West Side Stories

Busy Blogging

2011-03-18T16:34:00.001-05:00

I’m really not as bad of a blogger as it probably appears. Believe it or not, I’m constantly on my computer updating one of my other blogs.

First, there is my class blog . . . which I feel obligated to keep up since my kiddos at school {and their parents, grandparents} love checking it all the time to see all of the fun things we’ve been doing.

Then there’s my new blog that my friend Diane and I launched last month for other 1st grade teachers. It’s linked to our TpT {Teachers Pay Teachers} store and it has been quite popular this past week. Thanks to some fun giveaways that we offered there have been teachers from all over the country checking in and buying our products. It’s been very exciting . . . but it also feels like another full time job!!!

Our Busy Weekend {In Pictures}

2011-03-06T16:30:00.001-06:00

This was a jammed pack weekend of sporting events for us. Besides playing in the 2-1 Tournament at Westurban, Grant also had two basketball games. We finally charged the batteries in our {good} camera and got some great shots during last night’s basketball game . . . which we just happened to win 29-21.

Today we headed out to the ballpark early . . . all bundled up again!!! Grant had three games back to back {10:30, 12:00, 2:00}. They won one, tied one & lost one. We had our first experience playing the Cardinal’s. It seems so weird seeing Grant dressed in green in all of these pictures instead of red. He played the majority of the day on 1st base and did a great job!!!

Here he is up to bat against the Cardinal’s. It’s still very weird seeing all of his buddies in the outfield when he’s batting.

Grant also got to make his pitching debut of the season in our final game.

Baseball is Back {already}

2011-03-05T15:01:00.001-06:00

Even though it’s officially still winter we got back to baseball today. It was a day full of new beginnings. Not only was it Grant’s first baseball game of the season, but it was also his first time playing with his new team {The Wichita Athletics}.

This is a 2-1 tournament so every kid steps up to the plate with a 2-1 pitch count. Luckily, he cranked one of his first pitches out into right field and it actually got stuck in the fence!!!

Jeff helped out on first base today and I was kind of hoping to get a picture of him and Grant there together. {I don’t think I’ve had one of those shots since the early days of tee ball.} I guess I’ll have to keep waiting though because Jeff flagged him on around to second base before I could get my camera ready.

Here he is on third base with one of his {new} coaches . . . Gary!!!

I even got a little smile after he crossed the plate and was running into the dugout!!!

From these pictures you can probably tell that Grant had to bulk up for the game. Thanks to the cold Kansas wind he had 5 layers on top and 3 on the bottom. We are crossing our fingers for much warmer temperatures tomorrow. Since our first game got cancelled this morning due to the wind-chill we have three games left to play tomorrow.

Fear the Phog

2011-01-29T20:14:00.001-06:00

In Social Studies Grant’s class has been learning about Kansas. This past week they had a living wax museum. Each student was assigned a famous Kansan and had to do some research and prepare a speech about their famous person and present it to parents and students. Grant was Phog Allen. Here he is all decked out in his KU gear.

Luckily I was able to sneak over to Grant’s school on Thursday afternoon and see Phog Allen in person. I also got to see lots of former {famous} students. I have to admit I was a little surprised at how many famous Kansans were represented.

Glow In the Dark {Mini} Golf

2011-01-23T13:50:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we took Grant and his friend Cameron to Towne West mall to play glow in the dark mini golf. Once they realized how cool their white t-shirts looked under the black light they ditched their coats and sweatshirts. They also had Jeff videotape EVERY single hole so they didn’t have to keep score. Then they watched all of their videos when we got home.

Who knew two boys could get so many hours of enjoyment out of a round of mini golf???

I just noticed the Welcome Girl Scouts sign in the background . . . how funny!!!

Let It Snow!

2011-01-10T20:33:00.001-06:00

Last night it began snowing and continued on and off for the majority of the day. Grant and I both crossed our fingers before bed last night in hopes that we would get to enjoy a snow day today. . . but no luck!!! Jeff is out of town so I got the fun job of clearing off the driveway as soon as I got home from work tonight. While I was busy doing that Grant was enjoying some fun in the snow with our neighbor Autumn.

It seemed like a good idea to Grant to get buried alive in the snow.

I think he rethought that idea after half of Autumn’s driveway got shoveled on top of him. Luckily he had a warm electric blanket turned on to high waiting for him when he got home. Smart boy, huh???

Christmas 2010

2011-01-03T22:51:00.001-06:00

On Thursday {December 23} we packed up the car and headed to Winfield. We were hoping to do a little shopping at the Rubbermaid store but it was closed, so instead we just spent the day relaxing and watching movies.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve morning Jeff, me, my dad, my sister and my grandma decided to try our luck at one of the Indian Casino’s just over the state line. Grant stayed home with Grandma Linda to help her with some cooking. It didn’t take us long to lose so we were home before lunch.

As a little surprise this year Grant got to open two gifts on Christmas Eve. We let him open the first one earlier in the day in hopes that it would keep him occupied.

Here he is with the first gift of Christmas. It was a set of Club Penguin cards. Not only is it a card game, but there are also cards with codes that Grant could use on his Club Penguin online account. As you can tell from his smile, he was very surprised. We had spent the entire day on Wednesday looking for a set of cards just like this that he wanted to buy with his own money. Little did he know, I had already got him a set!!!Here’s Spiro getting a little {Christmas Eve} love from Jeff.My grandma’s little dog Tiger wanted in on the attention too.

He’s really not as evil as he looks in this picture. He just happened to yawn right as I snapped the picture.

We took a few pictures after we got back from church on Christmas Eve.

Then Grant opened his other Christmas Eve gift . . .

SURPRISE . . . It was Christmas pajamas!!!

What says Christmas more than a friendly, family game of poker. My dad and Jeff taught Grant and my sister how to play 5 Card Draw. They raided my dad’s jar of quarters before they got started.

This is Grant’s poker face.He has obviously watched too much poker on tv because he had to wear his hoodie while he was playing.

Christmas Morning

As you can see Santa didn’t miss us in Winfield this year. Grant got a fun dice game that provided hours of fun Christmas night and a flying monkey, which Spiro absolutely hates.

Here’s Jeff launching it for the first time.Santa also brought Grant CUPONK . . .

Dad {with Sprio and Casey}

Mom getting her new office chair . . . with a little help from Grant!!!A few more presents for Grant . . .

Jeff loved all of his new eBags. Now he’s ready to start packing for his first trip of the year.

Jeff was super excited to model his new vest . . . can’t you tell?!?!Nana loved her new Keurig coffee machine.

I think my dad was just happy entertaining all of the dogs.

I got this new fancy case for my laptop that came with an extra bag from Jeff’s grandma. Even though it was beautiful, my stuff didn’t actually fit inside of it very well. Luckily I was able to exchange it for a black one that holds everything perfectly and is on wheels.

Aunt Karen loved the new stone we got her for her Studio Ring.

The fun came when everyone started opening their bags of purses from Gran. It’s become a tradition for Gran to give everyone purses for Christmas. She loves to hit up the sales at Dillard’s throughout the year. In all the excitement I didn’t even get a picture of the three new Kathy Van Zeeland purses I got.

I love the look on Nana’s face in this picture!!! Can you tell she loves her new yellow Fossil purse?

I think my Grandma Norma loves her new Jessica Simpson purse, too!!!

My dad and Jeff drove to Emporia to pick Miles up during the afternoon and then we did Christmas all over again with him that evening. One of the gifts from Santa was for both boys so Grant had to wait and open it with Miles.

The boys also got electric blankets {which they both loved} from Jeff’s grandma.

Miles got his own flying monkey and Right Left Center game in his stocking. He also got several VISA gift cards so he could do a little after Christmas shopping.

His big gift was a laptop. It was fun to see how excited he was.

Miles brought Grant a baggie filled with practical jokes. If you look carefully it looks like Grant has a nail through his bloody, bandaged finger in this picture. He also got some ice cubes with spiders in them, a whoopy cushion and some trick bubblegum.

After our yummy Christmas dinner the boys scratched the lottery tickets that were in their stocking. Grant ended up being the big winner. He won $2 and Miles won a free ticket.

As you can see we had a VERY Merry Christmas!!!

Back to Blogging

2010-12-20T10:29:00.001-06:00

It’s hard for me to believe that it’s been so long since my last post. Now that I’ve got a little break from work and my master’s classes I’m hoping to do a better job of keeping things updated. Here’s a little peek at what’s been happening around the Bumgardner house during the past 8 weeks . . .

1. Lot’s of Basketball – We have been VERY busy with basketball since September. Grant played on a fall team this year with a few friends from his regular winter league team. For the past month the two leagues have been overlapping so it seems like we’ve been at either practice or a game nearly every night of the week.

The Blackhawks

2. Instructional Design – I was pretty sure this class was going to be the death of me. It’s been a long 12 weeks!!! Thank goodness it’s finally over!!! I don’t think I’ve ever spent so much time or worked on any one thing so hard in my entire life. I got my final project submitted a few days before Thanksgiving and am happy to report that I got +5/4 points. That’s right . . . 5 points {which is one extra credit point + the four points that were possible} on this 80+ page project. Crazy, huh??? I call it my “book”. I basically designed activities and assessments to teach beginning writers to write a complete sentence.

3. Thanksgiving – It’s become tradition for Jeff and I to host both sides of our families for Thanksgiving. This year was no different. We ended up with 16 guests. I love that our families get along so well. We always have so much fun when we are all together. My family came up earlier in the day and we spent a lazy morning looking through all of the Black Friday ads and making our Christmas Lists.

{I can’t believe this was the only picture I took the entire day!}

On Friday morning my sister and I got up early and headed out to do a little shopping. Karen hit Home Depot on her way to my house and managed to snag up a few boxes of these cute little trees. I think they were intended for outdoor use, but I really like them inside by my fireplace.

4. My Class Blog – This blog ends up getting updated on a much more regular basis. If I had more time I would love to post updates several times a week but for now I end up spending a few hours on Friday or Saturday uploading all of the pictures I’ve taken during the week at school. I don’t think the parents care though!!!

5. teacherspayteachers.com – Somehow my little class blog has become quite popular with more than just the intended audience {parents, grandparents, etc . . .}. For several months I’ve had teachers from all over the country checking it on a regular basis and even emailing me about activities I do with my kids. They’ve gone as far to offer to pay for copies of activities. Over Thanksgiving break I did a little investigating and found this great website. It’s an online store where teachers can create an account and link it to their PayPal to sell and collect money for lesson plans and activities. Now I’m operating an online store with my good friend Diane and we are selling more than I had ever imagined. In order to post activities we’ve had to change almost all of the clipart we use so we aren’t violating any copyright laws. So, if you know any beginning K-2 teachers in need of some activities send them our way!!!

5. tinyprints.com – I just have to say . . . I love nearly every products available on this website. Since my life is so crazy right now I thought one of these Erin Condren Life Planners was just what I needed. The problem was, I just couldn’t justify paying $55 for one. But as luck would have it I got a 50% off promotional code on Black Friday and free shipping so I splurged and designed one for myself. I told myself I wouldn’t open the box when it came, but wrap it and give it to myself for Christmas. I had good intentions, but when the doorbell rang on Monday morning while I was home with the flu and I saw that little white box laying on the doorstep with the Tiny Prints return address I couldn’t resist. The day after I ordered my planner I got another coupon for $10 off of any purchase so I had to put it to use. I ordered this cute notebook with our family picture on it. It’s the perfect size to keep in my purse. I’m sure Grant will end up filling all of the pages with his cute little drawings and stories.

I’ll leave you with a few pictures from Thursday night. I had BUNKO so Jeff was in charge of dinner for himself and Grant. Before I left I snapped this picture of my two boys making some stir fry.

I had NO idea they would just eat it out of the pan . . .

I guess this is why Grant thinks daddy is SO fun!!!

Giggles the {Psycho} Clown

2010-11-07T17:46:00.001-06:00

This year when we were looking for a Halloween costume Grant found a face painting kit that he just HAD to have. With a few accessories from Party City we were able to create Giggle the {Psycho} Clown. Notice the bloody knife in his hand. He didn’t think the costume was complete without it.

Obviously this wasn’t an appropriate costume for school so he only sported it on Halloween night.

We dressed Spiro up in his Bumblebee costume just before all of the trick-or-treater’s began arriving. He was not a happy dog. He walked straight over to his bed and put his head down facing the wall. He also knew I had the camera out and would not look at me.

Old Friends

2010-10-31T15:46:00.001-05:00

Last night we went to Winfield and met a few old friends for dinner and drinks at the new Montana Mike’s restaurant. It was so much fun seeing Kyle and Rachel. It’s been almost five years since I had seen them so we had lots of fun catching up. I guess we must of had a little too much fun though because everyone around us asked to be moved to a new table in a different part of the restaurant . . . imagine that!!! We are thinking we might have to do this again around Christmas time when everyone is back in town.

{Kyle, Rachel and Kelly}

My friend Kristen and her family were also in town and joined us for dinner. Then they went back to my parents house with us and stayed the night. As always it was great seeing her. Grant always has so much fun with Maddie and Gracie loves goofing around with Jeff. Somehow I didn’t get a single picture of Roy . . . sorry!!

Halloween {Round 1}

2010-10-30T11:57:00.001-05:00

This week we began the first of our Halloween festivities. I had my class party on Thursday. This year I wasn’t super motivated to dress up, so I just wore a Halloween t-shirt that I had hanging in the back of the closet. After the party at school we rushed home so I could begin making cupcakes for Grant’s party at school the following day. Sometimes I wonder why I’m not the mom who just volunteers to bring napkins.

Step 1 – bake the chocolate cupcakes

Step 2 – use gel paint to write RIP on 36 Milano cookies while the cupcakes are baking and cooling

Step 3 – ice the cupcakes with chocolate icing and sprinkle crushed Oreo’s on top {it’s supposed to be dirt}

Step 4 – insert a grave into each cookie

There was still some leftover cake batter after I made 3 dozen cupcakes so I used the rest of the batter to make a small round cake. Then I iced a few more cookies . . . and made a graveyard cake to enjoy at home. Grant thought the only thing missing were some bone shaped candies sticking up out of the dirt.

While I was baking I put Grant in charge of getting all the accessories together for his “nerd” outfit. The kids aren’t allowed to wear face paint at school so Grant decided to be a nerd for his party at school and something a bit more scary on Halloween night.

I laughed so hard when he walked out dressed like this . . .the way he was walking and talking was a hoot!!!

The head room mom really outdid herself. She had so many fun games planned. I think the favorite was “hot skull”. It was played just like “hot potato”. There was scary music playing and when the music stopped if you had the skull in your hands, or were the last to touch it, you were out. It was funny to watch the kids throw the skull around the circle as fast as they could.

They also used markers to turn ping pong balls into eyeballs. Then they each got to bounce their ball into Halloween baskets to win prizes. From the looks of things Grant may be a pro at beer pong one day . . . of course he will be 21 before he ever plays a game like that!!!

Here’s the two biggest nerds in 4th grade. One day they may be sorry they dressed like this and let me take their picture. They are such good friends . . . it was so much fun seeing them dressed up and being so silly.

Family Pictures

2010-10-30T11:21:00.001-05:00

A few weekends ago we went to Winfield to have some long overdue family pictures taken. We were originally scheduled to have them taken back in the spring, but due to an unexpected baseball game we had to cancel at the last minute. Luckily Laura, who is a fellow blogging friend and photographer, let us wait and reschedule when she did mini-sessions again this fall. Here is a sneak peek at one of our shots . . . we are so excited to see the rest of them.

After our pictures we met up with all of the great-grandma’s at Nieves for lunch. It’s rare to have both boys and all three great-grandma’s in the same place at the same time so naturally I wanted a few pictures. It’s amazing the difference in how the boys behave when I’m taking the pictures vs. Laura.

Take #1 . . . Miles!!!!

Take #2 . . . ok Grant, quit trying to act like your brother!!!Take #3 . . . seriously, this is not funny Miles!!! Take #4 . . . I’m not kidding, this is NOT funny!!!Take #5 . . . let’s see if we can really make mom go crazy!!! {It worked}

This seems to be the only good picture I got . . . I can’t tell what’s more cheesy, the queso or Grant’s smile!!!After we got home the boys {reluctantly} helped Jeff do a little yard work and played basketball and football. Here’s Miles setting up the ball so Grant can kick it.

It didn’t work so well when Grant tried to do the same thing. Here he is rolling around in the grass after Miles missed the ball and kicked him in the foot {by accident of course} with his size 13 shoes!!!

Another Terrific Tuesday

2010-10-12T18:45:00.001-05:00

Tuesday’s are always terrific {I don’t have recess duty and I get a 90 minute break while my kids at are in PE and library} . . . but today was better than ever.

It all started this morning before I ever walked out the door.

I reached in my back pocket and found two freshly washed {and pressed} $5.00 bills.

Then after I got to school I had two students greet me with goodies as they were coming in . . . and it wasn’t even my birthday!!!

On kiddo brought me a few bags of yummy Halloween treats and a festive fall notepad.

And this little sweetie brought me some beautiful flowers.

I told Jeff he had some competition . . .

I also managed to get my report cards {almost} done during my big break and get the rest of my November stuff filed away and organized.

The only thing that could make this Tuesday even more terrific would be if the dishwasher would unload itself and I would open the paper I started writing for my Instructional Design class and see that it was all done.

Fall Ball

2010-10-09T17:09:00.001-05:00

For the first time ever Grant is playing Fall Basketball. There are a few kids from his regular {winter} team and then a few new kids he’s never played with before. They’ve been practicing for the last 3 or 4 weeks and looked pretty good on the court today. This was their first game of the season. Even though they lost I have to admit I was pretty impressed. It looks like Grant has finally figured out how to use his size and weight on the court to his advantage. He was more aggressive than I have ever seen him {yea}!!!

Here are a few pictures from today’s game. . . Grant is #24

I’m so glad I got a picture of him shooting . . . SWISH!!

He called this the “Double Stuff”

Grant’s Birthday {continued}

2010-10-03T08:28:00.001-05:00

It seems like for the last few months I’ve gotten in the routine of posting everything just a little late here!!! Last weekend we went to Winfield to wrap up Grant’s birthday celebration. My parents were both so busy the week of Grant’s birthday that we didn’t get to celebrate with them. My mom was working the ESA sorority booth at Bluegrass and my dad was at the state fair everyday working. So, we packed up the car and headed to Winfield on Saturday afternoon.

Grant was VERY eager to open all of his gifts so we did that within minutes of arriving.

He was so excited about the Adrian Peterson {Vikings} jersey that he got from Nana.He was even more excited about the Drew Brees {Saints} jersey he got from Grandma Norma.

So excited in fact that he put it on right over the other jersey.

He also got a few baseball themed gifts too. A weight for his bat and a reaction ball to practice fielding with.

A gift that has given him {and daddy} hours of fun is the new Tiger Woods Xbox 360 game.Here’s the birthday boy with Grandma. She made him his new favorite cake. A Neapolitan layered {chocolate, vanilla, strawberry} cake just like mommy gets every year for her birthday.The birthday boy with Nana and Grandma Norma. . . . and the birthday boy relaxing with Spiro after he ate too much cake.

On a sad note . . . the Drew Brees jersey didn’t last long. He wore it to school on Monday and I got a call from his teacher that afternoon. She said Grant was pretty upset. While he was at recess he was playing on the swings and when he jumped out the sleeve got caught on the chain of the swing and ripped. It’s not as bad as I imagined. I think with a little black thread it will be as good as new.

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

2010-09-27T22:09:00.001-05:00

Here’s a little story I couldn’t resist sharing . . .

Last night Grant got in pretty big trouble while he was outside playing with the neighbor girls. Long story, but let’s just say it involved a pellet gun . . .and a walk with daddy over to the neighbors house to apologize.

Jeff was on the phone when it all went down so I took charge of the situation.

I guess I was a little more angry than I thought.

After we all {me} cooled down and talked about what happened Jeff and I decided to take away Grant’s iTouch for the rest of the week. It may not sound like a huge punishment, but to him it is!!! Grant was relieved when we told him what the punishment was. He said he was afraid it was going to be a LOT worse.

{Sometimes I think he’s harder on himself than anyone.}

Trying to be funny Jeff said it was either the iTouch or we would just stop loving him for a few days. To which Grant replied “mom already quit loving me for like 10 minutes tonight already”.

Grant’s Birthday

2010-09-22T19:19:00.001-05:00

Last week we celebrated another birthday at the Bumgardner house. Grant turned 10 on Tuesday {14th}. He’s been so excited about being two digits for several weeks. I guess I forgot how exciting that was!!! We surprised him with a special gift before school.I think it was a BIG hit because he’s been out almost every day since his birthday practicing. This summer he will finally be old enough to take junior golf here at the golf course in our neighborhood, which he’s been wanting to do for years, so we thought this would be the perfect gift. After a day at school and a trip to the driving range Jeff’s family and my sister {Aunt Karen} all came over for a little birthday celebration. Grant got lots of fun gifts. He really loved his new Nickelodeon slime themed mini laptop from Granny and the Halo Reach game for his Xbox 360 from Grandpa and Grandma Debbie. It was just released earlier that day so he was lucky to get it!!!

We also had special visitors from California here to help Grant celebrate his big day. Here’s the birthday boy with his cousins Maggie and Lorelei.

Maggie even helped Grant blow out the candles on his birthday cake! (Hopefully you didn’t notice that there were only 5 candles on the cake. I didn’t even think to check in the cupboard to make sure I had candles before it was time for cake. Turns out I only had a mismatched combination of 5. So we got creative and lit them twice so Grant would have 10 candles. I felt like such a super mom!!!)

I was busy with parent teacher conferences on Wednesday and Thursday night last week. Grant didn’t have school so he got to go to the State Fair with Grandpa, Aunt Melissa, Uncle John, Maggie and Lorelei. I sent along his camera but he only took two pictures. One was of me sweeping the kitchen floor before I went to work . . . and the other was of the tattoo he got at the state fair.

Friday I got the day off too se we relaxed around the house most of the day. Then after basketball practice Grant invited a few of his friends over for a birthday sleepover. I love the way they were all gathered around Grant’s little iPod touch screen watching a video in this picture.e You can always count on a crazy night when you get a group of 9-10 year old boys together. They can really be silly . . . which you can obviously tell from some of these pictures. Saturday we celebrated another birthday. It was Aunt Melissa’s big day. We met everyone at Abuelo’s for dinner and then went back to Grandpa and Debbie’s house for birthday ice cream cake and grasshopper pie from Baskin Robbins. Melissa also made a peanut butter pie that I have got to get the recipe for. Here’s Uncle Jeff and Miss Lorelei enjoying some dessert. Then after dessert he played airplane on the floor with the girls.

While all of this was going on Grant was being tickle tortured by Uncle Nick. I need to get Debbie to send me a few of those pictures!!!

This weekend Grant’s birthday festivities will be continued. We are planning to go down to Winfield on Saturday evening for more birthday cake and presents with my family. Then on Sunday Grant’s looking forward to taking his new golf clubs to the driving range and using a few of the range balls Grandma Norma keeps collecting in her backyard. I guess it’s one of the perks to having your house back up to a driving range!!!

Jeff’s Birthday

2010-09-05T21:27:00.001-05:00

Last Sunday we got together with both sides of our family to celebrate Jeff’s birthday. My side of the family showed up early in the afternoon so they could spend some time visiting with us. Everyone was interested to see Jeff’s new iPad. We had few good laughs showing Nana some pictures from {The People of Wal-Mart} website. I don’t know what was funnier, the pictures on the website or Nana’s reaction to the picture.

Here’s the birthday boy, right before the battery on my camera died!!!

Jeff was very excited about the new {Swiss Army} iPad case he got from his dad and Debbie. He also got several other great accessories that he can use with his iPhone and iPad when he is traveling as well as some new KU shirts.

Just for fun his dad threw in a book he found at home when he was cleaning. He thought Jeff had always loved this book, but he was the one who was surprised when Jeff admitted he actually hated it. My dad however found it very interesting. I love the expression on his face in this picture. We kept the book, but have put it away for awhile. There are a few human oddities Grant does not need to see.

Just before the battery on my camera died I got a few final pictures of Jeff with his new birthday shoes. I have to admit I have always hated Croc’s, but he really wanted a pair to wear while he works in the yard.

Luckily they were slightly too small and the next size up was slightly too big so Jeff’s fascination with Croc’s has passed.

Next up at the Bumgardner house . . . special visitors and another birthday celebration!!!

Maize Stampede

2010-08-22T10:04:00.001-05:00

Last night we took Grant and his friend Nick to the 2nd annual Maize South Stampede Carnival. Even though it was very hot outside we all had a great time. It was amazing how many kids {and their families} I saw that were once in my 1st grade class. It’s hard to believe some of them are juniors in high school.

We bought ticket tickets so the boys could play games. They especially loved this basketball one. They were tethered together and every time one of them ran forward to shoot the ball the other one would be jerked back. It was pretty funny to watch.

Grant also loved the pitching booth. He got to throw three balls {without warming up} and each pitch was clocked. He managed to hit the target every time with a top speed of 50 mph. We bought $5 bracelets so the boys could go crazy jumping in all the bouncy houses that were set up all the way around the track. {I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many in one place!!!} The obstacle course bouncies were a big favorite of everyone. There was always a line.

Some of the other bouncies didn’t have a very long line. I finally lost count of how many times they went down the Lion King slide. We were all a hot, sweaty mess when we finally left. Can you tell Grant was in NO mood for a picture??

After the Carnival we headed over to the Stephen’s house to join them and a few other Maize families for drinks and some Smore’s. They have a great outdoor fireplace in their backyard and it is the perfect place to roast marshmallows. The kids ran around out back all evening while the adults relaxed and shared stories about our first week back at school.

An Early Birthday Gift

2010-08-18T21:09:00.001-05:00

Jeff’s birthday came a little early {again} this year. Tonight he got a new iPad. As you can see from the pictures he and Grant have both had fun playing with it all evening. I haven’t gotten the chance to play with it yet, but I’m not worried. I know someday soon it will be mine just like all of Jeff’s other electronics purchases. As soon as a new model comes out he’ll want to upgrade and I will inherit the old model. I think Grant is already counting on that happening too. He’s pretty sure at some point it might even be his.

1st Day of School

2010-08-16T18:17:00.001-05:00

Today was the first day of school for Grant and me. Before we headed out the door we had to pose for a few pictures on the front porch. It’s still hard for me to believe that he is in 4th grade now!!! {Me and my boy }

{Today I celebrated my 1oth First Day of teaching 1st grade. }

Luckily Jeff was in town so he was able to take Grant to school this morning. Things didn’t actually go quite as planned though. He called me a few minutes before my kids began arriving and told me they had driven around and could not find a parking spot anywhere. With all of the construction happening at my old building and all of the parents who were also there for the 1st day of school things were pretty crazy. He was afraid if he waited to find a parking spot Grant would be late on his first day. So, he ended up just sending Grant in with the camera and telling him to have a friend take his picture. Grant was fine with it. I think Jeff was just worried I wouldn’t be.

{Grant and his teacher Mrs. Burnett}

{Grant and his BFF Nick} Somehow they have managed to be in the same class since Kindergarten.

I owe Nick’s mom a big THANK YOU for taking these pictures for me!!!

Dog Days of Summer

2010-08-09T11:47:00.001-05:00

I couldn’t resist snapping a few pictures of Grant and Spiro this morning. This is what I saw when I walked through the living room. We don’t really let him sit on the living room furniture, but he was acting like he didn’t feel good this morning so I let him snuggle up next to Grant.

I wonder if Spiro realizes that his days of being pampered by us are about to come to an end? Tomorrow I have to report back to work and then Grant begins school next Monday. Maybe he is just feeling a little depressed like the rest of us. Our summer break seemed to have just whizzed by.

There’s A New Chef In Town

2010-08-04T21:43:00.001-05:00

Every Tuesday evening we tune into Hell’s Kitchen. {Jeff discovered it several years ago and it quickly became one of our favorite reality shows.} After watching it last night, followed by Gordon Ramsey’s newest show, Master Chef, Grant was feeling inspired to do a little cooking of his own.

With a little help from Daddy he found a recipe online that could be cooked in the crock pot. He got all of his ingredients ready and he even started marinating the chicken. He also made the cutest little notes to go on each ingredient so he wouldn’t forget anything . . . priceless!!!!

Can you guess where we do most of our grocery shopping? From the looks of this picture we look like quite the bargain shoppers. I guess I didn’t realize just how many {Great Value} brand items we buy.

This morning he was up bright and early ready to cook.

Since it was such a special occasion he wanted to invite Aunt Karen and Granny over for dinner.

Not only did he cook the meal . . . but he served everyone too.

This is what Grant calls “Chicken Italiano” with parmesan buttered noodles.

He’s already planning his next meal.

Royals Game

2010-08-02T19:15:00.001-05:00

After meeting up with some of the Elliott family for breakfast, we headed to Kauffman Stadium to see the Royals take on the Baltimore Orioles. It was a 1:00 game and just happened to be the hottest day of the year so far in KC.

I tried to get a good picture of the boys as we were going to our seats, but as you can see I didn’t have very good luck . . .

Miles took this one of me and Jeff. Luckily I was able to crop out the camera strap.

The Bumgardner boys waiting for the game to start.

We had great seat just a few rows back from the Orioles dugout, but they were directly in the sun. After two LONG innings we moved back a section into the shade. Grant was determined to catch a foul ball so every time there was a left handed batter at the plate he was up out of his seat.

He aleo spent quite a bit of time standing in this walkway. He managed to make friends with a few of the Royals Crew girls and the ushers. They even gave him some free stuff . . . He never did catch a foul ball . . . but he caught a Twinkie. The only problem is he hates cream so he shared it with his brother.

After each game kids can go down on the field and run around the bases. Grant, of course, was all about it . . . so I waited in line with him and joined him on the field.

This picture was Grant’s idea. He wanted it to look like he was holding up the big screen.

After the game, which by the way the Royals won 5-4, we drove down to the City Market and enjoyed some cold drinks, AC and a pizza. Then we decided to spend the rest of the evening relaxing so we grabbed a movie from a Redbox and headed back to our hotel.

{Elliott} Family Reunion

2010-08-02T18:34:00.001-05:00

After nearly nine months of planning, this past weekend we went to Kansas City for the Elliott family reunion. It’s been a little over three years since the last reunion. Early last fall my cousin Amanda and I began planning to have another reunion here in Wichita at the end of June, but do to conflicts (and what seemed like lack of interest) we moved it to the KC area where almost everyone lives. Amanda’s mom and stepdad offered to host the event. Family members traveled in from Houston, Denver and of course my side of the group from Winfield and Wichita. Even though everyone didn’t make it we still had a great time!!!

The Reunion Planning Committee (me and Amanda)

2 of the 3 remaining Elliott sisters (aunt Marie and my grandma Norma)

These two ladies come from a very large family. There were 11 children, so you can imagine how many cousins there are running around . . . and the amount of drama a family that size can (and still) has!!!

several generations of the Elliott Family ladies

Here’s little Bridget helping Grant work out!!!

Even though it was hot outside everyone had fun!!!

We tried to get a few generational shots . . . sisters

cousins

next generation of cousins

last generation of cousins

The whole Elliott gang

Here are the ones that were lucky enough to marry into the family!

Everyone brought old pictures to share and Greg even put together a video of pictures he scanned that had belonged to his mother. Just for fun we tried to recreate this pose from 1983.

I think Grant {and Jeff} enjoyed the slot machines most of all!!!

Thanks for a great weekend Elliott family!!!

Jeff’s Billboard

2010-07-23T22:35:00.001-05:00

I couldn’t resist posting this photo that my father-in-law sent me yesterday. He’s been telling us that Jeff’s picture is on a billboard at 235 & West Street. I was shocked when I opened the file because it really does look like him. He even has a pair of Ray-Ban’s that look just like this.

You be the judge . . .

To bad he didn’t REALLY win $37 million.

Texas {Mini} Vacation

2010-07-22T22:31:00.001-05:00

Jeff had to be in Michigan this week for work so it seemed like the perfect time for Grant and I to head south to Texas to visit my friend Kristen and her family. We loaded up the car and left early Sunday morning. The trip took a little longer than expected. I guess it wasn’t a good idea to let Grant get a Dr. Pepper slush first thing. It gave him quite the tummy ache. I think we managed to stop at just about every Stuckey’s between Wichita and Oklahoma City. Luckily after lunch he was feeling better and we made it the rest of the way in record time.

On Monday morning we headed to Arlington to the Pier One Clearance Store. After driving for nearly an hour we were shocked to find out that the store had closed. Of course when I looked online the day before there wasn’t any mention of this. That didn’t stop us from doing more shopping though. Our next stop was at Sam Moon’s. If you’ve never been to Sam Moon’s boy are you missing out. It is a jewelry and handbag paradise. They just built a new one north of Ft. Worth in Keller, TX that is right on I-35 so it was much more convenient than the Dallas location and not nearly as busy.

I only bought a few things this trip . . .I think I was most excited with my new white watch.

I never wear a watch but I’ve seen this style at several boutiques in Wichita and when we were in Michigan. You may even remember that Sandra Bullock wore one just like it in The Blind Side. Every one that I’ve seen has been between $20-$25 so you can imagine how excited I was when I found the exact same one for $9.95. Obviously I needed more than one so on our way home we stopped at Sam Moon’s again and I bought a black one!!! I also picked one up for my friend Diane as a little {belated} birthday treat.

On Tuesday we hit a few more shops and then Kristen and I took Grant and Gracie to the pool for the majority of the afternoon. Grant had a blast on the diving board. I bet he dove into the pool 50 times.

I know he’s an amazing kid . . . but I had NO idea he could walk on water!!!!

It was also Maddie’s 12th birthday on Tuesday. She got several new accessories for her horse so late that evening we drove out to the ranch where they keep their horses and she tried them out. Grant also got to ride a horse for the first time. The only problem was I didn’t think to pack him any jeans so he {reluctantly} wore a pair of Maddie’s and a pair of her friends boots. It was pretty dark by the time they rounded up the horses and got them saddled up so my pictures didn’t turn out great.

Grant and Cabo

I have to admit I was a little nervous about him riding. I had a bad horse experience as a kid and it has kind of stuck with me. At first they led the horse around the arena with Grant on it and then once he had the hang of it he was all on his own. Luckily Cabo is a REALLY old horse and was more interested in walking over to get a drink of water than galloping.

On Wednesday we did a little more shopping and spent the afternoon relaxing and watching a movie. Then later that evening we drove back to Arlington to celebrate Maddie’s friends birthday at the Traildust Steakhouse. Grant had a great time. It didn’t hurt that he was the only boy in the group along with 5 very cute 12 year old girls!!! The restaurant has a 2-story metal slide right in the middle. The kids spent the majority of the night going down it. They also had fun on the dance floor. Again the lighting was bad so my pictures didn’t turn out great.

{The famous slide}

We had lots of fun and were sad when we had to leave Thursday morning. Neither one of us was looking forward to the long drive home.

Thanks again Wood’s family for a fun week!!! We really wish you guys lived closer. We can’t wait to see you in October when you come back for Arkalalah.

Playing Ball for a Good Cause

2010-07-19T23:22:00.001-05:00

This weekend Grant’s baseball team had the opportunity to play ball for a good cause. Several weeks ago a Westurban coach {and former WSU baseball player} was injured in a car accident that has left him with severe spinal cord injuries. You can read more here. Several of his close friends put together the “Let’s Play Ball for Carl Hall” tournament in Derby to raise money to benefit his family. Teams from all over the Wichita area participated in the day long event. Besides collecting donations there were raffles going on throughout the day, t-shirts being sold and sports memorabilia that was auctioned off later that evening at a BBQ dinner.

Despite the hot temperatures it was a fun day.

Here are a few pictures I took . . . believe it or not, it was our last baseball tournament of the season.

We tried to keep Grant cooled off between games with a wet rag around his neck.

Good thing it was the last game of the season . . . check out how dirty his pants were. This is one stain I probably won’t be able to get out . . . yikes!!!

Even though I do not know Carl or his family personally, not a day has gone by that I haven’t thought about them multiple times. My heart goes out to each one of them during this difficult time. It was truly amazing to see how many people turned up at the ballpark to show their support.

Several other activities have been planned to raise additional funds for Carl and his family. You can check out this website to get information about upcoming events in the area.

A Night At the Ballpark

2010-07-13T22:36:00.001-05:00

So what does the Bumgardner family do on a night where we don’t have any baseball practices or games of our own . . . go to a baseball game of course!!!

On Friday when I took Grant to get his hair cut they were giving away free tickets to tonight’s Wichita Wingnuts game. We picked up 3 tickets thinking it would be a fun family outing. Then over the weekend while we were in Manhattan I mentioned we had tickets and a few other families thought it would be fun to go too. So I called Great Clips on Sunday evening when we got home and asked if they had any extra tickets left and they told me to come on down and pick up as many as I wanted. They ended up giving me a handful so with 29 tickets in hand we made it a fun night at the ballpark with several families from our baseball team.

Here’s Grant showing his support . . .

It wouldn’t be a baseball game without hotdogs, soda and a few beers.

The guys weren’t nearly as excited about holding up their signs.

{Photo Attempt #1)

{Photo Attempt #2) Jeff seems to be the most uncooperative one of the group . . . go figure!!!

State Baseball Tournament

2010-07-13T16:34:00.001-05:00

This past weekend we traveled to Manhattan to the 9 year old state baseball tournament. As always, we had a great time hanging out with everyone and got to enjoy watching the boys play in 3 games on Saturday and 2 games on Sunday. They played hard and made it all way to the semi-finals where they ended up losing {4-2} to the Manhattan Titans.

We got off to a little bit of a later start than we initially planned on Friday afternoon. We met up at the local Kwik Shop to carpool to Manhattan and found out they were giving away free milkshakes inside so everyone had to make one before we could hit the road. The only problem was you could only make ONE at a time.

As usual, I took TONS of pictures . . .

{The Mom’s} Angie, Sadonna, Kelly, Lisa, Coco & Dawn {The Dad’s} Shawn, Chad #1, Chad #2, Jeff & Greg . . . where’s Chad #3???

{The Cardinal’s} Looking sharp in their red jersey’s!!!

What an exhausting weekend . . . this is how we all felt when we made it back home late Sunday afternoon!!!

My First {Rag} Quilt

2010-07-08T23:15:00.001-05:00

I have been hard at work all week making my very first quilt.

It was a very easy project that required very little sewing experience . . . which is great for me!!!

A friend of mine {Dawn} made a rag quilt of her own and always brings it to baseball games. For the past two years I have admired her quilt and she has always told me how easy it was to make.

So on Monday, afternoon I did a little research online and found some directions, I headed to the fabric store with Grant. He was such a little trooper!!! I ended up choosing a denim material as well as three other flannel prints because they don’t fray much and are easy to work with. I also got my grandma to come stay with me for a few days and she was a big help . . . plus we had lots of fun working on the project. It also makes my quilt that much more special knowing that she helped me!!!

Here’s grandma hard at work. She had a little trouble with my machine so she ended up doing most of the work pinning the blocks together while I did the sewing.

After we finished making all of the blocks I arranged them on the floor to create a pattern . . . you wouldn’t believe how tricky this part was!!! I ended up being a few blocks short so we had to make a run to the fabric store to buy an 1/4 of a yard of the denim fabric.

The hardest part was keeping my grandma’s little dog Tiger off the blocks.

After two straight days of sewing I finally got it all finished today. Grant and Tiger enjoyed snuggling up with it on the couch.

Here’s a peek at the final project . . . I am really happy with the way it turned out. As you can see from the pictures it required several hours of trimming around all the blocks once all the sewing was done.

All Star Sports

2010-07-02T19:59:00.001-05:00

This afternoon Jeff decided it would be fun to surprise Grant with a little trip to All Star Sports. Every time we drive by he mentions that we haven’t taken him there “FOREVER”. The weather was nice and cool so we thought it would be fun to play mini-golf. Jeff and I kept score while Grant played 18 holes. He’s such a lucky kiddo . . . he managed to get a hole-in-one on #6.

Grant’s luck didn’t stop when we came back inside to play some video games. He hit the jackpot on the very first game he played winning a whopping 450 tickets.

Then I managed to snap a picture right as we won another 300 tickets on a different machine.

Tickets were pouring out of both sides!!!

Grant had a little over 750 tickets to cash in from his $10 in tokens. As usual it took him forever to decide which treasures he wanted to bring home.

Here he is modeling his new glasses on the ride home.

After our adventure at All Star Sports we picked up Granny and took her out for an early birthday dinner. She loves Mexican food so we went to Margarita’s. Her birthday isn’t until July 6th, but Jeff will be out of town next week so we celebrated a little early.

Winfield Tournament

2010-06-28T15:07:00.001-05:00

This weekend Grant’s baseball team played in a tournament in Winfield. On Saturday the boys had two games and somehow managed to lose both of them, which put them in the last seed on our side of the bracket. They lost to the Westurban A’s and the Ark City All Stars. For the past few weeks Grant has really been in a batting slump . . . but things changed for him this weekend. He had a BIG hit almost every time at the plate.

Relaxing in the shade between games on Saturday.

Somehow between games grandma managed to to home and get a yummy meal ready for us when we got home. {Grant gave himself a faux hawk after he got out of the shower.}

On Sunday morning we were back at the ball fields by 9:15. It was so nice to be so close and avoid the early morning drive. We had to play the Westurban Heaters. {Nothing like traveling to Winfield to play another Westurban team!} This is a team we love to beat and luckily we pulled out a win in an extra inning. It was also a great game for Grant. He hit his 2nd home run of the season.

Taking a break on 1st base waiting for a new pitcher to warm up.

Sliding into 3rd base

Homerun ball #2 of the season . . . it was a big hit over right field.

In the second game on Sunday we had to play the Ark City All Stars. They are a 10 year old team that crushed us on Saturday. We managed to sneak up on them and beat them which sent us to the championship. I had forgotten just how good it feels to beat Ark City.

Grant played catcher during this game.

He also did a great job batting again. No home runs, but he had several solid base hits that drove in runs.

By the end of the day on Sunday we had run out of pitchers so Grant FINALLY got a chance on the mound. He has a really strong arm and everyone has wanted him to have a chance. I think he really surprised everyone (especially the coaches). He struck out two batters early on, but the catcher dropped the third strikes and the batters both made it to first base.

This opportunity never comes along so we took plenty of pictures to capture the moment.

First attempt {EVER} trying to pick a runner off 2nd base.

We ended up losing to the Derby Tigers 14-3 but the boys were all still really happy to line up on the field and get their trophy’s. They worked really hard to make their way back up through the bracket to the championship game . . . we were all very proud of them!

Grant and Nana after the game. She would have loved to come watch but it was just too hot for her in the sun.We finally finished up at the ballpark around 8:30 on Sunday night. It was a very long hot day. Grant was so excited to show off his new tournament shirt, trophy and homerun ball.

Another Tournament

2010-06-23T08:55:00.001-05:00

That’s right . . . Grant had another tournament in Hutchinson over the weekend. I don’t have a lot of positive things to say because overall the team didn’t play very well. We lost all 3 games {which is highly unusual} and Grant struck out almost every time at bat. I think he got walked a few times and maybe hit a double once.

Our little slugger at the plate . . .The kids {and parents} seem to have the best time when they are hanging out between games. On Saturday we set up a canopy so everyone could catch a little shade. We really are lucky to have so many wonderful families to spend time with at these tournaments.

Mr. Oreo Teeth

The past few weeks I’ve been on the lookout for some animal print items for my new classroom. On Monday I decided to redo a small chair that I had in my old classroom at my guided reading table. It was a wooden rocking chair that had a star fabric seat. With a little paint and some new fabric {and some wood glue to fix the broken leg} I changed the look of the chair all together.

I have some fabric leftover so I’m planning to make a few fun pillows for my big denim chair.

Good Times With My BFF

2010-06-21T08:55:00.002-05:00

Last Wednesday Kristen {my BFF} from Texas came to visit with her girls. They got here just in time to catch one of Grant’s baseball games.
Grace and Jeff became instant friends again. She decided his lap was the best place to sit.
Here’s Grant playing in right field. I think he noticed me standing on the fence with the camera . . . so he was trying his hardest not to look at me.
After the game we got everyone settled downstairs watching a movie and we spent what felt like hours sitting at the kitchen table going through old pictures and reading old notes I had written her. I have never laughed so hard in my entire life. First, it’s hard to believe that she held on to all those notes and second, it’s even harder to believe some of the things I wrote. They would definitely make good blackmail material!!!
It was nice and sunny on Thursday afternoon so we headed to the pool for a few hours. It’s a win win for everyone because the kids love to swim and it gives Kristen and I a chance to sit back and relax and catch-up on everything going on in our busy lives.
Maddie and Grant
Grace and Grant
A group shot
I couldn’t resist posting this picture of Grant sitting on the rope right next to this sign . . . I hope the homeowners association is not checking this blog or we will be in trouble {again}. Long story but it has to do with my children sitting on the rope. They always seem to come around while we are at the pool!!!
Thursday night we got everyone dressed up and headed out for a photo shoot. Silly me forgot to check the camera setting before we started shooting and I didn’t realize it was set on a sports/action setting until it was too late. Several of the pictures are really grainy. I guess we will have to try again in a few weeks when Grant and I head down to Texas to visit.

Here are a few of my favorites. {The Bumgardner Family}
{The Wood Ladies}

Photos From Michigan – Mackinac Island

2010-06-13T20:17:00.001-05:00

I think this is going to be our last post from Michigan. Today we ventured about an hour south to Mackinac Island. We caught the 10:30 ferry to the island. We didn’t realize it until we were on board that we were on the only ferry of the day that would tour out to the Mackinaw Bridge before dropping us off on the island.

We got some great pictures of the bridge.

This was taken from directly under the bridge. You can actually see two cars going across if you look carefully.

A little history about the island . . . the island was home to Native Americans dating back to 900AD. It was first discovered by a French explorer in 1634. The French took control of the island after the French and Indian War. They built a fort that is still standing in 1780 . The island has been under the control of the US Government since 1895. The island can only be reached by ferry and no motorized vehicles are allowed on the island. The only way to get around is on foot, bike or horse drawn carriage.

The Grand Hotel

Downtown Mackinac Island

Mackinac Island parking lot

Fort Holmes

We took a relaxing horse drawn carriage tour of the island.

The governors mansion is owned by the state of Michigan and the governor and his family can reside here during the summer months.

Cemetery on the island Arch Rock . . . the most beautiful spot on the island.

Photos From Michigan – Tunnel of Trees

2010-06-13T19:40:00.001-05:00

Saturday morning we headed north again. Our first stop was Harbor Springs. Again we spent some time driving around town and admiring all of the beautiful homes. Here were a few of our favorites. This area seems like the most perfect place to live . . . but I was quickly reminded that it must not be during other times of the year. Check out the fire hydrant complete with stick to help locate it in the snow drifts.

After leaving Harbor Springs we headed even farther north through the famous “Tunnel of Trees”. This is a narrow stretch of highway that is engulfed by trees on both sides. Every few miles we saw another sign similar to this one.

At times we would catch a glimpse of the coast. We had planned to stop in Cross Village at the famous Legs Inn to enjoy an authentic polish meal but to our surprise it was closed.

We continued on and reached Mackinaw City. Jeff’s least favorite part of the drive was crossing the Mackinac Bridge. (He doesn’t do well with heights or big open spaces surrounded by water.) It is the third longest suspension bridge in the US at 5 miles in length and connects the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan. I’ve already been told that I will be the one to drive back over it on Tuesday morning when we head home.

We arrived in Sault Ste. Marie in time for a late lunch. Sault Ste. Marie sits on the US/Canadian border. This is our final destination of the trip. Jeff has 3 offices to visit here on Monday. We didn’t have passports so we weren’t able to cross the bridge into Canada. We did however go down to Soo Locks, which allows ships to travel through Lake Superior to the lower Great Lakes.

Photos From Michigan - Petoskey

2010-06-13T18:54:00.001-05:00

Just when we thought we couldn’t find a cuter town in Michigan . . . we arrived in Petoskey late Wednesday afternoon. It only has a population of around 8,000 but is a popular vacation spot during the summer months. One of the largest resort areas in called The Inn at Bay Harbor. We drove around and admired the view of Little Traverse Bay and all of the beautiful homes. Besides hotel accommodations there are also condos and housing developments in the area.

The streets reminded me a little of “ Wisteria Lane” . . . but with a better view. Jeff’s favorite part of the resort area was The Original Pancake House. He ordered the famous “Big German” and managed to eat {almost} the entire thing. He wasn’t smiling quite as big after the meal.

We stayed in Petoskey three nights and spent the majority of our evenings having dinner at one of the local restaurants and then driving around town admiring all of the old homes. Street after street was lined with old two-story homes that all seem to be in immaculate condition.

We found this little baseball field tucked away in one of the old neighborhoods.

I couldn’t resist this photo . . . notice the sign and the doghouse?!?!

I thought this was a neat view of the Little Traverse Bay. It was such a peaceful night and there were so many people out walking and riding their bikes. Downtown Petoskey . . . our favorite spot was the Traverse Pie Company. Each day we enjoyed a bowl of soup and split a piece of cherry crumb pie.

Photos From Michigan – Charlevoix

2010-06-10T20:27:00.001-05:00

On Wednesday morning we headed north to Charlevoix, MI. On the way we passed the World’s Largest Cherry Pie. According to what I read online in 1976 a man convinced local businesses in Charlevoix to bake the World's Largest Cherry Pie as part of the town's annual cherry festival. A giant pan was built, along with an equally titanic oven. Local farmers supplied the ingredients. The result: a cherry pie weighing 17,420 pounds. It was a world record. You should find it in the Guinness Book of World Records.

We made it to Charlevoix around lunch time and were shocked at just how beautiful it was. The lake water is crystal clear and it was a beautiful day outside. While Jeff visited an office I browsed through the downtown shops {bought a fun white shirt} and then found a park bench in the sun to relax and read. Here was the view from my park bench. Downtown Charlevoix, MI

Photos From Michigan – Traverse City

2010-06-10T19:57:00.001-05:00

This week I am with Jeff in northern Michigan. He drew 11 trips to this area for the year so now that school is over I decided to tag along on one. Grant is staying in Winfield with my parents this week so I have lots of quiet time during the day to work on homework while Jeff is busy visiting offices in the area. We meet up for lunch every day and then I head back to the hotel to continue working on homework {or maybe to watch a movie that I’ve rented from the local Redbox}.

We spent our first few days in Traverse City, MI. Here are a few photos from the coast.

They have the cutest downtown area. We spent several hours on Monday browsing through all the little shops, eating cherry pie and we even saw Michael Moore. According to residents he lives with his wife just outside of town. A few other celebrities have homes in the area as well . . . Madonna, Tom Selleck and Demi Moore & Bruce Willis still own a home together.

The hillsides all around town are filled with cherry orchards. Traverse City claims to be the “Cherry Capital of the World”. Each year they hold the annual Cherry Festival in early July. Too bad we didn’t schedule our trip a little later in the summer!

While driving around town on Tuesday night we followed a sign to The Village at Grand Traverse Commons. After doing a little research we found out that it is a former insane asylum that has been partially redone. From the looks of things many of the building are either residential housing, offices, shops or restaurants.

Many of the building are still stand in their original form and let me just tell you they were super creepy. Many of them are boarded up and you can still see all the bars on the windows and fencing around the deck areas. It is definitely not the kind of place I would want to look at late at night from my apartment window across the street.

Just down the hill we found this headstone to where the asylum dairy cow was buried in 1932. It must have been some cow!!!

Traverse City also has some of the cleanest, well maintained older homes I have ever seen. All of the city streets are lined with these adorable two-story homes. I couldn’t resist taking some pictures of a few as we drove along.

My Little Slugger

2010-06-04T20:21:00.002-05:00

Tonight Grant hit his first homerun of the season. We celebrated with ice cream after the game!!!!

The Big Move

2010-06-02T21:55:00.001-05:00

I am officially moved in to my new classroom. Thanks to all my little “helpers” on the last day of school we got the last few loads moved. Luckily it was just a short walk across the playground to the new school. I also had tons of help from family a few weeks before school was over getting all of my “personal” things moved.

Goodbye old school . . .

Hello new school . . .

After several days of hard work I think that I’ve got everything in place. I changed the theme of my room so it was kind of fun to decorate with all my new jungle stuff. There’s still a few items I want to pick up over the summer but here is a {sneak peek} of what it looks like so far . . .

Aren’t these the cutest little monkey’s ever!!! My friend Kelsey’s mom painted them for me to hang around the room. She is so talented. This little guy is going to hold the word of the day sign.

Instead of a "Star Student” we are going to have a “Top Banana” each week. I don’t know if you can tell but this silly little monkey is holding a banana. I still need to make a branch and vines for him to hang from and some yellow bananas to hang on the board. Then I plan to attach the special pictures that my students bring to display during the week.

Here is my guided reading table and zebra print word wall.

These shelves were originally blue but thanks to some help from my sister we painted them black before moving day and left the shelves all red. They really seem to match the rest of the decor much better now.

Kelsey thought her Cat in the Hat doll looked cute in my big comfy chair. I would like to find some zebra and leopard print pillows to go it in too.

The only place I could fit my desk was right inside the door. I don’t know how well I’m going to like it here.

In the back corner by the windows I’m planning to put my listening center. I’m crossing my fingers that I can find some animal print beanbag chairs for the kids to sit in.

Weekend in Kansas City

2010-05-30T21:54:00.001-05:00

This weekend Grant’s baseball team played in a tournament in Kansas City. Jeff was already in northeastern Kansas for work so Grant and I caught a ride up with the Becker family and he met us in KC on Friday afternoon.

We made Grant pose for a quick shot with both of us before his first game.

Luckily there was a covered upper level deck area where we could watch the games. It seemed like a great spot when we arrived but by mid-evening when the sun started to go down we were wishing that we had an east facing field.

The boys played hard and won their first game (14-7) against the KC Padres. We celebrated the win with several families for dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise at the Legends.

This cute little orange/lime frog came in my fruity drink. I didn’t intend for Grant to suck on it all evening . . . I guess he liked the flavor of my drink cleverly named Euphoria.

Saturday morning we headed back to the ballpark and played at 10:00. The boys beat the Arkansas Ghost 11-1. It was the best I have ever seen them play. Jeff took the good camera so we got tons of great shots of all the kids. Grant had his own cheering section. My mom and dad came and brought my grandma. They had been in KC visiting family so they stopped by the ballpark on the way home to catch a game.

After the game we headed back to the Legends and had lunch at T-Rex. It felt so good to be inside someplace with air-conditioning and limitless amounts of cold drinks. We left Jeff in charge of a few of the boys while we ran into the Nike Outlet store after lunch. They found the fountains and got completely soaked. It’s a good thing it was a hot day because they dried off really fast.After a few hours of shopping we went back to the hotel to swim and get cleaned up. They we met up with a few families and went to a T-Bones game. They are a semi-professional team that plays in KC. It was a beautiful night and we had a great time!!!

The Bumgardner boys both had to have a snow cone.

Coach John had the best seat in the house.They had to of course get it a doofus shot. This is coach John’s signature look anytime someone does something silly on the field or at bat.

Mid way through the game we found out we had the #2 seed in the tournament and had to play at 8:00 am so we packed up a little early and headed back to the hotel so everyone could get a good nights sleep.

Our winning streak continued a little longer. The boys beat the Arkansas Rattler’s (8-1). I ran down to get a picture of Grant playing 3rd base and right as I was about the snap the camera he snagged a ball on the infield and threw it to 1st base to get the final out of the game. I think the ball is actually in his glove in this shot.

We had a few hours between games. I thought this was a cute shot of the boys sitting with Carol on the bench sizing up their opponents who were still playing on the field below.

Unfortunately we lost in the semi-finals to the Topeka Renegades. I think it was more of a case of us beating ourselves. Our boys made a lot of silly mistakes that ended up costing them the game. They played hard and probably finished in 3rd place. We didn’t stick around to find out. It was so hot and everyone was pretty worn out so we loaded up the car and headed home.

Thanks for a fun weekend Cardinal’s (and Cardinal’s parents). . . I’m sure we will be doing it again soon.

OMG – How could I forget . . . on Saturday afternoon I got hit in the head by a foul ball from another field. I have NO idea where it came from and nobody yelled ball. All of a sudden I was just nailed by a ball from out of no where. I felt like such a goof because it made me cry. I think I was kind of in shock. Luckily nobody caught in on camera (I hope). I iced it down for a little bit and now just have a BIG lump to show for it.

A Room Full of Furniture & A Trip to the Pool

2010-05-27T22:48:00.001-05:00

For the first few weeks of May our living room was completely empty. Jeff’s grandmother decided she didn’t like her living room furniture anymore so told us we could have it. With the help of my friend Diane and her husband Scott we got our old furniture moved downstairs and they took the basement couch off our hands for their daughter Karley who is getting an apartment at Emporia State next year. The only time we had a weekend when we were both free was at the beginning of May and Jeff’s grandmother’s new furniture wasn’t being delivered until May 15. So we enjoyed a big open empty space for a few weeks and it proved to be a great place for my friend Jessica’s little girl to take some of her first steps.

It has taken us a while to get used to the new furniture. It’s much more formal than what we had before. Today the final piece of furniture was purchased to finish off the room. Our old coffee table didn’t really go with the new furniture so I got the idea to buy a large leather ottoman. I found the perfect one at a furniture store out east and it really looks great. Hopefully we will start spending a little bit more time in the living room now.

In other news we went to the pool today for the first time of the season. Our neighborhood pool doesn’t open until tomorrow so we went over to grandpa’s house to swim. Grant and his friend Hayden had a blast.

The Bumgardner’s are Back

2010-05-26T23:41:00.001-05:00

Between baseball games, end of the year school activities, my masters classes and packing up my classroom at school for the big move , the month of May has flown by without very many posts. There’s so much to catch up on so it may take a few posts to fit it all in.

A few weeks ago my good friend Jessica was in Winfield visiting family and made a special trip up to Wichita to have dinner with me. It was so fun to catch up with her and meet her adorable little girl Sophia.

Then we were off to Alva, OK for a baseball tournament May 14-16th. It was a fun and very memorable weekend. Here are a few action shots from our games on Saturday. Luckily the bad weather held off and we were able to fit in all of our games on Saturday. I wish I could say the same for Sunday. We got one game in and then had several hours of rain delay.

While we were in Alva I ran into my good friend Amy. Her son Hunter was there with his team playing as well. Unfortunately we never got to play each other.

The best photos from the weekend actually came between games when the boys were hanging out.

We got coach John to give us his signature look. It wouldn’t be a tournament without a $12 t-shirt. There was a slight misspelling though. I guess the tournament directors didn’t have spell check on their computer.

The “moms” showing off our new blingy Cardinal’s shirts. We also got a few fun photos on Saturday night at our motel. There aren’t a lot of lodging choices in Alva so let’s just say that our accommodations were not exactly what we are all used to. To make the experience a little more pleasurable Jeff and Chad hit up the local liquor store and got us a few treats to enjoy in the parking lot before turning in. We also opted to sleep in our clothing on top of the sheets with our own blankets and pillows from home.

This is the pose I got from Jeff and Chad when I asked them to smile. Can you tell it had been a long day???

After a few drinks they thought it would be a good idea to take a picture holding Greg like the girls did earlier in the day. The expression on Greg’s face makes me laugh every time I see it. We woke up on Sunday morning to celebrate our 12th anniversary at the Western Motel. We wanted to get our picture taken with the sign in the background so we would always remember our motel. Luckily my friend Amy, who was staying at the same hotel, found the perfect spot. Notice the empty beer can on the table behind us and Jeff eating a piece of cold pizza left over from the night before. Classy huh???

I wasn’t lying when I said that baseball is keeping us busy. This past weekend we played in a tournament in Derby. Luckily we didn’t have to stay in another motel but we fit in 6 games between Friday evening and Sunday afternoon so our weekend seemed to just fly by.

Between games the boys decided to do a little meditation to relax.

After meditating they thought it would be fun to put on a little runway show on the picnic tables. The boys played hard and ended up with a 3rd place finish in the tournament.

This weekend we are headed to KC for another tournament. Even though baseball keep us busy we are so lucky to have so many wonderful families to hang out with. Grant has also made some great friends over the years. It’s fun watching all the boys grow up and develop into such great little players.

Baseball, Baseball and MORE Baseball

2010-05-04T14:46:00.001-05:00

For four straight days we have been at the baseball park. On Friday Grant’s team had a regular season game at Westurban (which we lost by 1 run 13-12). Then over the weekend they played in a tournament at Southwest Boys Club in Haysville. We got a bye in round one and then the boys won their first game 14-1 on Saturday afternoon. We were back bright and early Sunday morning for a 9:00 game and ended up losing 5-4. So this meant we didn’t get to play for the championship. We had some pretty sad boys and parents.

Here’s my little slugger right before he was up to bat.

After our loss on Sunday afternoon a few of Grant’s buddies came over to hang out. We had quite an interesting ride home. Three 9 year old boys in the backseat can get a little crazy.

Things got even crazier once we got to the house. Jeff, who is probably the biggest kid of all, made hot ham and cheese sandwiches but then thought it would be a fun to add all kind of gross condiments. They boys thought this was SUPER fun. Here’s Hayden eating his hot ham and cheese with peanut butter, pickles and mustard. Cade tried a PB&J with soy sauce. I reminded Jeff that he was in charge of any messes made from one of the boys throwing up.

After lunch they boys all went out back and played the washers game Grant got for his birthday back in September (which we hadn’t opened yet). It was a big hit!!!

The winners (Team Bumgardner)

And the losers (sorry boys) Luckily they were still smiling!!!

I don’t know what the obsession was with picking each other up.

And finally a few more pictures from last nights game. The Cardinal’s won 7-4. I found a great spot at the top of the bleachers to take pictures. Hopefully next time we will be the home team so I will be on the right side to get Grant’s picture when he’s up to bat. So for now all I have is his backside. (The world’s worst umpire is also pictured below!!!)

My Little Tween

2010-04-28T21:58:00.001-05:00

I was watching the Today Show this morning while Grant was getting ready for school and saw a segment all about Tweens. I’ve heard this word several times but never realized that I am actually the mother of a tween. For those of you who don’t know what a tween is don’t feel bad. According to the Today show it is a child between the ages of 8-12. They are in the pre-adolescent stage. Not really a little kid anymore but not quite a teenager. Thank goodness because that would really make me feel old!!! It’s hard for me to believe that he is nearly 10 years old. Gosh time flies by quickly.

After the segment ended I went into Grant’s room to see if he was almost ready for school and after taking a good look realized just how grown up he is getting. He is so independent these days and as you can tell from the pictures very picky about what he wears. It’s VERY important to him that he looks cool. Note the black Converse and two necklaces around his neck!!! He also wants to make sure his hair is spiked and he has on a few sprays of his cologne that he got for Christmas before we leave the house. I have to admit it makes me a little teary eyed to see him growing up so quickly.

But then there are the little things that he does [like asking me to tie his shoes, tuck him into bed, read him a story, cuddle up on the couch and watch a movie, lay with him before he goes to sleep] that reminds me that he is still my little boy.

A Trip to Hell

2010-04-26T18:27:00.003-05:00

Jeff just called to tell me he went to Hell and back today

Hell, Michigan that is. It's really a town in Michigan, no kidding!!!

He's in Michigan this week for work and the trip actually got off to a rather hellish start. After arriving in Chicago yesterday he found out his flight to Detroit had been cancelled and the earliest flight they could get him on was this morning at 10:00. He attempted to a rent a car and just drive to Detroit but he couldn't get his luggage and it was going to cost almost $1100 for a one way rental. So he spent the day in Chicago with no luggage. Then this morning at 6:00 am he called me to say his hotel was on fire.

Thankfully he safely arrived in Detroit this morning and his luggage was there waiting for him. Now it's time for my hell to begin. Grant's baseball team has concession standy duty so that means I get to work the 7:45 - close shift. The things we do for our kiddos!!!!

All Grown Up

2010-04-18T21:35:00.001-05:00

Today I feel like I officially became an adult. I discovered how much I liked coffee and it’s all thanks to this new little gadget we bought at Sam’s Club.

It’s the Keurig Coffee station and it is AMAZING. Jeff has mentioned that he would like to have one several times, but I have just ignored him because the thought of another appliance in my kitchen didn’t sound appealing. Today however he wore me down . . . and boy am I glad. I’ve already had 3 cups. The one we bought came with 72 k-cups in a wide variety of flavors. They even make iced tea and several flavors of cocoa. After reading the book that came along with it there were several other flavors I wanted so we headed to Bed, Bath & Beyond with a few of our 20% off coupons and bought four more boxes AND this handy little turning display rack. {This was Jeff’s idea, not mine!} He’s just like a little kid organizing and then reorganizing his k-cups. It’s so cute!!!

Now I will have something to look forward to every morning when my alarm goes off.

Cardinals vs. Cardinals

2010-04-17T19:05:00.001-05:00

This morning Grant’s 9 year old team played a 10 year old team who are also called The Cardinals. Luckily we wore our blue jerseys since they were dressed in red. This season we are one of two 9 year old teams playing in the 9-10 age group so we are getting to face some new teams.

Taking a few practice swings before his first time at the plate.

Grant hit another HUGE ball into center field. For a moment I thought it was going out but it landed just inside the fence again. I know he’ll get one sooner or later.

Leading off 2nd base

3rd base

Leading off 3rd base

Leading WAY off 3rd base . . . he’s getting pretty brave!!!

Coming home!!!

Getting a little talk from Coach Dreifort on his way back into the dugout. It had something to do with his great hit!!!

The boys pulled off a victory {11-3} in their first regular season game. Here they were after the game in the outfield having a little team meeting. I always love these shots!!!

We’re Still Here

2010-04-16T19:16:00.001-05:00

Don’t worry . . . we are still here. It looks like I have a lot of catching up to do. We’ve had so much going on the past few weeks with birthday celebrations and baseball games and just life in general. Not to mention most of my spare time has been taken up with homework. This whole master’s thing is really a lot of work!!!

I celebrated by 32nd birthday on April 7th. We enjoyed a nice dinner out at Timberline where I had a delightful loaded sweet potato. Gosh I love sweet potatoes!!! The boys surprised me a few weeks ago with an early gift. I was in need of a new little camera so they got me this Nikon. So far I’ve been really happy with it. It’s very small and fits nicely in my purse.

Then beginning on Thursday, April 8th Grant’s baseball team played in the Hardball Classic which is the annual pre-season tournament at Westurban.

Here are some pictures I took with my new camera. Grant is behind the plate playing catcher.

Here’s Grant at bat. He had a HUGE hit on Thursday night. I really thought he had a home run but it landed just inside the fence.

Don’t be confused by the uniforms. The boys got new navy blue shirts this year so they wore them for their games on Thursday and Saturday and then wore the old red ones on Sunday.

Here are a few pictures I took with our Nikon DS80 before the battery died on Sunday. It only lasted for about 15 minutes. I still don’t know if there is a problem with the battery or the charger. It’s been having problems for a while. I guess I need to find a camera store here in town and go talk to them. Even though it’s a HUGE camera to drag to the ballpark I love the quality of the pictures.

Miles also came down over the weekend to visit. It was so nice to have him around. We don’t get to see him nearly as often as we would like. We had planned to have family pictures taken on Saturday in Winfield but had to cancel at the last minute due to our baseball schedule.

Here’s the boys in the backseat on the way to the game.

Between games on Saturday we celebrated my birthday and Miles birthday. He turned 16 on Wednesday {April 14th}. My mom and dad, sister, grandma & Nana all came up to visit. We opened presents and had my traditional Neapolitan birthday cake.

Grant with Nana and Grandma Norma

The boys being silly. I attempted to take this picture several times and could never get all of them to look at me.

Granny was being silly too. Here she is trying to wear Grant’s baseball cap.

New Classroom {Sneak Peek}

2010-04-16T18:33:00.001-05:00

Today I got the first official peek at my new classroom and I have to admit it left me with mixed emotions. As you can see by the pictures it is a very odd shaped room. It’s kind of like a trapezoid!!! It was not originally designed for K-1 students and unfortunately very few renovations were done to make it suitable for small children. There is also very little storage so I’m stressing out about where I am going to keep all of my stuff. On a positive note it does have nice new carpet and freshly painted walls.

This is the view from the doorway in the hall. The back windows are a little deceiving because they don’t actually look directly outside. They look into a hallway that has exterior windows. Crazy, huh!!! At least I have a glimpse of sunlight. Several of my friends have no exterior windows. Theirs just look out into the hallway. So sorry Diane :(

Here’s another view from the hallway door of the front of my room. The door that you see in the middle of the back wall leads to a pod that I will share with the 3 other teachers on my team. There is additional storage in there that we are planning to use to store items like paper, textbooks, craft supplies, etc . . . My Promethean board will be mounted on the flat empty wall by the door as well. I’m planning to buy a fun zebra or leopard print rug to put in front of it.

This is a picture of the storage area. It is all along the back wall. It’s a little hard to tell from the picture, but most of the gorgeous maroon trim is completely missing from the shelving. They say it’s on a list to be repaired before school starts, but I am not holding my breath.

Ok, it’s time to be positive because I have to move at the end of next month whether I like it or not. So here’s my grand plan. . . I’m going to go with a fun jungle theme with lots of leopard & zebra print decor. May not look great with all the red cabinets, but oh well!!! A friend of mine’s mom is going to paint me lots of cute monkeys to hang around on the bulletin boards and I am going to look into buying some monkey/jungle wall decals to spruce the space up a bit. Once I get everything moved in and organized I’m sure it will feel like home. It’s just a little overwhelming trying to imagine the final product. Wish me luck!!!

Weekend in Winfield

2010-04-04T20:46:00.001-05:00

Saturday morning we packed up the car and headed down to Winfield. Grant was invited to Hunter’s skating birthday party. Hunter’s mom Amy and I have been friends since our freshman year at Southwestern. I have to admit I was a little excited about the skating party too because it’s been years since I was last at the skating rink in Winfield and from the looks of things it doesn’t look like it’s changed very much.

Here’s Grant and the birthday boy. They are both 9 year old now!!!

Grant got to play the number game. This was always one of my favorite things as a kid when I went to the skating rink. I have to admit I was a little jealous. Grant won on his very first time playing. What a lucky boy!!! I don’t think I ever won as a kid.

He won a free skating pass. We knew we wouldn’t be back in town to use it so he gave it to Ava (Hunter’s little sister).

Grant also got to play the limbo. He didn’t do so great at this game. I managed to snap this photo right before he knocked the pole off.

Thanks Jones family for a fun afternoon at the skating rink.

After an afternoon of playing Hunter and Ava came over to my parent’s house for dinner and a little tennis.

Sunday morning Grant was up earlier than expected to see all of his Easter goodies. This year the Easter bunny didn’t bring him lots of candy. Instead he got a new shirt, a digital copy of The Blind Side to watch on his iTouch, sidewalk chalk, super bubbles and sugar free bubble gum.

While Grandma was busy making lunch and mommy was working on homework Papa took Grant, Daddy & Aunt Karen out on the farm to see Paul’s new border collie puppies. Aren’t they adorable?? I think Grant was secretly wishing the Easter bunny had brought him one of these too. Spiro might have been a little jealous though.

Happy Easter from our family to yours!!!

Goddard Classic

2010-03-29T19:30:00.001-05:00

This past weekend Grant’s baseball team played in their first pre-season tournament and the only word I have to describe it is “COLD”. I can’t ever remember being so cold in my entire life. The weather was BEAutiful Saturday morning and by 12:00 when his first game started the temperature had dropped to about 37 degrees, the sun disappeared and the wind was blowing about 20-25 mph. Not exactly ideal playing conditions but it was still fun to see the boys play. Jeff reminded me there was a reason that MLB teams from the mid-west head south this time of year.

Here’s a picture of our big stud before his first game. Check out how white his pants look. Too bad they’ll never look quite like this again.

Here was Grant’s first time up to the plate for the season.

He also got a little action behind the plate as well.

One of the highlights of the tournament may have been when Grant made it all the way to third base after striking out. This year there is a new rule that if the batter strikes out and the catcher fails to catch the ball the batter can run to first base. Somehow there were so many out fielding errors that he actually made it all the way to third base. For a minute we thought he might make it all the way home.

Here he is leading off third base after his big play.

I got a big smile from him when he made it home.

I also got a big smile from Jeff as he enjoyed his first hotdog of the season.

In an attempt to stay warm Jeff and I spent quite a bit of time huddled together. We actually ran home between games to add a few more layers of clothing, grab some extra blankets and get some hand warmers (thanks mom and dad).

On Sunday the wind was still blowing but we had sunshine. Here’s Grant and I before the game.

He had some great outfield plays and managed to get a good solid hit on Sunday. All in all the boys played hard and despite the weather did a great job for their first time out this season. They are actually playing in a 9-10 age group {most of them are only 9} so the competition is definitely going to be a little harder and bigger this year. We are looking forward to another great season!!!

What’s For Dinner

2010-03-26T23:22:00.001-05:00

Tonight Grant had baseball practice so I decided to take advantage of having the house to myself and I got started on my first few assignments for my master’s class. Two hours later Jeff called on their way home from practice and asked “What’s for dinner?” Of course I hadn’t even thought about that. All I had on my mind was how to navigate my way around Blackboard and post something about how to motivate my students. So I quickly ran to the refrigerator and started to pull out leftovers. Luckily since I hosted BUNCO last night there were several choices and there was even some leftover queso & taco meat from Wednesday night and spaghetti that Granny had sent over.

Grant is a HUGE fan of iCarly so he got the big idea tonight to make spaghetti tacos out of the leftovers like he has seen on the show. Even though they sound awful he seemed to really enjoy them. I don’t know if it was the taste or just the idea of eating something he had seen Spencer eat on TV. Either way he sucked down two pretty quickly.

We’re crossing our fingers that we don’t get too much rain overnight. Grant’s baseball team is playing in their first pre-season tournament this weekend. From the looks of the forecast I won’t be surprised if the games are either cancelled or we have some big rain delays tomorrow. Even if the rain clears up it will be super muddy and that’s not really the way I would like for him to break in his brand new white pants. You have no idea how hard it is to get them clean.

Chef Grant

2010-03-22T19:28:00.001-05:00

Grant has ALWAYS liked to help in the kitchen. As a little guy he always wanted to help me “mix the gredients” and he asked to crack the eggs anytime he saw me get them out to make cookies. So I guess it’s no surprise that as he has gotten older he has continued to want to help out. Last week I taught him how to peel potatoes. I have to admit I was a little nervous. I have never really let him use anything too sharp. But as you can see from the pictures he did a great job. Thanks to his hard work we had yummy garlic mashed potatoes for dinner during Spring Break.

Tonight we had tacos for dinner and he got an idea to make himself a special little treat with the leftover tortilla. He covered it with peanut butter, slices of banana (which as you can see in the picture he cut on his own) and topped it off with a little honey.

I have to end this post with a cute little story about Grant cooking. A few weeks ago my friend Becky and I were invited to a CAbi party at my neighbors house. Jeff was out of town and her husband had plans so we thought it would probably be ok if we left our boys (who are both the same age) together at my house for a little bit to play XBox games while we shopped and enjoyed a few beverages and snacks. {I’m sure this makes me sound like such a super mother!} Anyways, I was telling Grant about it on the way to school earlier that week and he got so excited about making Alec and himself dinner. He thought he might just try to make some fried rice like we had for dinner the night before. My response was of course, “Are you kidding me?”. I assured him Becky and I would make sure they were fed before we left.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk

2010-03-20T17:01:00.001-05:00

The big game just got underway and we are all decked out in our KU gear to support the Jayhawks.

Grant is also big smiles because he and daddy just got back from the store and they bought a Powerball ticket for tonight. Grant’s pretty sure he has the winning numbers in his hand.

Spring Break – Day 1 & 2

2010-03-16T19:38:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I was very productive. I woke up relatively early and got started on the basement bathroom. I’ve been wanting to paint it for a while and decided this was as good a time as any so I pulled my hair back, threw on some old clothes and went to Wal-Mart to look at paint colors. I had an idea in mind of a dark brown {with all white accessories} but couldn’t find the right shade. After talking to the paint guy for a little bit he showed me a color that a designer in town comes in and gets on a regular basis {Steady Brown} and he told me he had used it in his house too and he loved it. So after a little persuasion he mixed me up a gallon and I headed home to get started. I wasn’t so sure it was the color I wanted but once I got it up on the wall I fell in love with it. I used the Kilz Brand paint which is only supposed to require one coat . . . and that’s all it took. Here a few pictures of the finished product.

I ended up just putting the towels and shower curtain that I already had back up for now but I would still like to get a white shower curtain and white towels. I also want a few large white photo frames and wall hangings to put on the walls.

Today I spent the day relaxing. I actually read an ENTIRE book. I started it last night and just couldn’t put it down. Grant had a friend here {Hunter, my friend Amy’s son from Winfield} and they entertained themselves all day playing outside and then playing some zombie game on the XBox 360 so I had lots of quiet time to curl up in my big chair and just read. Tomorrow though I’m going to drag the ladder and paint supplies back out and get started on our master bathroom. Jeff thought the basement bathroom turned out so good and he reminded me how bad our master bathroom paint is. So check back later this week for some more pictures.

Weekend Wrap-Up

2010-03-14T18:30:00.001-05:00

Friday night Grant’s team ended their season with another loss. At some points it was hard to figure out if I was watching basketball or at a wresting match. I’ve never seen so many jump balls in one game. At the half the score was only 7-10. The boys played hard but just weren’t able to pull off a win.

Grant got to jump for the ball.

Saturday morning we woke up and headed down to Winfield. We met up with my friend Amy for lunch at Nieve’s. Grant spent the rest of the day hanging out with her son Hunter. They spent a few hours at Amy’s house and then came back over to my parents. They literally spent almost the entire time playing basketball. They of course tried to perfect their trick shots.

This morning we woke up and went to church with my parents. Grant was so excited to wear his “nice" clothes. He looked so cute all dressed up.

We attempted to get a quick family picture before we headed out the door for church. Jeff had trouble keeping his hands to himself!!! Here he was poking Grant.

You can’t see it here but he was poking me in the ribs. Doesn’t he look like he’s up to something. Check out his little grin!!!

After church we ate a quick lunch and then had to pack up and head home because Grant had baseball practice this afternoon. We are looking forward to a relaxing week at home. We are on Spring Break!!!

You Win Some, You Lose Some

2010-03-09T21:54:00.001-06:00

Tonight Grant’s basketball team experienced their first loss in the post-season tournament. Since they did so well all season they moved up into a new division for the tournament and I don’t think they were quite ready for what was in store. They all played hard, but unfortunately were just outplayed by the Gamerz. {Good thing we always beat that team in baseball!!!}

Thankfully I got my camera working before the game so I was able to take some pictures. {Silly me kept seeing the letters CHG flashing on the screen and I thought that meant Charge. What it really meant was Change disks. My disk was full. }

Grant and his friend Alex.

A few action shots during the game.

Grant, Cameron & Nolan taking a break during the game.

Grant with Grandma & Papa after the game.

Grant with Nana and Grandma Norma after the game. Gosh was he sweaty and stinky!!!

After a quick stop for an ice cream treat, we finally made it home a little before 9:00 and Grant got right to work finishing up his homework. What a good boy!!! He worked so hard before we left for the game but didn’t get it quite finished.

Now he’s all snug in his bed with Spiro. I’m ready to head that way too!!! He plays again on Friday night. Unfortunately now we are in the losing side of the bracket. Not exactly how we wanted to end a winning season. But I reminded Grant you can’t win them all.

Undefeated

2010-03-07T20:18:00.001-06:00

Tonight Grant’s basketball team ended the season with an undefeated record [9-0]. It was such a close game the entire time. The Maverick’s were actually down by 3 at the half but managed to come back and regain the lead and hold on to it.

Grant of course practiced his mad ball handling tricks before the game. Do the Harlem Globetrotters have any openings??? It’s amazing just how long he can keep the ball spinning.

Sorry about the bad lighting. We aren’t supposed to use flash inside the gym during a game.

* I’m having some serious digital camera issues. The battery to our good Nikon D80 is not holding a charge. My little Nikon is DEAD and my old Kodak digital camera that I use at school started putting lines in almost every picture. Thank goodness I had this digital camera checked out at school so I could get a few shots tonight. Hopefully I will be able to get my battery problems solved before our first game in the end of the season tournament on Tuesday night.

Movie Night

2010-03-05T20:15:00.001-06:00

Tonight we are enjoying a relaxing night at home with a movie. What a perfect way to begin the weekend!!! Grant has his friend Nick here and after enjoying a yummy Mexican feast that Jeff prepared we are snuggling up downstairs to watch 2012. Not really my favorite genre of movie but the boys are really excited to see the world come to and end.

I wonder how many more years they will want to snuggle up under the same blanket in the big recliner??? I’m sure they’ll hate me for having these pictures before long. Spiro sure loves it though. It’s good thing everyone likes him because he’s always right in the middle of things.