what the boys are thankful for (or: I just figured out how to use the scanner)

How cool is this!?! I figured out how to work the scanner feature on our printer! (I by figured out how to work it, I mean, turned it on and pressed scan-it was actually really easy) I scanned these papers the boys did last Wednesday night at church. In case you wondered what small warriors are thankful for...

I just want to say that Ewan is also thankful for Insectasorus from the movie Monsters Vs. Aliens. In almost all his prayers, he mentions that.


How sweet of Cale! And, notice his coloring-we think it's really good!


Marcus spelled out his own words: family, friends, toys, food, good day. At school, Marcus also wrote that he was "thankful for food. It is good for me."

7 months old!

too big and too cute! that about sums up how I feel about Liam turning 7 months old! time goes too fast!

Operation Christmas Child Box

This year, I decided to have the boys participate in Operation Christmas Child. This is a program, part of Samaritan's Purse, where you pack up a shoebox size box full of little gifts to send a child who otherwise might not get anything for Christmas. We got the idea from watching a music video called "Give This Christmas Away" (I love this song!) on the newest Veggietale video. The boys did great picking out gifts even after finding out that they would not be getting anything. Another neat part, is that we will be able to track where our box goes to see what country it gets sent to. Here they are, getting ready to drop the box off. At the drop-off location, the boys were able to see lots of shoeboxes getting packed up and then a room full of already packed boxes-very cool. Plus, they also got to have some cookies-a complete day!

invasion of the ninjas

The ninjas have invaded our house! They came to play the Wii and play with play-doh. Who knew that's what ninjas do?

This video is of one of the ninjas given a dramatic interpretation of a quote from the movie "The 300" (which he has never seen, the same quote is on a CD he listens to a lot). The words are "This is where we fight. This is where they die. Arm these shields boys!"

A few pictures from Cale's birthday

Here are some photos from Cale's 5th birthday. We had a birthday party for him at our church for his preschool class and then the next day, we celebrated his actual birthday at home. Cale loved all the attention, decorations, presents and cake!

with Mommy on his birthday

and with Daddy

with his ice cream cake!

we had a pinata for the party, the kids had fun trying to hit it, and then once everyone had a turn taking a wack at it, we just pulled out the ribbons until it opened up

play-doh time at the party-It gave the kids a chance to calm down before cupcakes. The kids also played "Duck, Duck, Turkey", Freeze Tag, Hit the Ball the Farthest, and ran races. It was nice to have the open space of the gym to let the kids run in.

Cale is 5!

Happy birthday to Cale! He turned 5 years old today! I cannot believe that he is old enough to be 5. Time goes by too fast. While I will post pictures of his birthday festivities later, I wanted to take a minute to celebrate my new five year old. Cale is an very intellegent boy. His teachers say that he knows every answer and is always raising his hand first to answer questions. He is also an excellent sharer and is kind-hearted towards others. Cale loves attention. Right now he is the only child in his Sunday school class and he is relishing in the attention that Mrs. Peggy is giving just to him. Cale can also be very determined/stubborn/focused (call it what you will). We always say that Cale will probably be a defensive player in football because of this character trait. He also loves soccer and has an excellent swing off the tee for t-ball. When he gets excited, he hops up and down-he just can't stand still (so cute!). He is just a sweet, caring little boy. We love him so much!

late night tv

I was up with Liam last night and thinking about being up with the other boys when they were little. Andy and I have decided that we can identify those late night times with each of the boys with certain television shows. I just wanted to list them for fun...
Marcus: repeats of Late Night with Conan O'Brian, I remember waking up Andy once to watch a skit that I thought was funny (it was 2am)
Cale: I watched a lot of "CBS Up to the Minute" (early, early morning news)with him
Ewan: this is when we discovered Scrubs reruns and Dharma & Greg (thank you WGN)
Liam: I'm watching a fair amount of crime shows-Cold Case, Without a Trace, old Law & Orders too