Happy Birthday Jeff

Happy birthday Jeff!!!

Today is Jeff's 43rd birthday. I can't believe he is so old!!! Grant and I called him this morning to sing "Happy Birthday" on our way to school. Jeff is STILL out of town. He left last Thursday to go visit his friend Brad in Deluth, MN for the weekend and then he has been in rural Minnisota all week working. We are very anxious for him to get back on Saturday afternoon. We are planning a big family celebration on Sunday.


Everyone cross your fingers that there won't be any disasters today. Ever since Jeff turned 40 it seems like August 28th has been cursed.


On August 28, 2005 we had a terrible storm here in Wichita . We had been in our new house just over a year (we moved in August 1, 2004) and our basement completely flooded. The sump pump quit working when the electricity went out and the drain beside the sump pump was clogged so there was no place for the water to go. We had a builders warranty but it had just expired and it didn't cover ANY of the damage. Water was up over all of our trim work throughout the entire basement. It took nearly 4 months to get the basement repaired and livable again.


On August 28, 2006 hurricane Katrina hit.


On August 28, 2007 . . . Now who's the old one??? I know something happened but I am drawing a blank. I'll have to think and update this later.

Weekend Wrap Up

What a weekend!!! It all started on Friday night with my neighbor Mary and I hosting a CAbi party. For those of you not familiar with the company CAbi stands for Carol Anderson by Invitation. Carol Anderson is a designer that used to carry lines in Dillards, Nordstroms & Macy's. Now she designs two collections a year (spring/summer & fall/winter) and it is sold exclusively by consultants at home parties. They have got a great fall line that just came out. Here is the link to their website so you can check it out. Our party was a big success. We sold almost $1500 so we both get several items half price. I'm having a really hard time deciding what to order because there are so many things I would love to have. Lucky for me a few friends signed up to host a party so that means even more half price items.

http://www.cabionline.com/Fall2008/splash_flash.asp

Jeff was out of town this weekend and Grant spent the night at the Roy's house so it seemed like the perfect night to go out with some of my friends after the CAbi party. We went to The Pumphouse which is down in Old Town and had a few drinks and then decided to go to Heroes for a few more drinks. We are all about the same age and we were feeling WAY to old for the crowd that was there. I did however run into someone from Winfield. For those of you who are WHS alums, Cyrus "Andy" Flemming is a bouncer at Heroes. Sorry, no picture! I did get a picture of us girls with my cell phone. This is Amy, Ginger, me & Andrea. We have decided that we are going to make this a monthly thing from now on. We had such a fun time together.
Saturday morning I got up suprisingly early for not getting home until around 2 am and went down to help Mary do all of the clean up from the party. Then Grant and I headed down to Winfield with my sister to spend the day with my mom and dad. We spent most of the day just hanging out and then Grant and I went over to see my friend Amy and her family. She has a son named Hunter who is the same age as Grant and a little girl named Ava who is 3 going on 13. Amy and I had fun catching up while her husband Trey played bartender and made us Effen Martinis. It was some kind of concoction of Effen Vodka, champagne & pomegrante liquor. Hunter wanted Grant to spend the night so after we got the kids all settled down with a movie Amy and I went down to O'Kellys for about an hour. All I can think to say is lame!!!!

Ava loves our dog Spiro so Amy came over to my parents house this morning to bring Grant home and while the boys played tennis Ava got some Spiro time in.

Doesn't Spiro look happy to see Ava.

Best Cookies Ever

I have really been craving sweets lately and tonight I finally gave in and made a batch of my neighbor Mary's special cookies. Now, these aren't just any ordinary cookies, they are probably the best cookies ever. They are a secret recipe that she got from a family member who used to work at Mrs. Field's Cookie Company. Mary is an INCREDIBLE cook and known for her cookies. A few years ago she actually wrote and published a cookbook. I was one of the first people to buy the cookbook and it was of course mainly for the cookie recipie. So, tonight I thought I would pass the secret on to you.

Mix the following ingredients together:

3/4 cup Parkay (melted)

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon soda

2 teaspoons vanilla

Then add:

3 cups flour (1 cup at a time, stir after each cup)

Then add:

1 bag of chocolate chips

Drop dough in HUGE rounded tablespoons on a greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes

I usually only get 12-16 cookies out of each batch.

A Fish Tale

This summer Jeff and the boys discovered fishing. I was really excited because this seemed like a perferct "boy bonding time" for all of them. Like most of Jeff's hobbies he always goes "all out". We now have an entire section of the garage devoted to fishing tools and accessories. For those of you who know Jeff this is not a hobby you would have ever imagined for him to get into. Bless his heart, he is not really the outdoorsy type. But, they all seem to really be enjoying it so I just sit back and smile.

Tonight before dinner Grant and Jeff went over to Gran's house (Jeff's grandma) and went fishing in her backyard. I happened to drive up at just the right moment and caught all of the excitement with my camera.

Jeff caught a fish and he tried to take the hook out.

Then Grant tried to take the hook out.

Then Jeff and Grant tried to take the hook out.

Everyone worked together to get the hook out. I even put down the camera for a few minutes and tried to do it by myself.

Finally after trying nearly every "dehooking" tool that we own, the line broke and we were all feeling really sorry for the fish and dinner was ready, so we ended up just throwing the fish back in the pond with the hook still in his mouth.

Happy Birthday Randy

Happy Birthday Randy!!!

Today we celebrated Randy's 20th birthday. He is one of Jeff's soon to be new little brothers. Randy's birthday was really on August 10th, but today was the first time we were all able to get together. It's hard to believe that Randy is already 20 years old. When Hank (Jeff's dad) and Debbie met he was only in 8th grade and now here he is getting ready to head off to Hays again on Tuesday to begin his sophomore year in college.

Debbie, who is a great southern cook, made us an amazing meal today. Her specialties are a cheesy potatoe casserole with a cornflake topping and macarroni and cheese. She also made meatloaf, corn, hot rolls and we topped off the meal with birthday cake and ice cream. I really should be at the gym instead of sitting here on the bed typing this and watching the olympics.

1st Day of School

Grant and I were both up bright and early to get ready for our first day of school. Even though Grant wouldn't admit it, I think he was a little nervous. This year he is going to a new school that has 2-5 grade. He has always felt so at home at my school because all of the staff know him and he knows his way around. My mom said before she took him this morning he was complaining about having a stomach ache, but as soon as he walked through the front door and the PE coach greeted him with a high five he was all better. After school when I asked him how his day was he said "it was tight". In other words, he had a great day!!!



I had my fair share of first day jitters as well. It's always scary going in that first day and not knowing entirely what to expect. If I had a dollar for everytime I said the name "Emma" today I would be able to go out and buy myself a new outfit to wear to school tomorrow. They seem to be a really fun group of kids. There are always a few that really challenge you each year and within the first few minutes I knew exactly which ones they would be this year.

Fun With Grandma

Even though summer break doesn't last very long it is always so hard to get back into the routine of going back to work and getting Grant ready for school. It's hard to believe that he is going to be starting 2nd grade tomorrow. It's even harder to believe that I'm old enough to have a 2nd grader!!

Jeff of course is out of town this week so he is missing all of the excitement and chaos. Somehow all of his team meetings in St. Louis happen to be scheduled during the first week of school, conferences & the last week of school. Coincidental??? Thank goodness we have so much family nearby to help out during times like these.

Today Grant spent a fun filled day with grandma (my mom). She came up last night and spent the night with us and then today they went shopping for new shoes for him to leave at school for PE. Then they went and got a back to school haircut. They even found time to go on a walk and play outside. Somehow super grandma even found time to do all of our laundry. Thanks mom!!! Tomorrow morning she is planning to take him to school for me so she can take his picture with his teacher.

South Hall Girls

So the girls and I survived our first day back at school. It's always good to get back and see each other but getting up early this morning was really tough. For those of you who don't know all about my school, I teach 1st grade at Vermillion Primary School in Maize, KS. I work in a building with approximately 800 Pre-K thru 1st Grade students. There are 15 first grade classrooms.

This is team "South Hall".

This is me with Robin, Diane, Michelle & Kelsey.

Don't we look excited to be back!!!

Today was also a big day for our dog Spiro. He got a much needed hair cut. He always knows when he is going to the groomers. Jeff's grandma usually takes him along with her dog Maizy and he likes to play this fun game where he runs from side to side in the back seat of her car while she goes back and forth from door to door trying to catch him. We got him around Valentine's Day two years ago. He is a Boodle (Bichon/Poodle mix). We let the boys pick his name. Grant wanted to name him Spike, which didn't seem appropriate for a 2 lb little ball of fur, and Miles wanted to name him Jethro????? So Jeff put the two names together Spike & Jethro and came up with Spiro. Now you know who the creative one in the family is.

This was Sprio the day we got him. We had to put a bell around his neck because he was so tiny and he would get right under our feet and we wouldn't even know he was there.

This is a picture of Sprio yesterday before he got his haircut.

Isn't he cute????

Now here's what Sprio looks like today.

Not so cute . . . but much cooler!!!

Disregard the date on this picture I really did just take it tonight. I was playing with my camera and trying to turn off the date and I guess I just changed it instead. I guess I'll have to work on that before I take anymore pictures!!!

Summer Break

I've decided to jump on the blogging bandwagon. I need to thank my friends Jessica and Aleshia for inspiring me. I hope this will be a fun way to keep family and friends up to date on all of our happenings here at the Bumgardner home!!!

It's officially my last day of summer break. Tomorrow I have to report back to school for four fun filled days of teacher inservice before the kids come back. Between baseball games and little vacations our summer has just flown by.

Here is one of my favorite photos Jeff took during the season of Grant using his new camera. He became the official "team photographer".

After finally finishing up with baseball in mid July (we started practice at the end of January) we didn't have much time for a big vacation this year but we did find time for a small family getaway. We took the boys to Talequah on a 6 mile rafting trip. We were prepared for a long hot day on the river and to our amazement we were finished in a little less than three hours. Then we drove to Oklahoma City and spent a day at Whitewater Bay. The week after that Grant and I drove to Dallas to stay with my friend Kristen (Smith) Woods and her family while Jeff was in California. We had a great time like we always do down there shopping and playing around. Of course we hit all the shops on Harry Hines for some jewelry and purses and spent a long hot day at Hurricane Harbor. Kristen and I even managed a night out by ourselves for more shopping and drinks. Thanks Roy for watching the kids!!!

So those were some of our major summer highlights.