Super Swing

Grandpa K. designed and built this awesome swing for his grandkids. We call it the "super swing". We finally got to try it out last weekend while we were at Grandma & Grandpa's house for the annual pumpkin-carving party.
Ethan

Taylie

Brenna taking a very tame ride

Even I got a turn. I was afraid for Grandpa's back, swinging me around, but he said it's not really any harder than swinging the kids. It was so much fun!

Here are some clips of the super swing in action.

Virginia

Taylie and I went to Virginia for 5 days to help Stacy with the new baby. I should have taken a picture of Taylie on the airplane, because she was really excited about that. She did NOT like the boring layover in Vegas, but she loved sitting by the window, seeing the Grand Canyon, and ordering her complimentary beverage. Taylie is going to do some of the typing in this blog post.
Me and Luke love to hug!

Little chefs in the kichen cooking and cleaning.

" Oh no here comes trouble !"

Taylie and Mikah Man

Megan and Micah. Notice how Blue's Clues is on in the background. Yep, we watched a lot of Blue's Clues. I'm not a huge Steve fan, but Joe is definitely worse.

Taylie loved holding Micah! Here she is kissing his little toes.

We did spend about an hour or two each day doing something fun out and about.

We went to a nearby beach (not the ocean, but still fun). Taylie and Luke played in the sand and hunted for seashells.

Taylie waded in the water.

We went to one of those places where they have tons of bounce houses. Taylie bounced her heart out. . .

while Luke played with this little video game.

We walked around Colonial Williamsburg until Taylie's terrible behavior got so out of control that I had to lock her up for a while.

Actually that's a lie. And you know what happens to liars.

Yep, liars go in the stocks too.

Anyway, I hope we were helpful (I did wash sheets, do dishes, and scrub bathrooms) but even if we weren't, we had a great time!

Welcome to the world, baby Micah!

Tooth Troubles

I was tickling Brenna one day a few weeks ago when I noticed something strange. I made her let me look closer and my concerns were confirmed. She had a permanant tooth on the bottom, maybe 1/3 of the way in. The problem was, she hasn't lost any baby teeth yet. Her teeth weren't even loose. Taylie said she might be like a shark: she'll just grow a whole new row of teeth behind the old ones. And maybe she will. But a good thing for a shark might not be a good thing for a Brenna.
I took Brenna to the dentist and sure enough, the baby tooth in that spot had to be removed. Our poor girl was a bit traumatized by the numbing shot, and she did not like the numb feeling at all, but she was so brave! The tooth fairy forgot to visit that night, but the next night she managed to make it. The dentist said that she may have to have other baby teeth removed as well, but I hope not. Losing them naturally costs a lot less!

Blake Eats Pancakes

Exciting Weekend

I spent last weekend in Texas, attending the wedding of one of my best friends from High School. I realize now that it would have been a good idea to get a picture of the bride and groom, but for some reason that didn't occur to me at the time. I guess it didn't occur to Mom either, since she was my 'date' to the wedding and she never said anything. I did get to meet the bride, though, and she seemed really great.
Here I am with Scott (Left) and Jon (Right), two of my best friends from way back when. I didn't get to spend much time talking to either of them, since they were both involved in the wedding party and I tried to (which means I stressed about it) not be intrusive. I had a really good time though, and I'm very happy I could be there. Jon seemed really glad I came. They were seriously the best friends a girl could have.

James had an eventful time while I was gone. I flew to Texas Thursday morning. That night at about 10:30 TX time I got a phone call from Ethan telling me all about his soccer game. He was the goalie. Here's what happened: Ethan blocked a goal (his coach told me later that he blocked about 10 goals before the fateful one) and his thumb got very badly dislocated. People who saw it tell me that it looked really gross, not even like a hand at all. I wasn't there so, lucky you. there are no pictures. Anyway, some of our neighbors took the other kids while James took Ethan to the ER. They put him to sleep for a minute while they set the thumb, and now Ethan has to wear this cast for 2 weeks. He may need physical therapy but we won't know until the cast comes off.

It was an eventful weekend for all! I hope my next trip is just as fun for me, and a whole lot more fun for everyone else.

Zoo

We did several fun things while Michael was here, but the only outing I took pictures of was the Zoo trip. We started off with the train ride.
With Michael's sunglasses on, there is no way of knowing if he was looking at the camera or not. I'm gonna guess not, since that way he'll fit in better.

Brenna in front of the camels.

Taylie with a massive vulture or something in the background. It's a real bird. We weren't sure, since it didn't move at all for about 3 minutes, and then it started doing other stuff besides spreading out its wings.

The Zoo has a carousel now, which must be really new since we've never seen it before. It was a big hit. I think it was Michael's favorite part of the Zoo!

Taylie had to ride the baby elephant! Seriously, if some other kid had tried to get on that elephant, I may have had to beat them up.

Brenna went with the kangaroo. She has never before expressed any interest in kangaroos.

Amber rode the mama elephant.

This was when we stopped for ice cream cones.

I think the sugar did something to everyone.

I'm pretty sure there's some rule that every kid has to get their picture taken drinking from the lion fountain. I'm not a big rule-breaker, so here you go.

Brenna is acting scared, in case you couldn't tell.

I include this picture because we stood here for about 5 minutes watching the elephants, and here's what happened.

Blake: Mom! MOM! MOM!

Me: Yes, Blake?

Blake: It's a Ball!

Me: Yes, I see the ball.

Blake: Mom!

This conversation was repeated over and over. The other kids weren't finished watching the elephants, but finally I had to walk away.

Blake, by the way, will continue to yell "Mom" until I respond. He's nothing if not determined.

This is a huge statue of an elephant. Taylie is sitting on the trunk. Every once in a while it "sneezes" cool air out of the trunk, which is what Ethan is waiting for.

Ethan is such a great big brother!

House in Salem

For anyone who is interested, here are some pictures of the house my Mom and Dad are buying in Salem. All pictures were taken by Ethan.
Here we see the front door and the garage. Note that the yard is mowed and weed-free. The street is flat with sidewalks and street lights.

Here's the other side of the house. The 2 windows to the left of the front door are 2 bedrooms.

This picture was taken standing just inside the front door. The bay window is the dining area, and the door leads out to a very nice deck. If you turn left from here, you go to the bedrooms and bathrooms.

This picture is standin at the front door looking right, where we see a lovely built-in bookshelf (I'd be happy to fill it up if that's a problem for you, Mom) and a large window. You can also see where the staircase goes down to the basement.

Here is the kitchen, which is located just to the right of that door leading to the deck. The previous owners left their barstools. Bonus! To the right of this picture is the fridge, pantry, and kitchen desk (on the wall opposite the sink) and the door to the laundry room (on the same wall as the stove). Our favorite part of the kitchen is the backsplash.

This is the laundry room. Ethan (taking the picture) is standing about where the washer and dryer will go. Taylie is lying on the awesome bench, above which is storage for coats, etc. Michael's legs can be seen standing in the space meant for the extra freezer. The open door leads to the garage, which has tons and tons of storage shelves. You can see Amber (blue striped shirt) going through the door that leads to the kitchen. Note that there is a sink, lots of counter space, and a small desk.

This is the Master bedroom. Ethan is standing in the doorway. The closet is to your left, and to the right of the bay window is the master bathroom. He didn't get pictures of either of those rooms, but they are big and nice.

This is the bathroom in the hall, across from the two bedrooms.

Bedroom # 1 (nice clean carpet!)

And bedroom # 2. The closets are big, with nice organizers.

This is the bathroom in the basement.

Okay, here is the basement. The door you see on the left is the closet under the stairs. As you come down the stairs, you are in an L-shaped family room. Ethan, taking the picture, is at the end of one of the L forks. I know I'm butchering this description, but stay with me. So the room in the picture is the long part of the L. The short part of the L goes off to the left beyond the closet door. Off of the short side of the L there is one large bedroom, then a hallway that leads to the small bedroom and the utility room (water heater, etc.). The bathroom is in the corner of the L (you can see the door straight ahead in the picture). The room Taylie is looking into is sort of a long skinny room which will be the toyroom.

This picture is the same room, only now Ethan is standing at the corner of the L. The door on the immediate right is that closet under the stairs. The door ahead and to the left leads outside to the back yard. If the windows were open, the room would actually be quite bright.

This is the patio and the deck. The bottom door is the one leading from the basement family room, and the deck has a door leading into the dining area/family room. You can sort of see that the left side of the deck has a staircase leading down to the extra parking on the side of the house.

This picture was taken standing at the top of the extra parking. The building at the bottom is the shed.

This shot was taken from the extra parking as well, looking down into the back yard. Don't worry. It looks like some kind of huge drop, but it really isn't. It's a camera angle thing. Blame the photographer.

Here is another picture of the backyard, this time standing at ground level. The shed is to the right, and to the left you can see part of the patio. That's all the decent pictures I got, but I think it's enough to give a good overview. I think it's a great house!