December Review

Madison had her first experience playing travel basketball this year on the Abilene Slammers. Brian and a couple other dads coached the team. We had a couple "nailbiters", along the way!Can't skip through December without a Christmas photo!
Jensen's third grade program celebrated the holiday season. Jensen loves the stage!

Gettin' Down

Tonight Ashton and all her Kindergarten Friends at Kennedy were "Getting' Down with Mama Goose" at their spring vocal concert. Each class had their moment in the spotlight. Ashton's class got to play the Kazoo accompaniment to one of the concert songs. Super concert Kindergartners and Mrs. Christner!!

Almost 11

Eleven years ago today, we headed to the hospital to deliver our first baby. Little did we know she would take her own sweet time. She made us wait over 34 hours before she decided to make her entrance into the world. Some things haven't changed. She still tends to make us wait on her, especially when we are in a hurry to get somewhere! You never quite believe people when they tell you how fast the years will go, but boy do they seem to fly!

Extremely Big Day

In just 7 days the Tutwiler house was completed. It's amazing a project of this scale can be completed in such a small amount of time. We let Madison, Jensen, and Ashton spend the day with PaPa and G to experience this exciting event. They were even lucky enough to have a few little surprises throughout the day.
Paige just happened to be finishing up her filming at Irvine's house on their way past. Their house was her project in Chapman.
Our family friend, Beth, lives in the duplex next to the Tutwiler's new house. While PaPa, G, and the girls were at Beth's, she was able to get them VIP passes and front row "seats" to watch them, "Move that Bus!" Paul DiMeo even paid them a quick visit. Thanks Beth!

This week has sure left us with a ton of awesome memories. The best of those has been to see so many people working together to reach a common goal. I don't think our family will ever forget the week Extreme Makeover came to Chapman. We can't wait for January!

Seeing Stars

The girls and I happened to be in the right place at the right time several times today to see the stars of Extreme Makeover. Paige was just finishing filming in Pat and Diana Irvine's house as we were walking by, so Whitney was able to snap this photo of Madison with Paige.
We were just leaving the Sweet's house headed toward the Extreme Makeover house when we spotted Michael Moloney finishing up a photo. Jensen was brave enough to ask for a picture with him. He was on his way to a meeting, but was nice enough to pause for four young fans!
We happened to be standing right where Paul DiMeo started filming an interview with Mr. and Mrs. Kirkbride and Mr. and Mrs. Owens. After the interview, Paul DiMeo stayed for a few minutes to take a few photos with fans.
The family will return in just two days. I can't believe on Tuesday this was just a grass covered vacant lot. Today we watched as workers landscaped and laid sod.

Extreme Makeover

Brandi, Kassi, and I headed over to Chapman last night to check out the progress. In two days it went from a grass covered lot to this!
We took a little walk down to the tennis courts and park area. A group of Kansas State engineering students were working on the design they had created for the park. Since Brandi and I were wearing our K-State coats, one of the students felt comfortable enough to approach us and strike up a conversation. With the approaching rain, they needed tarps to cover the stone path they were ready to start laying. We knocked on Gobber's door across the street. They were able to come through with a few tarps, and the work continued!

Our walk continued down Marshall street and back up 7th where we met a nice friendly security guard who travels with Extreme Makeover. Kassi decided to put her reading skills to work. "E..D..Security...What does that stand for?" she asked. He paused for a moment and said, "Uh..Ed, that's my name. And you're even the dark headed one of the bunch!"

Kassi and Ed the security guard, head of E.D. security!
Kassi, Brandi, Renae, and I all volunteered to work. We were disappointed when we got our "thanks, but no thanks" email. We really would have done a great job! It sounds like they had more volunteers sign up than they needed. I guess that's a good problem to have.

Voting

The Roth family got up bright and early Tuesday morning and headed down to the Civic Center to do our duty and vote. The girls were excited to take part in the Kids Vote Kansas program. They received a ballot similar to the official ballot to mark their choice for the new President. It was exciting that we were all able to take part in this historical election.