Carter's Holiday Dance Show

Carter did a great job dancing her hip hop routine today at her holiday show today. She loves to dance and she has the cutest smile dancing on stage. We are so proud of you, Carter!! Check out the video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpSL0AByJ0k

Thanksgiving Day Parade

The night before Thanksgiving, we stayed in downtown Detroit. We stayed at the Marriott Renaissance Center on the 51st floor. We had an awesome view of the Detroit River and across the river to see Windsor, Canada. We went ice skating at an outdoor rink downtown Wednesday night. It was the first time Carter, Jax and I had ever ice skated. It was so much fun and beautifully decorated for Christmas, but I didn't get any pictures of it, because I was afraid that I would fall and break my camera on the ice. I could've kicked myself for not bringing my camera! Thursday morning, it was cold but we had a blast at the parade! When we were checking out of our hotel after the parade, the kids and I sat and had a great conversation with a family from Chicago. It wasn't until 2 girls came up to ask to take a picture with the man we were talking to that we realized he was famous and with the band called Day26. I asked his wife/girlfriend and she told me who he was. I didn't want to ask for a picture since I didn't even know who he was :), but, we still thought it was cool to have met them. When we got home, we were able to enjoy a nice meal with our neighbors and their family. It's not the same as celebrating with our own family, but I pray that someday, we will live close enough to come home for every holiday! Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=12y6tnsm.24asl992&x=0&h=1&y=smyfg6&localeid=en_US

Cool Cars

Travis took Jaxson to our friend Joe's shop where he does custom work on cars. I'm not sure who had more fun, Daddy or Jax, but they both came home with big smiles and a lot of stories. They took some pictures of some pretty cool cars. Check them out.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=12y6tnsm.bw89stgm&x=0&h=1&y=-4xdnfk&localeid=en_US

Happy Halloween!

We had a great pumpkin-ny time celebrating Halloween. We started by visiting Long's Orchard. We picked out a few pumpkins, hit the corn maze, ate warm donuts (yummy), drank a little cider and enjoyed a beautiful fall day. Carter was a Candy Corn Witch this year. We had fun decorating her broom with ribbons and bows to make it look like one a candy corn witch would have :) Jaxson decided that he would just wear one of his costumes he had in his closet. His last minute call was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. We hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween!!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=12y6tnsm.5fr1cm12&x=0&h=1&y=-2q5vcy&localeid=en_US

check out all the pictures here.

Weekend in Ames, IA

Trav's little brother Ben got married on 10-10-09. We made the trek to Ames. Carter was a flower girl and loved every minute of it!! She had her hair and nails done and said that she felt like a princess in her dress. Travis was an usher and Jax handed out bells after the wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and fun was had by all!

Check out all of our pictures from the wedding... http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=12y6tnsm.9pyyd0dm&x=0&h=1&y=18ntby&localeid=en_US

We also got to hang out with some of my family that came from Fort Dodge to spend some time with us while we were in Ames. Thanks Mom and Dad, Dusty, Belecia and Tay for taking time to come see us. It meant a lot to us!!

Check out more pics...

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=12y6tnsm.5l143jca&x=0&h=1&y=-j18clx&localeid=en_US

Happy Birthday Dear Jaxson...Happy Birthday to you!

Jaxson had a Super Hero party with his buddies to celebrate his 6th Birthday! It was so cute to see all of his little friends dressed in Super Hero costumes :)

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=12y6tnsm.aunhohoa&x=0&h=1&y=ixoxv0&localeid=en_US - Click to see all of the pictures from Jaxson's day!

1st Day of School

Another school year off to a great start!

Westview Orchards & Cider Mill

We took a trip on Sunday to an orchard, hit a few famers markets along the way and had a great family day. We took a wagon ride, went through a corn maze, petting zoo, and had some great treats. Our favorite thing to do was to jump on the jumping pillows. They were like giant trampolines. All four of us had a blast jumping around. I posted a video of Travis 'big jumping' as the kids called it and they would bounce around and laugh hysterically. It was so much fun!

Check out all the pictures at http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=12y6tnsm.92yv96pe&x=0&h=1&y=-8ywssp&localeid=en_US

Toledo Zoo

We went to the Toledo Zoo last week. Jaxson's favorite animals to see were the gorillas, shark and giant crabs. And he just said "My favoritist thing was the river monster!" If you watch River Monsters on the Discovery Channel, they were searching for an arapaima fish in the Amazon. They are huge and we just watched that episode before going to the zoo and the kids were going crazy seeing the arapaima at the zoo. That's the fish in the picture above. They were telling anything within ear shot at the zoo about the "river monster!" Carter's favorite thing was seeing some baby monkeys with their Mommy and some apes playing with a blanket over their head. Carter just said that she also liked seeing the river monster and couldn't believe that they caught one because they are so rare. Really, you need to watch River Monsters to appreciate this story. :) My favorite is always the hippos. Unfortunately, we only saw one hippo this time and she was eating inside the building, so we only got to watch her eat through the window. Last time, she did a great hippo yawn that I captured on camera, swam around and gave a good show. I was hoping for a new photo. Better luck next time!

Here's a link to see more of our photos!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=12y6tnsm.at7n5vi2&x=0&h=1&y=-xirwx&localeid=en_US

How cute is our Guinea Pig?

This is Barry. We got him for the kids for Easter. Just wanted to show a picture of him lounging in the yard. :)

Summer Fun

Hello, Summer time! Today, we went on a 4 hour trip down the Huron River by canoe. The kids love jumping in and out of the canoe and swimming along. Here are a couple of pictures. Hope your summer is getting off to a good start!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=12y6tnsm.49l7lx6y&x=0&h=1&y=jhxcyd&localeid=en_US - more pictures of our canoe trip

Carter's last soccer game

Carter had her last soccer game this weekend! She really enjoyed it and is thinking about going out again in the fall.

Check out more pictures from the game!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=12y6tnsm.blye2r56&x=0&h=1&y=-ft5qbt&localeid=en_US&cm_mmc=site_email-_-site_share-_-core-_-view_photos_button

Jaxson's Kindergarten Graduation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TekSLeXJvcc - Here is a video of his graduation day!

Jaxson graduated from kindergarten this weekend! He will be off to first grade in the fall. This year, we decided not to enroll him in kindergarten at the public schools since he had a September birthday. Instead, we went with a small, private kindergarten program where his teacher, Mr. David really brought Jaxson out of his shell. Jaxson blew us away with his progress this year, and knows how to read, write and even do double digit math problems!! He is very excited to be going to 1st grade at Sissy's school and we are so proud of him. That is Mr. David in the picture with us. We will greatly miss him at TBJ!! Thanks for a great year, Mr. David :)

Check out more of our pictures from the day!
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=12y6tnsm.c9ad4pyi&x=0&h=1&y=jq8o16&localeid=en_US&cm_mmc=site_email-_-site_share-_-core-_-view_photos_button

Vacation photos

Travis and I celebrated our nine year anniversary by vacationing in Playa Mujeres, Mexico. We had a fabulous time!! You can see more of our photos on the kodak link below.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=12y6tnsm.bkz801t6&x=0&h=1&y=-4ycoc8&localeid=en_US&cm_mmc=site_email-_-site_share-_-core-_-view_photos_button

Carter's Dance Recital

Carter had her dance recital for her hip hop dance class. The theme of the show was Peter and Tink. Carter was part of the "Bling Bling Pirates!" She did a great job!!

You can click on this link below to see her dress rehearsal. They wouldn't allow us to record the recital. The girls did a much better job at recital and as Carter says, she "popped" her moves more at the show :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJZR6xH6qxI

"Live Like Andi"

Travis and I found a local event called "Live Like Andi." It is a fundraiser Walk/Run in honor of a woman named Andi who passed away from a rare form of cancer. Her husband arranges it and this is the 2nd year. The money goes to find a cure for ACC and to help other families with this cancer. I have been wanting to do a 5K and Travis thought this was a perfect one for me, since it honors another Andi. It was a very touching walk, her husband spoke, a choir sang, oh the tears were flowing before I set off on my 5K. Along the path, there were posters of Andi with quotes she would say. It was really neat to be a part of! And I was excited to have completed my first 5K (3.1 miles). Oh, and by the way, Travis ran 10 miles!! He is such a machine. :) The kids and I are so proud of him too!!

Carter's a soccer player now!

Carter is playing her first year of soccer and is having a ton of fun! Go Purple Pandas!!