1st Grade Fire Safety Poster Winner 10/16/08

Ambrea came home with a letter from the school secretary informing us that her poster that she made for the Chippewa Falls Fire Dept. had been chosen for first place. She would need to be in attendance at the Fire Department to receive her award. She was excited to say the least. When we got to the Fire Station we realized that this was a big deal and the contest was for 1st - 5th graders from all the area's elementary schools. There were 1st - 5th place winners and if your poster had been chosen for first place you won a nice home fire extinguisher and your poster was kept to go off to State for judging. To say the least, when we went that evening to her parent/teacher conferences and told her teacher about her award the teacher told us that she had wanted to start over on it because another girl at her table started over. The teacher had told Ambrea that she was doing a great job and didn't need to start over. We are all happy that she didn't. Way to go Ambrea and of course we had to take a picture of her and her Blue ribbon with her sister in front of the fire truck.

Visiting the girls...

Our friend Cory and his daughter came over to play on Saturday.

The girls are always crazy to have their friends jump on their

trampoline and having Aaliyah over was no exception. Plus, we

don't get to see her that often and they sure were having some fun.

Gotta love the faces they make.

Walking trail....

Dave had thought it would be a good idea to take the girls out

on the bike trail. Since they were on their scooters it was pointless to

try and take their pictures as they were just a bundle of energy. So

what better to take a picture on a non-moving object -a cow. Nothing

better than seeing a good ol cow just eating away on your walk.

Of course, we took the pup with us and he stopped to pose with a smile.

Good I love that dog - life is good with that dog!

Time is flying by....

I have realized that I have been slacking for some time now on the family blog. I have been doing a few things and learning a new art per say. I have made a major purchase for myself, but with great intentions to benefit my family and friends (I hope) I have bought a new camera from a dear friend (only so that she could go out and purchase a new one herself - I understand completely LOL!) This is something we had been talking about for a few months and I was really losing sleep over it and kind of moping around as I wanted to make this purchase as she was learning the ropes of photography herself. But eventually, you get there and make that leap and since it was not at the same time as her. I have learned so much from her and I am absorbing all that I can about the art of photography. No more letting my camera make the decisions of how it thinks a pic should be taken. With that said, I will be starting a new blog site soon of my work. I will be asking friends if I can borrow them for some fun times of photo shooting. In return, I hope to take some rockin' pics and that people will like them enough to want me back. Once the site is up I hope that it will inspire my friends to pass the word along and let me share in their lives as well. Thanks again in advance for your support. Check back for the new link to my photo blog. It is a work in progress and my family one will still be here.

American Girl.....

Autumn has really been into her American Girl Doll - KIT. Her nana had taken her to see the American Girl Movie - Kit Kitteridge and low and behold Autumn just happened to have her with her that day to take her along. Autumn loved it and ever since then it seems to be her new "thing" She has quite a collection of clothes and books and she had gotten Kit's scooter and pup - Grace for Christmas this past year. Now she has been scanning the catalog to see what her next wish would be. I am thinking that she is wishing that she had Kit's Best Friend and the tree house. Boy, oh Boy she has big wishes.

What you will find......

Ambrea has been working on her own little collection. As you can see we are now finding Care Bears everywhere. Over the past summer, she and her daycare buddies would go out to thrift sales and if the price was right she would come home with a new one. The ones on her bed are her prize finds. She has a stack of the bigger ones up towards the head of her bed and of the three that she has two of them were won at the fair by her dad and one bought at a thrift sale. I think there will be more of these types of collections if she continues to keep finding little bargains. Notice we can also find Scooby in her room - I guess you can count him as being a "Caring Dog"

1st day of school.....

The first day of school always brings some cute photos and my girls have become these little divas in their own way. Of course, we couldn't just have the traditional pose of the two of them in front of the door together. Oh no, we must strike our own pose without each other next to one another.
Then there is the rare moment of the two of them being nice to one another while walking out to the bus and I just happen to catch them holding hands (brief moment as I wanted them to do it one more time and Autumn yells back the "bus is coming" Guess that means I was SOL! There is something that tugs at the heart strings when you see your children entering that school bus and knowing that your life is now ran by the school schedule and that homework is again a reality. I missed them the moment those feet hit those stairs. Our girls are now 1st and 3rd graders.