Fondue Anyone?

Tonight we tried out our new fondue pot. Thanks Nana for the great Christmas gift. The kids loved it. For our first time we just made a chocolate recipe and dipped strawberries, bananas and marshmallows. I can tell this will be a hit everytime we get it out. Now we have our very own Melting Pot right here in Wichita!

Miles favorite seemed to be the bananas.

Grant of course liked it all!

Christmas Pictures

As promised, here is a slideshow I made with many of the pictures we took on Christmas Eve with Jeff's family and then on Christmas morning with my family. The kids are still talking about how this may have been their "best Christmas ever".

Christmas

What an amazing Christmas we had. It all started on Christmas Eve when Jeff's family came over to celebrate. Jeff got a Wii Fit from his dad and Debbie. We are all really excited about getting it set up. I got several new fun scarves and a couple of vests. Debbie always does such a super job picking out gifts!!

Grant got a new Nerf game for the Wii. It comes with a nerf gun that shoots real nerf bullets but you can also hook the wii controller to it to play a shooting game.

Even grandpa tried out the new game.

The drive down to Winfield was very exciting on Christmas Eve. Grant was sure that he saw a red flashing light in the sky, which we all of course know could have only been Rudolph's shiny red nose. Spiro made the trip with us and showed off his new Santa outfit. Here he is doing his favorite begging trick.

Santa brought Grant some new Webkinz. Somehow he knew that Grant was wanting the clown fish and the eagle.

He also got Rockband for the Wii.

And a new baseball bat.

The only thing missing on Christmas morning was Miles. He wasn't able to make it down earlier in the week as planned due to bad weather conditions up in Kansas City, but today Jeff picked him up and we did Christmas with him. He has been wanting a new laptop, so everyone, including his family in KC, got him gift cards. After doing a little research tonight he found the computer he wanted so we went to Sam's and got it and now he and Jeff are busy getting it all set up.

This is post is getting really long and I have oodles of pictures I would love to share so maybe tomorrow I will try to make a fun video slideshow.

Christmas Eve

Today we are busy around the Bumgardner house getting ready for all of the celebrations to begin. Tonight Jeff's family is coming over for our annual Christmas Eve get together. We always eat and exchange gifts. This year we are doing something a little different. Everyone has really been dieting so instead of a big meal we are just having soups and chili. Jeff of course wanted cinnamon rolls to go with his chili so this morning I have been busy making those. I also am going to make a pot of Mary's famous Chicken Noodle Soup. (She's the one who makes the fabulous cookies.)

Then tonight if the weather cooperates we are planning to head down to Winfield. It's always nice to wake up there and get right to the gifts and my mom's cinnamon rolls in the morning!!! Speaking of gifts, I still have a few that need to be wrapped and Jeff's grandma just called and wants me to take her over to Sams's so I'm sure there will be even more yet for me to wrap.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas.

Pajama Day

I have been looking forward to today for several weeks now. Could it be because I'm excited about all of the fun Christmas activities I had planned with my kids at school . . . nope, not really!! Could it be because it was my last day of school until January 5th . . . well maybe, I am pretty excited about that. Or was it because I got to wear my pajama's to school . . . yep, that was it!!! There's just something about taking a shower and getting ready for work and then slipping on your favoite pj's before you head out the door. The only problem came at the end of the day when I was thinking about stopping off at Target on my way home to pick up a few things and then I remembered what I was wearing and thought I might get a few crazy looks if I walked in wearing fuzzy snowflake pants.

A little explanation about the pajamas: Today we had "Polar Express Day" at school. We all wore our pajamas and did lots of fun Polar Express themed activities this morning. We even made festive bead and bell necklaces. I will probably hear little bells ringing in my sleep tonight!!! Then after lunch we got out our pillows and blankets and curled up to watch the movie. I have a super group of parents this year who wanted to host a party for us so they all came around 3:00 and we decorated Christmas cookies and had hot cocoa.

Here's a picutre of me and the girls all decked out in our pajama's.

We had a school sing along too!!! Jen snapped this picture of us while we were waiting for the excitement to begin. You can only imagine how loud the gym was with 8 kdg classes and 15 first grade classes full of kids.

(Michelle, Kelsey, Mary, me of course & Diane)

Happy Birthday Hank

Today is Jeff's dads birthday. Happy birthday Hank!!! Hank lives here in Wichita and is an optomitrist. Even though he lives so close by I don't feel like we get to see him nearly as often as we would like. He was been very busy the past few years remodeling his house and he always seems to have some kind of project going on. I know it's all going to look fabulous when he gets everything finished.

This is a picture I took back in August of Hank with the boys. I may have posted it before, but I just love all the happy faces!!

Happy Birthday Mom

Today is my mom's birthday. We went down to Winfield this morning to celebrate with her and spend the day. It's so nice having her close by. She is such a great mom and grandma. We truly appreciate everything that she does for us. She has always made a point to spend special "grandma time" with the boys and she has always been there for Jeff and I. Anytime I need her she finds a way to help me out and I want her to know how lucky we all feel to have her in our lives. I couldn't ask for a better mom.




















Happy birthday mom!!! I hope you had a great day.

Winter Weather

Even though it is not officially winter yet, I think it's here. On our drive to school this morning it was beginning to snow and it continued to do so throughout the day. I think we only got a little over an inch, but it was just enough to make the driving conditions unpleasant tonight on the way home. This wasn't a good week for Jeff to take my car. That left me with his little truck and I didn't do so hot. I'm not used to driving a 5-speed, much less on ice. Grant and I didn't go over about 10 mph on the way home and at one point we hit a really slick spot which caused me and the car beside me to begin sliding and spinning. I think we made two complete turns in the middle of Maple street. Besides being so embarrasing it was quite scary. I was sure the van beside us was going to hit us but somehow we manged to avoid each other. I however did not avoid saying a REALLY bad word during this spinning ordeal. It wasn't one of my finer parenting moments. I can't tell if it was the near wreck or me saying the naughty word that upset Grant more. It took awhile for me to get him settled down after we finally made it home. We talked more tonight about the bad choice that mommy made and I asked him to forgive me. I think all is well now but I really am dredding the thought of getting back out there tomorrow morning. Thank goodness my neighbor Mary works with me because I think we will be catching a ride with her. No more truck and icy roads for me.

Where Does The Time Go

It looks like another weekend has flown by. Yesterday morning we got up early to go have basketball photos taken. It was exactly what I wanted to do at 9:00 am on a Saturday morning. Then we spent the majority of the morning running errands. We met Jeff's grandma for lunch at Texas Roadhouse. I have been craving a loaded sweet potato and it was delicious. After a little afternoon nap we went to see the movie Four Christmases. It was a cute movie with lots of laughs.

This morning Jeff headed out for St. Louis so Grant and I relaxed around the house and then went to Wal-Mart to grab some groceries and a birthday gift for his friend Bryson. After dropping him off at the party this afternoon I went over to visit my grandparents. I took a few photos of them and then helped them make a Christmas Card. I thought this was a good picture of them, but they went with one of the shots I took inside by the fireplace.

Now it's Sunday night and I've got spelling test to grade and fabric to cut for a special Christmas gift my kids are making at school for their parents. Grant also needs to read me a few books to add to his December Book-It list. He learned last month it's not a good idea to wait until the end of the month to read all 12 books.

TGIW

Thank goodness it's the weekend. Last night we spent a quite night at home. Sometimes those are the best nights ever. After playing a few rounds of Mexican Train Dominoes with Grant, Jeff and I watched an episode of Kitchen Nightmares. If you haven't seen it check out some of the episodes here. Our neighbor Aaron shared this site with us (hulu.com) and when nothings on tv we check out reruns from some of our favorite shows here.

Grant is so excited. Last night he asked me if he could make his own blog. He wants to make it into a little diary so friends and family can read it. Jeff thought it would be a fun idea, and then when he is out of town he can check it and post little comments. We worked together last night to set it up. I think this will be good for him because he is super creative and he loves to write stories. I need to e-mail the link out to friends and family. If you could all do me a little favor and post a comment now and then he would be thrilled. As soon as we woke up this morning he wanted to check to see if anyone had and I reminded him that nobody knew about it yet, so we called Grandma early this morning to tell her.

www.theadventuresofgrant.blogspot.com

Jeff is leaving in the morning for St. Louis so I better wrap it up here and head in to work on the laundry.

1st Grade Blog

I thought it would be fun to create a blog for my classroom. Check out the link below. I'm hoping this will be a fun way to share photos and info with parents. Now I just need to find the extra time to keep it updated.

http://mrsbumgardners1stgradeclass.blogspot.com/

Animoto Video

I discovered this fun website where you can create your own unique slideshows of pictures. I tried it out today with a few pics I took of the boys this fall.

Thanksgiving Wrap-Up

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday weekend with family. I spent the majority of the day cleaning on Wednesday to get ready for everyone to come over. Both my family and Jeff's family always get together. We ended up with 18 people here at our house for Thanksgving dinner and had more food than you can imagaine. The nice thing is everyone contributes so nobody has to do all of the cooking. We had turkey, ham, 2 kinds of dressing, noodles, mashed potatoes, corn, broccoli casserole, green bean casserole, several kinds of salads, 2 kinds of homeade rolls, pumpkin pie, a pumpkin roll, ambrosia cake, and two kinds of pudding desserts. In fact, my refrigerator is still full of leftovers. After stuffing ourselves with all of the good food we started playing games. I ended up at the table with the Mexican Train Domino game. Jeff didn't have as much fun as everyone else. On Monday and Wednesday he had dental work done that didn't go as well as planned. Between pain pills every few hours he spent the majority of the day sleeping. He was thankful for the soft mashed potatoes and noodles. I lost track of how many bowls he ate.

On Friday morning Jeff drove with my dad and grandpa to Emporia to pick up Miles. While they were gone my sister came over to hang out and with her help I got all of my fall decorations put away and almost all of my Christmas decorations put out.

Jeff and I started a tradition on our first Christmas together, which was 12 years ago, to buy a Santa. There's not any certain brand that we buy, we just look for one that we like that is unique and we use them to decorate our mantel. I have written the year on the bottom of each one and by the looks of this picture I think we will need to find a new place to put them next year. The little built in nook above our fireplace is getting pretty full.














For Grant's first Christmas Jeff's mom bought him an adorable snowman from Hallmark that played music. He absolutely loved for her to turn it on and rock him to sleep. She lost her battle with ovarian cancer the following year, but wrapped in a closet we found another snowman for Grant from the same series that she had bought to give him for his 2nd Christmas. Hallmark quit making this snoman collection the following year but I decided to continue on with the tradition. Each year I buy Grant a new snowman and mark it with the year. When he is old enough to have his own house and family I will pass them all on to him. In the meantime we get to enjoy them. This year I bought him the one on the bottom shelf at the back on the right hand side with the green scarf.




















On Saturday my sister came over again to take a family picture of us for our Christmas Card. I think Jeff spent more time with the camera in his hands. Here is one of the pictures he took on the front porch with me and the boys. It was super cold and windy so we had trouble finding a spot where my hair wasn't blowing in every direction. This is kind of a deceiving picture because Miles is actually taller than me. I'm just standing on a step that's a few inches higher than where he is.

Completely Obsessed

So for those of you who know me well you know that I am a huge perfectionist. Once I start a project it has to be just right. Well, I haven't really been happy with the way all of this tie-dying has been turning out so I watched some online videos and practiced all afternoon on Saturday on several of Jeff's white under shirts and I am finally happy with the way it looks now. I started taking orders today at work and it looks like I'm going to very busy over Thanksgiving break.

It's Beginning to Look a Little Like Christmas

A few weeks ago several of our neighbors began putting up their outdoor Christmas lights. Jeff and I of course thought it was crazy because our mums were still in full bloom and we even had the pumpkins still sitting out. It's hard for me to get the Christmas spirit until after we have enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner. Then yesterday I began thinking about how unbelievably cold it has been the past few years when we have been out in the snow and wind trying to put our lights up after Thanksgiving and I decided maybe that was even crazier. So yesterday afternoon I bit the bullet and got down the lights and began lining the driveway. For the past few years all of the neighbors on our block have lined the streets and driveways with white lights. It looks so festive when you drive down our street.

I still have cute snowflake lights to go up on the front porch, garland, wreaths, etc. . . but most of what's left is a two person job and Jeff can't do anything like that for about a week now so I may have to enlist the help of my family when they come up on Thursday for Thanksgiving. Hopefully on Thanksgiving everyone will be able to overlook the Christmas lights outside and enjoy the fall decorations that are still up inside.

In other news, I have a few cute stories from school last week.

1. On Monday one of my students brought me a bunch of stapled together sheets of paper full of short vowel words that he had wrote. I was reading along and got to the list of short i words and there was the word "bitch". I guess he proved he knows what sound short i makes.

2. On Tuesday we began our Native American unit. I always read several stories to the kids throughout this week and many of them are indian legends. When I asked if anyone knew what a legend was one of my little boys raised his hand and told me that a legend was a really nice shopping area in Kansas City. Not exactly the kind of legend we were going to talk about!

3. On Wednesday I found out that yet another one of my little boys was being picked on by some other kids on the bus. Long story short, all of the boys were interviewed by the principal and then I got the report to read. Come to find out my boy was calling the other boys "fart weiners" and "butt waxers". We all got a pretty big kick out of those names in my hallway. I guess he knew they were all bad words so he just put them together to make it sound worse.

Gosh I can't wait to go back to school tomorrow . . .

Jeff Update

Jeff's scheduled visit to the hospital ended up happening a little sooner than we planned. He called me late Thursday afternoon at work and told me he was having chest pains so I rushed home and took him to the ER. After hours of tests and waiting they ended up admitting him late that night. Friday morning he went into the cath lab as planned and his cardiologist couldn't find any new blockage and reported that all of the stents that he has are beautiful. This was good news. The doctor is convinced that this was all stress related so now comes the difficult task of trying to destress Jeff. I think alot of it has to do with the crazy travel schedule that he has had this year. He was gone every other week from January - June and then again from August -November. Thankfully other than a quarterly meeting in St. Louis in mid December he is home and he is going to try to get all local regions for next year.

Jeff is also really interested in trying to adjust his diet somewhat. We are going to try the anti-inflammatory diet. Many of the foods that you are encouraged to eat are all foods that were low point Weight Watchers foods so maybe this will help keep me on track and take off the last 5-10 lbs I would like to lose. We went shopping this morning and stocked up on salmon, tilapia, shrimp, fresh veggies, whole wheat pastas, berries, etc . . . I guess this means we better throw out all of the left over Halloween candy.

I was able to sneak away from the hospital for a few minutes on Friday to go to Grant's Thanksgiving program at school. My mom stayed with Jeff and my dad and I went to the show.

Grant was the narrator.

WSU Shirt

The KU shirt ended up being a big hit at school. I had several requests, so I tried my tie dying skills again and made a WSU shirt. I tried a different technique and I don't really like the results as well. This is just a sample, but I'm thinking there is WAY too much color on it. I'm learning lessons as I go so hopefully I will get it just right next time. Don't worry K-State fans I didn't leave you out . . . I tried to do a purple shirt but I hate the shade it ended up being. It was more of a pink than a purple. I guess I need to add more blue dye to the purple.























In other news, Jeff had a visit to the cardiologist yesterday and it didn't go as well as we had hoped. If you remember, he has been in the hospital three times during the past few years. Once in July 2006 for a heart attack & stints, then again in February of 2008 and June of 2008 to have stints put in. I guess we are headed back again bright and early Friday morning. We are hoping that he will just have to have another stint (current count is at 5) but if they are not able to do yet another stint then it will have to be bypass surgery. Please keep your fingers crossed for us that it isn't that serious. I'll hopefully post more news over the weekend.

Happy Birthday Maggie

Today is our niece Maggie's 2nd birthday. She lives outside of Oakland, CA so we don't get to see her nearly as often as we would like to.

This is one of my favorite pictures of her and the boys. She was about 6 months old at the time and still living in Kansas City. Those were the goold old days!!!

Jeff and I went to San Francisco back in March and we got to visit her then. Isn't she a cutie pie? Just think, if she lived closer I would be able to do alot of babysitting (hint, hint).

Back to the 80's

Last night we went over to Buhler with Jeff's dad and Debbie to see Nick (Debbie's youngest son) in his final high school musical performance. We got to take a little musical trip down memory lane. It was called "Back to the 80's". It was so much fun to hear all of the popular 80's songs that I grew up listening too. Grant even knew several of them thanks to Guitar Hero Rocks the 80's.

Yesterday was also Nick's 18th birthday. He was so busy this weekend with football and the musical that we didn't have time to celebrate. We are planning an official celebration next weekend with everyone.

I was able to grab a picture of Grant with uncle Nick after the show.

My First T-Shirt

Now it's time for the big unveiling. I finished up my first shirt this morning. I had to make a quick run to Hobby Lobby before I could put the finishing touches on it. This was my very first time to tie dye anthing so I can only imagine that it will get easier and easier. Now that I kind of know what I'm doing hopefully there will be more of a pattern to the tie dying. I'm thinking about making some purple ones with KSU on them (I think K-State would be too long) and maybe even some black and gold WSU ones. Do you think they would sell? Be honest.

Here's and up close look at the KU. I really wish I would have put the U down a little bit. Yikes!!!

New T-Shirt

Last night there was a mom at Grant's basketball game that had the cutest KU t-shirt ever. She bought it a few weeks back at the Holiday Galleria here in Wichita. When she told me how much it was I was shocked. She paid $70 for it. I thought this was super expensive for a t-shirt so I have decided to try and make one for myself. The girls at work are all excited to see how it turns out. I'm afraid I may be making several more if they turn out ok.

Stay tuned for pics . . .

The Globetrotters

Tonight the Globetrotters had their first basketball game of the season and it was exciting. Grant's team is playing in a pre season tournament. For the first time it seemed like everyone knew exactly what they were supposed to be doing and they played like a real team. This group of boys has played ball together for the past 2 years and it is so much fun to see how they have improved. Tonight they were actually passing the ball, setting up plays etc . . . It was the real thing!!! The final score was 33-4 although one of our players actually scored 2 of those points for the other team because he shot at the wrong end, oops!!! Grant scored 8 points so he was very excited.

Here is Grant starting off the game by jumping for the ball. He's #9.

Grant doesn't seem nearly as tall on the basketball court as he did on the soccer field.

Since Jeff's out of town I think I need to get out the book to our camera and figure out the best indoor setting to capture these action shots. Hopefully I will have some better pictures to share after our next game on Thursday night.

Prayer Request

My thought and prayers are going out to the family of Kent Walker. He is the younger brother of one of my sisters oldest and dearest friends. Kent was injured in a motorcycle accient on Saturday, November 1 in Winfield.

The Winfield Daily Courier filed this report:
A Winfield man injured in a motorcycle accident Saturday remains in critical condition at a Wichita hospital, but he is slowly making progress, his family says.Kent Walker, 22, was taken by air ambulance to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita after he was thrown from his motorcycle in an accident at Seventh and Main Saturday evening. He has undergone several surgeries since, his family said.The night of the accident, Walker had surgery to put a plate in his head to repair a crack in his skull and to relieve pressure on his swollen brain. Since then, he has undergone two surgeries on his left knee and a surgery to repair his collar bone and to install a rod in his upper thigh.

His family has set up a website thru Caring Bridge for friends and family to be updated on his progress and well as for friends to leave messages.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/kentwalker

Remembering Mick

I'm sad to share with everyone that my grandfather passed away last week.

Clifton "Mick" McDonald, 87, Odessa, Mo., passed away October 31, 2008. Graveside services with full military honors were held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, November 5, 2008, at Woodlawn Cemetery. Visitation was 6-8 p.m. Tuesday evening at Carson-Speaks Chapel.

Mick was born January 1, 1921, in Lamar, Mo., and grew up there. He was a U.S. Army veteran of WW II. He worked at the Ford Claycomo Plant for 31 years. Mick was a member of the Bee Squares Square Dance Club of Odessa, VFW Post #1000 and attended the Odessa Baptist Church. He loved the outdoors and sports. He enjoyed fishing, hunting, bowling and playing with his grandkids. Mick was preceded in death by his wives Lois Lucille "Cookie" (Cookston) McDonald and Pauline (Burnett) McDonald; sisters Helen Lucille Jarvis and Leah Beth Jarvis and brother Olan Ernest Jarvis. He is survived by his wife of 20 years, Susie McDonald, of the home; daughter Janet K. Whitehead and husband Wayne, Independence, Mo.; stepdaughter Linda Morris and husband Dennis, Winfield, Kan.; granddaughters Heather M. Whitehead, Independence, Mo., Kelly Bumgardner and husband Jeffrey, Karen Morris, all of Wichita, Kan.; and great-grandchildren Miles and Grant Bumgardner.

Mick and my Nana were married in July of 1988. I was 10 years old at the time. Many of my early memories of Mick are setting at the kitchen table playing games. One of his favorite games to play was Farkle (which is a game played with 6 dice), we also played Rummikub. I will be the first to tell you that Mick did not like to lose. I can still picture him now throwing his dice down and scooting back from the table at the end of a game in a disgusted manner if he wasn't the winner.

Mick was known for ALWAYS having a toothpick in his mouth. He is one of the only people I know who can lay their head back (for a little nap) and begin snoring while still holding a toothpick to one side of his mouth without swallowing it.

Mick absolutely loved the water. Everytime he came to Winfield to visit us he wanted to go to the pool at the Country Club. Mick was not a large man, but he always insisted on having me get up on his shoulders and dive off. At some point, I became afraid that I was going to hurt him so I would look for every excuse to not have to do this. I didn't think it would look good in the paper to see a teenage girl breaking an elderly man's back, do you?

This weekend I am hoping to spend some time going through my old pictures (and maybe even my moms) so I can make a collage of photos to share with family. Stay tunned . . .

Elvis

Grant dressed up as Elvis for Halloween. He really got into character. Every time he got a piece of candy he said "Thank You Very Much" in his best Elvis voice. He has been practicing for weeks. He got several requests for songs tonight but he didn't perform any. I think he was a little embarrased! Don't you love the sideburns?

Carving Pumpkins

Tonight we carved pumpkins. We ended up having lots of extra help. My sister Karen and her friend Jamie came over, as well as Grant's friend Kaden who lives down the street. We bought a pumpkin carving kit but unfortunately all of the designs were so detailed that it made the process seem much harder than it should be. We ended up just letting Grant draw his own silly faces and we carved those. That was probably more fun for him anyways. I don't think we will probably win any awards though!!!

Here are Grant and Kaden goofing off.

Grant with Aunt Karen

Grant showing off his jack-o-lanterns.

Wii Had A Fun Night

Last night we went to Felipe's for Mexican food with our neighbors Amy and Aaron. Even though the food wasn't super we still had a fun evening. When we got home Aaron made the mistake of asking to see Grant play Guitar Hero. I will have to take some video footage of him playing because he is unbelievably good for an 8 year old. Amy and Aaron were both pretty impressed. I'm sure they will be getting one of their own soon!!!

Then we went downstairs and played the Wii. First we played a game of bowling, then we had a little home run derby and then someone thought it would be a good idea for us to have a boxing tournmanet. That turned into quite an event and believe it or not Grant beat us all. At one point we had to open the windows because we were all so hot. Who knew playing video games could be such a workout. I don't know who had more fun Grant or all of us adults?

Here's Amy bowling for the first time.

Amy and I boxing. She beat me!!!























Aaron taking a swing at a ball during the home run derby.

Grant and Daddy boxing.

Thursday Night With the Bumgardner's

Tonight Grant had his first basketball practice. It was raining outside when we left the house so instead of taking our nice "newer" camera that we got back in the spring, I took the old one that would fit in my purse. Bad idea!!! All of my pictures turned out horrible. It doesn't do a good job in the gymnasium lighting. Basketball seems to be the only sport that we don't have good pictures of the boys playing so I am hoping to get some good ones this year.

I did get a few shots of Spiro. He doesn't look super excited in any of them, expecially the one that Grant took of Jeff and I. He does look awfully cute in his new sweater though. We picked it up at Target last weekend.