Family pictures!

Not much time to write just now.  I wanted to give you the link to a site that has some of our family pictures.  We had these taken over the weeeknd.  They are awesome----if  I do say so myself!  :o)

Check it out.

Cassie
http://www.myerphotography.com/5.html

It's been a while!

Hello!
Wow!  I've been busy!  It's been a while since I've had time to post anything.  We had an exceptionally busy summer.  I can't even tell you where it went to or what we did.  We enjoyed a trip to KC with Stephen, Jennifer, and Addi.

The girls' puppy died early in June.  Not sure what happened to him.  He had his kennel cough shot, but developed a little cough and was dead in about four days.  :o(  That was pretty devastating.  Just a few weeks ago we got them another small dog.  It's a chichaua (sp).  Madison named him Sparky. They love him, but we still miss Amos.

Joe celebrated his 20 year class reunion over the summer.  We had a good time visiting with friends.

I had lost my goal for the summer----40 lbs.  I've got another 20 to go to meet my overall goal.  I've been off the diet for a while and gained a little back, but started back again today.  I've got to get motivated again.  Wish me luck!!!!

School started back.  Madison started kindergarten.  As you know, we moved her from the district's elementary school, in which I teach, to the Chanute Christian Academy. That has proven to be a good move for her.  We are happy with the situation.

Parent teacher conferences are coming up soon.  Hard to believe that October is 1/2 over now.  I've been busy at work.  I have my planning period back this year.  That has been nice.

Last weekend we took the girls to Tulsa to the state fair.  We went to see "Disney on Ice".  We had a great time.  They loved it.  We did a little shopping too.  At a western store that we visited, we were given vouchers for free rodeo tickets for this weekend.  So, Joe and I decided that we'd just go back to Tulsa this weekend.  However, we took the girls to grandma's for the weekend.  We enjoyed the weekend to ourselves.  This was a rare opportunity!  :o)

My hubby surprised me with a trip to a jewelry store while we were in Tulsa over the weekend.  He bought me a new "engagement" ring to replace the one in my wedding set.  He had promised to do this years upon years ago because he knew that I wanted a marquis diamond----which matched the wrap that i have. I've never said or mentioned anything about it though.  Over the summer we looked at rings, but did not find anything.  So, this weekend we found a nice---affordable---diamond.  They were able to do the switch overnight. And we even got his ring re-sized too.  He's not been able to wear his ring in years.  :o)  So, it was a VERY enjoyable weekend! 

Two weekends in a row-----busy busy busy!  I told Joe this morning that we were not going to budge this weekend.  Is it Friday yet??????

Love,
Cassie

Pre-K Graduation

Well, yesterday......Madison officially graduated pre-k.  She's been ready to get to kindergarten for months now.  But yesterday was super exciting.  They all had little graduation hats and got diplomas.  They put on a little program for the parents to watch and then celebrated with popsicles.  Madison is already wanting to get a new backpack for next year.  I'm afraid it might be a long summer!  :o)

Happy Anniversary!

We celebrated 11 years this weekend!  Happy Anniversary to all of you as well.  I know your dates are right around ours.  We wanted to go out to dinner on Saturday, but our sitter was not able to look after the girls.  So, we opted for a nice drive around the country.  We went to a small state lake just to the north of us.  At a low water crossing, we stopped and let the girls out to play in the water.  We had a good evening.

I did not do a darn thing this weekend.  Saturday we went to town to get minerals for the cows.  We stopped by this little place that sells closeout specials on furniture and house "fixings".  I have talked Joe into replacing the carpet in the living room with a hardwood floor.  It did not take lots of convencing.  :o)  So, we picked out some nice laminate.  We hope one of his friends can come up to visit and install it for us.  He's had lots of experience with this type of thing.  I guess that we are going to wait a couple of years on the new house.  I'm not in a hurry.  We've just decided that we will get some more things paid off, and another kid out of daycare!  So, I'll settle with a new floor in the living room.

I've lost 9 pounds this week on my diet.  I'm hoping to continue the success.  I'm fairly optimistic.  I've just been praying for will power.  Hopefully God will give me the strength to continue to loose weight and the strength to keep it off.  None the less----I'm just happy that I've lost nine pounds already.  It gives me incentive to continue.

My spelling is terrible today.  I think my brain has officially checked out for the summer.   We are up in arms around here today at work.  many of us have "mini" refrigerators in our rooms.  They are not going to let us have them next year.  They supposedly cost the district too much money in electric bills.  They won't even consider letting us keep them even if we pay a fee.  it's not like we get any other perks with this job.  i think it's a crappy thing to do!  oh well.

well, more later.

Cassie

Circus

Over the weekend we took the girls to the Shriner's Circus in Ft. Scott.  We went with our friends Randy and Leanne and their foster boys.  The kids had a great time.  I can't say that the circus was impressive, but they had fun and that's what matters.  They had some tigers, a camel, and some trained dogs.  That's about all.  The "acts" were simple.  I think that the kids had the most fun getting thier faces painted!  :o)

Cassie

It's been a while.

I've been so busy!  Doing what?  Couldn't really tell you.

Mother's Day weekend we decided to surprise our moms.  We went to Arkansas on Saturday.  Needing to stay the night somewhere, we checked in at the Clarion in Bentonville.  I called a friend that we had not seen in a long time and had lunch with her and her son.  It was so nice to be able to visit with them.  She had not seen the girls in quite some time.  After lunch, we did a little shopping.  I was wanting to find a swimming suit.  Joe patiently watied with the girls while I shopped.  It didn't take too long, thankgoodness.  After that we went back to the hotel and took a nap.  We woke up just in time to get ready to meet Natalie, Mike, Kevin, Jennifer, and Stephen in Fayettville for dinner.  We ate at the Power House, my favorite restaurant of all time.  The serve the best sea food!  It was so busy that evening becuase the U of A had held graduation earlier in the day.  We were give a couple of tables in an upstairs room.  There was only one other party upstairs with us.  It was pretty nice.  We had lots of room and could visit as long as we wanted to.

On Sunday, we went to Joe's mom and dad's church in Gravette.  Dad and Kevin told mom that they were going to take her to "brunch", and they met us there.  Mom was totally in the dark.  She was so surprised to see us.  Joe's mom didn't have a clue that we were coming either.  You should have seen the look on her face when we showed up in her church pew.  :o)  Natalie and Mike were a little late, but they were there too.  After church we had planned a picnic.  It was pretty cool weather, with a chance of rain.  So, Joe's mom insited that we go back to their house.  We had a "picnic" in the kitchen.  It was so nice to have the chance to visit with everybody without having to run "here and there".  Joe's daughter and her fiance (I'll use that term loosely) joined us as well.  We had a good time.

It was a long drive home that afternoon.  We were ready for bed about 7:30 that evening!  Needless to say, a full weekend makes for a long, exhausting week to follow.  And it's been just that!

Jennifer and I planned a little vacation for our families just after July 4th.  We are going to stay at the Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City for a couple of days.  It's an indoor water park and hotel.  It should be lots of fun!  The girls will just love it.  I'm actually trying to talk Joe in to going up on the 4th and staying in KC to watch fire works.  I bet we probably will.  :o)  It would be so nice to see a big firework display.  We've never seen one.

I'm starting a new diet to help shed a few pounds for the occasion.  Wish me luck!  I know several others that have had lots of success with it!

My good friend Leanne (aka Aunt Lou) just e-mailed me today with good news.  They will probably get the opprotunity to adopt the foster boys that they have been keeping.  Please keep them in your prayers.  It's been such a long, tough experience for all of them.  We are praying that they will get to keep the two boys.  We are attached to them as well.

Ok, enough for now.
Cassie

The girls had fun playing as we waited for a table at the restaurant.

Madison and Abby had fun playing with Grandpa Edmondson at Grandma&Grandpa Duncan's house.

White Cheese Dip????!

Help!  Have you ever made white cheese dip.....the kind that you get in a Mexican restaurant?  I tried it last night and it flopped!  I've looked online for recipes.  Lots of them say to use Assada cheese.   I can't find that in the grocery store anywhere! 

I used a "mexican" blend that included Cheddar, Assada, and Monterey Jack.  I found some mexican cheese---and i don't even know the name of it----- it was white----so i used it------and some Pepper Jack, and some White American, which I could only find in wrapped singles.  I also used half and half, cilantro, and cumin.  It did not melt well.  I think it was largely due to the Mexican cheese taht I used.  It was kind of crumbly.  The consistency of the dip was lumpy and a little like gravey.  I even added more half and half to it to thin it out.  Next time I'm not using the mexican cheese.

Do you have a recipe for white cheese dip?

Natalie's family is coming up in a week or so.  We are going to have "Mexican"  I was hoping to make the dip then.  Her family in not big on Rotell dip and neither is mine. I like it, but Joe and the girls are not very fond of it.  Me....on the other hand....i'll eat about anything-----except for that stuff I made last night.  It was gross!  I just tossed it out!

The girls at work told me about some kind of dip that they can get in the deli section at Wal-mart.  I looked there, but I'll have to look harder I guess. 

I've got to take Madison after work today to get her kindergarten physical.  It's hard to belive that she's going to start school this coming year.  Abby is growing so much too.  She is talking a lot. She and Madison play pretty well toghther.  She thinks that she has to do everything that big sis does and keeps right up with her.

Wish me luck on the dip!  Help me out if you can!

Cassie