Sofia Loves Ice Cream

Sofia brought a book to me today, and pretended to read it. She said, Daddy took Sofia to have Ice Cream. The End!

Vince's family

Except for the little boy in the yellow tank, I don't know who is who on the back row.
Back row-boy in yellow is Pete
Middle row from left to right
Gordon, Pat, Grandpa Cliff, Grandma Oveela, Jarad, Burt
Bottom row
Kathy, Vincent Sr. Vince Jr, not sure, but I think Illene, Ethel, Donald, Stephanie

Winter Break

It's winter break here, and the kids are having a great time. Lela is with my dad and step mother (Darla) skiing in Colorado. Belle has been going every where! Belle and Sofia went to April's house on Sunday and played with River and Madison. Then Belle went to Sandy's house (River's grandma/April's mom) and spent the night with River and Madison. I sent a half price gingerbread house with them to do as a project. Then they went ice skating too.

Vince had New Years day off, so we went to the movies. Last week on Christmas, we went to Kabobs (a family tradition) and had Indian Buffet and went to see a Will Smith Cartoon spy movie that was super cute.

Local Again!

     We had the assembly Saturday and it was wonderful. This was our first assembly in Hartman Arena. It was so nice to be local and in a nice facility. Good parking, good seating, no over crowding, it was nice! We are having the summer Regional Convention there too. Which will be the first time in decades that we won't have to travel! So nice and exciting!

     We decided to go to Olive Garden because I had coupons, and went 3 towns away from where the assembly was, thinking we would miss the crowds, but there happened to be two school formals in the town we chose! So we ended up waiting for four hours!!!! Meanwhile my kids kept asking me what a formal was. We don't know, we were raised witnesses we have no idea! haha Dancing and punch is involved is all we know. But, some our best friends were able to join us for dinner, since we had to wait so long, the dad was able to finish his parking duty, and still tons of time left over. So the kids were so happy to be able to have a meal with the Peacocks, since the territory change, and we are in different congregations now they don't get to see them often. Belle and RJ ended up spending the night at their house.

     Since we had the assembly Saturday and the territory changes are still fresh, the sisters put together a congregation sisters brunch. It was so nice. We got to really know many of the new ones better. They had it at our local Learning Center which is a really nice location. And all kinds of goodies, and set it up super sweet, we all had to wear flowers and ribbons in our hair, and had nice real tea cups, and the food was really yummy. The little girls got to play dress up, while the grown ups played get to know you games. Vince went and picked up Belle and Madison so they could come and not miss out, and then took them back to the Peacock's home afterwards.

      Most the brothers had a thing at Chris and Hope's house, but Vince stayed home and hooked up the kids some video games as a surprise for them.

Tragic Memories

18 years ago, a tragic act of terrorism affected us and millions of others too.

Vince and I were having a argument, he thought I was burning breakfast...cause the smell of the first tower burning, of the Twin Towers, was that strong inside our apartment in Brooklyn, NY. He had just got home from work, working the first shift Midnight to 8 AM. I kept saying I was not burning anything, but he kept insisting he could smell that I was. Then I just got mad, and turned the tv on to ignore him, and seen about the first building hit by the first airplane. It was on every single channel. I told Vincent to come look. We both commented on how nice and clear it was outside, how did that happen. Just then the second plane hit the second tower, and he said oh no, we're under attack! A few seconds later his mother called to see if we were home, and told us she had thankfully stayed home from work that day or she would have been down there too. Then Vince got called in mandated work at ground zero...for several days. It was terrible because not long after him getting called in to work, the towers fell and no more phone or tv service in NYC, because the antennas for both TV and cell phones were on the towers. And of course home phone land lines were completely tied up and shut down from so many calls being made. Back then we had dial up internet, you had to use your phone line to dial onto the internet. I had a application that would keep on automatically dialing the internet til it would go through, it took hours but I was able to get the computer to get online with my autodialing program. And I was able to tell friends and family we were ok.

I remember being so relieved when I could finally speak to my mom, dad, and my grandma Martha.

It was one of the scariest things we lived through at the time. Thankfully we have the hope of the New System of Jehovah's Kingdom to put all these tragedies behind us to never occur again.

Vincent to the far end, and his three co-workers at ground zero, helping the rescue work.

State Fair

Went to the state fair yesterday. Had a great time. We got up early, and ate breakfast at Carriage Crossing, because that's what Vince wanted to eat. Thankfully the weather was nice too, not too hot. It's usually incredibly hot this time of year. Then we got to the fair, and were able to see the pig races first which we always do. Then we we looked around outside exhibits, then of course headed to the indoor exhibits. I was able to get some products from Watkins that are being discontinued, my favorites of course! Also while I was in one of the buildings, I witnessed a lady stealing one of the vendors display products. I told the vendor and the vendor took off after the lady. Apparently the lady had stolen even more stuff then I had seen! And the vendor came back with a lot of stuff the lady stole! And to thank me the vendor actually gave me products she was selling. So sad though that people would do that. There was also a witness booth there, and man I forgot to get pictures, hopefully I will remember next year! Then we met up with Gracie and had her come with us the rest of the day. We tried fried cheese curds, and moinkballs. The cheese curds were great, the moinkballs were incredible dry. Won't get them again. We had bought Dillon's ticket sheets before the fair started, so the kids rode rides for several hours. Then we had fried chicken dinners at Carriage Crossing on the way home again. All in all it was a great time, but I am pretty sure I got mastitis. Poor little Dee was pretty fussy and I am incredibly engorged. UGH!

Last year a brother had taken a photo of Sofia at the Pratt congregation end of Summer Pool Party. And entered it into the fair last year. This is a photo of the entry.

New Summer Drink

Summer time in Kansas means extreme heat. And boy is this month a scorcher!

A several months ago, my really good friend, and my best hair dresser ever, Laura, started selling Arbonne. She invited me to her first party, which honestly I just went to support her and didn't really plan on buying anything. As I tried Arbonne almost 30 years ago when two of my other friends were selling it. Ponds and Cobra. I liked some of it, but a lot of it was not good for my skin. With some encouragement I tried it again and wow, they must of really changed the formula this time it was great! Also a LOT more things they sell now then 30 years ago. Laura sent me home with a lot of samples, and I ended up having my own party too.

Since then I seen some people add Arbonne's Pomegranate Fizz sticks to Starbucks Passion Fruit tea. It looked so good. I ran out and bought cold brew Passion Fruit Tea... but, when I got home I realized the tea bags were humongous and meant for a 2 quart picture. Which I did not have! So then I went on Ebay and bought a vintage tupperware pitcher that is really cute. It came today, so I washed it and brewed my tea. I added coconut milk as was suggested, and the Pomegranate Fizz stick. It's amazing! Waaaaay better than soda ever could be! I think it's my new favorite drink. Especially during this blazing Kansas heat!

Thankfully since we homeschool we can stay inside in the summer time, and take vacation when it's cooler outside. We will be going back to Silver Dollar City, and Branson for homeschool week in Missouri. And I've already began to pack. I bought Simona and Denise a bunch of clothing from Target, and Targets clearance, then the Haysville garage sale day I was able to get both tons of clothes for only 2 dollars! TONS! So I washed every thing up and they are all packed and ready for the trip. I am working on the other three kids, and Vince and I next. It's slow going through, because our dryer is dying a slow death and takes forever. We need a new dryer soon. Probably in the next couple of months.

I also bought new glasses this month. I can see again! I haven't been able to see well out of my old ones for at least a year, because the coating started peeling so horribly. I had been putting it off, then did it, only to find out Vince's work messed up on the insurance this year, and I won't be getting reimbursed the 400 dollars it cost! My prescription is extra expensive cause my eyes are so bad I have to get ultra thin or they are so thick and heavy they cause my sinus problems. AND this is the first time I had to get bifocals too, which was a extra expense. At first I couldn't even figure out how to use the bifocals but thankfully only took me a few days and now I have figured that out too! So I can read again with my glasses on and the book not up to my nose! haha And yes the 400 dollars was supposed to be dryer money, but I thought we would be reimbursed and when we got it back would just go buy the dryer.. yeah didn't work that way! haha