ALL MY GUYS and ME

birthday boyS! {40 and 8}

2010-08-08T21:45:00.000-04:00

a visit with a favorite fam!

2010-08-04T21:24:00.000-04:00

the boys and i enjoyed spending a few days with super great friends before school started in louisville. the weather was SO hot that we spent 2 afternoons at the pool. the high dive was a hit with the boys...it's amazing how they can spend hours doing the same thing over and over again {although i remember doing the same thing as a kid!}.
we are so grateful for friends like the michel's! i only wish they could be closer! so, i am hoping and praying that our kids can cross paths during the college years!

"there's nothing to do!"

2010-07-22T21:06:00.000-04:00

another summer afternoon. . . what to do, what to do? the boys finally decided to fill their time with a water balloon fight. when i walked outside i was surprised to find such LARGE balloons. but really, whatever works to keep them busy is fine by me!

tennis anyone?

2010-07-15T19:57:00.000-04:00

grant's lesson of choice this summer was tennis.

4th of July Parade

2010-07-04T19:53:00.001-04:00

it's our annual tradition to go the the 4th of July parade. i don't really have any exciting pictures to share. just thought i would post the photo that grant took of our family. :)

Sandestin, FL

2010-07-03T19:15:00.001-04:00

Rain. We had a lot of rain for our vacation to sandestin. But that just made the sunny days even more special and it didn't stop us from doing fun things in the rain! The most important part was being together with family. The boys LOVE being with their cousins--no matter what the activity! So a week together is super cool, in their book!

One of the best parts of the week was riding in the golf carts. Everywhere. For the most part, this was our main mode of transportation for the week. . .to the pool, to the beach, to the mall, to dinner and boy was it fun!
We spent plenty of time in the pool--only because of the rain--it was a bit easier to swim in the rain than be at the beach in the rain.

We were so grateful to be able to rent a home large enough for our whole family that was beautiful and in a great location. We enjoyed the wharf's many restaurants and shopping. The outlet mall was a great distraction on one of the rainy days. We managed to sneak in a few good bike rides too!

The last supper. . . hmmm, can you tell our last day was sunny and we spent WAAAAY too many hours at the beach? We kept lathering on the sunscreen, but just couldn't bring ourselves to leave the beautiful water, sand and those amazing waves. We all ended up a little pink but it was SO worth it!

Baseball 2010 - Cole

2010-06-05T13:23:00.000-04:00

Cole had a super season play baseball this spring. The best part is that he had SOOO many friends from the neighborhood on his team! We loved to watch him hit. . .most of the time he was at-bat he hit it to the outfield!
The season ended with a little ice cream at Handel's! yummo! And of course there were trophys--given out by coach Greiwe!

This season Grant did not play baseball...instead we found him doing other interesting things!

Baseball 2010 - Luke

2010-06-05T12:31:00.000-04:00

Once again, Luke had another great season of baseball. He played LOTS of first base and short stop as well and did a fair amount of pitching (typically every other game). At this age, it is hard to get the ball over the plate at a pretty fast speed, so there are not a lot of kids who are successful at it. We were proud of Luke because this was not something he really wanted to do, but he persevered and made huge improvements over the season. He was voted to play in the All-Star game, but had to miss it because of our previously scheduled vacation. Great season, Luke!

Finally. . .the first lost tooth!

2010-06-02T15:11:00.002-04:00

Cole has anxiously watched his brothers lose lots of teeth and FINALLY he got his turn. We had a few tears over the anxiety of mommy putting the dental floss around the tooth and while still crying about that, he didn't even know his tooth came out!

Last Day of School, 2009-2010--YipEE!!

2010-05-28T14:37:00.001-04:00

WhoHOOO . . . .the last day of school--such a celebration and a thrill to be a future 4th, 2nd and 1st grader! We could leave out future 3rd grader--Owen our neighbor who comes to our house every morning, he's practically the 4th kid in our house!
The boys had such a great school year--Grant LOVED having Mrs. Vadas (a family favorite!) for first grade.
Cole was the third Moritz boy to have Mrs. Walter for kindergarten--ohh, I adore her, and the boys do too--she is so patient with these little ones, she has been a blessing to our family. We are sad to say good-bye!
All of Cole's buddies headed over to one of his bff's houses for a POOL PARTY! The kiddos enjoyed a perfect afternoon swimming and eating cake and icecream-yummo.The kids got of the bus to find a surprise end-of-the-school-year P-a-R-T-y at our fabulous neighbor's house!! She went all out-- yummy food, water ballon and silly string fights and bunches of games. Luke and Owen share a rejoicing "bump!" I love the photo of the water balloon fight below with all the white bellys--you can tell the pool hasn't opened yet! We are officially ready for summer!

Playin' Hookie

2010-05-07T08:38:00.002-04:00

Playin' Hookie. . .well, kind of. Grant's class was going to be taking a field trip. The same trip he took last year. I told him he could stay home and of course decided it wasn't fair if he couldn't skip school too! So, I picked up Cole after kindergarten and Luke skipped the afternoon. We were going to go to a museum, but at lunch the boys vetoed the idea because it was SO beautiful outside. They decided to do a little exploring. It was the perfect "Boy Afternoon!"

Young Author's Books

2010-05-06T08:25:00.002-04:00

Every year in school the kid's write their own books. In the spring we get to attend the Young Author's Fair. I love sitting down with the boys and reading their books, they are all so proud and we always seem to laugh A LOT while reading them. They also dedicate their books to someone and it's always interesting who they pick. This year Luke picked his brother, Grant to his cousin Grace and Cole picked all of his cousins!

time to. . .play BALL!

2010-04-27T20:21:00.006-04:00

i can't even believe it is baseball season again! i guess because the boys played fall ball, it feels like we just finished the season. even though many people think it is a slow moving game. . .i LOVE watching the boys excel!
cole had his first game last night. he appears to have a very natural batting stance and 3 out of his 4 times at bat he hit it to outfield. i think we found our kindergarten power hitter!
part of the fun for him is playing with 4 other buddies from the neighborhood that are on the same time. these kids are going to have a great season!

i love my husband, even if he is wearing spandex!

2010-04-20T14:04:00.000-04:00

terry participated in his first sprint triathalon this past weekend. the kids and i enjoyed watching him and our good friend gerald ( i would post picture of gerald, but since he is also my boss. . . i think i might use them for negotiating purposes in the future!) swim, bike and then run. we are all so proud of him. due to a poor {but hilarious!!} bike experience it might be awhile until he does another one!

Easter & Spring Break 2010

2010-04-15T13:28:00.000-04:00

we had the most beautiful easter and early spring break. . .warm weather and a fabulous 4 day get-away with the kids. on saturday we had easter with terry's family in mackinaw, il. a highlight?? the easter egg hunt, of course {even though the kids are getting a bit big!!}

mr. money bags went around picking up eggs and if the were too "heavy" (in other words filled with candy) he would put them down!! the goal?? to find the ones with money in them!! thanks, rich, for that!! luke was thrilled with his $5!
we headed to chicago on saturday night to stay with one my "greatest of all time ever" friends: noel and her family! it has been years since we have been able to spend more than a few hours together--so a day and a half was out of this world!

it was a great easter day, visiting our old chuch and seeing old friends--kind of seems like nothing has changed, but we all just now have kids running everywhere.
the kids got along SOOOO well! it was absolutely unbelievable! amazing how kayla (blonde) looks JUST like noel and grace (brunette) looks just like andy (noel's husband) and zel--he is quite the mix, isn't he?? tehee! really he was welcomed home in december from ethiopia and has the cutest face ever!!! so, there were guinea pigs in the house and of course the boys are trying to convince me that we need one. no way. no rodents in my house.

we spent monday morning with my grandma! at 96 she still lives by herself! don't you love the couch?? it's the only one i remember in her house, we think it is about 45 years old. yikes!!
monday afternoon the boys and terry went to the lego discovery place and i got a kid-free afternoon at ikea!! perfect for everyone. a favorite for the boys is staying in a hotel and swimming and jumping on the beds! we topped it off by watching Butler play NCAA championship game.
on our last day we headed to the museum of science and industry. we saw lots of great stuff including the mayes and heiking families from school!

Easter's coming!

2010-04-01T22:15:00.002-04:00

Everyone is getting exited for EASTER around here. Our super warm weather has definitely helped and is a great start to Spring Break. We had a chance to see the Easter Bunny last weekend coupled with lots of little boy giggles!

sock hop

2010-03-12T22:06:00.002-05:00

one of the fav events of the school year. . .the SoCk HoP!! Luke and Grant dressed 80's! Funny to think that the 1980's is its own "era!"--kind of like the 50's was to my generation as a kid! I got lots of questions from the boys--why did you wear 2 shirts?? and --why did you wear the collar up?? I could go on! The kiddos had a great time 'dancin' the night away!

my mom's birthday

2010-02-23T20:47:00.004-05:00

yesterday was my mom's birthday. she had a great day-a little lunch with dad and some shopping. and then it was dinner time. out went the perfect little day when you add 3 crazy boys in the mix. i think this picture represents how our life with them is 90% of the time. happy birthday mom!

2010-02-15T20:35:00.002-05:00

valentine's Day was great. . .a quiet day at home and valentine's were exchanged. i even found a valentine on wrigley's crate! this one is from cole. you kind of have to ready it in a clockwise direction??!!

look ma, no teeth!

2010-02-06T21:07:00.001-05:00

grant lost one tooth at two this afternoon. . . .
and he lost the other at eight tonight. . . now he has a new look!

the igloo

2010-02-06T17:01:00.002-05:00

so we have enjoyed plenty of snow this winter. it was quite nice outside today and the boys spent a big chunk of the afternoon digging, playing and building. grant had a plan to build an igloo. with a little help from his brothers and dad he got his igloo.

s i x

2010-01-30T18:58:00.004-05:00

two days of partying has come to an end. . . cole turned s-i-x with a bang! as soon as school was out on friday he had 5 friends {we missed you, derek--hope you are feeling better!} over for a "bears vs bengals" football party. the boys were so sweet and such a good time together eating, playing games and making a football craft. this is just a little reminder of how blessed with such good friends cole has been this year.
mr. cole is extremely!! social. . .there are very few afternoons there is not a playdate scheduled. the more he has to do, the happier he is. i love to hear his contagious laugh while he is playing with friends of his brothers. there's also a stubborn streak that i sure will take him places when he is older; this streak is counteracted by his generosity and tenderness. he has a heart for anything fuzzy or under the age of 1!

we were thrilled to have a house full of family to celebrate today! We had homemade Qdoba {cole's favorite restaurant!} and plenty of cake! It was a super relaxing day of hanging out together. every present that cole got was a thrill--this is still such a great age that kids are appreciative and never disappointed!!
happy birthday BIG boy, we hope you had a super day!! we are so thrilled that God gave you to us!

what am i nervous about?

2010-01-13T20:18:00.003-05:00

terry is out of town and before he left the boys planned to eat dinner "out" at mcdonald's one night. our sweet neighbor down the street gave each of the boys mcdonald's gift cards for Christmas that they have been quite anxious to use. this is a super lesson in value. . .before we left they got out the coupons that came in sunday's paper and made a plan as to who was going to use what coupon so that they could get the most for their money! I was impressed--they ended up with 2 big macs, 1 hamburger, 1 small fry and 1 large fry for $5.50--not bad.
AND, yes you read that last sentence correctly. 2 big macs. l and g both downed a big mac with no problem. this wasn't the first time. grandpa introduced the big mac last month. what am i nervous about? the fact that they are only 7 and 9. . . what are 14 and 16 going to look like?

argh!! those DARN clippers!

2010-01-10T19:12:00.003-05:00

so. . . i cut the boys hair--always have--probably will until they are old enough to tell me that i "don't do it right!." i have been doing this since terry and i got married and he begged me to cut his hair so he didn't have to go somewhere to get it done. i had no experience, but after 11 years and what seems like hundreds of haircuts i feel pretty confident in my male hair cutting skills.
confident, that is, until this year!
we have a set of clippers with an adjustable guard, which is great because then i don't have 10 guards to look through. this summer, i took the guard off, cleaned out the hair, put it back on and started to cut some more. before i knew it--terry had a bald stripe up the back of his head. ALL the way up the back of his head--oh my. . . .so off went the rest of the hair to make it look like it wasn't an accident.
today--i had a repeat incident {what is going on with me??!!}--this time on cole and i caught it somewhat early!! oh, do i feel awful--a bald spot on the side of my 5-year old's head. terry said to cut it all to match--i could not bring myself to do that!! not so bad from the front view:
but the side tells all!! poor kid. . . and he didn't even get upset with mommy! now, how sweet is that? after his haircut he look in the mirror like it was no big deal. his only comment was that i did to him just what i did to daddy! thankfully, in about 2 weeks, he'll be back to "normal!"

a great decision

2010-01-09T19:03:00.000-05:00

i found this picture on my camera. . . taken by kiddo #3! i'm not quite sure when he did this, but it's a bit of a reminder to me that the choice to "agree with Santa" to bring us a puppy for Christmas two years ago has been a good one. the boys treat the dog like their 4th brother~~as you can tell from the picture! cole put him on the couch {at least he obeyed the rule that he is not allowed on the couch unless you are with him AND he is on a blanket} and offered up his DS. . .now that is some puppy♥love!

popcorn!

2010-01-07T10:11:00.004-05:00

i don't really have a good heavy pan to pop corn on the stove, so we have always just done the next easiest solution: microwave popcorn. it changed this week when i broke out one of my Christmas presents--a popcorn popper--and were the boys ever excited to see it in action. so fun to watch their eyes light up at such a sight--something we all grew up with. and the taste--mmmm. so much better with fresh butter and salt. good-bye microwave popcorn!

first "big" snow

2009-12-31T11:57:00.001-05:00

it seems like we have gotten a lot of snow this month, but it has been too warm for it to accumulate. finally we got about 4 inches this past week--enough to squeek a couple hours of outdoor play in!

christmas 2009

2009-12-25T11:36:00.004-05:00

after church and a Christmas eve dinner out, the boys rushed in the door to run upstairs and look under their pillows to find their "matching jammies." they can never seem to figure out how they get there, but know that they are from mom and dad and love getting them! funny. we had a great evening at home, opened santa gifts the next morning and then headed to grandpa and grandma's house for the day {a favorite gift was the snuggie that each boy got!}! of course we had fabulous food and were content to do lots of relaxing!

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T18:27:00.000-05:00

moritz family christmas

2009-12-20T09:10:00.003-05:00

terry's mom & dad headed to indy the weekend before to celebrate Christmas--we loved having them stay with us, were treated to a yummy Christmas dinner, a lot of relaxing, present opening, and breakfast out before they went back to IL. as always, the cousins can't get enough of being together! i loved watching their faces as they opened their presents!! the 3 little guys all got DS's from grammie and papa, soph got a wii fit, gracie was thrilled with lots of gift certificates and luke received a combo b-day/christmas gift of an ipod touch. seems shopping is starting to get simplified as the kids get older--they want more expensive gifts {which also means it is less to buy}

the parties~

2009-12-18T20:58:00.000-05:00

the kids are always so anxious for the last day of school before Christmas break. today was no exception! All the excitement, of course, is for the class party. a bit different than when I was a kid--now no outside food is allowed into school--so they each got a slush cup and a bag of snack mix {i guess the kids don't know any different, but it makes me sad to think about what they are missing!} cole's class played a very exciting game of musical chairs!

cole has made LOTS of friends this year, but he has found one best buddy who is just sooo sweet!

the exciting game in first grade was "pass the present." a box wrapped about 12 times --kind of like hot potato, but when the music stops, you want the present so you can unwrap it to see if you get to the surprise inside! grant was the one who got to open the box!luke's class was a bit more tame!!--they had two craft stations that kept them very busy--the hard one was the origami Christmas tree that was amazing when it was finished!

hey santa-

2009-12-18T19:44:00.001-05:00

last friday night we took our annual trip to Reynold's to visit Santa. this year the boys all wanted to sit together on Santa's lap, ah, brotherly love. cole decided he was going to pull on Santa's beard to make sure he is "the one," but he chickened out! their faces are just amazing to watch during this magical moment. i love this picture of grant talking to Santa--so serious and satisfied yet filled with excitement.

long lost blogger

2009-12-16T22:27:00.002-05:00

it's been a month and a half since I have blogged. I have pictures and stories to share, but have had no time to share them! soon, though--my busy season is just about over and I am looking forward to Christmas break to catch up on a few things--like blogging. until then, i leave you with a photo of a few crazy kids!

luke is 9

2009-12-13T20:08:00.000-05:00

it's hard to believe that luke is half-way finished with childhood. 9 more years and he heads off to college--sure hope that the next nine years don't go as fast as the first nine. something tells me that time is not going to slow down--so for now we just have to enjoy each day we have. luke's birthday was a simple celebration--after church we had lunch with grandpa, grandma and uncle brett. we had subway! funny. that is what luke requested--that sure made it easy on mom! after opening presents the boys enjoyed unlimited wii play with luke's new games. then, off to his friend's birthday party for the evening.

God has blessed luke in so many ways--he is a great big brother, responsible and helpful. he is healthy and happy and loves to be with others. he is a great gift to our family. we love you, luke!

2009 Halloween

2009-11-01T21:36:00.002-05:00

So thankful that the rain stopped in time for Halloween. . . .it was a bit blustery, but I don't think the kids even noticed!! Grant insisted on being a pumpkin! hmm. nothing easier than using a leaf bag. Thanks to hand-me-downs from cousins, and Terry's Chicago Bears helmet from when he was a kid, Luke got to be Brian Urlacher. And Cole, well, he was the last of the 3 to wear the spider costume {I think we got our money's worth!}. Of course we enjoyed a brief stint with the cousins, an annual thing that i think we are realizing is getting harder to do as the kids get older. And so this ends our fall break! The kids are ready to go back to school--so thankful that they all enjoy it so much. I think I am ready for them to go back to school :)!

cousin days

2009-10-26T20:53:00.002-04:00

our kids love, love, LOVE their cousins. cole says his best friend is joey. . . 6 months apart, they get along great. luke jumps at every chance to be with his cousins and grant has a special place in his heart for Grace...it's a connection of some sort.

so, of course the kids have been thrilled that the cousins are getting a tree house. a very cool tree house. grammie and papa have come 3 of the last 6 weekends to help build it. this means that on those weekends they have had cousin days and are more than over-joyed! this weekend the cousins and grammie hung out at our house and one of the highlights was making, decorating AND eating Halloween cookies. mmmm.

Grant is the Champ!

2009-10-13T21:28:00.008-04:00

Since August Grant and Luke have both been playing fall baseball. . .wow we've watched 3 games every Sunday--it's been great to watch them both grow. This past weekend was the tournament. Luke's team lost in the first round, the end to a well played season.

Grant's team, on the other hand ended their season tonight, after winning all 4 tournament games! They did such a great job and won tonight's game 4-3.It was exciting for Grant to play against our neighbor and a super-duper friend, Owen! Both boys had some super hits tonight!So thrilled with the ginormous trophy!! That might take me hours to dust! :)Uncle Brett brought this giant cookie to Grant after the game. Grant thought he would get to eat the whole thing himself. . .hmmmm...
Congratulations Grant! We are so proud of Y-O-U!!

pickin'apples

2009-10-02T07:58:00.004-04:00

Last weekend we headed to Tuttle's for our annual apple picking! The kids are AlWAYS anxious for this outing. . .it never seems to get old! What started off as a cloudy, crummy day turned out to be absolutely perfect!
I realized that when the kids were little it used to take us a few hours to pick the apples, corral the kids, help them pick the apples etc. Wow, have things changed! We kind of stood back, let the kids do the picking before we even knew it the bags were full!

mmmm. . . i think the best part of picking apples is eating the carmel apples after we are all done. . .this seems to be the best part for someone else too!

couponing. . .

2009-09-03T20:54:00.005-04:00

So many of you know that I use a lot of coupons. My kids know that we don't buy something at the grocery store unless we have a coupon. Typically, we only eat at restaurants that we have coupons for etc. Over the year, I can only imagine how much money it has saved us.
The other day, one of my college roommates said she was going to be in Indy and was going to go to KMart to do their super double coupons. WHAT??!!?? We don't have a KMart!! Sure enough we do--only about 15-20 min. away--worth the trip! She here's a little picture of the things I picked up for just a little over $2:

Pretty amazing. isn't it?? I did spent about another $15 on other items that we use a lot and with the double coupons were still much cheaper than I could normally get.

This past year when Terry was completely self-employed, getting things for free or almost free was a huge blessing. And, even now as we are half self-employed and half employed at the firm our budget is super tight. So again, we are thankful for bargain shopping trips like the one I took to Target this week (and spent $1.86!!!):

back to school '09

2009-08-12T11:57:00.005-04:00

It's here already. . .back to school 2009! They have been anxious all week! Mommy was ready, until they all drove away on the bus-how is it possible that they are old enough, I feel like I should still have a house full of toddlers running around! Enough of the sappy stuff {i could go on and on!} Here are the handsome boys. . . the new official grades: grant in first grade, Cole in Kindergarten and Luke in third grade!
Anxiously awaiting the arrival of the neighborhood kids for our back-to-school breakfast celebration!Kids and parents starting to gather AND enjoying muffins, granola bars, fruit, coffee cake and of course Starbucks for the moms and dads (thanks, Lori!)!
What a crew--hope the bus driver is ready for this! So thankful for wonderful neighborhood kids!The bus has pulled away. . .do we cry or rejoice??? hmmmmm. . .i think there was a little of both.

thirty-nine and 7

2009-08-11T09:08:00.005-04:00

It is birthday time at our house. Terry turned 39 on the 7th and Grant turned 7 on the 8th! Actually, it would almost be easier if they were both on the same day (at least for mom, that is!). This year because of a business conference that Terry needed to go to, we celebrated both guys birthdays on the 7th! Of course, each gets their own cake-Terry gets a lead cake and Grant gets and ice cream cake.
Grant and Terry enjoyed a little fishing in the morning, we all went to the Golden Corral for lunch (grant's choice--he likes the ice cream bar!!) with grandpa, grandpa and uncle B.) and then the two went off to a movie in the afternoon. Such a great perfect day.
Hard to believe that Grant is 7. Seven. That seems old to me, only Luke gets older, but in reality they all do. It has been fun to watch him this week express how EXCITED he is for first grade. Such a thrill to have his OWN desk and supplies that he does not have to share. G got lots of legos for his b-day. . .he will sit at the table for hours building his masterpieces all while singing at the top of his lungs--it's quite entertaining!
So the boys each picked out a present for Terry and Cole picked out this fly swatter in yellow (cole's favorite color!!). funny. don't you love the flower??!!

On Grant's birthday DAY Terry had to be gone so we went off to spend the afternoon at a local water park. I am amazed how the kids spent 4 1/2 hours going down 2 water slides over and over again. Fun fun.

troyer family reunion

2009-07-27T11:20:00.004-04:00

two weekends ago we enjoyed a SUPER great day in Archbold, OH with my mom's (5 sisters and their families) side of the family for a little reunion. the boys can't wait to go back. . .who wouldn't want to go back after a day filled with food, waterslides, high dives {proving my almost 39 year old husband can still do back flips off the diving board} , tractors, farms, cows and a brand new play area to explore!

happy 4th of july

2009-07-04T18:51:00.002-04:00

it has been a cool and rainy 4th of july. . . so i guess it is a good thing we did our "celebrating" on the 3rd! the cousins {minus grace who was off with a friend for the weekend--missed ya gracie!} spent the day at our house. although it was a bit cool, we headed off to the splash park and playground--seemed that joey was the only one tough enough to play in the chilly water.

the kids decided they would rather swim in the pool where the water was MUCH warmer!then it was off to uncle j and aunt l's house for a camp out. . . mmmm hot dogs, s'mores and dough-boys all topped off with an outdoor movie [Pink Panther 2]. the kids seemed to like it more than the adults--check out how glued they are! We had intermission to go watch Conner Parairie Fireworks--great show--and of course there were sparklers {what would the 4th be without them?}.

of course there was a big tent sleep-over with the dads--thankfully the rain held off until today so the kids enjoyed some super-fun playtime indoors.
makin' memories.

arctic swim lessons

2009-07-02T19:26:00.002-04:00

thankful for a really warm heated pool this week since it has been as low as 67 for a high one day and the kids are taking swim lessons in the morning. luke is taking a swim team prep class with his cousins {these kids absolutely LOVE being together}. . .their speed and stroke development are coming along!grant has started working in breast stroke, wow! can i see a lot of terry in him:)
a bit of diving practice for cole--they have all worked really hard and are coming along! and a huge thanks to miss stephanie who keeps cranking up the heater!

all-star game

2009-07-01T12:41:00.000-04:00

luke made the all-star team again this year--always a privilege--and played a double header last night. the kids had a great time and luke enjoyed getting to play ball on the same team with his buddy {and our neighbor} drew.the boys got trophys for a great season of play

check out the headbutting. . . grant and cole shared a slurpee during the game and i think it was "game on" to see who could drink the most while trying to push each other's heads out of the way.

ahhh, the freedom festival

2009-06-28T15:22:00.001-04:00

our boys always love heading out to the fishers freedom festival. . .new this year was a kid run. i think it could have been much longer, and so did they--maybe next year! of course, EVERYONE got a medal!

the favorite activity of the weekend had to have been the water balloon sling shots {every boy's dream--big boys included--}it seems that no matter where we go cole can manage to find dogs or puppies to pet. today he found two CUTE lab pups, i think he could have pet them for hooooours!another highlight was the rock wall. . .seems that cole blew his bros out of the water on how far he could get!

and of course, what would the freedom festival be without the p-a-r-a-d-e??!!! we always watch this one with grandpa and grandma. it seemed a bit sparse on the candy this year {a sign of our economy???} but the kiddos still had a blast.

beatn' the heat

2009-06-24T16:33:00.000-04:00

so HOT here. . .as i am sure it is everywhere. the kids love, LOVE our neighbor's new triple slip n' slide. it was an instant hit and has kept them busy for the past 2 days--a treat to mommy!

father's day '09

2009-06-21T21:26:00.002-04:00

we had a sweet simple day to celebrate. . .church, a little lunch with grandpa, home to open a few presents and then a quiet afternoon. one that fulfilled terry's father's day wish {a nap that lasted ALL afternoon, really it did, he woke at 5:30}. thanks to our fantastic neighbor we had some leftover pizza for dinner and grant and i made a lead cake for dessert. a perfect day in the eye of the beholder--we hope you loved it T!

last day of school. . whoohoo!!

2009-05-28T22:43:00.005-04:00

Here already. . the last day of school! It's been a great year with super teachers who LOVE their jobs and their students! A quick pic of my now 3rd grader, 1st grader and Kindergartner!! Everyone will hop on the bus next year--crazy.
Luke with his teacher from both first and second grade, Mrs. Vadas--thank goodness for looping!! One of the other super duper room moms put together a 50 digital scrapbook of the past 2 years--yes there were tears!And, Grant with Mrs. Walter. She made his year super. Luke had her too and we are crossing our fingers that Cole will get her next year! She also got a scrapbook--each kid put together a page. It turned out SO cute. We officially finished 5 years at Castleview PreSchool. We will be sad to leave Mrs. Lamke (right), Mrs. Simpson (left) and the other super teachers there. Our kids have been shown the love of Jesus!

finally ridin' on a two-wheeler

2009-05-27T21:45:00.001-04:00

Cole is such a sweet kid, but he definitely has a stubborn streak! Terry and I both worked with him this spring a few times to get him to ride without training wheels--and we had no luck. Cole kept saying "i can't!" Well, enough of that! On Monday I told him he couldn't play the Wii until he could ride his bike. It rained most of Monday, so there was no bike riding. On Tues. afternoon I was out planting flowers and Cole got out his bike. I watched Grant show Cole how to ride one time. Next thing i knew, Cole was riding down the street! Now, we can't get him off. . .it is his new found freedom and he keeps riding around the block over and over again!

cole plays a little ball

2009-05-19T21:28:00.002-04:00

Between lots of rain and a very busy spring schedule yesterday was the first I got to see Cole play baseball! This is such a fun age to watch and these boys are just SO cute.I have said many times that Luke and Cole are a lot alike and I am guessing that Cole will follow in Luke's footsteps and make baseball his sport. He seems to really enjoy it and does pretty well.

the shirt

2009-05-13T15:15:00.004-04:00

YEAH!! The shirts have arrived. . .my friend, and owner of www.StinkyToesDesign.com asked me to work on the artwork for this shirt.
"Keep calm and carry on"--seems to be her motto that she adapted from the original poster which was issued by the British Government’s Ministry of Information in the spring of 1939 to diminish fear prior to WWII.
She dropped off a shirt for me yesterday and it is oh-so-soft and fits great. If you want to grab one for yourself head to her site or stop in Gallery 116! You can get it in black, brown or aqua~

the last. . .pre-school mom's day program

2009-05-08T22:13:00.000-04:00

I think pre-school programs are just the sweetest! It's hard to believe that this was my last one ever. . .favorite little buddies luke (above) and derek (below)

off to a great start

2009-05-07T21:53:00.000-04:00

It has been a VERY busy spring so far with lots and lots of baseball practice. . .games are now underway and i have yet to capture a picture of Cole! T and I have been doing a lot of tag teaming because of overlapping games so I haven't seen Cole play yet. . .but I will get to this coming week :)

young author's

2009-05-05T21:43:00.000-04:00

Every year the kids write a book for Young Author's at school. . we always enjoy going to the open house to have the boys read their books to us. This year Luke's book was about about Henry Ford, it was part of his famous American project and Grant wrote a book called "All About Me."

let's. . . .PLAY BALL!

2009-04-25T14:50:00.000-04:00

A month's worth of practice is now under our belts and today was officially OPENING DAY. . .baseball season begins! Of course, I tried to get a decent pic of all 3 boys in uniform but failed!Luke played his first game of the season {btw. . .we DO feed the boy LOTS of food, even though it may not look like it!}
Grant and Cole just ran the bases, games will start this week. Cole had the privilege of having Justin Snow (a Colt's player) call his name for his base running

Billericay Park was full of activity for the kids, lots of characters, games to play, etc. and the best part was that instead of it being cold and rainy (like it usually is!) it was sunny and 80-perfect!

kindergarten round-up

2009-04-22T14:46:00.000-04:00

It seems like I just did a post about kindergarten round up. . .hard to believe it has been year since we enrolled Grant in kindergarten and now here it is time to enroll Cole. We visited all the kindergarten classrooms, toured the school and the best part of all??!!! The bus ride! This year the driver even stopped and had the kids practice getting on and off the bus and went over bus stop rules. . . big stuff!

the zoo

2009-04-21T14:42:00.001-04:00

It's not often that I get to do something special with just one of the boys, but today we headed to the zoo with our neighbors. It was a beautiful morning and all the animals were out and about. Cole's favorite part of the day was petting the sharks!

little dough boy

2009-04-19T19:10:00.002-04:00

Cole and I made pizza for dinner--of course, he decided he would stretch the dough out by himself and he did a PERFECT job! He spun it into a perfect circle--not bad for a 5 year old! {BTW--the yellow stuff on his nose is from all the dandelions he rubbed on it today!}

our neighborhood of boys

2009-04-18T19:02:00.000-04:00

Our backyard backs up to a bunch of other backyards. . .and it's seems to be the trend that anyone who is in our "circle of yards" who has a baby has a boy. We are VERY blessed with boys and of course our kids are thrilled to have 13 boys so close by! Today the neighbor was fixing his sump pump hose and doing a bit of digging. Let's just say I didn't get all the boys in the picture, but we had a lot of happy boys digging in mud yesterday--it was quite a hoot to see about 8 boys and one dad looking at a hole!

easter boys

2009-04-12T20:24:00.000-04:00

Did you catch the matching outfits??? Terry just LOVES when the boys are all dressed alike ;) !! We have to thank Aunt Lori for the great hand-me-downs! Despite the outfits we had a great Easter day, celebrating our risen Savior and eating a yummy lunch at grandma's house!
As usual, we went to the Fishers Easter Egg hunt on Saturday--luke didn't get to join us for our 3 minutes of fun this year because he was off with a friend hitting the water slides at Carribbean Cove! The extras in the picture are Owen (our 4th kid!) and his cousin.
And--i can't leave out the annual easter egg dying photo:

libby's egg hunt

2009-04-04T21:51:00.003-04:00

So there is a little girl in Grant's Kindergarten class. . .Libby. She is the teeniest, cutest little thing. On the first day of school, parents can put their kids on the bus and drive to school to get a picture of them after they get off the bus. Libby's mom caught this pic of Libby staring at G. . .it was the first time they saw each other. They think the world of each other. Our family was invited to and Easter Egg hunt at Libby's house. We had great weather and the kids had fun.
I think Grant missed out on getting a lot of eggs because he was too busy trying to get this one on top of the monkey bars!

Henry Ford

2009-04-01T18:18:00.002-04:00

In second grade today there was a "Famous American Museum." It was quite exciting--for a little over a month now the kids have been working on their report about a famous American as well as doing a project. Each student turned their report into a "Young Author's Book." Today all of the kids dressed liked their American and gave a short little presentation when people went to their "station." The kids did a great job presenting, knew their material and looked absolutely adorable. Luke was Henry Ford. . .wasn't he just so CUTE???!!!?

dry spell

2009-04-01T17:42:00.002-04:00

It's been a while, hasn't it??? I would say the last 2 months have been a bit uneventful--nothing over the top to write about. So, here comes spring!! A full schedule of events. . .so finally, you can put on your reading hats and enjoy!

a girl called our house today

2009-02-19T19:53:00.004-05:00

It's official. For the very first time, a girl called our house and asked to talk to one of MY sons!!! A little girl in Grant's class called him. She wanted nothing, really. It wasn't much of a conversation, but I was cracking up the WHOLE time! He just kept looking at me with a face that was expressing "why in the world did she call me???!!!?" Before I knew it they were done talking. Hmmm. Let's hope this doesn't happen again for another 10 years.

it finally happened!

2009-02-13T19:42:00.000-05:00

Grant has waited 6 1/2 years for his first tooth to come out. . .and finally it came! We are used to a lot of fussing with his big brother when it is time to pull a tooth out, so it was extremely pleasant to have a kid who was willing and ready to have his tooth pulled. When it was over he said, "that's it? it's out?" Now he is anxious for the next 2 loose teeth to be loose enough to pull!

five. celebrated.

2009-02-02T20:41:00.002-05:00

So the cake is, um, different!! This is the character called "boo" from Mario. I think Cole picked it because we call him "boo"??? anyway--uncle brett decorated it for him and he LOVED it!

We continued on the celebration today with family--grammie and papa made a visit from Springfield and of course, what would a celebration be without cousins. . .and Aunt Lisa {we missed you Uncle Joe!}, Uncle Brett, our new special friend Christina! and grandpa and grandma! Thanks everyone for sharing in this special day!

It was great fun to spend some time together. . .we all went to see both Luke and Grant play basketball games and then celebrated Cole's b-day at our house for dinner

five.

2009-01-30T19:59:00.000-05:00

Cole turned 5 today. five. FIVE!!! I know it's just five, but you would have thought my baby was leaving for college!!!. . .Five is a milestone--there are no more babies in our house, we're moving on! everyone is getting to be self-sufficient {kind of}, it' just a new, but different stage of life. Enough of this. . .

Back to my FIVE year old! He had such a super day. . .of course, he had a little celebration at school and then had a "Mario Party" with his friends in the afternoon. The boys at this age don't really care what they do at the party, they just love to be together.

Cole's birthday dinner pick was Qdoba, yUM! He loves their queso chicken burrito :).

5 things we LOVE about you, Cole:
1. your tenderness both inside and out!
2. your passion for cooking :)
3. your ability to "play with the big dogs" {the big brothers}
4. your dark brown eyes & glasses!
5. How much you love your "lanky" and obsession of "melling" it!

you never know. . .

2009-01-21T20:00:00.001-05:00

what could happen in the future:

baby einstein

2009-01-20T21:34:00.002-05:00

On Sunday, the kids got out all of our old Baby Einstein videos. . . It used to be that when Luke was a baby, we would sit and watch these videos with him. . .as we added more kids to our family, the videos became my 5:30 pm baby-sitter {the dreaded "witching hour"} so that I could get dinner on the table by the time Terry came home. There is just something about them. . .the music, the toys and of course the soothing voice of Julie Clark!
All of this to say that on Sunday, each of the boys picked out their favorite baby einstein video and watched them together. Amazing how it brought back a rush of feelings, i love the sweet memories!

basketball for grant

2009-01-17T21:09:00.000-05:00

grant had his first basketball game this weekend. . .always so fun to watch kids play a sport for the first time. . .we love the free humor!! with that being said, he played a SUPER game and we can't wait for next week!

finally

2009-01-14T20:50:00.002-05:00

it seems like they boys have been waiting since november for enough snow to play in. even though it wasn't packable snow. . .they were content to play outside for a few hours--before the arctic freeze set in.

mommy cards

2009-01-08T18:38:00.004-05:00

I just added a new collection of "mommy cards" {aka business cards, contact cards, play date cards, daddy cards, tween cards, grandma cards and the list goes on} to my site: MoritzFineDesigns. Check 'em out!

kwik kleen

2009-01-02T21:23:00.003-05:00

My laundry room has never been decorated. . .do you decorate a laundry room? Six years in our house and I have never quite figured out what color to paint it. Turns out that our new neighbors are gutting their kitchen and they are giving us their kitchen cabinets that match ours to use in the laundry room. . .this was motivation to FINALLY get it painted for a bit of a make-over. Part of the make over is having one wall of pictures. . today we headed to the Kwik Kleen Coin-Op for a few photos. My super great college friend Traci {Traci Falder Photography} was in town and snapped a few silly shots--just perfect for the make-over!!

the goo

2009-01-01T23:03:00.006-05:00

We call him "the goo." All I wanted was one sweet picture. It took about 12 shots to get one good one. I think his name suits the personality.

A little more celebrating

2008-12-30T22:54:00.000-05:00

Terry's parents came to Indy on Christmas night and stayed through the weekend to celebrate the Moritz Christmas. The kids, of course, love to be together non-stop! We went downtown to the Spaghetti Factory for our "Christmas Dinner" the day after Christmas.
The kids {big ones included} got in plenty of time playing the Wii, eating a ton of great food, a bunch of relaxing and even a nap or two!

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T22:31:00.004-05:00

The boys love to come home from church on Christmas Eve to find jammies under their pillows {the only "matching" outfits daddy thinks are cool!}. This year they were pumped to have sock monkey jammies. Funny.

We had a super day on Christmas Eve. . .celebrating with the yummiest brunch at my mom and dad's house as well as little gift opening. Star Wars seemed to be quite the theme this year, at least for the youngest 2; Luke chimed in on the shirts, though. After church we headed to Bravo for a great dinner, thanks to a client who sent us a gift card!!

Santa stopped by for some milk and cookies and left a few things for the boys. The favorite stocking stuffer were the spinning toothbrushes!!

We headed to Champaign for the day to celebrate with Terry's extended family. Cole got to reuinte with Ellie. . .she was the spark that led us to Wrigley. And so the beat goes on. . .daily do I hear our boys say "Wriggy, I love you." and hug and kiss the dog. He is the light in their lives and has found a special place in, yes, all of our hearts. We celebrated one year with Wrigs by watching the video of last Christmas when Santa brought us the tiny pup!

we believe!

2008-12-21T19:48:00.005-05:00

holiday parties

2008-12-19T19:25:00.001-05:00

All the boys had their Christmas parties at school today. . .last night it looked like there might not be school today due to a big ice storm coming our way. Unlike most times there is a chance that school might be cancelled or even delayed, they were hoping for school!! Their wish came true, we ended up with lots of rain. I got to join in the fun at both Luke and Grant's parties. Luke's class has been together for a year and a half because his teacher looped. It has been SO fun to watch these kids grow and develop as well as build some really strong friendships.
Not only was today special in Kindergarten because of the party, but it was also Miss Weither's last day of school in Grant's class. She is a student teacher from Butler and has been with the kids since the first day of school. . .they don't know what Kindergarten is like without her. The kids just love her {of course!!} and will have to adjust come January. Grant, although he would not want to admit it, is NOT happy she is leaving. I am sure Miss Weither will be back a time or two to visit!

luke turns 8 and celebrates with a Wii Party

2008-12-13T22:08:00.004-05:00

Luke turned 8 today! The day he was born seems like yesterday. . . it was a super cold day with a snow storm outside. It was also the day George W. Bush was finally declared President almost one and a half months after the election.

Eight years later Luke has turned into a great kid that we are SO proud of. He is a self-motivated guy who is eager to please. God gave him to us first. . .to be a great big brother who is also a responsible rule follower!

Luke chose to celebrate his birthday with friends by having a Wii Party at home last night.
He was joined by a goofy group of friends and family. . .the kids held a Wii Bowling Tournament and made homemade personal pizzas.

The cake was a huge hit. . .a great big thanks to uncle Brett for making this wii remote control cake. Isn't it amazing?

For Luke's birthday today, we had somewhat of a normal day because of the activities we had planned. . .a Christmas breakfast at church and a basketball game this afternoon (a super birthday game for luke--scoring 16 points!). Tonight we headed to grandpa & grandma's to celebrate with a McDonald's dinner and scotcharoos at Luke's request!

cole's last preschool christmas program

2008-12-12T21:39:00.000-05:00

This is it. The last pre-school Christmas program we will ever attend. We have had 5 straight years of programs at Castleview, sometimes because we had 2 kids in preschool at the same time we would see multiple programs. It is always fun to watch kids this age, some with much timidness and others with no fear at all!

Cole was a Magi this year as well as an angel in the "Ten Little Angels" song. He did a super job!

After the program we all enjoyed cookies and punch back in the classroom. A special time when we received gifts from Cole and got to socialize a bit with others from the class.

Of course, what would a post about preschool be without a picture of Cole and his VERY best BUDDY, Derek! These two have such a special friendship, they enjoy carpooling to school together, many play dates and love "bossing" each other around at school!

annual gingerbread house making with grandma

2008-12-10T21:22:00.000-05:00

Every December the boys can't wait to spend an afternoon with grandma (and sometime Uncle Brett, as was the case this year) making gingerbread houses. Luke and Grant had a half day of school today, so it was the perfect day to head to grandma's house for a candy-filled afternoon.

I was pretty impressed with the thought that went into their houses this year and the ability for them to do a lot of it on their own. Each year their houses become more "of their own." Luke made a dog house for Wrigley in his gingerbread backyard and Grant added a garage to his house!

gingerbread houses

2008-12-04T22:12:00.000-05:00

Luke went with his class to visit Conner Prairie on a field trip to see all of the gingerbread houses and learn about how Christmas was celebrated in the 1800's. Later in the week all of the parents were invited to come make gingerbread houses with their child. We had fun using LOTS of frosting to make all of our candy stick!

Afterward, the second grade had their caroling Christmas program. Luke had a speaking part, he memorized it and did perfect.
Each class got to "play" the carol they sang on the xylophones!

we are thankful for. . .

2008-11-27T22:11:00.000-05:00

The boys each wrote a list of things they are thankful for:

Cole—Mom, Dad, Wrigley and Christmas tree

Grant—Christmas tree and a Ferrari {funny, he doesn't have one!}

Luke—Wrigley, that we got him for Christmas and that he looks like Chewbacca

Wrigley (written by Luke)—Is thankful for his girlfriend, the turkey {yes, Wrigley found a new love this thanksgiving, eating scraps of turkey made it his happiest day ever!}

thanksgiving feast. . .pilgrim style

2008-11-26T21:52:00.001-05:00

This week at school, Grant's class was studying the pilgrims. They ended their study with a thanksgiving feast. After the kids got all of their food, Mrs. Walter asked them stand and told them they were going to have to eat like the pilgrim children did {they ate standing up!}. . .hmmm, thankfully she let them sit after a minute or two. Look at how the expressions on the kid's faces changes after they sat down!!

young chef's academy

2008-11-22T23:01:00.000-05:00

Last Christmas Cole got a gift certificate to take a kids cooking class at the Young Chef's Academy. His age group only has classes offered on Saturdays. . . so, we finally got him scheduled for a class. Just a small group, Cole and 2 other girls, made "Healthy Apple Crunch" (aka Apple Crisp). The kids did great. They peeled and chopped all the apples without help. It took a while, but they got it done.
With a little guidance, they got everything measured out and mixed up. We had a happy kid who LOVED his class. He is always the first one in our house to head to the kitchen with the desire to help. I would imagine that someday he will be one of those husbands that cooks dinner!!

basketball begins

2008-11-22T22:45:00.001-05:00

Luke started his basketball season today. Luke has a few friends on the team, which always makes playing even more enjoyable for him. The Raptors are off to a rough start; they suffered a 40-10 loss today. Hopefully, things will turn around--we are always amazed at the progress a team makes together from the start of a season to the end. We'll keep you posted on how things turn out!

emma & harrison

2008-11-03T21:03:00.003-05:00

A good friend of mine {and my former teaching partner} asked me to take a few pix of her kids. . .I was glad to help her out and we had so much fun! Here are a few of my favorites:

monumental marathon

2008-11-01T20:14:00.001-04:00

Today was the inaugural monumental marathon downtown Indy. . .there was both a full and half marathon. Our family, along with some others from church, worked a water station about the 10th mile into the full marathon. It was really inspiring to watch the runners while handing out water. We could not have been more proud of the boys {they were in charge of picking up all the cups that the runners throw on the street}, they kept the street clean while cleaning up thousands of cups, never once complained and even asked to do it again next year!

halloween 2008

2008-10-31T20:24:00.003-04:00

Oh, we have way too much candy in our house, but the kids had fun getting it all. It is always tradition to trick-or-treat with the cousins. . .it was our turn to go to their neighborhood this year. We had beautiful weather--the 70 degrees was joyfully welcomed after a VERY chilly week. This year Luke was Darth Vader and Cole was Anakin, Grant was a blow up elephant--this was the funniest costume (we borrowed it from a friend) because it had a battery pack and fan inside of it that kept the elephant looking plump!
In the afternoon, while Luke was still at school, I took the other boys to trick-or treat at the Town Hall, Fire Station and Police Station. The boys loved the desk at the fire station--it even lit up!

disney world

2008-10-26T16:21:00.007-04:00

We could not have asked for a more perfect fall break--we flew to disney and enjoyed 80 degree, sunny weather with a breeze everyday. The kids had a blast. . .

Cole experienced "the magic". . . out of all 3 boys, he was the most in awe of his surroundings--Luke remembered most things from the last time we were there, Grant remembered some and Cole didn't remember any of it--this was a great thrill for him!There is a new roller coaster at Animal Kingdom called Expedition Everest (it is in the mountain in the background of the photo)--you get to see the Yeti in it--and the kids couldn't wait to ride it. We all got to ride every coaster(minus Rockin' Roller Coaster for cole, he was too short) in the 4 parks, Cole LOVED space mtn. and rode in the front 5 times!! We have decided that the youngest 2 boys love roller coasters and luke could take them or leave them.

Our favorite day of the trip was the day we got to spend with dear friends--the Michel family moved to KY 2 years ago, so our visits are few and far between. We so enjoyed doing the Magic Kingdom with them. . .it was also a great break for our kids to be with friends (it's amazing that we didn't hear much arguing this day!) Don't you love the crazy hats? Thanks Michels for joining us, we loved it!

One of the things the kids were most looking forward to was making their own light sabers (I have been known to say that we could get rid of every toy in our house except light sabers and my children would still be happy!)! Of course we headed to Downtown Disney the very first night we were there so they could make them, I loved watching them, they were so excited! (and a great big thanks to grandpa & grandma for the souvenir money!)
We did get to enjoy some pool time, too at our resort. The boy's favorite part was the waterside and the pool games led by the lifeguards!

2008-10-25T20:36:00.000-04:00

We made it through football season. . . they boys had their last game which, after half-time, turned into a game of kids vs. coaches! Everyone had so much fun {while trying to stay warm} and we enjoyed watching the boys on play on the same team.

puppy turns 1

2008-10-11T07:00:00.003-04:00

Wrigley turns 1 today. . .time sure has flown by. Considering I am NOT an animal lover of any sort, I am glad that Wrigley has become part of our family. Our boys are passionate about their "fluffy little brother" and not only do they have fun with him, but he has taught them responsibility in the past year. What better way for our boys to learn that even though they don't feel like doing something (like taking W on a walk) it needs to be done. I, on the other hand, have had to get used to have a "shadow" follow me everywhere as well as feel about 20 nudges a day on my calf from a dog begging to be pet!

After lots of pleading from our boys, I finally gave in to throwing a "dog birthday party" for Wrigley. So, yesterday we had 3 dog friends over for FROSTY PAWS (yes, they really do make dog ice cream treats) and a little play time. I think dogs and kids had fun alike!

in case you haven't heard. . .

2008-10-08T21:32:00.003-04:00

my website, littlePiggleWiggle.com has had a makeover! We have a new look and a new name. Check it out: Moritz Fine Designs
Of course, this time of year you will want to check out the brand new line of Holiday Photo Cards! If you order by October 30, you can save 10% by entering the discount code NEWSITE in the checkout.

he doesn't stop

2008-10-06T21:23:00.001-04:00

Even with 8 staples in his head, and a mom & dad who have continually been telling him to "lay low," Grant can't be still. We have found him playing football with the neighbors in the backyard, wrestling with his brothers and running through the house.

Less than 30 seconds after I look in the backyard and tell Grant I don't think jumping over the fence with huge cut in his head is a good idea, I hear him scream,"MOMMA!!!!" I run outside to find him literally dangling from the top of the fence by one foot. The foot was stuck between two slats and he is upside down, flailing! Besides his very bruised and scraped up foot, he is fine, just a few other cuts. Oh yeah, and the head is fine too.

Ever since birth he has been our most physical child--and up for any challenge. . .I'm thinking we have a long road ahead of us and most likely, a few more hospital visits.

poor grant!

2008-10-03T22:13:00.002-04:00

Tonight was the premier of the Star Wars cartoon...an event the boys have been looking forward to. Each boy invited a friend over for homemade pizza and to watch the cartoon. Grant's night took a turn for the worse when, while playing in the basement, Cole pushed Grant and he hit his head on the corner of a square post. We ended up going to the med-check and Grant had to get 9 staples! ouch! He actually did a great job, "took it like a man" and got to watch Star Wars while getting staples in a hospital bed!

stuckey farm

2008-10-03T15:44:00.002-04:00

I got to go with Cole on his field trip to Stucky Farm. All the kids love this trip and seem to learn a lot...about bees, how cider is made, how trees grow apples, how we get corn meal. . .and of course there is the every popular hay(-less) ride! Derek, in the photo above, is Cole's best buddy at school!

bowaldfest '08

2008-09-28T15:33:00.000-04:00

The boys and I headed to Illinois yesterday (terry was out of town). . . it was once again time for the annual "Bowaldfest." Simply, it means lots of food, tons conversation, a few games for the kids and a great time to hang out and catch up with family. In the photos above, the kids had to eat as much of an apple as they could without touching it--very funny--we had lots of laughs. The photo of Grant was my favorite pic of the day!

2008-09-24T17:04:00.002-04:00

Do you ever get your child's class photo and think, "Why in the world did that mom dress her kid in sweat pants for picture day??!!??" I say the same thing every year. I just can't believe someone thinks a scuzzy shirt and nasty pants are photo appropriate!

Well, this year ALL the other moms are going to be saying that about MY KID! Yes, today was picture day for Cole and I spaced it. He went to school in sweat athletic shorts, a t-shirt, tennis shoes and his old glasses (like he does every Wed. . . .he stays at school until 2 pm and they play hard when pre-K is over at 11:30).

I don't usually drive for Pre-K on Wednesdays, but the other mom who drives was sick. So, off I go to pick up the 3 boys and it wasn't until I dropped of the other 2 boys and one of the other moms said, "cool comb!" did it even begin to dawn on me what today was.

"Cole, was it picture day at school today?"
"Yep!"
"Did you remember that it was picture day?" I asked.
"Yeah, I just didn't want to tell ya!"

Smart kid--he knew he would have to dress up!

Is it ok for me to chalk this up under the "He's the 3rd kid" category??

fall baseball

2008-09-21T22:02:00.002-04:00

Luke passed up football to play fall baseball this season. . .for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. He tends to play first base and short stop most games, is doing a great job and we enjoy watching his sharpened skills!