Four Kids

Orioles vs. Pirates

I'm not sure why the stadium staff doesn't get that the whole point of getting your picture taken at the park (center picture) is so that you can tell from the picture what park you're at.  Luckily, we went to a Red Sox v. Orioles game at Camden Yards two years ago and my parents took a better picture, although looking more closely at it, it doesn't necessarily tell which ball park we're in either.  Argh. It is however better than the family picture above which is just us and stadium seats.  Sadly, the Pirates lost... by a lot. 

Grandma and Grandpa fly home

 It was fun having them here for two weeks, but Grandma and Grandpa L eventually had to return to California, their home, their other grandkids, and, of course, their dog, Fenway.

Buddy's Baptism

On Saturday, May 19th Buddy was baptized.

Richmond

We went for General Conference Weekend (3/30-4/2) in Richmond.  Grandma and Grandpa M were there.  Uncle G and B ran the Monument Ave 10K again.  Princess Sparkley attended a drama camp at the high school with cousins S and Pickles.  The girls made Baklava (Grandma M's Easter Greek tradition) with the grandparents.  The kids played the Wii, watched the Chipwrecked movie, played with Mollie Doodle, and we ate a lot of yummy food.  I didn't take very many pictures though.

Aunt H, Buddy, Little Guy and I went to the race to cheer on the runners.  This is the only picture I got.  We got rained on, cheered for G and B, saw a lot of dogs, and some fun runner costumes.



Video coming soon (we hope).
||||||While we were at the race, the three oldest kids went to a drama camp and then we went to that performance. PS starts out 4th from the right. Cousin Pickles is 2nd from the right.||||||

Baklava

Mollie Doodle is getting bigger!

We stopped at Sam's Club on the way home and the kids shared an Icee.  I like how Little Guy's creepy eye is peeking at the camera.

Little Guy hurt his left leg somehow on Saturday.  At bedtime he complained that it hurt a little.  By Sunday morning, he refused to walk and had to be carried everywhere.  He would cringe if he had to put weight on it or if in moving him, you hurt him.  But he'd kneel on both legs to play Legos.  At bedtime he had me help him roll over on to his stomach, etc.  On Monday morning, as we were packing up to leave he started to put some weight on it and would limp around.  By Monday night, he was using it with a heavy limp.  Tuesday a slight limp.  Wednesday a slight limp.  Thursday, he seems fine and told me it doesn't hurt anymore.  No idea what he did to it!

Grandma and Grandpa came over to see our place Monday night (4/2) and had dinner with us before heading out for a business meeting early the next morning somewhere in Pennsylvania.  It was a big treat for the kids to have them visit.

Marine Corps Museum and a Hike

The Richmond cousins had a day off school (3/19) and wanted to meet us for some fun halfway.  Except, it turns out that there isn't a whole lot to do halfway between them and us, so we tricked them into coming a little further and we took them to Buddy's favorite museum, the Marine Corps Museum.  Then we took them hiking and played at a park in Prince William Forest Park.

In the gift shop, there is a Lego version of the Iwo Jima Memorial.

L->R: PS, S, Buddy and Pickles

Then we played frisbee and volleyball at a park (we picked up a couple of stragglers).

Then we went on a little hike and ended up at a stream we played in.

Then we followed them to IKEA to help load bookshelves, etc. 

St. Paddy's Day Hike

On St. Patrick's Day, we headed over to Manassas Battlefield and hiked the Old Stone Bridge.  The kids had been sick during the week, which we'd taken as our Spring Break so we decided to get out of the house and be active on Saturday. 

When we hike and we come across a bridge, the kids take turns (at each new bridge) being a troll and asking each of us a question before we can pass. 

Announcement

Estimated Arrival Date: August 9, 2012

Dogs

After Little Guy's dog themed birthday party, we were sitting around, not doing much, wondering how many stuffed dogs our family owned. So we gathered them up for a family picture.

Back Row (L to R): Barkers (B), Heart Doggy (B/LG*), Donut (B), M&M (LG), UPS (B), Bubble (LG), Grem (LG), Snoopy (LG), Santa Fe (B), Porkchop (PS/B**), Cuddles Jr. (LG), Finn (LG), Lavender (PS).
Front Row (L to R): Cuddles (N), Caramel (B), Mint (B), Fido (B), Sundae (PS), Spot (B), Spunky (PS), Curly (PS), Chocolate (LG), Candy (LG), Cupcake (PS).
The answer is 24.

* Heart Doggy was bought for baby Buddy who never cared much for it.  We got it back out for baby Little Guy and it's been part of his dog pack for awhile, but Buddy tends to try to steal the dogs that Little Guy owns that he thinks are cute, and Heart Doggy isn't one of Little Guy's favorites, so it changes allegiances frequently.

** We bought Porkchop when I was pregnant with Princess Sparkley but really, Buddy's the one who loves that dog and it lives in his bed.

New puppy relative

Our Richmond cousins got a Goldendoodle from Santa for Christmas so we went down to meet her for New Year's weekend.  Her name is Molly Doodle and she is adorable.

Christmas Eve

The kids spent all day staring at presents under the tree, debating which one they would open first, bargaining with their siblings ("I'll open your present first if you open mine first,"etc.), and if you were Little Guy, declaring "I'm opening all of my presents first."  Around 1:45PM, Buddy declared it the most annoying day ever because it should be 4PM and it wasn't even two yet!!  And finally the day turned dark and the festivities could begin.

We started by eating out at a Chinese restaurant across town.  This is our third year going there on Christmas Eve and I think it was the first time we haven't been the only customers.  There was an older couple at the table next to us who complimented us on how well behaved our kids were when they left.  That was nice of them.

After dinner, we came home, read the Christmas story from the Bible and opened family presents.  Typically we would open all non-Santa presents on Christmas Eve.  This year we restricted it to just immediate family presents so Christmas Day would have most of the presents.  We mixed it up a bit this year too by starting with the youngest, having each person hand out the presents they got for everyone.  I liked doing it this way I think.

Then off to bed, making sure to leave a plate of cookies for Santa (as long as the Elf on a Shelf that Princess Sparkley made didn't eat them all first).

Thanksgiving Week: Turkey Cupcakes

We left early Wednesday morning (but not nearly as early as I thought we were planning on leaving) and arrived in Richmond to Aunt H and Uncle G's right before lunch time.  We were also lucky enough that we convinced Grandma and Grandpa M to come out here to our two families rather than our two families (the only of the M families) traveling to Ohio (9 people) vs. them (2 people).  They were nice and obliged our request.

Our first night, Aunt H had exactly five left over cupcakes from a classroom party, which is exactly how many kids we had at Thanksgiving.

The cupcake is next to its creator.

Little Guy also made this Play Doh ice cream cone.

Cousins

These are the three seven year olds.  My sister's son, C, was born in February,

 then Buddy in April and my brother's son, M, two days later.  They were all missing a lot of teeth.

 I didn't do as good a job capturing the 2-3 year old crowd. 

Little Guy is on the left.  He's January 2008.  My sister's son, J, was December 2007

 and her son, M, was December 2008. 

My sister's daughter, E, is about to turn 12, three years older than Princess Sparkley but the only girl in her family as well.  She used to give us her old dresses and clothes as hand me downs for PS, she now wears a larger shoe size than me and is only about 4 inches shorter than I am.

My brother's son, N, is just about a year older than Little Guy.

We let Little Guy go to Sunbeams with him each week at church (he's just three

weeks too young to be a Sunbeam anyway) rather than going to Nursery alone.

Leo Carillo State Beach

Saturday the 20th my brother's family invited us to go to the beach with them.  I had an enjoyable time parallel parking along Pacific Coast Highway.  As soon as we got to the beach we spotted a seal swimming parallel to the shore.  That was pretty cool.  I don't think I've ever seen that type of wildlife at the beach (except up on the northern coast of California on rocks near Monterey Bay, etc.).

Buddy and cousin M (2 days younger than Buddy) stuck together throwing rocks in the water, etc.  PS stuck to herself for awhile finding small pebbles.  Little Guy stayed up on the dry sand for a long time, at one point I caught him having light saber battles by himself.  Then everyone joined in trying to catch sand crabs.  At one point cousin Amanda was wearing seaweed as a scarf.  She and cousin B found what the internet tells me are brittle stars, sort of skinny, more bendable starfish. 

August 11: The Pizza Factory

We had to go to Cedar City the day after Princess Sparkley's birthday so we celebrated her birthday again with the entire family at The Pizza Factory.  I LOVE their breadsticks on sticks.

When we went up for bed, we found the kids on the loft looking like this:

August 10: Princess Sparkley's Birthday

 After Bryce Canyon the day before, we met my old roommate Tiffany in Duck Creek Village with her two kids, A and C.  They came back to the cabin with us and spent the next day with us before heading back up to northern Utah.

Since this was Princess Sparkley's birthday day (she's 9!!) she got to pick our activities.  We went to Navajo Lake and splashed around in the freezing water.

Then we drove down to Brian Head, looked at the ski lifts and the view, while listening to The Carpenter's "Top of the World" in the car.  It was cold and windy on top of the mountain so we hurried back to the car and Tiffany left with her kids.

 We stopped at Duck Creek on the way back to the cabin in case the water there was warmer to splash in.  It wasn't.

A lot of the Quaking Aspens looked like this.  Rumor has it that the temperature dropped below freezing before all the sap had drained in the trees and they snapped in half like this after making load, firecracker popping sounds.

Our nine year old.  Nine!

I made this banner for our family in April for Buddy's birthday and brought it along to the cabin to make a cabin birthday extra special for PS.  Having a June birthday myself, I know what it's like to be away from home on your birthday.

Chocolate cake, white frosting, sprinkles.  Per request.  Although, I think she said pink frosting and I decided not to worry about food dye up at the cabin.

Little Guy trying out the new zip line.