Halloween 2008

The greediest night of the year has come and gone. I believe my kids will be on a sugar high for awhile. Agian, I bought too much candy! We had Obi Wan Kenobi and Arwen the Middle Earth Princess. The bottom is a picture of the kids and the wicked witch of Westerville (my mom). she gets a kick out of dressing up.

Brad making play in flag footall

This was the first play of the game. I barely had a chance to get the camera up and rolling before he fell right in front of us with the coveted flag!

Purple Flowers

No it is not something I want to put in the garden or some hippy craze. It is the terrifying name of Lyndsey's soccer team. They picked it themselves by a vote. Somehow I thought it would be fun to coach 11-5 year olds and teach them how to play soccer. Somehow they are getting better. Despite the fact that multiple times during the game I have to tell them to turn around and look at the ball, I have to make sure they know which way they are going (not that telling them stops them from kicking it in the wrong goal) and tell to stand up so they don't get kicked in the head, we are having a fun season. The most asked question during the game: "when is it over?"! Only 2 more games...

Political Agenda

I have very distinct political views. I feel it is important to understand who you are voting for and why you are voting for them. I feel that part of the process of figuring out who you want to vote for is examining what you believe. Because if you don't know what you believe, then how are you going to vote for the person that will lead on your behalf.

My kids came home one day from school and told me who they were going to vote for.

Now of course, being under 18, they are not going to vote. But the kids at school are talking about it. And as far as I know, the teachers may be too. I asked them why they were going to vote for that nominee. And as expected they said "because everyone else is."

I sat down with them and had a long discussion about who our presidential candidates are, what they believe in and how they were behaving and asked them again, who they wanted to vote for. They had the information to make an informed decision.

My concern is that people of all ages are voting for a candidate just because they think everyone else is. People have not examined what they, themselves believe in. And in turn have not done their homework to figure out who our presidential candidates are and what they stand for. I was this way all through college. We need to be educated on the issues, ask questions, look it up. It is our right to vote, it is our responsibility to be informed.

Make an informed decision, not a popular one.

First Day of School

Another school year started! Brad is in second grade this year with Mr. Edgar. According to our parents night, by the end of the year he will hve written and performed a screenplay, know how to put together a power point presentation and have made a movie. I think he is going to have a great year. Lyndsey is in Kindergarten this year with Mrs. Wilson, who was Brad's Kindergarten teacher. I have been "warning" Mrs. Wilson about Lyndsey every time she talks to us in school, but she didn't get it because Lyndsey never said anything. At parents night Mrs. Wilson told me that my kids were "very different" and that Lyndsey has said more in one day of school than Brad did all Kindergarten! I warned her!

A day at the Zoo

We have lived here for 3 years and Bill has never been to the zoo! The kids and I finally decided to take him. We got about halfway through before it was "time to go." All you parents know what I mean. I guess we will have to take Bill back later to see the other half.

Baseball End of the Year Party

We had the entire baseball team with families to our house after a very muddy game. What was I thinking! The boys played outside most of the time and had a ton of fun.

But he is still a kid

If for no other reason than the crooked teeth!

My son is growing up

Mom took this picture. Went I saw it on my computer it made me realize that he is growing up. He looks so mature in this picture.

The fun of being a kid

We did get to see fish!

While in Freeport, we went on a glass bottom boat tour. this is where we got to see all the fish! We could see fish all the way to the bottom in 80 feet of water!!! Although the boat was a little rocky and our group experienced a little seasick feeling, we had a great time.

Snorkeling

While on the cruise, we did a snorkeling excursion. it may not have been the most challenging for the older kids and we may not have seen a ton (or any) fish, but it was PERFECT for my kids. For the most part we could stay where they could stand until they go a little more comfortable breathing. It wasn't too wavy, the water was crystal clear and we weren't in any danger of running into any fish (which when you have a child afraid of butterflies is not a bad thing!) The kids did great. Lyndsey was a champ. It took a little longer for Brad to get the breathing thing down. Next time we will go searching for fish!

We went on a Cruise!

With all the great pictures I got and all the fun we had, how did I not post this early, you ask? I don't know! I just must be a Slacker. Annelle so graciously took us on a cruise to the Bahamas right after the kids were out of school. We went to Nassau and Freeport. We had a great time. The kids tell me they are reay for another cruise. I told them to start saving!

Is this the future!

Lyndsey met a friend during the basball games. Her brother was on Brad's team. Is this what my future holds? Brad hitting on Lyndsey's friends....or maybe it was the other way aroud?

I'm such a Slacker!

I am a slacker! I can't beleive it has been since Memerial day that I last published. I guess like the kids, I took the summer off. We have had a fun filled, action packed summer. Brad played baseball again. Bill was his coach and somehow was able to request to be the Braves! Brad did a great job and was pulled up to be in the All-Stars! Which meant one whole day of baseball! He did a great job. Check out his catch! Did you see the ball in the glove!.

Memorial Day Picnic

We went to my Uncle Rick's for a memorial weekend picnic. He has built a pond that is great for kids to catch fish, no waiting! Lyndsey and Brad caught, per their own estimate, 5 and 15 fish respectively! We had a great time. Uncle Danny even got to teach Brad how to row a boat! It was a very relaxing day. Uncle Rick....we may come back down soon!

Lyndsey's dance recital

Here Lyndsey is in her dance recital, although this was taken at the dress rehersal becuase they don't allow video taping at the recital. she did even better at the recital!

Brad's First Grade Musical

Here Brad is showing off his other talent besides sports! He is singing in his First Grade Musical at school.

Hannah Montana

Lyndsey is facinated by Hannah Montana. She now wats to be a rockstar when she grows up. I told her to get dressed to go out. This is how she came downstairs! She looks just like Hannah Montana!?! Then she put on her pink homemade cowgirl hat and flip flops and away we went to the mall! I have to give her credit, I truly don't know if I could have come up with this outfit and she did follow my rules...long pants and a short sleeve shirt. I think I have to get her into a sewing class to designs her own clothes soon.

Lyndsey Language: We recently bought new cell phones, as did mom. When Nana told us that she bought a new one, Lyndsey asked if she bought it at Vison Lireress (Verizon Wireless)

Soccer Star

As the season change, Brad again, switches his favorite sport. He has put down the basketball for awhile and is now all about soccer. He played a total of 8 games, all but 1 were in rainy, windy and cold weather. They had to cancel one game...on the only beautiful day they had...because the fields were to wet to play! It seemed that it would be sunny and warm the whole week and turn nasty just for the weekend. Now I know how mom and dad felt coming to my games! (I know I remember snow at more than one!) Thanks mom and dad for sticking it out.

Lyndsey Language 3

I think my daughter may have a hearing problem, or maybe she is just very intelligent. I will have to ask the doctor when we go for her next check up. This is what was overheard recently.

She JUST ran into the door and stated "For sure that was awkward"
She was overheard while playing with Brad on the computer "Oh please, Brad"
Her new word of th day is"awesome"

Below are some definitions of words you may not know

Abbygirl: One of Lyndsey's friends real name
Calepitter: and small animal that turns into a butterfly
China: an imaginary fairy land (I wonder if the Chinese know that)
Prom: a stage on the grass

Blizzard '08

Apparently, Columbus has not had snow like this since 1906. We got a total of 20.4 inches of snow over a day and a half. It took about 2 1/2 hours to shovel the 2 feet + snow drifts off our driveway. In the aftermath, the roads are pretty clear, the driveway is clear, the sun is out and we went sledding! Check out all of our pictures.