Danielle and Riley decorating the tree and getting ready for Santa. We kept warning them that all they ere getting from Santa was coal but that didn't believe us. there is something about the innocense of children believing in Santa. i know next year they may not belive so I am going to capture as much as I can now.

Sorry can't turn this around

December 15, 2007

I came across an email my broker sent me and had no idea how much later , it would touch the lives of my family and the co workers of Brian's work who came to help as well. Brian had the opportunity to help out the veterans of Alton National Cemetery in putting wreaths across every veterans graves. Brian and his co workers had the honor of doing the civil war era. As a bystander it was really touching to see Veterans from all walks of lives and eras to participate. I had the opportunity to talk to a WWII Veteran. Dad was there to witness this as well. He was a Vietnam War Veteran. Brian was there he was a Gulf War Veteran. Riley was dressed in his cub scout uniform to help out as well. Danielle was also there to help as well. To see these children as I do every day loud and obnoxious but at that moment there were very respectful and solemn. It was a great experience and one we will do again every year after.

December 6, 2007

Danielle & Riley on Santa's lap. Brian going down the 3 story slide

Scout trip

Riley took a trip to the local fire department and of course Danielle had to go too. The scouts learned all about firefighting. and stop, drop, and roll!

Let me clarify Brian's first attempt of doing a post. For Halloween I was in charge of handing out candy I too dressed as a vampire and sat in a chair in the front of the house. We had a huge fake spider with the air compressor hooked up to it so that I could press on the button anytime someone walked by. I didn't scare the kids too much but the adults were just hilarious. It was crazy seeing all these golf cart lights down the street. Luckily we had enough candy.

Halloween

Happy Halloween everybody. Here we are, ready to go out and scare the neighborhood. I have never seen so many trick or treaters before. Their parents were following them around in golf carts. Some kids arrived on a tractor train, it was crazy. The kids had a blast running around with all their neighborhood friends. JJ scared a lady so bad she almost had an accident if you know what I mean.

Going back to Cali!

We had the opportunity to make sure Mike and Barb got married. It was great a short and sweet ceremony. My kind of wedding! A few of us supported the bride by sitting on her side but that was just to make sure the boat didn't tip over by soo many of the smith family relatives. The cruise around the bay was great. Perfect timing1 I thought Mike had planned the wedding around fleet week but it was Mike and barb's anniversary of when they met. the cruise was great. Danielle, Riley and Alex had the chance to steer the boat for awhile. they had fun. It was so great to be back in California I had forgotten how beautiful it is. Riley and Danielle got the chance to see their cousins again. We met up with the buyers of our old house and it was a little weird to see not much as changed. Still a beautiful house. We have forgotten how much of our hearts and souls we put into decorating the house and grateful the new buyers appreciated it too. It was very hard for me to get on the plane and go back to Illinois. I am still in a depression but at least now I have California good wine to console me!

cubscouts

Brian and Riley had their first outing for cub scouts. Brian took a neighborhood friend and his grandpa who has never camped in his life. Riley had a blast. Brian was too busy setting up camping, cooking the meals, and gathering firewood to see Riley have fun. We are realising this cub scout pack is not as organized as we thought. All and all it will be great for Riley. He keeps asking every day when is his meeting.

First day of School

I know I keep saying I am going to be organised but I am just ahead of my New Year's resolution. Next year I will get started. anyway here are some pictures of the kids second day at the bus stop. the first day we missed the bus. we got the times wrong. As you can see we have a lot of kids waiting for the bus. Our subdivision uses two buses because there are so many kids. Having the bus is very convenient for Mommy and Daddy. We don't have to drive them.

Kid's Birthday

After Just moving into the house on July 10Th we had to prepare for the kid;s birthday on the 28Th. Frantically unpacking, putting away and painting rooms we managed to accomplish a fairly decent party. Believe it or not I did not go all out for this one. We did the sports them with Danielle has the cheerleader. we had hot dogs, hamburgers, cracker jacks because the smell of popcorn would not have made a fun party for me. We had all the neighborhood kids and friends of ours who moved year earlier. We thought of all these games to do with the kids but didn't get to do them. who knew the main attraction of the party was going to be our koi pond. I would have saved a little money and just had a koi theme. i twas great seeing all the kids eat there meal at the bridge. My mom and Dad came to visit and help with the party. they didn't think I would have a big party for the kids. Silly Mom and Dad. Our kids are 6 now but still wear 3 t clothes.Hard to believe they are growing up!

cheerleading

Well I finally got Brian to download pictures from the camera so I can start on this blog. Here is a video of Danielle doing cheerleading camp when we were in Altus. It is so cute. She really enjoys cheerleading.