Good for a Jr. Cowboy.......

First Down! Tanner played football this past Saturday in Manhattan. The weather was perfect for football.
He was VERY excited that he got to return the kickoff, not once, but twice! I think it became a bit of a "fish story" in the yardage he gained, but nonetheless, he was pretty pumped. The team went on to win, and were very excited!

He is even more pumped for this coming weekend. He will be playing at:
Yes, Bill Snyder Family Stadium at Kansas State University in Manhattan. Needless to say, he is even more pumped about this, and well, and so is his mom!!!

Give a Little Cheer!

Makenna & Tearney both participated in the high school cheer squad's Young Cheerleader's Clinic last Saturday. On Friday night, they got to show off what they had learned and had the opportunity to cheer during a portion of the high school football game. They were both pretty excited to get to go down on the track with the "real" cheerleaders. They enjoyed their time, and can't wait until next year!
A couple of "action" shots.

Sisters!! :-)

It's Almost Here!!!!

Yes, dear friends.....the wait is almost over!! Grey's Anatomy time is almost here!!!

I will be the first to admit, I may be a bit pathetic to get this excited over TV, but there are certain indulgences in life one must give in to. So, come Thursday night at 8:00, you can be assured that I will be centered on the couch, remote in hand, and happily immersed into the world of Seattle Grace and all of its' trappings. OK.....it may be more like 8:30 after I get all of the kids settled into bed--thank goodness for DVRs!!!

Touchdown!

Jentree & Mylee were "watching" Monday night football with Stub. Our little football girls have gotten down the whole touchdown hand signal quite well.

Watch out NFL--the first female referees are on their way!

A Walk in the Park

We decided to go for a walk this evening, so we headed to the park. We stopped by the swimming pool to see the progress there, and then proceeded on our way. The kids were all excited to see the pool and talked about how it will be fun to go to next year.


























Along the way, I took advantage of the beautiful weather and landscaping to snap a few posed pictures. The older kids had fun posing for their individual pictures.Since things were going fairly well with them,
I decided to attempt (yet again)


another shot at getting that elusive picture of the kids. (The one I talked about in this post.)

It sure is a GOOD thing that I have a digital camera with a big memory card....you have NO idea how many pictures I took to get this one!! Jentree was NOT in a cooperative mood, so we decided bribery was in order...thus the feet in the fountain. It worked--she decided to at least humor me for a little bit anyway.
2008 may just get that Christmas card yet!

Round and Round and Round and.........

A few pics from the fair in August. The title says it all---lots of going in circles--over and over. The thought of it make me dizzy still! The kids all had such a fun time riding on the rides. Each one had their favorite ride--even Mylee got into the action on the carousel. We were totally worn out by the end of the week!

Tearney enjoying the train. Why do all of the rides have bells to ring?????

Calder being such a great big brother!

Say "CHEESE!" Makenna, Gina & Jentree all enjoying the carousel. Gina was such a good sport to take them on many rides.

Mylee giggled and giggled on the carousel. I don't know who was laughing more--Mylee or her mom and dad!!

Riding on the roller coaster. Jentree got off after the first time around, but the rest all enjoyed it.

Not too many pictures of Tanner--he is liking to ride some of the larger rides now (big gulp from mom!) Those darn things move too fast for my camera (or maybe my trigger finger), but I can attest that he can handle all that spinning better than his mom can anymore. I tried to go with the younger ones on the Tilt-O-Whirl, and let's just say that spinning isn't for me anymore!!! Oh to get old.........When did THAT happen??!!

Going On A Bear Hunt

We decided to take advantage of our 3 day weekend and go to the zoo on Sunday. We had promised Calder that we would go when the weather got nicer, and despite the windy weather, it was a beautiful day. All smiles in the car on the trip to the zoo.

The boys were really excited to see the cougars out walking around. They are normally asleep!

The giraffes came right up to the fence.
Posing with the giant tortoise--They were all looking at the same time!!!!!

Makenna feeding the goats. The petting zoo was a favorite spot for everyone.

Watching the orangutans. He was eating corn on the cob--the kids thought that was pretty funny.

The zoo had a special promotion this weekend, and so the kids all got in for free! What a nice surprise! We got a free souvenir picture taken too, so we'll see how that turned out in a few days--they are supposed to mail it to us. The best part was that the animals were all out and really active, so the kids had a super time (and so did Mom & Dad!)

Flag Football

Calder had his first flag football game for the year today. I was worried that the fields would be a muddy mess after all of the rain we got yesterday, but they really were in good shape. Calder played center for his team, and had a great time.



Calder should be right behind Jentree--she wanted to ham it up, and I couldn't see Calder!!
Running out to catch a pass.

They ended up in a tie, so everyone ended up happy!

Where the Wild Things Are

We decided to make a pit stop in Kansas City on our way home from my cousin's wedding in Iowa this past July. Tanner & Calder had been asking to go to Cabella's, so we decided it was a perfect opportunity. It had been a few years since our last visit there, so the girls didn't remember going before. They all really enjoyed seeing the fish aquariums and animal displays.
The kids posing with the wildebeasts.

Jentree pointing at all of the "fishies." She was fascinated by them swimming right by her feet.


After seeing all of the animals at Cabella's, the kids had developed quite an appetite. We ended up eating at T-Rex Restaurant in the Legend's Mall.

The view from our table.

To end the day, we all shared the specialty dessert--The Erupting Brownie Volcano. It was yummy!! Needless to say, we were all stuffed when we left!

Vision Therapy

Every Thursday, Calder and Makenna go to vision therapy. What is Vision Therapy (VT) you may ask? Basically, it is retraining the eyes to "see" clearly. In some people, the muscles that control the eye's movement never fully develop, causing the eyes to not work appropriately. It can cause double vision, the inability to make the eyes accomodate, and many other issues. Vision therapy utilizes many different activities to help strengthen the muscles of the eyes to improve their ability to track. Both kids' teachers recommended that we look into VT based upon some observations they noticed.

Calder doing "tracking."

Makenna working on hand-eye activities. She jumps up and down on the mini-tramp while wearing red/green glasses with plus lenses in them all while trying to catch flying "spaghettios" as Calder fondly calls them!
Calder walking the plank. He wears the red/green goggles with plus lenses and reads from a wall chart while walking back and forth on the beam.

Makenna using plus/minus lenses (called "flippers") to do an activity.

We have already seen some great results in school......woo-hoo!!!

And this little piggy went.....

One of our annual traditions for the fair is to go walking through the animal barns on Wednesday evening. Usually we know someone who has animals, and the kids enjoy getting to be "up close and personal" with the livestock.

This year was no different, as Uncle Derek knew some of the 4-Hers, and they offered to show us their projects. The kids all love washing the pigs and helping to brush them off. They hopped right in the pen and brushed away. Everyone had a great time....well, except for Mylee....
She didn't think so much of the whole pig experience! I think she may be a city girl at heart!

A Camping We Did Go

We have found that we all really enjoy to go camping. We have gone to the lake a few times, and the kids love it! We are still relatively new to the whole camping experience, but we are getting it down a little more every time we go. One of these days, our plan is to go on a trip.....Is the song, "Holiday Road" from "Vacation" starting to play in your head yet?

The view from our campsite. Stub is getting the fishing poles ready to go.
Our camper.
Hanging out by the campfire.
Roasting marshmallows for s'mores! MMMMMM!!!

I'm SO Big!!

Mylee has been cruising around furniture for about the last month or so. She has even taken a few steps with help, so she isn't far off from just taking off. In fact, this is what we caught her doing today:

Standing up all on her own in the middle of the room!

After showing off her new skill, she decided that she wanted to play in the kitchen. You would never think that she is a ham for the camera would you?

My pants are a little long....darn these short legs!!

Rainy Day + Football= Fun?

On Saturday, Tanner had his third football game. It was our first home game, and his first time playing at the high school football field.

Tanner is #2

The game started out cool and overcast, and then it began to mist. By the end of the game (did I mention it went into overtime?), it was a full out rain. Oh so pleasant weather to sit in the stands and watch!

Blocking his man.

The rest of us were a bit soggy by the end of it all. The boys all seemed to have a good time though. I guess that is all that is important---well, that and having a muddy uniform to show off! :-)