After Trying on a Million ... She Found It!

We spent most of the day at the mall yesterday (there was no school), tried on a million dresses (along with all the other teenage girls in Douglas County that are going to homecoming) and we finally found Kelsey's Homecoming dress. It is a really pretty "teal" color that she looks great in and loves! (Had to get a lacy bandeau bra so it wasn't so low and she has a little satin bolero jacket to wear over it.) Very pretty! We'll blog pictures of her in it next weekend.

We're Cashing It In ...

This is the "change" that I find on my dresser and in the bottom of the washer after Kraig returns from a business trip. Doesn't do us much good here in the US but has been fun to collect over the years. The kids have taken it for show-n-tell and to include in reports they have done in school. Kraig got the "jar" out the other day to see if there were any "Pounds" for him to take to London and Jacob decided to divide it all into individual categories, look up the exchange rates for each, and give us a grand total. $193.00! He was so excited --we're going to cash it in and use the money on our vacation in three weeks.

WE'RE RICH!!

These are the countries that the pile represents:

Australia --- Great Brittan ---Hong Kong --- Singapore ---
New Zealand --- Poland ---Mexico --- Canada --- Malta --- Korea --- Israel --- China --- United Arab Emirates --- France --- Euros

(We also found a Glen Ivy Hot Springs locker token, a cruise ship token and a silver foil wrapped chocolate coin!)

Fun Canoeing -- Even If It Was Backwards!

Jessica and Nate flew out to Denver to celebrate Jessica's Birthday and for the Labor Day holiday. We decided to take the scout's canoe up north to a little reservoir near Boulder. As we boarded the canoe, we should have known from the beginning that something wasn't quite right!

Check out Jessica's knees! No wonder all we could do was to go in circles! Jessica and I were having major difficulty trying to "steer". The wind is blowing, Jacob is trying to help us out and little did we know but we had the thing backwards!

We must have looked like idiots going round and round and back an forth with Jacob trying to get us synchronized. At one point Jessica drops her sunglasses over the edge and then with quick reflexes reaches over to grab them in the water -- nearly sinking us and causing a huge wave of water to gush in on Jacob! It was really hysterical!

This picture just cracks me up!!



It was a fun day just relaxing by the lake!

Of course, Nate and Jessica got it right and went
clear around the lake!

It was a fun day!

Jacob Joined the Band -- Surprised Us All!!

Jacob came home from school one day and announced that he was asked to play the xylophone and marimbas in the school marching band. He has been taking a Percussion Tech class that he loves at school and that teacher is also the band teacher. Jacob can read music and loves to drum on anything that is anywhere near him, soooooo ...... we have an official Castle View High School Band member! He played at his first game on Friday night and it was really fun to watch. That kid continually shows us a different side of him! We love the Star Trek-looking uniforms too!

Way to go Jacob!

Here he is playing the xylophone -- couldn't get the whole song or it wouldn't load on the blog! He did really well for his first big performance.

Cute Invitation to the Homecoming Dance

Kelsey's new "friend" Nick, asked her to the Homecoming Dance. He found her car at work and decorated it really cute. He even checked the correct answer for her, tied balloons on the back and was waiting in the back of the truck with a rose in his hand. Kelsey was very excited AND he made big points with Mom! He's a nice kid.