Special Days

I haven't gotten many great shots of Andrew in action at basketball yet - but here's the little sweaty dude after playing hard for an hour and a half! His coach is in the background...


After basketball, out to lunch with the whole family...Matthew shared a seat with Uncle K...


After lunch, we stopped by to visit Grandma June...Matthew decided it was a nice place to nap...


Andrew played lullabies...

And Matty snoozed away...

Last Saturday, Mike flew in from China to visit for about a month - and his mom had NO idea! We pulled off the BEST surprise...here he is prepping for it...

And here's a video of the whole surprise going down....(A little background: Mike Skypes with us from China - video chat - he planned to Skype his mom that morning, and did so from her living room while she was downstairs! In the video, you can see them chatting at first...Dee Dee thinks she's talking to Mike in China. After a minute, Mike waves his father and I over to wave hi into the camera. Dee Dee takes a minute to figure it out and then runs upstairs!)

Click HERE for the best surprise ever!

After brunch with the Thomas gang, we came home and visited with the boys...Mike brought some Chinese money home for the kiddos - Matthew was more interested in making alien faces...

See?

Mike got the boys some awesome trainer chopsticks - I have a picture and a super cute video of them using them. Click HERE for video. :)

Jet lagged and all, Mikey still had energy for shooting hoops with the boys...

At the end of a special day, the family snuggles in for some R&R...

Matthew took this shot :)

A few days later, the boys all plug in to their video games while Mom cooks dinner...

And a bonus morning shot - Trixie wakes her boy up every morning for school. She's the best alarm clock - morning smiles guaranteed!

We're Current!

I JUST took these pictures - like within the past half hour!

We're having a great afternoon...Matthew conked out after getting cozy with his new quilt, all of his snuggly animals, his beloved Winnie The Pooh sticker book, some hot cocoa and a homemade chocolate muffin. :) He's still laying here next to me as I blog. I should wake him soon, so he can sleep tonight - but I hate to disturb his peace!


Andrew's best friend/classmate, J.T., came home with him today after school. They played basketball outside for awhile and then came in to get a snack and do their homework. I made chocolate muffins with a secret ingredient (shhh - don't tell them they were healthy muffins - no eggs or oil - just pureed pumpkin and cake mix! YUM!) All the boys LOVED them!


And last, but not least - our new babies. :) These two little boys are named Rocker and Roo. They are baby mice...very sweet and SUPER adorable!

Gingerbread House Demolition

Playing hard to prep for gingerbread nibbling...

Smooth Andrew...

Looking good, Pop...


Matthew takes the first bite...

You never know when you'll need that knife...right, Dad?

Storytime :)

Andrew digs into his house...

And of course, after you nosh on gingerbread, your face (and chest?) needs a smooth shave...

This little swimming frog was in his stocking...testing it out in the sink...

More storytime with Auntie Mel...

Emma Visits

Andrew was really proud of the mosaic he created...


My big boy, shaving already :)


Playing piano with Pop (say that 3 times fast)...

Ms. Emma got to stay with us for a few days, as her mommy got stuck back east after some nimrod decided to walk the wrong way through security (or something of the like)...we loved having her! Trixie did, too :)

Matthew in his 'place' - he has all his little toys in this area...uses the fireplace as a table...

Teresa french braided Emma - LOL!

And look! She PLAYS - like a dog - she really does! :)

I tried to give her the same ponytail Margaret has her in - it didn't work. HA HA HA! (We removed it JUST after the pictures - no worries - no Yorkies were harmed in the making of this blog.)

So you know how they say that if you're tired enough, you can sleep anywhere? Yeah. It's true.

A close-up. Poor little angel - I was making dinner and went to look for him. Couldn't see him over the counter. Just noticed he was quiet for a bit...wasn't running in and out of the kitchen. Walked around to the other side and saw him like this. I picked him up just after taking this shot and he woke up happy and joined us for dinner :) So cute!

New Years in the Islands

Trixie rode up with me, Dad, Jon and Lindsey...she's such a great traveller. Finds any means to get comfortable on the long trip up...

A gorgeous sunset greets us off of Dad's front porch...


Found a tiny mouse on the path at the alpaca farm -Maybe he was cold? Injured? Slow in any case - I picked it up and moved it into the bushes. Wanted to bring it home...but....yeah.

Stopped to say hi to Mona the camel...

Gorgeous island sunset at (what beach is this, Dad? I forgot!)

Waiting for the ferry...