My New Ride

Last night we traded in our Explorer for a "new to me" car. The explorer has been good to us but over the past year we have had the transmission replaced three times so we knew that the car wouldn't hold out for too much longer. We decided to trade it when we could get more value for instead of waiting for it to break down again. Even though we hated the thought of having a car payment again, I guess it was inevitable. This car was a great deal for the low miles and all the extra's it has. So here is the new ride. Katie is absolutely in love with this car. She was so excited that we bought it. Bree's only question was if she could watch Dora in it. You can see where her priorities are at. I have to say I am excited about it myself.

2006 Saab 97x - I just SUV has I have no idea what the 97x stands for. We always seem to end up with black cars.

The interior

Does Santa Give Money??

It is so funny to me how Katie's mind works sometimes when she is trying to get something she wants. So I thought I would share something that happened over the weekend. On Sunday afternoon, I took Katie out shopping to find her a couple of dresses for church. We went into JCPenney's hoping to find some good sales. Well, Katie saw a dress and for some reason just fell in love with it. If you know Katie, this little girl is all about clothes and when she finds something she loves she will wear the heck out of it. I took a look at the dress and the price tag and it was not a price we would normally pay for her clothes, and the price was a sale price but not one I really wanted to pay. I told her let's just keep looking. We went to other stores and at the end of the day no other dresses were bought and Katie was quite upset that we were not buying the dress she just "fell in love with". The walk to our car was quite interesting as it was filled with whales of "why, mommy, why can't we get the dress" " I promise mommy, I will wear it all the time" all of this was intensified because it was 4 in the afternoon and no nap. I tried to explain to her that the dress was a little too expensive for a girl her age, but it feel on deaf ears or more likely she couldn't hear me over her own words she was screaming. We got home and of course Katie tried to turn on the charm for daddy in hopes he would cave, and when he didn't he got a rerun of what I experienced in the store. After, oh, about an hour she finally gave it up and stopped talking about this stinking dress that I wished was never made. I thought, okay, it's over she has moved on. But that would be to easy. So on her way to school this morning she asked if Chris and I would get her that dress for Christmas, I again explained why we didn't want to buy the dress and praying underneath my breath that this wasn't going to start scream fest 2, but it didn't she was calm. She then says she will just ask Santa for the dress and then I said that Santa has to get approval from mommy and daddy before he buys their presents. So then she sat there for a moment and then asked me, does Santa give money. I kind of laughed and said why. She said well I ask him to give me money and you can just approve the money and then I will go buy the dress. I looked at her, gave her a big kiss and told her she is one of the funniest people I know. After I dropped her off at school I called Chris and told him what she had said. He laughed and man that girl is persistent, and his next statement was, so I guess I am going to buy a dress at lunch today. Like the good daddy he is, he went and found the dress. It will be waiting for her on Christmas morning.

Just Stuff

So here are some things that have been going on in our lives lately. Nothing major just some random items to post out here.

We have been having awesome weather for the past week or so. It has been in the 70's and sometime up to the 80's. Katie has been loving it because she still gets to wear short sleeve shirts and her capri pants and of course her flip flops. This girl is definitely a summer girl. She would have never made it in MN if we still lived there. Just goes to show God knows what He is doing when he moved us here. Katie wanted to wear her shirt we got her in MX and as in true fashion of Bree whatever big sis does she wants to do. So Bree wore hers today also. After about four attempts to get them both to stand together still enough for me to take a photo, Chris had to intervene and hold their hands.

I have mentioned before that I am the shepard(teacher) for the 12th grade girls and my friend Stefanie is the shepard for the 11th grade girls. In our classes we have a lead teacher and then what is called a shepard for the tables. In our class Steve and Terri are our lead teachers. Stef and I are the shepards for the girls and Chris and Jeremy (Stef's husband) are the shepards for the boys. The below picture is one we took this last Sunday to send to one of the girls that used to be in our class. She had some very hard living circumstances and because of those she now has to live in a place called Owasso Baptist Home, which is pretty much like a foster care place. So as a class we try to send her things from time to time and this week is her birthday so we made her a care package and took a picture of all of us to frame and send to her. So I thought I would post the picture of the girls we teach each week so you can put faces to names I sometime mention. These girls bless my life more than I could put into words. I am so thankful that God has allowed me the opportunity to work with the youth at our church and especially these girls.

Back Row L to R: Lindsay, Lauren, Sarah, Adrienne and Terri (lead teacher)

Front Row L to R: Hannah, Stefanie and me.

Hallo-Zoo-Ween

On Halloween we had great weather it was in the low 70's all day and then was in the high 50's that night. I was excited for the great weather as we were taking the girls to the zoo for trick or treating. Trick or treating isn't as much fun if you don't have some friends to go with. My good friend Stefanie and two kids Braeden and Lydia came along as well as some new friends Todd and Sheila and their two kids Candi and Cole. all of our kids are the same ages so they had fun hanging out together. Before we headed to the zoo we made a stop by Braeden and Lydia's dad's job to trick or treat. Their dad, Jeremy, is a fireman and had to work on Halloween so we got to stop by the firehouse for a little while. The kids loved it. Jeremy gave us all a tour and let the kids play on the fire truck, ambulance and other vehicles. It was even a little exciting for them as they got a call when we were there, so the alarms went off and they heard a lady over the speakers tell them all the info. It was only an ambulance call so Jeremy didn't have to run off but the kids got to see the guys leave in the ambulance and they turned on the sirens for them and gave them a little show.

Gabriella (from High School Musical) and Little Red Riding Hood. Bree decided on Halloween that she wanted to dress up. This whole month it was no...they scare me. But once I mentioned Lydia was going to dress up she was all for it so, this was the only one she would agree to wear.

All excited to get their first round of candy at the fire house.

Candi, Braeden and Katie getting ready to go on the tour and play on some fire trucks.

Katie, Candi, Braeden and Lydia... checking out their new wheels. Cole and Bree were not at all interested in playing on this one.

Watch out....firewoman Katie to the rescue

Candi and Katie at the zoo, waiting in line to get some candy

Lydia trying to push Bree around....Bree took over Lydia's stroller about halfway through the night. Lydia was so sweet...she didn't mind at all. What a good friend.

An attempt to get a family photo at the indoor hay maze....but my lovely camera decided to start acting up and so this pic and some others are kind of dark.

Stefanie, Sheila and me getting a quick photo will all the kids were entertained by the huge world globe floating on water.

Dance Recital

Last night was Katie's fall dance recital. It is a little program the put on that shows what they have learned so far this year. All the girls look so cute. the teacher has little skirts for them to wear and she pinned some ribbon in their hair. Very precious. Here are some video and pics from the night.

Since we missed Bree's recital last week because she was sick, I got a little video of her through the window. They only give a little area to look through so you all have to over look the blind cord that keeps getting in the way...or maybe its just my bad videoing skills.

Little Munckin Sick

Bree was not feeling well today. She started running a fever and still saying her tummy hurts. Since she has been complaining about her tummy for over week now and then started with the fever I decided to take her on to the doctor. It turned out the fever is from something viral and her tummy aches are either from good ole constipation or possible issues with some foods she eats. Dr. Pfanstiel check her urine and blood to rule out anything with her kidneys or possible infections and both of those came back clean thankfully. Now we have to start slipping her a little laxative in her juice each day to get her pooping more and see if that does the trick. If it doesn't then we will have to start looking at what she is eating and see if something is bothering her. I am a little afraid of what may happen with the laxative, hopefully no blow outs will happen. :)

Bree showing her hurt finger. They had to prick her finger to get blood today. She was such a big girl didn't even cry. She had the funniest little curiosity look on her face though as the nurse was pushing the blood in the tube. You can tell she has a little of her Great Uncle David in her..she wants to show everyone her hurt finger ( LOL inside family joke there).

Back home after Dr. visit. Nothing like Dora, chicken nuggets and fries to cure a hurt finger.

Pumpkin Town

Saturday afternoon we took the girls to a place called Pumpkin Town to let them pick pumpkins and partake in some of the other activities they had like, wagon rides, pony rides, face painting, inflatables, etc. We thought we would go after naps since it has been pretty cold here in the mornings, but it seems that wasn't the best idea after all. By the time we got there the temp had dropped and it was so windy that it was almost unbearable to be outside. So Chris and I divided and conquered as I took Bree on a wagon ride and Chris took Katie over to the infatables. Shortly after that the girls were both asking to leave so we quickly let them pick their pumpkins and then we headed home. Monday night we let them carve their pumpkins to put out on the front porch. Well, carving didn't go that well. They were both over the pumpkin thing in about five minutes so they just wanted to draw on them. Oh, well....gave it a good try.

Me and the girls at Pumpkin Town ...afterwords I realized that I was holding a little over 60 lbs in my arms here. Two heavy girls.

The girls digging into their pumpkins. Neither one were a fan of the yucky stuff inside.

Outside beside out Halloween Tiger. Bree loves this thing. Everyday we have him up she has to go give him a hug. :)