Here we are . . .

So see what we've been up to! We have been busy having lots of fun! Over the weekend, Mike's cousin, Kate, came to visit from Chicago. We loved having her here. I also took the kids to a local hotel with my mom for a couple of nights and we had a mini-vacation, swimming, swimming, and more swimming, room service, etc. It was wonderful!

Here's a little video of the past couple of days. Matthew learned a new skill! (Only the first few seconds of the video are sideways--sorry!) Then check out Little Miss Personality! Molly isn't always "herself" with other people. They see the quiet, soft-spoken, sweet girl, which is definitely one side of her, but in this video, you can see a little more of what we see everyday. So cute!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy Wednesday! Love you!

Fun, Fourth, Family, Fabulous!

I truly don't even know where to begin! This first picture is of Matthew on is last day of swimming lessons (last Thursday). It doesn't go with the rest of the pics, but I just think it's pretty darn cute! He is very proud of his accomplishments in the pool! We spent the 4th of July weekend at my cousin, Jennifer's. They live out in the country in a beautiful new home, and the lake is their backyard! It was such a fun weekend! I just love this picture of Molly--mostly because she's so stinking cute, but I also love the light at the end of the day.

Cousins--how much more fun can it be??

Justin--Jennifer's husband. I need to tag this pic of him on Facebook.

More cousins!

I just LOVE this picture. I haven't edited any of these, but I think I should crop it, tweak it a bit, and frame it.

Boys will be boys. Once one of them started "going" in the lake, they all had to do it!

This may be my favorite picture.

Aiden . . . look at that precious face! Is he happy!?!

Serious fun. Playing with sticks in the lake. Who needs toys?

Jenn and Aiden in the lake. (Notice Jenn's sun-in-her-eyes squint. This is the same squint I have seen at least a million times swimming with her since birth!)

This picture cracks me up! Caden has the same little sun-in-eyes squint! Same eye and everything! I love it!

Oh look! Gorgeous was there! This is Missy Britches not too sure about getting in the lake.

Oh, wait! Daddy's with her. Everything's fine.

Oh, no it's not! Get me out! My dad came to her rescue and got Little Bit all warmied up!

Love, love Matthew's jumping skills!

Molly wasn't quite sure about the fireworks. Back safe in Daddy's arms.

Matthew WAS sure about them! HE loved them!!!!

Just catchin' up

Praise the Lord! We are all well! And we have been having the fun. I haven't been doing my "Where's Mommy in the picture" blog entries, so here I am. This should count for two or three weeks worth. Please note, I am aware that I am holding the camera out in all of these pictures of me. That's because there is no one else to take the picture. I am also aware that I have no makeup on. I'm choosing to think that I have a little tan and that it works for me in the summer. It's either that or get up earlier than the kids and that just isn't happening right now. Matthew's class had a petting zoo last week. This was the day after he was so sick, and I just took him for 15 minutes to go to the petting zoo. They have it every year and he talks about it all year. I knew if he missed it, he'd be crushed. Disclaimer: the doctor said it was fine to go. Also, not sure why he looks a little cross-eyed in this picture? Please ignore as he is most definitely NOT cross eyed.

Clearly not sure about the goat.

Clearly sure about the bunny rabbit.

____________________________________________________________________

Now here we go. I haven't blogged about this because I have to admit, it's a little strange admitting that I went to the Jonas Bros. concert and I'm not a 12 year old girl. Odd, I know. BUT--my dad has a good friend who works for them and he gave us seats by the stage. I'm talking BY THE STAGE. I could touch it. This also happened to be the day that I got sick, but I sucked it up and went anyway because I wanted to see the new stadium so bad and when do you ever get front row tickets to anything?

Here he (Joe??) is clearly singing right to me. Now, I know that the picture quality is bad, but I just had my little point/shoot, so what you see is what you get.

Just a cool experience being this close and hearing 100,000 screaming teenagers behind you.

I made Mike go. He was a good sport. He obviously just went to see the stadium. I tried to get him to buy a t-shirt. Ha!

Hollie got to go and bring her daughter, so that made it even more fun.

Back to reality! Here's a little pic of Molly and I. Again, no makeup, point/shoot, etc. You would think I didn't just spend a small load of money on all new camera equipment. That's right! You heard me! All new camera stuff! Super excited about that, but that's for another day!

So that's about it. I plan on trying out the new camera tomorrow. I think I'm going to try to take Matthew and Molly's 2year old/5 year old pictures, but don't have any m&ms to bribe them with. I'll let you know how it goes!

San Diego, Part Dos

Wow! In the last 30 minutes, I've blogged more than in the last 30 days! Here are a few more pictures from our trip. Yes, that is Mike and Matthew at the tippie top of that water roller-coaster. I don't know who was more nervous/excited: Matthew, who was actually ON the ride, or Me, who was taking pictures of the roller coaster of death (not really, but I was a little freaked out that my child was doing THAT).

Matthew was worn. out. He fell asleep at the restaurant. For those of you who know Matthew, let me just say: Holy Moly. He was tired. That was a first for him. And then we ran across this weird sight on the way to the zoo.
Me and Molly on a ride that was much more comforting that the coaster of death. This was Elmo in Kiddie Land.



The view from our little bungalo. Matthew was in heaven that he could just walk right out to the beach. Molly--not so much. She didn't like getting her hands dirty. For that matter, she wouldn't even SIT in the sand unless I put a mat down first.

I know these pictures are out of order, but at this point, just be happy I'm blogging. Here's Matthew and Molly in the brig on the Aircraft carrier.
Matthew saluting the troops.
Molly playing in the ocean. Notice that Mike had to HOLD her while she dipped her fingers in the water so she wouldn't get sandy.
Matthew doing his dance of I'm-in-heaven-on-the-beach.

We had a great trip--it was so nice for us to get away and spend some family time together. This weekend, all the Teed's are coming for some more family time. I'm sure I'll have lots more to blog about that!

Well, it's about time!!!!

I know--I've kept you in suspense long enough. You were probably sitting at your computer checking every few minutes to see if I blogged. Well, here you go, it's about time!

There is much to say, but I'll let the pictures do the talking for the most part, or we'll all be here forever!

Let me take you back in time a couple of weeks to the first day of school. Matthew started Pre-K this year and Miss Molly started her official time at MDO--woo hoo! They love it and are doing great (except for the yellow dot on Matthew's chart today instead of a sticker with a note that said "we had to continually remind Matthew to listen and follow directions." Uh oh. We had a talk.) And yes--that's a pink bow in her hair with her orange shirt. You can't see her pink/orange skirt in this picture.
Matthew and his all-important Scooby Doo backpack. Scooby Doo is the new fave.
_____________________________________________________________

Last weekend, we went to my cousin Jennifer's (the same Jennifer featured in my last F&F Friday and the same Jennifer who hasn't blogged in 4 months--hint, hint). They have a beautiful new house and we had a weekend with all the fam--it was great. By the way, there was a conversation with my family regarding my Friends & Family Friday feature--I know, I know--it will be back. It's on sabatical.

I love this picture of Justin in his manly cammo after a morning of hunting reading to sweet baby girl. I just love it.


The boys. Oh, serious fun was had.
Let me just say that I uploaded 124 pictures off of my camera tonight and this is the ONLY one I'm in. I know I'm the photog, but still! I need to hand the camera over a little more, apparently.
My aunt and uncle have a new boat, so we got to ride and it was so fun!

Check out the view from Jenn's back porch. The picture does not do it justice. At all.

On the way home on Monday, we all stopped at the river for a little fun in the water. Well, the boys had fun--Molly wasn't impressed. She wouldn't even dip her tootsies in--she was adamant._______________________________________________________________

THEN, as if all this fun wasn't enough, Uncle Brian was in town on Saturday. For those of you who don't know, he's a sound engineer and travels around with Huey Lewis. And the News. It's super cool and if you're 4 years old, it's almost too cool to believe--Matthew digs rock and roll. So, we went on over and watched the sound check. The actual show was too loud and too late for little ears--but the sound check was way cool. That's Uncle B doing his work and Matthew's head watching in amazement.

Thanks for checking out all our fun! Love you!