Happy Anniversary Michael and Darcy!

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Back to School ... Bailey

Today was Bailey's first day of 4th grade. We went to school last Friday to find out who her teacher would be this year (Mr. K.) and to see if she has any friends in the class (Lauren and Ridge, for sure, along with a few other girls and boys from last year's class and also kids from previous years. It should be a good class. We're looking forward to a very busy year. (Bailey has heard that Mr. K is quite fond of dishing out lots of homework). I love this, of course, and I know that Bailey can handle it. It will definitely get her ready for next year and middle school.

First song recorded ...

Yesterday was a big day for the boys and the band. They had a guy come to the house to record their first song. You can take a listen here: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=401758588 . For some of you, it may not be exactly your type of music, but I have to say ... if you listen a few time, it grows on you quite nicely. Austen is playing drums, of course (and wrote the lyrics), and Kale is singing. He's the one actually singing, not screaming. Let us know what you think.

Back to School ... Boys.

Sophomore

Freshman
So, the boys were back to school today. Austen is a big 10th grader and Kale is a bigger 9th grader (haha. Austen said that.) Seems they had a good first day.

They both thought they looked pretty darn fresh in their new duds.

This ...

... is what's going on around here today. It gets pretty darn noisy. Bailey and I usually spend the day in the office, door closed, working on various things. And Roxy sleeps on the floor. At the moment, Bailey's upstairs in her room, door closed, watching old home videos.

A little bird told me ...

... that Nicholas has decided to go out for the Cross Country team at his high school. Isn't that amazing? We are very excited for him, as we feel it's so beneficial to be involved in something at school. And we can't wait to hear how he's doing and hopefully to see some pictures along the way. Good luck to you Nicholas! We love you.

Austen loved being a part of the high school basketball team last year. And he's already training and preparing for this year. Of course, he was also involved with flag football and basketball in middle school. Such a good thing.

And then we have Kale. What a transformation. He went from being down-right irritated (translation: pissed) at the fact that Shawn and I had decided that football would be the best thing for him. Now, keep in mind. We did give him a choice. We told him he had to do something his freshman year. And once his stubborn-ness had set in, he just wasn't making any choices. Anyway, now he is so devoted and sincerely excited about football that it's just amazing. He has his days where he's annoyed at the length of practice (4 hours!), or the fact that it's every single day, but usually he comes home stoked and pretty darn proud of himself for sticking with it. I know Shawn and I are just thrilled.

We're still working on Bailey. She's still pretty young, but after her basketball camp this summer, we think she'd be great at it. She's definitely built for it (she's tall!) So, we've given her the same choice. Pick something. Something that you can be active in. That's all we ask.

Hope your day is a good one!

"Cherish forever ...

... what makes you unique". -Bette Midler

Bailey created this adorable page yesterday. I thought I'd share it here. I love her journaling. Precious.

Images from the weekend

I didn't take much in the way of pictures, but did snap these. We had a wonderful visit with Mom and Dad Butler. Nice and relaxing.

T.G.I.F.

Well, hello Friday! Gotta love a Friday, right? We're planning to head up to Roy and Joan's this evening. Just as soon as Shawn gets home. We're having a yummy dinner, prepared by Joan and then we'll spend the night and have a yummy breakfast, prepared by Joan. Life is good (and fattening.)

Eagle's Beak.

What is an Eagle's Beak, you say? Well, Kale and I were having a discussion about something and he mentioned an Eagle's Beak. Of course, I said, "huh, what are you talking about"? And he promptly said, "you know, Mom, that thing Little Brandon and I have at our hairline". Oohhhh.... a Widow's Peak. I got a pretty darn good chuckle out of that one. He did not find it as amusing. He still thinks it looks more like an Eagle's Beak.

Some pages, as promised.

This is the album that I picked out for our Summer Vacation. I love the colors.

This is my title page. I used my duplicate pictures to punch out lots of little square pics.

First double page spread, day one

Mainly for Alexa (scrapbooking related)

These neat little books are sold at Walmart and they are only $1.00! They come with the ugly little inserts that (thankfully) can be removed and then you get to decorate your very own cover to make something personal and super cute. They hold 36 pictures. See how I did a book for Bailey's Pioneer Days field trip? I think I only had 30 pictures, so I went to the middle of the book and gently ripped out a few of the extra pages (this is easy to do). This still left me a few spots where I could type up some journaling onto cardstock. What a perfect little reminder of her field trip.

These also make perfect, inexpensive, quick gifts.

Meet Big Bear

This is Big Bear. He's a Vermont Terry Bear. He's been in our family for just about as long as Austen' s been alive. Yep, almost 16 years. Shawn gave him to me for Valentine's Day when Austen was 1 month old. When Austen was a little guy, he kind of took him over and he became Austen's for quite a while. A few years back, he was put into storage and there he stayed until a few months ago, when I saw an magazine ad that talked about the fact that Vermont Teddy Bears are guaranteed for life, etc. We pulled out this dude and he was kind of in bad shape. His arm had fallen off, and his head was wobbly and loose. His fur was kind of matted and nasty looking. So, I boxed him up and shipped him to the Vermont Teddy Bear Hospital (how cute is that?) And he spent about 3 weeks there. He came back looking fabulous and now sits on the little futon in our room. Pretty neat. Austen asked if he could sleep with him, but I had to put my foot down and tell him no (hahaha. Just kidding!)

08*08*08

What a cool date! Don't you think? Are you doing anything special today? We are watching the Olympic's Opening Ceremonies tonight, for sure. We are looking forward to watching several of the sports during the Olympics, when we can, too. I'm also going to take eight special photos for the day. Random, but special to me and I plan to make a cool scrapbook page commemorating this once in a life time, very cool date. Alexa, maybe you'll join me? Happy Friday!

Happy 40th Birthday Darcy!

So, I'm finally getting a moment to get on here to wish Darcy a happy birthday. I did call first thing this morning, but I had grand plans of putting a cute, super old picture of her on here and I just didn't have time. The picture above is one of my all-time favorites of us, though. She might not have appreciated the one I had planned. (Think: nude baby, sprawled on a blanket. hahaha). Probably better I didn't have time to scan it and get it on here.

Darcy: I hope your day was perfect! Lots of love, Kristen

New band.

The boys have begun the process of starting up a band again. Yes, there was the time they started Sienna Rose with Austen, Wade and Jordan. Grandma Cathy even had t-shirts made. (thanks, grandma!) They did play a few (wordless) songs at Cooley Middle School. It was pretty cool, but this time they are trying to be more serious, and creating/writing songs (sadly, some with "screaming"). That part isn't my favorite, but earplugs are coming in nicely for that. This time around they have Austen on drums, Kale is vocals, Jordan is Bass, Will is Guitar and Jeremiah is the screamer. They spent most of yesterday practicing. We took some pictures here at the house of them playing. A lot of them were blurry (in my opinion), but these guys just thought they were the greatest thing. Haha. Then, we headed out to take some cool group shots. The two above were their favorites, and after some Photoshop editing, these were the end result. I think they look kind of neat.

Back to walking.

Bailey and I standing on one of the bridges along our walk.

I decided it was time to get back to walking. So, yesterday Bailey and I got up early and walked and then we did it again today. My goal is to walk every day this week and then next week incorporate something new into the mix. That is the plan anyway.

I took my camera today. I was scouting out some possible locations to shoot some pictures of the boys and their new band members. They have named their new band Carcery's Vale and they are hoping to get some pictures taken this afternoon.

Swimming laps.

It's still funny to me how easy it can be to entertain a child. Take this silly little $25 pool. Bailey gets a kick out of going in it and "swimming". She swims around and around, trying to hold her breath for as many "laps" as she can. I think her record is just shy of five. Of course, she only did that once and really only usually makes it to three. Then, she thought she'd try to "walk" on her hands, dragging her feet behind, but the trick was that she wanted her feet to not touch the bottom. That proved near impossible, but it didn't stop her from trying and cracking herself (and me) up in the process.

Happy Birthday Dad/Grandpa!

Hope your day is great! We love you!

Picture of Dad (front and center) was taken for his first birthday, 8/2/1943

Aunt Marilee is standing behind him. Not sure who the others are.

Hello Friday.

Hi all! I recently heard about Wordle , so I had to give it a try. Isn't it neat? I printed this one out on photo paper, will put it into a frame and put it in my office. The possibilities are endless!