Beauty or Brains??

Ok, a month or so ago Katie came home with her Monday Madness folder. It's the corrected work and tests from the previous week at school. Anyway, I was just going through, just glancing mainly at her grades and was happy with the great work she had done. I have been very fortunate to not worry about Katie in school. She's smart, hard working and always does more than expected. She loves to help other kids in her class and when she's home, she likes to plan a school day for Alyssa. Anway, I was at the computer a few days later and just happened to glance at this spelling test again. I never get to study spelling with her so I was curious as to what words she had been learning.

Well, here are a few things I noticed:

1. Katie is starting to draw and doodle on her papers.....Yes! Just like I did in School. The Hearts.. The Squiggly lines.. The Curly Q's.

2. Her cursive looks good

3. 20 words that seemed like a good challenge (at least some of them are the words that if you had to spell them out loud that "I" would probably have to write them on a piece of paper to see if it looked right.)

4. 100%

5. Dotting her "i" with a heart and....what's this.... She gets 100% on her spelling words but the very first word she titles her page with and she spells it, how?

I THINK WE GOT A LITTLE CRAZY WITH THE CURLY-LOOPTY FANCY WRITING THAT WE MAY HAVE GOTTEN AN EXTRA LOOP IN THE WORD "S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G". (refer to top of page)

Just one of those things that makes you SMILE :) I even went to her and asked her what was wrong with her paper and she kept looking it over but couldn't figure out what I was talking about until I pointed it out to her. She just looked at me and laughed with an embarrased look and a shrug like "oops!" I don't have any question as to whether she has brains or beauty.... SHE'S GOT THEM BOTH!!! We love you Katie!

This is a picture I just came across of her last year (3rd grade) just after she got her glasses. She only wears them for reading but I thought she looked so cute in them ..plus she said it made her look smart! : ) Oh how the newness has worn off. Now I can't get her to remember to bring them home from school.

The House

The last time I posted anything about the house, it was about this time last year and we had just finished sheet rocking. Boy have things changed since then. I didn't get any pictures taken of the front of the house this summer. We are going to try to get some grass planted this year but we'll see. If you can't tell, from the slide show, I LOVE OUR HOUSE especially my KITCHEN. We have sure loved having more room. It doesn't look big but when your cleaning, it sure takes awhile! : ) It's nice and cozy and a project that I am glad to be finished with! The girls finally decided that they liked playing downstairs. Once we get to finish the basement, I think that we will probably never see them or maybe we can be the "cool house" that all the kids want to come and hang out here! : ) You can see from the pictures that I don't have much decorating done. I have some ideas in my mind and I just haven't been able to go shopping to get a few things. I just can't bring myself to put holes in the walls yet. Hopefully I can get to Hobby Lobby and raid the home decor department or receive some type of inspiration and maybe some creative ambition to try and make something myself. The only problem is having the $$$ to go with the ideas. If you have any decorating ideas or websites I can visit, let me know. Anything will help. I am serching for an entry table right now and one to go at the end of the hallway but am not having any luck so far. I did find some lamps for my tables..(when I get them), at COSTCO! They are pretty cool and I got such a great deal on them.

What we've been up...

I guess its probably time to update my blog...AGAIN! I thought that I would have some time over Christmas to do this but even with staying home this year, it was still crazy. We all ended up being sick most of the Christmas break....oh what fun!! Once New Year's came, we wanted another week just so we could feel like we had time off. Stuff that we have been up to...

1. Katie finished volleyball and is now playing basketball
2. Alyssa is now perfecting signing her name....on everything...and it even has curly ques.

3. Presley is running ..... I mean RUNNING, everywhere.
4. Katie is having fun with friends.
5. Alyssa is having fun with friends too.
6. Presley has her hands into EVERYTHING!!!! I can't take my eyes off of her.
7. Joe has been out on the Harley trying to enjoy some warm weather down south but it ended up raining on him.
8. I have been busy with the house, kids, taxi service and trying to keep my trips to town a minimum, even though I only live 2 miles from it! : )
9. Joe has been putting in some long hours at the dealership.
10. Trying to get used to being in Young Women and hoping that some how my life should slow down.

Alyssa turned 4 (going on 16) in October. I can't believe that she is growing up so fast. She can't wait to start preschool. She does so much here at home that I opted not to put her in this year and to wait to start preschool next year. She misses the deadline for starting Kindergarten so she wouldn't be able to start until she is almost 6. That's ok though. She loves being home with Mom and she is such a great help and big sister to Presley.

She wanted a bee cake this year like her cousin Kailey's! It was nice not have to make 10 different icing colors for her cake this year! : )



Presley turned 1 at the end of October. She has grown up so much these last few months. She is talking so cute and loves to boss everyone around. Her favorite thing is being in her diaper...all day long. Sometimes I wonder if she's cold but it doesn't seem to bother her. She has definately been the child that I have to keep an eye on her all the time because she thinks she can do everything. Her new thing now is to get the princess stool and climb up and sit on the back of the toilet tank. I don't know where she gets the climbing thing from? : }




Halloween 2009

The girls loved dressing up this year. We ended up not going to the usual trunk or treat this year and decied to hit up a few houses in town. It was fairly decent weather this year too. Katie was a Renissance Princess, Alyssa was a tap dancer and Presley was our cute little black cat.