Merry Christmas

Christmas Program

Cole and Class singing.

Ella and the Reindeer hat. Say Cheese!

Ella playing outside during recess.

Cole and Ella in front of Cole's Classroom tree.

Cole smiling proudly at a job well done.

This a small portion of the Christmas program. Cole seems to enjoy performing, like his Mommy. Sorry so shaky. I was also making sure Ella stayed in her seat.

Goodbye Smokey

Smokey fell ill on Saturday, November 15th and was in Pet Hospital till we found out he had Pancreatitus. Tuesday we were hanging onto hope that he might make it but liver failure presented itself. We said goodbye to Smokey November 19th and he was waiting for my mom to join him in Heaven. Yes it has been a rough week. He is no longer in pain. Our hearts are stronger since we had Smokey in our lives.

In Loving Memory of Eloise Willams

We have had a huge loss in our family. My mother, Eloise has passed away September 20th. She went peacefully and quietly as we held hands and listened to the Beatles "Let it Be and All You Need is Love". As most of you know my mom had battled with illness and dementia for the last 17 years. She is free of all her limitations. Elosie is survived by her two daughters, Debra Leonard of Bozeman, MT and Angela Melero of San Leandro, CA. She is also survived by her Mother, Columbia Turner, Pacifica, CA and two grandchildren Cole and Ella.

Sesame Street LIVE

I won tickets for the whole family to attend Sesame Street Live! It was fun and the Kids had a blast! We forgot the camera but used our cell phones to take some Pictures. Here is our view from our seats. One thing about Bozeman and the Field House is that there is no bad seat.

Cole being goofy and really excited. He stayed seated for the whole show except for a time when he HAD to shake his groove thing.

Ella was constantly moving and dancing. After the intermission Chad and Ella went to the floor to have more room for her dance moves. Ella even got to meet Grundgetta, Oscar the Grouch's Girlfriend. We did not get a picture of that because it was too dark and had no flash. Ella was a little shy and clingy to Daddy.

Cole was just enjoying the show from his seat singing and loving the dancing.

Cole and his light up spinner. A reward for Great Behavior. Look closer and you can see Chad and Ella through the colors.

Cole's First School Picture

Happy Halloween

It's a Halloween Snowman! Perfect for a Montana Halloween.

Go Speed Go! Cole as Speed Racer. Vintage Style. Soooo many little boys exclaimed oooh it's Speed Racer!!! Cole loved the attention and insisted we call him Speed.

Our Little Princess screaming CANDY! before she even ate any!

Recent Portraits

Cole's First Day of School

Cole is all grins with his spikey hair. My boy is wearing product!
Check out my back pack. He was so excited he has slept with it for 2 nights so far.
Waiting in line before his class marches into his class room. Cole had no worries. I don't even think he said goodbye to us. Just hopped in line when it started forming and was using his listening ears. We waved goodbye and he was off.
Daddy and I drove by during lunch time to watch him play with other kids. I even snapped a few pictures. OH MY Gosh... I know I need to let go.
A picture of all the Kindergartner parents who are having a hard time letting go. The Principal even came out and asked if they were having tears or cheers?. He is the tall man in the green shirt and slacks.

A Day at the Idaho Falls Zoo

I think it will be Dance

Ella was enthralled in the dancing and showed me how a ballerina lifts her leg and balances. I believe when she is 3 she will choose dance class.

Swim Lessons

Cole began his swim lesson monday. A birthday present from his Nana and Pop Pop. He is fearless. He has no qualms about anything and listens to the teacher. Ella is only slightly envious but she will be three soon so we can begin with swim, gymnastics or dance.

Flash Flood and Hail OMY!

Cole's Fifth Birthday Party

Cole's Fifth Birthday party was a BLAST. Of course we had it at the local Splash Park. Cole really loves getting wet. We were joined by friends and everyone seemed to have a good time. At first it seemed that there would not be splashing as the city forgot to turn the water on. After the local fireman (Firestation on the corner of the park) called the city we had water to splash real soon after that. Cole had a pirate birthday with chocolate cupcakes with orange and white frosting and yummy pizza. All the kids played, splash and had a Arrrg - right time.
Party goers Splashing it up.

Lunch break and time to warm up. Cole on the left and Gabe on the right.
Ella enjoying her pea- za with Brenna on a cozy quilt.

Flower Children

We Love That Splash Park

This is typical Cole and Ella at the Splash Park. Cole is Non Stop Go Go GO! And Ella exercises her feminine charms. There is no sound as I used Chad's Camera which was purchased for its portability and low discount bargain basement price.

Check IT!

Found this on one of my favorite blogs . www.Nikkistafford.blogspot.com

Check it out!!!!

This is Joss Whedon's latest project, a three-part Web movie. As the Facebook profile states, it is "The story of a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he’s too shy to talk to." The super-villain is Neil Patrick Harris from How I Met Your Mother, the guy who beats him up is Nathan Fillion (WOO!) and the girl he's too shy to talk to is Felicia Day, best known in the Whedonverse as Vi, that British Potential with the jaunty hat.The first episode will appear on July 15th, the second on July 17th, and the third on July 19th, and they will all appear here, on the official site for the show. The catch? They will all be taken down at midnight on July 20th, and thereafter will be available for download for a nominal fee before appearing on DVD.The Man Himself posted on Whedonesque to tout the event, and here is his post (check out the link to see the other comments):

Dear Friends,At last the time has come to reveal to you our Master Plan. BEWARE! Those with weak hearts should log off lest they be terrified by the twisted genius of our schemes! Also pregnant women and the elderly should consider reading only certain sentences. Do not mix with other blogs. Do not operate heavy machinery while reading this blog. You must be this tall to read. ‘Kay?It is time for us to change the face of Show Business as we know it. You know the old adage, “It’s Show Business – not Show Friends”? Well now it’s Show Friends. We did that. To Show Business. To show Show Business we mean business. (Also, there are now other businesses like it.)ONE WEEK ONLY! AN INTERNET MINISERIES EVENT!"Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog" will be streamed, LIVE (that part’s not true), FREE (sadly, that part is) right on Drhorrible.com, in mid-July. Specifically:ACT ONE (Wheee!) will go up Tuesday July 15th.ACT TWO (OMG!) will go up Thursday July 17th.ACT THREE (Denouement!) will go up Saturday July 19th.All acts will stay up until midnight Sunday July 20th. Then they will vanish into the night, like a phantom (but not THE Phantom – that’s still playing. Like, everywhere.)And now to answers a few Frequently (soon to be) Asked Questions:1) Why, Joss? Why? Why now, why free, why us?Once upon a time, all the writers in the forest got very mad with the Forest Kings and declared a work-stoppage. The forest creatures were all sad; the mushrooms did not dance, the elderberries gave no juice for the festival wines, and the Teamsters were kinda pissed. (They were very polite about it, though.) During this work-stoppage, many writers tried to form partnerships for outside funding to create new work that circumvented the Forest King system.Frustrated with the lack of movement on that front, I finally decided to do something very ambitious, very exciting, very mid-life-crisisy. Aided only by everyone I had worked with, was related to or had ever met, I single-handedly created this unique little epic. A supervillain musical, of which, as we all know, there are far too few.The idea was to make it on the fly, on the cheap – but to make it. To turn out a really thrilling, professionalish piece of entertainment specifically for the internet. To show how much could be done with very little. To show the world there is another way. To give the public (and in particular you guys) something for all your support and patience. And to make a lot of silly jokes. Actually, that sentence probably should have come first.2) What happens when it goes away? Does it go to a happy farm for always like Fluffy did when mommy was crying and the neighbor kept washing his fender?No, Dr horrible will live on. We intend to make it available for download soon after it’s published. This would be for a nominal fee, which we’re hoping people will embrace instead of getting all piratey. We have big dreams, people, and one of them is paying our crew.And somewhat later, we will put the complete short epic out on DVD – with the finest and bravest extras in all the land. We’ll go into greater detail about that at Comiccon, but we’re changing the face of Show Friendliness a second time with that crazy DVD.3) Joss, you are so kind, and generous, and your forehead is like, huge, like SCARY, like I think I can see Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint hanging off it… what can WE do to help this musical extravanganza?What you always do, peeps! What you’re already doing. Spread the word. Rock some banners, widgets, diggs… let people know who wouldn’t ordinarily know. It wouldn’t hurt if this really was an event. Good for the business, good for the community – communitIES: Hollywood, internet, artists around the world, comic-book fans, musical fans (and even the rather vocal community of people who hate both but will still dig on this). Proving we can turn Dr Horrible into a viable economic proposition as well as an awesome goof will only inspire more people to lay themselves out in the same way. It’s time for the dissemination of the artistic process. Create more for less. You are the ones that can make that happen.Wow. I had no idea how important you guys were. I’m a little afraid of you.4) Joss, do you ever answer a question simply or coherently?Shledzguohn?There’ll be more questions, and more long, long answers, but for now I’m just excited that we’re actually making this happen. We (and a lot of other people -- gushing to commence soon) worked very hard on the show and we hope/think you guys will be pleased. Until July 15th ,

I remain,

yours truly,

-j, of the firm j, j, m & z.