Baptism Towel

My sweet little niece was getting baptized and

I had searched and searched for something

cute, unique, and practical to send her. Living in

town with no church bookstore makes it hard.

I was wasting time one morning when I should have

been doing something like....cleaning!!

When I came across my friend Ramanda's blog and

she had made this super cute towel for her nephews baptism.

I checked out her tutorial and couldn't get my copy big enough

so I called for HELP!!

So glad I did!! She invited me over, gave me her copy, the iron

on backing I would need and let me pick from her material!!

She promised it would be easy!!

It was!!! I had it finished by the time school was out

and in the mail by 4!!

I wish I knew about this for the other sweet little

family members that have already been baptized.

Cute poem that goes with it.

Winter BBQ

After playing in the snow I was craving a BBQ!!!

Ward just laughed at me.

I couldn't have picked a more

opposite day from Summer to BBQ.

We had the best BBQ!

Hamburgers

lettuce

tomatoes

pickles

onions

summer salads

and

lemonade

I love this man!!

He was making a point,

that it was a blizzard outside and I wanted a BBQ!!

What you don't see is he was wearing

SHORTS!!

Sledding

A dream come true!!

Jolene LOVES to go sledding.

Raychel had spent the night at a friends and

on Saturday morning Jolene was missing her.

Ward told her to get her snow clothes on and to

come with him!!

Just the two of them were

GOING SLEDDING!!

(I came as the photographer)

They had a GREAT time!!

The climb up......

sledding down.......

So much snow in her face!!

Snow wrestling with dad

Throwing a snowball at mom!!

It was snowing SO hard!!!

Our little snow bunny

penguin style

I love this little girl!!

Snow Fort

After a fun afternoon of sledding we

came home and were able to shovel the

driveway before the next snowfall.

Jolene has wished for a snow fort all winter,

her wish came true.

She got "started" and daddy finished it.

Life is good!!

Computer Games

Jolene goes through phases with the computer.

She is now loving being on the computer.

If you're not on first don't plan

on being on at all!!

She enjoys some great math games

which have pushed her

ahead on the "mad minute" math test in

her class, she loves

to play some of the games they play

in her computer class at school and

all the games we had for Raychel at this

age are being mastered as well.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day usually means

flowers,

jewelry,

and candy

to most women,

but to me this year it was paint!!

I LOVE to paint my house. I have painted

every room in our house and then wait a few months

and start again!

This time it was the laundry room. It needed some

cheering up!!

I LOVE yellow and decided the room needed

to be yellow and then freshened up the white trim.

I now don't mind doing the laundry so much.

It's the happy, sunny, cheery room!

And of course my Valentine gave me

flowers!!

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentine's Day!!

All the excited of Valentines day with friends!!

Checking out all the Valentines from class friends

playing musical chairs
Making Valentines cookies with friends

little 'rock stars'

"just adorable!"

Daddy's Little Helper

Jolene loves to be Ward's little shadow!!

Not only has she become his little shadow but

she is learning how to "fix" things.

She askes if there are extra things he can fix

with her.

The American Dream

"The American Dream"

Raychel came home from school so excited because

she wanted to enter an essay contest. She asked

several people what was their American Dream.

She read a few books about people fulfilling their dreams.

She then wrote her essay.

All the kids that entered the essay were given

a certificate from the Elks Club who were

the local sponsors.

Most Fridays we watch a family movie. Now that the girls

are getting older they enjoy having their friends over to

enjoy the time with us. This night Raychel had Kianna

over for pizza and a movie then they went to Kianna's

home for a sleepover! I love the fact that my kids enjoy this

time with us and so do their friends.

Jolene snuggled up with Ward for the movie.

What a great family I have been blessed with!

At the end of each quarter at the middle school

they have an assembly for each grade level to

honor the kids for their achievements.

They range from perfect attendance, principals

honor roll (straight A's) the A-B honor roll and then

the teachers give out different honors for their classes.

Raychel was honored for her grades. For the

past two quarters she has made the A-B honor roll!!!

This time she was 1 point away from being on

the principals honor roll!! She was pretty sad to

not have straight A's. As we were talking

afterwards she said, "I will be on the principals

honor roll for 3rd quarter". If she's not it's not

from lack of hard work!!We are so very proud of Raychel. She tries hard

at everything she does. She is a hard worker and a

dedicated student who is enjoying middle school.

Kianna and Raychel

Rest In Peace

We knew the day was coming,

we just didn't know when.

Our beautiful black lab, Cammie,

that we have had for 11 years past away

January 5, 2010,

she was just over 13 years old.

She was a great dog, wonderful with the girls.

I think both of them at about 3 years old

said Cammie was a pony, dressed in their

overalls and cowgirl hat, would

put her on a rope

leash and lead her around the yard

wanting so badly to "ride" her

and after being told to
"get off the DOG"

with tears in their eyes would

walk along side her saying

"giddy up!"

She dug up many of my bulbs,

she dug up the ground around the lilac bush until it died,

she was always the first in the swimming pool,

she was famous for stealing food from Jolene,

She loved to go on walks,

runs,

chase after bumpers,

and she

was an amazing hunting dog.

She will be greatly missed!!

Happy Birthday

Not only is it the end of 2009 it is also

Jolene's 7th birthday!! I can't believe my baby

girl is 7!! She has really grown this year.

She loves

school

reading

little ponies

littlest pet shops

bookstores

shopping

singing

writing letters

purple

playing in the snow

play dates

new friends

pretty dresses

fancy painted nails

eating out

This is the 3rd year we have gone and gotten nails done
for her birthday, it has become a fun tradition for the girls
and the lucky friend who comes with us.

And then lunch out with great friends. I

can't remember the last time I laughed so hard!!

The girls even told us mom's "inside voices please!"

Which only made us laugh more!!

Dinner, presents, and cake.

This year it was all about the

wish!!

It's hard to believe this little girls is 7!

I have enjoyed every minute with her.

She loves to give hugs,

say I love you before she leaves a room,

she gives the best most honest compliments,

when she laughs you can't help laughing with her.

The day she was born our family was complete!

She was so excited to check her height with

last years mark.

She's growing up !!!

Good Samaritan

I have no idea who this "Good Samaritan" was.

All I know is he showed up a couple of times after the

bad snow storm and tried to clear our forgotten street.

He not only cleared the street,

but he cleared out in front of the driveways.

Thank you whoever you are!!!