Sunday, May 31, 2009

"People Are Going To Think I'm A Real Fairy, Mommy!"

Hi,
Yesterday was Kindrid's spring recital. She and her friend, Shelby, danced to "Rainbow Connection" all by themselves. Kindrid and I stayed for the whole thing...FORTY FIVE numbers! Whew! It took three hours!! :O) Here is Kindrid waiting her turn...
I know it's hard to see (we weren't allowed to take flash pix or video), but Kindrid is on the right doing her little toe points at the beginning of the dance...

Daddy gave her flowers. Here she is on the lawn outside the auditorium. I know you think she is a real little fairy, but, really, it is Kindrid Beth! :O)

I wasn't a super "girly-girl" as a kid and never did anything like this. She just loves it! It's a joy for me to get to experience it through her eyes. I know I say it on the blog all the time, but...
...I Am Blessed!!
:O) Christy

Thursday, May 28, 2009

I Need A Hero...

Dear Ones,

Today was Hero Day at Fort Caspar Academy. The day started with a parade throughout the school halls so the kids could all check out each others' costumes. Brennen's hero was Ulysses S. Grant. Although we couldn't figure out a beard idea that we could agree on (Brennen said he would just say he shaved today, and Kindrid wondered why I didn't just let Brennen grow a beard this one special time!) , we did come up with a coat that was similar to the one worn here by Ulysses S. Grant...

The kids were all assigned classrooms of mixed ages and got to listen to reports on heroes ranging from Shakespeare to Annie Oakely from kids in kindergarten through sixth grade. Here is Brennen reading his report...




And here is the report he wrote...

Ulysses S. Grant was an American hero because he served our country as the 18th President of the United States. He was brave, courageous and never gave up.
Ulysses S. Grant was born in Ohio on April 27, 1822. As a child he only went to school three months out of the year. His nickname was "Lyss." He joined the army when he was 17-years-old.
In his older years, Ulysses S. Grant was a General in the Civil War. His last job was being our 18th president.
Ulysses S. Grant died normally on July 23, 1885. He is remembered for defeating many armies who attacked the U.S.A.

Have a great evening!
Christy


Monday, May 25, 2009

Has It Really Been a Year?...

Hi Friends and Family,

My blog description claims "a recent cross-country move" as the reason for blogging. I'm going to have to strike the word recent though as today marks the one year anniversary of the children's and my arrival to Casper. A couple weeks ago I got to thinking about this day coming up and why this year seems to have gone by so very, very quickly. In true Christy-fashion, I had to pursue it by reviewing our calendar for the year. And here are a few reasons why the year seems to have passed so blurringly fast.

In the last year we've...

...spent 39 nights living in the camping trailer while house-hunting.

...had 59 nights of house guests.

...spent 34 nights away from home travelling.

...had seven puppies for 57 days (and nights!!).

...said good-bye to Daddy for six business trips.

In addition, the following items have been broken/needed repairs: the Expedition's transmission, the water softener, two leaking toilets, the grill, the microwave, the dishwasher, various windows, a leaking sink, a screen door, two fireplaces, the instant hot-water maker, the evaportive cooler, the water heater, and two nail punctured tires. (That I can recall!)

Wow!! No wonder my head spins a little when considering our first year here in Wyoming. But! What number to put on...

...finding a lovely home that suits our family's needs and feels very much like home to us?

...joining a church where folks are sincerely trying to follow Christ with love, fellowship, outreach and a firm, Biblical foundation?

...enrolling in a public school that is as close to a private school in its mission and excellence as it can be (and NO tuition!!)?

...being welcomed into the homes of new friends and getting to know some really warm, wonderful, Wyoming people?

...welcoming a new niece into the world just hours after her birth?

...being allowed to spend a lot more time with Uncle Matt and Auntie Carrie than has ever before been possible?

...sharing our gorgeous new state with lots of friends and family that bravely made a very long journey to visit us?

...having mountains and places to explore within hours of our home in every direction?

...having some great quality time with Todd's folks for the month they came and having my father-in-law fix so many of the annoying things that were broken around the house?

...learning to love our new dog and sharing as a family the wonder and magic of having puppies?

And so on. We are blessed! So, how about you all? Go back and look at your calendars for the year and comment here on what your year's summary looks like! It's pretty amazing when you condense it into numbers!!

I'm grateful today to the people that gave their lives that we can live free, worship free, say/read/write free, vote free, raise our children free!! Let's try not to take it for granted and remember to be thankful for our one nation, under God!!
Love you all,
Christy

Monday, May 18, 2009

Has It Really Been A Month?...

Hello Everyone,

I really don't think it can have been a month since my last post. Really. Where did the month go?

Well, for starters, it went to the circus! In order to get good seats (we got great ones) we went right after picking Brennen up at school to wait a little over an hour for the show to begin. A few snacks (gotta have cotton candy and popcorn at the circus) helped the time go by quickly! Doesn't everyone do their school homework at the circus?? Well, I guess if you attend Fort Caspar Academy you do! :O(
This circus had it all...note the white tiger!!Kindrid almost got sick she laughed so loud and long at these cotton-candy-colored poodles and their antics...She was truly delighted with them!
It wouldn't be a circus without the dancing lady on the elephant! (This picture is in loving memory of my Uncle Otto who took my sister and me to see them set up the circus tent long ago in Brainerd...he never could quite answer the "how many elephants were there?" question! I pray my kids' memories of this circus are as sweet as mine of that one!)

And, lo, Kindrid was sitting eating lunch and calmly states, "Mommy, I just lost a tooth." And indeed she had. Her first one. And we didn't even know it was loose. :O) The one next to it is going to come out any day now! She was in total awe and sooo thrilled about it!


The puppies turned 8 weeks last Thursday so Todd took out a month long ad in the paper offering them for free (we did ask folks to cover the first shots). We thought it would take forever to find homes for all of them. It didn't. It took ONE DAY. Friday was one of the most bittersweet days I've ever had as we said good-bye to five puppies out of seven (we are keeping one and holding one for my sister and brother-in-law). Poor Brennen...he went to school without even saying good-bye to them only to come home to find half of them already gone. He handled it well, though. I think us keeping a puppy has made that easier. Anyhow, here they are one last time...
This one went to an older gentleman who has never had a dog and excited to get her....


This one went to Denver to a friend of Todd's sister, Carrie....We hear her new name is Lola! Cute!!

This was one of our most favorite pups...he was the only male and we came very, very close to keeping him ourselves. The family that took him also took the next little golden colored one...

Here is our new little girl. We still don't have a name although Sofie and Lucy are in the running...

This one went to a family that wants to train her to play with their ferret (!)...


And this one is my sister's new doggie...Cute!...

And one final picture of the whole gang...or most of them, anyhow!! :O)
Let's see...what else?
...Kindrid asked me a while back why airplanes don't have turn signals.
...We hosted a cookout last night of folks from Todd's work. We had 21 people here. It was so fun to see the deck full of people. It was a gorgeous evening!
...We've done a bunch of work in the yard lately. We got rid of some ugly shrubs by the front door, mulched a bunch of gardens that were just dirt and planted lots of flowers on the deck. I'm going to wait on several gardens until after the house is painted (which will hopefully be done in the next couple weeks. My brother-in-law is coming in a week to help do that huge job. This also means my sister and NIECE are coming too...hooray!)
Well, that's all there is time for! Hope your day, er, week, er, MONTH is going great!
Love to you all,
Christy