school pics

I know they're my kids...but you gotta admit they are gorgeous!! I guess they weren't lying when they said they took good pictures this year.

We all had a blast on Sophie's birthday. Sophie was the little socialite and just flitted around the house. Evan played the piano for all of us to sing "Happy Birthday". Haley helped Sophie with her cake. It was just a wonderful day. God has truly blessed us with amazing family and friends.

Stay away from wind (it's windy here)....and run to beautiful school pictures!

e fought the dirt bike...& the bike won

Evan was at a birthday party Sat. night and decided he was a big enough boy to zoom around on a dirt bike. It was lots of fun until he hit a rocky turn and flipped the bike, landing on top of the exhaust pipe. Thankfully he was wearing a helmet. You're looking at his right leg. The main burn is above the knee, with a little below it. The white stuff is burn medicine. One handy thing that happened was the mom of the dirt bike owner is a pharmacist, so she had burn cream at her house. I've already been told that as a mom I worry too much and these things happen, especially with boys.....still not making me feel better though. Evan says it hasn't been too painful, but he's worried he won't be healed enough for flag football. The first game ist 9.22, so we'll see.

Miss H. went to school today. She seemed fairly perky so hopefully she'll make it all day. She was up at the crack of dawn for me to curl her hair for pics.

My mind drifts now and again to the anniversary of 9.11. I'm ashamed to admit that I really don't want to think about it too long because it is so painful. For all those who lost their lives, I'm sad. For all those who continue to lose their lives from the fall out of that one day, I'm sad too. Gotta focus on the Word and not grow weary....Psalm 62:5 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. 6 He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. 7 My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. 8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. What a mighty God we serve! He's gonna fix our broken hearts.

Stay away from dirt bikes (I can hear Evan saying, "Oh mom, they're fun!")....and run to the mighty Word of God!!

life in general

Don't quote me on this, but I think we are finally back into the school schedule!! I know this because Evan is already home sick with strep throat. Even the the Dr.'s office couldn't believe kids were already sick with this kind of stuff. Whatever happened to a runny nose and a little cough? Oh well. He's doing really well. Will probably go to school tomorrow.

Had to put the pic of Evan with his birthday rice krispy treat. He did not want a cake this year. He wanted rice krispy treats, so he got rice krispy treats. I will admit it was much easier than baking and decorating a cake, so I won't mind if he asks for that again. He had a great birthday. He had 5 friends come and stay the night. They played so hard. Football for about 4 hours, playstation for about 6 hours and a scavengerhunt. I laughed for an hour straight during the scavenger hunt. They went all over town doing crazy stuff. We made them do a chinese fire drill in front of everyone at football practice. NONE of them had ever heard of a chinese fire drill. One kid asked, "Why would the chinese run around the car and get back in if it was on fire?" Sorry if all of that was un PC, but it was fun.

Haley is loving school. We did have to have a big talk about the "popular" kids being mean to her. She is not a popular kid according to her. I tried to explain to her that when kids are mean to other kids they probably don't like themselves very much. Her response, "Oh they like themselves allrighty, all they do is brag about themselves". It was quite comical hearing her perception of 3rd grade life. She has sweet friends and they manage to have lots of fun despite the "popular" people.

Sophie is great. Walking everywhere and getting into everything!! According to the papers and internet she is WAY behind on being potty trained!! If you haven't seen it, there are a group of people claiming to have their newborns potty trained. I gotta call baloney on that! I'm thanking God for pampers and huggies and calling it good!

Have an awesome day!

Stay away from "popular" people....and run to rice krispy treats.

10th Birthday

1 Samuel 1:27 I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him.

How does 10 years go by so fast? Our little E is 10 years old today. Honestly, I don't think Jon and I thought we'd ever get past his first year. New parents and a fussy baby make for an interesting combo. We've all grown up a lot since August 17, 1997. Evan will never really know the incredible impact he had on our life. And there were hard times and I'm sure hard times to come, but the good times with Evan, with all our children, cannot be matched on earth.

Thank you Father for sharing your child with us.

Stay away from colic....and run to the most amazing boy ever!!

PS....Evan and Haley started school yesterday...they had a blast and loved their teachers and classes...to all of you who've asked me.....I promise I'll get some pics up soon.

Evan landed at camp on Monday at noon. As you can tell he was really sad to see us leave. He was very excited to have his friend Michael be his bunkmate. I cannot wait to hear all the stories. I'm sure he'll tell us every detail...NOT!

Haley started swim lessons this week. She loves to swim. Her dad has been teaching her how to do back dives. He also thought he could teach her how to do a front flip off the board. After one major back buster that lesson came to a screeching halt.

Sophie has taken 5-6 steps. She looks like an old drunk trying to get around. Won't be much longer and I'll have to wear my nikes all day to keep up with her.

Stay away from back busters.....and run to camping with a good buddy.

Evan had another golf tournament yesterday in Sterling. Not such a good day for E. He struggled on the tee box. But he said he had fun. Win some lose some. I was a little worried when we drove through rain and lightening to get to the tourney. The thought of getting up at 5:30 am for cancelled golf was not what I wanted to do. But the weather turned off allright. We walked in some sprinkles, but a nice breeze....which means no mosquitos!!! Yeah!! Gotta look for the small joys! E's most memorable shot of the day had to be a drive off the tee box that was going about 2 miles out of bounds, but miraculously hit a tree mid-air to fly back in bounds. He was all excited about that!

The girls and I went to the pool yesterday. I guess it's official that I'm getting older because the water seemed like glacier water to me. Sophie loved it. Stuck her right in and she had a blast. She's going to be a little water bug.

Not much else going on. I'm looking for a "shuttle bus" sign to put on the van. That's all I do is drive E&H to their events. Poor Sophie is the professional passenger. She doesn't seem to mind.

Have a great day!

Stay away from driving a shuttle bus.....and run to cool breezes with no mosquitos!

field day

Field day finally arrived on Friday! Oh what glorious fun was had by all. Because in today's field day every ribbon says "we're all winners". thbbttpphh (that's me blowing my tongue!) Come on. Is it really possible to say we are all winners? Don't you have to have a loser to have a winner? Why even have ribbons? The kids don't really care anyway....all the kids except Evan. He was all about getting the blue ribbon. Jon insists that comes from the Sutton side. I take that as a compliment!!

The first pic is of Evan in the wheel barrow race. He lost...no tears though. The 2nd pic is Haley in the dribbling contest...they didn't give out any 1st, 2nd, 3rd ribbons in 2nd grade. Even when "everyone's a winner" the colors are too traumatic for the kids!?!? The 2nd graders get an orange ribbon that says.....you got it..... "everyone's a winner'. The 3rd pic is Haley dominating in the gunnysack race!! The girl's got hopping skills! The 4th pic is Evan losing the 200 by a few steps....and yes there were a few tears. Mostly because he was having trouble breathing. He didn't believe me when I told him he'd have to sprint the whole time. He was planning on jogging the first 100....it seemed logical prior to the race!?!? E did end up getting a blue in the football throw (don't think Peyton Manning yet, they threw it about 8 feet into a trash can, E got the most in the hole). He also got a blue in dribbling...he's got his mama's skills! And he got a blue in the long jump...who knew? No idea where he got that from! The last pic is of the "rob and big" of Haley's class. Those two cats are bestfriends and quite the odd couple. PS. "rob and big" is a show on mtv (I know mom, mtv is the threshold to hell...99% of the time I agree w/her on that!). One of my brothers got me to watching it and the show cracks me up!! So anyway...just threw that last pic in because they make me smile whenever I see them together.

We went to my cousin Kara's graduation in Greensburg today. It was a beautiful ceremony. Lots of speakers, but really, they were all great. So proud of all those kids. They've already been through more than most people will go through and they all had smiles on their faces.

We drove the kids around Greensburg a little bit. By the old family house, Grandad and Sharon's house, my aunt and uncle's house and a few other places. I thought I'd be just fine with it, but immediately the tears came again. Even I was surprised by that. Made my heart hurt for all those who call Greensburg their home town...I can't imagine how hard it is for them. They'll make it though!

The big play at church is tomorrow...say a little prayer for E! I'll let you know how it goes.

Stay away from stupid ribbons.....and run to crazy kids, best friends and amazing graduates!

fun day

Busy weekend coming up. Evan has Kansas Kids Fitness Day at Ft. Larned. Third graders from all over Kansas attend. Sophie & I are planning to go check it out. Should be a hoot. Evan is pictured above with one of his bestfriends Nathan. They are quite the pair. Two goofy kids who love to spend time together. I told Nathan I was going to photoshop out that nasty Oklahoma on his shirt!! He's not allowed to wear Oklahoma gear to our house!!

Miss Haley has her field trip today. Her class was going bowling this morning and out to a farm this afternoon. Last night was spent coordinating her outfit. This morning she had to make sure her hair was just right. Then she proceeded to pull her hoodie on. Hairdo out the window. She didn't even notice. Thank goodness!!

Our little city celebrates Santa Fe Trail days this weekend. My goal is not to eat at home one time on Saturday. We go to a pancake feed in the morning. Sloppy joes at the baseball game around noon. And vendors during the evening activities. Yeah!!

Jon's toe is on the mend. It's not stopping him from playing in a golf tournament this weekend anyway! He assured me he could suck it up for the tourney. He's so brave!?!?

Have a great weekend!

Stay away from boring weekends...and run to eating out for an entire day!

a 7 month old, a smashed toe, and a pulled tooth

Today Sophia Paige is 7 months old! Didn't I just write that she was 6 months old? Well she's full of love, laughter and life, that's for sure. She continues to be such a sweet spirit in our house. She's trying really hard to crawl, but still would rather walk. She continues to eat only orange veggies, cereal and a few fruits. She LOVES her Evan and Haley. She'll start smiling and laughing if you show her a picture of them. It will be way too quick before I'm writing about her 1st birthday!

We have an L-shaped booth in our kitchen where we eat at. There is a bench that goes with it. The bench is solid and probably weighs around 20 lbs. Yesterday Jon was standing beside it and it flipped and squarely hit his big toe. We were all at the table eating breakfast. It flips...LOUD bang...and Jon is on the floor holding his foot. I swear I thought it broke his toe....may still be broke in my opinion. That toe turned purple immediately...as you can see in the pics. (I made him let me take some pics of it last night...I told him that had to go in the blog!!) It hurt so bad he was sweating and turned white. Not a good scene. I felt so bad for him. If anything barely touched it yesterday I thought he was going to pass out. I'm praying that God will put an angel around that toe so no one will step on it. I'm sure he's sweating just thinking about someone stepping on that toe!

We went to a beautiful wedding on Saturday. Dr. Kristina Frick and Mr. Brent Maxwell. Perfect weather, gorgeous bride and amazing food. But you know that no event can just be normal for us. At the wedding Evan wiggles one of his molars until it is very loose....unbeknownst to me. Thankfully he had a speck of good sense and waited to get to the car to really try pulling it. By the time we drove to the reception he was adamant that it come out. Here's his logic in his words. "I'll bet there's beef to eat (at the reception) because these are country people. I gotta get this tooth out so I can eat!" We're parked at the reception and Jon yanks the thing out! And good thing too, because they served smoked prime rib!! Evan was in heaven.

Have a super week!

Stay away from smashed toes.....and run to smoked prime rib!

the mile run

Evan ran the mile in 7:47. He was first in his class. Second was a good 50 yards behind him. He never even came close to a slow jog. He was moving. I couldn't believe it. He didn't know who had the top time in all of the 3rd grade. Let me tell you the wind was blowing like a crazy hurricane out there too. I felt so sorry for all of them. I don't know how they breathed when they were running into the wind. Personally, I don't know how they breathed period. I trotted to and from the van and about needed oxygen. Can you say out-of-shape? Yikes!

I can't remember if I've mentioned that Evan has the lead in the kid's play at church. Should be interesting. We might actually see lightening strike inside a church. Just kidding!! But to give you an example...the play is based around Camp Wilomocky. Evan keeps saying it's Camp Will a monkey. At kid's club and kid's church if a child misbehaves they send a note home.....I've already prepared my response.

OK.....I know I keep complaining about the weather...but if it snows 6-8 inches tomorrow I really think I might have to move. Because you know that in MAYBE 1 month (who I am kidding...in 2 weeks) it'll be like 105 degrees. Especially if it's the kid's field day...the parents will melt and the kids will get fried. It's too much I tell you...too much.

Did I tell you that Newman had been eating the poisoned dog food that's been in the news? You know only the best for him....Wal-Mart's Ol' Roy. Probably 10-12 cans of it. Do you think it bothered him? Oh, no....that dog's got the ultimate stomache. He's a cat...he's got like 12 lives though. Only Newman could survive eating poisoned dog food. We had to start feeding him canned food because he would bark for 10 minutes at his dry food...had to make sure it was really dead. But the soft was just tooo delicious to bark at!?!? When he finally does kick off it is going to be something to behold. He'll probably go out like Elijah in a chariot of fire. Or.....under a bus...either way it'll be interesting.

Keep warm tomorrow all of you in Kansas!! Eat my shorts to you in Dallas where it's warm!

Stay away from poisoned dog food.....and run to watching someone run the mile!

32-15

Evan's team won their last game of the season!!! Evan had 11 (maybe 15, that's what his grandpa said) points. I've learned it's hard to keep track of points for the whole game while also taking care of a 5 month old. Evan was so happy. He also had, what I thought, the most interesting play of the game. He drove the floor for a lay-up and was fouled on the shot, which he made, so he got to shoot a free-throw. Keep in mind these are 3rd and 4th graders....getting lined up for a free-throw takes awhile and is easily screwed up...apparently it was really throwing them all for a loop because Evan shot his free-throw and nobody moved into the lane to get the rebound, so Evan gets his own rebound and puts it back up to make a little jumper. He was way jacked up about that! The other players, including our own team, were completely confused. Made for a memorable play though. It was a fun game to watch. The whole team played really well and ran the ball....which we love! Nothing better than 4 quarters of fast breaks.

Today was basketball day. Evan's game was at 11:00. We rushed home after that game to watch KU beat Texas. Yay!! After the KU game we went up to the high school to watch the girls and boys 1-A sub-state final. Good games. Unfortunately both teams we were cheering for lost. Pawnee Heights' girls lost to Little River and Macksville boys lost to Claflin.

Don't be a bunch of haters for this, but Jon and I went to Manhattan yesterday to the Landon lecture series and listened to President Bill Clinton speak. Don't write and tell me every horrible thing about him...I've heard it all before....and believe most of it. But love him or hate him, he's an amazing speaker. It was a thrill to actually be in the same room as a President. A first for me anyway!

Nothing else exciting happening. Jon has finally succumbed to the illness creature that is looming around our house. He's got a head cold. For now, everyone else appears to be well. We're down to a only one cat out of 3 cats, the dog, and the 5 of us that haven't been sick in this house. Even Newman has been on antibiotics within the last month...oh that's a whole other blog...trust me.

Enjoy what's left of the weekend and have a great week!

Stay away from head colds and haters and run to interesting lectures and finishing a season with a win.

"Hello. Mrs. Skelton? This is the school nurse."

OK, so I'm in Great Bend to meet Jon for lunch (he works in Great Bend full-time as of yesterday) and the cell phone rings, "This is the school nurse. Evan has a temperature of 101.9 Can you come get him?"

Cut to this morning at 7:00 am. "Mom, I don't feel good. My throat and head hurt." Once again I check, no temperature. It has not been a week since he was on antibiotics. He's got to be faking...right!?!? "Evan, get dressed, eat breakfast, you'll feel better." Off to school we go.

After the call from the nurse we scramble to get a hold of Jon's grandparents to go pick up Evan. I'm atleast 30 minutes away. Dump Jon off back at work. Drive home like Fast and the Furious 3. Sophie's screaming because I was going to feed her while we were waiting for our lunch. Run into grandma and grandad's house to comfort Evan. He's watching King Kong (like I would have let him do that!?!?). He just smiles at me and says he feels fine. WHAT! Are you kidding me? I swear that if a kid can fake a temperature Evan can do it. We head home and I ask him if he wants some soup when we get home (I'm sure he didn't feel well enough to eat), "I ate lunch at school....everthing, but I'll take some chicken and stars." Unbelievable. So you tell me...does he look sick in the pic up top? I'm sure the school nurse is considering calling SRS. I mean the kid told me he was sick.

Is it summer break yet? The kids aren't the only ones who can't wait!

Have a great day!

Stay away from fevers and bad movies....and run to home-made chicken soup and thermometers that read high so you can go home!