Pioneer Village

Chad and I helped Sydney put together the last pioneer village we will have to do in our lifetime. I was so glad when this was finished! Sydney chose to reconstruct a blacksmith shop. Fortunately, Noah chose blacksmith shop when he was fourth grade so we were able to use some of the inside materials from his pioneer village to use in Sydney's.

Anyway, she got an A+ on her report, an A- on her oral report, and a A+ on her village. She was thrilled!

Here are a couple pics of the finished village. These were just taken today. I cannot tell you the amount of relief I have that this project is completed! Now we just have two science fair projects to finish and we will be good to go!!!

How much do we love Roller Derby?!?!

Oh the joy of Roller Derby! We love it so much. If you haven't gone, it is definitely something you should look into. It is a blast!

Last year for Noah's birthday, we took him to the Roller Derby. I had already been a couple times with my friends. I loved it so much. I got so into it. We were all yelling and cheering for our Naptown Roller Girls. I thought Noah (and Chad) would love it too.

It is one of the best places to go to people watch. There are some real characters there. The pictures here are Noah (the birthday boy) with Touretta Lynn and there was a guy at the event who had this amazing mohawk. Noah had just gotten his mohawk cut down and couldn't stop looking and talking about this guy. He was such a good sport when we asked if Noah could get his picture taken with him. I just had to share these. They were just too fun to keep to ourselves!

Anyway, we had the best time. We went with a couple of my friends and had so much fun together. We were all yelling and cheering for our team and it came down to sudden death! It was great!

We are planning to go to Roller Derby again this year. If you want, check out their website www.naptownrollergirls.com. This website lists all the dates of the bouts, the players, plus you can buy tickets from this site as well. Just a word of advice; sit in the bleachers and avoid suicide alley unless you don't mind roller skating derby girls flying into your lap!

Just a few pics

I did a T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E job posting new blogs and adding pictures over the holidays. I just had too good of a time hanging out with the family. But here a few pictures of the kids on Christmas Eve. This one of all three of our babies together shows everyone just how much Elijah has grown over the past few months. He's a GIANT! But we still love him bunches!

Elijah's favorite gift was his iPod Nano. He had been begging for an iPod and we told him absolutely no way! But, he was so surprised when he opened his last gift and saw the one gift he was dying to see! He was so thrilled. We got lots of hugs and lovin's for that one!

Sydney got several things she was excited about but she loved her Tamogotchi. Here is a picture of her playing with it. She doesn't take very good care of her digital pet, however. It has died about eight times since Christmas and we've had to reset it for her so it can start over!

There weren't any good "standing still" pictures of Noah. All of his pics were action shots and weren't the greatest! He got some remote control toys (a very cool helicopter and a ATV vehicle) so there wasn't much standing around done by him. He constantly was running through the house chasing people with this toys!

Chad got me an iPod Classic (which I love so so so so much!) It is fabulous and I use it all the time. Thanks, babe!

I had been searching high and low for a gift for Chad. I don't know if I had mentioned that Chad and I got married six months after we started dating. We weren't able to have a honeymoon because he had just started a new job and didn't have any vacation. We were able to go to Indy for a couple nights. Other than that, he and I haven't ever really been away just the two of us. That was sixteen years ago! Also in March, Chad will turn 40!!! I wanted to get him something special that he would always remember his fortieth birthday. SO...I decided to get him a trip to VEGAS! I cannot wait to be able to spend some time with him and not have to worry about doing "kid friendly" activities or going to family restaurants! I'm so excited and looking very forward to having some time for the two of us to hang out together! It will be a blast!

I wrote him a letter gushing and mushing all over the place about how wonderful he is...and then enclosed our itinerary for the trip. Needless to say, he was gobsmacked! So surprised. It was great. We spent the next several nights on the computer checking shows, the hotel, restaurants and other activities out that we can do when we're there. We're pumped and a great surprise to a good man. He very much deserves this little getaway... and... I couldn't be happier that I'm the one that gets to go along!

Braces for Noah

Happy New Year to Noah!

In three weeks, Noah will join his brother in the awesome journey of orthodontics! Noah's mouth is a mess and we've known for about four years that he would need help to get everything straightened up.

Well, today was his initial appointment and they are starting immediately. In two weeks he will get fitted for an expander and in three weeks he will get his expander and top braces put on. So for another two plus years, we will be in debt to our orthodontist (which we are used to!) Noah isn't real excited but I can't wait to start seeing some of the great results that will come from getting his teeth straightened out. It will be good.

Sydney, however will be waiting for a bit before we start in on her. We would like to get Elijah done and have Noah almost completely finished before we tack anymore orthodontist payments! By the way, Elijah is ahead of schedule! He could potentially get his braces off in about six to eight months. WHOO HOO!

I'm sure one day, when all my children have these straight and gorgeous teeth...they will look in the mirror and be completely glad they went through the pain and agony of braces and headgear and expanders and retainers and rubber bands, etc etc etc.

It's like my mother always says (and trust me...I've heard THIS one a lot!) "God only gives you one set of teeth so make sure you take good care of them because you don't get another shot!"

Okay, okay! We're doing our best, Mom!

New Year's Eve

We had such fun on New Year's.

Usually we don't go out on New Year's Eve. We usually stay in, eat a nice dinner together, watch movies, watch the ball drop and drink sparkling juice at midnight while we toast in the New Year.

This year we headed over to the Kern's house for some great food, lots of games, and tons of laughing. It was great. There were four couples and their kids. All of our kids go to school together so they played air hockey, foosball, Wii, and pool while the adults played euchre. We had such fun! At midnight, Shelly (aka Mrs. Kern) broke out the oh-so-loud party horns for the kids so we could bring in the New Year right. Chad and I brought some sparkling juice for the kids to share.
It was all good and tons of fun.

We all had such a good time that I think we are going to start getting together on a regular basis for euchre and hanging out. It will be good!

I hope each of you stayed safe and had a tremendous New Year. I hope 2008 brings each of you health and much happiness.

It's Over???

I can't believe break is about 15 hours away from being over. I didn't blog at all over break. I can't help it...I was just too buy hanging out with my family watching movies, visiting with friends and family and taking a well-needed break. It was GREAT! I loved it!

Christmas was awesome! We had a really good time visiting with family. The kids were so excited with everything they got and we had a blast playing together with all their new toys and games. Elijah got an iPod Nano. He loves that thing! He has tons of music on it already as well as a couple movies. He is diggin' it! Noah wanted some remote control stuff so he got a helicopter and this weird three-wheeled thing. Very fun! Sydney got a Nintendo DS. She has been playing with it non-stop. She also got a digital pet (called a Tamagotchi) and even though she loves it, she's been so busy playing with all her stuff that she forgets to play and feed the digital pet and it dies and goes to heaven! It cracks us up! So we have to reset it and she has to start all over again. It's a riot.

Chad was home for ten days with us. He took off some time from work and spent Christmas break with us. It was so fun to be able to spend time with him. We played games and watched movies and he helped me make lasagna (well, okay...he didn't help me make it but he did help eat it!) It was so good to all have some down time together. I know once school starts back up again the rat race will be even worse than it was before Christmas! Elijah and Noah start swimming in a couple weeks! AAAAAHHHHRRRGG! Busy, busy, busy. But it's all good!

I hope Christmas was wonderful for everyone. I hope took a few minutes to reflect on your blessings and remember why this season is so important.