American Gothic meet Woody and Nixon...

I seriously snorted when Aron showed me this masterpiece.
Can I get an O-H?

Aron is a photoshopping mastermind. It's just one of the 2 or 3 (ok, 4 tops) reasons why I love him. He made these photos for my family for Christmas.

For those of you playing the home game, yes, that is an amaretto sour in Jeff's hand and no, that is not the photoshopped part. Also, yes, those are my parents and no, I have absolutely no idea what the hell they're doing letting someone take a picture of them looking like that.

Slip sliding away

Here she comes...
There she goes...

It was a drizzly, yucky kind of day today so what better to do than go to the water park!! The kids had a blast and we were all beat by the end of our three hours there. We partied like it was 1999.

Santa's big gift

I forgot to tell everyone about Santa's big gift to the kids...a tent and sleeping bags. They are very excited about camping this summer in it. I am not so excited but will put on a happy face for the sake of the kids. So here goes...Yipee! I'm excited about camping this summer with the kids. Yee ha! I couldn't be any more happy to have a summer of camping ahead of me. Wooooooooo! Let the good times roll! Score one for me! Yeah! Yowza! Exciting!! (Be quiet, Kevin, I can hear you laughing.)

A rose by another other name still smells just as sweet

Ella is known by many different names to many different people. She's known as Ella Kabella by Poppy, Ellie Mae by my grandfather, just "E" by my brother, Sunshine by me, and now she's added another one to the list. She's now known as Ella Bear by her Uncle Kevin. She pretends not to like it but I think we all know otherwise, yes?

Ya win some, Ya lose some...

I think he has rejected Aunt Annie's attempts at affection
Ella was more receptive

It's time for a little illumination...

Ella's second favorite gift--the leapster (but seriously, does she really need the flashlight on her head?).
They're looking outside to see if they can find any monsters with their new flashlights.
You need some extra light to see?

Hands down, most popular gift of the season...drum roll, please

Flashlights for your head (I'm sure they have some other catchy name other than "flashlights for your head but I don't know what it would be)! Grammie and Poppy got the kids these little items for Christmas this year. I'm sure they'll run out of battery power in another day or so because they've been on continuously since they got them. You just haven't lived until you've been woke at the crack of dawn by a big old flashlight in your eyes.

Troupe

Here's Ella doing a curtsy. This was at the very end of the song and Ella held hers a little longer than the other girls (they're already done and Ella's holding on to hers...maybe she was hoping for an encore)

Dancerina

Ballerina Girl doing an aribesque (I'm not sure I spelled that right)
Dancerina Girl in action doing a twirly jump
Ella had a ballet performance at the local hospital in their extended care unit. There was an unforeseen delay (the instructor ran out of gas on the way to the performance) so there was a half hour delay. Ella enjoys the class a lot but tends to be more of a "dancerina" than a ballerina which means that she goes out there and just dances around. Whatever makes her happy! All went well and Ella got to have McDonalds on the way home.

Story hour circuit: Grammie edition

Here's me taking a picture of myself and Luke

Ella and Mr Claus
Group photo

Today was Grammie's story hour and the big guy himself (yes, Mr. S. Claus) made a guest appearance at her library. The kids were very excited to see him but were a little hesitant to actually sit on his lap. Ok, so maybe "hesitant" isn't strong enough of a word--at least 1/2 of the kids bawled when told to sit on his lap and one kid even did a panicked scream. When it was her turn, Ella told Santa that what she wanted was a secret (translation is that she was too shy to tell him what she wanted). Each kid got a present--crayons and an activity book for Ella and a counting book for Luke.

Welcome, One and All!

I put our blog address in our Christmas cards this year so I'm hoping that we'll have some new visitors to our site soon. Feel free to look around the different entries. Some entries are funny (like the entry for December 4th labeled Top 6 reasons why Luke is lucky God made him cute...and what we can learn from it... ) and some are more informative. Feel free to leave comments if you wish but please try not use our last name or be too specific as to where we live. If there are blacked out parts of pictures, it's because whatever is blacked out would reveal where we live. I try to update it every few days or so--some days I'm better at this than others.

Of note, we have a link to Myles' (Jeff and Robin's son) blog, also. It's under Linkadoos. The other links are friends of ours.

Merry Christmas to all!

Hey! I think I love you!

Luke and some big lion from the Christmas festival. For those of you who don't know, Luke has a big thing for lions.

Ella and her BFF, Jane (aka our cat)

Just a little sprucing up...

That's right, it's that time of year folks (well, that time of year for everyone BUT Con...)! Time to decorate your tree! Aron and the kids went to pick it out together while I was working a couple weeks ago. They had to search high and low for a Christmas tree farm but eventually found one. Luke fell asleep in the truck so he missed out on the adventure but Ella filled him in once he woke up.

Aren't there child labor laws?

Every Saturday morning the kids like to help me make breakfast. Typically, this consists of pancakes or french toast because I don't enjoy other breakfast foods. Here are my little helpers in action...

Letters...we get letter...we get stacks and stacks of letters...LETTERS!

Here are the kids with their letters getting ready to give them to the postal carriers. What did the kids want for Christmas you ask? Ella wanted vanilla cupcakes and vanilla frosting. She also wanted vanilla cookies (Seriously, whose kid is this?? I think she might be Auntie T's kid). She also told Santa to be careful driving his sleigh around on Christmas eve when he's delivering the presents and that he could have a cupcake OR cookie (but not both) if he got hungry on the way. Luke wanted trucks.

Guess this means that I'll have to be baking some vanilla cupcakes and cookies on Christmas eve after the kids go to bed...sigh...my work is never done.

Ice Festivus

Our town had an Christmas Festival over the weekend complete with state championship turkey bowling (see also previous posts). They also had a parade. Santa was in the parade and he had dispersed his postal carrier elves throughout the parade to pick up letters from all the good little boys and girls. After the parade, we went to a local bank to get a *free* picture of the kids with Santa. Neither of the kids really wanted to participate but Ella at least sat there to get the picture taken. Luke cried (poor little baby). After the pictures, we went out to lunch.

How could I have lost?

I mean, check out my form...the rock star pose...for goodness sake I even kissed the turkey!

Um, say what? Come again? You did what?

Robin and I went head to head in the state championship frozen turkey bowling contest held right here. That's right, that's right. For $10 you got a t-shirt and a chance to throw down for the title. I lost BUT here's my compaint. Robin's pregnant, so it was really 2 against 1 (Or does that make it worse that I lost to someone who is "with child?". Doesn't seem fair, now does it? PLUS! PLUS! She "claimed" to not have any money so I had to pay her entry fee. So I guess in my case it was "pay $20, get a t-shirt, and a chance to get your butt kicked by a pregnant person 36 points to 6."

Snow Patrol

"Hmm...snow up to my knees seemed like a good idea when I was toasty warm inside..."
Snow Angel
"Hey Ella, why do you throw like my Uncle Jeffy? Do you not understand the concept of a weight transfer making the snowball come at my face with increased velocity? Come on! That's pre-school level physics."

Luke wasn't too fond of the snow yesterday. He was dying to get out in it when he was all warm and dry inside the house. Ella, however, was very ready to go out and blast her brother with a snow ball or two. Once we went outside and realized that it was going to be cold and wet, he was ready to come back in. We ended up staying out about a half hour which was plenty for me, too.

Guess what we did yesterday?

Lookee Mary...it's rare but it happens...

This picture is for my former clerical, Mary. She knows that I tend to kill plants (I can't help it. It's something I inherited from my mother) but somehow I got this African violet to bloom. I'm still not quite sure how I did it. I think there are even 3 or 4 blooms on it. I can see Mary getting a little misty right now...

I am my sister's keeper

He has some redeeming qualities, too. He is definitely Ella's protector. Aron and I were playing around a couple weeks ago around Ella's birthday and pretending to spank her. Aron was (pretend) spanking Ella and she was laughing and yelling around. However, Luke was very serious that he did not find it funny. He walked right up to Aron and said "Daddy! No 'pank Ella! You stop it! Now!" and yanked at Aron's arm to stop him. I've never seen the little guy get so serious so fast. I think it's the first time I've ever actually seen him angry. He's so mild mannered that he never gets mad.

Yesterday, I took Ella to the hospital to have an x-ray and ultrasound done on her belly. She's been a little bloaty lately and her pediatrician wanted us to do these tests on her. In order for the technician to do the x-ray of her belly, I had to unsnap and unzip Ella's jeans and pull them down (so the metal snap and zipper did not get into the x-ray and obscure the view). Luke saw what I was doing and told me "No Mommy! Leave pants on! Cover Ella up!"

What will my little guy do when the first suitor comes calling on his sister?

Top 6 reasons why Luke is lucky God made him cute...and what we can learn from it...

6.) He used a Sharpie marker on my refrigerator to color a picture for me. Lesson learned: Sharpie markers do not like to come off of porous surfaces such as the door of a refrigerator. They do, however, kind of come off porous surfaces when you use a heck of a lot of hairspray. You will likely need several sessions of spraying, scrubbing, and wiping. Spray, scrub, wipe. Spray, scrub, wipe. Spray, scrub, wipe. Spray, scrub, wipe. Spray, scrub, wipe.

5.) He used a crayon to draw a picture on my wall. Lesson learned: When your pint-sized Picasso uses your wall to display his muse, use a hair dryer to melt the waxy crayon then wipe it away. Heat, melt, wipe. Heat, melt, wipe. Heat, melt, wipe. Heat, melt, wipe. Heat, melt, wipe.

4.) He likes to jump on the bed with reckless abandon when Mommy isn't looking. As he was jumping one day, he took a header off the side and fell on his face. Lesson learned: You're going to get carpet burn on your face when that's the part of you that hits first. Oooo...that smarts.(see also top photo)

3.) He likes to hang out and visit with his sister while she goes to the bathroom. Not a problem until he realizes that he has to go, too. So, being the resourceful young lad he is, he decided it was a good idea to utilize the shower. Hey, no one was in there and it even has a door for privacy so why not jump in, drop trou, and have at it? Lesson learned: It's a good thing that your daughter can yell "Lukie's peeing in the shower."

2.) Luke decided it was bath time. Instead of bothering Aron (who was watching the kids while I was at work), he decided to take the matter into his own hands. He used my candle holder on the back of the toilet as a scoop and was splashing it in the toilet water. Scoooooop, pour, plunge. Scoooooop, pour, plunge. Scoooooop, pour, plunge. Scoooooop, pour, plunge. Scoooooop, pour, plunge. Scoooooop, pour, plunge. Lesson learned: In theory, Aron is in charge but let's face it, I think we all know who really runs the show...

and last but certainly not least...

1.) I was standing and talking to one of the other Mommies at story hour the other day. Luke was standing right by me until he decided to take off and try to go out the doors and run into the parking lot. I called out to him "Hey! Where do you think you're going?" He turned to me, held up his little hand and said "Just you don't worry 'bout it, Mommy." Lesson learned: While I'm glad that his sentence structure and grammar is improving, I would like it to used for good rather than evil.

Cute Fam Photo

From l to r: My brother with a semi-adult beverage in hand (It was an amaretto sour for goodness sake. Puh-lease. What's next? A wine spritzer?), my dad, my mom, Aron, then me.

Seriously? This kid turned 4 today??

*Le sigh*

They're so stinkin' cute together. Luke was pretending he was camping out in our laundry basket. Of course, he needed "provisions" if you know what I'm saying...can't expect the boy to go camping without food (see also bag of dried fruit).

They like to lay together and color like this. Luke has a harder time stretching all the way across but he'll be darned if he'll miss out on the fun.

Who are these beautiful people?

Seriously, I told him when I would be snapping the picture but this is the face he came up with anyway. He knows it kills me when he does it, therefore, I will post this picture and embarrass him. It's my job as spouse to embarrass him
Me and my Mom. She obviously knew what to do when the camera was in her face unlike you know who up above.

Just your typical Friday night...

Two-time Heisman trophy winner Archie Griffin
E Gordon Gee

with two-time Heisman trophy winner Archie Griffin (I think he should just change his name to include the "two-time Heisman trophy winner" part. That's the only way he's ever introduced anyway!) and E Gordon Gee! My brother won an OSU alumni association award so we all attended a banquet with Gordon and Archie. I'll post a link to the award pictures when the alumni association puts them on their website.

What are they thinking?!

Me loves popcorn with my sibling...
What's going on in that little head of his??

Do you ever wonder what your kids will remember from their younger years? What will be their earliest memory? What will stand out in their mind as being worth remembering?

The year was 1979. I have a cousin, Josh, who is 8 months older than I am (he was born in December and I was born in July). I remember when I was 3, that Josh was strutting around and thinking he was soooooooooo cool because he was 4 and I was still only 3. I remember specifically standing in the house that my parents were building. We were playing around in one of the rooms that didn't have drywall up yet because I remember seeing the pink insulation. He teased me mercilessly about still being 3 and I remember thinking "Some day I'll be 4 and he'll see how great that is." Little did I realize that when I became 4, he would soon be 5. Rats!

Will Ella and Luke remember that they liked to sit in the chair in our living room under a blankie, eating popcorn, and watching movies? Will they remember that they love going to story hour with Miss Lori and that she is some sort of story-reading Goddess who sings and laughs and makes crafts with them? Will Ella remember that she loves watching Dancing With the Stars because when it comes on she dances around the house with her Dad? Will Luke remember that he hates going in the car wash and freaks out every time we go? Will it be a memory of going to my grandparents house after church and practically busting down the door so they can get to the Hershey's kisses that my grandma has put on her table just for them? Will Ella remember that she takes flowers and puts them all over the house or will she just know that she enjoys making things beautiful but won't know where or when it all started?

Or, will their first memory be something that we haven't done yet? Some adventure that is out there for us to wander into?