Abbey's first lost tooth

Last night was a very exciting night for Abbey!! After 2 weeks of barely hanging on for dear life, her tooth finally gave up the fight. It was so funny, Abbey would let Mallory try to pull it, which Malzy liked because she wants to be a dentist so naturally she is the best one in the family to pull it. Jim tried, Mallory tried, and finally mom pulled it! It was like finding the last puzzle piece on the floor and putting it in the puzzle that others have spent days slaving over. Anyway, she was so excited! And a very good sport as well. The tooth fairy around here has a bad reputation for forgetting to do it's job. That can become rather costly, because of inflation. So luckily the tooth fairy remembered 10 minutes after getting all snuggled in bed. Of coarse Abbey was so excited this morning!
It is such a joy watching the kids grow up. I am constantly wondering how tall they'll be, what they'll look like, etc. Since we are on the subject of Abigail, the last month she has decided that she wants to be a kindergarten teacher. I think that suits her to a T. She'll be wonderful. So now all the kids have their careers lined up. Kimrie wants to be an officer in the Air Force, more specifically a Colonel. Mallory wants to be a dentist, and says she won't give me free braces because she has to make money. And now Abigail wants to be a kindergarten teacher. It's all just too cute.

Jim's weekend

This weekend Jim had the football trip to Minnesota. He has had the best time. They arrived Fri a.m, after they got situated in the hotel, he and some other guys were able to tour the brand new Minnesota football stadium, which he said is amazing. Then they managed to get free tickets to a Twins game. The next morning, he went out to breakfast with the medical crew which included his Academy roomate Dain. Then they had to figure out how to get everyone to the game while downtown was in lockdown for a presidential visit! He has had a great time! The only thing missing was the world famous "juicy lucy" hamburger featured on our favorite show, man vs food.

Just a bit

So, I made the mistake of "blog surfing", or "stalking", whatever you prefer to call it, and it really turned me off blogging for awhile. After reading strangers blogs, I felt old, fat, poor, lame, boring, hideous, etc. Pretty much anything bad to describe myself. I've learned that I'm not alone in this. I was talking to my friend Kristen about this and she had me laughing hysterically when she told me she was reading other blogs, and felt guilty that she didn't make her kids a welcome home from school treat of pencils made out of cheese! It's just too funny, so I had to remember why I started this blog. Why you ask? First, so my parents could see pictures of the kids because I never, ever send any. Second, journaling... I haven't written in a journal since I was 12 and all I wrote was "I love Justin". I should burn those because frankly, who cares who I had a crush on when I was 12?! And yes, that is all she wrote. Just ask Kacie. And third, I want my kids to know how I loved life raising my girls!! The girls and Jim are everything to me. There is nothing I love more than just being with them. But, to add to that list, I want my blog to be real too. I know it's shocking, but I am quite sarcastic. I know you'd never guess that about me, because I'm so meek and humble... So I think a bit of sarcastic humor is ok in here, because that's me. I'm not super cool, I don't wear fancy clothes, we don't go on lot's of vacations, we do get on each other's nerves, some days I stay home, and clean and do laundry. That is real! What else is real is that sometimes I AM old, fat, poor, lame, boring, hideous etc. And that's OK, no it's great! It's real. This blog isn't to impress anyone, it's to remember it all. I also remember that I love my husband, I love my girls, and all that comes with it.
So now I've missed an entire summer of blogging important things, Kimrie and Mallory's birthday, Mallory's baptism. Bjorn family reunion, school starting, etc. The list goes on. I think I will have to do flashback posts to get them all in, because I do want them documented.
Now, in an effort for personal growth now that I'm spilling my guts... This week, I've been putting photo albums together. Nothing cool, just transferring pictures from a box to a plain old book. Just how I like it. While doing so, there were many, many less than flattering pictures of me. Some of them made me want to cry. I wished I could get rid of them, but it got me thinking about my picture phobia. I have a phobia of posting bad pictures of myself. I always want my pictures to be so perfect. I don't want anyone to see if I've gained 10lbs, or my crooked teeth or my hair looking like 1970's man hair. (Thank you Tanya for inventing that term), but again it's real, it's life, so my new goal is to stop freaking out over a bad picture and just post it. Because again... who cares? So, these are my thoughts on the matter, and hopefully this gut spilling will clear the way for more benign posts about the Binns family. Although, I may have to start another blog for all the essays I constantly compose in my head. (another confession, and most of them are sarcastic in nature..)
To make a long story longer... Last week we had an awesome time at the Air Force football game. We sat by our wonderful friends, the Allred's and the Christs, and at half-time we got to see Uncle Ned! We are big time Air Force fans, and I love going to the football games. Kimrie is a super fan, especially because she wants to be a cadet!
So there is my journaling update... Hopefully this isn't too depressing!

cuz I'm 36..36 years old!

Dang! Not me! JIM!!

So tomorrow (June 13th) is Jim's 36 th birthday, AND our 12th anniversary!! A very exciting day indeed. Although usually I hate it because Jim always outdoes me with an anniversary gift that makes my birthday present to him look like I got it from the dollar store. Come to think of it... I might as well. So, in honor of our special day, I'll just have a basic cheesefest for Jim.
We met in April 1996. We immediately started dating other people. (Although I always kept my eye out for him). I thought his name was Tim. He thought my name was "Helga, or something". He scared the crap out of me. My friend told me I had no chance with him. But later told me he was the one. We were always together. I thought I would get arrested or something if I went to his dorm. We were engaged on Dec 11 1996. We were married on June 13th 1997. We went on two honeymoons... Seattle, and Mexico. Jim had a lovely time in Mexico with dislocating his shoulder, getting burned to a crisp while snorkeling, losing his watch, and picking up a wonderful thing called Montezuma's revenge. Oh well, at least I got to lay out more. We were stationed in Virginia right away, and had our first baby right away. Kimrie was born 13 months later. Then off to Japan where we welcomed Mallory. Colorado Springs,(blessed with Abbey) Greeley, (Jim made me get rid of the cat, but gained a PhD)then Colorado Springs. Jim is a wonderful father, very loving, very strict, very involved. He teases the girls mercilessly, luckily it takes some the heat off of me! (Only a small fraction though) He loves to harrass and tease our friends as well. You know Jim likes you if he makes fun of you.
Jim and I are opposites in many, many ways. But one thing in common, we love to be together.I am so lucky to have Jim, we laugh so hard together, and I wouldn't want to spend my life with anyone else!

Here is a picture of us "working together"..

Graduation video and pictures

The moment! The announcer was harrassing Jim while announcing his name!

A really wonderful weekend

This past weekend was Jim's graduation! We had the most wonderful time with all the family who came to visit and celebrate with us.
On Monday, my mom came, and the poor thing immediately started painting with Jim and I. We had to paint the entire house for the renters.. I cannot understand why anyone would use flat paint. We had to cover everything with 2 coats of primer then 2 coats of satin. It was hard work! On Tuesday, we had a little recital at the piano teacher's house. They did so well. Actually it was only Abbey and Kimrie, Mallory stopped piano because of her broken arm. I think she may have done it on purpose! I don't know if the girls realize what a wonderful teacher they have had! On Thursday, family started arriving, and boy was it rowdy around here! We went bowling, shopping, played outside. etc. Also in this week we had a fence put up. It is so depressing to have it now just before we move! Oh well, we will just enjoy it while we can.
Friday was a big day for many reasons.. It was graduation day, but it was also a fun shopping day for me and my parents. We went and found Jim a graduation present together, we got him a cool watch. That was alot of fun. And it was also D Day for Jim in 2 ways. Obviously it was graduation, but the scariest part of the day was in the morning....
A little background, we have good friends who the husband is a cow breeder. Jim has been so fascinated with his job and is always pestering him with questions. For months now, Jeremy has patiently offered to take Jim to work and let him see a typical day. Jim has always chickened out until now! I think it took taking his brothers to get the courage! Anyway, they all had a great time breeding cows... And yes Jim and David did participate. Paul said no way!
Friday night was graduation. I was so proud and choked up to see Jim walk in in his "Harry Potter" robes! I am so happy that it is over, and so proud of him for all his hard work!
The next day, just hung around the house, and prepared for the party later on. Shirley had a quick trip to the ER, she is a tough cookie! The party was at our neighborhood park that night, and it was such fun! We loved seeing our friends, and were so happy they all came! And I was happy that I had enough food, and that everyone ate it all!
My mom and dad were so amazing helping me get ready, and my sister in laws, Amy and Jeanette kept the food ready at the party. I was so happy, usually my parties are so lame. (ask anyone in the book club)
So I will attempt to post some pictures, I have tons more that I have to figure out how to get off my phone!

Just stuff

I needed inspiration to post because I couldn't think of anything, so I looked at my recent pictures and realized that we have had some fun things happen around here! So here we go:

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Here are Mallory and Abbey on St. Patricks Day wearing all the green we could find. I thought they looked so much alike on that day.



Kimrie was invited to a cupcake tea party with her friends. It was a chance for them to dress up, it was so fun for her! And me too, because it gave me a chance to give her an updo.