The boys decided to have a camp out after school today! It was complete with a campfire, tent, and picnic snack! It is beautiful out today, especially after such a cold start! Kate will get to enjoy the nice weather in just 3 days! Ethan has begun the preparations for her arrival. They are also convinced that she too will fall victim to the Wii like the rest of our visitors. They keep saying, "She'll be begging her mom and dad to get her one when she gets home!"
Hanzie enters through the side door!

Ethan is really into cats now! He has been begging us for one almost every day and nearly everything he writes about in school has to do with cats! Here he is with Blossy (the baby) and Blossom (the mom).
Now, Will has bigger aspirations for pets. He REALLY wants a horse! We watched Flicka last night, Will's pick at Blockbuster, so the talk has increased greatly since watching it! When I explained that we didn't have the land for a horse, he had a simple solution, "I'll move to Pop-Pop Wayne's then!" Here he is with Duke and Dunny.

Late Breaking News!

For those of you who have been following the developing story of how Ethan was robbed of going to the finals in his first ever Boys Scouts of America Pine Wood Derby, there is more news to report.

Jen found out at school today that there were actually two boys that moved on from Ethan's age group that should not have. The other boy who was supposed to move on with Ethan was called on Saturday as well. He apparently left on Saturday upset too after his parents had told him that he was going to the finals. The funny thing is that the two boys that raced in the finals (who Ethan and his fellow unlucky friend had already beaten in the preliminaries) placed 2nd and 3rd place in the entire pack. Jen just laughed when she heard that, but she was still a little upset about how they treated me (remember, like a crazy father whose son's only option is to win) - enough to spread the word to some of the teachers at school.

Well, not sure what caused this, but we received a message from the Pack Leader's wife that they would be re-racing the finals, this time including the boys that deserve to be in the finals. Of course, they are not taking anything away from the boys that already won as it was not their fault either, so that's good news.

Who knew there could be so much drama from a kids' toy car race? I hate drama.

I just had to tell everyone that I'm SUPER excited for Bill and Steph and only slightly jealous! Congrats guys!!!

Super Bowl party! The boys are now happily stuffed after all their food and their "Super Bowl cupcakes."

Mix of news...

First, I have to say how sorry I am that my sister's dog Elvis passed away yesterday. If anyone knows him, he was quite a character. He was very laid back and vocal. He was very tolerant of the new children, Alina and Aidan. I know he will be missed greatly.

This week has been very stressful at work. To top it off, on Friday I started getting sick. I haven't been feeling well all weekend. Yesterday Ethan had his Pine Derby for Boy Scouts. That turned out to be a stressful adventure also. I will let Chris explain that event! After the derby, I took Will and Noah to their friend Nina's birthday party. Melissa and the girls were there as well. Sadly, it was rainy and cold most of the party. After the party Chris entertained the boys so that I could take a much needed nap. I slept for over two hours! This of course led to me being up all night last night! Melissa, Mike, and Katie came over to watch Saturday Night Live. The boys have been just hanging out at the house today while we were doing some much needed chores! They are ready for a Super Bowl Party tonight. Since neither Chris nor I have any interest in football it makes it hard to get them too excited. Chris told them that the best part of the Super Bowl is the commercials- true, true!

Today was Race Day!! And I'm not talking NASCAR people.

Today was the Boy Scout Pine Wood Derby car race. Ethan and I had been building a car (okay, mostly me, but that is what Dads are for) over the last few days and thought we had come up with the perfect design to win BIG. The car had to be a certain length and width - check. It had to weigh no more than five ounces - our design had a system for easily adding/removing weight (quarters) if needed. On race day, it came in at exactly five ounces. Here it is in all of its glory!

The day was filled with great highs and lows, and highs again. The Tigers were up first. Ethan's car won every single one of the six heats it was in. And I'm not talking about by inches, but by feet in most cases. It won big!! One of the parents even commented on Ethan's car during the race, because it was doing so well. Why I am bragging so much? Well, you are about to find out.

After all of the other age groups raced their cars, the officials had to compute the two top winners in each age group and then they would race against each other for overall age group winner. Next, the overall age group winner would get to race against the rest of age group winners for overall Pack winner. During the calculations, we noticed that they had placed Ethan's car off to the side with the cars that were not moving on. The one parent that was handling this even notified the official that he thought that this car was supposed to be moving on to the finals, but eventually he just put it back. At that point, I felt that I had to say something. I went up there and politely asked how a car that won all six heats was not moving on. They just looked at me like I was one of "those" parents that couldn't except the fact that my son's car did not win (for the record, I am not). I explained that I could understand if the races were close, but they were not. The parent that had commented earlier came to our defense as well, but it did no good. They refused to listen and Ethan left the building crying, understandably upset. Before I left, I told them that it was no big deal and that I knew it was just about having fun. Here is Ethan's car in one of its losses? Not the greatest picture in the world, but you get the point.

When we got home, Jen took Will and Noah to their friend's birthday party and I took Ethan to Chick-fil-A to cheer him up. A funny thing happened later that afternoon. We got a call from our den leader Cindy. She apologized to Ethan on the phone and said that they accidentally messed up the calculations and that he was actually supposed to go to the finals. She said that he would get the first place trophy for the Tigers, but she did mention there was nothing she could do about the overall Pack leader. Those results would have to stand as is. Well, in the end, Ethan got his trophy and all is right in the world of Boy Scouts again....well almost. I know we could have won it all!!

Ethan went to the doctor today. His x-rays now only show a hairline fracture so he is almost completely healed!! I was surprised because at his last visit on January 3rd, it had barely started to heal. He only has to wear his thumb cast for one more month. Melissa took Hanzie to the dog park this morning. She is very brave, and sweet, and took her dogs AND Hanzie and Gibbs. She said Hanzie had a great time. Thanks Melissa! She may have some pics on her blog. Today when I picked up Will and Noah from school two girls were chasing Will all over the playground. They both had to hug him a million times before he could leave. They also begged Will to take them home or to come home with them. Hmm... ladies' man???

Kate is coming, Kate is coming! We are all excited that Kate is coming and in just 11 days! Woohoo!!! Hopefully we won't bore her to tears while she is here. And hopefully Florida warms up by then. Who wants to visit Florida when it is in the 30's? Well, Chris took a picture of the bathroom and it really doesn't look anything like the color I see when I walk in there. It could have to do with the funky daytime light bulb that Chris bought for in there. The boys barely noticed that the bathroom was painted but they sure noticed the insane light bulb! Ethan goes for more x-rays tomorrow. We'll see how that goes.

Painless Monday! Things are back to normal at school this week. Testing is over so I was able to go back to meeting with my groups. After school Ethan had a dentist appointment. He remains cavity free so that was good news! Noah begged me not to "sign him up" for the dentist. It didn't work. Will and Noah will go for the first time in March. Our dentist doesn't see kids until they are five unless there is a problem. Chris painted our bathroom yesterday. Every room in our house is officially painted! We bought the paint back in May and never got around to doing it. I had forgotten what the color was even going to look like. I love it!!! He still has to caulk and put some things back, but it is almost ready. I tried to take a picture of it to post, but my camera isn't the greatest and all I got was a shiny wall thanks to the flash. Chris said he'll take one in a bit. It is cold enough in Florida that the freeze protection had to come on for our pool. Tonight we are supposed to have a true freeze. We actually had to turn the heat on! Off to get the kiddos in bed, which involves kicking them and their father off the Wii. It sounds like they are in an exciting part of Zelda so I'm sure they will be putting up a fight. Good thing they are already in their pjs and ready for bed!

We went hiking again at Spruce Creek Park. Here are a few pictures that Chris took along the way. Ethan was awfully cuddly the entire walk back to the car. I don't know if it was the fact that he was tired and needed me to lean on, or if he was truly being affectionate. Noah is all about the love!

Here the boys are making their way down to the look out. (BTW, Chris actually trusted me enough to carry his camera down this cliff.)

A little Wii action for you! Thanks to Aunt Lori's gift card they have even one more reason to play- Wario Ware Smooth Moves!

Whose moves are the smoothest? You be the judge...

The fire bowl was delivered on Tuesday and the kids had a fire bowl party on Wednesday night. They used their gift cards from Aunt Lori to help fund the purchase of the fire bowl and Wario Ware Smooth Moves for the Wii. That finally came today and they are playing that as I write this. The kids said that Noah was awesome at it! I think he got plenty of sugar in him from the pancake dinner and was ready to show off his smooth moves to Emma, Paige, Sophia, Ethan, and Will!! The boys are thankful for the cold weather. They have been able to have a fire every night since the bowl arrived. It is supposed to stay cool for some time so they should get a lot of use out if it in the near future.

This week has gone by fairly quickly. TGIWednesday!!! Last night the Orlando Science Center came to our school and brought 20 hands-on science experiments for the kids to do. I volunteered to run one of the experiments. Somehow (this shows you what they think of me), I was assigned to the Who Dung It experiment. There were pictures of animals and piles of different poop. The kids had to match the poop up to the correct animal! The kids got a big kick out of it and I loved watching each of them come up and try to figure out if the poop was real or not before they touched it! It was very realistic looking. Who knew you could buy rubber animal poop! Chris took the boys around to do the experiments while I worked my station. The boys were very lucky to get in a half hour early to check most of them out before the crowd rushed in. On Sunday Chris took the boys hiking where he has been going mountain biking every weekend. I was lucky enough to get to stay home and organize, aka get rid of, the boys' toys. We REALLY needed to weed out. Anyway, they got home and told me all about the gigantic spider, the ticks, and the horse poop! So sorry I missed it all!!!

On a hike with Dad!
This is the gIgAnTiC spider that the boys couldn't stop talking about!

We took my mom to the airport in the morning to return to freezing cold Maryland! I have to say, it felt cold at 51 degrees when we left in the morning, so I can only imagine what 21 degrees felt like to her! Since we were in Orlando, we decided to go to Universal. We went specifically to see a show there, and not surprising with our luck, the show was cancelled! The kids still got to squeeze in some rides with very short lines! After Universal I cooked enchiladas for the adults and the kids had their "pizza party." They all played Cranium's Hullabaloo while the adults ate. Noah came in to announce the winner of each game (approximately every 2 minutes). Sophia was really happy that she was big enough to play AND she actually won a round!
Here the kiddos are after riding Jimmy Nuetron. Sponge Bob was just standing there waiting to greet them when they stepped off the ride.
On their way to their new favorite ride, E.T.
Okay, Noah REFUSED to go onto the Twister ride. He had done it once and spent the entire time trembling in my arms. We stayed off and looked through the "Twister Shop." We found the perfect Valentine's gift for Will and purchased it. It of course got hidden in the backpack. Noah insisted on carrying the gigantic backpack loaded down with 3 jackets, two coolers, etc for the rest of the day to protect the secret from Will! Never mind that he basically told him what it was anyway!

Yesterday after school all the boys had their annual well visits at the doctor. Things are always so busy during the holidays that we always hold off to January to go. Ethan was pleased because he knew that Will and Noah would be getting their kindergarten shots and that he could just sit back and watch. As soon as we got in the car after picking up Will and Noah from school Ethan said, "We are going to get your shots now!!!" He is a very supportive big brother. Their doctor gave them M&Ms to munch on while they got their shots. I was proud (okay- really I was quite relieved) that there was no crying even after 3 shots each. Will went first and said nothing. Noah of course was not so quiet. After the first shot he said, "Owh, that hurt!" After the last shot the doctor said, "That last one stings a little." Noah looked at her like she was crazy and said, "Uh, they all sting!!!" They demanded that they be taken out to dinner for not crying. That led to a lot of disagreement. I said that Will and Noah could decide where we could go because of shots. Will, along with everyone else, wanted Outback. Noah wanted Tijuana Flats. That has mostly to do with the fact that he wanted some Pez with his kid's meal. Will said that even though he wanted Outback that he would have Tijuana Flats since that is what Noah wanted. So, we had Tijuana Flats! They also watched E.T. last night. They have been dying to see it ever since they went on the E.T. ride at Universal in May.

Aunt Kate, expect a phone call tonight. I told the boys your shot experience when you were little (after they got their shots of course) and they want to tell you how they didn't cry at all!

For those of you who know my dear, sweet Noah, you know that he is dependent upon his tongue to complete any task involving any amount of concentration. This clearly includes beating Mario!

We went to the beach this afternoon. Apparently, a lot of other people had the same idea because the beach was quite busy for a January weekend! The boys had fun building sand castles and wetting their toes. They got to break in their new Radio Disney NSB buckets. Chris went biking so he didn't get to enjoy the beach with us. His butt was sore and I made him bike with me more all around town!

Well, although they had more to do at this Disney event, there were long lines for everything. We headed straight to the rock climbing wall since that was the main reason we went. Now the boys can say that they have rock climbed! It was so busy that we passed all of our extra tickets out to the kids from my school because we couldn't handle any more lines!
Here we are amongst the crowds!

Melissa was REALLY excited to stand in line for 40 minutes to get cotton candy.

Will the climber!
Ethan making his way to the top.

Noah on his climbing adventure.

Last night was the premiere party! Noah had been begging Melissa for weeks to build him a fire. Despite being 80 degrees yesterday, Melissa made him one. He was quite pleased. After they had premiere party cake, they watched Jump In in the girls' room. There was a popcorn call in the middle of the movie as well. Today we are going to the Radio Disney Kidz Day. The last one was really lame, but they still want to go!

It is finally cool in Florida! We actually had to wear jackets the last two days. Tonight Chris and I rode up to Blockbuster and I had to wear not one, but TWO sweatshirts to stay warm! No worries, it is supposed to be 80 again by the weekend. The boys are really looking forward to the Jump In premiere! Only 2 days away! I think we are going to have a premiere party with the girls. It doesn't start until 8:00 so I'm not sure how that will go down since that is usually when they are in bed. We'll see. It is a 3 day weekend so maybe if they stay up late on Friday they will be able to recover by Monday.

Here is another picture of the boys at Universal. That is Zorro that they are with. It is funny to think of all the "famous people" the boys can say that they have met! I mean, come on, in one day they talked to Woody Wood Pecker, Zorro, Shrek, Thing 1 and Thing 2, Cat in the Hat, The Grinch, some Sneetches, Doc from Back to the Future, and I'm quite certain I'm leaving many others out!

Look, no front teeth! It's all the rage in the first grade!!!

We had a busy last few days of vacation. Emma's birthday party was on Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon Mike, Melissa, Chris, and I went to Universal, Winter Park, and an ever exciting trip to Best Buy. While we were out doing that, the boys went to Bobbie's with Grandma Ann for pizza and face painting.

Yesterday we went back to Universal with my mom and the boys. They were dying to take Grandma Ann. We got there when they opened and didn't have to wait in lines at all. It was 87 degrees! After Universal we went to Moe's. It was yummy, as usual! Chris went mountain biking when we got home and I went urban biking to Blockbuster! After the boys went for a ride around the neighborhood.
The boys hanging out at Islands of Adventure. They had never met Shrek and we walked out from the Shrek ride and there he was!

Here we all are at Universal Studios. I wore my super cool super hero shirt since there are so many super heroes there.

Below is Chris' new animal actor friend.
Thing 1, and Thing 2, and Thing 3, and Thing 4, and Thing 5, and Thing 6.

Today was our last official day of vacation. Since we would have had Saturday and Sunday off anyway, I didn't count those two days in! The boys have been swimming every day in the pool and spa and were getting a little tired of that as their entertainment. We decided to take advantage of our last day and do something fun. We met Chris for lunch today at McDonald's. The boys love playing in the indoor playground. After lunch we went to Plaster Blaster and the boys each picked something to paint. Of course, Twitchy (aka Noah) has already broken Ethan's!

We had a mandatory rest time after painting and the boys watched Chestnut. It was really cute! Dog lovers will especially like it. The boys loved it even though there were some potentially sad parts. (All turns out okay in the end.) They dragged half of the stuffed animals from their bedrooms for the big movie event.
Below is my official Blockbuster transportation. I've started pimping it out with a basket. I hot glued some ribbon around the basket so it would blend in with my sweet bike a little better. I only burned myself three times in the process. Chris begged me to wait so he could do it himself to avoid the burns, but I couldn't wait any longer. Watch out Martha!

January swim anyone?? It has been insanely warm here for the last couple weeks. The boys took full advantage of it today with a swim. Ethan's doctor okayed getting his finger wet today so we turned on the spa when we got home. They only lasted in the spa for a few minutes before they were diving in the pool! Ethan's finger is still not back to normal. The fracture was still very apparent on the x-ray today. He goes back in a few weeks for more x-rays. He did graduate to a small "thumb" cast. It will be much easier for him to wear that around every day.

Yesterday Miss Emma turned 6! She seemed to have a fab birthday. We met up with them at the playground in the morning and the kids ran around and acted completely nutso. After nap, my mom took the boys up to the bowling alley to bowl with Emma as requested. Ethan made the same request for his birthday. I guess the Wii bowling is going to their heads! Last night after dinner we went over to the Eagney's to sing to her. Her real birthday party is on Saturday. Once the boys were asleep Chris and I sat and relaxed in the spa for a bit. No worries, I had my glass of wine this time! We came in and started watching Black Dahlia. We didn't start it until 10:00 so needless to say I didn't stay awake for the whole thing. The first hour was really good so I'll be watching the rest tonight. Ethan has his appointment today at 2:00 for his second round of x-rays. Hopefully all goes well with that!