Last day of preschool...

I have been seriously neglecting this blog!! Yikes. It has been busy with Triton home now, you can check his blog for more on that. It's a good thing I started a separate one or you would be bombarded with pictures of him here!! :)

Today was Alissa's last day of school and we had a BBQ. It was lots of fun and I will miss that school, but Creative Discoveries will be a much better fit. Found out that Jonathan will be in the Toddler Time class with me on Monday's while Ali is across the hall in preschool. So that means every Monday I will be across the hall from her in school and then 3-4 days a month in the classroom with her. I love that it is so parent involved!! Can't wait!! Oh, the best part is that the Toddler Time class is normally $100 per session (10 weeks I think) but they are waiving Jon's tuition because I am going to interpret for a deaf family that will be in class with us. That will be perfect because I can practice my ASL and Jon gets free class -- what could be better?!

Matt started academy Monday and it is going to be a long 16 weeks for him. He gets there at 6am and hasn't been getting home until 8. Very busy guy.

I started my weekend job with Nutro -- that has been a ton of fun. I get to meet new people and pets and spend 4 hours in the grown up world while the kiddos hang with Matt or grandma. Very nice indeed.

Think that is all for now. :)

Triton is coming!!

Oh so much to blog about and so so little time. We have been busy preparing for Triton's homecoming -- this dog is going to eat better then we are ;) He will be getting vitamin c, sea meal, flax oil, and yucca supplements. It helps that I started my job with Nutro and got a ton of free dog and cat food!! :) I will just be working on the weekends for 4 hours at a time. I am excited to make some money and the kids are excited to spend some quality time with daddy and/or grandma. So far I have had my basic training and I just need to do my shadowing and then I am on my own! What a fun job, I get to meet pets and talk with owners about nutrition. Fun fun.

In other news, Matt and I bought a car yesterday and ditched the truck *FINALLY*!! We now have a 2001 Honda Civic and LOVE IT! Awesome gas mileage and overall great car.. sure beats the 81' Honda Civic.. hahaha..

If you want to see a recent picture of Triton check out his blog -- tomorrow I should have new pictures from HOME!! YIPPEE!!

I'll check back in soon.

In the meantime.. sibling love..

Visitors...CONTINUED

Ok, so where was I?? Oh yes..the park.. The next day it was on to Enchanted Forest where the kids had a BLAST (And so did I, so much so I didn't get very many pictures..) Here they are in the witches mouth:
Matt took care of the shooting, Alissa dictated what was to be shot :)
The girls rode all the rides together.
Our little frogs..
Here is the group huddled around the train set.

Our next outing was THE BEACH! :) This is what the ride up looked like.. On the way to the beach we stopped at the pony rides -- the kids were thrilled!!!

Here is Alissa riding "Sunny" her favorite -- And Hailey rode "Blizzard" --

And we were all pleasantly surprised to learn they had a horse for big kids.. meet "Raven":

After the horses we continued on to the beach and our first stop was lunch at Crawdaddy's where I tried Alligator on a stick (seriously) and we had a great time. Here is Hailey eating a lemon -

And Mommy talked Jon into a sample also -- After lunch we headed to the beach at Mo's so the kids could play in the sand and get wet.. and they got wet and had a blast doing it.. After the beach we headed back to GG's where we pitched a princess tent in the living room for the girls to have their first ever sleep over.. there were lots of giggles and not much sleeping, worth every minute! Here they are in their tent watching Little Mermaid... The next outing was the carousel.. and as luck would have it -- Billy bob Clinton decided it would be a good time to show up with his daughter Chelsea to talk about his scary wife -- umm, no thanks. We decided to leave pretty quick, it was a frightening crowd of zombies to say the least.

After the carousel fiasco we headed to Jeanne's house for PIZZA! (Padington's of course!) While waiting for the pizza Laura played some piano for us :)

After lunch the boys fell asleep at Jeanne's and she was nice enough to watch all four kids for us so we could go wine tasting. We ended up going to Willamette Vineyards and it was AWESOME!! The wine server (Richard not Robert..hehe) was the best! Not only did he comp our wine tasting, it turned out he was a pediatrician in the military too, what a strange coincidence!! After tasting some wine we got some yummy Gouda cheese, chocolates, and a bottle of Riesling and sat out on the patio to relax and enjoy the view -- here was our spread: As we left I captured Laura getting a picture of the winery ;) When we returned we found all the kids happy and healthy.. and Jeanne wasn't frazzled at all -- can you tell by the look on her face? Nah.. no problem. LOLAnd now I reach the end of a very fun, but way too short week. And to sum things up --

Plane tickets to Oregon.. $XXXX (I don't want to know)

A trip to Enchanted Forest $XXXX (You don't want to know)

New friendships... Priceless.

We will sure miss you guys. XOXO

Visitors..

It has been a busy last week. Matt's cousin Heath and his wife Laura and two kids Hailey and Drew came to visit. It has been so much fun hanging out together and getting to know them in person finally :). They will be leaving this Tuesday and it is going to be so hard to see them go. Alissa is struggling to under stand why "her" Hailey can't stay here and play with her "always". This is the first girl friend Alissa has ever had who will play worms with her -- what could be better?? :) As for me, I have found a great friend in Laura and I am going to really miss being able to hang out with her. It is a rare and beautiful thing when you find someone you "click" with right away and I am so glad to know her.. just hard that we live so far apart. Hopefully her family will someday live closer (even if only for a few years).. until then I look forward to our next visit! Matt was disappointed that he couldn't spend more time with them, but he enjoyed the days we were able to get together.
I absolutely love Hailey and Drew -- what awesome kids!! We had a ton of fun playing, cooking, and seeing the sights of Salem :) On to some photos!!

This is the first day that the kids got to play together -- this is GG's back yard where the kids played for hours with dirt.. making mud pies and who knows what else :)

Meanwhile, the adults played a few rounds of Hillbilly Golf.. Heath and Laura (who swore they had never played before) whooped us miserably, but we took it well.. beginners luck..pfft ;)
GG's patio was a very popular place.
The next day we took the kids to AC Gilbert house where they had a blast going from house to house, room to room, and playing outside.
Heath and Hailey got creative with a houla-hoop while Laura and I snapped pictures :)
The boys thought the ball pit/giant stomach was the best.. both were reluctant to leave.

Alissa adopted Laura as her very own slide buddy and had a blast going down the giant slide.
And then we have the picture of the day -- the kids put on a play for us in the castle.. Alissa was the princess, Hailey was the prince, Drew the dragon, and Jon.. well, Jon was Jon :) The next afternoon the girls all got dressed up and headed to a tea party. We arrived at the tea house at 2:55 to a CLOSED sign.. GASP.. I ran to the door to find out they close at 3pm and I begged and pleaded to be allowed in.. the ladies were kind enough to accomidate our late group and it was wonderful!!

Hailey wanted me to put a fresh flower in her hair from one of the plates, and this is one of my favorite pictures of her from the trip. Such a beautiful girl.. and to all those Oregonians -- jealous of that tan?!?! I sure was.

This picture chokes me up a bit.. I'm a bit of a softy :) No commentary needed:

After our tea party we went to the park in Dallas -- lovely park. Alissa had a ladybug on her shoulder in this picture.
Here is a great shot of Ali and GG.. she sure loves her GG! Here is another favorite of mine.. I have quite a few :) Boys versus girls on the teeter-totter, guess who won?!
Blogger is having heart failure at the moment so.. "TO BE CONTINUED...."

Law enforcement week...

* More than 14,250 law enforcement officers have been killed in the line of duty in the 20th Century.






* The deadliest decade ever for law enforcement was the 1970's, when an average of 222 officers made the ultimate sacrifice each year, including a record 271 officers killed in 1974.





* The average age of the officers killed last century was 38 and the average length of service was about eight years.




* Shootings accounted for about half of all police fatalities during the past century.




* Approximately 500 officers were killed in multiple police death incidents.





* With 50 police deaths, September 11, 2001 was the deadliest day in law enforcement history.











I am the Officer
I have been where you fear to be,
I have seen what you fear to see,
I have done what you fear to do,
All these thing s I have done for you.
I am the person you lean upon
The one you cast your scorn upon
The one you bring your troubles to
All these people I have been for you.
The one you ask to stand apart
The one you think should have no heart
The one you all the officer in blue,
But I'm just a person, just like you.
And through the years I have come to see,
That I am not always what you ask of me
So take this badge...take this gun...
Will you take it..? Will anyone?
And when you watch a person die
And hear a battered baby cry
Then do you think that you could be
All these things you ask of me?

**(In honor of Deputy Fredinburg.. On watch from Heaven)**




























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