Our Sunday Summer Tradition Started Today!!!

We started our Sunday Summer Tradition today of Souper Salad and serving in Sunday School! Every summer we serve in Children's Ministries teaching Sunday School. We also eat lunch at our favorite restaurant, Souper Salad on Sundays! What makes THIS summer EXTRA special, is that we get to ALL teach in SAM'S Sunday School class! We are teaching 19- 36 month olds at the 4:00 service - a very WIDE range of ages of toddlers! We learned very quickly that a sit down "lesson" wasn't really going to work - so we are just working on the children grasping that GOD MADE EVERYTHING! If they can say that by the end of the summer, we will have succeeded! The children were PRECIOUS, and we had so much fun with them (it was like herding cats most of the time!).

Sam just LOVED having mommy and daddy as his teachers; and Max and Luke as his helpers. It was really fun to meet the other teachers helping us out, and all the kiddos we get to teach!!

It's going to be a GREAT summer!

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Welcome to the world, Ty Thomas!

My cousin, Tricia had a baby boy yesterday!

Ty William Thomas

May 28, 2009
8 lbs. 10 oz.
20.75 inches long
2:20 pm
Congratulations to Tricia, B.J. and big sister, Audrey!

Last Day of School!

SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER!!!

Yippee! Last day of Kindergarten and 3rd grade! The boys got to break the school dress code today and wear sleeveless shirts and flip flops...very exciting! It was an early release day (11:30). We did our Friday tradition of a trip to Sonic for our favorite drinks! We then took Max to a swim party! I scrounged up all the quarters I could find, and found old tickets we had kept, and took Luke and Sam to Peter Piper Pizza for some fun!

I can't believe I have a 4th grader and a 1st grader!

FUN DAY!

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Flashback Friday!

First day of Kindergarten and 3rd grade...

Last day of Kindergarten and 3rd grade...

Rich's FUN birthday day...

Free lunch at Joe's BBQ on your birthday!

The Bragelman's threw a GREAT birthday party for Uncle Rich!

Everyone LOVES Uncle Rich...
Thank you SO much, Lynn for the delicious dinner (fettuccine alfredo) AND she made his FAVORITE cake, German Chocolate!

Sweet Baby Katelyn!

She's finally here!

The sweet baby girl my dear friend, Lynn has always wanted arrived on Tuesday...

Katelyn Elizabeth

7 lbs 7 oz

20 inches long

May 26, 2009

8:11 AM

Look at beautiful mommy with her new baby girl!

Sweet Katelyn!
Lynn has 2 boys, Hunter (9) and Grayson (5); both boys are good friends of Max and Luke. We are going to miss the Cornwell family as they are moving to Florida on June 30!!! We sure do love them and pray for many more wonderful blessings ahead!

Happy Birthday to my Richie...

You are my Richie, I love you so much...

You are my funny husband always telling jokes and such!

You want what's best for me and the boys...

With you in my life...I have many, many JOYS!

You love Jesus, and that shows to all...

You guide us daily, and cause us not to fall!

You are a great daddy, the boys love you to pieces...

Watching you interact with them...my love for you increases!

You love crazy, unpredictable me; and that says a lot...

Thank you for blessing my life, Rich...what a "catch" I've "caught"!

I love you, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

What a wonderful FAN BASE we have!

It is SO wonderful to have our family right here together in Arizona for days like today...

My precious niece, Kirsten had a ballet recital today. We were ALL in attendance for it to watch our sweet ballerina shine! She was WONDERFUL! We then all hopped in our cars for the next event...Max's baseball game! The Rasmussens and Papa and Grandma joined us for that, AND we were greeted with a whole new set of relatives to cheer Max on (Granna, Grandpa and the Bragelmans). What a BLESSING it is to have everyone here so we can all enjoy pleasures like today...

Here's sweet Ballerina Kirsten

Such a sweet girl...

Aunt Annie thinks she was hands down the best one in the class...
So proud of you, Kirsten!

We love you! Congratulations!

Onto Max's game! David and Luke had a great time!

Luke's school friend, Maddie was there (her brother played on the opposing team!)!

We love you, Max! Way to go!

Max and his "sports glasses" buddy, Kaden...

What a wonderful FAN BASE we have!

Happy Memorial Day and Happy Birthday, Rich!

Happy Memorial Day! We celebrated at Granna and Grandpa's house with Joan, Richard, and the Rasmussens! The Bragelmans are having fun at a resort in town (we missed them!). Granna told everyone to wear their red, white and blue and then we were given a SURPRISE! Everyone got a nice little gift for wearing their colors! The kids had such a great time swimming and we all had fun hanging out! Richie's birthday is on Wednesday, so we celebrated with a DELICIOUS cake made by Joan (Rich's favorite, German Chocolate!) FUN DAY...

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Our fun day at the ZOO...

We had a fabulous and FREE (thank you to my friend, Tia for the passes!) day at the ZOO.

We did it ALL! The best part about it was experiencing Sam's excitement the entire day...

This was his first time at the zoo, and he LOVED it!

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Mother's and Father's Day Tea...

Rich and I had a DELIGHTFUL time at the Mother's and Father's Day Tea in Max's class today! The students recited poetry, sang a song, presented us with cards and gifts, and served us with cookies and tea! FUNNY STORY...Each student wrote an acrostic poem, and 5 of the students were chosen to recite it. At the end of the program, the students presented us with the poems. I sat and read the 2 poems (one for me and one for Rich). I bursted out into laughter after reading the one for Rich. Read below and see why he maybe wasn't one of the 5 chosen to read his...

This is my poem for "Mother"

This is Rich's poem for "My Father"
See the letter "E" in "My Father"? "Even though you are mad sometimes I LOVE YOU!" Seriously...he couldn't think of anything better than that?! We had a good laugh!

Check out the students reciting a poem about Mothers, and singing a song for the Dads...

Surprise Dinner at the Verdugo's!

Rick and Laurie told us to save the date on May 22 for a "surprise" at their house. We arrived to a beautiful "surprise" thank you dinner for all that helped with their kids while they went to Boston for Rick's 40th birthday. Laurie has such a GIFT. Everything was top notch and we really enjoyed ourselves. It was OUR PLEASURE to watch Josh and we're SO GLAD they had a much needed trip away!

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Flashback Friday...

American Idol Party 2006...

American Idol Party 2009...

American Idol Finale...

We had an awesome time at our American Idol Season Finale Party...

What wonderful performances by ALL!

The performance of the night had to go to KISS and Adam...they were fun to watch.

And hey, KRIS WON! What a huge and terrific surprise! YEAH!

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CHECK OUT OUR REACTIONS WHEN THE WINNER WAS ANNOUNCED!!!

Luke's Final Field Trip!

Luke and I had a GREAT time at Aspire Gymnastics Center today for his

final Kindergarten field trip...

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Idol Chat...

Kris is the better artist, and Adam is the better performer! This is a really tough one! The last song was HORRIBLE...both guys were not good on it, and I did not like that to end it all on that song.
I honestly will be happy with either winning. My vote is for Kris, though. He is my sweet Southern boy from Arkansas, so I pretty much have to. They are both so awesome...

My party starts at 7:00 - come on over and bring a snack to share! We will start watching at 7:30 (thanks to TIVO, we will fast forward through some commercials).

A Salute to Rodgers and Hammerstein!

What an amazing experience! We had so much fun this weekend performing selections from Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals! 16 of us were selected from the chorus to perform in this concert. What an honor! We had such a GREAT time together on stage (and off stage!)...
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Flashback Friday...

This is Luke 4 years ago today...

Rich's friend, Levi always says how much Luke looks like the pro golfer, John Daly.

So we had to see for ourselves...

Check out the resemblance to pro golfer, John Daly...

Team S.O.S.....Mission II

Team S.O.S. Mission II!!!

We all supported our friend, Shannon by competing with her in the Tri for the Cure last month...and now we are back supporting her at her first chemo treatment!

We surprised her this morning in the front of the treatment center to "cheer her on" as she walked in for her first treatment. We want her to know that she is not alone in this!

When Shannon arrived she was very touched that we were all there!

We love you, Shannon!

Team S.O.S.!!!

Bye, Danny....

SNIFF SNIFF.......I am SO sad to see Danny go....He was my guy from the start! I remember the first time Rich and I saw him, we both looked at each other and said, "That guy is gonna win it." His "swan song" last night was the best he's EVER performed. I cried! He did SO AWESOME. What a GREAT artist he is, and I KNOW he will be just FINE. Congratulations, Danny...you are going to be BIG TIME!!!!

Idol Chat...

I’m done with Adam’s screaming…

Danny – I like his dancing…. A LOT! I think he just feels it and just goes for it! I think he did well on the 1st song and UNBELIEVABLE on the 2nd song. He was SO good singing “You Are So Beautiful” – so raw with emotion and just sang the heck out of it!

Kris – I LOVED him tonight! I absolutely LOVED him singing BOTH songs. He is SO talented. Sitting at the piano just singing that 1st song PERFECTLY I thought. The 2nd song was my FAVORITE of the night…that was SO brave of him to just stand up there with a guitar and do that. He could win this thing! And after tonight, I would like to see that!

Adam – OK…….I really don’t know what all the fuss is about. Yes, he is really creative and a performer. Just too much screaming. He totally ruined the U2 song by doing that at the end. He needed to do at least ONE song without screaming I thought. And yes, he sounded exactly like Aerosmith on the 2nd song…and if that’s what he is, I guess that was good.

I really think Adam may be going home, and I think that is why the judges were falling over themselves complimenting him.

Happy Mommy's Day!

What a fun Mother's Day today! I was greeted with breakfast in bed from my boys (including Josh who is staying with us, he came holding an ice pack for my foot!)...Max gave me roses, Luke gave me recipe book, and Rich gave me a People magazine and reeses peanut butter cups! What nice surprises!

We then had the Bragelmans and Mom and Dad over for lunch!

I made a Strawberry Cake that was a HIT with the kiddos...

The Bragelman kids gave each of us moms a Hawaiian leis...
The kids all sang "Happy Mother's Day to you..."
Then mom, Lynn and I went to get our nails done...got a gift from Victoria Secret...and had appetizers at The Cheesecake Factory....THANKS, MOM!
What a fun Mommy's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

We love you Mom (Anne!). You are a great mommy! What would we do without you?!
You are a Godly, loving, caring, homework helping, dinner making, lunch making, chauffeur driving, and homemaker supreme!
We love you...you are everything to us!
Love,
Max, Luke, Sam, and Daddy

Fun with Josh!

Our good friends, Rick and Laurie are in BOSTON attending a RED SOX game (Rick's surprise gift from Laurie for his 40th birthday!), and we get the privlege of having Josh spend the weekend with us! We had so much fun playing the Wii, sports in the backyard, swimming, and just hanging out! Josh is such a sweet, fun, silly, nice friend, and we loved having him stay with us!
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Kindergarten Graduation!

Congratulations to Luke! Today was his Graduation Ceremony from Kindergarten! Each student stood up and told what their favorite part of Kindergarten was (Luke's was ART), then Mrs. Thomas recited the students' favorite poem, and each was presented with a "diploma"! The students gave each parent an apple reminding us that "parents are teachers, too". Then we were presented with all the WONDERFUL work Luke did throughout the year, including an awesome scrapbook capturing EVERY event they did, and a handwriting book showing his TREMENDOUS progress througout the year. Today was Mrs. Thomas' last day, because she is due to have a baby TOMORROW! We are going to miss her the last two weeks of school, but the students will be in wonderful care with their substitute, Mrs. Gillhouse! Mrs. Thomas was the perfect 1st teacher for my Luke, she was everything that Galations 5:22 exemplifies....love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.
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Flashback Friday...

Ewwww...look at Rich's ankle when he sprained it 2 years ago. Yes, it was really that swollen.

Thanks to this terrible basketball injury, we already had a good ace bandage and crutches for me to use after my lovely sprain!

Sweet Calissa...

Sam and I had a special time with sweet Calissa today...

Lynnette took the girls on a field trip to see the musical "The Music Man", and we got to play with Calissa! We had so much fun playing "patty cake", eating snacks, waving bye bye, playing ball, building towers, and smelling their "stinky feet" (her's smelled like roses, actually) and giggling!

So long, Allison!

What an amazing ride for such a young girl! 16 years old!!!!! She really was amazing to watch. She is an old soul, and it seems like she has been doing this for years. She is going to have an amazing career, I can't wait to see what she does next!

What a Wednesday!

I had the privilege of attending my nephew, Daniel's, band concert this morning at his school. Daddy took Max and Luke to school, then he and Sam took Grandma Joan to the airport for her trip to Kansas City. So, I was able to enjoy the concert by myself with Granna and Grandpa! We then visited Lynn and Julia, Lynn is substituting for Julia's teacher this week! When that was all over, we met Rich and Sam in the parking lot, so Rich could get to work!

Here's proud Granna and Grandpa with Daniel the trumpeter...

Grandpa decided he wanted to get some coffee in downtown Gilbert after the concert, and we saw this line in front of Joe's Real BarbQue Restaurant!

After questioning what this was all about....we found out Joe's was giving away FREE lunch to everyone! So....we hopped in line!
What a yummy meal! A pork sandwich, two sides, and a drink!

What a fun morning with Granna and Grandpa!

Idol Chat...

Adam – well, I knew he was going to do something like that. The thing is that he is a really good actor, so he can “act” any kind of genre. I think it was a bit over the top, actually. But, he sure was SPOT on vocally.

Allison – this is her thing! I agree with Randy that the song didn’t give her much to really “sing”, but I still think she rocked it out!

Kris – I think he was the best one of the night! I totally disagree with the judges! He adapted so great to this genre and did awesome!

Danny – Ahhhh Danny, he really screwed it up on the last note. Everything else was great, but that song is all about the last note (scream) and he didn’t hit it.

Loved the duets, and yes, Adam and Allison outdid the other two by a LONG SHOT!

Bottom three – Adam, Allison and Danny
Going Home – Allison

The Verdict Is In...

A bad sprain and tendinitis. I met with the Podiatrist today, and we looked at and discussed my lovely x-rays. He also taught me a lot about the foot (tendons, ligaments and such), and it was quite interesting! So...I am to "baby" it for at least 3 weeks, doing "contrast baths" twice a day (alternating hot and cold for 5 minutes each for 25 minutes). I am also instructed to continue to pump the Ibuprophen. But, the best part is this lovely accessory I get to wear wherever I go....

UGH.

My foot

THE CULPRIT...

MY FOOT...
I wish I could say I was rescuing a kitten from a tree, or saving one of the boys from being hit by a car......BUT I was walking down the driveway to get the groceries out of the van, and stumbled to the ground (quite gracefully I might add....too bad nobody saw it!). The top of my foot on the left side is REALLY hurting. I went to the Dr. on FRIDAY, and he sent me to get x-rays and I'm still waiting to hear the results....It's been a long weekend.