more pictures from Josh's work picnic

The picnic was really nice. They had quite a few rides for the kids, games, and food. Everything was free. Of course the highlight though was the dunk tank!

Josh's work picnic 9-29-07

Every once in a great while, an opportunity arises that you just can't pass up. Something so fantastic that you have been waiting for the past 10 years and didn't even know it! --- Well, Josh had to sit in the DUNK TANK! for 20 minutes at their company picnic yesterday! It felt like the angels were sitting on my shoulders singing hallelujahs all the way there! And it was definitely a satisfying feeling to watch him go down (each time!). I took a lot of money and spent $2 (4 balls) to give it my best shot, but when the guy said I could just push the button (I guess there are some family priveleges) I said, "say no more", and down he went. Maybe it was Josh's insults about my poor eyesight that led the guy to instruct me to go ahead and dunk him. Whatever it was, I felt great satisfaction pushing that button and watching him go down! Samuel got to dunk him a few times also, which was his favorite part of the picnic. It was, after all, for a good cause... all the $ went to United Way. I think Josh really helped them out yesterday. There was quite a line of people waiting to dunk him.

Samuel's soccer game 9-29

Here are pictures from this week's soccer game. Again, he did ok if he was paying attention. He kicked the ball a few times and assisted with at least one goal. They are getting better each week.

Eye can't believe it!

Today I made the appointment for my eye surgery. October 10 at 1:30. Yesterday I went for my consultation and although I don't qualify for the lasik surgery, lucky for me there is a new (more expensive) technology which is bladeless, called Intralase. Because of the corneal ulcer scar from this summer, my dry eyes diagnosis, and my really bad prescription (the worse your nearsightedness, the deeper they have to cut into the tissue of your eyes); if I am going to have the corrective surgery, I don't qualify for regular lasik. I am pretty scared about the surgery, but I know that I cannot go on wearing glasses forever. And although I am thankful for being able to see at all, this summer has been tough not being able to see my face in the mirror to put on my make up or the shampoo bottles in the shower, etc. It has come down to this. They say that contacts are not really an option for me anymore. Apparently once you have a corneal ulcer you are much more susceptible to getting them again and again in the same spot, as I have experienced already. I am very nervous about it, but pray that things will go well. So hopefully, October 10 will be a very good day for me!

Nora Kate's finger

This is a bad picture of Nora Kate's finger, but the best I could do. We told some of you about it. When she went in for her 2 year old well visit, they did a finger prick to to a blood test because apparently it's very important to know your 2 year old's cholesterol level. The finger became infected and was very red, then scaly and brown. 2 more trips to the doctor and a 10 day round of antibiotics later, everything was fine. This is her finger on Sunday, a day or two before the skin fell off......

Soccer game 9-15-07

Samuel did better this week at his soccer game. He actually kicked the ball a couple of times, then became worried about "breaking his ankle", so he held back a little. We have found that if he pays attention he does a lot better, so we are trying to encourage that in a positive way. Nora Kate enjoyed the game and clapped for her brother saying "go Sam-l go! Dat was awesome!" He is having fun and that's what matters.

It was bothering me that Nora Kate's picture was sideways from yesterday's post, so I decided to fix it and re-post. One thing you should know is that Josh picked out her outfit and fixed her hair. She has not been letting me put "peggy tails" (a term related to Auntie Peggy) in her hair lately but she let her Dad.

Happy Birthday to Amy yesterday. Amy, I thought of you all day. Miss you.

Noah's Ark Parade 9-14-07

The first graders had a Noah's Ark Parade today at school. Everyone dressed as an animal (or Noah) and they paraded around the school. Samuel had a lot of fun. He wanted to wear his lion costume which was his Halloween costume when he was 3. It was quite a bit too small for him, but it worked so it was fine. I tried to get him to wear the spider turned fly costume I made for him for insect day last year, but he still wanted to wear the lion. It is a much cooler costume, and in first grade, cool is important! Nora Kate loved watching all the kids in their costumes. After it was over I got a shot of Samuel at his desk in his classroom. He told me to hurry up because he had to "concentrate" on his paper he was coloring. I left soon after.....

Samuel's soccer game 9-8-2007

Samuel had his first soccer game last Saturday. He had a good time. It was really hot though. His team is the Blue Jays.

More from first day of 1st grade - Aug. 20, 2007

Samuel did great on his first day. He jumped right out of the car and went on his way. It was nice to have no tears this year after our 3 first days of kindergarten last year (with moving there were 3 first days to 3 schools, poor guy). He really likes his school.

Summer Vacation Aug 07 - Myrtle Beach, SC

Sometimes I like to think I am a photographer. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. It has a lot to do with your subjects and how cooperative they may or may not be. These are some of the only pictures we have from our trip to the beach (which was only a 3 hour drive!). The camera was acting up and was fogging up a lot because of the extreme heat (100 degrees+) so we lost a lot of cute pictures we took, including some of our boogie boarding Samuel (and Josh).

More from Maine...

One of the many neat things about our trip to Maine was that while you were hiking you would pass patches of blueberries growing in the wild. Here are some pictures of us enjoying that. We ate a lot of blueberries that week. Really, if you've never been to Maine, you should try to go.

Learning to post....

These pictures are from our family vacation in Maine last year (July 06). I am trying to learn how to post things in different ways so you may see a few random things for a while... On the subject of this trip though, it was awesome. We went to Bar Harbor, ME. These pictures were taken at Acadia National Park where we spent most of our time hiking and biking.

my first blog post

Wow, I'm really getting internet savvy (for me) if this actually works!