Li'l Gymnast

After that last post, I decided it was time for something a little light-hearted. Even though these pictures were taken months ago, I thought everyone would love to see how much my little M has grown over the past few years. He is really transitioning into a little boy (he still says "me baby" when I ask him if he is a big boy now - unless being a big boy gets him extra priviledges then he grows up immediately). On that note, potty training is going very well. Not 100% yet but very close. Something just changed last week. According to Ms. Kyle (our nanny - in crimson and black above), M went the whole morning standing in line for her to vote without going - and being very sweet the whole time!

These pictures are from the Little Gym - not a formal gymnastics school - it is more like PE with different activities from time to time. This was little M's first day (picking up on the credit we had at Little Gym from my middle M who had to quit last Spring when he broke his leg). He is there with one of his favorite friends. As you can tell, she was better at actually hanging from the "high" bar than little M but he was trying and having fun. In all fairness he has about twice as much weight to hold up.

The teachers at Little Gym continually tell Ms. Kyle that M is doing very good in the class and he recently graduated up into the next level for more challenging work. He always seems so clumsy to me at home - his head seems to weigh more than his body can handle. He has gotten much more confident at the playground since he has been going to Little Gym. Also, according to Ms. Kyle, he doensn't play the "baby" at Little Gym like he does when his siblings are around.

A different kind of Mothers' Day

As you have probably noticed I try to keep this blog focused on the positive parts of our lives. I want to capture for the readers and ultimately the kids (when they grow up) the fun days that we have. As anyone who knows us knows, we don't always have fun days. Grieving the death of the kids' mommy and my wife Melinda is hard. On Mothers' Day this year we took a break from our normal routine and spent time remembering mommy.

We took new flowers to mommy's grave, watched the "Melinda's Greatest Hits" video and looked at the brand new mommy books that our friends Chas and Adrianne had just finished (if you haven't seen the books yet you are missing out - swing by the house next time you can and we will share them with you). We took a hand written note (picture attached above) and tried to send it to Heaven by attaching it to a helium-filled balloon that we bought at Homeland. The note was too heavy for the balloon so I saved it in our mommy box at home. We went ahead and sent the balloon to mommy - we are pretty sure she got it because we watched it soar into the sky until it was just a tiny speck. To cap off the day we skipped rocks on the pond by mommy's grave - a new family tradition.

Welcome to the Gun Show

While sifting through pictures to use on the blog I came across these and couldn't resist. As those of you with more than one kid can imagine, my little guy likes to do everything his big bro does. He is starting to mimic him in lots of ways - especially in his attempts to make you laugh by making funny faces and voices (I'm not sure where that comes from....).

After bath this evening the boys spent some time grooming in the mirror (with help from a step stool) and then put their muscules on display. I know their momma was always stacked (especially after lugging around all these kids) so I'm sure they are getting their muscles from their daddy. Disclaimer - I try to always keep my shirt on, especially when there is are pictures being taken.

This was a fun moment that was just perfect for a camera. I'm just glad they decided to pass on the baby oil and fake tanning cream before the big pose down.

Camping at the lake

In June we had a wonderful camping trip with Grandma & Grandpa and Uncle Mike & Aunt Nikki - our first ever family vacation. Nikki organized the trip to a local state park that had everything we needed and much more. We rented a cabin right on the lake and a tent site and jumped right in to the offerings of the park and attached resort. Unfortunately I misplaced my camera after the first full day and so I'll have to wait on more pictures from the rest of the family. There were several "firsts" for the kids - including our "baby" having a first experience "painting" a stick using a feather or at least that is what he said he was doing in the second picture from the bottom. The big kids struck out on fishing but enjoyed their first real attempt. Some of our favorite activites were fishing, sleeping in a tent (my middle M backed out on the second night), skipping rocks, boating/swimming in the lake, swimming at the resort pool, arts and crafts at the rec center (where Uncle Mike dominated me at ping pong), horseback riding (where we saw several baby deer including a set of twins), hayride (where my big girl had her shoe stolen by some "outlaws"), visiting a nature center, taking a long hike (what better way is there to find ticks?), and cookout on the fire (including my favorite - smores). Hard to imagine that we crammed all of this and more into basically 2 days. Aunt Nikki did a great job of keeping us moving so that we could hit all of the main attractions. I will let her speak for herself but from my view, Aunt Nikki's highlight was breakfast burritos - a traditional camping food! We had such a wonderful time and made some great memories. We have vowed to go back this next summer and explore some more.

Seaworld Trip for New Year's Eve

Now that we have wrapped up our camping trip to the lake, a stay-cation in our home town, and a trip to Montana I thought it would be a good idea to finally finish this post about our trip to Seaworld (eight months ago). I've included some of the better pictures so everyone can see how the kids looked back at the end of December. I hope to do a better job keeping up with this blog (I'm sure you have all heard that before.

My family went to Seaworld with our great friends Jamie and Susan and their two girls. Susan was kind enough to travel in our van to help with my little M and he did great on the trip. Jamie occasionally filled his adrenaline needs with solo trips to the roller coasters leaving Susan and I with 5 kids ages 7, 6, 5, 3, and 2 - we joked that if people at the park took a good look at us they would think Susan and I had some sort of problem. It was so fun. Our little guy buddied up with Sue Sue (his name for her), Jamie hung with his youngest daughter, the two older girls were inseparable for much of the trip leaving me and my middle M to get some good quality time together that I will treasure. The highlights of the trip were the Shamu show (you should see my little M do his hands like an orca tail - so cute), feeding the dolphins (a family tradition), the pirate themed playground, the "Journey to Atlantis" ride (the big kids first real amusement park ride), and of course temps in the 70's when it was much colder back home. A personal highlight was having adjoining rooms with our friends so that the kids could go to sleep in one room while the adults visited and watched meaningless bowl games in the other. That was a ton more fun than going to bed at 8:30 each night! We just beat a cold north wind that showed up on our drive back so we couldn't have planned things any better. Tons of thanks go to Jamie and especially Susan for making this trip possible - it would not have happened for me and the kids without their help and flexiblity.

P.S. I did buy the season passes so there is an outside shot that we will do it again before next New Year's.

Orange it is!

I let our big guy pick his own color for the cast. I thought for a while it would be red but orange won the day. His Uncle Mike and Aunt Nikki are so proud! Earlier in the day, our friend Susan advised me to let him pick any color but one...if you know Susan very well (and even if you don't), you can guess which color that was.

The last picture was taken right before he went to "bed" in one of our Lay-Z-Boys. I think he was trying to approximate the amount of stuff he normally crams into the lower bunk in his room. For now, we have two people sleeping in the living room. I hope his snoring doesn't wake me up tonight.

P.S. Due to some quick work by Aunt Nikki, we were able to get his leg casted on Friday afternoon instead of waiting until Monday. I'm very thankful for having that done before the weekend. In a few weeks we may move to a shorter cast that will also allow him to take baths. Our whole house will be thankful for that!

Tough "Break" on Valentine's Day

Our friends Jamie and Susan (and girls) decided to take us out for "Valentime's" day. After discussing our options at length we decided there would be nothing more cupid-like than a trip to the local roller skating rink (you know couples skate in the opposite direction time). Our littlest one got the most attention of the night from the pre-teen set - I think it was the Thomas the Train helmet and knee pads combined with the chubby cheeks and sweet smile.

About an hour into our skating, our middle child fell and started screaming. We took all our skates off and our friend Mr. Mike took us to the nearest ER in his big red truck while our friend Ms. Adrianne (Mike's wife) headed home in our white minivan with the other two kids for bed time. At the time, I had a pretty good idea that he had broken his leg but expected a lot of bruising and swelling if there was a break. The outside of his leg looked fine so that just shows that accountants don't know much about broken legs.

After a short wait in the ER waiting room, our big boy was placed in a bed with a warm blanket which helped. He was also given a small liquid dose of Motrin (the kind you give for a fever) - it didn't help. He was in a lot of pain everytime his leg moved - especially during the X-rays - but he was very tough and generally kept all the nurses, doctors, and technicians entertained (especially after a shot of morphine). The highlight of the ER visit was 4 big stickers for his shirt - he actually claimed is was the shot of morphine which confused Mike and I.

It was a late night but finally got him into his bed after 11 PM with a temporary splint to keep him from moving it too much. I'm most sad about the upcoming soccer season. I hope that by the end of the season, he can get back out there but it will be hard to sit on the sidelines and watch the other kids play (especially when you are a goal scoring machine...). Hopefully I can post a cool picture of his cast (I'm hoping for green) by next week.

Daddy/Daughter Ball

A few weeks ago, my daughter and I participated in a Daddy/Daughter Ball at my work. We went with another "couple" that goes to church with us (the daddy also works at the same company). We started the evening at our house with some pictures (see the best one above) and then headed off to one of the buildings in our office complex.

When we first arrived we received our table assignment (#9) and had some time to take more pictures and mingle with the other attendees. Our carriage ride was scheduled right before dinner began so we cuddled under some blankets and enjoyed a ride around my company's parking lot being led by a beautiful black clydesdale (if you have seen the place I work you would know that the view was a lot better than you might imagine). As we passed over the bubbling brook that flows through our building complex, the local ducks cooperated nicely by splashing in the water for us to enjoy.

By the time our ride was over, dinner had begun. We slid into our seats and met the other guests at our table (the next oldest girl at our table was 4 so conversation was strained at times).

Dinner was excellent. The menu follows:

Mixed Green Salad with Ranch Dressing and Rolls

Herbed Grilled Chicken

Seasoned Green Beans

Homestyle Mac-n-Cheese (there were little girls at the ball after all)

Strawberry Shortcake with Whipped Cream AND Chocolate Indulgence Cake (there were grown men at the ball after all)

We ended the night with dancing and more pictures. Our big girl spent most of her evening dancing with a friend that she met at the party (she makes best friends so easily). The other young lady was 6 days older than my date and a couple of inches taller (which is rare to find a girl or boy her age that is taller). I'm not sure who led.

I did squeeze in a few dances with my girl and even saw a picture posted on our company intranet to prove it (and to provide plenty of "That's so sweet..." and "What were you trying to do with your arms up in the air...is that supposed to be dancing?" comments from my co-workers).

It was a successful night and I owe a big thank you to the people at work that put on this great event and my friend Laura who watched the boys while her oldest daughter and husband Sean took us on our "double date". It will always be a special memory.

After and Before

What better way to start a new blog than "baby" pictures? Well, our little guy isn't really a baby anymore now that he has turned 2 years old but he still seems like a baby at times. He even claims to be a baby if you ask him - "I baby". I then ask him questions about things a baby can and can't do and he always tells me that babies can do everything - walk, talk, dance, etc. Maybe it is time to retire the baby crib and put him in a big boy bed?

These pictures are a few months apart. The after picture is from his recent birthday party last Saturday night. I chose this picture so you could see the back of his head to get a good look at his hair "style". By style I mean what ever way it falls after I dry it off with the towel after bath time. The before picture is from his very first hair cut which was in September or October of last year (yes, I saved a few curls in a baggie). He has had 3 hair cuts so far. The first one was just a trim to cut back on some of the "she's so pretty" compliments I kept getting about him. The second cut left him with a mini-mullet. I think the 3rd time was the charm - he looks so cute!