Grandma & Grandpa Gaines sent Patrick a birthday present today. It had one of those cool cards that sing when you open it. Patrick really loves it...it sings "You've got a friend in me" from Toy Story 2.

He also got a new game, which he can't wait to play...he is already scheming how he is going to beat us all.

But I think he likes his shirt the best. He immediately put it on. I can't believe how big he is.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Gaines

Build-a-bear workshop

Today was a great day...Dad needed some time to get work done and Patrick has been asking me for about 6 months if we can go to Build-A-Bear Workshop. Well since Dad needed to work we decided that today was the day. The kids got up this morning not knowing that we were going, and they practically blew the roof off of the house when they found out. Before we even went they told us what they wanted. Patrick wanted a Puppy and Megan wanted a Bunny.

Here is Megan's Bunny dressed in what Megan calls

"Fluffy's yellow Tinkerbell dress"

complete with wings.

Patrick went for a simple puppy which he named Truffles. He wanted everyone to see a before and after shot of his dog.

Here is Truffles in full costume. Patrick has informed me that his pups full name is Truffles "Spiderman Dog" Gaines.

The kids have played with their new friends all day. You would not believe how often these critters need to be dressed and undressed. It was a wonderful experience, and the children have really benefited from it.

On a different note: It looks like the restaurant is going to be opening on August 16th. Chris is very excited and can't wait to be so close to home. He is going to take some new pictures and I will post them as soon as I get them.

Patrick's 7th Birthday Party

Patrick is turning 7 and we celebrated his birthday today.

He wanted a pirate theme, so I made him a German Chocolate cake in the shape of a treasure chest, with graham cracker sand and ocean cupcakes with gummy fish. I wouldn't have chosen German Chocolate for him, but it is exactly what he wanted so thats what he got.

Uncle John and Aunt Jessica (with William) got him Taters of the Lost Arc. He was so excited about that. He has wanted it since we first saw it at Target. They also bought him his first CD The Jonas Brothers.

A couple of months ago I wrote to Pixar and told them how much the kids love their movies and asked if John Lasseter would send us an autograph. He did with two beautiful pictures of Toy Story 1 and 2. We are so grateful for the autographs...Patrick just knows that someday he will make a movie with Pixar.

We had a wonderful time getting together with the family. It was also a way for us to use our pool. Patrick had a great time. He also got his first CD Player. His Dad set it up in his room and now the music of High School Musical 2 and the Jonas Brothers can be heard from his room. Grandma and Grandpa were nice enough to get him a t-shirt for the new Power Rangers Jungle Fury. He loves it and is already wearing it through the house. They also got him the Jungle Fury figurines as well as Legos. Patrick loves Legos. He loves to build things. All in all it was a great party

Uncle Nate

Uncle Nate came over to day to go swimming. The kids just love Uncle Nate. I feel bad for him because the entire time he is here, the kids are just jumping all over him. I can't tell you how many times I heard..."Uncle Nate throw me...or Uncle Nate can I have a ride" I just wanted to let everyone know what a wonderful Uncle Nathan is. He is so patient and calm, and always loving to the kids.

Having said that, he will probably not visit for awhile since he is going to have to recover from this visit. Ha!!

I would have taken some pictures, but Chris has our camera today he is taking pictures of dinners at the restaurant for training purposes. I am going to put some pictures of the restaurant. It isn't completed yet, but the pictures are neat to look at anyway.

What a difference a day makes!!

School supplies were on sale at Wal-Mart, so I just had to buy some...spiral notebooks, color crayons, rulers, and scissors. I don't know if you noticed, but Megan had very long hair half way down her back. Well, she decided to cut it this morning. I was sweeping the wood floors and found the golden tendrils there. Needless to say we had to cut her hair. Now she has the Dorothy Hamil doo from the 70's. Oh, well...it will grow back.
Patrick's hair wasn't long by any means, but he decided that if she was getting a haircut, then he needed one as well. He calls this his Grandpa cut.

Here they are together after the cuts, and they seem to be very happy about it. I was however a little sad cutting Megan's hair, but told her while I was cutting it, that she was going to be beautiful when I was done. She looked at herself in the mirror and confirmed that she was. Beautiful that is.

Installing our pool

Well, here it is...I didn't get pictures of him bringing the dirt, because well, that would have taken a long time and I didn't have that much memory on my camera...or I just forgot to take the pictures...haha. I'll let you decide.

Okay...here it is. It only took 2 days for installation and 3 days for fill, and filter and ionizer, but now it is ready for my children to swim.

10am Sunday Morning and all they can think about is getting in that pool. Please Mom, can't we go swimming now. Look at that face. They are starting to break me down.

Patrick has jumped in and she is looking at me like..."haha, you said we could jump in."

You would think that they are having a great time, but we filled the pool up with well water, and it is cold. They are freezing, but they don't care, they are just happy to have a pool.

I am going to add some pictures on the installation of our pool...it was very interesting they way they built the earth up. Our ground was 2 feet from being level so a lot of work went into getting it level. I am going to do a seperate post for that.

Everything seems new

First posting on my blog...I will have lots to say and will add more pictures later. John and Jessica had a new baby on Thursday, June 26th. He is a beautiful little boy and we are so blessed to have him as an addition to our family. Patrick and Megan can't stop talking about "their" cousin baby William. It is such a blessing when a new baby is born.

We have a new addition to our family, but it isn't a baby. We decided to invest in a swimming pool, so we now have a 24 Foot round swimming pool in our back yard. It was crazy getting it installed since our ground was not level by 2 feet. We had to have 3 dump truck loads of fill dirt added to get us level. NO JOKE!!! It was crazy. And, to top it off the Dump truck got stuck in my yard with the first load, so instead of the install taking 1 day, it two 2 full days. But, the pool is in and I have a yard to landscape. I have taken some pictures, but they aren't in my computer as of yet so when I get them in I will post pictures of my bundle of joy. haha!!

Patrick and Megan are very anxious to swim in their new pool, but as we speak I am filling it up, than we have to put 80 lbs of salt in it along with 2 gallons of bleach...run the filter for 24 hours, then run the ionizer for 24 hours...then at long last the pool should be ready to swim in. My kids just want to die...thinking it is taking entirely too long. Oh, to be a child again.

We decided to get a pool that has the ionizer on it because Megan and Chris are so allergic to Chlorine. It just makes them sneeze, eyes beat red, and Megan's skin becomes very irritated. Making her a very miserable child. So, now we don't have to buy any chlorine and with running the pump along with the ionizer should keep the pool clean and shiny.

Well, more on that later. Thanks for listening.