go back to school so her schedule will slow down. In fact, as I type I am watching her work on basketball with one of our coaches. This has been so great for her. The coach is so great with kids and she loves working with him. She really loves basketball (happy dance) and her fundamentals have really improved this summer. Macie has also been to volleyball camp this week. I have to say she wasn't that thrilled after her first day. But after day three she is thinking it is pretty fun! (Another happy dance) Then both girls have been playing softball. (Daddy's happy dance) They have both definitely improved as the summer has gone. We are finishing up the season with a double header - if the weather permits. Oh and did I mention they were in the 4th of July parade, and had swimming lessons? It's all so fun!!!

Kaitlin isn't old enough for all the camps but she has done great at softball (they are on the same team) and she is the dare devil when it comes to swimming. Yesterday we went to the pool and she had a blast jumping off the high diving board. (yes the high dive) I was a bit nervous but she did just fine!

It's hard to believe but we start back to school in 11 days. How depressing yet I am somewhat ready. It's time to get back in a routine and I think my DH would agree with the routine part. Enough about us for now - I need to work on uploading summer pics for you to enjoy!!