10 years

Well what a difference 10 years makes (or doesn't make).

I had my 10 year class reunion this past Saturday & Sunday. It hasn't changed much since high school. Our Saturday "night out" was at Prairie Meadows in the pavilion they had appetizers & a cash bar (free soda).

It's funny how the size of the class made a big difference in my two reunions this year. Matt from a large class (320+) & my small class (67), you can look back & read about Matt's (June 8 & 9 2007), we had a blast, nobody was grouped together they all just talked with everybody, no one was left out. My class on the other hand the groups that were friends in high school talked together & the stayed over in one section & the rest of us stayed over here. It was exactly like high school the "clicks" were still very much there. They were all very nice when you said hi, but not much conversation after that. Some of them asked about family, kids , living & when I asked back they would answer.

Matt enjoyed the night by watching the live horse races & I walked down memory lane with 3 friends that I hung out with in school. I did have fun, so We did end up going to the Sunday picnic with the family. Again the same groups were around, but the kids had fun at the park & it was fun to see my friends & their kids & see how they have grown.

I don't know what I was expecting, but I guess I can't say I was surprised or disappointed. Maybe another 5 to 10 years will change things, then again may be not.

She's enrolled

Last night we went & enrolled Emmersyn into Kindergarten. She will be attending Clay Elementary & will have Mrs. Clark as a teacher.

I can't believe she is going to "Big Kid" school. We deposited money on to her lunch card & now will go out & get her school supplies.

Summer is almost over & the school season will be starting. I can still remember when we checked out of the hospital with this little bundle & now she' s going to Kindergarten. Where has the time gone. You never beleive the saying of "they grow up way to fast", until you have kids of your own.

Gone Fish'n

Sunday afternoon was pretty uneventful so we decided to take the kids on a fishing outing. We got the 2 fishing poles out & headed over to the pond behind our neighbors house. Emmersyn was given a Tweedy Bird pole for her birthday a few years back so she was set Bryce on the other hand got to fish with Matt's pole.

Once the kids decided on a spot we sat down & baited our hooks (with hot dogs of course), & casted out into the water. After about five minutes of waiting the kids started getting board with the waiting game. We talked them into waiting a little while longer & with in another 5 minutes. Emmersyn had caught her 1st fish. She was very proud & held the line for a picture. Bryce wasn't to far behind her on catching his 1st fish too. Not sure what to think he held the line & watched the fish flop.

The kids wanted to move to another location on the pond side so we packed everything up & started walking. We found another spot & Emma got her 2nd fish of the evening, she was having a blast. After moving one more time to find that perfect spot we caught the 4th fish of the night.

Matt asked the kids if he should kiss the large mouth bass of course they said yes, so I took the picture of the so called kiss.

A night filled with fishing lines snapping, fish bandits swipeing the bait & the sight of how proud the kids were to reel in the fish, was the perfect end to a wonderful weekend. The entire family enjoyed this little fishing trip & we will make many more in the future since it's only across the street. Also Grandpa F a kids fishing pole for a little boy's birthday coming up might be a great idea.

Ready, Set, Sell 3 of 3

9 6-ft tables, 2 4-ft tables, 7 card tables, 5 tubs & of course floor space the garage was set up for the sell by 10 pm on Thursday night. a bit cramped in the 3 car garage since the doors were down, but made it happen. We listed in the paper that we would be open at 8 am so my mom was planning to be her by 7:30 am that way we could spread out on to the drive way. That is exactly what we did on on Friday morning & when the garage door went up we had shoppers within 10 minutes.

Friday we stayed open until 4:30 since we had a steady flow of customers, Saturday was a little slower but we still stayed open from 8 am until 1pm.

With my parents help we had everything that didn't sell boxed up & ready to donate to a local church's clothing drive for low income families, toys for our church's nursery & blankets, towels & other items to the animal rescue league. In other words not back into the house.

All the large items were sold so we didn't need to worry about hauling anything away. This was a very successful sale & we enjoyed doing it, but we have had our fill for at least another year.

Need Hangers? 2 of 3

After Matt got the hanging bars hung it was time to pick & choose the outfits we wanted to hang & to come up with the hangers to hang them. That was an voiced out loud idea of getting kids hangers for the kids clothes.

My darling kids are so thoughtful. Off they went disappearing into the house. A few minutes later I walk in the house to get something & to my surprise Bryce & Emma to it upon themselves to get me a lot of kids hangers....

In each of their rooms they pulled every single thing hanging on the rod they could reach in their closets & removed the hangers for us to use. All the while throwing the clean clothes on the floor leaving a heaping pile.


They both worked hard on helping us set up for this sale, so how could I really get mad at the mess they made in the process. They both were vary proud of what they had done.

What helpful little things, don't you think?

Garage Sale 1 of 3

Well this past fall my mom & I decided we were going to have a garage sale this summer. Well summers here, we chose a date & let friends & family know. Once the word was out we had more than enough to pull this thing off so...

Things were being dropped off all day & into the evening from friends & family so in the pictures is only a small portion of the things that were included.

Since last week the temps were closing in on triple digits, standing in the garage unpacking boxes was not on my high priority list. God helped out in that matter by letting the temps hang around the 75-80 degree range from Thursday on. So Thursday I started to unpack the boxes in the garage & try to keep like items together. Knowing Matt & my parents would be here after work I wasn't hurrying either. A good friend Melissa also came over to help unload & set up.

I was also waiting for Matt to get home so her could make so hanging bars so we could hang up the some clothes for added table space. Now to keep the kids clothes in size order, along with like items together, oh what a job. Stay tuned

It's Hot out there!

Since the last few days have been very hot (90+ degrees & even hotter heat indexes). We have been trying to stay indoors during the hottest parts of the day.

Between the odds & ends around the house we gave ourselves larger projects. One of our projects were taking down a storage shelf in the garage & putting it up in a storage room in the basement. The kids enjoyed moving the totes out & then back in once the shelf was in place & back together. We also carried all the garage sale boxes to the garage from the basement, that was a job & a half, but boy does it make the basement look better.

We have had some fun things to do inside too.

On of them was a "Sand Art" kit that was given to Emmersyn a while ago & the kids loved it. What they had to do was pull off the sticker backing & pour the sand color of their chose (they even mixed some to make a new color.) over the sticky part & press down so it would stay stuck. Then they would pour the excess sand off the picture, pull another backing off & choose another color.

This was fun for them because they got to make a mess & they couldn't make the picture look bad since you pull only a little off at a time.

We also did a MOPs outing this morning & it was at a wading pool so the kids enjoyed playing in the water. The mom's enjoyed standing in the water & tried to enjoy the little breeze that was blowing by.

The kids were very worn out by the time we left & they have been taken it easy this afternoon.

Muiscal beds?

Well as some of you know, since we moved into our new house Emmersyn has had a queen size bed (our guest bed). In which my mom & I made a queen size "princess" comforter for the bed. Mom & I worked so had & long on that comforter & enjoyed showing off our handy work. The comforter has been done now almost 2 years & has been used & admired ever since.Emmersyn enjoyed having the big bed in her room except for the fact that it didn't leave much room for playing.

That all has changed in the last week.

A friend of mine asked if I would be interested in a day bed that she was planning on throwing out. I said sure. I knew I was having a garage sale if Matt decided we really didn't need it. So She dropped off the bed & thanked me for taking it off her hands. In the process she explained to Emma on what a day bed is...

"It's a bed for a princess, that's like a couch so you get to put a lot of pillow around it, & of course throw them on the floor at bed time" Emmersyn was sold. She insisted that that was the bed for her & it needed to get up up in her room right away.

So the bed was free, now what to do for a mattress. We'll it turns out that my parents had a twin size mattress off of an old bed that has just been lying on there guest bed (the perfect price), so they dropped it off one evening. So as everything ins falling into place, Matt & I realized twin sheets????

We have a set of summer & a set of flannel for Bryce's bed (both "Cars"), not really the "princess Emma had in mind. Then I remembered at a garage sale last summer I bought a set of twin "belle" sheets that we have use when we make tents around the house. Good thing we solved the sheet problem. We don't have a comforter for this bed yet, but since its summer we just put a jean blanket that my Grandma made for Emmersyn after she was born. It looks great & fits wonderfully

Last Sunday when Emmersyn was at a friends house swimming, Matt, Bryce & I got to work. Old bed out & new on in. All set up & pretty with Emma not having a clue on what is happening at home. When she got home her friend & her went straight to her room to play then, she saw it at first she didn't know what to think & just sat there smiling ear to ear. She really liked her "New" bed.

After her friend left Emma wanted some time to play in her "new room" so off she went. About ten minutes later, we found this.... She has this whole new bed to sleep on & she decides the perfect place for a nap is under the bed & behind the the storage cubes.

As for the queen size bed that was in Emmersyn's room that now has a new home in what will be the master bedroom in our basement. We hope to put walls up sometime, but with some carpet that my parents took out of their house & the queen bed that room too is falling together just right.

Decorating on a budget is fun when everything just falls into place like they did for us this weekend. Thanks to everybody who helped it fall into place.

I'm still here

Sorry it's been so long since I last posted. On Thursday last week we logged off the computer & shut it down & the next thing we know is it doesn't turn back on. I don't realize how much I use a computer until I didn't have on. We asked a friend of the family (who has more computer knowledge) to take a look at it after Matt sat on the phone with the Dell help center for over an hour & a half.

Joe told us to try replacing the power supply thing ma jig & see if that fixes the problem. So this weekend we went out & found what we need & sure enough we have a computer again.

Thanks Joe you saved us $130 compared to what Dell wanted us to spend on what they thought might be wrong with the computer.

I do have some pictures from this past weekend so keep checking in.

Happy Annivesary

Matt,

8 years ago today we said "I Do". Can you believe it? One dog, two houses & two kids later & going strong. Look at us now, our hopes & dreams have expanded & so much has changed in our lives.

Looking back over the past 8 years we have had our ups & downs. some pretty good arguments & of course the better make-ups. No matter what, we talk it through & always seem to come out stronger in the end. I've heard this somewhere not sure where, but it says it right "I love you more today than yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow"Sometimes it's hard to find the right words to describe what & how I feel, but no matter what we always been able to let the other one know what needs to be said.

As our life, family & marriage changes in my heart I feel our relationship will grow in all that we do. The kids made us realize how much love our hearts can hold & showed us a whole new side of each other. I still see the boy I married, along with the man I share my life with & the hero my kids call Dad everytime I see you.

So I say it to you again on our 8th anniversary

"I Do", "I still Do".

I Love you Always & Forever
-Danette

Kid free weekend

One would think that since we didn't have the kids all weekend that we would plan for a big, eventful, fun weekend.

One our weekend was fun as for planned & eventful well you decide... Saturday morning after waking up 4 times between 6 & 9 AM we got out of bed. Then Matt watched some TV & I cleaned our office (vacuumed & everything) I know Matt & I know how to have fun. We did have Trent Completion Celebration party at noon. At the party we had a ton of food & Matt even got in a few games of volleyball with the guys. Trent's kids were kind of bummed since Emma & Bryce weren't there, but well have plenty of other days for them to get together. The kids at the party had fun with water guns & ice from the cooler (the temp was 98) so when they thought they were being sneaky by getting the adults, we didn't mind. It was a very nice gathering & was a lot of fun. we left around 5:30 PM.

Once back home we were trying to figure out what we wanted to do for dinner. Since neither one of us were that hungry (remember all the food), we headed out to Daytona's sports bar & ordered appetizers while we watched the Nascar race. Around 9 PM we stopped back over by Trent & Leesa's & watched part of a movie with them, then headed home around 10 PM.

Sunday morning we found out how drained we really were since neither one of us woke up until 11 AM. To sleep in that late is just unreal, the day seemed like it was gone & we had just got out of bed. Well I figured I should call my parents & see if they wanted us to pick up the kids. To our surprise they were at my Brother's up in Clear Lake, IA so they told me they would be home when the get home. What to do...go grocery shopping then home.

He had plans to go to a friends house for Dinner & games at 4 PM. We ended up getting there at 4:30 PM since the kids got dropped off at 4. Dinner was great & the game was fun, but by 9 PM the kids needed to find their beds so home we went.

In a nut shell that was our weekend. There might be pictures later, we'll see.

The Cats Away the Mice will Play

While the cats away the mice will play! That what I've been told (thinking the parents as the Cat & the kids are the mice).

Well tonight it is the parents playing since the kids are at my parents Matt & I decided to go to a movie (at the theater). Which this is a big deal since we can't even remember the last movie we went "out" to see. (I think before Bryce). I have gone to a movie with friends since & Matt has gone to maybe one since also, other than that we don't go to movies.

After our dinner at home we decided to see which movie we wanted to see & what time we wanted to go. Both of us are big fans of the "Die Hard" series & the movie decision was not a hard one. To add a comment to my friend Heather "When?" post from today on her website www.hamiltonfamilycircus.blogspot.com. I forgot how nice it is to go to the bathroom (@ home & in public) by myself, it might as well of been Christmas. Your time will come. Anyway back to the movie.

In true "Die Hard" fashion this movie does not disappoint. I wont ruin it for anyone, but in my opinion this is a must buy. Full of action, explosions & everything Die Hard, this is a must see if your a fan.

He's coming home!!!!

Trent we are all so very Proud of you!!!

March 10,06 - July 5,07

Your Completion service last night was a beautiful sight. It is so amazing to see how much you have grown in your faith in God & in the confidence you show in yourself. We are all behind you all the way & will support you, Leesa & the kids in every way.

We love you all & are blessed to have you in our lives.

Your words last night were so heartfelt & meaningful I know you will succeed on your walk.

Love you Trent & Congratulations

Adventureland- Kids

The day they both have been waiting for...A day at Adventureland. A dream come true, a world of excitement, can't contain it all. So here goes, A-land when they are both able to enjoy a majority of the rides. Emmersyn had a list of rides she just had to ride (she remembered from last year), but where to start.

We started out with the larger rides then made it to the kid rides. Bryce & Emma both big enough to control the dragons, the airplanes, boats loved the control. Bryce took a little caution at first then he realized how much fun some of the rides were & there was no holding back after that.

We took both of them on the "Log Ride" for the first time. Bryce & I were in the front of the boat & got drenched on the small hill, (he was done with the ride by that point), even though the ride had a larger hill coming. Bryce was not a happy camper & asked not to ride it again.

The favorite ride of the day for the kids by far was the "Frog Hopper" which is a kids bouncing version of the space shot (it goes up & bounces down each time going a little higher).

Bryce had a birthday party from 3 to 5 PM so I dropped him off & went back when the party was over. Once back Matt & I decided that only a few more rides before we were going to call it a day so off to the "Frog Hopper", Carousel, Farris wheel & the train.

We made quite a day of Adventureland finally leaving around 8 PM.

Adventureland- Adults

Well I realized that I hadn't told you all about Sunday yet.

Since it was my Mom's company day at Adventureland, we along with my parents, Danielle & Chris all spent the day the riding the rides. After Church, we got there about 10:30 AM we decided to ride the water rides (the lines seem to get longer as the day goes on). We were able to ride the "Rageing River" twice without waiting in line. Matt & I realized we haden't ridden that ride in 3 or more years either due to weather or length of the line.

This was a perfect day for A-land, the weather was great & there were very few lines for the rides. We pretty much had the park done by 1 PM, but that didn't stop us. My dad even got my mom onto the "Sidewinder" which as you can tell by the picture once the ride started moving she again decided she really didn't like it. We are all proud of you mom, facing your fears like that.

My parents also watched the kids for us so Matt & I could ride some of the rides with Danielle & Chris. So my dad had fun learning how to use our camera. The kids also had fun watching us ride the roller costers & of corse the space shot. (Hang on Chris!!!).

We circled the park a few time & road almost everything we could. We now realize what are parents mean by they arent as young as they used to be. We rode some rides that we wont be heart broken if we never rode them again. Other rides were fine & since there were no lines we were able to ride some of them twice in a row.

Hope you all enjoy.

Happy 4th of July

Happy Birthday U.S.A.

We headed out yesterday afternoon to get a prime spot on the West Des Moines parade route. This parade is one of the kids favorites since it's a long one (1 hr 15 min). Once we got to the spot we only had to wait about 30 min for the parade to start. The wait wasn't bad since the kids were very excited to be getting candy in the near future, & did we get candy (a whole bag full).



Then we drove back to Altoona to watch the Prairie Meadows fireworks. We parked to car in the field where we can see the display then we headed over to the playground at a near by school to keep the kids entertained for the hour we had to wait. The fireworks were beautiful & the kids enjoyed them. As you can tell we are still learning how to use our digital, but you'll get the picture. We got home shortly after 10:30 PM both kids fell asleep in the car.

Matt & I then decided to watch a little TV when we saw that GOD was setting off his own fireworks display. So we sat out side & watch the lighting as the storm blew by. This was also a beautiful display & of course it was so much more amassing. Again still learning with the camera.

Well I hope you all have a safe & happy 4th of July

Art anyone

Saturday we finished at the preschool we got the kids from my parents & headed home for showers & to relax (so we thought). Once home we ate a little something & the kids decided they weren't in the mood for sitting around doing nothing. They wanted "family time".

Matt & I knew that the Des Moines Art Festival was going on & it was a free outdoor event. So off we went, after finding the closes bathroom (good timing Bryce) it was time to walk around.

Matt & I didn't know what all to expect so off to the first tent. The art work was from student grades K-6th so Emmersyn had fun letting us know her pictures might get hung up there next year since she's now a kindergarten. Once we got through that tent to our surprise there were tent after tents of free kids crafts & projects.

Emmersyn & Bryceton enjoyed coloring pictures, decorating wooden horseshoes, spin art, making animal masks, spray painting, stamping, making memory books & much more.

What started out being a relaxing evening at home did become a enjoyable "Family Night" out. We ended up not getting home until 9:30 PM so another long day.

If we build it they will come!

This past weekend has been a busy one, so it will be in multiple blogs.

Throughout the past year I have been on the "Preschool Action Committee" a.k.a. PTA and we have raised enough money to pay for the 1st phase of the playground equipment. So after Heather L., Melissa V, & myself volunteered our husbands to help put the thing together it was time.

Lets start with Friday evening. Matt along with the other husbands & some friends met up at the preschool to dig the footings for the new playground equipment that was going in. So after a few hours of moving tire shreds & digging out the footing holes the ground was ready. The men felt they deserved a cold one for all the hard work.

8 AM on Saturday morning the dads & now the moms (8 of us total) we to work. Piece by piece the playground was coming together, slow at first but the time did go by fast. We did have to borrow some man power from a group that had their Bible study in the preschool building to help us support the platform as we got it in place. It took until 2:15 PM that afternoon, a hard days work if you ask me. Very well worth it we we drove the kids up there Monday night to be one of the 1st to play on the structure & so we could do some of the finishing touches.

Rachel L., Nate L., Emma & Bryce were the 1st ones to play, Thursday night when they spread the tire shred play surface hopefully Tyler V. & Tayden V. will also get their turn to play. Since we moms are a big reason the money we raised & the playground went up, that all of our kids get to test it out & the 3 younger ones get to also play with it this fall at preschool.