everybody loves Pink Panther!

My cute little Florida niece got wind that Ellie and Papa Cummins loved Pink Panther, next thing we knew, a GIANT one was being delivered at the door! Thanks Leigh!! It was a big HIT!

park hopping...

Today was such a gorgeous day. You just don't get many winter days in the 60's so we dedicated this afternoon to park hopping! We tried to play at as many parks as we could! Life just doesn't get better than that for a 4 year old! Ellie got to pick the 1st park and chose Lakeside. We played on everything there was to play on, walked completely around the lake looking at the hundreds of geese that happened to be there today. We didn't think to bring bread, but it was probably just as well as there would probably be a goose attack on us.
2nd on the list was Deramus Park over on Michigan. They have a really nice playset over there and we've only been there once before. "Gogo" aka Perry was just finishing up at the University so he joined in on the fun over there and even took a trip down the slide, until he woosed out because it was getting cooler out.
We figured we'd have time for one more park and was going to head to one of our favorites, which we call the "Purple Dinosaur" park on Joplin by the University but we didn't make it there and stopped at Schlanger instead. They all had different play systems so it was lots of fun.
Our slideshow ended up on the bottom of this page. Can't figure out how to get it up with my post.

website is UP and running!

When you're doing some surfing, you need to check out Jerime & Tara's photography website at:

www.710photography.com

They've put a lot of work into it and did a GREAT job!

Way to go guys!!

baby due date!

Our new addition should be showing up around August 20th!! Tara went to the doctor yesterday and is 8 weeks pregnant today!! Ellie got to tell her teacher yesterday her BIG NEWS!

a visit to the lake lot

We bought a lot in Lost Bridge Village at beautiful Beaver Lake a couple of years ago. It was such a beautiful day on January 1st that we decided to take a ride down there and check it out. When we got there, 4 deer were taking a stroll right across the lot. It's just so pretty down there. It's a very steep lot (as are all the neighbors) so that part is a challenge. We kind of staked off a possibility of where the house could go. The next door neighbor came over to introduce herself. They live in Wichita and drive down every weekend to finish their house. (that's quite a drive) They've been working on it for 20 months and will move in June.
We have a rock bluff at the back and then own about 40 more feet on top of the bluff. It's very beautiful and will have an awesome lake view.

It's hard to make heads or tails in a picture... just a bunch of trees and rocks.

At the side of the bluff, there are rock "steps" and you can walk right up on top.

Mountain Woman

There is a little cave opening at the bottom. Perry is prodding to see what creatures will come out! (he's so brave)

Mountain Man... making escape from cave opening, maybe he's not brave after all.

You can kind of see the neighbors new house through the trees.

how to end 2008 - SHOP!

Went to the best kept secret in SW Missouri. Name Brand Clothes... or just NBC. Took some stuff back. I shopped while Perry went to Lowes. Got a new pair of jeans. I really needed them. They are nice. Ralph Lauren and the retail tags were $69.50 and I paid $7.50 YIPPEE!! Got 2 cute sweaters and my very FAVORITE thing was a Colorado Sweatshirt Hoodie. I got it for $6.00. If I'd bought it on vacation in Colorado, it would probably have cost me $40.00. :) Got Ellie a Children's Place hat and gloves for .59 each. Got me this Breckenridge CO ski knit hat and boy oh boy is it nice and comes under my ears. It would be super great under my motorcycle helmet to keep the wind out of my ears. Only thing is it's pink and very non-harley looking so I'm gonna dye it. I bet it works. It was 59 cents too. It was super fun. We didn't even eat in Joplin, just came home and ate my salad and his tuna & boiled egg. We are on a MISSION!!! COME FORWARD 2009... WE'RE PSYCHED TO BE THE BIGGEST LOSER!!


Our big festivities was buying a slab of ribs at Sam's for our big evening, and we also had shrimp kabobs on the grill. Very yummy. If you can focus in on the date of our wine glasses we dug out of hiding, you'll see that they say 2002. Closest we could get to 2009!


We have now compiled a huge list of resolutions, goals, objectives, and whatever else you want to call them, to get us through the next year. We should be completely on track now. :) It's going to be a FUN year and we have lots to look forward to and lots to be thankful for.