School Competitions

Sam competed in his first school science fair. He picked a project about volcanos because it sounded fun =) He was testing how the viscosity of different liquids affected their flow rates. It took a looooong time for the honey to make it through the bottle! He did a great job and was a finalist at school.

In Michael's history class, the kids are assigned an out-of-class project either individually or on a team and the theme this year was "debate and diplomacy". Michael and two friends, Matt and Cameron chose to do a documentary on the Iran hostage crisis. They worked really hard and ended up with an impressive documentary. They won first place in the regional competition, qualifying for the state competition. So off we went to Austin. They did a fantastic job and made it to the final round at state.

Spring Break

Off to Durango, Colorado once again for spring break. I know I took some snow pictures but I am not finding them right now. We stayed with Brian's dad and some of our friends came along. Thomas enjoyed rock climbing in their house and of course we had to take the kids to the candy store. The picture of Amber sleeping reminded me so much of a picture of her when she was just a few days old. Some things never change....

2011 has begun...

And it started off with a dance from our tiny dancer...

Amber took a dance class at the local "Little Gym" through the fall and her big show was in early January. It was all worth it just to see her in the outfit. Adorable!

Here are some fun shots of Sam enjoying himself...modeling at Kohl's, with his indoor soccer team (he LOVED every minute of that sport) and getting ready to cheer on the Green Bay Packers with our last minute assembly cheese head hat =)

December Fun

I'm lucky to live in a neighborhood with lots of fun ladies. We have a monthly Bunko night and it was at my house for Christmas. Christmas is great fun because we do an ornament exchange as well. Em had the great idea to wear our Christmas tree skirts.

For Sam's 10 birthday, Brian and I surprised him with a night out to the Hard Rock Cafe and to see the Nutcracker. He also got an ipod with a ND skin and an Irish nutcracker. My Dad's side of the family has some serious Irish roots and Sam's dream is to attend Notre Dame and be the mascot =)

One of our neighbors is an amazing hostess. She has the house where you always fill so comfortable. Each Christmas she bakes and assembles from scratch, gingerbread houses. Enough so that each guest can do their own (100 or more). She buys an amazing assortment of candy and her husband lines the walls with Christmas themed paper. Its truly amazing and has become a tradition cherished by all.

Christmas!! This year we decided to do something different and finished the shopping, cards, etc. a little early and relax. We went to San Antonio for a few days, visiting Sea World and the River Walk. Loved it!

Foto Friday

"Picnic" lunch

Thanksgiving - Gobble, Gobble =)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving break - lots of fun and got a lot done =)

Movies (Harry Potter, Secretariat, Tangled) - not all together, different groups to different movies but we definitely did our part this year in the Thanksgiving movie weekend!

Motorcycle ride, mountain biking, indoor playground and "The Grinch" musical. Indoor and outdoor decorations up and new exterior lights (thanks babe!).

New tradition of family games on Thanksgiving morning - so fun! But best of all, wonderful food with family on Thanksgiving capped off with the Aggies beating Texas made for a fantastic day!

Ok, so family games was a hit - we played while watching the Macy's parade.

Especially bingo where everyone got to enjoy being the caller =)

I didn't do a good job of taking pictures of the family meal but we had my parents and sister Kath over and it was really great. Amber and Sam fell asleep on the couch after the game - so cute!

Thanks to the kiddos, well the older boys, we got the lights done quickly outside. Amber "helped" us by giving the plants a trim =)

Riley, our 8 year old pup, watching us work =)

Before and after of the lights. One of our original lights was broken (the one by the basketball hoop, hmmm...) and we couldn't find one to match, so we switched them all and we love them! Now those boys better not throw towards the light!!

We capped off the week with a surprise trip to see "The Grinch" at the Hobby Center. The Grinch was played by the same guy who is Ronny Rotten in LazyTown (kids show, aimed at the toddler - kinder set). He did a great job and it was really fun, very audience interactive. Now it's back to the regular schedule at least for a few weeks =)

Happy Birthday Thomas!!

Thomas celebrated his 7th birthday at the zoo. This year we started celebrating birthdays by taking the kiddos somewhere special. For the older boys we surprised them (Sam's is coming up, so he doesn't know yet where he is going =) ). Thomas starting asking to go to the zoo this summer, so we knew exactly where to take him. The weather was gorgeous and we had a great time! We got to see the new baby elephants, a 5 mo. old boy and a 7 week old girl. So cute!!

Happy Birthday Thomas!