24 Laps!

Well - Miss Chloe managed to double her goal and run 24 laps during the fun run. She worked hard but had a lot of fun! The school received pledges from all 50 states so the principal dressed up as an astronaut - which the kids really enjoyed. I have to say she is a trooper because she was probably out there all morning and it was warm and HUMID!

The boosterthon people really do a great job. They talked to the kids about leadership, character and staying fit and active which are all really good messages. They play music while the kids are doing their laps and it makes it really fun for the kids and the parents.

It's time to collect pledges and donations so if you made a pledge, please multiply it by 24 and that is the amount of your donation. Please mail your check to us, Chloe has to return her collections by 10/1. If you don't remember what you pledged, let me know as I can look it up!

Thank you again for your generosity. Chloe and her school really appreciate it!!

Here are the kindergartners lining up for the start.

Here she is in action!

WOW!! Thanks for your generosity!

Chloe is thrilled and very thankful for all of the pledges and donations! She is so proud to have brought in sponsorships from four different states!! Her class has been very successful and she has really enjoyed earning her prizes & rewards. Tomorrow afternoon they get to watch a movie and have popcorn. What she most excited about it the popsicle party they get to have next week along with "no shoes day".

Tomorrow is the big day - finally! She is so excited. She says she is going to run 20 laps! She is a wee bit competitive though (like her dad) so I'll bet she does more than that! We'll see!

Thanks again for your generosity!

Snow Boots! Reallly?

The kids had a babysitter last night while Ray and I went out for dinner. They apparently developed some new stunts on the trampoline that they were so excited to show us this morning. Too excited to get dressed. Chloe just wanted shoes fast - so she grabbed these. Cute but it was already 85 degrees.

A New Toy

This lawn tractor belonged to the previous owners of our house. They were obviously very generous people because when they moved, they gave it to another neighbor down the street. Those neighbors came over on Friday and asked us if we would be interested in having it.

Turns out, it doesn't fit through their fence. They also decided to put their house on the market so they needed to make space in their garage and they gave it to us. It needs some work but Ray was able to mow the yard with it today - after Parker came inside of course. Both kids got a spin around the yard and absoultely loved it!

Chloe's Fun Run Fundraiser

The PTA for Chloe's school does one big fundraiser for the year so she will be participating in her first Fun Run on September 24th. She is collecting one-time donations or pledges for each lap that she competes at the event. It must be a small track because the literature says kids generally run 25-35 laps. 35 is the max!

If you'd like to sponsor her or make a donation, visit www.funrun.com and enter Chloe's code: RSJ-EAE. You should see her name come up when you enter that code.

The PTA uses the funds to sponsor events and give gifts to the school like anti-bacterial wipes, safety patrol vests and these cool microphone things that Chloe's teacher wears to help the kids hear.

Something else is missing!

The landscapers were here today and removed a large swath of landscaping from the middle of our back yard. You can see the big dirt patch - that's where our visible yard ended. It's soon to be consumed (somewhat) by the new playset we promised the kids.

We also had a very large and very scraggly cottonwood tree removed from the back corner where you can now see rooftops peeking through. You can also see some rather ugly powerlines in the distance so we might need to address that.

There are two large live oak trees on either side of the dirt patch that will get very big eventually though and that' part of the reason we had the cottonwood removed, so that they had plenty of space for the much nicer trees.

The back of our yard used to feel like a dark cave. There is so much light back there now that I might actually go back and start trying to clean up the landscaping! There is a really cute flagstone patio surrounded by cute little butterfly houses.

Before:

After:

We're hoping to revive some of the dead grass in the back of the yard now that it will get some sun!

The tooth is out!

When I arrived at daycare to pick up Chloe today she was crying. She had apparently been crying for most of the afternoon. She was upset about the prospect of losing her tooth, which by now was pretty wobbly!

She couldn't even eat dinner because she was so upset and couldn't bare the thought of having to chew food, even though it didn't hurt. The tooth just popped out so here she is showing me her new, beautiful smile!

Here she is earlier showing me how much her tooth was moving!

Firs Loose Toof

Chloe came downstairs on Saturday morning reporting that one of her bottom teeth "kinda hurt" and "felt funny". Upon examination, I told her that the had a loose tooth! She thinks it's pretty funny and was thrilled to find out that losing a tooth isn't painful. It just makes you talk funny.

I tried to get her to show it to me today but this is what I got. I think she was busy feeling the loose tooth with her tongue! This weekend she told grandma that she already knows who she's going to marry. She's growing up so fast!

My two princesses

Parker likes to dress up almost as much as Chloe does sometimes. He is even wearing some of her shoes on this occasion!!

Sunday in Cow Town

We ventured into the West on Sunday - went to Fort Worth to watch the longhorn cattle drive in the historic district. The longhorns are massive. So were the Harleys. As you can tell, Chloe's favorite was the frilly pink cowgirl hat she found in a shop!

It was a little hot and very crowded and since it was our first time, we weren't too sure where to eat. We ended up heading back to the burbs to eat at a little pizza place up the street from our house.

Labor Day at JFK Memorial

We ventured downtown today to visit the JFK Memorial. The kids didn't really understand what it was but I know someday they will appreciate it. The memorial itself isn't that impressive but they've done a good job of preserving the entire area. We picked up a brochure and heard some great stories from a street vendor. Grandpa was even looking along the curbs for bullets from rumored "other" shooters. It was quite fascinating. There is a guided tour of the 6th floor museum in the Book Depository that is supposed to be really good but it wasn't open when we were there :(

Here's Parker coming down the steps on the grassy knoll. There was a train running on the tracks behind him that he was so excited about.

Here's grandma, Chloe and Parker standing near the monument marking where JFK was mortally wounded. The X in the street marks the exact spot where the car was.