The First Day of School

Christian is in 4th grade and goes to the middle school now. It is so different having kids in two schools! He got Mrs. Anderson for his teacher and seems to really like her.


JR is in 3rd grade. He has Mrs. Purdy and so far is enjoying her class. He loves the prizes they can earn for being good and getting their work done!


Sammy started Kindergarten this year! She is growing up too fast! She got Mrs. Davis, who is absolutely wonderful! But we are very sad because she was diagnosed with Breast Cancer for the second time :( and is going to be gone a lot during the first few months for treatment. We hope that everything goes well for her!

Sammy's first assignment was to have me help her decorate a paper doll to resemble her. I think it turned out adorable!


The boys don't exactly care about having their pictures taken so I was only able to get one of them. Sammy, on the other hand, totally eats it up! She kept begging me to take more! So, here are a few from her impromptu Back-to-School fashion shoot.

Happy 10th Birthday, Christian!

Christian turned the big 10 in August! Wow, that makes me feel old! I can't believe how fast he is growing up!

He was pretty exited about opening his presents, even though he knew what most of them were! The older the kids get, the harder it is to shop for them!

He still doesn't care much for cake, which makes decorating pretty hard. But I think it turned out pretty cute! It was Pher's idea to break up the little lego guy! (We get a kick out of the lego games!)

4th of July

The 4th of July came and went so quickly this year! We had our usual bbq with fireworks afterwards. The kids really seemed to enjoy it!

JR showing Brendan how to throw the Snaps.

Brendan thinking he just might be in trouble for throwing them at Sammy!

Sammy is finally brave enough to hold the sparklers! She was scared to death by them last year!

JR's Tonsillectomy

In June, JR had his tonsils and adenoids taken out. Poor kid! When it was all over, Dr. Catten told us that he had the biggest tonsils he'd ever seen in a kid his age! No wonder he had the snoring problem!!!

Recovery took over three weeks, and we are super glad that is all over! He was miserable!!! I felt so bad for him :(

Vegas Vacation!

Last month we were able to go and visit my sister and her family. We also got to see my mom and step-dad, who were also visiting there. It was a lot of fun! It was so nice to take a vacation that we could just relax and take things a day at a time. The kids had a blast with their cousin Kevin!

The first thing the kids wanted to do was to go swimming, of course! We stayed at a Marriott hotel and they had an indoor swimming pool which was pretty small, but the kids didn't seem to mind.

You can't go to Las Vegas without visiting the M&M Factory! At least that's what the kids said! It has changed quite a bit since we went last, but it was still fun to look around. Brendan really liked the M&M race car!

One of the days, the pool in our hotel was closed. So, they let us go to the hotel next door's pool, which was outside. It was a lot bigger than our indoor pool.

We took my mom to see the water show at the Bellagio. It was beautiful as usual!

We also went to see the Dolphins and Secret Garden at the Mirage. The kids loved it! The dolphins were playing with the trainers, so we got to see them jump out of the water a few times!

We also took the kids to the Adventure Dome at Circus Circus. It was so much fun! Brendan and Sammy loved the Carousel! Brendan cried every time we got off!

Sammy wasn't afraid of riding any of the rides! And she is a little too friendly with strangers! (Which scares me a little!) She saw a little girl on one of the rides she was going on and just plopped down next to her without saying a word! It was too funny!

Summer Splash

June's weather was all over the place this year. So, when we got a warm day we tried to take advantage of it. We pulled out the Slip & Slide and the kiddie pools and had a lot of fun!

What little cheese-balls!

Sammy's Preschool Graduation

Samantha graduated preschool in May. Here are a few pictures. I also have some video of it, but my video camera is not cooperating at the moment. Hopefully, I will be able to get it to work soon.

I just love this one! Doesn't she have gorgeous eyes!!!