Happy Spring

Spring is finally upon us and we are enjoying the warmer weather for sure! We had a very LONG winter this year with more snow than we've seen in Missouri for some years. The kids really enjoyed it but it did get a bit boring after a while. Spring Break brought us a good warm up. Mom and kids enjoyed a week full of fun while daddy was away in Washington D. C. We are now full swing into soccer (cancelled today because of storms and lightening) and started t-ball practice last week. Both kids are playing for Uncle Chico which they are incredibly excited about! Mom has gotten her bike out for the spring training season and daddy is spending his own time outside, clearing out the woods below our house. Together, we are working on our garden, which we hope will bring us a lot of good, organic veggies this year! If the rabbits stay out of it that is.... Mom and kids are winding down the school year and looking forward to summer and all the fun that will bring. We are planning a trip to San Diego this year to see the new cousin/nephew due in late June and of course all of our grandpas/grandmas and extended family who live there. We hope to stop at the Grand Canyon on the way and make it to Legoland and the beach. The kids are already talking about it. They are also wondering when they will see Uncle Joel, Aidan, Abbey and Alec so I am sure we will be negotiating that soon also! We are going to have one busy summer! We hope everyone is enjoying their spring as much as we are.

Molly, starting to figure things out.





















Jack with his best buddy Grant and Madison, who play soccer with him.

Jack getting the hang of things too.

Molly and her buddy Maci at soccer














Dying Easter Eggs

Visiting with Mr. Rabbit

Camping out in the basement over spring break.




















Molly dressed up as something wierd...

Jack is ready for career day at school!

Winter Fun

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We have been just relaxing here and trying to gear up for the return to school, which is supposed to be tomorrow. As you can see, we've had a lot of snow so not sure it will happen. The kids really enjoyed their Christmas and their break and mom is glad she doesn't head back to school until the 27th! Daddy even got several extra days off and it was hard for him to go back to work today.



Riding the sled behind Jayden (our neighbor) on the four wheeler.

Warming up with some cocoa! It was really cold out!

Jack's snow angel!

Our Christmas picture.

The thankful tree we made for Thanksgiving....we have a lot to be thankful for.

Christmas Stuff

Seeing Santa at Bass Pro




















Jack and Daddy with his new B. B. Gun













Me and me cuties.













Wow! It snowed on Christmas!

Spending Christmas Eve at Uncle Chico's!

Birthdays, school, rides....

At the start line of the Livestrong Challenge in Austin, Texas. I rode for my sister. It was quite an event.













I got to attend the VIP dinner with Lance Armstrong the night before. It was really neat, especially since he answered the question I submitted.




















We followed up with a few days in San Antonio where we took the kids to Sea World. We went to see the Lori Aviary where we had sent our bird years ago.

Molly is a little doctor doolittle. She loves all animals....can you tell?

Jack enjoying his new bike. Love that smile.















The gang on halloween! We had a lot of fun!














Molly's fifth birthday party!

Daddy with Molly before her "buddy breakfast" at school.

We enjoyed having our cousins from Michigan here for two weeks this summer. Here are all but one of the cousins: Maelyn, Abbey, Molly, Aidan, Jack, Alec, and Chico III

Jack's first day of Kindergarten!

Molly's first day of Pre-K

Mom at the half-way point of the MS 150 bike tour.

Big jack is SIX!!!

T-ball, new dog, and more.

We have been having a great summer (until the past two days) when the kids and I all broke out in a very severe case of poison ivy. Let's just say that not only is Mommy is hurting too but is very tired from being up hours at night comforting kids. This is NOT fun! We have no idea where we got it but hope we will be on the mend soon.

The kids finished up soccer in May and took a few weeks off before beginning t-ball. I played Molly up one level so they could be on the same team. She spends most of the time digging in the dirt and chalk. She does love to hit and run the bases though. Jack is all around doing really well, though he could do without the heat. He is showing a really strong leftie throw and hitting on a slow coach pitch.

I am playing softball too and doing some pretty instense training for my upcoming bike races in the Fall. I'll have to put all of that on hold until my poison ivy clears up. We have also been working hard trying to improve our grass this year which includes at least four hours of moving sprinklers once a day (usually me!). Not fun. We have seen some improvement so that is good. Some is better than none I guess.

Jeff has been working hard as always but also managing to find some time at home. He's been building his pub room and I have become impressed at how well he does with woodworking. He's sure taught himself a lot over the years. We are looking forward to the upcoming four day weekend and possibly having some family over to celebrate the 4th.

Unfortunately, this has been a Hallmark year for us, and just following Papa Hadley's death, we are faced with a tough decision about our beloved Odin. We will be saying good bye to her in the next couple of weeks. Jeff and I just have to work up the courage to let her go and figure out how to tell the kids. Hence, we introduce you to "BOLT," our female West Highland Terrier. We rescued her last week and she has been a crazy addition to our family. We thought it was time to get the kids their own dog and help buffer the coming situation. She is quite funny and Molly (not so much Jack) is an awesome dog mom. We are working on her bonding with Molly instead of me. I try to ignore her most of the time for that reason, but honestly, who could resist that face?

The whole family is so excited that Uncle Joel, Aidan, Abbey, and Alec will be coming down for a visit in late July/early August. Along with Grandpa and Grandma from California. The kids ask every day "when" and we are anxiously discussing what fun and exciting things we will be doing!
As Jack puts it, " I just can't wait any longer!"

T-ball, New dog, etc

Jack does really well getting ready for the ball.





















She's more interested in the dirt most of the time.






















The cutest little t-ball players.




















Jack's first time on a roller coaster without a grown-up. He was so funny.

Daddy being silly at Molly's last soccer game.

Trout, Grads, and Mickey Mouse

We went on our annual trout fishing trip and had a great time! If you don't count the mud from the one night of rain it was really good. We've had tons of rain and the river was up so the fish were harder to catch but we still managed to do okay. Mom has decided there is an adult fishing trip in order soon because she enjoys the fishing but the kiddos didn't have the patience to WAIT for the fish to bite. Jack said it best, "I like reeling them up mommy, I just don't like to have to wait for HOURS for them." His "hours" are more like 30-45 minutes but what can you do?








Hiking with our buddies Luke and Garrett. We go together on this trip every year.




















What a pair. Posing in the opening of the cave.




















My little tomboy---she is filthy but she had way more patience than Jack. He caught one and was done. She stuck around and we caught two more, though mommy did drop one back in the river while trying to get it on the stringer....she stood on the bank crying and I was totally embarrassed.

Look at this handsome guy...I found him hiking in the creek bed near our campsite.

Graduations!

Let's see....Molly got promoted from preschool to pre-k, Jack "graduated" and will be going to Kindergarten in the Fall, and Chico III graduated from eighth grade! I can't believe how time flies!














Molly singing at her promotion ceremony.




















Showing off her artwork



















Jack at his "graduation" in the traditional paper hat. Love it!















Molly congratulating her brother...little does she know how much she will miss him next year.

Cousin Chico at his graduation. I remember when he was Jack's age like it was yesterday...it's amazing how grown up he is.

Disneyworld 2009

We took a trip to Disney the first week in May and what fun! It was HOT and exhausting but everyone had a great time (if you don't count the few grumpy moments we had). The kids are still talking about it and giving full narratives to anyone who will listen. I was proud of the kids for trying just about anything they were tall enough for. We do have two strikes as parents: the Dinosaur ride terrified Jack, and they both disliked the huanted mansion. After we rode that one, whenever they started to act up we threatened to make them ride it again....okay, so maybe we have three strikes! We rode splash mountain several times and surprisingly, Jack's favorite ride was big thundermountain railroad. We also rode Star Tours more times than I care to count. In fact mom, who loves rides, opted out of the fifth time on it!




Meeting Belle at the Princess breakfast in Epcot.




















Molly did not want her picture with Captain Hook (the only one besides the Queen of Hearts she didn't like) but Jack thought he was a riot!














Every boy can dream right (yes, I have pictures of Jeff on it too)?

The highlight and the disappointment of the trip....Molly got picked to be on stage for Jedi training and Jack didn't. He was a little upset but got over it after we assured him he was so good that he didn't need Jedi training. The drawback was he thought it was REAL and wanted to learn the "force push." So cute!

Molly visited the Bibbidi Bobbidi Bootique for a princess makeover. I was not too happy she picked the pink hair. I would have preferred blonde. Jack was supposed to get a "cool dude" makeover but decided he would much rather go to the Lego store with Daddy.