A plethera of pictures

Johnny is obsessed with taking pictures of everything and everybody. This is one of the few pictures of me. Johnny took it.
Balloon fun after a trip to the local bank grand opening.

Meghan loves to pose.

Here is the three of them with their balloons. Ashley is having a great time staying with us for the school year. We are really proud of how well she is doing in school here and she is a great help with the kids.

Ashley decorated a pumpkin at the open house.

We are so proud of Johnny. He jumped in a bounce house all by himself and with no tears!!!

Tarah is the queen of taking pictures of her with the kids. I always look like a dork when I try.

We decided to go ahead and put Meghan in a toddler bed. Millie will be having her baby soon and I want to get all the baby stuff to her house before winter really starts to kick in. Of course, Meghan loves her new found freedom and we are in constant "get back in bed mode!" Not shown here is the large bed rail we put on the bed to keep her a little more contained and feeling secure. She can still get out anytime she wants, and she does!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!!

Happy Birthday Dad!
We Love You and miss you more than we can say.

Ginger, Kevin, Tarah, Johnny and Meghan

My daughter gets more beautiful every day~

In Color and in Black and White. I couldn't decide which one I liked better.

Tarah's sophmore school picture for school year 2008/2009. Isn't she stunning?

Homecoming and getting ready for Halloween

Meghan has decided to be a fairy princess also known as "Tinkerbell". She is obsessed with princesess and had to have the wings. Johnny will be Buzz Lightyear again this year since the costume fits better this time. But it won't fit next year. He grows inches taller every other month.
Tarah loves to hang out with her siblings. They are so cute together.
Homecoming 08. Tarah went with friends. Her boyfriend would seem to be out of the picture for a while. We shall see. They have broken up a lot in the last year.
Tarah and her friend Conner.
Tarah and her beest friend Jordan. They are truly joined at the hip. I got to spend a wonderful week shopping with them for the occasion. (I got to pay!) I ended up waiting for them and having a beer at Chili's. I just can't keep up anymore.

Fun at home

The kids are wonderfully obsessed with reading books. We read to them and they pretend to read to us. Meghan won't leave my bedroom without grabbing a paperback to carry around with her. Johnny gets to go to the school library and he loves to pick a new book each time.

This is a picture he took of his new book. It is very cute.

We took advantage of Bush's stimulus check last year to add a game system to our home. It has been 10 years so we thought what the heck....Johnny loves to play. He plays Tiger Woods golf and loves Wall-e. He is pretty good at it. I geuss he gets it from Kevin. (see below)

Father - Son bonding with a game controller in hand.

Meghan has the wildest baby fine hair. The only way I can get it to stay is to use a half a bottle of hairspray. So each evening she is a wild crazy girl. Here she is trying to get out of eating dinner. I am sure there is a good reason why the dogs lay at her feet while she eats, even though I haven't caught her feeding them.

Tarah is on the volleyball team float in the homecoming parade. She is full of plans for the dance and the game. There is a long list of things she "needs to buy" this week to get ready for it.

We are about to go on the wild adventure called Driver's Ed............I may have to hurry and get a job before they are all gone.

Our 8th anniversary

Tarah took our picture before we left for our favorite Irish pub. They had a live band night fundraiser that was a wonderful time! We didn't win any of the raffle prizes but Kevin bought me a cool T-shirt as a keepsake. They were raising money for a local Irish music retreat.

Here is "natural" us.
Here is us after Tarah makes us "open our eyes." We look surprised. Maybe it is because she is babysitting and being so sweet about it. Just Kidding. The kids had a great time playing with their big sister all night. She is a wonderful babysitter and we are very lucky to have her helping us out.

An evening at the local fair!

Additional notes: We went back to the fair on Sunday evening and Johnny decided to ride the Strawberry with me and meghan. They loved it although it almost made me sick. It's 97 degrees outside and God only knows how hot inside! Meghan hugged the Strawberry as we were leaving. I am so proud of Johnny for being brave enough to ride the strawberry!

Johnny has a best friend named Hannah. This is Hannah and her mom. Johnny does not like rides so Meghan filled in for him on the Strawberry.
Johnny and Meghan waiting in line for the trucks. This is the ONLY ride Johnny likes and he only rode it a couple of times. He has never liked motion. I think he gets that from his Dad.
Johnny and Meghan-fighting over who gets to push the buttons!
Johnny decides not to ride anymore and Meghan doesn't like being all alone.
So I get the last tickets to ride a grown-up ride!!!

Hannah rode with us for a while.
Meghan decides to try the elephants...she wasn't impressed!
Johnny waits on the sidelines for the girls to be done. He knows what he likes and what he doesn't. He did have a great time. We did a good job of only spending a few dollars and the kids got some much needed running around!

PIctures from the first day of School!!!

Tarah is in 10th grade this year. She has straight A's even in the advanced classes and is the manager for the Volleyball team. She has the same boyfriend as last year and she has a best friend and they are truly joined at the hip! We are very proud of all of her hard work. She turns 16 in March and is looking forward to a sweet sixteen party!
Johnny is so proud to be in school. He has a great teacher and loves to be there everyday. He comes home talking all about his friends and singing cute little school songs. He has writing homework almost every day but I am trying to help keep it fun for him. He walks into the school and to his class all by himself everyday now. He loves being a "big boy" and walking with his class. I still take my time buckling my seat belt just to be sure he makes it all the way to the door ok.
Meghan gets to be in the 2 year old classroom at Kids Day Out on Mondays and Wednesdays. Meghan has no fear and never even looks back when I drop her off. She has a wonderful teacher and gets to play with 4 little boys so she gets to be the "princess" of the class. I sub for the school on occasion and have a great time with the kids.
Here is Johnny at his open house for Kindergarten. We got to meet his teacher and make sure he knew his way all around the school.

With the kids in school it gives me time to get my work done during the day instead of having to work nights and weekends.