Dog Gone.....

OK, how does an 11 year old with the
"Puppy Dog" eyes talk you into getting a Cat?

I can't say that - I was just as much in love with her as Lizzy was. We had all been absorbed by a cat the other night at Petsmart, (by the way - is it PetsMart or PetSmart?) but we decided to take a night to sleep on the idea instead of making that impulse decision. Well, when we decided that we would try to go back to adopt her - she had just been adopted by another family within the past couple of hours. We've been looking online for the past couple of days for another cat that would compare.... but nothing touched us via the internet.
The kids and I headed out to grab some lunch today and then drove to Lee's Summit to check out the animal shelter and it had just closed within the last fifteen minutes. We decided to check out PetCo while we were over there and they just happened to be having a Pet Adoption Day. As soon as we walked in the door they had kennels with about 25-30 dogs and then about 30-40 cats available for adoption. Well, to say the least we headed right over to see what cats they had and immediately fell in love with a few. We narrowed it down to three, and soon decided which one was the one we were looking for. She was playful but not aggressive, loving and beautiful. It didn't take too much convincing to make me decide that she was coming home with us.

Paige 2 is her real name but we just call her Paige,
she is a 4 year old Showshoe Balinese
and she already fits in around here very well......
she talks all the time.

Pumpkin Patch

To top off a very busy weekend, we spent a little time on Sunday at Carolyn's Cousins Pumpkin Patch in Liberty with Papa Bob and Grandma Cindy before they head back to New Mexico on Tuesday. We had a great time feeding the animals in the petting zoo area, riding trikes on a tricycle race track, climbing and riding several different slides, riding the train, taking a hayride trip to the Pumpkin Patch, and watching the pig races. They were also having a car show on the grounds so we looked at lots of beautiful old cars and completed the trip by purchasing a few pumpkins to take home.

Grandma and Lizzy feed the Goats in the Petting Zoo area.

Kendall and Kaiya Race Tricycles on the Race Track.

We decided to go ahead and sell the kids -
so we took a picture for the ad too.
We had a great time and a very nice family outing!

Wow - What a Cutie!

You talk about handsome - this little guy looked so cute in his tux for Uncle Greg's Wedding.
After starting the weekend by scoring his first touchdown, Kendall was the ring bearer Saturday for Greg and Aubrei's wedding at the UCM Alumni Chapel in Warrensburg. He was such a good boy and done an excellent job, did I mention how cute he looked? He was lucky enough to get to escort his beautiful cousin Jordan down the aisle and she looked like a princess of a flower girl.

Mom is so proud of her little man - he was such a great sport!Our precious little angels, is it legal to just

freeze them while they are so sweet and innocent?

Touchdown - BEARS!!!

Kendall and the rest of the Kindergarten Bears had their best game of the season Friday night - they are starting to grasp the concepts of what they need to be doing when on Offense and Defense. You can tell that they are not as timid on the field and becoming much more aggressive on both sides of the ball. On their second offensive possesion, Kendall took a direct snap from the Center and took the ball on a run to the left and got outside of the line and turned it upfield for his first touchdown of the season. It was so cute, and he was grinning from ear to ear all the way back to the huddle. I don't know who was the most proud of him, as happy as he was - I think his Daddy was the most excited.

This week Coach Brian made a change by lining Kendall up as a Defensive End instead of at Cornerback and he got in on much more of the action. They are really getting so much better and I can't wait to see how much they have improved over the course of the entire season.
Kendall chases down the Running Back for the Brigade during the first half of Friday's football game.
Congratulations Bears - We are so proud of you!

Da Bears!!!

Kendall has made his Football debut....

(Kendall, at back-left lined up as running back on offense)

The Parmerlee Tournament was held Saturday where all teams get three short scrimmages against other teams within their age division with a 15 minute time limit. The Bears looked pretty good for their first live action playing both Offense and Defense with flags.

(Kendall surrounded by Tigers carries the ball for a short gain)

With his speed -Kendall is lining up as running back on offense and getting quite a few carries. He really likes to get outside the line and run in the open field. He is so small he gets lost when he runs up the middle. He has learned a lot and been able to put the information from practices to actual game scenarios after getting to go against another team.

(Kendall and Luke block on a sweep to the right side,
the play resulted in a touchdown. Go Bears!)

Defensively, he started at Right Cornerback but seems to get isolated out there to easily so this week Coach has decided to move his speed in to the Defensive End position where he can watch the ball and get a good jump and get into the backfield as they are handing it off. It should be a good move as long as they don't put some big lineman accross the line to slow him down.

The regular season starts Friday night under the lights
at Hidden Valley Park.

GOOD LUCK BEARS!!!

Back to School

Ready or not - the kids started school today...

Kendall started his first day of Kindergarten at Lucy Franklin Elementary this morning and he was pretty excited about meeting new friends, eating at school, learning fun things, and most of all - recess!!! He has had his first day of school outfit picked out since the day he got it and he looked like he was ready to take on the world even though he will probably be one of the smallest students in the whole school.

Lizzy headed off to Brittany Hill Middle School to start Sixth Grade this morning. She met the bus an hour earlier than when she was going to the Elementary, but didn't seem to mind getting up a little earlier. She too has had her first day of school outfit picked out forever, she looked beautiful as she headed off to the bus stop this morning with a few of her friends from the neighborhood. I am sure that she will handle the challenges of the new school schedule and routine well - and I know that she is looking forward to having her own locker that she can decorate with her style.

Good Luck to both of you and make us proud!!!

Da Bears...

It's that time of year - No, not the start of school (that's next week) - the start of Football Season! That's Right! Kendall is playing Youth Football and has been drafted by the Bears.
Although he wanted to play tackle football, Mom got her way and he settled for Flag Football for at least this year. They started with three practices last week and now we are down to two practices per week and games will be on Friday nights starting in a couple of weeks. The Bears have a wide variety of athletic skill and if they can stay focused for a full hour at a time should be pretty good. In fact, if it were tackle football - I think they would be unstoppable because they can really pounce on the dummies during their water breaks.

Down...

Set...

One...

Coach has not made any definite playing position decisions yet, but he has a couple of the boys playing the same positions during practice night after night. On Offense I think we have a starting Center, Quarterback, and two Running Backs - the rest are going to rotate around on the line. So far Kendall has been starting at Tailback so he should get to carry the ball quite a bit - his main play is "I-Dive-Left." He also likes the "I-Sweep-Right" but he doesn't carry the ball on that one so he has to get out and block on that particular play so it's not quite as fun. After seeing Kendall throw the ball at practice last night, coach may try to sneak in a Halfback Pass at some point in the season - he says that if he can find someone that can catch it that we may have to use that trick play on occasion. Defensively we are quick, he has the three fastest boys lining up as Linebacker and the two corners to attack the ball carrier. Kendall has been starting as the Right Cornerback for now and made me so proud last night at practice by getting so many flags that I let him decide where we were going to eat out as a treat. He is having a blast and he just smiles from ear to ear when he makes a defensive play or gets past the defense when he is carrying the ball. It should be a fun year to watch them learn the game.

Go Bears!

Let's Lock them Up!!!

Well - Lizzy made it through the 5th Grade and gets to move on to
Brittany Hill Middle School next year unless we decide to
lock her in her room until she turns, let's say..... 30 years old.

Lizzy and six of her friends hosted a year-end party this afternoon
where they invited a total of about 40 of their classmates
to Celebrate the end of Elementary School. The boys brought a
bag of Chips and the Girls brought a bag of Candy to have during
the party and we had lemonade and water to keep them cool.
We had a friend of ours DJ the party and lead them through
some dances to get them involved. I think the Electric Slide,
YMCA and the Macarena were the most accepted and the boy-girl
dances were the flop - I guess they were scared of each other....?
Anyway, I think everyone had a good time and we
enjoyed watching the kids have fun! Congratulations Kids - and Have a Safe Summer!

Preschool Graduation!

Congratulations Kendall, You did it!!!

Kendall had his year end music program and Preschool Gradutation tonight. The night started with a T-Ball Game in Independence at 5:30 and we played until the bottom of the last inning when we left early to get to the church in time for the program. He changed clothes in the van and they sang about a dozen very cute songs that Miss Tammy (the music teacher) has taught them this year. After the singing, the students that will move on to Kindergarten had a graduation ceremony and each student was reconginzed individually. The night ended with a short Cookie and Punch Reception. He will actually get to start Summer School next Tuesday for the Month of June, then he will have the month of July off and then will start Kindergarten at Lucy Franklin Elementary School in August.

DARE Graduation

Congratulations Lizzy - You make us so Proud!

Lizzy had her DARE Graduation at Lucy Franklin Elementary on May 23rd

During the 13 week course they learned about the Drug Awareness Resistance Education program sponsored by the Blue Springs Police Department. The fifth grade students learn some very valuable information about Drugs and Alcohol and the peer pressure that they will face regarding these hazardous items before they graduate to Brittany Hill Middle School in a few short months. Towards the end of the course each student wrote an essay about the DARE Program and what they learned about Drugs and Alcohol and one essay from each of the 5th Grade Classes was selected as the winner and they were asked to read their essay during the Graduation. Lizzy wrote the winning essay and was selected to read her essay from Mrs. Seigler's class. She read her essay in a record time as she was very nervous to read it in front of a large crowd of about 120 other students, 100 parents and many teachers, school administration and police officers.

Major Leaguer....

Well, Kendall has started his first session of T-Ball this summer at ADP Sports here in Blue Springs. It is a unique league as they have a 45 minute practice at 9:00 each Saturday morning and then at 9:45 they start a 45 minute game. It is a very basic league, but it is managed by a former Major Leaguer (Mark Brown) so it is very instructional and is tied in with a very active Youth Program at the First Bible Baptist Church and their very nice facilities. He will be playing this league until the end of June and in June and July he will be playing T-Ball at BVAC where he played last year. I thought I would share a few pictures of the first weeks action!!! I will try to add a few more images throughout the season! Go Kendall....

He picked up right where he left off last year with his defensive skills and made quite a few great defensive plays. He hasn't made a double play yet - but give him time!

Finally.....

Well, after lots of praying and looking around the area we finally found a Minivan that was in our prince range that we felt comfortable with. I have been looking very hard for the last few weeks and was starting to get very frustrated because all I was finding was either junk or vans that were priced just out of our budget... I had hit every dealer, used car lot, individual and internet source that I could come up with and nothing seemed to fit our needs. Finally, last Thursday night while I was searching the internet I had noticed a 1999 Ford Windstar MiniVan For Sale that was priced in our range and was listed by an individual just south of Sedalia and I happened to be scheduled to take school pictures at Lincoln Elementary on Friday morning. I called the individual and asked if it was still available and if he would be around when I got done in Lincoln for me to stop and look at it and he said he would make a point of being home if I would call as I left Lincoln to give him a few minutes notice. I stopped by and I was very pleased both with the way it looked and the way it drove so I called Fonda and told her what I found and had her do some research about the model and what it was worth. The owner had it listed in a local newspaper for $3995 two weeks ago and didn't get a single call all week, so the next week he dropped it to $3500 and still didn't get a call on it. He decided to drop it to $3000 and got a few calls but nobody ever showed up to look at it and that is what he told me he wanted out of it when I test drove it, so I told him I would have to bring Fonda down over the weekend and let her check it out. After researching the model and features - it was valued at $4750 on Kelly Blue Book so we thought if we could get it for $3000 we were getting a pretty good deal. We went down on Sunday to let Fonda see it and she drove it and was as pleased as I was so she offered him $2600 and he said that he couldn't do anything less than $2800 - so we ended up getting it for the $2800. We both think that our prayers and patience have paid off - we ended up finding something that we could feel good about and still be within our budget!!! It is very clean with just a few minor scratches on the exterior that we are alright with - so Thank You for everyone that has been praying for us - our prayers seem to have been answered in this situation. I spent the morning getting insurance, taxes and license all taken care of so it is ready to drive.
We were able to return the Ford Explorer that Fonda's Brother and Sister-in-Law were so kind to let us use while we were looking - it was so nice to have the extra time to look and find a good deal and not be rushed into a purchase that we were not comfortable with. THANK YOU!

Last Competition for the Season...

Lizzy had her last competition of this Cheerleading Season this weekend where they competed in the CheerSport Cheerleading Championships in Overland Park, Kansas on Saturday. They performed very well, but placed third - we are just so impressed how well Lizzy has progressed with her jumps, stunts and tumbling over the past six months. They will have tryouts over the next month for next years teams and they have a year-end Banquet in a couple of weeks to cap off the year. Now we get to start saving for another year!!!

Congratulations Lizzy!
Keep up the hard work - we are so Proud of YOU!!!

DragonFest....

Well, this past weekend GAGE sponsored the DragonFest Cheerleading Competition in Kansas City, MO. All seven of their teams performed, but for exhibition only. They looked incredible and if they would have been able to compete - six of the teams would have won their category and the remaining team would have placed second.

They are getting ready for their last competition for this season, which will be the COA Nationals being held at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City on March 29th. Once this season is over, they will start practicing and going through tryouts for next season. If Lizzy can get her Back Tuck perfected over the next couple of months - she may be able to move up to another level...

Lizzy - The All-Star Cheerleader

Lizzy has been very busy lately with her cheerleading competitions with the GAGE Purple Dragon Cheerleading Squad. Along with three practices a week, in January she competed at the "State Fair Spirit Classic" in Sedalia and then the "It's Time to Cheer" competition in Olathe, Kansas. They are so much fun to watch!!!!
Very impressive for 10-12 year olds...

We are so proud of you Lizzy!