got ourselves some new wheels (bikes, that is)

Since Ewan "upgraded" to Cale's old bike, Cale needed some new wheels.  Sunday, Andy took him to go get a new bike that acutally fit his size.  Cale was super-exctied and rode it as soon as they got home. 

Oh, Andy got another bike, too.  He kind of needed one that he could ride around with the kids instead of using my bike or his road bike.  And, yes, those tires are yellow and red.  The boys thought those were the coolest tires.  How many bikes do we have in our garage now?  That would be....8 plus 2 tricycles and 2 scooters.  Our cars will never fit in the garage.

messing with my camera

Still haven't gotten around to reading the instruction for my "new" camera.  But, I think I took some cool photos over the past few days.

These clouds at sunset looked amazing.  I tried it with and without the flash.

Then I went for the panoramic shot.  On the camera, it actually plays through like a video.  I thought it was cool. 

A few days ago I saw one of the first hot air balloons of the season.  We seem to see lots of them around here.

Now you can see how far away it actually was.  That zoom feature is pretty nifty.

Little Husky Festival on 2 hours of sleep

I kind of dread the school festival every year.  It's crowded, hot, loud and hard to keep track of all the kids, much less keep them satisfied waiting in line to play carnival-like games.  But, they get excited to go every year, and every year, I drink lots of coffee, load them into the car and suffer through 2 hours of "fun".  This year, I worked the night before and had to stay up all day Saturday with 2 small snoozes when Kella was taking her naps.  Coincidentally, Andy usually has to "work" and I am driving this bus solo (okay, he really is working).  He misses out on lots of fun.

We started out playing the game that Cale's teacher was co-hosting: angry birds.  That line was pretty long and Liam was not quite agreeable to standing in line.  He got it together in time to play...and then tried to run off with the stuffed birds that the kids were to throw at the pigs.  Nice.

Then we went to a room that had Wii jousting for their game.  So, my kids used some of their tickets to play the Wii (we have one at home).

Then off to the kindergarten wing and the sucker tree.  Liam needed a suger fix.

Then, the boys threw rubber chickens into baskets.

Time for a snack.  Did I mention the Ewan actually came to the festival with our neighbor and his girls, Ewan's great friends.  It did feel a little wierd not having that 5th child to watch for.  We met up with them in the cafeteria and had some baked treats.

Next "game", limbo.  And I felt like I was in limbo.  This game was in the music room, done up with some strands of lights, a little disco ball and music.  The kids just walked around in a circle, going under the limbo stick.  Full length mirrors caught Liam's attention and he danced in front of those for quite a while.  Finally, I had to drag him away.

Another stop at the sucker tree.  I guess a sucker, a cupcake and popcorn needed another sucker to wash it down with.

With our last tickets, we went to the game hosted by Marcus's teacher.  He tried to hide outside the door for a minute ("shy"), but decided to come in.

Then we went to stand in line to cash in our tickets for "prizes".

Finally, time to go home!

They loved it, of course.  Cale and Marcus both really like the jousting.  Cale liked angry birds and Marcus liked the chicken toss.  Ewan loved the limbo room and I think that was Liam's favorite, too.  Kella rode in the Baby Bjorn and got to see all the action.  Lots of people talked to her and told her how cute she was.  Of course, she treated them all with a smile. 

And, you can be sure, we will do this again next year!

Oh yes, Liam did wear his Power Ranger costume to the festival.  Made it easier to keep track of him.

"we love the Husky festival!"

It was super hard to get a picture of Kella and me.  Hopefully, her eyes have no permanent damage from all the pictures I tried to take.

Ewan and his bestie got their faces painted.

"grrrrr!"

(he even "snuck up" on the pizza delivery guy and tried to scare him with a tiger growl.  The Dominos man was impressed, I'm sure)

celebrating 3 (three!) years of Liam Christopher!

From April2009

piano girl

a piano player just like her momma!

Today we celebrate a great man (whose birthday was last week)

Happy birthday to Andy-a wonderful husband and father!  We celebrated his birthday last Wednesday after church with pie (blackberry) and presents (yes, they are wrapped in Christmas paper).  The boys were most excited about the pie and not so much about the presents, especially after they saw me wrapping them and found out Andy was not getting a Wii game (not that he wanted one, but the boys were hopeful). 

Pie.  Presents.  Perfect.

What do you get a man that has everything?  How about a new bike jersey, some biking sunglasses, biking cream and Dr. Who season 1-to share with his awesome wife.

We love you!

trapped behind the glass

It's hard to be the baby and not be allowed to go outside to eat whatever she can find on the ground.

Thank goodness that she has brothers to entertain her!

Daddy's girl

Ewan's on 2 wheels!

The training wheels came off about a week ago and Ewan's been cruising around ever since.  He usually likes to get started by going down the neighbor's driveway, but has no problem keeping balanced.  He's way excited and proud of himself, too.  I don't know if he remembers, but last fall, we said that if he learned to ride his bike without training wheels, then he could teach Kella to walk.  No matter, he's too busy riding with his friends!

Saturday photos...

How fun does this look?  Forts are so fun and the boys liked making it and then hiding out in it.  I was happy to see them working and playing together.  (and surprised that they still wanted to play together after I made them change their sheets)

I may have blinded them with the flash to get this photo.

and, Liam enjoyed wearing his rollerblades

the 2 pictures I took on Easter

Easter morning, the boys were excited to have candy waiting for them at the table.  They also each got a little toy and chocolate bunny-of which Liam's melted that morning.  We think it got hit by a direct sunbeam while we were at church.

I agreed to teach children's worship that moring and we did the Easter story using resurrection eggs.  Google it.  You can find lots of different ideas for making your own.  I got my idea from moneysavingmom.com.  The kids liked each having an egg to open as the older helpers read the Bible verses.

Not even a picture of all the kiddos together.  Bummer.  Sorry to disappoint.

of course we did an Easter egg hunt

Our spring break week started off with an impromptu run to an Easter egg hunt at at nearby park.  Our neighbors were going and Andy took any of the boys who wanted to go.  Of course, Cale wanted to go-the chance to get some candy is very exciting.  Ewan went also-he got to ride with our nieghbors-probably the part he was most excited about.  Sounds like it was pretty crazy.  They had areas for different ages, but Andy kept Cale and Ewan together in the same area.  I think Marcus went too, to view the action.

Cale, Ewan and Ewan's bestie

just a few people came to watch :-)

They had some fun and brought home candy to share with everyone. 

Good times!

last Friday night...

Cale had been begging to go to Chuck E Cheese for  a while now, so last Friday, we made his dreams come true :-).  It was a good chance to get out of the house and do something together.  Plus, I had some good coupons for tokens and we has to go to Indy anyway, so might as well make good use of the opportunity.  I really think that CEC is a Vegas-in-training for kids, with all the lights, games and tokens.  But, they love the over-stimulation, including Kella, who is in none of these pictures.

so happy!

wins the award for "hardest to keep track of"

I watched Marcus play the shooting baskets game.  I have to say, that boy has some skills with the ball.  Andy's not too sure where he got this talent from.  I would like to point out that I did letter in basketball the year I played in high school (ok, we weren't any good).

on one of the roller coaster sim rides

Then, we went to the hotel where our church was hosting Leadership Training for Christ.  It's kind of like 4H for church.  Marcus was signed up to do Bible Bowl on Saturday and we just needed to check him in.  I can say, it's nice having your church host the event, because the place was full of people that we knew with many eager arms to hold Kella.  While she was being watched, we took the kids to the praise assembly.  They did okay, even though they were getting super-tired.

The kids were so tired when we got home.  They had played outside all day before we went to CEC and LTC (maybe you can see that their faces are a little redder than usual). But even then, they really didn't melt down getting ready for bed. 

And that is how you wear children out.

start of a new project

Andy started a new project: some landscaping changes to the front of our house. He dug up the bushes that had been by the front door and moved them to the side of the house, by the garage.  Right away, the front area looks alot more open.  I'm thinking of putting some rose bushes here. 

And, the bushes ended up over here.  Andy was able to basically pull up the bushes to move them. (I knew I married the right man.) They've all been planted now, and we have plans to mulch and put up a border of some kind.  Excited to get another project checked off our list!

crazy hair!

our stay-cation beach

We added some new sand to the sandbox recently, much to the dismay of our neighbors (something about their kids coming home covered in sand).  Kella seems to be enjoying it. 

and it tastes great!