School Mug Shots

Oh, school portraits. How overpriced, and poorly taken you always are.....

I can't complain, the boys are still so handsome, even if they look terrified of the person behind the lens.

Riley~4th grade

Reece~1st grade

It finally hit Reece..... the awkward stage. They grow too fast!!!

Mission Accomplished

It's rainy and cold, so this is the best picture I will take.

After a couple days of scrambling around, Jake and I (mostly Jake) bought a 2008 Ford Fusion. If you would've asked me a week ago, if I would see this being our new car, I would have laughed in your face. Jake is not a "Ford" guy...... most of his extended family will probably take jabs at him when they find out he is a new Ford owner. But we got a heck of a deal, and the car only had 41,000 miles on it. It runs so smooth.... I might worry about my tired husband getting off work and being lulled to sleep on his 30 minute drive home. I have some peace of mind with this car, and it's much bigger than the Mazda, which will be great for our growing boys. Reece loves the car too. Why? Because the back seat has an armrest that pulls down with cup holders. He finds this pretty awesome!

Ol' Reliable

Saying goodbye is so hard!

Today I finally got to see pictures of my car.... it was such a dependable car. It's only fault is that it attracted raccoons while on the highway, tree limbs from the neighbor's tree, and now a white truck.

Notice how the front of the car isn't touched, which means Jake was far enough into the intersection that the truck should have seen him. However, Kansas law states that even if Jake had to wait for 30 cars going straight, he would have needed to yield. Who drives like that? We still don't have a clue what the insurance company is going to do, but Jake's witness claims that the truck didn't even stop at the stop sign, so we are holding out hope. But, since we are too busy to be patient, and both work a lot of hours, State Farm is processing it under us, in hopes the other insurance will step in. Let the car shopping begin. Car shopping that I don't have any time for, but the $500 for our rental will vanish fast!!

Blind Sided

BOO! Poor Jake was involved in an accident yesterday. He was driving my little, red, Jayhawk Mazda. I was just months away from paying it off, too! Double BOO! This is where we get, for thinking we were so close to being caught up and comfortable, I guess. To clarify: Jake is sore, but he is doing great!!! That's the bright side to our blind side.

These are the events that took place.... of course, I wasn't there, so Jake might come and read this and tell me I'm WAY off. Jake was in Salina, just a mile from work. He was pulling up to an intersection, where there were 2 stop signs and the cross traffic didn't stop. He was coming to a stop while a semi came through the intersection, from the opposite side, and a red car came there after. So most human drivers would assume it's the other side, that is stopped, turn to go.... Jake waited until one car cleared the cross traffic and he went to turn left. Suddenly, he was T boned by a white truck. The entire passenger side was bashed in, along with the windows.

Immediately, Jake jumped out and asked if the other guy was okay, and they both were. The cops showed up, and they both wrote out their statements as to what happened. This is where it turned into a "he said/he said" situation. The cop had to go by default with the law, and wrote Jake a citation. He apparently needs to always yield to a car who wants to go straight, instead of turn. Too bad ALL courteous people assume you just take turns. Jake was upset, but then we were blessed. The dispatcher had a witness who told a version that backed up Jake's story. So the cop took Jake's citation back, and wrote the other guy a ticket.

We don't know what this guy was doing, but if he was stopped at the sign, he must have floored it, to hit Jake so hard. And he T boned Jake, which means, Jake had to have been very far into the intersection for the guy to hit him at that angle.... things just don't add up to blame Jake for anything.

Well, right now things are in limbo.... we are waiting for the police report to turn in to insurance, and hopefully, the other guy doesn't fight it. Without official word, we are already positive my car is totaled. Back to the drawing board.....only hoping we find a great car, that has been just as good and reliable to us, as the Mazda.

nine.eleven

Wow! It's been 10 years.

I don't remember what I did last week, but I remember so clearly 09.11.01.

I don't think I've ever done a 9.11 post, so the 10 year seems to be a good time...

I woke up, rolled out of bed to head to class (Butler CCC), but was stopped by my dad, planted in front of the TV in disbelief of what he was seeing... I'm almost positive at this point it was just the one tower hit. I headed to class... my college English teacher's husband worked at McConnell Air Force Base, so she had an entire different perspective on what was taking place. Well, this day she taught me what a terrorist was. She taught me that not everyone loved America. She taught me what the World Trade Centers were. And most of all, she taught me that I lived an extremely sheltered life, and now I miss that sheltered bubble I was in before this day. To this day, I can't "not" cry at the National Anthem. She cancelled class because the attacks were still developing.... I didn't have anything else happening that day. I remember my dad asking me to fill my car up, because there was the crazy scare that gas was going to go up $5-10 per gallon. But he changed his mind because the entire city of Wichita was wrapped around every gas station. The rest of my day, I spent in shock, glued to the TV..... still not understanding.

Above is the picture of Pentagon. When Jake and I went to D.C. in 2006, we saw the actual flag that hung from the Pentagon after the attacks. It was amazing, and the size of it was overwhelming.

10 years later, Jake asked Riley if they ever talk about 9.11 at school (I know the 5th graders do at my building). Riley was just aware that it was "Grandparent's Day." With out traumatizing the boy, we just clued him in that there are very bad people in the world and 9.11 is a very sad time in America's history. His only question was, "Why would they make 9.11 Grandparent's Day?" It's amazing that we have been at war for almost Riley's entire existence, and yet he really doesn't know. For now, I'm okay for with that.

Never Forget!

HP3

Wahoo! Riley and I finished the 3rd book of Harry Potter! We read the last chapter today, and followed it with the movie. I was a tad disappointed on how it didn't seem to even TRY to follow the book, but it was still a good movie. Riley's favorite part was the boggart, disguised as Professor Snape, in old woman clothes..... his other favorite part of the book was not in the movie. We LOVED Lee's commentary during the Quidditch matches about the Firebolt.... Harry's newest broom. Why that and winning the Quidditch Cup was left from this book, I'll never know. Sorry if you don't understand this post, but Riley and I will be able to look back at this and laugh! I have really enjoyed this time with Riley, one on one!

Top Story

Reece made the front page of The McPherson Sentinel!

It was an article about the cooler weather, and how the kids are able to enjoy more time outside. It also gave some facts about our hot summer.... McPherson ONLY had 45 day at 100 degrees or above. The record was set back in 1936 with 68 day..... don't think we were going to make that, thankfully. Wichita hit 51 days this year, to beat the 50 day streak from 1936.

Complete Chaos

I'm here to update my few followers..... I've been insanely busy! What am I doing? Working.... If I'm not at my full time job with the school district, I'm in Wichita, helping my sister get ready for October's Field of Screams (it's gonna be amazing!). But if you don't find me at either of these 2 places, then I'm selling tickets for the fall events here in McPherson. I'm calculating working 60+ hours a week. Talk about a rude awakening, right after summer vacation.... I knew I was going to be working for Jody, and although I was exhausted last year, I knew I would make it just fine this year..... but I had no idea I'd be working the events (volleyball, football, soccer) nearly this much. The money is why I've signed up.... it's a LOT more than what I make hourly as a para. I really thought getting my foot in the door was going to be difficult. I had just assumed that there were regulars who got these shifts, and I'd be lucky to even get a couple. WRONG!! I had made myself available for many dates, and I have been given a TON of these shifts. It's easy money, but it's taking a toll. I can do it.... it will just be SO much easier once I get my first paycheck of the year under my belt. I, too, get paid just once a month..... but I haven't seen a check since June. It's really hard to work so much, and not see any money for so long!

So to add to my current chaotic schedule, we've signed the boys up for some activities. We signed Riley up for a bowling league. He has only bowled a handful of times in his life, but he really enjoys it. It is inexpensive and he will get to get out and socialize some, and it can be a lifetime sport if he wants it to be.... figured we would give it a year and see what he thinks at the end. It's once a week and it's low key, which is right up his "alley".

Don't laugh, but we got Reece into tumbling. Reece has been tumbling "Reece Style" since.... always! It took me getting over the "boy gymnast" mentality to officially do it. He is the only boy in the class, but he is SO excited to be doing this. I actually asked him if he was okay with him being the only boy, and he replied, "I'm definitely okay being surrounded by lots of girls." Reece can contort his body in freakish ways, he is more limber than I've ever been in my life, and he has an endless amount of energy. We will give this a year too, and see what he thinks of it. Right now he is on cloud 9! He is tumbling 2 days a week. Now both of my boys have "their own" thing..... on top of these, basketball camp starts up this week too. (I'm still holding out hope that I will have a baller.... but not holding my breathe.)

So, this is my story and I'm sticking to it!

Thanks for checking in!!