Clifton Mills

Jamie's mom just came into town for the holidays so we are ready to show her some of Ohio! the first night she was here we went to Clifton Mills. It is a beautiful place decorated with lights, a Christmas village, lights put to music, and a very large collection of Santa Clauses that they have collected over many years. We got there just in time to see the lights turn on and then see the light show with Manheim Steamroller music. The kids loved looking at the village - from a bowling alley to a football stadium to a carnival with a ferris wheel, a fire station......it had about everything! And of course a few trains were running through it.

Snow Day!

The last week of school before Christmas break the kids had two snow days! We took advantage and took the kids to the hill behind the pond by our house to go sledding. It was a freezing cold day so the sledding was very short lived. They had a good few runs down the hill then they were done. Harrison stayed the longest and didn't even complain. I think his motto for life is "I just wanna have fun!"

Raingutter Regada

This fall Aedan's boy scout troop did a raingutter regada (similar to the pinewood derby). They got a kit to build a boat and they had water in the raingutters for the boats to float. The boys then had to blow in the sail fo their boat to cross the finish line. All the boys did great! They all got a chance to race everyone! He had to race his best friend in the end for first place. This was a true test of friendship. They passed the test! :)

Halloween night!

We all went trick or treating this year. We had a lot of fun. Jamie had a great idea to save up all of our McDonald's toys from the kids meals (not open them) and then give them away at Halloween instead of candy. It ended up being a great hit! We put them in a big box on the front porch and made a sign saying "please take one". Then we left to trick or treat. Ireland wanted to wear her princess high heels....well we know how long that lasted! two houses! Then she just wanted to walk in her socks....well that lasted the rest of the street and then she rode in the stroller the rest of the time. Our neighborhood has a great idea for trick or treating. There are a lot of cul-de-sacs in the neighborhood, so what the families who live in the cul-de-sacs do is set up at the top of the cul-de-sac with a fire pit and bowls of candies from the individual houses. The neighbors get to enjoy each others company and the trick or treaters don't have to walk sooo far into the cul-de-sac. They need to save their energy and get to as many houses as they can, right!?

What a tangled web we weave!

It was our turn for date night - the night before Halloween so we decided to do a couple of fun Haloween games. Their favorite (mine too!) was where all the kids had their own ball of yarn they wrapped around themselves once, then they would toss it across the circle of kids. The kids would then pick up that ball of yarn, wrap it around themselves and toss it across again to someone else! this was hilarious to see how tangled they really got! I thought I would have to break out the scissors to cut everyone loose, but in the end everyone managed to free themselves from the dangerous spider web! :) Great fun!

Ceaser's Creek

Aedan's cub scout troop went hiking at Ceaser's creek and Aedan loved it so much he wanted to take the family out to the three mile loop. Everyone had a great time. At the end of the hike there was a dam and a reservoir on the other side. The boys climbed all the way to the top and then back down. Needless to say everyone was pretty tired after that!

wood projects

We have been taking the kids to Home Depot and Lowes on Saturdays for the last few months depending on the project. They have a free kids workshop where they get to put together different kits. This happens to be a football holder, or a table for dolls depending on who you talk to :) We've done a fireboat, picture frames, a little puppet show stage and most recently a full train with the caboose, passenger car and the engine. We paint them at home and the kids get quite a kick out of their projects.....so does Jamie :)

Harrison's team

Here's Harrison's team. They all had a great time. We had a family home evening lesson shortly after this about gratitude and I told the kids to find two things that they were thankful for and bring them into the family room. We went around each taking turns (as civilly as they could) and telling us about their items and why they were thankful for them. Harrison had his football trophy along with his swimming trophy and he said he was thankful for his trophies because it symbolized a lot of hard work! I loved that response! It wasn't because he won the games....because they didn't :) but it was because he knew the value of hard work. It's amazing what these little kids will internalize :)

harrison and flag football

We signed harrison up this summer to play flag football. We didn't realize how much fun he would have :) His teammates nick named him "speedy" because he ran so fast! They wanted him to play quarterback and running back because of his speed, but there was a slight problem....he couldn't catch the snap. He kept trying but he ended up playing all positions and really learned alot. What I loved to see was him learning about being part of a team. He would give his team mated high fives when they made good plays. He cheered them on, helped them out. He loved playing defense and dancing around all the opponents trying to distract them from the ball. He was great at that! All in all it was a very successful season for him learning about football and teamwork!

Aedan's 9th birthday

Aedan's 9th birthday party theme came as no surprise....He wanted a Lego theme! We heard that you could have birthday parties at the Lego store, but it was outrageously priced. So we had our own at the house. Jamie was in charge of the whole thing. He did a great job while I took the other three to the movies. They had pizza, and played a couple lego games. The boys paired up and each had a group of legos to see who could build the tallest tower of legos. Each of the boys also got a lego car to build and then we had a lego derby and race the cars on a track jamie made downstairs. The boys all had a lot of fun! Happy Birthday Aedan! Thanks Jamie for putting it all together!

Aedan's date

Aedan had a date this summer....with his dad :) He really likes golf so he decided that he would like to go mini golfing with his dad. They had a lot of fun. We've tried to make one on one time with the kids special for them. Harrison got to go to the football game, Aedan got to go mini golfing, Keean and Ireland....well we'll keep you posted!

Keean's first day of kindergarten

Well, I didn't get as great of a shot of Keean's first day, but he did great on the bus and had such a fun time! He was definitely ready to get to Kindergarten!

Cincinnati Bengals

Harrison had been wanting to go to a professional sports game for quite a while so Jamie decided to take him to a pre-season Bengals football game. They had so much fun. Just the atmosphere alone was so much fun with all kinds of activities set up for the little kids and tons to eat and watch. He made it through the whole game. They didn't get home until 12:30 at night! Harrison was so wired up from the night that he stayed awake the whole ride home! Great fun boys!

First day of school

August 2010 Harrison and Aedan head off for the bus on their first day of school. They are excited to meet up with all their friends they've missed over the summer!

labor day fun!

The kids were really having fun......I promise! This was during August 2010 when my sister Yolanda and her family came to visit. We did alot of things that involved water because it was so hot and muggy. We went to the spray park, the regular park, and the swimming pool. Thanks for coming Yo! it was a lot of fun :)