Easter 2011

We had a FANTASTIC Easter weekend this year! We started out by celebrating my Aunt Valrea's 90th birthday; about 60 people gathered to help her celebrate, and it was so good to see everyone from that side of my family! (sorry there are no pictures; SOMEONE couldn't remember to put the batteries in the camera)

Kaytie Jane had her Easter Party/ Egg Hunt at school on Thursday; she was SOOO excited! Here she is in her classroom (next to Joshua) getting ready to have snacks.

Ready, set, GO!!!!
Saturday night Mayme and Popeye spent the night with us so they could go to church with us at Cuthand UMC Sunday morning. Here are the girls all dressed and ready for church-- after the Easter Bunny had visited and brought them each new swim suits.
Kaytie Jane was Mary, the mother of Jesus in our church Easter play. She did really good! Maggie, on the other hand, only had one line in the play and REFUSED to say it for the performance. :( She is so shy, and I don't know where she gets that!
Here is Maggie hunting Easter eggs after church...
After church Bill, Ginn, Ryan Alyssa, and Carter joined us at our house for lunch and another egg hunt. And GiGi brought confetti eggs!!! :) Maggie and Ranger are showing off their confetti...

Star Search 2011

Kaytie Jane sang "Tomorrow" (from the musical "Annie") at our school's Star Search competition this year, and she won FIRST PLACE!!! We are so proud of her :)

"Cuthand UMC, You're Home to Me"

Ok, so I stole the title of this post from Mr. Bert Wood, one of Cuthand UMC's finest music men, but it fits :) I am linking up with Kelly for her "Show Us Your Life" post, and today it's all about our churches. Cuthand United Methodist Church has ALWAYS been a part of my life. I was raised going to church and Sunday School there and am now raising my family there. I couldn't ask for a more loving, God-serving, fun group of people to be my church family.

This is one of the most important parts of our church-- our youth group. Ryan helps lead them on Wednesday nights and teaches their Sunday School class as well. This is us last Spring Break at the Buckner Orphanage Shoe Warehouse; we had been sorting and packing shoes and were on our way to a Mavericks game. This summer we are planning a trip to Galveston with them, and I can't wait!

This picture is from last June when our church took on First Baptist Church-Bogata in a softball game (it was a fundraiser for the Bogata Food Pantry, and we won't talk about the score!).

...and I'm back!

I have no excuses, no reasons for not blogging, other than just not "feeling" it. But today I'm home alone and a little bored, so I'll post some pictures and do a little updating.

So here goes...

Kaytie Jane played her first year of Little Dribblers Basketball this winter. Ryan helped coach her team, The Lakers, and had almost as much fun as she did.

For Spring Break this year we went snow skiing with Ryan's family to Pagosa Springs, Colorado (we skied at Wolf Creek). We had so much fun with everyone, and Kaytie Jane really got the hang of skiing. Maggie did not like it as much, but she says now that she did like it and can't wait to go back :)

Maggie has been as busy as ever learning new things at her "school" Rivercrest Rugrats. Her personality has really bloomed lately, and she really keeps us in stitches (although she's still quite bashful around new people--which is a mystery to me--don't know how Ryan and I have a shy child. LOL!)

I hope this blog post finds you all happy and healthy, and I also hope to blog more frequently :)

Girs' Day= movies and SHOPPING

Today I took Kaytie Jane and Maggie to Paris. We went to see the newest and final "Shrek" movie. I thought it was just too funny, and Kaytie Jane enjoyed it, too. Maggie, however, fell asleep with about 30 minutes left in the movie... she has YET to make it all the way through a movie in the theater without going to sleep as soon as the popcorn runs out ;)

After the movie we had to go shopping, but-- no luck-- not the REAL kind of shopping. No, we got to go spend $200 at Wal-Mart on groceries for the lake. I wonder-- WHY does it take $200 to feed us for a week at the lake when it only takes $75-$100 to feed us for a week at home? I think it's because everything tastes so much better at the lake, and I could just TASTE how good it would be, so I loaded up two buggies, of course!

So, now the camper is loaded with groceries. I've just got to get all of our clothes together and get them loaded as well. On Sunday we are OFF (after church) to Pat Mayse until next Saturday. YAY!!!

On another happy note, if you ever need to sell something, post it on Craigslist. We had a Nissan truck that Ryan used for the transmission just sitting in the backyard, forcing me to mow around it. Last night I posted it on Craigslist, and I'll bet we've taken 20 calls since then. Thought we were going to have a fight over who could get here first with the money, but thank goodness, a nice couple came from Eustace and bought it tonight. Now that's FAST MONEY! :)

SOLD!!!

What a difference a year makes...

This is Kaytie Jane and her teacher, Mrs. Kennedy. The top picture was taken on the last day of school, and the bottom picture was on the first day of school. I apologize that they are not in order; I am evidently in need of some Blogger tutoring! :)

We had a FANTASTIC school year. Kaytie learned so much-- she can read entire books now and can count to, well, higher than you care to listen! LOL! She is ready for 1st grade, and I look forward to watching her learn and grow even more.

Sadly, Maggie spent her last day at her babysitter's (MiMi's) house last week. MiMi has been a GREAT babysitter, and we couldn't have asked for anyone better, but it's time for Mags to go to "school" too, so she will be starting Rivercrest Rugrats in August. We are all excited for her to go to Mrs. LaTonya's just like Kaytie Jane did.

I had an AWESOME school year. My kiddos were FANTASTIC. They were all such sweet kids with great parents, which makes all the difference in the world, as all you fellow teachers know. I will miss these kids terribly, but I know they are all bound for great things. I can't wait to witness all their accomplishments throughout their school years. :)

We are looking forward to a great summer... Not much planned other than lots of camping and relaxing. Well, relaxing for us girls, anyway. Poor Ryan only has 2 weeks off :(

Halloween 2009

Halloween 2009 was celebrated in our house by "Kaytie the Genie" and "Maggie Mouse".