Skyler's 1st grade program

Skyler did such a good job at her 1st grade program. Those kiddos were so darn cute!
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Skyler wanted her hair curly so we curled it a bit before the program....her she is showing off her hair.

Do you see Skyler? She is the one who stepped up to the microphone and was singing RIGHT into it like she was the star of the show.

Just a cute one of daddy and Madison on the computer.

Through Skyler's Eyes

Skyler has always wanted to be able to "type stuff" on my website so I decided that she can have a blog/journal of her own. I will of course monitor and approve all messages that she posts on there and help with spelling but for the most part it will be all her's.
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I had a journal as a kids and my mom still has it. Skyler loves reading it and laughing at me....I was a little older than her and had a huge crush on a boy who some of you may still know...Nick Bialas. :o) HAHA...times have sure changed.
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Anywho...here is her blog. http://www.skylerseyes.blogspot.com/

The Happy Days

This past week and weekend was so nice! We were able to relax quite a bit and spend a lot of family time together. We enjoy softball but we're glad it's over for a while since we felt so rushed during weeks.

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With Turkey Day coming soon, planning our trip to Mississippi, the girls working on their Christmas Wish Lists, it getting colder outside, decorating the house and Skyler's 1st grade musical this week, we are all starting to get excited about the holidays! Therefor, I have dubbed this time (between Halloween and Thanksgiving) as Happy Days since it is not yet officially "the holidays" but still needs a title...so feel free to use it! Here are a few pictures from our Happy Days.

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We took Casey (the new dog) a dog park and she LOVED IT! She played so good with all of the other dogs. It was funny to watch them all play like big kids. :o) We have been blessed with Casey, she has been a great fit for our family and a wonderful addition. When adopting a dog from the animal shelter you never know what you gonna get but she has been really good. Not one single accident in the house which is awesome, she doesn't run off when she gets out the door of the house, she just stays in the front yard or follows you around, she is so easy with the girls...we have caught Madison pulling up her lips and looking at her teeth and Casey just sitting there happy to have the attention, also Madison will sit and lay on her like she is a pillow or a horse and Casey actually looks like she enjoys it. Casey even follows the girls around and wants to sleep in the same bed with Madison soooo bad. We have force her out of Madison's bed all while Madison is begging me to let her stay. :o) So sweet.

Madison enjoying her Skeleton sucker.

Madison in the tub making her "famous" silly face! This picture reminds me of when I was younger..."Your face is gonna get stuck like that" Ok...I admit...maybe it was just yesterday when my mom last told me that, but who keeps track of time? :o)

Madison, Skyler and friend Savanna in the tub. I am not sure why water is poring out of Skyler's mouth but I am sure she was having fun.

This week we also enjoyed the company of Schuyler's grandparents. They were able to stay the night and their great-grandma Maida entertained the girls with their favorite past time...reading books....(over and over and over) :o)

This is just an example of what Skyler's home work and her writing looks like. She is learning so much in 1st grade and doing so well. She is reading at a level 14 and she is expected to be at a 6 at this point and her teacher said her handwriting is the best in the class..I just love talking about it because I am soooo darn proud of her! Now...if we can only get her to stop being so sensitive & overly softhearted.

I hope everyone had a good week and weekend. Or shall I say...I hope you are having wonderful Happy Days!!!

Enjoying it while it lasts...

I am remembering just a few months ago when gas prices looked like this! At $4/gallon gas was getting pretty darn expensive.
But NOW...

We are enjoying the lower gas prices while they last. I got gas for $1.84 and I am so excited!!! I know it won't last but for now...I am "on the road again"!!! :o)

New President Elect

So... we will soon have a new president. Everyone has different emotions and thoughts on this subject and I do not plan on sharing mine. Today at work and on the radio there were so many people talking about it. This was a very touchy election and you can tell that so many people feel very sensitive about it one way or another. The fact of the matter is that Barack Obama will be our president.

I just wanted to admit that I was one of those up until after midnight watching as everything unfolded and that I am exhausted today! :o)

Vote!

I am so glad that I voted early. Have you voted yet? There is still time!

A Boo'rrific Weekend!!!

Last week was red ribbon week at school and Skyler was supposed to wear red and sunglasses to school Friday. Here is a pic of them both Friday morning.

Part of our annual tradition at work all of the girls in the office dressed up at work and here are some pics. I not wanting to spend any money used Schuyler Pimp costume from a few years back. It was way to big but I got some votes on best costumes!!! :o)

Halloween went Great! The girls looked to cute for words in their costumes that Lynn made for them. Thanks a million Lynn! A co-worker of mine came with her 3 kids and the Skyler's friend Allyson from next door came with us as well. It was a nice night. The girls were not into posing for pictures as you can tell from the pics below.... I think the last one summed up the night...Skyler looking at her friends trick-or-treating and attempting to smile to make me happy and Madison not caring about making me happy and totally focused on the scary stuff and CANDY!!! The had a blast and that is all that matters. :o)
Then to sum up the weekend we got a dog! We are so very pleased with her. We got her from the Animal shelter and she is a mix of a Beagel & Bulldog, about a year old and very well behaved, calm, house trained but a little shy right now. We are so happy to have found her and rescued her from what we call Doggy Prison. She is perfect and so sweet and gentle with the girls...which I might add LOVE her and can't get enough of her.

Such a sad face..."It's ok Casey you are with a nice family who will love you"

Heavy Heart

Yesterday I went for jury duty and was a little excited to go. I have never been part of jury duty selections or served as a juror but I was open to the idea and wanted to experience it. Well, not so lucky me... we were told by the lawyers that we were there for one of the hardest kind of cases. Aggravated Sexual Assault on a 6 yr old girl. (the same age as Skyler)

I was quickly not so happy to be there....There were 72 of us in the room for questioning during the jury selection process and they were asking TOUGH questions that were making a lot of people cry and even stand up and say that they had heard enough and needed to be excused. The attorneys said that the little girl will take the stand and talk about these grown up issues during the trial. I was so glad that I was not picked as I wasn't sure how I would deal with that... Then I thought to myself that I was being selfish because this little girl was forced into this with no choice and she now needs people like jurors to stand up for her and I am sitting her thinking "I can't handle hearing this"??? I am not a very outspoken person when I am in a large crowd but when they were talking about the sentencing if he were found guilty and that we would have to decide that as well. We were told that it is a wide range and that he could get anywhere from probation to 99 years They asked us if we can decided with these ranges....I raised my hand and said... "If he were found guilty there is no way that I could give him probation....no way at all" I wanted to say a lot more but at least I said that.... It is a hard and very sad case!!!

I always hear these stories on the news from time to time but something about being in that room talking to the attorneys with the accused man in the room made it all so very real and in your face. The man looked about mid to late 30's, clean cut and I would even say nice looking had I met him on the street. Not someone that would give you the creeps. He was facing us but never really looked at any of us. Really makes you think. I have talked to Skyler in the past and I plan on it again in the next few days. Its hard because I don't want to scare her but I want her to be aware of the issue.

As I sit here with a heavy heart, all that I can say is....Please pray for this little girl and all of the others who have faced this issue.

This and That!!!

Skyler got wonderful grades, perfect attendance and great conduct this last 9 weeks so we rewarded her with a trip to the skating rink with her friend Allyson. At my parent teacher conference the teacher said she is actually doing so well that she is reading and doing math at a second grade level. She even knows more words "by sight" than they have covered in class. The teacher said Skyler amazes her with her memorization...she said thinks she has a photographic memory. Pretty soon she is going to be smarter than me. :o)

I skated for almost 5 hours and my legs hurt SOOOO bad that night! But all that mattered was that Skyler had a good time...it was well deserved. We love you Skyler and are so proud of you. Keep it up babe.

Doing the limbo

Y..M..C..A
My mother-n-law is making the girls costumes again this year. They are going to be a ladybug and bumble bee. The costumes are looking great...thanks Lynn for all of your help. You are "The Best costume maker" I know. :o)

Me, Daddy and Madison made a trip to the Renaissance Festival and had a good time. I have been many times in my life but it never seems to get old....some of the people get more creepy but its still fun none the less.
Madison and I rode the elephant...I was scared and it stunk but Madison LOVED IT....she talked about it for days after that.

Daddy and Madison next to "a scary man" and Madison was clawing her way off daddy's shoulders wanting to get far far away! So funny.

Fall-Ball 2008

Its that time again...softball season!!! :o)

We signed Skyler up for T-ball again this season because we didn't feel that she was ready to move to 8 and under. But we got a call from the league saying that they didn't have enough kids sign up for t-ball and they feel she will be fine and want to move her up to 8U. So here we are playing with the big girls. She has had a few games and is doing much better than I expected. Man I miss this game....but I am on the field as much as possible. I help the coach every game and practice that I can...I guess you can say that I am the assistant coach. I coach one of the bases when we bat and stand on the field during the game helping and teaching the girls on what they need to do next play. (you can do that at this age) The coach told Schuyler that I should have been a coach but that is a huge commitment and I can't with Madison being so young. So for now I am enjoying the game through Skyler and helping and teaching when I can.
There are a lot of differences with 8U vs. t-ball.

1. A much larger field.
2. Only coach picth, in T-ball they got the T after 3 strikes....now it's 3 strikes and you are out.
3. Real positions to learn including catcher with the gear and all. Skyler was catcher her second game and did pretty well, although I don't want her doing it again for a while.... way to close to the bat....my camera was not available for pictures. :o(
4. They can lead off of the bases now when running bases.
5. Actually throwing the ball to the team mate at each base instead of trying to field the ball and outrun the runner and beat them to the base.
6. Throwing the ball leads to wild throws and learning to back up eachother. :o)
6. Cheers...the girls know all of the cheers. :o)
This season is less formal...hence the uniforms.

2nd annual trip on the Polar Express!!!

We have booked our Polar Express train ride for this year and are going in December. Both girls get to bring a friend this year and they are sooooo very excited! Skyler even squealed when I said her friend Allyson is going. Taking 4 kids on a trip like this will probably help make our decision on having another child or not. :o) It was so neat last year and I think we are going to make it an annual trip until the girls outgrow it. If you are interested in looking up for info. here is the link. http://www.texasstaterr.com/polarexpress.php

Here are our pictures from last year. http://kutinafamily.blogspot.com/search?q=polar+express

Random pictures and updates

Do you see the curls on this little girl? I have been trying so hard to make them go away and they just won't! I slick down her hair with water and when I turn around and it is dry this is what it looks like. Poor thing she has my curly hair...Sorry daddy.

Skyler not wanting to smile but doing it to amuse me. :o)


Madison...I wonder what she was thinking???

Striking a pose!!!

Madison and her new friend Savanna that she calls her "Vanna"...they are the same age but Madison is a bit tall for her age.

The girls playing in the back yard with some friends.

A trip to the park.

Skyler had just played in the sprinkler and she was getting warm in the sun.

My mom feeding her grandchildren...Brandon and Brianna.

Madison making her "monkey face" :o)