Argyle Frogs

Band and volleyball pics

2008-11-07T10:11:00.001-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Pictures from Halloween

2008-11-06T13:18:00.001-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Scott's Baseball pictures

2008-10-12T09:44:00.001-06:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Michaela Softball Pictures

2008-10-12T09:42:00.001-06:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Grab Bag of info

2008-10-12T08:36:00.002-06:00

This summer has just flown right by me. At the end of June Scott had baseball tourniments. We let him stay for 2 out of the 3 games over that week as we were also heading out to Ohio to visit for close to 2 weeks. Tim, Michaela, Scott and I loaded up our 3 dogs into the back of the car, hooked a little tailgate thing to the back and took off on our 24 hour drive. We did make the manditory gas/bathroom stops that were a bit extended due to having to walk the dogs at those times. The only quick ones were the ones that we did in the middle of the night when everyone was crashed out, to include the dogs! Our visits home never last long enough, and we get pulled in so many directions and it just never seems that there is enough time to do it all, or see everyone. We do always try to do up some sort of BBQ to get everyone together at once. This trip I went just about everyday to see my grandma as well. Grandma is such a special lady to me and it really sadens me to see her in a nursing home, and worse in the crazy wing. She has dementia and needs watched, but not locked down. Long story there...wouldn't get into it now. Anyways it was nice to be able to see her and take her out to lunch and drives around town. Also took her out to the BBQ where she had a great time talking to people close to her age that can have real conversations. Not to mention all the little ones that we had running around there! I know that I gave her a bit of sunshine for that time...I so wish I could bring her here to take care of. sigh...ok moving on before I get all teared up..
After we came back from Ohio I had to take off a few days later to Utah for a training class that we were doing and there I stayed for just over a week. I even got the chance to float in The Great Salt Lake! After I came home from that trip I worked on the garden a bit and then it was time to take off to CA for a week to do a records update with the entire unit. When I came home from this trip we had Leighanna comeing in the next day for about 2 weeks. It was so nice to see her and have her visit with us. I'm always amazed at what a great person she has been turning into! The same day that Leighanna left, I had to leave again too, back to CA for another training class that had to get done. After about 2 weeks in CA I came back again to a bit of a rest this time, before having to take off in the begining/middlish of September for 2 more weeks of training!
I'm happy to say that I am all done for a few months now. Over the last week I have gotten back into the cycle of life. Doing Fall cleaning, getting ready for Halloween, and just living for a bit in general. This year Scott is going to hold his birthday party the week before Halloween so that we can do it up with that same theme. It should be a lot of fun, but kind of crazy at the same time!!! I'll try to put some pictures together in Smilebox and post them on here.

Remember that I love to know if you've stopped by here. Either by comments made on this page, or by sending me a quick email...lets me know that it is all worth it!

First Day of School

2008-09-08T15:14:00.000-06:00

Make a Smilebox postcard

camping

2008-09-08T15:13:00.000-06:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Found a neat new trick!

2008-09-08T15:02:00.001-06:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Long time

2008-09-08T12:21:00.001-06:00

I know that it has been a really long time since I have updated the site. For those that still stop by here now and then looking for updates I'm sorry. I have been traveling a ton this summer and still have one more trip to do this week. I promise that when I get back I will update everyone on our happenings and share lots of pictures with you!

5th grade events

2008-05-28T13:24:00.004-06:00

Back in April (or was it the begining of May??) we went with Scott and Michaela's class on a hike through the state park learning about rock formations. Unfortunatly Michaela's group and Scott's were split up with only a quick break around the mid way point to say hello. There were also field days a few weeks later where pretty much the entire school was outside doing different stations that all had a science related idea to it. My station was the bubble station where kids had to figure out which dish soap made the best bubbles.

Kite Flying

2008-05-03T10:35:00.002-06:00

First let me say I'm sorry about how some of the pictures are posting with the wording down the sides. For some reason I can't get them to quit doing that...oh well.

April here has been VERY VERY windy. Most days it isn't too bad, but some days it just makes it cold and yucky. Others though are nice and yard work perfect. Scott got a kite this year in his Easter basket and was excited to be able to get out there and give it a try. I was amazed at how long it held his attention. In fact it held it for hours over a couple days. Even after it got stuck up on the roof for hours until the wind changed it kept him waiting. It wasn't until the kite took one nose dive too many and fell apart that he finally stopped flying.

Hiking Castle Rock

2008-05-01T14:27:00.011-06:00

This week we went with our neighbors to hike Castle Rock, which is the feature that gives our town its name. Our group consisted of Scott and I, as well as our neighbor and her 2 girls (4 and 7), and then a friend of hers with her 4 year old son. The day was perfect for it. It was warm outside, but overcasted so we were never too hot as we climbed the hill. I was excited about this hike as it would be a chance for me to play with the new lense that I had gotten for my birthday (will post on that soon). Scott was very impressive on the hike. Not only was he patient with the kids (even the girls) he was very educational for that too. He pointed about different spots of errosion as well as expain what it is and how it happens, animals that we saw along the trail, and even
a bit about rock types. That's my little scientist! While we were hikiing up one of the girls (our 4 year old) slipped and reddened her elbow a bit. She was quite shaken up over the little spill. Well Scott had packed his first aid pack that he had gotten at a boy scout meeting when
we taught them their first aid requirements. So he put a band aid on her elbow to help her feel a bit better.
At the top of the hill we were actually under neith the big rock, and around the base. Up at the top we had a great snack of strawberries, watermelon, crackers, and all kinds of yummy stuff. The area we were in was a great spot for kids to wander around, and for me to play with my camera. One of the set of pictures I've added here will be zoomed all the way in, and the other will be zoomed all the way out, to give you an idea of how far away I was when
I took them. There were lots of neat rock formations to see, and the kids all had fun climbing the differnt formations. This is a hike that will be fun to do again, but one that is best done in the cool weather!

Pictures from Leighanna's visit

2008-05-01T14:14:00.002-06:00

Leighanna came out to visit back in March not long before Easter for a week. It was so fun having her here. We really had the chance to do a lot of talking, and for the first time in a long time I felt truly at easy with her. She looks so good, and seems so happy with the life she is creating for herself. Unfortunatly I didn't get the chance to take a lot of pictures, but I did get a few of her and Scott, and her and Tim before she left, as well as a pillow fight between her and Scott.

Boy Scouts

2008-05-01T13:59:00.004-06:00

Yesterday Scott was awarded his Webelo's badge. Webelo's is the highest level in the Cub Scout ladder, he also recieved a few other reconizations for the work that he had been doing over the last month. We also had Pinewood Derby a few weeks ago. For those that don't know what that is, the boys are given a block of wood and told to design a car out of it to race. We also had to design a cake for the cake off that they were holding as a fund raiser. They also did a judging of the cakes, and Scott's cake took most creative in the contest!

Back flash to last year

2008-05-01T13:50:00.003-06:00

When I was trying to get my camera ready for our trip to Garden of the Gods I found a few pictures on a memory card from the day that I bought my camera. They were taken at the Air Force Academy. I remember telling Scott as we walked around to take a good look because this was were he was going to go to college!!!

Talent Show

2008-05-01T13:42:00.003-06:00

Our school here held a talent show a few weeks ago. Scott is a member of the student council, and because of that he was asked with a few other members to help MC the show. Well it ended up where everyone else backed out, and Scott got to MC the entire show. It was so neat watching him stand up on that stage and introduce all the different acts. Most of the acts were pretty good to watch as well. The only one I cared about though was the one that belonged to me!!! Hope you enjoy the pics.

Aint nothing but a hound dog!

2008-04-22T13:15:00.008-06:00

So everyone knows (or should realize) that we have 2 dogs. 1 Beagle that we got from the pound about 5 and a half years ago when he was around the age of 4ish. Our other is a mini doxi that we have had for about 2 and a half years now. I have to say that there are times that they frustrate me to no end, but there are others that they add such an amazing demtion to our lives that I feel blessed that they are part of our lives!

So onto my story. Here at our house we recycle. We are lucky because there are no rules attached to it, just toss everything in the given bins and then put out on the curb every other week. We are pretty good about putting everything in the bins that should go there and can usually fill our 2 bins in the 2 weeks between trips. So what goes in there? Newspapers, boxes, cans, bottles...the standard aray of garbage. Well we try to keep our bins up and out of the way, but this isn't always do-able. A few weekends ago Scott had a friend of his over to hang out. We had ordered some pizza for everyone. Tim and I were in the living room that opens up into the kitchen where Scott and his friend were. All of a sudden the kids were laughing and Scott was asking something about us buying the dogs some treats that day when we were shopping. Tim and I, trying to figure out what they were talking about, got up to see Lincoln our beagle sitting on the back porch waiting to be let in, with a box of Meaty Bone treats on his head. Apparently he got into the recycling bin, found the box, and trying to get a treat, he was stuck! What a great laugh we had at his expense! We let him in, and to make the moment even better then it already was, we tossed pieces of food onto the floor for him to try to get to!

What Really Happened To The Easter Bunny This Year!!!

2008-03-29T07:25:00.001-06:00

A Beautiful Easter

2008-03-24T08:19:00.005-06:00

I have to say that our Easter was just about as perfect as it can get. The only thing that would have made it better was if the clouds had cleared away to let the sun shine.
On Saturday morning we went with the Boy Scouts to help out with a community egg hunt. The weather was bitterly cold for it. I was joking that the day we went out and did the compass hunt at 2 degrees was warmer then yesterdays 42. The difference you ask? Well there is a big difference of 2 degrees with sun and NO wind...compared to 42 degrees with cloud covered skies and wind cutting through you at what feels like 100 miles an hour. The boys got to help steak out all the age group areas, and then scatter all the eggs out. After we all went back inside to warm up a bit, and then help with other stations. They had a little craft there for the kids to do as well as a coloring contest, Easter tattoos and of course a bunny there to get pictures with. I sat and helped out with the tattoo station. Scott was there off and on, and even Michaela came over to help out there a bit. Evin with the Boy Scouts all there to help out, they were able to come out
and hunt eggs as well. Now I need to back track a moment to us helping to "hide" the eggs. Tim in all his form started to hide the older age groups eggs up in the giant pine tree there. Well at first it
was just setting them up on the higher branches, and then it was tossing them up into the tree. Some of the boys followed suit and before you know it there was a giant Easter Egg Pine tree in the middle of the area. I've included a few pictures of the tree here to get a small idea of it.
After we left there we did a bit of running around and then came home to prep the eggs. That evening Sam and Michaela came over to help with the decorating. Since I was little we have done different things to get different looks to our eggs. This year, Scott and I found a style where you take rubber cement and drizzle it on the eggs, then dye it. After it drys you rub off the cement and voila you have a fancy decorative egg! I think that this one was a huge hit! The only draw back was when rubbing off the cement, if you pressed too hard the egg would break. Lucky for us this only happened to 2 of our eggs. As we sat there working on our eggs it began to snow outside big fluffy, it's almost the end of March and I shouldn't be here flakes. So 54 eggs later (Tim always teases me about the amount of eggs I do up...I go for at least a dozen per kid we have with us...and I always reply that what other activity makes the kids so happy for only spending about $2 a person, and entertains them for a couple of hours?)
Easter morning we awoke (always way to early) to find Scott sleeping on the couch. For some reason on holidays he wakes up super early, comes down stairs to "scope" things out and then falls back asleep till the rest of the family gets up. Last year Scott found out
that the Easter Bunny likes to play tricks and hide the basket. So this morning Scott and Michaela found scrolls awiting them with a clue on it as to where to find an egg with another clue in it. This went on for several eggs before they finally got the last clue to their basket. Clues led them to such places as the fire pit out back. The flowers
growing out front, the laundry soap box...and the likes of that. What is great about plastic eggs is that they can be hid ANYWHERE! So this year Scott found his basket in the basement by the garden that we have started down there, and Michaela found hers in the upstairs linnen closet.
After our family
traditional breakfast we dropped the girls back at mom's house for thier dinner and Tim, Scott, and I drove down to Garden of the Gods. For me I love to do up the big traditional dinners, but when the girls can't be there, it just leaves the 3 of us, and knowing that they are right down the road can can't be there with us, just seems to take a lot of the fun out of
it all. So instead we drove to a national park here about an hour south of us. The weather at the house was perfect...sunny and no wind which made the 41 degrees perfect weather to go walking around and enjoy the picnic I had packed for us. Unfortunatly though the further south we drove, the cloudier it became. By the time we got to the Garden of the Gods it had dropped 10 degrees outside, but that lack of sun didn't take away any of the beauty of the area. It is so amazing the majestical beauty of Mother Nature. These rocks are huge and stunning what has happened to them from the wind and weather. They have a driving path to take you around the main part of the park, but there are also lots of paths to take as well. We had the dogs with us, and since it was snowing and muddy we opted to just take that one trail that was paved. It took us past some amazing rock formations, to include one that they call "Kissing Camels". It was a nice walk around the area, except for Teddy. Lincoln is old and pretty calm on the leash, however Teddy being the little dog that he is has a strong
case of Napoleon Syndrom. It doesn't matter how big the dog is, Teddy thinks that he can take them on. So everytime we passed another dog we would have to fight with him to behave. Good thing he is only like 14 pounds!!! After our walk around we decieded that while the weather was warming up a bit as the sun started to come out, everything was wet. So we drove back home to have our picnic in the living room,
of ham sandwiches, potatoe salad and apples. We also had some Blood Orange Italian Soda to wash it all down with.
It was dry and we had the fire going for effect. I do think that I'm going to turn this into a tradition for the family. I can't think of anything better then an Easter hike and picnic, I can only hope that next year is a bit warmer!

Later that day Tim went out front with Scott and Michaela to play catch. The sun was shining and it was perfect out for them.
So all in all I would have to say that it was a fabulous day for us!!! And we will absolutly be going back to
the Garden of the Gods again on a warmer day, and probably with out the dogs next time to be able to explore a bit more.

Young Ameritowne

2008-03-20T08:51:00.003-06:00

One of the neat field trips that Scott and Michaela got to go on this year was to Young Ameritowne. For those that have never heard of it, as I had not, it is a minature version of a town that the kids have to run. They are given a bank account to manage, and a job within the town. There is a mayor, and police department to create and enforce rules. The students actually start getting ready for this trip about 5 months in advance. They are given a workbook and learn how to balance a check book, they petition for a job, then learn the responsibilities of their job. They get to work in groups of their job to creat game plans and all kinds of stuff like that.
Their big day was last month in early Feburary. Both of the kids were so excited about it, talking about it every night. I was going along also to help out. Actually I had no idea what I was going to be doing there, but I knew that I was going to have my camera in hand! We got there and it was pretty much a minature village set up inside. There were many different business there for the kids to run. Students were to work their jobs, then durring their break time they were to visit the other business's and shop from them. Each store offered different types of services, but they also had little toy things for their customers to buy. Kids were given Ameritown money, and a check book. They also had different rules to follow, some of them a bit silly...and if they were caught breaking the rules they would have to either pay a fine, or go to court to settle the matter. All in all it was a really neat event for the kids. One of those days that they learned a bunch, without realizing that they were learning!
My job while I was there was to work at the TV station, helping to make sure they took care of getting commercials filmed throughout the town, and also get all their bills paid, and to collect all the advertisment fees. Michaela was working as the Collage Photographer. Her job was to go around the town and take pictures of what was happening, and to capture the swearing in cerimonies for the mayor and other officals. Scott was the Bank President. His job was to make sure his tellers did as they were supposed to,
and to balance the banks books for all the accounts. I couldn't believe how much math he had to do that day. Good thing he likes math! I've added some pictures of the kids at work. It really was a fun day for all there.

Some changes to the site....

2008-03-18T11:54:00.002-06:00

I've had to make a few changes to the site as I have started to get some of those un wanted comments being posted...nothing bad, but nothing I want either...I'm sure that there is some way to delete them, I just haven't figured it out yet. Anyways for a while there will be word verification, as well as comment approval. If I know you, no matter what the comment it will get approved...if I don't know you, well sorry, but your probably going to be SOL. Sorry the the inconviences that this brings, but as the saying goes, a few ruined it for all. If I see that I'm not getting loser comments after a while, I'll lift the ban and see how it goes. In the mean time, enjoy the updates, comment away and have a great Easter!!!!!

New updates to come....

2008-03-17T10:17:00.000-06:00

Keep an eye out for some new updates and pictures! I want to thank one of the soldiers at my drill site for being so awsome about computers! He is great with them (does it for a living right now......), but when he comes to drill he is more then happy to look at our computers and do what he can to help us out. Well for whatever reason I wasn't able to download pictures off my camera to the laptop, I was able to take them from all kinds of other camers, just not my Canon. Very frustrating! Well this weekend he took a look at it, and after a bit of messing around was able to get all the settings right and now I can put pictures straight on my computer. So now I have no more reasons not to get them on the Blog right away! So come back around the end of the week to see what pictures I have added...and their stories that go with them. Stories like the kids school trip to Ameritown, Boy Scout activities, maybe a few flowers tossed in there too, to help me think of spring...if it ever gets here!!!

Crush!

2008-03-07T08:43:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to see the Colorado Crush play. They are one of the Arena Football teams. This is the first time we've seen a live game for it, and even though the stadium was almost empty...that might have had something to with the sub zero weather and blizzard like conditions out on the road. In fact we passed 7 accidents in less then 2 miles on the freeway. The game got kicked off with a "preformance" by Mini Kiss...this is a band of "little people" that dress up like Kiss and attempt to sing their songs. Let me just say that this "act" was pure torcher to watch. Not only did they look stupid, but they didn't even remember all the words to the songs that they were singing!!! After the opening torcher ended the game got going, and it more then made up for the horror of the opening act.
However they wern't done turning our stomaches. In between quarters they would have someone run across the field with the team flag while they were tossing out some t-shirts. Well the first one was another little person....I swear they were doing some kind of midget blue light special..then the next 2 times we had to watch a huge fat guy that must have gotten the kabash from "Biggest Losser" or something, I swear he had to of been pushing 400, and not one ounce of that was muscle...how do you know you ask? Well for some reason they figured it would be best to have him run with no shirt on, and then play in slow motion the swinging motion of his body as he ran. Then at the end they teamed the 2 up and had them run together...aaawww. So while the game itself was a blast, the side shows that they had, left much to be desired. We have another game at the end of the month, one can only hope that they use the next few weeks to get better entertainment!

If you go to You Tube, you can find all kinds of clips of mini kiss.....

A Perfect Valentines!!!

2008-02-19T08:31:00.000-07:00

So Valentines Day this year was Scott and Michaela's first band concert. With the kids being at the same school, and in the same grade, we have the advantage that for things like this we get double the fun/happiness out of it! The kids were excited about this, but also a bit nervous. Scott had told me that "not only do I get to sit on the stage, but we also have the big hot lights on us, and the curtin to cover the stage before the show!"
Scott had to be dressed up for this, so we had gone out a few weeks before for the dress clothes that he needed for it. It was pretty exciting for me to do this. Honestly I had a lot of fun picking out clothes and a tie with him for this big event! He was insistant too that he didn't want any fake tie, he wanted a real tie on tie for this, so that's exactly what he got!
On the big day Scott got all dressed up, and then Tim helped him out fixing his hair and then tying up his tie. While I was sitting there taking pictures I looked over and saw Lincoln just staring and watching what was going on, almost as if he was facinated by it all. Maybe he was taking it all in wishing he had thumbs to do it himself, or thinking that one day it might come in handy to know how to do this himself. Once done I have to say that he is really one great looking boy...sigh. For Michaela I had found her a really pretty hair band that was the softest silk I had ever felt. Michaela has the prettest hair ever. It is so long (all the way down the back of her hair) and healthy, which is an unusual combination. I had no idea if she was going to wear it or not, but when we got there I must admit that I was thrilled to see that she did indead have it on!!!
For this being a first year band and their first concert, they did an AMAZING job! There were a few squeeks, and off notes, but they were far and few between. Tim and I were/are so proud of both of them. They looked and sounded so great!

Caught up!!!

2008-02-07T00:37:00.001-07:00

So there it all is...the last 2 months in the Sizemore household. To read from the begining you'll have to go down to "A different Perspective" and then read up from there. I look forward to comments and emails from everyone! Don't forget to come back as I'll be posting on Scott's first band concert!

A chance to get back out to San Fran

2008-02-07T00:18:00.000-07:00

I had to head out to Camp Parks again this January. It used to be that I just dreadded these trips to the middle of no-where California, but since the cruise in May I really enjoy the chance to get out there, because that means a chance to see our new and good friends Brian and Marci. This time around we got into CA on Saturday nice and early and as that was our only day off I headed down there on the BART (the train system) with one of the guys from my unit that had flown out with me. Unfortunatly everyone else was busy and couldn't make it.
Every time that I get to go there I see so many neat things. Brian and Marci are truly wonderfull tour guides and I always have so much fun with them. I was very lucky too as they are such easy going people they got along with my friend John right away. I don't know when I'll be able to get out there again, but I can say that I no longer dread going to Camp Parks!!!

One last note here as I will not be writing up about the training that we were at Parks doing. Holli, as always it was so nice to see you. I always look forward to seeing you at these events. I hope you are able to get your blog up and running, and it truly saddens me to think that you are going to be retiring soon. You are truly one of the best that the 104th has, and you will be deeply missed!!!

A Brand New Smile

2008-02-07T00:03:00.000-07:00

So over 2 years ago we noticed a problem with Scott's teeth...they were actually coming in on the roof of his mouth. We got him to the dentist and had it looked into, and found that he would need partial braces. So there he was, just turned 8 and getting braces put on. I've included the pictures that I posted here back in January of 06 just as a reminder of where he was back then. After we moved up here to Colorado and changing Orthodontists we found out that our AZ DDS didn't do as great of a job as he should have, and poor Scott had to get another jaw spreader put in and in a way, start from the begining. I will say though that I really really like the DDS we found. He was amazing!!!!! Within 6 short months he compleatly reconstructed Scott's mouth. Well the big day was finally here this month and Scott got his braces off, as well as the jaw spreader that had still been there. He does still have to wear a wire across the top of his mouth to keep the jaw set where it should be, he also has wires glued in place behind his front 4 teeth, top and bottom. After getting his braces off the dentist gave him a big bag of goodies, of all the things he hadn't been aloud to eat with the braces on. Well Scott got home and started off with the peanut M&M's (kind of a surprise as he dosen't like peanuts) but as he was eatting them he bit into something hard...turns out it was one of his teeth...go figure, the same day he gets his braces off, he loses a tooth. Now here it is about 2 weeks later and he has 2 more teeth ready to fall out...This is how the whole thing started, losing to many teeth at once!
There has been a big change in Scott since the braces have come off. He smiles so much more, and I have heard many compliments on that fact, and that his smile is so nice.

Our baby boy turned 10!!!

2008-02-06T23:46:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it! Scott turned 10 at the end of the year. I remember a few years back (5 to be exact) and how I was having a harder time with the idea of my son turning 5 then with me turning 30...well now here it is as he turns 10, it does sadden me, but at the same time I think I'm ok with it. I look at who he is and am just AMAZED at how neat he is. I see many things from both Tim and I in Scott...so I am a big fan of the idea that Nature and Nuture work well together. Tim is such a wonderfull influence on Scott...he really helps to keep Scott away from some of my bad traits (ie..painfull shyness) that I have seen in him. Scott is such a smart boy, and really is a good looking kid if I do say so myself (make sure to check back after Valentines day for pics of him dressed up).

With his birthday on New Years Eve we always have to kind of double up the day, as we usually have a poker party on New Years. This year was a bit crazier as I had to work until 5 that night. So to Scott, I haven't forgotten your birthday party with friends, think about what you would like to do.

Scotts big present this year didn't have much to do with size, or price...it had more to do with responsibilty. Tim and I figured that since Scott is so big into Boy Scouts and is a very responsible kid, so he got a Swiss Army knife this year. He was a bit mystified by it, but I know that one day he'll truly grasp what it means!

A Quick Christmas Story

2008-02-06T22:49:00.000-07:00

So while Christmas has long since come and gone, I still have yet to tell about it! So here it is. Once again we got snow on Christmas! It was AMAZING!!! We were already in for a white Christmas with a slight covering of snow, but when we woke up and looked outside and saw large white flakes floating to the ground. I have to say that I just love snow...and there truly is something magical about snow on Christmas. In a way it is like a gift from God to see something that magical and beautiful on such a holy day. Anyways we have all kinds of traditions that I try to squeeze in for the holdiays. We have to do up ginger bread houses. This task falls to Scott and Michaela. It is a great chance to for them to have to work together and compromise. I usually just buy a pre-baked kit so that all I need to do is dump the candy into a dish, and clip open the frosting.
One of our other traditions is our cookies! I really enjoy baking the holiday cookies. I have a few that are there every year. I usually have PB&J bars at the top of my list every year. We also do up ginger bread cookies so that the kids have the cut outs to play with and then decorate. A few years ago I found a Uber cool site to order cookie cutters from, so I was able to add to my collection this year as I was ordering a bunch of musical shaped cookie cutters for Leighanna. One other tradition that we have, that we just wern't able to do this year it to paint ceramic orniments.
We usually have the kids do 3 each. One for here, for the girls we send one back to their other house with them, and then one goes into a shoe box for the day when they have a tree of their own. These used to be found everywhere...now however they are as rare as a jackalope. One of my favorite though is our Christmas Eve traditions. We spend a quite day at home (hopefully) wrapping up odds and ends around the house. Then we have a dinner of shrimp and cheese/crackers. After that we head to church. No matter how crazy busy our life is to get ready for Christmas, I do insit that we take that time out to go. It is a blissfull hour to relax, reflect, and rejoice. Back home I have my favorite church to go to, but since we have moved so much over the last few years, we are constantly on the search for a new one to go to. This year we got very lucky with the one that we found. After church we head back home for hot chocolate and story time. Scott is now almost 10, yet still he likes to crawl into my lap and hear the same 3 stories I have been reading for years to him on this night.
Always ending with the copy of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" that my mom gave to me my first Christmas as a mommy.
So anyways Christmas morning....let me start by saying that I have the coolest kid ever! Scott will get up around 5 or so on christmas morning, but he just goes downstairs to stare at the tree, maybe look for tags with his name on it, and then goes to lay down on the couch till we get up. Now tell me, how awsome is that???? Our Chirstmas gave us snow all day long, and right as we were getting ready to oepn gifts, Michaela came over...perfect timing! Not long after we finished with them, then Sam and Leighanna got to the house as well. I can't think of anything better then having all the kids at the house enjoying together. I hope that everyone had as wonderfull of a Christmas as we did.

By the way...pajamas for dogs are the coolest idea!!!

A different perspective

2008-02-06T22:34:00.000-07:00

So I sit here on a Wednesday night at 2230 finding myself in a spot where I have to stay up until at least 0200. I am being moved to night shift for the week and it has been a long long time since I pulled an all nighter at work, so have to try to get myself on that scheadule as sleep just isn't an option...I'll be drinking lots of water and Monster! So I figure what better way to spend my time then catching up on my blog. I know that there are several quite watchers out there, so it is to you that I dedicate my night to!!!

Anyways before I get into more up to date stories I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to all my friends out there for all you have given to my life. Tim and I were talking the other day about the idea of "what if", and this what if had to do with the idea of "what if we hadn't had to leave Ohio". Both of us agree that as much as we (translate to I) miss Ohio, we are so blessed by the experences we have had since we left. If we had stayed in Ohio we would have never met Rod and Tara, 2 of the greatest people anyone could ever hope to meet when far away from home. So to my Arizona friends, both north and south, my 104th battle buddies, both from Texas, and my medics, and now to our new friends and neighbors in Colorado...We wouldn't trade you or the enrichment you have added to our lives. While I still look forward to going back home to Ohio, each and every one of you have touched our lives in someways and made it better!

A quick boyscout pic to share!

2008-01-22T20:06:00.000-07:00

A picture of Scott after getting his popcorn award!

Long awaited award...and some time with friends

2007-12-03T17:04:00.000-07:00

This weekend Tim and I flew out to Oakland California for an award cerimony. The Army Reserve has an award that they present to soldiers when they come home from deployments. So after over 2 years I was finally getting mine. It was a crazy week trying to get everything all set up and taken care of so that we could get out there, and God bless the neighbors that we have who were able to take Scott in for the weekend. The Army was more then happy to send Tim there, but wouldn't let me take Scott as well.

Tim and I flew out on Saturday afternoon to Oakland with another lady that is from my site who was also recieving the award. Once we landed and grabbed out bags, we hopped a ride with that same couple to the post where Tim had a car set up waiting for us there. After we grabbed the car, we made a quick stop off at our hotel to get checked in, and a quick check in the mirror and then we were on our way to meet up with friends of ours in San Francisco. We met Brian and Marci back in May on our cruise, and were instant friends. I had a chance a few months back to meet up with them and they are amazing hosts in their city. After dealing with the traffic on the Bay Bridge and getting there we went to the parking garage, said our hello's and went to a hotel there for drinks. The decorations in there for the holidays were just amazing to see. They had these strings of lights hanging from the celing that were just beautiful to see. They also had a few huge tree's decked out for Christmas in their lobby. After a drink we headed out for our dinner reservations, but before we left we stopped for a few pictures in the lobby, and in the process I almost knocked over their 20 foot Christmas tree! They had a chair sitting by the tree that I went to sit in, only the chair moved about about 2 feet into the tree when I sat on it. That just wouldn't have been good. For dinner we ate at this AMAZING little Italian restraunt. The owner kept coming over to our table to check on us, and kept managing to add on to our order, or talk us into better bottles of wine then we had picked out. He was good at his job, that's for sure! By the time dinner was done though, our time was up and we had to get back to the parking garage to get the cars before they closed up. So our good byes were said, and we headed off our seperate ways. I can't wait to see them again. It really is alot of fun getting together with them.
By the time we made it back to the room it was around 1am, and we had to be at Camp Parks by 9ish. Unfortunatlly for as tired as we both were, neither of us got much sleep that night. The heater in our room sounded like a freigt train running every time it turned on, and when that would cycle off, the fridge in the room kicked on. So with very little sleep we gave up trying around 7am and showered and got ready for the days events. The hotel there had a little free breakfast for us and then we took off.
Our cerimony was held in a gym type of room that was all decorated for us. After a "dress" rehearsal, we got going around 1030. They had our divisions Col there as well as the Bdg General to give us a speach. It was kind of funny as he talked about the adjustment of being home, and help that was out there...all I kept thinking was, I went through all that 2 years ago, everythings fine now! When we were called up for our award they asked that the spouces go up with us, so at this time we don't have any pictures of me actually going up to get my award, but I've attached a few that were taken afterwards. All in all it was a very nice cerimony that was long awated for. By the way, the awards were...a flag that is folded in a wooden display case that has the front and back of a coin mounted in it, as well as a basic plaque saying welcome home, and on the side is my name and dates of deployment. We were also given a coin by the general there presenting the awards,
a flag that says welcome home, a lapel pin for me and one for Tim, and a coin in a case (same one as is mounted on the flag case). The other things are nice, but all I really wanted to make sure I got was my flag. I was given a plaque, and other things from my actual mission on was on, but they are all things that will stay in the box, looked at once and awhile, but my flag I am proud of, and will have set out for all to see.

The Family Guy Deleted Scene '911 Call' FUNNY...

2007-11-29T07:53:00.001-07:00

This is just too funny!!! I've actually known a few dispatchers that were like this..not to mention a few medics as well!

Musical talent

2007-11-16T11:25:00.000-07:00

This school year Scott deceided that he wanted to play saxaphone. We did all that fun rental stuff and then contacted a good friend of mine who works for an intrument company. Turns out that it was a HELL of a lot cheaper to buy a brand new one from her, then to rent a used one for a year. So Scott made the choice to take some money out of his savings account to buy his very own. It took a few weeks to get here, but it was so worth it. Scott was thrilled at how nice looking it was and that it came with a better neck strap, and lighter carring case! So to my friend (I'll not name you here just in case :)...thank you so very much, your the bestest!!!! I've encluded a few pics of Scott w/his new sax.

It's begining to look a lot like Halloween....

2007-10-21T16:18:00.000-06:00

So yesterday we had a wonderful day weather wise. It was almost 80 degrees out, with a wind coming across. So that afternoon we headed outside to enjoy the sun and put out our Halloween decorations. For the last few years we have put on quite a show, have even scarred our share of kids with it all! So we pulled out our cool color coded boxes and went through everything we had, and started decking out the yard. However as we were begining to finish up we started thinking of the idea that were in Colorado now, and not all our stuff is weather friendly....so some of our stuff will have to stay hidden until Halloween! After that we headed back inside to watch the sever disappointment of the game (once again, you should know...). The next morning I got up to a few inches of snow on the ground and freezing tempatures! By the middle of the afternoon we had about 8" or so fall. The tempature has warmed up a bit, and they say it is going to go up to about 80 again by the end of the week...so for the next few days I have the fun of muddy dogs in and out of the house! The dogs love the snow though. It is funny to see Teddy bounding through the snow, and it never fails that Lincoln gets wound up. Tim will toss them snow balls and the dogs will chase them digging around looking for them. One of our fun tricks is to toss biscuts into the snow and watch the dogs try to find those!!!

Sweet Rocky Mountian Paradise

2007-10-07T17:26:00.000-06:00

This weekend we made it up to the mountians to enjoy the fall colors. My most amazing husband humored me by driving all the way out to Aspen so that I could go and see the John Denver Santuary that they have out there. So before I go any futher let me just admitt here that I am a huge fan of John Denvers music. I remember being a kid and cleaning the house with mom and having the record player stacked with John Denver, Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstat. When Tim and I were married we even had the song that John had written for his wife as our wedding song, "Annie's Song". If you've never heard the song, your missing out...it truly is a beautiful love song/pome:

"You fill up my senses
Like a night in the forest
Like the mountians in springtime
Like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert
Like the sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses
Come fill me again

Come let me love you
Let me give my life to you
Let me drown in your laughter
Let me die in your arms
Let me lay down beside you
Let me always be with you
Come let me love you
Come love me again."

So there we are on a 4 hour drive to see some rocks that were engraved with song lyrics. Tim was even so sweet as to let me listen to hours of Denver as we drove out there!
We set off that morning with the threat of cold and rain in our future, but willing to take the chance. We had the dogs loaded in the car, the GPS programed and a picknic baskets over flowing for or day of adventure. It was amazing...once we got out of the main part of town we didn't see a fast food restraunt for the next hundared or two miles...maybe even more. The route we took went right through the mountians and at times was a bit zig zaggy...it was funny to see it out on the GPS screen, so we took a picture of it and joked around that it was like we were driving the road that they used for those "zoom zoom" comercials. We made a few stops along the way to get some neat pictures, stretch or legs, and let the dogs take a leak. After about 4 hours we arrived at our destination, not having a clue as to what we were going to find. One thing we didn't find though was parking! We drove around the main part of town (think very small little village). Finally we gave up and went for the parking garage. Finding an open spot as soon as we pulled in we grabbed our lunch and dogs and went to the park across the street for our picknic. The weather was holding up for us so far. It was in the low 60's with some gusty winds...I'll take that compaired to what we were supposed to be getting. After eatting Tim ran everything back to the car and then we were off down the trail to find our rocks. Now if your wondering to yourself...why would a yuppy town like Aspen have a memorial to John Denver? Well the answer is, because he lived there for much of his career, in fact his ex-wife Annie still lives there in their house up in the mountians there. When John lived there he just fell in love with the beauty of it all. After being there I can see why, and knowing his music the way I do, I can see where much of his inspiration came from. It is hard to be surrounded by such beauty and not feel something. One of my biggest goals there was to find "Annie's" rock and have a picture of Tim and I taken next to it. I can't wait to print this one out and hang up by our wedding photos.
After we had enjoyed the beauty of the area it was time to move on. We had spotted a neat looking "park" that had some off road parking and many trails that we could walk and let the dogs smell to their hearts content! On our way back to that spot we made several stops to get pictures and then deceided to stop off at the Continential Divide to get a few pics. This spot is above the tree lines at 12,095 feet, and here it was VERY cold and windy! Scott was excited to be able to play in the snow there! After a quick look see we were back in the car and I was having second thoughts as if we should go hiking at that spot. Well as we drove down the mountian the tempature went back up to the low 60's. We did go through a bit of rain, but by the time we made it to "our spot" the weather was PERFECT! The dogs go out and were going nuts with all the scents all around them! Lincoln is like a little hunting puppy when we take him out to the woods. Tim thought it was pretty funny as Lincoln was litteraly dragging me through the woods following a scent. In and out of creeks and up the mountian side. This is really becoming something that I love to do. I have always had a love of nature and the beauty of it all. Now I have a cool camera and an amazing husband to join along...and of course the 2 dogs and 1 son that have no say in any of it! Finally after several trails our wet dogs had dried off and we were about ready to head home. To head over to the main trails we had a really neat wooden bridge to cross over so on our way back we played a quick round of "Pooh Sticks" and then headed back to the car (if you don't know what Pooh Sticks are...sorry) Tim had Scott pick up a few pine cones that we're going to try and plant (have you ever priced a pine tree before?) Then Tim found an old spot that had a bunch of trash in it and there Tim and Scott found an old Budwiser can in it that had to of been about 30 or more years older!
The drive home was just as amazing as our ride in, the sceanery didn't grow old at all...only problem? I had filled up my memory chip, and only now as I write this do I remember that I had 2 more in my camera case!!!!

Taking in some local nature

2007-09-30T11:08:00.000-06:00

Last Sunday we had a late start game so took advantage of the free time and grabbed the dogs and went walking to a little "canyon". Michaela was staying with us so we went ahead and let her grab her dog as well. Now before I tell the rest of the story let me back track to another one. My 2 dogs are to the point that they are kind of ok walking together. Our doxie though is very hyper when he gets to walk. We have a harness for him to wear as he likes to choke himself w/just a collar on. He is pretty funny to watch. It is kind of like a dog on a tread mill. He runs like crazy, but gets no where! Thank goodness he is only around 15 pounds because we can keep controll of him. He also has the strong desire to be front dog at all times. Now Teddy and Lincoln have gotten to that point in their lives that they know each other well and live in realitive harmony with each other. However when a new dog enters the picture Lincoln gets very uneasy and slighly defensive. Teddy just gets horney and will stop at nothing to "get to know" the other dog no matter the gender. So Michaela has a dog now that is a form of a terrier and very hyper...so 2 hyper dogs in the same yard and one uneasy one makes for an interesting senerio. So now back to my story. 2 dogs on a walk with a new one tossed into the mix. What started as a family walk, turned into a extended out line keeping all dogs away from each other. Michaela had to walk about 50 yards in front of us. Followed by Scott about 25 yards behind Michaela with Lincoln. We had Teddy because he was just going nuts trying to catch up to Michaela's dog (Mya). The walk was close to the house and once you drop down a bit, other then housing projects and new school project up on the ridge, it was like being in a whole different world! We opted not to walk the entire path that they had there, since the dogs were going out of their minds, but it was enough to get some pictures and out of the house to enjoy the area around us.

My little sister finally did it!!!!

2007-09-23T14:14:00.000-06:00

So I'm sitting here watching the game (and if you have to ask what game, you just don't know me very well!!!!) Anyways I figured that now would be a good time to start doing updates...so the plan is for every Sunday to do an update here.

Back in August my family came out to visit. Now when I say family I mean entire family! I had my mom, dad, middle sister Sara and her boyfriend/husband Rob, and their 4 that's right 4 kids, my youngest sister Emily and her boyfriend John. Needless to say there was a hugely full house here for that week!!! During the week we mostly just hung around the house catching up and hanging out. Back over the 4th of July Tim and I went out and picked up an old bowling machine (65). Amazingly it works pretty good still. So for us that was the nighly event. Tim and I, and my sisters and their signifi others playing. We would split up into boy vs girl teams and what made the game even more interesting is that the machine would randomly pick a player to screw! John could "bowl" a strike but get no points for it. Then a game or two later it would be Sara, or anyone else. Strikes would be flying but the points wouldn't.
Midway through the trip my sister Sara had decieded that after like 100 years with her boyfriend that now was the time to finally make it legeal and offical!!! They did a JP style wedding so it was kind of funny as we headed into the jail/court house as we all had to pass through security. So there we are all dressed up having to put all our belongings, including bouquets onto the conveyer belt. After the wedding we headed back to the house for a dinner and cake and a night of poker. I would like to say congradulations to her and Rob. I'm very happy for them and wish them all the best in the world!

While they were here we also celebrated my neices 6th birthday and my nephews 9th birthday. We also had several waterballon fights. They started off for the kids, but turned into a "grown up" revenge style of game. Let me tell you we had some HUGE ballons too! We had bought many bags of waterballons and let the kids have their go with those. We had also bought some regular party style balloons that had was you might see in a ballon bouquet sized ballons in it. So when filled with water they were the size of a small bomb. One that we did must have weighed at least 15 pounds! I had also saved a bunch of fire works for Sara and Robs wedding, but it rained here each night so we didn't get a chance to light them off until Sunday night right before they were going to have to leave. I had so much fun having my family all here, but with so many people and so many events going on it seemed as if we wen't able to go anywhere at all. So I do hope that they all come out again sometime (maybe a few at a time) so that we can show them around some of the neat things we have here, both in town and all around!

Summer catch up....at least what I can remember of it for right now!!!!

2007-08-30T13:37:00.000-06:00

So by now most of you know that we have finally officially moved here to Colorado. If you missed that email and need our new addy, just send me an email. Things have gotten pretty well settled in finally. When Scott and I first got up here, Leighanna and Eryk were staying with us for the summer until school was back in. It was fun getting a chance to spend some time with both of them. Scott adjusted to the move pretty quick and made several friends on the street here.
School started here the beginning of July. They are on an all year calendar here, so kids go to school for several weeks, then get several weeks off. It’s hard for me to realize that Scott is in 5th grade now! I have to consciously take a step back every now and then and remind myself that he isn’t a "little kid" anymore and that it good for him to do things w/out. I’ve enclosed a few pictures from the first day of school. Keep an eye out for future posts including: My little sisters wedding!!!, my entire families visit, Scott and his Saxophone, and our new business venture!

The end of the most dragged out story ever!

2007-08-30T13:22:00.000-06:00

Ok…I’ve dragged this trip out long enough. So here it is, in condensed version so that I can move on to all the over events going on here!
Cozumel had probably the most beautiful water that I have ever seen! It was the magical bluish green that was just amazing. Since we had been kind of busy on the other islands we opted to take the day and do some shopping. While we did find a few shops that were neat, it was a jewelry haven. I was hoping to find some more neat pieces to add to my kitchen, but there were none to be found at all. After a few hours of this we decided to head over to the Senior Frogs we had seen when we got off the boat with the idea that more from our group would probably be there as well. Right we were. In fact when we get there the party was already in full swing! The rest of our time on the island was spent there hanging out. And there you go…Cozumel!
Our last day at sea was our horse race. After a week of parading this thing around the boat all day, everywhere we went it was time to see what it could really do. There were 2 contests for the horses. The first was best dressed. We had that stupid horse all decked out. On top of that our entire group wore our "team" shirts to the race and then created a hand tunnel for it to travel down. We had a group of 20 some people there with us, all screaming as loud as we could, but our rival horse came from a group of 30 some people, so no matter how hard or loud we yelled, they were able to out yell us in the end. Then it was time for the big race, and while it was a close one, we didn’t get that one either…but that’s ok, because neither did our rival horse!
Before we knew it, it was time to pack up and have our bags in the hall for the stewards to pre-stage for our exit the next morning.
So there you have it, our trip all said and done, months later. Tim and I really had a blast, and can’t wait to do it again! We met some wonderful new friends (look for a future post on a visit with them). We had a chance to relax and hang out with friends old and new, some that we hadn’t seen in a few years, some we hope to see for years to come. So to everyone that was and is a "Sea Monkey", we would like to thank you all! Each and every one of you added something to our trip helping make it one of the most exciting things we’ve ever done! We hope to do it again someday soon!

Grand Caymans

2007-08-08T14:27:00.000-06:00

This was the day that we had been looking forward to for months. The Caymans were the only island that we had planned an excursion on, and we did that months before the trip to make sure we could get in. After we had gotten on board a few others were still signing up for their trips, and we found out that Brian and Marci were signing up for the same trip we were on. It was nice having someone to share the fun with. Our day started off with some breakfast in the WindJammer while we waited for our tender number to be called. On this island we had to take a ferryboat to the actual island, as we could not dock right at their shores. The morning started off a bit overcasted and there were some threats of rain. We were reminded of the fact that the trips either continue rain or shine, or if canceled due to the weather we were SOL.
Once on the island I was captured by the old fashion charm of the main strip there. It had a very distinctive French quality to the building fronts. We had to shuffle around trying to find our meeting location. When our driver showed up he was much more then I could have hoped for. I was thinking that he was just a driver that would point out a few details along the way, but he was the entire package!
Our first stop along the way was a turtle farm where they are in the process of trying to boost the turtle population. Here they have established a beach for the females to crawl up onto to lay their eggs. If your not familiar with how the sea turtles work, the females lay their eggs and bury them in the sand, then crawl back to the ocean and are done. The eggs will then later hatch and the babies (about 2" in size) then have to find their way back to the ocean and take their chances of not being scooped up by birds or other animals. Oh yeah, they also have the problem of birds and other animals eating the eggs prior to hatching. So of a deposit of say 50 eggs, maybe 2 will make it. So this farm lets the females lay their eggs and then will dig them up and place in incubators till hatching then they will be raised in different tanks till ready to either add to their collections, or release back into the wild. Once we walked into the place our driver went into the full story of what this place does, and how it works. He also shared with us all the information of the turtle lives, how to tell the ages and the sexes of the turtles. The main tank with the adults in it was huge and the turtles were in huge quantities! They were just about stacked on top of each other. Some of the turtles there were up into their 70’s in age. The next tank we visited held the youngens that were about 6 months old. These were about a foot in diameter, and maybe 20 pounds or so. Here we were able to reach right in and pick them up. The turtles have a built in drive to be in the water and swim, so when you pull them out of the water you have to turn them away from the water right away, or else you’ll end up getting splashed as they try to fight you. After we left that tank we wondered around a few other tanks where they are working with other types of turtles other then the Sea Turtles. Before we knew it, it was time to run through the gift shop and then back onto the bus and onto our next stop…the rum store!
When we got to Tortuga Rum Co. I don’t think I have ever seen chaos like this before in my life! It was a small little store that had about 100 people in it and 1 cashier. They had a great business going, but needed to stagger the bus arrival times a bit better. All anyone needed was about 10 minutes in there to be able to get a good buzz going. They know how to sell booze there! They had about 10 different bottles open that they were giving samples out of, and they handed out as many as you wanted. Right next to there was a station of rum cakes galore for the taking. Being part of a ship trip though we could not carry our bottles on. Actually we didn’t even get to see our bottles of choice at all. We had to take our luck that they delivered it to our ship in time, and that it would make it to our room from there. Just as the place was clearing out a bit and we had some breathing room to look around, it was our time to go as well. Our next stop was Hell. This is a very small town on the island that got its’ name because of the exposed jagged black coral reefs. This reef field is about the size of a football field if that and very neat looking. In front of the reef is a little shack that sells all kinds of crap souvenirs to us gullible tourists. I couldn’t believe how bad it was in there. For all the neat Hell sayings that there are, they used none of them. To top all that off then, they were charging crazy high prices for the stuff. Most of the t-shirts there were about $35 for really bad artwork. We were able to send post cards off from there though, so the kids got cards postmarked from Hell. This stop seemed to last all to long before we finally loaded back up and headed over to the ocean again to meet up with our boat for the last leg of our excursion.
This last stop was the one that I was the most excited about. In fact I had thought about it since I had gotten a pack from our travel agent that had a letter from someone talking about it. Swimming with the StingRays. To me it just sounded like the coolest thing in the world to do on our trip. Our boat ride out to StingRay City was about 45 minutes or so. The boat tour had a videographer on board going around getting pictures of everyone on board, they also had this wonderful fruit punch that they were serving. Once we got closer to our destination we were given briefings on how to properly feed and touch the StingRays. We got to our area, threw out anchor and the videographer went into the water first to get some underwater shots of them swimming all around. A bit of history on the area before I go one with the story. Back in the day, a long, long time ago the fishing boats would stop in this area to clean fish and their boats. The sailors would just toss all the guts and what not into the water. Sting Rays love this type of stuff and soon learned to associate the sound of the engines with dinner. Over the years someone got the idea to make it a tourist stop. I’m glad that they did! Once we were in the water we had a bucket that had holes drilled all around it so that the squid juice inside of it was able to leak out and scent up the water. Before we knew it there were dozens of these amazing fish all around us! No matter where we stepped there was a StingRay. Some were under our feet there, some were swimming around our legs; all of them were looking for a free meal! We had been told to be careful of the squid juice and not wipe it on our legs or anything as the Sting Rays are scent eaters and will try to suck the juice off us leaving us with giant hickeys. So knowing this info Tim grabbed a big squid out of the bucket and rubbed it all over my stomach in hopes that one would latch onto my stomach. Of course I wasn’t his only target. Brian didn’t seem to thrilled with this whole idea of fish swimming around us and in mass quantities. So he was staying off to the side by the boat, far enough away to be away, but close enough that Tim was able to keep throwing squid over to the water around where Brian was standing forcing the Sting Rays over to him. We had been told that kissing a StingRay was years of good luck, so everyone that I could get a hold of I was kissing, I should be set for life now! We were able to grab a hold of them a few times for pictures and as we had to head back to the boat our one guide grabbed one and had it climb up my back for a StingRay massage. It was the oddest thing ever! Too quickly it was time to board back up and head back to shore. On the way back they had some rum punch for us to indulge in, so good…I could have gone through gallons of it if they had had it!
Tonight was our second formal night for dinner and we were all excited to see each other dressed up again, and share our stories of adventures from the day. We all met at the main staircase to get a group photo. The guy that was setting it up was really ticking us all off with his complete incompetence, and general rudeness. Rod had been waiting for this night, as he had rented himself a James Bond tux to wear. So there we are, all dressed up, carrying a horse on a stick with us to dinner, every bit the picture of high class! When dinner was done Rod had set up with a different photographer to do a few special pictures. There Rod was in the center with Tara and Mimi looking at him lovingly hanging onto his shoulders, and Loraine and I were clinging to his leg looking up at him. It was just too funny to see us there in front of a waterfall, and Rod posing with his best James Bond look! Afterwards Tim and I went out on the deck for a bit to enjoy the night air and then headed over to the casino to meet up with everyone. Tim sat down at the Roulette table to play, but there wasn’t anymore space there (was a small table) so I went over and sat down to play video poker. By the end of the night we had won over $100 between the 2 of us.
All in all I would have to say that this was my favorite day of the trip. This is the day that I think about when things get crazy….my new happy place!

Jamaica Mon!

2007-06-07T10:25:00.000-06:00

So here it is finally a trip update. Sorry that it has taken this long, but right when I got home I was in a whrilwind of school work to do as it was time to wrap up everything for the year. Anyways, it's summer break now so no more excusses (unless I don't finish this before the move then I have that one!) So on Wednesday we finally made our first island stop. We made port in Montego Bay early that morning. By the time that Tim and I got up to meet with everyone for breakfast we had already docked. It was nice seeing land and birds again. Most of the group all met up at Windjammers (the informal dinning area) for breakfast and chatted excitedly over are days plans. We were all going to be heading to Breezes for the day. For those that haven't seen the comercials they are a private type resort that is "all enclusive". After swiping our cards and leaving the boat we were swarmed by taxi drivers. We got lucky with a really nice guy named "Ward". Hows that for a Jamacian name for you? Anyways he took us right to where we needed to go for less then nothing per person, and refused to take any money until he came back to pick us up!
So now that I've gotten us to the front door of Breezes, let me back track a few weeks to tell you the story of how we ended up going there....Tara, who pulled this entire cruise together has parents that also like to travel alot and called Breezes for us letting them know we had a good sized group coming into town and what could they do for us. Well a deal was worked out that we could show up that day and for $45 each get in and enjoy the resort, and the bigger the group, the better the discount could be. Tim and I talked about it and figured this was a no brainer...private beach, drinks, and food all for $45, an unbeatable deal in our minds. It must have seemed that way to most of the group too as there was about 16 or so of us there.
Now lets go back to the story of us walking in the front door. As we walk in we see a mimosa station right by the door. Were still all hyped up and talking about our day to come. Tara went to the desk to tell them about the deal the main office gave us, and we got a look like we had just landed there in a space ship! She explained again about the deal we were offered and we were told 'not a chance in hell' would they let us in for that price...if we wanted in we needed to pay the ship price of $98 each. Yeah right...double the price we were told. Now everyones excited chatter is slowly turning into angry mummbling. Well as were sitting there getting steamed another group came in. Come to find out they had been there earlier in the day and had been told by THEIR front desk to come back after 10:00 am and they would let them in for that $45 price we were talking about. So now there are about 25 irked people standing around. Tara is on the phone with the main office and still getting no where. Next thing we knew a 3rd group walked in and ran into the same problem, only difference was that this group had a travel agent in it. So a pow wow was held in an office and a bit later Tara came out saying that they wern't going to budge at all on the price. We said the heck with it, and since Doug had drained them of their mimosa station we left. So out their door walked between our group and another one, more then $2000 that they could have made that day. We would find out later on by a spy that stayed behind waiting for others in the group to meet up with us, that the group with the travel agent was let in not long after we left at the $45 rate.
Right down the road from there was a semi private beach, as in there was a cover charge to get in and use their stuff, but still resonable prices. We got some chairs, and an umbrella and set up camp. After changing we headed to the water for a little football play. Some had rented snorkle gear and exchanged it amongst the group to play around at a reef that wasn't too far away. They also had these awsome gaint trampolines out in the water to hang out or play on. At one point one of them only had 2 people on it, so we saw it as our chance for a "Seamonkey Invasion". After awhile though the sky started to cloud over so we headed back to our chairs and started ordering buckets of beer. On the ship a six pack bucket of beer was costing about $27 w/their tip built in...on the beach they were $10 each. As it got closer to lunch time a few from the group went into a restraunt/bar that was right on the beach. Tim, Marci, Brian, and I however deceided that we were going to head a few doors down to Margarittaville. This is a Jimmy Buffet owned theme restraunt. As we walked in, I realized that there wasn't going to be much of a chance to eat there as it was packed wall to wall. Within a minute of walking in the DJ there was anouncing a chance to win a free t-shirt. That's all I needed to hear...the word free and I'm there. Well next thing I knew I was up on the bar getting ready for a dance off! As I looked out at the crowd there was my husband telling me to "take it off!" Brian even came up to "tip" me a dollar! While we were dancing the bar tender was spraying us down with water from the soda hose they have. The bar was so slippery! Well I didn't take first place, but I did get a free "Longatude" beer which is Jimmy's own brand for these restraunts. We all agreed that food was out, so headed up to the top floor to ride the water slide that they have there. Tim was the first brave one to go. He asked the attendant there about the drop to the water. (read in your best Jamaican acent) "oh mon, you come right out on the water, it's smooth" . So off Tim went, followed by Brian. I should mention that by this point it was pooring rain outside. So Marci and I sat in the rain to wait for the guys to come up and watch the gear for our turn. After what seemed like forever we started looking around only to see that they were hanging out on the trampolines! I guess that they were looking for a Kodak moment there. Anyways they soon came to join us with the warning that there was a huge drop to the water and make sure we keep arms and legs crossed for it. Well with the liquid courage that we had been working on all day I took off. Let me tell you that this slide, short though it was, was FAST! I hit the water a bit stunned, swam off to the side and turned to look for Marci. I saw her heading out the tube, and honestly she looked like a bullet from a 45. We must have traveled at least 5 feet in the air before hitting the water 3 feet below!
We made our way back to the group laughing and glad that we had stopped over there. All to soon though it was time to call Ward and let him know that our pick up location had changed and we were ready to head back. Ward picked us up early enough to do some quick shopping in one of the centers there. Tim and I had bought a coupon book on the boat, so we checked out what we could get for free there, and found ourselves right in the middle of where we needed to be, so we did some quick shop hopping for free earrings, free stones and that type of thing. Then back to the boat we went.
After a shower and a quick nap it was soon dinner time again. Today after we had gotten back to the ship, Rod had aquired a few coffee mugs and had Brian taking the horse around while he and Marci used the cups to make hoof sounds (think Monty Python and the Holy Grail). Needless to say they made quite an entrance to dinner that night. Afterwards we took the horse on a tour of the boat while Rod acted as the papparazi for our horse taking hundreds of "pictures" of it

every step of the way!

Memorial Day

2007-05-28T14:41:00.000-06:00

I wanted to take a moment before I continue on with our trip adventures to say thank you to all that have served, and are currently serving our great country. Many soldiers and civilians have died to give us the freedoms that we have over the last 231 years, please take a moment to say a prayer for them. Also when you see a soldier or a vet make sure to say a kind word to them.

Lost at Sea....Days 3+4+5 (or should it be 1, 2 +3?)

2007-05-27T18:18:00.000-06:00

I awoke very early this morning not sure if it was from stress of no passport, or just excitement. I knew there was no way I was going back to sleep, so I grabbed a few things and headed out to the balacony to enjoy the sun rise (when I say early...I mean it!). So there I sat enjoying the perfect weather, sun rise and quiet. I spent the time catching up on my journal. Now that I sit writing out my posts, I'm really glad that I did keep a journal. We crambed so much into each day that it sometimes seemed as if it were 2 days instead. Tim was up not long after I finished in my journal and we quickly changed and headed over to the beach to enjoy the rest of the sun rise from the water front. It was nice there. The beach was freshly cleaned, and there was only a few people out there (some looked like left overs from the night before). We strolled along the beach for a mile or so before heading back to the hotel for breakfast (still no Texas shapped waffles though). After breakfast we walked down the road a bit to a Jack In the Box. If you look close at some of the pics, you'll see Jack making his appearance, however by the time we reached Montigo Bay, he had had way too much to drink and didn't leave the stateroom again! So we grabbed out Jack antenna topper and some Subway for back at our room later. Then went back to pack. We called for our taxi around 12:00 to head on out of here. I was getting sicker and sicker the closer we got...I was still having that fear of them laughing at me for using my b/c telling me not a chance. Once we got at the processing terminal a porter grabbed our bags right up and we went to stand in line. We walked in the door and couldn't believe the size of the line. It went all the way over to the doors that we had just walked in! Tim had one beer left from the room and he didn't want to pack it, as taking booze on the ship is a big no no (tell this to everyone in our group!) anyway, he figured now was as good time as any to get rid of it, so there he stood in line to process onto the ship, with beer in hand. If I didn't have my hands full, I would have gotten a pic of that classy scean. Almost as good as him walking into the restraunt last night for dinner with one in his hand from the room, we thought we were going to have to wait and he wanted to be ready...the waitress had a hard time with that one. Anyways I have to say this, processing so so fast and so easy! I think that we maybe waited 30 minutes to get through everything. Next thing I knew we were walking down the gang way to our ship! We headed straight for our room, grabbed the camera and went exploring. After checking everything out we went back to our room and changed to join everyone at the pool. We had a manditory life boat drill at 4:30 so arrangements were made to meet at the upper most part of the ship as soon as it was over for the set sail party. The boat drill seemed to take forever to finish, but finally we were heading to the meet up location. Finally a bit after 5 we cast off. Everyone was yelling and smiling and having a great time. After we past the last of the breakwalls we headed down to the pool deck again to dance to the music of "gentelmen" somehting or other...these guys were great though. Before long the drinks were a flowing and the naturally good mood everyone was in, was quickly elevated. Before dinner the deck was about empty as the first seating was already gone, and others were getting ready for second seating. Not us though! We took that casual dinning seriously. Soon a few of us had hopped into the hot tub, and quickly the rest of the group joined in (keep in mind that there ended up being 28 in our group), so there we were with almost 30 people in the hot tub some way or another when we saw these boys wearing speedos in another tub...after a bit of yelling we managed to coax them into our tub as well!
Finally it was time to leave to rise off quickly for dinner. We had also made up "team" shirts so we had everyone stopping by for their shirts before dinner with orders from the "captian" to wear them at dinner that night. So there we are a group of high spirited people in pirate shirts walking into the dinning lounge. Well there are 2 floors to the dinning hall. Apparently the upper floor is for the snobs as when we walked in we honestly were looked at by the staff there at the door, down their noses. I had heard of this many times, but was funny to see it happen to us. As they looked down their noses they looked at our sea cards and we were stiffly told that we wanted the 4th floor entrance. "well smell you" is all that I could think off as we laughed our way to the floor below.
We were simply blown away by dinner. We're talking gourmet food with elegant settings and very professional waiting staff. It was so cool, I did feel a bit under dressed then with my jean shorts and Sea Monkey shirt on! After dinner we all headed for the night club on board. The Viking lounge would become the sceen of many moments for our group. As time will tell. Finally well after midnight we tumbled into our room exghusted.
The next day (Monday) was our 1st full day at sea. Tim and I were up early so we went to check out the gym on board. I stayed there to do a bit of bike riding, and Tim went ahead and jogged the outside track. Then we went to the Windjammer cafe for breakfast. This was the secondary dinning room on the ship, and a lot more laid back with the dress code. Our dinner restraunt did offer breakfast and lunch, but the idea of getting all dressed up to eat didn't thrill us much, so we were quite happy with the buffet that Windjammers had to offer. After breakfast we headed back to our rooms to change and go poolside. Tim went off with Alyan, Phil, and Peter to a ping pong competion while I stayed at the pool to watch the mens sexy leg competion, and womens bicepts. Rod and Alex joined in (or were conned into) the mens competion. All the girls in the group were right there with cameras posed and laughing so hard we could barely get clear pics. Alex danced his way across the deck and had the girls all going wild for his dance moves and then up came Rod using his "famous" Borax voice he started to dance his way past the judges and somehow managed to slip a dollar bill to one of the judges to put into his speedo, so as he danced he half dropped his shorts to reviel the speedo for her to "tip" him! After was the womans biceps contest. We all convinced Michele to join in on this one as she is quite the buff one. The women did a good job, but I have to say that the men were just hystarical! Michele did win "biceps you least want to mess with" or some title like that! Not long after the end of that Tim came back and told me that the Sloss twins took first and second place, and that he would have done a bit better had he had his glasses with him. I guess that glasses would help for something like that! Around 3 or so Tim and I left to go and play alittle bingo. We had gotten a free jackpot card earlier when we attended a shopping show that they had, so figured we'd give it a try. They hadn't called by 5 numbers when we found ourselves with a bingo. I figured that we had won maybe 25 or so...but the first game was actually worth $126. Not bad. Helped to pay for some of our pictures we bought onboard. After we finished up the rest of the games and cashed out it was time to get ready for our first formal night. Everyone was so dressed up and looking sharp, and the compliments were flowing like crazy. Tonights dinner offered escargo that Tim got, so I gave it a try. Not great, but not bad. Kind of like a chewy garlic butter really. Somehow a conversation was started about how much Rod hates when restraunt staff sing birthday songs. Well that set Tim into action, and while Rod was talking with us, Tim asked our waiter to do a birthday deal for Rod. So here come our desserts, and a few minutes later the staff came out singing Happy Birthday to Rod....he was so ticked off, but the effect was great! After dinner was over a bunch of us headed to the theater for the prefomance of "Panio Man". Once we sat down, all dressed up, the guys all deceided that they wanted a drink so ordered a "bucket of beer" to have. Talk about a classy group! All of us had great expectations on it, only to have Simon Cawl echoing in our heads..."that was so cruise lineish" it really was kind of bad, like watching a kind of talented high school production. After that show was done there was a quick break where most of our group went ot the casino, but we stayed to watch the comic that was coming on. He was so good that I feel sound asleep not 5 minutes into it!
Tuesday was our 2nd full day at sea. We were all getting a bit anxious to see land again. For the most part it was more pool side fun (to include a belly flop contest) and Swing dance lessons. After the lessons Tim and I wandered the shops a bit to get ideas, then a few of us sat around one of the lounges waiting for dinner time. Right before dinner we went to another dance class to learn a few 70's style line dances for the disco night at the club that night. At dinner we had a new guest, horse number 1. They did this auction at pool side while a bunch of us were in the swing dance class to take owner ship of these horses till the end of the trip when they would have a big race, the horse that one would take the money raised from the auction. This horse would soon been seen EVERYWHERE! After dinner it went to the disco with us where it lined danced to the hussel and was the center of our dance group. They also had camera crews all around to document the trip for us and they loved our horse! We kept changing the lyrics to the songs to sing them to the horse. Like "Shes a brick horse" Love shack had a line that went "bang bang on the horse baby" and then "Tin horse rusted". I don't remember what other songs we changed, but if we could, we did! Finally it was time to turn in as in the morning we were going to be on land for our first stop in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Gavelston, TX.....Days 1 and 2

2007-05-25T19:36:00.000-06:00

So after much delay we made it into Huston where we had a driver picking us up. It was about an hour drive or so to our hotel in Gavelston. I was so tired after all the stress I had put on myself that all I wanted to do was sleep our ride down. However our driver was an excelent conversationalist, so I ended up joining the conversation that was going on. He made the ride fun and seem short. After we were dropped off and checked in we dropped our bags in our room and just walked to the restraunt that was at the front of the hotel parking lot. Tortuga's is a mexican style restraunt with lots of fun, colorfull decore in it. Tim and I were really impressed with the service there. We ordered food, and honestly like 2 minutes later there it was. As we didn't get the chance to eat dinner until about 10:30 local time we were pretty much the only ones in there.
The next day I woke up way to early (as was a bad habbit of mine for about a week prior to the trip...I figured that once I was in TX that would be the end of that...I was wrong). After Tim finally got up we went downstairs for our breakfast. We would later find that some of our group had waffles in the shape of Texas, ours however was rather dull. When breakfast was over we walked a few blocks down to the WalMart to pick up those last minute things that we needed (and didn't need). What was really nice about the day is that we had no where to be and no where to go, we were compleatly on our own time. Afterwards we stopped by Sonic for a slushie and walked the Sea Wall back towards our hotel. It was nice as our hotel was centerally located so it was a nice walk their and back. We even broke from the wall and walked along the beach front for a bit. Finally we headed back to the hotel stopping by McDonalds for a salad to take to the room with us. Once back there we just waiting to hear from the rest of our group. Our room had a killer view from the walk out balacony that it had. So it was nice to sit in the shade and enjoy the day. While we sat there though I was looking down into the parking lot to see some car just bash ass end into an SUV that was parked there! Tim and I couldn't believe it. The car then drove all around the parking lot doing odd manuvers before finally leaving. Tim with his bionic eyes though was able to get the liscense number and would later turn it in at the front desk. Later that evening we all got together back at Tortuga's for dinner. There were many familiar faces that we hadn't seen in like 3 years, and a few new ones that we would soon get to know and be friends with. Everyone that knew me was a bit shocked by my blue hair, but hey you have to do something crazy once and awhile! Dinner was so much fun with everyone catching up and getting to know one another. Before dinner even started we managed to push all the boys (men) down to one end of the table so that the girls could all chat. I don't think that we really ate much that night, but the conversation was flowing just like the beers and margarittas were! Everyone was so hyped for the big trip. After dinner Rod and Matt took off and walked over to the WalMart looking for containers to transfer their CBB (cheep bastard bar) into and from their they were going to just walk back to their hotel ( a good few miles to get there). Finally everyone said good night and made plans for meeting up the next afternoon.

Stayed tuned for days 3 and 4...out to sea!

At last...a trip posting!

2007-05-24T18:42:00.000-06:00

So before I go into all the details (well, most of the details) of our trip I want to give you a bit of a back ground of what I've had to go through to get out of here. Tim and I have an awsome group of friends that we met while living at Ft. Huachuca a few years ago. They truly have been my highlight of living in AZ. Anyways, last year they went on a cruise. Since I was mobed at the time in TX and didn't know if I was going to be extended or not...and if not, what my job situation was going to be, Tim and I opted out of the trip. Let me tell you that after reading Rod's postings I was kicking myself for not just diving in head first on the idea and taking that risk! Anyways, not long after they returned and had us all fired up the email came out about this years trip. Tim and I both said that there wasn't a chance we were going to miss out this time! So for almost a year we have been looking forward to this trip. About the time that Tim moved up to CO I started to have nightmears about getting to the boat and not having our passports and Tim talking our way on board. So after a bit of digging and the help of Tim's mom we got all the documentation together to summit for them. I turned mine in back in the very begining of Feburary, and then Tim turned his in a few weeks later, paying the extra money to make sure he got it in time as processing times had jumped way up. Well Tim got his with in about 2 weeks after applying. Me on the other hand had to keep checking the web site to see where the hell mine was. Unfortunatly though you can't actually call them until within two weeks of your trip. So you can believe that I was on the phone 3 weeks before my trip lying about the date I was leaving to figure this out. After about 10 calls over 2 weeks I found out that the place I'm calling isn't even associated with the passport agency! It's just some customer service that has been hired to screan their calls. On top of that they aren't aloud to even call the passport agency, only emails, and only 1 email every 72 hours on a given claim. So all my calls really were for nothing. Thank goodness that somewhere along the line I aquired about a half dozen copies of my birth certificate. As I found out later into this real nightmear, I would be able to travel by birth certificate if I did not have a passport, however I feel bad for those that don't have extras around, as you have to send in an original to get the damn passport. Well to wrap up the story, mine was sent out on Wednesday by Fed Ex so that I would have it on Thursday, however Fed Ex didn't feel the same urgency that I did to get it because they opted not to deliver it on Thursday...It arrived Friday afternoon, after I had landed in Denver! Oh well....at least I have it for next year right?
So now that you know my passport issues, let me tell you what else happened before departure. My mother in law (bless her heart) was flying out on Wednesday to take care of Scott for us while I was gone. I kept checking the online status of her flight and saw that she was right on time. At the end of the day I turned my phone on to find a message from Tim saying that she had missed her flight. I'm thinking.....yeah right...funny joke Tim..ha ha ha. So I called him back to let him have his laugh, only to find out that he wasn't joking. She really had missed her flight and instead of being in around 7pm, she was going to get in around 11pm instead. I didn't mind the time so much, just something else to add to my list. I did feel bad for her though as that made for a very long day of travel.
Next I went to school on Thursday (for those that don't know, I'm teaching kindergarten this year). I had a fun day planned for all my kids to get them ready for the sub that had been approved back in October, and filled since January. Around 2:30 as I'm getting them ready to pack up, I get a call letting me know that my sub had just been in the office and let them know that she had changed her mind and wouldn't be coming in the next day after all! AAAAGGGG, I couldn't deal with that kind of unprofessionalisim, so I just left after making sure that everything was all set for who ever came in, and sent an email to my team saying how sorry I was if any specials were cancelled because of this. I went home to enjoy an evening with Dot and Leighanna (who bless her was taking me to the airport the next morning!)
So after making sure I had all that I needed and all that was on my giant list (I had a free sample off board room sized post its...what better way to use them then a packing list???) , saying my good byes to Dot, and smoothering Scott with a few last hugs and kisses, Leighanna and I were off. We stopped for a quick coffee and I really enjoyed the ride out there. I was checked into the airport in no time at all and found the USO lounge right outside the security area for my gate. With time to spare I stopped in there to rest a bit and make a few calls. I headed over to my gate about 40 minutes prior to take off only to find that....you guessed it...my flight was delayed. I guess I shouldn't have been suprised by this as so many other things had glitched, this just seem to fit in there. So after letting Tim know, I called Rod up and asked if him and Tara could please do that pinky vudoo thing that they do to help my day, trip, improve. Well it must have worked because Tim was able to rescheadule his flight out of Denver so that we could still be together, and after having a quick lunch in the Denver USO lounge we took off right on time. After the plane got up in the air I was flipping through their channels of XM stations only to find Sponge Bob singing "Best Day Ever"....I knew then that things were looking up for me!!!

The legend of the Speedo

2007-04-30T22:23:00.000-06:00

So here we are getting ready for our big trip in less then 2 weeks now. Well one of the "must have" packed items by order of the Sea Monkey captian is a pair (why is it called a pair if it is only 1?) of Speedos. So while Tim was here we went out shopping to pick up a few last minute clothing items we needed to include this. Well Scott wanted to try one on too, and wanting to be like daddy he asked to get one as well. When we got home that afternoon the boys got all dressed up for me to go swimming in the pool. Now while I do have some great "father son" pictures, I'll save those till after the trip as I don't want any of the guys to get jealous of how HOT my man looks in his, but I did want to share a few of Scott showing off his guns!

Best day ever!

2007-04-30T21:35:00.000-06:00

Well, it might not be the best day ever, but it was pretty good. I titled it this way because that stupid Sponge
Bob song keeps going through my mind! Anyways Tim came into town last Monday to finish up the backyard landscaping. I think he took some pictures of it, if so I'll add them here. We timed his trip down here so that he would be able to share my birthday with me. In the years that we have been together we seem to always, or at least a lot of the time be apart on birthdays, so this was a nice treat. I went to school that morning with 30 5 and 6 years olds pleased as punch that it was my day. I even got a few cards, flowers and trinkets from my kids. I'm not a big one for being the center of attention, but this was nice. We spent the day doing frog activities ( I have a thing for frogs right now, and my classroom is decorated with all kinds of them). Then in the middle of the day, I got a box delivered to me from Hallmark (when you care enough to send the best!). I think that the kids were more excited then I was to see what it was and who it was from. After unwrapping, and some manipulating I was able to produce a pretty vase with flowers and a mylar balloon. They were so egar to find out who sent me the flowers. When they heard that it was from my mommy and daddy they were so impressed! After school I came home to Tim and Scott and their mischief. I have to say that I was a bit spoiled this year. I had to open gifts one for one. Scott got me a game for my DS that I was hopeing for, as well as a nice makeup bag for traveling. Of course he also got me ear plugs for when Tim talks too much, a fire starter log (to suggest camping), and a jar of pickles, please don't ask me why...I'm really not sure on this one! Tim got me the newest book by John Jakes, the game Fact or Crap, a really neat Civil War DVD set, and tiara. Both of them also got me some really pretty/fancy hair clips as well. After I opened my presents we went to dinner at a local wing joint and met up with our friends Mike and Tammie, and their son Michael. Also joining us were Leighanna and Eryk. It was a nice evening out and I had a really nice time. After we got back home Tim had one more suprise for me. He had found an ice cream cake in his wondering arounds! So it was truley a super great day!

Scott's amazing accomplishment!!

2007-04-22T17:23:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago a fly was sent home from the YMCA talking about a tri-athalon that they were going to do. I was amazed when Scott told me that he really wanted to partisipate in it! So I took a day off of drill and to the event we went. For Scott's age group they had to do a 50 meter swim, a 1 mile bike ride and a 1/2 mile run. I was so proud of him. We knew going into this that he probably wouldn't place, but he actually wasn't that far off the placing times. He compleated the course in 17:32. When he finished the run I had to force him to stand back up and walk around. We got just far enough in our walk to be off to the side of the parking lot when he started to puke! I was already proud of him, but this just made my heart swell even larger with pride!

Spring Break

2007-04-22T16:58:00.000-06:00

We had spring break last month so we headed back up north for our last trip there before the end of the school year. My main mission on this trip was to get Scott's room all fixed up and livable. We are almost there. He just needs a dresser now to finish it off, and a few shelves hung and then done! He went with a solar system themed room and I have to say that it looks awsome! We found a bulleten board display of the solar system, bedding, and also had a few posters. At Christmas he had gotten a "moon in your room" so at night he can have a night light that takes him through the phases of the moon. We also found a glow in the dark mobile set that hangs from the ceiling. Then to finish it all off I made him curtains that I sewed glow in the dark constilations onto. At night his room looks so neat! The only piece that was really missing at the time was a comforter to match the bedding, but I finally found it and when we go back it will be all set.

While we were there I got a chance to see some of the flowers start to bloom that I had planted in the fall. Tim tells me that they look great, I only hope that they last till I can get up there in June. We were there over St. Patricks day as well so made a point to head over to the local Irish restraunt/pub for lunch that day. I have to say that while the food was good, we were a bit let down. We could only get our beer in plastic cups, and they had a special about glasses you could get w/your beer, only to be told that they had already given them all away the day before. We also couldn't eat upstairs on the balacony w/the kids. So lesson learned. Go to the Irish bar the day before St. Patricks day for the real fun!

Valentines sweetie

2007-04-22T16:49:00.000-06:00

This year Scott really pulled one over on my for Valentines Day. He was upset because he wouldn't be able to buy me anything for this day as I am always with him when he goes out. So we went to WalMart and I gave him a few simple ideas and then went to the craft department letting him do what he needed to do on his own. Before I had left though, he asked me how much I was going to give him for my present. I kind of laughed and told him that I wasn't going to give him money to buy me gift, that he was on his own for this one (understand he makes a killing at Christmas and birthday right behind it). So I wondered the craft department with my heart beating like mad...I hate having him alone in a store w/me not there. After we met up again we finished our shopping and went to different check outs. Well let me tell you what my wonderfull son did. On Valentines day I woke up to a card on the table with a frog key chain. Then at school he hid something in my desk and left a note for me to look at lunch time. I almost started crying because he had bought me a pair of beautifull pink heart earrings from the jewlery counter! Not a simple card of earrings that I had shown, but in a real box and everything!!! I was so suprised. I am truly lucky to have a son like him! Then later that evening he gave me another box with earrings in them. These were "rasberry" colored circles. I can't wait to show them off to everyone on the boat!

Science Olympiad and Pinewood Derby

2007-04-22T16:29:00.000-06:00

This year Scott had a chance to join the science club in school. He was really excited about it becaue right now science is his thing. The group met once a week for several months of the school year, practicing different events leading up to the big competition. In Feburary we went to a local community college for the competition. There Scott was signed up to do the pasta mobile, can racing, and question/challenge. After he had finished his can race event though he was given a chance to also to the quint-athelon (sp?). This was a really neat event where each person on the team had a station to compleate. They would have to answer a question and then preform some silly task. Scott's task was to hit a golf ball with a putter while holding a large glass of water to the next station. After all 5 were compleated they had to race to the finish line still with their golf ball and glass of water. Check out my ubber cool action shot of Scott running! After all the big events of the day the kids were presented with awards for their placings, and the rest were given awards of partisipation. Our day kind of ended on a bad note though after some kids got into a fight and when a dad try to split them up, he "accidently" hit one of our boys. It took them a bit to calm down after we got back on the bus, but eventually everything was back to normal, and Scott fell fast asleep on the bus ride home.

Around this same time he compeated in the Pinewood Derby for Boy Scouting. We got lucky because one of his friends that was going to compeate also was able to help his by cutting out the cars shape. Since we have no tools here it was going to be a bit of a challenge to do. This is usually an event that I step aside and let Scott and Tim work on by themselves. However Tim wasn't able to be here so that left my to figure out what I hadn't been paying attention to the last few years! Scott went for a truck shape this year (if you recall last year was a cheese block). It raced pretty good, but I think that we have a good idea of what we need to do for next years event.

Back Track...Scott's Birthday / New Years Eve

2007-04-22T16:09:00.000-06:00

I am bound and determined to get this thing compleatly up to date on information before I leave for my trip so that when I come home I can spend all my time writting about that!

So this was the big 9 for Scott....next year he'll enter that world of double digets. I don't think I'm ready yet for all the changes to come. If you recall our Christmas post, you'll remember that there was lots and lots of snow on the ground, and right before his birthday it started to snow again, so it really was a nice treat for Scott. This year he got several Playstation games as well as winter type clothing. Nothing supper exciting, but traditional for us. If you notice the pictures you'll see that he had 2 cakes this year. That would be because we can get ice cream cakes in CO. Where we grew up in Ohio a Dairy Queen right around the cornor sold the cakes so it was a special treat for us to have. After we moved to AZ though cakes became a thing of the past. Even though our town had 2 DQ's in it, not a one sold cakes. We've tormented our family every time we go back to Ohio because we find excuses to celebrate w/a cake. Now in CO we can have them whenever again! So it was fitting to have one for Scott on his birthday. The other cake Sam did up for him. I think that she did a great job! Later after we got back to AZ I took Scott and 2 of his friends out for an afternoon of putt putt, laser tag, and dinner. We did this in place of a traditional birthday party. Not only is he getting a little old for them, for some reason out here kids don't go to them. 2 years in a row we had only 2 kids show up, so I kept it simple this year. It was fun walking around with the boys and keeping their score. When they were done at King Authers court, they got to go and do a round of Laser Tag. This place has a pretty cool set up with black lighting, and lots of obsticals to hide around.

After Scott's birthday some of Sams friends came over to the house to play our traditional New Years Eve poker game. It really was alot of fun. I think that she had about 6 or so friends come over that all played. This years New Years wasn't anything big (if you think back to the very first posting on the Argyle Frog) With us just getting setteled into the area, and with me still being here we just don't know a whole lot of people there yet, and with all the snow, the ones we do know couldn't make it out! I look forward to the day when everyone looks forward to the Sizemore's New Years party as much as we always looked forward to the Livengood Halloween one!!!

Fast Foward to Easter

2007-04-09T19:43:00.000-06:00

First a disclaimer...I still have to post Scott's birthday, spring break and I'm sure there are a few others in there...but I'm afraid that if I don't post current stuff while it is current I'll forget about some of the fun stuff.

So Easter Sunday at the Sizemore/Haggerty house. Scott was up nice and early as he is all the time. He went out of his room w/the idea that the first egg he saw he would go back to his room. Well that first egg was right at the stairs so that was a shot venture for him. When he did finally go downstairs he found that there was no Easter Basket. Only a scroll. From there he had to solve 6 clues to find his basket. I was very impressed because not one clue stumped him. Please note here that Scott does read this web site so please keep comments child friendly. When he did find the basket it had been hidden in the dryer! Silly bunny. We have a traditional Easter breakfast that my dad started when I was about 10 and I think that I've only missed one year of it, and that was because I was sent to AT the day before Easter. Anyways it is as simple as can be and uses up alot of the eggs that we all find ourselves with after Easter. After breakfast I came upstairs to do the last of the painting that needed done. I had promised Scott that I would go swimming today, so into the pool I went. Now this past week we have been in the high 90's and the water has warmed up alot, however today was only in the low 80's (yes, I know warmer then most everyone that reads this) and windy. Needless to say I jumped in, swam over to the "deep end" and then right back to the stairs and got out! Way to cold in there for me! It was great weather to lie out in though, so while Scott swam some more I caught a few rays so that I'm not compleatly white for the big trip that is coming up!

Later Scott had a friend over to swim for a bit and then they played playstation. Right now they are into the Harry Potter thing. After Jacob had to go home, we had a nice dinner w/some traditional ham. All in all it was a nice quiet and relaxing day. The only thing that would have made it better would have been to have Tim here with me (or me there....either way).

Did I mention that we still can't find one egg????

Christmas...yes I know it's April!

2007-04-02T21:30:00.000-06:00

So a quick recap of Christmas. I promised to update everyone and get this thing into current times! Christmas was simply perfect! We had about 4 feet of snow out our windows and at one point had all 4 kids at the house. Scott made a promise not to open any of his gifts this year till the girls had opened all of theirs. Believe it or not he managed to do it! Then after he opened his presents he took pictures for us as Tim and I opened gifts. I'll share a few with you, but most of them have our heads chopped off! The rest of the day was spent playing with toys, watching movies and snacking. My parents started a tradition where we only have a deli platter on Christmas so that mom didn't have to spend all the fun time in the kitchen cooking. I've carried that idea along to my family as well.

check back soon!

2007-03-20T09:35:00.000-06:00

I am so far behind in my postings. I was taking a class for my masters and had to keep doing extentions on it. Well I have finally submitted my final paper so I will no longer feel guilty every time I look at my blog and wish I could take the time to update it. No more excusses! As soon as I get back to AZ I will share with you, my faithfull viewers: Christmas, Scott's birthday, Boy Scouts, spring break and whatever else I come across!!!!

So check back soon!

Traditions

2007-02-03T12:12:00.000-07:00

All families have traditions that they like to do for the hoidays. Our household is no different. One of the newest that was added after my time in Texas was to go and see Trans Siberian Orchestra. After the first time I saw their show I explained it to Tim as "church on acid". For those that haven't seen one of their shows it is a 2 part act. The opening show is a story about a lost angle sent by God to find something, and the music and songs are all related to tell the story of this angle. After that they just have a great time on stage playing music. These guys really rock! If fact one of the founding memebers was also one of the founding members of Black Sabath, so that should give you an idea of the style of music. However there is something amazing about the music that they play and the kick ass light show that goes with it. Their shows are usually around 3 hours and I swear that for the entire 3 hours I sit there like a little kid with a silly grin on my face watching the lights. The first year that we took Scott to the show he actually fell asleep towards the end, which was funny because that was when it was at the loudest, and when they had the fire canons going off! Anyways, I've had the pleasure of seeing them 3 years now and always look forward to the next show. This year I was also able to take Leighanna and her boyfriend Eyrk as well. They enjoyed it, but both being music majors were a bit more critical of it, just as a movie critic would be watching a movie. I guess you just don't hear things the same way a lay person does. Scott did manage to stay awake for it this time, and told me that he actually enjoys their music, which is nice because he isn't much of a music person.
Something else we did this year was to build a ginger bread house. I did cheat and get one of those kits that you just frost and set up, but the idea was for the kids to have fun with it. Unfortunatly though I did not get a picture of the final project. Christmas cookies however do not have cornors cut and I love the time spent in the kitchen with the kids. Last year we did gingerbread cut outs and they were a big hit, so we made to sure to include them in the line up again. I give the kids a ton of icing gels and sprinkles and let them go to it.
The last of our traditions come on Christmas Eve. I love to go to church on Christmas Eve. I'm not a hugely religous person, I have my ideas, and majoring in history, I have a lot of backround knowledge that things aren't as they are, but still I LOVE being in a church on Christmas Eve. There is something magical about it. This year was even better because as we were getting ready to leave it started to snow one of those slow lazy beautifull snows. After church we came home for hot coaco and stories. My mom started with me the chance to open one gift on Christmas Eve, which was usually jammies, or maybe a stuffed animal that she had made for me. I have continued this with the kids. So Scott opened his new pj's got ready for bed, hung his stocking with care by the fireplace (we actually had one this year!), and put the last piece on his advent calander (something I had made last year...all done w/felt, you add a piece to the scean each night in December and on the 24th Santa and his bag of toys is added.) To end the evening we read a few Christmas stories, and always save "Twas the night before Christmas" for last. I remember mom reading it to us every year. In fact one year when I worked EMS, I have to work on Christmas Eve, so I had her wait till I was able to call her so I could still hear the story...of course she didn't know she was on speaker phone and reading to my entire crew until she was done and heard the clapping!). Anyways when Scott was born she presented me with my own copy of the story, and I've read it to him every year since then.

Blizzard of 06'

2007-01-18T17:58:00.000-07:00

And no I don't mean those wonderfull Dairy Queen types! I'm talking SNOW and lots of it! But I'm getting ahead of myself right now. Scott and I (and the 2 dogs) headed out to Colorado the day after school got out for break. One of the awsome things about the school I work for is that we get nice breaks. This time we had 3 weeks off for Christmas. It's gotten to the point where that 14 hour drive passes by kind of quickly now, so I don't mind it as much. I know all the mile numbers for every possiable point along the trip, for example there are 189 miles from our house in Colorado to the New Mexico boarder line. Things like that. Anyways I woke up way earlier then I planned so I was on the road before 0500. The day was perfect. A little chil in the air, but sunny and in general nice. We made it home by 1800, and just in time for dinner. The next day was football day, and in our house, everything comes to a grinding halt to watch our beloved Browns (lose). After the game we put up our tree and decorated the house up. For the most part it was just a lazy day around the house. After the week before with a bunch of rushing around, and deadlines to meet, it was nice to just do nothing. Monday Tim had to go into work, so Scott and I do a bit of running around looking for stuff that we needed, and Tuesday we just kind of hung out around the house while Tim worked. Then on Wednesday it started to snow. Now I don't just mean light fluffy flakes falling from Heaven. I'm talking wind blowing white out conditions. We ended up getting around 4-5' between Wednesday and Thursday. If you look at the one picture of the car, that was across the street from us, and was compleatly coverd in snow. The snow on it was so high that it was even with the snow that was on the ground and you almost couldn't tell that there was a car there. By Thursday evening it finally tappered off, but for the most part we were trapped in the house for a good 2 days. The kids loved it though (and I admitt that I was right there with them). We went out the first day of the storm, and while it was cold, and windy we just couldn't help ourselves. Just something about the snow that said, come out and play, even for a minute. So we spent 3o minutes getting dressed to go out to spend about 10 minutes out in the snow playing. If you look at the picture of the snow by the fence, you can kind of see Scott's head poking up and waving...yes the snow was really that deep, he was even standing on a few inches of snow to walk back that way! After that we spent most of our time outside shoveling the drive in hopes of keeping ahead of the snow. We have a guy that lives across the street from us that has a 4 wheeler with a plow attachment on it, so after clearing his drive he went and actually plowed a path down our street that cars could travel on. It was great that he did this because the plows didn't actually go down our road until Saturday for the first time.
This was the first snow that Teddy had ever seen. Lincoln has been in it before, by staying up with Tim for a bit, and when we lived down at Ft. Huachuca we would get traces of snow at times. Lincoln loves to play in the snow. He becomes like a little puppy jumping all around the place, chasing snowballs and eatting them. Teddy on the other hand wasn't too thrilled with all that white stuff to begin with. But lets take a moment to put that into perspective though. Lincoln stands about 8-10 inches off the ground. Teddy on the other had has about a 4 inch clearance, which means that his is going to get cold and frozen first! However by mid day after several feet had fallen, it didn't matter much, both of them were going to have cold and frozen members. Once we got outside with the dogs playing though Teddy was romping all around too. At times it was a bit more of a struggle, but he soon learned to follow in either ours or Lincolns foot prints to save himself some work. And they say that dogs are stupid. Just because they eat their own shit dosen't make them dumb...not the best at decision making maybe, or lacking taste buds, but not stupid!
After the roads had been cleared from that winter wonderland...a few days before New Years we were hit with another blizzard. This one was a bit more gental on us with only about 2 more extra fee falling in those gental soft white flakes that sort of drift their way down to earth. When it was all over the snow came back out and shone on the snow making it glisen like millions of diamonds laying on the ground. It is at times like that I wish I had the talent that Rod has to capture that moment. I'm telling you that there is nothing better in the winter then being surrounded by snow!

A night out!

2006-12-29T16:29:00.000-07:00

So I'm going to back track a bit here before I start to post all about our Christmas and New Year....and of course Scott's birthday. I forgot my camera cable back in AZ, so don't have my pics yet (thank goodness for that 1G memory chip I got before Ohio last year!) Anyways, I have been wanting to post about this, but just didn't have the pics to do it.
Several weeks ago, in fact about a week before Thanksgiving, I got a call one Saturday afternoon, asking what I was up to that night. Well since Tim lives in CO not much! It was a friend of his from when he worked here in AZ. He had tickets to go and see Deana Carter who was opening for Mark Wills. Well I jumped on the chance to go, as I do really like Mark Wills music, and he happens to be a friend of our friend, Tom (the one who called). So out to the casino's we went. It worked out well, because Tom was nice enough to be willing to give one of the extra tickets to Scott, but since Scott isn't a huge fan of music (one of the many points that I ponder) he made arrangements to go over a friends house for the night. I rode out with Tom and Evagiline, not knowing the show was going to be outside. Lucky it is AZ, and while the nights do get chilly, this one wasn't too bad, espically once the music got going. After the concert was over the reservation had a huge firework show, and when I say huge I do mean HUGE. This show had to of lasted for about 30-45 minutes at least! When we finally got into the tent that Mark was in, it almost reminded me of being out on the granade range in Basic, either that or a live fire range, on rapid. It really was amazing! I almost didn't want to go into the tent. However I did get the chance to meet with Mark Wills. This guy has a great sence of humor! He is of average height, but as soon as he saw me, he squated down for the pictures. I was so embarrassed about it! I kept trying to get him to stand up, but he refused. Attached are a few of the pics that someone in our group took and sent over (I didn't take my camera...duh). The one pic is of his guitar. It is in DCU print and covered in different unit patches that he has played for in Iraq. Here I have to take a moment to talk about country music. Don't get me wrong, because I love all kinds of music, some you would expect, some you wouldn't, but above all I love country music artist. They support our troops like no one else out there. They write and sing songs about war and love of country, they put themselves at risk to go over to Iraq and play for our troops. I just got an email from a friend of mine in Iraq a few weeks ago, who got to see Carrie Underwood in concert at the gym by the field hospital that he works in. He described her presents there as pure magic, as it took his mind off the horrors that he has been dealing with there for the several hours that she was on stage, and then after preforming for several hours, stayed in the gym to sign an autograph, and pose for pics with every single one of the soldiers that were there! So while it might not be your music of choice, please make sure to give them their props, as they love this country and are not ashamed to show it!

And so this is Christmas

2006-12-24T21:58:00.000-07:00

Here I sit on Christmas Eve. Scott is tucked in bed with visions of sugar plums dancing in his head. Lincoln is at my feet, and if I were to take a guess, Teddy is up on our bed sleeping away. Tim on the other hand is finishing up those last minute things that parents need to do to get the house ready for Chistmas. Before getting too carried away with the festivities I wanted to take a moment to reflect. First this is an awsome Christmas this year. Not only do we have a white Christmas, but there is about 3 feet of snow on the ground right now. To top that off, it started to snow again today. How pretty is snow on Christmas Eve or Day? There truly is nothing at all like that (so Rod, as nice as the 70's might be, I would never trade a white Christmas for it!). As the year draws to a close I know that I have a lot to be thankfull for. First I am thankfull that even though I am seperated by more then 800 miles from my husband, I am able to talk to him every day on the phone, and I am able to hop in my car to drive and see him for the holidays. I know that not everyone can do that right now, so as tough as it is, I am lucky. As I drove to church tonight (in the snow) I was thankfull that I have that freedom to pick the one I want to go to. Also that I have a car that can get me there and back safe. I am thankfull that even though I am half a country away from my parents, family and friends we are able to stay in touch. In todays world I am able to make a local call, even from CO or AZ to OH. I am able to email and post blogs to keep them all up to date. I am blessed to have 4 healthy kids in my life. We may not always see eye to eye on things, but what parent does with a teenager? I am also lucky that someone took a chance with me and gave me a job. They were severly short staffed, and trusted me enough to give me the chance. I am thankfull for my husband. You are such a wonder in my life. I truly count the days till this nightmear is over. My friends. For all the years and miles that are between us, you are always there for me. Leeann I wouldn't say how many years it has now been, but LYLAS always. My family, I may not always show it (espically with my "baby" sisters) but I do love you all!
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

PS...stay tuned for pics of snow, and Christmas morning, and Scotts birthday...that's right 9 this year!

A posting from Tim

2006-12-03T20:43:00.000-07:00

Today I got this email from Tim asking me to post it to the blog. I think he ment for me to translate the story, but he wrote it so well that I have just copied it right from my email...so here you go!

Well here are the pictures from Breckenridge. Some notes to help you post. It may have POSSIBLY made it up to 20 degrees. It is right close to 10K feet at the top and the winds were a howlin’. It was nice actually skiing behind the girls while they were on their snowboards. They are actually pretty good at the whole thing. I’ll have to try a snowboard sometime just to help the guys there with smoothing everything a bit. Because all the time that I will end up on my butt or back that is what I’ll be doing, smoothing the slopes. And now the importance of all my layers today. Let’s see…Two pair of socks, long johns, black IPFU pants and a pair of ski pants on the bottom. On the top a t-shirt, long sleeve shirt, sweat shirt, the new black Army jacket for wearing with the ACU and also a ski jacket. Of coarse gloves, scarf and cap are very important. (Note to self…get a thicker hat next time.) The cold air cut right through it. Also my face is a bit sensitive from mostly the cold but I’m sure a bit from the sun and that altitude.

All in all Breckenridge is a very nice place to ski. Everything from beginner slopes up to slopes I certainly didn’t see today. The views were AWESOME. From door step to parking lot is 120 miles and the traffic out of there on a Sunday afternoon is TERRIBLE. About 2 hours to get there and 3 hours to get back.

Montezuma's revenge

2006-11-12T10:46:00.000-07:00

So we had a 3 day weekend from school and I wanted something a little different to do that would get us out of the house, and be able to take Teddy with us (he dosen't like being left alone). I asked around and a good friend told me about Montezuma's Well. I looked into it and found out that there was also a castle right next to it (well a few miles down the road). So Saturday we packed a picnic lunch and loaded the dog in the car and set out for the great unknown. We got up to the castle and luck was shining down on us, because with my military ID card we were able to get in for free. Montezuma's castle is about 800 years old, and is the old cave dwellings. What is funny though is that it has nothing to do with Montezuma. The ruins were discovered about 125 years ago and were mistakenly identified as Aztec, so it was given this name. Well the Aztecs had nothing to do with it at all, yet the name stuck...probably to draw in visitors. Would would want to go and see the Sinagua Castle? Everyone has heard of Montezuma, little could tell you about the Sinagua. These cliff dwellings are simply amazing to see. Not only for the age of them, but for the life style that went along with them. They sit hundreds of feet off the ground, and up until the 1950's they let visitors climb old wooden ladders to take a peek inside of them. However they soon discovered that letting all those people up in there, that the dwellings were quickly falling apart and put a stop to the up close tours. Now you can just walk around and look. They also have a cut away modle built at the end of the walk way to see what it might have been like at that time. It was about a 2 and a half hour drive up to go and see them, and the day was just beautiful for it. After walking around the castle site for a bit we drove down the road to check out the well. This is a thousand year old water site that runs more then a million gallons of water by it a day, and no one has ever been able to figure out where the water souce is coming from. Scientist have been able to determin that it was formed by a collasped limestone cavern, and that the area has really high carbon concentraions making it great for plant life to grow. In fact this area is home to some plants and animals not seen anywhere else in the world. The Sinagua Indians took advantage of this water source and built amazing irrigation ditches from it out to their farm lands. There were all kinds of trails to take here and old stair cases leading to the well and irrigation ditches. Walking around the area I almost felt like I was back in Ohio walking around the Girl Scout camp that we would take the kids to. We waited to have our picnic here at the well, and I'm so glad that we did. We found this really wonderfull spot to lay our blanket out, surrounded by a bed of leaves everywhere we looked. After this trip, I'm looking forward to figuring out our next adventure spot to see!

A down scaled Halloween

2006-11-12T10:28:00.000-07:00

Usually Halloween at the Sizemore house is a pretty big deal. We deck the house up with black lights and webbing. We have all kinds of decorations for inside and outside the house. I also do up a big "creepy" dinner before the kids head out. Well this year, all the Halloween stuff was up in Colorado, and all we had here was Scott's trick o' treating bag and a few chem lights. I also picked up a black table cloth with owl eyes on it for our picnic "kitchen" table. This year Scott wanted to be Superman for Halloween. For the first time in his entire life, I broke down and bought him a costume. I've always made them before, but this year it just seemed more practical to buy it. I have to say that as I stood in that check out line that I honestly felt like a bad mommy for doing that to him. Scott loved his outfit though and it worked out just fine, but he did look really strange with black hair! Before Halloween we went to the "fall fest" (because heaven forbid if they call it Halloween...you might offend one or two people, leaving the hundreds of us that love Halloween to suffer a name change...kind of like saying Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas, but that's a different topic). Anyways we went looking for something to fill the time, and that it did, and that was about it. The next day we did a pumpkin carve. I think that the reason we continue this tradition is so that the adults get to keep doing the fun kid stuff. Same with Easter Eggs. Anyways, for Halloween this year I kept our dinner kind of simple. We had Mummy Dogs (a favorite here) on a bed of mold, and monster mouths to go along with it. We went Trick o' Treating with some friends of ours here, Mike and Tammie and thier son Michael. It was really fun going around the neighborhood with them. Just let the boys run and have fun while we walked the streets!

The new Joe Cool

2006-11-12T10:25:00.000-07:00

Scott took this picture of Teddy chilling out. Was too cute not to add a posting for it!!!

Unspeakable crime

2006-10-22T10:44:00.000-06:00

Several months back Tim found a bag of stuffed animals in one of the offices and brought it home. For the most part it was filled with carnival type toys, but there was also 3 different Tellatubbies in it, 2 of which talked. Well as we were going through the bag setting them aside, Teddy started coming up and stealing them one by one taking them to his "pits of despair" under our bed. We thought this was pretty funny so we let him keep them. Well the Tellatubbies made their way back out into the living room and turned into his favorite/most hatted toy. It would drive him crazy when he played with it and they started talking. Anyways one day a few weeks ago I went downstairs and this was the scean that I saw. A murdered Tellitubbie on the floor, with fluff all around. I started laughing and went to take a picture of the murder scean. As I did, Teddy came up to it as if to claim that he did it and he was proud of it too!

An update on my insane life!

2006-10-20T21:30:00.000-06:00

It has been so long since I updated here that people have probably forgotten all about this. Then Rod went and put me to shame. I was feeling alittle ok about being behind, because every time that I looked at Rod's site it hadn't been updated either. Then I went there today and had to catch up on about 10 new posting...here my computer just wasn't showing the updates he had been doing to it. Ok so now I feel like a heel and need to update everyone.

First as most of you didn't know...the house didn't sell, so I am still here. Stuck in hell for another year. I know that the housing market took a crash, this this one out here nose dived right into an empty pool. Tim left over Labor Day weekend. I hadn't been home from Texas even a year yet when he had to take off. In fact we figured out that in the 6 years that we have been together as a couple, we have spent 3 of it apart. Let me tell you that saying good bye so many times over the years does not get easier the more you do it. So Tim is setteled into a new house there, and is about a block and a half away from the girls. It is nice for him as he gets to see the girls almost every day.

Scott and I headed up that way over our fall break for 2 weeks. Picture this....me, Scott, 2 dogs gatted into the back of my VUE, and a cat locked in a carrier. Not to mention luggage, and boxes on top of all that. What a fun 15 hour drive that was! It was perfect weather (back to Rod...you have to bring your family and camera up to visit...there are some really spectacular sites to see). When we got up there we stayed in the hotel down the street for a few days until we went to sign for the house on that Monday. Once again imagine...2 dogs and a cat in the hotel with the 3 of us there as well! We had a chance to go down to this bar that has a Browns Backers group that takes over the huge screen TV every week for the game. What a lot of fun watching the game with a huge crowd. That and Colorado has a no smoking law in place so I was actually able to enjoy the game with no breathing issues and not stink after wards! For the most part though we spent our time there getting the house all taken care off. The one tourist type thing that we did do was to go and tour the Coors factory. Pretty neat little town. They have it set that after you tour they encourage you to leave your cars in their parking lot and just walk around the town which is only 2 blocks away, and has a very old fashion feel to it. We walked around a bit and enjoyed lunch at an out door cafe/bar.

Once back in AZ it was time to get readjusted to having the house empty. Back to school, back to work and so each day goes. Scott got his report card while we were gone to CO, and for skipping a grade this year, he still managed to get straight A's with little struggle. I have to say that I am one proud Mommy when it comes to that kid!!!!

Time warp

2006-09-10T09:33:00.000-06:00

Things have been so crazy around here for the last month. Let me see if I can back track. Michaela flew out here at the begining of August to spend her break with us. By then Tim was winding down on his work, so was able to spend time here at home with her. I started the school year teaching 6th grade for a teacher that was out injured. A few weeks into that one of our other teachers left to head back East. The job was offered to me as long as I committed to the entire school year. Tim and I talked it over for a bit, and realized that it was probably the best way to go. Our house is still sitting here on this stale market, with no bites at all. And since I need to be working full time in order for Tim to be able to survive up there on his own, I am now teaching Kindergarten! A bit of a strech from the high schools I am trained to teach, but fun non the less.
The movers were here a few weeks ago and stripped down the house, leaving only a few things behind for Scott and I. Right after that Tim took off for Colorado with Michaela. He got up there Labor Day and has been house hunting since then. He thinks he found a nice one, just waiting on the bid process. Never in my life did I think I would own a home, let alone be in a spot where I had to have 2 of them! So Scott and I sit here waiting for the house to sell, but knowing that when it does we'll be moving into an apartment, or something of the sort.
It's been a week now since Tim left and things are setteling into a new rutine, but lonley and quiet with out him here.

From Bobcat to Wolf

2006-08-05T22:09:00.000-06:00

Scott has been eagerly waiting for me to post his scouting information here. Right before we left for Ohio we went to his pack night where he walked away with so many different awards that he couldn't carry them all! He was awarded his Wolf Badge which means that soon he can start working towards his Bear. He also earned beltloops and pins in 6 different sports and acidemic areas. To earn a beltloop the Scout needs to compleate 3 activities that have to do with that topic. For example for his astronomy one he had to draw a picture of the solar system along with two others. To earn the pin Scouts need to compleate an additional 5-7 items in that section. So for the astronomy one he learned about some different constilations, astronauts, and we even watched a show on the Challanger disaster. Scott earned beltloops and pins in: astronomy, baseball, swimming, collecting, soccer, and biking. He also earned this night his gold arrow award (for doing 10 extra activities in the book) and 3 silver arrows (one for every 10 after that gold). He has still been doing meetings, but at home we have taken a small break, but will pick back up with it soon.
Scott also reciently compeated in the Pine Wood Derby with Scouting. This is where the boys are given a block of wood, a few nails and 4 wheels and then told to have fun with it. The idea is to be creative and come up with the fastest car possiable. This years creation soon became lovingly known as the Cheese Mobile. Scott did up a yellow block of wood that him and Tim drilled holes into. Then when all was done we used some wall mount clay and fixed 2 Lego men into it, and had a small little mouse sticking his nose out of one of the holes. While his wasn't the fastest one there...it did make it through several races before being eliminated. Later he won for most original.

Last day....Chicken Run

2006-08-05T10:06:00.000-06:00

Our last night in Ohio we always go to our favorite bar and have family and friends come up to meet us there. The have some of the best chicken wing and frys you could imagine! We usually draw a good sized crowd of love there. Pool is played, we get our fill of wings and drink too much beer (is that possiable?) As fun as this night always is...it is also bitter sweet because I know that when my friends have to say good night, that I wouldn't get to see them again for awhile. Maybe it would be different if we had a set travel time there, but we just never know when the next time will be.
One of the best thing that happened this night by far though was that 2 of my best friends were able to patch over a long standing gap that had been between them. Girls you don't know how happy I was to see you two talking to each other! It has made it so difficult to plan things in Ohio. I can't wait till the next time I head out that way and all the things we can do now!!!! Thank you....it was the best gift I could have ever gotten!

Day 5...Time with friends

2006-07-13T14:35:00.000-06:00

After a few days of go, go, go I was looking forward to a small amount of relaxing. So I got up early that morning, got Scott ready for his big day with grandpa, and went out to visit my grandma. My grandma is the best grandma in the entire world. I remember when I was little being at her house every weekend doing things. In fact that is where I would watch all my "cool" shows. The Hulk, Wonder Woman, League of Justice...those types. I used to always joke with her when she told me that she was old and say "grandma...until your 100 your not old". Of course in the same breath I would ask her what it was like riding dinosaurs to school and if she lived next door to Jesus. Well many years have gone by since I asked her those questions, and now she is getting close to 100, so I guess you could say she is "almost" old! I look forward to the day that I can have her face posted with Willard Scott on the Smuckers birthdays!. Anyway I spent a little time visiting her and my uncle who lives with her to help take care of grandma. Was funny to see Scott next to him. I remember having to stand on a chair for many years to give him a hug (he is about my height), and there Scott stood giving him a good run for his money. I just have to face it...unless something drastic happens, Scott is going to tower over us all.
After spending time at grandma's house I dropped Scott off with his grandpa (my dad) and headed back for home. There we made plans to meet up with my dad at the Captians game (a minor league team to the Cleveland Indians that were established after we left Ohio). The older kids didn't really want to go to the game with us, so we dropped them off at the movie theater and Tim, Michaela, and I all went to the game. I love going to the minor league games. The are so much more interactive and so much less expensive. In fact while we were there we won free ice cream, Arby's fries, and White Castle burgers. (Mom...I'll have to mail you the rest of our coupons...as we can't use them here). Anyways our team won like 6-1 or something like that. I do remember that 3 home runs were hit, which always make for a fun game. After the game was over we said our good-byes to Scott again and headed over to Jerry and Celeste's house. I really enjoy going to their place. They have 3 boys and are such "normal" people. Celeste is also a great host. She put together a great dinner for us in such short time (she had just gotten back from camping a few hours before we showed up). We sat around with them and Leeann out on the porch just enjoying time...and being creeped out by the half naked neighbor that kept walking around his yard. See in Ohio you don't have 8 foot privacy fences in any yards,there might be a chain link one for pets, but that's usually it. Before dinner Jerry took a few moments to show off some of the armor that he has created. They are big into the mid-evil time period and do a big re-enactment every year. So he showed some of his stuff off to the kids (including Tim). They even dressed Eryk (Leighanna's boyfriend) up in a "Knight and Shinning Armor" outfit to pose for some pics. After dinner we were finally able to hurd the kids (Scott had rejoined us by that time) all down to the basement to watch a movie so that we could sit out back and just talk the night away. Leeann's hubby Tom showed up around 10:30 from work, and the gang was complete! Before I knew it, it was almost midnight. I knew that some of the group had to get up for work in the morning, and that some had to deal with kids, so we sadly said our good nights, and good byes. Celeste, thank you so much for a wonderfull night. I wish we could have more of them like we used to always do! Maybe one night we will be able to have our Italian Gangster dinner party again! By the way this photo in the upper left is for you (I'll never forget that moment!!!)!!!!

Flash Back to day 1

2006-07-13T14:29:00.000-06:00

In my sleep induced delirum I forgot about one of the most important things to happen to me on the first day in Ohio. My little sister stopped by the house for me to see my new neices, Erica and Abby. They are identical twin girls that are about 6 months old now. They are SO CUTE!! I also had a chance to see my other neice Leah who is almost 5 and getting ready to start kindergarten this year, and my nephew Cory who will be 8 next month and going into 3rd grade. It was so nice of her to drive out of her way to get out to Madison to see me with all the kids! So Sara...Thank you sooooo much for that!

Day 4...The Big Bamboosal!

2006-07-07T22:15:00.000-06:00

So the day had finally arrived. The day of the "Surprise" picnic for the In-Laws. Tension was running high with so much stuff to do before our deadline of 1330 hours. I had a cake to finish, and still needed to get to the store. When packing for the trip, the only thing that I couldn't find were my cake pillars. No big deal right? WalMart has a craft center with a wedding section to it, and a cake section to it...it would have to be in there right? WRONG! They don't carry them. I even went over to the bakery department to see if I could buy a set from them. Sure...if I was willing to buy the entire kit, that included the bases for 3 cakes, funny tier things, and 2 sets of pillars. Insert loud groan here. So now not only am I stressing that I'm not going to have enough time to finish the cake, but now I have no way to hold it up! After taking a deep breath and looking around I settled on 4 glass pilliar like containers and filled them with clear and blue glass beads. I had no idea if this would work or not, but I had to come up with something...I was desparate at this point.
Tim then went ahead and dropped me off at the American Legion where we were having the party. These guys there were just the greatest! They let me into their kitchen to work, no questions asked, and then kept checking on my progress every so often. I think they thought I was just going to be doing a basic cake, but as it kept progressing they got more and more interested. I probably spent the next 2 or 3 hours in there getting this all put together. By the time that I was done, Tim had led the kids in re-decorating the picnic area out back. They did a great job putting little touches to the area to make it special. People were already starting to mill around, including my In-Laws. When I talked to Tim's sister Sherry, she said that it was pulled off great! Bill and Dot had NO IDEA at all what we were up to! I went and said hello to people and ran home to change, as I was covered in frosting.
The day was even more perfect then the day before! We had done up these little hand held battery powered fans with the thought that it's Ohio in June which means warm and slightly humid. Not on this day though. The sky was a perfect blue with little white puffy clouds hanging around. A slight breeze to make the weather just perfect. We couldn't have planned it any better (unlike the Wally World trip)! Lots of family was there from all around the state. Tim and I had came in from AZ with all the kids just for this, Tim's sister and her family had come in from GA, so really we had come from all over to be there. Kids were all around playing with their cousins that they hadn't seen in many years.
Finally it was time for the cake. I was pretty nervous that my idea wasn't going to work, so we set it up on site instead of in the kitchen for a grand entrance. I put it all together, and not to my surprise it barley held! I was a nervous wreck as little kids kept trying to climb on the picnic table that it was sitting on. We had Bill and Dot come over qickly to see it and then dismantled it to avoid any possiable disasters! I was suprised because before I knew it the entire thing was gone! Not long after presents were opened. They really got alot of neat things from people.
It was so nice just sitting around with all the family from both sides enjoying the day. A little later in the evening some of our friends dropped by to say hello also.

As things were winding down we made plans to go bowling with Tim's friend Steve and his girlfriend Sam. We left Scott and Michaela at the house as we knew that they would soon be asleep from all the activity of the day. Then Leighanna and Eryk stayed at Steves house to watch a few kids there. Once there we met up with my youngest sister Emily, and her best friend Lindsay. I love hanging out with those two, as they are as crazy as I am...if not more so. Emily and I were joking around about my Bachlorettes party that we did at the bowling alley and how we discovered that a highlighter glows under black light. That night they had me covered in all kinds of designs. As we talked about this, Lindsay digs in her purse and out she pulls a highlighter. Now I don't know how or why we had one before I got married, but I now have to wonder...who carries a highlighter around with them? Before the first game was over we were covered in different markings all that glew an eerie yellow under the light. We were having fun bowling during a "Cosmic" bowl. We had just started our 3rd game when all of a sudden the power was killed to our lane. When we asked about it they said that you get to bowl as many games as you can in 2 hours. Heck if we had known that when we got there we wouldn't have had 5 people to each lane! We would have spread out and taken up half the alley!

Day 3...Friday night BBQ

2006-07-07T11:54:00.000-06:00

So to keep my In-Laws off the scent of the party we were planning (see day 4 when posted), we had a cook out for them on Friday night. But before I get ahead of myself let me back track to that morning. As my gift to the best in-laws a gal could ask for I volenteered to make their cake. So the big problem was where to make it. While hanging out at Wally World (Geauga Lake...think to the very first Vacation movie) I asked my sister Sara if I could use her kitchen while she was at work. Details were worked out for a key exchange and everything was set. Well I got to her house with Scott early in the morning and started to set everything out, while I waited for the oven to pre-heat. Scott jumped into the shower (since there were 12 people staying w/mom and dad w/their 1 bathroom house I figured I'd take a bit of the strain off the shower and use Sara's). All of a sudden I started to notice this fowl chemical smell. I opened the oven thinking that there might be pans or something left in there, but nothing. I ended up having to open the windows and re-adjust the fan to get the smell out of the house. Thank goodness my mom lives right next door, so moved all my supplies over to her place to do the baking. This ended up being a few hour project as I only had one of each of the pan sizes I needed and had to do up 2 of each of them. When I talked to Sara later about why I didn't use her place she infomed me that she had never turned the oven on before in the time that they had lived there! My dad was home that morning, so he kidnapped Scott and they went on a search for Wacky Package cards. After all the cakes were cooled and frosting made, I wrapped them all up and headed back to the in-laws house to hide them in the garage fridge.
Tim then took the kids down to "Our Lake" to play for a bit while I just vegged w/Sherry's husband William, watching the 100 best toys ever on VH1. The hula hoop took the number slot in case your wondering. Not long after Tim got back with the kids people started showing up for the BBQ. Tim had made up shirts for his parents in the Disney font saying Sizemore's est 1956. The weather really was perfect for this evening. Sunny, breeze and warm, but not hot. You know those perfect days to just sit around with family or friends and do a lot of nothing! We (as in Tim and I) also had to get a DQ cake to seal the deal. For those that don't know, we don't have a DQ near us, and none of the ones around here sell the cakes, so now everytime we head back home that is one of the first things on our list to do. Get DQ icecream and order a cake for any reason that we can. This just so happened to be a perfect reason to! The kids seemed to have a great time playing as well. It was funny to watch them grab all the toddlers toys and just go to town with them! Funny because a lot of them had been theirs at that age, but hardly got used...now that they are too big for them, they had a blast using them! The only think that would have make this BBQ any better would have been a camp fire to sit around, and maybe a bug zapper!
Stayed tuned for our Suprise party, time with friends, and our Chicken Run!

Day 2....Wally World and Noah's Arc

2006-06-30T21:41:00.000-06:00

So after much rest (or at least as much as you can get when sleeping on an air mattress in a tent in a garage.) We were off early in the morning to go to Geauga Lake. For my non-Ohio friends this is one of the oldest amusement parks in the country. A few years ago 6 Flags bought them out and added a bunch of neat coasters to it, and then changed their minds about being there. Now it is owned by Cedar Point, which is big on having the biggest, longest, fastest, tallest....whatever "est" in the world. This was to be an exciting day today as we were getting together with a lot of family for the day. Also this was to be Scott and Michaela's first roller coaster rides! We had a group of 17 joining in on the fun, so we made t-shirts for everyone with all our names across the back of them. We arrived at the park not long after the gates open. The weather as I stated in the last entry had been stormy the day before, so a lot of people stayed away from the park, and we had front row parking. It was almost as if we had rented the place out for the day as there was but a few hand fulls of people walking around. The vote was cast, and our first ride was the to be what was once known as "The Batman". Scott was excited and pulled us up to the front row (no wait for it either). Michaela was getting ready to change her mind and was protesting the idea of being on the ride. Scott and I strapped in the seat couldn't see anything behind us and just enjoyed the ride....as we hit the first hill I could hear a female screaming, and could only assume that it was Michaela. After the ride was over I saw that I had been right. Asking what she thought of it I was told..."OH MY GOD THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!" After the ride we went and bought the kids their pict

ure from the stand. Then we ventured off for our next roller coaster. After a few more rides it was about lunch time, so plans were made for the get together and off we went. It was a pretty humid day so everyone changed and headed to the water park. Wouldn't you know it though, before we could get on even one water ride it started to rain and they closed them all down. We found an overhang to sit under and wait it out. After about 30 minutes or so the sky cleared all up and rides opened again. We were able to get in 1 and a half more before it started raining again, and rides closed down. I say a half of a ride because about 3 people got onto the second one, the rest of us had to take the stairs back down. We headed back to the over hang to wait it out again, as it was just one little black cloud in the sky. After about an hour and a half we realized that it wasn't going to "just pass us by" and we were going to have to make a dash for the front of the park. Now mind you we are way in the far back of the park, it is raining bucket of water, lightening is going off all around us, and we need to cross a lake to get to the other side of the park, and then still have to get to the entry/exit area. It was raining so much that I swear I saw Noah on the lake just waiting for the moment to be right to set afloat.
The decision was made to leave the park to get some dinner in the hopes that the rain would stop and we would be able to ride a few more rides. We left and luckily a WalMart has open across the street from the park, so we stopped their first for some dry clothes. Then had dinner at Ruby Tuesdays. Well this took us about 2 hours to accomplish, and it was still raining cats and dogs, so with heavy hearts we headed out of there for home, only to find that many of the ways we could use to get out of the area were flooded out! After a few detours and some back country roads we made our way to Mentor for some custard style ice cream and then back home, with a car full of tired kids and parents. If you would like to see more of our pictures from Geauga Lake, go to:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/annsmore/album?.dir=/

100bre2&.src=ph&.tok=ph77uGFBK.VsmVLy

Then just click on the folder titled "Geauga Lake". If you run into trouble viewing them, just email me and I'll send you the invite by email. The ones that were take in the car were us, after running through the downpour.

DING! You are now welcome to climb aboard.

2006-06-30T10:36:00.000-06:00

So this summer we were off to the mother land of Ohio. After much searching for tickets we could afford for a group of 7 we had to settle for a less then perfect travel itinerary. We left AZ around 7:30 at night to fly into Chicago landing there at 1am their time. We had a rental van there, however the company closed at 1am. So Tim grabbed a spot near the front of the plan and pushed his way to the front of the line when we landed. The rest of us headed for baggage claim to grab our mountain of luggage, and met Tim out front. Needless to say with 7 people and luggage for all we were a bit tight in there! We drove a bit then stopped to arrange things more comfy, and get a bite to eat. And then I started driving. As I neared the Ohio boarder there was a beautiful light show going on all around me. The sky was full of lightning, and the sun was rising. The two combined made for a fascinating drive. However with lightening usually comes rain (at least out East), and as I neared Toledo it started to POUR! I don't mean a light sprinkle...This was the kind of rain that made your ears ring it was so loud...wipers on high didn't stand a chance of clearing it off. I couldn't believe the the kids were able to sleep through it. The rain lasted probably for the next 100 or so miles before it finally started to clear up a bit.
We were supposed to have breakfast with Tim's parents and mine out in Madison. We called as we hit the East side of Cleveland only to be told that Dot had already started cooking breakfast at home. So with a quick change of plans we went ahead and met up with my parents at Eat n' Park. For those that don't know, this is the best resteraunt around...well at least as far as dinner styles go. It's kind of like a Denny's, but better, and they have the neatest smile face cookies. After breakfast there, we headed out to Madison. When we got to the house we walked in to surprise Tim's parents. Dot, you have no idea how hard it was to keep this secret! Sleeping arrangements were made and while a few took a nap, Tim worked on starting up his old 3 wheeler. Eventually I took a short nap also (seeing that I had been up since the day before). Tim tells me that he did get it to run for a bit and drove it down the street and back, but since I was napping I can neither confirm or deny this.

Stay tuned for more updates on our trip. Read about Scott and Michaela's first roller coaster rides. How we actually saw Noah and his Arc. Our BBQ's for Bill and Dot's 50th wedding anniversary, and get togethers with friends!

Updates coming soon!

2006-06-19T17:01:00.000-06:00

I know that it has been a bit for an update here, but I wanted to add a quick post to let you know that I haven't forgotten about this site. In fact I'm here most days seeing if anyone has been by to say hello! We are getting ready to head out of here tomorrow for a vacation with the kids. They are all really excited about this! I also have lots to tell about Scott and school and BoyScouts. Don't forget pictures!!! I hope that all is well with everyone and look forward to hearing from you.

Bobcats and soccer...also a little bragging!

2006-05-14T21:41:00.000-06:00

I know that it has been awhile since I last updated this, but life gets crazy. I have been filling in full time for a fifth grade class while there teacher is out on maternity leave. It took a few days to get into the swing of things agian ...but once I got going it all came back to me. Now my time in there is over next week. I keep trying to convince her that with only 7 days of school left after she comes back that I don't really mind sticking around the extra few days...she isn't falling for it. Oh well, I guess that will give me time to get things back in order here. The house has stayed fairly clean as EVERY weekend we have been doing open house's in hopes of getting a nibble. That and the thought that someone MIGHT do a viewing when were not around has kept us pretty good about keeping things tidy. The house has been listed now for about a month and we have had a few lookers, but our market is really almost non existant out here right now. The other day I did a count and there were 12 houses for sale just on our 3/4 mile street. In our develpement there are over 300 to pick from...not including all the new ones the builders are still popping out like crazy. The weather here has kicked up to our standard AZ temps. That is we have been in the 100's for the last few days and wouldn't see the end of them until we leave here.
Scott is coming to the end of the school year and has just amazed me every step of the way. Last week he finished up a week of testing to see if he would qualify for the gifted program (my moment of bragging!!!) Things are almost all back to normal here in the Sizemore house. We went to play in a softball game last weekend for the school and it reminded me all about how we used to play at Huachuca. We made up our mind that after our move we'll look into a team to play on. Scott has been doing soccer this time around and Saturday was his last day. We'll be taking the summer off because of the crazy scheadule that were going to be having. With having the house for sale...a trip to Ohio at the end of June...the girls coming up (or is it down?) for summer. On top of all that I need to get us up into place in Colorado by the 1st of July so that we can be there by the time that Scott starts school on the 5th! I know, it just gets crazier and crazier for school scheadules, but this one is actually a standard year round school so there will be lots of time off, as he will be going for about 2 months and vacation for 1. I'm kind of looking forward to it, as it could mean more vacations for us.
One other big thing that has gone on here is that last month Scott was awarded his Bobcat. For those that don't know that is a level in BoyScouts you get as you progress along in their program. He earned his Tiger last year, and now this one...were hoping that within the next few weeks he will have earned his Wolf. The markings on his face are part of the cerimony where he is given his award. Each symbol and color all have a special meaning to it. Also the parent is the one who gets to paint the markings on their face. After that they have to take a pin they are given and present it to the parents for their help along the way. I think Scott was nervous because it took him 17 seconds to pin it. For every second it took to pin was one good deed that needed done before I could put his patch onto his uniform. Scouting is something that he really enjoys, so I'm really glad that we were finally able to find a troop around here that he could get into. He is actually attending a troop that is attached to the LDS church, but if all the LDS troops are like this one, I'll make sure to have them stay with them. Our leader is AMAZING!!! She has so much energy! She has four boys, and 2 are twins that are about 5 months old. And of the 4, none of them are of Scouting age.
I'm not sure where our next adventure will be. We have been swimming as much as we can. I try to soak in our yard, the only thing I will miss from here. I look forward to hearing from everyone...remember that you don't have to create a "Blog" page to do so...all you need to is to click on replay or leave comment...then create a log on name...when you het enter from there the next page is one to create a blog page. Just close the page and your name will be created with no blog page will be formed.

An EGGcelent Easter!

2006-04-23T23:15:00.000-06:00

Easter has come and gone and I am way behind in updating my site. So here is Easter in an egg shell. We went to an egg hunt here in our community. It proved to be an interesting event, as a little kid had taken the "golden" egg that was in Scott's age group section (ok..some wonderfull volunteer hid eggs on the playgroung that the kids were playing on). Anyways all the eggs were found but that one. Kids could care less about all the little plastic colorfull globes that they pick up. They WANT that GOLD one. Kids are willing to mame eachother in hopes of getting it, and when it wasn't found at all they were ready to riot. Finally they (as in the "officails") were able to locate the egg, distract the kids and re-hide it. There are no pictures of the bunny that was there as it was very scary looking. After that we went to WalMart to see their bunny, only to find that he had just excaped his cage where his owners forgot to feed him.

On Easter Sunday we woke up as many parents do on this day. To a very eager child waiting for their parents to get up so that they might hunt the eggs the bunny hid over night. We usually do a dozen eggs per person at the house, so there were 3 dozen for Scott to find. He had a hard time understanding that the older that he gets the more challenging the bunny will hid them! After the egg hunt we had my families tradition Easter breakfast...don't worry Dad...it's slowly catching on here too. Easter Sunday was a perfect day weather wise here so we were soon outside hanging around the pool and even took a dip or two in it.

Later that evening we did up a standard dinner of ham and potatoes, and had our friends come over and join us. I made a cake for dessert. Tammie gave me this really cool pan to make the checker pattern in your cake. I figured that I would make one of those. Well after reading the directions I got to work. I dyed half my batter pink and half blue for Easter. I cook my first and it just looked odd. Tim came in while my second one baked and I explained to him my issue. So he re-read the instructions to see that your not supposed to cook it with the rings in it....OPPS! I pulled that one out of the cake, and made the third layer the way it was ment to be. After stacking and adding jello and whipped cream to it, no one knew better! Leason learned.

Sam's Birthday

2006-03-31T09:56:00.000-07:00

We had the girls here this past week and since Sam's birthday is next week after we take them home, we went ahead and did a little party here for her the other day. The timing actually worked out pretty well since I was taking my final cake class the day before we were going to do it. So for her birthday cake she got a 2 tiered "wedding" style cake! She was kind of hoping for a music cake, but with having this one already (4 boxes worth of mix) I didn't want to do another one on top of having all that...so insead I made her some music shapped cookies. I put them in a glass container that I picked up and then painted music notes on that as well to match, and then made the cookies on sticks so it looked like a bouquet of them. I still have a bit to learn with my icing technique, but they still came out kind of neat looking. We have a tradition that on your birthday you get to pick your special dinner, so we had homemade chicken pot pie that night...unfortunatly though it came out REALLY salty (and if I'm saying that you can be sure it was really salty). So I'll have to make that up to her next time.

It has been really great having the girls here again, the week has flown by so quickly that already it is time to take them back.

Rocky Mountain High

2006-03-29T08:42:00.000-07:00

This past week we used part of Scott's spring break to venture into Colorado. It worked out where Scott was ending his 2 week break right as the girls were getting ready to start their break. So we drove up there to see the sights and pick up the girls to bring down here for the week. We got to see all kinds of neat things while we were there. I have to say though that it really was a long drive there. As we headed north in AZ there was lots of snow in the mountains there to see. Really a pretty site to see here in the desert.
Once we got out of AZ into New Mexico the miles past kind of fast...that is until we turned onto I25. I swear that has got to be the longest straighest road in the entire country. Honestly there were NO turns in this road for hundreds of miles. When they did have that rare random curve in the road they would post all these huge yellow signes with arrows to warn you in the hopes of pulling you out of that 30 mile stare you develop as you are going. You really need to click on this picture to enlarge it to get teh idea of the long and never winding road. So as I said our drive was long and uneventfull, but I'm enclosing a few pictures to show you some of the views I had along the way there.

So after a really long drive we got to Castle Rock rock around 9:30 and just went to bed. The next morning we went down to Fort Carson to see some of Tim's friends that were there. We also stopped in the PX and there Scott found "Wacky Packages" cards. For those that don't know these they are made by Topps and are spoofs of different products. Now let me interject something about Scott here before I go on. Scott is a really easy going kid that just takes life in stride. However when he finds something that he likes he dives in head first. For example he has gotten into Lego's. It has to be the kits though, since Christmas he has bought many differnt kits that are to the theam he is into. Well we made him wait till dinner time to open his packs that we got. We picked up 2 for each of the kids. Well within the day he had all his memorized and was begging us to go back to the PX for more. We made him wait till we got back home and when we went to Wal Mart he bought a box of the packages and was able to collect all the regular cards and is now going crazy trying to get all the special cards that they make...and has discovered that there were other sets out there before this one. Anyway I'm way off the track now. After our visit to the fort we drove back up to get the girls for dinner. On the way I was just staring out the window looking at all the wonderfull sites along the way. When all of a sudden I see an elk head up in the distance on the back of a truck. I was courious about that one...as we got closer I was able to verify without a doubt that yes it was an elk head. I've added this picture just because it was one of the oddest things I can ever recall seeing on the road. Back to dinner, it was great seeing them again. Talking with them they are really missing their daddy. After dinner we drove around their neighborhood a bit and then stopped at Michaela's school for them to play a bit. Scott was so excited about seeing snow again. Every minute of our trip all he wanted to do was play in the snow! Our next day there we went out and about and played the tourist that we were. Our fist stop was the Butterfly Pavilian in Denver. This was a small quaint little place. It had 3 different rooms. The first was filled with different bug habitats, and there Scott got the chance to hold a trantula. The next room had a few marine type animals like star fish and urchin's. The last room was set up as a tropical enviroment that was filled with beautiful flowers and tons of butterflys. I'm adding the pictures for these a bit futher below. After there we went to Hamonds candy factory for their tour. The last thing we went to do was the Natural History museum. It was full of all kinds of dinosaur bones and all kinds of neat things to look at there. I wouldn't mind going back there again to spend a bit more time enjoying the exibits that we didn't get a chance to see.

Ok...I think that is enough for now. I still have some other pics to share from the ride home, but I'll save those to share with everyone when we get back from taking the girls home. That's right we have to do the trip again!

Hell froze over!

2006-03-17T20:35:00.000-07:00

Well it happened just last weekend, but hell finally froze over! We hadn't gotten rain up here in the desert for 143 days. Now let me put that into prospective for you. Thats the same as 5 months or 20 weeks. So not a rain drop since October here. No snow in the mountians, nothing! Our old record for the desert was a mear 101 days, so needless to say this was shattered. If you've seen the movie "Holes" there is this scean in there where they are back at the camp and the jail gaurd tells them a story that went something like "Once upon a time there was a place that never ever rained....and your standing in the middle of it!". Everyday I've thought of that as I would look to the sky and see not one cloud.
Well Saturday...the day of the community garage sale, I got up for drill to a light drizzle that was a downpour once I hit the freeway. It rained all the way to drill....all the way home from drill...all the way to the play we went to that night...and all the way home too. By the end of the night we had gotten over 3 inches in the day. The water level in our pool was up to the sidewalk. But that was nothing, because most of the cities north of us got several feet...thats right FEET of snow! All the mountians around us were covered, and I do mean covered almost to the bottom with snow. It almost made this place pretty!
So there you have it folks, it is possiable...Hell can freeze over!

Off to the Rodeo

2006-03-16T10:49:00.000-07:00

Recently Tim won us tickets to go and see Blake Shelton, Andy Griggs, and Tracy Bird (the country "rat pack" in concert. Our tickets said that the show started at 6pm, but when we got there at 5:45 there was a huge line standing outside the bar where the show was. We ended up standing outside for the next hour and a half. They finally let us in around 7:30, and the group took the stage a bit after 8pm. So a late start, but while we stood in the line Tim went and checked out the different radio boths that were set up and at one of them he got tickets to see the rodeo the following week. Well a friend of ours that had Scott for us that night is a huge rodeo fan, so we went and got a few more tickets for them and the boys to go. But more of that in a minute. The concert was really good. I have to say that I love when "big names" play the bar scean. So much fun, and if your pushy enough you can get right in front by the stage. We had a few girls in front of us that were pretty funny to be by...they kept trying to take pictures of each other and we kept sticking our faces into their shots. Then there were 2 drunk couples next to us. The girls seemed to be very happy in each others company, and the boyfriends didn't seem to mind one bit. Part way through the night though one of the girls hit that "I drank so much so I'm going to cry for no reason" stage. So boyfriend helped her through that...after it was over her and girlfriend were back with eachother again. Crazy night.
So then it was off to the Rodeo. We went with our friends Mike and Tammie and their son Michael and daughter Danille. We stopped on the way at this really yummy mexican restraunt. Once we got to our seats (was just a general admission type of thing in the bleachers) we had a laugh over the guy sitting a few rows in front of us because of his Tshirt. I've encluded a picture of it and in case you can't read it...it says "Tittie's and Beer, Thank God I ain't Queer!". The rodeo was kind of neat to watch. After the show was over we took the boys over and gave them a chance to ride on the mechanical bull that they had set up. The operator of it was nice in setting it pretty slow for them, but after a bit he would bring the speed up a bit, make it turn a bit more. It was funny the look on the kids faces when they realized that there was no way that they were going to be able to hang on any longer!

Warm weather, Cold pool

2006-03-01T21:09:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we had some really nice weather, up in the mid 80's. It has been pretty nice here latley, however we haven't had rain here now for more then 134 days and there is none in our forcast either. After going out to pick up a soda machine for Tim we had some friends stop by for a lunch BBQ. The boys were having fun and being crazy, so we let them just dive in and have fun. The water was only around 55 degrees, but that didn't stop them. Oh yeah, and if you ask Scott, his favorite moment was when he pushed me into the pool. So I can say without a shadow of a doubt that the water was COLD!!!
This wasn't the first time this year that Scott had gotten in. In fact early in Feb. he talked me into it. Then the water was only about 50 degrees. After I let him go in...all he could manage was to dip his feet in before he realized that I was slightly right in the fact that the water was on step away from an ice block. So cold in fact that after only a short time in the water, his feet were beet red from it!

Teeth

2006-03-01T20:38:00.000-07:00

Well back in January I told you about Scott having a jaw spreader in. Our 2 weeks past by fairly uneventfully. He had a few hurdles to get over, but was a trooper. After the 2 weeks of turning we had to just let it set. Today we went back to the dentist to have that removed and his braces put on. Right now he actually has only 5 brackets on this front teeth. He picked 2 different greens for them. So in the 1st picture to the left is our starting point. Where his teeth were on day one. The top left is one of Scott getting adjusted for the evening. The bottom right is after two weeks of turning and his teeth have spead apart from the adjustments. On the bottom left is him with his brand new braces. He'll have these now for the next year or so.

Cakes

2006-03-01T20:23:00.000-07:00

Well I have just compleated my 2nd of 3 cake classes. I've learned all kinds of neat things about how to properly bake a cake, to frosting. We learn all kinds of neat stuff about different types of flowers and what frostings we can use on them to make them last forever. I have the one last class to go over the next month that will teach me how to create a formal cake. Just thought I would share some pictures with you of the different creations I have done.

Scott's New Wheels!

2006-03-01T17:49:00.000-07:00

So as you read in the blog titled "Scott's first heartbreak" he had his bike stolen from school a few weeks back. Well after I told my mom about it she was so upset that her and dad sent out a check to Scott so he could go and replace it right away. We took him to Toys R Us first to look around to see if there might be something different that he would like....well he found this one that was really "tricked out". It has the hand breaks, a gear shift, and a speedometor with milage tracking. After he picked that one out, I found some really neat eyeballs that are valve covers that I got to put the finishing touches on it! Here are a few pictures of him with his new bike.

Cookies!

2006-02-23T20:57:00.000-07:00

Well now that Scott is 8 it is time for him to learn how to serve his parents. I have always like to buy the pre cut cookies to have on hand for those occasional cravings, so it is now Scott's job to make our cookies. He is responible for all of it. Getting the equipment together, placing the cookies and baking them. I have even taught him how to pull the hot pan out of the oven and dish them up for us. So far he has done pretty good. One time he kind of touched the side of the pan, and realizing that it was hot, hasn't done it again since then! So now that he has cookies down, I'll have to figure out what I can have him do next!

Wet Dogs and Snickers

2006-02-22T08:34:00.000-07:00

For the ones that arn't familiar with our dogs, let me give you a quick introduction to them. The beagle on the right is Lincoln. We have had him for almost 4 years now. He was a pound puppy that we got. He is about 7 years old now, and has always been really mellow (except for when he gets the chance to play with other animals!) The one on the left is our doxie Teddy. He is about 8 months old now. I got him while I was in Texas this summer. He is supposed to be a mini, but he passed that up about 4 pounds ago!
Well the other day I was sitting downstairs working on my computer when I could hear my dog scratching at the back door. I played it off...then I heard another few scratches and yelled at the dogs as they know that they are not aloud to this. A few seconds later the scratching stared again that had a kind of urgency to it. Kind of like "LET ME IN THE HOUSE NOW!!!!" So I got up and went to the door to find my little doxie Teddy standing there shivering and soaking wet. Somehow or another he had fallen into the pool. While our air temp has warmed up a bit, the water is still only around 50 degrees. I grabbed a towel and dried him off and after a bit cuddling next to me on the couch he seemed to warm up nicely. I swear though that I saw Lincoln sitting off in the cornor with a small smile on his face as if to say "yeah, I did it...whatch'a going to do about it"
In other pet news, we got a cat, well really a kitten in our house this past weekend. I know mom, your shaking your head right now, but it was us or the shelter, and I just don't like the idea of a pet going to the shelter if I can help it. We have named out cat Snickers as it has black, brown and cream colored markings on it and when Leighanna picked it up for us she told us that it reminded her of a Snickers bar...so stuck the name. Not bad since the last cat we had for 4+ years and it never did have a name. Right now we don't see much of the cat because she is scared of the dogs. Lincoln dosen't pay her much attention as he is used to having a cat around. I think he knows that she is too small to mess with right now, so he is just sitting back and waiting for his time to be able to rub his butt on her face. Teddy on the other hand has never seen a cat in his life so he sees her as the ultimate evil that needs to be exterminated from the house. We are slowly trying to get him to realize that she isn't evil, but a cool play toy.

Scott's first heart break

2006-02-08T08:10:00.000-07:00

Well it happened yesterday. My son had his heart broken for the first time and there wasn't a thing I could do about it. Not only could I not do anything about it, but at the root of his heart break was his own mommy. So now I need to back track a bit to explain the story from the begining before Scott had to deal with the evil reality of life starring him in the face.
Back around Christmas and his birthday (remember only 6 days apart) he brought in a large sum of money (long story...if you want to know email me). So he bought a few toys with it, the wireless connection for the playstation and Socom III to be able to play with the big boys...he also bought a really cool bike. One of those neat ones with shocks on it, hand breaks and gears. It's funny because for a long time he said he would never have hand breaks, but he figured them out pretty quick after he decieded on this one. Well actually he got one from a different store first, no gears, but it had riding pegs in the back. After a few days with it he changed his mind and deceided that the one from Target was cooler looking and we traded them out.
So on Monday I had to take him in for a last minute dentist appointment since his apppliance had come un-glued on one side. I took him out of school early and then forgot to stop by the school after the appointment to pick up his bike (can you see where this is going?). Tuesday I drove him in since I was working that day. The idea was that he would ride home and then everything would be good. Not quite. We left the school and he dug his key out of his back pack and went to the racks....a few minutes later he was back saying his bike wasn't there. Well I just figured that it was like when you park your car in the mall lot. After so many hours you forget where you put it and just have to wander around for a bit with that look that says I know where I'm going, but your mind is saying where the hell is it? Anyways he looked at me funny and said, "No mommy, I know I parked it there...the lock is still there but the bike isn't". So trying to keep calm about it we went in to ask if maybe the costodians might have cut it since it was there over night. The assured me that there was no way they would have cut the lock. Scott's face just crumbled as he realized that someone had stolen his brand new bike that he just bought like 2 weeks ago! As the tears started to stream from his eyes at his heart break, I felt my heart being ripped out of my chest and being stepped on. I tried to let him know that it would all be ok, especially since he did everything that he was supposed to. After a few minutes we gathered our stuff and he went and got the lock off the bike rack and we came home.
Today he is in better spirts, but didn't want to take his old bike to school just in case. He was planning on walking in, but ran out of time so had to take his scooter (Rod he still has that one you gave him and loves it!) instead. I'm sure after a few times of coming out of the school and finding it still there he wil slowly get over his hesitations, but for now this is still a fresh memory of evil.

Scott's Justice League birthday

2006-01-29T20:15:00.000-07:00

Well as many of you know, Scott turned 8 on the 31st of December. I know, I can't believe it either. Well with his birthday being over the Holiday Break, we really arn't able to do much for it until after school gets back. So on the day of his birthday we had a special lunch for him and then some cake and presents. Well, he is now at an age where couriousity is getting the best of him. We had bought him a drum set for his birthday before Christmas, and had it out in the garage. Well on Christmas day he whispered to me that he had seen the drum box out in the garage that was hidden there for him. So I made him wait until the day of his birthday before he was aloud to get it. The drum set is pertty neat. It has color coded stickers for each of the drums to help teach him as he goes.
Then to finish up his birthday fun, he did cookies in school on Friday and a Justice League theamed birthday party. We sent out 15 invites, but for some reason kids just don't go to birthday parties. At least we can say that we had 2 times as many kids here then we did last year. Of course there was only 1 here last year, so that isn't saying much! When I have talked with other parents though, they say I was lucky to see that many. So with the 3 kids we had an obstical type course for them to compleate with points being awarded in each catagory. We started off with the Flash Gordon dash. This is where the kids had to run around the pool 2 times, and attempt to doge the dogs at the same time. Unfortunatlly Teddy (our little doxie) wasn't as fast as some of the kids, and ended up taking a sneaker to the eye. After a little crying and alot of squinting, he got lots of attention and was all better for the moment. Our next event was the Superman standing long jump. I must admit that Michael really took this one. I think he might have had springs hidden in his shoes, as he went at least a foot further then any other kid! Next was the Wonder Woman lasso toss. This is where the kids had a lenghth of magical gold rope that they had to get it over 1 of 2 golden milk jugs. It was so funny watching the kids try to get this rope even a foot away from them! They had a hard time grasping the concept that they needed to hold onto one end of the rope when they tossed it. Scott somehow though was the only one that managed to get one jugs hooped. Those that know him, also know that he has no cordination, so for him to do this was one of those "wow" moments. The picture for this one shows just how easy it was with the rope all twisted around Scott's arm. Our next super hero was Batman. For this one we had a bat toss. I made up some bat shapped bean bags, and they were given 3 targets to hit. 2 were blue circles that I painted on the ground, and then there was also a hula hoop down as well. They did pretty good one this one with each kid getting quite a few in the targets. If you look at the picture for that one, you can see the bat flying through the air to it's target. That wrapped up the out door activites. Inside we did a Marsian mind melt. I drew a picture and then described it to the kids and the one that came the closest to what I had drawn took that round. Our next event was the Hawk Girl feather hang. The had to balance the feather on their lip and see who could keep it there as long as they could. Our last activity was the Green Lantern light shine. This one was kind of like pin the tail on the donkey, but after they were blind folded, they were given a flash light and then had to try and shine the light onto a picture. If they hit one of the Justice League figures they got 5 points for helping a friend. If they hit a bad guy they got 10 points for stopping them, if they hit Green Lantern they got 15 points, since it was "his" game. I included a picture of the poster I made just to try and give you a better idea of what I'm trying to describe.
Finally it was time for some cake (no ice cream. Trying to get everything put together I compleatly forgot to buy any...opps). I had worked the night before on making his cake, and just wasn't overly happy with it, but Scott brought down all his minature statues and we added those to it, and they really helped to make the cake. Scott liked it though, that was what was important about it. After cake we did the awards presentation for the kids. Michael took gold, Scott took silver, and Matt took bronze. Scott opened his presents and loved what he got. There were some Justice League and Batman figures as well as a really neat set of Nerf dart guns. It had 4 guns in it, and the kids took off shooting each other (this included Tim as one of the kids). I had darts flying all over the house for the next few hours.
So another birthday has once again come and gone, and because of how late his party was, I only have 11 months left to prepare myself for the next one!

Awards, baseball and spiderwebs

2006-01-23T18:50:00.000-07:00

On Friday Scott's school held there end of 1st semester awards. I was lucky enough to be working in a second grade classroom so that I could attend. Scott was awarded with certificates for Perfect Attendance for the semester, Honor Roll, a Leadership award, and a Citizenship award. Needless to say, I am a very proud mother at moments like this!
Right now is baseball season here. Well actually we are playing through the Y, so the kids are able to play any sport year round. There are 14 kids on Scott's team, and about 9 on the other team. That's right, there are 2 whole teams in the league. Maybe if they condensed the sports down to "we're only doing baseball in the fall" or whatever it might be, they may be able to pull a few more kids and have more then 2 teams to play against each other every week. Oh well. Scott has progressed a bit since he started. His heart is in it, but his body just hasn't caught up yet. As this season winds down I am being informed that soccer will be next. I wasn't here for last years season, but I do know that it wasn't very impressive. Guess we'll see.
As for the spiderweb, well to make a short story long...Tim had cleaned out the pool yesterday after some newspaper blew in and clogged up the drain. They were sitting on the edge of the pool and Scott was to clean them up this afternoon. Well we had really high winds here today, so paper blew everywhere including back into the pool. So when I came home from work, I started to fish it all out right away and set Scott to work on getting the rest bagged up. As he was going around the yard doing so, he came across this neat web and ran for his camera to get a picture of it. Just thought I'd share a bit of nature that managed to catch the eye of an 8 year old little boy who managed to find something neat in the middle of a messy job.

New appliance, new journey

2006-01-19T09:46:00.000-07:00

Well for those of you that don't know, Scott's mouth is a cluster of missing teeth! In fact while I was gone last year he lost 6 in that time. So now if you were to see his x-rays they look like a tooth orgey going on, as there is no room for them to fall into place. In fact a few were even trying to push through the roof of his mouth. At that point we headed to the dentist with him. They sent us onto the orthodontist for an evaluation. Well because he lost so many so fast, his jaw hasn't grown to keep up with it, so started a new journey for Scott. He has had spacers in for the last few weeks, and yesterday he had this appliance put in that will work on spreading his jaw out. He will wear that for about 2 months all total. For the first 2 weeks of it we (Tim or I) will have to turn this crank like device in it 2 times a day. Each turn is maybe about a centimeater or so. After 2 weeks we get re-evaluated and then it gets left alone for about 6 weeks so that everything can get set into their new spot. After that comes out then Scott will get partial braces to help move a few teeth together (as there is a pretty big gap between front teeth, and this is actually going to make that bigger). All total we are told that this will take about 18 months to finish up, and because of what we are doing now, he shouldn't have to have full braces at all. Even with the fact that all his side teeth are still baby teeth, they say that because we are making the room now, and getting everything lined up, it will stay that way.
So far he is doing pretty good with this whole thing. He is having a bit of a challenge saying anything that requires the roof of the mouth (like T's), and he is having to learn how to re-swallow. The pictures I've included here are the starting point for all of this. One is just a close up of his teeth, and the other is a picture of the new appliance that they put in. I'll keep everyone posted on how this goes!!

Long pants, movies, and upset tummies

2006-01-17T11:55:00.000-07:00

So here I am back from California. The trip was an ok one. I got the chance to meet a few other people from the different sites that my unit has, and even took the "platform" to teach a class on patient evaluations. I got in late Friday (the 13th) night. I got in and was very happy to see that the clothes I had ordered had shown up. I am now the proud owner of a pair of ladies jeans that I can walk on the cuffs of! See most women take for grante that they can go to any store in the mall and walk out with whatever they want. Well when you have legs that go all the way to your ass and then some, it just dosen't work that way. I have been wearing pants from the mens department for so long that I didn't even know what size I was. I just knew my measurements. Well awhile back I had found a catalog that I had ordered from, but I always ended up having to send stuff back. Frustrated I turned to this wonderfull thing call the internet and just did a search for amazon women's clothing. Low and behold I found a great catalog that has an accurate size guide on and so far everything that I have ordered has fit. Well I broke down and bought a pair of jeans from their new line of longer inseams and I LOVE THEM!!! I do hope that they expand on the line of jeans offered in that section.
Coming home on Friday night put me back in time to see Scott's game and watch them get their pics done. Well around 3 am Scott came in saying that he had been sick. After sitting in bed with him for a bit he went back to sleep. The next morning seemed better until we got to the game. Right after his picture was taken he was over by the fence heaving his guts out. Guess it was a good thing that he didn't have any breakfast that day. Well with Tim being the coach Scott and I just sat on the side lines, as he didn't want to play at all. We came back home and he had some soup and a hot tub and then took a huge long nap and seemed all better after that.
On Sunday we went and saw Hoodwinked. What a cute movie. It is set up kind of like Boomtown where the story is told from each persons point of view to come up with the actual story of what happened. I highly recommend it to everyone...kids or not.
Yesterday (Monday) was pretty nice outside, so after we finished cleaning up the house we went out back and cleaned up out there as well. Pulling out the weeds that seem to grow so much better then the plants that we have put in. Tim also went ahead and covered all of Teddy's land mines that he has created. We have a retaining wall across the back and it is only dirt there so it is by far his most favorite place to dig. After all that was done I sprayed all the decking off, as well as every surface around. We really haven't had much rain (none in the last 3 months) but we'll get a small sprinkle and because of the dirt in the air it pretty much just rains mud. It was amazing what a little water could do to help the back out though. Have to say that I am really looking forward to spending time in my back yard this year!

Leaving again

2006-01-08T08:40:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to let everyone that checks this know that I will be gone for the next week. I have to head out to Camp Parks CA for a week to do an EMT refresher class. I doubt that I will have internet access while I'm gone. Please check back here though next week and I'll have updated our info. Lots of new things to talk about, but no time to post them right now. Also please if your checking the site, leave some comments so I know that you've been here. We can get a good conversation going if you do! Just click on the comments at the bottom of an entry and it will give you whatever comments have already been made, plus a spot to type yours. When you go to post it may ask you to create a sign on. This is free and you DO NOT have to actaually create a blog. When I first started I skipped this step. It is done mostly so that your name can be attached to your comment so I know who left it. I hope to hear from everyone soon! Happy Blogging!!!!

Crystals and Crabs

2006-01-04T15:55:00.000-07:00

So our Christmas vacation is slowly coming to an end. Scott has been busy spending time with some of his friends, but there are still times that we need to find things to keep us busy. For Christmas Scott got a hermit crab island, so today we finally found a crab for it. His name is Kermit the Hermit. Having a crab in the house that isn't on my plate is a first for me, so we'll see how this goes. All I can say is it better be cleaner then those damn hamster babies! The kids all got lots of neat things for Christmas this year and many things that will keep them busy for awhile (haha), but one of the neat things that Scott bought with some of his money was a crystal growing kit. We now have a table that is out of the way growing 3 different crystal experiments in them. One is even supposed to come out looking like a geod. It has been fun watching all the different changes in them as the water slowly leaves.

Since I came home

2006-01-03T21:17:00.000-07:00

I came home at the end of September to a crazy month. We went to Ohio the first week of October to see family and friends. It was such a good trip. As soon as I stepped out of the airport I felt at home. Our week there just seemed to fly by so fast and I didn't get to do nearly everything I wanted to do. Leeann and Celeste both, thank you for opening you homes to us for a visit. I love both of your places! After that trip we came home to have Michaela come and visit us for a week, and at the end of that trip my parents came down to visit (I finally got my dad out here after 3 years!). While my parents were here I did up my traditional "gross" Halloween dinner for all the kids (we had Cory, Leah, Michaela and Scott). For desert that night I made them an eyeball cake. Scott had such a wonderfull idea to have it made so that when I cut into the cake it would bleed out! Leah wasn't too sure about eatting it after that, but one bite and she forgot about the gross part.
I had a wonderfull time seeing everyone and just relaxing. I do have to say though that it took me until around Thanksgiving time for me to really feel as if I was home to stay. Things have settled back to a normal routine. I have gone back to work at the school as a sub, although I keep trying to get in there full time to have my own class again. Thank you to all my friends and family for all the support and encouragment that you gave me over the last year. It really meant alot to me.

Happy New Year!!!!

2006-01-02T20:37:00.000-07:00

On the first of the year Tim asked me what my New Years Resolution was. At the tme I told him that I didn't have one. Well I was wrong. Ever since my deployment I have stopped doing my newsletters to all the family and friends. So thanks to an idea from my good friend Rod, I have deceided that my goal for this year will be to get back into the swing of things and keep everyone up to date on the Sizemore clans happenings. Only this time it will be in this Blog format.
So here is my new site. It isn't compleatly finished yet, but my goal will be to update it at least once a month. Please feel free to post any comments along the way (you might have to make a sign in for this), or just email them to me. I hope that everyone has a wonderfull new year!

Ann