Catchn' Up too

The youngest of the 14 grandkids. He will be 6 this August. I thought this was such a cute picture of him shooting corncobs with his crossbow.

So Erin got us all caught up to date so I thought I better as well.

Today is Rachels last day of Jr. High. She is terribly sad to be leaving her teacher of 3 years making it hard to be excited that she will be going to high school next year. She really wants to be excited and then remembers Angela won't be there. So it is bitter sweet for her. Tomorrow morning will be 9th grade recognition and then she will be done! She starts summer school on June 16 - July 15 and will go to the high school for that. Her teacher in high school is wonderful. Anyway I think so. Rachel and her have butt heads already and the teacher has won everytime! She starts summer camp on June 1st and will go everyday 1/2 days and play, play, play! Swimming twice a week and all kinds of fun things. We have only track and swimming left for Special Olympics and the state meet will be in Wichita on June 5-7. SO takes a break through the summer and will start again with soccer after school starts again in August. So she has a pretty full summer.

Lindsay just completed her first year of college and did pretty well. We are very proud of her and all her hard work. She starts working at the same summer camp Rachel goes to but I think she will be working with the 5-12 year olds. We are very thankful to have an IN because summer jobs are pretty slim around here. Rachels teacher now is a lead teacher at the summer camp and asked Lindsay to work Fridays last year which led to everyday this year. She also volunteers for SO and will be going to Wichita too. It is quite an event and Lindsay will be very busy. She was asked by a friends mother to sing in a church choir last Christmas for a contata. She accepted and has continued to sing with them. This July 5th they will be singing a patriotic contata but with just 12 selected people. I'm looking forward to hearing them sing! She missing singing and is thinking of taking a choir class at JCCC this next year.

Bob is still at Allen Press and is staying very busy there. I am still at my awful job working the awful hours but am grateful I have a job even if it is awful. I did have a job interview last week and will here something this coming week but am not getting my hopes up as I'm sure 200 people applied besides me. I'm just happy I had an interview. I too am going to Wichita with Lindsay and Rachel for SO.

This past weekend we spent at my parents house with all my family. My brother from Michigan and his family were home. All 22 of us were together most of the time. I have added some pictures of the birds at my parents house. Right now the yellow finches are just beautiful. And there are lots of them. We had a wonderful visit with everyone and the time just went by so fast. It was sad to have to leave to come back home.

This summer is pretty full anyway through June. We have a free weekend coming up and then back to ElDorado for the Johnson picnic, then Father's day then our Gauthier nieces and nephews will be coming here to got to Worlds of Fun in KC. We are looking forward to this weekend as it is always lots of fun and we don't get to see these guys very often.

This year is the Voth family reunion. It happens every 3 years and will be in July in the Smokey mountains of Tennessee. We are hoping to go but if I get this new job we probably won't get to.

I think this wraps it up for us.

Rachel turned 16

I just can't hardly believe it, but Rachel turned 16 this week. Where has the time gone?

Old Friends

I got to see a very old friend today. When she introduced me to her husband she told him I was the first friend she had in ElDorado. They were our backdoor neighbors. Today her daughter ran in the KU relays so I went to the stadium to watch Molly run and visit with Sonja. I am so glad I went as I havent seen her in many years. We just sort of found each other on Facebook. It was fun today catching up with each other. Oh and Molly took 4th in the 1600 and had a best time.

Past due

I know I have been slipping on my blog. I still get on and read everyone else's blogs but don't take the time to sit down and write on mine.

I'll try to catch you all up on the Gauthiers.

Lindsay is still in school at JCCC. No longer has a boyfriend. He broke up with her but she was happy it happened as she didn't want to hurt his feeling because he is a nice guy. She is volunteering for Special Olympics and is singing in a church choir, so she is staying pretty busy. She already has a summer job lined up. She will be working for the city of Lawrence at the summer camp Rachel attends. Lindsay will probably be working with the younger kids and not Rachels group. It is just 1/2 days but 5 days a week.

Rachel will be starting high school next year so she has been visiting LHS every Tuesday for about 3 hours. They are trying to make the transition easier for her. I think she will be just fine and the change will be great for her.
She just finished basketball and cheerleading. Her teams got silver medals at the Metro meet. The cheerleaders got a gold at state and her basketball team got a bronze at state. Lindsay and I both went out with the team to Hays and we all had a great trip. SO took and week off and today we are starting swimming and track. So any of you who are in the ElDorado/Wichita area you can see her in action on the track and in the pool the weekend of 5th, 6th and 7th of June. This is when the state swimming and track meet is at WSU.

Bob is Bob and nothing really new with him. Work is still the same and seems to be going just fine. He has been calling in this past week for jury duty but so far hasn't had to report. He has 1 more week and he is really hoping he doesn't have to go.

Me, well I am very thankful I have a job to go to everyday. I still don't like my hours but we all have adjusted and the kids love dads cooking. OK Lindsay really likes dads cooking and Rachel, just sometimes. I on the other hand love not having to cook. But if I could get different hours I would be happy to take back the cooking duties or at least share them. I love going with Rachel to Special Olympics and seeing all the joy the athletes get when participating. I also love Kansas Jayhawk basketball and am sad it is over for the year.

Megan and the girls spent a couple of days with us this past weekend and we loved every second they were here. We welcome any visitors to stop by. We are hoping for some visitors from ElDorado when Worlds of Fun opens again.

The Boys

This is the first good picture of the boys together. They really look a lot alike. And they are doing much better around each other.

We have a busy weekend ahead of us. Saturday is all day in KC for the Special Olympics metro cheerleading and basketball tournament. They have new uniforms for basketball and cheer so the team is pretty excited. I will take my camera and get some shots of Rachel in action. Sunday I have to work 4 hours. It's the busy season right now so they have manditory OT starting this weekend through next weekend.

Everyone have a great weekend!

I get on line about twice a week to check the happenings and the obits (I know it sounds morbid)in my hometown of ElDorado, Kansas. Although I don't know very many people there anymore we still have several family members and a few close friends that still are living in the area. When I got on this morning right on the front page was our beautiful niece and great niece enjoying Valentines day.

Lindsay's new hair

Lindsay finally got rid of the awful curls she had. Her new cut and color are very nice and I like it much better. I think she does too. She had a slight tint of red added and it makes it darker to match her eye brows better. She was born with black hair and black eye brows. The hair fell out and came in a lot lighter but her eye brows are still very dark. Here are just a few pictures I took of her and Rachel. Grandma Gauthier, Rachel is wearing another outfit she bought from Christmas money.

We had 3 days of wonderful weather. 50 and 60 degrees. I am so ready for Spring time. I have never liked winter and the older I get I dislike it even more.

Our new cat Cubby has adjusted very nicely now. Jake and Cubby can now walk past each other without one of them hissing. They aren't really friends but they at least tolerate each other now. Cubby has grown so much I sometimes can't tell them apart. Jake's white spot on the front is bigger than Cubby's but when you are looking at the side or back who knows which cat it is.