Life is Amazing!

2009-07-27T09:55:00.006-05:00

Summer has been flying!! We have been keeping busy and enjoying every second of it! I can't believe that in a few weeks, Shane goes back to school to start First Grade.. it will sure be an adjustment to have him gone until 4pm everyday :( He has been attached to me all Summer and it has been driving me crazy, but I know I will really miss him when he is gone. At least I have my little Kayla Bean to keep me company!! :)
Here are some more photos! If you can't see these photos, click here: PHOTOS

Shane's 6th birthday

2009-06-27T22:18:00.003-05:00

My baby is 6! I still can't believe it.. I cried on the 23rd.. its just so hard for me to believe that it is going as fast as it is!
Shane has wanted a hamster for a LONG time.. we have always managed to leave the pet store without getting one.. that is UNTIL his birthday. Jim and I kept it a surprise and took him to the pet store on the day of his birthday. He got to pick one out and brought it home. He named it Indiana Jones! Hehe.. we call him Indy! He loves the little guy.. we have to get more comfortable around him since he gets a little nervous and will bite us, but I am sure he will get over that.

Shane also got to have his birthday party! What a blast the kids had!! We rented a big Banzai inflatable waterslide, had slip and slides, waterballons and water guns.. The kids enjoyed it all!! What matters to me the most is that my little had a memorable 6th Birthday.. it really does go by way too fast! :(

If you can't see the photos below, please click here: BIRTHDAY PHOTOS

Soccer Camp!

2009-06-27T21:48:00.005-05:00

Here are a few photos from soccer camp. Shane had a great time and I think he learned a lot! Boy was it hot.. that didn't keep us from being there from 5:30pm-8:30pm during the 5 days of camp though!! Its all worth it!! :D

If you can't see the link below, click here: SOCCER CAMP PHOTOS

2009-06-18T22:21:00.003-05:00

Here are some pictures of our trip to the Zoo! Great time as usual!
For everyone who gets my email updates, click HERE

SUMMER FUN!!

2009-06-05T12:24:00.005-05:00

I have been taking SO many pictures of the kids lately, that I am having a hard time picking which ones I want to post on our blog! WE have had pool days, water ballon days and park days with our friends! SO.. I might be adding quite a bit more slide shows over the summer!

NOTE - to everyone who receives my email updates, so see the slide shows, you need to click on the 'LIFE IS AMAZING' link on the bottom of the email. :)

2009-06-02T12:41:00.004-05:00

Nicole and I took the girls (and a little Michael!!) to the library this morning for Preschool time. Kayla and I had never been before, and I must say I think she had a really fun time! They read two books, sang and danced and then did a craft! Here are the girls with their rainbow crafts.. they thought they looked like princess crowns!!

2009-05-26T12:25:00.014-05:00

Shane had his Kindergarten Awards Ceremony today. I was glad to hear that ALL Kindergartners were moving up to First Grade! Ha ha!! I asked Mrs. Davies how they are going to deal with having full day Kindergarten next year, and she told me there will be 5 Kindergarten classes and 6 First Grade classes! WOW!! That is a LOT of kids!!
The kids prepared a song to say their goodbye to Kindergarten and then were presented with a certificate for completing Kindergarten. Hard to believe that my little boy is officially moving on to First Grade.. when he was going into Kindergarten, I still felt like he was just a little boy.. but now.. moving to FIRST grade.. Seem like he is 'officially' going to school! Hard to believe! :(

Here is a video of the children singing a song they prepared to say goodbye to Kindergarten!

Shane's Kindergarten Awards from Juliana Gallagher on Vimeo.

And here is a slideshow of the photos I took today. It is so awesome to watch Shane grow up! I loved seeing him goofing off with all his friends!

Memorial Day Weekend!

2009-05-24T21:55:00.025-05:00

What a fun Memorial Day weekend we had! The weather was wonderful and it was impossible not to want to spend time outside the house! We took the kids to breakfast Saturday morning, and then headed off to the $1 flip flop day sale at Old Navy.. can you say "will never do that again?!".. yea.. 'will never do that again'!! As soon as we walked into the mall, we saw a mob of people standing in front of the store.. Jim grabbed Shane and I grabbed Kayla and off we went in search of flip flops! We grabbed our 10 pair limit (5 pair per buying customer), and quickly found the check out line.. this line split about 4 ways and of course, there were "the cutters"! I mean really?! WHY!? I know, I know.. some people are thinking WHY would you first of all waste your time on $1 flip flops and they are $2.50 at regular price?!? MY point is, we should ALL be civil and be able to get flip flops for $1.. all we need to do is to be patient and wait! Some people just don't get it!! I was VERY lucky Jim was with me.. what a saint!!

Shane and Kayla at Bob Evans.. they just looked so darn cute I HAD to take a picture!

Of course we HAD to stop for a quick visit at the pet store.. memorable as usual.. this time NOT because we saw a cute little puppy we drooled over, but because Shane hands me this little hamster he likes and the little guy PEES on me!! hmmm.. yea.. that quickly made me reconsider getting one for Shane (for his birthday)... Guess I just would have to leave the holding to someone else!
We left the mall and we swung by Costco for some lunch and pool goggles and then headed home to spend the afternoon at the pool. Our subdivision pool opened back up this weekend and of course, we HAD to be there!

Here is a photo of Kayla in front of my potted flowers!

Jim and the kids at the pool!

On Sunday we headed to church in the morning, then went out to lunch and ran to Home Depot to pick up the rest of the flowers we needed for the pots and some mulch. We spent most of the afternoon outside in the yard the and kids enjoyed playing outside. We also helped Leeanne (our next door neighbour) do a little landscaping on her yard as well. It got dark before we could finish, so Jim helped her finish it up this morning. It looks really nice! My husband has such a green thumb! I LOVE it!!

Today the kids and I hung around the house and I did some cleaning and laundry while Jim was outside helping Leeanne. Then we headed off to a wonderful lunch at Brian and Nicole's. A great time as usual!
It has been a long weekend! The kids all needed some quiet time and a nap! Oh yea.. and so did Jim!! Everyone but me napped today.. that NEVER happens!

2009-05-22T10:34:00.010-05:00

We have been having the most wonderful weather! I love this preview to summer! Its just perfect! Mid 80s, breeze, not muggy! Just wonderful!
The kids were complaining yesterday, after 20 minutes of being outside that they were "ooohhh SO hot".. SO.. I thought it was a great time to turn on the sprinkler for the first time this year! The water is still SO cold, but that didn't bother the boys! They jumped RIGHT in!! Kayla watched from afar! LOL!

They played in the water for a while, and then like a hungry mob of kids, came to tell me they were hungry! SO, I had to improvise.. they had a heavenly picnic of potato chips, cookies and Kool Aid!

After Daniel had to leave, Shane and Ryan decided they wanted to play Ben 10. It was a nice way to relax!

I also signed Shane up for his Summer Soccer Camp today. The camp is ran by Goran Hunjak, a pro player from Croatia. He has quite the long list of accomplishments! We are excited to see what all Shane can learn!!
Goran Hunjak website

2009-05-21T13:00:00.009-05:00

Last night Jim and Shane got to go to the Royals vs. Indians game. It was funny watching Jim and Shane trying to figure out what they were going to wear! We cheer for the Tribe when they play against the Royals, so the boys wanted to wear their Tribe gear.. well.. there wasn't much to pick from! Luckily they each had a shirt and Shane had a ball cap! Jim had one too, but it was REALLY dirty!
They had a really fun time! They didn't get home until at least 10pm.. Kayla and I were asleep, so I am not really sure what time it was.. Shane was really tired this morning though! BUT, it was all worth it!! Daddy time is always a big hit in our house!!

Here are some fun pictures they took at the game!

Miss Kayla has been having a great time enjoying the beautiful weather! As soon as we put Shane on the bus and she is done with breakfast, she runs outside to play on the swing set and in the sandbox!! I took this photo of her posing at the top of the slide.. can you tell she is still in her nightgown??

She is also my big helper during the day. We went on a walk this morning and when we got back, we decided to water the flowers. She wanted to do it all by herself and got very mad at me when I tried to help her!!

Shane and Kayla make it big!!

2009-05-18T14:01:00.003-05:00

Here is the commercial Shane and Kayla got to be on!! Can you spot them??

2009-05-18T10:44:00.011-05:00

We planted our flowers yesterday!! I am so happy they are in the ground! I can't wait for them to start blooming and growing! They add so much character and color to our house!! Its pretty funny when the bus driver asks you what your secret to making them bloom like they do is!! Jim and I went out last weekend, and as we were walking around the Plaza, this couple recognized us and say "Hey, you!".. Jim and I just looked at each other.. neither one of us recognized them.. then they said, "Don't you live in Summerfield East? So do we! Aren't you the ones with the big flowers in the front?" WOW!! Never thought we would be recognized my our flowers!!

They look so little now. I love taking before and after pictures. In a few months we will have a sea of flowers to enjoy! We also tried to plant "Verbinas" by the mailbox this year. This is a flower we have never planted before.. we will have to see how they bloom and spread.

Jim did a lot of yardwork this weekend too. While he was in the backyard yesterday, he found two little baby robins by the foot of our big tree in the back yard. They had fallen off the nest or were pushed off. One didn't made the fall, but the other was still breathing and moving. Jim quickly brought it home and we found a shoe box for it. The kids helped Jim make him a little nest and went in search of as many worms as they could find to feed the little guy. Shane thought we should bury the the little one that didn't make it in the back yard, so we did. He also suggested to put a rock on top and a cross so we would know where to find him.. my little boy amazes me! Shane and Kayla both enjoyed kepping an eye on the little one that made had made it. :)

This is the tree the baby birds fell off of. Where the tree "Vs" up at the top is where the nest was.

This morning, the second little Robin looked really weak. He ate a little for Jim, but then wouldn't eat anymore throughout the morning. When I checked on him again, he passed away too so we are going to bury him with his little brother. Too sad. We were hopeful that he would make it. :(

2009-05-14T10:43:00.012-05:00

I am going to try really hard to start blogging again.. I think I hit a blogging wall, and even though a LOT has been going on, I just couldn't sit down to do it!

So here is a recap on what is going on..

Mr. Shane is getting big!! He has gone through a growing spur and has gotten pretty tall! He has lost two teeth.. I still can't get over that. He was really brave about pulling them both out by himself too! He is still in love with soccer and had a really good season. We are going to enroll him in soccer camp this summer and he is really looking forward to that. We also found out over a trip to Branson, that Shane REALLY enjoys fishing.. he got to go out on a boat with Jim and his friend, and caught a whole bunch of fish! Jim is very excited about this.. now he has a fishing buddy!!

Shane pulling out his very first tooth!

Here he is with his soccer trophey for the season!

Shane actually realed in this big fish!!

Miss Kayla is still just as cute as she can be. We are "almost" done with the potty training.. she sometimes has an accident here and there, but for the most part, has been a really good sport about it. She is still in love with gymnastics, but I think we will take a break from it during the summer since its too nice to be indoors. Daily she asks me to get on the bus and go to school and daily I have to tell her not yet! If you ask her how old she is, she will tell you she is 4 and a 1/2! And you know what?? She just might be!! LOL!!

Here is my cutie girl with her kitty Trudi watching Barney!

Kayla and Taylor on bring a friend to gymnastics day.. of course she HAD to take her best friend Taylor!

She is turning into such a beautiful girl.. hard to believe she will be 3 soon!

2009-02-20T10:31:00.004-06:00

As most of you know, our dogs are spoiled! Last night we ran to Costco to go buy dog food and came across these huge dog beds. We have been looking for some for a while, but just couldn't justify spending so much on these little beds they make. Well, when we saw these, we just had to get them for the dogs! They are huge and they were quite the deal! They take quite a bit of room in our living room, but so what right?! The dogs are happy!!

2009-02-19T09:00:00.003-06:00

My kids are getting so big! A few weeks back, we took them to get new pictures taken. It was about time! They turned out really well and I am very pleased! Mailing them out to the family this weekend!!

I am still taking Kayla to gymnastics, and she is having a great time. After 4 weeks, she now knows the routine. It is amazing how quickly they pick things up at this age! She constantly carries a bag of "pretties" around the house with probably close to 10lip glosses, jewlery and who knows how many hair bands! Sometimes through out the day she will come out of her room all dressed up in her play clothes and all her jewlery.. its too funny to watch!! She has been going over to Kelli's (our 9 yr old neighbour's) house everyday as soon as Kelli gets off the bus. She LOVES it there.. Kelli is a girly girl, and Kayla and her make quite the pair! Kayla comes home all dolled up with a face full of makeup, her hair all done up and glitter everywhere!!

Shane has been doing very well at school and will start soccer practice back up next week; he is VERY excited about that!! If he could, as soon as he got home from school, he would be outside practicing.. too bad the weather is so cold still. I was talking to him last night and all of a sudden I noticed something behind his bottom teeth.. I peeked in closer and found out that he has his two lower teeth coming in already.. his baby teeth have not fallen off yet! He never said a word about feeling those teeth growing back there! I asked him if his teeth felt loose and he said "I don't know". SO, I checked them, and sure enough, the one with the biggest tooth coming in behind is loose.. he is a little scared of the whole loosing teeth talk.. So, we are not making a big deal out of it, but I will make a dentist appointment soon so we can have it checked out.

2009-01-21T12:44:00.005-06:00

Last night we took Kayla to gymnastics class. We had been there before to watch the kids practice, but this was the first time that Kayla got to go in there and "practice"! She had a fantastic time. Most of you know she is a little monkey, and all I can say is that if you give free reign, gymnastics might just be the right thing for her! She had a hard time understanding that she had to exercises guided towards her age.. she was ready to jump and flip with the big girls!
Here are some really cute photos of her watching the older kids practicing before her class. She watches them so attentively!

Here she is in class! She was trying hard to listen to the instructions, but she really just wanted to go play! She climbed up that purple slide 3 times just so she could come down the red one! Those slides are really high for a 2 yr old!

2009-01-20T14:18:00.006-06:00

As of today, we have a new President. I wanted to write a quick post because my children never cease to amaze me. I mentioned it to Shane last night that as of today, Barack Obama would be our President. He said to me, "Mommy, I know Rock Obama will be our president" and I said to him, "Shane, his name is BA-rack Obama, not Rock Obama". He looked at me puzzled and said, "Did he change his name?!" My heart smiled because it reminded me just how young Shane still really is.. and I LOVE that!
And Kayla is VERY smart! She heard me talking to Shane, and quickly caught on to the conversation. Every time I would ask her who the new President was going to be, she would say "Rock Obama"! I need to watch what I say around her!! She catches on too quick!

2009-01-18T14:35:00.003-06:00

I wanted to post a picture of Jim! We taught our KidsQuest children's ministry about the 10 plagues brought on Egypt.. to make it a little more fun for the kids, Jim dressed up like the Pharoah! The kids loved it and I think it was one of the best classes we had! It was great to see the kids want to learn more and get so involved! Here is a pic of our Pharoah!!

2009-01-17T08:54:00.007-06:00

Last night we took Shane and Kayla to go get haircuts. Shane gets haircuts almost monthly because his hair grown so fast, but Kayla has never had her hair cut, so we thought it was time for a trim. She was very excited to get to sit up in the chair. She climbed up on it with no help and sat there quietly watching herself in the mirror while she got her hair barely trimmed! I wanted to cut it shorter, but Jim would have none of it! They did layer it a little on the ends and that makes a big difference.
Here is the big girl! Her hair does look really cute.

Here is a picture of Shane getting his haircut. He is always so serious when they cut it, I just had to take a picture! And look at all that hair on top of his head! He got his haircut the week before Christmas and here we are again! Crazy!!

2009-01-07T14:21:00.002-06:00

Kayla had been running a temperature with a cough the past few days. Today has really been the first day the temperature is gone and the cough is barely there. I on the other hand, ended up going to bed at 9pm last night because I had the most terrible headache. I think I was running a temp, and everytime I do, I get a terrible headache along with it. This morning I woke up with a cough... I think I caught what Kayla had.
It is always good to see her back in good spirits. I took this picture of her after she was playing in my closet. She came out wearing my silver sandles and my Disney hat which she absolutly fell in love with. The pic is not the greatest since I took it with my phone, but I am happy I had it close by to get this shot of her!!

2009-01-02T19:21:00.011-06:00

We went back to Ohio for Christmas this year and we had a wonderful time. It was hard as usual to say goodbye.. but I have to admit that there is no better feeling than walking into your own home. This blog is really going to be mostly filled with pictures.

Here is our Christmas card picture this year. We just propped up the camera hoping to get a good photo!

Here are some pictures from Christmas morning. I found these cute horses and the kids LOVED them! They went straight to them!

Shane got the new Ben 10 Alien Force PS2 video game. He absolutely loved it!

Kayla loved opening her little doll house!
Here is a picture of Debbie (Jim's mom) attempting to take a picture with the 4 grandchildren!

And here is a picture of my sister Melissa and I when we met up for lunch.

2008-12-12T12:23:00.004-06:00

I have been meaning to post this photo of the kids. I took it with my phone when we went to visit Santa. The lady was trying to talk me into buying photos and at the same time telling me that unless I did, I couldn't take pictures of the kids myself. So, this is the one good photo I took and by then the kids we no longer on Santa's lap!! At least I got one photo!!

A little Christmas fun!! The Gallagher's got Elfed!!!

2008-12-11T17:10:00.001-06:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

2008-12-03T13:31:00.004-06:00

Jim and I celebrated our 7th wedding Anniversary yesterday. Jim was soo sweet! He called Nicole and asked her if her and Brian could watch the kids for us while he took me out to dinner. Jim knew I have been craving sushi, and wouldn't you know it? That is where we ended up having for dinner! It was fantascic!!
Note to Jim: Thank you!! Thank you for being my companion and my best friend. I love sharing my life with you!

Thanks again Brian and Nicole!!! :)

2008-11-30T17:30:00.004-06:00

What a nice day to end our Thanksgiving weekend! We got our first snowfall of the season. It started yesterday and we had some more snow today. So, what do you do when it snows? You build a snowman! Jim is so good about playing with the kids every chance he gets! I guess it really pays off to grow up in the snowbelt too, because he can build one good looking snowman!!
Here are the kids dressed and ready to go out to play in the snow with daddy!

Jim and the kids rolling up the snow to make the body of the snowman and their final product!!

2008-11-27T12:05:00.005-06:00

Ahhh.... Thanksgiving weekend.. Is there anyone who doesn't love it?? We began our celebrating last night (Wednesday) with our friends Bill and Sonia, and her son Alex and his girlfriend Lannette. We met up at Harrah's and had a wonderful dinner at The Range Steakhouse and quite a few bottles of wine! Bill and Sonia live in Springfield, MO, and are really good about letting us know when they are in town so we can get together. Sonia is from Bolivia and I love having that latin connection with her. Its almost like we are family!! The kids really liked spending time with Lannette who I must say is a sweetheart! Here are some pictures!

Couldn't Bill and Jim be brothers??

Here are the kids loving on Lannette!

Today, Jim and I worked on getting our turkey in the oven, made some delicious side dishes and baked a very yummy pecan pie. As usual, we are going to enjoy lots of food, rest and family time.. oh ya.. and some football too!!

Here is some of what happens a lot during our Thanksgivings at our house!

2008-11-16T17:06:00.004-06:00

We had a really fun weekend! Friday night, after Jim got home from work, we took the kids to Pizza Street, and with Shane and Kayla it is always a big hit!! All the pizza (and ice cream!) they can eat and they get to play some of the arcade games they have in there.. well, Shane plays, Kayla pretends!
On Saturday we decided to start decorating for Christmas. We don't normally start until the day after Thanksgiving, but thought that it would be fun to take our time this year and just do a little at a time. The kids were very excited. I love setting it up because we get lots of questions about "baby Jesus"! Its a wonderful reminder. Kayla is having a really hard time keeping her little fingers off the nativity scene! She wants to hold and caress all the animals! In the evening we were invited over to Mark and Jamie's for the fight. Needless to say, a good time had by all!!
This morning we went to church and then joined the Todds and the Cates' for lunch at Subway and then we all made our way to the Shrine Circus. We went together last year and had a really good time and this year I think it was even more fun. With the kids being a whole year older, they were so much more attentive this year. Kayla made it through till about 3:30pm with no nap, then she crashed! It worked out great because all she missed was the last act.

Here are pictures of out families! The Gallaghers, the Todds and the Cates'!

I took a few pictures of the kids with Jim to show how interested they were in everything that was going on!

And here are a couple of the kids favorite acts. They really enjoyed the animals!!

2008-11-14T11:28:00.006-06:00

Lately, we really have just been home bodies! The weather has been too cool for the kids to play outside, and they have been playing indoors, for the most part, nicely... well, sometimes they bounce of the walls! I have been downloading my photos of xdrive.com back into my computer and I came across some of the cutest pictures of Shane that I haven't seen in a long time. I can't believe how much he has grown!! I miss my little boy...

I LOVE this photo. I can look at this picture and really see the Shane I see now. Look at that hair!!!

2008-11-06T13:11:00.018-06:00

We have been having some wonderfully warm days this week. I am afraid that this will be the last week, before the cold side of Fall shows up. The beginning of Fall is my favorite time of year, the weather cools down, there are lots pumpkins and Halloween and most of all, the trees just look absolutly beautiful! We have even heard talk about snow in the news.. now who wants to hear about that yet?? Most of all, I would hate to disappoint the kids by having to keep them indoors most of the time when it starts getting really cold. :( They have been having so much fun outside. When the girls next door get home, the party starts! Its usually around 3:30-4pm! They all stay out until it gets dark.. its was until past 8:00pm before the time change, but that has now changed since it gets darker earlier. They still make the most of it though!

Here is a picture of our crazy bunch of kids in our neighbourhood! They have all become really good friends even though they are all different ages. It is wonderful to watch them all grow up together!

And here is a video I took of them playing football in the front yard.. well, it was more like get the ball if you can!

Kids playing outside! from Juliana Gallagher on Vimeo.

I took these two pictures last night. Shane and Ryan really enjoy pretending like they are Rockstars.. Here they are posing.. and you can imagine who it rubs off on right?? Here is MY little princess, playing her air guitar! The picture doesn't do her air guitar justice, I really need to get a video!!

2008-11-01T09:39:00.013-05:00

WHAT A GREAT HALLOWEEN!

Last night was Halloween night! Jamie invited us and the Barnes' over for a yummy Chili dinner, hot dogs, apple cake and some delicious wines! Shane and Kayla looked sooo cute in their costumes! I have to say that it is a lot of fun having a boy and a girl to dress up. They are SO different! Even Jim got dressed up for work this year and then kept his costume on for the evening! He was a Wild West "bad guy"! We had to piece together his costume, and thank goodness for friends with friends who own things! He shaved his goatee into a fumanchu (sp!) and then darkened it with some mascara. I have to say that Jim looked very nice with dark hair and his blue eyes!!

Here is a close up photo of Jim before he shaved.

The moms took the kids trick or treating first and then we went back to Jamie's and asked the guys to take the second shift! The kids got SOO much candy! Its amazing how generous our neighbours are! Our kids are set for quite a while!! I didn't take as many photos as I wanted, but here are a few!

Here is my White Ninja and my Princess!

This photo of the three of them came out so good!
Here are Shane, David and Ryan! David joined the boys when it came time for trick or treating. I thought for sure Daniel was in this photo as well, but I was wrong. He looked really cute as well as Darth Vader.

I took this pic when we first got to Jamie's. They took a "serious" pic and then a silly one! I think the silly one is great!!

2008-10-29T19:51:00.005-05:00

Shane, Kayla and Ryan got to carve their pumpkins today. They did a really good job. The boys didn't want to touch the "guts" so the moms got stuck cleaning up the pumpkins so they could do the carving. Here are some photos of the kids carving the pumpkins. I also took a picture of the kids in the front of the house with them after it got dark. I LOVE that photo! They both look sooo cute!

Tonight we had Shane soccer dinner and he got awarded his trophey. This is his third one and he was just as excited for this one as he was for the last two. Here are some photos!

2008-10-27T21:03:00.000-05:00

We had a fantastic fall weekend. On Friday, Jamie and I did some running around with Ryan and Kayla. I needed to buy Shane's Halloween costume, so we went to Party America to see what I could find. While I was looking for a costume, Kayla and Jamie kept themselves entertained by looking at this ridiculously funny glasses! I was successful in finding Shane's costume over there. He wanted to be Ninja this year and match Ryan. Ryan's Ninja costume is black, and Shane's is white. They both look very cute dressed up! We then ran over to Price Chopper, which on Fridays have the $1.01 meals.. its a brat or a huge hot dog, chips and a water! We couldn't pass it up! I am thinking we are going to be eating there on Fridays for lunch more often!! We grabbed our food and ran home to meet the bus and grab Shane to go see if we could find and garage sales and then run to Deals to find some odds and ends.
Here is a picture of Jamie and Kayla. They had soo much fun trying on the glasses!

Saturday ended up being just the most beautiful fall day and we took complete advantage of it. The day started with us heading out to downtown Blue Springs to go trick or treating. The kids had a fun time getting lots of candy from the businesses downtown. We were a little pressed for time since we needed to be at Ryan's football game at noon, but it worked out just perfectly and we had time to go all the way around to all the businesses and still make it to his game a few minutes early. It was a beautiful afternoon and Shane and Jim played a little football themselves and Kayla, Lacy and Sarah played in the playground while Jamie, Mark, Karen and myself watched Ryan play a some defense!

After the game we ran home to grab some lunch and then quickly set out again to hit the River Market in downtown KC. I was in heaven! It is amazing to me that we have lived here for almost 3 years and have never made it to the fresh market downtown! We spent a whopping $10.50 and I bought the most wonderful fresh produce! Enough to have fresh fruits and veggies for every meal for at least a week! We will have to definitely make trips over there more often! We even hit the Chinese market. This place was huge! As soon as we walked in through the door, you could smell fish.. not yummy, delicious, fresh fish.. just nasty smelly fish. Jim quickly made his way to the back since he was in search of clams, and we just followed. Hmmm... yea... not going in there again! We looked around for a bit, checked out all the thousands of condiments and drinks and other packaged foods which really even though were written in both English and Chinese, we had NO clue what they were!

We also went to this look out bridge that overlooks the Missouri River. The kids had a fun time out there. It really was very interesting and very pretty even though the water was brown and looked so dirty.

We came back home for dinner and then Shane and I ran out with Jamie, Ryan, Lacy and Sarah to go to the Enchanted Forest in Independence. We waited in line for over 2 1/2hours in the cold. It really was very interesting. Shane was a little spooked by the fact that it was so dark, but it really was in good taste and not scary at all.

Sunday was Jim's birthday!! We didn't really have anything special planned. Jim, Kayla and I went to church and Shane got to go to Ryan's church. He was very excited and enjoyed it very much. Jamie invited us over to Momo's (her mom's!) for a Halloween party in the afternoon. It was SO much fun! The kids got their faces painted, they painted pumpkins, ate lots of delicious Halloween decorated food and drank lots of witch's brew, hot apple cider and the most delicious white hot chocolate! Shane got in the car on the way home and said "This was the best Halloween party ever!!" It was a wonderful weekend to be outside. I don't think we will have many left, so I am very happy we got to spend as much time as we did outside!

Jamie's brother Josh has a Guinea Pig named Susie Q. Guess who fell in love with it??

2008-10-20T13:45:00.003-05:00

I wanted to post this picture I took of the kids yesterday before we went to church. I LOVE it!

2008-10-19T19:11:00.009-05:00

We had such a beautiful weekend. The weather was just perfect. Makes me wonder if this is the last one before the weather really cools down. Needless to say that when the weather is nice, we let the kids spend as much time outside as they can. They love every minute of it! This is a blog made up mostly of pictures I took of the kids enjoying being outside.

Here is Kayla helping daddy pick up and mulch the leaves falling from our trees in the backyard.

We have a few gords growing in the backyard tree line. Here is Shane with them!

Kayla blew bubbles with Kayla and Shane played basketball with daddy.

And here is Shane getting rolled up like a bugger! Haha

2008-10-18T19:43:00.014-05:00

Jamie invited me to go along with her, Karen and Sonja to Atchinson, KS. I said great! The catch?? It is said that it is the most haunted towns in Kansas! We took a trolley ride through the town that gave us an insite on some of the "haunted houses". I took a lot of pictures. Some of these houses were massive. And you could tell just by looking at them, even by daylight, that there was something eary about them. Next year the girls are planning on actually visiting and touring one of the houses! Maybe I can work up the courage to go!
I found a nice website that describes a lot about this haunted town, if anyone is interested in learning more about it. Here it is: Atchinson Kansas Hauntings
I took a lot of pictures of the houses. There are a lot of "orbs" on the pictures. Some people say its just dusk that show up on the photos. I don't know....

Here we are waiting to get on the trolley.

This is known as the "Gargoyle Home" - Jamie really didn't like this one!

Here are some of the pictures I took of the houses where you can see some of the "orbs"?!

2008-10-14T20:40:00.005-05:00

Here are a couple of videos of the kids.

Kayla is a true girl!! She is about everything that girls like to do.. her newest thing is dancing. I bought her this little leotard at a garage sale and she just LOVES it! Here she is.. my Kayla Ballerina!

Shane is a true boy!! I got him a skateboard for $5 at a garage sale. He loves it and it seems to come second nature to him.. he falls and gets right back up on it!

2008-10-14T14:27:00.007-05:00

Miss Kayla gave us a scare. A couple of days back, she got bit by a bug on her foot and she would not quit scratching it and complaining about how much it hurt. She woke up yesterday morning with this huge blister on her little foot where the bite had been. I didn't think anything about it at first, but I did find it odd. I brought it up to Jamie and told me to make sure that it wasn't a Recluse Spider bite because their bite turns into a blister. I had no knowledge of them, so I did a lot of research online. It is prime season for these little critters and they are one of 4 poisinous spiders.. GREAT! After looking at some photos online, I was freaking out. I saw way much more than I was hoping for and it really is very scary what can happen after a bite. So I called the doctor and of course, as calm as they always are, made me an appointment for today, and told me just look for any changes. I took her in there this morning, and the doctor said that she had been bitten alright, but reasured me that it was not by a Recluse spider bite which was a HUGE relief! Sometimes by scratching a bite too hard, it can blister. I just need to watch it and make sure that it doesn't get infected and within ten days it should be all healed. Thank GOD!
Sorry that the pic is a little gross.. but I wanted to put it on my blog.

I also wanted to add this very cute picture of Kayla. It is funny how just a few days ago she was dressed up like Spiderman.. and here we are talking about how we thought she might have gotten bit by a spider!

2008-10-11T14:04:00.007-05:00

Last night, Jim and I got to have some 'adult only' time. Lacy babysat the kids for us, and Jamie, Mark and I met up with Jim at Gomer's in Lee's Summit for their deck party. Sonja and Tim met us there a little later. They had wine, beer and mojito tasting areas, apart from everything under the sun you could get at a liquor store. There was a great band there also, and I can't remember the last night I had that much fun dancing.
Here are a few pictures I took and some Jamie took with her phone.

On the back of the delicious bottle of Riesling that we got, was this label. It was called NEXT. I really enjoyed the message on it so I took a picture.

For all of you who can't read the label since its a little blurry, here is what it reads:

Next: is a statement
Next: is a question
Next: reminds us that
We always stand at a crossroads,
that we are all poets, all philophers
the makers and keepers of our own dreams.
That we bring wine to our friends
that we might share both wine and words together
folded into a moment on the edge of the next.

2008-10-09T14:27:00.005-05:00

I found my camera! Amazing! After almost 2 weeks of looking and looking, I decided to turn the play room upside down for the second time. In the corner of the room, was one of Shane's old bookbags that the kids play with. Well, it never occurred to me to look inside the bag!! I looked everywhere else, but in that bookbag! Sure enough, along with two other play cameras that Kayla has, was MY camera!! Yaahhooo!! I have missed it like crazy! I am VERY happy to have it back!
I took these pictures not this past Monday, but the previous one when I watched Paige and Addison for the day. I didn't get the chance to post them since that was the day the camera went missing. The kids had a great time together.. it took Kayla a little while to warm up to having to share mommy, but for the most part, she did pretty well.
Here are some pictures of them. We played with chalk, chased bubbles and while Paige and Kayla took naps, Shane and Addison watched a movie.

2008-10-05T07:54:00.005-05:00

Last night we invited 6 of our couple friends (well, really 10, but Nicole is prego and VERY sick and Heather was not feeling well), and their kids for a night of Italian food and games. Everyone brought something to contribute to dinner and we had a feast! It was great, thanks to everyone!! Even to Mike and his bread 'sticks'! The boys got to watch some football for a while and the girls got to chit chat. We played 'Last Word', which was fun, but actually sort of difficult and then we played 'Buzz Word', which we ended up having a ton of laughs playing.
Ryan got to 'spend the night', as he calls it! The boys were both very excited when they both found out! They played and played and at about 10:45pm, we told them it was time for bed. They went to bed without complaints. Shane said his prayers, and the part that I found adorable was that when he ask for God's blessings, the first person he named was Ryan. :) Ryan had the cutest little smirk on his face!
At around 1:30am, I was awaken by talking.. I thought I was dreaming at first, but then I realized it was the boys.. I went into Shane's room to find the closet light on and the two of them reading books, playing with all the stuffed animals and looking through Shane's pins from DisneyWorld. Needless to say, I asked them to go to sleep!! They laid back down with no problem. At around 2:05am, I woke up hearing them again!! This time I nudged Jim and he went it there... I guess Ryan was telling Shane ghost stories! Lets just say that Shane is not as brave as Ryan is when it comes to 'scary' things! As soon as Shane saw Jim, he started crying! Well, after that there was no more waking up for me by little voices! Thank you Jim!
To my surprise, the boys and Kayla were up at 7:00am!!! They ate breakfast and sat on the couch watching George of the Jungle and that is when I took this picture, (taken with my cell phone since I have no clue where my camera is!) They look hypnotized don't they??

2008-09-28T19:44:00.015-05:00

This post is all about my little/big girl Kayla! About 3 days before Kayla turned 2, (which was on Sept 6th), I decided to try the potty 'challenge' again! I tried once earlier in the year, and she used the potty a few times, but quickly lost interest. This time it has really stuck! She has been wearing underwear at home all the time and wears pull ups when we go out and to bed, just in case! I have to say though, not one accident in over a week!! She is very conscious about going. I took a proud picture of her in her My Little Pony undies. In the background you can see the potty sitting in the corner of my living room.. I really think that was the trick! I think that not having to take her away from us or what she was doing completely helped her realize that she could go potty and go right back to what she was doing. Having a potty out in my living room is a small price to pay! Over the past 3 or 4 days, she has become all about using the big girl potty.. she runs in there and LOVES flushing the toilet! I am SO proud of her!!

A few days ago, we took down the front side of her crib, so that it looked like a mini daybed. She cried a lot when I put her to bed the first night, she really seemed confused and out of place. She slept on it for the past few nights, getting up once in a while, but no thuds! I still have the video monitor in her room, so I watched her a few times during the night, and I last night when she was crying, I ran in there to find her shaking. She was so lost! I don't think she realizes that she can climb right back up on the bed. Today, we decided to just take down the crib completely and set up our spare daybed in her room. WHAT A CHANGE! She was excited about it from the beginning! She LOVES her big girl bed!! I can't wait to buy her new sheets and a new comforter!! So... maybe as a Christmas present! Here are some pictures of her!

One last little thing about my Kayla. She loves to mow the grass... on Jim's shoulders that is! She sees him put on that green shirt that he wears every time he mows, and she runs to him and asks him to put her on his shoulder so she can mow too! And the best part is.. he does it! Once, Jim mowed our entire front and back yards and the neighbours with her on his shoulders! Ouch!!!

2008-09-23T20:38:00.003-05:00

DANG MOSQUITOS!
We were outside cleaning out Jim's car and from one minute to the next, we started getting eaten alive by mosquitos! I had to hurry over to Heather's house to get the kids who were playing in their back yard and bring them back to the house to get them inside! These mosquitos are awful! They move in swarms and they are HUGE!
I had to post this blog.. Jamie joked earlier about how Jim must have kept hitting himself on the head trying to kill them!! Well, she was right! He kept smacking all these mosquitos off of him, especially his head! We came inside thinking we were safe, not thinking about all the mosquitos that followed us in.... And here we are, sitting on the couch, just watching them fly around, trying to see where they land so that we can smack them, and all of a sudden, I hear Jim smack his head again.. I turn to look, and sure enough, there was a mosquito on his head! You all know me by now.. I had to take a picture!

2008-09-19T12:54:00.002-05:00

So everyday, when Kayla lays down for her nap, we have quiet/nap time at my house. I took this picture today to let everyone know just how serious I am, even our 2 dogs and 2 cats have to follow the quiet time rule!! Priceless isn't it?!

2008-09-18T11:34:00.007-05:00

We have had a wonderful week. Jim's dad and Stepmom came to visit especially for my Citizenship Ceremony. We have had 3 days of FUN! Shane got to stay home from school for 3 days!! I can only imagine what his teacher may be thinking! It has been SO worth it though! Jim took vacation time as well, so we had 3 days to spend as a family!!
On Tuesday we went out to Deanna Rose's Farmstead. I took the kids there earlier in the summer along with some other moms, and they loved it, so I thought it would be a neat place to go as a family. Everyone had a really fun time. The weather was just absolutely beautiful! As usual I took lots of pictures. The kids got to fish, feed the goats, go mining for stones and ride on the hay ride. Shane also got to ride on a horse twice, since Kayla is still too small. For dinner we went to Texas Roadhouse. Dinner was really yummy and Kayla even got to go dance with the waitresses!!

On Wednesday I had my Citizenship Ceremony in the morning and were done at around 11:30am. We were really hungry since we had no breakfast before we left. For lunch we went to one of my favorite restaurants.. Olive Garden!! It was delicious! We came home for a quick rest and to lay Kayla down for a nap. After she woke up, we went to Dave and Busters at the Legends. The kids had a great time playing with all the games and winning all those tickets! After we left, we hit Coldstone for some ice cream!!

Today Jim had to make a quick run to work for a lunch party, so we let the kids play outside since the weather has just been so nice. For her birthday, Kayla got a Dora tricycle from grandpa and grandma Patti, and although her legs are still a little too short to reach the peddles, she had a great time trying to ride it!

We are planning on taking the kids to the Royals game today after Jim gets back. I am sure we are going to have a great time there as well!!!

2008-09-17T11:34:00.002-05:00

It is official! I am an American Citizen!!
I got to take my Citizenship Oath today! That officially makes me an American! I am so happy, excited and relieved! It was a really nice ceremony! There were 48 other applicants from 28 different countries. I felt like I was in High School again! We had a few different speakers, took the Oath, said the Pledge of Allegiance and sang the National Anthem... at the end, they called us up on stage and gave us our Naturalization Certificates.

Jim took a few pictures of me with the kids. I really wanted these because they really are too young to understand how significant this was for me. Someday I can show them the pictures, and tell them they were there with me!

This is a picture that Jim took after I received my certificate. Kayla was on his lap, and made it difficult for him to take too many pictures during the ceremony.

2008-09-07T20:45:00.007-05:00

So all week long I have been trying to download my pictures on my laptop to an xdrive online because I called Dell, and they think there might be something up with one of the softwares on it. It needs to be reset back to the way it came to me originally, so I need to make sure to save anything I want to save on it. Let me tell you, I have a LOT of pictures!!! I had to ask the lady who was helping me out to call me back on Monday so that I would have time to move everything over. What a pain!!

Shane had his first soccer game of the season yesterday. His team scored 2 goals total, and one of them was his! At his age, its still a lot of running around just chasing the ball, but I can't help but be proud of him trying! I am happy to see that he still enjoys soccer. He also got to go to Chucky Cheese to celebrate his friend's Ethan birthday. He had a really fun time! Ethan is in his Kindergarten class and sits at the same table as Shane. They bonded quickly and Ethan gave Shane the biggest hug when he saw him and said, "My buddy is here!"

2008-09-06T20:49:00.004-05:00

Happy 2nd Birthday Kayla!!

My little girl is officially 2 today. I guess that means that when she acts up I can blame it totally on the "terrible two's!" She is very girly and is just soaking life up. She makes me laugh and smile so much! Thank you God for such a blessing!!
Here are some wonderful pictures that I took of her over the past few days!

2008-09-02T20:24:00.007-05:00

Today I woke up with the potty training bug. I started potty training Kayla a few months ago, and she did very well, but lost interest quickly. I changed things up a bit today. She has been in either a pull up or underwear all day. I moved her little potty to the corner of the living room and so she is constantly aware that it is there and runs over when she feels like she has to go.. I am SO proud of her!! She does this hilarious little dance when she is done.. I think its really her copying me! Ha ha! I will try to tape her for everyone to see.
Ryan came over to play this afternoon and as usual the boys had a great time. I wanted to post a couple of pictures I took of them playing dress up. Today they were the "snow guys"! They found all of Shane's snow suits and boots and got all dressed up and Kayla joined them in her new princess outfit grandma got for her for her birthday. They had to go rescue her!

2008-09-01T15:52:00.006-05:00

Labor Day!! Nothing like having a long weekend and having Jim home one extra day! We went to the Santa Calagon Days in Independece today, and got to walk around and look at lots of craft booths and Shane got to play some carvinal games. We were there for 3 hours and it made for a fun morning/early afternoon.. the weather was hot and muggy, but we still managed to have a great time just walking around and there was a lot of free water being passed out.
While Kayla took her nap today, Jim and Shane worked on the bird house that Shane got on Saturday. He got to use his own tools and pretty much got to screw and nail in all the parts and pieces with Jim just holding the them down for him. Shane had just started painting it, when Ryan called and asked him to come over to play for a bit. Of course Shane went to play, so Jim told him he would paint the harder parts of the bird house for him. Jamie asked if we wanted to join them for dinner at Texas Roadhouse, and so we joined the McNeel's on another yummy dinner! When we got back, Shane finished the rest of the paiting, and it turned out great! Shane is SO proud! I love seeing him so excited about something he got to work on!!

Here are the pictures I took of the process and the final product!!

2008-08-31T13:12:00.019-05:00

Grandma, Greatgrandma and Greatgrandpa left this morning to go back to Ohio. They arrived on the Friday I left for San Antonio, so they got to visit for a little over a week. It was wonderful having company. It is always great having family around. We truly appreciate them making the trip out! Jim's grandparents are in their 80s and they just spent over 14 hours each way in a car just to come visit us!! Amazing!

My kids as usual had a blast with grandma. Shane and Debbie have always been very close and are the best of friends. There isn't anything that Shane can't get grandma to do with him! His new biggest thing to do with grandma, is teach her how to play video games!! Kayla was a little more shy around our visitors, but she would always keep an eye on her grandma. If grandma left had to run upstairs for something, Kayla would look at me and say, "where gama go?", and I would tell her she went upstairs, and Kayla would run up there after her to see what she was doing. Grandma also had a makeup bag, so that was a HUGE plus! Kayla is very into looking "pre pre", so she would bug grandma for makeup!

Kayla's bithday is not till the 6th, but we celebrated her 2nd birthday yesterday since we had the family in town. She didn't quite understand what was going on at first, but quickly caught wind that there was cake and ice cream and then presents! I baked some chocolate cupcakes and she just loved them. It was perfect.

We ate fried chicken for dinner and the kids LOVED it!

Here are some pictures of her eating her cupcake and opening her gifts!

Shane got to open a few gifts also! He was very excited about that!!! He got 2 new Ben 10 toys and Jim also got him his own real tool box! Jim also found this little Home Depot bird house that he thought would be a fun project for the to do together.

On a sad note, my flowers by the mailbox are ALL GONE! Within a day, some little bugs ate all my beautiful bright pink petunias. We started to panic because we didn't want these little bugs eating our beautiful impatients in the front of the house. Jim did some research online and found out by the pictures, that they are some sort of tabacoo hornworms, and that they only really eat a few kinds of flowers, one of them being petunias, but thankfully, not impatients.

2008-08-25T12:36:00.019-05:00

What a WONDERFUL weekend! Nicole, Rachel and I flew out at 8:55am on Friday morning and headed to San Antonio, TX for the "Living Proof Live" with Beth Moore. I was up at 4:00am and at Nicole's at 5:30am, ready to go!
We arrived in San Antonio and were eager to get to our hotel to rest for a bit and ready to get some yummy Mexican food in our bellies before our first big night with Beth! We were within walking distance from a Mexican restaurant which was right across the street from the hotel, and just another quick walk to the Alamodome, which made the few trips that we needed to make to it through out the day a breeze.

What also made things easier for us, is that we had a reserved "Siestas" area, so we didn't need to "fight" for seating since they were first come, first serve. Watching and praising with the Worship team was incredible.. they were amazing! And Beth, she is just adorable! It is amazing how that little woman can deliver such a powerful message and make it so easy for women to relate to. The lesson you ask?? INHERITANCE! We are ALL heirs and heiresses of God!

On Saturday morning, we went back to the Alamodome for some more time with Beth Moore. Since we are Siestas, we got to spend an extra 1 1/2 with her and got to take group pictures with her and got to have a question and answer time.

In the early evening, we went to visit the Alamo, and then Nicole and I went to the Riverwalk, while Rachel went to the Sietas PJ party. We were pretty tired of walking around, so at the Riverwalk mall, we found a spa place that gave this wonderful foot acupressure massage. Nicole and I were ALL over that!! We then grabbed some pizza and took it back to out hotel room and called it an evening.

On Sunday we attended Oak Hills Church, where Max Lucado delivered the service's message. It was another great day! Our plane didn't leave San Antonio until 6:55pm, so we had plenty of time to walk around and shop at the Market Place before having to take the rental car back and heading to the airport.. it was a good thing we had plenty of time, because it started absolutely pouring down rain!

I didn't make it home till around 11:20pm, and Kayla and Jim were up waiting for me. Jim opened the garage door and when she saw me, she started running in place she was so excited. Shane didn't get to see me till the next morning, since he needed to get up and go to school the next morning. I missed them so much! It was great to have the time to myself, but I enjoy having my family around so much more.

I will add more pics soon. Rachel took some really good pics of the three of us with her long arms!!

2008-08-19T11:20:00.007-05:00

1st Day of Kindergarten!!

So today was Shane's first day of Kindergarten. I got to go with him today and we were there from 9:15am till 10:30am. It was a nice, short introductory day. The parents had lots of forms to sign and the kids got to get acclimated with the classroom and their classmates. His teacher's name is Mrs. Davies, and she is very sweet. She went through everything on the handbook thoroughly and while the parents filed out the forms, read a nice story to the kids about going to Kindergarten. I took a lot of pictures of Shane today. I am feeling so many different emotions today.. happy, sad, proud, scared, and one that sort of took my by surprise.. OLDER! I turned 30 this year, but it really didn't hit me until I realized that my kids are growing up and getting older and in turn, I am getting older too! I do have to say though, that life has been getting better as I get older.. hopefully it will continue on that path!!

I took many pictures today.. you can tell by Shane's face on some of them that he thinks I took a few too many!!

2008-08-15T14:05:00.007-05:00

Jamie and I thought it would be fun to do something with the kids today.. so we took them to the mall. The weather looked a little sad this morning, so the mall just sounded fun! Amazing how happy and content they can be in there! I took some videos of the kids enjoying themselves!

Here is Kayla at the pet store. She loves all different kinds of animals, I think she might become a veterinarian when she gets older! She was VERY interested in the birds at the pet store! She did wonderful with it, she just didn't really like it when he put the bird on her leg!

Kayla at the pet store from Juliana Gallagher on Vimeo.

Here are the kids playing in the play area. Kayla quickly made a little friend and they followed each other everywhere and Shane and Ryan were off being boys!

Kids playing at the mall from Juliana Gallagher on Vimeo.

After we had some yummy lunch, we took the kids back to the play area. This really nice lady asked us if we had children playing because it was her daughter's birthday and she had received a coupon for a free carousel ride and free balloons for up to 10kids! It was a great way to end our stay at the play area! We picked up some white cherry ICEEs on the way out and made one more quick stop at the pet store!

Kids on the Carousel from Juliana Gallagher on Vimeo.

2008-08-13T09:20:00.003-05:00

A good friend of mine forwarded me this youtube video. It is a little long, but take the time to watch the whole thing.. the message is amazing. It is wonderfully reassuring to have reminders of how each of us individually have GOD's stamp on us!!

GOD BLESS!

2008-08-11T17:02:00.007-05:00

My daughter has become my closest and bestest little friend. She is constantly with me, where Shane is at this stage where he would much rather spend time doing whatever daddy is doing. I'm ok with that! Shane enjoys the sports and the video games, just like Jim and Kayla enjoys the pretend cooking and the taking care of babies just like me! Shane, as many of you have know and have read, also has his best bud Ryan.. well, these 2 are inseparable. They will spend every minute they can together! So, Shane is either gone over at Ryan's a lot, or they are both here playing together.. well, that leaves my little Kayla feeling left out. She just doesn't understand why the BIG kids don't want her to play with them. Sooooo this afternoon, when Shane went over to Ryan's to play, Kayla started crying. I kept thinking what I could do to take her mind off of it.. I picked her up and stepped outside and looked at my dropping flowers and asked her if she wanted to water them with me. She quickly quit crying, and ran over to the hose. I took a super cute video of her watering the flowers by herself. She had an incredible time.. I think she got wetter than the flowers!!

And here is a video of the boys playing one of Shane's favorite games - "Ben 10".

He enjoys that cartoon so much that for Halloween, he wants to be "Diamondhead" (who is a character on the cartoon).. I am starting to look now because I am not sure if its something I can find, or something I am going to have to make! I am posting a picture of him for all my loyal readers.. along with a plea; please keep your eye out!!!
I guess if I can't find it, he can go as "Heatblast", who is really the only other costume I have found apart from Ben himself.

2008-08-09T14:06:00.003-05:00

The 2008 Olympics are on!!

If anyone needs to find me for any reason, I am letting you guys know where I am! My tush is parked on my couch in front of my TV! I SO enjoy the Olympics! I have found two channels that are broadcasting the Olympics, and that is pretty much ALL we will get to watch! I think its absolutely incredible to watch all of these top athletes come together and compete to the very best of their abilities for themselves and their countries. The pride is just amazing!!

As many of you know, (for the time being) I am Brasilian, so I have been having to cheer for the USA and Brasil.. I have resorted to cheering for whoever is on at that event at that time.. luckly they haven't really competed much against each other apart from swimming, so it has been easy on me! How can you not cheer for the USA at the swimming events???

And I don't know if any of you got to watch the opening ceremony last night, but it was just incredible!! China did a fantastic job! Jim and I were seriously glued to the TV!

2008-08-07T12:50:00.007-05:00

My little Kayla is not so little anymore. I look at her lately and I have to do a double take. Its strange because I see her everyday, and yet sometimes it catches me by surprise when she says and repeats certain words or when she imitates me, (which she is doing A LOT!) When we play together, I have been calling her " my little mommy". She trades with me and pretends that I am the baby and she is the mommy. She loves it! She will cover me with a blanket, and pretend to feed me.. and she will give me tonnes of kisses.. and then she tells me "I wove you mommy!".. Its funny because she will act like me, but she will still call me mommy and not baby! She is so nurturing and affectionate, I just love it.
As many of you know, she enjoys to sing. I took another video of her in one of her brilliant performances.. Here it is, Twinkle, twinkle, little star!

Kayla singing! from Juliana Gallagher on Vimeo.

I also wanted to post some updated pictures of my beautiful flowers. They look incredible and my green thumb Jim, has been keeping them well watered during there really hot days we have been having.

2008-08-05T21:37:00.005-05:00

So I think the good old days of just swimming are gone! Shane and Ryan were introduced to the "Chicken Fight" today! I invited Ryan and Jamie over for a cooling swim this afternoon, and Lacy and Sarah asked if they could join us, and of course I said yes. Lets just say that they enjoyed it very much!! Shane was on Sarah's shoulders and Ryan was on Lacy's. I think after quite a few fights, they ended up tied!

Here is a video I took with my phone. It really is a pretty bad video, but you all can see they were having a great time!!

Chicken Fight! from Juliana Gallagher on Vimeo.

2008-08-03T19:18:00.007-05:00

It reached 92F today, with a heat index of 100F!! It was another HOT day! We spent most of the day inside again. We went to church this morning, and I always complain about how cold I am in there.. well, not today, it felt wonderful! And we had a great service.. I left there feeling recharged and ready for another week and as many more HOT days as God wants to give me!! As soon as we got in the car to come home, we cranked up the A/C as high and as cold as it would go! We came home and just hung around, watched the Nascar race while Kayla took a nap and Shane had his quiet time in our room watching cartoons. It was a cool and quiet afternoon!
At around 4pm we decided to go to the pool. It was still super hot outside, and Jim was a little afraid of the sun still being too hot.. but we still went! Good thing we did, because it felt really nice! The water was perfect.. somewhere between refreshing and bath water! Just really comfortable. There were quite a few people there, and it was great for the kids because they got to play with some other kids that they didn't really know in the neighbourhood.
I have mentioned a few times on my blog how well they are both swimming.. they really continue to improve daily!!

Here is a video I took of Shane swimming across the pool. Mind you now, he has had no real lessons and has pretty much taught himself everything he knows with a little parental coaching and encouraging!!

Untitled from Juliana Gallagher on Vimeo.

I have yet to take a good video of Kayla swimming, but I will.. she is doing great! Today she realized that she could float on her back.. she loved that!!

2008-08-02T16:09:00.015-05:00

We have been having some HOT summer days! To make matters worse, someone with a temper kicked down the pool gate door, and so the pool had been closed over the past few HOT days! I filled up our little inflatable pool that we got when we had Shane's birthday party for the kids to play in. They had a lot of fun! For the most part, I have kept the kids indoor. We have been under heat advisories, and I just don't think it very healthy for us to be outside... so the kids have been bouncing off my walls!! But, at least the pool gate got fixed yesterday, and since the hot days are not gone, at least we can cool off at the pool again and the kids can get out of the house for a bit!

Today we had our mud volleyball tournament. It was SO much fun. I am pooped out! Its amazing how sun and mud can tire you out! It was so hard to move around in that mud!We played 8 games and won 1! Lets just say that staying up on our feet was an accomplishment on its own!! And as the day went on, the mud was just churned up and the water over it just got warmer and warmer and the smell of mud was all up in the air, and all over our clothes.. pretty nasty! By the end of the 8th game, we were ready to go home and take nice LONG showers! My ankles are really sore from trying to keep myself up, and I have had them up since we got home. I was fine while we were moving, but as soon as I sat down, I could feel them throabing. Jim took a nice little nap on the couch and I even ordered pizza from my computer so that we had to do VERY little moving!!

Here is our team.. notice we are still clean! From left to right - Blake, Christine, Meredith, Jim, me and Brian.

The mud courts!

Here are a few pics of us playing.

They also had this mud hill, which they had turned into a slide. They had a sprinkler going to keep it muddy and I went down it twice with Meredith and Christine went down it once.

For some more pics, visit Nicole's blog

Shane and Kayla got to spend all day at Kelli and Kayla's house. They had a blast! We got back at at around 2:30pm and ran home quickly to shower before we went next door to get the kids. Shane was playing video games with the girls' little cousin, Colin, who is also 5 and Kayla was just having a ball playing with the girls. Kayla ended up coming home with us so she could nap and Shane wanted to stay and play with Colin some more. It worked out great for us because the house was really quiet!

2008-07-28T11:59:00.005-05:00

Jim is back home!!! I am so happy to have him back, but I think my kids are even happier! They won't leave him alone! They went all 4 days without complaining or crying about daddy being gone, but when he walked in through that door today, it was like they realized that he was gone.
Jim camped over the last 4 days and is very glad to be home! At $10 for 6 minutes of water and very long waiting lines, a shower was the first thing on his mind!! He brought me and the kids t-shirts and they were SO excited. They had to try them on right away. Look how cute they look!!!

He took quite a few pictures, so I thought I would make a slide of a few.

2008-07-26T15:50:00.007-05:00

This is day 3 of daddy being gone. The kids have been keeping themselves busy, whether it be by playing with each other or arguing! It amazes me just how good Kayla's vocabulary is getting because of Shane. She repeats everything he says to her!
It was a very hot day today. I figured, istead of a bubble bath, today we needed to go to the pool! My kids are both turning into fish this summer. It is wonderful to have a pool just down the road, we use it almost everyday we can!

These pictures and this video were taken with my cell phone, so the quality is not very good, but at least you can see how well Shane is swimming!

2008-07-25T19:19:00.004-05:00

For some reason, it seems that every time Jim goes our of town, the kids want to take a bath in our whirlpool tub! I fill it up with water and bubble bath and turn on the jets and you'd be amazed to see how thick the bubbles get in there! The kids were in there for 45 minutes today and about an hour yesterday! Shane's first words this morning were, "Mommy, can we take a bath in your tub again?"

Here they are!!

2008-07-24T17:33:00.006-05:00

So Jim's plan was to leave at 3am this morning... well, it was more like 1:15am! He could not sleep! We were in bed at 10pm, and I don't think he slept at all.. he was up and moving at 12:30am, and I asked him what was wrong, and he answered, "I am just going to leave now!" That had me so scared because he was going to drive 8 hrs to Indianapolis on NO sleep! So he left and I was up until 2:30am eating ice cream, nervous out of my mind, thinking about him and just praying that he would make it there safely. He got there bright and early and him and Jack got their camp all set up. Here is a pic he sent me of their home for the next 4 days!

Tonight they got to go to the O'Reilley Raceway track tonight to watch to the USAC Midgets race. This is the track where they will get to watch the truck and Busch series over the next couple of night. Then on Sunday they get to go to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. That is the BIG race!!

The kids have been a handful today, but that is normal when Jim leaves! These two walk all over me! They got to take a super long bubble bath in my bath tub this afternoon and they absolutly loved that!!! I am hoping it made them a little tired!! Now we are sitting down, watching a movie and eating some popcorn. They are actually enjoying it quietly, so needless to say, SO AM I!!

2008-07-23T21:58:00.001-05:00

We got to talk to grandma on Skype today.. she went out yesterday and bought a camera so that she could see the kids. We were on for over 30 minutes and half of the time she was just content with watching them play and be silly. Too bad it took us so long to find out about Skype! We could have been sharing so much more with our families and friends in other states!! (For those who don't know about Skype, ck out www.skype.com)

The kids enjoyed themselves a lot this morning. They asked me to build them a tent in the living room, and I have to say that they had a blast! Amazing how much imagination these little kids have!

Jim is leaving SUPER early tomorrow morning to go to Indianapolis for the Nascar race. He is meeting his dad up there and will not be coming back till Monday. :( It is always so hard when he is gone.. we miss him SO much. But with that being said, I do pray that he has a safe drive, that the weather turns out great and that he has a memorable and wonderful experience!!

As soon as he got home tonight he realized that he forgot his cell phone charger at work, so he needed to run back out there to grab it before he left in the morning. We all hoped in the car at 6pm and rode with him to his office. He promised the kids ice cream since it put a small damper on some quality time with them. Needless to say, they enjoyed that!! They were covered in ice cream, and had to go straight to the tub when they were done!!

2008-07-18T21:44:00.004-05:00

I was up pretty early this morning (6:15am!) with Jim and I just couldn't go back to sleep. For as tired as I was, I end up enjoying days like this because I can get a lot accomplished early in the morning and have the entire afternoon to spend time with the kids pretty much doing whatever they want. We ran to the supermarket by 8:30am and were back home by 10am, which felt wonderful. At around noon, Shane went over to Heather's to go to the pool with Daniel, Alison and Lexy, but it started raining, so they ended up not going. Shane came crying home because for some strange reason lately he has been really scared of severe weather, (although it was seriously barely drizzling!)So, after Kayla woke up from her nap, we went back to Heather's and ended up just hanging around there and letting the kids play till almost 4pm. Then we decided that we should try to give the pool another try! It was pretty chilly today.. but the kids still had a really fun time.

Here are some pics of the kids playing at Heather's. It was a big day for dress up!!

The 3 little ladies!

2008-07-16T11:08:00.002-05:00

One more milestone out of the way!! I passed my Citizenship test! I was so nervous going into that office. They just make it sound and look so intimidating! Let me say, it SO wasn't! The lady who interviewed me and gave me my test was the sweestest lady ever.. she even told me that she has been known to repeat a question up to 5 times! Well, lets just say that there was no need for her to do any repeating.. the questions were super simple! After it was all said and done, she gave me a paper that stated that I passed my English and Civics tests and checked the box that stated "recommended for approval", which I guess is good since the only other box stated "needs further review".

So now, I have to will for a letter to come in the mail, which could get here any time between now and September. It will state where and when I need to go take the oath. Its not over yet, but I am almost there!!

What a blessed day this way! I am so thrilled to be one step closer to becoming an American Citizen!

2008-07-15T13:27:00.006-05:00

Its official! I am going to San Antonio, TX from Aug 22th - Aug 24th! I just got done buying my plane ticket today!! Nicole invited me to go quite a while ago, but I really didn't make my decision to go until yesterday. We are going to attend the "Living Proof Live with Beth Moore". For those of you not familiar with her, she has written numerous books and Bible studies. I think it will be a wonderfully fun and fulfilling experience! I have been following the Fiesta Siesta Blog for the past few months now and I think it will be wonderful to meet some of these amazingly faithful women who participate in it!!

2008-07-14T21:50:00.004-05:00

I am an aunt again!!! This blog is dedicated to my new little nephew, Landon Charles Gallagher. Here are a couple of pics on the little guy!

2008-07-14T08:13:00.009-05:00

So we have been getting ready for our garage sale for about a week.. well, thinking about it for about a month, but really taking action in the last week so that we could have everything set up for this past Saturday. Its amazing how after having 2 garage sales last year, I still had enough stuff to sell this time around! As usual we had our early shoppers who were parked outside at 7:10am even though our signs stated our sale was from 8am to 2pm! We ended up with a lot of our sales during this early time. It ended up being a good thing because at around 10am, it started raining. We quickly moved everything inside the garage and all of a sudden, we had the most amount of people at our garage sale! I guess like to shop in the rain. We closed our doors at noon since the rain had picked up a lot more though. We didn't do much on Saturday afternoon/evening. We just ordered chinese food and hung out with the kids. It was a great relaxing time!

On Sunday we went to church and then met up with Brian and Nicole for a yummy lunch at Olive Garden. I am never dissapointed when I go there!! Then we ran to Babies R Us so that I could buy some baby shower gifts for a friend from church. By the time we got home it was 2:15pm and we needed to lay Kayla down in hopes that she would be rested enough to wake up around 3:45pm to go watch Jim play Softball. Jim left ahead of us and went to the game and I stayed behind to get the kids ready to go. We got there right at 4pm just to see all of our players sitting on the steps, sad looks on their faces.. the other team didn't show up!! Our team was ready to play!! But, I guess a win is a win! So... we took the kids to the park and then to get some ice cream.. VBS (Vacation Bible School) started last night and Shane gets to go again this year. I am helping out in the 2nd and 3rd graders room and it really was a lot of fun. Shane told me he had an "awesome" time.. I told him he has 4 more days of it and he was very excited!!

2008-07-08T18:56:00.004-05:00

Once again, my daughter just fascinates me! It is so much fun having a little girl! She is all about dressing up and looking pretty. I have found some hideous jewlery at Goodwill and she absolutely loves it! I decided to look there because I wanted necklaces and braceletes that were big enough so that she couldn't choke on them if she put them in her mouth... well, that means 70s jewlery!! We can never find all of it since she leaves it everywhere through out the house, but here are some of her pretties. I found this cute little nightgown at a garage sale for $.75, and its practically new! She LOVES it! She really does look SO cute!

Look at that smile! Do you think she knows she is a cutie or what?!

We also got to go to the movies today. As part of the Vacation Movie Series, the movie we got to watch was "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything", its a Veggitales movie. I took Shane and Kayla, and Jamie took Ryan. All in all, the kids behaved VERY well.. even Kayla did better than I expected. The best part is that it only cost Shane and I $2 a piece to go watch it and Kayla was free. With some home popped popcorn, some drinks and other snacks, it was a cool and cheap afternoon! It was really warm outside when we went to the movies, and by the time we left, it was raining. Go figure! No pool today.

2008-07-06T11:41:00.006-05:00

4th of July weekend.. can you believe that its come and gone? Time does fly when you are having fun!! It was wonderful having Jim home on Friday (July 4th). He woke up early and went to the gym before any of us woke up. The kids and I got up and as usual got our breakfast and watched some cartoons.. you had to see their faces when they heard the garage door open! They ran to the door and as it opened, they jumped on Jim! Shane said "Daddy, do you have to work today?" It was too cute. Kayla just yelled, "Daddy, daddy, daddy!" We had a wonderfully fun day planned at our neighbours The McNeels. We were really excited for our Mexican food menu (it was decided that this year, we were celebrating 4 de Julio), some Hillbilly horseshoes and lots of fireworks! We did some running around in the morning for a few little things, Jim mowed the front lawn and I had to finish my dishes to take over to the party. I made this cake that turned out super cute and super yummy! Leave it to the Brasilian to bring the American Flag cake to the 4th of July party!!

The kids had a really fun time. This is the first year that we really let Shane light up fireworks. The more he lit, the more he wanted to lite! Kayla enjoyed the little snaps. She didn't know what to think of them at first, but then she figured that if she stepped on them, she could make them pop!

Here are some pictures of the kids.

On Saturday we hung around the house for most of the morning. Jim and Shane played some video games in the afternoon while I went grocery shopping and Kayla took her nap. Brian and Nicole invited us over for dinner and games. They had this wonderful pork tenderloin that their neighbours had given them. It was so nice of them to share! We played Skip Bo and Jim won! Kayla was tired from the night before, so she was a handful, but Jim took care of that!! Overall, a fun time had by all as usual!!

Sunday was a nice restful day. We stayed home and I cleaned the house. Jim mowed the back yard and then took Jozie to the lake to practice jumping. I got a lot accomplished since the kids were over at Bailey and Miranda's all morning. We decided to skip on our Sunday volleyball, and invited Jamie, Mark and the kids over and grilled some hot dogs and burgers instead. Our community dinners always turn out great! When we were done, we decided to go to the pool. That was the end to a great day. The water felt wonderful since it was in the mid 90s!!

2008-07-03T13:11:00.004-05:00

We had a very strong thunderstorm last night and I have never seen so much rain and wind before. It really looked like a hurricane out there. The guy on the news said straight line winds of up to 70 mph! Our patio furniture blew over for the 3rd time! Shane was very scared last night and kept asking if we needed to go down to the basement. He cried and cried and had this look of total panic. He wanted to be sure that we could hear the siren if it went off. We reasured him that everything was ok. And it was.. no basement for us last night!
I wanted to give you guys all an update on our beautiful flowers. They are loving all the rain! And after that soak last night, they looked just gorgeous this morning! The pictures don't do it justice. If you guys remember my blog back in May when we first put them in the ground how little they were, they now look at least twice as big.

2008-07-01T18:55:00.009-05:00

What a gorgeous day we had today!! As part of our calendar of fun for the summer, it was the day to go to the zoo! Shane had been looking forward to this day for a long time! I invited Kelli and Kayla (our neighbors from next door) to come along with us and said jumped right on at the invite. We left at around 9:30am and off to the zoo we went. We had a wonderful time. Kelli and Kayla are such great helpers! They enjoy my children so much, and my children love them! They really are like brother and sisters!! We met up with quite a few moms and their kids.. we got separated after lunch, but I think it ended up being for the best because my kids wanted to move a little faster than the others! We saw lots of animals, got to pet a snake and Kelli, little Kayla and Shane even rode a camel! We had to take lots of shady breaks because the sun was really hot! We left the zoo at 2:30pm and got home around 3:00pm. I had mentioned to the kids while we were at the zoo that it would be a fun day for the pool. Well, they didn't forget that!! As soon as we got home, that is what they wanted to do! My only worry was that Kayla had taken no nap... but they all wanted to go, so off we went! We had the pool all to ourselves! The kids loved it! By the time we got back to our house and got changed, it was 5:15pm, so I finally laid Kayla down in hopes that she might be rested enough so we could all go watch Jim play volleyball. Well, she was still asleep when it was time to leave, so we stayed home. Shane went over to Ryan's to play so I thought that I was actually going to have some quiet time to myself! Boy was I wrong!! Jim called me at 7pm asking me if I could go sub at their game.. Lacy ran over here with the boys and babysat them and Kayla and off I went.. Their game was at 7:15pm and I left the house at 7:09pm!! I made it there right on time! It was a fun time. I had to run to the supermarket after that too.. what a day!! I can finally sit down and rest a bit.. its only 10:03pm!!!!
Here are some pics of the kids today.

2008-06-30T10:00:00.000-05:00

We are SO dragging today! We have had such a wonderfully busy weekend! We had Shane's birthday party on Saturday and after we cleaned up, we grabbed some Culver's and drove over to Brian and Nicole's. Brian needed some help in the front yard, so Nicole and I hung around with the girls (I will let you read her blog if you would like more info!!), and Shane helped the men with the outside work. We didn't leave their house until about 10:30pm, and by the time we got home, Shane and Kayla were both asleep. We picked the up out of the car and straight to bed they went. Jim and I didn't get to bed until almost 1am. We had to feed the dogs and finish cleaning things up.. do you ever have those days that you just can't stop? And even when we layed down in bed at 11:30pm, we still watched TV! I think we were just too wired up to stop!
On Sunday morning we didn't get up until about 8:30am. That is pretty late for us. We try to be ready to leave for church by 9:30am.. we were moving so slow! Somehow though, we all took showers and made it our the door. Good thing they have doughnuts and coffee waiting for us every Sunday when we get there!!! That was ours and the kids breakfast! We stayed for a business meeting after church, so we didn't get to leave there until noon. We then met Brian, Nicole, her cousin Meredith and Taylor at Applebees for lunch. By the time we were done there, it was already 2:00pm. We had plans to meet The McNeel's for some sand volleyball at 2:30pm, but lets just say that we didn't make it there until 3pm! Brian and Nicole joined us there as well and we had a really fun time. The weather was just awesome. We got done at around 5pm and by then, it was time to run home real quick to get cleaned up so that we could run to Pink Hill Park for our Church Picnic! On the way we had to swing by Price Chopper to pick up a few bags of chips because I honestly had NO time to make anything! The only nap Kayla got was the 45 minutes between us leaving the volleyball courts and the time we arrived at the picnic. We just let her sleep in the car while we got ready. She woke up in rare form though! Ready go eat and play! We had a really fun time at the park.. the kids came home SO incredible dirty! The bottom of their tub was nasty!! But, at least the kids were clean and off to bed!!
I love having busy days though.. I am exhausted, but we all had a great time in everything we did. I guess that is what summers are for right??

2008-06-29T00:05:00.012-05:00

Saturday finally came, and after Shane counting many sleeps, it was the day of his Birthday Party! He was so excited this morning! Jim and I woke up early and started setting everything up for his party and were done just as our first guests had arrived. Everyone seemed to have a really fun time. We ended up with 16 kids and some parents who might as well have been counted as kids!! They enjoyed a day full of water! Water ballons, slip and slides, a sprinker, an inflatable pool with a little slide, a bouncer and a kiddie pool at the end of the slide on out swingset which we filled with water and ice!! We were a little worried this morning since it was really cloudy, but just at around 2:00pm (the time the party started), the clouds parted and the sun came out. (I am sure that little prayer had nothing to do with it! *wink*). The best part is that we had plenty of time for games and cake and ice cream.. just around 4:00pm, the wind really picked up and it was our cue to wrap things up. We let the kids enjoy the last of the water ballons and it lasted probably close to 15 minutes. Shane had a wonderful time.. I am really happy that we planned this for him and am very grateful to all who came to share it with us! Thanks again for helping us make it special for Shane!!

The kids all sang Shane Happy Birthday and enjoyed cupcakes and ice cream!

Then it was time to open gifts!!

When we were done cleaning up, we tied up all the ballons and wrote a little note that said, "My name is Shane and I let these balloons go on my 5th birthday. I'd like to know how far they go, so please respond by returning this note along with a story of where you found it." Jim included his work PO Box address. I guess we will have to see what happens!!

I wanted to end today's blog with an update of my birthday dinner.. all I have to say is YUMMY! It was so good! I ate foods yesterday that I hadn't eaten in years! I got to even drink Brasilian pop!

2008-06-27T08:52:00.003-05:00

ITS MY 30TH BIRTHDAY!

I have been so busy planning Shane's party, that my birthday really just snuck up on me! I'm ok with that! Last thing one needs is to be reminded about turning 30 over and over again. I got an email from a friend from church and she typed, "what is that saying, isn't 30 the new 20?". I'll take that and ask no questions! I am at a very happy place in my life, and if this is what my 30s will be like, bring it on!!

Jim is taking me to a Brazilian Churrascaria for dinner tonight. Its a Brasilian style Steakhouse that I as a child grew up eating at. (For some of you that may not know, I am Brazilian!). I thought that was so thoughtful and so personal.. you did good Jim!! He even asked Jamie to watch the kids for us! I am really looking forward to it! Keep an eye out for an update!!

2008-06-26T08:41:00.000-05:00

Just for the record, my finger tips are numb! Jim and I along with the help of two of our neighbors, Jamie and Heather, filled anywhere between 700-750 water ballons for Shane's birthday party on Saturday. We needed to get a head start since we won't have time to fill them Saturday morning. They are still looking good; some after 2 days of being filled.. we have kept them in a cool place and I think that has helped. Our child count it up to a total of 16.. a few of them are younger like Kayla, but they still love the water ballons! We are hoping they will be able to play with them for longer than 5 minutes!!

Here is something else those Christmas totes are good for: Water ballons storage!

2008-06-23T10:36:00.008-05:00

TODAY IS SHANE'S BIRTHDAY!!

I can't believe it!! My son turns 5 today! I was just telling Jim last night that it is amazing to think that he has been a part of our lives for 5 years (and nine months!). He has turned out to be such a cool kid! I just adore and love him to pieces!!
He stayed home from summer school today.. I thought it was appropriate! He was a little confused when he woke up and asked me when everyone was going to get here.. we are having his birthday party next Saturday, so I guess that is confusing for him. I told him "5 more sleeps and everyone will come over to celebrate with you!" He understood it a little better and I quickly changed to subject to, "lets go to Walmart and pick out a new toy!" He was all smiles after that! He picked out a Bakugan toy (amazing all the stuff he is into now!) and he hasn't put it down since!

Kayla played with him for the longest time until it was time for her to take a nap and Shane looked a little releaved since he could now have his new toy all to himself! We also picked out a new toy for Kayla and we bought some brownie mix and decorations to make his little cake for tonight.. we are saving the big cake for his party.
Here is the cake we make together!

I asked Shane what he wanted to eat for his birthday dinner, and of course, like the child after my own heart that he is, he said pasta! So I made some yummy pasta and when we were all done, we sang happy birthday and gave Shane his presents.

Last week we gave Shane one of his gifts in advance.. it was something that was sort of hard to keep from him... he has been enjoying it SO much!!

2008-06-19T16:36:00.007-05:00

Jim took the day off yesterday and it was so wonderful having him home. The kids and I really enjoy it when he surprises us by taking days off for no real reason other than to just enjoy the day with us. We didn't really do too much. We took Shane to school and just played puzzles with Kayla until it was time to pick him back up. We ate lunch at Pizza Street. When we got home, we laid Kayla down and started cleaning our garage.. it needed some serious TLC! We cleaned it up and even pressure washed it along with the driveway!(Something that we can now do due to Father's Day!!)

I also wanted to share a video of my little Kayla. She is now all about singing. It hard to catch her on tape because she sort of quits singing when she sees me with the camera.. but here is what I caught!

2008-06-15T08:55:00.001-05:00

FATHER'S DAY!!
We had a wonderful Father's Day! We went to World's of Fun with the McNeels! We had never been before, so it was great to go with people who know where everything is! I hate having to look at a map and trying to figure out where we are and where the rides are. We got to ride a lot of the rides.. the rollercoster lovers got to ride those.. and I swear I got to ride everything that went round and round and round in a circle! We had to take a break right around lunch time when it started raining, but it worked out perfectly because we left and went to eat at Applebees, and then came back when it quit raining and stayed till almost 8pm!!

2008-06-14T15:21:00.008-05:00

We worked on Jim's Father's Day gift yesterday! The kids made Jim a paiting. It turned out pretty neat! Jim noticed some paint on Shane's hair today, and Shane let it slip that they were making a paiting for daddy yesterday.. so we gave daddy his gifts today! Jim was SO surprised. He said to me, "I thought my gift was us going to Worlds of Fun tomorrow?" Well, I guess that is part of it!!

Here they are working on it!!

And here is the finished artwork!

I also got Jim a power washer, which is something he has been wanting to get for a really long time! He wanted to go use it right away!

Shane had his first ever sleep over at a friend's house last night. I kept the sleepover a surprise until yesterday. He was over at Ryan's house a little after 4pm ready for a super fun time with his best bud. For some more sleepover info, ck out Jamie's Blog!

2008-06-12T16:28:00.003-05:00

The day started a little hectic today.. things were just difficult! Ever have those days? Things just don't go right? I didn't let that slow me down though! We met up at Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead today. I kept Shane home from Summer School so he could go as well. There were a total of 6 moms and 10 kids between all of us!! I had never taken the kids there before. It was a lot of fun for the kids with there being so much for them to do! We will have to make another trip, because although we were there for almost 3 hours, we still didn't see everything there was to see. As usual I took a lot of pictures! Here are some of them!

Kayla feeding the goats and Shane petting the goats!

Here they are at the school house wearing the dunce cap! I think it suits them both!

Here they are learning all about cows!

Shane got to ride on a pony, but Kayla wasn't old enough yet. Here Shane is on a pony that looked too small for him! And on the next pic they are feeding the baby goats with a bottle.

2008-06-07T07:59:00.007-05:00

UPDATED
We had our neighborhood Luau get together today. A lot of people showed up this year! It was a lot of fun. The HOA provided hotdogs, burgers and the pop, and everyone else brought a side dish. We had SO much food!! They started things off with a parade.. Shane got on his biked and joined in.. he didn't want to at first, but then he did and enjoyed it very much!

Can you see him in the front?

While Shane joined the parade, Kayla played in the bouncer!

They also had a baloon artist and a face painter who was absolutly amazing. Here are some pics of what she did for the kids. Shane loves pirates and he wanted his to look like a tattoo; and Kayla said she wanted a kitty, so the lady said that she would make Kayla look like a kitty!

After we ate dinner, the kids wanted to go for a swim. Here they are with daddy!!

ADDED THIS MORNING
The boys went camping last night at Jenni's (Daniel Barnes' mom) place out in Oak Grove. Daniel and Daniel Jr., and Guy and Mady also camped. They both told me they had a really fun time. They got to go fishing and ate smores and hotdogs, and the kids got to stay up late telling ghost stories! I am so happy that Jim and Shane got to spend some fun quality time together! Here are some of the pictures Jim took.

One more thing I wanted to add today is my beautiful lillies that are starting to bloom in my front yard. They look so beautiful!

2008-06-05T14:37:00.007-05:00

After I picked Shane up from school today, Kayla, Shane and I went to the Peace Pavillion with Nicole and her little girl Taylor and with Rachel and her two little boys Tanner and Jackson. It was a lot of fun. I had never even heard of the place! It is an interactive place with lots of different activities for kids to teach them all about peace all around them. The kids had a really fun time running around and coloring. It wasn't a very large place, but it had plenty to keep the kids interested. I would definetly recommend it.

Here are a few pictures of the kids!

2008-06-04T20:15:00.005-05:00

Shane started Kindergarten Summer School this week. It has been really hard having Shane and Kayla ready to go by 7:45am so that we can make it to school by 7:55am! Good thing its only for 4 weeks. The important thing is that Shane is having a really "awesome" time - these are HIS own words! I think he is enjoying the "school" setting. His teacher is Mrs. Brown and he remembered her name and his PE coach's name on the first day!

We have been trying to enjoy our summer as much as we can. When the weather is nice, we are out all the time. The kids are both getting tanned! We made it to the pool this past weekend and it was packed with kids. I guess I knew our neighbourhood was young, but I never realized how young! There are so many parents with young kids! It is great going to the pool here. The kids always have someone to play with.. and its nice for Jim and I because we get to meet some new people.

Last night was pretty hectic. Jim took the kids to the gym and I went to go get my nails done. It was raining so hard that I didn't make it home till almost 8:30pm. Good thing Jim had gotten home around 8 and had started on dinner.. a nice combo of deep fried chicken nuggets and french fries on his little fry daddy. I told him while he was at it that he should just fry up some chimichangas. My house smelled like a Mexican restaurant!!

Since it was such a busy night last night, and Shane didn't really get to spend as much time with Jim, he told Shane that he would let him help him shave his hair. Lets just say that it was pretty interesting. Here are some pictures!!

2008-05-31T18:09:00.009-05:00

We finished planting our flowers!! Every year, Jim and I plant annuals in the front of our house. We love the way they bloom and they make the house look bright and welcoming. Jim came home last night with this crazy idea of going to the car races at the Grain Valley dirt track. I just wasn't in the mood. Mostly because Kayla has had very busy days lately and not napping for very long, so I knew that it would have been a tougher evening on me and her with all the noise and the dirt. We decided to go eat at Culver's instead and then run to Home Depot to buy some more flowers so we could finish the other side of the front of our house. I will have to add more pictures of them a few months from now so you can see how huge and beautiful they get. I have been blessed to be married to a man with a HUGE green thumb! It is very rewarding!!

Also, since we were in Florida on Mother's Day, I got to get my gift today as well. Jim hung these beautiful flowers baskets on the outside of my kitchen window. He did a little improvising, and attached little humingbird feeders underneath the baskets. He is so clever!!

The boys got to go the races tonight instead. The race got rained out in Grain Valley, so they got to go to Warrensburg. Kayla and I get to spend some girl time together.. although, she is pretty tired, so she might end up going to bed pretty early. That means I get a few quiet hours ALL TO MYSELF!! I can hear the tub calling my name!!

Here are some pictures of our flowers.

2008-05-29T18:31:00.005-05:00

My neighbour Heather called me this afternoon to see if my kids wanted to go to the pool. During the summer my kids and hers spend everyday over there. They opened the pool last weekend (Memorial Day Weekend) and after thinking about for a minute I decided we should go, knowing that it would be pretty cold. I called over to Jamie's since Shane was playing over there (of course!) and to invite Ryan to come along with us. The kids were fired up and ready to go! They all had a great time despite the fact that the water was absolutly FREEZING!! They had a hose adding more water to the pool and that water was SO cold! But, I guess at their age, kids will do just about anything in the name of fun!!

Here are some pics of the kids. Shane, Ryan and Kayla at the outside of the pool and inside Daniel and Alison.

My daughter was so cold. She wanted so bad to go in the water, but everytime I would touch her feet to the water, she would get mad.. then she would get mad and point at the water! Here she is on the step.. at least she got a little wet!

2008-05-28T09:33:00.003-05:00

My kids can make me laugh so hard sometimes!! My daughter has started acting really silly lately! I think she enjoys being a little clown sometimes! Here she is wearing pull up on her head and my tennis shoes!!

My son has this fascination with his stuffed animals. They are very close to him and with him all the time. If he could take them to school, he probably would! He treats them like living creatures!! As you can see, they are all watching TV with him! From left to right: Turtie, Beary, Pluto and Cow Cow!!

2008-05-27T08:43:00.009-05:00

We had a pretty busy Memorial Day weekend. It was nice to have Monday at home a little more relaxed. We grilled some blue burgers and Mark brought over some hot dogs. We ended up taking them to Jamie's and eating dinner there since Mark is allergic to our dogs.. he is pretty good about it, but we felt that we would be able to spend more time with them over there. It was a fun time!

Shane is officially off of school, so he has a LOT of time in his hands! Good thing the swingset got put together!! Here are some official finished pictures!!

Here is Shane swinging away!!

And here is Miss Kayla playing in the sandbox under the tower!

If he could, Shane would spend every minute playing with his friends. He spent the morning at Ryan's house while Jamie and I went to the gym, and then Ryan came over to play in the afternoon. Little Kayla went with us to the gym. She does so well over there and already recognizes the girls that work there making it much easier to leave her for my workout.

Here are the boys being goofy. They love swinging as high as they can!

They also wanted to play in the sprinkler. Let me just say that the weather was nice, but the water was not that warm! I can not believe they wanted to get wet. But they did, and they had a blast!!

2008-05-24T10:19:00.009-05:00

Its Memorial Day weekend, can you guys believe it? Almost the end of May! The weather is FINALLY getting nicer! One of the things that I have been wanting to get for the kids since we moved here in Dec 05, is a swingset! Our next door neighbours were kind enough to give us their old beat up, metal swingset, but it is time for a new one. It is a "birthday" present for Shane, or at least that is how we justify buying it!! His birthday is not till June 23rd, but we have had so many nice days that a swingset would be wonderful to have for the kids. Brian came over last night to help Jim start on it and is back again here this morning. Mark called this morning asking how come Jim hadn't called him yet? I guess he was also ready to get to work! Thank goodness for friends!! How else would anyone get anything done?!?

Shane is finally playing with Ryan after a few days of Ryan being secluded from the world with Strep! Poor little guy. Lets just say that the reunion couldn't have come soon enough. Shane was going through Ryan withdrawl! It rained so much last night the ground is absolutly soaked this morning, so the boys played the Ben 10 videogame and hot wheels. Kayla kept bugging them!! Luckly, the weather changed and the kids got to try out the swingset! It figures that my camera died after they were finished! Oh well, the grand finale picture to come tomorrow!!

Bye Bye pityful swingset!

So much work...

Making progress before breaking for lunch!

Kayla loves going down the slide!

The boys put it to the test!

Here are the boys playing with the Hot Wheels and defeating the dragon!!

2008-05-21T10:33:00.002-05:00

Grandma left today. It is so hard to say goodbye. It is so sad to see my son say goodbye to her. They are so close. These are the times that make us question where we should be... Here are a couple of pics of the kids with grandma.

Kayla helping grandma plant some flowers in the front of out house!

Here is Shane with his bestest bud, grandma!

2008-05-20T07:52:00.007-05:00

My son graduated from preschool today. Made me a little sad. It didn't really hit me till the evening when I got really teary eyed thinking about it. He is such a great kid right now.. I wish I could just slow time down and enjoy this time even more. I don't want to think of him as a teenager or an adult and everything that may come with that. I just want him to be my little BOY!! Anyways, here is a picture of Shane at his little graduation. I had to take it with my phone since I forgot my camera at home and had a hectic morning and couldn't make it back home to get it.. :( At least my phone takes decent pictures!

Shane also had his soccer awards ceremony tonight. It was a fun time. Shane feels really proud when someone tells him he is doing a great job, and that is just what his coach did. Well, it was more along the lines of "This player scored lots of goals and ran some players over, which is alright to do in soccer!". Shane had a big smile of his face because I am sure all he heard was "lots of goals"!

Here he is with his trophey!

2008-05-19T20:49:00.006-05:00

Summer is coming!! I love this time of year. Its not too hot yet that its unbearable, and its no longer so cold that we have to spend all of our time inside. The kids got to play outside today. Shane played at Ryan's in the morning till noon, and Kayla got to play outside in the swing with grandma. After she napped, we went back outside to enjoy the afternoon sun. I turned the sprinkler on for Shane, since Kayla is still not too sure about it, and off he went! He loves the water.

He found his water gun and we filled it up for him, and he went after grandma!! She was soaked!

So I ran back in the house and grabbed grandma a water gun so she could defend herself. They had a ball playing in the sprinkler and with the water guns.. thank God for grandmas!! I ran over to my neighbour and filled 3 pails full of sand to put into our empty sandbox so Kayla could play in it! Thanks Tiff!!

Jamie came over to visit a little bit later and David, Ryan and Shane got absolutly soaked playing with the water guns. It is so much fun watching them have so much fun! Next thing we knew, we had Kelli, Kayla, Miranda and Bailey over as well and the boys were trying to get them wet as well!

2008-05-18T09:06:00.007-05:00

We are back from our trip! We had such a wonderful time! Time went by so fast its hard to believe that we were gone for a whole week! It was a great time of year to go, the lines were short and then weather was beautiful in the mid 80s and low humidity the whole week. On the first day we were there, we went to the Magic Kingdom. That is by far the kids favorite park. Shane got to ride Space Mountain, Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain, which are the biggest rides at the park and he absolutly loved them. He was so excited to ride a roller coaster! While Jim took Shane to the bigger rides, Debbie and I took Kayla to the smaller kiddie rides like Winnie the Pooh and Snow White. That evening we went back to the hotel and swam for a little bit. Felt wonderful to be able to get into a pool again!!

Here is Jim with Kayla in front of the castle. It was perfect timing, since the fireworks had just gone off!
Here is Shane with his favorite character Pluto

The following day we spend at Typhoon Lagoon, which is a Disney Water Park. That was SO much fun! We had never been to one of their water parks before. It was a great time.
Here are Shane and grandma playing at the water park!

Here is Kayla playing at the beach area of the water park.

The next 3 days we spent each day at the other 3 Disney Parks. We had a great time at them as well, although they didn't have as many rides for the kids. The day before we left, we went back to the Magic Kindgom so the kids could ride some more of the rides again and then we went to a "Pirate Dinner Show" in the evening. What fun that was. Shane got to participate on the show and he had an absolute blast. It was wonderful to see him so happy!!

Here is Shane with Chef Mickey the night we ate at Chef Mickeys!

This picture was taken at the Animal Kingdom.

This is a picture taken at Hollywood Studios. We all had our faces painted. Kayla had her hand painted.

Here we are the the Luau at the Polynisian Resort. It was a great dinner show!!

2008-05-10T10:14:00.002-05:00

We are on our way!! Sitting here at the airport waiting for our plane. The kids are very excited. I think even Kayla knows something is going on and she is having a great time pointing at all the planes landing and taking off. Shane has already made a friend and they are sharing his VSmile games.
I can't believe how cold it is today.. makes us really happy to think that in a few hours we will be in 95 degree weather!!

More updates soon!!

2008-05-08T13:00:00.006-05:00

GRANDMA IS IN TOWN!! Party time for the kids, especially Shane! We picked Debbie up from the airport yesterday and he just had to sleep with her on the spare bed. He needed her as close as he could get her!! He LOVES having her around, its wonderful to see the bond they have with each other. I am sure that the fact that she goes along with ANYTHING and EVERYTHING he wants to do, helps!! Here she is even playing "bideo games" with him!!

Shane wanted to stay home from school today, but we sent him because grandma and I wanted to go shopping before our trip, and it is easier to have one less kid to keep under control! Kayla did wonderfuly!! She was such an angel and everything "Nina" (grandma) tried on, she loved and said looked "pre pre" - which is her way of saying pretty. Tonight, Debbie and I are going to get pedicures before we leave to Florida on Saturday. I thought it would be a wonderful treat before we have to officially wear flip flops!!

Here are some pictures of the kids with Grandma!

2008-05-06T14:46:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was another beautiful day. I met Jim for lunch and when we got home, Shane went over to Ryan's to play. I brought Kayla home for a nap, and she slept for 2 1/2 hours! When she woke up, we too went over to Jamie's. The kids all played kickball on the street. What a great neighbourhood we live in!
Yesterday was also 5 de Mayo.. Jamie, my friend Katie (who works at Jim's co. and is in from Omaha to help him with the storm claims) and I, went to El Maguey, because we felt it was necessary for us too to celebrate. Celebrate what, I am not sure, but we each had a yummy Margarita and a lots of laughs. So maybe we just needed to celebrate happy times! :)

2008-05-04T07:30:00.001-05:00

We had a great weekend. The weather was beautiful!! On Saturday morning Jim got up and ran a 5k! I am so proud of him!! He has been preparing and training at the gym for about a month now. He was a little sore later in the evening, but I think that also had to do with the fact that we did a lot of running around soon after he got home. We also had our long awaited call from Mickey Mouse! It was really cute. My kids wouldn't sit still long enough to listen to it though it seemed! Here they are Saturday morning just chillin on the on the couch.. the look like such angels, but they really kept on pulling the blanket off each other!!

On Sunday we went to church and after church Shane had a birthday party to go to. He had a great time. Jim did some yard work until I left with Jamie for Jodi's birthday at Dave and Buster's. We had a really fun time. After Jim picked Shane up from his party, he took the kids to the park and then to Culver's for some time with daddy time. :)

2008-05-02T08:29:00.007-05:00

Well, we are all sick! We all got some sort of bug and good thing we caught it now and not a week from now or we would all be sick during our trip. Kayla caught it first and had it the worst.. she was miserable for the first few days.. which in turn meant that I barely slept! Last night was the first night in 4 nights that she slept all night.. well, that was after we had to wake her up to run down to the basement after the sirens went off!! Shane and I are both feeling better after just a few days of this bug... but now Jim has it.. and when Jim is sick, I have 3 kids! He was so tired and upset this morning though that I actually felt really bad for him.. he has so much work when the storms hit.. this vacation will definetly come at a good time. :)

I took this picture last night when we got home from the Chiropractor.. it was around 8tish.. isn't it just beautiful? Hard to believe that after something so pretty came something so harsh and destructive. Amazing how things can change so fast.