Skyler is (not) Famous

Our neighbor Jan got hooked up with a lady in New Zealand and she has been sending pictures of Michael doing some projects and crafts. Well, Skyler got to be in this one and here he is.

Christmas at Kelly's

The kids had a blast, not everyone made it in because of the weather. They had such a good time playing with each other and of course the food was great too!

Christmas cookies

We made cookies and they turned out great. This sugar cookie recipe was from the Pioneer Woman. She has a website that is absolutely hilarious. Go visit. The kids had a blast!!

Christmas Kitty

Lillypumpkinhead under the tree.

Gingerbread House

Miss Jan invited Skyler over for a day of putting together a Gingerbread house and here is the masterpiece.

8 IS GREAT!!!

Skyer's 8th birthday was a hit!! Skyler, Lilly, Eli, Michael, Dylan and Lynley spent the day at the movies watching The Tales of Desperaux. Then it was back at the house for pizza cake and more family and friends. Jan and I got a lesson of Bakugan101, I still don't get it, but Sky loves these guys. Grumpy,Granny,Grandma Joan,Aunt Lisa,Aunt Livey,Aunt Tracey,Miss Jan....it was a housefull of fun!!

Here ye!! Here ye!!!

The blog has been updated!! I will try not to let it go as long as I have, enjoy the new pics!!

Recent pictures

We were on our way to Granny and Grumpy's for Thanksgiving. Cleaned up and ready to go what a great opportunity for a picture. You will probably get on as our Christmas card. I can't believe they are 8 anf 4. Where has the time gone!!

Wii Fit Rocks!!

If you have a Wii and you do not have Wii fit, run right now to the store and get it. It is a lot of fun and it is excercise, believe it not. Ski Jumping and Yoga are the kids favorite. I like the hula hoop, sorry no pictures, for obvious reasons. It tracks your minutes. There is also step aerobics, soccer, you have to head butt the balls, running, solom skiing, and lots of other fun stuff.....Thanks Ellis family for the tip!! We love it!!

What is a Yert on might Ask??

Our first overnight camping trip with the Cub Scouts. We went to Chilo. About an hour from us on 52 East. Chilo use to be were the dam was located until 1964(great year BTW!!) when they built Meldahl Dam. I am guessing there was about 60 people there. Half of us stayed in 2 Yerts and then there were 9 tents out in the open field. The first picture below is actually the original building which is now a museum and it has tons of stuff about the original dam and river facts. Cool!! There was a nature preserve as well. We hiked for about 3 miles and Skyler earned his hiking stick for doing it. We had hot dogs and mac n cheese for dinner and pancakes and sausage.

We heard barges and trains all night. This one is heading to the dam.
This is the inside of our Yert. It has a wooden floor and a wood burning stove. It was actually warm in there with the fire going. But once it went out in the middle of the night, no one wanted to get out of their sleeping bags to start it back up again. We borrowed sleeping bags from our neighbors and special pads for underneath. Lets just say for me, it was a long cold night, but we had a blast!!

This is the yert we stayed in and we had a big fire behind this. Skyler and I actually got to see a flag burning ceremony. Awesome and touching!!

Halloween UOPstyle

We had to dress up for work and someone said something about a laundry basket full of dirty clothes. And of course Ihad to take that to extremes. I made a washer and dryer out of a box. I was the washer and Nicole was the dryer. She kept sneezing because of the box of dryer sheets in her face. Kim was the laundry basket of dirty clothes. Anneli was sock magnet and Trish was static cling. We called ourself the Laundry Ladies.

Maryann was the cat lady. Everything she had on had a cat or cats on it!!

Jon was Flavor Flav, if you have seen MTV you know who this crazy dude is.

Happy Halloween!!

What a great night for a trick or a treat. We actually had a princess, a ninja and a pirate(imagine that one). We all stayed together this year. The princess actually kept up with ninja and the pirate this year. We were missing one of the threesome, he went to his friends house to get his stash of candy. We also had our local police officer handing out candy from his cruiser. That was a first for us. A great time was had by all!!

Happy Birthday Lynley!!

Can you believe she is 4?? Wow, were has the time gone. She enjoyed her day with family and friends and of course her "Balmation Cake."

Shaw Farms 2008

We made another yearly visit to Shaw Farms this year to see all the pumpkims, mums, hay and displays. We came home with car load. It was warm too!! This is always a favorite for the kids, they love it here!!

Bike outing for Cub Scouts

This outing took place up at Meadowview Park. It was a evening of bikes and bike safety. They even let Lynley take part of it and all of those boys were great with her. They actually talk about bike safety, why you wear a helmet and how to take care of your bike. They went through several different obstacle courses and yes, Lynley did it too. Skyler received a belt loop with a bike on it for participating.

Cubscout Dude!!

Skyler wanted to join the cubscouts and so far so good. He actually loves it!! His den leader is awesome with the boys!! He is actually Skyler's friend's dad. He loves his uniform!! These pictures are from when he got sworn in at the Bobcat ceremony. They had a big fire, had a flag ceremony and all the scouts got their face painted with the appropriate color, depending on the rank they were in. I actually missed the entire thing because Lynley had a meltdown so I was in the car with her. I actually got a wolf pen because I am Skyler's buddy for Cub Scouts!

Welcome Marley!!

We adopted Marley in August from the Animal Shelter in Cincinnati. She was the only puppy there and the kids loved her. They wouldn't let us leave without her. Her and Magic are best buds and the vet asked Lynn if we were trying to color code our dogs. No, but it sure does look like it!!

Has anyone seen my camera??

Hi Friends and Family,
Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Seems like my camera sprouted a set a legs and hit the dusty trail. If you happen to see it anywhere, send it on home. Until then, hope everyone is having a great summer!!

Round Robin Photo Challenge

Tiny Things





The idea here is to photograph very small inanimate objects - not details and closeups of larger things, but self-contained little items we see and take for granted. It should be interesting to take the expertise some Robins have with tiny critters, and apply it to objects that can't fly away. And the rest of us have the photographic challenge of learning to focus on the miniature world.

My thought for tiny things was TOYS...and we have lots!!!

They're HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is it the end of June yet!!! I hate these bugs. I can feel that I will be housebound until these ugly things are out of here. It seems like we are the only ones that have them right now. The one side of our yard gets nothing but sun, which has warmed up that part of the yard for them to emerge. A lot of our neighbors have a lot more shade than we do. Perhaps I could move in with them, then ours will be gone and I can move home again. For some reason, I don't think it works like that. I may have to move to West Chester for a month, or how about Hawaii. Wishfull thinking. Anyway, they are everywhere.....on the trees, in the grass, on the wheels of our car and on the side of our house. You know the only reason they come out is to mate .................whatever!! Thank you dear lord for this ugly, noisy, stinky, yard aerator, one track mind kind of bug!! Then another 17 years before we see you again!!

How does your garden grow

Well, I was able to do a little gardening this weekend. I had a couple of plants that got new homes and I actually planted some seeds....we will see about that. I have had this wild flower strip for years and have actually found the best place for it....in front of our shed. I don't know if that will seed but we are trying. I have decided not to plant or mulch until the cicadas are gone. No sense in laying mulch if the cicada shells are on top of it. I have decided to try to grow tomatos in pots this years. Haven't had any luck the past couple of years with them in the ground. Keep your fingers crossed.

Chick Sitter

My neighbor Jan has taken on a new role...chick sitter. They hatch chicks every year at her school and she got to chick sit for the weekend. So she invited us down for a peck...I mean a peek. She had to clean the cage out, so she thought Mark's truck would be a good place for the time being. And she was right, 3 chicks, 3 kids and 2 hot mamas watched them roam in the back of the truck. The kids loved them, chick poop and all.

West Chester Kite Festival April 2008

If you have kids, I highly recommend this. We had a ball! There were tons of amazing kites flying everywhere. Skyler and Lynley even got to make their own kite and fly it. There was lots of other things for kids to do there too. They even had kite flying compititions that were flown to music. Awesome. It was a bit breazy, but we had a great time!!!

Emma is 1 !!!

We went to Wheelersburg to celebrate Emma's first birtday. There were tons of people there to celebrate and it looks like Emma had a great time too!!

A babbling brook.....

When will the rain end.... We had lots of water in the basement. I was sweeping water in the sump pump while Lynn was sucking it up with the shop vac. We actually left at 6:30pm to go to dinner for Lynn's birthday. It was dry as a bone. When we got back at 8:30 there was a geiser in the middle of the drain. Well, not really, but our laundry room was full of water and it was under the steps too. We were trying to direct it to the sump pump so we could save the rug. We saved the rug!!! It finally stopped coming up from the drain and we had the fans up and running. This morning the majority of the floor was dry. We were just worried about what would happen today. I was at work and Lynn is in Columbus. Came home....dry!!!Yeah Then snow flurries about the size of a quarter?? What is going on dear Lord. Pray for no more rain, that's for sure!!

No!!! A flooded ditch

Jay,Drew and Emma in the snow

A SNOWY PLAY DAY

We went out for a little bit. Lynley was the first one back in. Poor Magic, its tough being a vertically challenged dog.

THE GREAT BIG DUMP(of snow,of course)

They said on the news that Milford had 11 inches, I measured and it looks like 9. With 2-4 on the way. Here is a few pictures of the White Death of 2008.

Emma's Here!!!

For those of who know that my niece Amy and her husband Rob have been in the process of adopting a little girl from Guatemala. Well, here she is!! This is Emma!! She is adorable and her big brothers Jay and Drew love her! We all do!! So she is adjusting quite well to her new surroundings.

Being home with a sick kid, you HAVE to catch up on the blog, right Jan!! I found this and thought it would make you smile and actually wonder....why.



Things that make you go Hmmmm

A friend sent me this in email. Just sharing the smile.

Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are dead?

Why do banks charge a fee on 'insufficient funds' when they know there is not enough money?

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

Why do they use sterilized needles for death by lethal injection?

Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?

If Superman can stop bullets with his chest, why does he duck when you throw a revolver at him?

Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

Whose idea was it to put an 'S' in the word 'lisp'?

If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes?

Why is it that no matter what color bubble bath you use the bubbles are always white?

Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized?

Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance?

Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the end on your first try?

Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that's falling off the table you always manage to knock something else over?

Why do we try to keep the house as warm in winter as it was in summer when we complained about the heat?

How do those dead bugs get into those enclosed light fixtures?

How come you never hear father-in-law jokes?

Skyler's 7th Birthday Party

It was a great get together. Skyler's 2 neighborhood buddies, Michael and Luke, cousin Preston and of course little sister Lynley. We had pizza, cake and presents. Skyler really had a great time!!

More Magic

More(late) Christmas Pics)

Late Christmas Pictures

I haven't been updating this lately. I did have a great blogging101 class from my neighbor Jan. She has a great blog!! So I am determined now to do this on a regular basis.

Handsome Boy!!

My handsome boy!!!! He is doing so well in school. He is great at math and reading. He is reading 2nd grade books. He is also a great speller. He likes gym and recess best...what kid doesn't!!

Little Ballerina

Lynley has decided she wanted to do dance at school. Well, she loves it. Mainly because she gets to wear pink. She loves pink!! The first class she got to wear her ballet slippers. The second class she got to wear her tap shoes. She showed us when she got home what they did. Well, they tap,tap,tap, on the floor. Of course that is what they did. She loves it. There is a girl in her class named Emma, just like her new cousin from Guatemala. Lynley calls her the big Emma. Nutcracker here we come!!

Do Not Buy A White Dog In The Winter!!!!!!!!

That is my advice for the day. We wipe her off and she goes right back out and digs and digs and digs. Need I say more. My neighbor will call me and ask what happened to our white dog. I do not know what she is digging for, bur she does it constantly.

Soccer time

The last soccer game of the season. The last few games Skyler has done a great job!!! And this game he got to be the goalie, boy was he pumped. He got to wear the gloves and everything. We will see if he wants to play in the springtime.

Happy Halloweeeeeeen!!!!

Wow, what a busy halloween night. The 3 pirates and Dora made it around the neighborhood in record time and with a record amount of candy too!! The pirates were super speedy tonight running from house to house and comparing which candy they got from each house. Dora was a different story. She decided that she wanted mom to carry her. And don't put the candy in her pumpkin because she wanted to do it. And she wanted a little extra too. I think she got a little bit more candy than the boys because she kept reaching in their bowls to pick out chocolate and suckers, and of course who is going to say no to cute little Dora. Coming down the last stretch, Dora was able to explore the rest of the way home on top on Jan's shoulders. She loved that!! She even passed up the last few houses of candy for the birds eye view from Jan. The boys were ready to head in to see what they got. I'm sure this will last at least until Valentines Day and then they can load up on some more. What more could one ask for: great weather, great costumes, great friends and little excercise. Halloween 07 goes down as a success!!!!

Magic is here!!!

Hi all!! We were suppose to go to Ripley Ohio last Thursday for a visit and we ended up bringing her home. She has actually adjusted quite nicely. We all love her like crazy. Lynley keeps saying. "that goggy loves ninny!" And then she says "that kitty not happy." Besides getting up a few times in the middle of the night, it has been great. I think she looks like Beasley and Chum. She lays like Beas did with his back legs way behind him. She should get about 25 - 30 lbs. I think she is about 9 or 10 now.

Welcome Friends and Family!!!!