Kids Treasures

We had a great Thanksgiving. Wanted to show a few pictures from the day and also Michelle and Steven's specialities.

Michelle made this cake. As you can see, the blue is the ocean with the Mayflower boat on it. Then the Indians are teaching the pilgrims how to hunt in the forest.

Steven cut out this pumpkin and set it on the porch. He was going out every night to light it until Daddy caught him sitting on the front porch lighting the leaves on fire.

Paula, can you hold off the "blog police" for me, please.

Thank you Karma for your very "thoughtful" comment on wanting to blog for me. I am tempted since you would keep it more updated than I have. Considering how nice you were to Paula and what you "could" have done I appreciate your offer but....here goes.

Saturday we spent working on our yard and hot tub. I have a picture of my mostly clean yard. Steven has been praying that it would snow 6 feet on Christmas day and Michelle has been praying for 4 feet so I wanted to get the leaves up so that they could have clean snowmen.

We also worked on our garden getting it ready for next year. Pulled up the corn stocks and tomato plants. Cleaned it up and put down tarps. It was suggested that when it starts freezing we could spray the tarps with water and let the kids go skating. YEA, sounds like fun to me!

Dad and Steven worked on fixing his bike

WHILE

Michelle did her favorite past time.

READING!

New Glasses

Steven got new glasses and wants to show them to everyone. I had trouble getting him to be serious for a picture so I posted all of them. His glasses are just for school.

Birthday Girl

I am so thankful to my friends that keep me blogging (KIM this time). If it wasn't for them, I would probably never do this. Kim reminded me that I had not put pictures of Michelle's 12th birthday party yet. We had a sleepover and a great time. I would have these girls back ANYTIME!

If you ever wondered why I pay dearly to have cakes decorated just take one look at her cake. Michelle liked it so I guess that's all that counts. This color is to match the carrot cake with French Vanilla icing from Brittany's suggestion. Thanks Brit!

The "gang"

Grace had to leave early and this is Michelle opening Grace's present. Her brother Cole is standing in the back ground. We have Grace & Cole come over every day when they get off the bus after school.

All the girls had to sit together on the couch to watch opening presents. Such fun!!

Rain, Rain Go Away, Come Again Another Day

These are pictures of all the rain that we have been having. They closed 53rd St. between Broadway and Armstrong. The other pictures are behind our house and on 49th St. Steven is playing in the ditch in front of our house.

Labor Day

On Labor Day we went camping with Grandma and the Richards. We had a great time roughing it in Grandma's camper. We even got Grandma on the tube. She was such a good sport.

This is Uncle Merle and Grandma's camper.


Grandma on the tube.


Michelle being thrown off the tube.


Uncle Merle and Michelle.


Mike and the boat.

Tupperware

I am so proud of Michelle and her desire to sell Tupperware. This picture is at a convention that we worked with Jessica. It was a great experience. I am the bookkeeper/driver and Michelle does the presentations at the parties. She does very well.

Grasshopper

Gotta LOVE those "bloggers" that keep me accountable for updating! Thanks Paula & Karma.

Following is a grasshopper that was in my garden. Mike's hand is next to it to show the size. It was enormous. I don't think I have ever seen one that big.

Getting caught up

An attempt to get caught up....THANKS KARMA! Sorry for the long post.

Steven came in frantic, wanting the camera. Had to take a picture "for the blog". It is a spider that has made it's home in our garden. Does anyone have an idea what kind it is? Good or bad?



Steven and Michelle both caught frogs that they wanted to keep. They made up our fish tanks with rocks, branches and decorations. The next day Steven took his out in the yard and let it go. I heard him in his room sobbing uncontrollably. When I asked why he let it go he said he thought the frog would be happier outside. So I asked why he was crying and he said that when he let it go he realized (sob, gasping for air) that he realized how much he loved nature. The following are pictures of him saying goodby to his frog.





2 weekends ago we went to Lake Harvey with James & Teresa Richards and "Little" James. None of my pictures turned out well enough to blog. This past weekend we went to Cheney Lake with the Duggers. We had a blast both weekends and are very thankful for all the great friends God has given us.

Steven and Dad rode together. They did not crash but sure bounced a lot.



Jeff and Michelle were riding together and Jeff thought he could walk on water.



Terri and Sophie were having a great time.

We got back this week from vacation. Went to Tan-Tar-A in MO. It was a blast. The first night in the motel we woke up in the middle of the night to pounding on our door. Turns out it was Steven. He was standing there, crying and holding his blanket and pillow. He had been sleep walking and went out of the room. He woke up on his way back to the room and was crying because we had not answered the door. SCARY! He does not normally sleep walk. We started barring the door at night, not to keep out any burglars but to keep the kids IN!

Following are some pictures of our times in the boat. Yes, I did get on the tube and NO, I am not posting any pictures of it.

Daddy on the tube


Michelle


Steven


We got up at 6AM to drive the boat to the dam before the larger boats were out. It was a really nice ride. On the way back we were looking for an open gas station and found one but ran out of gas about 50 feet from the dock. The kids rowed the boat up to the dock for us.



Tan-Tar-A has a lot of hills so Mike and Steven found a way taking elevators to get around that made it easier. They called it out "Super Secret Passageway". The fireworks over the water were beautiful and over all we had a great time!

Hobo Breakfast

At summer camp the kids learned how to make a Hobo Breakfast. They wanted to try it at home. Was fun but took a long time.

Our toilet broke. To flush it, you had to reach in the back and pull on the lever. Steven rigged up a way to flush it easier. We enjoyed it for several weeks before Mike broke down and fixed it.

We had a large dead tree branch hanging down so the kids were jumping off the chair and swinging on it to break it off. Steven actually got it down.

I've been tagged by Joy:

Favorite person: Mike
Favorite food: Chocolate
Quirks about me: Being the sane, ballanced, level headed person that I am, I don't have any quirks! Ha (maybe stretching the truth?)
Any regrets in life? The people that I have hurt
How would the person who loves you the most describe you in ten words or less? That is a good question. That I am a chocolate nut.
What can you NOT live without? Chocolate
Favorite blog: Amy's, Paula's & Karma's (not necessarly in that order). Amy updates often and I feel as though I am getting to experience Cooper growing up with them. Paula & Karma's wacky sense of humor that always gives me a lift.
Something you can't get enough of: Chocolate
Worst job you ever had: A waitress in a "questionable" bar, I only made it 2 nights. It was before I knew the Lord as my savior.
What job would you pay not to have? Pastor
If you could be a fly on the wall anywhere, where would it be? White House
Favorite Bible verse: Joshua 24:15b As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.
Guilty pleasure: Too much Chocolate
Got any confessions: Late night chocolate
If you had $1000 to spend on YOURSELF, what would you spend it on? Chocolate, but I would only spend $5.00 because I am cheap and hate shopping.
Favorite thing about your house: The hidden chocolate.
Least favorite thing: Being without chocolate.
One thing you are bad at: Saying NO.
If you could change one thing about your current circumstances, what would it be? That I would have more chocolate and a clean house.
Who would you like to meet someday? Mr. Hershey
Who is your real life hero? Mike when he brings me chocolate after a hard day.
What is the hardest part of your job? Not eating chocolate and being consistent with my kids when I feel bad.
When are you most relaxed? Eating chocolate after a massage and on vacations which I am so ready for.
What stresses you out? My kids and not eating chocolate.
Favorite quote: "Don't eat it" by my brother Mark
Why do you blog? So my family and friends can keep up with the Fosters. We are spread out in several different states.
Who are you tagging? Paula

Our Garden

Michelle and Steven are harvesting our first radishes.

We have cucumbers, corn, watermelon, cantaloupe, tomatoes, carrots, and

onions (thanks to Grandma).

Hopefully if it's not too late we want to add lettuce.

This is what their radishes looked like.

Thanks to the Belsans, we went to the car show at the Zoo on Fathers Day. We wondered where the Carlson's were????? I just looked at Karma's blog and realized that Chicken Pox took presidence over the car show.

We had a nice Fathers Day.

Michelle took some pictures of the elephants. She was getting really bored with all the "cars".

Steven noticed that this tire was almost as big as he was.

We went to the Library Summer Reading Program today. They had Eric Vaughn and his wife as Magicians. We have seen them the past couple of years and really enjoy them.

Michelle is volunteering at the library and loves it.

This is one of the 2 crafts they made.

We took 2 neighborhood kids with us. It sure is nice having good neighbors.