Sparky Returns! and Birthday Celebrations!

Well, the fate of puppy Sparky was not a bleak as once thought!  He had been gone for two days.  But, Friday when we got home from work/school, he was whining at the front door.  He was super happy to see us and he could not get in the house to his food dish fast enough!  Joe was super happy too.  This meant that he did not strangle the dog----as believed by some.  :o)  And it also meant that we did not have to get another puppy-----which I had already located.  :o)  Needless to say....Sparky received lots of love and attention this weekend.  He was one tired pup and spent most of his free time trying to sleep.

We celebrated the girls' birthdays on Saturday.  We opened presents and had birthday cake for lunch.  Later in the afternoon we took them to the theater in the mall to see the Disney movie, "Tangled".  It was a cute movie and we all enjoyed it.  We ate dinner at the Mexican restaurant in the mall, and we got to see Santa as well.

Only two weeks until Christmas vacation.  I am ready for  it!  I'm looking forward the the week off before Christmas.  It will give me some time to make preparations for the holiday.  :o)

Cassie

Thanksgiving and Upcoming Birthdays

Whew!  Busy, Busy, Busy!!!  We have had a busy couple of weeks.

Thanksgiving day we visited Joe's family.  We enjoyed luch at his aunt's house.  We had not seen everybody in quite a while, so we had a nice visit.  Joe's mom and dad kept the girls Thursday night.  Friday after noon the girls went to Mom's and she kept them.  Then on Saturday Natalie and Mike got the girls.  They kept them on Saturday night and met us in Joplin to bring them back to us.  Joe and I had planned to take a couple of days and go to Kansas City.

We had a good trip.We managed to finish up the Christmas/Birthday shopping.  Friday night we stayed at the Chateau Avalon.  It's a nice place with "themed" rooms.  We started out in a Roman Dynasty room, but the heat was not working properly.  So, we moved to the Jesse James Escape.  We had a good stay despite the changes.  Saturday night we stayed in downtown Kansas City near the Power and Light District.  It's an area of about six blocks or so of restaurants and entertainment.  Our hotel was close enought that we were just able to walk to dinner and "entertainment".  It was a nice evening.

Shopping was not too hectic.  We managed to just get "in and out" with what we needed.  We went to the American Girl Doll store in the Oak Park Mall.  That place was a zoo!  We took our things back out to the car and decided not to return to the mall.  We had had enought.  Nebraska Furniture Mart was not too bad, nor was the trip to Cabellas.

The girls sure were ready to get back home.  I think that they had a great time with the grandparents and Aunt Natalie.  It's taken them a few days to recouperate.  :o)

This week has been busy.  Tonight we are going to take the girls to Girard to the Christmas parade.  I'm not looking forward to it.  It's going to be cold. 

Sparky, the puppy, got out of the house this morning.  Apparently Joe had to come back inside after he left for work.  The door did not shut well when he left, and the little escape artist made it outside.  The girls and I couldn't find him when we got up, and did not have much time to look for him before we had to leave this morning.  I'm hoping that he's there when we get home.  Hopefully a coyote or an owl did not get him.  He's so little that he'd be an easy target.  The girls are VERY worried.  They will just be devistated if something has happened to him.  They still talk about our last puppy, Amos, constantly.

This weened we plan to celebrate both of the girls' birthdays. We are going to try to take them to see the new Disney Rapunzel.  They have been talking about it for quite some time now.  I've heard it's a good family movie.  Presents and cake this weekend too!  Madison's birthday is on Tuesday and Abby's in not until after Christmas.  We just decided that this would be the best way to celebrate-----and of course the girls don't mind!  :o)

ok---gotta go!

Love,
Cassie

Busy Weekend.....will it ever end?

Hello!

I don't know if I've been coming or going for the past two weeks!  I was out sick for two days last week, Monday and Tuesday.  Going back to work took some doing....I just was not into it! I was not feeling well, but I managed to get my laundry room in some sort of order while I was home.

This weekend we went to KC to do a little christmas shopping.  We had a nice day.  Joe got me a laptop for Christmas at Nebraska Furniture Mart.  They were having a big sale.  I'm excited to get to use it.  I've got to get set up with an internet service.  The girls are excited to get to use it too.

Sunday we went to church.  Our pastor resigned about a week and 1/2 ago.  It's created quite a stir.  He felt, believed, that God was telling him that our church should join with the other Baptist church in town.  Apparently the other church was without a pastor as well.  So, he felt that he should step down and try to encourage the people of both churches to unite.  Last night we had a meeting to "check the temperature" of our church members and see if they wanted to unite.  Apparently---unbeknownst to us---some time ago there had been a terrible upset in the other church and some of their member left and joined our church.  So, our members were not very receptive to the idea and it was voted not to persue the idea of combining churches. And now we are left without a pastor.  I don't know what God's plan is, but I sure hope he works it out soon!

This is going to be a busy week too.  I'm just ready for Thanksgiving break.  However----that week is going to be just as busy!  We are going to go to one of Joe's anunt's---which one --I don't know yet, for dinner.  We have not see his family in a couple of years.  We are going to leave the girls in AR with grandmas and aunt Natalie for the rest of the weekend.  Joe and I are going to come back home on Thursday night and go to KC on Friday.  We are planning to spend Friday and Saturday night in KC.  We are hoping to get the rest of our Christmas shopping done and have a little "alone time".  I'm looking forward to it, and I think that he is too.

The girls' birthdays are both in December.  This adds to the stress of everything.  I think that we just might celebrate them at the same time.  Nothing planned this year.  We might just take them to a movie or something. Gotta get the rest of the birthday shopping done too.  At this point----I'm thinking that we may as well just send everybody some of our bills for Christmas--with the option to pay one of them as a present to us!  :o)  Good idea---no?

Oh well---enough rambling!  Hope all is well with you!

Cassie

Halloween weekend.

Hello!

The girls and I had a fairly good weekend.  Can't say as much for Joe.  He had to work all weekend.  Soybean harvest is happening, so he's been keeping busy.  We've missed him for the past couple of weeks.  We see very little of him during harvest time.  He's been working long hours.  They hope to be done by November 9th.

I did not get the girls a costume for Halloween this year.  I was just not up for it.  They are so expensive!  Madison did not have school on Friday so she got to go to daycare.  Daycare was having a party, so I dressed the girls as cowgirls.  They had boots n jeans, hats, and bandannas.  They were cute enogh, and happy with it.  Guess I lucked out.

After daycare I took them down on Main Street in Chanute.  The merchants were passign out candy.  We made a trip around the block.  They collected more than enough candy!  And they were satisfied with that.

Saturday afternoon the girls and I went to a Premier Jewelry party.  I got suckered into booking a party.  I'm going to have one in March---either the 19th or 26th.  You can expect an invitation in the mail!  :o)

Saturday evening Randy and Leanne brought the boys over and we roasted hotdogs.  They stayed for a couple of hours.  It was a perfect evening----not too cold---and the wind was not blowing.  The kids all had a good time.

Sunday was just a lazy day.  I had wanted to go to church, but it just did not happen.  Joe was home for the morning but had to go to work after lunch.  He actually got home at 7pm that night, so we got to spend a little time with him before bed.

How was your weekend?
Cassie

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)