happy birthday Mikelle

YEAR 1

Mikelle was very exited to meet Lucy for the first time! Wide eyed and speechless actually!

A friendly pat on the back!

Then the binky wars began....

Lucy: "hmmm a pink binky would be nice"

Mikelle: "I don't think so! and.....

take that."

And that was the beginning of a beautiful friendhip!!

YEAR 2

One of the first "memories" lucy has of Mikelle is inspired from these pictures in our photo album. Lucy and Mikelle are always creative in thinking of fun games to play. Like the leaf throwing game!

YEAR 3

The Cabin--deadman on the couch game.....Lucy and Mikelle took turns hoisting each others limp bodies up and over the arm of the couch

swim suits, lollipops, one beach chair and a friend to squeeze in it with! LOVELY!

YEAR 4

2 little stars

Suck in--don't breath

Year 5

must always be sitting together!

Hiking with grandpa's scout rules: the Buddie system--DONE!

Year 6 (at least Lucy was six by then...:))

school buddies!

twinners!

These are just a few of our favorite memories of a girl who really knows how to have some fun!! We love you Mikelle!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKELLE I HOPE YOU HAVE THE BEST BIRTHDAY TODAY. LOVE YOU. FROM LUCY TO MIKELLE

I HIT A CAR

So I actually hit a parked car today. That is NOT the funny part. It is one of these narrow NY streets with cars parked on all sides and I was backing out of my friends driveway and just didn't see the one. Anyways...not too bad.

The policeman that I called and came was NICE TO ME. That was nothing short of a miracle. When I called Kurt and attacked him with "I JUST HIT A CAR" before he could even say hello, he was NICE TO ME. Luckily that was to be expected.

While we were waiting for the policeman to come Owen was messing around in the glove box then paused and said "Mom, I really love you, but WHY didn't you see that CAR?"

It made me laugh anyway. Thanks Owen for throwing in that little cushion before slamming it too me!

winter beach party

I snagged this post from my cousins blog :)

By Marci

So my cousin Melanie lives 75 minutes south of us, and we're really far away from most family members, so we have to arrange to see each other at least once per month. My Soldier is off at training in Georgia for two weeks, and her daughter had a half day at school, so we just had get together to play for the day.

My oldest daughter has been concerned recently that she is missing out on all the fun at home while she's at school. So, Melanie planned a great surprise for when she got off the bus. Welcome to the [sun] + E Beach Party.

complete with Piña Colada's, the limbo, palms etc. etc.

This is for the Cornell Graduate

When it was all said and done: "That beach party...I just didn't even expect it. It was fantastic!"

A visit from Uncle Kent is bound to be exciting

I love my brother in law for many reasons. For one he makes my life more interesting. He does things like cut his blueberry muffin loaf with my cheese slicer...

He plays tricks on me, like letting the air out of our airmattress and making me think their was a hole in it and they were that uncomfortable all night...

He does things like order 6 different kinds of chocolate drinks at Max Brenners...............for himself. But he did share :)

And we tried to calm him down during the rest of the ordering process! I'm sure no one had as much fun at the resteraunt that night as we did (and our waiter)

When we went to 'The Met' together he stayed in the Frank Lloyd Wright house for 2 1/2 hours. And saw nothing else.

When out in public with my brother in law you have to get used to the fact that he will spend more time conversing with all the strangers around you, then you. So it was no surprise when he and Jen met Alec Baldwin in the streets of NYC that they had a nice full conversation with him. They also managed getting free tickets to a David Lettermen show (which I don't think they ended up enjoying all that much) and much more. I'm SO glad he and Jen came!

Thanksgiving Weekend

I thought it noteworthy to record some Thanksgiving happenings this year...

Owen's little pre-preschool goup have a thanksgiving snack...

Lucy's first school performance..."Gobble Gobble Gobble" and "The 10 days of Thanksgiving"

Adorable!

Kurt wanted to point out that all this food (including 3 different cooked birds--one turkey and two Guinnea hens) were prepared for just two families. :)

Lucy and Sabene learn how to ride a 2 wheeler!

The kids participated in a "fun run"

It was pretty fun, but the educator in me had a few ideas about how it could have very easily been made a little more fun! Like maybe not have all 70 children ages 3-12 run a 50 meter dash at the same time. By the time the children actually had enough space to start running the race was over. :)

Michael O. donates a candy machine to our family...bored blue turned into gumball red in a matter of hours a couple of coats of paint and plenty of bug shooing.

We are now the favorite house in the neighborhood!

Fall Fun

the New York Aquarium with the Chappells

...carpooling in their new van

....best sea lion show I've ever seen!!

....who knew walruses were so graceful?

....scaring the pants off Jayden and Owen in the Halloween version 4D theater

...getting stuck in traffic

...tons of fun

The Blackhams visit

Caroline's baby blessing

Eagle Project....Trail beautification

The VOLCANO....aka Van's first birthday cake

Surprisingly he still dug right in and even more surprisingly it tasted pretty good.

And NO it was not meant to be a volcano--I am sometimes a very impatient baker!

Apple Picking

It's Halloween....

Lucy won the cake walk at a ward party