FALL BREAK - Tuesday!

This morning, Luke and Max got CREATIVE and made their own checker board!

We then sat down and learned how to play all together (I had to refresh myself on how to play!)

After the gym - we then headed to Granna and Grandpa's for some LUNCH, SWIMMING and FUN!

Here's Sam enjoying his macaroni and cheese and hot dogs!
Max enjoyed 2 hot dogs!
Monsouir Max was our server....
Luke likes his hot dog PLAIN

It's so much fun swimming at Granna and Grandpa's!

Sam loves hanging out on the step wading in the water
Grandpa got all the little figurines and a boat and Sam had so much fun putting them all in the boat and floating them aroundThanks for a fun afternoon Granna and Grandpa!

I have rehearsals and performance every night this week! Max and Rich had basketball practice tonight - so Grandpa took Sam and Luke out to dinner to Peter Piper Pizza while they (and I) were at practice - WOW, thanks Grandpa!

FALL BREAK - Monday!

Max and Luke are on FALL BREAK for 2 weeks! Today we had to make a trip to the mall - one of our favorite places to go! Max has broken yet another pair of glasses, not really his fault, they were really cheap glasses.........this is #3 in 1 year :) - we tried cheep Costco glasses the last 2.....and are back to the good, sturdy Lens Crafters ones!

Here he is getting measured

A good fit!
We always go and visit the puppies!
And ended our time with mommy's birthday gift card from Dairy Queen!
YUM

Daniel's first band concert!

Our favorite 5th grade trumpeter had his first band concert tonight! We were all there in the FRONT ROW (just what he asked for!) to cheer him on! It was the students' "Debut Performance"! The students displayed what they have been learning the first 6 weeks of band - they did their warm-ups, scales, and played a few songs for us - it was precious!

Do you see him peeking at me?

There he is getting ready between the 2 flutes!
There they all are!
Congratulations, Daniel - we are proud of you!

And here they are.......the Gilbert Elementary Band with

"Frog in the Meadow"

Daniel's Carnival Birthday Party!

Well, I didn't think the Bragelman's could top Julia's "Tea Party" 2 years ago, but they did! This Carnival party was AWESOME!!!! The kids had such a great time playing carnvial games, eating carnival food, and, of course, cashing in their tickets for carnival prizes!!!!!

They are ready.....

Kyle did great on the ring toss!Sam had a great time on the pool challenge!
Look at those good looking "Carnies" workin' the concession stand!
Sam did great on the Basket Toss!

Tattoo time!

My little party dude :)
Luke loved the Ping Pong Toss
Max was great on Pool Challenge
Lollipop Pull Game

Check out the Carnival.....

Luke redeeming his tickets for some yummy pizza from Carnival Worker Grandpa
There's the birthday boy ready to blow out his candles....
Yeah! Daniel's 10 years old!
Redeeming their tickets for AWESOME prizes - huge water guns, desk lamps, hula hoops, grab bags, candy...........pretty nice "goody bags", huh?!
What a fun weekend!!!!!

Max and Luke had awesome games that morning! Max's basketball team won and played awesome and Luke's soccer team played hard and really enjoyed themselves - but not as much as we enjoyed watching them :)

It's SO WONDERFUL having Granna and Grandpa back and sharing all this excitement and FUN with them!

Multi-Cultural Day at Bright Beginnings!

Today was Multi-Cultural Day at Max and Luke's school. What a fun filled day! Rich went in the morning to help Luke's class visit each "country" and Sam and I went in the afternoon to see all the demonstrations, sample food from all the countries, and see the big school wide presentation at the end of the day!

This is Max's class's Australia demonstration -see Grandpa's hat and Granna's boots?

It was fun to see Luke (notice he is dressed in his Germany colors!). We listened to an author talk about her book.
As Sam and I were walking around, we saw a bagpiper practicing behind the school - we got a "mini concert"!
Here's the whole school!!!
There's my Lukie in the front row! Max was about 20 rows back :)

Two special boys were chosen to raise the flag......

Then the whole school said the Pledge of Allegience....

Then, the new music teacher, Mr. Pop, led the whole school in "America the Beautiful" :)

America the Beautiful!

Friday is Multi-Cultural Day at Max and Luke's school. Each class will represent a country - all the kids will get a passport and get "stamped" as they visit each "country" where they will sample food and learn different facts about the country. Max's class is presenting Australia, and Luke's class is presenting Germany. They learned "America the Beautiful" in music class, and performed it for me tonight. Max's class learned a different ending than Luke's class did..........so, as always, Luke went along with Max's ending :)

Daniel is 10 years old today!!!!

Happy Birthday, Daniel!

Daniel is 10 years old today.........WOW! Two whole hands!

Daniel is my sweet, SILLY, fun, friendly, SMART, and all around AWESOME nephew AND Godson. I'll NEVER forget the day he was born - I was a newlywed living in Minnesota when I got the call - I couldn't believe my sister had had a BABY - then to learn it was my sweet Daniel Allen was so wonderful, I hopped on a plane the next day to meet this precious little boy. And precious he was indeed!

This baby was SO precious that Rich and I moved out to Arizona that next month! We couldn't stand it any longer - so, thank you to Daniel for moving us out here (and the rest of the family!!!)

Here's 3 year old Daniel playing his first sport, T-Ball

Here's 2 year old Daniel
Daniel will be having a CARNIVAL birthday party next Saturday afternoon!

Woo Hoo!

Super Sunday Afternoon at Papa and Grandma's

We had a fun afternoon at Richard and Joan's! We had some yummy tacos and had fun hanging out and being together. Sweet baby Calissa is growing so fast and now SMILING! We enjoyed a very tast lunch and dessert, then Papa took all the grandkids on a fun golf cart ride. It's always so much fun to all be together - what a blessing to have family here :)

Calissa smiling at Papa and Grandma

All the kiddos and G-ma at the cool kid table!
Papa and Sam hanging out
Relaxin' in the hammock......
The kids all piled on and had a ball!

Go Cougars!!!

Today was Max's first basketball game of the season! And Rich's first game as COACH! It was GREAT! Max blew me away with his hustle, GREAT defense, awesome offense, AND he scored the first basket of the season - and his first ever! It was a moment to remember, for sure! And Coach Rich was so great - such a fun, positive, and encouraging coach :)

Max did so great as point guard!

Lining up and getting ready
Go Max!
Coach Rich pumping up the Cougars!!!!
Thumbs up for a GREAT game!