Yesterday was my birthday . . .

which means I need to include a picture of myself on the blog (at Mom Hein's suggestion). So here it is . . .

Row Row Row your Doh (Play-Doh that is) gently down the stream . .

The 3 little ones were having a great time outside playing with Play-Doh this afternoon. That is, until AJ snuck inside the house with a handful of Play-Doh and flushed it down the toilet. After I scolded him and told him we don't flush Play-Doh or toys (he's been trying this too) down the toilet he looked at me and asked, "down the drain?" I told him "No Play-Doh or toys down the drain either". He looked at me again and happily replied, "Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily . . .
I guess stream and drain sound alike to AJ!

"High school is . . . cool!"

That's a direct quote from Grace. (Just in case you were wondering how she's liking school!) Things are going well for her. Grace likes all her teachers. She's not one bit overwhelmed by all the upper class men walking around and the crowded halls so . . .
Next week she will go to Drama Club after school and see if she likes that too!

Garrison came home yesterday telling me that he sung Taking Care of Business in his Cantus (all men's choir) class. I'm excited to see how he does in a regular Art class for the first time ever! He has the same Art teacher as Grace but just at a different time of day. He's thrilled to be back and school and so am I!

Garrison is now an 11th grader!

*Notice the T-shirt! Go Cardinals! :)

Garrison was so excited for school to start that he barely stood still for this picture. The school bus pulled up to our house and he was out of here!

Grace's First Day of High School

Grace is beginning high school today. She will be going to West High School-Home of the Golden Bears! I still remember walking Grace to her preschool classroom at Mount Olive over 10 years ago. She turned to me and said, "Bye Mama" without giving me a second glance. In fact, I barely got a hug out of her. She was so excited to start school. Today she is still excited to begin her freshman year but she is also really nervous. I'm really nervous for her too. I wish I could have held her hand all the way to school today (she had to settle for a ride from Gregg) and calmed all her fears. In time, she'll be fine (and so will I) and hopefully her freshman year will be everything she wants it to be and more.

*Side note: Grace took a picture of her shoes because she really likes them and wanted to remember them forever! :)

Last day of Camp Mimi . . . Let's make ice cream!

Just look at the ice cream but don't touch!


"I can't believe it's the last day of camp!"


AJ's pet rocks

Day 3 of Camp Mimi-AJ the artist . . .

AJ studying all of his different mediums. What will he choose?


Of course, the finger paints!


AJ's first masterpiece . . . notice the bird in the upper right corner with sun on its wings! (Mimi spotted this and told me!)


And yet another masterpiece-AJ is a regular Vincent Hand Gogh (credit again to Mimi!)

Day 2 of Camp Mimi-It's all about the mud!

"I need to go shopping . . ."


"It's fun to make mud pancakes, waffles and cupcakes."


"Time to bake the cupcakes."


"Look at these yummy mud cupcakes-complete with frosting."

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow . . . Again

Camp Mimi: AJ's Mixology

First day of Camp Mimi (someone is just a little excited!)

Taking a break from all the mixing . . .

Check out my dishwasher!

Thank You Mimi!

It's coming-yet another Camp Mimi . . .

but this time it's just for AJ! He can hardly wait for Monday to finally be here. AJ will spend time in the mud and some other very messy mediums! I'm just glad it's taking place in Mom Hein's backyard! :)

OK, here are even MORE pictures from Denver and the wedding (in no particular order) . . .

Dwight taking a swing at the pinata at Adam and Amy's rehearsal dinner.

The beautiful wedding cake that Cindy made.

Mom Hein holding a sleeping Elizabeth (Brad and Chandlebray's youngest).

Looking up at the dome of the state capitol

Grace being . . . Grace :)

Garrison posing for a shot-I thought he was going to get his head stuck but he insisted on having his picture taken that way!

AJ loved this sculpture.

AJ taking a break in the garden.

The Sights of Denver

The view of the Denver skyline from the 4th floor of the Nature and Science Museum.

Dwight and the mummy at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

Digging for dinosaur bones

The Golden Dome capitol of CO.

Hein kids posing for the camera

Come on, we're from MT. I had to this the picture.

At the Denver Zoo

AJ's favorite animal

Amy (Hein) and Adam Castillo

were married in Denver, CO on 8-8-2008. We had a great time at the wedding, visiting with family. Being in Denver gave us the opportunity to do a little sight-seeing on the side. There will more posts to follow . . .

Close Encounters of the "Gracie" Kind

Grace played the role of the space alien mother (I'm not sure how she even moved in her costume-that girl has talent!) coming to Earth to take her beloved space alien babies back with her. Between all the "eek-eeks" (her foreign tongue), I think everyone had a good time. In case you were wondering, the alien babies got to stay on Earth with Dwight and Cosette forever!

Smooth landing . . .

Beware of Asteroids!

We have lift-off!

Astronauts prepare for launch!

"I meant to do that"

Tonight while AJ was playing outside, he fell off his tractor, landed hard on the concrete, then jumped up and said, "I meant to do that!" Gregg and I thought it was funny, so guess what? AJ did it again just in time for the video camera.

Preparing for the Take-Off . . .

"This tastes weird"

I kept hearing Garrison say that over and over as he ate lunch yesterday. He's normally the kid that will scarf down anything without one single complaint, yet that's what I was hearing from upstairs in my bedroom. I went down to investigate. The two usual ham and cheese sandwiches I had made him for lunch were no more. He had finished every last bite. "Did the ham taste funny Garrison?" "No", he answered. "Was the cheese ok?" "Yes",Garrison replied. I was puzzled. "Why did you keep saying the sandwich tasted weird then?" "It had peanut butter on it!" Garrison said. Then it hit me. I had been multi-tasking a bit too much at lunch time. Garrison had just been served a delicious peanut butter, ham and cheese sandwich! No wonder it tasted weird! What made me feel worse though is that he ate it! EEEEWWWW!