CONGRATULATIONS PRESIDENT IAN!

YAHOO! He won! When he walked into the classroom yesterday and his classmates said "Good morning President Ian!" We went to Iguana Mia to celebrate his victory!

Sick, But Not Too Sick

Jenna ran a fever all weekend. It ranged from 100 up to 103. Nothing else was wrong with her just a fever. On Sunday, she hung out in our bedroom, resting and watching her movies. The rest of us were up front watching football, doing laundry and housework. When she needed something, we didn't always hear her so I gave her a little whistle. Ten minutes later, I hear her blowing and go to check on her. "Momma, can you turn off the fan?" A little later, it blows again. "Momma, could I pleeeaaaasse have some Gatorade?" A couple more minutes go by and once again the whistle is sounded. "Momma, I sure could use a little snack!" Finally I tell John the next whistle is his. When he is summoned, she says "This whistle thing is really working well!" Later she told me it was like we were all her maids, getting her whatever she needed.

Thankfully, she is feeling better and the whistle has been permanently lost!

President Ian????

Ian was voted to the top three candidates for his classroom. On Thursday, he has to give a speech explaining why he should be voted President. It was Ian's idea to not say anything bad about his opponents and to thing of words to describe that spell his name. We helped polish it up but this is mostly his speech. (when he first describes the president, picture him measuring himself while speaking and at the end, he is going to write I A N on the board as he says to remember Integrity, Awesome and Nice)


Good morning Ms. Ray and fellow students.

Thank you for allowing me to talk to you about why I would be a good president. I think a good president should be about four feet tall, fast and nice. Ha ha! Just kidding! I really think that presidents should have Integrity, which means doing what is right even though it is hard to do it. Presidents should be Awesome. Each one of us is awesome in our own way. Finally, I think presidents should be Nice. I am friends with a lot of people but, I will not do your class work for you. I have been selected to face two great candidates but remember Integrity, Awesome and Nice. Thank you for your time and VOTE FOR IAN!

Great work Ian! Good Luck!!

Okay, Okay, Okay. We are finally updated!

We have been back in Fort Myers for 15 months.
Of course we were happy to be back home but the
truth is, the move back was so much more stressful
than the move to NM. We made good friends in our
brief stay in Rio Rancho and hope some day to see them
again. It has taken all 15 months to really feel settled and
so I took some time this weekend to sort out pictures to
catch you up on our activities and accomplishments. Plus,
now my family will stop nagging me. :)

So, get a drink, a snack, use the restroom and change into
some comfy clothes because I added A LOT of pictures!


Where we've been...
A typical morning view on from our neighborhood
in New Mexico. Gives you a sense of peace and awe.


Where we are now...
A far cry from the browns of NM. This
flower went crazy in our little pond on
the porch. We finally transplanted it
in Marjory and David's pond.


Jenna loves her new jewelry from
The Berry Family.


My boys. Ian and I are at odds over his hair. He
wants it long and I want it short. The battle
begins!


Ian has gotten into cars lately. Our neighbor Don
is selling his 1973 Corvette Stingray. Ian wanted
to know how many chores he would have to do in
order to buy it from him. Don, being the great guy
that he is, picked Ian up and took him for a ride.
A very cool moment for Ian (and John).

Jenna May is 6!

Our baby girl really isn't a baby any more! :(
Jenna's birthday always seems to sneak up on us.
I think because we are bustling about getting ready
for school to start and then, all of a sudden, it is
Sept 9 already.
This year we decided to have her party at Michael's
craft store and it was AWESOME! I think the secret
to the success was the help that the other Mom's
gave me and the party attendant. I was a little
nervous, 9 kids, with paint and glitter...it was either
going to be a great time or a giant mess. Thankfully,
it was a great time!


Party People in the House!
Back Row: Chelsea, Joshua, Ian, Michael, Sophia
Front Row: Morgan, Elizabeth, Jenna, Colsen
Missing: Lindsey, who was sick with the flu.
(she was missed and thankfully she is feeling better!)
Lindsey, Jenna, Colsen and Elizabeth were in
Pre-K together so it was fun to compare kindergarten
experiences.

Hard at work decorating our treasure boxes.
We had all kinds of paints, glitter paint and stickers
to use to decorate the boxes. It was neat how no
two boxes looked the same.


Jenna's box.

Chelsea's box.

Colsen (also know as Jenna's boyfriend) and

his box.

Elizabeth's box. I loved her

colors!

Ian's funky box.

Joshua and his "dark" box.

Rock on Michael!

Well done Morgan!

Sophia was proud of her box!

Don't you love her smile!

After we were done with boxes,

we decorated cupcakes. Here is

Elizabeth adding just the right

amount of pink icing to hers.

We had cupcake candles for Jenna's

cupcake. Thank goodness she only

turned 6 because there wasn't

much room left for any more candles.

Pooped out after all of that hard work! Or not,

she is quite the camera ham. She does anything

but give a nice smile when the camera comes out.

Jenna, as usual, enjoyed being the center of attention.

I believe she was saying "oh yeah, oh yeah!"

She received many wonderful gifts,

but her favorite was Ponita. Our kids often choose

the obvious when they name thier stuffed animals. We

have several Blackey, Brownie, Beary, Giraffey,

and Snakeys in our house. We were impressed

with Ponita!

We hope you had a wonderful birthday Jenna! We know

how much you enjoyed seeing some of your Pre-K buddies

again. We love you little Jenna Bean.

Fun With The Wengels

We have become good playmates with The Wengel
Family. From 2 mile fun runs, to bbqs, play dates
and best of all Disney on Ice! Sophia and Michael
are very close in age to Ian and Jenna so it works
out wonderfully. In fact, Sophia is a kindergartner
this year as well.


Sophia, Jenna, Ian and Michael waiting for the
show to begin.


Kachow! Lightening McQueen, Sally and their
other friends stopped by to help Mickey and
Minnie get their car fixed.


The main star of the show was
Tinkerbell. I think Ian and Michael
might be getting too big for the
Disney on Ice shows. Every time
one of the girls did a trick and their
skirt flipped up, the boys would
die laughing about being able to see
her underwear. We tried to explain
it was just a costume but we couldn't
get those giggles to cease.

Ian Turns 9!

Is he really 9 years old already? I know it is cliche,
but you Moms and Dads out there, cherish those
kids! It seems like a few days ago he was born and
now he is 9! He has his own taste in music, his own
hobbies and a very funny sense of humor.

We love you Ian!

John and I both took the afternoon off from work.
The four of us went out for lunch at CiCi's Pizza,
followed by seeing Aliens in the Attic at the theater.

We wore our birthday tee shirts one more time and
once again, they earned Ian Happy Birthday
wishes every where we went.



Happy Birthday Kisses!


In all of our planning, I forgot to buy birthday candles.
We had to use tea lights on the cake. Chocolate,
peanut butter and light hint of sea breeze....lovely.


A better shot of our tee shirts. Ian is very into sports
cars right now. He spends hours doing google and
youtube searches on them. He got a couple models
for his birthday.


Even cooler than the cars, he got a Nintendo DS.
Jenna was equally happy because she was given his
old GameBoy Advance. We have many evenings
where all you can hear are the annoying, I mean,
wonderful video game tunes highlighted by the
occasional "yes" or "oh no, I died".

Happy Birthday Ian!