Shelby's 2nd Birthday

We celebrated Shelby's birthday a few days after her actual birthday because we wanted our good friends and their kiddos to be there and they have crazy shifts. We couldn't really have the party at our house because we were ripping out some awful carpet and tile flooring in our bathroom so we thought guests wouldn't want to use the bathroom outside! Just trying to be thoughtful and all! Soooo, our wonderful friends, The Fishers, invited us to have the party at their place. They are so good to us. So here is Shelby, the princess, posing with Daddy and enjoying her special gifts from special family and friends.

Mother's Day 2010

I spent a great weekend with my family. On Friday, when I came home from work, I was handed my first Mother's Day gift from Harlan. Here it is:

For those of you that don't have the knack yet of reading "kid writing," it reads:

From Harlan

To Mom and Dad

It is lax Day (meaning "it is relax day")

I asked him if I could use this for Saturday instead of Friday since I just got home from a long day at work and wanted to start over on the relaxing stuff. He thought that was a pretty good idea.

On Saturday, Harlan and Daddy went fishing on the boat with our pastor and Shelby and I spent the day shopping and going to an event at the park with the Fisher Family.

On Sunday, Rich had to work but the day was so relaxing while the kids and I watched movies all afternoon! Harlan has now started a tradition and Mother's Day is now "Movie and Mother's Day." I'm looking forward to that for years to come.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone.

Easter 2010

So here is Harlan and Shelby on Easter day 2010. I had to take them to the park at the lake to take lots of pictures of them in their fancy clothes before I make them change into their play clothes. Shelby seems to prefer to run around bare-naked these days. Thank you Grandpa and Grandma Harris for the pretty purple dress. Thank you Grandma Josselyn for Shelby's pretty white shoes.

By the way, I managed to make a few of Shelby

's words out on Saturday and it was "poddy" as she was tugging at her britches and pointing to the bathroom. I did as she asked and the britches came off, set her on the "poddy" and a few minutes later, I heard the sweet sounds of trickling. It was a great Saturday. Our daughter wants to go potty before she even turns two! (I did take a picture of her going potty for the first time but I won't embarrass you and post it).

I just love these pictures and had to share...

Proud Family

We are excited to announce that Muddle had five healthy baby kitties last night. Muddy is a good mom and so far is glowing with pride.

Although we are happy to have new additions to our family, I would still preach to spay and neuter your puppies and kitties. There are too many animals without homes and I am one of those that didn't get Muddle spayed in time. You can bet that I will get this done as soon as I can.

Winter 2009/2010

So we need to update the blog since Christmas has passed! I've been itching to post photos from our trip to New Mexico (Karen's home state). We haven't been home in three years so it was good to see family and friends but we ran out of time and couldn't see everyone. We tried so hard! Anyway, enjoy the photos from the trip.

Here is Grandpa H. with his grandsons, Mikey and Harlan. Grandpa was trying to get his ancient projector working so we can show old movies of us. We got a few going but we'll try again when Grandpa gets the old 8mm onto DVDs!!! Hint, hint Grandpa!

Harlan jammin' out! Former member of KISS.

Grandma J. and Shelby

Here is Shelby, Harlan and their cousin, Mikey.

Forget gifts, there was a box laying around!

Harlan was amazed at the mountains. He, of course, doesn't remember seeing the mountains when he was two so we thought it was so cool that we were going through the mountains and a tunnel. We are standing near a tunnel in the mountain here. Karen has many memories going through this tunnel to play in the snow and go camping. There is an entry point where you can walk down the canyon here.

Karen had her first helicopter ride with our good friend Spencer. He recently became a helicopter pilot trainer and took us up for a surprise ride. I had such a blast! By the way, Spencer can give you a ride too. Just contact me and I'll send you his info. What an amazing experience! This is a corner of my hometown by the way.

Well, I have a lot more photos to share from the trip but I'll won't overwhelm you all at once. I'll leave you with this sweet photo of the kiddos taken in Jan. 2010.

Be sure to comment if you like any of these. We would love to know if our family and friends is reading this. Take care.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Rich Wins Award

I'm proud to announce that Rich has received an award at an awards banquet held on Saturday, November 7, 2009, for a C.P.R. Save on a Shawnee Heights Fire Department call that he arrived to on-scene earlier this year. I thought I would put up the initial posting hoping that he will fill in the details later as he is modest and probably let the world know that I married a hero. Congratulations Babe - you are my hero too.

I try not to think about the dangers of your job or the stre

ss and skill it takes to save a life but just know that I do think about those things and how much it means to me that you do what you do for others.... and that is what I'm proud of.

Here's a photo of us at the banquet. I love my handsome guy in a uniform. And, yes, that is an actual Kansas sunset that evening (looking out the window - lake reflection) and not just a painting on the wall.