What I forgot to post last time!!

As the kids were helping Mike and his brothers all the kids had to have gloves just like Mike!! It was a little hard finding enough gloves for everyone that wanted to help but THANK GOODNESS I FOUND GLOVES!! Grady and his gloves he really was the best helper... he loved hauling out the wall board and this is why I was glad they had gloves....

I think this is Cordell holding what Mark found between the wall.....5 mouse skulls....yuck! so he showed them to the kids and they were fascinated them...actually the boys found the rest of the skeletons
but I wouldn't let them play with them... the only reason they got to hold the heads were they had to show Grandpa!

We really do clean!!

In my defence I have to say these were really, really, old....way before my time :) Any way we now have a machine that puts out a sound that the mice don't like so they don't come any more.
Thanks Galen!

DEMOLITION day 1

My Mom and Dad built the Kiddie kollege the year Brian was born so if you know how old Brian is you know how old the Kiddie Kollege is... Well they did an amazing job. Dad built things to last and last if one nail was needed then 3 or 4 were even better.
Since Mom died and Liseanne and I have been running the school we have been really crowed in the Yak Yak room, so I decided that it was time to remodel and make more room. The only time we used the office was to hang our coats and do the books. the rest of the time we didn't use it, and were in the yak yak room (our work room)
So here are the pictures of the demolition:



I couldn't believe all the STUFF we have in the yak yak room...I had to cover it so the kids wouldn't want to play with everything.

The first to go was the paneling in the office then the wall between the office and the yak yak room

Mike got more help than he wanted....they each had to have gloves because Mike had gloves

Don't do this at home......

they each had to have a turn with the hammer GREAT FUN!

the hammer was almost bigger then he was.... but he had to have his turn

they were so nice to the kids that wanted to help so they pulled the wall board down in small pieces so the kids could haul it to the dumpster

and even let them knock down a few 2x4s the kids were in seventh heaven

get a harder swing

NO more wall

Ann just vacuumed that floor!!!! Sorry Ann!!!

who would have thought we would have filled the dumpster

can you see the Wall board that's my dad use every bit you have and use it some where ....this was under the paneling in the office.

even the shelves went out and a new wall up.... it will have insulation so maybe it will be warmer in the winter

Mike and his brothers are finished for the day... they left some spider webs so dad got the vacuum and got rid of them.......he is standing in what used to be the office

not much left of the 2 rooms

Did I say how excited I am to get this done!!!!! Thank You Mike, Mark, and Tony.

SUNNY DAY AT KIDDIE KOLLEGE

We do all sorts of things at Kiddie Kollege during the day.. I love it when it's warm out side.

It's Monday and Liseanne is getting ready for FHE she is amazing at what she can get done in one day.

the kids love to play in the sand

While the kids areout side the teachers get things done...busy...busy...busy

this is the kid's favorite swing...things really are OK as he's just playing a game to see who can touch him with their shoes......(I asked)

tricks are always fun

the busiest play toy outside....the kids love this

some just like to sit and enjoy the grass

We found that the kids love to draw with chalk on the black top....and the side of the school.

the door step....can you guess who wrote this...:)

dinosaurs are visiting the play yard

and some kids still like to stay inside and color.

Grandkids can go out the front door when we're out there. He loves the sand.

Helping Grandpa is always a favorite when the big kids get home from school.

this was a fun trip down to the street

the kids love to help their mother.. and then have their picture taken...SMILE!!!!!

take my picture Grandma

this is the way they were watching the TV.......nice.

Well there you have it we do all kinds of thing at K.K. each day... it's always changing and we usually have fun doing it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM

Today is mom's birthday and with it brings so many memories. Some happy, some funny, and some sad.
As I try to write this my eyes are filled with tears because I miss her sooooooooo much, and now it's hard to see the keys on the key board. Here at K.K. we are celebrating her birthday the same way we did when she was here....donut holes for everyone at sing time. We may even sing happy birthday to her. This is one of those days that is happy and sad at the same time. While we were on our mission I would call her every Saturday night to talk to her and remind her to watch her favorite T.V. show. How excited we all were to see each other when we got back, as you can tell from the above picture.
I am truly blessed that she was my mother.

New TOYS and Christmas Eve Breakfast

Dad bought some new toys..... this one was the kids favorite, they played all day with this one.

He also bought these fun blocks.

It was fun to watch them try and out build each other.

And of course they wanted their picture taken with their master piece.

DAD ALSO BOUGHT AN OTHER TOY..... THIS ONE WAS FOR HIM!!!!!

This baby is one mean machine!

He was removing HARD snow that I thought would be there until spring. The day it was delivered he used it for 3 - 4 hours.

Today was our annual Christmas Eve breakfast at Melinda's and Mike's. and what a get together. We had so much fun!

Dad was taking the pictures and the pictures of the kids turned out great. The ones of the adults were all blurry.

we ate.....

and ate.....

and went back for seconds .....

and ate some more....

We also had a lot of fun just being together.

This is my favorite picture.!!!! sorry Cam, you'll hate me some day for this picture but for now it's just too cute. Repair guys have nothing over on you.

When we were all finished the girls sat me down and gave me my Christmas gift. They had Joanna on the video cam so she could watch me open my gift. At first I didn't realize what it was... but when I lifted the "Quilt" I realized how precious this quilt was to me. And all I could do was cry. Galen couldn't figure out why I was crying.

I hope you can all see.... The large squares are made from my mom's shirts that she wore every day......Oh how each block brings back sweet memories. The smaller blocks are material that mom had in her material stash.

This is the back label , (the picture Joanna took the last time G-ma was with us at Christmas time, Liseanne took the picture and put it on material. Melinda put the quilt together Joanna and Liseanne had it quilted.)the frame around G-ma's picture is from one of the dresses she wore to church every Sunday. The material for the back of the quilt is g-ma's sheet from her bed, and has a story all it's own.....

When G-ma died the sheets she had on her bed were in better condition than the ones we had on our bed so we brought them home and put them to good use at our house... fast forward to a week ago. Galen went to change the sheets on our bed and the top sheet was gone, we looked every where 2 or 3 times. How do you lose a top bed sheet??? Just this morning I said to Galen the only thing I can think of is that when it was folded on the table down stars that it fell into the garbage can and we through it out. Well we found the top sheet, it's the back to the quilt the girls made for me.

Thank you Melinda, Joanna, and Liseanne you couldn't have given me a better gift.