What We Did this Summer!

We did actually do a few things this summer besides living in a rental house and building a house.  Life goes on right!?  Here is some of the other stuff we did this summer.  

While at a 7th grade physical we did a quick eye screening and found out that we needed to get Elise's eyes checked.  Turned out that she really needed glasses.  So we went and got her these. I think they look so cute on her!

And, to go with the glasses,  Elise got braces.  This was a very busy summer for Elise.

We went to Tuachan and saw The Wizard of Oz.  It was SO cool!  We all loved it.  Too bad Elise didn't have her glasses yet!

We went to the Happy Factory a couple of times and helped stain the cars that they donate to children all over the world.

Adele got a new bike and learned to ride it in just a couple of hours. 

And I worked and posed for pictures with dorky glasses.

A couple of other things:

• Ian had a Mohawk (I will have to go look for pictures. You can kind of see it in the Tuachan picture).
• Elise and Emilia went to girls camp twice.
• Emilia got into Success Academy, decided to do it and had to drop her band class.

Look, I am a guest "tipper!"

Click here to check it out.

How exciting!

Here's the address if you want it.
http://thetipspot.blogspot.com/2008/10/tippin-tuesday.html

Recycle!

When I first moved here it drove my CRAZY that there was no recycling program. I was used to recycling just about everything plastic/paper/and glass. For those of you who don't know, our city has joined the 21st century! A large recycle dumpster has been placed in the front of the parking lot at Wal-mart on the grocery side. They take paper, newspaper, soda and water bottles (and I am guessing other #1 plastics), aluminum and steel cans and plastic milk cartons (and probably other #2 plastics). So, save all that stuff and GO RECYCLE it! And don't tell me you can't because you never go to Wal-mart. I have seen ALL of you there!

JoeyPockets for China Part 3

You may (or may not) remember that a couple of months ago I made some of my JoeyPockets to send to China for use at their cleft house. I received an email a little while ago with pictures of the training that was done to teach the nannies at the cleft house house how to use them. I was so excited to see them in use and I hope that they enjoy using them.

Helping Others

My brother Drew told me about an organization that he supports called Kiva (http://www.kiva.org/).

This is what he said about it on his blog:
"Last year I learned about Kiva, a website that lets an everyday Joe like me help people all over the world start and build a business to help them make a better life for themselves. Here are the businesses I support."

And then he listed a handful of business that the has made micro-loans to.

This is such a cool program. On the Kiva website you can read about entrepreneurs around the world and their businesses. These micro loans allow people in 3rd world countries to purchase capital and make small investments in their businesses so they can be successful and support their families. 25 bucks isn't much but when you add it to the loans of other supporters these entrepreneurs can get the funding they need to make their businesses succeed. Once the money is paid back, you can use it again and again to help more people. Check it out.