beginnings of summer

Okay week 2 of summer vacation. Not sure when it started anyway but people say it was 2 weeks ago.

Liz continuing to collect money for trip next year. She starts a summer babysitting job next week and just got hired by the YMCA for lifeguarding. WHOOHoo go Liz. She has been up by 5 am everymorning since school was out for drivers education class. This has been a great experience. Liz made honor roll for school with all A's and 1 B. Cant ask for more then that! Liz and mom have started a Krav Maga course (self defense), and wow is it a work out. Mom did not realize she had personal boundary issues until they made her touch a slimey sweatie guy (this was flat out grouse, was gonna quit but have stuck it out). Liz is still doing allergy shots and has now decided that it might be time to fix her bone spur in her elbow as it is affecting some things in her life. (will update more on this after appointment with doctor).


Mikaela continues Tae Kwon Do. she has been doing an intense swim course to fine tune her abilities. They are encouraging her to join the swim club team. (this does not surprise any of us). We are leaving this entirely up to her. She continues piano and has also decided to try a summer session of tumbling class with her friend Jenna.

So what have mom and dad been doing.....ummmm.....chauferring. We also have great friends to help us out while we work to support these lovely activities.

Next week brings VBS at church.....then it is off to TEXAS for our family vacation!

Oh yah Ken gets to golf during his days off!

Hope summer if finding you all well. love ya

school pics

Finally we were able to get Liz some school pictures....she is driving frequently now and doing well. School is coming to an end and the first three week are the busiest.

Happy Mothers day

As each year goes by I accept mothers day and my birthday a little better. This year the family treated me so well and we had a great weekend. I would like to introduce the newest member of our family that I recieved for mothers day. This is Ellie. After 15 years with kitty kitty he ran away and never returned (assumed it was his time to go be with the Lord...he served his time here well and fulfilled his purpose). Ellie is not here to replace him but bring us new adventures and if you know my family we are always looking for another adventure. I also got gardening tools and more fun stuff for the wii machine.

The girls are wrapping up the school and not much new to update. Will send end of the school year updates and pics at the end of May.

Love you all

some updates

As I have heard rumor facebook may go to charging for their use starting in July so I am going to revert to using this blog site again to update family and friends of all the changes and achievements in our home. Again, this may only be a rumor but I have also had request from some grandparents that they like this site to get updated.

With that....the girls are ending the school year at the end of this month. Seems like this is the most craziest time of my life. Mikaela had field day on Tuesdays and took first place in all running activities. She has grown in growth assessements from fall to spring by leaps and bounds. Math she grew 19 points, reading growth 8 points, and language 18 points YAY. Tae Kwon Do is still moving along nicely and she has decided to tryout for Casper Childrens Carole for next year (choir).

Liz received her lifeguard certification and applied for her first job today (waiting for response at this point). She went to Denver last week with her school for a choir competition and they took 1st place in both select choir and middle school and were 1.75 off of taking overall. She has a play performance with the school at the end of the year where she plays the "fairy godmother". Liz has also been asked to go to Europe in 2011 and will visit 7 different places starting in Londyn and ending in Germany. (raising 5100.00 could be interesting and mom is gonna try to go with her)


Mom continues to work at WBI and loves it taking on many new roles....I have decided to start a karate defense class with Liz called Krav Maga. Looking forward to this new adventure.

One day this statement will change but ken continues to work for US Foodservice driving. He is currently erecting a fence in the back yard and then it will be onto our first garden in the new home.

We have learned that the best way to challenge a marriage is to put up a fence together:)

Love to all....check for updates periodically.

Mikaela goes Green

Mikaela tested in tae kwon do today for her green belt...she did an awesome job and of course passed without a problem. She will now be with some of the older kids and is very excited.

Congratulations Baby Girl!

Happy New Year

Hope this blog finds you happy and healthy for the 2010 year. We celebrated the year with 3 9-10 year old girls and a 4 year old bouncing around the house and putting on showes. The were great entertainment for the Barrs and the Anthony's as we played games for the evening. Needless to say I was in bed by 10 pm and all I remember was little girls screeching from the living room at midnight then complete silence. Liz was off at a church lock?)

Anyway we hope that you all were safe and have a blessed 2010!

Christmas Day

We spent Christmas in Colorado...On Christmas morning Mikaela had us up by 7am (wow do I rmember thoughs days). Her 14 year sister was not pleased but got up anyway. Down to the stocking they went to find hair stuff, socks, and lots of candy. We then made our way to the other room and opened gifts with Opa. Here we found games for the Wii, movies, lots of stuff from g and g light, and Opa, mom found a new coat (for church) and dad found (that mom spent to much money on him). The best part was when Liz opened a box that was a humidifier box...she was not impressed and put it aside with sad face. Then when she realized the box was just a box to be used her face lit up when she found a gift inside. Then we got to Aunt debs and uncle dennis' house and Aunt debby pulled a fast one on her and put a bunch of little wrapped boxes together with only one gift in one of the wrapped boxes. Who will be the one picked on next year? We had a great time with everyone. Post Christmas consisted of being at the mall for several hours with Brett, Danielle, Chelsea and Aron (with girlfriend). It was actually one of my trips to the mall. I have the hardest time leaving Colorado this go around! Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas Parade

I did not get many pictures of the Christmas Parade...this happens each year after Thanksgiving. This year it was dry but wow was it cold. So here we have the kids all bundled up and sitting on??? Oh yah it was the cold pavement. Thanks to the Barr family we sat in the doorway of a shop and stayed warm.

2009 Christmas decorating

It is family tradition that everyone helps decorate the tree....I think I have the same pictures taken each year but the children just get bigger.

Music program

Mikaela joined the elementary school choir and this was their performance for Christmas.

Acquire the Fire

In November mom chaperoned a youth church trip to Billings Montana. What awesome kids we have in our youth. We left early on Friday on a bus that was....well lets just say we werent sure if we would make it to Billings. (this was a chartered bus) Just outside of Casper the bus broke down from there it was down hill. The youth were great and we all kept our spirits up. The conference was heart warming and what an experience to see our youth grow in God's name. I learned a thing or two about young adults as well. I spent the night in a room with Liz and two other girls and leave it my daughter to warm the bed up in a way that I will leave to your imagination. (lets say all of us girls laughed for another 20 minutes prior to falling asleep). We returned on Sunday after another not so great bus ride as I discovered the next day I had carbon monoxide poisoning and would believe the young adults that were sick throughout the weekend had the same thing.

New Arrival

November 1st 2009 at 7:38 am we had the arrival of Isabella Raelyn Bertz. Congratulations to the proud parents of Bree and Ryan Bertz. God has blessed them with a treasure that all of us are rewarded!

Now just waiting the arrival of my next neice or nephew!

Masquarade Dance

She had pics taken at the dance but I do not have them yet....will post more when they come in. Still trying to figure out how she got so darn beautiful!

Yet the dances have begun....this was a 6-9th grade dance called a "Masquarade" (sp). They had such a good time. Liz has invited me to chaperone the next dance (gee thanks). I asked her why parents didnt get to chaperone this dance. Her statement...."they did I just did not bring you home the form". HMMMMMM. Thank goodness some of the teachers are good friends of mine. Needless to say they were all good and the staff said it was awesome! I think she is starting to realize we can be a pretty "cool" moms and dads.

Halloween

On our way out the door for a bag full of candy!

This is at the church Fall Festival with Mikaela's friend Jenna. Dad made the costume (I-Pod) and mom did the sewing. What a team we are. Liz went as nothing "I am to old for that". Ha we will see what happens next year as I think she regrets that comment this year.

What a night....Mikaela invited some girlfriends over to go trick-and-treating. They came back with a pillow case full of "junk". Liz was the "babysitter" while the adults sat around catching up. With young 3 girls and the neighborhood teenage gang I think they had a great time. The weather even cooperated with us....just a little chilly was all.

Choir Concert

Liz had her first choir performance. They did an awesome job. She is in the general choir and was selected as one of the 20 memberts for "select" Choir. Her favorite song to sing was "Great Balls of Fire". I am going to post a few pics but not sure if the little clips of videos will come through. We did purchase a DVD if anyone would like to borrow it. (it will be here Nov. 2)

Baby Shower

We celebrated the soon to be born Isabella on October 17th. Bree is to be Due Nov. 7ish. Now there has the slight chance that "she" will be a "he". As Bree had one ultrasound in the early part of the pregnancy, doc said girl but you know how they are not always 100% accurate especially in that early stage. Baby shower was hosted by Amber (sister-in-law) and Theresa.

Cake made by Ken:

Mama Melleen

Not sure why this photo did not paste....probably because it is the best one!

Family Vacation

It has been forever since I have updated the famous blog. That is what happens when you are getting ready for the family vacation. This year we took a Carnival Cruz to the Western Carribean. We ported at Grand Caymen, Cozumel, Belize, and Routan. Along for the trip was grandma and grandpa Light, Ken, me, Liz, and Mikaela. Things we did were swim with the dolphins, snorkling, beach day and some good old shopping. Mom and dad did a tour with Liz in Cozumel and went off by themselves to tour Belize. Highlights of the trip for the girls was the dolphin swim. Hightlights for Ken and I was the snorkling in Belize and beach day in Routan. It was nice to go all day come back to the cabin take a nap and then relax with a drink before dinner. The dinner entertainment was unforgettable as well. We also had many exciting moments such as racing to first port for a fellow passenger who became ill, our boat crashing into a royal carribean boat at second port, and last but not least some not so smart young adult falling from floor ten to floor nine and having to be rushed to the hospital in Belize city (no thank you). I just want to thank my mom and dad for a fabulous time with many memories also to my family for being who you are!

All pictures are on facebook but for those of you who are not facebook fans here are favorites:

Updates

Not to much to really update...it is already mid-term for the girls school. Both girls are doing excellent. Liz has had a few struggles trying to adjust to a more structured school, but watch out she is up to speed now. She is cheerleading, got chosen for select choir, and continues her piano.

Mikaela is also doing choir, tae kwon do, and piano. Her teachers do nothing but praise her and tell me how lucky I am to have two wonderful fully spririted children.

I am posting Liz's school picture now but have not received Mikaela's so hang in there it will be coming.

Ken and mom just up to the same old thing. Ken still working at his job and mom is continuing to do mental health occupational therapy. I do have to say that one thing that has changed this year is even with the activities they are all after school so we are home by 6pm. Gotta love that.

Back to school

The girls are officially in full swing....Here are pics of 1st day.

Liz is currently (already) involved in cheerleading (what?), choir, tried out for select (show) choir (will get results wednesday next week), youth group, piano, and who knows what else.

Mikaela currently participating in drumming circle, after school choir, tae kwon do, piano, and who knows what else.

I love the life of a busy mother!