Merry New Year~

This is a picture on Christmas Eve right before Ole St. Nick made an appearance. It was very peaceful and quiet at this moment!

Our Christmas tree had a train at the base of it this year with some of our Christmas village pieces to create a little town of its own. Stan is the mastermind behind this. Who would've thought?

The stockings were all hung by the chimney with care (or actually laying on the floor because they were too heavy.....

The kids had a fun Christmas morning. Santa brought them EXACTLY what they wished for plus too much.

A couple of days before Christmas Santa made a personal visit to our house. Mason opened the door and this is what he found.....

Christmas Card Letter 2008

Today at 5:00, my official 16 day vacation began!! The first task completed was scripting the family letter for the Christmas cards. Here it is for those of you who just can't wait for the postman to deliver it.....
Hopefully, they'll be mailed before New Year's Day!


Holiday Greetings from the Simpsons!

In January, Madison Victoria turned 11 years old. She currently is in the sixth grade, and loves middle school. She is as smart as ever, and still keeps us on our toes with her creative mind and stories. She began playing violin in the school orchestra, and not surprisingly… does a great job. I must admit that I wasn’t crazy about the idea at first, but she doesn’t screech when she practices, and she is actually making music with the violin. She is still dancing with the same performing company, and they just finished up The Nutcracker. This year, she is dancing a ballet duet for the first time, and is excited to compete in March.
In February, Makenzie Vaile celebrated her 9th birthday. She is in the fourth grade and is in her last year of elementary school and wearing bows (or so she keeps saying J) How time flies!!! She is singing in the fourth grade honor choir called the “Treble Makers.” This is her first year to dance in the performing company at the studio. She is enjoying it… especially the social part of it. She too danced in The Nutcracker recently. She also loves to draw, and teases her dad with drawings of the two of them hunting together.
Mason Riley was 5 years old in August. He is in his second year of Pre-K, and is doing extremely well. He could’ve started in kindergarten this year, but with that late birthday, we decided that another year of maturity wouldn’t hurt. With Mom being the Assistant Principal at school, she didn’t want to have to suspend her own baby boy his first year J He played his first year of T-Ball this summer, and had a blast. His favorite pastimes are playing the Wii and hanging out with his best buddy- Daddy. They are quite the pair together.

We pray the joy and blessings of the season for you and your family,



Stan, Amy, Madison, Makenzie, and Mason

No It's Not, But..............

we DID get gift bags from Blakeman's. Inside was some jewelry cleaner, coupons for various retailers in the area, and a burgandy scarf with the Blakeman's emblem "B" monogrammed on it in with silver thread. Oh, AND there was a David Yurman catalog in the bag that contained pictures to remind me of all the things I DIDN'T win this evening. But.. it was a quick spontaneous adventure (which I haven't had in a while), and it gave me some quick time to spend with an old friend. Thanks Aricka!~

PS... If your name begins with a "B", comment on this post. I have a nice personalized Christmas gift for you.

Is it my lucky day???

An old friend (not age... but we go way back), Aricka just called me out of the blue. She asked me to go with her to Blakeman's to enter a $5000 drawing for David Yurman jewelry. You must be present to win. Of course, I said yes.... so off we go to WIN. If we win, I'm heading to Vegas :-)

Grammy Bound

Mason's choir at church had a performance a couple of weeks ago. The time on the invitation that I STILL have said 5:30. I guess they must've meant 5:20, because at 5:30 they were completely finished and parents were leaving. So I asked for a private performance and this is what I got. Here are the lyrics to help out a little:
"Let's count the ways that we can play.
And CRAZE the Lord together...."

Mice, Mini-Me, and a Man Child

Yes, I know it's been a week since Halloween. The good news is....it hasn't been a month since Halloween. Here are some pictures of our Halloween 2008.

Madison and 2 of her friends dressed up as 3 Blind Mice. They were very cute. I was a little sad about Halloween with her this year. She wanted to go off with her friends and "hang out" with them. So she was gone until about 9:00. She's growing up too too too fast!


The 3 Musketeers/Mice

Sophie, Emily, Madison

If you think Madison looks short in the picture... you are correct. She is this much shorter than most of the kids in her class. :-)

Makenzie was Kit~ the American Girl doll. She looked adorable. At school, she did a book talk on "Kit Learns a Lesson" and she could dress up as a character in the book. She was just going to take her Kit doll as a "prop". But we surprised her with the matching Kit outfit the Tuesday before Halloween.

Mason is his daddy rolled up into a small body. When I asked him what he wanted to be for Halloween, his response was "a red Power Ranger". Well if you refer back to my Halloween post from last year http://simpsonsnapshot.blogspot.com/2007/11/lost-photo-op.html you will see why. He already has the costume. Why wouldn't you be a red Power Ranger? Well.. I talked him into a blue Power Ranger. He had a blast Trick or Treating.

After the kids Trick or Treated, we came back to our house for our annual Taco Soup dinner with the Doshiers.

Makenzie and Meredith took a short pause from the candy to pose for a cheesy picture.

Boogie Shoes

I am posting this video, not because it's the best ballet dancing I've ever seen Madison do, but because at the end... her true personality shines and I got a good laugh out of it. And you've gotta love those legs. Thank you Aunt Kris and Aunt Leanda!!

Here are a couple of pictures from her dance class:

Bethany, Katherine, and Madison

Concentrating hard.... which is difficult with a camera pointed at you

No post would be complete without a Tutt child in it~ Catie Beth and Madison being silly

Pumpkin Soup

Number One reason to not carve pumpkins too early before Halloween.....

As Mason would say these days.... "Nice."

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Fall.....

Last night was Pumpkin Carving Night. The girls always love carving pumpkins with Daddy. Mason wasn't that interested last night; however, he asked several times today if Daddy would cut his pumpkin.

Mason drawing the face on his pumpkin. This is as far as he got with the process.

Makenzie creating her masterpiece.

Madison concentrating on making the perfect Jack o' Lantern.

I'm surprised her tongue is in her mouth!!

She is truly MY daughter. Yuck!


The smell in the garage was pretty strong. I was informed it smelled better than deer guts. Nice!

Makenzie's finished product

Madison's finished product

Stan's finished product

My finished product #1

And #2

I decided the porch looked silly with Jack O' Lanterns and red geraniums, so I got very ambitious, and actually decorated my outside urns to make a good backdrop for the pumpkins.

And I did it all myself.

And I would take some help in fixing them if anyone offered.

For free of course. :-)

I love the Fall! Especially the weather that comes with it.

Exxon's Reason to Exist

The oil companies are watching me today and smiling as they hear the "ching, ching, ching" of my money dropping into their pockets.

Scenario:

We live in the uttermost southwestern part of Rogers. I work in the northernmost part of Bentonville, and the girls dance in the coordinates exactly opposite of our house on the northeastern side of Rogers.

Stan picked Mason and Madison up from school today because Madison had student council after school, and he was available to pick her up. Mason was his additional prize for the afternoon.

Makenzie had dance this afternoon at 4:30-5:30. We will leave here in 10 minutes and get Makenzie to the house with Daddy. I will then pick Madison up from the house, and bring her back to the opposite side of Rogers for dance from 6:30- 8:30. (Yes, back to the same place I am sitting right now.....) I will then go back to school for a Parent Involvement Meeting (which is in Bentonville) and then at 8:30 I will come BACK to dance to get Madison and get home around 9:00.

I have reset my trip odometer to see exactly how many miles I will log today. If I can get any guesses in my responses... I'll send an October surprise to the closest guess.

You are welcome Exxon.......

Pay It Forward, And WIN A PRIZE!!!

Good evening! I am sitting at Mercy Hospital with a friend's daughter, and what better way to spend my time than blogging. It's been a busy month, so I hope to catch up my blogs soon. I've dealt with some very interesting situations at school recently, and I've decided that the world needs some kindness. I was reading Dallas's blog, which is very interesting and fun to read, and she had a really neat post. I'm copying and pasting so here you go.......Thanks for the great idea Dallas!!!!!


I have yet to see my fabulous gift from Dallas, although, I know it will be completely fabulous because it is coming from her. I will find out soon and dream until then...What am I talking about, you might ask? Well, I am paying it forward with a premeditated act of kindness. Would you like to be the owner of a fun gift and give in return? Well, read some more...THE RULES: The main focus is doing an act of kindness without expecting anything in return other than that the recipient will, in their turn, pass the kindness along and pay it forward.I will send a small, fun gift to the first 3 bloggers who post a comment on this entry. In turn, those three will post this information and pick 3 people they want to send something to and then the game will continue!!If you are interested in participating, be one of the first 3 bloggers to leave a comment!! The little something you send can be something you made, bought, were given or found, anything you want!! Just a gift that will make the person's day!!You have to promise that you will then post about this on your blog, link back to me, and then send something to the first three people who sign up to play along through your blog. Doesn't this sound like fun!!??All of you lurkers out there who never comment, now is your chance to prove to me that you frequent my blog.Have fun!

Right on Time~

** Updated with new pics**

This post is for all of you who doubted me~ This past Thursday was my baby boy's 5th birthday. We have already celebrated, Chuck E. Cheese style, and it isn't 5 months later. Here are some highlights of the party.....


The birthday boy and the rat... I mean Chuck E.


Mason and Jackson Finger~ They were born 2 1/2 weeks apart

Matthew McConnell, Mason, and Andrew Perry

Mason NEVER refers to these guys by just their first names.

***Here is Mason during his party with 2 girls that I've never seen before. Moms, if you see a birthday party happening that is obviously a paid for and organized party... please keep your uninvited kiddos away during the picture time.

Mason's latest goofiness is posing this way for pictures.

Happy Birthday Mason~

The whole party gang

July 7, 2008

This past July 7th, my dad would've turned 70 years old. So in his honor/memory, here are some lessons Daddy taught me in the 33 years that I knew him.

10. Enjoy life~ Dad always whistled. No matter what he was doing... he whistled~ Kind of like Snow White's "Whistle While You Work" He enjoyed life.

9. Work hard~ Dad did it all. From salesman to entrepreneurship.... And if it wasn't successful... he'd just try something else.

8. Dream big~ "If you don't enter the Publisher's ClearingHouse Sweepstakes.... you won't win."

7. Know how to change a flat tire, check the oil, and jump a car battery~ I had to pass the driveway test and prove that I could do all 3 when I turned 16. I can still jump a car and check the oil. God created cell phones and husbands for the flat tires...

6. Meet your neighbors~ We've lived in our house over 5 years, and I know a few by name. I'm not so great at this. My dad knew every neighbor he ever lived around and 5 facts about each of them.

5. Volunteer/work at church~ Dad did it all including....driving a bus, greeting, ushering, deaconing, and working with the kids in AWANAS. We are a little thankful he didn't try the choir. (see post #4)

4. Be joyful~ Dad was very musically challenged... maybe the absolute worst musically challenged person I've ever known.... but he didn't care~ At church, he'd sing just as loud the choir director. He was joyful~ or maybe just wanted to irritate us??

3. Never eat a roast without onions, or cottage cheese without pepper. Those of you who know me well might say I'm a little picky about my food and food service. As I'm typing this post, I realize where I got that~ Thanks Dad!

2. Laugh at yourself or preferably at others~ I definitely got my practical joking and sense of humor from Dad. He always was kidding or pestering somebody.

1. Love God, your family, and friends. Don't just tell them.. .show them too~

Thanks Dad~ Lessons learned (some better than others...)

Computer Savvy

Madison is turning out to be quite the computer techy gal. My niece, Danielle, came to stay with us this week. She and Makenzie get along very well, and they have had a blast. Madison made this video for Danielle to remember her week. I was pretty impressed with her~