Sledding!

Travis and I took the girls and our friend Katie sledding on Saturday. The girls had a ton of fun!!




Four days until Christmas and the kids are so excited. They have been bouncing off the walls since they got out of school on Friday. We have everything ready, cards mailed, presents wrapped, just waiting for 2 more things to come in the mail for the kids. I am excited. I love Christmas time.

I forgot to add that Madelynn won first place in the hat parade for 2nd grade!! Yah!!

Madelynn's hat

Madelynn had to make a hat for school tomorrow for a hat parade. It was supposed to be a Christmas hat. Ava already made one in her class. Here's what we came up with for Madelynn's.

Christmas program

Here are the videos from the girls Christmas program they had today.

Ava's dance recital

Ava had a little dance yesterday at a craft fair. She did good. It was weird not having Madelynn do a dance. She is going to take basketball in January, so that should be fun and different.

Oh Christmas tree!!

We put our tree up tonight while watching Rudolph. The girls had a blast!! Now we just need some snow to make it feel like Christmas.

Driving, driving, and more driving.

It's been a busy 2 weeks for us. Last Tuesday my brother-in-law Gordy passed away, so Wednesday morning I took the girls out of school at 10 and we drove to Rock Springs, Wyoming. The next day we drove to Laramie to pick up my little sister Chelsea and onto Rapid City. We spent the night there and headed for Watertown, SD at 7 the next morning. We also picked Travis up at the airport in Rapid City Thursday night. It was very sad. Madelynn wrote this paper for school about her weekend.

What I did on the weekend was I went to my uncle Gordy's funeral. I cried when I thought about him. I hear bible stories. Coral was so sad. She put her flower on the coffin. I thought that I would try to make her happy and keep her company. I met her puppy. He is big. His name is Buddy. Bye.

The girls had a nice time visiting their cousins and seeing all of the family. We saw a lot of people that we haven't seen in quite awhile! I only wish it was for a happier occasion.

We got home on Wednesday the 18th. On Saturday we went to Rock Springs again to check the locks on our house there and see if we could get in. Well, we did, and the house is trashed. It is very annoying! My friend up there is hopefully going to clean it up for me, so that we can put it up for sale again.

We stopped in Park City on our way back home on Sunday to do some shopping. The girls got new coats and Travis did a little Christmas shopping. It was a nice drive home. The weather was beautiful.

We are all excited for a four day weekend for the Thanksgiving holiday. The girls and I only have 3 hours of school tomorrow and then we are off until Monday!

Here are a few fall pictures I took

and some pictures of the house and the drive home from Rock Springs. Here

We've been busy!

Since I started working, it seems like I never have time to write. It's only 4 hours a day! I get really tired though. Working with special ed kids is tough. I enjoy it most of the time. I don't like getting up early, so that's my main problem with it!

Ava's doing really good in Kindergarten. At her first conference she wasn't doing so well. On her testing she only got about 5 letters out of the 26. Well know she knows all of the letters and most of the first 25 sight words! I am proud of her. I know she didn't do as well because the preschool she went to sucked! She is still in dance and likes it.

Madelynn is doing great in second grade. She is a really good reader. She read a 150 page book for a report. I was very proud of her. She tried gymnastics and decided she likes dance better (figures, after the huge debate we had about it), so we are going to sign her back up next month. Oh! I forgot, Madelynn decided she wanted a hair cut. It is really cute and much easier to deal with. She hated getting all the tangles out of her long hair. I will include some pictures. The girls had a halloween party to go to, I will put some up of that too.

On the house front, it's back in our name. We found out one of Holly's relatives is living there and he called us and we gave him a month to get out. After that we will go up and see what kind of shape the house is in and put it up for sale, I think. Travis has not made up his mind yet.

Madelynn with her new haircut.

Ava's grumpy face in the mornings.

Madelynn in her costume.

Ava in her costume.

All ready to go!

Kiwanis Day at the Park

Saturday was the free Kiwanis Kids Day at the park. The girls had a great time, doing almost everything they offered. They entered drawings for a new bike, but neither won. Here are some pictures.

Life

We went camping last weekend for labor day. It was just our little family. We had a nice time. On Saturday morning we woke up at 7:30 to ear an elk bugling. It was so neat. When I went into the camper to get the girls up to hear it Travis said he heard it thrashing around in the bushes. The dogs started barking and the girls were loud, so they didn't get to hear it.

I started my job today!! I am a teacher's aide in a special ed class. I am going to be 1 on 1 with a student. I did not find out which one today, because the teacher wasn't there. This should be interesting. I haven't really had a job since before Madelynn was born, just a few months at a few places. I am excited to get out of the house and do something.

Nothing much going on. Have plans for a nice, relaxing weekend.

Wooo hooo!!

I got the job. They called me back about 2:30 today! I can't believe it. That was so quick. I just have to do background checks now, since it's with the school district. The principal told me I would probably be starting on September 10th. The hours are 8:30 to 12:30, so that will work great with the kids schedules. I am excited!

Nervous!

I have a job interview tomorrow morning. I am nervous. I haven't had a job interview since before Madelynn was born, that was almost 8 years ago!! Now that both kids are in school I'd like something though. I have been home a week and a half with them both in school and I get really bored. Wish me luck!

Random

Ava's loving Kindergarten. She always tells me she doesn't remember what they do, but then she'll just start talking about something they did and she is so excited. I am glad. I was worried she would be nervous, but she seems to be doing great.

There was a fire close by here today. I got some neat pictures.

Ava's first day of Kindergarten!!

Madelynn's first day of 2nd grade!

I can't believe it!! She is growing up so fast.

Ava starts kindergarten next week!

Oregon Part 2

The wedding was really nice. The girls and Travis had a lot of fun dancing at the reception. I don't dance! lol.



We woke up early the next morning and headed up Highway 101 to see the beach and check things out.

First stop was the Sea Lion Caves. This was very cool! It had an elevator that went 250 feet or so to an underground cave where you could see a whole bunch of them!


After this we stopped at a beach, because the girls were asking every 5 minutes when we could go! They played in the water and we tried to get a family picture.

After that we drove to Newport and had lunch and went to their aquarium.

After the aquarium Travis thought we were running late, so we took a road away from the coast back towards Portland. Once we got back on I-5 traffic was stop and go for about 40 miles from the outskirts of Portland. It was ridiculous. We got to our hotel around 6 (which had much more comfortable beds!) Travis called his friend he knew from Gillette, Jared, and we headed over to his house. We spent the evening visiting with him and his wife and the girls played with their two cute girls. We had a great dinner and a nice time. Madelynn discovered slugs. There was one on her cup!

The next morning Travis took the girls swimming, we ate breakfast, and went to the airport and headed home!

There are a TON more pictures here.