Flat Stanley Project #4

No, I didn't skip #3. I sent a card with the picture of Austin with descriptions of what we have been up to. But here is letter #4.

Dear Shell Bell –

Today is Saturday and Flat Stanley will be leaving us in a few days :(. I just wanted to send you a quick update on what we have been up to.

Friday after school Molly and I went swimming. We go to the local YMCA and swim in their indoor pool. It was a cold day for us here, about 43 degrees, so we had to do something indoors. I thought the pool we be good because it was inside and supposed to be heated……….it was too cold. We only stayed for a few minutes.

Saturday morning we went for a quick visit to Uncle Raymond’s fire station. He is a firefighter that works on an airfield, where airplanes and helicopters land and take off. So, not only does Uncle Raymond fight fires he also is trained in airplane rescue. He works at Fort Hood, which is an Army base where a lot of Army Soldiers are stationed. He gets to see when Soldiers leave for Iraq and even better….he gets to see when they come home.

Here is a picture of Uncle Raymond; he is the one in back, standing up. This was not taken Saturday but I wanted you to see him in his bunker gear.

After Molly gets up from her nap we are going roller skating. I will tell you all about that adventure in the next letter. I think the next letter will be the last one because Flat Stanley will have been with us for a week! I love you very much Michelle!

Love Always, Aunt Tracy

Flat Stanley Project Day #2

Flat Stanley went to work with me this morning. I only work until noon and then I pick up Molly from her school. Today was a very nice day out so we spent the afternoon outside, throwing acorns, riding in the toy car and bikes. We ended the day eating a big bowl of spaghetti for dinner and a Girl Scout cookie for dessert. >yummy<


After nap time Flat Stanley played with Molly outside with her car….







…and played on the inch worm.








He even played with our dog, Apollo.

Flat Stanley Project Day #1

Dear Michelle,

I received your letter concerning the Flat Stanley project and I am so happy to you chose me to help you. Flat Stanley arrived today (Monday) at 4:30pm so we didn’t have much time to do much of anything. But I thought I would share with you where Flat Stanley will be staying.
As you know I live in a suburb city just north of Austin, TX. Austin is the state capitol of Texas and we are known as the “live music capitol”, so there is always a lot to do and see here so I hope to be able to show Flat Stanley some of these things.

Here is a picture of Austin:

Here is a picture of my house, where Flat Stanley will be staying (can you see him on the door?):

As you can see we are not having the same kind of weather you are having. Today was so nice out we played outside and I was wearing flip flops! Can you imagine it being that warm in Nebraska! Tomorrow Flat Stanley will go to work with me; I will let you know how that goes. I love you very much, Shell Bell.

Love, Aunt Tracy

Flat Stanely

This is the letter I got from my favorite niece:

Dear Aunt Tracy,

We are starting an exciting school project and I have chosen you to help me with it! We have been reading the book, Flat Stanley. In this story, a boy named Stanley was sleeping one night when his bulletin board fell on him! Now he is as thin as a piece of paper! He has many adventures being so thin. One adventure is mailing himself to his friend in another state!

Flat Stanley is excited t0 explore where you live! Please let Flat Stanley be a part of your daily activities and outing for one week. Then help him write a letter back to me explain all of the fun things you did together.

We will be learning about different communities and states in the United States, so I would love to receive post cards or pictures from his adventures with you to learn more about your state and community. The information you send to me will be shared with my friends in my class.

Thank you for helping me with my school project! Please send Flat Stanley and his letter back to me as school! I am excited to hear all about Flat Stanley's trip.

Love, Michelle

She had me at "...I have chosen you to help me..." My nephew and niece have always had me wrapped around their finger. So for the next week follow me, Molly and Flat Stanley through our daily activities. I wonder if in the end I will get a letter from Michelle or her teacher to tell me to stop sending so much, that I am embarrassing her. I go overboard on these kinds of things as Michelle, my bell, will soon learn.

P.S. - Michelle has lots of nicknames so if you see, "my bell", "shell bell", "Michelle sea shell" anything with the word bell or sea shell.........this refers to Michelle.

Here is shell bell:

Busy January Days

Isn't this the cutest dress you have ever laid your eyes on. Besides the tomato sauce spill from lunch I love this dress! I found with my sister-in-law when we were thrift store shopping and I got it for.......hold on.........$2.49 and that included the puffy shirt underneath.

We have also moved on to big girl shoes. It really has been hard for me, just putting time right in my face telling me my baby is not going to stay a baby. We got these shoes over the weekend and I think they are super cute but would really just prefer that she stay in her soft sole slip on shoes.

So, it has been a long time since I last posted and I have a good excuse...we have been super busy. Here are some pictures to capture the first 21 days of 2010. In no particular order:

We have been busy walking our pet lizard.

We have been busy learning to ride our new bike that Uncle Frank gave Molly for Christmas.

We have been practicing our artistic skills.

Been practicing our yodeling.

Been busy playing with the inch worm that is easier to just carry it where you want it instead of riding on it.

and last but not least....we have been busy sweeping the drive way.

New Year's Resolutions

I always make a New Year's resolution. Just for the heck of it anyways because I never do keep them. I have two that I have every year:

1. Loose Weight

2. Develop a better relationship with God

Here are my new ones for 2010 (in no particular order):

1. Stop shopping at Wal Mart

2. Eat organic and/or natural foods

3. Cook more

4. Donate

5. Be a better wife