St. Patrick's Day

Every year the kids build a Leprechaun trap and try to catch our pesky visitor Patty O'Mally who sneaks into our house and tries to steal our gold. So far, we have been able to catch every year and hold him hostage until he escapes at the end of March. Here are some pics of the kids building this year's trap. They put their heads together and decided to use the bottom of a cooler held up by a webkinz pet. The bait was some jewelery and coins from Chucky Cheese. Ha! The kids were thrilled to find Patty trapped the next morning, and we celebrated our victory by going for mint shakes.


The girls put the finishing touches on the trap so it would look pretty for Patty O'Mally. By this time, Jack was back in the Mancave playing video games...he was only about function rather than fashion. Ha!


Celebrating the next morning....GOTCHA!



Patty O'Mally gets lots of lovin while he stays with us...maybe that's the reason he comes back year after year...goodness knows, it can't be the GOLD!

Beaver's Bend-Spring Break '09

We went on our annual spring break getaway with the Recks the first weekend of spring break. This year we stayed in a beautiful cabin at Beaver's Bend in Oklahoma. It was a bit cold, but we still had a relaxing visit playing cards, hanging around the fire, and playing in the jacuzzi. Lily was thrilled to go horseback riding for the first time. She rode one of the largest horses on the trail ride...it was named Portia and had a purple bridle (what else right?). It was hysterical watching her light up as she was placed on top of that horse. She said it made her feel "free...like Katie in the movie Flicka!" Problem is, no she wants a horse. Ha! I have more pics coming from Gretchen (I accidentally deleted most of mine). Such a bummer.

Jack's Birthday

Jack blowing out his Bakugan Birthday cake.
(He designed the cake himself, with the help of Tom Thumb Bakery of course..ha!)

Our little man turned 11 years old on March 8th. He celebrated his big day with a sleepover the Friday night before with his two best friends Kyle and Reid. The boys ate pizza and hung out in Jack's room (aka the "man cave") playing video games and bakugan and watching movies. It is truly amazing how much noise is produced by three excited tween boys! Ha! On his actual birthday, we celebrated with our friends,the Roses and the Recks, who are like family to us. Unfortunately, in all the excitement, I forgot to take pics that night. Mom dropped the ball on that one...Bummer! I guess I was still in shock that my sweet boy is 11 years old and heading off to middle school next year. Jack is such a joy, and we are so blessed by him every day. I pray this next year is filled with wonder as he discovers new interests, people, and passions. He is very excited about middle school and is looking forward to getting involved with drama as his elective. He is growing into quite an extraordinary young man.


(Jack with his buddies, Kyle and Reid...the three sweetest boys EVER in the history of boys!)

Eleven years ago, this precious little boy entered our lives on a cold spring night, three weeks early. Unaware when we chose it, Jack's name means "God's gift" and for Marty and me, every day with Jack is a gift! (guess God was showing off with that one!) Happy Birthday Jackman! We love you to the moon and back!

Princess Piercing

Lily has been begging to get her ears pierced, so we surprised her on her birthday and took her to Claire's to have it done. She was really brave and it was a lot of fun. Afterwards, Sofie and I treated her to lunch at La Madeleine where she had Strawberries Romanoff (her fav). It was a fantabulous day!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Lily's Fancy Nancy Swaree'

Lily loves everything sparkly, pink, and fancy so it was no surprise to any of us when she expressed her desire for a Fancy Nancy themed birthday party. For those of you not familiar with the pop culture of 7 year olds, Fancy Nancy is a precious character in a children's book who enjoys dressing up, talking in French (because it is fancy) and using big words. It was Lily's cup of tea (so to speak). We had Lily's closest friends from school along with her adopted cousins Ava Scwab and Molly and Kinley Reck over for a couple of hours of girlie girl fun! The girls decorated wands and tiaras, played "hot tiara" (a form of hot potato with a crown instead of a potato) and decorated place mats to be extra fancy when it was time for cake. It was fun to watch the girls giggle together. It was a great success and the girls all went home excited and hopped up on chocolate cake with pink icing (what else?)











That smile on Lily's face makes me feel fancy too. What a sweet little diva!