25 Years

Happy Anniversary (a little bit late) to my husband.

Twenty-five years ago when I said I DO

I never imagined all the thing we would see and do together.

 Thanks for being a great husband

And a great dad

 I look forward to the next twenty-five years.

I can only imagine the adventures they will hold.

Educational Snacks

In the public school system, everything must have educational value.

Nothing is off limits, including lunch.

The cafeteria is lined with banners displaying the names of all Kentucky colleges.

This is meant to inspire young scholars to pursue a higher education.

Even the food is educational.

 Cookies display the names of presidents and interesting facts about them.

Can't you hear the promotional advertising?

SHOULD YOU BECOME PRESIDENT, 

YOU TOO CAN HAVE YOUR FACE EMBLAZONED ON YOUR VERY OWN COOKIES!!! 

Hello there, President Obama...

The cookie package is even labeled as educational!

Because we know that labeling cookies as educational 

will inspire fourth graders.

 

 But somehow the very people trying to inspire my son to greatness

 have unwittingly thrust him once again

 into the gutters of junior high impropriety.

Who names fourth grade cookies DICK & Jane??????????????????

Is that not stupid? 

 I recovered from that tidbit of stupidity 

only to be flummoxed once again 

when my sweet son happily shared the back of his bag of presidential cookies.

Yes, folks.  It's true.

You see. Dick and Jane are real people with a real passion for education. 

Dick runs a baking company.  Jane is a teacher. 
Dick likes to run.  Jane likes to walk.

And.....

wait for it.....

Dick is allergic to.......what else......

NUTS

Cue the uncontrollable giggling from the fourth grade boys' lunch table.

I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

A Lesson In Sharing....Or Not

   

I love our dogs.  So I recently bought them each a new chew toy.

Remington liked his new bone. But he LOVED the lamb I bought for Meg.

  

In fact, he loved her new lamb so much that every time I passed through the living room this is what I found.... 

Remington chewing on Meg's lamb.

 

And Meg looking longingly at Remington chewing on her new lamb. 

 

 Poor Meg. Doesn't she look sad?

I felt so sorry for Meg.  So I went back to the pet store just to buy a second lamb.

Problem solved

Well, not really.  

Now Remington takes BOTH lambs away from Meg. 

And she looks longingly at Remington chewing on both lambs.

 

If I take one away from Remington and let Meg have it, he promptly takes it back.

'SHARES WITH OTHERS' would not have a checkmark on his puppy grade card. 

Sorry, Meg!

Drumstick Island - BMX - Brrrrrrr!

When you tell Grant to make an island showing geographic features using any theme he desires,
what would you expect him to pick other than fried chicken?

 

His island included Dark Meat Sea, White Meat Beach, Chickenville, Gulf of Teriyaki, Extra Crispy River, Thighopolis, Soggy Breading Swamp and Mount Mashed Potato.   

He had a lot of fun making it.  At least until it came time to color the entire board.

Can you tell where Mom came to the rescue and helped him finish the ocean?

Shhhhh, don't tell the teacher!  As if she couldn't tell by looking!

Also during fall break, we spent a beautiful morning enjoying the new and improved BMX track near our house.  The start gate is now twice the height it was before.  Turns are banked higher and hills are more aggressive.  I think it was almost more than a nine year old boy could handle, but he had fun trying.

Grace took one lap around the new track and quickly decided she was done.  Wise girl.

It wasn't until I was speaking with another biker that day that I realized how unique this track is.  Not only is it free and open to the public, but it is not that common for a city to have a track this large or well done.  So now I know!  I'll appreciate it a little more going forward.

We took one last (very cold) ski trip last weekend.  John went first.  He decided there was no need for a repeat performance and hung up his skis (so to speak) for the winter.

Then it was Grant's turn.

I believe Grant experienced a new definition of cold when David pushed him into the icy water.

 

But cold water didn't dim Grant's determination to cross the wake.

 

After about an hour of trying and failing, Grant managed to successfully cross the wake several times on his last pass.  Then he too hung up his skis for the winter.  I don't see any November ski trips penciled on the calendar.

Jam - Play - Design

 

 When people play different instruments at the same time, it is called music.

Except when those people are not playing the same song.  Then it is called noise.

This is what noise looks like...if noise actually has a physical look.

The kids were passing around their various instruments having a litte fun one afternoon after school.
We now own a trumpet, piccolo trumpet, oboe, saxophone, trombone and two flutes.  That can make a whole lot of noise.  Tylenol, please.

During fall break, I took Grace and Grant to Chuck E. Cheese.

I love that place. (sarcasm)

 

Grant, however, REALLY loves that place.

He continues his streak of having the magic touch at winning tickets.

Part of the day's bounty

Grace is not so fortunate with ticket winning

But she loves playing the games!

Grant might have a future in fashion design

Well, he will if there's ever a demand for dragon jewelry.

 

Good job, Grant! 

Grace has a bit of her father's engineering talent.

 

Maybe she can get a job in fluid mechanics someday.

 

Kings - Cows - Corn

John was part of the homecoming court Friday night at school.
 

John and Morgan were not crowned king and queen, but they were crowned prince and princess.

Basically that's second place.

I think that's pretty good for a school of 1,800 kids.

John escorted Morgan Kast.

John and Emily have known Morgan since they were all in preschool together.

And I have known Morgan's family for many years.

 It wasn't until a month or so into the kids' preschool year

 that Morgan's mother and I figured out that our families knew each other.

Morgan's grandfather was our minister when I was a little girl.

In fact, David and I asked her grandfather to officiate our wedding ceremony,

 which he graciously did.

It's certainly a small world.  

 

 We spent Saturday working at the farm...

mowing and cleaning up for fall.

When Grace and Grant weren't helping,

they were in helping Barbie and Ken get married.

 I wonder if Harold Kast officiated their ceremony?

 

  

 After the work was done, we headed to Devine's Corn Maze.

After wandering through the maze in record time, we picked our pumpkins and headed for home.

Hope you have enjoyed this beautiful fall weekend!

Lost Photo Files

Sometimes it takes me a little while to download pictures to my computer.

 And when I say a little while I really mean six months. 

Grant played percussion in a musical performance his class performed back in April.

He did a fine job.  I believe this is what led to us owning a drum set.

Grace's final fifth grade concert

 BEST TEACHER EVER!!

according to Grant

 Mrs. Stanfield was Grant's third grade teacher last year.  This was taken on the last day of school after the awards program.  

She has the sweetest personality and yet runs a very orderly classroom.  

Doesn't she look like an awesome teacher?!

 I thought I took a picture of John.

But I can't see him!

 Sorry. That's a lame joke.  

But since our kids think we are pretty lame parents right now, 

I delight in annoying them with lame jokes. 

 I say something about his camo every time he has it on for school.

These two still love to play together. 

Being apart during the day at school has made their friendship even sweeter.

I'm so glad for them!

 

However, I wish for the maid's sake they would contain their exuberance 

when it comes to dragging out their many toys.

Baking cookies with Emily's help