Remy...

She has made our ottoman in our living room her hideout. She takes her toys under there and hides. We have the big dogs and I think that she likes to hide to get away from all of the chaos too.



Background...Remy's mom is named Gypsy and she is a Blue Heeler. She was found on the side of the road in Oklahoma miles from civilization eating road kill. A guy stopped and picked her up to find that she had been shot in the behind and had a broken leg. When he took her to the vet to get her leg set he also found out that she was pregnant. This guy's mom works for PISD and sent out an email with the puppies that looked just like our little Sadie girl that we had to put down a little over a year ago. We figured that the timing was right (summer) so we emailed Debbie and told her that we wanted one of the little girls. She was born on Mother's Day.

We didn't tell the kids that we were getting a puppy. We told them that Chris needed to get something from a teacher and so we went to her house last Monday. I wish that I had a video camera to capture the look on Grace and Caden's faces as they saw 9 little 6 week old puppies running all around the garage. They were in absolute awe and were so thankful that we were going to bring one home. We picked a little girl and then we let the name game begin.

We went through SEVERAL websites, lists of names, etc. I liked Penelope and Tinkerbell. Chris refused Tink because he didn't want to have to call that out running down the street to get her if she decided to escape. Not very manly. Ha. I started looking at names of wine grapes, cocktails, etc. and found a champagne names Remy Martin. So...that's how she got her name.

The kids are in ABSOLUTE love with her. She is a sweet little thing. Full of energy and hopefully she'll be a good sleeper tonight too!

Father's Day

A time of reflection. I'm thankful for my dad and Chris's dad. They are terrific grandparents. I am also so thankful for Chris and the hands on kind of dad that he is. I've always been able to count on him for help with the kids and as a result they absolutely adore him. He is the rock in our family and I am forever grateful for finding him. Love you!!

****my mom was not pictured in any of these because I respected her wishes and didn't photograph her. She took a header into the cement on Friday and had two black eyes, scraped nose, bruised lip, and on and on...she's really lucky that it wasn't worse.



For Father's Day this year we went to the races. My parents, my brother Steve and his girlfriend Liz, and then the kids and me. It was a great time and Chris even won some money :)

More Jonas

Bowing to the SCREAMING girls...
Going down the middle for the final goodbye.
Miley and Nick...
The icing on the cake from this concert was that Miley Cyrus came out and sang a song with Nick at the end of the show. It was an awesome surprise!!

Jonas Brothers During the concert

Having the time of her life!
I think that he(Nick) was singing this to me :) Chris and I were both amazed at how talented he was. He played the guitar, piano, and sang.
Joe...
At this point Caden was all smiles.
Jordan Sparks was the opening act along with a boy band called Honor Society

Jonas Brothers..Before the Concert...

Chris and I purchased these tickets a very long time ago. We gave the kids the tickets as a surprise at Easter time. I knew that the kids would want to go to see the concert and I was hoping that Chris would go with me to take them. I think that he just went to check out the new stadium, but we were both VERY surpised at how much we enjoyed it. It was a great time.
Standing outside the stadium. You could hear the screaming girls from inside the stadium as we were walking from the parking lot towards the stadium. I don't think that I've ever heard as much screaming as I did that evening.




This was our view of the stage from our seats.

More Graduation Pics...

Group Picture
Other table at dinner
Dylan and I

10885 108th Place...Osseo, Minnesota

Was where we lived from when I was 2 until the end of 5th grade when we moved to Illinois. The house didn't used to be this color and everything sure did look a whole lot smaller. My brothers and I stopped here on our way back to Minneapolis. It was fun seeing all of the places that we used to hang out and ride our bikes through. Not to mention sledding down the huge hills and remembering my dad's HUGE garden. Fun times!!


This was the steeple from our old church that we went to. St. Vincent de Paul's Catholic church. They built a new HUGE church, but the retirement community kept the steeple from the old church.

Matthew's Graduation June 2009

On the last day of school this year I hopped on a plane with two of my brothers to Minneapolis. We stayed in Elk River, MN, on Friday night so that my brother Steve could see a friend of his from high school. We ate dinner with them and then made it to the hotel. I was exhausted from all the activity that day and was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Saturday morning we drove to Duluth for the graduation party. We were about 2 1/2 hours in the car and made it there uneventfully. Thank goodness :) Here are some pics from the party and then we all went to dinner that evening. It was great to see everyone.

I think that the best part of the trip was spending time with my brothers. It usually never happens without spouses or kids and it was a great time. We all fought like siblings the whole trip, but we had a lot of trips down memory lane and a lot of laughs too.

Matthew, the graduate, and I at dinner.
Cassie and I
Mike and Matthew
The Cake
My brother Tom, Mike, Cassie, and Steve

Summer School...

I had an opportunity this week to teach it...NO WAY!!! I'll update soon with pics from the graduation this weekend in Duluth. It was really cold, but we had a great time!