Saturday, December 27, 2008

Christmas 2008




We had a great Christmas time with my family visiting from CA, including my brother! Prior to Christmas my parents took our family on a 3 day Disney cruise to celebrate mom's 65th birthday and their 40th anniversary. We all had a wonderful time and as I sit here today I can't believe a week ago I was sailing out in the Bahamas. Christmas day in Florida gave the CA people a taste of our humid weather, but it has dried off now and we are hearing about a cold spell coming through this week. Also as I type, Jason is sitting in the Salt Lake City airport. His plane left FL at 6:30 this morning and arrived in Salt Lake around 11 (9 their time) and found out his next flight had been canceled....he has spent the day trying to get on a flight. As of right now he has a boarding pass for the 9pm flight, we are keeping our fingers crossed. He has said that Christmas next year will be in his apartment. Hopefully this is like childbirth and he will not remember the bad part of the trip and board a plane again in the future.

The kids are enjoying their presents, a favorite is the Wii. They had no idea it existed before Christmas and we have a hard time keeping Nathan off of it. He has mastered bowling and is working on the baseball.

Friday, December 12, 2008

The Big 7!


Andrew had a great day at school for his birthday. In the morning he shopped at the Holiday Shop for his family (I was there to help guide the purchases so we did not get Sour Patch kids...). His class sang to him, his birthday was announced in the morning announcements and he shared cookies with his class in the afternoon. This was an issue with me, a couple of months ago the district decided that all food going into the school had to be bought and brought in unopened packaging. I really liked baking for his events at school and am sad I can not do this anymore...

We went to chick-fil-a for a quick dinner before his cub scout meeting to try the peppermint chocolate chip shakes....not so good. I don't know if they guy who made it put in too much peppermint or if that is the way it is suppose to taste, but it was way too strong. Almost like drinking pepto bismal with chocolate.

Monday, December 8, 2008

A Pirate Party



Andrew celebrates his 7th birthday this month. Yesterday we had a fun party for him. Six of his friends came to help him celebrate. Thank goodness we had wonderful weather (last Sunday we had squalling winds and rain!). They had a treasure hunt and decorated their own cookies and cupcakes. Andrew was up early this morning to play with his new toys.

Fun with our cousins




My Aunt and Uncle came down to Disney last week along with my cousin Katie and her family. We were able to meet up with them on Wednesday evening at Epcot and on Thursday evening at Studios. Although the week started out cold it never rained and I think they all had a good time. The lights at Studios are really pretty, that is where the shots are from.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Tiger Growl Camp Out



Brent and Andrew attended the Tiger Growl cub scout camp out this past Friday-Saturday. We finally decided on Thursday that it would be a good idea for Andrew to attend since it was a camp only for his age group and most of the kids from his Den would be there. Thankfully, Aunt Andrea bought the kids sleeping bags for Christmas so Andrew did not have to use Brent's 25 year old one. Sadly, Brent came down with a cold this week so he was off to sleep in the cold (more later on that) with a cold.

This is the only campsite that has archery, bbguns and more so we thought Andrew would really have a good time..and he did. Brent splurged and pre-paid for lunch and dinner on Saturday.

Nathan and I had some quality time together with a trip to Mc Donald's Friday night (had to go since Andrew brought home one of the new Madagascar movie animals they are giving out from Career Day at school), the gym, build-it at Lowes and Epcot on Saturday.

I noted as we left the restaurant Friday night how cold it had become so Nathan and I hurried home to a hot bath in mommies wirlpool bathtub, with bubbles of course. Seems is was 34F that night at the campout....brrrrrrrrr!!!

Same Toy...Different Food

Wow, it has been awhile since I have blogged. Since my last post mid-October we have had my parents visit for Halloween and Brent's parents and sister left just this last Thursday. We are looking forward to my cousin, her family and my aunt and uncle visiting WDW after Thanksgiving. But, talking about visitors was not the purpose of this post...as you can tell by the title.

We have noticed for the last year how different our children are in what they eat, but how you must get the them EXACT SAME thing in anything that is bought toy wise. Unless you are sticking to their current favorite colors (Andrew-yellow; Nathan-red) then the color, model, make...has to be the same or there is sure to be tears. However, with food...they could share a complete meal and not want to eat what the other has. Today I volunteered in Sunday School class where they server donuts and donut holes. Once again...Andrew eat's the doughnut and Nathan eats the doughnut hole....they would make such a great couple.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

First Grade Picture


I think the picture came out really well, a nice smile which is hard to get these days. He has lost another tooth since the picture and is working on a top tooth which should be out any day. Nathan is helping that along by hitting Andrew in the mouth yesterday and it started bleed.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Meeting the neighbors

Ok, so it was not the best option to let the kids play out in our driveway while I tried to get dinner started, but so far all they do is ride the big wheel on the sidewalk in front of the house. Little did I know that they have found girlfriends that live across the street and down two houses. We have not met these people and would not know them if we ran right into them. So tonight they come in for dinner and announce that they were down at the "blow up" house ringing the doorbell (they have halloween blow-ups in their front yard). Number one issue, the house is across the street so they violated the number one rule of playing outside. Number two, we don't even know these people!!! I guess the offender was Nathan as Andrew claims that he stayed on our side of the street and watched Nathan all the while trying to figure out what to do with him. (Hmmmm, actually I believe him, that is something he would do).

So I figure the adult thing to do is to take the kids to apologize....so we get up from dinner and march across the street. They are actually very nice people with 3 kids, a girl in kindergarden at Andrew's school, a girl in Pre-K and a baby boy 6 months old. I guess this was one way to get to know the neighbors. The middle girl will be attending the VPK program with Nathan in January so we will be seeing more of them.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Spidey and a Pirate!





Family night at the Chick-fil-A proved to be both disappointing and fun. The kids were bummed when they saw the play room was closed for construction, but were thrilled to get their faces painted and balloon swords made! It did make for a much shorter visit without the playroom which was good since we did not get there until close to 7pm.

Show -n-Sell

This weekend we spent 2 hours on Sunday in front of Lowe's so Andrew could sell popcorn for scouts. Well, let me re-phrase that, Brent and Andrew spent 2 hours in front of Lowe's, Nathan and I headed for the Barnes and Noble for an hour for the air conditioning. Andrew did well, he spoke up asking each person if they would like to buy and sold and got lot's of donations. We warned him at the beginning that he would get more people who did not buy than would. He was a bit confused as some people told him they would come back after they shopped and they never came....poor kid, learning about real life so soon and the lies that people tell so they don't feel bad themselves. They could just say no thank you, he get's that much better than what they did.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Flu Shots

Now I don't know if it was seeing me get a shot last week, but Nathan's performance at the Doctor's office yesterday was a hoot, Andrew's was predictable.

We left around 8:30 for a 9:00 appointment and as we were getting in the car Andrew says "my stomach feels funny", wel,l he is the one who always has issues when he gets nervous so I just asked him to sit down and let me know if it gets worse. We arrived right on time, however, as usual they were 20 minutes late getting us in, thank goodness for the three kids from another family who kept mine occupied. Once in the nurse weighed the kids...Andrew has passed the 50lb mark on the scale and Nathan weighed in at 38lbs. Then into the exam room. Nathan volunteered to go first so he jumps up on the table and pulls up his shirt sleeve for the nurse, she looked at me with a questioning look but got to work with the alcohol wipe. I told Nathan he did not have to look but he was facinated. He watched the shot go in, did not even flinch and said "Wow!". The nurse looked at me again and asked "Did he just say Wow?" I don't think that is the most common response for kids getting a shot.

Andrew on the other hand has a history of jumping out of the chair before the alcohol wipe even touches his arm, and he did not dissappoint again, he started squirming away as soon as she opened the package, I told him not to look and I think he shut his eyes, but he squeeled the whole time. He was happy to see that the bandaide was yellow, his favorite color.

On the way to drop Andrew off at school I asked how his stomach was....just fine!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

National Apple Jack Month


So, what do you do for National Apple Jack month? According to our Library, you make a necklace...note the design Andrew did with the cereal. It lasted all of two minutes on his neck and he ate the whole thing. Now both kids are wired on sugar since we went out for ice cream before the library.




Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Pre-K Open House




Last night was Nathan's school open house. We were told siblings were not invited so we dropped Andrew off at a friends home and headed to school. Of course, the rain decided to come last night after days of dry weather! Nathan enjoyed showing us around his room and we were able to see what he has been working on. He will miss his class friends when he moves over to the Windermere Elementary school in January, but he will like getting to go to school everyday, all day like Andrew.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Little Scout Buddy



I found Brent's old Cub Scout uniform last night as we were headed out to a Pack Meeting. Nathan decided to try it all on today. His hat was given to us by a neighbor down the street, it says "Little Scout Buddy". Amazing how the material has changed, Andrew's is definitely not as soft and the patches are less pliable. It was a hard job sewing them on since they are so stiff.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Donuts with Dads and Poptober



This week I was busy volunteering at Andrew's school I started the week working the class pictures and ended it working the Donuts with Dad's morning. Brent brought the boys and they enjoyed their donuts and talking with other dad's. He even brought Andrew to his classroom.

We are also starting to sell popcorn for the Cub Scouts. Andrew and I went out yesterday around the neighborhood with another neighbor down the street who has two scouts a bit older and we did really well. Andrew was a bit intimidated by going up to people's homes, but we only did the ones we know through school or already met. Most every one bought something which I thought was nice. Let me know if anyone wants popcorn...the tins make great gifts!

Another soccer game on Saturday...the boys played well again even though their team did not score. We played against a team whose coach is from England and you could tell he had really worked with them. Then we were off to Lowe's to make fire engines, the kids are really enjoying these projects that the store puts on.

I am home today with Nathan who started a running a fever this morning while Brent and Andrew are taking advantage of a beautiful day in the low 80's here is Florida by going to the Magic Kingdom. We won't be able to go for a few weeks with more commitments on the weekend so they are getting a full day in.

Monday, September 22, 2008

New Camera and First Soccer game



The kids had their first soccer game this Saturday. They both scored a goal and did really well listening to the coaches (even though one of them was their Dad!)



I usually don't post pictures when we go to one of the Disney parks because we go so often we don't take the camera. However, our camera broke a couple of weeks ago and we got a new one so I thought I would post something. Here we are at the Magic Kingdom, it is decorated for Halloween. That is what prompted the kids to want to get the decorations out at home even though we are still in September. The crowds are much smaller now so it is nice to go.
Notice in the last picture the dark clouds in the background. We made it to the car just before the rain came pouring down...it was dry at home and never rained a drop.




Monday, September 8, 2008

Lowe's, the Kennedy Space Center and beans


Just an update on our activities last week. On Saturday, Aug 30 we went to the Lowe's kids "built it" morning. The place was packed and there was a lot of banging going on. After a couple attempts from mom and dad to get the pieces in the right order and actually some blood on mom's part, the kids came away with trucks. This next week we go back to make pirate ships!

This Saturday we made a trip to the Kennedy Space Center. Since school has started the place was pretty empty. Brent even made in on stage for the kids show "Mission to Mars". I was so proud of Andrew, this was the first time he has volunteered at a show like this. He did not get picked, but he put Brent's hand up when they wanted Dad's so that counted as well. IT is hard to see but the shuttle is now at the launch pad getting ready for the October launch date.

Yesterday I noticed that Nathan's bean plant actually grew beans!!