Grandma's 80th Birthday Party

Jenna and I went to Garden City (my hometown) to visit for my Grandma's 80th birthday! She is an AMAZING woman! I learn so much from her. She has always worked VERY hard. She was a farmer's wife, and worked right along side him to build their farm. Lately she has travelled to Arizona for the winters. She deserves this special time to enjoy herself! The following picture is of my grandma with her kids and stepkids. They were all able to make it to her party except one stepchild who lives in California.

Jenna is pictured above with Natalie(dark haired) and Carlie (blonde)! Natalie and Carlie are twins. They are my cousins. They are 3 months older than Jenna. They always have so much fun together! And, it is always entertaining to watch them together. They were loving the decorations from Grandma's party.Here are the girls! They kept the decorations on through dinner. Quite a few heads turned! They look like girls from the 20's. Aren't they lovely?My mom and dad were having a good time and being silly! I think the teenage girls were rubbing off on them!They love each other so much! You'd think they were teens themselves......he he he!
Here is everyone who went to dinner with us! A few of Grandma's friends, and her family! We were able to pull off a surprise party for her. It was a tough one to do, but we managed!

Happy 80th Grandma! You told us over and over that this was the best birthday ever! May you have many more that you are able to enjoy! We love you!

Angelman Syndrome Video

A mom of an Angelman girl posted this. I had never thought of this song in this way before! The Angelman saying is "I may not speak, but I have much to say!" This song explains it perfectly! And the mother's notes within the song explain how it feels for many Angelman parents. I hope you enjoy! I just cried, because I know EXACTLY how it feels times two!!

First Day of School 2010-2011

Baylee (green) and Zoie(blue) woke up knowing it was a great, fun day ahead of them! They were all wound up, and super excited! I always have them go ahead and ride the bus, then I take their school supplies up to the school. They were even more excited there. Zoie came up to me and hugged on me, as if she was saying, "Oh, mom.....I've missed my friends, do you see my friends? They're all here!" And Baylee, well, she smiled at me, then she continued to play with the toys! Didn't come over to me at all! My little girls are growing up!

Last night, Jenna wanted to have a her nails polished. We also bought a striping fingernail polish to make zebra stripes. I must say, I need a little more practice at this!We did her toe nails too! Used the striping polish on her big toe, and put lime green heart gems on them as well!

She looked so pretty today! She has grown up so much! She loves camo....so she was totally stoked to wear this new outfit!

Notice, she's not smiling with her mouth open. She got a palate spreader put in earlier this summer, because of this, she has a big gap between her front two teeth. She refuses to let me get a picture that shows this. She will get her braces put on September 7th, and the kid CANNOT wait! (crazy!)All in all it was a great first day of school! I got to go workout, and I got to spend the afternoon with Andy cuz he was off work. Now, here's to hoping we keep up the momentum throughout the school year. Sticking with a particular routine will be nice....now, if I can just stick with it!

Chuck-E-Cheese on 4th of July

Baylee loved riding the Jet Ski! It bounced a little as the game went along!

Jenna helped Zoie race a few cars on a Nascar-type machine! Zoie is mesmerized by electronics!

This is Zoie with Barney....usually it's Baylee, but Zoie was loving on him this day!

Katy is such a wonderful aunt, she climbed through the jungle gym with the girls! They loved looking out over the restaurant/arcade at everyone!

This was Baylee's favorite ride of all! She loved riding the horsey! She kept taking us back to it over and over again! I think that ride got most of our tokens!!

Why Chuck-E-Cheese on the 4th of July, you ask? Because it was this little cutie's birthday....that's why! My niece Grace turned 6 on Independence Day, so before firecrackers and festivities of the such, we had fun at Chuck-E-Cheese.Dusty and Sunny and the kids were on their way through Kansas, moving to California.....much farther away than Missouri!! (way too far away!) Anyway, I got a picture of him with his mama! Isn't he sweet!?!

Then, of course, I wanted a picture of Andy with his brother....he put a huge smackerooni on Dusty's cheek!! Crazy man! He makes me laugh ALWAYS!!!
Here's a photo of Andy's folks! We enjoyed their help with the girls while we all chased them all over Chuck-E-Cheese (which the girls TOTALLY loved, by the way!....as if you couldn't tell!!)

Jenna's Activities

Just a couple of Jenna's school extracurricular activities! She ran track for the first time her 7th grade year. And she has done choir since 6th grade....Loves it!!

Our First Big Snow Last Winter

Just wanted to share some pictures of the kids plaing in the snow!

Race for the Cure

Well, I know I never posted anything about the Race for the Cure....which was done almost exactly one year ago (11 months, actually). But, I did get it accomplished. I was SO nervous....I wanted so badly to run the entire thing! I was so EXCITED at the same time! I trained for 6 weeks. When I started the training, I couldn't even run for 2 minutes. The first week, that's what you do, you run for 2 minutes, walk for 5 minutes....repeated 4 more times. I was EXHAUSTED after 30 seconds of running.

The first weekend, you're suppose to run 1/2 mile.....well, I did it.(on the treadmill, way different than being outside!) Anyhow, I gradually worked up to the 3.2 miles. I had trained with 5 wonderful women. They are all inspirations to me, in so many ways! Love each and every one of them. I always still felt like part of the group, even though I am a VERY SLOW runner. (plus, I have SEVERAL more pounds on this body of mine than they do!) I trained using my daughter's ipod, which we had loaded up with many fast paced songs that get you moving! I was so excited!

Well, the morning of the race came, I got on my running pants, my running shoes, my Race for the Cure T-shirt, and hooked the ipod on, and out the door I went! Got to the race.....it was like a carnival. Energy was high. I was LOVING it!!!!! We get to the starting line for the 5K race, and when they start the race, they play the song, "I Run for Life" by Melissa Etheridge. (If you haven't heard it, you should listen to it....be careful though, it's a tear-jerker!) I get the ipod cued up to "Miss Independent"....not even to the chorus of the song, and the ipod dies. I had forgotten to charge it the night before!! How was I going to make it through this race? I was so upset with myself! The whole time I had trained with music! What was I going to do? So, I started thinking about my aunts who have fought breast cancer. Two of them lost their battle, and one is alive and well. So, I began thinking about them and how much I missed them. Tears streaming down my face as I thought about how they were probably with me at that time. I thought of how fun, silly, and crazy they were! Love those special ladies.

Anyway, I finished. I ran the entire time, and it took me 42 minutes. Not my personal best, but I took it! I cried a lot that day! I kept thinking of how hard it was to get ready for this race, how I did it for special people, and how I stuck with something even though it was difficult. AND, I got to train with wonderful women who encouraged me, and lifted me up when I thought there was no way I could do it!

It's that time again! Today is the first day of training. The best part is, the two minutes of running, seems like nothing! I love that I have continued to exercise.....even if it's not as much running. I love that I have continued friendships with the women I ran with last year, and that they will be training again this year, as well! Race day is September 25th, and I cannot WAIT to get a better time than 42 minutes!

Here's a picture of me approaching the finish line, and a picture of me and the wonderful ladies I worked with!

So Far Behind

I'm trying very hard to get back into the swing of things since the kids are back in school....ALL of them! Jenna was home all summer, and we had SO much fun!

Here's some photos from last school year. Jenna had "favorite sport's team day" at school. She's all decked out in her Wichita State University garb! She gets all this stuff from my mom since she works for WSU.

We had a blast getting ready for this day! We took an old pair of jeans and painted them with acrylic paints. All her friends were envious! They asked her, "Your mom lets you paint on your jeans?" She said, "Yep, it was her idea!" They turned out great, and she loved the attention! Isn't she the cutest?