Friday, April 23, 2010

Oh WOW - are we behind!?!


They say time flies when you're having fun...must be true as it's been almost 2 months since we've posted anything here. Very sorry about that! Seems I lose track of time since I'm able to keep up with so many of you through facebook.

March brought Tom & Jac's 8th birthday...8, wow...we hosted sleepovers for each of them (on different nights of course!) & was reminded again of the vast difference between boys & girls - oh my word!!!


Tom's cake - reminiscent of how they spent most of their evening - was a Wii Remote & Jac's was two stars featuring the Hannah Montana HM logo. Of course, we also had a family party in there, too...Tom couldn't believe I actually made a popcorn bucket for their cake!!! (He's not much of a cake fan, but could eat popcorn EVERY day!!)


April brought us Rob's birthday & a sleepover with some of his buddies, too. We've done this a few years now & it's so fun to see how they've grown & changed from year to year. Once again, he chose donuts instead of a cake for his friend party & was amazed at the likeness between what I thought was a mound of donuts to fit 12 candles & what he saw as Poseidon's castle - amazing!!



Scheduling snafus meant all the siblings were here, too, but they all did wonderfully together. (whew!) Because of schedules, it actually ended up being April Fool's Day the morning they awoke...score one for mom! While they were all nay-saying the fake eggs I made them (icing & m&ms) they didn't even realize the eggs were a set up to distract them from the juice, which was actually jello - priceless!

His birthday actually fell on Easter this year, so we were able to celebrate with the family, minus mom & Gary due to some nasty stomach flu issues we are all glad they kept to themselves! His cake for the family party featured a scene from one of his favorite books of the Percy Jackson series - it was the Empire State Building, Hades triton & the Helm of Darkness...oh the things that boy is teaching me!


Now for the Easter pictures of the kids: Ali slept through me trying to get a shot of the 5 of them together, but then the second they all walked away to get play clothes on, she woke up all smiles - at least we got one with Papa & Linda.



And finally for this installment...Chris & I attended our 13th prom together this month. What a fun time!!

Friday, February 26, 2010

Oh My! What a month!!



Hmmm....'et's see....




Ali is crawling & pulling herself up using the couch, chairs, or whatever she can find.


Ben is speaking in complete sentences, when he wants to.


Jac's cast is off - actually has been for a few weeks because it got loose, but now she also gets to take her brace off when she's at home & not rough-housing with her brothers.


Tom is, well, Tom is Tom. Enough said.


Rob has joined the scholastic bowl team - what a fun thing for him, and for all of us to hear about! We're so proud of his attitude, even when the matches don't go as he'd hoped.


And tonight, we celebrated Chris' 39th birthday!! It really was so much fun just with the seven of us, I'm really starting to think next year should be a bigger group...hint, hint ;) Jac outfitted each of us with party hats. It wasn't until we sat down for cake that we noticed what she'd written on her dad's: I'm the Birthday Dude!! Too funny! We enjoyed an evening out for pizza at Milano's here in Avon & then came home for a very tasty black forest cake. (Thanks for the help, kiddos!)

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Break a Leg...or an Arm as the Case May Be

I just realized that it has been quite some time since we've posted any information here. Looking back, I can really see why. We've had quite a time the last few weeks. It's been a growth experience for us all.



Perhaps one of the real "highlights" is the fact that Jaclyn broke her arm roller skating. She went to a friend's birthday bash and fell. She was a real trooper and was fighting through the pain over the first couple of days, so we decided to wait until Monday for a doctor visit. It wasn't terribly miscolored, so we weren't overly concerned and I was banking on a major sprain. However, x-ray showed differently. So we were to take her back in a few days for casting. However, that was one of those wonderfully icy wintery days we had here this month; however we were fortunate enough to make it over later that day and got the mission accomplished.

On that same day we were fortunate enough to finish the purchase of our van to replace the one the insurance company totaled out after a weather related incident in December. We were a one vehicle family for a month or so. Luckily we could rely on the generosity of wonderful friends. We have borrowed so many vehicles over the past month it's been hard to keep track of them all. We are so grateful to so many generous people.

The past month has been one of faith and growth around our house as well. It's been a month of snow days, illness through almost all of us, and many trials and tribulations. We are all looking forward to a "boring" life again soon hopefully.

We look forward to hearing updates on all of you.

Take care and Make it a Great Day!