Makena's 1/2 Birthday at BES....

Makena celebrated her 1/2 Birthday at Baldwin Elementary January, 2009. Papa Terry was even there to help in the celebration! The kids were thrilled because Daddy bought cookies at Perkins and as Makena says, "They were huge!!" :) He was very popular that day.
This is Ms. Reimer, Makena's teacher.

Makena and Rachel S., one of her best friends....

1st Grade Bowling Trip...

On Thursday, December 18, Mike and I attended the Baldwin Elementary School 1st grade bowling trip. We intended to just go and watch, but some how got suckered into helping out. It actually was fun though and the girls all did great. Mike managed to capture Cecilia's first strike on video! She did awesome.

Makena refused to participate at first because somehow, she got stuck in a group of stinky old boys. But, thanks to her best friend's mom, she switched groups and everything was good again.

Maiki was scheming on an orange ball the entire time. She figured out it was lighter than the others, so she waiting for it each time. She was battling with a kid named Michael (go figure) every time their turn came up. She got pretty sneaky toward the end though and managed to come up with it most of the time!

Maddox missed out on this trip. We left him with Ang, thank goodness!

Update... Dec. 2008

Finally updating once again. You have to love computers... I am just now getting hooked up so I can get my pictures off my camera since my computer doesn't cooperate because of security issues... (sigh).... So, if anyone is still reading this since it has been about 6 months since I've updated, here goes...

The weather has turned into the lovely Kansas winter as you can see above. The kids enjoyed the first snow day. Even though they were freezing, they suffered through and made their first snowman of the year, shoveled some snow, and made snow angels. Maddox and I watched from the warm house. He was not thrilled about this, but I was.

Papa Terry came to visit for Thanksgiving. We had a nice dinner with my mom and dad, and all gained about 55 pounds. Maddox ate his weight in turkey and pie!

We are very excited about Christmas. The girls don't know they are getting anything because I keep telling them Santa knows how much they have been fighting! But, as you can see above, Maddox helped us wrap a few little things for them.

Mike has been battling with insurance companies, window companies, contractors, etc., because we have had one nightmare after another with the new house. We feel like we've been remodeling for 3 years in a row (which we have I guess) and we are ready to be DONE!!! We are going to have a practically new house when all is said and done.

The girls are done with their first semester of first grade. They are doing awesome. Makena can read like a college student, and Maiki has been making many masterpieces in prose and art. :) We have lots of projects stored and they are full of glitter and sticky things.

I am very busy at work as usual. I guess that is good considering the economy.

I think that is everything for now! Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!!

Kaw Valley Farm Tour 2008

Okay, so I'm a little behind! I'm working on it now that things are calming down, so be looking for old new posts. :) We spent this past weekend at the Kaw Valley Farm Tour hitting all the "hot spots" in the Kansas farm world. Saturday, Angie and Addison Clinefelter joined us, and Maddox had his first date with his woman. Ha!

The girls had a great time painting pumpkins and getting dirty. Maiki for some reason got on a kick about chicken bones. I explained that we eat the chickens' legs. She said, "Oh, now I understand... we eat the chickens' legs and they eat people legs." Gotta love them. Enjoy...

Graduation Day

The girls "graduated" from kindergarten at Meadowlark Elementary, marking the end of our stint in Salina, Kansas. They were sad -- we were elated! I was sad the year went by so fast, but very glad we could get back home. They will really miss their teachers and friends, but we are excited to start the next chapter in our lives. This has been a very hard year for all of us. Oh... you might notice Maiki missing on this post. She was in her room being very dramatic and wouldn't let Mike take her picture. Yes, Maiki - I will be filling every boyfriend in on this one!