Andy and his entourage

Last Sunday, Andy decided to work out to one of his P90X videos. Marcus overheard Andy talking about it and asked to work out with him. Andy said "yes" and Marcus ran upstairs to change out of his Sunday church clothes. (Andy had already changed into workout clothing) Cale ran upstairs to change, too. To our surprise/amusement, they both came downstairs in shorts and white tank-tops (just like Daddy had on!). Ewan also decided to work out, however he decided to wear a pajama top and sweat pants to work out in. You know what? They all work out to the plyometric video. Liam and I-we took naps-I had to work that night anyway. Thank you Andy for grudgingly agreeing to have this photo taken. I love that the boys want to dress like Andy and do the same things he does! I hope the boys always look up to their daddy!

Cale's 5 year photos

Back in December, Cale got his 5 year old photos taken. They've been sitting on the desk for about a week (maybe more) now, and I got a chance to scan them into the computer (meaning the kids are at school/preschool and Liam is napping). Never fear relatives, I will hopefully find time to mail these photos out soon! Until then, please enjoy looking at these photos of "beautiful Cale" (an old nickname for him).

His hair has a mind of it's own. I can brush and brush and, very rarely, will it actually sit down on his head!

This was Cale's favorite pose. I think he felt cool with his hands in his pockets.

Such a good boy! What a sweet smile and a sweet personality to go along with it!

Liam at 9 months

Liam was 9 months old on Sunday! I wanted to take a minute and celebrate on the blog! No picture right now (since I'm typing this @ work), but I will try to post one of his royal cuteness later this week.
Liam is moving all over the place-he crawls (many times with one knee up off the floor), he cruises the furniture (and anything else that will support he weight, ie people) and he has gotten himself into a standing position all by himself at least once. Of course, the standing lasted for about 2 seconds and then he plopped back down onto the ground.
We have moved on to Stage 3 baby foods and are trying to work in some table food too. I forgot that it takes some planning to make sure that Liam has table food to eat-I guess it's just easier to serve up the jarred food. 3 squares and some snacks are what Liam takes along with his bottles and nursing. It will be interesting to see what he weighs at his next doctor appt on Wednesday. When you pick him up after his meal, you can feel the weight difference!
He is a vocal baby and I think he likes to hear his own "voice". I swear he has said the words "yes" and "mama". We also think "bababa" means bottle-the jury is still out on that one. Yesterday in church, I had to take him to the nursery early because he would not stop "yelling" (not because he was mad, just using his loud voice). Liam also is chewing on his tongue a lot. It must feel good on his gums-his 2 uppers are not in yet. Most of the day he has his tongue stuck out of his mouth-adorable!
That's it for now. I can't believe Liam is already 9 months old! It is bittersweet that he is growing up so fast (or too fast for me!).

soccer starts again

Today was Marcus and Cale's first day of indoor soccer with the YMCA (Ewan would love to participate too, but he is not old enough yet.). Last year, I let the boys each pick their own sport, which led to them needing to be in 2 different spots at the same time. This year, I had the common sense, and experience, to just sign them up for the same sport. Soccer it is, because I know that Cale likes it and Marcus expressed an interest in soccer. I could have played the boys in the same age group-Cale would have played up a group to the 6-8 year olds, but I really wanted him to have a chance to develop more as a player and not be pushed around by some of the bigger kids.
Cale is in the 4-5 year old group. He's one of the taller ones on his team and I think he's the best player, if there can be a "best" player at that age. He is definitely the most attentive and demonstrates the best ball handling on the team.
Marcus plays in the 6-8 year group. Surprisingly, he is pretty good with the ball too. He's excited also, because Andy is coaching his team. We got an email from the Y on Thursday night saying that they only had one coach signed up for this age group. I felt sad that more parents didn't volunteer to help. We looked at Andy's schedule and it appears that he is available to coach every week, so he volunteered to do it. Thank you to Andy! What a good daddy!
The boys just had skill stations this week, so no pictures this time. Ewan and Liam did great also. Ewan kind of just hung out and watched. Liam got held, had a bottle, and took a nap in the arms of Grammy Linda who was visiting. I'm looking forward to the next several Saturday mornings!

pics from our first real snow!

Finally, pictures from our first "big" snowfall! Thanks to the awesome-ness of Kodak "Easy Share" (not really), it has taken forever to find time to upload these photos. The boys were excited to play outside, Marcus got to come home from school early (Andy went to pick him up instead of having Marcus ride the bus home) and Andy's games and practices got cancelled. I still had to go to work that night, but by then the roads were okay. As I type this, the snow is practically gone :-( and it's just wet out. Can't wait for the next snow!

Andy pulled the boys in their sleds down the street. It was so beautiful out, I almost didn't want to send the boys out to put their footprints in the new snow.


Will he pull his hood up? Or zip his coat all the way up? Of course not! (But, then again, they don't play outside for that long!)


I may have sent the boys out that afternoon, as the wind was picking up and it was getting colder...they needed to get out and run around anyway.

Cale liked getting buried in the snow and cold slides are fast ones!

Ewan, standing still long enough for a picture, on his way inside.

Liam was inside with me. No snow fun for him this year!

resolutions for body and soul

Our New Year's resolution arrived in the mail today. It's P90X. It might kill me. Maybe this post should be called My Last Will & Testament. It's a super intense video workout program that is 90 days long. I really like watching the infomercial and Andy thought it would be fun to actually do the workout. I don't know if I'm excited about this or not, but I know it will be good for me to do. I'm thinking about taking before and after pictures so we can see ourselves getting in better shape. I know several of my coworkers have tried this program and have quit after just a week, so we'll see how this goes.
Our other resolution is to read the Bible in 90 days. We thought we could do both the working out and the Bible reading in the same 90 days. Andy has already gotten a head start on the Bible reading. I tried to do this last year and got bogged down in Isaiah. We'll give it another go.
I'm excited to do these resolutions. I'm worried about how they will mesh with work and the kids and everything. We'll just really have to make an effort and commit to these things.
Wish us luck!

Liam goes to the pool!

We finally took Liam to the YMCA to go swimming. He enjoyed himself and spent most of the time sitting in the water and chewing on pool toys. The pool is a zero-entry pool, which is nice for the babies because there is even a spot for them. I don't know when we will all go back. Besides the fact that it is freezing cold outside, logistically, it was a challenge to get Liam and myself showered off and dressed after swimming. I didn't have anywhere to strap him into and had to let him crawl around on part of the floor-yuck! Good thing he likes his baths! :-)

last photos of 2009

Feeling nostalgic, I decided to take some final photos of us on New Year's Eve before I headed off to work....

ready to go to work

hey there Andy!


who knows what Liam is trying to get into...


a boxing pose from Ewan


Marcus and Cale taking a time-out from boxing. They really like their gloves. Andy likes them too, mostly because then he got his own pair and a punching bag!

Christmas Day 2009

We got to celebrate Christmas as home this year. The boys had fun opening their presents from Santa and playing with their new toys. I didn't have to work on Christmas Eve this year, so I got to hear their excited little voices when they saw that Santa had come and left them presents under the tree, stockings by the fireplace and had eaten the cookies left for him. I heard Ewan saying "Santa Claus? Santa Claus?" as if he was calling out to see if Santa was still in the house. The boxing gloves from Aunt Bitsy and Uncle Eric were a big hit. Ewan really liked his power rangers costume (a great find on the clearance rack after Halloween!). All the boys liked the building blocks they got, everyone got a different type. Marcus was excited about his science experiment kits. He couldn't believe that Santa knew he wanted them! Cale liked his Batman toys-and thank goodness Ewan traded one of his with Cale so Cale could have two bad guys! Even Liam liked opening his presents, bought at last minute when we realized that the other boys might think that Santa didn't bring Liam anything. We opened gifts, we ate, we played. That pretty much sums up our day.

From Dec2009

(You know the drill, this photo takes you to the rest :-) Happy viewing!)