Kirsten's Project 365

January 4

2012-01-04T17:40:00.000-06:00

You know they say that patience is a virtue... Well, I figured it out all on my own! Well, with a little help from the Internet. :) Post for the week will come shortly!!

January 4

2012-01-04T17:31:00.000-06:00

So, it is a new year and guess what!! I am trying this whole thing again. This year, I am doing the Project 52. I am hoping I can actually keep with it, only having to "officially" post once a week. Unfortunately, in my eagerness to get things started, I completely messed up this blog thing. Once hubby is home, I will get it back in line and get things going again!!

June 22 and 23

2011-06-23T15:23:00.000-05:00

June 22 - I finally got some pics of Lance at swimming lessons. He is getting better. He has known how to swim for a while now, but it isn't pretty. He is starting to figure out how to get those long arms of his into the water without emptying the pool.

June 23 - Last day of Cheer Camp! Allie has had so much fun. She hasn't picked up too much on the arm motions, but did surprisingly well on the dance. Maybe she is meant to be a dancer...

She is starting to get the hang of swimming without holding on to her nose. I bribed her with a bath in my tub and she went under for me. I think the security of being in the tub helped her brave up and do it in the pool. Her teachers were quite impressed with her progress!!

Lance started working on the back stroke. Wow... A whole other stroke to get him to figure out how NOT to flop like a fish!!

Today they got to go to the deep end and jump off. The teacher asked who wanted to go first and the three girls in his class pointed at him. It was so funny. He jumped straight in and swam over to the teacher. The girls sat on the edge and dropped in. I was a little surprised, but very proud of him since he hadn't been swimming in water that deep before.

Cheer Camp and Swim Lesson Day 2

2011-06-21T17:32:00.001-05:00

Allie is still loving cheer camp. I went about 15 minutes early today and watched them. The high school girls are great with them and they play lots of fun games in between little cheers. She is having a great time. Lance got to go to the movies with his friend Cris today and I got a couple of hours alone! That doesn't happen much (OK, at all) in the summer, so I really enjoyed it. Even if all I did was watch bad TV and clean the kitchen. :) After talking with Allie's swim instructor yesterday, she worked with Allie a bit on her own today. She actually dunked her a couple of times. This pic was taken just before the first dunk. You can see the excitement, along with complete fear in her face. We came home and I bribed her with bath time in my tub if she would work on going under water. It worked!! She went under quite a few times and is bragging about herself now. She can't wait to go to class tomorrow and show off her new skill!

Cheer Camp and Swim Lessons

2011-06-20T14:12:00.000-05:00

Today begins our busiest week of the summer. Allie has cheer camp in the morning and then both kids have swim lessons at noon. It was a great day and they both had a blast. Allie loved cheer camp and Lance and I had fun having some one on one time together at Starbucks. I'm not sure what the first picture says about her knowledge of cheering, but it will certainly be interesting to see how things progress over the next few days. As for swimming, I told her swimming coach today to force her to swim without holding her nose. She does really well, but has to hold her nose, which limits how far she can go. I watched her and her instructor discussing it and Allie shaking her head no. What will I do with this child?? LOL!! As for Lance... well, he got jipped on swimming pics today. He was too far away. I will bring the larger lens tomorrow. :)

Father's Day

2011-06-20T14:00:00.000-05:00

We had such a busy weekend working on the house, and nothing planned for Father's Day, I almost didn't get a pic! I managed to wrangle them all up and snap one right before bed. They are a pretty cute bunch.

Finally!!

2011-06-17T17:19:00.000-05:00

The last Rangers game we went to, we signed the kids up for the Jr. Rangers. Of course they were out of the kits so they had to wait... and wait... and wait. For about a month. Today, they finally came! They got a cool hat, backpack and lanyard, along with a bunch of free tickets and coupons (for the parents). Nice ending to a fun day at the pool with friends!

Back at it!!

2011-06-16T21:26:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it has been almost a year since I have updated this thing!! I keep thinking about it, but just haven't done it. I figured it was about time.

This is a pic of Jeff and Allie reading. She is really starting to read well by herself and I love that she is so excited about it. She favors reading with Jeff because he holds the book up so she can lay on her back. She thinks that is pretty cool.

July 11

2010-07-25T21:43:00.002-05:00

We went to a friend's 7th birthday party at the pool. Allie got to slide down for the first time. I think she loved it!

Natalie, Carson, Ireland and Allie

The boys making a train with Mr. Neil

July 9

2010-07-25T21:39:00.004-05:00

We went to OKC for the weekend and met mom and dad downtown for dinner. Afterwards, we took a little walk around the riverwalk.

July 5

2010-07-25T21:36:00.003-05:00

Lance has decided to try baseball this year, instead of soccer, so we decided to go to the park and the boys threw balls and practiced batting. He is having a blast! Allie just had fun running after the balls, kicking the soccer ball and playing on the playground.

July 4

2010-07-25T21:24:00.005-05:00

Happy 4th of July! We spent the day with friends and went to Red White and Boom.

The girls Allie and DaddySweaty Boy!
Allie, Spencer and Carson
Best Buds
Rock Paper Scissors with Mr. Neil

July 3

2010-07-25T21:22:00.002-05:00

Lance reading library books to Allie. He can be such a great big brother.

June 29

2010-07-25T21:19:00.002-05:00

Girls Night Out to see the Twilight Trilogy. Lots of fun with lots of great friends!!

June 28

2010-07-25T21:18:00.001-05:00

Playdate! Lots of boys in my house...

June 27

2010-07-25T21:15:00.002-05:00

Papaya... Ummmm, not for us. We went to Sprouts and got some fruit a few days ago and Jeff decided to try the papaya. I just about gagged (which wasn't that surprising) but even the kids, who LOVE fruit didn't like it. Oh well... At least we tried!

June 26

2010-07-25T21:11:00.002-05:00

We went to the Celina Balloon Festival to see the balloon glow. Unfortunately, it was too windy for most of the balloons, but we caught the last few minutes of the one that managed to get up. The kids has lots of fun and we got to see some fireworks at the end of the evening.

June 24

2010-06-25T12:31:00.001-05:00

We took the group of kids to lunch and ended up at the frozen yogurt shop.

June 23

2010-06-25T12:30:00.002-05:00

The difference between eight year olds and 4 year olds???

June 22

2010-06-25T12:28:00.001-05:00

I took the kids to the mall to get Lance's glasses fixed. Had to stop for lunch at Charley's!

June 21

2010-06-25T12:26:00.001-05:00

Jeff and the kids eating their sno cones out of the holders they got Jeff for Father's Day.

June 20

2010-06-25T12:23:00.001-05:00

The kids got out their bikes and Lance got out a board to "jump". Of course Allie had to try too. The child has NO fear!

June 19

2010-06-25T12:17:00.002-05:00

Made our first trip of the season to the SnoCone Lady. I am not a huge fan of sno cones, but Jeff and the kids love them. Luckily, the wedding cake is delish, so I am happy to sacrifice for them!!

We got the kids water guns today. Jeff had to help make sure they worked. Look at Allie's face! She was out to get dad!!

I took the kids out a couple of days before to play in the yard and we could only find the Elmo sprinkler that is easily 7 years old. Obviously it doesn't work very well, so we got a new one.

June 18

2010-06-25T12:15:00.000-05:00

Finally got to take the kids to the pool. They LOVED it!!

June 16

2010-06-25T12:13:00.001-05:00

The kids made Shrinky Dinks for the first time. This was them checking them out after they came out of the oven.

June 15

2010-06-25T12:11:00.001-05:00

Kind of a gross pic. This is the bee/wasp that stung my toe. Very, very uncool and painfull!!

June 11

2010-06-25T12:02:00.001-05:00

We took Allie downtown for the Race the Bricks cirterium. We checked out a new restaurant and had a great Allie date night.

June 5

2010-06-07T21:08:00.004-05:00

Jeff was fortunate to get tickets to the Texas Rangers game. It was supposed to be at 7:00 in the evening, but was moved up to 2:30 in the afternoon. If you have been to Texas in July at 2:30 in the afternoon, you can imagine how hot it was! At about the fifth inning, the kids were just about finished. Allie was crawling all over me and Lance was asking when it was over. Luckily, that was when we noticed the shade creeping over to us. About five minutes later, we were in glorious shade! They cooled off almost immediately and went back to having a blast. The seats were incredible. Ninth row, directly behind home base. We had so much fun!

May 30

2010-06-07T21:06:00.001-05:00

Lance and Allie playing with their new gloves. I have TWO little baseball playing monsters on my hands now!

May 29

2010-06-07T21:04:00.002-05:00

Jeff and Allie and I went to the neighborhood Memorial Day party (Lance was at a sleepover). I made her skirt and bow and appliqued the stars on her shirt. She loved it!

May 23

2010-06-07T21:02:00.001-05:00

We got the kids some kites on sale at Target a while ago and haven't been able to find a good wind to fly them. Today was the perfect day for it.

My boy...

May 22

2010-06-07T21:01:00.000-05:00

Sleepy girl...

May 21

2010-06-07T20:59:00.001-05:00

So this is a terrible picture since it was dark outside and the camera didn't like the "action", but Lance has decided he might want to take up baseball, so he and Jeff have been playing catch in the backyard. He seems to love it!

Couple more...

2010-06-02T13:05:00.003-05:00

May 19 Jeff got his new speakers and couldn't wait to put them up. Of course the kids had to help!

May 20 Just Allie looking pretty for her next to last day of school!

May 16

2010-05-23T21:05:00.004-05:00

Allie had a birthday party at Made of Sugar and Spice today. She loved getting made up! Pretty fancy hair, make up, nails painted and of course a princess gown and crown. What could be better??!!

May 12

2010-05-23T21:02:00.003-05:00

We went to the Purple Cow for lunch today before taking a trip to Hobby Lobby with five adult women and five kiddos under the age of five. You can only imagine how that went... Anyway the pic is of the Allie and Carson eyeing the splash pad. Mean mommies wouldn't let them get wet!!

May 9

2010-05-23T21:01:00.001-05:00

A really bad pic, but we spent the weekend in Oklahoma City celebrating birthdays and Mother's Day. We stayed at Keri's house this time and the kids had lots of fun spending time with their cousins.

May 7

2010-05-23T21:00:00.002-05:00

Field Day at Lance's school!!

May 6

2010-05-23T20:58:00.002-05:00

Muffins with Mom today at school. They sang us a little song.

May 5

2010-05-20T19:03:00.004-05:00

As part of teacher appreciation week, I made a notecard set and put it together in a little folder. Turned out pretty cute!

This is it opened up. Notecards are on the left and yellow envelopes with the matching "D" on the right.

This is the folder all folded up.

May 4

2010-05-20T19:00:00.002-05:00

I went with Lance's class to the Collin County Adventure Camp today for some team building and nature walks. We had lots of fun. He has a great group of kids in his class and the best teacher EVER!!! We will miss them next year at our new school.

May 3

2010-05-20T18:58:00.002-05:00

We noticed that they have planted a bunch of wildflowers in the field behind the house. I took Allie out with my new bench and got some pics.

May 1

2010-05-20T18:53:00.003-05:00

We took team pics at the soccer game. This is Lance's and the team with Coach Jeff and Coach Nelson. Not a great season win-wise, but they had fun!

Lance had his friend party that evening. The party was at Main Event and the kids had a blast bowling...

and even got to play a round of laser tag thanks to Mr. Neil!

The Birthday

2010-05-20T18:40:00.003-05:00

Lance had his 8th birthday and we celebrated as a family the day before and the day of. We had ordered cupcakes for the soccer game, but it was rained out, so we had a whole cupcake cake for just us. He got lots of great gifts and even a couple of cards from his grandparents with some cash for him to get even more!

The rest of April...

2010-05-17T20:42:00.007-05:00

April 10 Allie had a princess birthday party with a bunch of friends. She loved getting to play with them!

April 11 FINALLY finished the puzzle!!!

April 12 Blowing bubbles.

April 13 Lance at the doc. Had a sore throat. Turned out to be strep! Luckily he never really felt that bad. Had to miss three days of school though...

April 15 Class picture day at school. Allie finally got to wear her favorite outfit that she got from Miss Kaysee for the first time!!

April 16 Walk-A-Thon at school.

April 17 Ummmm, what can I say. I have interesting friends!!

April 19 Allie and I showing off my star on the PTA wall of fame.

April 21 The bag I made for Teacher Appreciation week for Lance's teacher. I had all of the kids color on one square and then made it into a tote bag. She loved it!

April 22 My letter of appreciation from Lance's teacher for Volunteer Appreciation week!

April 23 Lance and Allie at the Purple Cow. They have a sprinkler pad right outside the gate and they have a "show" every evening. Pretty cool stuff!

April 24 Lance and Allie at Watters Creek. We went to get Juju Geri's Mother's Day present and stopped for lunch and a couple of pics.

April 25 Lance's Birthday!! We spent the day putting in new stone around the front beds and got some new furniture for the front porch. Looks so nice!!

April 8 & 9

2010-04-09T17:10:00.003-05:00

April 9 It was the first day in a long time that the weather is nice, but not so windy that we worry Allie is going to blow away, so we stayed at the park and took a few pics today.

April 8 Allie and I waiting on Lance to get out of school. The sun must have been shining in my eyes, because they look blue! STRANGE!

April 6

2010-04-06T11:57:00.003-05:00

I realized today that I needed to change out my entry table decorations since Easter is over. This is a new candelabra, so I thought I would take a picture of it so next year I will remember how I had it set up!

March 11-April 4

2010-04-05T14:35:00.010-05:00

Wow, apparently I am really bad at this blog thing... Here is the update!!

March 11 Allie found some summer dress up stuff and decided to have a fashion show. Such a girl!!

March 12 Valarie and Rachel at Bunco. Love this Girls Night Out! I am so thankful to have such great friends!!

March 14 Allie and I taking pics while the boys played soccer in the back yard. So glad the weather is getting warmer!

March 15 First day of Spring Break. The girls (and their kiddos) came over to spend the day. We went for a walk around our trails and they found a bunch of what we assumed are cow bones. They spent the rest of the day talking about their dinosaur expedition.

March 18 Jeff took the day off and we went to the Dallas Science Museum and the Museum of Natural History. We had a great day and the kids had a lot of fun.

March 19 Jeff got Allie on the trail-a-bike for the first time today. He has been wanting to try for a while, but the weather hasn't cooperated until now. She had a blast! Now if only they could get me on a bike, we could go together...

March 20 Allie went to a good friend's birthday party and got the best face painting ever. She LOVED it! Unfortunately, we had a really hard time getting her to allow me to take it off at night. She was SOOOOO sad.

March 20 Jeff, Allie and I ran a couple of quick errands and left Lance at home. This is what we came home to. Him sacked out on the couch!

March 21 Last day of Spring Break and it dumps on us! Did I mention we are in TEXAS??? And, did you notice that two days before, they were in shorts??? Crazy stuff, but the kids were in heaven!

March 23 I decided to get a puzzle. 1000 piece, hard, but not too hard. That was until I got it home and turned the box over. The front of the puzzle was just a small portion of the full puzzle. A bagillion different beads and baubles. It is now April 5th and we are still working on it! UGGGGG... :)

March 24 Rainbow cupcakes with a fluffy cloud on top. Kids loved them. Jeff was grossed out. Way too much work for me to ever do again.

March 26 After an early morning meeting at Lance's school, I took the kids to Starbucks for breakfast. They thought they were pretty special and I got a treat for getting up so early!

March 28 Baby Adrian's first birthday party!!

March 29 Allie eating her cupcake at Spoons. YUMMY!

March 30 Allie once again showing off her style. You can't tell it from the picture, but she has on pink elephant slippers and the yellow thing in her hand is a hat. Wow!

March 31 This is the Easter dress I made Allie. My first time making a skirt and applique on a shirt. I was pretty impressed with myself!

April 1 All dressed up for her Easter party at school.

April 2 Carson spent the afternoon with us. They made these chicks for Easter. Such great kiddos!!

April 3 Allie, Lance and Tatum waiting for the start of the Egg hunt at the Eggstravaganza in McKinney.

April 3 Dying Easter eggs. This was the first time we have done this in a long time. Possibly the first time Allie has ever done it. They had a blast!

April 4 Happy Easter!!

March 6-10

2010-03-11T15:35:00.005-06:00

Well, I missed a few more days, but that is OK I guess.

March 6 First game for the new Super Sonics team. It was rough one. 13-1 Not in our favor. But, this was the first game they had played together, so we are hopeful things will get better over the next eight weeks.

March 8 Allie spent the day at Carson's house and Kristi sent me this pic of them with her new puppy Dolche. Don't they look like new parents? Cracks me up!! Definitely a keeper, just in case they get married and have an actual child of their own.

March 9 Allie finally got to go to a little bit of Lance's soccer practice. She loves to play on the playground. I was sitting on a bench a bit away from her and heard "MOM!!!". I came running and found her like this. She was a little too high to be brave enough to let go, so she was holding on for dear life. I got her down and made her do it again so I could get the pic. Must get her back in gymnastics...

March 9 (again) We had open house at Lance's school today. This is his painting of the house you see pictured below. It is one of the historic houses in downtown McKinney. I was pretty impressed!

March 10 It was early release from school, so the gang headed out to McDonald's to let the kids play (and have ice cream). What a crew! Sadly, we were missing the VanDykes who decided to leave us for a couple of weeks to visit family out of town. We miss them dearly and are ready for the to have a safe trip back to us!!!

Update!

2010-03-04T15:52:00.009-06:00

So, it has been a while. Between life, the kiddos, school, work and everything else, my computer crashed and it has taken me a month to get back into the swing of things. So, in an effort to get back into the swing of things and get things up to date (and get a couple of people off my back:) )here are the pics from the last month. They aren't all great pics. Lots were taken with the camera phone and they haven't been "fussed" with too much, but at least I am caught up and can hopefully stay that way!!

February 2 I went to a trade show in downtown Dallas. I love the big signs on the buildings. Had to take a pic of this one!

February 3 I took Allie shopping for a new birthday shirt. She needed to pose in the new headband we got. Such a girl!

February 4 Happy Birthday my sweet little Four Year Old!!

February 7 I made football cookies for the Superbowl party we had at the house. I think they turned out pretty cute!

February 8 The before and after pics of Allie's haircut.

February 9 Oh the fun of bubble baths!

February 11 We got SO much snow!! We were 2" from the all time record in the Dallas area. The kids loved it!

February 13 Allie's birthday party and her Barbie cake that JuJu Geri made. Delish!!

February 14 Showing off her dress up stuff she got from the Amayas.

February 17 Jeff's parents got Allie a new helmet for Christmas that was for 3-5 year olds. It didn't fit. We finally took it back and got this one. It is for 8 year olds. Did I mention she just turned 4??? Hopefully it is because she is so smart!!

February 19 Allie watercolor painting at Art Night at school.

February 20 Carrie, Kaysee and Kristi at Bunco.

February 22 Lance and Mrs. Towber after he received the Principal's Award at school. SO super proud of him!!

February 23 Lance having a picnic lunch in his classroom after going on a field trip to see a play.

February 24 Finally got around to taking Allie's four year old birthday pics!

February 28 Jeff and Allie at lunch.

March 1 Lance and Allie at the eye doc.

March 2 And the outcome of Lance and Allie going to the eye doc!

January 26 and 27

2010-01-27T19:43:00.007-06:00

Things are kind of quiet right now, well aside from a little screaming by me at the basketball game on TV, so I thought I would get this thing current!!

January 26 Lance talked Jeff into playing Battleship with him. Lance is still learning strategy, but they seem to have a good time.

January 27 Allie and I have been working on her birthday party invites over the last couple of days. The gym we are having the party at provided the cards, we are personalizing them by coloring some of the graphics.

And here are my layouts for the last two weeks!! Yay, I am actually keeping up with them.

January 19-25

2010-01-26T18:16:00.005-06:00

January 20 Wednesday homework. The worst! Writing sentences with spelling words. Lance does great in school, but writing is not his best subject, so Wednesdays are always a little rough!

January 21 We had BINGO night at school. This is Allie and her best bud Carson. Can you tell she likes him???

January 22 My friend Kaysee gave Allie a bunch of hand-me-downs. She found these slippers and robe and was in H-E-A-V-E-N! It truly is the little things for her.

January 23 The kids camped out in the living room and watched a couple of movies before going to sleep. They typically do this upstairs and thought they were pretty special to get to do it in the living room.

January 24 The kids helped me make some bookmarks for Valentine's Day. Allie helped me pick out the papers and Lance stamped the back. They love to craft!

January 25 am One might think, "Ahhh, what a sweet little girl.". That is until they realized that it is a three foot stuffed dog being cuddled by an almost four year old, in MY bed!! LOL She is pretty sweet though, even if she won't make it all night in her bed.

January 25 We are all still recovering from sickness, so Allie and I decided to make soup for dinner.

January 12-18

2010-01-20T17:52:00.002-06:00

Wow! What a week. I missed a couple more days this week, but we had lots of sickness and I just didn't get them done. The quality of the last three is pretty bad since they were taken with my phone. I did the best I could with what I had!!

January 12 This is Lance counting his money. We are trying to be better this year about making the kids do chores and in return, they get a small allowance.

January 13 Allie decided she wanted to take a bath today and actually used her bathroom (instead of mine). I wasn't paying attention to the water level and Jeff noticed that it was only a couple of inches from overflowing. She was happy though!!

January 15 Day one of the sickness and the long weekend. Lance had the day off from school started it off by complaining of his tummy hurting. He thought he was better, so we went to McDonald's to meet some friends for lunch. We had been there long enough to get food and make it to the table and he was ready to go home. He spent the rest of the day on the couch, between visits to the bucket on the floor to get sick. Not much of a fun day off school!

January 17 Day one of Allie being sick. Ugg!! Lance's sickness lasted about eight hours, but took a couple of days to really recover. We went to our friend's house for a football party and came home, everyone happy (well, except for Allie who wanted to stay LOL). A couple of hours later, she was complaining her tummy hurt. And so began my very long night on the couch with a three year old going between sleep and completely freaking out because she didn't want to throw up, but needed to. It finally ran it's course at about 3:30 in the morning and by 7:30 when she woke up, she was ready to make up for those hours she lost!

January 18 Unfortunately for her (fortunately for me), she was exhausted from the late night. We laid on the couch together and napped for a couple of hours. Something that hasn't happened in a couple of years!

January 8-11

2010-01-11T20:29:00.004-06:00

Well, I got a bit behind (and even missed a day - oops!), so while I am waiting on my OSU basketball game to come on, I thought I would do a little update and show you my first week layout!!

January 8 A couple of my girls and I went to the mall to have lunch and let the kids play. Allie had a great time making a spectacle of herself, climbing to the top of things and yelling "look at me mom". I think the people on the other side of the mall could probably hear her!

January 9 We had a get together at my friend Kristi's house to watch the Dallas Cowboy's football game and although we are not very into professional sports, we couldn't pass up a party!! The kids had a great time playing upstairs while the guys watched the game, the girls talked and then all of the adults played a game of Balderdash. Had to take a picture of the game board. Jeff is in the lead and our friend Neil, who wanted to play the game to prove that he could win, is in the back, pulling up the rear!

January 11 I spent the day today trying to clean house a bit and printing out calendars for my mom and myself.

As promised, here are the layouts! I am using the Weeds and Wildflowers kit and template. LOVE IT!

January 7

2010-01-07T19:41:00.002-06:00

I let my daughter guilt trip me today without her even knowing it. She said something this morning about only painting once before. Now, she was talking about going to a place where you paint pottery, and she has been more than once, but... it really made me think about all of the crafts I made time for with Lance, but haven't really with her. So, when I was at Target, I picked up a new marker set, just for her. It even came with a little bag to keep them in. Of course Lance was invited to play too, but she loves having some that are just hers, and that makes me happy.

Lance is in the 2nd Grade. They have spelling test every Friday. Along with the spelling test, they have a pre-test of the next week's words. If they get 8 or more of the 10 correct, they get a harder list of "content" words. Check out this week's list!!! Seriously? He is SEVEN! Luckily, he is a little genius and got almost all of the correct!

January 5 and 6

2010-01-06T10:29:00.004-06:00

First off to answer Jolene's question - the reason there were no erupting volcano pics is because it was less than spectacular. I am not sure if we did it wrong, or if my baking soda has gone bad. Since I can't tell you the last time I bought baking soda, it is probably the second! We will definitely do it again, hopefully with better results!!

January 5
Well, today was Allie's first day back at school and I realized once they were both in bed, that I hadn't taken my pic for the day. So, I looked around the house for something and came across this. The girls and I exchanged birthday presents on New Year's Eve. I bought all of us these key chains that have beads of each of our favorite colors. The girls seemed to like them and I know mine is very special to me!
Oh, FYI... My friend Vanessa makes the key chains (as well as some great jewelery). You can check her out here: http://www.mymommysbracelets.com/

January 6
After I got out of the shower this morning, I came in to check on Allie and this is how I found her... Sitting on the coffee table looking at the digital picture frame I got for Christmas. I think she likes it more than I do!!

January 3 and 4

2010-01-04T16:49:00.003-06:00

January 3
Lance got this Star Wars science/volcano kit thing from his Aunt and Uncle for Christmas. He has been begging us to do it since we got back home. So, he and Jeff made the trip to Target to get the bottle of vinegar and club soda that needed to make the volcano erupt. He had a great time getting the stuff together and then chickened out when it came time to pouring it in and made Jeff do it. Love the look of joy on his face though!!

January 4

Lance is back in school, so it was girls day at home for the first time in a couple of weeks. We made a quick trip to Wal-Mart (ugg) after a pit stop at McDonald's for some lunch (one of the benefits of not having to go to school every day - she can talk mom into taking her out..). We came home and I caught her laying on the couch watching TV.

Then she caught me taking her pic! I used a couple of actions from Pioneer Woman again. Loving them!!

January 2

2010-01-03T12:20:00.000-06:00

So one of the projects for the New Year is to turn the "game room" into an actual "media room". So, the first step is to paint! The adults are kicking the kids out and taking over!!

January 1

2010-01-03T11:42:00.000-06:00

Well, it is a new year!! So much happened last year and I totally lost track of this project. I hope to be able to keep up with it and doing weekly layouts. They may be a little behind, but hopefully I can get them done!

So, one of the many things that happened last year was making new friends. I have found a great group of girls who have welcomed me into their group and have become my adopted family here in Texas. They truly are the ones helping to keep me sane. We had a little family get together New Year's Eve. Nine kiddos, eight adults to help ring in the New Year. SOOO much fun! I took this pic right at the stroke of midnight (or close to). I used a couple of actions from http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/ Off to grab the camera and load the few pics I took yesterday... I will be back soon!

December 28

2009-12-28T22:59:00.000-06:00

Wow! It has been a while. Sorry about that! Between PTA, the crazy three year old, the silly seven year old and the wacky 40 year old, work, new best friends and everything else, this has kind of been neglected. So, to catch up, I thought I would post some of my favorites from the last few months. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of this next year. One of the things on my "Resolutions" list. Ha!!

First Days of School

The kids and I in our school shirts.

We went with a group of friends to the pumpkin patch in October.

The boys...

What I would give for one good pic of the two of them...

They also had animals. Allie was not too fond of the smell...

Lance got a new bike and Jeff took him to the bike/skate park. He had a great time riding the dirt paths.

Lance getting Star Reader of the month.

About a third of the group at Scare on the Squre on Halloween.

The girls. Love these ladies!!

Allie and her best friend Carson.

The girls after New Moon.

Thanksgiving - we went to the playground at Jeff's old elementary school to burn off some energy.

The Christmas card pic.

Christmas Eve. We had our first Christmas by ourselves this year. The Blizzard of 09 had hit Oklahoma and we were in Texas. We had to wait a couple of days to make it up there, but had a good time just spending time as a family at home. Love these kiddos!

OK, that is it for now. I promise to (try to) do better next year!

Lots...

2009-08-08T21:43:00.001-05:00

I have been terrible at this lately. Summer has just kept us too busy!! Anyway, here are a bunch. Hope you enjoy!

July 14 The kids enjoying a day at the pool. We have done that lots the summer. It is the first time we have had a pool to go to and we are taking full advantage of it! They are my little fish!

July 17 We took care of my parent's dog for two and a half weeks while they went on a road trip. Allie loves Dakota. Not so sure it is mutual, but she does tolerate Allie's hugs and gives kisses in return.

July 17 You know you have a diva when it is 100 degrees outside and your daughter HAS to wear her feather boa in the car.

July 18 We surprised the kids with a trip to the new Lego store at the mall. Lance had a fun time looking at them all. Best of all, they both got to bring something home!

July 18 I got the sewing bug and decided to make Allie a little pillowcase dress. I had enough material left over to make a headband and a matching dress for her doll Lula.

July 21 First day of swim lessons - well second actually, but the first day was rained out. Allie was showing off her "woggle goggles".

July 22 We went back to OKC for a funeral and had dinner with Jeff's parents, sister and her kids. This is Jeff and Morgan. We don't get to see them very much and were glad we got to, even if it was just for a little while!

July 23 More swimming lessons. They were pretty far away from me, but here is how the conversation went in my mind... "Allie, put your hands above your head. No, not on your head, above your head." Then it turned into a discussion about putting her head under the water, to which she calmly refused. Silly girl!

July 23 Some of the prettiest eyes I know...

July 24 I went to Austin with a couple of my PTA girls for the State Convention. We of course had a blast. No kids, no hubbies, just the girls. They were nice enough to walk with me to check out Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop and Juan Pelota Cafe which are owned by Lance Armstrong. Unfortunately, they were both closed, but I got to see them beofre Jeff, so I was happy. And, just FYI for those of you following along, my son Lance is not named after Lance Armstrong. He is named after my Jeffrey Lance. LOL!!

July 29 Finally got some pics of Lance at swim classes. He spent most of his time under the water, so he was hard to actually catch. His coach was giving him pointers here, so I jumped at the shot. It is one of the very few where you can see that it is him.

July 29 OK, so picture one of the male swim coaches (Allie's coach actually) letting out what can only be described as a girl scream. Turns out, this was in the pool... Texas man...

July 30 Allie showing off her new swimsuit.

August 1 We ran a few errunds this day and ended up at a little park in Allen, TX. They have a bunch of little play houses for the kids to play in and a maze to go through. We have seen it many times before, but had never taken the time to check it out. The kids ended up having a great time and we stayed for quite a while. Definately a place to burn off some energy the next time we are there!

August 4 We finally got to have our summer vacation. Jeff took the week off and we went to San Antonio and Sea World. We got there at about 9:45 and helped them open the park. We left around 8:15 when they are closing the park. We went to every show (even one at night) and spent a couple of hours at the water park. We only rode one roller coaster, the Shamu Express, because we ran out of time, which Lance and Jeff were a little upset about, but got over pretty quickly. The kids absolutely loved it and Allie left crying because she was going to miss Shamu. Luckily, she has a couple of reminders of him she got to take home. Hopefully we will get to back next year and check out the things we missed!

July 9

2009-07-14T22:20:00.001-05:00

July 9 A friend of mine asked me to take some pictures of her daughter, so of course while I was there, I took some pics of my kids. Allie had a hard time because EK had a bunch of scarves and hats that she wanted to wear. EK is at that age where germs are a big deal and she didn't want to share, so Allie threw fits. Luckily, they were cute fits. Lance is a trooper. He helped lug the bags around, never complaining. All of this, in 104 degree temps! They were well rewarded afterwards with Braums ice cream.

July 4

2009-07-14T22:13:00.001-05:00

4th of July We were true McKinney-ites today. We went to the parade and car show downtown, then had lunch at Spoon's Cafe for the first time. It was quite yummy! After that, we came home and slept for a couple of hours. Then it was off to the soccer fields for Red, White and Boom. There were tons of booths with free stuff - even a church that had a booth set up to make tie die t-shirts. The kids LOVED that. There were a bunch of bounce houses and face painting and games. We ate dinner, played frisbee and sat on our blanket and watched fireworks. I just love living in such a great community.

July 1st and 2nd

2009-07-14T22:10:00.000-05:00

July 1 Another trip to the sprinkler park!

July 2 We had a play date at the mall today. Of course the kids can't go to the food court without riding the carousel.

June 28

2009-07-14T22:08:00.001-05:00

June 28 A quick trip to the Sno Cone Lady in Frisco. So yummy, even I like them. Of course who wouldn't like Wedding Cake sno cones???

June 26

2009-07-14T22:04:00.000-05:00

June 26 We very spontaneously decided to go to the Celina Balloon Festival. The kids had a great time although they were disappointed when we wouldn't buy tickets for the rides or get them any glow stick things. Why do you have to buy stuff to have a good time??? Next time, we will go a little more prepared and bring blankets and drinks. Lots of fun! Lots of balloons.

June 19-25

2009-07-14T21:44:00.000-05:00

Oh my goodness!! I get three days in a row and then miss for a month. Oh well, what cha gonna do???

Jeff and I got new phones a few days ago. It is kind of cool to whip it out and take pics of the kids. Not great quality, but that is OK. This pic was taken at Durkin's Pizza, one of our favorite pizza shops in McKinney. Lance even eats the crust - which never happens!

June 20 This is a picture of Jeff taking a picture of me. LOL Remember how I said we got new phones. Yep, still having fun with them!

June 21 Father's Day! Love this pic of the kids and Jeff. Can't you just see the love they all have for each other. So sweet!

June 22 Speaking of sweet. Love this. There is nothing better than your child climbing up in your arms and falling asleep. She knows she is in good hands.

June 24 We spend a lot of time at either the pool or the sprinkler park. The kids love the water and have a great time when we go.

June 25 Allie helping me "clean" the bowl after making brownies for VBS. She ended up covered in chocolate.

June 18

2009-06-18T20:49:00.001-05:00

Look at me. Three days in a row!! My mother in law will be so proud of me!

Today, we went to the library for story time. They have it separated into big kids (1st grade and up) and little kids (five and under). Allie was so excited to go until they took Lance to the big kid class. Then she screamed. We ended up having to leave our room and go play with puzzles. She ended up having fun and just when she was ready to go back in, it was time to get the big kids. We were herded through a room, picked up the kids and got to pet a lizard on the way out - had to do with the theme of the day. Lance decided he wanted to check out a book on snakes and one on sharks. So, upstairs we went looking for books. We found the shark books and he picked out a book and a video. Allie wanted one too. Luckily, the butterfly section was right there and she got a video on butterflies (just to be like her brother...). Then, we walked around the corner to the snake section. On the way, Lance made me come back to look at a book he wanted. It is on Forensic Science. Yes, you read it right, Forensic Science. It has all kinds of stuff on bones, blood, fingerprints and who knows what else. I asked him if he was sure about it. He was, so we got it. I told him that I guessed he was my son since I have always loved that kind of stuff. Wanted to be basically a CSI when I was little. Funny that he has picked up on that too. Maybe my very early prediction of him being an architect was wrong!!

Anyway, we came home from the library, had lunch and met some friends at the sprinkler park by the school. They had a great time and we ended up seeing one of Allie's friends from school. That was a nice surprise! All in all, a great day. Kids were happy and un-grumpy most of the day. I, however, am exhausted! The summer might just do me in...

June 17

2009-06-17T18:00:00.001-05:00

Look at me!! Two days in a row!! We had a fun day today. Allie had her first day of "big girl" gymnastics. She is in a new class that she goes to by herself. Unfortunately, she wasn't as excited once she got there as she was on her way. She kind of freaked out that I was leaving. New kids, new teachers, no mommy. So, Lance and I sat to the side and watched. Every once in a while she would cry, but kept doing what she was told. LOL Hopefully next week will be better!! After gymnastics, we picked Jeff up and went to Sonic for lunch. Took Jeff back to work and the kids and I headed to the pool. It took some pleading, but I finally got the two of them out and got their picture. They had so much fun! Lance is really doing pretty well. He has never had swimming lessons, but has worked with my friend Stacey the last couple of years. He is putting his head under the water, but doesn't really know what to do from there. I have to figure out how to get him to understand how to move his arms and legs so he can go. Allie is doing well blowing bubbles and splashing around. We have plans to go back on Friday!!

2009-06-16T17:30:00.000-05:00

May 26 My parents bought an orchid for us when they stayed over here. It still has flowers and is so pretty!

May 27 Allie and I went to OKC so I could get my hair cut. Allie went in to use the bathroom and was gone for quite a while. I found her sitting on the floor covered in lotion.

May 29 The new haircut. She cut off a couple of inches off the back and it feels (and looks) so much better!!

May 30 We had Jeff's birthday today since I will be a church most of the day on his actual birthday. The kids loved it. And we all loved the cake!

May 31 We have a birds nest in the fence. They are pretty cute, but are making quite the mess of the fence!

June 3 We had kinder graduation today at Lance's school. I helped cut the cake and serve. It was lots of fun seeing all of the happy parents and kiddos. Allie had fun seeing Miss. Audra and eating cake!

June 4 Last Day of School!!

June 10 Allie hanging out at the grandparent's house. Such a happy girl.

June 5 We had Jeff's birthday with his family today. I couldn't resist taking pics of our niece, Morgan. She is super cute and quite the model!

June 12 Jeff and I were lucky enough to be invited to his company's lodge at Lake Tinkiller. We had a nice three hour drive, just the two of us. We actually go to have an uninterrupted conversation. We had a great time lounging about with his co-workers, eating great food and floating around in the lake. I am ready to go back!!

June 15 I took the kids for their summer haircuts. We decided to cut Allie's quite a bit to even it all out. She looks SOOOOOO cute! I think she is destined to be the short hair girl. That is OK though since she has started hating me brushing and drying it!

June 16 I think if I would let them, the kids would play in the water all day long. Unfortunately, the grass doesn't like it very much, so we have to limit it somewhat. But, they do have a great time!

May 22-24

2009-05-24T21:57:00.001-05:00

Hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day Weekend!! Here is ours so far...
May 22 Lance brought home some hangman sheets from school and has been playing with Allie the last couple of days. They like to climb on the window seat in the kitchen. She guesses some letters and then starts saying that he is drawing a boy or a girl. He gets frustrated and yells at her to guess some more letters. She gets frustrated and leaves. A few hours later... it all starts over again.

May 23 We took the kids to a sprinkler park today. It was just a touch cool, but once they got into it, they had a blast. Jeff and I sat back and watched.

Then, we went to the grocery store and got stuff to make burgers and some watermelon. Unfortunately, the grill ran out of gas before we could really get the burgers started, so they had be George Forman-ed. Luckily, the watermelon was good!!

May 24 The past few days, Allie has decided to sleep in her own bed. She had done really well before we moved and then had started again before my appendix surgery. After that, she was in bed with us. I would ask her if she wanted to sleep in her room and she would say yes, until it was bedtime. Well, last week, she was ready. The first night was rough and I was climbing the stairs every two hours or so, but she would always get back in bed. The next night, she slept until 6:45 and has done so every night since. She is an amazing girl. When she decides she is ready, that is it. It is done!! I am so proud of her. Anyway, she was still asleep this morning when it was time to get ready for church, so I ran back down and grabbed my camera. I have been shooting some in raw and it didn't quite know what to do with my switching the settings and changing the flash and everything quickly and it took this kind of crazy, sleepy looking pic.

May 11 through 21st

2009-05-22T15:02:00.000-05:00

OK, so I didn't do a very good job of keeping up with posting, but I have taken lots of pics!!

May 11 Playing airplane with Allie. She is a pretty happy girl.

May 12 Allie had muffins with mom at school today. They made these little pots for all of the mothers. They were so cute!

May 13 This is a pic of my Mother's Day present. Allie picked out the heart bead. Lance took me back a few days later and picked out another bead to add to it. LOVE IT!!

May 14 Lance brought home the class pet. "Duke" played Uno Attack with him. Don't really know why he was on his head, but Lance enjoyed it.

May 15 BINGO night at school again. So much fun, until it was almost over and Allie threw a fit because she hadn't won yet. I did and Lance chose a gift certificate to Charlie's Frozen Custard. It was pretty tasty!

May 16 Allie showing off her new "Chucks" and dress. The shoes have pink sparkly butterflies all over them. She fell in love when we saw them at Target and she wouldn't let me leave the store without them!

May 17 Here is an up close of the pot Allie made. Everything was done with finger prints. So cute!!

May 18 Allie showing off her "tattoo" that Jeff drew on her. She thought she was pretty cool!

May 19 I made little journal books for all of Allie's teachers. There is a picture of the teacher and Allie inside. I thought they turned out pretty well. And other than having to print the pictures a few times because Allie kept taking them, they were pretty easy to put together.

May 20 Allie practicing her bridge after gymnastics.

May 21 Today was Allie's last day of school. They had a pizza party and a Bubble Lady was to perform in the afternoon. Well, I got to her class, had a piece of pizza and she started complaining that her stomach was hurting. A few minutes later, she was throwing up in the bathroom. So, we had to leave. She fell asleep on the way home and slept for two hours - which is completely unlike her. Luckily, she woke up feeling better and after a Pepto, was up and acting normal. I took this pic as she was sleeping on the couch. She looks so peaceful.

May 10

2009-05-10T19:33:00.000-05:00

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mommies out there. Hope you have had a great one! We went to church this morning, came home and changed clothes and then surprised the kids with a trip to one of our local malls for a butterfly exhibit. Lance was so excited when he found out we were going. Allie... not so much! She loved seeing them, but was not thrilled when they flew close to her and especially when they dared to land on her. We had a few shrieks to deal with, but I think she had a good time. Since I managed to miss yesterday, I thought I would add a couple extra for good measure.

Waaaayyyy too many!!

2009-05-08T23:03:00.000-05:00

OK, so it has been a while. Sorry about that. Life kind of got in the way of keeping track of, well, life! I have missed quite a few days, but hopefully with the end of school and summer coming up, I will be able to get back in the routine again. Anyway, on with the show!

April 14 We have started going to Braums on occasion. We used to go pretty regularly in OKC, but we are glad we have "re" discovered them! Yummy!

April 17 We were very fortunate to be invited on a cruise with Jeff's company. This is of us leaving the Port of Miami on our way to Key West.

April 18 This is a picture of a seagull that decided to pose for me on Key West. The water was SO blue. Definitely not in Oklahoma (or Texas) anymore! We spent the day walking the shops of Key West, stopping at the Blonde Giraffe for coffee and then headed back to the ship to lay out by the pool and watch the boats go by. Lots of fun and lots of sun!

April 19 This is on the island of Coco Cay. It is the private island of the cruise ship. The weather was not exactly pretty on this day, so we walked the beach, laid in hammocks and lounged most of the day. It was truly relaxing.

April 20 We came home to a nice welcome home message on the front porch. I didn't realize until that point, how much I had missed the kids. They had a great time with both sets of grandparents, but I think they were pretty glad we were home (as were we).

April 24 Allie and I surprised Lance at school today with cupcakes for his birthday to share with his class and McDonald's. He is so cute when we come to have lunch with him. He loves to show us off.

April 25 Happy Birthday my 7 year old!! I still can't believe that he is seven. It just seems impossible. We had breakfast, and then I put together a treasure hunt for his presents (money). We got ready and went to lunch at WhichWich, went to Target and ToysRUs to spend the birthday money and then headed out to his soccer game. All in all, a good day!

April 26 We ran out of time the day before to have cake (plus we took cupcakes to the soccer game), so we had birthday cake today. He was pretty proud of his Monsters vs. Alien cake!

April 27 We finally made it to get pics with some Texas Bluebonnets. They were starting to fade, but were still really pretty. Allie wasn't thrilled about sitting on the ground with the "bugs", but I managed to get a few really good pics. I won't tell you about the "creative cropping" on this pic...

April 28 OK, so I didn't actually take this picture. Allie did. She is starting to show an interest in the other side of the camera. What I didn't realize is how dirty she made the lens, so think of the next few pics as having soft focus added to them!! : )

April 29 You thought I was kidding about the soft focus, didn't you?? Allie had gymnastics today and was hungry when we got home! She asked for toast with jelly and hot chocolate and that is what she got!! The blue all over her face is from the stamp she got at gymnastics.

April 30 OK, I actually like the "soft focus" on this picture. Lance was having a rough day and was throwing a seven year old temper tantrum. I had the camera on the counter and grabbed it. He laughed and all was well.

May 1 We went back to OKC for the weekend since we had a week off from soccer games. We decided it would be a good time to do Mother's Day and my sister-in-law's birthday. I thought the kids looked pretty cute in the back. Cleo is even chilled out in the back back.

May 2 These are the cups I made for Mother's Day gifts for my mom and Jeff's mom. Of course Jeff pointed out that they say "love Lance and Allie" and not "love Kirsten and Jeff". Why is it that the kids get credit for it? Hmmmm

May 6 Allie wore a pretty dress today and I had to take a pic of her. She posed next to the new plants we have on the front porch. I actually got her to look at the camera. Reverse psychology does work with three year olds!

May 7 This is the altered journal and note pad holder I made for Lance's teacher for Teacher Appreciation Week. I was really pleased at how it turned out. Now to do three more for Allie's teachers!

May 8 Lance had field day today at school. Allie and I came and "helped" his teacher. The kids all had a great time. I have no idea how his teacher got them to calm down (or kept them awake) to take a spelling test later in the day. I am a little nervous about getting this one back!

April 10, 11 and 12

2009-04-13T11:15:00.001-05:00

April 10 Allie and I drove to OKC for a couple of days so I could get my hair colored by my former hairdresser. I have had lots of bad luck (I think because of the products used) in McKinney and needed to get things back under control. I don't know why we have to have gray hair, but I don't like it!!! Anyway, Allie stayed with Jeff's parents during the day and I got a chance to go to the office for a bit. I picked up Allie and went to mom and dad's. We ended up at El Chico's for dinner and Allie had the best time. She loves seeing her Gapgas and Jujus.

April 11 I got my hair done and we headed back to McKinney. Allie slept from Edmond to Ardmore. She looks pretty comfy, don't ya think?

April 12 Happy Easter!! We got up around 7:00 which was way too late for the 8:00 service. Luckily, since we go to a very large church, they were having multiple services (six I think), so we were going to shoot for the 9:00 service. Of course we didn't make that one either and ended up at the 10:00 service. So sad... But, it did allow us time to take some family pics in our Easter clothes. We came home, fixed ham, homemade mac and cheese, green beans and bread and sat at the dining room table for lunch. Jeff and I took naps while the kids played and then we hunted eggs. All in all, a fun day!

April 9

2009-04-09T19:59:00.000-05:00

April 9 Well, we (Allie and I) have been sick around here and I have not taken pics the last couple of days. Today, there were loads of fires in North Texas and Oklahoma. It caused the sky to be red. Really, really freaky. Made for a pretty picture though. We were never in danger, as the fires were well west of us, but the smoke make it all the way to us because of the wind. I hope it doesn't make our sickies any sicker around here!

April 5 & 6

2009-04-06T13:12:00.001-05:00

April 5 We got back to work on the bed this afternoon. We had finished cutting the boards for the legs last weekend, so we got to work sanding. Lance even got to help out. He was pretty proud of himself. We were all covered in sawdust. The kids had some extra green dust from the chalk they colored my front porch with. Wonder how long it will take for that to go away???

April 6 Laundry day. What else is there to say other than blah!!

March 28 - April 4

2009-04-04T14:00:00.001-05:00

March 28 Jeff woke me up at 7:00 on a Saturday. I was a little upset with him until he showed me why he did it. It was snowing!! The end of March and snowing in Texas. CRAZY! It of course didn't stick to anything. It had been in the 70s the days before, but it was pretty neat to see. Definitely worth an early rise!

March 29 We spent most of the day outside working on Lance's bed. Jeff is building a bunk bed with a desk underneath. We have had the plans and the wood for a couple of months now (at least), but this was the first day of work on it. Of course did I get any pics of him working on it? NO! I came out with the camera and Allie wanted me to take a picture of her. So, I did. Then apparently I put it up and forgot about it. Oh well. I am sure there will be many other opportunities to get pics of the bed in progress.

March 30 Allie getting caught sneaking grapes out of the fridge. Like the hair?? She came to me with three "headbands" and wanted them all in her hair. So, I made piggies on the two sides and a pony in back. She ran around all day looking like this. Silly girl!

March 30 This is what you call a bad hair day. Lance took a shower the night before, but didn't bother to dry his hair before bed. Well, after a good night's sleep, this was the result. Needless to say, we had to wet it down and start over before going to school.

March 31 This is Allie getting her shoes on for school. She is still loving it, even though she is having a rough time with the transition between lunch and nap. Apparently she tends to throw temper tantrums when her teachers tell her that lunchtime is almost over. Funny thing is that once she calms down, she always naps.

April 1 We had soccer practice today and Allie and I went for the first hour or so of it. She ran around and had a great time. We came home and she took a bath, ate a second dinner and laid on the couch with Jeff while I helped Lance get ready for bed and do a little bit of homework. When I went to check on her, she had crashed. So, by 9:00, we had both kids in bed asleep and Jeff and I got to watch TV by ourselves. That almost never happens!

April 3 Allie had a birthday party this morning for her school friend Kate. Kate's mom is the music teacher at her school, so there were lots of kids from her class, as well as two of her teachers who also have kids around the same age. Allie was thrilled when we walked in and she saw Mrs Kim and then later Mrs Audra. She loves them so much! She had a great time at the party and I had a hard time getting her to leave. I think she would have stayed all day if I would have let her!

April 4 We had an Easter Egg Hunt today with the mom's group. Other than having to pull Lance away from the candy that came out of the pinata, so that the little kids could get some, we had a great time. The weather was pretty cold and windy for a while, but once we started the hunt, the clouds parted and the sun came out, which was really nice.

March 23-26

2009-03-27T15:02:00.000-05:00

March 23 Spring Break is finally over. It was great to have Lance home, but boy was I ready for him to go back to school! The two of them together can be a hand full. Allie and I spent the day at home, not doing much of anything. I had purchased some flowers for the party and this daisy was so pretty. Thought it needed a picture taken of it.

March 24 We have been bad about waiting until the last minute to do homework lately, so I made Lance get on the ball and start it today. I think he is starting to come around to believing me that if we do a little bit each night, it will be a whole lot easier than waiting until Thursday night to have to do it all. I think the "4" (perfect) on his last spelling test helped me out. He was very proud and realized that we worked on it early in the week. Hopefully we can keep it up and he will have more 4s in his future!

March 25 Lance got out the Lincoln Logs he got for his birthday for the first time today. I think he thought they were pretty cool. It took him a minute to figure out how to make them "work", but I have a feeling there will be many forts built over time.

March 26 I really don't take that many fish pics, but this is one of our newest ones that spent the whole weekend hiding so our visitors didn't really get to see her (him??). She is a Parrot fish and I think she is so pretty! She finally came out of hiding once everyone left (figures, just like a kid huh?).

March 26 Not sure these will be the "official" pics of the day, but I had to show them off. Allie got this tutu from our old neighbors who came to the party. We had a mini photo session this afternoon (right before it down poured). We are going to Family BINGO Night this evening at Lance's school, so I hope to get some pics tonight too. If I do, I will add them later.

March 20-22

2009-03-23T13:36:00.001-05:00

March 20 Last day of Spring Break and family in town! We went to a new park in Frisco with the mom's club. Lance and Allie had a great time playing with everyone. They thought it was the coolest park ever. It was HUGE and all wood. Their favorite was the sand box. They had so much fun burying each other. At least until another kid accidentally threw a bunch of sand up Allie's nose. Then it was time to go! We picked up Jeff for lunch and went home to wait on Gapga and Juju. While we waited, we invited one of Lance's friends over and the boys (along with another neighbor boy - all about 7) played together outside. They were so good, but I got a good picture of my summer and I am in for a lot of sweaty boy!! They both left when Gapga and Juju got to the house and then we went to dinner with them and Jeff's sister and her family. We had a great time and the kids loved seeing each other.

March 21 One of the reason's family was in town was to go to a wedding of a cousin. They are so cute and the wedding was very "them". This is how they drove off.

March 22 The other reason the family was in town was for the joint family birthday party for the kids. We decided that instead of having two family parties two months apart, we would have one in the middle of the two. All the grandparents made it, along with Jeff's sister and her family, and our neighbors from OKC who have a little girl Lance's age. It was great to have everyone here. Hope it happens more often!!

Oh, I forgot to answer bentonflocke's question about the soccer picture on March 7. All I did was duplicate the layer, applied a big gaussian blur (like 50) and then used a soft brush to erase the parts I wanted kept in focus. I did it mainly because I don't want to post pics of people I don't have permission to post pics of. Although it does give it a cool effect!

March 12-19

2009-03-19T16:40:00.000-05:00

March 12 Lance decided to take his lunch for the last day before spring break. He always fixes peanut butter and jelly. Doesn't matter what else is available, that is what he chooses. He is very good about making it though (other than picking up, but what almost seven year old is good at picking up?). He puts all sorts of things in his lunch box. Unfortunately for him, he forgot to take it. He wanted to save it for next week when he goes back, but was told no. Much to his dissapointment!

March 13 We went to the mall for a craft playdate today. I took lots of great pics and loaded them to Jeff's computer and then deleted them from the camera. What I didn't put together until later was that he dumped everything off his computer (along with the pics) and his last back up was before I put the pics on. So, no pics for today. But, I did take them!

March 14 We went to Oklahoma City for a wedding shower and spent today visiting with my parents and Jeff's parents. We had a fun day, but as for the pics... well, see the post above.

March 15 We went with my parents and the kids and the dogs to their neighborhood park to let the kids blow off some energy. Jeff and I took pics of ourselves. Love how this one turned out even though we are not looking our best. LOL

March 16 Well what is spring break for if not for working in the backyard?? We decided to put in a paved patio for the grill and a couple of flower beds along the back of the house. The kids were very helpful and I think we were all sore by the end of the day.
March 17 And here is the final product! LOVE IT! We still have another bed on the other side, but we are still tyring to decide what to do with it. It is nice looking out the bedroom window and seeing pretty color and not just grass.

March 18 We had a treasure hunt playdate today and the kids had a great time! One of the mom's club moms had a bunch of goodies thrown out in the park across from her house. The kids all hunted for treasures and then had snacks. Lance had fun, but was a little dissapointed that there weren't more kids his age. Hopefully he won't gripe as much when we talk about our playdates.

March 19 We got some tulips today and I had to take some pictures of them. They are so pretty.

March 4-11

2009-03-11T20:23:00.001-05:00

March 4 Lance started soccer last week. He is doing so much better this season than last. He is starting to get back into his old form. Running with the ball and in the mix rather than behind it. I am so glad he finally decided to play again!

March 5 I noticed that my plant had a flower on it today and grabbed the camera. Then I noticed the strange beads of liquid on it. I still don't know exactly what it is. Kind of like a sap of some kind. Made for a pretty pic though! Hopefully it won't turn into bugs. That would be my luck. LOL

March 6 We went to the park today with the McKinney Mom's Meetup Group. Allie had a blast and found this little lady bug. We have been seeing them all over lately. They are so cute and she loves to watch them.

March 7 The first soccer game of the season! We won!! Not that you keep score in U7, but... Lance had a couple of chances to score, but wasn't quite so lucky. The best one was when a little boy on the other team picked up the ball with his hands in order to prevent a goal. The refs (high-school students) didn't know what to do, so they put the ball at the edge of the goal box and Lance kicked it. The other team blocked it, he kicked it again, but it went out. So close!! I think he was very confused about what on earth was going on and why he was getting a free kick!

March 8 We tried a new Mexican restaurant today. The kids are not huge fans of Mexican and usually grumble about it the whole time. But, we walked in the door and saw the ice cream machine and they were sold. They even told us we could go back! Quite the compliment coming from these two!

March 9 Allie woke up on Friday complaining of leg pain. Being a mom, I worried about it, but figured she slept wrong or something. I watched her all weekend and when she woke up in tears Monday morning, I called the doc. We ended up going to get x-rays and to a lab for blood work (the nurse in the office tried twice to get blood, but couldn't get it, so she sent us to the lab). We stopped by the house to pick up Pinky the Dog to go with us. She was so brave. I asked the x-ray tech if I could take a picture of her laying on the bed. She said it was OK and said it wasn't uncommon for parents to ask! So, when we got to the "place that takes my bleeds" (aka lab), she had to have her pic taken. LOL Both the x-ray techs and the lab techs commented on how good she was. She of course cried with the blood draw, but luckily the lab got it on the first try. We found out the next day that all of her tests came back perfect and that she more than likely has a virus that has attacked the joint. It should go away in the next few days with no lasting side effects. Whew! It was a rough 24 hours for mom and dad, but we are so glad she is OK!!

March 10 Today was open house at school. Lance was so excited about it! He came home talking about it and basically counted down the minutes until it was time to go. He showed off his work in his room and around the school and we went to the book fair and got a couple of books. I took a pic of him next to the research project his group did on Jesse Owens for Black History Month. His part is the top right corner - In high school Jesse won many races. He is pretty proud of himself and so are we. Growing up too fast!!!

March 11 Lance came home from school today and wanted to read his new books so he went to his room and locked the door to keep Allie out. This is what followed. About 30 minutes of screaming. I have no idea how he read anything. I think he might have just done it to get away from her. He finally came down and they spent the rest of the evening playing. She was much happier!

2009-03-04T14:17:00.000-06:00

March 1st and 3rd

Well, I did it again and missed a day. ugg!! We have been pretty lazy lately and haven't been out of the house much. Other than taking pics of laundry, which I feel like I do ALL the time, I just haven't had much inspiration. That on top of the feeling like this is the Allie picture blog...Well, let's just say that I am ready for warmer weather so we can at least go to the backyard or maybe take a walk down to the pond. Anyway, here are the pics from Sunday and Tuesday!

I was cleaning up today and decided it was time for the Valentine's Day roses to make their exit. Since I knew how much they cost, I couldn't just throw them away. I have been keeping the flowers from special arrangements since late last year when my grandmother passed. I have them all in a little glass candle holder. Well, it has gotten pretty full and these weren't going to fit if I just threw them in, so I decided to arrange them at the top. It looks really pretty from the side, with all of the different flowers. I love the purple roses on top. It is pretty special to me.

Miss Allie staying up way too late, watching the Ok State Cowboys play basketball. She loves to yell "Go Pokes" with me. Even though she has NO idea what is going on, she gets pretty excited and keeps me company since I am the big basketball fan and hubbie is usually off doing something else. LOL

February 27 and 28

2009-03-02T10:12:00.001-06:00

February 27 Allie and Jeff playing Wii Fit. Allie loves to play, but she is so little, it doesn't really recognize her and she really has no clue what to do. So, Jeff, being the good daddy, gets on the floor with her and helps out. She loves it!

February 28 Jeff and I were working together on the computer and had all three of them on the desk and going at the same time. It was ridiculous. I had to get a pic of it.

February 25 and 26

2009-02-28T15:12:00.001-06:00

February 25 These are the things Allie likes to play with in the tub. I took this picture for the Photo Challenge at ES. The color was awful since it was nighttime in a bathroom. So, lots of "playing" later, I came up with this.

February 26 It was a beautiful day. In the 80s I think, so after I picked Allie up from school, we went to the park to wait for Lance to be out of school. She loved it. I took so many pictures, but I really like the way this one turned out. Thanks to Milly for the processing technique on her blog. Very cool!

February 19-24

2009-02-24T18:04:00.001-06:00

Well, I guess I can be proud that I made it a month and a half before missing a day, but I am pretty disappointed that I missed one! Hopefully I will do better.

February 19 I picked up Jeff for lunch and we got our passport pics made. The sweet girl at the store gave us both little pouches with travel size bottles and a passport wallet. They will definitely be used!

February 20 was spent at car dealerships. Apparently I didn't take any pics on this day. Bad, bad Kirsten!!

February 21 The first pic taken in the new car. The kids love it and Lance loves the fact that there is a third row for him alone. Silly boy!

February 22 Allie's princess dolls (and Star Wars Lego) laying out on the living room floor. She plays with these constantly. And yes, the Star Wars figure too.

February 23 Finally, a picture of the new car. A Mazda 5. NOT the car we went after, but the car we fell in love with. What can I say... Time to embrace the inner soccer mom.

February 24 Poor Lance is sick again. I swear, there is something about Texas that is making this family ill. He is never sick and this is twice in two weeks. Luckily (?) it is just fever. He doesn't seem to feel that bad, but has to stay home until it is gone. He had a good day playing video games, coloring and watching TV. Total and complete veg day for him!

February 17

2009-02-18T15:30:00.001-06:00

Hey look at me!! Only one day behind! LOL This should be titled something like Chocolate Mess. Instead of going home between Allie's school getting out and Lance's school getting out, we ran a couple of errands and then waited for about 30 minutes for him to get out. Allie is usually in a great mood after leaving school, so it seems to go pretty fast. Well, she got another Valentine's goodie bag from one of her friends. In it was a dark chocolate Kit Kat. She decided she wanted to eat it, so I told her it was OK. I turned around a few minutes later and this is what I found. Luckily she was still strapped in, so it didn't get all over the car. She was COVERED!! I knew she wouldn't like the dark chocolate (she is very particular about her chocolate), but I didn't expect this. Needless to say, she got the wash down when we got home.

BTW - if anyone is curious, the frames from the last post are from Doreen's Frame Collection by Doreen Stoltz available at DigitalFreebies.com

February 10-16

2009-02-17T13:42:00.000-06:00

February 10 Oh my! So much rain! School was actually called early today. Major storms hit Oklahoma and a tornado touched down about a mile from our old house. Glad to be in McKinney today!
February 11 I realized at 11:00 that I hadn't taken any pictures, so Cleo was a willing subject.
February 12 Lance being silly
February 13 The kids at the doctor's office. Lance has a sinus infection and is on antibiotics with his little sister. They were pretty cute laying on the bed waiting for the doc.
February 13 #2 I got a special delivery today! Love them! They are so pretty.

February 13 #3 Allie playing at PPP for the mom's group Valentine's party. Poor Lance had to stay home, but he and Jeff had a good time.
February 13 #4 The bags from the party. Lots and lots of kiddos!!
February 14 The kids oohing over their heart shaped pizza! Yummo! We had pizza and watched Madagascar 2 for Valentine's Day.
February 15 The American flag looking very pretty against the blue sky. This just kind of caught my eye and I am happy I stopped to get the pic.
February 16 Lance having spaghetti at Jason's Deli. Such a strange boy...

February 5-9

2009-02-12T15:23:00.001-06:00

This is what happens when you spend all day at a trade show and then have your kids tell you they will "help" bring your stuff in. Wow, thanks for the help guys!!

Allie has started figuring out how to work actual puzzles lately. She worked this 24 piece one all by herself. I think she is taking after her great grandmother!!

My washer of over 13 years has finally been replaced. It has been spitting out rust that then gets on the clothes. After getting a bunch of new shirts for Jeff for Christmas and then having them ruined, we decided to go ahead and get a new one. Funny though, it was hard to see it go. We got it when we very first got married. Luckily, the new one is HUGE and gets the stains out, instead of making new ones!

These are the decorations on my entry table. I was looking for something to take a picture of very late this day and love the way this turned out!

This is Allie getting ready for her birthday party playdate. She loved the cupcake cake with the princesses on top and had so much fun with her friends!

January 31 - February 4

2009-02-05T18:14:00.000-06:00

The Birthday Girl!! Happy Birthday by sweet little three year old!

We celebrated Allie's third birthday a day early since we have plans for tomorrow. She doesn't seem to mind though. LOL She had a great time.

I came across a robe our friend Kate gave Allie a while ago. It is still a little big, but she loved it!

It was such a nice day, the "kids" took a ride around the trails behind the house. Allie hasn't had much ride time in trailer and was super excited.

This is a picture of my newest iron wall decoration. I seem to have a fascination for them lately. We put it in the kitchen over the pantry door and this is my view of it. Jeff told me I should get on a stool to be more eye level, but I kind of like it like this!!

January 25-30

2009-02-01T15:23:00.000-06:00

January 25 - Jeff and Lance have been working on a helicopter model the last few nights. It is one they got for Christmas and apparently the person who gave it to them (me) knew nothing about models and managed to get one of the hardest kinds. They have to take each piece apart, glue and paint them. Lots of work, but Lance is loving it!

January 26 - Allie taking a bath. I actually let her use our tub and she had the best time. More like a small swimming pool for her! Then a pic of her asleep on the couch after bath time. She went to bed in her bed, but woke up about an hour later coughing. We brought her down and laid her on the couch with me. She ended up with her feet on the back of the couch, all sprawled out. Apparently, life is good!

January 27 - My new jewelery from Lia Sophia.

January 28 - Chicken nugget boy. Lance had a snow day today, well I guess ice day really. So, he was home all day. The kids had lots of fun playing together. I cooked chili for dinner - really, really good, but the beans didn't cook all the way and were hard - yuck. Of course my kids don't like "hot", so Jeff came home and surprised them with McDonald's. Happy kids!

January 29 - This is the view out my back porch. You can't really see it in the pic, but it was really foggy and cold looking.

January 30 - Allie and I went shopping for her party today. We spent WAY too much money on all things pink. Lots of necklaces, bracelets, ear rings, rings, tiaras and a couple of crafts. She couldn't wait to get home to wear one of her three new tiaras and ear rings. Too cute!

2009-01-26T14:30:00.000-06:00

Sorry I have not updated in so long, but I do have an excuse!! You will find out in a bit.

January 17 - Allie was sick, so we spent most of the day lounging on the couch.

January 18 - Jeff finally got the fireplace all put together. We won't need it too much in Texas, but it is nice to have! Looks so pretty.

January 19 - When all the fun begins... I woke up around 7:30 not feeling great. By 10:30 I had called Jeff to come home and made a doctors appointment for that afternoon. Around 5:00, the doc sent me to get a CT of my belly, about 10 minutes after they finished, the doc called and ordered me to the ER to be admitted. Apparently my stomach ache was my appendix and it needed out. So, around 9:00 pm, I was in surgery having it removed. This was the first time we have had to deal with something like this without family here. My parents spent the day with us and actually left our house when I went to the doc. When I called them to tell them about the surgery, they had just gotten home. So, the packed up the dog and came back. (Aren't they great??!!) They got back around 11:30 and Dad and Jeff were with me at the hospital at midnight - when the pic was taken. You know you have a great hubbie when he brings the camera because he knows you don't have a picture of the day. LOL

January 20 - I got to come home around 10:00 and mom, dad, Jeff, Allie and I watched the Inauguration all day. This pic is obviously of the TV.

January 21 - Well, let's just say it is coming soon. I took the picture on mom's camera and don't have it yet!!

January 22 - PJ Day at school

January 23 - Jeff's parents (the best in-laws a girl could have) came down to take over for Mom and Dad on Wednesday. The kids LOVED having the grandparents around so much. They are a great blessing!

January 24 - Well, what else do you do when you are spending your days on the couch recuperating? Take a pic of your daughter and yourself!

Well, if you have read this far, you must be exhausted. I will get yesterday's and today's posted tomorrow hopefully. Both kids will be in school and I get to come home to an empty house for the whole time! Woo Hoo!!

January 16

2009-01-16T15:12:00.001-06:00

Jeff took the day off, so we have been playing today. We went to the mall to try to find Lance some new jeans. Of course they didn't have his size. Twenty pairs of size seven, but no size six, except in the carpenter style which overpowers his skinny body. Ugg, so frustrating. Of course if we could find the two pairs that are missing, we wouldn't really need more! We stopped by PetSmart and came home with two new Fire Mouth Cichlids. Our fish have been slowly dying off for one reason or another (mainly one really mean fish), so we decided to go ahead and get Cichlids again. These apparently are pretty tame, so they will hopefully do well with the rest of the "community" fish we have. They are still in their bag, getting used to their home. I was afraid if I waited until we released them that I wouldn't be able to get a picture of them. So, please ignore the plastic bag!!

January 15

2009-01-15T13:02:00.000-06:00

Allie had her second day of school today and much to my surprise, it is picture day! Well, actually re-take day, but since she just joined, they are going to take hers. She wasn't really dressed for it, but that is OK. At least this time she will be happy, unlike the last time we tried school and she had red eyes from crying.

After I dropped her off, I went to Lance's school to volunteer in the work room. I managed to switch days with one of the other ladies so I can go while Allie is in school now and can actually get some work done. I am afraid she will miss it though. I finished up just in time for Lance's lunchtime, so I sat with him. He is such a silly boy. He was so excited to see me, but hardly talked at all. I had to drag stuff out of him. He is having a good day. They are learning about rocks apparently and seeing what they do in water. Oh the fun of 1st Grade!!

January 14

2009-01-14T16:11:00.000-06:00

Today was gymnastics. Since I got my new camera, I decided I would take it and try to get some pics. She is so busy, it is hard, but I did manage to get one of her on the rings. She loves the bars and the rings are even better because they swing. Think she is happy???

January 11, 12 and 13

2009-01-13T20:31:00.000-06:00

Well, I did really well for a week and then things happened. I still too pictures though, so I am proud of that. Finding the time to post them has been hard though. But, here they are!

You know it is a nice day outside when the balloons are out. We had a visit from one on Saturday which is always fun. The boys even got on their bikes to see it closer. Too bad they are building a house across the street from us. I guess we won't get them in our front yard again. Down the street is still fun though!!

Allie eating popcorn.

First day of school! First day of school!! Do you remember that line from "Finding Nemo"? That has been in my head all day long. Allie had a great day. She had fitness class and they are putting an ABC book together and worked on the letter M today. Ms Kim said that they would catch her up on the book. I can't wait to see what it is! She ate some of her lunch (don't really know what that means) and actually fell asleep at naptime!! She is super excited to go back. Mom is happy...

January 10

2009-01-10T17:47:00.000-06:00

My husband likes to tell me I am spoiled. Today, I actually admitted to it. Since committing myself to taking pictures 365 days this year, I have realized how many times throughout the day I wish I had my camera. But, the Pentax is too big to leave in my purse at all times and the older Canon is having some issues. So, we went to the store to look at pocket sized cameras to leave in my purse. I got the cutest little Canon and a hard case that will hold an extra memory card (for those times that I forget to put it back in after loading to the computer) and extra batteries (which I need on a regular basis). I love it!! I decided that the first picture should be of the family. We set up the tripod and turned on the timer. Not too bad for a little point and shoot. Oh, it is good to be spoiled - and to have a hubbie who spoils me!

January 9

2009-01-10T17:36:00.000-06:00

I am posting this a day late, but the picture is actually from yesterday. I promise!! Allie and I bought a plant a couple of months ago that is actually still alive, much to everyone's amazement. I used to have a pretty yellow flower on the top, but it fell off yesterday. Well, much to my surprise, there was new growth that we hadn't noticed before.

Allie and I worked at school in the copy room until the Vice Principal came in to tell us they were getting ready to have a fire drill. We quickly put away our stuff and decided to call it a day. She has so much fun up there. She runs around playing with the toys they have and helps me make "coffies", as she puts it. She loves seeing all the kids who come in and the teachers who talk with her. After that, we made a quick Target run and then went to Chick-Fil-A for a meetup with the McKinney Mom's Group. Allie had a little trouble at first because the older kids were (in Allie's words) playing dinosaur and "rawring" at her. Overall she had fun and I had a great time meeting a bunch of new ladies and catching up with the few I had met already. Lance had early release day at school and Jeff brought him so he could play too.

January 8

2009-01-08T20:55:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, I inquired about a preschool program for Allie. We have been talking about it for a while, but after last year's attempt (which wasn't pretty), it hasn't been a top priority. But, our new church has a program and she did so well in Sunday school, I thought it would be worth a shot. I got an e-mail this morning from the director and they have an opening in her class, so we met with her around noon today. Well, Allie left the school crying, but this time because she had to leave, not because she had to stay. She will have three teachers and they all seem to be fantastic, super sweet and one of them is an OSU fan! Allie walked into the classroom and introduced herself to one of the teachers and a few of the girls in the class came over and told her hi. She was shaking she was so excited. They lined up to get ready for lunch and she went fell in line with them, did the prayer and was looking for her lunch spot when we had to leave. She was so sad. I told her we would go look for a new nap mat and she perked up some for that. She loves to shop!

After that, we went to get logs for the gas fireplace. We don't really need them in Texas, but our living room has such high ceilings, that it doesn't hold heat well. We have a nice fireplace, so it made sense. We came home for a bit and I looked online for a local place that sells nap mats and found a place downtown. So, back in the car we went to this cute little shop Posy Lane. Turns out, the lady who works there went to school in Shawnee. It is so funny to meet so many people here who are from Oklahoma.

Speaking of Oklahoma...I am watching a kind of big ball game right now. Those of you who know me, know I am an OSU (Oklahoma State) fan, so you might not think I would care that much, but as I tell a lot of people, as long as OU and OSU aren't playing each other, I root for OU. So, in honor of their attempt at the Championship, I thought I would take a picture of the kids watching the start of the game - can you see the trophy behind them? Of course the lighting was terrible. I needed a flash, but it bounced off the TV. When I took it without a flash, the color was bad. So, Lightroom to the rescue! OK, I am going to grab a treat and hopefully watch OU become number one! Go Sooners.

Although in the words of my brilliant daughter, Go Pokes is better. : )

January 7

2009-01-07T14:58:00.000-06:00

We had gymnastics today for the first time in two weeks. Allie was quite glad to be back. Our teacher is out of town for an unknown amount of time, so we had two new teachers. They were a little more into gymnastics and not just play, which was nice, but had different rules and that was a little rough. All in all, it was a fun time though. In a couple more months, I will switch her to the three year old class and she will go alone. Can't wait for that!!

Jeff has been wanting me to get a Toll Tag for quite some time now. Apparently there is some mountain bike trail in Dallas that you really need to take the turnpike to get to. I noticed that one of the places to get the Toll Tags was the library. I thought that would be perfect. Get a library card, let Allie play, check out some books and get a Toll Tag in one trip. Well, we drove by Jeff's office first to get his license plate number since I forgot to get it before he left for work and then off to the library we went. Allie worked all the puzzles they had and then found three books to check out. We signed up for a card and were sent upstairs for the Toll Tag. We got up there and I started filling out the form. Of course I had forgotten Jeff's plate number in my car and had completely forgotten to write mine down at all. So, off to the car we go. Well, but this time it is 12:30 or so and Allie is hungry. Hold on baby, we have to go back inside and then we will go eat. She is NONE too happy!! I finished filling out the form and give it to the worker. Apparently they don't do Toll Tags very often and this is her first. Unfortunately for everyone, upstairs is where the majority of the adults in the library go. So, here I am in the blazing hot - when it is 60 degrees outside, there is no reason for the heat to be up to 80 inside - with a hungry two year old. Plus, there was an elderly gentleman sitting at the table right in front of the desk I had to be at. Well, needless to say, Allie was less than quiet and the gentleman got quite perturbed with us. I tried my hardest to get her to draw, use her quiet voice, whisper, but come on, she is two!! About 20 minutes later, we finally had our Toll Tags and library books and were on our way to Which Wich. Next time we go to the library, we will stick to the children's area!