A New Sheriff In Town

Well about 3 weeks ago Madisyn came home with a form to fill out to try to be on Bus Patrol. On this form she needed to tell how she would handle any conflicts while the bus driver was driving and also 3 qualities about herself. So she asked me what were some of her qualities and told me that she at least needed 3. I told her only 3 ? I could name MANY so I started naming them off... Trust worthy, friendly, dependable, hard worker, peace maker, kind and so on. So she wrote down about 5 and then the next day she turned it in. So for the next couple of weeks she was so nervous "if any of you really know Maddy you'll understand" waiting to hear if she made it. Now the reward with being a bus patrol person is... sometime near the end of the school year the school takes all of the students who are on bus patrol to Mall Of America and they get an all day pass to ride all the rides there! So this is a big deal for a 4th grader, so last week Maddy got called to the Principal's office and was told that she made it! We were so excited for Madisyn she is such a hard worker and this really fits right in with her personality she is our "Little Mother Hen" I often tell her "I don't know how You and Ashley made it with out you being there to worry about the two of you." Good Job Maddy! We love You.

My Memories

Today was a sad day for me I lost my Grandma Armour. After I got off the phone with my mom I just sat there and thought of all my memories I had with my Grandma. I feel pretty lucky to have spent as much time as I did with her in my childhood. My grandma lived with my mom and step dad so I have many fond memories of her. I thought I would reflect on some of those great memories! My Grandma Armour taught me to crochet and helped me make many hot pads for my mom. She also was the judge of my step sister and mine endless coloring contest that she would always to determine they were to close to call a winner! She would always lend her couch to me to sleep on when I'd come into her room in the middle of the night because my step sister was gone at a sleep over and I was too scared to sleep down stairs by myself. My grandma made my favorite meal (to this day) and would spend all day cooking it. She would always let my into her mini fridge and get a V8 or other yummy juice. I loved going to my Grandma's room and just hanging out, and though over time living in different states I haven't stayed as close to her as I would have liked I will hold with me my memories and a piece of her in my heart.

My Little Story Teller

Hannah's favorite thing to do is to look at books she can sit and look at a book for quite a long time carefully looking at every page. She loves to be read to and after I'm done reading to her she loves to go back over the story and re-tell it in her own way! Turning each page and rambling off a story. I think she 'll have a love of reading like Madisyn and I, which I hope is the case there's nothing like curling up and reading a good book!

Movie Under The Stars

Well after almost 3 1/2 years in Minnesota we finally found a drive-in movie theater ( thanks Andrea) just in time too last night was the last showing for the season. So we loaded up the kids and went to see a movie now it wasn't exactly a short drive it was at least an hour away,but totally worth it. We stopped at the store on the way to the movie and let the kids load up on candy and popcorn for the show and got there with plenty of time to let the kids set up their chairs and get ready for the show. All in all it turned out to be a pretty fun night and all of us enjoyed ourselves!

Emily and Hannah waiting for the movie to start.















Maddy and Emily warming up my spot!















Hannah enjoying one of her many refreshments.

Seminary

I must say I'm impressed with the youth out here. In Utah we were able to take seminary as an elective, out here and I'm sure as well as all the other states besides Utah their option is early morning seminary an hour before school starts,that makes for quite the long day. It has been very tiring for me, and I'm able to crawl back into bed for a little while, I can't say the same for the youth or there seminary teachers who start their day at 4:30 or 5:00. I am thankful for a teenager that is willing to go to seminary and not complain about it ( most days!) with all of the bad influences out there I'm glad that every morning she is able to go to seminary and to feel the spirit and hopefully remind her of what she stands for before she heads off to school. I must say I'm a little jealous of Ashley and all that she gets to learn about this year in seminary,I asked Mike if he thinks Sister Oelkers would mind if I went with Ashley to seminary and he said, " I don't think that's a good idea " I said why? He then said,"you would just try to hold her hand and talk to her." I of course said WHAT? He then said ,"well that's what you did to me!" he is right I did do that and maybe if I would have listened then I wouldn't be so envious of Ashley now. Well in close I am thankful for seminary it really is so important for the youth, for seminary in St.Francis so that I don't have to drive to Anoka which is about 20-25 minutes away, Jan Oelkers for teaching Ashley seminary oooh sooo early in the morning and for a child I didn't have to force to go to seminary!

T.G.I.F

THANK GOODNESS ITS FRIDAY! Well its been a crazy week with early morning seminary,dance classes on 2 different nights,church activities,packing lunches,homework,20 minutes of reading each night,a sick child and all my other motherly duties, I'm tired! I'm sure by the end of the month I'll be back into the swing of things ( i hope) but as for now I'm just trying to get over the care-free summer. I'm looking forward to the weekend to relax and hang out with my family and not being such a bear! I'm thankful for my girls that love me even when I am bear.

The Shoe Monster

Well its been 7 days of school and every morning its been a fight between Hannah and Emily. Emily goes to put on her new shoes and Hannah's there screaming"my shoes Emily" as shes pulling them off Emily's feet. Well yesterday morning Emily comes out of her room and says " I found my old blue shoes, now Hannah will leave me alone." Just as she finished that sentence Hannah screams "my shoes Emily!" So Emily tried to coax her into wearing her new shoes but of course she wants the shoes that Emily's putting on now, and of course Emily now wants her old blue shoes. So hears what happens next.......













































Thanks Emily your the best!

Movie Nights

Mike has been dying to get a projector for forever so for this past Christmas and birthday he took the money he got and bought himself one, so its kinda the thing we do on the weekends. We pop some popcorn and the girls set up their chairs and we have ourselves a movie night. This Saturday it was" The Incredibles" Hannah always gets so excited when she sees Mike carrying the bag that holds the projector and as soon as he pulls it out of the bag she runs and takes her place by the wall which she knows it will soon be projected on ,and then we have to coax her to her seat with popcorn so we can all see the movie. Its a present that the whole family has enjoyed. So thanks Mike for sharing.

The are watching the movie on the wall in front of them but it didn't show up in the picture.

Pretty good show!

Hi.. ho.. hi.. ho.. its off to school we go......

Well another school year is here,and boy were the kids excited for school you'd think that they had never went before. Ashley set her alarm for 4:30 (ya 4:30 ) 2 hours to get ready! Needless to say she had plenty of time to get ready and had already starting texting her friends at 6:00.She had a good day though and was glad to get back to all her friends. Madisyn couldn't sleep at 1:30 in the morning a felt hot breathing on my face and Madisyn was standing over me ,and said she couldn't sleep. So the morning finally came for her and she was ready before I even woke up. She too had a great day and loved her new teacher. Emily starting asking about a week before school started " is school today mom? How about today mom!" So when Tuesday finally got here she was super excited and she loved school ,loved eating school lunch and loved going all day like Maddy. Now Hannah was a little sad that the girls went off to school not because she missed them, but because Emily took Hannah shoes and backpack. O.K. so they are Emily's shoes and backpack ,but for the last week Hannah has been wearing Emily shoes and backpack and wasn't ready to let them go and as you can guess that was the first thing Hannah wanted from Emily when she got off the bus, Emily handed them over graciously she's a good big sister. So hopefully this excitement for school lasts all year long. All give it a week!





Madisyn's is starting 4th grade.






























Ashley's starting 9th.














Emily starting 1st grade.