Cat-like Reflexes!

Wall-E

Zachery's Wall-E costume is finally finished after James decided to be his nit picky self and add in every detail of Wall-E.

Wall-E's body and wheels are made out of a a couple cardboard boxes, the neck is made from a paper towel role, the roach out of a toilet paper role, and the eyes out of a couple mini pringles cans. As they say, "One mans trash is another mans treasure," and we took it literally!

James crafted up the whole costume, includeing a candy compartment in the belly, and even did some of the painting (when I allowed him too :). I detail painted and bada bing bada bang, we have a Wall-E.

Pumpkin Carving!

We took on the task tonight of carving pumpkins and it is indeed a task when you have four kids carving pumkins at the same time, but it is still fun! Quentin got in trouble right before we started, so he was forced to pick last, so being that as it was, Zachery snagged the pumpkin that was as big as he was and he picked a silly face stencil to use. He found it pretty hard to clean it out as he made his way to the bottom, so we had to lower it down to the floor so he could finish cleaning it out :)

Kariana picked next and she picked the second biggest pumpkin and chose to make a skeleton. As she dug out the guts, she was flinging them to get them off her fingers. She ended up flinging pumkin everywhere, including in Kierstyn's mouth (directly across from Kariana). Kierstyn didn't like the taste of pumkin :)

Kierstyn picked the smallest of all the pumkins and chose the dragon, because she wanted to draw Shrek's dragon! She loved playing in the pumpkin guts! When James was done carving out her dragon, she snapped the head off and when James asked why she replied, "I'm hungry."

Quentin chose a spider to carve and he carved the big section by himself! He thought he was the king of the worl because he got to use a knife (pumpkin saw)!

Once they were all done they each put their lights in the pumpkins and found a place to put them outside. Overall they had a lot of fun and so did us big kids! I have a blast doing things like this, because I never had the chance as a kid :(

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Wow, it's been a long time since I have posted! We have been busy the last couple of months. We have went to the PAT carnival here in town, celebrated Amanda's thirteenth and Kalia's second birthdays, I have started new classes and almost done with the (3 more weeks), and I have found out that I am Quentin's room mother again this year.

Tomorrow, the boys and James are participating in Walk to School day tomorrow and on Saturday we plan to go to the Back to School Carnival at school!

The girls have decided what they want to be for Halloween and Zachery keeps changing his mind. Quentin has came up with about 50 different ideas and they have all been a bust, so we're still looking. Kariana has decided to be Snow White and Kierstyn wants to be Hannah Montana or Cinderella. Zachery has finally decided to be Wall-E, but I can't find one down here so I decided to make him one with James' help. Quentin may go as himself if he keeps picking weird things like cockroaches!

Hope to be able to post more in the future, but it looks like with graduation (associates) right around the corner that it is all just getting started :)

Gracie Lynn!!!

My brother and his other half had their second baby last night at 5:15 pm by C-section. She has been named Gracie Lynn, she was 6lbs. 13oz. and 20 1/2 inches long. Mrs. Gracie has a head full of black hair and is in my opinion a beautiful little girl. Congrats Kevin and Katherine!

Hoedown Throwdown!

My girls love to sing, love to dance, and love Hannah Montana, so it was no surprise to see them trying to do the Hoedown Throwdown while listening to the song on the computer. James was actually looking up a song that my neice Amanda told him about, but in the process Hannah Montana caught Kierstyn's eye and so started the Hannah extravaganza! I think I listened to all her songs within 20 minutes! About two songs in the Hoedown Throwdon came on and well watch for yourself...

School Update!

It's coming up on the end of the third week of school for Quentin and Zachery and let me tell you it has been an eventful three weeks. Quentin is doing great! He loves his teacher and is doing well in school. Three weeks of spelling tests and three 100%, so I am happy for him and his success. His teacher also does a really cool activity to make math fun and he is getting a kick out of that. She gives each student Mattern Money (her name is Mrs. Mattern) for coming to "work" each day. Everyday they show up for school they recieve a dollar for their attendance, but at the end of the week they must pay a $1.50 for rent. Every two weeks she sets up the "Mattern General Store" and they get to go shopping, but be careful of you spend to much or miss to many days, you may not be able to afford rent! Very interesting way to keep math interesting.

Zachery on the other hand has had a reality check throughout these few weeks. First he wasn't able to handle the long hours of school without a nap or "rest" time from preschool causing him to get the delightful idea of acting out on the bus! Of course it's not his fault and he was "just playing." He hit the neighbor boy and Quentin and decided it was fun to bite Quentin as well all on day one of week two. This behavior continued throughout the next couple of days causing a phone call from the bus driver. James happened to have my van that day, so papa picked him up from school and went over the rules and why they are so important and he had an early bedtime since he was unable to behave. The next day he was and angel...for the morning route, but decided to act up again in the afternoon. That brought us to the weekend and a very strong punishment. So far so good for week three, but we'll see how it lasts. Other than that Zachery is doing well in school. He is learning his sight words rather quickly and seems to be ahead of schedule when practicing at home.

In this process I had finals and started new classes, but hopefully everything is starting to smooth out and looking up for next week. Sorry no pics!

Finals, Finals, and More Finals!

Last week I had finals in my Introduction to Life Science and Classroom Instruction classes. I recieved my grades for them and I wanted to share them with all of you. I felt pretty confident about both finals this time, but a little more confident on my Science final, it just seemed to flow better. For my Classroom Instruction final, I recieved a 250/250, with an overall grade of 95.7%.

For my Science final, I recieved a 200/200 with an overall score of 96.7%. That's two more A's for my collection! Yea! My next classes are Supervision and Leadership and Diversity in the Classroom. This is my first week, but so far so good. 42 credit hours down and 18 more to go before I can substitute teach!

Welcome Snickers!

A couple days ago we went down to the Lake to return an outfit for my sister and we decided to go ahead and eat at Outbacks, since it's been awhile. After dinner we went to Petco to look at fish, but ended up leaving with a Guinea Pig. The kids love her to death and make sure they say "Good night" every night, but they could not decide on a name. So after everyone taking the night and sleeping on it, we all listed a name, put them in a bowl and drew one name. We now have a Guinea Pig named Snickers, which is perfect when you figure in her coloring.

The Magic House!

The Magic House was last on our list of things to do and probably the thing I have looked forward to the most! There was so much stuff to see and do and if I tell you it all, we'd be here all day, but here is the jist of it!




After getting settled and taking a quick bathroom break, we decided to start at the ground floor and work our way up, so the kids crawled via Jacks Beanstalk up and down floors as we walked closly by using the stairs. The kids played in with the air tunnels and in the construction zone for about 30-45 minutes before being forced to move on to the bubble room where they got to be inside a bubble and blow huge bubbles as well as other stuff. I will have to admit, the kids are much better at creating bubbles than I was. We also touched a electric generator making our hair stand up tall (girls basically) and slid down a three story slide. After spending a little time in each area, we were able to go back to our favorite areas and play some more. I took the girls to the toddler area, while James took the boys to the construction zone. After meeting back up with the boys and the Silvers' family, we played in the bubbles some more, bought some gifts, and made the two hour ride back to New Bloomfeild.

We all had a blast and can't wait to do it all again some time! Thanks to the Silvers' for joining in our fun!

Grants Farm!

Day two of our many vacation started off with a big breakfast from the hotel. We stayed at the Drury Inn and to say the least it was nice! We got there around 4:30p after a long day of fun at the Museum/Aquarium and they treated us to three free achoholic beverages. James and I both drank one, not sure what Brandi and Dan had, but I know it wasn't much if any. They also treated us and the kids to free soda and popcorn (other snack foods) throughout the night. After getting settled in and eating supper we took the kids down to swim in the indoor/outdoor pool where Quentin enjoyed swimming back and forth under the wall. They all played in the pool, but my kids seem to enjoy the hot tub more than the swimming pool :) The kids took their baths and hit the sack around 9:00 pm. Kierstynfell asleep first and Quentin shortly followed. Zachery went to bed easily, but was up throughout the rest of the night and Kariana decide she would play and make noises till about 11:30 pm.

The next day we ate our yummy breakfast filled with scrambled eggs, fresh fruit, biscuits and gravy, sausage, ect. You name it they probably had it! They even had some make your own Belgian waffles with all the trimmings! We packed up and headed out for Grant's Farm about 9:30 am for the start of another fun filled day!

At Grant's Farm we got the Fun Pass that allowed the kids to ride the carosel, feed the goats (2 bottles each), a free snow cone, and 10% off at the gift shop. After riding the tram through the tour we started off with feeding the goats. All the kids really loved this part! Kariana was a little skiddish after being head butted by a goat in the side, but she soon got over it and was back to feeding and brushing them.

We decided to see the elephant show before leaving for lunch, but I ended up missing it due to the long lines at the snow cone stand, but I heard it was nice and the kids enjoyed it. They finished their snow cones, done some shopping at the gift shop, and headed out for a nice picnic before heading to the Magic House!

City Museum and World Aquarium

We left early this morning in route to St Louis, MO for a mini vacation with mine and my sister's families. James and I woke up at around 6:00 a.m. and woke the kids up around 6:15 a.m. After getting dressed and eating some breakfast, we headed out for about a 35 minute trip to my sisters house. From there we took the two hour drive to St. Louis and actually did okay other than some mild road work and my sister and I having two different maps. FYI: Yahoo Maps and MapQuest are totally different :)

Our first stop on our trip was the St.Louis City Museum and World Aquarium. The Museum was really cool making the experience educational as well as fun. There were rolly slides, tunnels, skate park (slide area), Arts and Crafts area, and so much more. There is a whole roof top full of more adventures, but the only way we seen to get up was through three plus storries of tunnels. Needless to say we opted not to push the little ones through the narrow wire tunnels. My kids favorite part was a tie between the Arts and Crafts and the skate park area. The only complaint I had was that the tunnels are kids sized and the kids are not allowed to through by themselves, so...needless to say they didn't do to many tunnels. They did go through some with their older cousins, but not to much (Thanks Amanda and Emilee:)). I also thought that the food was a little expensive, but it's to be expected from places like this!

The World Aquarium was our next stop and what Quentin had waited for all summer long. It was smaller than I expected, but it had a lot of touch stations that was great for education, interactions, and keeping the kids entertained. I even managed to touch most of those slimy critters and wasn't grossed out to much. Touch stations included; a variety of turtles, doctor fish, guinea pigs, rabbit, sharks, starfish, stingrays, farrets, and more. They also had turtle races, which Zach and Kierstyn won the bet, and a station to feed the fish. I think that we all equally enjoyed the doctor fish nibbling our hands and my kids couldn't get enough. We all also enjoyed the stingrays (except Quentin). Kierstyn loved the snake that she was able to pet and Quentin really enjoyed crawling through the tunnel that went through the sharks tank! Although, Quentin liked it all and it was hard for him to choose a favorite, I think he really enjoyed watching the jellyfish and octopus. Zachery basically just looked at everything, but he fell in love with the stingrays and Kariana seemed to light up more when she pet the rabbit.

I don't have many pictures (due to having to hold kids up to see and juggling the camera) but I hope that you enjoy what I managed to snap!

Art in the Driveway???

A few weeks ago the girls got a sidewalk paint kit from my sister for their birthday. Last night we decided to paint up the drive way and the kids learned that pink and yellow make orange and blue and green make yellow. Quentin even figured out that blue and red make purple, so light blue and pink make light purple. Huh, learning while having fun...what a thought! Here are a few pics!

Preschool Screening!

Today, the girls went in for preschool screening. James and I debated for awhile about waiting (since they are barely three), but since they went back to back to back half days, rather than full days, we decided to give it a shot. The girls really need the social interaction with people other than mom. They did this so that they were able to serve more of the community with all the layoffs our poor town has faced lately. Anyway, at preschool screening the check each childs Eyes, ears and teeth to see if there are any concerns and the girls were just fine, which we knew because they have already been to the dentist and eye doctor.

After they check their eyes, ears, and teeth; each kid is given a Dial-3 test. This test is just for the teachers to see where your child is developmentally and to see what areas they might need some assistance in. This test checks their motor skills, language skills, concept skills, as well as basic behavior skills.

Of course my angels did great in the behavior section, other than being a little shy. I had to keep reminding myself that they only turned three about two weeks ago. I kept looking at this test (I've given them before) and thinking, "Oh, my they are really behind." This is a test that is used on ages 3-5, but geared more for ages 4-5.

In motor skills they check things like touching fingers to thumb, hopping on both feet and a single foot, and cutting. For their age group they did well. Kierstyn was able to catch a bean bag twice with both hands, do what they call a hop-skip, build structures with three blocks, and touch one hand fingers to thumb in order. Kariana was able to do everything Kierstyn can do (little more outgoing) plus catch the bean bag 3 times, do a full skip, twiddle thumbs and cut a straight line. This was really good for their age level!

Language was a little harder for them being that it is geared for ages four and up, but they did well. Kierstyn knew her first name, her age, and that she was a girl. She was able to articulate 18 out 0f 26 letters and indentify the objects and actions of an apple, plane, car, and pencil. She told them what to do if your thirsty and sang the alphabet to the letter "D" before getting bored and saying "I'm done now." Kariana seemed to forget what she was doing at this booth, because she forgot her name, age, and sex and could only sing the alphabet to the letter "B." She was able to identify the objects and actions of an apple, plane, and car but was unable to tell someone wht to do if they are thirsty.

Concepts was a little harder, because most of it is timed, but they did very good for their age! Both of them were able to name their body parts, colors (not the timed part though), count to 10, and were able to display understandings of positional words such as in front of or beside.

Overall they did great! Now, due to the abundance of kids and not so many positions, we have to wait till next Tuesday to see if they get in. The school trys to offer the services to 4-5 year olds (getting ready for Kindergarten) and lower scores on the Dial-3 first, because they feel like they need it more. They do fill in any extra spots with higher scores and three year olds if possible or place you on a wait list if all else fails. They really try to help as many as possible without hurting the kids in the process. We'll cross our fingers, But won't worry to much if they don't make it. They are only 3!

Boys Teachers!

We got to find out who the boys got for teachers today. In our school, they post a list of teachers and students on the windows of the school and it's the parents job to come up and check who they got. So I usually take the boys up and we look together. Quentin is in second grade this year and Zachery is going into kindergarten, so he got to check for his teacher first.


This year, Quentin got Mrs. Mattern and Zachery got Mrs. McCarger. Both these teachers have been around for along time, but I have not previous experience with either of them. I have heard that they are more strict than others, but depending on how strict, it may be a good thing :) Hope this year goes as well as years past!

Happy Birthday Girls!

The girls actual birthday was yesterday, so we decided to take them and the boys to Columbia to Going Bonkers. They had so much fun and so did us adults :) With the girls being so small, we have to go through the mazes with them to insure they are not getting trampled, but this time we had a blast. We raced each other through the mazes, purposly seperated from each other and see how long it took others to find us, and found tons of ways to slide down a slide :)

We also played some games anmd although many of them were over the kids heads, they still had a blast. The girls enjoyed playing Deal or No Deal, but I don't think they had a clue what exactly they were doing. Zachery's favorite was the motorcycle game and air hockey, while Quentin enjoyed the SpoungeBob game and the going to space game. They all enjoyed turning in their tickets and "feeding" the ticket machine. We have never been before, but we intend to go back soon. Sorry there are no pictures, I accidentally left it at home :(

Happy Birthday Girls!

Kierstyn and Kaiana's Birthday Party!

Although the girls don't offically turn three until the 21st, today we celebrated their birthday with a party. It was supposed to be a swim party, but the swimming was canceled do to the rain and chilly weather, but no worries, the party was moved from the park/pool to my house. My poor house gets a little scrunched when about 15+ people are added to the mix, but overall it worked.

Even through the illnesses that went around (stomach bug) causing some to not show or leave early and Kevin and Richy having to work, we had a pretty good turn out. Dad cooked some tasty burgers and hotdogs for dinner and the girls decided on watermelon instead of cake for dessert. This turned a few heads, but my kids love fruit and it was no surprise to me that they chose the fruit over the sugar.

After we ate our yummy dinner, the girls opened all their presents. We got them some Barbie's, purses, lip gloss, and a couple of Barbie movies. Their starting to build up their girly movie collection, but I think they still perfer the Hulk and Spiderman over them all :) Grandma and Grandpa got them a couple more Barbie's and some headbands and barrets (they love to fix their hair). Cheri got them a couple of babies that they have already striped and lost their clothes :) Their cousin Aria (age 8) colored them each a picture and handed it to me and said "this is all I could think of." I thought this was really sweet! The Silver's Family got them some sidewalk paint and brushes, which they all love! Zachery has tried to take it over, but we all sat outside after the party (about 8:30 ish) painting up the driveway and getting splattered with paint by the splatter tool. Once again Brandi finds the coolest of toys! Even James and I painted with the kids and of course James beat us all with his artistic abilities :)

After presents we ate some watermelon, but not before placing some candles in them for the girls to blow out. I think everyone officially thought we were nuts, but the girls loved it. They each ate three peices of watermelon and two peices of cantolope. After dessert we all watched Big Brother on TV and got to listen to day who complained, but I think he secretly enjoys it :) Everyone had fun, but eventually everyone had to leave in order to be able to get up for work the next day.

We plan to take the kids to Miner Mikes for the girls actual birthday and have some more fun!

Johnson's Shut-Ins and Elephant Rock

A couple of weeks ago James and I took the kids with my sister and her family to Johnson's Shut-Ins and after we finally got there it was a blast! Some how James swore that Dan said it would only take about an hour and a half to get there and as much as I new it would take longer, I believed him. Well, that hour and a half turned into more like 3 and a half :( Not only that, but the kids TV died about halfway down (wasn't charged fully) and so they started to bicker and after Dan said we were almost their the kids asked "are we there yet" about every five seconds and to add to it Dan's halfway was about another hour or more away :) About 20 minutes away from our final destination Kierstyn got car sick and to top that off there was no phone service, so she had to puke in a McDonald's bag and continued to scream for mommy to hold her till we got there.

We finally made it after what seemed like an eternity! After parking, changing, and applying sunscreen, we were finally ready for the water and the wait was so worth it! The kids had a blast climbing the rocks, riding the rapids, swimming, and jumping off the rocks. Quentin absoulutley loved doing cannonballs off the giant rocks and Zach enjoyed climbing on the rocks and even tried to run off a couple times. After getting sick Kierstyn remained pretty crabby for the first part of the day, but cheered up as the day progressed. Kariana enjoyed "swimming" and even kicked her feet and flapped her arms to do so. I think everyone got a kick out of the little minnows trying to eat our toes.

After making our way all the way down to the bottom of the river, we fought through rocks and currents to get back to the top for lunch. We found a spot on the grass and had an old fashioned picnic filled with Chicken, potatoe salad, baked beans, pudding/jell-o, and of course drinks for us all.

After lunch we took a vote of staying here or moving on to Elephant Rock and although it was fun, Elephant Rock won. So we headed over and changed into our tennis shoes in search for big rocks to climb. Again, everyone had a blast, even the girls unclinged long enough to climb all the rocks. Kalia gave us all some laughs as she through Brandi's water from the top of a rock and we watched it roll to the bottom. Oh, and the priceless look on her face as she's walking along and her diaper falls to the ground, we don't know why it suddenly fell, but it did and it was funny :) Even party pooper James loved these big rocks and tried racing "Spiderman" Dan up to the top. Dan had to be a mixture of Spiderman and a monkey! The way he ran up the rocks and used the trees to swing on to neighboring rocks we had ourselves a "SpiMonkeyman."
Unfortuneately, we had to leave before we made it all the way through the park, because of the long ride home. The kids were not ready to leave, but after about 30 minutes all but Kariana had fallen asleep (including Emilee who decided to hitch hike back with us). After a quick dinner at McDonald's, we all headed home for a restful nights sleep! We can't wait to do it again soon!

Special thanks to Brandi and her family for taking pictures and tagging along for the fun!

Happy Forth of July!

FROM THE NEMETHS!

Finals!

Last week I had finals in my Religions of the World and Child Development classes. I recieved my grades for them and I wanted to share them with all of you. I felt pretty confident about my teaching final, but a little iffy on the Religions one. For my Child Development final, I recieved a 250/250 on my final, with an overall grade of 99.5%.

I hated my Religions class! I have never been so happy to get out of a class until now, but I still maintained my A. I recieved a 240/250 on my final with an overall score of 92.95%. An A-, but still an A! That's two more A's for my collection! Yea! My next classes are Introduction to Life Science and Classroom Instruction. This is my first week, but so far so good. 36 credit hours down and 24 more to go before I can substitute teach!

Sunday-Time to go home!

It's Sunday! I finally get to go home and see my kiddos again, but first James had a few more places to stop before we left. We slept in a little this morning and after showers we packed up to get ready for check out time. After checking out about 10:00 in the morning, we headed of to Dixie Outfitters. All Dukes of Hazzard stuff and a lot come from the original Cooter's Museum in Tennessee. James LOVED it!

At Dixie Outfitters, James got a new shirt, some magnets, a bumper sticker, and some pictures with the "General Lee." If he had his way he would have bought one of everything, but he was happy with what he got, especially the chance to take pictures with and sit in the General Lee.

After Dixie Outfitters, we decided to do a little more shopping and play a little mini golf and skee ball before we headed home. As I am not a good golfer, this was definently a funny sight, but what I would have to say was funnier, was when James got it all handed to him. He made so many comments about how he has actually played golf before and how it helps to have experience. Well I couldn't have laughed any harder than when on a par 2 hole, it took him eight putts to get the ball in and it only took me four shots :) He didn't live it down the rest of the game and I no longer had to hear him talking himself up.


After the exhausting round of golf, we grabbed a quick lunch at Qizznos. I had never eaten there before and it was really good! I can't wait to get another sub soon. After that, we got in the car for the trip back home. We arrived home around six and picked the kids up around 7 ish after dropping off all the presents and getting them organized. I was so happy to see them and they were shockingly happy to see me as well. Nex up is Johnson's Shut-ins on the 28th!

Comedy Jamboree-Saturday

After we grabbed us a bite to eat at the '57 Grill, then headed on over to our 2:00 pm show at the Grand Country Music Hall. We went to see the Comedy Jamboree, which was also part of our package, so we didn't know what to expect for seats, but we had the best seats you could ask for. Front row, middle section, on the aisle. James didn't think these seats were as good as I did, seeing as how he was brought up on stage twice :) Once to win a hundred dollars and once to be shrunk. To win a hundred dollars, he was asked to eat six saltine crackers in one minute with no liquid to wash it down. He failed, but he won us two tickets to a show of our choice and some souvenirs at a $63 value. He went up on stage and was shrunk down to a miniture puppet man the second time. His arms was playing the feet and the other guy was the hands, but it looked like James tried to grab the assistants boob and it was halarious watching both her and his reactions.


This was probably my favorite of all the shows we seen on our trip. It was halarious and they had great singers. The comedians had great skits and incorporated the audience in every chance they got. Beware: If you go to this, pick seats that are further back unless you like the stage, because you will be chosen.

Because of the tickets James won, there was no rest for the wicked. After the show we went to Golden Coral (majorly packed) of which I was not to impressed. I have been to Golden Coral before, but this one did not match up in my opinion. After dinner we headed back tot he hotel for a quick change out of our sweaty clothes and then we were back on the road for the Grand Jubilee. Unfortunately, I forgot the camera, so ther are no pictures :(

This show had the America's Got Talent final 10 contestant Jason Prittchet. I voted for him so many times when he was on the show and I was excited to get to see him in person (he's hot :)). He was good, but unfortuneatly, I was not impressed with this show. They had some good acts, but for the most part it was a flop for me. James liked it, but his opinion don't matter :) Just kidding! I did get to meet Jason Prittchet during intermition and that was cool! He was so nice and I told James I was leaving him for Jason, my new man :) James said, "He won't want you, a girl that can eat to big tubs of cotton candy is to expensive for any man." I was so mad, because I forgot that I had the cotton candy in my hand that I had bought for the kids and I just realized that I did look like a pig, but it's all good. I stick with my hubby :)

After the show we were off to the hotel for bed. A hot activity filled day that lasts all day equals exhaustion at the end of the day. I did manage to convince James to give me a foot rub though :) Tomorrow we go home!

Ripley's Believe it or Not

After the Titanic we went over to tour the Ripleys Believe it or Not Museum. I was kinda iffy on this, because I thought it would be a lot of stupid stuff, but it was awesome. As many of you know, the outside of the building looks as if an earthquake had struck it, well so does the inside. It looks like the building has been busted in half all throughout the museum.

As we first walked in there was some artifacts from other country's. Stuff like odd attire commonly worn or unusual machinery they use, but as you go further through you come to a magic room. You had to guess how many squares were in a picture, try to roll your toungue in a mirror (which turns out to be a two way mirror), try to grab a gem, and guess answers to riddles. This was cool, but I was no good at it. Finally something James could beat me at :)

Then you walk into a room with a Limo and in the trunk of this car was a heart shaped jacuzzi. Also in this room was the laws of gravity bowl and the sign says, drop a coin in this bowl and see what happens. What happens? It falls, straight down the hole and into the underneath. Oops, lost a penny :)
After that came the cool stuff (to me). The had sculptures made of match sticks, camel bone, shredded money, and anything else you could imagine. There was a life size Volkswagon Beetle carved completly out of wood and a ship made out of thousands of matchsticks. It is cool to see, but it makes you wonder how much time people actually have on their hands :)

Of course they had the biggest ball of yarn, but they also had things like insect paintings (real insects that were painted), clothes that were made to fit fleas (believe it or not), and a two headed cow (fake, but based of a real one). I would have to say, it turned out to be pretty cool :)

Branson Trip- Saturday

Saturday was a busy day for us. We woke up early (around 8 am), made some coffee, took showers and got the day started. We already had tickets for Ripleys Believe it or Not, the Titanic, and the Comedy Jamboree that we new we were going to do, but that was not going to fill up the whole day, so we started off at the Hollywood Wax Museum.

When you first walk in there is a big giant King Kong and a camera. They take two pictures of you, one with you standing there smiling and the other with you screaming for your life. Each picture cost ten dollars and after seeing them, James and I opted not to get them. I looked more like I was laughing rather than screaming and we already had a pretty picture from the night before, so we carried on with our tour.

It was a self guided tour and you were allowed to step in the sets with the characters and take pictures. I would have to say it was cooler than I thought it would be and most of the characters actually looked real!

Next up came the Titanic and I had been waiting out whole trip for this! This was also a self guided tour, so we opted to get the audio players. It was really cool, but you were not allowed to take pictures inside, but we did get the ones they take for you, even though I did not like how I looked. I also snaped a few of the outside.

There are a lot of artifacts, many from the Titanics sister ships, but it's basically the same and they let you know when this is the case. As you walk in they give you a name of a passenger. I was Salena Cook and James had Wallace Hartley. I was a 22 year old second class school teacher who was married and about to surprise my husband with the news of our first child. James was a 33 year old band leader whose band played on the ship. He went down with the ship and you heard music till the last possible second from him and his band members. I survived, but my husband did not leaving me with a child that he never new about.

As you go through, there is information about you as a passenger and then towards the end you get to find out if you lived or died. I lived but sadly James went down with the ship. There is also an iceburg as you first walk in that you can touch as well as a bowl of water that is the temperature of the water the night the ship sank with a timer to see how long you could hold your hand in. James and I both lasted 3 seconds (it was COLD!). My favorite part was James and my friendly competition on who could get up the furthest on the steepest plank. They had these three planks, one was the normal ship, the second was the ship a little after it started to sink, and the third and final plank was the ship right before it finally sank. Almost upright! Of course, I won, but he did better than I had originally thought.

Legends In Concert-Friday

Friday night we went to see the Legends in Concert show, featuring The Blues Brothers, Marilyn Monroe, The Temptations, Gretchen Wilson, and a young Elvis. I wondered about it and hoped to see singers more like Alan Jackson or Shania Twain, but it turned out to be an awesome show.

The First up was Justin Clark and Art Vargas, who played the part of The Blues Brothers. This turned out to be one of my favorites for the night. They were halarious and I couldn't imagine the originals that crazy, but they were. We watched a tribute to them on TV as they sung their songs and these guys were NUTS! During intermition we talked to them for quit some time as well as the other acts and they were all really nice and stayed within character the whole time.

Up next came Stacey Whitton as Marilyn Monroe. I have never been a Marilyn fan myself, but this girl was good. She sang good and she was halarious. She pulled up some older guy and I would have bet this poor guy was going to die of a heart attack before the act was over. When he was picture on the big screen, you could see his poor lip just a trembling away and he was as stiff as a board, but to us watchers, it was halarious! This turned out to be my favorite of all the acts, mainly because of the audience participation.

Next came the Nate Grang Group who played the Temptations. They sang really good and sounded just like them, but in my opinion the act was to short. They only sand a couple of songs and then they were done.

After the Temptations came a short break where we were able to purchase some pictures that were taken before the show. I did purchase them, because I knew there would be few pics of both of us on the trip. It wasn't to badly priced, it was $20.00 for a 5x7 and 4 2x3 photos with a frame that we had autographed by each act.
After the break came Gretchen Wilson played by Stacey Whitton (played Marilyn as well). Even though I don't care much for Gretchen Wilson, I went in with an open mind. Howeve, I still did not like this act. I think she did a better job playing Marilyn Monroe, but James and I had fun making fun of the back up dancers. They were the same dancers throughout the show, but in this act they looked extremly gay and were halarious to watch.

Of course, they saved Elvis for last, which was played by Deaan Z. He was an excellent impersonator! I again am not much of an Elvis fan, but he was GREAT! He was the longest of the six acts and the older ladies in the audience went crazy. He also pulled people up from the audience, but I was unable to get very many good pics due to his constant moving. I snaped a couple though, so enjoy!

Branson Trip-Friday

On June sixth, James and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. In honor of that milestone, we decided to spend part of his yearly vacation time in Branson. It was fun, but I had a hard time leaving my kids. They were in safe hands, but I have never gotten rid of all four of them for longer than one night and the seperation anxiety showed. The kids left Thursday night and James was constantly finding stuff for us to do in order to keep my mind off them being gone.

We left for Branson around 11am on Friday and after a couple of delays from road work and a storm, we managed to arrive safe and sound around 2 pm. We had originally planned to do some mini golfing and other outdoor activities, but due to the storms rolling through, we decided to go straight to the hotel and see if it was possible for an early check in. They allowed us to check in, so we checked out our room and the complimentary basket they included with out package, we skimmed the coupon book that also came with our packaged, before getting bored and deciding to do some shopping. Well, I decided and James followed :)

The first store we came to was a video/gaming store. I rolled my eyes and proceeded to follow James in wondering how much junk we would leave with, but James actually found nothing. Instead, I bought out the store! I would have bought a lot more to if I could bgring myself to pay some of the prices :) I found some posters for my dad and James for Father's Day and a couple for my neices. They all had information such as; movies they starred in, songs they sung, their age and birthday, ect. about the actors/singers that were pictured. I got a John Wayne (dad), Dukes of Hazzard (James), Twilight (Amanda), and Hannah Montana (Emilee). After that we looked around somemore, but really didn't find to much before we had to get to our reservation at Outbacks.

I was really excited about going to one of the "original" Outbacks. We walked in and the decorations were amazing! They had authentic Austrailian artifacts and I just new that this was going to be a great meal, but boy was I wrong. I don't know if I am just used to the other Outback chains or what, but their serving sizes were small and the prices were high. It was cool that the meal was served on metal plates like you were truly in the Outback, but other than that I was disappointed. James said, "It's alright, not to bad to me." After our dinner we decided to try some Crim Brulee for dessert, seeing as neither of us have had it before. We both came to the conclusion that the dessert was the best part :)

After we were done with dinner, it was still a little early for our show, so we decided to find me some tennis shoes, being that I left mine at home on the coffee table. We checked out the local Wal-mart and the Branson Mall (connected) and picked Quentin up an emboidered dinosaur shirt and managed to snap some pictures of a baby alligator, a parrot, and a giant snake of some kind. They were setting up for a magic show and I asked James if he thought they would let me take some pictures. He replied, "yeah if you pay the $30 a ticket to get in." So Me being the person I am, decided to prove him otherwise and asked the nice lady who replied to me, "oh yeah go ahead, just don't get in their way." So not to rub it in or anything, I turned and gave a big cheese eating smile to James :)

After the mall we went on to our show. They asked us to be there 45 minutes early which I thought was insane, but we did it anyway. Once again I was right, it was insane! So we goofed around in the souvenir shop and took some pictures before going in and taking our seats. Great seats! Row 6 smack dab in the middle right next to a beautiful baby girl who couldn't get enough of me. Made me miss the kids a little, but managed to keep me entertained! As we walked in we got our pictures taken with Marilyn Monroe and Elvis, that I purchased so that I could have a few pics of the both of us. I will talk more about the show in another post! Enjoy!

Big Surf!

Today we went to Big Surf. We went after 3pm (plenty of time for us) and all the kids got in free, so it wasn't to bad on price. It was a little chilly due to some storms moving in around us, but not to bad for the most part.

The girls loved it after they played for awhile, but Zach hated it. He warmed up towards the end, but other than that he played in the baby area. In the last 30 minutes he rode down the rapids twice and played in the wave pool. Good thing he was free :)

Quentin on the other hand loved it. Go figure, my little scardy cat loved it! Me and him went on the rapids, the challenger chutes, and Zambeezi Falls. As we went over the edge of Zambeezi falls he screamed, "okay, I'm scared," as we came to a stop at the bottom he shouted, "AGAIN!" He also rode down the rapids and Zambeezi Falls with James, as well as the slides within the youth area.

We all played in the wave pool and took a ride or two on the lazy river and headed home around sixish. As we walked through the door, the tornado sirens started to sound and three out of the four kids went crazy. Quentin is deathly affraid of storms, so he kept screaming, "I don't want to die!" Kariana clung to my side at all times with her heart pounding out of her chest and her body trembling. Kierstyn was okay, as long as she was beside me or daddy. Zach was halarious! He sat downstairs in the corner eating his supper just taking it all in. I can even remember him saying, "what is everyone freakin' out about, it's just a tornado." His words not mine :) After the storms passed they went to bed so as to get ready for the trip to grandma's and our 5th anniversary trip to Branson.

Don't turn your head...

I was making supper and Kariana was standing on a chair looking out the window. As I turned my head to drain the hamburger, I looked backed to find her perched up in the window like a little monkey. Her halo was not as shiny at this point, but she looked so cute, that I had to snap a few pics.










And Then...

Of course, what one does, the other will soon follow. After Kierstyn noticed me taking pictures, she decided that she could do that too. So she had me pick her up and put her in the window and take pictures of her as well. What do I say, but that there is never a dull moment in this house :)

"I Dressed Myself!"

This is what happens when you allow your two year old to dress themselves :)



Let's see; peach shorts, pink shirt, oversized cowboy boots (Zach's), and a purple headband. Let's not forget the rockin' Backyardagains radio that she is Jammin' to :)



















Boy, is she proud though!?

Swinging Fun!

The kids really seem to love their new swingset and they can't wait till the pool is set up. They keep pointing out that their swingset is just like Aunt Brandi's, except for the picnic table and clubhouse. At first I was glad that they were able to notice the differences, but now I just wish they would stop :) I'm glad they like it and hope the enjoy the summer activities that are planned as well. I will let everyone know where we plan to go as soon as we have it set in stone :)

Outdoor Restorations!

Although not completly finished, we do have most of our outdoor restorations done. We have a patio and patio set, a new swingset, new pool, fruits and vegies growing, flowers, statues, and more. We are finally making our house look more like a home, slowly but surly :)

My Graduate!

Graduation Day!

It's graduation day, but before we graduate we have some stuff to do. The first thing we did was go to the class picnic at the park. Of course he had a blast playing on the slides, eating with his class, playing games, and blowing bubbles and he didn't want to leave at the end, but with a little persuading he left easily.

After we left the park, we came home for a much needed nap. The girls went to sleep, Zachery rested, and James and I finished the swingset. After nap the kids got up, Quentin came home from school, and they played for about an hour on their new swingset. They loved the clubhouse and picnic area. Zachery couldn't wait to eat at the picnic table, so they enjoyed some popsicles and then got ready for dinner. We made it easy tonight and went with sandwiches and chips.

After dinner we went to Zachery's Graduation. It's hard to believe he's going to kindergarten, but I made it through with no tears and all smiles. We took lots of pictures and video taped the ceremony.

Kindergarten Readiness

Zachery will be graduating from preschool on Monday, May 18th so on Wed. the school hosted a Kindergarten Readiness day for the kids that are on their way to kindergarten. The future kindergarteners get to tour the building, play on the playground, visit a kindergarten classroom, and eat lunch with the kindergarteners. Zachery was very shy (it was a little odd) but he warmed up towards the end.

We visited Mrs. Turpin's class where all the kids got to buddy up with a the current kindergartener's and play games. It just so happened that Malachi (Zach's cousin) was in this class, so Zachery had an instant buddy. The buddies listen to a story that the teacher read and showed them how to be polite. After the story, the buddies show us their favorite inside recess games and the kids played for about 15 minutes before going to lunch. Hamburgers and tator tots were on the menu and for being school foo they weren't to bad :)

After lunch we came home and Zach said, " Mom, I think I'm ready to be a big kindergartener now." I smiled and said, "yeah buddy, I think you are too."

Happy Mother's Day!

For Mother's Day I got a new patio, a patio set, and a hanging pot od petunia flowers. Zachery made me a card in school and Quentin made me a coupon book. He redeemed his help with dinner coupon and helped me cook dinner on Sunday. Overall I had a great Mother's Day and hope that you all did as well. I will show pics later. We are in the process of building a swing set and peices are all over the patio, so I will post pics of all of it later.

Spring Fling Pics!

9 days to go!

Spring Fling Preperations!

The last day of the week was spent at Spring Fling! The girls were so excited and I thought it would be good for them to get their mind off things for a couple of hours. The dance ran from 7pm-9pm, but Amanda started getting ready as soon as she walked through the door after school :)

I think she tried on everything in her closet (and moms too :) and finally settled with a pair of white Burmuda shorts with a brown flared spaghetti strapped shirt, but of course she is not allowed to wear the straps like that, so she covered up with a white button up shirt and finished it all up with a pair of moms wedge shoes and some make-up. I didn't think the white cover up went with the shirt she had (it matched color wise), but she was so proud of her outfit, so I was to. It's hard to believe she is old enough to wear make-up and heels, but she was beautiful to say the least. She did very well with her make-up making sure not to get to much and to blend it well :)

Emilee waited till about 30 minutes before she walked out the door and threw on a pair of jean Capri's with a pink shirt. She was just as beautiful and learned how to do it in less time, that is my kind of girl :)

We all headed out to the dance about 6:50pm and I dropped them off for some good ole' Spring Fling Fun!

YAC Day!

Today was YAC Day at the girls school and although I don't know much about it, from what I have gathered, the kids got to write their own stories, read them out loud, and meet many different authors. They were really excited about releasing 400+ balloons with their names, school name, where they would like to travel, and how to contact them if found into the air. The point of this was to see were their balloons would travel.

They got contacted for the first time on Friday! Some lady in Illonois (about 4 hours from school) found Sydney's balloon and called to let them know that it had landed in her front yard.

Emilee got to meet two authors (she can't remember their names:) and asked her friend to snag a picture for her mom. Amanda spent the day looking over a group of younger students with a couple of her friends. They were assigned 14 students to show around throughout the day doing various activities such as; read their books as a group, eat luch, meet authors, games and activities, and many more!

The girls seemed like they had a blast and talked about it for hours! 10 more days to go!

Happy Wednesday!

Considering that my boys get out of school early on Wed. and it was the middle of the first week at Brandi's (phew! We made it!), we celebrated with an ice cream party. My boys and James came up and we had corned beef, cheesy scalloped potatoes, and corn for suppers and topped it all off with ice cream sundaes/banana splits! We all played on the swings and trampoline and even got a little wet while playing in the rain.

The gang left at about 7 ish, in order to get baths and ready for school, but 3 came up and 5 went back. The girls wanted to go back with daddy, that was until they got home and realized that i didn't follow them (ooops!). James said the girls had a bad first night without me, but slowly got used to it and eventually became fine with it all.

Overall, we all had a blast and Amanda and Emilee enjoyed pestering James as always. 11 more days to go!

Final Grades!

Last week I had finals in my Teaching as a Profession and The American Experience Since 1945 classes. I recieved my grades for them and I would have to say they were a little shocking. I felt that my teaching final would be good and I was right. I recieved a 245/250 with an overall grade of 96.1%. Another A to add to my collection. YES!



History was a surprise, considering I hate that subject. Even that grade was not to bad. I recieved a 237/250 with an overall score of 91.9%. An A-, but still an A.



My next classes are Religions of the World and Child Developement. This is my first week, but so far so good. 30 credit hours down and 30 more to go before I can substitute teach!

Day Two at the Silvers' Residence!

Day two brought more excitment. Kierstyn and Kariana started to miss daddy and ask for him one minute after another. Manda and Emilee had some friends over after as Emilee puts it they finished their "tons" of homework. Tonight was spaghetti and meatball night and we sang "On top of Spaghetti" and Kierstyn and Kariana were cracking up.

After supper we watch the movie "Hotel for Dogs" and it was really good and funny (for a movie all about dogs:). After the movie came time to get ready for bed, but before that we had to first catch Kierstyn and Kariana in butterfly nets and have a pillow fight with Amanda and Emilee. Sorry no pics, we were all being beaten to much to take pics. Even the little

girls got in some good hits!The fun had to come to an end and everyone was in bed by 9:00p. We read night night stories (for the little ones) and books, then lights were out by 9:15p.

The little girls were giving some trouble going to bed, but they finally fell asleep by 11:00p and I went to sleep after talking to James on messenger around midnight. All in all it was a good second day. Looking forward to day three!