Happy Holidays!!

Here are late pic's of the Trick or Treat-er's! Hayley and her friend went as Mario and Luigi. Brent was a horror hockey player (yuck) and the pirate. They got lots of loot!

We went and cut down our tree a few weeks ago! When we had NO snow. Brent helps Scott cut the tree down. The kids are home today for their 1st snow day. They had a 90 minute delay earlier this week. We had gotten 4 inches last weekend and during the night last night it snowed 4 more inches. It's funny how 8 inches of snow is a ton for here! There are lots of closings-church, schools, etc. It's supposed to snow some during the day. Our temp is in the 30's or close to- it's not so bad out-the kids have been out playing. The temp will stay in the 30's at least until next week so hopefully it will melt.

The tree 'plantation' where we get our tree has Reindeer and these fat, little mini sheep or goats. Hard to tell they're mini little muffins. I couldn't resist them!

The kids are great. We all had strep in the last few weeks. Scott was the only one who didn't get it. Brent is loving basketball ;) It's fun to see them try new sports. He's playing baseball and lacrosse in the spring. The girls are taking the winter off. Hayley's in student council and she starts science club after xmas break.

We had a nice Thanksgiving. We cooked up a wonderful turkey, potatoes ;) and lots of other goodies and watched the parade and football.

Gma/Gpa are coming for their 1st xmas here. We're all excited for them to come!!

We're finishing our xmas shopping. And enjoying the holidays. We can't wait for xmas break!

Have a Merry Christmas!!

Pumpkin Patch

We went to our favorite pumpkin patch again this year. They had a new field of sunflowers and they were beautiful! We took our hayride out to the patch, kids picked their pumpkins and off through the woods we came back. They have cute little pumpkins in the trees and set up doing funny things like a pumpkin jail. The kids liked it. It was a beautiful day!

Hayley's cheer

I finally got some pic's of Hayley! She would move behind one of the girls in front so I couldn't take her pic. This is our small squad of 6 but they're nice girls and 6 works great! We cheer this weekend and football is finished for the year. This is the last year of LYF for Hayley. In middle school they try out for cheer and need to know back hand springs. Hayley doesn't want to do cheer anymore. Which is fine. She'd like to play volleyball or hockey again.

Brent's 9th bday!

Happy Birthday!! Brent was excited for his bday!! Gma/Gpa came down to visit and got here for his bday-best gift ever!! The kids were so excited for them to visit! Brent got Mario Kart for the Wii, money, gift cards, Legos and the German Sheperd Webkinz. I made lasagna his favorite! We had a football ice cream cake and gma/gpa bought pumpkin pie another of Brent's fav's............we were on a sugar high all weekend!!

1st Day of School

I can't believe summer is over ;( The kids were excited to start school. Hayley had a great day, she really likes her teachers-she changes teachers for every subject. She and all of her 'Peace' wear! I love her shoes!Brent & Maddy are in the same school this year and ride the bus together ;) They had great days too. Brent hasn't stopped talking about how great his teacher is! I'm Maddy's recess/lunch monitor so I'll get to see her during the day. I know her teacher from last year and she's very nice. I haven't talked to Maddy yet as she's across the street playing. Our neighbors were gone all summer visiting in Mn. That's where their mom is from. So, Maddy hasn't seen Megan all summer-they're catching up! When I saw Maddy today, she was having a good day. They're growing up too fast, the year's go by too fast ;( I'm wiped out. Getting back into EARLY routines, working..............I'm ready for bed.

Madison cheering

Saturday was Madison's 1st time cheering for a ftball game! I think she likes it. She's so cute! She's the smallest on her squad.

Hayley's team cheered Sunday for their 1st game too. I didn't get a chance to take a pic-I was coaching. I must say they did a great job! Hayley's cheer coach moved and asked if I'd take over this year.

Happy Birthday My Dear!!

Poor Hayley had to spend her bday riding home in the car ;( She got a new Ipod for her bday though (a few weeks ago) so all's not too bad. We let her pick where she wanted to eat last Friday and she picked 'Aunty Wisa's' pizza place!! Good choice ;) There was a little ice cream place at the end of our block where our condo was, and we stopped for bday ice cream. She got homemade cards from her loving siblings and some moola from us. I made her fav spag dinner when we got home and she had an ice cream cake too. She's having trouble deciding on what to do for a friend party. Decisions, decisions........

Happy Birthday Hayley!! xoxoxoxoo

We went to the NC Aquarium on Roanoke Island. While swimming, these dead jelly fish would wash up. We had DQ for dinner one night and sat at the kite shop and watched the kite boarders. Pretty cool to try that. $400 for 2 hrs-UGH. So we watched instead. We found a great pizzeria to eat at-Lisa's Pizzeria. We nicknamed it 'Aunty Wisa's!!' ;)

Outer Banks is on Hwy 12 which is surrounded by the sound on one side and the ocean the other. Hwy 12 is only 1/2 - mile wide. Very scenic south of Kitty Hawk which is the Cape Hatteras Nat'l Seashore which is protected. Beautiful wildlife, dunes, etc. Nags Head, Kitty Hawk north up to Duck is commercial, touristy. We were in Rodanthe, the Seashore Reserve and it wasn't as built up. We had a deck off our condo lr. We ate breakfast every am and read and watched the ocean. It was great to go out there and relax. We saw a pod of dolphins swimming one day at the beach. It was awesome to see them swimming by. They're so graceful.

A great week of R&R and time seemed to stand still and then it's already Friday. BLAH. Until next year..............

Now we're home and back to the usual. In no time, we'll be in Mn. On the road again.

OBX

Our vacation was awesome!! Outer Banks is beautiful. (I'd love to live there!) The drive was very pretty too. W Va and Va are pretty w/ the Appalacian Mtns. We stopped in Norfolk Va to a naval museum where we saw the USS Wisconisn and jelly fish everywhere in the ocean. We went to the beach everyday and brought home bags of shells. Brent & Hayley loved swimming and 'surfing' the waves w/ their boogie boards. Maddy wasn't quite ok w/ going in-she'd wade in. The waves can be pretty rough when you're little like her. At night, people go out w/ flashlights and find Ghost crabs. The crabs dig holes in the sand and hide during the day and come out at night. We went to the Kite Festival at the Wright Bros. museum. Brent & Maddy made kites and we bought a cool turtle to fly-we named him Crush ;) The festival were flying a huge octopus, alligator, squid and a bunch of other cool kites. We saw the Cape Hatteras light house. It's the tallest light house at 208 ft. There are 4 lighthouses in OBX. We saw this crab on the beach one day. We had picnic lunches on the beach everyday and ate out everynight. Awesome fresh shrimp and crab! YUM

More pic's of the girls. Maddy making an out at 3rd. And running to 3rd. Her hit went thru 1st & 2nd base, she got to 1st. And then Hayley and her new Ipod-Happy early Birthday!!! The craze here is Silly Bandz. Maddy has too many to count. She wanted to wear them during her game. She and Brent collect/trade them. Hayley likes them but is too old to admit it I think ;)

More great pic's of Hayley catching. She's a tough cookie for wanting to catch with how hot it's been. She usually catches for 3 innings/game. She really likes it.

I had Maddy's friend party at our pool yesterday. The temp was 92 and w/ humidity, it felt like 100 and boy it did. YUCK! Great day for the pool. Maddy had fun w/ her friends and Brent & Hayley had friends over too to swim with. My neighbor's husband called my neighbor (Kim is our neighbor and is Maddy's BFF ;) while we were 'pooling' because their bldg felt the aftershock of the earthquake in Canada. We didn't feel it. People in Scott's bldg felt it, but he was too busy to notice ;) It sounded like something hit the roof and tremors. Interesting............

We are eagerly awaiting our trip! We leave in 2 wks. Our condo is so nice, great views of the ocean and the sound. Washer/dryer in the unit which is great to do some wash-pack lighter. There is so much to do-lighthouses to see, maybe I'll try surfing!!-how cool that would be. There is a maritime shipwreck place to see, lots of 'crab shacks' to eat fresh seafood in. I can't wait!

Well, it is lunch time! Take care!

;)

Happy Summer!

Ah............summer is here!! No school-yeah! We're all enjoying being off and being home. Brent & Maddy had VBS last week. Hayley is too old for VBS but she helped me serve snack. It was a fun week. The kids had a blast!

Ball is over for the kids. A few rain outs that aren't going to be made up. Maddy has her last game tomorrow night. The pic's are Brent pitching in one of the last games. Closer pic's of Hayley catching. I'll put more pic's on. The older boys are required to wear helmets now when pitching. Our girls teams our getting face masks also. A 15 yr old Loveland boy was hit last year-he was pitching and a line drive hit him in the head. He was in bad shape and has to relearn all the basics over.

Happy Birthday Madison!!

Happy Birthday Madison! I can't believe my baby girl is 7! I made her favorite spaghetti for dinner and had cake and ice cream. Gma/gpa have been here for 2 wks now so they were here to celebrate too. Maddy loves Barbie's so she got a new boy to add to her collection and some other cool stuff. Clothes from Justice her fav store. We've been busy w/ball. Hayley's the catcher in the pic. She really likes to catch. Brent has started to pitch this year. It's been fun for gma/gpa to see the kids' games, celebrate bday, mother's day, school stuff while they're here. The kids are done w/ school this Friday. They've had parties, field days in the last week. Hayley went to Camp Kern w/ school overnite last week. She really had fun. They went canoeing, hiking and lots of other fun stuff. Another school year over. Where does time go? We're all excited to be off for the summer and hang out at the pool. I can't wait to go to Outer Banks! We went to Wright Patterson Air Force Base today. Huge museum of history of planes, war, etc. Well, I'm off to relax.