James' Car in a Magazine?

James just found out that his car was featured in the Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords magazine. I thought it was pretty exciting. The picture was taken when he was at the SHO convention back in July at the car show where he brought home the gold award for best SHO powered engine... I know most of you that check out the blog aren't really into cars but just to tell you a little about the cars that he likes to specialize in, you'll know this one is pretty pretty rare(Ford didn't make it the way that you see it) and it's pretty slick looking in my opinion, the girls like cruising around in it as well. We got to drive it around town one weekend when daddy needed the Excursion).

He works hard everyday on other peoples cars at his job and his side jobs and his hobby, but hobbies don't count as hard work because you "enjoy" doing it. I just wanted to say "Congrats" to him for something pretty cool happening to him for once. If you're a gear head at all seeing your own car in a car magazine has got to be pretty cool. Here is the picture that was published. YAY James!

Balloon Glow in Forest Park & The Dobbs Family Picnic

Kaitlyn for the 3rd year in a row wasn't so sure of the balloons when we walked underneath them, but she loves them from a distance. Kiera was a bit more curious to check everything out up close and personal. They enjoyed everything from the hot air balloons, the music, the free balloons, bag pipers and last but not least the fireworks to finish off a great evening.


























Sunday at the Dobbs picnic it was rainy and muddy but we still managed to have a good time. By the end of the day Kaitlyn was almost unrecognizable covered in mud that you can kind of see in the pictures. We thought about not going because of the rain and the thunderstorms that took place through out the night but we decided to go and see if anything was going on. They did cancel the car show and didn't have the bounce houses set up, but the girls did get the usual stuffed animals, all you can eat sno-cones, popcorn, cotton candy, ice cream, BBQ and brownies. talk about one heck of a sugar high. They also had the carnival games where everytime you win. Along with a DJ and raffling of TVs and money all afternoon, rain or shine it makes for a fun family day.

Nice little surprise

I Got a little box from nutrisystem the other day. It had 5 cute little bears in it each with a number (10, 20, 30, 40 & 50) recognizing how much weight I lost on the program. Just what I needed to keep myself going to lose 20 more. The girls love playing with them as well. Ill add a picture of them in a few hours...

Trip To The ZOO

Friday was absolutely beautiful outside and a friend suggested taking the kids to the zoo. So we piled in the excursion and spent a good part of the day checking out the animals and meandering around. I never knew the zoo could be visited without exhausting everyone. We just went at the 2 year olds pace and let Kaitlyn push the stroller and didn't care if we missed this or that or saw everything. We finished off the day with a round trip train ride and headed on out.


Kiera sitting down for a snack while checking out the orangutans, she kept asking why the monkey was looking at her. Maybe because he wanted her banana?


Kaitlyn checking out the apes


Kiera was the only one that wanted her picture taken by the big gorilla


Eli and Kaitlyn convincing Kiera she could squeeze in but Kiera wanted to walk


Checking out the prarie dogs


Kaitlyn on a mission to somewhere


Kiera & Eli strolling over the birdhouse bridge


taking a break to grab a drink


Kaitlyn moving right along while Kiera & Eli need to checkout the tigers for a little while longer


Kiera roaming


All Aboard!!! Time for the train ride! The girls were so excited


ooooooooo Tunnel...


I hope everyone has a FUN & SAFE holliday weekend! Finish off the summer right. Happy Labor Day

Grandmas 83rd Birthday

Sunday we had a surprise birthday party for Grandma out at Val and Johns house. Grandma said she was surprised but had an idea that she was being invited to a little more than just a little lunch. The kids hada great time on the golf cart in fact they couldn't get enough of it. Here are some pics from the party.


waiting for the birthday girl to arrive


The hostess of the birthday party (Aunt Val) just got the call that they are on their way.

still waiting...

and waiting...



Grandmas reaction to seeing everyone that was there





getting ready to light the candles... we thought a fire extinguisher might be needed. I don't know if anyone knew what 83 candles on the cake might do :)

All lit up




She did it!





licking the candles clean was a job in itself, probably equaled eating a piece a cake. Needless to say, Katilyn ate her fare share of cake :)



Kiera partaking in the candle licking fun






Hope you had a great birthday Grandma!