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.

What Five Year Old's Do

Well Cole is now five years old. For his birthday we celebrated by attending a movie. We went and saw Wall - E. He remained seated for the entire movie. Ella was not that bad. She watched the movie on and off along with staying close exploring different chairs. Not a full theatre so not a problem. Cole was so proud of himself for behaving. When we stopped at Ross to look at shoes for him and Ella he told the clerk he went and saw Wall- E. " I stayed in my seat because that is what 5 year old's do." I then asked what else do Five year olds do? He responded " Five year olds also clean up their toys. " Oh bring a tear to his Mama's eye. Cole recieved a Fisher Price camera and I hope to upload some of his creations soon.

Splash Park Monday

All Tuckered Out at the M

View of Bozeman from the M

Giggle on Down the Road

Flower Child

Cole and Ella Dawdling

Sleepy Ella

Cheese

Super Smiley Ella.

ROCK stars

We finally had a day off as a family. Also I needed to get my car back from it's recent trip to the shop for warranty work. So since we were to be in Helena anyways we visited a place we saw on TV's " Cash and Treasure" We went to the Spokane Bar Sapphire Mine in Helena, MT. Now I do have to say this was pretty cool all around. almost felt like we in an episode of Amazing Race and getting there was part of the fun. Now Montana road signs are few and far between, unless they are Clark Fork signs. But fortunately we found the location with out to much to do. Chad and I felt rather accomplished on not getting our family lost.
First we had to visit the outhouse. Cole and Ella's first outhouse. Cole held his nose and refused to go stating he did not have to. he said " mama i can only hold my nose for so long it is stinky in here." Now Ella on the other hand was not offended at all by the smells. In fact while we where there for 2 1/2 hours she made 4 visits.
We then bought our bag of rocks to sift through and received a demonstration by one of the "rock gods". He told us what to look for and how to dip and shake the screen in the bathtub of water.
Then we used the foam piece in the frame to turn over. We are sifting thru rocks and Chad pulls out this nice size blue sapphire and says "is this one?" Sure enough beginners luck. Well we did not find anything else except some Hematite and quartz till about 20 mins before we were just going to pack up and go. Mommy found a sparkling garnet. Both rough gems are between 1.5 - 2 carats. We packed our bag of rocks (still had a large bag but no longer had interested children) and headed toward the town part of Helena to pick up my van.
It was a good day.

Cleveland Rocks

Things have been a blur for me. I have been in Ohio learning a new system for work in order to train others how to operate. Creating a single dad test for Chad. He does not like it at all. I missed the kids and Chad horribly since this was the first time I had been away for more than two nights since the kids were born. Ohio is beautiful in the Cleveland/Hudson area. Quite green and lush. Reminded me a bit of Western Washington. Yet when i visited downtown Cleveland it felt amazing to be admist tall buildings again. I forget how encompassing it can feel. It was familair and yet strange at the same time. I was able to experience the House of Blues and a visit to the Rock N' Roll hall of fame. I can say I have stood next to Maddona's Bustier and Micheal Jackson's Rhinestone GLOVE! Pretty cool. Being a fabric gal it was also interesting to see how much crepe, velvet and dedication went into those Outfits. Elvis' jumpsuit! Man I would hate to hand sew all that rhinestone action on since it was before the Bedazzler. I also saw my first Great Lake and boy was it great! Huge and massive it looked like a dark ocean front with out the current. I enjoy being home and spend time with the kids and Chad yet jumping back into work.

smile

Cole showing off a tennis ball and his cars wheels which he has learned to take off. Ella is mid change for her next princess preformance.

Crazy Kids

Ella and Cole

Angie and Eloise at Old Faithful