Oprah excitement

Thank you to Teresa, Shannon, & Carol for including me in the 40th birthday celebration in Chicago! It was so exciting to go to the Oprah show too! Wow! I can't believe it was a live show after the first episode of Oprah's Big Give!

It all started at 7:00am on Monday morning. It was your typical rainy, cold, miserable day in March and we were standing in line at THE OPRAH WINFREY show! We were herded in like cattle and made to wait for 1 hour ! We were so excited to finally hear our party name being called on the loudspeaker. We made sure we were all dressed in BRIGHT SPRING colors to ensure ourselves a great seat! Yes,we were ready for our TV debut! I in my Robin's Egg blue shirt (purchased just for the show), and Teresa in her Rose Pink sweater were lead in to the middle section closest to Oprah's sofa! How could we be so lucky? Teresa's birthday luck we guessed! I dreamed of reaching out to grab Oprah's ankle and then unexpectedly we were yanked up from our primo seats and thrown to the back left wall. They must have known our tendency to be boisterous & diruptive! OH well, maybe next time. Good to see you OPRAH!

WEll , here it is March and it is still snowing! When is it going to end? This Georgia girl is going a little stir crazy. I find myself stopping at McD's more often for sweet tea just so I can pretend it's getting warmer out. I have never felt such distain for sweaters in all my life. I bought 3 extra coats so I could at least have a little variety over the last 6 months. Well , guess what? I just bought another one! Thank you Nordstrom's Rack! Yes, I am using a little retail therapy to recover from my Seasonal Affective Disorder! It's working. I will keep you posted on my progress. I have combined that with some tanning and wow I am so much happier. Although, it was only 12 minutes of artificial light, my body burned like I was in the Sahara! I will maybe endure only 8 minutes next time! I have to have some color for my nephews wedding in April. I am recieving phone calls from my Georgia gals and I am hearing about the Cherry Blossoms blooming, the jonquils & tulips , and soon to come, the Bradford Pears (my favorite). It is so hard to wait for my yard to come to life but I know it will be worth waiting for. One thing I do have to say is Chicago summers are stunning! Never will you experience anything so perfect. I have even adjusted to putting on a light sweater in June, can you believe it? When Spummer (Spring/Summer) comes it is like an explosion of fireworks from under the soil. It is unbelievable how huge the plants get in such a short time. The colorsis like a color wheel in continuous motion. The bunnies are just a bonus. Most people just despise these creatures because they eat everything under the sun that is trying to bloom in your yard. I love them. I love trying to find their little holes where they have hidden their babies. Does it matter that I have hostas? NO , not really. I like watching at dusk when they start to come out for their nighttime snack. Georgia loves them too. They provide much exercise in her daily routein. I guess I will go now and continue waiting. I am counting the days to paradise. I know it's coming , we southerners must be patient. For now, I guess I will up my intake of sweet tea & treat myself to some fresh flowers (from the store) just to get me by. I will look out my window until the sun finally calls me to come outside and experience Spummer! Bye!

Congratulations to the 2007 Fall Soccer Team/Hornets! Bruce had fun coaching with Marty Ives this year. What an incredible undefeated season these boys had! They really worked hard together. Tyler has improved in all areas. He really gave it back to the other teams. Way to go Tyler! You have gotten so tough and your skills are outstanding! So proud of you!

Pump it Up! Happy Birthday Jia & Dylan

We finally had the big bash!Dylan 6, and Jia 5. The years have flown by. It was so much fun to jump on all those huge jumping things! Thank you to all our friends that came and celebrated. It was a blast seeing all the kids have so much fun. All of our sweaty, stinky friends mean the world to us. Thanks for all the great gifts! Now Christmas doesn't seem so far away.

Ninja Power

Dylan & Jia here ready for the Countryside Halloween Parade. They had fun playing games & getting treats. Like we needed more treats! Tyler missed out because of a Birthday party. I think he is getting too old for some stuff now. My how time flys.

Great Weather Makes Halloween a Success!

Halloween was fabulous this year! The weather up here was absolutely perfect. We had our usual Chili open house here and there was quite a crowd! The kids were so ready to trick or treat and this year we had another family member join in the tradition. This is Georgia, our 1 year old Papillon. She throughly enjoyed the neighborhood Halloween Parade. I believe she was especially keen on her hat. Obviously, she was pretty popular. By the look on her face it looks like she already knows that. She is so fun and we love her very much. She has really made life fun. She is looking for love, so if anyone knows of a single male (smaller stature), we will be glad to consider the offer.
The kids were so cute too. Tyler 9, dressed as a ghost rider. Dylan 6, dressed as a Ninja. Jia 5, was the all powerful pink power ranger! Ready to roll, they returned with pillow cases stuffed to the rim! Wow, even some whole candy bars. Just what I need to help me on the never ending South Beach diet. It was a very fun and memorable Halloween.

October Vacation to St. John

We are so excited to start this blog for our family and friends. We thought this would be a good way to share the many happenings of our crazy lives! It will be a venue to share photos, funny & not so funny stories, prayer requests and praise reports! We are so blessed with this life we have and we give all the glory to God. This first photo is Bruce & Jan on a well deserved and needed vacation to St. John, Virgin Island. We did what we do best ; sat in the sun on every beach on the island and snorkeled in every bay we could get to. It was an awesome island experience. We definitely intend on going back next year. We encourage all of you to take time together now!