Happy Birthday Matt!

We didn't have any grand plans for Matt's birthday this year but thanks to Kassie's thoughtfulness, he awoke to scrambled eggs and cinnamon toast. She even spelled his name out on the toast with Nerds and set her alarm for 3am to make sure it was done when he woke up!

Little Lexi Lee turned 6!

Then .......and Now (March 15th).

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to Lexi!

Happy Birthday to you!

Here are a few shots of the big day!

Domesticity

I typically consider myself to be somewhat domestic. Matt's coworkers go crazy when I sent in giant chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter eggs. The neighborhood kids seem to think that I always have great treats in the summer time with things like soft pretzels, pizza rolls and shaved ice.

That said, every now and again I find a project that seems to baffle me--like why can't I make oatmeal cookies? Last month, I was asked to make cookies for a zone conference which shouldn't have been a big deal. Three batches later I managed to pull together the needed 36 cookies that fit the description for the ice cream sandwiches. 2-3 inches shouldn't be hard to pull off but I am so accustomed to making monster cookies that I just couldn't make it work--and the time? I forgot to set the timer once or twice, used the wrong temp first tray, etc. (Sorry Donna. Hope they didn't look to nasty next to Christine's.)

Now on the other hand, sometimes I surprise myself the other way. Kari and I were banging our head together trying to find something for Mom's birthday when we stumbled onto an ad for Edible Arrangements. There is a store in Westminster so we thought we'd check it out, but then decided that we could do just as well our selves. Here's the finished product next to the store's version. I think we did very well for first-timers that completed the project in under 45 minutes!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Basketball Season

December through March Mitchell played basketball with the Reistestown Rec Council. Luckily his friend Benj's dad was the coach so he had several of his school friends on the team. I thought it was comical that the team of nine consisted of 2 Bens and 3 Ryans. They practiced Tuesdays with games consisting of 4-5 eight minute 'quarters' on Saturdays. Mitchell loved basketball and wants to play again next fall, but for now we are on to baseball...starts this Saturday.

Gotta love the monkeys on the wall shot.

Princesses and Pirates

Anna lives the world of both. She thinks she is a princess...always dresses and/or leotards lately. However she wields a nasty sword!

Our house is alive with the sound of music

My kids are so musical! Someone is always playing the piano or singing a song. Some play the piano willingly while others argue about it.
Kassie rarely complains and listening to her practice has become such a great part of the day!
(Thanks for all your hard work Kassie!)



There is always lots of singing to go around as well from primary songs and Brite to Toby Keith and whatever this is...

(Sorry these are a bit dark. My digital camera doesn't do so well in poor lighting.)

Feliz Navidad!

Christmas 2007
Kassandra (11), Mitchell (7), Alexis (5) and Anna (2)

While the older kids were google-eyed over the pile of presents, Anna simply exclaimed, "Oh. It's my 'chichen'" as if to say "There it is. I knew it would be here."

Those stockings were a great play thing for Anna in the days leading up to Christmas. This is the first year that she got the concept of Christmas=presents for me. Luckily, the older kids have all come to some appreciation of giving gifts as well as receiving.

Yes my children got color coded towels for Christmas. The hope is that I will no longer have every white towel in the house on the floor by Thursday of each week since I can now catch the culprits littering the bedrooms.
Anna spent a good portion of Christmas morning serving goodies from her "chichin."

Not sure why Mitchell smacks himself when he's showing off...He was over-the-moon excited about his Flarp, Starwars Legos sets and framed poster of himself with Jack Sparrow.
I think Alexis got the Michael shopping gene. She loves clothes and shoes!

The best way to program a new cell phone is to call every one you know (and talk all morning.) I think she was excited to have her own cell phone--what do you think?
Alexis was happy to see Kit under the tree...I later discovered that a Just Like Me doll would have made her even happier but Santa didn't think it truly looked Just Like [Her].

I love to see the temple

It just so happened that we were headed to the Washington DC Temple Visitors' Center on the same night as Nana and Pappy so we met them there and enjoyed the lights and the spirit of Christmas together. The kids particularly loved the nativities from around the world and the live nativity outside. As is tradition, we watched Mr. Kreuger's Christmas in the theater. (Funny... the kids are never interested to watch it at home but we can't leave the visitor's center without seeing it.)

Gingerbread and a sugar high

Spring has sprung. Yesterday it was 75 degrees on April 1st! What a great time to post some great pictures of my kids...at Christmas.

I know this blog has been sorely neglected lately so here comes the flood...

Starting with gingerbread house decorating night. Thanks for the recipe Kate! I nibbled on scraps; however, if you notice the tired eyes, TP and red noses that pepper these photos, you can be sure to assume I didn't want to touch it when they finished their jobs. (I could not keep this house stocked with tissues during the month of December.)

...And exactly how do you "Become a Mega Rock Star"?

This may not be everyone's first choice of Concert experience, especially since this is not your traditional rock concert... nevertheless... the Blue Man Group concert is an incredible mix of music, comedy, energy, and innovation. The band that accompanies the Blue Men were full of energy and the music was great. We went on Feb. 15th.

Amanda and I went to this concert with no idea what to expect. There was a storyline that went with it, which I think was about being a unique individual, but was only one of many parts of the whole concert. The concert featured the Blue Man Group acting out "how to become a Mega Rock Star", by dressing and playing instruments like well known rockers. The instruments were made out of Pipes and created a really cool sound. The accompanying band featured some really energetic rockers themselves, playing drums, guitar, and backup vocals.

At one point the act stops and the Blue Men pulled two members from the audience. They then start throwing gumballs across the stage for the other one to catch in his mouth. He would catch several before spitting out the color dye (inside the balls) onto the audience members shirt. The other Blue Man caught about 30 marshmallows in his mouth at one time, at high speeds, and then produce a marshmallow sculpture on a plate sitting on the audience members head. (Yes, he chewed them up, and spits it out as one glob on the plate... lucky audience member...)

Another part of the story was about Floppie the clown, whose head and hair inspired the ever so famous "Rock Out" hand signal used at Rock Concerts.

In either case, there were a ton of things that were going on throughout the concert, and I would recommend the concert to everyone. I don't know what Amanda thought of it, but she was hollering and dancing along just like I was, so I think she would rate this high as something she might do again. Even if it had turned out to not be very good, I would have loved it anyways, because it was a relaxing evening away from the kids, where the two of us could laugh and let go of some of life's frustrations, if only for a short time....It was an incredible experience that we got to share.

Matt