Hannah's 1st sleepover...

Last night Hannah had a friend from class come and spend the night. He, yes that's right he, was very well behaved and didn't make hardly any noise. He posed, without complaint, for photos and didn't complain about what he was fed. He is welcome back anytime!

His name is...Corduroy! Here is Hannah, Corduroy and Hannah's puppy (Corduroy's new friend).


They read the book in class and then each child got to take him home for a special sleepover. A journal also came home with him so the kids could record a bit of what they did together. It's so cute to read what the other kids have done! We played a little soccer with him then Hannah had to go to soccer practice. I babysat while she was gone. After that we had dinner, brushed Hannah's teeth and Corduroy's!


Then we tucked them in bed!


This morning he's on his way back to school so he can spend tonight at another classmate's home. Have fun Corduroy! Come back anytime!

Seattle

People always talk about how much it rains in Seattle. Well, let me tell you... the rain in Seattle is NOTHING compared to the rain here! We've been known to get a few inches of rain here in 2 hours. That does NOT happen in Seattle. It's usually a nice, slow drizzle for the whole day. I actually enjoy the overcast days we have here, it makes me miss home!

My parents used to live in Maui and just recently moved back to Seattle with their pups. I don't think those poor little guys are enjoying the weather too much. Here they are getting ready to go on a walk with dad:


You know what they're saying to each other..."Those walks on the soft sand beaches... man, I miss those! Now it's splashing through the puddles in the forest!" And they're off...


They'll survive, I'm sure! I think I need to get my dad a matching yellow rain slicker... don't you? That way they can ALL look like the Gorton's Fisherman! =} See the resemblance..

A Whole New World!!!

OH MY GOODNESS! The Verizon guy has just left and we now have DSL! Can you believe it! No more busy signal when you call our house! I can actually view the hilarious clips that people send me! So long dial-up, hello DSL! I can hardly stand it! I just finished watching some Office clips on You-Tube ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6Wl-N9iOts) and talking on the phone at the same time! I don't know what to do with myself! (can you hear the choir of angels singing in the background?) Life is good!

A sign that made me look twice...

Can you hear the phone call now...?
"Come on Bobby Ray...if we can get Bubba released, he can get a free t-shirt! Yee doggy!"
This is a sign I saw on the bail bonds shop across from the juvenile detention center... I wonder what the t-shirt says!

Grapefest... yet another reason to miss Grapevine!

Today Tristen and I decided to take the girls to Grapefest. It's a festival held each year in Grapevine and it's a lot of fun... even if you don't drink wine! Haylee and I headed to Grapevine after her ballet class this morning. Here you can see Haylee showing off her bag of cotton candy... her prize for being a big girl at ballet class this morning. She had to go in, put her slippers on and take her spot on the floor with no problems... and she did it!


And she even shared with Tristen & Kaiya (notice the "mom" thing Tristen is doing?):


After we got the cotton candy and some ice-cold lemonade (did I mention how HUMID it is here today???), we made a bee line for the rides. Haylee and I rode the kiddie coaster and Haylee didn't like it! I didn't feel very safe in it but didn't want to say anything and frighten her. On the 2nd time around, she was crying and yelling pretty good. But we survived!


Then on to the Petting Zoo. A little traumatic as well. Haylee spent $1 on food to feed the goats and as soon as she got in the pen, they all came towards her. She tried to run, slipped on the shavings on the ground and down she went, goat food and all. She got up quickly and they ate all the food. Here she is trying to evade one of those nasty goats:


It took her a few minutes to warm up to the animals and then she had fun. Kaiya, however, LOVED IT! From the minute she was in the pen, she was petting anything that came near her! So cute!


Here is the smartest animal! This bunny was laying right in front of the huge fan. Everyone wanted to pet him because he was so big and soft and he didn't have to do anything!


Again, did I mention how uncofortably humid it was? Here is Kaiya taking advantage of some fan action herself:


Rick works right in the area, so as we're leaving, guess who we ran into! Haylee was SO excited to see daddy! He's her hero! She even got to go with him to deliver the package he has under his arm.


It was a fun, sweaty afternoon!

The 2nd Thursday of each month...

Why do I love the 2nd Thursday of each month? Why does Rick make sure he's home by 6:45pm on this day? Bunco, of course! I've been in a neighborhood Bunco group for the past year and a half and it's a BLAST! Just 12 ladies, lettin' their hair down, eating junk food and chit-chatting... and we roll the dice for a little exercise! =}

Tonight we played at Jennifer's house and her theme was "Back to School"... oh yeah, did I mention we have a theme each month? All of the goodies tonight were apples...apple pie, apples and dip, etc. We've, of course, had all the holiday themed ones but we've had a few other ones. There was a Baby Shower Bunco where we all brought baby items (diapers, formula, etc) to then be donated. I think we've had a PJ Party Bunco... too many fun themes to remember.

Here are the players from tonight:

Angela, Claudia, Amy, June (l to r)

Michelle, Betsy, Jaimie, Cheryl

Jennifer, me, Staci

(we missed a few of our regulars tonight... Augie, Anne, Deborah, Miss Davie...)

At at the end of the night we get to find out who the winners are. Here is Jennifer tallying the points:


And the winners are:

Most Buncos: ME!
Most Wins: Betsy
Most Baby Buncos: Jennifer Christy
The Biggest Loser: June

Thank you ladies, for a guaranteed fun time each month! I'm so glad I got involved! See you at Miss Davie's next month!

First Official Soccer Game

Hannah had her first real soccer game today. They got their uniforms and everything! We showed up to the field at the appointed time, got the uniform to put on and then realized that while we were in such a hurry to get the water bottles, chairs, etc...we forgot Hannah's soccer bag which contains her cleats, shin guards and ball! So Rick stayed with Hannah and Haylee and I raced home to get the bag. Poor Hannah! She had to watch the first half of the game from the sidelines (we don't live super close to the field). We raced back to the field, got Hannah all ready and she went in as goalie. You'd think goalie would be a good position for little ones since most of them have this instinct to pick the ball up all the time and you have to break them of this habit. Hannah tried her best in the goal but I think her real talent is out on the field. She is quite a hustler!

Here she going in for the ball:


Here she is on a break-away:


All of the girls on the team are playing their hearts out! It's so fun to go cheer on the Cheetah GirlZ!

And yes, the matching bows for the entire team are on order!

A new ballet class

Haylee is now in a new ballet class! A friend from our church put together a ballet and jazz class so we joined this one. It will be good for Haylee to have her friends in her class! Again, we started a little slow but by the end she was having a ball! As we walked out the door she said, "Mommy, can we come back again?"

The birthday week has come to a close

Last night we had Haylee's birthday party at Wazoo's! It's this really fun place filled with 9 different inflatables...bounce houses, giant slides, obstacle courses, etc. One of the dads there said it was "Wazoo-tastic!"


Haylee and her friends had a great time running all over the place and we basically had the place to ourselves! Unfortunately, I wasn't too focused on taking pictures but here are a few snapshots of the evening. (Thankfully Rick had the video camera running most of the time)

Here is Haylee sliding down one of the giant slides:


Here is Haylee and her little friend, Lauren. They were so cute, taking turns pushing each other on this little scooter.


Here is Haylee and her friend, Carys. They were wild women! (as you can tell by Haylee's hair!)


Even the little ones like Kaiya enjoyed themselves! There were little scooters to ride and a seperate inflatable for them to play on. Hannah loved pushing Kaiya around on this:


This was one of my most stress-free parties for the girls! No worries about the house being trashed, just bring some snacks and the cake and you're good to go! It really was "Wazoo-tastic!"

First Day of Preschool... (for both of us!)

Yesterday was Haylee's and my first day at preschool! Haylee is now in Pre-K and will learning to write her name and lots of other fun things. Her new teacher is Miss Yanel. Hannah had her when she attended this preschool. Haylee really likes her teacher and looks forward to attending pre-k every Tues and Thurs! Here she is with her teacher:


Here is her class having their circle time. They were learning each others names and when Haylee got the little baton, she didn't want to tell anyone her name. She was so shy! (Miss Yanel said, "She's the exact opposite of her sister!")


Since Haylee's birthday was the day before school started they sang to her in chapel and gave her this cute little crown to wear:


I am working there again this year. However, I am not teaching. I get to assist our director! If any of you watch "The Office", I'm the ASSISTANT DIRECTOR. If you don't watch The Office, then I'm just the director's assistant. I was SO tired yesterday after I got home! I don't think I sat down all day! I enjoyed teaching pre-k last year but this is a nice change!

Here is our little group of kids that come to our school each week! Quite a group, huh?


It's going to be a fun year!

Haylee is 4!

Today is Haylee's birthday! This is what our kitchen table looked like when she woke up! She was so excited to see all the Tinkerbell decorations and the presents!

She got:


A new Tinkerbell backpack (we took the other backpack back that you might have seen in the previous WalMart post)


Her very own digital camera! She is so excited... she's out right now taking pictures of daddy mowing the back yard and she wants to blog them! HA!


Some much needed fall clothes!


We've worked really hard with both girls regarding birthday cards. They have been drilled that they need to open the card first before the gift. In fact, we drilled it so much into Hannah that once she went to someone's birthday and chastised them for not opening their card first! YIKES!

We will spend the rest of the day hanging out with daddy since he has today off! YAHOO!

Happy Birthday Haylee! We love you so much and are so thankful that you are ours to raise! We love your sweet smile, your infectious giggle and your kind heart! YOU are a gift to US!