'Tis the Season

We kicked off the Christmas season with a visit from Flat Stanley all the way from Arizona!  (Thank you Zoey for sending him to visit!)  We were so glad that he got to come and hang out with us for a little while.  While he was here, Flat Stanley went with us to our Ward Christmas Brunch.  It was a fun morning of pancakes, quiche, and sweet breads.  Then we had a little program based on the Polar Express theme "Believe".  After the program, the bishopric came in to deliver gifts to the kids dressed as the Three Wise Men.  After the brunch, we went to do some Christmas shopping as a family.  It was a fun afternoon  and a great way to kick off December!

Flat Stanley helped decorate our Christmas tree

 

Flat Stanley made a bunch of new friends while he was here!

 

The Polar Express

 

The Three Wise Guys (Men)

Stay tuned for more Dunklee holiday fun!!!

Volleyball

Time passes so quickly these days that I can hardly keep up. It was just a couple of weeks ago that Julee started volleyball camp and tryouts right?  I guess that was August and now here we are at the end of October and the season has just ended.  Julee made the JV team this year and had a great season.  Poor girl had practice or games every single day for 2 months including a lot of Saturdays (add seminary, honors classes, homework, and yes, chores, to that and she was one busy girl).  She worked hard and really took the training seriously. She learned a lot and gained a lot of muscle and some great body toning - lucky girl.  Here she is in action:

 

 Don't you just love the knee hi socks and knee pad look?

Friend.... or Best friend......?

I apologize in advance (mostly to my mother) if this offends anyone or gives them the wrong impression.  I am not a violent person by nature and actually think of myself as a pretty caring individual.  But, I have to say that there is something about this statement that really warms my heart.  Really, it does!

Rare sighting

I'd venture to say that most of us out there have at one time or another used Google street maps.  A couple of days ago we spotted the Google maps car by one of our local shopping centers.  This is the car that drives around taking those pictures that become part of those maps.  I wish we could have gotten a closer picture (the guy inside already looked freaked out because we were stalking him) of the inside so you could see all the computers that it has inside.  It is pretty amazing for a little tiny car.  And if once wasn't enough, we saw it again a few days later in a different part of town.  Rick said to the girls that maybe we would end up on Google street maps.  Julee in her rather special 14-year old way responded with something like "Yes, wouldn't that be fabulous."  Too funny!

1st Day of School

Well, we made it through the first week and a half of school.  I find it funny that I wait all summer for us to have our "schedule" back and then when it finally happens, it seems like it takes forever to get used to it.  I suppose it doesn't help that now that Julee is in high school we started seminary this past week.  We now have 8 years of early mornings to look forward to. I'll let you know when I'm excited about that but don't hold your breath.

I can't believe that Julee is already in high school! She has become very busy all of a sudden.  Between seminary, school, and JV volleyball she is always on the run.  Alexis is now in 5th grade and growing like a weed.  She is just a hair taller than Julee and most of the kids in her class.  She was so ready to start the school year and is loving her new teacher, Mr Travers.  Here's to a great school year!

 

 

P.S.  I spent the afternoon downloading and organizing pictures so maybe I'll get to some more blogging this week.  Again, don't hold your breath...

 

There goes the weekend.....

Poor Rick!  He has been trying to get home from San Antonio since 9 o'clock this morning.  Unfortunately, this is what he has been dealing with all day.

 But he is finally on a plane that is just flying out of Baltimore on its way to Albany.  He should be home around 1245am.  And if we're lucky, his luggage has already arrived as it made one of the flights that he did not.  So hopefully he is well rested from all that sitting around in airports because tomorrow is one crazy day.  We'll find ourselves at the high school graduation party of our friends' son, the funeral (in which I am one of the speakers-that's a whole different post) of a dear sister in our ward, the grocery store to buy dish soap (because when I went to do the dishes tonight I realized that when Rick told me we were running out of dish soap he meant that we were really out of dish soap) and something for us to eat tomorrow since we have nothing in the house except chips and salsa, and several loads of laundry so Rick can turn around and re-pack to leave again on Sunday morning.  So, if any of you get to sleep in and just take it easy, please do some of that for me.

P.S. It is now 1:32am.  Rick made it home and his luggage made it home.  Exhaustion has set in.
Good night!

It's what's for dinner

Mmmmm, I love this stuff!

The sound of...........

Listen closely.

 Can you hear that?

Come on, stop and listen for just a minute. 

Can you hear it now? 

Ahhh, of course you can't. 

It's the sweet sound of peace and quiet. 

The girls are in Florida for a few weeks and Rick left this morning for a week long conference in San Antonio. Rumor has it the girls are having a terrible time (not!) spending everyday playing on the beach and swimming in the surf. And poor Rick has just flown right into the middle of a multi-week Texas heat wave (though he did get to have Panda Express for lunch so we are not feeling too bad for him at the moment).  As for me, here I sit in front of the air conditioner alternating between my laptop and a new novel, trying not to break the silence.  I suspect this novelty will be short-lived and it will only be a few days before I'm singing the lonely blues.  But until then...............shhhhhhh.

HaPpY 14tH bIrThDaY jUlEe!!

Happy birthday Julee!

 

Poor Julee spent the morning of her birthday marching in the Watervliet Memorial Day Parade. That meant getting up early even though there was no school, carrying 40lbs worth of bells, and marching from the high school to the Memorial Park in Watervliet in 90* weather.  She did an awesome job though and was even good sport enough to smile when her crazy mother was chasing her down the parade route with a camera.

Here are 14 things you may or may not know about Julee:

1. Her favorite color is blue

2. She LOVES going to the movies

3. She still has the same crazy, curly, thick hair that she's always had

4. She does not know how to keep her room picked up

5. She is a drummer at heart

6.  She kills her dad playing the "yellow one" car game EVERY morning

7. She is semi-excited (her words) that she gets to go to her first youth dance in 2 weeks

8. She loves to play the piano

9. She is a saver, not a spender

10. Her favorite food is Hawaiian Haystacks

11. Her favorite TV show is NCIS

12. She can (still) touch her tongue to her nose

13. She joined the jazz band this year

14. She is an all-around awesome girl!

Happy 14th Lulee!  We love you!

A fun picture of her jazz band director helping Julee stay cool during the parade

DEAD or not DEAD

Rick just asked me when the last time I blogged was.  I told him it was February 27th.  He said the blog was DEAD.  I told him he was wrong.  So as to not be a liar, here I am.  We were behind this car in the drive-thru at Burger King the other night.  Now, I like Twilight just as much as the next guy.  We've read the books and seen the movies.  I think Julee even had the Twilight conversation hearts around Valentine's Day.  But really?!?

So very wrong....

Thought you would all get a kick out of this little 'tribute' to the Dunklees I came across on the blog of one of our 'friends' in Tucson:

Extreme Weather Warning . . . . .

Enough is enough!! Just don't think I can handle much more of this frigid weather . . . and yes, I am teasing some friends living in New York who have had their little tushes frozen off a-a-a-ll winter! 

Isn't she funny?!?! NOT!! It is pretty amazing that there is actually visual snow in Tucson.  Lightweights probably tried to cancel church.....

REALLY....ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

Just chillin' out

Today is the first day of Winter Break which means a week of no school for Julee and Alexis.  Unfortunately, their mean mother stayed home from work today and made everybody clean house.  The girls were very helpful around the house and then they did a great job on their rooms!  The worst part of the day - cleaning.  The best part of the day week - just chilling out.

Lekkis loves her little desk area under her bed. 

You can't see it but she is reading a new book she got today.

Lulee working on one of her infamous projects and watching Harry Potter 6.

She will be less than thrilled to see her mugshot on the blog (shh don't tell her).

Spelling Bee

A few weeks ago Alexis represented her 4th grade class in the school Spelling Bee. She studied her words really hard and was super excited to get to spell in front of the WHOLE SCHOOL!  There were 12 other students from 4th, 5th, and 6th grade who participated.  Alexis ended up coming in 3rd place behind a 5th grader and a 6th grader!  These were her words: crew, bunt, hitch, hammer, empty, kettle, nudge, leapfrog, service, innocent, gallant, station, magical, and abolishinists.  Not too shabby for 4th grade!

 Alexis waits her turn to spell

Just a little bit nervous

Great job Lekkis!!