Does anyone smell smoke....I think there is a FIRE!!

Mike was sitting at the front table and noticed fire outside in our backyard. He ran out back but couldn't identify the source. The smell confirmed that this was not just the neighbors BBQ. By this time I am rounding up our kids, and getting dressed (we are never fully dressed, being dressed is so uncomfortable. Just expect a few min delay when we come to the door for an unexpected visitor). Anyway, Mike runs to the front door to see smoke coming from the house DIRECTLY across the street from ours. Oh my goodness!!! This first picture is taken from our front porch.

Mike and I go to the next yard to get a better look. The pic below is from the neighbors yard to the West of ours. Keep in mind that this was the first 5 min of the fire...no police or fire trucks yet. uh....scary. I run back in the house to find the boys staring out the front windows...tears just streaming down their little cheeks.

This is the picture from our front window a few min later. Still no fire truck...uh...when are they COMING!! 7 fire trucks and 5 hours later the fire was out and the trucks turned off their lights and left.

Once we saw the fire was under control, some of our friends came by to get the best view of the action. Funny how a fire brings people out that you wouldn't have otherwise seen that day.

This was a picture once they got the fire out. It is hard to tell, but if you look from the front of the house you can see all the way through the house. The entire house was destroyed. About a week ago they came and tore the entire house down in just one day. Sad.

We thanked the firemen. They had a long night. The guy in the back, next to the truck, had the job of refilling the oxygen tanks. As the firemen would use them up they would bring back empty tanks
and lay them on the designated spot on our lawn. The spot marked "EMPTY". The guy would take them to the truck, fill them up, and place them on our lawn next to the "FULL" sign. The whole production was quite overwhelming and scary, a little too close to home, literally. thank goodness for people who choose to risk their lives by fighting fires.

Early Business Adventures

Christsia had the idea to earn money doing a lemonade stand. We bought the supplies, figured out how much she would owe for the supplies out of her earnings, then we sat out in the 95 degree temp to wait for some kind soul to pull over and donate a quarter. Christsia thought it would be smart to charge a dollar per drink. I said, "uh, no, no one will buy a tiny drink of lemonade for a dollar". I know there is inflation since my time, but really...So, i was alarmed to see the number of customers that came by, paid a dollar and said kindly, "keep the change". Christsia was very anxious to remind me that we should have charged a dollar, people were willing to pay a full dollar. I then got into a discussion with her about how if the sign said one dollar they may not stop at all. You have to lull them in with the low price, marketing 101, right? Anyway, we had fun...rain and all. She made $11, after she paid off the supplies. I think I am in the wrong business :)

Our garden produced something edible?!?

Much to my shock, we produced real veggies. You may remember that I owe the entire gardening experience to Lori Prince, my sister Lori and my parents. Our kids have really enjoyed taking care of the garden and checking up on it....daily. Unfortunately much of it died while we were on vacation for 10 days, but it was well worth it and we will be doing more in the future.

zucchini

Isn't it cute?

Chuck E Cheese

For Memorial Day we went to Chuck E Cheese. The kids earn beans when they are caught doing something good. When the bean jar is full we go to get pizza or to a park or something. Believe me, we get a whole lotta dishes done for a month or two with the incentive of one little ol pizza at the end :) One day they will find out our trick is much to our advantage.

Schools out!!!

We all joined Jack and Christsia for lunch at school.

Christsia recited "Melinda Mae" by Shell Silverstien for the school talent show. She did it first for just the kindergartners then was chosen to do it for the entire school. Whoa! Lots of kids - she did a great job and didn't even mess up. The poem is as follows:


Have you heard of Melinda Mae
Who ate a monstrous whale
She thought she could
She said she would
So she started in right at the tail
Everyone said your much too small
But that didn't bother Melinda at all
So she took little bites
And chewed very slow
Just like a good girl should
And after eighty-nine years
She ate the whale
Because she thought she could



Stephen was in a Noah's Ark play for his preschool graduation. Adorable! His teachers did an oustanding job this year!

Jack and Christsia performed some songs with all the Kindergarten classes on the last day of school. So cute.

Jack with his teacher

Christsia, Jordan (neighbor), Stephen, Kennedy (friend), Jack

This is a picnic on the last day of school

Christsia with her teacher.

Work

We consolidated three teams to Houston. I had to hire 15 people. When the project was complete we hosted a party.

We had an open-house for the entire corporate office to come and meet the new team. We posted information and statistics on big posters around each team so people could be introduced to what they do.

This is the new complete team. We are missing three people in this pic who weren't there at the time.

Kids

Stephen and Jack swimming in our neighborhood pool.

Jack and Liberty on our way to the pool

Stephen playing at the park

Stephen being silly

Christsia laughing her head off. Notice her bed filled with stuffed animals. She actually keeps her room VERY clean and organized, but I don't know how she fits on the bed to sleep with so many toys on it...whatever?? :)

Christsia visits Grandma

Christsia went to Grandma's house...all by herself! I can't believe she is getting so big! They had a blast. They are having a tea party in the pic below.

Making jewelry