Paint Yourself Silly Chapter 1

I finally decided that I really need to do something just for ME... no Matt and no Harper. Paint yourself Silly offers class the 3rd Thursday of every month called "Bring a Bottle (wine) and your BFF". So of course I called Susan and we now have a standing date once a month. You an go in and just paint or you can do their project on the month. The owner (she great) teaches the class. Our first class was so much fun and below if what I made....A plate to hang on the wall.... Looking forward to all the 3rd Thursdays of every month!

Visit to the Orchard....

We went to an Apple Orchard.... As I was starting to post the pictures I realized that I didn't even takn any pictures of us picking the Apples.....





The POSE a top the Mountain of tired!!!



The garden spider Harper noticed while we were picking raspberries...

Goooo Biggggg Redddd - GO BIG RED!!

FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN!!! OMGosh.....

Hanging out on the couch waiting to head to school....


It seem like yesterday that I took the very first picture of her on the
stairs before the first year of Preschool.. Almost 2 years to the day!


Harper and Daddy heading to school


Waiting at the cross walk



All the Kindergartner's met in the gym at 8:10. The teachers were there with big signs and the kids all sat in a line behind their teacher. Harper's teach is Mrs. Morse and we really like her.


Heading down the hall for the first day of Preschool......

OMGosh - Harper starts Kindergarten tomorrow......

We had Harper's Open House at school last night. We were able to meet her teacher, Mrs Morse and see her class room. Below she is sitting in her 'very own' seat! I just can't believe that our little Harper Rae is starting school. It seems like only yesterday that Matt and I brought her home from the hospital in that Bright Yellow outfit!

The past 5 years have some by so fast! She has done so much is her short 5 years.... Went on her first trip to KC to stay with Aunt Steph when she was only 3 years old. However, Matt and I were in town but she spend the night with Steph and the girls and had a great time. She has gone back every summer since and absolutly loves it! That is a tradition that I hope will continue for many years to come.
Harper has also went to Chester quit a few times with Aunt Jayne and spend many fun filled hours with Chester Grandma, Aunt Jo and Aunt Judy. She was even able to go to Easter Service wiht Aunt Jo and do the Chester Easter Egg hunt.
August of 2008 she started Preschool and went everythin T/Th for nearly 2 years. She then did the All-Day Pre-K program and truely thrived! I can't forget the many dance classes at Waverly and Hart and teh 2 recitals! Another round of dance at Hart is in our future! We have done swimming lessons and started T-Ball this year...
So many things in such a short time... I can only imagine what Harper will do in the years to come. I do know that Matt and I will be here to support her and love her!

Last day of Preschool!!!

Today was Harper's last day at Westminster Preschool. She is very excited because she has almost 2 weeks off before school starts and we have many fun things planned!








Miss Jean, Harper and Miss Makala


Harper and Suzanne

Last night we had the Graduation from Preschool Picnic @ Antelope Park! We had a great food, the kids sang a couple of songs and they all got a diploma.



Harper and Miss Jenna


Harper and Miss Melissa


Harper and her diploma!!


Summer of 2010 Pre-K Class!!!

Kindergarden Jump-Start

On Monday August 2nd Harper went to Kindergarden Jump-Start. She went to school every day this week from 8-10. Everyone met in the lunch room and had breakfast and then they were off to their classrooms. Harper loves it and has had so much fun. I believe her teacher will be Mrs. Morse and she is really nice.

1967 FORD Facts....

As many of you know - Matt is a great writer (and I am not) so MAYBE he should be writing this blog and not ME? There is a Harper/car/mouse story that he really needs to get put down on paper. I will get his on that soon.

Here is a email Matt sent me this winter - which was a COLD COLD winter!!!

Fact #1 When the temp is 5 degrees or colder, 1967 Ford trucks don't like to start, they will, but they don't like it.

Fact #2 When the temp in 5 degrees or colder, 1967 Ford vinyl seats explode upon entering the truck. I believe Ford engineers designed the seats this way to remind the drives that it is too cold to be out on the roads. The seat is equipped with an automatic reminder mechanism in the form of a painful pinch when the driver places any part of his body over the cracked vinyl.

Fact #3 When the temp is 5 degrees or colder, it takes approximately 1/8 a tank of gas to bring the 1967 Ford truck up to operating temperature. Once again, I believe Ford designed the truck in this fashion to remind drivers that they have no business out on the road when it is this cold. Ford engineers figured that if the painful vinyl pinch didn't deter driving, the pinch on the pocket book would.

Fact #4 When the temp is 5 degrees or colder, the speedometer in a 1967 Ford truck is non-existent. I have no evidence from Ford to back this up, but it is my belief that the loud buzzing coming from the speedometer cable is a designed in feature to remind the driver that when it's too cold for the speedometer to work, it's too cold to worry about how fast one is driving and that the driver has no business on the road in the first place.

Fact #5 When the temp is 5 degrees or colder, 1967 Ford trucks go into auto air conditioning mode. Although the truck may not be equipped with AC, the driver will experience crisp cool air moving about the cab, even with the heater on high. I searched the Ford archives, but came up with no concrete evidence of this being a designed in feature. I have to believe that Ford engineers added auto air conditioning mode to further remind drivers to stay home and stay warm when the temperature dips into single digits.

I hope this has been an informative and entertaining look into the 1967 Ford truck driving experience.

Written by Matt on 02/09/2010

One of Matt's stories!

Yet another short that Matt wrote a spider that they found at Molex. If I remember correctly, the spider "bob" came in on a truck from Mexico. They had kept it in the shop for a while but eventually they were told by the 'higher ups' that they needed to keep him somewhere else. So a friend and of friend adopted Bob. Here is Matt's story about Bob's last day.

Today is a sad day here at the West Bond Tool Room. Today is the day we have to say booed buy to a dear friend. A friend that we have come to know and love,,,The dear friend I speak of is Bob the Spider. Over the past week and a half we have each got to know Bob in our own special way. Bob has taught us that a cricket should not be carelessly stomped on the floor, it should be gently picked up and put in the spider house so Bob can chomp it. And who can ever forget the courage it took for Bob to chew off his own injured let so that he may press on. It seems like only yesterday that bob came crawling into our lives on sever and one half legs. Watching him chew up a cricket was like watching kittens being born. It was natures beauty at it's finest. Bob is leaving us today to set out on his next adventure. He will be living in a bigger spider house and have a companion. His new friend is a Cobalt Blue Tarantula, name unknown. I have no doubt that Bob will look back on this experience, with his 16 beady eyes, and smile through his enormous fangs. We will all miss Bob. May his memory live on in the tool room folk lore forever.

Tom said: "I'm really gonna miss the way Bob looks at me when I throw him a fresh bug."

Jess said: "Bob stinks a little, but I've really connected with him on a personal level.:

Matt said: "That Bob is one hell of a spider, if only my wife had gotten to know him."

written by Matt on 09/09/2005

Sunday DAY trip!

Yesterday afternoon we headed out for a day trip to check out the caboose cabins at Two Rivers State Park. Harper noticed that the hot dog guy was at the corner, so we stopped and each got hot dog before we headed out. Two Rivers State Park was not at all what I thought it would be.. not really much there. The Caboose's were neat, but there wasn't much else. I did get a good picturs of Harper and Matt walking around one of the little lake/ponds.



I wanting to try to get some family and friends together sometime and thought the caboose cabins would be neat... Well, now that I see them, maybe not? So I talked Matt into heading to Platte River State Park and checking things out there... while there, Matt and Harper rode the paddle boats and we walked to the top of the tower. They have a lot of nice more at Platte River State Park so I'm thinking this is were i will try to have the outing!!

Sailor Dress from Aunt Carrie...

Last TBall game of the year!

Friday was the last TBall game of the year - and yes, it was another HOT one! Harper was 'really' excited because it was her turn to bring snacks for after the game. I went to HyVee and got cookies for the girls, each got 2 cookies. I had them decorate the cookies with each of their numbers and the other like a softball. We also gave them each a banana! They all loved it. One little girl also gave Matt (Coach Johnson) a thank you card with a Subway gift certificate. how nice~

CUBS

2010 is Harper's first year of playing softball (well, TBall). The name of the team is the "CUBS" and Matt is the coach. He has done a great job and all the girls love playing for Coach Johnson. Games are on Friday nights at Spirt Park on 84th and O. There is a 20 minute practice and then a 40 minute game. Since it is the first year and the girls are all just learning the basics, they do not count 'outs'. The play 2innings batting thru the line up. The girls play all positions in the field and also bat in a different lineup each time.



Harper's TBall team "THE CUBS"




The ACTION SHOT!!




GOOD GAME - - - GOOD GAME

Harper's Humor Chapter 15 page 2

We grilled pizza last night for supper b/c it was just to hot outside. We had just sat down and the first thing Harper said was "Mommy, can you get me the pappajohn cheese?" I kind of laughed and got up and headed to the frig. Matt looks at me with one of those looks like "what the heck is she talking about?".

What Harper actually wanted was the Parmesan Cheese!! Not the Pappajohn Cheese!

Harper's Humor Chapter 15 page 1

We (Matt, myself, Harper, Brandy & Mitch) made out annual road trip to MO to purchase our fireworks. We decided to cut back a little this year and not just 'throw' things in the cart. Matt said he didn't get into the 'ZONE' this year like he did last year. On the way home we stopped at Nebraska City at Arbys (another annual stop). We pulled into Arbys and Harper said.... "OH - I want a beef jerky sandwich"... The whole car laughed.....

FLOWERS.......

Matt and Harper doing their annual Flower Power - as I put it.