Trip to Crayola factory

We took a road trip to the Crayola factory this past week.  Our friends, Joe and Stephanie and their girls went along with us.  The kids had a great time and got lots of new crayons, markers, etc.  The adults were delighted to find out how the crayons are made and to our relief they're still made her in the good ole' USA (Pennsylvania even).

Mike and Alexis making beautiful things with the melted crayon wax.

Family portrait with Mr Crayon Matt goofin' around.

Aj and Matt playing with their new modeling clay!

50th anniversary weekend

Here are a few pictures from this weekend from Mike's parents 50th anniversary party.  All of Mike's sisters and brothers were in with all the kids.  Some from Arizona, some from Tennessee and some from Colorado.  It was a great time even though Alexis was sick the whole time(she still managed to give a great smile for any pictures taken). I don't have one of the special couple but when I get it I'll upload it for you all to see.  The kids really enjoyed having all their aunts, uncles and cousins here to play with.

This is Matthew's first suit.  He loved it so much he wanted to wear it on Sunday to breakfast!

The kids were attached to Uncle John and Jack all weekend.  They loved having all the family to play with.  The other picture is Matthew's dessert-pretty nice for a child's dessert!  

Waiting...

Hi all

Not too much new here.  We've just been muddling through these last few weeks of cold weather.  We just had my sister's baby shower so now we're just waiting on the arrival of baby Connor.  He's due to arrive the end of March(hopefully March 31st)

Mike got me a fantastic 30th birthday gift-a day at the spa and an overnight stay at a bed/breakfast type place.  I'm going with 3 of my girlfriends and can't wait.

Next weekend all of Mike's sister's and brother's and families will be in town to celebrate his parent's 50th wedding anniversary.  They're having a dinner for everyone so we're really looking forward to visiting and celebrating with them.  

Again, sorry I don't have much to report or too many pictures.  We're just hoping the end is in sight for winter and spring will be right around the corner.

This is from Kate and Fred's shower.  Alexis gave them a gift, which Kate picked out and paid for!  She was thrilled to give it to them and she even wrapped it herself!

Fun times

Quick pics from today...too cute not to capture! Matthew is very into slaying dragons right now. It's a step away from the princess dresses and always wanting to be Sleeping Beauty. We've talked him into being the Prince and now he has to fight the 'angry dragon.'

I'm trying to get used to Alexis' haircut. Every time I look at her she seems to look older!

Stuff

Since I haven't posted in a while I'll tell you a little bit of what's been going on. Nothing really exciting...

-I am preparing for my first exam in Psychology on Tuesday-keep your fingers crossed, I'm a terrible test taker, really, I am!

-I am going out of my mind trying to schedule my life for the next several years with my courses-when/where to take them-blah, blah, blah...Why can't PSU schedule out for the next 4 years at least. I mean, really, I'm not taking anything out of the ordinary. Work with me Pres. Spanier-I'm a planner, everybody knows it. All I want is a basic Chem class to fit in with my son's preschool. Lesson #1 Finish college before kids, it's a helluva lot easier to juggle things.

-The big discussion lately with Alexis is how she doesn't want to get her shots for kindergarten. Mike and I went back and forth on who's taking her:he'll take her, No, I will, etc. So finally last night I decided I'm the Mom, I need to be there for her (not that Mike doesn't but you Mom's know what I'm talking about.) So I've got myself all prepared for the 4 shots she's to get. Well, we find out she ONLY has to get 3-big relief. They come in, ask her to hold out her left arm and whammo--she's done! She watched them the whole time, didn't shed a tear and was amazing. I feel very guilty that I had such doubt in her! I, on the other hand, was about to cry BECAUSE she didn't cry-makes no sense I know but again, you Mom's know what I'm talking about.

So anyway, nothing exciting but something to blog about and let you all know we're still alive and kickin' and very anxious for spring.

Birthday celebration

So Alexis' 5th birthday is finally over! She wanted to have a party to invite some of her friends over. The only rule was it was all girls (a few little brothers joined in the fun and that was just fine.) We had the Tumblebus, a gym on wheels that I highly recommend, come over. All the kids around here love it. They had a great time with that and then we had cake and ice cream, presents and the pinata that ended up being a bust! Alexis had first pull of course and it came right open. I had to hold it up so all the kids could get a pull and then it was time...and the stinkin' candy necklaces clogged the whole! So much for exciting :) Anyway, a fun time was had by all. I only got two pictures that turned out...

Surviving the winter...

Hi all
Sorry for the lack of post's lately but we've not been doing much and I like it!! Alexis has had so many snow/ice/cold days lately, I think she's been home more than school. We're having a little birthday party for her tomorrow for some of her friends so I'll update on that.

Today, though, they wanted to paint with their new easel from Santa. Trying to stay busy and warm...it's a balmy 9.7 degrees at our house right now with the wind chill of about -15! I did, however, notice last night at 5:19pm that it was still light out-YIPPEE!!

Oh yea, the other news, I finally started back to college! Granted it's only one class-Psychology-and it's online from home but holy cow...the reading is crazy! We'll see how it goes, so far, so good.

Hope everyone is well and warm!

Painting their masterpiece and a little fun in the tub!