Cousins, Bible School, and Dancing

This has been a full week for us. It is sad to think that it is the last one before school starts again on Wednesday. We actually go to Jackson's school today to meet his teachers-Mrs. Broce and Mrs. Vanderhoof. We know both of them already but Jackson doesn't and he loves any excuse to go to school and play with the kids. I found out from Jill last night that Kylee is in a different class this year which is kind of sad. We started the week off with Jackson going to vacation bible school which he loved. He came home the first night very excited because he found out if he went every night he could win tickets to "the roller coaster place and a free gas card." Mary and Annie worked the registration table so they brought Jackson home a couple nights and we got to hang out with them and Lauren for a little while. Andrew even saved Lauren from certain injury when she was trying to go down the steps. Andrew was behind her and she started falling and you heard Andrew say, "I've got her," and they both come tumbling down the stairs. I thought he was going to take out the spindles. He was laid out flat on the stairs and Lauren was a little scared but they both recovered. Andrew has a mark on his forehead to show his bravery. I didn't get any pictures of all of them though. I wish we all could have hung out more, but everyone ended up being pretty busy. Luckily the Brimmers will be back Labor Day weekend. Later in the week, Sara and Bella came into town to spend a little time with Grandma and Papa before Sara starts back to teaching. We spent the night at my parent's house Thursday night because Andrew had to be in Kansas City. My mom, Sara, and I went to see Mama Mia and it was a cute movie. I'm glad my mom convinced me to go because we had to go to the late show which meant we would be tired and I was also going to miss one of Michael Phelp's races and some gymnastics on the Olympics. Friday night I had them over for dinner and my dad was nice enough to plant some shrubs for me in our front yard. He is very quick with it and Andrew was still out of town so he didn't get suckered into planting his own plants. We actually got to hang out on our patio which was nice. It was actually a little cool. And our yard is starting to look a little green which is exciting.

Saturday night was the big "Dancing with the Stars." Dad got all gussied up in his tux (you couldn't even notice the burn hole on his pant leg). He was the only one in a tux and looked very sharp. The Moose Lodge was packed by 6:30, with a line to get in, even though it didn't start until 7:00. They had three groups, samba, waltz, and jive, and all the couples from each group danced together. They did the same dance a couple times, then the judges eliminated two couples. Dad did an awesome job but he got cut the first round. But not to worry, they did have a People's Choice Award, where you could put money in each couples jar and whoever had the most won that award. Yes, I did feel a little competitive and wanted to make sure Dad one, but it wasn't just me. He definitely got the biggest applause from the crowd when they announced his name. And in the end, he did win the people's choice award. The other winners were Matt Wilson (a local attorney), Jason Haxton (works at KCOM-very funny to watch), and Kelly Burchett (the kid who used to live up the street and is now an ENT/plastic surgeon). Jackson was very excited about Papa's trophy. He had been eyeing the trophies in the trophy case at the Moose Lodge and when he saw that Papa won one, he decided to claim it as his own. He was showing it to anyone who would pay attention and was saying, "I won!!!" He was very proud. I think it was a little overflow from not winning the previously mentioned tickets to "the roller coaster place and free gas card." We are really going to have to work with him on this whole winning/losing thing because right now he is not a good sport. I will attach a little video I got of Dad dancing, but it is pretty hard to see because the TV camera set up right in front of our table and Dad's position just happened to be right in front of the camera. There is supposed to be some footage on KTVO maybe later tonight.