Happy 10th birthday Skye!

I'm stealing this idea from one of my friends, but it's a good one. I'm going to try and remember to celebrate each of my family members on/near their birthdays by doing a blog about them and why they are so awesome.

I thinks it's very fitting that the one to kick this blog-love-fest off is my niece Skye! This lovely young lady just turned 10 years old a few days ago. She is a RIOT!!!

My favorite story to date about is Skye is this; In kindergarten when a little boy in her class professed his affections for her she got mad and yelled at him.... a few weeks later when he tried to kiss her she got mad... pushed him down, kicked him in the side and screamed at him that if he ever did that again she'd kill him. OK so I'm not saying violence is a good thing... but come on.... that's just funny stuff right there! If she's spit on his neck then it'd be worthy of a movie. I think that story will resurface a time of two when she starts dating!!!

Skye has incredible BLUE eyes and her hair has ALWAYS looked like it needs to be brushed, even WHILE your brushing it! She's a very smart girl and has a surprisingly mature insight into many things. For our wedding she signed our picture frame "don't let fights get you down, have a great marriage" even at 10 she knows it's not about the wedding, it's about the marriage and how you deal with the bumps in the road. I love this girl and can't believe this is the same chubby cheeked pacifier having little girl that mopped up my sister's kitchen floor with oil from the "fry Daddy" .... I told you this girl is a riot!

Happy Birthday Skye Marriah

Crocus not just signs of spring anymore...

Yesterday I noticed that the crocus had finally popped up infront of Ben & Danielle's old house. I thought about taking a picture and e-mailing it to them. But as it turns out they were a little busy, Having a baby! Now every time I see purple crocus bloom it'll remind me of the day Little Marian was born! Our dear friends The Gibbs welcomed there third little girl into the world late last night.

Marian made her entrance swiftly, they'd only been at the hospital for 45 minutes when she arrived. and though we've been referring to her as "The Little Lady" in our house, little she is NOT! At 9 pounds 11 oz. and 21 inches! She's the size of a 2 month old! :) I just can't imagine little Danielle waddling around the last few weeks carrying a 9 1/2 pound baby!

Both Danielle and Marian are doing well. I can't wait to hear all about Abbey & Amelia's reaction to her and stories of how helpful they'll be in the weeks/months ahead!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARIAN!!!

Just being nice!

The Winter Blah's..... if you've ever lived in the Midwest, in particular Ohio, you know ALL about the Winter Blah's..... you go weeks at a time without sunlight.... the cold.... the dreary gray sky...even the snow turns gray. We were in full on Winter Blah mode for the last few weeks. It was everywhere and Everyone had them. Then suddenly last Tuesday there was a break in the clouds and out came the most glorious ray of sun shine. It was heavenly and the snow started to melt people started to smile.

I think it's no coincidence that last Tuesday a wonderful lady I've come to know at Alex's school did something so nice for the students and teachers at Westgate. She too had noticed the winter blah's had hit and so she went and bought 40 bright yellow smiley face balloons and had us take them around to every classroom. The kids loved it, the teacher's loved it, and how can you not have a smile on your face when your walking around this an obscene number of Giant yellow balloons!

I came home from that and put the following on my Face book status

"I love it when someone surprises me by being completely nice for no other reason that to BE NICE.... what a refreshing way to start the day! "

It sparked quite a few comments, and brought back a great memory from my little brother about my step-mom

Always think of nice things you can do for other people without asking

I hadn't realized that this too was something I'd inherited from my step-mom, but I love to do little things for people and surprise them. I use to joke that I don't do it for the other person, I do it for me. I love how it makes me feel. To drop off a loaf of banana bread, to bring up the recycling containers for a neighbor, too surprise a little friend of the kids with a little treat.... It's an awesome feeling. And I try to do it at home too, like leaving a little love note on the mirror for Theo to find, tucking a joke in Alex's lunch box, making the frosting PINK for Leah or bringing home a Lighting McQueen cup for Ethan. I love seeing their face, or hearing them chuckle... it just makes ME so HAPPY that I'm making someone else happy! Most of the time it doesn't cost me a thing, and it's not usually something i plan out... I just love it when the opportunity presents itself that I can make someone Else's day a little nicer....you just have to remember to looks for those chances.

So for the first time in Blog history... I'm giving you all an assignment.... you have to do 5 nice things today for your family/friends or complete strangers. They don't have to be HUGE... they don't have to cost... just surprise someone and make them smile... and report back to me... I can't wait to hear the stories!

Alex is 9!

This is a picture of Alex the day he was born, He was so cute and little. He was so chubby and so perfect and I couldn't believe he was ALL MINE!!!HOW??? I ask you HOW is THIS the same little boy???

As shocking as is it, my little peanut turned 9 years old last week! Here he is with the cool new plane his little sister picked out for him! She was so thrilled when she saw how excited Alex got when he opened it and put it all together! It really is pretty cool and I have a feeling he's going to get ALOT of use out of this cool plane

We had a bowling party for Alex and he got to invite some friends from school!

They were a fun bunch and pretty good bowlers too!

I still can't believe that 9 years have gone by so fast, we are officially 1/2 way through his childhood! He's a pretty typical 9 year old boy! Loves fart jokes, enjoys anything that blows up or makes alot of noise! He's doing great in school and really loves learning about any of the wars, the battle strategies or weapons used. He'd go to the air force Museum once a month is we'd let him and he loves camouflage! In fact Rick got him a Camo hat for his birthday and today and breakfast I laughed and said "This is gonna be the year of the Camo hat" I have a feeling we are gonna see him in that hat ALOT!!! I still consider myself very lucky to have Alex for my kid! He was the one that changed everything, and changed it for the better!

Happy birthday Alex! We love you so much!!!

The Blizzard of 2010

WHITE DEATH!!!! that's what Theo and I always shriek whenever we see even a speck of snow. We make fun of all the local weathermen as they predict doomsday and then of course we get 1/4 inch of snow! We mock & joke about people that run out to stock up on batteries and milk and roll our eyes when family calls to see if we made it home safely from picking Alex up from School which is literally 2 blocks from our house. So when they predicted 12 inches of snow 2 weeks ago... we didn't take them seriously.....All I can say is "MY BAD" HOLY COW we got snow.... in fact we are with in a few centimeters from breaking a 100 year old snow fall record.

We tried to capture a little of it while we were out shoveling the driveway, the 1st time, and luckily we've made friends with the neighbor that has a snow blower! The poor dog didn't know what to think of it, but he LOVED it except when it got so deep he had a hard time going to the bathroom. I'll spare you the details on that one!

Ethan was ALL about shoveling the snow, and here Gus is trying to help himThis is at our neighbor's house/driveway to show you just how deep it was and how we didn't know what to do with it all !

And I had Alex take this one, I know I'm not a "tall" person... But I couldn't even get my foot up all the way on the top of one of the piles at the end of the driveway! IT was CRAZY!!!

Needless to say, I'm about DONE with winter now.... I'm looking forward to spring! I miss the sunshine and playing outside all afternoon! It feels like the walls start to move in on you during the winter months and I can't wait to open the windows and air out the house.... Hurry Spring!!!

A new Valentines Day tradition

Nothing says I love you, like throwing someone you love on a piece of plastic/rubber and pushing them down a huge snow covered hill! :)

We got a Gift Certificate for Christmas to Snow trails Ski Resort , it's about an hour north of Columbus and it has skiing & Snow tubing so we decided we'd give it a try on Valentines Day.

It was a day that reeked of what true love is all about! Patience: We had to wait 2 hours just to get tickets to go tubing. so while we waited we got into a huge fight..... snowball fight that is..... and we tried to fight fair! Trust: The place had a little conveyor belt that pulled us & our tubes up the side of the hill and it was a little scary! I was hanging onto Leah for dear life and kept looking back and Theo & Ethan wishing he'd hang onto him a little tighter and then looking in front of me watch Alex and praying that he wouldn't try any dare-devil stuntsNausea: Faith in the people that ran the place that they KNEW what they were doing and none of us would end up broken & bruised. So we climbed in the tubes, gave each other a couple of nervous smiles and pushed off..Exhilaration. The look their faces were priceless..... scared and exhilarated all at the same time IT was SO FUN!!!

Repetition, Do it again, Do it AGAIN!!!

And of course the ever present, often repeating need to have Patience.

It's too cold.... My feet are freezing.... I'm hungry.... I have to pee

Ethan was definitely the trooper of the bunch and has earned the title of "THE SNOW - MANS" he never complained and just had the best time! We grabbed a bite to eat and then he passed out before we were even out of the parking lot!

I think we are going to have to make this a new family tradition!!!

A visit from some "farm" girls.....

Alright they are gonna KILL me for referring to them as farm girls.... but since they moved to B.F.E. they are getting a little taste of the country life and it doesn't seem to be doing them any harm! Our favorite Teenage nieces Hannah & Madison were able to come and spend some time with us a few weekends ago and we were so happy to have them here!

Here's Hannah with Leah

Madison & Ethan
Madison stayed with us for the weekend and got to catch up with some of her old friends here in Columbus, and Hannah & Garrett came for dinner Sunday night. (somehow I didn't get Garrett in any pictures). Hannah brought her new boyfriend over for us to meet him real quick and I've decided next time we'll have to torture him with dinner and 20 questions.

We definitely want them to make the trip to see us again soon and Leah keeps saying she wants to see their new bedroom so we'll have to go visit them out in Boo Foo Egypt....
We've missed these girls SOOOO much!!!