Happy New Year!!!!

Lexi's 7th Birthday Tea Party/ Dress up!

Here Pics from the Big Day, we had so much fun and so did the girls :-) It was a sleep over too, so we did a lot of stuff!

Russell was the butler for the Tea Party, the girls had a bell to ring to call for him!! It was hilarious, he used his best British accent too :-)

One of our crafts was making tissue paper flowers.

They each made their own pizzas for supper!!

Lexi & I made these white/pink cupcakes from a Fairy Princess Cookbook of hers.

The Good Witches of the East and West :-)

We called Lexi the Good Witch of the West (born in Calif) and Isabella the Good Witch of the East (born in VA) :-)

PS. Bad pics- I'll have to see what Russell took on his cell phone :-(

Overview of call:

1. Jackie will be in charge of finances. She will open up a separate account at her bank and keep track of deposits and expenses paid.
2. Location change: closer to M&D. Carole will call Seipstown Grange and Fogelsville Fire Co.
   Questions to ask:
   Tables, size and quantity, cost?
   Chairs, quantity, cost?
   What about plates etc?
   Kitchen, micro, frig, freezer, coffee maker? Can we use them?
   Can we bring our own food?
   Can we have alcohol?
   Will the room be decorated for Christmas?
3. For drinks we’ll have 2 punch bowls with and without alcohol. (make sure they are labeled property!) Also have 2 nice pictures of ice water (maybe with bowl of lemons) Also have coffee and supplies available.
4. The Cake: Jackie and Cheryl will investigate and get prices on a DUPLICATE cake! If it’s reasonably priced we would do it. Cheryl check Mom’s phone book for ‘Cake Lady’ in Kempton.
5. For décor, we will ALL bring some Christmas Decorations from our homes. That is how it was originally decorated. We will NEED Mom’s Yule Log for the head table. Carole will bring poinsettias.
6. Favors will be a 4x6 photo. One half their wedding photo, one half a current photo (one that Elizabeth will take or we’ll use one from Jackie’s wedding) both about wallet size but side by side to make a 4x6. With writing on it. Carole will photoshop these together and print. Possibility of Cheryl laminating these.
7. Invitations: Sharon will make these similar to Jackie’s – not as fancy, maybe plain white card stock rather then embossed invites. These need to be finished by Oct 1st. Then mailed to Cheryl to address and have in the mail by Oct 18th. That’s 6 weeks in advance.
8. We still need to talk about what to include in these. Page to write memories or story on.
9. Jackie is checking on possibly borrowing plates and silverware from church. For glassware we will buy the clear plastic cups at Sams.
10. Elizabeth is doing a PowerPoint with 400-500 old pictures! Carole originally volunteered to scan these in at Mom’s house. But since I’m not sure when I’m going I feel its best that Cheryl takes this responsibility.
11. The total itemized estimated expenses for the PARTY is $1255. So that is $209 per sister and we agreed to make arrangements, with Jackie, to get her that money either as one lump sum or in payments.
12. We are still working on the Hawaiian Cruise and how get it at a better price. We estimate it will be $4500. (Since the call I think you’ll all agree we need to get travel insurance, because we never know what could happen medically speaking, that is an additional $250-$295. And also may need a night in a hotel in Honolulu since they will be flying all day and would allow them more site seeing there also. That’s another $150) So I think a better estimate is $4800. Unless we can find some discount on the cruise. Which Katrina, Elizabeth and Carole will all be checking this week ASAP.
13. That would increase the estimated budget to $6000, so that would be $1000 per sister. We will talk again on Monday Sept 15th unless we find the need to talk sooner so we can secure the cruise immediately!

PLEASE ADD ANY CHANGES OR ADD IDEAS ! CAROLE

Here's More Work Mom & Dad Are Done this Summer!!!!

They painted all the porch railings white with dark green. It looks very nice!

Mom & Dad New Project - Repainting the Hex Signs & Barn

Happy Birthday to me (since no one else remembered)

Happy Birthday JACKIE (belated!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACKIE !! HOPE YOU HAD A SPECIAL DAY!

The Peden's in CANCUN!!!

Here we are in the water taking a picture with a shark! I don't know what kind of shark, but it was 'tame'.

It was cool, but the girls would only put their feet in the water :)

Russell and Carole 1980's style!!!

Our friend celebrated her 40th birthday with a 80's theme party. Here is our costumes!! Russell wants to do this for his 40th party in 3 yrs!! It was alot of fun!

IT'S OFFICIAL.....

Brock Allen Cartwright is a Cleveland State University Student!!
We went to orientation and he picked his classes.
He is a proud resident of Fenn Tower!!
His first class is August 23rd.

Hawaii 2nd Anniversary Trip...

I understand from Jackie that Mom mistakenly thinks Russell and I are paying for their whole Anniversary trip to Hawaii, since 'I told' Daddy in the note while in the hospital. By they way, I realize now I should have talked that over with all of you before I told Daddy about the trip, but I was just writing the note and was thinking of things he needs to look forward too and to get healthier. Sorry about that :(
What do you all feel is the best way to tell M&D the trip is not a gift just from R&ME. Should I say from the six of us, and let them find out at the party it's from everyone. But then they will probably be telling people about the trip the 6 of us are doing for them, then the guest might NOT want to donate more thinking it's already taken care of! So how much, is too much, to tell them. I didn't say anything much about it because I didn't want to say too much. So I guess my not saying too much led them to think it was a gift from R&ME. So I would appricate advice on this, I don't want them telling people for the rest of the year that the trip is from R&ME.
That all sounds confusing, I hope it makes sense :)
I have confirmed an exchange week at a timeshare. The reason I did it already was, I was on the phone with them booking a timeshare for our Cancun trip and I was asking about Hawaii in December, they right away said, that's probably not gonna happen, December is Hawaii's busiest month, they are usually booked a year or two or three in advance. But they searched ALL the islands for the ENTIRE months of NOV and DEC. And found one resort with one week Dec 5 -12 that someone had cancelled that same day. So I thought I should confirm it since otherwise we might have to get a hotel which would cost 7x as much and wouldn't have a kitchen. I'll have to double check but I think the whole week was only $199. So the major expenses we have to try to cover from gifts is the airline flights there and back, the inter-island flights and the car rentals or taxis plus any money for food, entertainment, sight-seeing etc.
Hope that explains everything.
By the way, Bella's last day with her cast was yesterday and she is doing great, I'm trying to get her to take it easy for one more week. We will have her 5th birthday cake with the Hodges, M&D and Cheryl on Friday!

Mailing Out 'Save The Date' Postcards...

Just to Keep you posted! I'll be mailing out the Postcards tomorrow. I figured I do it before the postage goes up again on Monday :) I'm not mailing any to us, I think we all have the date marked :) Also look over the list to add friends and family of yours that know mom and dad. I noticed Word and Carol don't have an address and what about Ed's parents? What about Jenny and Jose? Now maybe we don't need to send them all a 'save the date' if we know they won't be coming, but we could send them all an invitation later on. So keep adding to the list!!

That's all for tonight! Carole

Cheryl Big News!!!!

Finally I got all the necessary paperwork approved for the CareerStep Medical Transcriptionist Program. I'm having so much fun with words like: jejunostomy, salpingectomy, hydrosalpinx, hysterosalpingogram, organomegaly, etc., etc., etc.

AnniversaryWishes.com

Hey, Check out this site, maybe it would be good for Mom and Dad’s Anniv. Obviously none of the older folks on the list would use it but all the others might ???? We have recently attended two weddings that have used the sister site—honeymoonwishes.com- and it’s pretty cool. If you check out the samples you’ll see the guests can actually pick to give you money for dinner, for your flight, for entertainment etc then you just get the cash.

It wouldn't actually cost us/M&D anything. You can charge the service fee to the guests. That is what both times we have used it, the bride and groom did.

Any they give you a website page to use so, if the guests would go there, we could tell the story of Hawaii being the last of the 50 states, etc.

Just an idea! Check it out and tell me what you think!

Isabella Broke her Arm :(

It's not really bad--- it's a hair line fracture in her LEFT forearm. She got a 'soft cast' which is a splint (made like a half of a hard cast) wrapped in an ace bandage. She keeps it on for 2-3 weeks. The Dr said starting the second week we can take it off at times she will just be sitting still. And we can always take it off for baths. She handling well and was glad she didn't have to get a 'real' cast like Luke got!

Now you're asking how it happened....Well she was at least having fun! She fell out of a tree while we were playing at our neighborhood playground. She landed on her feet but then feel forward onto her hands, that was on Saturday and we didn't know it was broken, we figured sprained. Then she slipped and fell again on Monday and it started hurting more, so we got X-rays Tuesday morning and by the afternoon she had her 'soft cast'.

We are having to postpone her 5th Birthday Party with her school friends until the weekend after her birthday. She wants a Pool Party :).

Lexi is doing great! Her teacher started a Reading Club for her and 3 other students in her class, that are the Best Readers, they meet together 2x a week to read new books during the school day. She is very excited about this special reading time she has.

Thats all for tonight! Love Carole Mae

Updates for Party Mailout!

Cheryl is currently entering all names/addresses and hopefully phone numbers of all guests that Mom picked into excel.

Anyone have any ideas on what to say on the "Hold this Date" postcard! I like to see it in the mail in the next few weeks.

In regards to the Hawaii trip for them, we have already booked a week with our timeshare in Kona on the big Island. for 12/5 thru 12/12. We told Daddy about it, for another reason to get healthier and to make sure he starts taking better care of himself. Right now the airfare is about $800+ per person, plus activities, food and inter-island flights. So hopefully with the note 'we' (maybe Elisabeth writes :)), that goes into one of the future mailings, we can collect some from gifts!

That's all for now! Carole

HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY AMY LYNN!!!!!!

WE LOVE YOU, AMY!!!!! Can't believe you are 21 years old already!!!!! Hope you have a GREAT day!!!!!

Happy Birthday to everyone's favorite baby sister- Carole Mae!

Can you believe our baby sister is 36??????? She is also the only sister under the age of 40!! :-) She also is the mother of 2 of the cutest girls in the world! She has 5 great sisters, 2 beautiful girls, married to the favorite Brother-in-law! What a wonderful life!! Hope you have a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

The amazing ALLY is 7th in her class!!!

We found out on Thursday that Ally is 7th in her class of 472 freshman! WOW!! She has a 4.18 GPA! This is the first time rankings have come out since this is her first report card as a freshman. She is really excited and motiviated to continue! She blames me for not being ranked higher because I didn't want her to take AP classes as a freshman because she needs to have fun too and not study all the time! She'd have a higher GPA if she had AP classes, right now she is in honors classes that is why her GPA can be above a 4.0. I know they didn't do it like this while we were in HS and I am still trying to understand it all. But wanted you all to know- we are very proud of her - our nearly perfect girl!! :-)