Country Fest 2009

Jon & I went to Country Fest in Cadott on Thursday night. Jon gets free VIP tickets from work, so it is the best way to go. Free food (good food), free drinks, real bathrooms, and famous people - sometimes. So the kids spent the night at Grandma's and off we went. We sat in traffic to get there at 3:00pm! It took us 2 hours to go the last 3 miles! There were so many people it was unbelievable. We have gone quite a bit, and never have I seen so many people. We cut out at the start of the last encore - and we still didn't get home to bed until almost 3am! And we both had to work at 8:30am so we are dragging just a little bit. But it was a great time.

Ok - a story. While we were eating a group was literally bumping chairs with us. Jon and I were both thinking, this people just don't fit it. What was with the dresses & Paris Hilton sunglasses? And they sat in the row in front us, down a few people and we didn't think much of it, and neither one of us said anything to each other about what we were both thinking. Then I literally bumped into the girls at the bathroom and the sunglasses were off. And I was like AAAHHH!! They were famous people. Well, famous if you watch any ABC soap operas. Which I sometimes watch All My Children on SoapNet, but I still recognized all of them. I got my pciture taken with "Amanda" from AMC, but I didn't get "Robin" "Elisabeth" & some other guy from General Hospital. They literally were right there all night. But , "Amanda" - the girl above - had a boyfriend with her and it drove me insane all night trying to figure who he was. I knew that I had seen him on TV, but I could not figure what where from. And how to go and ask an obviously famous person "Who are you?" Especially after intially talking to him and her. I couldn't bring myself to go back and ask. It was the first thing I looked up online this morning, And now I am kicking myself for not taking his picture! It was Graham from The Bachelor!!!!! I am so mad at myself for that one! I did take some pictures, but they are not to great to post. Graham was my favorite that season. I have to admit, I was a little star struck last night. Over soap stars????? Yep, I guess so.

Anway, the reason we were there. We saw James Otto, and Rodney Atkins. This is Rodney Atkins. We were in row 5, so the seats were awesome. The view was so much better than my camera gives the perception of. I need a new camera! He was actually probably my favorite act.

The closing act was Taylor Swift! It was pretty good, but much more of a whole production than a great show. But it was still good. There were preteen girls EVERYWHERE! It was kind of cute.

Joni told me to let her know if Taylor really swings her hair a lot. So I thought, I'll keep count. Ok, One, two, three...1,000,005...And then I am amazed that her head is still connected to her body. That girl swings her hair a ridiculus number of times! But it was fun to have a night with Jon and see some great shows.

Thank you Lisa & Gary!

Chloe got a birthday present ordered all the way from Afghanistan! It is a fun toy from Lisa & Gary. She isn't sure about sitting on it, but she likes it.

She's wondering, hey, where did they go? They are suppose to be pushing me around!

She really likes to tip it over and spin the wheels. But thank you so much Lisa & Gary. You didn't have to do that for her, but we really appreciate it. Thanks!!!

Swimming in the Pond

On Saturday we went to Mom & Dads to cook out and swim in their pond. As you can see, Chloe does not enjoy the water.

So she hung out on the sand. She could sit play there all day.

Hannah has gotten more brave this year. She ventures off from shore quite a bit.

And that is Tyler swimming across the pond. It's ok Joni - he has a life jacket on and I watch him so close when he is going across. They really love that pond. I just hope that it can go back to normal after all of the rain and flooding that happend Sunday night. It is a real mess and not swimmable any time soon. Hopefully mom will post some pictures of that soon.

Holmes Family Reunion

Last Sunday we had a Holmes family reunion at Grandma Shirley's house. It is kind of a reunion - or a yearly celebration of Great Grandma Holmes' birthday (June 14). It was a fun time.

Here are those boys, locked away in the dog kennel. We needed to put them somewhere! The rule was that you had to let anyone out as soon as they wanted out. Whatever keeps them entertained I guess.

Hannah & Taylor doing the girl stuff. Hannah loves "under-dog" to go really high. I repeatedly told her that it was "under duck" not "under dog". But she insists that she is right because "under duck doesn't make any sense mom". As if "under dog" does????

And I thought this was too funny. When this guy came (I don't even know who he was) Tyler got so excited. He was running around yelling "A cowboy is here! A real cowboy is here!" He truly thought this guy was a cowboy because of his straw hat? It was as close as I could zoom in on the poor, unsuspecting guy.

Happy 1st Birthday!!

On Saturday we celebrated Chloe's 1st birthday! I can not believe that she is one already! The year has flown by way too fast. We love our little Chloe and thank God for her everyday and for blessing us with just a little sweetheart.

I had to corner her for a picture. She would not stand still so this is the best I could do.

We had a little cook out to celebrate. Here she is with her cake.

Here she is making the traditional mess. However, I think the tradition is suppose to be "the first time they have cake and look at what they do". But, of course it is not the first time Chloe has had cake and ice cream.

This is after everyone had left and I was cleaning up. I found Chloe eating pieces of cake off the floor. What a crazy kid. What would life be without little Clo-boat/Cleo - whatever else nicknames she has been given. And look at the hair on that head. You can see it in a picture! YEAH!!!

Who sleeps Like This?

Last night I went in to check on the kids after they went to bed and this is how I found Tyler sleeping. Seriously! Who could fall asleep like that? I know everyone has their own thing that helps them fall asleep, but this is a new one. I was trying to think of reasons...Did he have a headache? Did he have to go to the bathroom? Or is he just Tyler? Anyways, I just thought it was kind of funny and thought I would share it.

We're moving in!

Well, we have moved in to our new house. We actually moved in the last weekend of May, but it has taken some time to where I could actually take a picture. It is still a process of unpacking boxes, but we are getting there. And so far, we love it! I've just included a few pictures of the great room area. It was all that I had clean enough to show everyone. I've been wanting to get pictures of the front, since we painted the front door and the shutters, but it won't stop raining long enough to get out there. Isn't it suppose to be summer?

T-Ball

Tyler is starting T-Ball this year. On Monday he had his first practice at 5:45 and his first game at 6:15. It was fun & entertaining to watch. I love watching a bunch of 5-8 year olds standing out in the field finding rocks to put in their pockets rather than watching for the ball. They a e suppose to play 7 innings...but it took over an hour to play 3 innings so they called it a game. Tyler is concerned about the fact that they don't keep score. He really needed to know if they were winning or not. The coach told him that everyone is a winner in T-ball. Afterwards Tyler said, "but not everyone is a winner because someone has to have more points". Smart boy.

They started him out in the pitching position. Although, the coach actually pitches. It is just up to Tyler to play the position. It was so funny because the first time he stopped a ball from rolling past him he picked up and started jumping up and down and saying "I got it! I got it!" We were all yelling, "throw it to first base!" And he was like "Huh?". He was so thrilled to have got the ball that he didn't want to give it up. Oh the time it takes to learn a sport. At least he was not alone. I guess when everyone only has 1 30 minute practice right before, what does one expect! I can't wait to see him develop his skills as he figures it out.

One thing that almost all of the kids can do is hit the ball really good. There is a 7 run rule per inning, and I think both teams always got to 7 runs (rather than 3 outs) to end the inning. Because everyone can hit and nobody can field. Here is Tyler practicing his swing before his turn. He is number 25. Isn't he too cute!!!!

And through the fence, that is Tyler waiting for his pitch. He hit the ball very good on both of his turns up to bat. But he never made it home because the innings ended. So every Monday night we will be at T-ball. I'll keep everyone updated on his progress :)