Last day of Christmas break...

Today is the last day of Christmas break. Tomorrow we return to normal. This makes me a tad melancholy. I rather enjoy the company of my family and the boys being home fills the home with laughter. We planned for a quiet day at home, no friends, no real plans, just hanging out.

We spent part of the afternoon frosting Christmas cookies. We had been sick the week before and hadn't gotten to make them then. The cookies were divided up and each of us got our very own plate to frost and then eat! Creativity abounds, sprinkles fly!

Dad suggested we eat out for dinner so we headed to our favorite Mexican restaurant.
The food was fantastic as always. DH and I shared the mixed fajitas for two, B had the shrimp and rice. R, J, and C shared fajita nachos, and E had the chicken fingers and chips with salsa. S enjoyed her baby food oatmeal and pears! Yummy!

Happy New Year!

We spent New Year's Eve in our traditional fashion - appetizers and a movie marathon!
We planned a dinner of Chick-Fil-A strips, onion petals and dip, teriyaki meatballs, veggie platter, mini bagel pizzas and grapes! We watched three movies - Ghostbusters 2, Pink Panther 2, and Back To The Future 2, pausing once to make rootbeer floats, then it was on to watching the Ball drop in Times Square followed by watching the Baltimore Fireworks. The little girl slept through part of the evening but was there at the end to celebrate with us! After the fireworks it was off to dreamland for all!

We all slept in this morning, tired from the nights festivities! A few chores and then the friends started coming over - Charlee, Nico, and Ahkeema!

In the afternoon we made 10 dozen cut out Christmas cookies (we're fun like that) and played hours of Creationary by Lego. For dinner we had super awesome Krispy Kreme Bacon Cheeseburgers! DH saw the recipe on Man vs Food and he's been waiting to try it. So unbeliveably odd and delicious at the same time! This may become a family tradition!

Hold this space three

Hold this space too

Hold this space

Portraits - At the Pier

Pictures of the men in my life under the pier in South Nags Head.

Spring Break - Outer Banks here we come!!!

We joined the Crawford's for a trip to the Outer Banks for a week! We chose a house on the Cape Hatteras Seashore, in Waves, just south of Rodanthe. The house was perfect for us - a place for everyone to spread out!

The weather was great! We spent hours digging in the sand making elaborate sand pits. One afternoon we drove up to Nags Head for a rousing game of Putt Putt golf. Countless hours were spent with the art box creating interesting and colorful art. Great food, great friends, date nights for the adults....lovely time!

April Fools Day!!!

No joke, it really is!

The boys woke to a breakfast of cereal, but, when they poured the milk on it the milk turned GREEN!!! Oh the shock and horror! Colin and Ethan refused to eat it. Ryan and Joey rolled with it. Branden was a bit horrified, then shrugged his shoulders and ate it!!!

Happy Birthday Honey!!!

Happy Birthday Kent! 47 years old!!! Just getting better, not older! ; )

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Lucky the Leprechaun came for a visit today! All sorts of mischief occurred! Chairs were turned around, pillows were placed at the foot of the beds, shamrocks were scattered about the house, milk turned green, and more!! The children spent lots of time hunting for the tricky little leprechaun!

Quite possibly the BEST thing was that when we all got home the Wii was on and we thing the tricky leprechaun had been playing a game! There was a new character named Sean who looked an awful lot like a leprechaun...

For dinner were had corned beef, mashed potatoes and peas! For dessert we had frosted shamrock cookies and green M&M's!

Mischief, merriement, memories!

Our Garden In Bloom

Popcorn and a movie!

A typical Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Depending on what's showing at the Base Theater that's where you'll find us! Clean, family oriented theater, great prices, good snacks! Admission is $4 for adults and $3 for kids. Popcorn is $3.50 for a jumbo, kids drinks are $2.25! We bring our own brown paper bags to divide up the popcorn for the kids. Often you find us there with our friends - Joey, Michael, and Carolyn along with their mom, Sandy. On this day we saw Marley & Me. Great, enjoyable movie, sad at the end, but sweet too. For some reason we would up wth popcorn buckets at home...not sure why...

Peep Show!

Yup, got a little stir crazy with all the snow, got some Peeps from their package and went to town. Quite the production...

PS No Peeps were harmed during the production, they were however eaten shortly after filming ended.

March, in like a LION!

Well, what they say about March must be true. Mother Nature gave us quite a visit over night dropping almost a foot of snow throughout our area! We had quiet a morning shoveling our driveway and our older neighbors. The boys had the best time playing in the snow, but only for a little while as it was brutally cold out. DS #4 managed to create his much desired snowman (with a little help from Mom & Dad), DS #3made beautiful snow angels, DS's #2, 3, & 5 created an ice fort with the help of a neighbor boy.

Great Wolf Lodge

February break from school. We took the little boys to Great Wolf Lodge for two days. We were joined by a bunch of families from school. Highlights from the trip:

*Stopping at Sonic for Cherry Limeades and lunch on the way.

*Walking into the Lodge and finding a bunch of our friends waiting for us!

*Jumping into the Wave Pool!

*Drifting down the Lazy River with our friends!

*Heading back to the room to catch American Idol.

*Story time in the lobby in our pajamas.

*Going to Sonic in our PJ's to have sundaes!

*Spending the morning playing withour friends in the waterpark.

*Wearing our swimsuits out of the Lodge in the 71 degree weather (IN February!!)

*Swimming and playing until we were the last family still there from our group!

*Stopping at SONIC one more time on the way home! Just one more Cherry Limeade please!!

Johns Hopkins...

DS #1 and I went to Johns Hopkins today for a yearly eval with the neurosurgeon. DS had a three hour MRI first, then he had a break before the appointment, so we headed back to the Children's House to clean our room, pack, and grab some lunch.

We were fortunate enough to get space at TCH last night. They are in the middle of some renovation and a part of the house is shut down to guests. So thankful they had space for us since the first appointment was at 6:45a.m.!

Looks good. The Brain Tumor Board still has to review it next Teuesday, but the preliminary report was good. Tumor is stable, Chiari is stable, slight enlargement of the thoracic syrinx likely but not needing surgical intervention yet.

Poor boy got horribly sick on the way home from the hospital. Keeping him home Wednesday...

Valentine's Day Random....

Mommy got a dozen beautiful red roses from Daddy! Did I mention they are beautiful?

The little boys each brought home a rose from school for Mommy...very sweet!

Mommy let Daddy sleep in and surprised everyone with a yumy breakfast!

The boys were excited to find gifts at the table when they came to breakfast!

DS #1 had Bball practice this morning!

While Daddy and DS #1 were gone, Mommy and DS's #2,3, &4 made super yummy Valentine's Day Funfetti cupcakes!

We took the boys out for Dim Sum as a lunch surprise!

Daddy surprised Mommy by purchasing steak and lobster for dinner! YUMMY!Daddy makes the best steak and lobster dinners!

We ate dinner on our wedding china. The boys got to have sparkling cider with their dinner in real wine glasses! Fancy!

Mommy and Daddy watched Nights in Rodanthe after the boys went to bed.

Valentine's Day Breakfast!

On the breakfast menu:

Heart shaped pancakes
Fluffy eggs
Fresh berries
OJ slushies

Gifts for all!

Valentines....

So, I am in an anti-commercial Valentine's card mood. Finding the overly commercial cards covered in Hannah Montana, Spiderman, and Indiana Jones simply more than I can bear to shove in my boys hands, I decided we'd create our own this year! We've done this before and enjoyed it. I'm game, the boys are game, and so we go, off to the craft store to grab some supplies.

We start with simple craft paper in a cheery red, then head off to the heart shaped doilies, pausing to look at some heart stickers, passing them by after they are deemed "too girly", we stare at a myriad of stuff...and we stare some more.

Finally we head out of the land of overly cheerful hearts and sparkles crossing the store to the famed Dollar Aisle! There we discover packs of pencils, Silly Putty, and Grow A Pets! Eyes grow big with the wonder of it all! We decide that this year the triplet boys will create a goodie bag together instead of individual Valentines.

Passing on the Silly Putty, we grab an assortment of Grow A Pets (pirates, dinosaurs, princesses, ducks, dogs, and cats), several packs of pencils, and some cellophane treat bags to go with our red cardstock. Twenty three dollars *gasp* later we are home with our loot! Tomorrow we will begin assembling our Valentine's Day delights!

What have I gotten myself into???

Earlier today, I had DS #2 (10yrs old) with me in Target where he selected three small heart shaped boxes of chocolates for the three little girls he is enamored with. I am frankly afraid to ask DS #1 (16 yrs) what he wants/needs for Valentine's Day!!

The circus is coming to town!!!

Okay, not literally to town, but two hours away which is close enough! DH and I just bought tickets to take the boys to see the Ringling Bros Circus this spring. Finding 7 seats NOT in the nosebleed section was fun...not! We had a hard time finding ones in a good spot until we searched the last show time of the day, 7:30p.m. and viola, fab seats, smack in the center, about a third back. Good thing the boys are older now. We'll still have the two hour drive to get home after, but it'll be fine, they'll likely sleep through most of it!

We took the boys three years ago for the first time. Well, they've seen the funky litle off off off Broadway version that swings through small towns with dancing cats, but... So, we decided it was time to do it again! Even the oldest, rapidly approaching 17, agreed to go with us!