BRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!

These pictures just scream "SUMMERTIME", and I couldn't be happier! In case you didn't know, I despise cold weather. I've always said if I commit a crime, don't send me to prison - send me to Alaska! That would be pure torture. Anyway, back to the pictures.... Our pool is not warm by any means, but kids really don't care. They see blue water and have to be in it at any cost. Here's Payton eating ice cream with her feet in the freezing water (and for all of you germ-freaks out there, she is eating straight out of the carton, but there were only a few spoonfuls left).
Holland and my nieces, Lauren & Alyssa. All of our girls are the best of buddies and have the time of their lives when they're together. It makes me smile....


Anyone that's ever been to our house in the summer knows just how hot the upper patio gets because of the dark stain. It's sad that this is what it took to warm up after getting out of the pool.

Bust a move

Friday night was Holland's dance recital! She goes to class every Monday for an hour from September through May all for this one big event, and it's a great show every year. This was her first year back in dance since she was 4, and she waited until now to start again because she was old enough to just dance hip-hop, which is her absolute favorite. All I can say is, "WOW"! The girl has crazy moves, and I am so very jealous because I'm not coordinated enough to do aerobics! I'm glad she's found something that she loves to do and not because it's what all of her friends are doing. She's come a long way from the little 5-year-old that sat in the corner and refused to go back to dance because Lauren Law wasn't going to be there....

Our weekend: the good, the bad, & the ugly

The ugly: We bought a timehare in Branson about 14 months ago and have been trying to sell it for about the last 10. I won't cover all of the boring details, but will say that many of the things they told us we could do with it (i.e. rent our time out and make money, transfer points over from our other timeshare, etc.) weren't possible. So, when I got the phone call from them a few weeks ago asking if we would come back for an "update" (code for "try to sell you more") and get $100 in Visa gift cards, I thought what a great oppotunity to let them know how we really feel. So, we headed up there early Saturday morning to make our 9:00 appointment. It all went alright until John went and got his supervisor to come and talk to us. Instead of addressing our concerns, Doc Holiday, (seriously- it was on his name tag) with his gold chains and funny eyebrows, just wanted to tell us about their newest features. Hello!! Have you heard a word we've said?? Just tell us how we can sell this thing and we'll be outta here! Anyway, after all was said and done, we still own a timeshare in Branson that we're still trying to sell.

The bad: The girls were having a big time playing in the backseat on the way home, and I asked Scott if he remembered how Payton used to always fall asleep in the car if we drove anywhere for more than an hour. We laughed about it and then saw her like this about 30 minutes later. This, too, was funny until we got home and she said she was freezing. I took her temp. and it was 103! She had eaten well all day, shopped like a champ, never complained of anything hurting... it was wild! So, she slept with me Saturday night. At 2:30 she was burning up, so I gave her medicine and she went back to sleep. She went all day yesterday with no fever, no complaining, and then had 103.5 temp. last night. Needless to say, she's at home with me today. Some of our best friends girls' had a fever virus last week, and I'm pretty sure that's what this is.


The good: Despite everything previously mentioned, we had an incredible weekend! After the less-than-productive meeting Saturday morning, we headed to the outlet mall and then to the Landing. What an absolutely perfect day! We ate outside on the deck at Joe's Crab Shack and watched the people walk by. After the girls and I finished our meals, we sat and watched Scott eat for the next hour. No joke. He had a bucket FULL of all kinds of sea creatures with shells that all had to be cracked and the insides extracted and then dipped in one of three different kinds of sauces. It was quite the production. Check out the man-bib he got to wear...

And Sunday was another picture-perfect day. We spent the entire afternoon out by the Hanby's pool. I don't have any pictures to share because I honestly didn't want to move my lazy self out of my lounge chair to go and get the camera......

Fieldtrippin'

I've been so fortunate that my school schedule has always allowed me to be able to take the girls to school and pick them up everyday. Unfortunately, my classes have also prevented me from being able to go on most of their fieldtrips this year..... until now, that is!! I've been on 2 this week and will be going on another one Monday. I went with Holland to an Economics Fair for all of the GT students in Springdale.

Here she is with one of her best buddies, Marley
Here's her team competing against another school in an economics quiz bowl (and winning 45 to 20)
Each team was given a sack with several misc. items, and they had 20 minutes to create a product, name it, and tell it's function
And here they are with their storyboard showing their idea of "opportunity cost". They got a score in each of the 4 areas, and those scores are then added together for a final score to determine the winners. I'll let you know if they end up with the grand prize....

And then it was off to the safari with Payton! Here she is with her friend, Gretchen, and bread to feed the animals
This little thing was the main attraction! She's a one-year-old monkey named Kiwi. You always knew where she was - not because you could see her, but because there would be a group of about 20 kids in a tight circle around her at all times
Who knew kangaroos were so soft??
Even I couldn't resist the baby goats! (Until one kid got pooped on and another girl had her hair eaten. That was the end of my animal holding.)
And with all of the exotic animals to see in the park, where do the girls end up?? With a cat!