The Daines Family

Summer Time Fun

2010-07-19T21:18:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since I last wrote anything down. This will be a long post, but I will do a quick update for each person. April was filled with testing and more testing for our students and children. May was filled with last minute worries if we had jobs or not. But I think we were able to finish out the school year without too many bumps. Out lovely Arizona legislature has made it hard on teachers. They have taken away our protections for being tenured and made it easier to get rid of us if principals or districts want too. I know that there is still lawsuits pending, so we will see how things progress.

Richard and I both did get our contracts renewed! We are still employed! Richard still teaches high school chemistry and physics. I am still teaching first graders. Our children have all grown a few more inches and have become smarter.

Christopher is now in "Junior High". It is a scary thought that I have a seventh grader. He will be attending the same school. Our school goes up to eighth grade. He is still into military things and reading. He reads a lot! He usually reads two or three books a week. He has read several stories multiple times, because he likes them so much. He will be 12 in just a couple of weeks. He will become a Deacon. He will be able to pass the Sacrament in church. I also can't believe that I will have a Deacon. He is growing so fast.

Morgan is now in fifth grade. He is also attending the same school. He is into military stuff just like Christopher is, but also Star Wars. He has discovered that you can use markers to personalize the Lego Star Wars guys. He has had a lot of fun doing that this summer. He is very creative about it. He has also created a whole new bunch of "Pikmin" characters. He has drawn their seeds, buds, flowers, and the onions; the place where they are stored when not being used in the game. Pikmin is a Game Cube/Wii game. He recently turned 10 years old.

Jonathan is a now a big first grader. He is so happy that he is now at my school. He is excited that he is reading almost a second grade level. He is reading and sounding out some pretty big words. He wants to pass off memorizing the all thirteen Articles of Faith. Richard had him try to read them first. He was sounding out the words with little to no help from us. He is excited, because he figured out that in 17 months he will be 8 years old and able to baptized.

Nathan is enthusiastic about life in general. His big thing right now is anything that deals with Jesus. He likes watching the movies, hearing the music, and looking at the pictures. We bought one of the Living Scriptures movies for him. We have the one where Jesus is baptized. There are days the I have to say that I can't find it, because I am tired of watching it. Some days that is all he wants to watch. He is ready for school to begin. He wants to go to "his" school, just like his brothers.

Anne-Marie is loving life and getting bigger and smarter as well. She can be very "cheeky" and "sassy" at times, but she is very sweet. She is usually very protective of her little sister and big brothers. She is also into anything Jesus as well. She loves to hear and "read" stories as well. She has discovered that pink is "her" color, as well as that she is the ONLY princess. If you ask her if Cinderella, Snow White, Bell, Ariel, or Sleeping Beauty are princesses, she'll tell you no. She is a princess.

Kendal is growing like a weed as well. She is about a head's distance shorter than her sister. She is getting more and more verbal. She loves stories and books, along with anything that is not edible - just to put it into her mouth. She loves to bother her sister and brothers. She loves life as well.

Time For An Update

2010-03-14T18:20:00.000-07:00

     It has been quite a long time since I have posted anything. I am now on my well deserved Spring Break, and have found some time to do things. I should update the family going-ons since I last poted in November.
     December: We finished school with parties and fun activities. Christopher had a band concert that we attended. It sounded like a typical sixth grade band. They are getting better. I can see and hear the improvement each time they have a concert. We celebrated Jonathan's birthday. Just spending time together. We had a good time with Grandma and Grandpa Daines's, there was a visit from Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus. The kids enjoyed getting presents a little early.
      We went down to Tucson and spent Christmas with the in-laws. We had a really good time. The kids enjoyed staying in a hotel, and spending time with cousins. We went to see Xan Javier Mission. It was a good experience for the kids to see what had happened in our state long ago.
     We also had a good time with my family. My entire family was here for the Christmas break. Seven of the eight kids live here anyways, but my older brother, David, came out from Tennessee to visit. While he was here we did family photos. This meant, that the entire family was photographed. My father-in-law did a good job. We all met at his house and we took a lot of photographs. We also went to the Grand Canyon. The kids had fun. It was very, very, very, cold on the day we went. It was rather windy as well. We saw some deer, and of course lots of snow. We also stopped outside of the park and played in the snow. We had a good time.
     January: We celebrated 3 birthdays, our and anniversary. We went back to school and were engrossed in school work. The kids all enjoy their classes. We did have some health issues. Nathan had walking pneumonia, Kendal had RSV, which is an infection in the lungs. I also had an issue with my breathing. I kept coughing and could not stop. I got some help, they said that it was called "chest wall syndrome". It is where the chest wall becomes irritated, for no real reason. It took course of the medication to get it to stop.
     February came and went with little change. Richard and my mom turned a year older. We went up to the snow a couple of times. Once was on my mom's birthday. It was cold and snowy. But it was a lot of fun. Work was the same as always, very stressful and a lot of work.
     March is here. I had my evaluation on the first. I still have my job for now. With all the cuts to our state budget, no one really knows if they will have a job or not for next year. We went to an activity that my district does each year, to hear Christopher play his trumpet. The event is called Arts Alive. It is an event that celebrated the different types of arts. Christopher and I filled in for my schools' Hand Bell Choir. they were a couple people short. The kids enjoyed the liquid nitrogen demanstration that was presented. Richard had a fun filled Spring Break. He had to stay home with Jonathan. Jonathan had pink eye and strep throat. Jonathan has passed on the pink eye to Kendal, Morgan, and Richard. Otherwise we are all healthy now.
   I will post more later this week to tell people about our fun filled week.

November Happenings

2009-11-22T20:19:00.003-07:00

We have been busy with school and life events. As the year is coming to a close, it gets more busy. Parent-Teacher conferences went well. I had no complaints about the time I spent with my own children's teachers. I had only one no show. This is really good. I had 26 out of 27 parents come. This is the first time in my 14 years of teaching that this has happened. School is still very stressful and unknowing for me. I just take it one day at a time.

Richard is working hard with his classes at his school. He is still working on his Master's degree. I think we only have one more year to go. I hope!

Christopher and Morgan are having fun in Cub Scouts and Scouts. Jonathan and Nathan are enjoying school. Anne-Marie and Kendal are finally over their ear infections!!! I am most grateful for this.

We have had fun going to baby blessings and birthday parties. I will post some of the photos from the day we shot off the rockets once I get my computer put back together. The kids had a lot of fun. We are going to be doing it again soon. We let all interested parties know when we will be doing this again.

We are looking forward to fun time in the next few weeks with all the family get togethers and family events. I will be sure to post pictures once I get more than five minutes on the computer at a time.

Happy Birthday Kayla

2009-10-22T00:00:00.001-07:00

The Daines Family wishes you a Happy Birthday!

Nathan wants to wish you a happy birthday too. liooiuytrewqkl;'''''bnnnnnnnnnm,./

October Update

2009-10-17T14:06:00.000-07:00

September came and went fast. We are now in October and the month is almost gone as well. I would like to update the happenings of the Daines Family.

On September 19, 2009 my "little" sister Kayla got married to a wonderful man - Bret Woodard. It was a wonderful day. Everyone had a good time. I enjoyed taking photos of the event. Here are a few that I liked.

We have been busy getting ready for school events and family activities. We have had 3 school picture days, 2 open houses, and parent/teacher conferences are next week. This means that I have double duty on a couple days. I have to try and schedule my own children's conferences around my student conferences. It is always a fun experience. In evetiablely there is always some parent upset that I took out time to meet with my own child's teacher at the time they decided to show up. I give them a specific time to come, but they usually show up whenever they want. This year will be no different.

The week of October 5-9th, was suppose to be Richard's fall break. He was called to be on a jury. The jury lasted 3 days. So, he got 2 days of rest. He came and spent lunch with me on Friday. He brought me a chocolate cake and a dozen roses for my birthday. We went out to eat at the Olive Garden that night. It was nice. My parents watched the kids so we could go by ourselves.

We went to the Arizona State Fair last night. We went because it was opening night and we could get in for a $1, if we went before 7pm. We were going to see my brother Scott and his wife Jodi's photos along with mine. I had 7 out of the 8 photos that I submitted, being displayed. Photos to follow in a seperated post. We had fun. Grandpa Daines came along with us. We enjoyed the Indian Fry Bread, cotton candy, and other fun treats from the fair. The kids enjoyed the rides and the Budwiser Clydesdale horses. Us adults enjoyed thier excitement and the photos.

School Days

2009-09-12T22:33:00.001-07:00

School has been in session for five weeks now. We have all gotten into our routines for the year. We have only had 5 serious meltdowns so far. I think we are doing pretty well.

All the kids are enjoying thier classes. I can honestly say that this is the first time in 14 years of teaching, I really like my class. I think Richard likes his classes as well. He doesn't talk much about them.

Nathan has decided to potty train himself. A couple of weeks ago he refused to go to school in pull-ups. I needed to go to a meeting so we didn't argue. I just had him go to the bathroom before we left for school. He was dry for most of the day! Ever since then, he has wanted to wear "under roos" as he calls them.

Anne-Marie is talking more and more. She loves to look at pictures and tell you who they are. She likes you asking her to find people just as much. She has started to come out of her shell at school. We have had our first "agressor" note. It was on the same day as her fourth "victim" note. She had bit another child for getting too close to her. Another child about 3 hours later didn't like the fact that Anne-Marie was looking at Nathan through the window and bit her on the arm. The daycare workers commented to me that they were surprised it too her this long to stand her ground. They figured she would have done it more, living with four older brothers.

Kendal is getting teeth and crawling. She loves to be moblie. We think by Christmas she will try to walk. Her hair is finally growing in! She still has mainly two wispy over her ears. But, she is still very cute.

Jon loves Kindergarten. He likes riding the bus to school (most days). Christopher enjoys sixth grade, and Morgan enjoys fourth grade. All of thier teachers love them for how well they behave.

I have photos, but with Kayla and Bret's Wedding just around the corner, they will have to wait.

Oh What A Year!

2009-08-29T10:58:00.006-07:00

Warning, this is a long, but interesting post.

I noticed that it has been almost a month. I guess it is time for another update. This school year is going to be a roller coaster ride! I'll explain more a little later on in the post. Here is an update on the kids and spouse.

The boys are all really enjoying school. Christopher likes his sixth grade teachers. Morgan like his fourth grade teacher. They like that they are in a class where they can be challenged and paid attention to. They are in the Hybrid class. That is the class where there are English Only (white people) and RFEP's (people who speak another language, but speak English fluently as well) are in the same class. I am glad that my children finally get the attention that they have been lacking in years past. It seems that everyone thinks that the money, resources, and extra help should got to one of two places. They feel it should go to either the low end of the spectrum, too those with special needs, or to those who didn't speak English as their first language. My children, usually got left behind. They have parents who actually interact with them. We actually talk to our kids, and we are involved in their schooling. I don't rely on their teachers to teach them the things that I as a parent am suppose to teach them. I know, that is a novel idea. Some of the parent at my school don't understand this concept.

Jonathan is loving kindergarten. He is attending the Alhambra Kindergarten Center this year. It is located about 3 miles north of my school. Our campus was too small to have all 10 kindergarten class there. So they built another school and move d just our kindergarten to that location. Another school in the district has just 3 of its' kindergarten classes there. But, that school was able to keep 5 of it's other classes actually at their campus. Jonathan is a bus rider! He likes this. I take him, and his brothers to my school's AOK program. That is the before school child care program. They then take him out to meet the school bus in the morning. He is one of the first kids on the bus. The bus then picks up all the other kindergartners and drops them off at school. When he is done with his day, the process just goes in reverse. He is able to be at AOK in the afternoon with Christopher and Morgan. That has helped with the separation anxiety that he suffer from on some days. His teacher says that he is her bright spot in her class. Jonathan is in an English Only class. That means, there are no kids that speak another language. All are kids that spoke English as their first language.

Nathan, Anne-Marie, and Kendal are enjoying their "school" as well. They are actually attending a daycare just about a half of a mile down the road from my school. It makes mornings quite interesting. Getting all six up and dressed, then in the car, with as few tears as possible, all before 6 am. It has been an adventure. I don't think there has been a day that I have not had at least 2 children screaming and or crying all the way to school.

Richard is enjoying his chemistry classes and his physic classes. He is at South Mountain High School still. He has been working on his Master's as well. This has been tough for him. He is working hard, I know his efforts will pay off for him in the end. I am looking forward to the day, I don't have to spend my summers days by myself with all the kids. I know that day will come. I just hope sooner than later.

Now for my year update. (////////////////////////////////////// / ; Anne-Marie's contribution) With regards to my class. I have have a class of 27 wonderful kids. They are all RFEP's. This is the first year in all of my teaching experience, I can truly say, I like. They are wonderful. They are all above grade level with the exception of 3. 24 out of 27 isn't too shabby. I hope this will mean that my test scores on Stat-10 will be good. Maybe then I will be left alone for a while. We'll have to wait and see.

We started off the year with a lot of trainings. I got clock hours for most, but was paid for some. that was nice. As we began the year, we knew that the State wanted us (my district) to do somethings different. My principal took things to the extreme we think. We had to do SIOP lesson plans. SIOP is short for Structured Immersion Observation Plan. These lesson plans are two pages long. I really mean, 2 front sides of an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper. These plans filled the entire page. We had to do one of these lesson plans for every subject for every day. I teach reading, math, vocabulary, spelling, science, social studies, writing, language, and computers daily. That is nine subjects. So my lesson plans were 9 subject times 2 pages per day. That is 18 piece of paper. Then ,multiply that by 5. I was using 90 sheets a week! We had three weeks of this nonsense. It was taking five hours a night to plan! I kid you not! I was arriving at school 6:45 am and leaving school at 6 pm. I was leaving then, only because my daycare was closing at 6:30 pm. We had to have the plans turned in a week before we taught them. So this meant, that I had to turn in the plans for the week of August 24th, on August 17th. Then in turn, I had to turn in plans for the week of August 31st on August 24th. We were so confused on what we were teaching and what we were suppose to be preparing. AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Needless to say they was a mutiny in the works. We found out that we (our school) was the only school in the entire district being required to write these SIOP lesson plans. I am actually at a campus were there are technically 2 schools. We have two principals. One is over grades K-3, the other is over grades 4-8. We share buildings and some staff. The middle school did not have to do the SIOP lesson plans, just the primary school. After 20 to 30 complaints, she finally listened to our cries. Starting the week of September 7th, we can use a modified version of lessons plans that were developed last year. They are only 1 page long! The best part of this is that I don't have to plan until next week. With the other changes, she also agreed to let us turn in our plan for the week, the Monday that we were teaching them. I have some free time in the evening now. Yeah!

For those who are in the know. My issues at school are still not resolved. Things are a little better. Some time lines are longer than originally thought. March 1, 2010 is the new D-Day. This time around, I believe that I will have the support that I need and deserve. I'll keep you posted on how things go. Here is too a more restful and hopefully peaceful school year.

2009-2010 School Year

2009-08-08T22:30:00.003-07:00

The start of a new school year has come. For Richard, it was last Monday. He has had no real break from school. Right after last school year ended in May, he started summer school. He had a week or two in July without school. Then he was back into summer school. His classes ran right up until he had to report back for his district. He is teaching Chemistry and Physics this year. Things are going okay. It has only been one week. We will see how the rest of the year goes.

I reported back this week. I have had a lot of meetings. The State did not like how my district was following the ELL (English Language Learner) model. So, we had to change what we were doing. A lot of the meetings dealt with what we were changing and how we were going to do things to please the State. Our first day of school is on Tuesday of this coming week.

We now have to have classes separated by their level of proficiency in English. Level 1 is the lowest or monolingual. Level 5 is the highest or proficient. I have a class of level 5's. I have 26 students as of today. They did say that there was no cap on the number of kids we could have. Another school in our district has a couple classes of first graders with 39 students in them! YIKES!!!! I hope we don't get that many!

Christopher, Morgan, and Jonathan will all be attending my school this year. All of them will be in English Only classrooms or Level 5/English Only classrooms. It is going to be a very interesting year. I'll keep you informed on how well it goes.

2009-08-02T00:42:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Christopher! WOW!!! You're eleven years old.

Love: Mom, Dad, Morgan, Jonathan, Nathan, Anne-Marie, and Kendal

Happy Anniversary!

2009-08-02T00:00:00.002-07:00

Happy Anniversary Scott & Jodi! Love the Daines Family

Happy Birthday

2009-07-31T00:00:00.001-07:00

Happy birthday Scott! Hope you have a great day! Love TOSOTW group. :)

Happy Birthday

2009-07-19T00:00:00.002-07:00

Happy Birthday Jodi! Hope you have a wonderful day. Love us - people on the other side of the world. Ha Ha Ha.

Congratulations for the Littlest Sister

2009-07-13T21:02:00.003-07:00

Kayla is getting married to Bret Woodard. He is a very nice guy. We are all excited.

Car Issues

2009-07-03T16:30:00.008-07:00

Car issues!!!

We have not had a good summer with regards to cars. Or at least my van. I got my car checked out for it's regular scheduled maintenance. First, they said it would take about 3 hours. I dropped off the car at 8 am. It wasn't until 2 pm that they called to tell me they were done. They told me that I needed to have both my front and back brakes replaced. We respectfully declined. I didn't think I needed to pay about $500 to have the dealership fix them. Richard was able to replace them, with the help of his dad, for a lot less.

While at the dealership, I had asked them to fix my key less entry buttons. There was something wrong in the fuse box, so they had to order the part. I took it back about a week later. I waited the 2 1/2 hours for them to fix the problem. Well, I thought that they fixed the problem. It turns out that my key less entry do-dads wouldn't accept the codes for my car. So the fuse box was fixed, but key less things weren't. I was told that they had to order new ones. They said it would take a couple of days.

While we waited for them to call us back, something else happened with my car. Here is a couple of photos.

Here is the back window in my car. This is the far back window on the side. This is the driver's side. As you can see, the glass is missing!

Here is the seat where little Nathan had been sitting, when the glass broke. :(
There were little pieces of glass all over his legs and seat. And all over the floor.

I was driving to my sister Amber's house to drop off my girls, so the boys could go to swim lessons. We were just driving along Baseline Road. We were at about 32st and Baseline. I was in the lane closest to the sidewalk. I heard a crashing sound. It sounded as though I had possible hit a glass bottle in the rode. I looked out the side mirror, and saw some glass fall by the back window. Then, I heard Nathan crying. He said the the window was gone. I looked in my rear view mirror and saw that he was right. My back window, the one next to him, was gone! I quickly pulled over and checked him out. He was not hurt. No one was hurt. I brushed the glass off of him. I checked out Anne-Marie to make sure she was alright as well. Her seat is on the opposite side of Nathan's. Since everyone was alright, I called Richard and let him know that he needed to meet me at my moms.

We cleaned the car up. Sorry Dad. I burned up the wet/dry vac. We will get you a new one soon. Thanks Scotty, for helping with your industrial sized vac. We called around to get the price of how much it would cost to fix it. We were shocked! The first quote was $1300!!!! The reason we were told, was because it has the radio antenna running through it and because it has special mounting brackets. Needless to say, we were not happy. Richard did some checking around the next few days. We were able to get it fixed for under $300. We went to a local mechanic that we have used and really like. He was able to get the window for about $200 and the rest of the price was tax and labor. The glass was from another Hyundai Entourage. It got it from someone in Tuscon. It only took him 20-25 minutes to install it. We are very happy customers. We are grateful to Ken at Desert Auto Works.

Nathan is happy. He didn't like driving around with the wind in his face all the time. He kept telling me to stop or roll up the window. I just laughed and said that I couldn't.

It was just this past week that I finally got my keys fixed. they told me it would be another 2 1/2 hours. I was pleasantly surprised to only have to wait about 45 minutes. Yeah! I think we have had our turn with the car gods. It is someone else's turn. Any takers? LOL

Sunset Crater & Wuptaki

2009-07-03T15:59:00.011-07:00

On June 21st we packed up our rooms and the cars. We ate a good breakfast and headed out to explore nature once again. On this particular day we drove a little ways North of Flagstaff on US 89. We went to Sunset Crater & Wuptaki Indian Ruins. Again, it was free because of the free fee weekend. We got out and took a mile hike around the Sunset Crater area. For those who may not know, Sunset Crater is an extinct volcano. In fact the San Fransisco Peaks are/were volcanoes. They are not active, and haven't been for a very long time. The entire area around there is volcanic.

Here are a few photos. I really like this one of Jonathan doing his Karate moves!

There was a whole series of photos. Just too many to put on the blog. If anyone is interested, I can show you them later. They were very cute.

Here is my father-in-law with Anne-Marie on his shoulders, and Christopher and Morgan just walking along. The next photo is that of the lava flow from one of the volcanoes.

The above photo is of Sunset Crater. The photo below is of Anne-Marie and Kendal just chilling in the shade of a tree. they were waiting for us to stop taking photos of the landscape.

Here is a tree on the side of Sunset Crater. It was a beautiful looking tree. I am not sure if this is one that my father-in-law took, Richard took, or myself. we all had taken at least one photo of the tree.

Here Richard is waiting for Nathan to decided if he is going to walk or not. He wanted to be carried, and as from the photo, you can see Richard had his arms full already.

Here are the boys hanging out in a tree. Grandpa posed them very well! Aren't they cute?!

Here is the whole family resting for a short time. Anne-Marie walked most of the way. As you can see, she didn't make it. She is sleeping on Richard's lap. Kendal didn't make it either. She is sleeping in the stroller.

Here I am with Kendal walking along the trail. I think Jonathan is in the background bringing up the rear.

Once we had completed the hike around Sunset Crater we set off on a short 13-20 mile drive to Wuptaki Indian Ruins. The kids in my car were asleep before we left the parking lot. It was a pleasant 13-20 mile ride. It was was nice and quiet, I could actually hear the songs that were playing on my CD!

When we arrived at one of the ruins, everyone but the adults were asleep. Richard decided that he would stay with all the sleeping kids. So my father-in-law and I went and looked around. Here is one of the ruins we looked at. I like how there is a nice contrast between the red rock of the ruin and the bright blue sky.

After looking at this ruin, we drove a short distance more to the visitor's center. Again, most kids were asleep. So again the same two people got out and looked at and photographed the ruins. Now, because it was getting late, and we knew traffic new Phoenix would be hectic, we decided to pack up and go. We had to do some diaper changing, and a quick feed of Kendal. Not to mention we had to do the potty break thing. And off we went.

Here is a cute photo of Nathan. As you can see, he was worn out from the trip. At first glance it looked as if he had done something terribly wrong to his feet and his hands. But, then we looked closer, and he has his socks on one had, and one foot. The foot one, just happens to be backwards.

We drove back to Flagstaff, had a good lunch at Wendy's, and headed back to the valley. We all had a great time. Next time we are going to try and hit Snow Bowl to do the ski lifts, and maybe Lowell Observatory again. We hope to actually see something next time. This was a great trip for all. It was a nice Father's Day for my husband and father-in-law.

Walnut Canyon

2009-07-03T15:31:00.007-07:00

On June 20th, we woke up early. We ate a good breakfast, and set off to explore nature. We went to Walnut Canyon. It is a National Park just east of Flagstaff on I-40. I had heard that it was very beautiful and has an easy hike. After all I have six kids, a husband with a bad knee, and my father-in-law. There was a lot of different ability levels. I wanted something all could do. I wanted it to be an exerting event. And it was. Everyone except Kendal walked the whole time. Well, most of the time that is. Everyone Jonathan and younger hitched a ride for a short while. It was a nice day. It wasn't too hot, but it did get warm. We had a good time talking with each other and enjoying each other's company. Here is some photos of our experience.

Richard, Marie, Kendal, and Nathan outside a ruin. Richard's Dad is the photographer of this one.

The whole family inside an alcove. Again, Richard's Dad is the photographer.

Here is a ruin. It was on the other side of the canyon.

After we had done our hike, we went to Wendy's and had some ice cream. Yeah for chocolate Frostys!!! Christopher was glad to find out that they had brought back the broccoli and cheese potatoes. At least in Flagstaff they have.

We let the kids, and ourselves, rest for a while. The kids went swimming in the hotel's pool. If you ask Nathan what his favorite part of the trip is, he'll tell you it was the swimming part. We then went and got some pizza for Morgan's birthday. We played games, at least the boys did. Morgan said that he had a good birthday. He liked that we got him Jenga in a cool book like box.

Lowell Observatory

2009-06-27T01:36:00.002-07:00

On June 19th, we decided to go to Flagstaff, Arizona and have some fun. It will probably be my only true vacation this summer, so I wanted to have fun and be cool. We took my father-in-law as well. My mother-in-law became ill suddenly and was unable to go. She is doing fine now.

We caravaned up to Flagstaff. We left the valley around 10:30 am. It was not too hot! :) Traffic was not bad either. :) We took our own sweet time driving up. We took I-17, and other than construction as we left Phoenix, it wasn't too bad.

Once we arrived in Flagstaff we checked in to our hotel, and then went exploring. It was a Free Fee weekend for the National Parks. We decided to let the kids run around and get out some energy. We went to a park at the base of the mountain where Lowell Observatory is located. The kids had fun swinging, climbing on the jungle gyms, and running around. Even Anne-Marie was having fun and laughing.

Kendal having fun blowing bubbles in the park.

After the kids played in the park we ate dinner, and then went to the observatory. It is really cheap! It was $6 for adults and $2 or $3 for kids over the age of 5. They have an area for hands on activities. They have models that you can manipulate. Here the boys were putting the planets in order. They have removed the Pluto sphere from the activity. You can still put the name plate where it belongs though.

They also had some maps, charts, graphs, and other activities that deal with space and science. Once the kids were bored of this area, we went to the Pluto Telescope. This is the actual telescope that Mr. Lowell discovered Pluto with. Very interesting. Usually you are able to look through it, but on this particular night it was cloudy.

We walked around the grounds for a while just taking in the beautiful flowers and plants. Not to mention the beautiful smelling air as well. We then went to another telescope, where Morgan was picked to move the dome. The dome moves using a lot of tires. Morgan was excited to know that he was the first and only Daines to be able to do this. Here he is with the controls in his hands. You can see the tires in the photo. While walking on the grounds we noticed a cool looking tree. It is called the George Washington Tree. It is a tree that was planted the year George Washington was born. It was cut down in 2001 or so. It was interesting to see the rings in it. Some were really big. Where as others were very small. We had Morgan stand next to it. He thought it was cool as well.

I have more adventures, but need to get some sleep. I will post more tomorrow about the rest of our weekend.

Swim Lessons! :( and :)

2009-06-27T00:22:00.003-07:00

Swim Lessons and Their Adventures

I have put my four boys into swim lessons this summer. I have had all four excited to go to swim lessons. I also have had all four weeping and wailing about going to swim lessons. It is always and adventure to see what the combination is going to be on that particular day.

I live in Laveen. There are no convenient pools in my area. So I decided to put them into Mesa's Park and Recreation program. I am familiar with this program. I lived in Mesa most of my life and had gone through the same system. I trust these people to teach my kids right. We had also used them when we lived in Mesa a few years ago. I went to sign them up and a lot of the pools that I was familiar with were not open for lessons. I was a bit bummed. :( But, I spoke with Amber and asked her about her experience out at Brimhall Jr. High. She gave them a thumbs up. So I decided to put my kids in lessons out there.

You need to know that this is an adventure every day. Lessons begin at 11:45 am. We have to leave my house by 10:00 am. I have to drive the 30 miles or so to get to my sister Amber's house. Some days the freeway is kind, others, not so much. Amber has graciously offered to watch my two girls while I take the boys to lessons. The girls love it. They enjoy playing with their cousins. I know Emma has enjoyed it as well. Thanks Amber! :) Some days we stay and play afterward as well. Nathan has enjoyed the time with Emma as well. A couple of days ago they were holding hands and hiding under the kitchen table. They were hiding from "monsters". I believe the "monsters" were anyone other than themselves. It was very cute.

Here are Christopher and Morgan doing their impersonations of Superman.

Here are Jonathan and Nathan "painting" themselves before their lesson.

Family Gatherings

2009-06-27T00:07:00.003-07:00

We have been busy doing a lot of family events this summer. We usually spend part of the day at either one of the Grandma's houses. On June 10th, it was kinda of hot. So we let the kids go out and play in the wading pools in the backyard at my mom's. I decided to let Kendal go as well. Here she is getting wet in a pool for the first time.

She didn't seem to mind. The water was cold though. She only staying in for a few minutes. Then she was done. She began to scream and shout. I think mostly because she was hungry, but possibly because she was cold.

On June 13th, we got together as a family for a baby blessing. My sister Kirsha and her husband Gregg, had their baby blessed at my mom's house. We had a good time talking with family and friends. Here is a cute picture of Taylor in her blessing dress. (Yes Beezy, I will get you copies soon.)

Children's Museum Pictures

2009-06-26T23:18:00.004-07:00

June 5th, 2009

Children's Museum

Emma, Amber and Nathan writing their names with glittler and glue! Very Fun, and messy! :)

Richard, Chistopher, Jonathan, and Anne-Marie coloring pictures.

2009-06-20T00:01:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Morgan! WOW!!! You are nine years old.

Love: Mom, Dad, Christopher, Jonathan, Nathan, Anne-Marie, and Kendal

Summer Happenings

2009-06-10T21:15:00.002-07:00

The past couple of weeks have been rather busy. I have been working on creating a math curriculum for my grade level with another co-worker. It has been fun spending someone else's money. We were told to find things that we wanted and make a list. Our boss was going to buy it for us. We decided to use the money wisely and get only the things we needed. We have created the curriculum, not we are just waiting for the supplies to arrive.

We went to the Children's Museum with Amber, Aaron, Emma, and Sara. We had a good time. The boys want to go again, but without the little ones. We waited an hour to get in, but time flew by because we were talking with each other. The boys really liked the "Noodle Maze". They had fun going through it several times. Christopher and Morgan also liked the part where they got to play with washers and nails. There was a board set up like the "Plinko" game from the Price Is Right. Nathan like the sand art and the play area that was designed for children three and younger. Anne-Marie and Kendal had no opinion, but liked walking around.

I have some photos. I need to down load them, but will have some up soon.

Illness Galore

2009-06-03T00:19:00.006-07:00

Can we say, glad that it is summer?! This past week has seen crazy with people being sick. It started out with Anne-Marie and Kendal being sick with double ear infections. Then Nathan was sick with diarrhea and throwing up. Then we had Jonathan doing the same thing. Both Richard and I had headaches and feeling queasy. Neither one of us ever threw up. I think we are all back on the mend.

Luckily, Morgan and Christopher were not affected. They have been enjoying themselves at Cub Scout DayCamp. We will let you know how things have gone later. They have one more day. They have been really tired every day that they have come home. It has been nice. We have all been able to catch up on our sleep.

I'll have to write more later. I have to go take care out my youngest. She thinks it is her turn to eat.

Summer Events Part 2

2009-06-02T23:29:00.009-07:00

On Friday, May 29th Richard and i had a date night. We have not had one of these for a while. We did take our youngest child with us though. We thought that leaving two sick kids with grandma might be a bit too much.

Richard and I went to the Diamondbacks game. We chose Friday night, because we wanted to see the fireworks. We took the Light rail again. It is nice not having to look for a parking spot. The only bad thing is that, it take about an hour to get to the ballpark or home.

It was nice not having to worry about where all my kids were. We were able to sit next to each other and have some adult conversation. We sat in section 315 row 9. We were just above home plate. We had great seats for watching the fireworks. It was an okay game, until the second inning. That is when the Atlanta Braves scored 5 or 6 runs. It ended up being a bad game with regards to the Diamondbacks. they lost 10 to 6. The thing that made us unhappy the most, was that they cancelled the fireworks at the very end. Just as the game ended, they came on the loud speaker and said that due to the high winds the fireworks had to be cancelled. Bummer. Maybe next time.

On Saturday, I went to lunch with the rest of the girls in the family. It was my mom and all of my sisters. Most of them brought their girls as well. It was suppose to be an all girls date, but Nathan came along with me. Richard and I had split up the kids. The three older boys with him and then the two girls and Nathan with me. We did it that way so Nathan would be legal and in a car seat. We went to the Olive Garden for lunch. It was nice. I had not been to the Olive Garden in over three months. It was very delicious.

While we were at the Olive Garden, my other boys went to Red Robin. They enjoyed themselves with daddy. Nathan would rather have gone to Red Robin, and Jonathan would have rather gone to Olive Garden. Oh well, we can't win them all.

After lunch went to Grandma Daines' house. We had arranged for her to watch some kids while we went to the movies with Kayla and her boyfriend Bret. While we waited for Bret and Kayla the kids played the Wii and badminton. Once Kayla arrived, we decided to go see the movie UP.

We took all the boys to the movie. We treated Kayla and Bret to the movie. It was a very good movie. I would give it a five out of five stars. Everyone enjoyed themselves. Nathan laughed a lot. Not a single boy asked to use the bathroom. This means that the movie kept their attention. It must be a great movie. On the way out, Nathan saw the posters for the new Harry Potter movie. He was very sad to leave the theater. He wanted to watch the movie. He was trying to stay until he was able to see the movie. We mentioned, that it didn't come out until July 15th. That didn't help. I mentioned that Harry Potter was on the TV at grandma's and that seemed to help a lit bit.

They boys want to do the whole movie thing with Kayla and Bret again. We will have to see. I am not sure what they, Kayle and Bret, thought. We will have to wait and see.

Summer Events Part 1

2009-06-02T22:30:00.001-07:00

It has been a very busy time for us this past week or so. School ended on May 21st. The kids and I were quite excited about this. Richard was excited as well. He starts his summer school on June 15th. So he gets to stay at home and do some work around the house. Things don't get done fast around here when both of us are working and don't get home until 6 or 7 pm most nights.

We were planning on going camping over Memorial Day weekend. It was our ward's camp out. We did not end up going. Both girls ended up being sick. Anne-Marie and Kendal both had double ear infections. We decided that going camping was not the wisest choice. Instead we stayed in town. We took the opportunity to have some family time.

We went to Grandma Thompson's and played cards with the Aunts and Uncles. The kids enjoyed playing with their cousins. Richard and I enjoyed talking with other adults. Not something I got to do on a regular basis when I was working. I teach first graders.

On Memorial Day, we went to Grandma Daines' for some fun. The kids had built a race track the night before. They were having their own Indy 500 race. The kids enjoyed the race. All were able to race who wanted to race. It allowed all the kids a chance to have fun in the sun. As the races rolled along, they got more and more creative about the races. Morgan kept introducing new obstacles onto the track. He would do this at the spur of the moment. Needless to say, this did not make some people happy. I must admit though, it was funny to see their reactions when it happened.

After the races, we had a BBQ lunch, and then we went swimming. Amber, Aaron, Emma, and Sara came over and went swimming with us. Amber has posted some photos already on here blog. By the way, we would like to get those photos please. We will stop by and get them from you later. We will have some photos later on this week.

Summer Time!!!!

2009-05-27T21:05:00.002-07:00

It is summer time. We teachers are very excited to be free from our students. As a parent it can be a fun time as well. We will be posting some of our fun times from the past week later. Nathan just wanted to write something on the computer. So here is his contribution to the blog. I warn you in advance, I have no clue how to interpret what is written. LOL !!

nhbnnvbhvbb n nyfv nnnng hhhhhhfffffffffggjyrurtjr7utjjtyuytujryht

He said, "That's all!" And now "I want to type some more letters mom!"

;bl.h.hlkljl.uuuuupjouuuuu7l7;u7==up7'gdzdassst2gwr52223r4

Canoing with Uncle Scotty

2009-05-16T22:39:00.004-07:00

Scotty Canoing with his "minions".

After last weekends events at the Payson Wildlife Fair, the kids wanted to go canoeing with Scott. My dad, Grandpa, went out in the canoe at the fair. They wanted to go canoing with Scotty. They were a little unhappy that Scott and Jodi didn't make it. We told the "minions" that Scott would take them out in the boat soon.

Today was the day. We met Scott, Jodi, Amber, Aaron, Emma, Sara, and Camron at my In-laws' house. The have a lake near by. We took the little ones over to the lake. They were very excited. They all wanted to go with Scott. Here they are with Scott in the canoe.

Everyone got a chance to go in the boat with Scott. All of the children went in the boat for a while. Scott and Jodi even went by themselves. After about an hour or so we decided to come in and cool off. The three "triplets" wanted to help Scott take the canoe out of the water. And Scott let them. Here they are pulling the canoe out of the lake.

Once the canoe was out of the water, they wanted to get back in it. Here are all of the kids playing in it. Emma and Camron are paddling their way to freedom.

While the kids were taking turns in the canoe, the others were playing on the playground equipment. Anne-Marie was unsure about the slide. Once I got her to go down once, she was hooked. She then wanted to do it herself. Here she is as she came down the slide for the first time by herself.

We all had a fun time today. Thanks Scott and Jodi for bringing your canoe. Will will need to do this again sometime. We would like to do this up in the mountains. Where things are a lot cooler.

Children's Achievement - May 12th, 13th, and 15th 2009

2009-05-16T22:07:00.006-07:00

Children's Achievements for the Month of May

Here is Morgan with his certificates. He got two. Once is for Reading and One is for Math. He improved in both on a test called ForSight. It is an AIMS predictor test. The ceremony was on May 12th in the afternoon. Because I teach at the school, I usually get to go to these types of things. This time, the event was at the same time that I had duty. His teacher waited until the very end to read his name. She was stalling to give me more time. My duty is car pick up. I get out one hour before Morgan does. I came in at the very last minute. He was the last kid to be recognized. We are very proud of Morgan's achievements.

On May 13th Christopher had a band concert. He plays the trumpet. His band is the typical 5th grade band. Everyone is new and awkward. We were able to recognize the songs that they were playing. We are very proud of Christopher too.

Morgan in his top hat and bow tie. He chose green to go with his eyes. Isn't he handsome?! Especially with his golden framed eye glasses.

On May 15th I had the pleasure of watching Morgan and his class do a musical performance. It was done in the style of a Broadway Musical. There was singing and dancing. the name of the show was: The Electric Cat. It was all about a cat who was scared by thunder and lighting. The cat goes up in the tree and doesn't come down for a while. It was very cute. I enjoyed the musical performance.

Payson Wildlife Fair - May 9th, 2009

2009-05-16T21:36:00.004-07:00

Payson Wildlife Fair

Emma and Nathan having fun in the park. I don't know who is pulling who. They were playing like this for a good fifteen to twenty minutes.

Here is Grandpa Thompson out in the canoe. Apparently Camron didn't want to go in the end. Grandpa had fun anyways.

While Grandpa, Grandma, Kirsha, and Camron were doing things together, the rest of us went fishing. We walked around and saw lots of animals. My children did other things, like hold snakes, and pet alligators. But, what they really wanted to do was go fishing with Uncle Scotty. Due to some unforeseen complications, Scott and Jodi were not able to be with us. You guys were missed.

We went fishing with out them. We got some poles and bait, and then picked a spot to sit. We sat and fished for a while. They loved the idea of fishing. But they can't stand to wait for the fish to actually bite the hook.

As Amber stated in her blog, we were casting the lines out, almost as fast as they were reeling them in.

Even Anne-Marie got into the spirit of the event. She wanted to hole the pole as well.

Here is Morgan and his fish. He was the only one to actually catch something. He was quite surprised by it. He was just reeling in his line and someone else shouted, "Hey! You got a fish!" He was very happy.

Here are more of the kids fishing.

Here is Anne-Marie and I petting the alligator. She was NOT happy about it.

G.A.T.E. - May 6th, 2009

2009-05-16T21:22:00.003-07:00

G.A.T.E.

GATE is the Gifted Education program for my school district. Student who qualify for the program go to a separate school once every six days. They work on things that are more advanced than what they would be doing in their regular classes. Both Morgan and Christopher are in this program. Christopher has been in this program since third grade. He is just 3 1/2 days away from being a sixth grader. Morgan has been in the program just the one year. He is just 3 1/2 days away from becoming a fourth grader.

While at GATE, the work on projects. Morgan's project was to invent something that would be useful around the house. His invention was "Super Goggles"! They were suppose to make seeing things easier. And they would help fix problems. He said that he thought of me when he invented them.

This is his "Patent" Certificate.

Here he is with his invention.

Christopher's project was to map out all the locations in the United States where missile and rockets are located. He worked on this with another student from his school.

Pinewood Derby - April 28th, 2009

2009-05-16T21:04:00.006-07:00

Here are the three boys after the pinewood derby race. Christopher and Morgan were the ones who raced for reals. Jonathan got to race his car after all the real races had been raced. All of the cub scout boys got participation ribbons. I believe niether one of my children came in first in thier age group. So, I do not know if they are going to race again in the district race. We will let you all know.

Here is Christopher and Jonathan watching thier cars race each other. Christopher's is the red one. Jonathan's is the gold one.

Here are Morgan's and Christopher's cars. Morgan's car is the green rocket. Christopher's is the red race one. The one with the silver stripe.

Morgan waiting for his car to come down.

Christopher watching his car race.

Everyone had fun on this night.

Double Date

2009-04-26T11:05:00.009-07:00

Last night was suppose to be a date night. Something we have not had the opportunity to do in a long time. I purchased four baseball tickets through work. My district usually gets tickets to a couple of Diamondback games every year. They are of course at the group rate. They are cheaper this way, then buying them on my own.

Richard and I had planned to go with another couple from his work. But, his friend's girlfriend couldn't go. So we offered her ticket to another coworker of Richard's, Chris. Then the first friend couldn't go. So now we had one ticket left. I knew none of mine family would be able to go. They all had kids of their own to watch, or were out of town. So we decided to offer the ticket to one of our own kids. There were lots of takers on this idea. But the others knew that they would be staying at Grandma Daines. So, most were town between the idea of going to the baseball game and staying and playing the Wii. Jonathan was the "chosen one" for this evening.

We decided that it would be easier to "ride the rails", then try and park at the game. So, we drove to the old Tri-City mall parking lot. We parked our car and took the light rail to the game. Jonathan was not sure about the whole thing, but was easily convinced it would be okay. The ride was not bad. It was our first time on the light rail. I think we would do it again.

We had a double date. Richard and I, and then Jonathan and Kendal. Jon said, "I'm too young to date! What is a date?" I just laughed and said he would find out later.

Here is Jonathan and Kendal. Kendal is not sure about her date.

Here is the view of the field from our seats. We were in section 313 row 19. We had a good view of the field. It wasn't a bad view at all. If we go again, we will probably get seats similar to this. We would like to go on a Friday, so we would have a great view of the fireworks.
Here is a series of pictures that Richard took. It starts out with the pitcher, and ends with the batter hitting the ball.

Jonathan thought it was cool that Richard had gotten the series of photos with my camera. He commented that Scotty would have liked to be there and see the game as well. He could have also let him, Jon, take photos of the game. Unfortunately we, the Diamondbacks, lost the game. We had fun though. Maybe next time we could have a real date, without any kiddos.

Easter Blessings

2009-04-20T22:23:00.014-07:00

Easter Sunday was a beautiful day. It had rained the night before. Things were clean and beautiful outside. It was a fresh start for the day.

We started the day out getting all showered and cleaned up. We then went to Grandma and Grandpa Daines' house. There were lots of cousins to play with. We had to finish getting ready for the party.

Because it was Easter, we let the kids hide and find eggs. We had all plastic eggs. Grandpa doesn't like finding the other kind months later! :( Cori's, Mike's wife, (Richard's brother's), family tradition is to have the kids find their Easter baskets. They are usually hidden all over the house. We decided to have all the Daines cousins participate in this fun activity. There were 13 kids looking for 13 baskets. The big kids did participate half heartily. They were kind enough to help the younger children.

We had a wonderful family get together on April 12, 2009. All of Richard's sisters and brother were in town. We had fun posing for the Daines Family Photo. This was the entire Daines family! We took the photos over by the lake. The photographer did a good job getting all the kids to be happy and smiling in the photos. Even Kendal was happy for a while. She then took photos of each individual family. You'll be getting a copy later mom.

Around 3:00 pm, my family began to arrive. My family lives here locally. Well, most of them do. My older brother David lives in Louisiana, and my youngest sister, Kayla lives in Thatcher. Kayla was at the party though.

At 3:30 pm we blessed Kendal. We had the blessing outside in the backyard. It was a beautiful day. The sun was out and it was just right temperature wise. The blessing only lasted about 10 minutes. We then got ready for the food.

While the food was cooking, my side of the family looked for Easter eggs and played in the backyard. There were about 20 kids running around having fun. This gave the parents a chance to talk and socialize. I think it was a good day.

Here are some pictures.

Kendal in her beautiful blessing gown. Relaxing and enjoying Grandpa Daines' backyard.

The "Triplets" enjoying the view of Grandpa Daines' front yard.

The "Triplets" in Grandpa Daines's backyard. Doesn't Nathan look guilty?!
They were all just trying to say "CHEESE".

Secret Codes

2009-04-16T19:35:00.001-07:00

So sorry for the mix up with the font. I have no idea what happened. Try reading things now. Hopefully they will be fine.

Spring Fever

2009-04-13T22:26:00.004-07:00

You can tell that Spring is in the air. My students are acting crazy, my children are acting crazy, and I think I am going crazy. LOL!!!

I had to spend 4 hours with my students, while being locked in my classroom today. We were on lock down. That means that the school is closed (locked) to everyone. No one is allowed to leave or enter the school campus. Apparently there was a police situation in the neighborhood near our school. Luckily we had eaten lunch and were coming in after recess. There were four other first grade classes that had not eaten lunch yet. Those student ate lunch at 1:45 pm. We usually go home at 2:30 pm. My students we going stir crazy in the classroom. We were not allowed to leave, not even to use the restroom. Luckily they (administration), came and escorted the entire class to the restroom. I had some who had been doing the "potty" dance for a few minutes. everyone was fine and safe the whole time. We had been put on lock down just as a precaution. At the end of the day, I was glad to send them all home. They could drive their parents crazy now. Tomorrow will be a new day. I am sure they will drive me crazy tomorrow as well.

It has been a very busy week. Richard's sister Leslie and her family have been in town visiting. They arrived late Saturday, April 3rd. We spent all day Sunday the 4th of April. They came from Chevy Chase, Maryland. It was their spring break this week.

I hate how spring breaks rarely match with multiple family members. Richard had his break in early March. My children's' and my break was the week after. Then Mike and Cori's (Richard's brother and wife) family had their break the week after us, which was two weeks ago. And now Leslie has hers.

It was nice to spend time with them. We had not seen them for over five years. The last time we saw them was when Jonathan was three weeks old. He is now 5 years old. We had fun spending time together.

My children truly enjoyed the time they spent with their cousins. Peter was great with the boys. He is now in high school. I don't think he minded, that my boys were so much younger than him. He enjoys video games and electronic things. Exactly what my children like. Christina and Sarah were wonderful as well. Christina is now in eighth grade, and Sarah is in fourth grade (I think). They loved playing with and taking care of Anne-Marie. I had free babysitters for a week! It was all volunteered time, even better.

It was nice to get to socialize with adults for more than 5 minutes. We had a good time this past week. I have more to write, but I will save that for another post.

Camping in the Pines!

2009-03-26T22:30:00.000-07:00

We ended our Spring Break with a little family get together in the pines. Wewent to Bear Flats with my brother, two sisters, and my parents.

My kids wee a little sad to go at first. My husband's (Richard) brother's family was in town. My boys really wanted to go to Grandma Daines' to play with thier cousins. I said nope, we are going camping. There was alot of wailing and nashing of teeth all on Friday. Once we were in the car and driving, the whole atmosphere changed. They were excitied to go where it was going to be a bit cooler. Boy, did they get a shock! It was actually quite cold on Friday night. But we did fine.

My children loved beig able to explore nature. They also loved being able to go on hikes with thier "favorite" uncle, uncle Scotty. Nathan and Anne-Marie seemed to enjoy him the most. They love the other aunts and uncles too.

It was nice to get to talk to adults for longer than two minutes at a time. It was also nice to not have to worry about my children getting into something that could hurt them.

Morgan loved building a dam in the creek. His brothers and cousins loved to break it down.

Nathan enjoyed playing with his other "Triplet Cousins". He has not stopped talking about how Camron and "Hemma" splashed him with water.

Christopher had a good time resting as well. Thanks for taking the photo Jodi.

Anne-Marie loved being able to just roam around and not have to be confined.

Kendal enjoyed the warm sun and the cool breeze. She is feeling the consequences of her time basking in the sun. Here is a before photo. Here is an after photo. She g sunburned on her nose and cheeks. It blistered and is peeling. :( She is doing better now. We want to go again.

Spring Break Blues

2009-03-16T18:56:00.002-07:00

We started off our Spring Break by cleaning the garage out. It took all day Saturday, but it is done. I do have three boxes of stuff to go through, but the majority of the mess is gone. I can now open up the van door, step out and walk. I am no longer almost killing myself on the stuff in the garage. My kids found some treasures there. Some prize stuffed animals, prize drawings, and toys. They did not know what they were getting into this week.

My children were in a state of shock this morning. I told them that there was no computer games until we cleaned up the house. They were wanting to revolt right then and there. I manged to bribe the "indians" with the possibility of playing the DS. They were thrilled because I had "found" it. It has been "lost" for quite a while now.

The kids started to help me clean up the loft. We were putting the books back up on the shelves and putting trash in the trash bags. You would have thought that they had found gold. They were finding lots of different things; toys, laptops, special books, etc.. They did not like it when I said, "See what you might find when you clean up your stuff. Don't blame me anymore for "losing" your junk."

They are going to be shocked again when they learn that tomorrow is filled with the same sort of schedule. We will b working on the mountain of laundry. Wednesday is the fun day. They get to play at grandma's house. We have to do our taxes that evening. But Thursday will be more of the same, cleaning and putting stuff away.

First Blog

2009-03-09T23:04:00.003-07:00

Here is our first blog. I figured since everyone was asking me if I had a blog, I should probably do one. Richard may or may not add comments to this thing. We will have to wait and see. This may be something that gets done once a month. Who knows. Please let me know what you all think.

I may even have my children do some of these postings. We will have to wait and see.