Griffyn's school program

Each class sang 2-3 songs each. Griffyn practiced quite a bit at home so that the other kids could even sing along when it was his class' turn. He did very well. I was proud of him.

PJ's pics

Since Phoenix is the only one that does not get school pictures, we decided to get his pics done at Sears. The child suddenly became extremely shy and what should have been an in/out adventure turned into 2.5 hours... We went ahead and got the disk with the copyright release so here are a few shots.

Griffyn's a PURPLE belt!!!

Griffyn accepting his certificate from Master Overbey.

Accepting his new belt.

With his new purple belt and certificate. The stars on his collar are for doing things such as getting good grades, reading so many books, etc. He would have more if he would keep track of his things better.

This is the board he broke with his hands. He was pretty excited about this. Well scared up until he did it and then he was on an adrenaline high! I need to lighten the picture of him actually breaking the board before I post it. T forgot to install Microsoft office on this computer and I can't seem to find the discs to do it myself. I'll get it up next week. I hope...

Okay, so not exactly the breaking of the board, but shows how he did break it.

Halloween

Werewolves and cheerleaders and tinkerbell and a monkey, oh my! PJ wasn't real interested in wearing his costume and going door to door this year. Lily was really excited to get to be tink. Griffyn hated his makeup and fangs, go figure but he wore them for the pictures at least. We spent the evening at Tracy & Heidi's party and the kids really enjoyed themselves. Some of the pictures were taken by the kids. Lily is actually getting decent. Although, I still delete about half of them.

Twins' preschool program

Pumpkin Patch

The kids finally made it to the pumpkin patch... the day I started my new job! It was put off the three days prior to that when I was already off. Go figure!

Grandpa Harry's birthday

Kaitelyn with Barbie, checking out those bunnies while she was here.


Phoenix's favorite position when Grandpa Harry is around.



All the kiddos ready to help Grandpa blow out his candle.

Take it like a...

We are obviously in the stage of learning new phrases and adapting those phrases to meet the needs of the situation! I'm not quite sure the whole conversation leading up to this particular phrase as I was playing ball with Phoenix at the time this happened. I only caught the phrase itself and couldn't stop laughing. Rick and I are still laughing today, it was so funny.

The kids were doing some heavy duty wrestling last night and then Liz and Chad came over to pick up some things. They came in to visit a minute and Lily was crawling up Liz, when I overhear an ouch and then Lily tell Liz to "Take it like a girl". Daddy often tells the kids to "man up" or "take it like a man" when they get hurt so Lily has adapted this to fit herself and other girls as well. Since I don't have the full background this one is not nearly as funny in print as Alex's oh, snap.

Preschool Fall Festival

The twins' preschool holds a fundraiser ever fall and the kids sure enjoyed this year's. Alex & Lily baked cakes for the cake walk. The first thing Alex did was go and win her cake back. They all got tattoos and played all the games, including the moonwalk.

Oh, Snap!

Alex has been working lately to figure out what is appropriate to say in certain situations and what is inappropriate or for that matter a cuss word. This is one I have not heard her ask about and it came out last night with such flawless ease, I was shocked!

We are helping Griffyn with his homework when Alex asks if she has any homework. All of a sudden her expression changes to one of enlightenment and the phrase "oh, snap I forgot my backpack at Grandma's house" just pops out. Rick and I just stop. We stare at each other for a minute and try to comprehend our 4 year old daughter using the phrase "oh, snap". I asked him did she just say "oh, snap"? He confirmed while looking utterly confused. It's like a movie, we both turn to Alex who has this what did I do look on her face. I asked her to repeat what she said and she does this time without the new phrase. So I asked her if she really said "oh, snap" she confirmed she had. Promptly Rick and I bust up laughing. Good God they grow up fast!! It is the new catch phrase in our house. Everything is now "oh, snap".

Hockey

We went to the first home game for the RoadRunners. Phoenix has decided this is just as good as football. It is the first thing he asks about when I pick him up. (H)ockey game? And when I tell him there isn't a game he pouts and tells me no. The first home game was intense. It was a pretty even game the whole way through and in the final minutes of the game we tied back up and the game went into sudden death OT. There were lots of fights on the ice that night as players gave it their all to get the puck. The girls didn't find the game all that fascinating, but they had fun harrassing our friends!

My camera is now in the shop and I haven't actually cleaned off my phone yet so Heidi was taking the pics. So far she has only had time to send me the one with PJ and her. There was another she took where Alex was literally climbing on Chris (poor guy). I'll get them added to the post as she is able to send them to me.

New Job

As most of you already know, I was offered a job last week. I'll be working for NIC or National information consortium in the Kansas office (KIC). The company contracts with states to provide internet portals for things like paying taxes or state licensing. Their biggest portal for Kansas is the http://www.kansas.gov/ website.

I'm pretty excited because the Quality Assurance Analyst position is completely new for the company so I'll be creating the processes as I go. What we implement for the team here in KS will be used for other portal teams in the 29 other states as well. I will still have my flex time and the Topeka office is very small, only 23 employees. The company has a history of promoting primarily from within which I find promising.

I had to go through 3 interviews and the final interview was by the staff only no management was in the room. They are pretty adamant about making sure the work environment does not get hostile and that means the employees have a say in who is hired. One of the meeting rooms was turned into a Wii room, yes Wii. When things get tense, employees are encouraged to go play video games or pick up one of the nerf guns and play.

Sure didn't hurt the salary and benefits package were so much better than the state could or would ever offer! Rick is upset cause he would have probably brought home more than me for once this year, but I doubt it now. Poor guy! I keep telling him I'll make him a stay at home dad yet. I will be starting on 10/16 and my office will be in the Bank of America building downtown on the 12th floor. The parking garage is part of my benefits package.

I can honestly say the change is a little heartwrenching. I love my job where I am at, as frustrating as it is at times, but there is no room for advancement. The state tends to hire from outside and the lazy state employee really does exist. I will definitely miss the team I work with and it sucks leaving now when we are so shorthanded. There are only the two of us that are experienced so we were managing the brunt of the workload as well as training the new staff. This will unfortunately put them in a bind for the time being, but I can't pass up the opportunity I have been offered either.

Cider Days Pony Rides

The kids begged to ride the ponies at Cider Days this weekend. We got a few pics of them from my phone. I need to get my camera sent in to the manufacturer to get it fixed and then hopefully it will work again!

Rock Chalk Jayhawks!

My camera battery is dying within just a few minutes of me putting a new one in, so it is hard to catch them at this when they aren't aware. Phoenix wouldn't let me get the camera rolling before he started and Alex wanted to wait forever after I did! But you can get a little idea of what they are saying. They went to the game again on Saturday so Rick could take me out for my birthday. We had a blast at Bullfrogs Live comedy club and I got breakfast in bed on Sunday morning even!

I did manage to get a single shot of the kids together in their Jayhawk t-shirts before I took them to Grandma's. We also had to stop at PTs on the way for a cup of "coffee" and a brownie. I'm glad the Asst. Manager is a friend, otherwise I'd be real poor!

The puppy on Lily's lap is Sarah. They are both getting tall. Sarah is the lover and Bear mostly wants the kids to leave him alone. He's kind of a grump with them, but is a sweetheart with adults. Go figure.

Twins' first day of school

Pre-k already. Their last year of half days before they start going to school all day long! Phoenix really wanted to start school with his sisters, but we didn't budget for 3 kids to be in school. He would have been on the young side anyway and his daddy wasn't quite ready to give up his youngest to school just yet! We are working through his tantrums every day as he really wants to join his sisters.

GO KU

The kids and Rick managed to get tickets to the first KU game of the year. I wasn't invited so I had to stay home and clean instead. Rick doesn't do cameras and mine is having some issues anyway. But I did get the one picture from them. I'm afraid this may be the only game they make it to this year, which will just break Phoenix's heart. He is such a football fan. He came home that night and crawled into bed with me, woke me up and whispered Rock Chalk Jayhawk Mommy Love you, night.

Setting things up

In case you haven't figured this out, I am doing some updating to our blog. Bear with me and I will have this thing cleaned up soon.