markos mischief

Ho Hum

2012-02-09T14:11:00.000-05:00

Every Wednesday, we go to the park to meet friends and play. One day I actually brought my camera.

One day Luke had a little fun with olives.

Max is enjoying his basketball season.

Cousin Eli sent us a Flat Stanley to take care of for the week last week. He joined playing Pictionary one night for FHE.

We also took him with us to the Zoo, the beach and to all our usual activities.

Jack is doing really great in School. He received an award for outstanding achievement in Math last week. He also finished his Firts Magic Tree House book and is on Number 2. I don't think he could be more excited about that.

Luke is loving his sports class. Its time for Basketball now.

And those are some of the things we did over the last couple of weeks.

And the days go by...

2012-01-22T22:41:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago Max asked when the leaves were going to fall from the maple tree in our back yard. About a week later, they all fell. The kids have been having a great time raking them and jumping into them. We hung swing from one of the branches and they have been jumping off of the swing into the piles.

I'm thankful that we get to have a little fall fun in always green Florida.

The kids are always thinking up new ways to have fun on the trampoline. The fun addition of blankets have opened a whole new world of trampoline fun, it seems.

Meredith had a piano recital on Saturday. Here she is with her fabulous teacher. I think the recitals are Meredith's favorite part of taking piano lessons. She played two songs: Have a Holly Jolly Christmas, and Ballade. She played both flawlessly. She is awesome!

On Monday the kids had a day off from school. We met some friends at one of our favorite parks and fed the birds.

They were all swarming around us and the kids were throwing bread in the air for the birds to catch. It was pretty cool.

I felt like we were in the movie The birds. Thankfully they weren't attacking us.

Other news of the week. Max and Jack both figured out how to do a pull up. I challenged them about a year ago that if they could learn how to do a pull up I would pay them $20. They have a pull up bar in their doorway and have been working toward it for a long time. Of course they used their money to buy more Lego. Can't get enough of that over here.

Max had a basketball game on Saturday. Their team is undefeated so far.

Mer and Max spent the weekend working on their science fair projects. Mer is done and Max is just about there. I'll be glad when it's over.

Jack is on chapter 6 of his first Magic Tree house book. He is so excited that he is reading well enough to read chapter books. Of course he needs help on some of the big words but he is getting really good. I'm so proud of him. It's fun to teach kids to read.

Luke is just happy to tag along and be able to hold his own on a trampoline with 3 big kids. He is getting a little more mischievous and showing his temper a bit. I guess the baby is always spoiled. He is doing soccer in his Little Sports class right now. He thinks he's so big. I guess he is, he'll be 4 in a month. CRAZY!!

Vacation ends.

2012-01-08T19:01:00.001-05:00

The kids go back to school tomorrow. I have heard complaints about not wanting to go back more than once in the last couple of days. We didn't do too much over the last week but we had a lot of fun doing nothing. There was a lot of this...

And a lot of this...

We built a tire swing last weekend and it has upped the back yard fun quite a bit.

Doug let the older kids stay up and watch the Lord of the Rings series this week. Of course they loved it and felt extremely special to be able to watch a PG-13 show. They walked around robed in blankets all evening outside playing some game based on the movies.

Funny things this week:

Luke has taken to spanking everyone at any unsuspecting moment. I think it came from a trampoline game they played one day. Today he was caught giving Jack a good swat as he walked by him in the bench at church.

The favorite word of the week is "Ugh!" Luke says it mostly but everyone has jumped on board. It is usually said in desperation when you don't get your way or when you spill something on the floor.

Favorite song of the week: White and Nerdy by Weird Al. If you haven't seen the video yet, I highly recommend you watch it. My favorite part is the background dancing by Donny Osmond. Max and Mer got iTune gift cards for Christmas. This is just one of the many songs they have downloaded this week.

Doug got a Pancake creator for Christmas and we have been having a bit of fun with it.

This is Mer's first print with her new screen printing kit. She's moving on to T-shirts next.

I finished the boys Lego bags this week. You can read more about it HERE. See that yellow lego head? I have a lovely yellow stain on the carpet from that painting episode. It is probably the worst stain/spill we've ever had living with white berber carpet for the last 8 years. I'm hoping it will inspire me to get new flooring in our living area.

Jack had a school assignment to have his friend Gingerbread Fred tag along with us this Winter vacation. We took him for a ride around the neighborhood this week.

And now I leave you with a few pictures from our New Year's Eve festivities.

Caught up!! My goals this week are to nap Luke every day (He is exhausted), take my sewing machine into the shop to get fixed (sadly it broke down on Saturday), fill out a couple of applications for middle schools (is Mer really already that old?), and be a little more prepared for my primary lesson next week (I get to teach Luke's new Sunbeam class).

Over and out!!

Christmas Morning

2011-12-31T14:01:00.000-05:00

We have had a wonderful 4 (oops now 6) days of playing with new toys, watching movies, eating treats, and being together as a family, with a few outings thrown in here and there. So finally I'm getting to post our Christmas Morning pictures.

On Christmas we let the kids come out to open presents at 7:30 am but they had been awake much earlier than that. I caught Mer sneaking silently into my room at 3:30 am to get the iPad so they could watch movies in their rooms. Evidently Max had woken everyone up and they couldn't get back to sleep so they thought they would just watch a show and wait. I didn't think that was such a good idea so I sent them back to bed in the dark. I don't know who went back to sleep for how long but Doug said they were awake at 5:30 that morning when he got up.

Anyway 7:30 finally came and we took our annual picture of the stair steps, and let them in to open their stockings.

I found the video of the stocking opening but I'm not having luck uploading it. So here are some pictures of the kids playing with all their new toys.

It was a Lego building heaven all day long. Max also got an iPod shuffle which he says was his favorite gift.

Mer designing clothes

sporting her Messi t-shirt and Barca earrings.

Jack's Agents Playmobile

More Lego

Sweet rides.

And Hotwheels of course. Actually Luke bought this one a couple of days after Christmas with $$ from Grandma Bev. It has been his favorite of the week.

And here is the Quilt that Mer designed and sewed for Doug. He is a bit obsessed with Diet Mountain Dew right now.

The wrapping paper pile proved to be pretty fun as well.

And that was our Christmas.

And since it is New Years Eve... Happy New Year!!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-26T19:11:00.000-05:00

My friend Stephanie made me this cute sign this year. It's a quote from Buddy the Elf. I thought it was an appropriate for my family who loves to sing loudly whether it is to spread Holiday cheer or just to annoy. We carried on the Markos tradition and went caroling Friday night. The family wasn't too gung ho for it this year but we had a great time once we got started.

Saturday night we had the Samuel's over for Christmas Eve dinner. Doug grilled Steak and Chicken wings, after dinner we acted out the Nativity with everyone.

They brought the kids some fun gifts... Slingshot flying monkeys, a pocket knife, and a grabber.
After everyone left, the kids all quickly got ready for bed and set out some cookies for Santa.

Then something really fun happened. Doug sat down at the Piano we all sang Christmas songs together. We went through almost every song in the Hymn book and in Primary book. Even the boys were singing. It was a pretty neat experience.

Then of course it was off to bed, because Santa couldn't come until everyone was Asleep. I love Christmas Eve. It is practically the only night all year when the kids willingly go to bed with no excuses.

Last Day of School

2011-12-20T15:35:00.000-05:00

Today was the last day of school. The kids have officially started their 2 1/2 week winter break. I am excited for a little time off with no commitments. Max came home today super excited. He got to bring home a Nook Color for the break. He says he plans on staying up reading in the dark a lot at night this break.

Mer had a 6th grade picnic today where everyone brought in foods from around the world to sample. Mer made Greek Kourambiedes. Today they announced the results of last month's Jog-a-thon. Both Mer and Jack won prizes for running the most laps in their age groups. Mer won movie tickets and a sports bag and Jack won a pedometer.

I guess running home from the park everyday pays off.

Last Friday Jack had his Holidays around the world concert. Jack's class sang "Santa Claus is coming to town".

They had a surprise visit from Santa and Luke got to sit on his lap.

He even came to visit the classroom afterward.

Sunday we had invited friends over for some Ginger bread House Decorating.

It was so much fun. And well worth the consequence of a sticky kitchen floor.

And Finally, yesterday was our 14 year Anniversary. How time does fly. We spent the evening attending Mer's Chorus concert and then ripping apart the back of Doug's car so he could change the brake light and open the trunk, which has been stuck shut for the last 2 months. We actually celebrated our anniversary already by treating ourselves to a trip to Orlando on Friday night. We saw La Nouba, went to dinner, and did some shopping without children the next day.

And now Christmas is upon us. We have a couple more activities to check off the list and a few more gifts to buy. Excitement is mounting and Sunday can't come soon enough.

And now I must figure out a healthy dinner to whip up to counter act all the sweets of the week. Ciao!

Checking in for December

2011-12-13T22:56:00.000-05:00

There is someone in the neighborhood who has a countdown to Christmas and apparently there are 11 days left. We are slowly getting ready for the big day. Decorations are mostly up, packages and Christmas cards are mostly mailed. Amazon Prime has been my best friend this season. Online shopping is just so easy! I'm putting my feet up after one busy day of real shopping, a teacher conference for Max, chorus practice, basketball practice, Activity Days, and a primary meeting. Sorry I have been a little absent lately, December came and let's just say I've been a bit busy.

What did you miss during our 3 week absence?? Well Luke was sick for a week and we didn't go anywhere, then Jack was sick for a week and he missed 3 days of school. Luke loved having his big brother home to play with. They did crafts, had fun lunches together, watch movies and mailed off their Santa letters.

Jack made an ornament to send to Santa.

Thankfully everyone is well now. Jack is glad to be back at school because they are learning about Holidays around the world and they get to do a craft for each country. He is in heaven. He brought a boomerang home yesterday that he had decorated.

We made a few efforts to take a family picture. This is probably my least favorite task. Most of them look something like this...

The big kids have been working on their science fair projects with Doug. Max's has to do with determining the critical angle of a laser as it shines through various liquids. Basically he is figuring out what angle you have to hold the laser at to make it bounce up and down like this.

Mer is testing the bounciness of bouncy balls. Finally two physics projects that I don't have to help with. Thank you Doug!!

And Doug has been working record hours at work. We are just happy to have him home when we can. That's enough for now. I'm tired, in case you haven't noticed, and it's time to get some shut eye. Good night!

Beach Pictures

2011-11-28T10:46:00.000-05:00

We had such a great relaxing Thanksgiving weekend. Doug took all 3 days off. It was really nice to have him around. All the kids are so super excited for Christmas. After much begging we put up the Christmas tree last night which means the living room is cluttered with freshly unpacked Christmas Decorations.

I took the camera to the beach with us on Friday So I thought I'd post some shots.

We find these jellyfish almost every time we go to the beach

This is what Meredith dreams about.

This is what Jack dreams about.

Too bad the sun went away when everyone started posing.

And I couldn't resist this shot. This is grumpy Jack. Sad that we wouldn't let him keep the double handful of broken shells he had collected. Some days we see more of grumpy Jack than others.

Luke was up a few times in the middle of the night. I think he might be getting sick. Today I must get organized and make sure I'm ready for Christmas. It will be here in a blink of an eye!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T23:24:00.001-05:00

We had a lovely day today! A really great day. We started our Thanksgiving day with a family Turkey Trot. Doug and the kids ran a 5K and I ran the 10K. It was fun. I think we'll make it a tradition.

We came home and cooked up a great big Thanksgiving meal. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes...the works. It was fun. I was head chef and the kids took turns helping me out....you know, showing them all the little things my grandma and mom showed me when I helped them make Thanksgiving dinners. Even though we didn't get to spend today with family, it was okay. I feel like it was a good day spent strengthening our own little family. Meredith and I decided that we needed to mix things up a little to make the holiday feel a little more special, so we moved the Kitchen table to the dining room.

Mer came up with a centerpiece and we did our best to dress up the table.

Max surrendered the only intact turkey leg and gave it to Luke who loved every bite.

We all went around the table and said things we are thankful for and played the ABC thankful game. We had a few good laughs when some borderline bathroom humor came up. Ahhh life with little boys.

Here are the pies...Apple, Lemon Meringue, and Cherry (made my Mer)

I sure am Thankful for this family of mine!

This year Mer made us a thanksgiving turkey advent activity. We were supposed to add one turkey feather each day and take turns writing what we are thankful for. Not all the feathers got filled up with thanks or moved over on a daily basis but here are the things that we are thankful for that did get recorded.

Mer is thankful for everything

I am thankful for my mom and dad - Max

I am thankful for my home -Jack

I am thankful for the TV -Max

I am thankful for my Grandma Lewis because she taught me how to cook yummy Thanksgiving food- Mom

I am thankful for monsters, cars, and Monster cars -Luke

I am thankful for my family - Jack

I am thankful for the trampoline, the iPad, and cars

Iam thankful for food, family, soccer and friends - Meredith

I am thankful for my stuffed animals - Jack
Doug- I am thankful for: Luke running in and out of cones (at little sports football), and Max keeping his invention Journal, and Jack reading everything he gets his hands on, and Mer's determination o improve at soccer, and Mom's patience and understanding and meals that she makes, and much more.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Saturday's Soccer Marathon.

2011-11-17T14:17:00.000-05:00

Just checking in with an update. I feel like I haven't really said much here since Halloween and then it was only pictures. Need...more...time. I just might have enough time to do all the things I want to if I didn't have to sleep. As busy as everything is around here I feel as though I am swimming strong and not just trying to keep my head above water, and that is a good feeling.

Our Soccer season is just about over. We had a pretty crazy day on Saturday. A quick piano recital, 4 soccer games at 3 locations, and 1 end of season party. We left the house at 9:20 am and got home a 7pm. Everything over lapped a little so we had to have some friends get Jack and Max to where they needed to be on time.

The morning started off with Mer playing the piano at a nursing home in a mini recital. She is working on this really fun song, I'll try to get a video of it. Then we zoomed over to catch the last of Jacks game, where he made a goal and I got a few pictures.

Before the game was over Doug left to take Mer up to Merritt Island for 2 tournament games, and a friend took Max to his game at another field. When Jack's game was over we had a little end of season celebration.

These are Luke's soccer buddies.

and Jack got his trophy.

We then rushed off to catch the end of Max's last game. Unfortunately I went to the wrong field and by the time we made it to the right one the game had just ended. I was a little bummed about that. They won of course. Their team name is the Undefeatables. They have won every game except one that they tied. Max had a great season and is turning out to be a super solid defender.

Next we zoomed off to meet up with Mer and Doug for the end of her tournament.

Night fell during their last game and she got to play under the lights.

They won their first game and tied the second, I believe. Mer didn't get to play in the games the next day but the team took first place. It has really been a great season!

This little guy tolerated being drug around pretty well and all in all it was a great, exhausting day.

We picked up some Subway on the way home and came home to crash.

Max had his season party at Chuck E Cheese, Monday night at the same time Jack played his last game. Jack was a little distraught that he couldn't go to the party. Mer has one last game that they are still working on scheduling. And so it is just about over.

That's enough of an update for today.

Happy 100th Birthday Great Grandpa Conlan

2011-11-11T19:53:00.000-05:00

Today, 11/11/11, marked the 100th birthday of Doug's grandpa Robert Conlan. This would be Doug's mom's Father. He was born November 11th, 1911 and if he was still alive, he would be 100 years old today. We thought this was a pretty momentous occasion and thought we should celebrate.

We bought some cupcakes from a local bakery and filled them up with 100 candles.

We called Grandma Blanche on the phone and sang Happy Birthday. Then Grandma told us a little bit about Great Grandpa Conlan. He was born in Argentina and then later moved to Maryland where his parents sent him to boarding school. At some point he moved to Utah where he worked at US Steel. He passed away sometime after sustaining a head injury while on the job. Blanche was about 8 years old when he died and so she doesn't have too many memories of him. He had dark curly hair and eyes that were about the same color as Jack's.

Thanks for spending a fun night with us Grandma Blanche!

Happy Birthday Great Grandpa Conlan!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T20:46:00.002-04:00

Testing Blogpress app.

happy Halloween!

We had visitors this Weekend

2011-10-31T07:41:00.000-04:00

Doug's mom and dad came to visit us this weekend. They came to watch soccer games and they got to catch a little glimpse of our busy lives. Friday was Jack's literacy parade. He dressed up as Ben 10

That afternoon we visited a pumpkin patch to pick up our last couple of pumpkins for carving, and some minis too.

Super Luke!

Of course Grandpa made puppy dogs with a little improv on the first day. We decided this was the Halloween version.

Saturday we spent the entire day in the rain watching soccer games. Mer and Jack made goals and Max played some awesome defense. Grandma read stories.

Grandpa helped out with the chores.

We went swimming a couple of times and played with blocks.

Saturday night we carved pumpkins and made candy apples while listening to halloween music. Such fun! I love this shot of Doug getting into his Angry Bird face carving.

Thanks for coming Grandma and Grandpa! We had such a great time seeing you.

Now it's time for Halloween. The kids are super excited. Luke went to sleep in his Superman suit. I just have to pick up a couple of Hippie accessories for Mer and paint Luke's superman shoes and we are ready to go. The forecast says rain, so we may be trick or treating with umbrellas...awesome!

The Weekly Report

2011-10-24T21:23:00.000-04:00

I am happy to report that the staples are out!! Here is the picture to prove it.

Jack's head is healing nicely and he is doing well.

I am also happy to report that we have been experiencing some cooler temperatures over the last week or so. I am loving it. We have actually had the windows open and the A/C off on some days. The kids have even pulled out the long sleeve shirts on occasion. Oh happy day!

Luke started his Little Sports class this past week. T-Ball. He had a ton of fun!!

We have also been getting ready for Halloween. Luke made some Jack-o=lantern cards for friends and relatives. Call yourself lucky if you actually get one!

In other news,

The kids participated in their primary program at church on Sunday. Everyone did a great job on their multiple parts.
We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Grandma and Grandpa Markos at the end of this week.
Doug installed 3 new ceiling fans this weekend
I am trying to pick out a new paint color for our living room/kitchen area. It has me stumped. My plan is to paint the hall in the color I think I like. It's all prepped and ready to go. I hope I get it painted this week.
Jack is reading so well. He has really made a lot of improvement since the beginning of school. This afternoon he got the scriptures out and read a couple of verses. He was so excited that he could do it. (with help on the big words of course)

Until next time or next week... Good Night!

Howdy!

2011-10-14T23:42:00.000-04:00

Time for an update, has it already been a week?

I'll get to the most tragic news first. Well not too tragic. Jack split his head open tonight. We have seen our fair share of head wounds in this family but it has been a while since the last one. Jack and Max were doing Karate moves as they bounced all around the living room and Jack's head made contact with the entertainment center. Max and Jack both started to panic when they saw handfuls of blood. Thankfully Mer was around to help settle down max because it is a little difficult to try to reassure to hysterical kids while applying pressure to a head wound.

Not a great picture, but he got 3 staples to the head. Staples are new to us.

We had a bit of illness in the family this week. Max and Jack both missed a couple of days of school. It was a cold virus I suppose. It was one of those illnesses where they sounded too sick to send them to school but they felt too well to keep them home.

And so you don't think they watched TV all day long here is proof that we squeezed a little academics in.

I think it's worth noting that at one point this week I had all the laundry in the house clean and put away. There was not one article of dirty clothing to be found. I really don't think I have ever accomplished this, so I thought it was worth noting. It's safe to say that laundry is my weakest housekeeping skill.

Luke has spent most of the week dressed up as a cowboy. This is his hide out.

He even persuaded me to dress up like an Indian in part of Max's old Shaka Zulu costume. We have spent a lot of time playing hide and seek and shooting each other, making campfires, camping under the stars, roping cattle, and saying Howdy.

It sure is fun hanging out with this kid all day.

Now good night y'all!

My Day Off

2011-10-07T23:49:00.000-04:00

Today felt like Christmas. The kids had the day off of school, it was Doug's day off too. We found ourselves with nothing much to do and it was absolutely blissful. I sewed a bit and went running. Doug took the kids for donuts. It was an absolutely refreshing day. Mer had a friend come over, Doug went to work for a couple of hours. We swam, I actually read a magazine by the pool, (Marth Stewart Living...it finally came). We did a little shopping later and ordered take out from our go-to date-at-home eatery Tijuana Flats.

Last week I took some pictures of what's been keeping us so busy lately....Soccer. Here are some action shots.

Doug is helping coach both Mer and Max's team.

This particular day Jack didn't have a game, just team pictures.

This is what everyone who isn't playing does. Seek shade and play with toys. We were just catching a few minutes of Mer's game before driving to another field for Max's.

Max made a sweet attempt at a goal here...too bad he shot it just outside of the goal post.

One more thing that was noteworthy last weekend... the kids made us breakfast in bed Sunday morning. Mer pulled off a pretty awesome crepe plate.

It sure is fun watching these kids grow up and do all the things they do. Tonight I am feeling like one lucky, refreshed, mama. Now it's off to bed. I'm hoping for another relaxing day tomorrow though I may have to do a little housework. We have no soccer games because of tournaments at the fields and I am going to enjoy every minute of it.

Swim lessons ended

2011-10-01T08:26:00.000-04:00

Luke's last day of swim lessons was Thursday. He got to jump off the diving board again, and this time I was able to get some pictures.

I also got a quick video, but really I don't know what I'm doing with this camera yet so it went all blurry at the end.

The last time he jumped in, he did it with no one in the water to help him come up. I thought he wasn't going to make it swimming to the side with no one to help him come up and get started after the jump. But he made it. This kid is a fish.

I'm so proud of this little boy.

The Birthday Boy

2011-09-25T00:17:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday Jack. Saturday Jack turned 6!! He started out the the day with a couple of presents... a Captain America costume "with muscles" and a shield.

Then off he went to his soccer game and back to the house for his Super Hero Training Academy Party.

This was his invitation ...

Here he is building a hideout for Superman while waiting for all his friends to arrive.

Doug was the Superhero trainer who led them in a bunch of activities to hone their super skills.

Muscles of steel.

Practicing their punches and kicks. Pow! Bam!

Perfecting their aim.

Mastering Balance

And "refueling" before their battle against the bad guys

Their bad guys hid Kryptonite all around the Hall of Justice.

And then the Superheroes attacked them with water balloons.

Then it was time for presents and cake. What fun!

The Party turned out perfectly. Doug was an excellent trainer and Jack had an awesome time. When it was all over we got into the car to head to one more soccer game. Yes, it was a crazy day!

When we finally made it home that evening Jack opened the rest of his presents. We had hamburgers for dinner and watched the Spy Next Door.

Happy Birthday Jack. We love you!!

The Birthday Man

2011-09-19T23:12:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday To Doug!

After an extra long day at work Doug met up with us for a family celebration.

Dinner from Moe's. Desserts from Panera, and a bunch of goofy kids watching him open his presents.

Oh Yeah!!

Checking in

2011-09-15T14:22:00.000-04:00

I'm back...blogging instead of doing the 1 million things I have on the list for today. I'll keep this short. It was fun to get a lazy day on Monday. Max made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. Delicious, of course.

Boys, where are your clothes..

They had spent the weekend pulling out EVERY pillow and blanked and stuffed animal to build these huge towers. Jack is sitting on one here, but usually they would lay someone down and pile everything on top of them, then top the whole mountain with a layer of blankets and then the person underneath would bust out. They did this over and over all weekend long.

Today Luke had swim lessons. I discovered I could go lap swim during his lesson time so I tried that out today. I couldn't keep swimming for 20 minutes straight. I don't know how you do it, Grandma Blanche. Luke has 4 more lessons left so I'm going to practice, and hopefully gain a little swimming endurance. Luke's Superman suit finally got too dirty to wear and so in the interim we got out the girl toys. This is what we have been playing today. We built a house and then took a boat ride to take everyone camping.

I have been making Crayon rolls to send to CO for a craft show this weekend. Today we found out that the leftover material is a perfect size for a multi-animal sleeping bag.

One more thing! Yesterday was my Dad's 70th Birthday. Happy Birthday Dad!! I am so grateful for the wonderful life he provided for me and for all the good things he has taught me. I'm proud to be his daughter!! Love you Dad!

PEACE OUT!

Dress ups and Teeth cleanings

2011-09-12T08:48:00.000-04:00

Luke continues to love dressing up. This week we played pirates a bit. Here he is standing on the boat looking through his telescope. We went on a lot of adventures finding treasure and fighting bad guys with our swords.

Everyone had teeth appointments this week. It was Luke's first time for a cleaning and he did great!

Meredith had some adjustments on her braces. And now there's no more gap. She was most excited about this and went around all day showing everyone that she doesn't have a gap anymore.

Luke also started swim lessons this week. He loves it and now can float on his back!

And finally Luke got another addition to his dress up collection last week. He wants to be super man this year for Halloween. Our other costume is an 18 month size, so I had to remake it for 3T Luke.

More details coming soon on BlueSusan. Jack put on the Batman jammies to run around with Luke for the photo shoot. He had some serious moves.

The kids had their first Soccer games this Saturday. They did great! Jack played hard. Max did too, and got a goal. Mer played on a massively sized field from 11-12:30. Let's just say it was HOT and we did NOT bring enough water for the day. Lesson learned, next time we will be better prepared. She did great too, of course. It is so fun to watch them all play hard.

We also took a trip to Sebastian Inlet with some great friends that afternoon and swam near a manatee, found some mini crabs, a dead fish, and a jellyfish. We didn't stay too long because the thunderclouds rolled in, but we tried out another decent little soft serve place on the way home, which always ends the day on a tasty note.

The kids have no school today (Teacher work day or something) so we are off to the beach again in a little while.

Happy Monday to you all!!

Our Tampa Trip

2011-09-07T11:07:00.000-04:00

Time for an update I'd say.
We had a nice relaxing Labor Day weekend with a trip to the beach, shopping, rollerskating, and swimming. No pictures, but sometimes it's just nice to enjoy life camera free.

We have our first soccer games coming up this weekend, and Luke started swim lessons yesterday. We are finding our groove with our new busy schedule. I am thoroughly enjoying the calm play time that Luke and I get during the day. The only challenge for me is not playing too much, so that we are ready for the craziness that ensues after we pick the school kids up...homework, dinner, soccer, piano, scouts. We don't have all of this after school every day, but today that is our exact schedule, with addition of an orthodontic appointment before school this morning.

So, no current pictures, but I do have a bunch of pictures of our trip to Tampa a couple of weekends ago.

A while back Doug suggested that it would be cool to see the sunrise and the sunset on the same day. East coast to West coast. A few weeks ago, while we were sitting around the dinner table, someone asked when we were ever going to do that. So last weekend that is just what we did. We started our day early on the Florida East Coast to see the sunrise.

There is something so just peaceful about the beach in the morning.

Nature boy Jack found some turtle eggshells

Then we headed for the Blueberry Muffin for breakfast because it's tradition. Later that morning we packed up the car and drove to Tampa to explore a bit and wait for the sun to set. We decided to go to Tarpon Springs, a Greek community and headquarters of the Sponging industry. Why I don't have pictures of the sponges, I'm not sure. We ate out at a Greek restaurant and we got to see Flaming cheese and shout OPA! Then we went out on a dolphin cruise out into the Gulf of Mexico.

We saw dolphins that's for sure. My favorite part was the boat fast ride to the island. The boys rode in front and the wind gave them sweet hairdo's.

These were what inspired Max's first day of school hair do I think.

We rode out to a little island and got off the boat to hunt for shells.

On the way back we say a couple of bald eagles.

Finally we headed to Clearwater Beach to play in the waves before sunset.

It was too cloudy to see the full sunset but we were satisfied that we accomplished our adventurous goal.

My Side Kick

2011-08-25T11:19:00.000-04:00

Luke is my full time side kick these days. It has been 100 % fun hanging out with him all day. Luke has discovered Super Heroes and dressups. He wore his Batman PJ's all day yesterday, and I found the old Batman cape I made for Max years ago. He was delighted and he wore it on an off all day. Last night when I came home from taking Max to scouts, I went into Luke to say goodnight and he was wearing the cape to bed. This made me laugh and I just had to get a picture.

He also had found the toy bombs. The perfect accessory for any crime fighter.

and since I was taking pictures he just had to make a few funny faces for me to capture.

I have been asked now multiple times to make a Robin costume too. I'll see if I can grant that wish soon.

Scratch that!

2011-08-20T18:28:00.000-04:00

Never mind...I figured it out. Or at least I made a decision and they are hung. Yipee!

Again here is the before....

And after...

Now all I need is some black frames for the pictures and I have an idea for an idea for a pillow sham for Lukes bed.

I'd say that's progress!

In need of decorator help.

2011-08-19T12:30:00.002-04:00

I need HELP! I fell in love with this picture and I wanted to somehow use this as inspiration to fix up Luke's room.

I found it while browsing Pinterest. Isn't it so cute?

photo from Kara's Corner

I bought the white ledge shelves at Ikea the other day. I bought 4 of them, intending to rearrange the room and center them over his bed. But I didn't think it totally through.

Here is what his room looked like.. in need of some decoration but I mainly bought the shelves to solve the book problem on top of the dresser.

What I thought would be a cute quick idea, now has me baffled. I don't know what to do with them. I took a few pictures of the rearrangements, using tape on the wall to show where the shelves would lie.

Here's where I thought I would put them. but with that big dresser, and the bed centered, it just eats up too much room

Here are some other lay outs...help!!!

The Cast is Off!

2011-08-18T22:14:00.001-04:00

Yesterday Luke and I made a big trip to Orlando. We spent the morning at IKEA and the afternoon at the doctor's office to get his cast off. Mer gave him a Mohawk that morning in honor of the occasion. Luke let all the kids sign his cast that morning as well.

All morning he told me that he didn't want to take his cast off. I kept explaining it to him and wouldn't hurt, and that the doctor was going to take a picture to see if he needed to put on another one. We had a lot of waiting to day so we played and took pictures.

And by the time the man who put the cast on came to take it off, he wasn't very nervous at all. It was loud and buzzy and it tickled Luke enough to make him laugh.

He cut up and down both sides.

And then he used a special tool to crack it open.

The Goretex lining was pretty stuck onto the cast so the man had to use his superman muscles to pull it apart.

Luke was pretty nervous about his leg once the cast was off. His joints were really stiff and it hurt to bend them. The doctor said it will take a couple of days before gets full range of motion back.

We went for an x-ray and the doctor said his bone has healed enough to for the cast to stay off.

For rest of the night and this morning he would protect his leg and asked to be carried everywhere.
We went swimming though today and that really loosened it up. He has been walking on it all evening. He is still walking with a stiff leg, the same way he used it with the cast on, but he can bend it a little better now. He still has to take it easy, No parks or jumping off of things for the next 4 weeks. Needless to say we will be doing a lot of swimming.

Hopefully he'll just get better everyday.

First Days of School

2011-08-15T21:33:00.000-04:00

We took our official "first day of school" picture today. Technically it was Max and Mer's 4th day, having started last Wednesday.

Do you like the boys' hair do's?? Jack's was supposed to be the "Draco Malfoy". I'm not sure who Max was going for... a little Pee Wee Herman-esk if you ask me. Or Johnny test??

And here's Jack...off to start a new life.

I didn't have time for tears this morning... I was a little shell shocked as I left at the lack of organization and direction that we received that morning from his new teacher. I tried to put it out of my head and spent the day playing with Luke. We ran some errands vacuumed the house, played a lot of rescue heroes, and went to a movie. We saw Cars 2. The older kids saw it the day after Luke broke his let in Colorado. So today it was our turn.

This was my attempt to get a picture at the theater.

As we picked up the kids this afternoon I heard good, happy reports about how fun school was. Then out came the story about how Jack was taken to aftercare instead of the car loop and how the kids had to go find him when he wasn't where he was supposed to be... What?? What kind of Kindergarten teacher did this kid get?? He was in tears as it was all being explained. He did say he had fun overall, though I hope tomorrow goes better.

We came home to afternoon veggie snacks and the kids quickly turned them into edible faces.

And then we had Klondike bars.

I hope this is a good year. Max has stellar teachers and Mer's are great too, so I'm crossing my fingers that Jack's will get better. Hopefully we just got off to a bad start, if not, this will be one unhappy mama.

Girl Party and Metal Mouth

2011-08-07T22:30:00.000-04:00

We had some big events the last couple of days that are screaming to be blogged, and now that I have napped through all of Princess Bride and watched some of the Teen Choice Awards and the rest of Everest, I can get to it. Summer has made me so lazy, I tell you.

Thursday Mer hosted a "Girls Night In" for some of her best school friends here at the house. We sent the boys off with dad and had a girl party. Mer had it all planned of course. The evening started off with volleyball and trampoline jumping while the guests all arrived. Then they washed up and made their own mini pizzas for dinner. The little boys hung out with us too, until Doug got home, which worked out perfectly because all eleven year old girls think little boys are "just so cute".

While the pizza was cooking they all played games. Mer gave out tickets to the winners so they could buy candy and popcorn at the "Concession stand" later that night.

Pizzas were cooked and promptly gobbled up. Look Rachel, Mer discovered that your strawberry bowl can double as the perfect fruit bouquet vase.

After Pizza it was movie time! They chose to watch the Parent Trap, and painted nails while they watched.

Then we had a little intermission where they used their tickets to buy snacks.

Above is the posed picture but the picture below shows really how the night went over, with lots of laughing and giggling.

Mer's so lucky to have such nice girlfriends.

Oh... here's a pic of some of the nail art.

The evening went off just as Mer planned and she went to sleep that night a very Happy girl.

Then we awoke early the next morning and were off to the Dentist office where Mer's smile changed from this....

to this...

And now she has a mouth full of metal and talks with a bit of a lisp. Her pain is easing a bit but it will take a while to get used to everything in her mouth.

The kids also got their teacher assignments on Friday... School starts Wednesday! It's going to be a good year!

Atlanta Recap

2011-08-02T21:37:00.000-04:00

The calendar says August 2. AUGUST!! The kids were talking about how excited they are for Halloween.. HALLOWEEN!...less than 3 months away! 3 Months that are going to fly right on by. How do I make time slow down? It seems like every time I look at Luke, he is bigger. Even at age 3 he is growing before my eyes. We went school shopping today. School starts a week from tomorrow and I have mixed feelings about that. Soccer season starts in a few weeks and I have mixed feelings about that as well. Okay, enough of this rambling, here's our update...

We traveled to Georgia last week and had a fun time with Doug's family. Here are a ton of glimpses into the good times...

We toured the World of Coke, saw the laser show at Stone Mountain, swam, tubed the Chattahoochee, and played with cousins.

Luke always begs to take pictures with characters

Tasters from the continent of Africa

Mini-golf outside the World of Coke

Sitting on a real American Idol Couch

We also went to Centennial Park and ate lunch in the CNN Center..

Everyone is holding their coke souvenir.

Posing at Centennial Park

We met up with Mike's family a couple of times and got to squeeze No No's Sumo arms.

Max and Aunt Sher

Cute cousins

We tried out a new cupcake shop. Gigi's cupcakes. They were delish!

We can't forget the night we caught fireflies in the backyard. Jack may be an entemologist when he grows up.

Max enjoyed picking on Mike way too much.

Mer put No No to sleep. She was so proud of herself.

Thank you Mike for being such a good sport!


See what I mean?

All in all we had so much fun. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for hosting us!!

Let there be Space!

2011-07-24T20:54:00.001-04:00

Meredith began the journey to getting braces on Thursday when she got her spacers put in between her molars. Ouch! 4 on top and 4 on bottom. She has been in PAIN, but it is subsiding now. The dentist says it is the worst part. I'm hoping this is true. I thankfully never had to have them. She gets her metal mouth next Monday.

Friday we went up to Kristin's house for a day of play and Owl Pellet Dissection.

This was a mouse skull that Max found in his pellet.

Thanks, Kristin, for the fun day!

Saturday Meredith was in a music recital for her summer singing class. She participated in their bell choir, sang 4 songs with the group and played a piano solo.

For her piano piece she played a song called Sakura. She forgot to bring her sheet music and only realized it right before she went on to play. She pulled it off (a little cautiously). Both she and her teacher didn't know she had it memorized.

Saturday evening we all had a chance to hit the pool for some fun.

Doug had fun throwing the kids into the air.

Sadly, Meredith was to big to get thrown. I guess there is a limit to Doug's muscles. Luke watched from the side and squirted water at everyone while they were in the air.

I also got a video of his swimming.

With only 2 weeks left until school starts, we are sad that summer is coming to a close. We have really loved every minute of it.

Mid-week update!

2011-07-19T21:55:00.001-04:00

We are blessed to find ourselves having a great summer even with Luke's broken leg. We have gone swimming a couple of times since he got the cast on and he has shown us that he can even swim with a cast on. He just uses his arms more, which is perfect practice for swimming anyway. This kid never ceases to amaze me. I really need to get a video of him swimming

We have been watching Wild China on Netflix lately. It is totally intriguing, and has us convinced that we need to get to China to see it in real life. For family night on Monday Doug showed the kids some highlights.

For dessert we sampled some treats we found at the local Oriental Market. I liked the butter coconut cookies the best.

Luke has been standing a bit over the last few days, and today he actually took a few steps by himself. He generally just crawls all over the house and can stand up and climb up on things as well.

His "sock shoes" came in the mail and he wanted to venture outside for a walk on the sidewalk. He can walk about 10-12 steps holding a hand before saying he's done.

We took him to a park yesterday and found out that he can swing so we did a bit more swinging tonight. Have you noticed how he's not smiling in any of these shots? He told me he doesn't want to smile for cameras, he just wants to do action poses.

He's a tough little kid and he is doing well.

And I'll leave you now with some action shots of everyone jumping on the trampoline tonight.

Good Night!

The Marathon Home

2011-07-13T22:32:00.001-04:00

It is so good to be home, finally! Today felt like a mental marathon for me, and I know you all want to see Luke's new cast so I'm blogging about our crazy day.

The Summary: 2 airplanes...3 states...Half a Birthday Party... the casting of Luke's broken leg... and a long drive home.

The Details: We started our journey home at 3:45 am Colorado time. Our flight last night was canceled on us and they rescheduled us for 6:20 this morning, expecting to land at 2:37 pm in Orlando. We had scheduled a Dr.'s appt. with a pediatric orthopedist in Orlando at 4:25. We were crossing our fingers that we would make it. All the kids traveled famously, including Luke who we carted around the airport in a makeshift buggy.

Our second flight was delayed an hour, touching down at 3:30. We hustled through the airport to meet Doug and got to Luke's appt. only 10 minutes late. Phew!

At the Doctor's office we heard good news. Yes both Tibia and Fibula are broken, but he'll probably only be in a cast for 4 weeks instead of the 8 we were told by the Urgent Care doctor. They were able to put on a waterproof cast with a Gore-tex lining. Which means he can swim and take baths. He is actually supposed to get it wet at least every other day. He also will be able to walk on it as soon as he feels comfortable. YES!

Here is what the Gore-tex lining looks like in case you are curious. Each little square is a cushiony little bubble, kind of like bubble wrap.

Here he is sporting his new "camo" cast at our next destination of the evening. Chic-fil-a.

We stopped for some much needed dinner and celebrated Max's birthday with the family. His real birthday was yesterday and he had half a birthday celebration in Colorado before we drove to the airport and found out our flight was canceled. The cow was in the store too and he joined us for the celebration. They even had trays of milkshake samples ready for us when we walked in the door. It felt like it was a party meant to be.

( not sure why the flash wasn't working)

Doug had brought all Max's gifts with him when he came to get us at the airport so we brought them inside and had Max open them up.

He said he got everything he wanted!

At last we drove home from Orlando and arrived around 8:30pm. We will miss you Colorado with all your cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents, but after a day like today it is sure nice to be home!

Reunion Fun!

2011-07-13T22:12:00.002-04:00

Trip to Grandma's to be cont.

2011-07-13T22:12:00.000-04:00

Summer pictures to remember...to be cont.

2011-07-13T22:10:00.000-04:00

Enjoying it!

2011-06-15T21:03:00.000-04:00

Goodness! Summer just seems to be flying by! Here is a glimpse of the mischief that has been going on around here lately. The heat and humidity finally fully descended upon us this week but up until now we have been savoring every nicer weather moment that we can. Friday night we had a little cookout for dinner. Jack found yet another use for goggles. I think he looks pretty tough here.

That night we let them sleep outside on the trampoline. Jack came inside before he fell asleep. I slept with Max and Mer for a portion of the night but every time someone turned or rolled over the whole tramp would bounce, so I gave up at 3 am and came inside. Of course they had the time of their life and "didn't feel any of the bouncing"

Jack doesn't look so tough in this picture but he loves to dress up lately and this day Meredith pulled out all the girl dress ups and styled the boys.

Of course each of these looks had superhero names associated with them. Jack and especially Luke are really enjoying having the big kids home all day.

And this is Meredith. I remember when those purple pants came down almost to her ankles.

Jack came up with the craft for FHE. It is a paper squid. We had a little debate about whether it was a squid or an octopus and decided we should it a "Squoctopus".

Here's a favorite pastime. But it doesn't beat our almost daily trips to the swimming pool across the street. Thank you Stacey family!

I realized that I neglected to mention Mer's first piano recital in my last post. She did great!! She was super nervous but she really played well. She will tell you that she messed up too many times. But there were only a couple of minor note errors. She had fun I think. Enough so to not complain about taking piano lessons or having to practice. This was the only shot I got from the day.

Happy summer to you all.

1 Kid Down!

2011-06-06T14:20:00.000-04:00

I have just 3 kids all week... Max is at Cub Scout Camp all day every day! I'm sure he's in heaven. He had archery and a swim test on the agenda for the morning. The other kids woke up and declared they wanted to go to the zoo this morning. I love being able to say sure and just take off!! Ahh Summer!

We snapped shots in the photo booth!

Off to the swimming pool!

Goggles!!

2011-05-31T21:03:00.000-04:00

Max is my inventor!! He's a problem solver and finder of all lost items. I really would love to fast forward life real quick just to see what this kid ends up doing as a profession.

Tonight was his turn to make dinner. Of course he chose to make his favorite... "cruncher salad". He had a little problem while slicing the green onions. His eyes kept stinging and watering from the onions so he solved the problem by getting GOGGLES!

What a great idea! Maybe we should keep a pair in the kitchen drawer.

Summer is in full swing now and we are trying to stay busy. Today we worked on a little craft project. The kids used up the leftover tiles from our kitchen backsplash and designed mosaic pictures. Next we plan on affix them on to stepping stones for our back yard. We'll see how that goes.

Mer has been taking piano lessons since January and this Saturday is going to be her first recital.. I am excited!!

The Big ONE ONE.

2011-05-29T23:31:00.001-04:00

We had a big day to celebrate on Saturday... Mer turned 11.

ELEVEN!!!

Where did the time go?

Fruit salad and Fruit Smoothie for breakfast as requested.

Followed by presents of course!

We saw a lot of these smiles... Doesn't she have a beautiful smile?

After presents we headed for the movies. Kung Fu Panda 2 didn't disappoint. SKADOOSH!!

Mer and I went for haircuts and a little shopping and came back for a little swimming before dinner.

She requested a Dark Chocolate cake with Dark chocolate frosting from Doug's dessert book . Fruit for breakfast, dark chocolate for dessert...she is absolutely her father's daughter. They pretty much have identical taste buds. Even though she drives me a bit nuts at times, I really love this girl! She is my right hand and a ton of help. She is so smart and has a good kind, happy heart. She was all smiles and appreciation today. It has been such an adventure to watch her grow up. I know we have a bit more of that to see and I'm crossing my fingers that we'll get through it okay. We had such a nice day together as a family. I just don't want to forget these little snapshots of our happy days.

Happy Birthday Mer!

Jack is officially a Preschool Graduate!!

2011-05-29T22:51:00.000-04:00

Thursday (last week) Jack graduated from preschool. He's old and he's definitely ready for kindergarten but, I'm slightly sad he's growing up. I mean, could this kid be any cuter??

Receiving his diploma.

Can you find him singing in this group?

He had two of the very best teachers!!

We will miss them very much!

Luke is glad to have his play mate home full time. Toward the end of school Luke would wake up and ask if Jack had to go to school today. When I told him "yes" he would give a big grumpy sigh and say "I not want him to go to school today"

Jack who used to tell me he didn't want to go to school, now misses his friends. I think he'll actually be looking forward to kindergarten.

Congratulations Jack! We love you! You have the rest of your life ahead of you. What will you become? I hope you will stay the sweet, loving, kind, curious kid that you already are.

Current Mischief

2011-05-18T10:41:00.000-04:00

Wake up Max!!

Good Morning Luke!

Hello Jack! Today is your last day of school today...and there's a pizza party to go to.

I am happy to report that these kids have successfully kept their rooms clean for the last 10 days! That is, clean before bed and clean when they leave for school in the morning. I've heard it takes 10 days to start a habit, I'm hoping this is true and that we will be starting the summer with a clean room habit. HA! Saturday is their 2 week mark and I think we may be going to the newly opened Chuck E Cheese nearby as their reward. Either that, or the Movies, there is a deep division among the voters.

Luke and I are having a nice relaxing morning today. Our last bit of quiet play before Jack and the rest of them join us home for the rest of the summer. Jack's preschool graduation ceremony is tomorrow morning. Max and Mer's last day is Monday!

Luke wanted to make sure I got a shot of the car zooming down the ramp.

One more thing I've been meaning to post. Around Christmas time Doug made Max a special poster to hang in his room that said "Giving is better than getting". It was the lesson Max needed to hear at the time. The other day Max made Doug the same poster and added another little page to it...a lesson he thought dad needed to learn..."Saying nice things to your child is better than yelling at your child"

And that is a little taste of the mischief at our home lately.

Soccer season ends

2011-05-18T09:54:00.000-04:00

Soccer season is coming to an end here. Jack and Max had their last games on Saturday. I thought I'd share some of pictures of the season.

Jack really got into it toward the end of the year. Instead of circling the pack as everyone kicked the ball, he decided to get in there and try and make a goal. In his game last weekend he shot 5 goals.

Max had a great year as well. He was the youngest in his age bracket this year but he used his small size to his advantage weaving in and out of the tall kids with his fancy footwork.

Mer had a great season as well. She loved having her dad coach. She was great at playing forward and proved herself to be a tough goalie.

I think Doug had a good time coaching as well, though I know he's glad to be done for the summer. Mer's last game is this saturday.

Things are about to slow down here quite a bit. We are all looking forward to that.

Good things are Happening Here.

2011-05-09T20:40:00.000-04:00

The kids have kept their rooms spotless since Saturday. They even worked hard to tidy them up before heading off to school this morning. On the way to school I told them I'd take them to the movies or rollerskating if they could pull this off for 2 weeks. They said they were "in". YES! Doug says it'll never happen. I'm crossing my fingers that they won't lose interest. We need to seriously make some changes around here in that department. After Jack put his toys away tonight he voluntarily laid out his clothes for morning. Whoa! Good things are happening here.

Two more weeks of school!! Oh my!

I love you Mom!!

2011-05-08T22:53:00.000-04:00

Thank you Mom!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Our Disney Weekend

2011-05-08T22:42:00.000-04:00

We drove home on Monday from our GA trip...went to school/work for 2 days and then trekked back to Orlando to spend a couple of days at Disney World. We went to Epcot and then Animal Kingdom. Here are some pictures.

It was the Flower and garden festival and this year they did Cars and Toy Story 3 gardens.

Doug was a little under the weather for the last half of the day.

Here's Jack and Max waiting to ride Mission Space, the favorite ride of the day. (not for me, they owed me one for riding it with them since Doug wasn't up for it, I get so sick from it. Anything for my boys)

The next day we hit Animal Kingdom.

Meredith took a picture of EVERY animal we saw. Here are a few of the highlights.

Luke wanted to say Hi to every character he could that day.

Luke was big enough to ride Kali River Rapids this time but he got so wet that he wouldn't ride it again. However, he did say that was his favorite ride of the day.

My favorite was the Finding Nemo Show. I didn't get good pictures but it was awesome.

Here is the gang at "It's tough to be a bug"

Fun times!

Easter, part 2

2011-05-05T21:03:00.000-04:00

After a fun Easter Morning and a beautiful Easter meeting at church, we headed over to Mike's place to hang out and have dinner with his family. Which means we got to see little Wavey and No No. Our kids had a ball of course.

We got to swim a little and Luke finally figured out that is was fun to put his head under water.

We had a great time visiting with everyone, we wish we could see them all more often. Thanks for having us Grandma and Grandpa!! fun times!!

Easter weekend, part 1

2011-04-27T22:15:00.000-04:00

Here's little Nolan! "No No" We went to Georgia this weekend to celebrate Easter with Doug's family. Here are a ton of pictures from our visit. This is what Wavey does when you say smile :).

Doug's grandma Bev was in town too.

While we were there we got to walk through the Atlanta Temple open house before it was rededicated. This was a really cool experience for the kids who don't get to go into temples.

...
The Easter bunny found us at Grandma's house ...

We even had a massive egg hunt...here's grandma laying down the law before it began.

There was more than just candy in these eggs...Luke and Jack made out the best. Thank you grandma and grandpa!!

I love this picture... I'm not sure what the joke was but this is the grandma we love.

Fun times!

2011-04-17T21:46:00.000-04:00

Doug's surgery went well. Here's a picture of the screw which we think is way bigger than in should be. Soccer consumes the majority of our free time...here are some pics.

When Doug isn't coaching soccer he is mastering his photography skills. His new hobby is learning the ins and outs of his new camera. We get a lot of shots like this...

And this...

But he is having fun and I like that.

The kids have been having fun with all the easter eggs, hiding them, throwing them at each other... you get the picture. Doug has declared that he like seeing his little boys with their shirts off so we are seeing a lot of this lately. I'm standing by my "shirts required for all meals" rule though, and it has brought on a few melt downs from Luke these days. Fun Times!

Oodles of cookies on an Adventure

2011-04-07T23:42:00.000-04:00

We...well I....just finished watching Downton Abbey. It's is our latest fix on Netflix. It's a great little mini series and I'm glad to read that the second season will start in the fall.

I have loads of things to say about the rest of our spring break but I'm tired of feeling like I'm always playing catch up so tonight you get current info instead of catch up info...You are probably as relieved as I am.

Luke and I played trains today and we made oodles of cookies.

The best part of helping is that you get eat the cookies fresh out of the oven, right?.

We picked the kids up from school early and went on an adventure with our bags filled with freshly baked cookies, swimsuits, and towels. Our good friends the Willwerth's are vacationing at Disney this week and invited us up for a quick visit and a swim with them. It was so fun to see them.

We haven't seen the little brothers since they moved almost 3 years ago.

These good friends are like family to us... we are so thankful to be able to squeeze in a quick visit with them.

As we drove away, everyone kept saying "that was FUN!!" I'd say if you are a kid it's always fun to be picked up from school early and whisked off for a swim at a Disney resort with favorite friends, wouldn't you? We need to see you again soon Willwerth family!!

One more little bit of news...Doug is having surgery on is right pinky finger tomorrow. How did he injure it? Playing football with guys from work almost 4 weeks ago.

The Beach pictures

2011-04-04T14:11:00.001-04:00

I couldn't leave out pictures from our beach trips while my family was here... So take a peek at our fun if you wish!

The beach is one of our favorite places.... we were glad it was warm enough to go in the water.

Doug loves digging tremendous holes. and this one he buried Meredith while she was standing straight up! It was entertaining to watch her dig herself out!

Max and I were buried as well...

We caught a few awesome waves on the boogie boards. That was fun!

Max and Mer tried to ambush a flock of seagulls.

Rachel will kill me for posing this pic.... nice hair Chel.

We even drug dad there on one occasion. Can't believe this was the only shot I got..

When we weren't at the beach we went to movies, and played. Mom showed the kids how to do "papersculpting"

Thank you for coming to visit everyone!! and Thanks for the surprise craft left on the table the morning you left.

The kids loved making their suncatchers!

One more thing... Max wanted to document his skinned nose..the thinks he hit it on the side of the pool when he went swimming with Tob!

We had visitors!

2011-04-01T21:40:00.000-04:00

Sigh! The fun is over...My parents have come and gone. What fun we had! Here are the pictures to prove it. I let Jack stay out of school while they were here and he was in heaven! Grandma helped him make a rocket ship.

Grandpa taught him the right way to play marbles.

Rachel and Tobin came too and on Friday we all went to the Magic Kingdom. Check out these pictures.

Tob and Max waiting to ride Space Mountain

We had a lot of fun and stayed until it closed. I think it was 1 AM by the time we got home.

Of course we were beat the next day...More pictures of our Beach adventures will be coming soon. Thanks for coming to see us everyone. It was such a nice diversion from the daily grind!

Delish!!

2011-03-13T21:23:00.000-04:00

Doug returned home to us on Thursday at 11am. He came home on a red eye and hasn't quite recovered from his sleep deprivation. He brought us some delicious desserts from his trip to LA!!

They were heavenly!!!

Luke's bed broke a couple of weeks ago and he has been sleeping in it without one wall.

So we broke out the Big Boy Bed for him and gave him his new bedspread yesterday. He went around church all day today saying "I have a big boy bed now" to everyone.

Friday we put the top onto our Banquette. Hope to be finished with this soon.

And lastly, Max, Mer and Jack had soccer games yesterday. Jack knocked in 2 goals. He was so excited. He earned Ice cream for the whole family. And that's what's happening around here!

The Soccer Players

2011-03-07T21:50:00.000-05:00

Soccer season has begun!! That's where you will find us Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. We have three official players and one who thinks he's official.

Doug is coaching Mer's team, they won their first game and Mer drove in a sweet goal that popped over the goalie's head. It's Jack's first season and he's super excited and running hard with the pack.

Max says Soccer is his sport. He took a beating in his first game with a foul that sent him to the ground followed by a ball to the face. He's tough though!

And Luke just loves the fact that he has a uniform and he keeps saying "maybe I'm 5 now" in hopes that he can go play on the team.

Switching gears, here are a few things you missed last week.

Jack celebrated Dr. Seuss' Birthday at school and thought he was going to Dr. Suess' Birthday party that night. "Is he going to be there mom, he asked" Not sure how he got that idea in his head, but to ease his disappointment we celebrated with a quick cake decorated by the kids.

Here he his is being Luke's cat

Mer won 5th place in the Science Fair. She tested Chemical vs. Organic Fertilizers on Cucumber plants. She was so excited that she placed.
Luke got new Flip Flops and he's totally in love with them.

And finally, Doug is out of town for the week. He left Saturday and gets home Thursday. Which is a little bit good cause I'm getting to sew a lot and have the computer all to myself, but bad because I'm not very good at getting myself in bed at night which means I'm staying up way too late. Head on over to my sewing blog and see what I've been making. I just finished up a bag for myself last night. Miss you Doug!! XOXO

Kitchen Update!

2011-03-04T18:48:00.000-05:00

We have a few new things to show on our kitchen. Not completely done, but making progress. This weekend I got the tile grouted and painted the wall as well. Have a look.

For the back splash, all that's left is to seal it and caulk along the bottom of the tile where it meets the granite...So close!

We painted the Red wall Gray...

I think it looks good, but what I really like is the way the gray looks with all my colorful fabrics on the other side.

The other exciting project in the works is a built in bench in our nook area. We installed the face of it today. Here's what it looks like so far...

It will provide some good storage I think!

Over and Out!

ABC, LUKE IS THREE

2011-02-27T20:50:00.000-05:00

One week ago today, our little Luke turned 3...yes THREE! Sadly he is growing up, Jack remarked to Doug yesterday... we don't have any more babies in our house... I think Doug is a little distraught at the thought.

Let's pretend it's one week ago....Here's how we celebrated!

Of course we woke up and it was first things first... Presents!

Lightning McQueen lego...

a sword from Max,

A bike, a big bouncy ball, a bat and ball...

And lots of cute new clothes...

including one from Aunt Liz that matches Max's

Of course the day was filled with playing, church (I had to give a talk that day), and more playing. Luke chose his own dinner, Hot Dogs, Cheetos, and soda.

He also chose his cake. He wanted an "ABC cake with letters standing up and laying down all around."

It was yummy!! I tried out a copycat Publix buttercream frosting (didn't add all the crisco though) It turned out delish!

Happy Birthday Luke! We love you!!

Max's big weekend

2011-02-22T14:46:00.001-05:00

Our life has been nonstop. I know it's way past the weekend but Max had a few experiences this weekend that were especially noteworthy. First of all he participated in his first Pinewood Derby on Friday.

Here are the cars. Jack had to make one too, of course. Max's is the one with the yellow sticker.

He won a few races, but mostly had a great time cheering on everyone else's cars. It was super exciting!

Saturday Max woke up bright and early to play his last Basketball game of the season. He has been a bit of a slow starter in ball this year. He never made a shot in a game all year but then Saturday, he sunk two of them. It was such an exciting game. They lost but only by two points and they really rallied together at the end to catch the other team.

[The above description needs a little embellishment from a father's perspective. Max had not scored all season long. He has been working hard on his shot for the last month. It was the 4th quarter of his last game. Our team was down by 10 points with ~3 minutes left on the clock. Max got the ball down low and put it up, it bounced around the rim and then dropped in. Max ran back to play defense while trying to keep back his smile. On one of the next few plays Max sunk his second shot. By this time our team was closing the gap and the other team called time-out to put his first string players back in. During the time-out I gave Max a high-five and then he requested to give me knuckles. (That almost brought tears to my eyes.) We lost the game but it was by far the most exciting game we played.]

Here he is getting his medal at the park afterward.

Probably the best part of the season was that he got to play on a team with his best friend Sam.

And, that Doug and Sam's dad got to coach them.

So Basketball season is over and what did we do on Saturday night you may ask? Why we went out and bought a basketball hoop for our driveway of course. The taste of those two shots was so sweet, we have to start practicing for next year.

We're back!

2011-02-14T22:18:00.000-05:00

Mer and I just got back from a quick trip to San Fransisco for a girls weekend with Aunt Lizzie. We had so much fun. It was nice, happy, and relaxing. Liz and John were wonderful hosts. We dined, shopped at great stores, saw a few sites, and had a blast playing with George and Grace.

This was the view in the back seat pretty much the whole weekend.

As tourists, we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge...

...and ventured into Muir Woods to see the Redwoods. The largest ones are around 2000 years old

I've always wanted to see these big beauties in real life.

Next up, with no cupcake shop in our own home town we had to sample some cupcakes to see what we were missing. First stop, Kara's Cupcakes ... the Coconut was my favorite... so creamy

And then for comparison sake (another day of course) we just had to try out the famous Sprinkles...Red Velvet won my vote as favorite... so dreamy.

Next stop as a tourist was the Bell Tower on Stanford campus. Stanford was beautiful. It made me think a bit about my own college days.....

Love this picture!!! These three are so cute.

Here they are dipping their toes in the nearby fountain.

For the Stanford trip Mer had the privilege of riding with John in his Convertible. Seriously a dream come true for her...

Here are a few other favorites...Liz and John live near a commuter train track and George covers his ears every train a train rumbles by. So cute!

Mer enjoyed every minute playing with these two.

We arrived home about 11:30 last night and got up bright and early, business as usual this morning. Mer had to go to school to turn in her science fair project, and it was Valentine's day... so much to do.

Tonight we Celebrated, exchanging cards and chocolates!!

A special THANKS!! to the Balena Family for our wonderful weekend, you made our dreams come true. Happy Valentine's Day to you all!

Good night!

Girl Milk!

2011-02-08T10:22:00.000-05:00

Luke was finishing off his cereal yesterday and exclaimed "I have girl milk!!!"

I looked in his bowl to find his cereal had made is milk PINK! Though he still struggles to name all his colors, he has learned that Pink is a girl color

Here's picture of Max receiving his yellow belt that didn't make it into my last entry. This was pretty exciting for him.

And here's the video of his kicks that he had to pass off that day too.

Some of you heard word that we were tiling our backsplash on saturday. After MUCH deliberation, purchasing tile, returning tile, cruising magazines, etc....this is what we put up. It still needs grout, but that's still on order.

Much more to be done... but it will have to wait, cause Mer and I will be in San Fran this weekend. We are so excited!!

Bye for now!!

Yellow Belt

2011-02-02T14:07:00.001-05:00

Okay, since last time I posted, I got a sinus infection from my week of illness, which laid me out for another week. I'm not 100% but I did go running for the first time in 2 1/2 weeks so I'm feeling a ton better.

Max advanced to a yellow belt in Tae Kwon Do this weekend. He had to perform his pattern and kicks in front of a panel of Black Belts.

The gym was so packed that not all of us were able to stay for it so Doug videoed it so I could see too. Do you want to see Max do Tae Kwon Do?

This is his Pattern: "Chong Gi"

Its over!

2011-01-24T16:06:00.000-05:00

Well at least our fevers are gone. Everyone has a little cough still but we are okay. I think I had it the worst.

Doug is coaching Max in his first season of basketball right now and Max is starting to get the hang of it. Yesterday he actually had his head in the game and is getting a bit better at dribbling.

Doug has been teaching Max some of his basketball moves. Here's a link to a video of one of them. He's still perfecting it so he can use it in a game.

For those of us not playing basketball this season, we signed up to run in a family 5k on Saturday.

Since we had be fever free for a day and needed to get out of the house, I decided we'd do it still, even though I thought we'd probably walk the whole way. Luke rode in the stroller while Mer and Jack and I ran the first mile and then run/walked the rest. At about 2 1/2 miles Jack decided to sprint and there was no stopping him. I chased him leaving Mer in our dust and he stopped for a break and to let Mer catch up with us just before finishing. We did it in about 41 minutes. It was fun!!

Here's a cereal we discovered this week that you should try. Special K Red Berries is good but this new version with berries and yogurt chunks is awesome. We are suckers for the fruit and cereal combination.

And lastly I made a little headway on the backsplash. It went from this....

....to this on Saturday. I know, not much progress, but the job took me over 5 hours to do so I'm documenting it. Ready for tiling!

We're dropping like flies, 3 more down.

2011-01-20T10:11:00.000-05:00

Mer's finished Lego house. (A Christmas present)

When I last checked in we had great plans for a Monday at home. That afternoon I came down with what Luke had on Sunday. Mer got a fever Tuesday morning and Jack came down with one last night. We are dropping like flies over here. I think we have the flu. I seriously can't remember ever feeling so sick. I have a new found empathy for my kids when they get fevers. I am hoping this is what Max had 2 weeks ago so he won't get it again. I don't know how Doug will dodge it, but I hope he does.

This week I'm grateful for Ibuprofen, Netflix Instant Movies, and Lego- it sure does provide hours of entertainment for all ages. And 2 hour naps- Our waves of fever have been staggered so Mer takes care of Luke while I sleep, then I'm feeling good when she goes bad. And warm showers too.

I'm feeling the need to steam clean our entire house when we are all well again. Hope that's soon.

Happy Monday to you!

2011-01-17T08:42:00.000-05:00

Time for an update.

Not much to say except we have some sickos over here. The kids have been passing a fever around and it was Luke's turn this weekend. I stayed home from church with him and he just wanted to be held or watch shows. Doug took the rest to church but came home in the middle of it himself with flulike symptoms. He slept the day away while we all kept quiet which means a lot of movies were watched. While everyone was so quiet and entertained by the tube I got to organize my closet and go through ALL our files and paperwork. Something that has needed to be done for months now. And yes that took ALL DAY. But totally worth all the effort because I now have a great filing system and I can walk into my closet and get that high that only a freshly organized closet can give. AHHHH! The sewing corner is next.

Meredith started official piano lessons last week.

Today the kids have a day off from school. Doug said he'll probably come home early from work since he's not feeling so hot. Since Luke is sick we can't play with friends today but in my organizing mode yesterday I made a list of activities for each of them to keep them busy today. One thing on the list is devising a way to pick the rest of the oranges of the orange tree, only the high ones are left. I can't wait to see what they come up with . They are currently playing battle dominoes, waiting for the sprinklers to turn off so they can jump on the trampoline. After all, that is their favorite pastime.

And that does it for us. Happy Monday to you!

Fun things we did with Grandma and Grandpa

2011-01-09T15:23:00.000-05:00

Dear Grandma and Grandpa,

Thank you for coming to visit us after Christmas!! We had so much fun with you. Remember when we went to see the Manatees?

We knew that there would be a lot but Grandpa, you counted over 100!!. All huddling together in a canal trying to keep warm.

Remember how there were millions of fish filling the whole canal as well.

And then we went to the park..

We fed the ducks and found a bright green caterpillar. We saved him from freezing, warmed him up and fed him.

Remember how we went to the Orlando Science Center and we got to do a weather forecast...

...and we survived hurricane force winds.

We saw Kelly Slater surf on the big screen movie and later, went to the beach and tried surfing the big waves ourselves.

Thank you for playing games with us...

And making puppy dog pancakes.

We hope you had fun making these memories with us. We sure did!!

Happy New Year

2010-12-31T22:10:00.001-05:00

We are having a great time with Grandpa Val and Grandma Blanche!!! Doug made them his special Lemon Meringue Pie for our New Year's Eve Celebration tonight.

For the rest of the evening we played Rummikub...

...and had a Dance party.

Doug was the DJ and everyone took turns showing off their moves. Here's Max with the Canopener.

Jack and Luke were a funny pair.

At Mer's request Doug jumped in.

Meredith thinks her dad is HYSTERICAL when he dances, and it is HILARIOUS to watch her laugh at him.

Of course Grandma and Grandpa cheered along.

After that we had a countdown and broke open party poppers to find treasure inside.

We promptly sent everyone off to bed at 9pm. I'm not sure how much longer we can hold off having the kids stay up till midnight.We'll see.

Happy New Year!!

The Rest of Christmas!

2010-12-30T22:15:00.000-05:00

Here are a few pictures of how we spent the rest of Christmas.

Everyone got Lego to put together.

Jack loved his color wonder light up coloring board

We put together and did some serious jumping on our new trampoline!!! Wow! Thanks Mike and Sher.

Santa gave Luke the Woody Choo Choo he was wanting.

Mer spent most of her day practicing her skills on Super Mario Galaxy 2.

And this is what Doug has been doing with his spare time this Holiday break. We can finally leave a puzzle out without it getting totally demolished by a young one.

And now Doug's mom and dad are here for a fun visit... but I'll save that for another post.

Christmas Morning

2010-12-25T16:25:00.001-05:00

Christmas is Here!

This morning, everyone hung out in Mer's room until it was time for presents I'm not sure what time everyone woke up. I've heard different stories...Jack was up at 3 going through his stocking. Max had to tell help him put everything back in, and then he woke up Meredith to tell her about it. Max was up at 5 "getting a drink".

When it was time to open presents they lined up in order for a quick pic.

And then ran out to the living room to see this...

And This...

They walked out into the living room and this is what they did.

Follow the link and catch a glimpse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQm426UhK_4

another video ...

video 2

Gingerbread Houses and more

2010-12-21T16:07:00.000-05:00

Last night we got together with the Tougas family to make Gingerbread houses! See this hat max is wearing. He has been wearing it practically every second of the day since last week. He even wears it to sleep. It's cold here now. Highs in the 50's. Here are the masterpieces...

Thank you Tougas family, so fun to have you here!

Since the last few entries have only been kitchen focused, I feel as though I owe you some pictures of our ramblings around town over the last few weeks.

Luke and friend Ryan riding an alligator.

Jack found a pine cone and wanted to turn it into an elf.

We attempted a family photo shoot, but must have had the camera set funny, cause none of them turned out well. Here are our little vampires, they make a nice set of stair steps don't they?

Max was ill with brochitis that gave him a fever for 6 days and kept him out of school for a week. He got a little game playing in though.

We put our tree up, and Doug used his new tripod to snap this beautiful shot.

Jack performed in his preschool Holiday program, which was of course super cute. You should ask him to sing "What did the Cow in the Manger say?" for you.

And on thanksgiving weekend we hit the beach and found a florida snowman...

made sand sculptures....

and practiced water bending.

And that's what we did when we weren't choosing granite, getting quotes, driving all over town looking for handles, and ordering appliances. Phew!

The Countertops

2010-12-17T23:01:00.000-05:00

Here they are! Our kitchen is fully functional again.

The Plumber came today and hooked up the faucet and rebuilt the pipes for our now single drain sink.

Here's an up close of the new cooktop.

Of course this is all much prettier in real life.
Now we have to figure out what to do with the back splash, install the range hood, and choose a new color for that red wall, but finishing getting ready for Christmas has to come first.

The Point of No Return

2010-12-15T23:55:00.000-05:00

I'm back...let's just say I've been a little busy and leave it at that.

The Cabinets are DONE!! The color is about the same, and they added crown molding. They were officially finished last night, the rest of the handles were put on today.

I'll try to get better pictures in daylight.

Tonight it was COUNTER DEMOLITION TIME. Started at about 9pm, after basketball practice and scouts. We were by about 11pm.

Goodbye old sink, I will not miss you!

And this is what it currently looks like in our kitchen, we are waiting for the granite counter tops. We chose Peacock Green. You'll see them tomorrow.

Decisions

2010-11-29T14:04:00.002-05:00

eclectic kitchen design by chicago kitchen and bath Rebekah Zaveloff, KitchenLab & Design in a Bag.com

contemporary kitchen design by seattle interior designer Garret Cord Werner

The Girl Got Glasses!

2010-11-24T22:37:00.000-05:00

Isn't she beautiful!

Mer has been getting a ton of headaches that come and go, and we finally pinpointed the problem I think. So she got reading glasses on Monday, and so far so good. They are actually dark purple though they look black. I'm crossing my fingers that this is the answer because she has been pretty miserable.

She has taken to tearing out favorite adds out of all the family fun mags and plastering them all around her room. She's pointing out few of her favorites. Of course it all started with the milk ad with Taylor Swift.

I think it's pretty funny. Maybe she'll go into advertising.

And here's Jack at his Thanksgiving feast last week. They made their pumpkin pies themselves.

Too cute not to share.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Veteran's Day off and a TKD Board Break

2010-11-13T14:02:00.000-05:00

We had a fun day off from school on Thursday. We spent the day playing at the park, climbing trees, and cruising the beach with a posse of friends.

Scaring all the seagulls was fun...

And so was the sand...

but they couldn't resist the water.

And pretty soon everyone's shirts were off, and shorts became swimsuits.

Switching gears...Yesterday Max did his first board break in Tae Kwon Do.

Doug Missed it so Max did a little demo for him.

Pretty Sweet!!