You don't pee your pants on picture day...

Today was picture day...for Kinsey and Kaitlyn. We are so fortunate that our child care provides picture day four times a year. This is very helpful for us because photo places around this time of year are CRAZY, to say the least. As soon as you walk in there are kids crying, parents getting frustrated, people even camp out like it's American Idol I think. Certainly not a place for Christmas spirit, even though children are forced into that itchy holiday dress and are made to smile like they love those horrid tights.
We have not ordered pictures in quite a while. And by quite a while, I mean Kaitlyn had no hair in the last set of pictures we have and she now wears her hair in a pony tail..well, I put it up in a pony tail only for her to take it down within exactly 3.5 minutes.
So this morning I gave Kinsey the task of making sure Kaitlyn kept her pony tail in until after pictures. I told Kaitlyn that she could take it out as soon as her pictures were done. She told me ok but in the back of my mind I prepared myself to get the proofs back with her hair down.
The whole drive to pick them up from school today, I was ready to hear that Kaitlyn didn't keep her hair up. Much to my surprise that was not the case when I walked in. Kaitlyn still had her hair up! But that was the least of my worries...
She had on her spare set of pants. You know...the ones you throw in the school bag that they never wear. The night before, I carefully picked out their outfits so they would coordinate and have matching jeans. Imagine my shock when I saw Kaitlyn wearing her PINK CAMOFLAGUE pants!! I asked the dreaded question..."Kaitlyn, did you have an accident today?" When really I wanted to know, "Were these pink camo pants in the picture?" Amy so politely informed me that Kaitlyn had her accident 20 min. before pictures so she didn't have time to wash her jeans before pictures. Awesome! She said that they had to do some creative positioning so that Kaitlyn's pants didn't show in the picture. Doesn't she know...You don't pee your pants on picture day! I can't even remember the last time Kaitlyn had an accident. Here I was all worried about her hair when I should have been worried about packing another set of jeans that would have worked better than pink camo. Next time I'll try to plan for everything!

Fun Filled Weekend

Since Times are Tough...
I decided to save a little bit of money and get the off brand laundry soap. I did very well at buying the "Sun" brand because it was only $1.94. I bought that brand for about three months and saved a lot of money. Recently, I have noticed that our laundry just didn't have that fresh out of the dryer smell that I love! Nothing makes me more unhappy than doing laundry all day and having it smell the same as when it went in. So yesterday morning, as I was perusing Target for any good deals, I broke down and bought my favorite laundry soap for $10.99. It was not a good deal but I spent all day yesterday doing laundry and it was so worth it! My laundry smelled so good I forgot that times were tough and at that moment, I really didn't care. I will probably not go back to "Sun" brand every again.

In Other Good News...
I got another whole section of assignments done for my online class. Only six more meetings and I will be done...in May!!

Finally...
Yesterday Jason and I watched Emma, the daughter of our good friend. She is one of the sweetest girls ever. Kinsey and Kaitlyn love playing with her. I thought we would do something fun so I made some sugar cookies. I bought white frosting and had the girls mix in food coloring to make different colors of frosting. They wanted purple, pink, hot pink, and orange. They frosted their cookies and topped them with different kinds of sprinkles. They were a mess when we finished but had so much fun! As soon as Emma got here, she put on one of Kinsey's ballet outfits and refused to take it off until it was time to go. It was so cute!


Hope everyone has a great week. Only 9 days until Christmas break!!

Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas!

Kacina and the terrible horrible no good very bad day

I received a text from Tim, my principal, telling me "don't panic...your classroom flooded." So of course my first reaction was to panic. He told me there was "minor damage, maybe a few books." How in the world does a classroom flood? I kept retracing my steps and asking myself if I closed all my windows. Apparently I wasn't thinking logically because there is no way my windows being open in my classroom would flood the entire room unless there was a tsunami (not likely in Indianapolis, IN) that happened to pass by. I tried to put the whole thing out of my mind until the next day when I could go in and assess the "minor damage" myself.
I got up early the next day and went into my room to find no "minor damage" but HUGE DAMAGE!! Obviously Tim doesn't understand how essential my English/Spanish area rug is to my day. Somewhere in my mind, between real facts and dramatizations of my imagination, I believe I read a study that shows that when students have been sitting for 17 minutes, their minds shut off. So this year I have been doing a very good job of utilizing all of the space in my class. I have a book center with a very large area rug (that I fought very hard to get, and eventually had to steal). This is one of the most important places in my room because I hold Writer's Workshop and sometimes other things in this area. It's such a calming place and my students seem at peace there--weird, I know. But it's one of the only areas that they are quiet when they sit there. So...like I said HUGE DAMAGE!
At this point I really didn't care that my books for my class that starts in December were completely ruined because they were sitting on the floor behind my desk. Yeah, that didn't phase me like my area rug did.
I talked to our head custodian, Ed, and he did tell me that he was able to save it and was drying it. So hopefully it comes back to me in tip top shape because it means everything to me!
But that's not all. Also when I walked in that morning, I saw that the Front Row people came in and installed our new microphone technology. I fully admit that I was not very pumped about this. When I was told that I was one of eight classrooms chosen to pilot Front Row systems, and that I would have to wear a microphone...I may have made a few jokes about it with my other friends who also had to wear one. So this was not a good day to see my brand new microphone sitting at the front of the class waiting for me to put it on. I couldn't possible have to test this out on the same day I thought I lost my area rug.
I clipped it on and started talking to my students and they were so silent. So I continued through writing, then reading...soon enough we were through our whole day. They all said they liked the microphone and it helped them pay attention better. It is really awesome! There are speakers all around the room so all students can hear equally. It was really nice when I was writing on the Activboard, I could still talk and they could all hear me perfectly. It even comes with a hand held mic for the students to use. We did some reading out loud and everyone wanted to use the microphone to read! It was amazing. Students who normally don't like to read, wanted to use it and try. I was really skeptical of this system, but I swear by it now!! I think these things should be in every classroom. It even runs through my computer so when we are watching our Social Studies and Science videos on the Activboard, we don't have to strain to hear them! Check it out here!

This Is Our Story...

Jason and I are approching our second year of wedded bliss in early December. However, we have been together for just over seven years. When ever I say that, I always pause and think ... Really? Seven years? Already? It always makes me think back to how it all started. So sit back, pop some popcorn, and enjoy. This is our story...
I just graduated high school and chose a small private college in the middle of no where. It was a big step because no one was going to Manchester with me. I literally knew no one! However, I worked with a friend, who had a roommate, who played baseball with some guys at Manchester (did you follow that?). Somehow I got invited to a "party" in Garrett where a bunch of Manchester people would be. I thought it might be a good idea to go and meet some people before I start my freshman year..you know, just so there would be at least one familiar face on campus. I was promised that I wouldn't be the only girl there. As soon as we showed up, I quickly realized that I was the only girl there. Feeling very out of place and a very uncomfortable, Jason befriended me and asked if I wanted to play eucher. I was a little sketchey of this guy. Mainly because he was wearing a "I love truckers" hat. However, he was nice and very funny!
Somehow he got my name from one of the other guys there and we started talking online. When I got to campus for freshman orientation, I found out Jason was on campus early for baseball. One day I ran into him in the Ad building and I hit his arm and said "Hey, I know you!" I thought to my self 'how awesome! I know someone and I have even hung out with him before.' Much to my disappointment, he totally ignored me and kept walking. I was so mad!
As soon as I got back to my room, he tried to talk to me online and explained that he thought I was very pretty and just didn't know what to say when he saw me. I thought that was honest and we went out on a date that weekend. Might have been one of the worst dates because we went to see the movie "Jay and Silent Bob." Not a good movie by any standard but we really got to know each other.
After that weekend, we pretty much spent all of our time together and grew closer as friends. Although we've been through a lot together that has tested us, I can't imagine being with anyone else!

Changing Taste Buds? Who Knew?

I, by no means, like to try new things...especially new foods. I've never been a big fan of any kind of seafood. I've always thought it smells a little funny and it all tastes like fish. Jason, on the other hand, loves seafood. Specifically, he loves Red Lobster. Being as dramatic as I can, I always turn up my nose when he suggests that we eat there. Somehow I always win out and we go to Applebees or O"Charley's where I feel safe with (you guessed it) chicken fingers.
Last night was no different. He so politely suggested Red Lobster and I so dramatically said something to redirect him to a restaurant that has my safe food. Only, I felt really bad because we NEVER go to Red Lobster but we ALWAYS go to my choice. So I stopped myself and decided to give it a try.
They say your taste buds change every seven years (not sure if this is something I made up or if it's researched based but I used this theory last night) so I felt like it has probably been about seven years since I have been to Red Lobster so I'm bound to like something. As I searched the menu for something safe, I found nothing. Knowing that I could probably only get about two refills on the free cheese biscuits they bring with your meal before they cut me off, I knew I had to order something. I cautiously ordered the JUMBO coconut shrimp (because I know I don't like the little shrimps, so why not just order the JUMBOs?). However, they were the most amazing thing I've ever eaten. They came with a sauce that was very sweet and wonderful. I'm sold. I realized there must be some truth to the whole taste buds changing every seven years. If it's not true, I'm definitely going to look into marketing that idea. Anyway, I can't wait to see what new foods are in store for me seven years from now when my taste buds go through yet another change! I'm marking my calendar.

Meet Kaylee

I'm an AUNT!! On Thursday evening, I had the best phone call ever! It was a call telling me that Jessie's water broke and they were taking her into the hospital. She had a very good and fast labor...one that any woman would be envious of! Kaylee Marie was born at 2:51am on Friday, November 7. She was a healthy 7lb 6oz. She is so precious and I wish I didn't live so far away because I wanted to hold her as long as I could.


Kaitlyn with her new baby cousin! Kaitlyn did not want to give her up. She loves babies!!

Kinsey with baby Kaylee. She was soo excited and waited soo long for this moment!

Kaylee Marie

Aunt Cina with Kaylee! I savored every moment with her because I know it will be a few more years before we are ready to have another baby. I have to say though, holding a baby again makes me realize two things: 1. I want another baby 2. My own kids have grown up very fast!

The one where I fell off of a chair during parent conferences

There are some things in this world that I think could only happen to me. I'm talking about life altering situations that not many other people experience, at least not to my knowledge...not like this. Let's see...where should I even begin?
Our school has some pretty fancy chairs. They are not like any school chair. They have two L-shaped legs that helps prevent students from tipping back on them and falling. Sounds like a wonderful idea right? Another fact worth noting is that the seat and back are two separate pieces. On to the point...Wednesday was our parent/teacher conference night. I had parents come in and sit at my back table-a table that has fancy chairs around it. So one of my parents comes in and we both sit down. I notice that MY chair is a little wobbly. I don't really think much of it so I just start talking about grades. I notice that I'm starting to fall a tad bit to the right. Of course to balance myself, I lean all of my weight to the left. Bad move! What I wish I knew five minutes earlier is that two of the screws were missing. So when I shifted my weight to the opposite side, the whole seat fell off, leaving me on the floor!! Yes, I fell off the freaking chair...landed on the floor...WHILE IN THE MIDDLE OF A PARENT CONFERENCE!! I quickly realized there is no cool way to redeem yourself after an incident like that. Luckily our conferences are only fifteen minutes. Needless to say, I quickly gave her the scoop and wanted to move on!
As if I hadn't had enough excitement Wednesday, you know with falling off of a chair in all (IN FRONT OF A PARENT). I was so ready to go home. I have been sick and had a horrible cough all week. Then talking all day at conferences really didn't make my throat feel any better. I went home and wanted to take some night time medicine. I rummaged through our medicine cabinet for anything that was for PM. I found some Tylenol pm liquid. Probably as fast as I could, I read the directions to see how much I needed to take. As I filled the cap, I knew it was going to taste horrible. I took the whole shot, which tasted like pure alcohol. I laid down and tried to relax. All of a sudden my stomach started to feel really bad and I felt like I was going to get sick. I went back and looked at the label again to make sure I took the right dose. It would be my luck to OD on Tylenol pm. But I didn't, I took the right amount. However, I did stumble on the expiration date. Of course, it was EXPIRED!! Now, just a day before I was talking to someone very close to my heart, someone who shall remain nameless, and they said that expiration dates don't really matter. As I was feeling very ill, I started to doubt this advice. I thought for sure I was a goner. I knew I would fall asleep, with my last memory of me falling off of a chair during parent conferences, and never wake up. SPOILER ALERT... I did wake up and lived to blog about it. So maybe expired medicine isn't so bad after all.
For all you teachers out there...I sincerely hope you do not fall off of any chairs during your conferences!

I Baked A Cake, Went Blog Lurking, and Have a Prayer Request

You're probably expecting a blog raving about how awesome my oriental salad was with my new found recipe in my email inbox. Not quite. Since I don't have the secret recipe from Mary's messengers, I had to do something different. Today is Jason's birthday (Happy Birthday Jason!) so I baked him a cake. Not just any cake...a double layer, strawberry chocolate chip cake. It was delicious!

In other blogging news...
I have recently found myself blog lurking (real word I swear) lately. Not in a creepy, stalker way. In a way that I have a heightened sense and awareness of how other people write. I know it's a little weird but I'm fascinated by how people write. Put that on your list of "Things I didn't know about Kacina." There are two things that have really inspired my writing lately: 1. Kayla Aimee's blog (no idea who she is...found her by blog lurking) 2. Dave Berry commentary (if you have never read any of his commentary, you should). Of course, in my own writer's notebook, I try to imitate writing like author's I enjoy reading. And of course, I share my most writings with my 6th graders to show them that I practice what I preach--most of the time. They only think I'm a little crazy, so I can live with that as long as my stories and passion inspire them to write.

Prayer request...
I was told "don't be alarmed." Well, as soon as you say those words the first thing I'm going to do is BE ALARMED! We, as in IPS school district, found out that they are going to rift about 350 teachers and are closing six elementary schools (not my school). They said it could affect 3rd and 4th year teachers. Lucky me! I never get picked for anything, kind of like how the fat kid (that was me) gets picked last for kick ball at recess..wouldn't you know this is the time I may get picked to go first. Of course, with big news comes lots of rumors and speculation. I'm trying hard not to freak out so please just keep the teachers that may be affected by this rift in your prayers. Thank you!

Happy blogging and enjoy some new music I added :)

Love Is In The Air

So much has happened in the past two weekends! Let's start with a CONGRATULATIONS to Mr. and Mrs. Hetrick on their beautiful wedding on Saturday. Thanks to Emma and her crazy organization and planning skills, everything went perfectly! A few highlights...



Half of the bridesmaids getting their hair done at In Touch. The best part was when Emma told Luella that she looked like she "just came out of a magical forest." Although, I have to say that her hair was pretty whimsical and she did look great! Great job Lula :)

Here are all nine bridesmaids and the blushing bride just before taking pictures.

This is Emma doing her Spanx dance after Abbey so nicely put on Emma's underwear for her. She was so pumped that the only way to express her joy was through dance.

Ten minutes until the wedding starts! *What you don't see is me frantically trying to sew a panel into Luella's dress so there was no peep show on Emma's big day. My melons, if you will, were a little too big for my dress. I didn't know what to do. I tried it on for Emma months earlier and we decided that something drastic had to be done because it was not pretty. Abbey so kindly donated her extra fabric that she had hemmed off of the bottom of her dress and I used it to sew a panel into my dress. It looked great and you couldn't even tell it wasn't supposed to be that way. So I brought all of my sewing materials the day of the wedding just in case anyone else had trouble with their "melons" too. It all worked out great and there was no peep show!

Don't let these faces fool you. I would like to let the world know here and now that these four sisters are dangerous. They have been keeping a secret recipe from me that a very dear friend of mine told them to pass along to me. Mary (not sure of Mary's last name), nonetheless someone close to my heart, stated that she "gave all the girls the recipe" to my favorite oriental salad that she makes. See, Mary seeks me out at the Gallmeyer weddings and lets me take home the extra oriental salad. Luckily she was at Emma's wedding so she could set the record straight and tell me that I should in fact have this in my hands. Gallmeyers, Juday, and Luckey, my email address is kacina.pfeiffer@gmail.com and I should see this recipe in my inbox tomorrow ;)
How could I end this blog without mentioning a monumental happening with my camera. My camera got hijacked for a short time. When I got it back I had 13 (yes, I counted) pictures of Steven Ray Newman. What's crazy is that I don't even know SRN. I just met him the night of the wedding. However, I do know his fabulous gf and my former, favorite roomie Larissa. I now have images forever etched in my mind of Steven Ray Newman and a picture of just his pearly white teeth on my camera.

****Funny Note****
As I'm so diligently blogging like a good blogger, Jason just got home and had this conversation with Kaitlyn:

Jason: Hi KK! What did you guys have for dinner?
Kaitlyn: (in a perfect two year old voice) Toilet rolls
Jason: TOILET ROLLS? (to me) Hunnie, why are you feeding them toilet rolls?
Me: Huh? (to Kaitlyn) What did we have for dinner?
Kaitlyn: Toilet rolls.
Jason: Kinsey, what did you guys have for dinner?
Kinsey: Tootsie rolls
Me: That's not at all what we had. We had meet and cheese roll ups. (I think they were trying to say tortilla rolls. We practiced that word as I was making them)



In other blogging news....
It's probably my proudest moment...I made apple cider. I can hear it gasps of shock but hear me out. Kacina? Apple cider? Yes my friends. Listen up, this is how it all went down...

Last weekend I met up with Emma, and little did I know that she was going to treat me to the best weekend EVER. Emma and Greg too me to a great Mexican restaurant, El Mosquito (or something like that), in Manchester. Then I went with Emma to her mom's house where we made delicious brownies. After that it was to the Gallmeyer's for a little thing I like to call "cider pressin." There were thousands of apples everywhere. I really stepped up to the plate and got down and dirty right away. I was a little nervous at first but I was probably the best presser out there...aside from grandpa Bob. I feel like we really had a great system going. Emma won strainer of year, I won presser of the year, and Ron and Grandpa Bob won best teammates of the year. Jill, Amy, and Emily did a good job too but no awards were won. Megan lost lots of cider while pouring...it went all over my hands. (Just kidding Meg..you did a great pouring job. I didn't see anyone else that wanted to step up to the pouring plate).
I told everyone I know about my apple cider and made everyone I know try it. The response was a very positive one and I will probably start pressing my own cider from now on. I am really looking forward to the next season with the Gallmeyer family! Thanks to Jill, Megan, Emily, Amy, and Emma for letting me be a part of this awesome night. You guys are the best :)


Well, I hope everyone has a great week! I am very excited because we only have school on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Then we are on fall break! Love you all :)

Good Things Come To Those Who Wait

So many of you have been waiting for it .. so here it is! This is the Spanish rap that my class has been working with in Spanish. I love it and so do they. Enjoy it .. go ahead and sing along!

Spanish Rap

I'm a Wilderness Girl

Anyone that knows me knows that camping is not something that I would consider a "fun" thing to do. I am not outdoorsy, I hate being hot, and I hate bugs. (Insert comment from Jill about how I would probably rather be sitting on a Cleopatra couch being fanned and fed grapes). Well, it's absolutely true. As you all know, I once lied in an interview for a camp job saying that I loved the outdoors. And we all know how that turned job turned out....
However, it is amazing the things we do for our children. Kinsey has wanted to go camping for a while now. I'm all about giving my kids real life experiences so....I had to go camping.
When we got to the camp site, I was hot. But somehow we got the tent set up. I'm not sure how because we had no idea what the heck we were doing. I kept thinking it was going to fall but it stayed up the whole night!
There was a lake that was right by where we set up our tent. These ducks kept coming up real close to the camp site. So brilliant me has this idea to feed the ducks some food that the girls didn't eat. When we first walked up to them, they kind of ran away so I assumed they would keep their distance. Not so. It was like a gang. When I threw the bread they all started running at us. Again, I'm not a real big animal person so wild ducks are really out of my comfort zone.
One of the best things about our camping trip was the camp fire and making s'mores. The girls have never had s'mores before so they had a good time roasting their marshmallow. They were fascinated with how gooey the marshmallow was and wanted to play with it more than eat it. But at least they got the experience.

We brought the air mattress to sleep on which I was so glad because I really didn't want the girls to sleep on the ground. However, when we got there we had no clue how we were going to blow it up with the pump we had because there was not outlet. So we made a quick trip to walmart and bought a different handheld blower upper for $25 (even though we already had one...it just needed to be plugged in)! We got back to camp and got our beds set up. As we were sitting around the fire, some other people started walking toward us with an air mattress in their hands. Literally, directly behind where we were set up-not even five feet-was an electrical outlet. These people started blowing up their bed and we about cried because we were sitting in front of this outlet the whole time and didn't even know it.
We had a very good time and the girls did too. I'm not going to say that I want to go again real soon, but I'm glad we were able to go so the girls could have the experience of sleeping in a tent.

Afternoon Lunch

First of all...I had a wonderful time this past weekend with a few of my favorite people that I wish I could see more often. Jill, Emma, Alyssa and I went to Red Robin for a nice lunch and then went shopping around the mall. Jill so nicely made a list of everything that everyone needed.


Second of all...according to Emma, she thinks my ring looks dirty because there is more "solid band." Unlike on hers where there are more diamonds on the band. So she's basically saying that she has more bling than me but I'm ok with that. As if that wasn't a low enough blow, as I was getting my earrings cleaned, Jill said "Who do you think you are? Princess Diana?" Holy cow girls! I am confident that those things were said out of love.


All in all, I got my "dirty ring" and my "Princess Diana" earrings cleaned. Thanks for a wonderful afternoon friends!

Good Bye Summer

Kellie and I

I have to say that this has been one of the best summers I've had in a long time. Partly because I really haven't done anything other than go to the pool with the girls, hang out with friends, celebrate weddings, and visit with family. This is pretty much the first summer that I didn't take classes or teach summer school. I'm finding that summer vacation is very relaxing. However, by nature I am a very busy person and always have to be doing something. So although this was a great summer, I am very ready to get back to school with a new group of 6th graders!

Of course before heading back to school, we had to have one last outing. Wednesday nights have become our karaoke night. There is a little bar down town in broadripple that we like for our Wednesday night adventures. As we start school on Monday, this was our last Wednesday that we could all go out. I have to say that I look forward to going out with this group of people because they are all crazy! Especially Kellie..who is responsible for forcing me to go out on Wednesday nights. Like a true friend, she takes no excuses from me..and I'm glad for that.

It was the DJ's wife's birthday and Bill's birthday (Bill is a regular at this bar...he's a funny old man). They had a huge cake that looked delicious. At some point, I turned to Kellie and told her I wanted some cake. Shortly after, crazy Bill came over and offered some cake to us. It was the best cake ever and I'm glad that I got to celebrate Bill and the DJ's wife's birthday with them (neither of whom I know). So Happy Birthday people I don't know...thanks for the cake! The delicious cake

It never fails that every time we are there, Meca always gets asked to dance by drunk old men (it might actually be the same man every time). This time it was funny because Trey was there. However, this did not matter to the dancing man. He loved him some Meca last night regardless of her husband sitting right beside her. Trey is a great sport and laughed the whole time. Meca is also a great sport because she was a fabulous dancer with this guy! Meca and Trey
Meca singing...she was very good!

I love when I get to watch Ryan sing at Mugshots! He could be the biggest crowd pleaser I know. He is nuts (not a huge surprise to anyone that knows him) but watching him sing "Psycho Killer" was hysterical. Heather took a video of him which I wish I could put on here for you all to see. You will have to settle for the picture but I'm sure you can imagine...
Ryan singing "Psycho Killer" Ryan posing in his nice jacket

Speaking of Heather...Love, love when I get to hang with her. She is probably one of the funniest new friends that I have met. Even though she thinks she sang the worst song of her karaoke career, I thought it was great. However, I think she really found her niche when she sang Gretchen Wilson "Here for the Party" in SC (we still don't know what that means) but I told her to always pick songs with SC after them now. So here's to you Heather! Heather...it took us three times to take this picture!
Kellie and Heather ... it also took three times to take this picture!

All in all, a wonderful night with wonderful people. I hope everyone's summer comes to a fantastic end!

So Many Congrats Are In Order

First of all, there are a few congrats that we need to take care of...

Congratulations...

Traci and Greg on your marriage! We wish you a blessed journey through life together and know that there are many good times to come for the two of you.

Jered and Molly on your news of a little Kurtz due in March! You will be fabulous parents and we can't wait to babysit :)

Chad and Courtney on your news of another little one also due in March! You know the joys of parenting are endless and our sincere congrats go out to you both!


Kevin and Jessie on finding out that I will have a niece in November!! Yes, it's a girl and I couldn't be more excited. Of course, she will be spoiled!

Weekend Happenings- Hollenbaugh Wedding

What an awesome wedding! I have to say that Traci was a very beautiful bride and Greg a handsome groom. The church was amazing and the reception was so much fun! Jason and I were fortunate that his parents were able to watch our girls for the evening so we could relax and catch up with our closest friends and celebrate with Traci and Greg.

Everything was perfect...the food was amazing (salad, chicken breast with a very good sauce, scalloped potatoes, string green beans, and different kinds of cake). After eating and drinking-a lot-Jason made his way to the dance floor where he swears he won a dance contest (I think he was the only one in the competition) by doing the canoe on the floor. Probably every person at the reception told me he was the funniest person they had ever met.

We were so happy to see so many of our friends that we don't get to see often enough!

Greg and I (Adam in the background)

Greg and Jason

Adam and Nanci

Karmen and Jak Chaney

The MC Baseball Guys

Minix, Jason, and Adam dancing and singing

Congratulations once again to the new bride and groom. Have fun and be careful at Lake Tahoe!

Long Time No Blog

Wow...it has been a long time since I have written anything. A lot has happened since the 4th of July so we'll just do an update.

Finally Married Again
Well, that sounds weird. I have been putting off having my wedding ring and engagement ring soldered together for quite some time now. Pretty much because I didn't want to be without them for a week. Recently I noticed that my rings were looking a little dingy and not as sparkly as when I got them. I took them into Kays and they suggested that I have them replated (they are white gold). So I finally sent them out and had them replated, thoroughly cleaned, and soldered together. I just got them back yesterday and they look brand new. I never take my rings off (I know Emma is cringing about that because she takes hers off for everything!) but mine never leave my finger. Needless to say, they really needed some work. But now they look great and I have them back!

Happenings
The Pfeiffers' spent last weekend in Fort Wayne visiting with family and friends. I was sooo excited that I got to spend some quality with my favorite person in the world, Sarah Ryan. I stole her for a while to get another pedicure and Starbucks. We also went bowling, which was very funny because Sarah doesn't have the strongest wrists (love you Sarah) for holding a bowling ball. Nonetheless, we all had fun and shared some laughs as usual.

House Update
Most of you know that we are not moving into the new house. It's a long story but probably for the best. We are going to stay put in Fishers for a while but continue to look again sometime in the near future. The whole process was so tiring and time consuming, we are not ready to start it all over again right now. With school getting ready to start, I want to wait until I have more time to dedicate to the whole buying process.

Hair Cut
I have been growing my hair out for a while now and it got pretty long (for me anyway). I really wanted it to have some length for Emma's Wedding so I could wear it up. Unfortunately, I just couldn't make it. I get so anxious when my hair is long and I just can't deal with it. It gets to a certain length and I just keep pulling it back. I had to get it cut. Normally, I have my cousin Sara cut it because she is the only one who knows how to cut it the way I like. But I was impulsive and just wanted it cut so I let someone I did not know cut it. It was the worst cut I have ever had. I had to go back the next day and have Sara recut it and take off another inch just to fix what the other girl did. However, I am really happy with the result.

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July!

This is what the girls did instead of watching the fireworks

Jason tried to get in the picture with the fireworks but it was too late.

Kinsey and Kaitlyn loved their ice cream at Carmelfest

The girls had to sit in the back of the Commander because it started raining.

Jason sat with a Dora umbrella because it was raining.


This picture was taken 3 times because Ryan forgot how to take a nice picture.


This picture captured the one micro second that the girls actually sat down during the fireworks.
We had a very good 4th of July. We went to Carmelfest which was very fun. Last year we went to Fishers fireworks at Conner Prairie but I didn't think the show was that great. This year we went to Carmel with Kellie and Ryan. Kellie went with Jason, the girls, and me early to play games and eat. The girls got to play putt-putt, ring toss, and tic-tac-toe and for $10 they won little bear necklaces with bubbles in them and a sucker. However, they had a lot of fun. As soon as we were done at the fair we started walking back toward the cars and right when we got there it started raining. So we put the blankets in the back of the Jeep and had the girls hang out there for a while. We still had a little bit until the fireworks were supposed to start so we stuck around and hoped that the rain would stop. Luckily, it did and we were able to go across the street to the grass opening and watch the whole show. The Carmel fireworks were awesome! Even thought Kinsey and Kaitlyn talked about seeing fireworks the whole day, I don't think they even watched them. They were up dancing and running around. All in all it was a great weekend and we will definitely go back to Carmelfest again next year!

Favorite Dress

I just wanted to show everyone my favorite dress that the best mother-in-law in the world got for Kinsey for her birthday. This was the first thing that Kinsey wanted to wear of all her new outfits. Thanks Deb!

When Pretty Pretty Princess Goes Insanely Wrong

Jason got a new game for Kinsey for her birthday. You have to spin the spinner and collect jewelry. When you have all of your jewelry and crown collected, you win and are the pretty, pretty princess. Both girls were doing very well collecting all of their items. At one point each of them only needed one item to win. Kinsey landed on the crown and was so excited to wear it. But things took a nasty turn when Kaitlyn landed on the crown for the win and title of Pretty, Pretty Princess. Kinsey is extremely competitive and always wants to be the winner...especially when it has anything to do with being a princess. So when she had to hand her crown over to Kaitlyn she was not happy. We let Kinsey take a picture with all of her jewelry and crown but I don't think she will be the next Miss America any time soon if she had this much trouble handing over the crown in this game.

Alarm Clock Aggravation

My mom has this alarm clock that she just raves about. When she got it, she was so excited to show me all of these awesome features like it having two alarms, a weather station, a cd player, and changing colors. I, too, thought it was very neat...until I stayed the night once.
See, my mom gets up very early in the morning for work and she always sets two alarms 15 minutes apart. The alarms are always set unless they are turned off. She has always been very gracious in letting Jason and I stay in her room when we are visiting. Well, this last time I forgot to turn off the alarms before we went to sleep. Of course, the first alarm goes off at 3:30am and I have no idea what is happening. Some how I managed to turn it off...or so I thought. At about 3:45am the next alarm goes off. In a state of confusion with the room being very dark and being half asleep still, I just started pusing buttons. This time, I pushed the stupid weather button and then couldn't get it turned off. While still trying to turn off the alarm, I pushed another button and the cd player opened (which I found out was broke and wouldn't shut). I finally got so frustrated and just unplugged the whole thing. I smiled and snuggled back into bed as I thought the problem was fixed. At 4:00am this thing goes off again! It was freakin' unplugged and still went off!! Little did I know that this alarm clock also runs on battery power..in case a power outtage happens. Needless to say, I think it is a horrible alarm clock and do not recommend it to anyone. However, it certainly does its job in getting you out of bed.

Happy Birthday Kinsey!

There is so much to tell about this weekend! We celebrated Kinsey's birthday this weekend and it was so much fun! Each year, Kinsey has a theme that she wants for her birthday and this year it was Hanna Montana. Thank you very much to everyone that was able to come and celebrate her special day! We were so scared that it was going to rain but it turned out to be a beautiful day. All of the kids enjoyed jumping in the clown bounce house and playing in the sprinkler and slip n' slide! After an exciting day jumping and playing in the water we watched the Fishers fireworks to end a perfect 4 year old birthday :)