Someday...

...I will get some pictures on here! I have tried a couple of times, but I'm still having computer issues!

Anyway, a brief summary of the last month:
Paige graduated from 8th grade. She looked beautiful in her purple dress! They have a ceremony here, followed by a dance for the graduates. She will be taking Driver's Ed this summer (my condolences to the instructor-she must have the patience of Job), playing basketball, and running to build endurance for cross country. She also works a few days each week for Jason. She'll be busy!

We've have a few "teenage/mom" clashes already, but they seem to be under control for the moment. Sigh.

Lane loved every moment of second grade, and he adored his teacher. He wrote several books over the school year. As you all know, he has quite the imagination, so the stories are pretty funny!

Lane is in swim team and minor league baseball this summer. He says that he "has just been so busy." Hmmmm, those two activities take about two hours out of his day sometimes. Usually it is only about one hour. Poor guy. I'm such a mean mom.

Jason is busy with everything: carpet cleaning, air duct cleaning, supervising our truck driver, farming, cattle, and basketball. Oh, he does manage to find time to make it to men's league golf night each week.

I survived the school year. Those last few days were torture! The students had checked out (mentally for sure) about a week before school let out, but we still had to keep busy. Glad that's over.

I passed my math test!!!! Now I get to study for an ESL test that I will take at the end of July. Fun times.

Paige and I went to Boulder, Colorado over Memorial Day, and I ran in the BolderBoulder 10K race. I didn't feel well, but it was a fun place to be. Approximately 50, 000 people participate, and then at the end, there is a professional race with international runners. That was fun to watch. I kind of felt like we were at the Olympics! That's the closest we'll ever come, anyway.

Signing off....

The End is in Sight!

The end of the school year, that is! I didn't officially start counting down until today. Today I looked at the calendar, counted the days remaining, then did a little dance. On the inside, anyway.

I took that darn math test again yesterday. I feel pretty good about it. There were only a couple of questions that I totally had to guess on. I won't know my results for 4 weeks, though, so I will be in a continual state of anticipation. Or dread.

Jason tells me that I need to brag a little. Paige broke the school record in the 3200 meter race at her track meet on Thursday. She had worked really hard with her coach to prepare for the run. She knew exactly what her split times needed to be, and she did it! She broke the record by 10 seconds, even.

I am so thankful I was there to see it. I don't get to go to all of the kids' activities (work, ya know?), so I was especially happy I got to be there on Thursday.

I have a goal this week, too. My goal is to post some pictures on this blog and on Facebook. We'll see if I accomplish it.

Look! I'm a Superhero!

This is fun! You can create your own superhero. I've always wanted blue or purple or pink hair! This was my chance. Wanna create your own? Follow this link.: http://www.cpbintegrated.com/theherofactory/

Spring Break 2009

We had a great time skiing at Keystone in Dillon, Colorado! As you can see, there wasn't much snow. Paige learned how to ski this year. She had to sit out last year because of her broken shoulder. Jason only skiied for half a day. Skiing just isn't his thing. But he and another nonskiier in our group drove up to Blackhawk for a day and spent many hours in the casino. Jason finally found someone after his own heart-Diane! She was as excited about gambling all day as he was. We were all happy-I got to ski all day, and Jason got to gamble all day.

We ate at Macaroni Grill in Denver on our way out. Lane convinced a girl sitting behind him to let him try on her beanie (complete with propreller). Only Lane....although he had a little help from Mark (a guy in our group).

We also did our part to support the beef industry. We ate at this place in Silverthorne called The Historic Mint. Each patron chooses his/her own steak and then grills it. I had a filet (yum!), and it was divine. I also had the best cheesecake I've had in awhile (double yum!). We left the kids at the condo and told them to fend for themselves. There were 13 adults in our dinner party, and we left 15 kids ranging in age from 8 to 17 back at the condos for 3 hours. No harm done (that we know of!).

These last pictures are from the first weekend in March. Luke, Jackson, and Lane played hard all afternoon. It was so warm out that they ate popsicles on the front driveway!

Well, I won't bore you with details of my life. School is going okay. I survived my first round of state testing (thank you, No Child Left Behind), and am geared up for two more grades to test.

Paige starts track practice tomorrow. Yea! I love track meets and I hope to attend most of them.

Home at Last!

It's been a CRAZY six weeks! I am so happy that I am home this evening, and that I actually get to cook a meal. We're having spaghetti, fresh salad, beer bread (from scratch w/ melted butter), and chocolate mousse (made w/ whipping cream-hello, calories).

Paige's basketball season ended yesterday at the league tournament. They only had 6 girls on their team, and it wasn't a very successful season. She is looking forward to basketball next year with her dad as her coach. ;) She's also ready for track season!

Lane is busy going to basketball games. If you asked him, he would reply that he "hates basketball games." However, he always finds someone to hang out with OR he attempts to spend as much money possible at the concession stand-until I shut him down.

Jason's girls are 6-10 right now. Not the record he was hoping for at this point in the season, but they have played some state-ranked teams, so there has been some very tough competition. The team has had their ups and downs, but everything is running smoothly right now.

I start junior high quiz bowl season next week, so that means I'll be gone another couple of nights most weeks. Ho hum. Actually, I have fun...I know most of the answers at the junior high meets! It makes me feel smart. :)

We get to go watch the Lady Wildcats at Manhattan on February 21. The high school girls basketball team gets in free, and Jason, his assistant coach, her husband, Paige, and I also get in free or for a discount. The Wildcats are having an awesome season, so I'm excited to watch them in action. Maybe I need a new purple shirt....?

Ta Da!

Well, of course I uploaded my photos in reverse order again. Wouldn't want to surprise you or anything.

The office is done! My Christmas break project was to redo our home office/computer room.

I'm all smiles in my new room. All smiles with hair in my face apparently...What can I say? Self-photos are tricky. Lane is hard at work at the computer. He was watching a video demo how to make a turkey out of Crayola Model Magic. Hmmmm.

Cool new pictures-1/2 price at Hobby Lobby, thank you very much! And thanks to Jen for picking them up for me when they went on sale (the check's in the mail!). And thanks to Jen for spotting them while we were browsing in Hobby Lobby.

Some more cool pictures and my newly painted bookshelf

The "Before" picture. It wasn't this bad, promise. I had already taken out my bookshelf and computer desk, so everything was piled on the floor.

Anyway, it's finished. Next project...figure out the laptop! I got for Christmas.

My Grandmother...

I just wanted to update the family. My grandmother, Helen Muret, has taken a serious turn for the worse with her health. She hasn't been well for about 6 weeks now, but the last two days have been decidedly more serious.

Mom & Dad drove down to Winfield today and picked up my Aunt Jeanne in Great Bend on the way. Uncle Bill called them this morning and told them Grandmother was unconcious this morning.

Please keep my mom, her sister Jeanne, and brother Bill in your prayers. Grandmother is 91 years old, but I know that Mom wants to talk with her again!