Mount Vernon!

The first day we were in DC we took a trip to Mount Vernon where George and Martha Washington lived! There was a scavenger hunt for the kids to do and once they were finished, they were each awarded a pressed penny! :) The scavenger hunt sent them looking in all of the outbuildings, etc! Fun! :)

The house:

George and Martha Washington are buried at Mount Vernon in the building below. Many of their family members are buried here as well.

While we were visiting, a high school band dressed in period clothing played on the bowling green in front of the house. Pretty cool!

This is the view from the back patio...absolutely stunning!

Blog? What's that???

That seems to be my frame of mind lately!!! I have been so horrible about updating and so much has been going on! I will have to take it in chunks!

KATE: Turned 2 in April and we had a birthday party for her in the backyard! It was so much fun! It was the first time we had been able to have an outside birthday party and so many of our friends and family were able to come! :) WONDERFUL!

At the end of May, Kate was in the hospital for an infection in her foot...those 6 days in the hospital are a blur and they were almost some of the longest days of my life. She is definitely on the road to recovery now and is back up and about bugging her brothers! More on this situation in another post!

DANIEL: First year of preschool over and done! He LOVED every minute of it! He has decided he is a Minnesota Twins fan because one of his teachers is from Minnesota and she LOVES the Twins! :) He is sticking with this and it has added some fun conversations to this house!

He played soccer for the first time this spring and can't wait for the next round to start in the fall. He had fun running around, chasing the ball and hanging on the goal posts...I have some cute pictures and I will have to post those later on!

CHRIS: The new second grader in the house. Man...I don't know where the time is going but I can't believe one more year at the Primary school and then he will be with me at Ray Miller! Seems to be just flying by! He took piano lessons this year at the school and has discovered that he has a knack for it! We are going to continue lessons this summer...he LOVES it! He also played soccer again this spring, completed his Tiger Cub badge and is now working on his requirements for being a Wolf Scout. He is going on his first Boy Scout campout soon and can't wait!

His report card was outstanding and he finally got a Satisfactory on "Talking at appropriate times!" :) We like to tease him about that! He is reading like crazy right now and his favorite books right now are the Boxcar Children books.

Things for Greg and I are pretty status quo! We are both working away and trying to keep up with the three kiddos! :)

We are working on packing up to head to DC tomorrow afternoon and there will of course be a blog post on that when we get back! :)

Hope all is going well out there! I'm not sure if there is even anyone still checking this but I'm still here and I'm going to commit myself to blogging again! It is the perfect way to record our lives and share it with our friends and family!

Have a good one!

The things kids say (my kids at least!)!

Kate: "Myself! Myself!"

This is what she says when she wants to do something on her own...be it putting the butter away (like today at lunch) or getting a diaper or playing a game...funny!

Daniel: "I love you all the way to ______________ (fill in the blank!)"

He says this all the time and the words he puts in the blanks are what is really funny! This morning I was told that he loved me all the way to Grandma's windows! :) Last night he loved me all the way to Disney World and back AND all the way to Walmart and back. Funny!

Chris: With Chris it is more the way he says things this day...he is very dramatic at times and he can be so passionate about cleaning...this morning I got a "But MOOOOOOM!" with the classic expression all kids give when they say that phrase...I just had to laugh. I said it enough times growing up and I heard my siblings say it lots as well...that is a phrase and expression that will never skip a generation I've decided!

An update on us!

So it has been awhile since my last blog post!  Time sure does fly!

Things have been pretty status quo for us!

Chris did participate in his Pack's Pinewood Derby race but I will post more on that later on!  With pictures!

So to sum this little post up...we are still here...still doing well and still having fun!  :)

Be back soon with a longer post!

Oh man!

Ok...I'm horrible at updating the blog these days. Things have been crazy!

We have reclaimed our house after Christmas...all of the wonderful gifts the kids received found homes (although they don't stay there long!) and most of our decorations are down. School is back in session and things seem to be going ok!

Nothing much is really new here...we are just cruising along doing what we need to do and what we enjoy doing. I wish I had some great stories to share or something new to announce but...nothing. As I type this I realize that perhaps that is pretty boring...hmmmm...

I hope to have some pretty funny stories to share soon! :)

Hope all is well with all who are still reading!

The Best Christmas!

So this year, all of my brothers and my sister and I were together over the Christmas weekend! It was such a nice surprise!!!! Nathan and Carolyn and Aleks came out from Troy and Tony, Jessie and Quinn drove down Sunday from Kansas City! :) It was so wonderful to have all of my siblings together! And all five of the cousins on my side of the family! It is truly something I'm thankful for. I love my brothers and my sister and any time I can have with them is precious! :) When the six of us are together it sure is loud and fantastic! :)

Hope your Christmas was wonderful and I will post pictures soon!!!!

Happy Holidays!

Way Overdue Post!

So I am shocked to see that it has been over a month since my last post!!!! Man...things have been pretty busy here and I am in fact at home at the moment with my sick little man...we have been staying healthy for the most part but whatever stomach thing is going around town poor Daniel has caught. So here I am updating our blog while sitting right next to my warm little guy who only feels better when mommy is sitting right by his feet! Silly boy!

Like I said things have been busy around here...between Boys Scouts, piano lessons, church activities, and life in general it seems like we have constantly been on the go! Our basement is put back together and just some unpacking is left to be done. The kids are all getting excited for Christmas and the chance to see all of our families over the holidays.

There still seems like there is so much to do...Christmas cards to send out, cookies to make, presents to wrap but this year we have been taking things slower...enjoying our time together. We don't have all of the decorations out yet but we are slowly plugging away at it! I am enjoying every moment of this holiday season...not going to let things stress me out! :) Friends and family are what is most important and that is our focus...our wonderful friends and family...the people who help make us who we are and who we are very blessed to have in our lives! Love you all!

Hope things are going smoothly out there to everyone who still is stopping by to see if this slacker has updated lately! Thanks for continuing to stop by here and check on how we are doing! I will update more regularly from now on!
~Nicole