I love Leah's face while she's in jail!!
We have had alot of fun fall activities this season so far. My favorite was going out to the Buckley homestead's corn maze. We really couldn't have made it thru the maze without Dana's guidance. It must be because she's in college :) and so smart! It still took us 1 1/2 hrs to complete. At the end a somewhat dorky guy who works there asked us what we learned and I said (thinking I was so funny) "I learned not to drink your water"!! (since they provided gross well water 1/2 way thru the course) I proceeded to crack my whole family up to the point of tears in our eyes but the guy just sat there with a straight face and stared at me. OOPS, I offended corn maze guy!
From there we went to Ryan and Aimee's to a pumpkin patch for more fall activities. We had a great time with them, got some pumpkins and went on home!
Dana and Cams navigating their way thru the maze in search of nasty water! 
Us at Universal
Cams at Blizzard Beach!
Cams and Leah at our resort pool, there were 3 differant pools and this was their fav! There was a shell thing in the middle where they would flip off of. Would've made Gramma Kathy nervous!
I love this pic with their ears on, they wore those scratchy things all day!
The first part of our trip was spent at the Laquinta In with all the North people. We had a blast hanging out at the pool with everyone! Then there was the beautiful wedding of our niece Melissa, I only have a few pics my memory stick was running low! then New Smyrna Beach, we had so much fun there chasing waves all day! Thanks Keith and Leanne!
She graduated!!! On May 21st Dana graduated from high school! Finally!! It was really a nice ceramony and I didn't cry once! I think I had a lot of time to think about it! The day of her party could not have been any better. The weather could not have been any better! I think we counted around 96 people that came! We could not have fit them in our house! We had so much fun with bean bas and volleyball! Good times as good ole' Ryan would say!
I can't believe that Dana only has 4 more days left of high school!!! Where did all those years go? I remember her first day of Kindergarten with her little Gymboree back pack (still stylin'even back then :) ) Recently our friend Michelle Hamstra took her Senior Pics. Here is just a few; there were so many great ones, she did an awesome job!!
This past Saturday Cameron and I ran our race for the Lan-Oak Fun Run!! Cameron ran the 1 mile run and came in 3rd in his age group! He even got a medal, we were so proud of him. That is the first sport he actually likes besides WII playing. I ran the 4 mile run and came in 4th in my age group, needless to say, no medal. But I came in 16th for the women's. I ran it in 43 min. Not my best time but I started out really slow not wanting to finish by walking, but I still did it! I wish I took my camera but I was so nervous I didn't even think of it!
My next race is the 17th of May at Faith Church and that's only a 5k so I hope to speed it up. It's really addicting competing. I just wanted to finish but now I want a ribbon or medal or something. Maybe the Olympics.......dream on!!
I recently posted about Leah's friend Sharon who was waiting for a heart for a transplant. Unfortunately Sharon passed away on Friday. It really hit Leah hard last nite and this morning going back to school. She had the saddest dream about her last night. How do you explain why God didn't heal her? Leah was so sad that Sharon never got to grow up and be married and have kids. Please pray for Sharon's family and her little friends who all went to school with her as they have the memorial service on Tues, and the days ahead!
Thanks!
Last Saturday was Dana's Winter ball for school. She had the nicest date, her friend Jay. She looked amazing-my only regret is that I didn't get a picture of her by herself (we were hurrying) I won't worry too much b/c Prom is only a few months away (wow-I guess I should just plant a money tree in my backyard with all these dances! ;)
Just when you think your kids are really smart.......
Leah went outside to go ice skating at the park across the street on Monday nite. Paul was watching her from our front window having a great time. The next thing he knows she is crying and blood is streaming from her face. His first reaction is that she knocked out her teeth (does the story of Cameron sound familiar here?), no, that's not the case!!!
Leah decided the "lick" the frost off of a metal pole, panicked, and proceed to rip her tongue off the pole. We just went over the results of doing such a dumb thing last week while watching America's Funniest Home Videos when someone else did that!!!
Needless to say her tongue is quite raw and painful!! We now call her "Flick"!!
Leah came home this week and told me that a friend at her school (who was always so little and sickly) was at Children's Memorial Hospital. I guess she was bumped to the top of the list for a heart transplant. Her mom emailed me last night and told me she almost didn't make it thru the night. Today she is going thru a 12 hour surgery for a heart bridge (?). You can visit her website at Carepages.com The user name is Memorialfamily and the password is mustangs. Then it brings you to another password and that is Sharebearreed.
It's pretty sad since I know that I take healthy children for granted everyday. It makes you realize how good you really have it. Leah has always had a heart for this girl, her dad tragically died while cleaning out his gutters and fell. We are also thinking of ways we can raise money for her family so if you can think of anything, requests would be great!
So prayers for the family would be great also!! Thanks!!
Wow-Dana is turning 18 tomorrow!! I can't believe how fast that went!! I also can't believe all the fun and great times she has brought us!! Yes, she had her share of being a "teen" but over all I think she turned out awesome!! Happy Birthday Dana!! And I can't wait to see what you do with the next 18 years!!! Love you!!
It seems that Tulip loves Christmas trees! I have a little tree in my kitchen and she loves to cozy up by it. Then when we put up our official tree, she adopted that one as her own!! Look how cute she is all snuggled under our tree, like a little present!! What you don't see is her trying to eat my tree skirt and lunging at me when I try to get her out of her favorite spot!!
This year we had Thanksgiving at my sister in law's church-it was great because they had alot of things to do for the kids. So we didn't have to worry about them getting into trouble! We had a great time and great food!
Dana and and her fav Uncle Ryan having a heart to heart in-depth conversation. By the way, Dana cut her own hair, at least 5 inches-she did a pretty nice job!
I love this picture! You really can't tell they are brothers!
At one point, Dana and I started taking pics of each other!
I know these are all of Dana but Leah and Cams were playing most of the time and I never saw them! Here's Dana and cutie Brett playing a tough game of air hockey-I think Brett won!
It was time once again for our annual Thanksgiving Day Hike-I thought it was a wash out b/c it was so cold and rainy the nite before, but it was beautiful out in the woods. Dana had to work and make the big bucks so we went without her :( Please don't look at our mismatched outfits, I haven't had time to coordinate winter wear yet!
This picture speaks for itself!
I took this great nature picture-so cool!
