David Cook Rocks!!!

Yahhh David Cook!

We are David Cook fans in our house! We thought David Archuleta was great and will be successful but we thought Cook was a little better and apparently so did 12 million other people! If you didn't watch Idol check this out:



I can't wait to go to one of his concerts and buy his album!

Piggies and Paws Utah TV Spot

This spot aired on the morning news in Utah:




Very cool publicity! Sorry though - the coupon is only good in Utah.

Teacher for a Day...

At the school carnival in April, daddy secretly bid on a silent auction for Emily to be her teacher for a day. They took the top two bids and the kids got to split the day. Emily was the teacher in the morning through lunch and another girl got to teach in the afternoon.

It was very cool! Mrs. C. helped Emily come up with a lesson plan which included a story, writing lesson, SMART board lesson, and centers. She even got to have lunch duty (where she got to walk around the cafeteria while the kids ate - this is usually a no no) and she got to eat in the teacher's lounge. I know she loved being the teacher - I am sure she was especially excited because her Aunt Jessica is a 2nd grade teacher and she got to be just like her!

This is the story she read.
They made name badges for the kids that read "Miss Goodman 2nd grade teacher".
She even dressed in a long skirt just like a teacher.

Daddy's Best Bud

Daddy traveled to Oregon on business a few weeks ago and he was fortunate enough to be able to visit his friend Steve. Steve and Daddy have been friends a long, long time. Since they were 14! (do the math - that is at LEAST 30 years!) Steve moved to Oregon a little bit before we moved to Texas. Before that he lived in the Bay Area where daddy lived before he met mommy. The last time daddy saw Steve was when we visited him with Emily right before her first birthday. Steve is married also and has one daughter who is the same age as Emily.

Luke's Best Bud!

This is Luke's best buddy Lincoln. Lucas is about 6 weeks older than Lincoln. They both love seeing and *playing* with each other. I say playing but they don't actually play with each other yet but they play near each other and they like to copy each other and do what the other person is doing. Lincoln has 2 older sisters just like Lucas. Lincoln's girls are 7 and almost 5. All the kids love to play together when they can.

Aren't they just the cutest?

Oh yeah, I just noticed their logos...both universities. Lincoln is wearing his mommy & daddy's alma mater Purdue and Lucas is wearing the best shirt ever...Goodman U!

Strep Throat AGAIN!!

Last Friday (the day before Emily's birthday) Ella came down with strep throat AGAIN! She had it about a month ago. I took her to the Dr. for another round of antibiotics. He did mention possibly visiting an ENT (ear, nose, throat doctor) if she gets it again. And yes, the dreaded tonsillectomy. We shall see. Daddy had his tonsils out when he was little because he constantly had strep throat. She has had it at least 4 times in the past year. It goes around her kindergarten class like crazy and if she is within 10 feet of someone with it she will catch it!

Here is a picture of Ella and the Lukester after they got their
sugar free lollypops from Dr. Burton.

Emily's 8th Birthday

Emily celebrated her 8th birthday by bringing cupcakes to school and dance (a day early) The girls at dance did their ritual birthday circle for the birthday girl for her. On her birthday we went to Third Monday Trade Days (her choice), Daddy and Ga took her and Ella to the beach club to swim and then we went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner and a little shopping at the mall.

She looks so grown up!!

Emily's Dance Routine

Here is a portion of Emily's Fabulous routine. She starts out on the far left, then moves around a bit and ends up in the middle doing a fouette (Definition: Literally "whipped." A turning step, usually done in a series, in which the working leg whips out to the side in and then into the knee as the dancer turns on the supporting leg, rising onto the point at each revolution) basically she is the only one that spins in the middle of the stage. Her dance team had their end of the year party and she received recognition for being a Pirouette Princess.

My Crazy Kids Singing!

There is some history to this video... My girls have been performing since they could walk (especially Emily). In our last house in California we had a raised hearth in the family room, before we moved in it was dubbed the "stage". Needless to say many performances were given on that stage. In our new house in Texas we also have a raised hearth (although not quite as big) the girls have also used this for a stage several times. As soon as Lucas could climb he too was getting up on the stage singing! Now in our backyard we have a shed which has steps. One day we were out there and Lucas grabbed a sprinkler head from a bucket of old parts and he stood up there and started to sing! Do you think he is the next Elvis? Check out his moves...all he needs is his guitar! LOL

Of course the girls were not to be outdone!

Please notice how Luke pushes Ella's hand away when she gives him bunny ears. He is very good at sticking up for himself and not letting his girls bug him. If he wants them to leave him alone he waves his and and says "Go!"

Emily's New Wheels...

She is halfway to 16 and it went by way too fast. Here is her new bike she got for her birthday (a little early) It is a cool beach cruiser, of course we will have to consider it a lake cruiser, a prairie cruiser or a sidewalk cruiser since it will probably never be ridden at the beach!

Luke Swinging at the Swing Park.

Here is a cute video of Ga pushing Lucas on the swing. We were at the local tot lot AKA Swing park because it has swings. This was a few months ago before the beauty of spring hit.

I think I am caught up now!

I think I have shared everything I want to at this point. Now I am going to try to update more often and not fall behind.

To all my friends and family!

Piggies and Paws

My Piggies and Paws business has officially started and is fairly successful so far! If you come to one of my galleries this is what my display looks like. I have blurred the pictures since they are copyrighted and I am not suppose to put them on the net. If you want to see about P & P you can check out their site at www.piggiesandpaws.com or you can always get in touch with me!

Remember These?

They have had these horse rides forever! This one is at one of our favorite restaurants Hacienda Ranch. Of course, every time we go the kids must ride them. (There are 3 different sizes at the Hacienda)

School Carnival

The kids' school had a carnival a few weeks ago. Each classroom hosted a different game or activity. The kids had a blast.

Here is Ella (with Ashley & Harley) about to eat dirt for the Fear Factor game.

Cupcake eating contest

Luke's New Toy!

Lukey got a new toy...what fun!!

Our Adventure...

This is a repeat for some of you. It happened back in September. I have told some of my friends about it but you truly have to read the story to get the full effect.

We had a big adventure last night!
The girls waited all day to go bike riding. It was a beautiful day, hardly a cloud in the sky (and a little cooler - only about 90 degrees) At about 5:00 p.m. Daddy finished working and we took off. We also decided to do several errands while we were out which included dropping off dry cleaning, renting a movie, picking up a prescription, depositing a check at the bank and eating dinner. So we put our helmets on, loaded up the bike trailer and rode up to the shopping center about 1.5 miles away. First we went to the dry cleaner. After taking everything in we found out that they sent out all the garments instead of cleaning them on the premises, this made their prices very high. We decided to take all the stuff to the dry cleaner across the street. Next stop, Blockbuster, where we picked out two movies and were on our way. Next we headed to Panda Express for dinner. It turned out to be very good, everything was fresh. We took our time eating dinner. Finally we headed under the tunnels to Walgreen's and the other Dry Cleaner. Daddy and the girls headed to Walgreen's and I went (with Luke in tow) to drop the dry cleaning off. When I got to the dry cleaners they had just closed (it was 7:07 and they closed at 7) aghh! Oh well! I rode back up to Walgreen's to meet Daddy and the girls. Oh how nice...it was starting to sprinkle...sure feels good since we are hot and sweaty! Daddy went into Walgreen's to pick up the prescription and I waited outside with the kids. Hmmm - still raining and getting a little harder, no big deal, it will pass. When Daddy was done, the kids and I went inside to get ice cream. While we were eating our ice cream, Daddy went over to deposit the check. While he was making the deposit the wind started to pick up a little and there was a bit more rain...still, no big deal. When he got back, we decided to make a mad dash for home (1.5 miles away). I closed Luke's waterproof cover and we started off for home. The rain felt good. Oh no, it started to rain even more...and more...and more. This was kinda fun! Wow, thunder and lighting, ooohhh how cool - right in front of us. Dad was in front, then Emily, Ella and I pulled up the rear with Luke in the trailer. By now we were soaked and still about a mile from home. But wait, up ahead there is a church, that would be a great place to stop and wait out the storm. Thank God! :-) The church had a large covered portico, the perfect spot for us and our bikes to wait until the storm passed. We were soaked! Oh yes, we STILL had Daddy's DIRTY dry cleaning (but it was dry). We all changed into Daddy's dirty clothes. Meanwhile, I went to grab my cell phone to call my mom so she could laugh along with us. OH NO, the bottom of the "Waterproof" bike trailer had a puddle of water in it, along with my cell phone and the garage remote. I tried drying out my cell phone but it was going wacky and making a hissing sound. Oh well hopefully it will dry. At last the storm had passed - it was calm and still with only a few sprinkles. Great time to head home! The ride home was uneventful, the motorists even slowed down a bit to keep from splashing us with the water on the side of the road. Finally, we were home...now where was that garage remote? Oh yes, it got soaked in the bottom of the trailer - let's just hope it works! Shoot no luck! Well at least we can get into the garage door that is not connected to the house...good thing I put the wireless code garage remote on THAT garage. LOL Hmm, can we blow the water out of the wet remote so the it dries enough to work? After 10 minutes of that it was still not dry. Oh wait, Dad's car (which was parked outside) has a remote in it - now we can just call AAA to get into the car so we can open the garage. Let's go to the neighbor's house to call since my cell phone is WET! Wait, I have an idea, maybe we can blow the remote drywith the leaf blower...YES...it worked! Finally, over 3 hours after we left on our adventure we are dry inside the house! Of course, the rain was long gone by now! So that was our Friday night adventure!! It was fun and sure to be memorable!

Crazy Texas Weather

Okay, I must say the weather is Texas is CRAZY! It is so different from Southern California and for this born and raised So Cal girl it is taking some getting used to. I thought that the weather in California would change quickly, one day sunny and 80, the next day 50 and overcast. Well woohoo, hold onto your shorts in Texas! Since we have been here I have seen everything from 100 degree temps to temperatures in the teens! We have had severe weather which included tornado warnings, hail, thunder, lightning and some crazy wind!!! There has been snow, hail the size of golf balls and torential downpours of rain. And then, the next day it is sunny, beautiful and in the 80's. Heck, it doesn't have to be the next day...it could be only a few hours later!

This is a picture of the sky as a *severe thunderstorm* was approaching. They clouds were very awesome!

Emily's Competition

Once again, Emily is on a dance team. This team is not quite as much work (at least for me) as the one she was on in California. (Only 2-3 competitions instead of 5-6 plus only 3-4 hours at the studio instead of 9+) Although we do miss ATD! She is loving dance just the same. She even has a renewed passion for ballet and loves the recital dance that they are doing. She went through a *phase* where she didn't want to do ballet - she really doesn't like the bars - only the floor work. This year, her team did a very cute routine to the song "Fabulous" from High School Musical. Emily had a mini solo part where she did some sort of turn. (I am not really hip to all the proper french dance terms...at least I think they are french) She really has a knack for turning and can go around sometimes 3 times. If she practiced on a more regular basis she would be able to do more. Here is her picture from the first competition

They did fabulous (no pun intended). They received the "Top First" award and they placed 6th overall in their age group (9 and under).

Gee...do you think he likes the swing?

We were at Harley's birthday party in March and Daddy put Lucas on the swing for the first time - he LOVED it!

Since he was swinging like a big boy Daddy couldn't leave him alone on the swing. This is what happened when he took him off...

He is too cute, even when he cries!

Dallas Zoo

A few weeks ago we went to the Dallas Zoo for Ella's kindergarten field trip. I went along as a chaperone and since I wasn't sure when we would be back I took Emily with us. We had a nice time although the zoo is considerably smaller than the San Diego Zoo or Wild Animal Park. Believe it or not it still had plenty of hills to push the stroller up even though we are in flat Texas. We saw all the animals, Ella loved the cheetahs. It was a very humid day and quite warm for April. Lucas enjoyed walking around with the big kids, trying to keep up. He was so exhausted that he fell asleep in his stroller (which is rare these days) and he sleep most of the way home! We are going camping in a few weeks and we are going to visit the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center which is southwest of Dallas. http://www.fossilrim.org/visiting/index.php It looks really cool - you get to drive your car through the center and see the animals - just like a real safari.

Harley, Ella, Madison, Ashley & Emily

Madison, Ella, Emily, Harley, Ashley & Lucas

I thought this funny!

There was a farmer, Perley Moore, who had recently bought a truck and found that the "basic price" was only the beginning. Once the salesman had added on all the extras—towing package, toolbox, fifth-wheeler attachment, etc. —the price was quite a bit higher. Well, by a strange turn of fate, that same salesman stopped by Perley's farm one day to buy a cow. The dealer examined the herd, picked out a likely specimen, and asked about the price. "That's a hundred-dollar cow," Moore replied directly. "That's fair enough," said the salesman. "I'll take her."

"Well, now, that's the basic price," Moore added, getting out pencil and paper. "There are one or two extras, of course." He made a few notes and handed the paper to the dealer. Here is the final invoice:
Basic cow $100
Two-tone exterior $45
Storage compartment anddispensing device $60
Four spigots @ $10 each $40
Genuine cowhide upholstery $75
Dual horns @ $7.50 each $15
Automatic fly-swatter $35

Total $370


AIN'T THIS THE TRUTH!!!

American Girl & Kylie's Surprise

Our dear friend Kylie from California came for a visit! It was the weekend before Kylie's birthday so we went to the American Girl Bistro to celebrate! This was a total surprise for the girls. We had them answer the door when Kylie and her Nana came. You could not lift Emily's jaw off the floor for a few minutes and all Ella could do was run up and hug her! Boy do they miss their friends in California. Sometimes they ask of we could move back to California and I try to explain to them that they would then miss their Texas friends. We have only been here a short time but we have managed to make a few good friends.

We had a wonderful (but too short) visit with Kylie and her Nana...we missed her mom though :-( We are hoping they can come again and bring her!

Nana & Kylie

Silly bathroom pictures! In the bathrooms at the boutique - they had these cool doll holders so that your pricey (oops, I mean precious) little doll didn't have to sit on the icky bathroom floor. (but the floor didn't appear to be icky)

Random Stuff!!

Here are some random pictures that I have neglected to post the past few months! I have been so busy with Piggies and Paws and my world has been speeding by. I am really going to try harder to post regularly

Sleepover with the Bower Girls -pizza, movie, fun and matching jammies! Oh yeah and don't forget that their mom & dad missed them so much that they were over to pick them up at 6:30 in the morning! Ha ha - just kidding...we had some wild weather at about 6:00 which included golf ball sized hail. The Bower parents woke up at their home to a power outage so they came over at 6:30 in their jammies - once again we had breakfast, hung out in our jammies and played Wii all day.

MY VERY FIRST SHOWER!!

Fun with Mr. Potato Head Glasses...I am sure everyone who owns a potato head has done this!

STAR OF THE WEEK!

Ella was lucky enough to be chosen for star of the week - the week of her birthday.

Easter Eggstravaganza at Stonebridge Ranch Beach Club...

Not so sure about you Mr. Bunny!!

Kindergarten Egg Hunt...Yes, Luke got to join in the fun!

Ashley & Ella

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