Graduation

CONGRATS TO MAYA!




Maya graduated from preschool. She has had a wonderful year. She has really learned a lot. We are very proud of her and look forward to all she will do when she starts kindergarten.
Her program consisted of several songs and a presentation of diplomas.
Proof that I need a new camera. This is the only picture that turned out from her program.


The family pose.






Isaiah's favorite part of the night. Splashing in the puddles.

Christmas Tree Hunting

Christmas Tree Hunting

And it was truly a hunt.

We have started this little tradition after Thanksgiving at my mom's house. They live near a tree farm that is no longer in business. The owner said we could come and get a tree whenever we wanted free of charge. However, I am sad to say that this will probably be the last year. As you can see in the background the trees have some kind of disease. We truly had to hunt to find our tree this year. We also got into some major beggar's lice (it's a plant that produces a very sticky seed, not a bug:) . I am still finding it in our laundry randomly. The kids are totally picking it off in the picture. Ohhhh what memories!

Jayson told the kids to be on the lookout for deer tracks. Maya was the first to spot the tracks. She was so excited. She talked about it for days. Too cute!

Priceless

Two numbers:

$40.00

Two pairs of running shoes:

$120.00

Minutes of training:

840+

Completing a goal with a best friend:

PRICELESS!!!!!!

Jayson's Official

On May 1, 2009 Jayson was sworn in. We traveled to Jefferson City, Missouri to attend the ceremonies. Jayson gets checked in.

Then it's on to the Missouri Supreme Court building.

Jayson was sworn if for the Missouri Court System.

Jayson was in the third session to be sworn in.

Here are some pictures from that ceremony.

After the ceremony Jayson had to sign the registry of Attorneys for the State of Missouri.

From there we traveled back to the Capital Building. Jayson had to be sworn for the Federal District Court System. He and Karl Wegner enjoyed looking through the paperwork that was on the desks. Ha!

We are so incredibly proud of Jayson. We look forward to all that he will accomplish with his law career. Congrats Jayson! We love you so much!

Twinkies

Isaiah will not be happy about this picture someday but it was too cute not to capture. For some reason Isaiah and Maya were playing soooooo well together yesterday. It was awesome. They were in the zone for getting along. Something I wish I could bottle up and pull out for one of "those" days. I love it while it lasts.

Anyway, Maya was helping him get jammies for the night and when he came out this is what he had on. Same shirt as Maya, her purple jammie pants with sheer trim, and pink socks. I loved it. Jayson hated it. LOL. They even tried to sleep in the same bed that night. Like I said I knew it wouldn't last. Needless to say they both went to their own beds that night but, I got a great picture for future needs and it was great to see them acting so loving to eachother.

Layla's new Game

Layla is growing so fast. She will be 11 months on the 13th of April. Her new thing is to play...Where's Layla? She puts her head down on top of her hands and hides her face then sits up tall and smiles when we say there she is. I love it. She will do this quite a few times before she is done with the game.

I love to see her personality changing and watch her. I was watching some video from this time last year with Zayah today and she wasn't in our little film and I missed her. She definitley belongs in this family. Love her so much!

Soccer Seriously...

I mean serious soccer. I had no idea when signing up for Sunflower Soccer what we were in for. Seriously... these people mean business. I should have known after our first game against the "SHARKS" that our little team was in trouble. I thought this would be a great way to get Maya some exercise, introduce her to soccer, and have some fun. Well we have done those things and also found out how competitive she is and how crazy about sports her parents still are. We are over half way though with the season. Maya is loving it. She is doing well and is SERIOUS on the field. She is aggressive and means business when she plays. She cheers (yells) from the sidelines for her team and gets fired up when the other team scores a goal. I love it! Jayson and I are both enjoying seeing this part of her. We hope it continues and that she enjoys playing sports because we sure do LOVE watching her!

MAYA'S PERSONAL SeRiOuS CHEER SECTION (ha)

Time is a tickin'

TIME IS A TICKIN'

Well, haven't posted in a lonnnnggg time but, wanted to let you all know we are on a major countdown until Jayson takes the Missouri Bar. He will be leaving on Monday 23rd. He will be traveling to Jefferson City MO with a law school friend. Then he will be taking the BAR on the 24th and 25th.

He has been studying like crazy and he is ready to get it done. He will be upset with this picture but, I have to send it. He has been staying over at the school and then coming home to study as well. The other night this is how I found him.

Can't wait for this part of our law school experience to be over.

Graduation

Jayson Graduates!!!

YeAh JaY!

We are so proud of Jayson. Proud isn't the correct word. I'm not sure there is a word to describe how we feel about his accomplishment. He graduated last Friday. The kids and I attended the ceremony along with Jayson's parents.

I love the way Maya is looking at him in this picture!!!

We were so happy and excited. It is so hard to believe that he is finished with school. Well, actually has a final tomorrow but, then he is done. Then as Jayson puts it the biggest test of his life. THE BAR. He is taking it in Missouri. He will begin studying in January and will take the Bar in Jefferson City on February 26 and 27.

YEAH JAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Run Forrest Run!!!

A funny... Some day I am going to get a picture of this to post. I PROMISE! There is a guy (I'm guessing he is a law student) who is late to his classes daily. I usually see him at a full blown sprint toting his bag on wheels behind him. He is running towards the law school and is looking at his watch. Maybe its mean but I laugh every time I see him. I can't help it. It takes all the self control I have not to yell out the front door, "Run Forrest Run!!!!" I really will try and keep a camera a little closer. Maybe it will make you smile as well. The part I am intrigued by is that it happens so often so I'm wondering, does he oversleep, can't find a parking place, likes to watch the Today show, doesn't have a working alarm clock, the possibilities are endless? Maybe I will never know but, I do enjoy the comedy of it while sipping my morning coffee. Is that bad? Maya says today..."Mommy why is that guy running with his suitcase?"
Stay tuned for a photo of the running law student...

BUSY WEEKEND (October 10-12)

We had a busy weekend. I just got my camera in the mail (thanks mom). We had several exciting events. I took a lot of pictures. I will try and narrow them down to my favorites. We drove to STL on Thursday so we could spend Friday with my family. So, on Friday afternoon we went to the pumpkin patch, Pumpkins Galore in Wright City Missouri. My mom went to school with some of owners of the patch. They had so many cool things for the kids to see and do. We saw all possible farm animals (pigs, cows, horses, chickens, turkeys, dogs, cats, goats). The kids loved playing in the corn, wheat, and soy beans. They played on the playground while Grandma and I went to the barn to look at their crafts. I even saw my Kindergarten teacher there. Too cool. We had a great time with Grandma Wright at the pumpkin patch.

Maya

absolutely loved the "Farm Smell" of the horses.

Forgot about the adventure before the pumpkin patch....... Grandma found an Awesome Thomas the Train set on a garage sale with like a gizillion bridges, tracks ect. I started putting it together Friday morning. Isaiah would not leave until we tried this baby out. Then I got frustrated and Jayson decided to take over. Jayson had enough and Grandpa helped us out. THANK GOD FOR GRANDPA. An hour later Isaiah finally got to play with Thomas. And it was really cool. He LOVED it. It had a helicopter, trains and Bertie the bus that had his own road. It was worth the headache. The kids played with it all weekend. They loved it and had a wonderful time.

Sorry Grandpa I had to put this picture in here. It was too cute!

Yeah ISAIAH finally got to PLAY!

Next was the wedding. Jayson's cousin was married in Clayton Missouri on Saturday. It was an absolutely beautiful day. Really couldn't have been a better day for a wedding. We attended the wedding and when I say attended I mean Jayson and I took turns carrying various kids out to have a talk, go to the bathroom, feed you know the normal parent stuff. I guess it was a beautiful ceremony from the little bit I saw. HA! Anyway here are some pictures from the wedding.

This is why Jayson never gets the camera. He thinks it's soooooo funny to take "THESE" kinds of pictures. Ha ha Jayson!

Party till you drop or your momma makes you stop. This was the scene after five minutes in the car.

Between the wedding and the reception we had a few hours to spare. One of my past students/players from Gower lives in O'Fallon which was about 30 minutes from the reception site. So, we decided to pay a visit to Sarah (Quirk) Peck. She is a Labor and Delivery nurse in STL. So, she had many a phone calls from me with Layla's complications. Thanks Sarah for being such a great friend, listener, and nurse. She is a new momma herself and here we are with our little ones. Sarah's little boy is a few weeks old. His name is Liam. Sarah is a wonderful mom and friend. I am lucky to have met her and hope to keep in touch. It is so crazy to think how we met and became friends. It has been really cool to see her grow and graduate and then get married and start a family. I love ya Sarah!

The very last "event" of our weekend was attending church with my mom and dad. This was not the church that I was raised in. My parents have moved since I have lived in Warrenton. They attend a small country church near their home. Whenever we come down Maya has gotten in the habit of singing a song in church. We usually practice before we come down. This time Maya decided to sing an old hymn, "When we all get to heaven". She practiced with a CD that I have at home and then practiced with Grandma when we got to her home. Then she decided since Grandma had a guitar that she needed to have one too. This really was so incredible to see and hear her sing this song. I wished that I would have video taped this. It was great. She sang loud and she strummed that princess guitar like she knew EXACTLY what she was doing. My mom sang as well and played the mandolin. There weren't very many dry eyes after this song. How wonderful!

Short mommy message to Maya:

I am so proud of you Maya you did a wonderful job! I hope you continue using the gifts God gave you to make others happy. I love you!