Nostalgic for Disney. . .

Here are a few more pics of us from our vacation. We just got our CD in the mail yesterday from Disney of the photos we had them take. They are tons of fun and great because there are pics of us TOGETHER. We had so much fun and looking at these makes me want to go back!

ENJOY!!!

We survived the first week . . . . barely!

Well, we survived our first week of school (or 3 days, should I say)! And a long 3 days it was. I tell ya' - kids these days are awful!!! No one makes them behave any more and they seem to think they can do whatever they want. Let me tell you, when we finally have kids, you better believe they will behave - especially in school. Kids just have no respect for adults anymore and a lot of the parents will bail their kids out of anything. Anyways, off my soapbox!

Well, MJ succeeded in making a kid cry today - TWICE!!!! It is always a good day when you can make a kid cry. She told him his work was not of fourth grade caliber and he was ANGRY!!! How dare she make him do his work to the best of his ability.

And for me, well let's see, I had the joy of a second grader banging her foot (in “clickety clack” shoes nonetheless) on a wooden floor for 20 minutes straight today because I wouldn’t let her color before she wrote. It probably didn’t help that, after repeated reminders to do the writing part first, I ripped the bottom part of her page off where the coloring part was so she COULDN’T draw! Anyways, some things never change and the kids at school are one of them.

Oh, but I do have a cute kid story from school this week! I was showing a first grade class where we would go for fire drills and lock downs when they are with me. Well, when there is a lock down, our safe zone is the back corner of the teachers room, which is adjacent to my room. Now, of course, when we go in there to practice, the kids think it is just the coolest thing that they get to see where the teachers eat lunch. Anyways, on this morning, there happened to be a tray of leftover, cold, breakfast sandwiches from the kitchen. As we were heading back into the room, one of the little boys grabs my arm and in all seriousness says "Hey, you know, an intruder just might break in to the school to get one of those sandwiches." To which I replied "Well, if they were hungry enough, I suppose they just might!" Oh, the imagination of kids!!!

So, hallelujah for a long weekend - we have lots to do. We are going to do the run to the wholesale club to stock the teacher's room with goodies, mow the lawn, clean the house, and most importantly, give the basement the ol' heave ho! Really, we have so much junk down there, it isn't even funny - so we are going to get it ready for a yard sale that we will have next weekend with Laura and Sue. The dogs have also let us know (due to their CRAZINESS) that they need to take a trip to their Nana and Grampa's to play for a while. Boy, what a difference in their craziness level now that we are back to work full time.

Well, that's all tonight, stay tuned tomorrow for some new Disney Pics - our CD came in the mail today!

The First Day of School

Well, it finally arrived - the first day of school! On the drive in this morning, we were talking about how it seems like we never left! The funny thing is that a lot of the kids were saying that too! It was a good day overall, and as always an exhausting one. There is so much excitement and for the most part the kids behave, but we'll see what tomorrow brings!

MJ made super cute cupcakes for her kids to have at the end of the first day. They had their names on them and everything - of course the kids thought that was the coolest thing!

Of course, being the dork that I am , we had to take a first day of school picture! Hey, you take them of your kids, right??? We still have a first day of school even though we are the teachers! Here we are all ready to go!

The Next American Idol

Ok, so earlier in the week, we showed you Olivia's dancing web debut. Well, I have to say that if she were old enough, she would probably earn a trip to Hollywood with American Idol - or she would earn a spot on the outtakes show! Here she is with her wonderful rendition of Heigh Ho from Snow White, or as she calls it "I Ho" Enjoy!

In our last days before we returned her to her moms, we also had fun eating ice cream and playing mini golf. Here she is enjoying those!

And in sad news - we go back to work on Monday - summer is over!!!

A Day at the Lake

On Monday afternoon, it was gorgeous, so we decided to head down to the lake with Olivia. Boy it sure does take a lot longer to pack up and get going when you have a kid with you. We usually grab a towel and a float and off we go. Instead, today we had to bring the garden buggy full of stuff.

We had lots of fun and have some fun pics to share. Any time you can be outside and near the water is fun to me. I really love having access to the lake here - it makes it really nice.

It's a good thing we had the buggy, because we had a small fry who needed a lift home from the beach!

After the lake, we went to my parents house to help collect eggs and we had dinner with them. All in all, a great day!

The Next Prima Ballerina

Well, folks, today we discovered a superstar!! The dancing world will be lining up to hire her once she gets old enough to employ. We are talking about none other than our wonderful five year old charge for the week - Miss Olivia. Her moms better start looking for an agent for her!

We went down to the lake today - more pics to follow in a separate post. Olivia aka "Princess Puppy Snow White" did a beautiful dance for us and I couldn't help but catch it on film! Who knows where she got her wonderful rhythm (or lack thereof) from, but she sure was cute! We laughed so hard we were crying.

So, here she is in her web debut - Miss Olivia aka Princess Puppy Snow White

Enjoy!!

Making Cupcakes

So, we are babysitting our favorite five year old Olivia this week. She is staying with us until Thursday - tons of fun. Last night we made cupcakes so that we would have a yummy bedtime snack! Here she is doing the all important job of lining the cupcake pans. Of course we used Valentine's and Snowmen cupcake papers! We made purple frosting too!
















In other news, this is our last week of freedom - we go back to work on Monday. This summer seemed SO short. The weather hasn't been all that nice here and it is a good thing that we went away. You watch, as soon as we go back to school , the hot weather will come in and we will be miserable!!!

Dogs and Cats

Just a fun little video I took of Willy the dog and Gus the cat a bit before we left for vacation. They crack me up when they play together! Willy loves to "thunder paw" Gus, and Gus bites his muzzle terribly. They really do love each other! Enjoy

A New Look

Well, since fall is coming and so is the start of school, I decided that a new look would be in order! Besides, I thought the original was kind of boring and I like the way that this set up divides the entries a little better! Hope you like it too!

Anyways, nothing exciting going on around here - it is raining AGAIN - I think we have had one sunny day since we have been home. Oh well. We are getting ready for school and have workshops for the next three days. Guess summer is really over!

We're BAAAACK!!!

We finally made it back home! We had a wonderful vacation, but it is always nice to be back in your own bed. The cats were VERY mad at us for leaving them for so long, and the dogs were excited to see us, though they wouldn't have minded just staying at the farm - they love it there! They are quite tired out though and are doing a good job snoozing on the floor!

Here are a few last pictures of the rest of our vacation. We went to the Prison Museum in Canon City while still in Colorado - it was actually kind of interesting!




Then, back in Minnesota, we complete the "honey - do" list which included trimming hedges, cleaning out the gutter, and a couple of other small jobs. We also got to spend a few hours with our niece and nephews. We went down to the school to skateboard and play and we all went out to lunch together. It was a great vacation!

Colorado Update

Well, we made it to Colorado on Friday, and have been having a great time ever since. There is lots of wildlife here; a deer that visits the backyard and a bear that visits the trash can!

We have had some great meals including a seafood boil and ribs slow cooked on the grill! YUM! YUM!!! Here are some pics of those wonderful meals!!!

Annette, MJ, and Joyce went rafting yesterday and had a great time!!! They rafted the Arkansas River and went through the beautiful Royal Gorge. It has been really hot here during the day, but beautful at night.

Today (Tuesday) We are sitting and watching a fire in the mountains due to a lightning strike yesterday. According to the powers that be, there is nothing to worry about, but we keep seeing some pretty good flames!

All in all, we have had a great time just visiting with each other!