Books

One of my favorite things to do is read.  I would call myself a more-books-than-most-average-people reader.  I started reading by myself when I was 4 years old and one of my earliest school memories is reading to my kindergarten class. 

I'm not sure how I survived childhood without the Harry Potter series.  I LOVE these books - my favorite favorite!  I have read them, listened to them (amazing!), and watched all of the movies MANY times!

The Trixie Belden series is my favorite mystery series ever!  My mom bought the first book for me when I was 12 and heading to camp for a week.  I came home from camp and begged her to buy the rest of the series for me right away!  Through the years, I have read the series many times over...starting with book #1 and going straight through to book #39.   

There are 10 or 11 Ginnie and Geneva books and I was able to find several of them at the library.  Ginnie and the Mystery Doll is my favorite. 

Henry Reed made me laugh out loud!  I loved reading about his babysitting business and about the time he thought he found oil - it turned out he tapped into an old home-heating oil tank.

Not many people ever heard of this book.  I loved it!  These guys were sneaky geniuses!

The Three Investigators were so cool!  There was recently a made-for-TV Three Investigators movie and it was really good!  It followed the book so well.

My mom read this book to me a lot.  The illustrations are what could probably be called 'lovely'.  Little Golden books were wonderful!   

I ALWAYS wanted a doll like Baby Dear.  Maybe that's why I had 8 children??

A couple of weeks ago, I read a blog post from a mom who HATES it when her kids bring her Berenstain Bear books to read because she thinks they are too long.  I think she's crazy!  There's no such thing as a GOOD book being too long - it just can't happen!  When my kids were young, my favorite books to read to them were the Berenstain Bears!  I watched the cartoon series when it was on PBS too.     

Franklin was another favorite - the books are so darn cute!  The TV show was awesome! 

ARTHUR is the coolest aardvark around!  I like the kids' books, the chapter books, and the series on PBS.  I watch it even when the kids aren't home :)

Game and Race

Well - the good news about the game is that WE WON!!  3-2 in overtime, but we won!  

This is the back of a winner :)  I have loads of photos of the kids' backs!  It seems that no matter where I was on the field - they always had their backs to me..

The race was a different story though - after a LONG rain delay, Castroneves (who started 6th!) was confused by the fire suit colors of the pit crews and went into the wrong stall.  He got a penalty and had to start at the back.  He ended 20th. Oh well.  

We Need a Win!

Since Dallin's team won the season last year in First Division, we were promoted to Premier for this season. 

It has been a tough adjustment.  It's not an easy thing to start out in Second Division as 11 and 12 year olds and then go to First Division.... 

And then finally make Premier for U18! 

We've had a lot of losses this season and it put us in need of having to play tonight at a "play-in" game for State Cup.  The winner of tonight's game gets to play in State Cup - the loser is done.  This could possibly be the last Club soccer game :(  

It would also be nice if Helio Castroneves could win today too!  Don't forget to watch Keenan this afternoon at the Indy Race!

Dallin is a Senior???

When did that happen?  Geez.  I think it was last fall that he had to sit in timeout at Kindergarten registration.  (true story - not the last fall part, but the timeout part!)  We had about 20 minutes last night before soccer practice to get started on some senior photos.  Which is your favorite?

(dumb cow photobombing!)

Too much sun in his eyes I think - we'll have to do this one again (and without the sunglasses!)

1976 - Upside Down

For some strange reason, I loved being upside-down when I was a kid.  Heck, I was just a strange kid.  I wanted to grow up and invent shrinking pills.  I really thought that it would be neat if we could take all the prisoners and make them take shrinking pills.  Then we could keep them in a shoe box and feed them a piece of bread a day.  When they weren't going to be 'bad guys' anymore, they could stop taking the pills and grow back to normal size.  I wonder why I didn't need therapy as an adult??  Anyway, I think this photo was taken in the fall of 1976 at our little house in Point Pleasant. 

MY 400th POST! (and a menagerie)

This is big!  400!  I have a couple of 'prizes' in mind for the first 3 people who contact me that they read this post. (some scrapbooking/papercrafting stuff) 

The other day when I looked outside, I noticed that I had a menagerie on the front yard!  (yes, I know the definition of menagerie is a collection of wild animals kept in captivity for exhibition)  Part of the definition is true for around here though - the wild animals part.  The being kept in captivity doesn't actually work - at least for some of the cows :)  All of these animals were visiting at the same time....

Yes, that is the driveway in front of the cows and the fence BEHIND them.  These 3 just can't figure out that they are supposed to be BEHIND the fence! 

Bread was quacking for me to toss him some bread. 

The cat was watching everything intently - notice the wide eyes?? - that's because apparently Bread the Duck told the Wild Geese that the people in the house hand out bread!! 

NO, I didn't feed them!  These are flying poop machines.

14 Years Old

Hayleigh is 14 years old now. 

We have half-smiles, stomping feet, long sighs, and apathy. 

(instead of cake - root beer floats!) 

14 is hard.  Too old for dolls; too young for dates.

1988 Throwback Thursday

This is one of my favorite photos - Baby Brandee - August 23rd, 1988 (1 day old) - Granny McVaugh visiting at the hospital.

20 Years Ago Today

I can hardly believe it - 20 years ago today my sweet Granny passed away.  This photo of her and my kids was taken when she got home from visiting family in NC and held Keenan for the first time.  (August 1991)  Even after 20 years, we talk about Granny almost every day.  Of course, we love eating her versions of  potato salad, Harvard beets, potato casserole, and spaghetti sauce!  

Well, That Wasn't the Best

Gorgeous Photo, but not the best race.  (Hopefully, it's the worst one of the season and everything will be awesome from here on out!)  Castroneves started 8th; finished 11th.  Keenan said "all kinds of mess ups".  

5th Birthday - 1974

Looks like I'm having tons of fun blowing out my candles on my 5th birthday!  It does look chocolate though....I probably got happier as soon as I had some cake :)

And for those of you who think that Kirsten looks like me, here she is at her 5th birthday party! (BROWNIES, of course!)

9th Birthday

For Kirsten's birthday we had brownies instead of cake.  Kirsten LOVES brownies!

She thinks it's funny when we sing Happy Birthday to her.  I wonder if it's because we sound horrible??

Is there anything prettier than candlelight?

9 candles make a lot of smoke!

Frozen has become one of our favorite movies.  Can't wait to go to Disney World again and see the characters!

Happy 14th Hayleigh!

Happy Birthday to a creative, super-talented young lady!  We're so glad you're in our family!

6 Months!

Just a quick update on Elder Watson III (Ethan).  He's been doing great!  He loves being on his mission...

Serving...

Supervising....

Elder Holmes and Elder Watson....hahahaha!

Little Red Riding Hood

Kirsten wanted to see Peabody and Sherman for her birthday.  I had totally forgotten how 'punny' Mr. Peabody was!  I also forgot about the 'wayback'.  I'm going wayback to 1970-something.  Our second grade class put on the play "Little Red Riding Hood".  I played the grandmother.  I was SO nervous about it, I was actually sick to my stomach.  All I had to do was throw my hands in the air and run away when the wolf showed up.  Clearly I was not destined for Hollywood.