the show me state

we're off.

brad & i are looking forward to time with our yc friends in buffalo, missouri. we're anxious to play a few (ok, brad will probably play at least a hundred) holes at dream valley golf course, where brennon & twyla live.

the kids are staying with friends (3 different families) & are also excited. we know they will have a great time, as will we.

i woke up this morning at 4 am thinking i forgot to write a note to their teachers about where they are going after school today. i couldn't for the life of me shut my mind off, so here i am at 5:34 am showered & nearly ready to go. what in the world?! i guess i'm excited to leave.

can't wait to see you friends!

races

hat over heart for the national anthem

checking the numbers on his bracelet during the raffles

yeah! claiming the prize & speaking in front of the crowd.
rest time. he eventually fell asleep.

last night the boys, brad, pete & i went to the stock car races. what a great time. many thanks to paulette for watching the girls (they say it's too loud for them...).

there are 3 imperial drivers that makes it fun to watch. one of them, shawn, works at lamar fertilizer, so that makes it even more fun. he did well finishing 3rd overall last night. they also announced that my cousin kyle was 2nd in the nation in points for hobby stock cars. we wished he would have been there last night to watch.

they had a bunch of kids' raffles & hunter won a cool new bike! the bussell racing team was kind enough to haul it to imperial for us in their semi. thanks guys!

spectacles

kamrie got new spectacles today. she looks adorable in them. she is very farsighted and having problems with her eyes tracking the same. she is supposed to wear them all the time (not just for reading) & will be checked again in 3 months.

1st Day of School

Quiet.

That's what it is here since 3/5 are at school.

Hunter-5th grade (could he really be that old already)
Parker-2nd grade
Kamrie-Kindergarten

They were ready to go this morning, all of them set their alarms to get themselves up.

I didn't see any tears this morning by students or their mothers. I did see one boy walking around with his teddy bear. It was adorable. Brad left a message for me that said, "Did you cry? Or did you jump up & down for joy?"

Let's just say that we were all ready for school to start. I love them all & we had a great summer, but it's going to be good to get into a routine. I could cry over having to set my alarm, however.

Kamrie has a surprise for everyone. We'll take a picture of her after school so you can see...

fascinated

we're not sure why he's fascinated with the name ogallala, but he repeats it over & over, concentrating on the l's.

xray

look at cooper's cute little xray picture. the black shadows around the bone above the elbow indicate a fracture.

2nd chances

Yesterday's life journal entry:

Jeremiah 18:3-4
So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

It's so cool how God can use the same lump of clay that was marred and shape it into something beautiful and useful. We, as people, can be marred by circumstances from our past. But God can re-shape us if we surrender. Shape us into what seems best to Him.

fun at the fair

face painting

parker had his face painted last night. check it out!

you should have seen his pillow case this morning...his face looked pretty good but i think the pillow case will have to be trashed.

it scared cooper this morning. it was pretty funny. then cooper & chloe drew whiskers & spots on their faces tonight & were walking around saying "ROAR!"

spiderman vs. elmo

cooper must be growing up. he declared tonight that he no longer likes his elmo backpack & wants a spiderman one.