Date Night

We had our first date night since Violet's arrival! We went to see Les Mis at The Rep and had so much fun! This was Steve's first time seeing a professional production so I think I enjoyed his reaction as much as the musical itself! There were some local people in the play, but the main characters were all professionals...it was wonderful!

Violet stayed with her Dodi and Poppa, she was so excited!! She took a short catnap then stayed up until we got there, around 11pm! She is a party animal! However, she succumbed to her carseat and was asleep before we got off of Fox Run!

Veronika is doing great in school, she is the best reader in her AWANA class at church! She is the only one who can read the verses by herself with very little help on names of the Bible, etc.

First Foods

I can't believe that Little Miss Violet is 5 Months Old!! For the past couple of weeks we have been trying rice cereal but she really hasn't had much interest in it! Sunday night we tried it again and she LOVED it! It is a brown color because we add prune juice to make her poops soft:) She is growing so big! She loves to talk and she is VERY nosey...just like her mommy!

Dancing Queen!

Veronika lost her first tooth last week! She was SO excited. She also started dance last Thursday, she is taking Tap, Jazz, and Ballet in one class on Thursday nights. She is taking at "A Time To Dance," a small studio in East End so it is really convenient for us. She is really doing great in 1st Grade. Her behavior has REALLY improved compared to last year and she is excelling academically! A few nights ago at dinner Steve was telling us about a customer that was being a moron...Veronika said, "Oh boy, he is really D-U-M!" We all had a good laugh and then she got a lesson on the silent "B"

1. Who is your man? Stephen Thomas Tripp
2. How long have you been together? not long...2 1/2 years, married 1 year and 10 months
3. How long did you date? 8 1/2 months

4. How old is your man? 30
5. Who eats more? Steve used to, but he is dieting and I am breastfeeding

6. Who said "I love you" first? I think he did?
7. Who is taller? Steve, he is 6'
8. Who sings better? me

9. Who is smarter? Steve is in common sense, history, things that really matter; I am in matters of the home

10. Whose temper is worse? Mine

11. Who does the laundry? me
12. Who takes out the garbage? him
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? me right now since I get up with Violet

14. Who pays the bills? we do it together...every Thursday night...can we say OCD

15. Who is better with the computer? hmmm...we are probably equal

16. Who mows the lawn? He does

17. Who cooks dinner? I do, Steve will once in awhile and he is actually a good cook

18. Who drives when you are together? Steve does, but I am excellent at back-seat instruction

19. Who pays when you go out? Whoever is not holding Violet at the time

20. Who is most stubborn? probably me

21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Steve, I hate to admit that I am wrong, but I am getting better

22.Who kissed who first? He kissed me

23. Who asked who out? He asked me out, we communicated by email for a week or so, phone for two weeks, and then we went out in person

24. Who proposed? Steve-in Branson in May 2006

25. Who is more sensitive? probably me, but Steve can be a sensitive Sally sometimes

26. Who has more friends? me, most of Steve's friends were in Montana or have moved away to pastor churches

27. Who has more siblings? We each have 1 brother and 1 sister

28. Who wears the pants in the family? We make all major decisions together. I take care of the day to day decisions mostly, but we make big decisions together

1 Year Later

So a full year has passed since my last entry! SO much has changed...Veronika is in 1st Grade, I am no longer working...I am a Stay-At-Home Mom, and of course, Violet Anne has arrived! Too much has happened to update so I'll just update with pictures. They are mainly from our Labor Day trip to Branson. On Saturday Brad, Paula, and Josh went to the Razorback game so Mom, Dad, Amanda, Evie, Jackson, Tucker, Steve, Veronika, Violet and myself went to playtime pizza. The big kids and Dodi, Steve, and Amanda rode go-karts, we played putt-putt, and played in the arcade. Sunday we went to Silver Dollar City, Violet did SO well, she was the only kid who didn't have a melt-down! She loved sitting in her stroller and staring at people. Monday we ate breakfast, did a little shopping and then our family went to Promiseland Drive Through Zoo. We took a wrong turn so it took us 9 hours from the time we left Branson to the time we got home and Violet only cried for 30 MINUTES!!! AMAZING!!

Labor Day

We went to Baton Rouge for the weekend and had a WONDERFUL time! We arrived around 1:30am Saturday morning. When everyone woke up we ate a delicious breakfast and sat around talking until lunch time. We went and ate at DeAngelo's for lunch, then went downtown to the USS KIDD. It was overcast so it wasn't too hot, just a little muggy. After that we went back to Aunt Ann's house and I took a 4 hour nap while all the other girls went shopping.
That night, Chad and Daniel grilled a wonderful dinner.

Sunday morning we got up and went to New Orleans to visit a Children's Museum. It was mostly interactive and Veronika really enjoyed it. We visited the Aquarium for a few hours and then went downtown. We saw an old lady dancing in the street with an old homeless man and several other odditities that I will not post here (he.he.he) On our way home we drove around looking at some of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina then headed back to Aunt Ann's house. Alexia and Veronika at the USS KIDD
The poached alligator we saw in the Mississippi River. It was missing it's claws and head
Our group picture in Downtown Baton Rouge

Oh Baby!

Well Morning Sickness has struck...or should I say all day sickness. For the FIRST time in my life, I don't want to eat but that is the only thing that will keep me from being sick. I am trying to be thankful...so many women would LOVE to be experiencing this instead of dealing with infertility. Sometimes it is hard to remember what a blessing this feeling is, but then I just think about the end result and it makes it worthwhile.

Veronika's First Day

These are some pictures from Veronika's First Day of Kindergarten. She was so excited and didn't cry or fuss at all. She had an easier time than her dad, mom, and I. We got to go the night before she started Kindergarten and see her room and meet her teacher so I am sure that helped with the 1st Day Jitters!

Back To School

So, I said good-bye to summer and am back to the grindstone. I am always ready to come back (I don't really have much of a choice) but I enjoyed this summer more than the usual. We really got alot accomplished this summer. We had the exterior of the house painted, a new heating and air unit put in, and we got gutters yesterday. Eventually we would like to replace the windows to make the house more energy efficient, but that is on a LONG list of to do's. Oh yeah, we also re-did the front bathroom. I peeled the wallpaper and painted and Steve installed a new toilet, vanity, mirror, light fixture, sink and hardware. It is very bright and actually a fun place to spend time.

Anyway, my class seems REALLY good this year. I have a lot of really advanced readers and only a few behavior problems. This is such a change from last year where I literally had only a few that DIDN'T give me problems. I honestly believe that God just knew I couldn't handle another year like last year ( I don't think Steve could have handled it either, since he got the brunt of my complaints.)

Ok, I think that is it for now. I will post some pictures from this summer.

(BTW, The bathroom is orange with green trim)

Pictures

These are pictures of Veronika's Room...we did a MAJOR cleaning, got a new storage unit and FINALLY hung up the curtains that her Grandma made for her:)

These are pictures from our Father's Day Trip to Petit Jean Mountain and Veronika's Birthday!

No Pictures

Well, I don't have my camera today but I thought I would go ahead and blog without the pictures.
Summer is WONDERFUL! I am teaching Summer School through June. It is from 8am-11:30am. Then I am keeping Veronika and Kalyssa in the afternoons. After June, I will be keeping them full-time. I am REALLY enjoying staying at home. Our house is tidy and we don't eat out much. I am fully convinced that I was MADE to Stay at Home. But, come August, I will be back to the grindstone.
Saturday was Veronika's 5th Birthday Party. We had a really good time. Steve and I bought a trampoline for the backyard, but we haven't put it up yet. Dodi and Poppa bought her a Purple Princess Pontiac Solstice. It is ABSOLUTELY precious and she loves it. It is hilarious to watch her drive it. It even has an AM radio and 3 pre-programmed songs that she can listen to while she drives. We had the party at Dodi and Poppa's pool...they did ALOT of work and the pool looked like an Island Paradise. We were able to sit on the deck under the new canopy and eat lunch and open presents, then we all had a great time in the pool.
Sunday we relaxed, Mom and Dad were ESPECIALLY exhausted from all of the work that they did for the party. Sunday evening Mom, Dad, Steve, Veronika, and I went to eat dinner at Cozymel's and then Steve, Veronika and I stayed up late organizing Veronika's room and getting all of her Birthday Toys put away.
I will try to post pictures later this week:)
Have a great week!

Vacation

We went to Branson for Memorial Day Weekend and had a BLAST! We left about 6:30pm Friday evening and stopped and ate a delicious meal at MarketPlace in Conway. Steve, Veronika and I were traveling with Mom, Dad, Brad, Paula, and the boys. Amanda and Josh left earlier in the day to make a run to Springdale and then went to Branson.

We arrived at our cabin late Friday evening. It was a beautiful 4 bedroom lodge with beautiful scenery. Saturday morning we relaxed a while, ate breakfast, swam, and then everyone settled down for a nap. That afternoon we all got up and got dressed and went to the Dixie Stampede. It was wonderful. We had Creamy vegetable soup, a roll, Roasted chicken, Pork loin, Roasted Potatoes, Corn on the Cob, and Apple Turnovers. The show was very entertaining, it featured racing pigs and ostriches, buffalo, dancers and trick riders. After the show we went to the Go Cart Tracks. Tucker, Mom, Dad, and I all stayed on the sidelines to take pictures. By then, the boys were exhausted so they went back to the lodge with Dodi and Poppa. Brad, Paula, Josh and Amanda went to see Spiderman 3 at the Imax and Steve, Veronika and I went for a round of Putt-Putt.

Sunday morning we went to Silver Dollar City for the day. We ate breakfast at Molly's Mill Restaurant in the park. We ended up staying all day and we were all absolutely exhausted that night. Steve and I went and got Pizza for dinner and we all sat around talking and watching TV.

Monday morning we went to eat at the Grand Country Buffett, we arrived about 10:50am and breakfast was over at 11am so we were able to sample both breakfast and lunch foods. Quite pigish of us, but it was delicious. We spent about an hour in the arcade and them headed our separate ways.

Steve, Veronika and I stuck around for a while and did some shopping and then headed home. We took Scenic Highway 7 home and it was beautiful. I haven't traveled that road since I was much younger and Steve had never been on it. He really enjoyed it and said that he hadn't seen winding roads and mountains like that since being in Montana.

In other news, Steve's family called last night and they have all made it safely to Montana. They had a few complications getting started but they all made it safely. It is really funny, the preacher that retired from the church that Steve's dad is taking on moved to Little Rock and actually live quite close to us.

Only 4 days of school left!!!

On To Kindergarten!!

Last Thursday was Veronika's Pre-School Graduation. She is really excited about kindergarten. She knows all of her letters and most of her sounds and she is really close to tying her shoes.
Here is a funny story, it may not amuse you as much as it amused us, but it is worth sharing. Last night (Monday) we were putting Veronika to bed and we were talking about how she needs to be obedient and nice or people will not want to be her friend. She got a really sad look on her face and said, "Then I would have to be my own best friend?" We were trying to have a serious conversation, but it all ended there.

Happy Birthday!!

HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY AUNT AMANDA!!! (5/26/86)

WE LOVE YOU!!!

Birthday Parties and Such

Well...it has been quite a while since my last post. Here are some pics from Tucker's 1st Birthday Party and Dinner at Mom and Dad's. We have been spending alot of time at the ballpark and in our yard. I will have to post some pictures of my flower garden...it is funny, I always made fun of my mom for the way she treated her plants, but now I am the same way.
We are going to Branson this weekend with Mom, Dad, Amanda, Josh, Brad, Paula, Tucker and Jackson. We are SO ready for a nice break. We have 4 days of school after Memorial Day, and then I start Summer School the following Monday.
I am So ready for Summer. I am keeping Veronika AND her little sister, Kalyssa...we have alot of fun things planned and I am excited to just stay at home and finally let Veronika play with some of the neighborhood kids.
Veronika graduates from Pre-School tonight, so I will post some pictures from Graduation and Vacation next week.
Until next time...

Ponderings

I love experiencing life through my daughter's eyes. We went to see Disney On Ice this weekend and we had a blast. It was amazing to see the show with her. She really saw the characters as real people, she was terrified of Sleeping Beauty's dragon and she thought the 7 Dwarfs and Ariel's friends were hilarious.

She is also playing T-Ball. She is on the Purple team as you can see, and she is really having fun making friends and learning skills. The first game, she hit the ball and then ran to pick it up. She also gets confused between 1st base and 3rd base and sometimes splits the middle and runs to the pitchers mound when she hits the ball. She enjoys cleaning off the bases and digging trenches around them. Who knows if she will stick with softball, or if she will find another passion to pursue; but I was given an oppurtunity to try anything I wanted when I was young and was able to discover my own talents and passions to succeed in. I want my children to have these same oppurtunities. I want them to know that it is OK to try something and fail, it is OK to not ALWAYS be the best in everything they do.

In other news, we are having a garage sale this weekend. It is the "Maple Creek Neighborhood Garage Sale." Hopefully having several houses will draw more people. We only have 6 more weeks of school left, but the kids are already on Summer Vacation. We joke at lunch that they have completely phased us out and are simply worn out. Patience (mine) is wearing then, attention is gone (students) and we are all ready for a break.

Easter

We really enjoyed our Easter. Because everyone was going separate ways on Sunday we decided to celebrate as a family on Thursday night. We went to mom's for a ham dinner and Paula made some adorable and precious Easter cupcakes. The kids got their Easter baskets from Dodi and Poppa, then we all went outside for an Easter Egg Hunt.
Friday was "Good Friday" so I was off of work, but Veronika had to go for a Snow Make-Up Day. We didn't have Veronika Easter Weekend, so on Saturday we worked hard ALL DAY LONG! We got the patio cleaned up except for Garage Sale Stuff and Steve got all of his boxes in the house and is currently unpacking them. Sunday we went to church, out to eat Chinese Food, and home for a nice nap. We didn't have service Sunday night so we rested all evening.
We have had a real cold snap, so I am hoping all of my plants don't die...it is funny, I used to make fun of mom for loving her plants, but now I understand:)

Only 7 1/2 Weeks until Summer Break!!!

Gardening

Tuesday night Mom came over to our houses and made a little garden for each of the grandkids. We were really surprised because Veronika dove right into the dirt and she even found a "pet" worm (pictured). She put it in her bike bag and took it home. She even put it to bed in HER bed, until we explained to her that the worm would be MUCH happier in the dirt. I am so glad that Dodi and Poppa get to spend so much time with all of the grandkids. We really appreciate how good they are to Veronika, she LOVES to spend time with them and all of her extended families!

Spring Break

These are pictures form our Spring Break Trip. We left for Branson right after Veronika's softball practice Friday night. I had made Chicken Salad Sandwiches and packed chips and drinks, so we only had to stop for gas. We got into Branson around 10:30. Saturday morning we were up bright and early and went and ate at Aunt Molly's inside of Silver Dollar City. We had a blast Saturday. Veronika was on her best behavior and we really enjoyed our day together. Veronika rode her first "real" rollercoaster which really surprised me; we spent most of the afternoon in the "family" section which has alot of rides more age-appropriate for Veronika. We left the park at closing and went back to the hotel for a quick rest. We bathed Veronika and then headed to the Olive Garden for some dinner and then to Andy's frozen custard for dessert. We were all exhausted and slept well.

Sunday morning we headed to McDonald's for breakfast and it was packed!! We were in line for 30 minutes. When we got up to the counter they announced that they were switching over to lunch, but luckily we got to order breakfast. After that we headed to the Butterfly Palace. We thought it was a little over-priced for what you got, but we still enjoyed it. Our favorite part was a mirror "rainforest." We got really lost and had a blast. Next, we headed down to Branson Landings to the Disney Store. Veronika has been saving up her allowance for this trip, so she bought her own purse with little knick-knacks. We really tried to get her to get something that she didn't already have; but we told her it was her money and she could make her own decision. We wrapped up the trip with lunch at Joe's Crab Shack. Veronika was out before we even got on the highway and slept most of the way home.

I had a very nice week off of school, I got alot of cleaning and organization done. I don't think I have ever relaxed that much on a break...it was wonderful; a nice energizer for the final 8 weeks of school.