Talented Grandma

John's mother can do it all....cook a whole meal with just chicken, flour and milk, grow a garden and sew. She sent Jilliann this beautiful dress she made and also made me a matching shirt to go with it. Anyone who knows me well knows that matching with Jilliann is the highlight of my life. I would wear matching clothes all the time...too bad I cant get the boys to agree to that any more. They are older now and throw fits. Anyway, thank you Katherine for these amazing matching outfits!!

Where did August go???

School began in early August (whooooo!!!!) much to the kids dismay. I will not say that I was happy but....I was!!!

Austin is in 8th grade. It blows my mind to think he is in his last year of junior high. He is going to be in High School next year. Where did the time go??

Justin is in 4th grade this year. He is a great student and makes tons of friends easily so I have no worries or issues with him. He is excelling in math and they want to put him in the accelerated program for that. Wish he behaved half as well at home as he does at school. Oh well, I cant have it all.

Christian...oh Christian!! He is in 1st grade this year. He hates getting up and getting ready for school each day. He would rather sleep in and play video games. Hmmm...sounds like Johnny's clone! But, once there he does well and so far hasn't gotten in too much trouble. Thank God he is so darn cute...it makes his spastic hyper activity easier to forgive. For now, he has his looks!

I am gonna be a MOTHER-IN-LAW!!!

Doesn't this freak you out! Andrew is getting married. The boy I didn't think would ever graduate high school let alone get a job, a house and a wife. Time does change all!! He has grown into a fabulous man! He bought a beautiful house in Wasilla, Alaska and will be married in July 2009. Adrienne is a fabulous girl who seems to complement Andrew well. She is laid back and quiet... opposites attract. I love her already and am super excited about the wedding. Welcome to this crazy Fueller Family Adrienne!!

Big Bear 2008

We spent a week in Big Bear this July. The weather was fabulous...it rained each day enough to satisfy my desire to have some need for a fire but not too much that we couldn't get out and enjoy the outdoors. We went hiking and explored different things we haven't done there yet. We went to a zoo and a petting farm. The kids loved it. Of course, Jilliann played with the local cat the whole time. We have one at home but she preferred to play with the one we spent $20 to go see!! We played lots of board games and just enjoyed some real quality family time. It was one of the best trips we have had.

4th of July...on the 3rd

Our community celebrates the 4th of July on the 3rd (so families can still get together on the 4th). They had lots of fun things for the kids to do and a huge fireworks show at the end of the evening. It was only 103 out too!! Yikes. Luckily they had water slides and bouncy things for the kids. It was a great evening and lots of fun. The 4th will be spent lounging by the pool enjoying some wonderful drinks and a barbecue with my parents (and countless neighborhood kids that show up!). Happy 4th to all...

Johnny

He actually let me photograph him!! Here he is with his favorite bunch of kids!! He insisted we go to Chinese food for his birthday. He knows all those buffets freak me out so we compromised on a regular Chinese restaurant. We are very proud of him!! He is an excellent big brother and an even better son!! The kids miss him terribly but they are looking forward to sleepovers and Johnny's house!!!

Just....Can't...Make...It.....

After a day of party after party she just couldnt make it. A chicken patty sounded good but after 2 bites she was down for the count. Poor thing!

Party Party Party

June and July bring massive birthday's so I threw one big party to celebrate it all. Robert the Great turned 92, Grandpa George turned 71, Austin turned 14, Johnny turned 24 and Christian will be 6 at the end of July. All the family came and we shared in good food and lots of laughter. We are blessed to be able to get together and have Alys and Robert the Great still attend!!

CHCHCHCHC Changes....

Johnny has left the building!! A bittersweet day has come...Johnny has moved into his own apartment. Christian cried for days! Poor guy. But, with Johnny gone we rearranged some rooms. We put Austin upstairs in Johnny's old room and then created a playroom for Jilliann full of play house items and baby dolls. It is a work in progress but so far she likes it. Jilliann also moved into a big girl bed. Down came the beautiful crib (thanks to Auntie DeeDee) and up went a castle bed fit for a princess!! I will post pictures of Austin's new room and Johnny's apartment soon!!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Daddy turned 43 this year. We celebrated at Logan's Steak House...his favorite!! We made sure they yelled loudly to announce his birthday just to extra embarrass him!! He got some clothes, flip flops and a GPS for his car!! We love you Babe!! Happy Birthday!

Note to Self...

Note to self....Do NOT leave butt cream where Jilliann can reach it!!

Naked in Vegas

Austin and I each discovered a fun attraction in Vegas...naked statues. He is at an age where it is funny to see "boobs". I had fun teasing him about it the whole time. We took time stand outside for an hour to see a pirate show at 10:00pm and of course at the last minute it was cancelled because of wind. The kids were NOT happy. Justin about had a cow. He is not one to hide his disappointment. Such a joy. We had a great time though. I am sure we will go back soon.

Cows, Lepards and Talent

I drove the kids to downtown Las Vegas to visit a dairy farm. There arent actually cows there but we toured the processing plant and saw them making milk, ice cream and cottage cheese. They had a robotic cow that explained how things are done and then we walked around. It was actually pretty cool. We even got free ice cream at the end. Yummm!!

In the mean time Justin and Austin discovered a new talent. They could suck air out of Gatorade bottles and stick them to their faces. Nice!! It makes a Mother so proud.

We went to the Lion and Dolphin habitat in the Mirage Hotel. That was really fun. The kids got to pet a dolphin and watch them do tricks. We also saw Jaguars, Lions, Tigers and Llamas. We really enjoyed that adventure.

Viva Las Vegas

We heading to Vegas as soon as school got out. John had a convention for work there so we tagged along to enjoy the free stay at the Paris Hotel. I can promise we did not come home with an extra "gift" as we did a few years ago. We never even slept in the same bed the whole time!! Fitting 6 people in one hotel room is a little challenging but we managed. We went to everything there that is free. While John worked the kids and I walked all around and saw all kinds of cool things. We enjoyed the M&M Store and loved the Flamingo Hotel walkways. It was a great family get-a-way and we were thankful for the semi-free trip.

School is out!

The kids are thrilled. As of May 22 school is officially over. The kids were all on honor roll this year and were great students. They are looking forward to swinging in the backyard, riding on pool toys and hiding out from me in the fort. I am looking forward to sleeping in, no homework and school starting in August!!

Kinder Zoo Trip

I am going to back up a month to catch up. Christian's kindergarten class went to a local zoo the last week of school. I was in charge of 3 rambunctious boys and Jilliann. His teacher, Ms. Loffman, said I could handle the challenging children....I think that was because mine was in the group. We had a lot of fun and walked until exhaustion (10 minutes for the kids!).

We saw all kinds of fabulous animals but our favorite was the naked mole rat. How funny looking are they??