Derby Preview

We're getting ready for the big "Smullin Grand Prix 2009".
The flag is done and the cars have been painted... watch out here comes the "Orange Crush"!

Tip Junkie

This post is to tell you about Tip Junkie's going dot com Birthday Bash

(they used to be a blogspot).

By posting on my blog I become elligible for different prizes and give aways.

I have followed this blog for a while now and have really enjoyed it.

*Melanie, you better go to Tip Junkie and get qualified. You're on fire when it comes to winning these things!*

Summer Crazies

Look what happens when kids get bored over summer break. . . . . .

They get a little crazy with the dress-up. (Notice the handcuffs...hmmm.)
I think this may be called the Tongan look?

Taylee and Treyson kept telling Abree, "You have the hat on backwards, that's why the hair is in your face." She didn't care. I think that was a planned part of the look.

Slightly sad note: This all took place the first week they were out of school. Oh boy, we may be in for a LONG summer break!

Award Assembly

We received a letter in the mail, inviting us to an award assembly for Rylee.
Mr. Briggs (her advisory teacher) presented the Certificate of Excellence in Mathmatics. He explained that she was the only student several chapters a head of the class and even took a test to "test out" of next year's 7th grade math. She will be going straight into Pre-Algebra. Smarty!
Jason and I are so proud of Rylee... but we're kind of wondering where she got her Math skills. Not from me and not from him. Must have skipped a generation.

Side note: If I remember the numbers correctly (and that is a big IF) I believe the vice-principal said that 50% of the 6th graders were on honor roll and 25% had a 4.0 grade average. Quite impressive!!! It made choosing the awards very hard.

Annual Family Yard Sale

Every summer, our family gets together for a yard sale. We sell a lot of stuff, and do a little junk-swapping among ourselves as well. Tim and Karen were are lovely yard sale hosts this year.
(This is the first year I've remembered to take pictures. I usually get too busy and forget.) I didn't have anything in the actual yard sale this year. I had given too much away to the ARC. So our contribution was the Bake Sale. As you can see, we are our own best customers. Treyson had earned a dollar and had to spend it right away.

Rylee liked to be at the money collection table. Taylee wanted to be in charge of the Bake Sale money. Treyson wanted to eat the Bake Sale items and drink the lemonade. Abree played with cousins and tattle on Treyson for eating the Bake Sale items.

The kids earned enough to go see the movie, "Up!" in 3-D.

(It's expensive to see current movies now days...especially in 3-D!)

Sneak Peek

It all began 6 years ago...

We were living in Twin Falls at the time. Jeff (Jason's brother) was dwelling in our basement. Jeff's girls were coming to visit him for Father's Day. (They live with their mom and we don't get to see them very often.) Jeff was worried that his family in Utah, wouldn't come visit, while his girls were there. I said, "Hey, if we have a party they'll come!" We DID have a party and they DID come! Little did I know at the time, that I had created an annual tradition..."The Cousin Party".

We play games, make crafts, sleep in tents, eat lots of food, take lots of pictures and have lots of fun.

This year, Cathy (Jason's sister) is in charge of the cousin party. The theme is "Smullin Grand Prix 2009". We've each chosen a team color and name. We've been asked to design and create a team flag with our color and name. We are the, "Orange Crush"!

Here's the creation process of our team flag:

We had a little family meeting and talked about what we wanted on the flag. Jason started sketching.












Jason came up with a design concept.













Then sketched our logo.













He then enlarged the design on a copy machine and pieced it together.












Then he traced the design onto the flag material.




Then it was my turn. I painted the design and had the kids hand print the corners of the flag. Jason then outlined the design and wrote the kid's names and race numbers on the flag.

What do you think?