On the Road Again…

Posted on April 17, 2011 by admin

we just can’t wait to get on the road again…

Josh is prepping the car for our 2500 mile/36hour trip to San Diego!

James packed himself in his bag and was ready to go!

Abbie spent her time filling her bag with lots of summer clothes!

The kids brought plenty of books, activities, and movies to keep them busy ! They got along and did amazingly well the entire drive… which made for a fantastic trip!

We didn’t eat lunch on Day 2 of the drive until we saw our favorite southern California fast-food… it was well worth the wait!

We arrived to Grandpa Jim’s house, where we were greeted with refreshing beverages & tasty barbeque! Josh and his Dad spent the evening catching up ~ it was lots of fun!

Random

Posted on March 24, 2011 by admin

First thing on Saturday morning James ran outside, pulled up a chair, and cast his line over the rail… in hopes of catching an air fish! He loves fishing and will fish anywhere - anytime!

Abbie is an awesome big sis ~ She helps James with his homework!

Of course, Max & Ruby are forever making me smile. Here they are sharing Max’s food. I had just put the step stool over the his food dishes to grab some spices for dinner… next thing I know they are into a covered eating area!

Josh is always looking for extra help in the laundry room ~ I don’t think Ruby was what he was thinking.

Catching Up with VB

Posted on March 24, 2011 by admin

Volleyball has become a family event! James is now the Official Ball Shagger for The Wildcats. Abbie is keeping score, Josh is reffing a game, and James is being occupied with a fishing game.

Josh & Abbie after practice

Last night after practice, Josh took all the girls out for ice cream as a celebration for taking 1st in their bracket this past weekend!

Happy Birthday…

Posted on March 16, 2011 by admin

…Stephanie!

March 15, 1978

We celebrated with her yesterday as tonight her hubby is taking her out for a night on the town! She opened some sweet gifts… She was really hoping for a boom box and a mixed cassette tape (below). Instead, she got a cute little sewing basket full of all the goodies she needs to begin sewing – and the cassette-looking gift, that was a bible our Mom’s great-grandmother had given to her on March 15, 1958.

Of course, we all like different types of ice cream, so I had to pick up individual cartons for each of us! What a fun way to serve ice cream to a diverse group! We all loved having our favorite treat!

and the birthday girl got her favorite cake: Fresh Banana with Whip from Larson’s Bakery! YUM!!

What a fun evening we all had celebrating Stephanie! Happy Birthday to my little sis, I love you!

Volleyball-A-Thon

Posted on March 13, 2011 by admin

Each year the middle school has a VB fundraiser ~ The kids create teams where each pays 20 bucks to get into this tournament and they play each other on a Friday night at the high school from 6:00 till midnight. Abbie was captain of her team this year, which put her in charge of T-Shirts.

The design of the T-shirt this year required some prep work…We created an assembly line and pushed through 9 shirts in just a few hours:

I used this handy-dandy little machine to cut out iron-on stencils

Abbie finalized the stencils by cutting the middle pieces out

while Josh ironed the stencils and player names onto the shirts.

The next day, the team came over and painted their shirts…

The shirts came out super cute! Of course, I don’t have pictures of the final product. 8th grade girls are hard to catch… they are always busy & on the go!

Busy Boy

Posted on March 13, 2011 by admin

James shared his taekwondo skills with the community at a demonstration during the school district’s annual Book Swap.

My camera was slow & missed James’ Axe Kick – with this kick he broke a board!

Showing us some of his moves

This month James also participated in the kindergarten concert.

He had lots of fun singing with his friends!

After the show we went for ice cream ~ where Maya decided she enjoyed her Dad’s cone more than her own cup o’ sherbert!

Snow Day

Posted on March 13, 2011 by admin

Finally – we woke to snow AND it was enough to call school for the day!

Abbie spent the day with friends…

Josh, James, and I had snowball fights, unsuccessfully attempted sledding, and the boys built a snowman.

Max is quite the snow dog! He loved running & tossing snow into the air while trying to catch it in his mouth!

Ruby, however, was not a fan of the snow. I sat her outside on our patio table where she jumped around, hopped off the table, and bolted back inside where it was warm and dry.

It was a perfect day away from school in the middle of the week! Hooray for snow days!

A Stay at the Hospital

Posted on March 13, 2011 by admin

Sometime in the month of February, I agreed to an extended-stay EEG. To do this I had to be hooked up to many wires, and stay put in either my hospital bed or a chair in the room. In addition to the wires, I was monitored by camera 24/7.

For the past couple years, we thought I was having seizures ~ so I’ve been taking seizure medicine. Recently, I found myself a new neurologist who questioned my seizures and wanted more information ~ thus, the long, lonely days at the hospital.

During my stay, I had 2 sleep deprived EEG’s with one of them being a 24 hour deprivation. It was very boring and I became quite emotional! I felt incredibly fortunate to have wonderful support from family & friends. I received flowers, flowers, and more flowers. Each time a vase of brightly colored flowers were carried in, I was filled with appreciation knowing I have so many caring people in my life… The flowers stayed with me through the duration, it was nice to have them. Beyond the beautiful buds, were the people.

It was more than I could have ever hoped… I had support from so many people. I am not sure how I could have managed with out the visits, encouraging words, emails, phone calls, and text messages. I thank each and every person who supported me through this ordeal.

The result of the stay showed no signs of seizures! No more seizure meds for me and I am feeling great!

Visit to a Farm

Posted on March 13, 2011 by admin

In early February, a friend of my mom’s invited James out to meet his newborn calf…

Dave took James into the area where the calf, only hours old, was snuggled down in the straw.

We saw the calf stand and attempt to walk & run!

James then fed the other cows, who were all nervous of him until he had bread.

While James was working with the cows, Mom & I warmed up by the fire.

Happy Birthday James

Posted on March 13, 2011 by admin

On January 12, James celebrated his 6th Birthday and had his first-ever friend party!

James decided on an Under-the-Sea theme and his Auntie – who has become the official cake-maker in our family – designed this excellent fish cake!

The kids played a few games like, Fish, Fish, Shark!

drank sea water…

watched patiently as James opened his gifts…

and enjoyed fishy-cake and ice cream…

Once all the games were played, gifts open, snacks eaten… we gave each friend a goodie bucket and said good-bye!

This was the 1st friend party James has ever had & I think it went really well ~ thanks to lots of help from Auntie, Abbie, Josh, and Jeff (Addy’s Dad).

January…

Posted on January 19, 2011 by admin

New Year’s Eve ended up being quiet at our house. Abbie and Chandler had been wanting to make no-sew fleece blankets, so I took them to the fabric store to pick out some fun fleece…

…and they spent the evening tying blankets. It was fun, I even helped out for a little while.

They also spent time helping James put together the Marble Galaxy he got for Christmas.

It was quite an ordeal and Josh spent the rest of the night working on this… I think his celebration at midnight was that the galaxy was put together!

Steph and the girls visited over the weekend and we enjoyed lounging around… I think Maya shares it best as she takes some relax-time on the couch (isn’t she getting BIG?!).