1st day of school--2011

Here are my kiddos in all their first-day-of-school-glory:) LOVE these kids:)

2011-2012: Chandler Traditional Academy--Independence Campus
Carlie: 6th Grade--Mrs. Tibke
Ethan: 4th Grade--Mrs. Hight/Hare
Maxwell: 1st Grade--Mrs. Reyes

Grease--OH YEAH!!!

So kinda funny story--at the FINAL performance of "Annie" I discovered that one of the other orphans--Pepper (Jessica Sindodis) lived almost WALKING distance from my house!!! Would have been GREAT to have known that because the driving to and from Queen Creek was killer there the final few weeks:) Oh well:) Carlie and Jessica were good friends then and are even better friends now.


Jessica's mom called me a few weeks ago wondering if Carlie wanted to do a music theater camp in Phoenix with Jessica. HECK YEAH she did!!! And they just happened to be doing "Grease." One of my ALL TIME favs!!! (YES! I know the story line is HORRIBLE but the music is AMAZING!!!) So we definitely carpooled to this as it was in downtown Phoenix at the Phoenix Children's Theatre.

The kids met Monday-Friday from 9-3:30 and then put together these little show! Carlie got to be a "Greaser" and Jessica was a "Preppy" this time--funny because Jessica was "Pepper" the meanest orphan who Carlie (a nice orphan) had to do a few fight scenes with in Annie:)

I thoroughly enjoyed the performance! Not bad for 5 days of rehearsals. The kids wrote ALL of the lines in the scenes and the scenes were HILARIOUS!!! Carlie LOVED every minute of it (the vocal coach there insisted on Carlie taking her card for future reference:) Now the boys in this group weren't the best of singers but I say "hats off to them for giving it a go:)" GREAT job guys!!!

Look out Carlie:)

I was cleaning up the kitchen when I heard Tatum belting out this song by Life House--"You and Me." It is one of my most favorite songs but I had NO idea that Tatum knew the words!!! So I grabbed my camera and taped her before she even noticed! I was cracking up! (Another thing I find funny is that she likes to listen to iTunes WHILE playing her computer games JUST like her big sis:) Watch out Carlie!!! She's sings just as LOUD as you do! Poor boys really DO live in a musical:)

"Diva Powers"

Max said the funniest thing a few days ago! We were all getting in the car to take Carlie and a friend to their music theater camp. Well, we wanted to have Tatum sit in the very back with Max and Ethan so that Carlie and her friend could sit by each other in the middle row. Ethan and Max were very much against this idea. Chris said, "Come on Ethan, it's not gonna kill you to have your little sister sitting by you." To which Ethan replied, "YES DAD IT IS!!! She is going to DESTROY us with her DIVA POWERS!!!"

DIVA?!?! I don't know what you're talking about Ethan!!!

Lucky #13!

Okay! So I have blogged A TON today! But I didn't want to forget about what today really is: Our Wedding Anniversary!!! Chris and I were married 13 years ago today! Happy Anniversary babe!!! Love you tons and tons!!!

July 10, 1998:


July 2011: We're WAY cuter today!!!

We conquered CAMPING!!!

Okay! As if we haven't been busy enough these past 2 weeks, my hubby was DETERMINED to go camping! Well, we attempted this last year and failed--we froze our butts off and then got rained out:) So I was less than excited to go for it again but I was going to be a good, supportive wife:)

So we came home from NM and slept ONE night in our nice comfy beds and then packed up to Christopher Creek. We hit MAJOR rain in Payson and I was ready to turn around, but we kept going. A lot of the campgrounds are closed right now because of the fires but we found a place and set up camp--and no rain in sight:)

The weather was actually perfect--NO rain the whole 2 1/2 days there and as much as I hate to admit it, I really enjoyed the time away from EVERYTHING!!! No schedules/piano/homework/jobs!!!



We even brought our dogs: (Mimmie & Ringo)



We passed a truck that had our dog's name on it--we thought it was pretty funny:)


My son Ethan turned 9 in February which means he advanced to "Bear" rank in Cub Scouts. We've had his book since then as well and I'm embarrassed to say that we JUST cracked it open for the FIRST time this past weekend:) But we opened it and passed off 16 requirements in those couple days!!! WOO HOO!!! We actually spent a LOT of time teaching our kids all kinds of stuff--knots, outdoor cooking, hiking, photography--things that are soo simple, I just never take the time to do it!

Here are some of my favorite pictures taken by my kids:

Carlie taking a pic of herself with Max and Ringo:


Ethan's handy camera work:


Max's best pic:


And yes...even Tatum took pictures (Max just "happens" to end up in most of the pictures--go figure:)


And once again....DIVA in her stylin' Hello Kitty duds:)


This was probably the boys most favorite activity of camping: CRAWDAD HUNTING!!!



DAD: The Crawdad Hunter!!! The boys were SOO proud of him:)


So like I said, we had a FABULOUS time. Do I consider myself a camper now? Umm....heck no! But I definitely enjoyed the time with my family:)

July 4, 2011!

So here we were once again in Deming for the 4th of July. Chris decided that Ethan was old enough to go shoot off fireworks--well, he didn't light them off but Ethan did get to load them and watch them up close:) I made Chris promise that Ethan would return completely unharmed--not even the hairs on his arms singed:) Well Ethan had a great time and can't wait for next year now. Here's the crew for 2011:


Well, poor Max got stuck with all the girls but we had a great time ourselves!

First we attacked Max with silly string:)


Here's "Diva" again:)


"Diva" and her cousin Sabey:


We made s'mores of course!!!



And the main event:

My niece, Britney, and her ooh soo cute boot!!!


SPARKLERS!!!



The show was fantastic and everyone returned UNHARMED!!! Yahoo for another great 4th of July!!!

Look at all these kids!!!

My parents have 4 children and for now 14 grandkids--I say "for now" because Travis and Steph are not done having kids:) My oh my how we have multiplied! So here are the Knoop/Meeker cousins (no Keelers in this pic--they are a hard family to get in one place at one time:)

The BEST Wedding Reception EVER!

My amazing older sister, Anne, sure knows how to throw a party. The reception for Kursty and Colton was phenomenal! It was held in my sister's yard and was the most fun I've ever had at a wedding reception. The colors were aqua and yellow--all girl cousins in tutus!

My kids:


My Boys:


My Girls:



My boys have recently stopped calling Tatum by her name. They now call her DIVA--I wonder why?


The food was AMAZING:




FABULOUS company:

Carlie & Papa Frank:


Ethan and his best bud (and cousin) Seth:


My 16 year old nephew Catlin:


Lori, my G.G., and my mom:


Tatum and her favorite/not favorite cousin Sabey: (They have a love/hate relationship--3 year old girls are the best right?:)


Tons of fun:
My sister hired a photo booth to come to the reception. They had all kinds of fun hats/glasses/signs to dress up in and then you went inside and had your pictures taken. They printed 2 sets of everything--1 set of pics went to the bride/groom scrapbook and the other set was yours to keep. The kids LOVED LOVED LOVED this! I finally had to forbid Max from going in there--he went in 6 times and would have gone in another 10 times if I had let him:) Here are some of my favs:

Me & Chris:


Carlie & Papa Frank:


Ethan, Max, & Seth:


Just Max:


My dad just cracks me up sometimes:


And lots and lots of DANCING!!!


The weather was beautiful and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. So a big congrats to Kursty and Colton!!! Love you guys and we wish you the best of luck on your new adventure in St. George, Utah!!!