Family Dinner Photos

Melinda sent a menu suggestion all the way from Washington D.C. ... grilled pineapple. Derek is having fun with his new smoker/grill and prepared some fabulous pineapple and brisket. Divine.

I had to share this photo because I didn't notice at the time that I took it but HOLY SMOKE! Cody is getting old!

Maddie is excited to FINALLY get her birthday presents! She received some perfume and cash from Grandma and Grandpa. She is saving money for her trip this summer to see Aunt Melinda in D.C.

Perfect gift from Aunt Megan!

We are redecorating Maddie's bedroom to make it age appropriate for a 13 year-old. She has wanted a Parisienne themed room for a couple of years. Grandpa and Grandma gave her these prints for Christmas so we bought frames for them. Special thanks to Aunt Debbie for ruining her manicure to get the prints in the frames for me!

I Can't Get Enough

I adore this little guy. Asher had so much fun outside while at our house this evening. He was gentle with the flowers on the deck and had fun down on the lawn with his mom and dad. Mister rockin' the faux hawk
My favorite pic of the bunch. I love that face!Asher practices one of his new words on the group, awaiting the reaction!

Snort snorting with his cousin Maddie

Olivia's States Parade

The 5th grade curriculum covers U.S. History. Students have to memorize the Presidents in order, states by location and state capitols, the Preamble, etc. Each student selects a state to research and they have to complete several assignments about the state history, agriculture, economy, etc. Olivia chose the state of Vermont. At the end of the school year, the 5th grade puts on a program to show the parents all that they have learned. They started off Friday morning with a parade. Each child had to create a "float" for their chosen state and they circled around the building while all of the other students sat and cheered for them. The program following the parade included several songs and spoken parts. Olivia did a great job and didn't even hesitate when it was her turn at the microphone!

I should have gotten a close-up of her diorama at the front of the float. She made different animals using pipe cleaners and they are adorable. Her float also included some Maple Syrup, Ben and Jerry's, Vermont Teddy Bear Factory, green mountains, the Vermont state flag and vintage wooden skis. Lucky mom got to stay up until 2 in the morning assembling everything!

Olivia with her two best girl friends ... Riley and Brighton. My little spunky girl is back to being one of the most petite girls in her grade. She complains about being the shortest but I remind her that great things come in small packages.

Happy 13th Birthday Maddie!

The day has finally arrived ... Maddie is officially a teenager. Granted, she has been acting like a teenager for several years, so her actual age now matches her attitude! Her friends left her a special birthday message in the driveway Wednesday evening along with a gift at the door - a necklace that she has been wanting.

Thursday morning, Maddie opened her gift from us before she left for school.

Her new cell phone! She's the happiest girl in the world.

Happy 13th Birthday to our beautiful, intelligent, outspoken, loving daughter. You are much loved by friends and family. While the teen years are not always the easiest to navigate, you are confident and caring, challenging and strong. Never lose sight of who you are and never forget who is here for you when you need help along the way.

Keira's New House

We stopped to see Trent and Natalie's new house last Sunday afternoon. Keira was thrilled to have cousins there and gave us a tour of the new place. The kids loved the basketball game in the movie room. It was the first time that I have seen Harrison shoot hoops since he was a toddler with his little plastic standard. The sun was very bright but the kids were good sports and tried to pose for us.

Harrison's Wax Museum

The second grade had a special "book report" project this month. Each child had to read up on a famous person and create a fact poster. Yesterday they did a "wax museum" exhibit where they posed as their chosen person. Harrison had a difficult time choosing who he wanted to do his report on, exasperating his mother who didn't want it left until the last minute. I called Harrison Tuesday afternoon after school and said, "Buddy, you need to choose what you are going to do." He said "Oh, I told Miss Taylor who I am going to do today."
Huh?!
"I told her I'm going to be Jack Johnson."
~insert sigh of relief here~
Perfect! No elaborate costume to come up with. No homework for mom to do!

Harrison helped choose photos for his poster and told me which facts he wanted to include. He liked the fact that Jack's professional surfing career ended after a spill that required nearly 150 stitches ... I think Harrison felt like a kindred spirit since he had to get stitches following the dog attack incident. Harrison helped to write a 30 second blurb about Jack Johnson that he had to recite when a museum visitor pushed his "yellow button" on his shirt.

The wax museum was fun ... there were several Tony Hawks, Amelia Earharts, etc. but only ONE Jack Johnson!

S'mores!

What could be better after a long afternoon of socializing, eating and playing? After spending Sunday afternoon at the Nelson house for a Olympus High School reunion barbecue, everyone else had left and it was just the "cousins" gathering around the fire pit. After some "persistent" prodding from my kids, I drove home to get the fixings for s'mores and the kids were thrilled. It was the perfect ending to a fabulous day.

"Cousins at heart" Thatcher, Dakota, Maddie, Sawyer, Harrison, Dallas and Olivia

Tami says "Yum!"

I was happy to see it's not just my children who love to play with fire!

Don't you just want to smooch these cheeks?!

Harrison has had plenty of chocolate at this point!

Mother's Day 2009

I know that I am immensely blessed to be a mother. Having grown up not knowing if I'd ever be physically able to have children, I know that these three are indeed my miracles. I never doubted that I would be a mother one way or another, but they are the children that I was meant to have. Ed needed children that he recognized himself in. I love their spirited and curious nature. I had a wonderful Mother's Day, beginning with a fabulous breakfast that Ed cooked up all by himself. I was treated to pancakes, turkey bacon, strawberries, blueberry scones, orange juice and coffee. Oh ... and CRAB LEGS! My Mother's Day gift ... flowers for the yard and new sheets for my bed. Sweet!
We are focusing most of our attention on the yard right now so we spent the afternoon at a local Garden Center and bought some more plants and supplies for the beds. We went to see my mom and ate lunch at their house. Aunt Deb had taken Maddie for a fun weekend sleepover so they met us there and Deb took some family photos for me.

It's a challenge to get a photo of Harrison sometimes. If he is tired of posing, he starts doing his fake smile/crazy eye thing. Taking a break to ham it up with Deb was just what he needed!

Not quite the family photo that I wanted ... you can see what I mean about Harrison!

The best photo is the new one at the top of the blog. Eventually, we will find a time to schedule a real family photo session. No fake smiles or crazy eyes allowed.

Clay's 40th Birthday Fiesta

It's the year of turning 40 for Ed and several of his friends. We went to a 40th birthday Fiesta for our friend Clay Williams. Ed went to school with Clay and they worked at the Training Table Restaurants together for years. Clay's lovely wife Ashley always goes all out for entertaining and this party was no exception. There was good food and drinks, a pinata for the kids and 3 different desserts. It was a fabulous way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Olivia kept stealing the birthday sombrero from Clay. Truthfully, I don't think he was too put out. He said it looked better on her!

Maddie and her daddy look so much alike.

Awwww, sweet sisters. At least they were sweet long enough to take a photo.

True story ... the pinata was killed after the first 5 of 6 kids took some good swings. Not wanting to be left out of the fun, the girls talked the adults into rigging it back up and swatted at the empty carcass. Being my children with ample pinata experience, they also knew exactly what to do with all of the severed parts. (see below)

Yes Mother, they did want to bring all of the broken pinata parts home with us. No, they did not. We managed to spirit those "treasures" into the garbage can before we got in the car!