I Found Some Old Photos..........

OMG! I found these old pictures of me and Brad. I am always telling everyone that I have naturally curly hair and it looks like an afro when I don't straighten it......so here's my proof. And have you all seen Brad with his mullet? It's so precious on him. hrk

I don't know where I put those glasses, I need to dig them out!

This one is SOOOO my favorite of Brad!!!!

OK! I'm Kidding. (you didn't know, did you?) Go to yearbookyourself.com and do this! It is too Fun. You can start in the 1950's and go through 2000. Lots of laughs, for sure!

Birthday Parties and Kitty Cats.......

Ella's best friend, Hannah, had her birthday party today at a local gym. There were some bounce-arounds and trampolines and bars to play on. Evan was invited, too. They had a good time. Then we came home and tried to watch the Hogs play, but it was too painful....so we went to Wal Mart. That was painful, too, because 3 small bags of nothing = $50.00. Ridiculous! Also, I took some pictures of the baby kittys. Now, I'm not necessarily a cat person, but with that said ---there is hardly anything cuter than a little baby kitty. They are so stinkin' adorable! We brought them in the house for a quick photo shoot today, but Big Mama didn't like it, so we got em back to her in a jiff. Hope you all are having a good weekend! hrk

Ella has named these two Queen and King! Evan has named these two Bethany and Bryce! Interesting!?! Seriously, this little boy/girl(?) is precious.

a little note about nothing.........

Wow. Life is busy. Seems like every night we have something going on, and here I made the kids chose their activities wisely because I didn't want to be gone every night, but it feels like we are anyway. I have been working some extra nights now and then and that seems to make things worse. Evan is doing great in school. We had a few tough weeks of her trying to avoid the inevitable, but she has finally figured out that she has to study and work even harder this year to make those good grades she is used to. Now she comes home and goes right to her homework without all the doddling. Every Friday, they do a timed math test where they have to do 120 problems in 3 minutes. On the first one, she didn't do so good. We made a bunch of copies of the practice sheet and started practicing every night. She did much better each week and last Friday she finished all 120 AND she got them ALL right!!!!! YAY Evan!!!! It was so good for her to see her hard work pay off. Ella comes home every afternoon singing a new song she learned. You know how we love Ella's singing. Right now, it's all about the Nursery Rhymes. So cute! As for me, I just need to say that I am so lucky to have my sweet husband. He tries so hard to be patient with me and help out with the girls when I am SO TIRED from working all night and sleeping very little. He's the best! hrk

Ella had a soccer game tonight! We call this little group "the Dream Team"! They were HOT!

I LOVE THIS PICTURE!!!!!

Evan playing a little sideline soccer.

Hope your day was good!

Evan's First Sleepover........

Evan is off to stay the night with her friend, Sophie. This is her first time to stay the night with someone besides family. I know most kids are usually already spending the night by 3rd grade, but there are hardly any girls in her class and her best friends have primarily been boys up to this point. When school started this year- I asked her who she was playing with at recess, she named off a couple of girls. I said "what about Grant?" (he was her BFF last year), and she said, "Mom, it's kinda weird to play with boys everyday when your in 3rd grade!" So there! Anyway, I hope it goes well. I guess you can't help but worry about how your kids will act when they're away, but I know she'll be great and have a blast. hrk

Totally Finished!

I have been meaning to post this for a while. Our kitchen is now 100% done. We had the hutch painted green with the countertop black. Then my friend, Barbara, came over and glazed it to give it a distressed look. Obviously, the artist that was going to paint it never made it, so this was Plan B. I like the way it turned out, but Brad isn't crazy about it being green. He thinks it "doesn't go." And I know it's early, but I have started picking up a few fall decorations. I so love Halloween decorations and the beautiful colors of all the fall things, and the weather we've had this week really has me in Fall Mode! hrk

Holy Crow.....Kittens, again!?!

When Brad came home yesterday afternoon, he was in the garage and said "I hear kittens!" Sure enough, this is what we found. Big Mama (aka Snookies) had babies, AGAIN!

It was only 4 months and 2 days ago when she had her first set of kittens. {and I know that exact amount of time thanks to this blog :)}. So, here we go again, only this time all 4 survived the birth, so even more babies to get rid of. Ugh! The girls are SOOOO excited, though, so it is worth it. And Big Mama is being so good to her babies. It's sweet! hrk

And I had to include these pictures of the girls in my FAVORITE new outfits from Matilda Jane. These pictures do not do justice to the precious clothing!

Have a great day!!!!

Watch out Mia Hamm.....

(isn't Mia Hamm that girl soccer star? hope so.) So, Ella is playing soccer now. She loves it and it's definitely fun to watch. We really don't know anything about soccer and weren't going to let her play, but she was pretty persistent with the begging, so why not? She's having a great time and it's definitely good exercise and I think it will help her with her coordination. She got on the same team as a few of the kids from her baseball team, she loves that. And, of course, that means Evan has her friend, Sophie, to hang out with and be TOO COOL for words. Some of you may not know this, but when you turn 8, you become smarter than your parents and also very cool. She loves the whole social aspect of Ella's soccer and I'm glad. With school and all, it's a nice little something for them to look forward to. And don't worry, Ella is not our only athlete child. Evan is going to be playing basketball this year. That is sure to be fun and bring lots of pictures and videos. hrk When the game is over, the parents make a tunnel and the kids run through it. This is, hands down, their favorite part of the game!!!

September 11, 2001........

I remember the complete fear and uncertainty that I felt on this day 7 years ago. I remember exactly where I was and exactly what I was doing, and I bet you do, too. We are now so distanced from this moment and life has gone on. Our God is good and our country has healed, but there are still those who mourn everyday for thier lost child, husband, mother, father. Say a prayer for those people today..........-h.

What is Ella learning in Kindergarten.......

Sure, she's learning plenty: Fun songs about colors, (i see a video post of Ella's singing in the near future :), and lots of practice drawing straight lines, curved lines, diagonal lines, all in preparation for writing the alphabet, shapes (we have a new little stick friend named Suzy Circle), and lots more. But the most important thing that Ella has learned in the last 3 weeks is..................

HOW TO GET ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE MONKEY BARS, OF COURSE!

White River weekend....

Last weekend we had a QUICK getaway to Katie and RonDee's cabin at the river. Let me start by saying that I haven't been there since the weekend Brad and I got engaged and I forgot how much I loved it. It is so relaxing and beautiful. Katie is an amazing decorator so the place is fabulous, of course. I love it there. We went with the Jamie and Lorelei and their kiddos and everyone had a good time. We did a whole lot of nothing and it was great, but it ended too soon because I had to be back Sunday night to go to work. UGH! It did make me realize that I want to go more often. It's sooooo relaxing and though I wouldn't call myself the outdoorsy type, when I was there I wanted to be outside the whole time. Big back porch + good book = BLISS!

These little maniacs ran around in the water while Jamie and Brad fished.

The water was FREEZING!!!! Look closely. The big nest in this tree is an eagle's nest. Amazing. Last time Brad was here he and Ella saw an eagle flying into it with a fish in it's mouth. No such luck this time, but I think this is so cool. It is enormous!