Family Matters

Graffiti photos for Jace

Here you go, Jace. These are some of the graffiti photos I took for you while I was in California.

Here is a link to an interesting discussion on whether graffiti is an art or a crime.

Good luck with your paper.

Jace wins his first contest of 2009

Jace competed in his first skateboarding competition of the New Year today. He was in the advanced class and beat one of his primary opponents, a 19-year-old college kid that's on his skateboarding team.

I didn't get to watch it, I had a prior commitment and it was kind of last minute decision to compete. In fact, Jace hasn't even been skating that much in recent weeks because he has soccer practice every night. Once he decided to compete, he did practice 3 times this past week. So the win is even a little more amazing.

He won $100!

Congratulations Jace!

Jace playing soccer

On February 10 we went to Jace's first soccer scrimmage. It was a blow-out (not in our favor), but it was fun to watch him play.

The photos above are of Jace getting a header (left) and right, he is trying to beat the other players to the ball. (If you are wondering about his hair, yes – that is a hair band to keep his hair out of his eyes.)

Okay, Jace is going to kill me for this photo, but I just want to ask, "Dude, are you playing soccer or auditioning for Riverdance?"

Shopping for a new vehicle

I've decided it's time… I just cannot rationalize sinking any more $$ in the truck.

So I've pretty much decided on a cross-over. So I got online and started doing some research on what was out there and enlisted Julie to go test driving with me. (I have about 23 vehicles on my list to test drive and I even took Dad with me 2 days while he was here.)

So far I have driven the following vehicles:

• Ford Edge (on the short list)
• Dodge Journey (not a chance)
• Saturn Vue (nope)
• Saturn Outlook (close, but Traverse replaced it)
• Chevy Equinox (nope)
• Chevy Traverse (on the short list, but not sure I want to spend over $40K for a vehicle)
• Honda Pilot (same as the Traverse)
• Toyota Venza (love, love love it… #1 on the short list)
• Toyota Highlander (okay, but didn't make the short list)
• Nissan Milano (okay, but not a fav)
• Hyundai Santa Fe (okay)
• Hyundai Vercruz (on the short list, the dealership offers a lifetime warranty on the powertrain… that is very tempting, just not sure I can see myself driving a Hyundai)

My two favs so far, the Toyota Venza and Ford Edge.

I still have several cars to drive, a few are listed below:

• Acura RDX
• Buick Enclave
• GMC Acadia
• Lexus RX350
• Lincoln MKX

McKee Updates

I talked with Kaden Thursday morning when as he were driving to KC with his Mom and Grandpa for a visit to the doctors (for Grandpa). Kaden shared a couple of pieces of information from the McKee household that I thought I would pass on.

Kodee has a bulging disk – he is not able to participate in weight lifting with the football program for 4 weeks.

Kolbee has decided to play golf at Coffeyville (KS) Community College next year. What I find cool about that, besides the fact that he is so excited to be going to college, is that he will only be about 30 minutes from Kodee. That is just too cool.

 

Breck Lynne hospitalized overnight, back home now.

Jed and Natalie's youngest daughter, Breck, was hospitalized overnight at Children's Mercy – South.

It turns out that both Brena and Breck have Respiratory Syncytial Virus or RSV (read more about it here). If I understood Julie correctly, she also has bronchiolitis (infection of the lower airway).

Breck was kept overnight and released Thursday afternoon. When Julie talked with Natalie on Thursday it sounded like it could take the girls several weeks to get over this. Natalie was planning to spend the next few weeks at home nursing the girls back to health.

Please keep Breck and Brena in your prayers, as well as Natalie and Jed as they nurse their little beauties back to health.

Here are the most recent photos I have of Breck. They are here 3 month photos and were taken around September 30. I imagine she has changed quite a bit, but this will have to do for now.

Here is a photo Katie sent me via text just a few nights ago. That is Brena (Jed and Natalie's oldest daughter) on the left and Mollie (Bret and Katie's youngest) on the right.

Aren't these just three of the most adorable little girls? I certainly think so.

Check out this “oh so cool” website – ThePioneerWoman.com

I received an email the other day that had a link to one of the coolest websites/blogs I've read. Click here to check it out (thepioneerwoman.com).

This gal was a city chic and married a cowboy. She's written several stories about meeting her Marlboro Man, falling in love with him and their courtship. It really is funny.

And to see country life through her eyes is just pretty cool, too. And she has a very zany writing style that I love. I mean, come on, you've gotta love a woman who writes an entry titled "Working Ranch 101: How to Chop Ice" along with about 17-18 photos of her Marlboro Man, well… chopping ice. And then to see she has received 367 comments on it from her readers. That's just pretty stinkin' awesome in my book.

And as an added bonus, as if great writing wasn't enough, she has some of the most fabulous recipes at her cooking link. And if that weren't enough, I've noticed most of them have links to PDF files that you can save and print – already formatted! Woohoo! (Click here to head on over to her recipe index, more coolness.) And in her photography section she's got some cool tips on using Photoshop…

I'm tellin' ya, this chic rocks! Country life, good cookin', great photos and techie tips as well. Nirvana if you ask me.

Audrey and Aubin – she is homeschooling her four kids (she calls them "ankle biters" and "punks") and has a page of stuff on things they do at home.

And lastly she has cool retro art on her website, like these.

(Alex, you can ignore this last paragraph since it's related to furniture and fabric, well sort of. LOL)

I have to tell you, this art has me totally stoked. I have always wanted to buy a really old bumper style travel trailer for $50 or less out of some old farmers pasture. Gut it and rebuild everything. And I've always wanted to redo the fabrics and upholstery in retro cowgirl prints.

Adeline Birthday Photo Layouts

I traveled with the Cooneys (including Jess and Molli) on Saturday, January 31, to join in on Adeline's first birthday celebration.

It was wild and chaotic - imagine all of the neighborhood kids on their second round of sugar for the day without naps (they had a party for the neighbor boy earlier), and totally fun - I love love love spending time with Audrey and her girls.

I put together this two-page layout of Adeline and her celebration.

 

 

 

I love the monkey theme and had fun trying to find digital elements to go along with it.

(Click the photos to see larger images.)

Blog about Paul Hamilton

Aubin has started a blog to keep everyone updated about her dad, Paul.

Click here to open the blog in another window.

I'm also going to post a link to her new blog in the right hand navigation bar, under Family and Friends... I'll call it "Paul Hamilton Update Blog."

Dad winging his way back to Kansas

I just got back from the airport, dropped Dad off.  (Julie drove over from work and met us there.)

This was one fast visit.  We test drove 7 or 8 vehicles (yes, I'm looking), we hung out at the house and visited and we played with Molli ALOT.

Here are some of my favorite photos of Dad with the kids and Molli.

Nearly every time Dad comes to visit, I take a phot of him with the kids on the back steps.  One of these days I'm going to have to put them together side by side to see how they've all changed over the years.

I love that Molli is now part of the photo.

Here is a photo of Molli sitting on Dad's lap.  We were eating tacos and you could just see she wanted to jump in and have a few, too.  Don't you love that hair?

 

Another photo taken at the same time.

Another photo of Molli's expressive face.

Okay this one (left) totally slays me.  I cracked up so much over this one.  It's like she's saying, "Okay, Aunt Laura, I told you that is ENOUGH picture taking."

Or how about this, "I said back off!"

HEHEHE...

I love you Molli Blou! 

 

Goodbye, Dad!  It was wonderful having you here.