Daija on the Bus!

Daija on her way to school on the bus for the first time!

She's so big. She didn't want us there. She wouldn't smile for me at the bus stop.

Until she got on the bus and I saw her grinning ear to ear! :)

I'm so excited for her. She's so excited to go and learn. What a fun age!

I AM AN AMERICAN

I would like to say something. Without going into crazy details, let me just say: I think the worst thing a devout American can do right now is be silent. The worst thing we can do is sit on the fence and watch as our country collapses around us. If we do not get involved then we will have no right to complain when things go to Hades. PLEASE, if you have any pride in our wonderful country; the same country our founding fathers fought so hard to develop and protect, then we will join our voices and ACT! I am NOT the smartest person. I do NOT claim to have great political knowledge. But I do know that something has to be done. Things are not right in our country. I'm not talking Democrat vs. Republican. I'm talking about our morals, rights, and beliefs being under attack. If you need ideas about how to become involved visit www.glennbeck.com and look up the 9-12 project. Let us open our eyes and our mouths. Let's get involved people!!

New pics of the kids!

My almost failed attempt to get good pics of my kids. The best one of Daija. She kept saying the sun was too bright to open her eyes.

(It was cloudy and rainy.)

Kyla is good at this!

Chase is the cutest boy ever!

Chad's Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHAD!

Just as I was going to take the pic of Chad blowing out the candles, Connor stood up in front of me and the camera went out of focus. So Chad posed like this for a few seconds until the camera would take the picture! What a good sport! LOL

Kyla, Daija, and cousin, Connor. Hamming it up for the camera!

They are firecrackers when they get together! So much fun!

The family. Left: Michelle, Judy, Lee, Chase, Jenna, and Kelly.

We had pizza outside. Daija, Kyla, and Connor got to jump on the trampoline.

They had a blast!!!

Chad got fishing stuff for his bday! I bought him everything he would need to go so he doesn't have any excuses not to go! He got the pole, reel, tackle box, hooks of all sorts. The lady at Sports Authority hooked me up with everything because I know NoThInG about fishing. :) And I even remembered a fishing license (with some help from my uncle).

Ok - so the pics are posted backwards. This is the football cake I made for Chad's bday!

Pam's Eyes

This is my smokey eyes I did for Chad and I's big date the other day. It looked awesome, especially after I added just a light lipgloss. :) And I didn't realize how many freckles I have.

Nothing really...

I don't have much to say but haven't said anything in a while

so I'll ramble for a minute for anyone who cares to know...

Nothing really new going on. Today I went and bought Chad's birthday presents. His birthday is on Sunday (the 23rd). Normally I have everything I want to get him way before now. I could NOT come up with a good idea this year. Wait - let me rephrase that. I could NOT afford any of the good ideas I came up with this year. So after brainstorming I was able to go and get what I think is a good ensemble of things. I would tell you what they are but in the slight chance Chad might actually read this..... So now it's down to crossing my fingers that he's happy with it. I wrapped up all I could, with Christmas wrapping paper cause that's all I had, and it's hiding until Friday night. :) I will definitely post pics of the birthday and if he liked everything.

Daija starts school on Monday! I can't believe it. It makes me feel old. I can't be old enough to have kids in school...riding the bus alone...talking to friends out of earshot... It sends goosebumps all over. I hope she does well. She's VERY excited to go. She loves learning. Always has really. She's known her ABC's and 123's for a couple years now. She writes her name and can write all of our names (except she still needs a little help with Chase). I started teaching her to play the piano. She is sooo good! We went into the piano store where we bought my piano and were asking them about something when all of a sudden I hear her playing "Old MacDonald" from memory...she'd only been playing the song for a day! She's moving too fast to only do one lesson a week. I can only take about 100 times of "Mary Had A Little Lamb" and "Old MacDonald" each before I just want to scream. So it's on to the next song today. :)

We were able to talk to my family on Skype a couple days ago. The kids LOVED it! We were able to sit and chat for 40 mins. The kids got to show off their somersaults and Daija played her piano songs for them. Chase crawled around and stood up (which they hadn't seen yet). The only downside is having to say goodbye. The kids were really good about it while we said goodbye. I thought things were great and fine. It's time for bed, pj's, teeth brushing...while I'm trying to get them to come upstairs and get ready I hear Kyla crying. She's downstairs telling Chad how much she misses Grandma and Grandpa Thalman. She wants to go see them. On and on... it was very sad. She cried and cried! All I could do was hold her and try to explain that we can't just jump into the car and go see them, they live too far away - none of which made her feel any better. So skype was fun. But it was sad to see my little girl so upset with no way of making her feel better.

A little pic of my beautiful family!

At the Barrett's House

We've had an interesting week. Today we were able to go to a park and have a picnic. Isn't Chase adorable with his little mohawk?? It was a good day for a picnic. Nice and warm in the sun and almost a chill in the shade. I love sweater weather!!! Although I will admit it's a little early to be headed toward fall. But this year has been anything but ordinary.

On Sunday I took a nap. Chad found Kyla downstairs with a purple marker. Besides the couch she also decided she needed to do some artwork on herself! I think the pics say it all. And no, Daija didn't help. I asked her and she said no. I asked Kyla and she was almost mad that I would give anyone else the credit for her masterpiece. :) So after two days and much scrubbing she is back to normal.

Letters

I promised my mom photos of the letters I've painted for Chase's room. I always make my kids a name plaque for their rooms. This time I had to become creative because there weren't any A's left out of letters that weren't fancy. Boys shouldn't have fancy letters. :) So here's the letters. The star is a box and I found little A's to put in/on it. I think it turned out great!