Disorganized Days - Our Family

The Playground

2008-06-23T19:41:00.014-04:00

We took it easy at home this weekend, so Sunday afternoon we went to the playground. Bruce is getting big enough to really play and climb now. He's playing more like a kid and less and less like a toddler. It won't be long before he's climbing the rock wall with Jane. Here are a bunch of pictures of the kids playing...

Father's Day Weekend

2008-06-19T20:28:00.007-04:00

We all had a great Father's Day weekend. Friday night the kids and I shocked Bret with a new camera. Bret never expects anything good because we can't keep secrets and I usually get the $20 gift. He needed to open the gift Friday so he would have time to play with it the rest of the weekend and take it to the lake. Then Jane, Bret and I went to see the new Incredible Hulk movie. It was a lot of fun -- Jane loved it, it was her first grown up, late night movie -- and she loves the Hulk. Frank and Perineau stayed with Bruce. Someday he'll get to go to the movies...

The weather was great at the lake, although the water level at Jocassee was really low. The kids got "tickets" from the lake ranger for wearing their life jackets for free frosties -- Jane thought that was really cool. She kept asking all day to hold her ticket. We cooked out on a little beach, drove around the lake, and took a little hike. After the lake, we went back to Grandma and Grandaddy's for hamburgers.

Jane and Bruce on our little hike through the woods to the top of the waterfall. Bruce left his pants in the boat.

This is the little beach we stopped at to grill hotdogs. We did a little swimming and Jane got to play with her sand toys a little. There was no shade and it was unbelievably hot here.

This is near the big waterfall at the base of the trail -- normally this area is rocky and the boat cannot pullup onto the shore. Bret went to take pictures of the waterfall, Jane was feeding the fish chips and Bruce is driving the boat.

Bret and Jane looking at the fish swimming around them.

Butterflies and Rainbow at the waterfall

Water Fun

2008-06-09T21:19:00.004-04:00

Just a few pictures from this weekend. We are having a heatwave so swimming in the lake felt really good. Bret and Bruce thought it was a lot of fun to splash Jane and me. We didn't like the splashes so much.

We also had a little fun in the Sprinklers.

Bruce and Jane really like the slide when it is wet. They go flying! Last time we tried this Jane went down without a catcher and things didn't work out so well. Now she is careful to have someone at the bottom waiting for her.

Puerto Rico

2008-06-09T21:00:00.010-04:00

I'm going to start a Puerto Rico post... I'm sure I'll have more to add and modify, but here is a start.

It seems like we spent the weeks leading up to the trip preparing... work, everyone was sick (lots of strep throat and ear infections), packing, etc... had a great trip... and now a week later still trying to recover (at least I am.)

Some of the pictures below are from friends, so thank you guys.

Golf

Here are pictures from the golf trip that the men took pre-wedding and the remains of the feast that followed.

Wedding
The wedding was beautiful. I'll have to add some pictures of Susan and Alvin.

Fishing

We had a great time fishing, but did not catch anything.

...more to come. I'm tired.

Before School

2008-06-09T20:49:00.004-04:00

Bruce and Jane wanted to go out and check out the yard one morning last week before we left for school. Bruce heard a dog barking across the street (woof woof) and the sprinklers were on. We had a few minutes so we went out and I took a few pictures. Bret got home from the gym as we were getting ready to leave. I was able to get a couple of good pictures of him and the kids.

Bubbles...

2008-04-15T19:25:00.015-04:00

Tonight we went out and played with the bubbles after supper. It was finally nice again after days of cold and rain. Before we went out, Bruce starting saying, "whooo, whooo" just like Bret. I got a little of it on video.

Bubbles were Jane's idea and she had a lot of fun with them.

It was her job to blow all of the bubbles. Bruce chased them for a while. Then Jane started catching them on the bubble wand and Bruce popped them for her. This worked well for a while.

Then there was a small disagreement...

Then they went their own way. Jane continued to blow bubbles and Bruce got occupied by the hill. He heard a noise and was convinced it was Daddy. He stood there and kept yelling, "Bret, Bret, Bret..." like I do when I'm looking for Bret.

After a while he decided Daddy wasn't going to answer and took off down the driveway. He is very motivated to leave home.

and then for no particular reason --

Fishin'

2008-04-15T19:12:00.003-04:00

Last weekend we went up to Mom and Dad's (Grandma and Grandaddy's) for the weekend. We got to visit with our 'aunts' and 'uncles' Chere and Gary and Kathryn and Jim. We all had a good time and Jane's new favorite place to sleep is on her little bed at Granny's (the couch.)

Jane got a little time to visit her horse, Star, and do a little fishing.

Here she is with her first catch of the season down at the pond:

Bruce had fun. He was the baby of the group so he was the center of attention.

Bret's Birthday

2008-04-05T08:38:00.007-04:00

The kids and I cooked an April Fools birthday dinner for Bret because we were going out on the 2nd. They helped a lot. Bruce helped by running around the kitchen and climbing up on the island and dancing over and over again and Jane wanted to be my helper. We had fun and we surprised Bret.

Bruce on the island:

Jane cooking:

and Bruce on the island dancing again:

and then Bret's remote control car:

the kids have had a lot of fun running around chasing this car (and being chased by it.)

New Bike

2008-04-05T07:54:00.006-04:00

Jane got a new big bike... we all had a lot of fun watching Bret put it together.

Bruce had a chance to climb up and try out the new bike. Jane wasn't too excited about that. She was afraid Bruce was going to get her new bike. Bruce thought he was going to get it too.

Finally Jane got a chance to sit on the finished product. Then we went outside and gave it a test drive. After a little practice she got comfortable with the bike and started trusting the training wheels. Now she wants to ride her bike everyday. She also got to pick out a new helmet. The new one has unicorns -- so she has a new red bike and a unicorn helmet -- and she couldn't be happier.

Easter

2008-03-27T11:13:00.021-04:00

We had a lot of fun on Easter. Jane and Bruce both went to bed early because they wanted to be sure that the Easter Bunny would leave them something. Jane was in a hurry to check things out Sunday morning and found the Easter baskets in the kitchen. We had a quick breakfast while the kids went through their baskets and did a little coloring then we drove to Grandma and Grandaddy's and went to church.

After church we had a big dinner and then went outside for an Easter Egg Hunt.

We also had a chance to ride the horses (Jane's favorite activity). She is very posessive of her horse Star.

Then Bret, Jane, and I took a little walk in the woods...

Bret showed Jane how to look for tracks on the ground.

and then they climbed trees. Jane is getting to be quite the climber. First Bret tried climbing with her on his shoulders. That worked well, but Jane hated it. She wanted to try again, but on her own, so Bret followed her and helped her.

and then Bret climbed up and took a picture of Jane and me from the top of the tree.

Time Change

2008-03-11T19:52:00.015-04:00

The time change has us all messed up. The kids are not enjoying their early morning wake-ups (and either am I). Bruce was really cute on Monday. When I went in to wake hime up, he didn't really wake up and did not cooperate with me. He kept grabbing onto the bars of the crib trying to stay in bed. I think this is the first time I've seen a baby try so hard to stay in bed. Then when I was trying to dress him he didn't want any part of it. When I unzipped his pj's, he tried to zip them back up and when that didn't work just held them together with both hands and said, "no, no, no, no". As I pulled one arm out of the jammies, he put it back in. I felt really bad making him get up since he wanted to stay in bed so badly.

The last couple of months have been so busy. Bruce is really growing up. He is becoming a regular little boy. He is talking a little more all the time and he and Jane love playing together. He definitely has his own ideas about what he wants to do -- more and more that is doing what the big people are doing.

Jane has been playing school a lot lately. She loves to be the teacher and teach the class their numbers, letters, and spanish vocabulary.

Here are a few pictures from some of the things we have done lately:

Bret rented a stump grinder and Jane helped him find all the stumps in the yard before they started.

While Bret was gone grinding stumps, the kids and I decided to have a special donut day. Bruce can now spot the Krispie Kreme box a mile away and Jane has been asking when we can go back to the donut store.

Here the kids are at the park.

Bret, Jane and Bruce w/ an airplane

Trying to get the airplane out of a tree...

... and Jane climbing in a tree

Super Bowl Party

2008-02-07T17:36:00.000-05:00

Sunday afternoon we had a little Superbowl party in the backyard. Bret fried chicken and frenchfries. We ate in the fort and had chocolate cupcakes decorated like footballs for dessert.

Jane and Bruce had a lot of fun running around the back yard playing together. Bruce took his first trip down the slide all by himself without Mommy or Daddy at the bottom to catch him.

Christmas

2007-12-31T14:36:00.000-05:00

(be warned... this is basically just a bunch of pictures from Christmas, not much description)

Okay, I'm really behind. It's New Years Eve and I'm posting about Christmas. We had a really long break, but the time has really flown.

We had one celebration after another. A big pre-Christmas gathering with the Gramlings, Christmas Eve with the Alexanders and then a quiet Christmas day at home.

The kids had a lot of fun. It got to a point where Jane wanted to get in the car and just drive to people's houses and get presents.
I am amazed that Bruce has left the tree alone. I was worried that he would want to pull it down. Instead he is just practicing his climbing skills. Every day I think he will get tired of his little climbs and move onto something else, but he just finds new ways to add onto the climb.

Christmas Program

2007-12-21T12:53:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple of pictures from the Christmas program courtesy of another parent from Jane's class. Since Bret was out of town I had my hands full trying to watch Bruce and record their songs for Bret. K-3 (Jane's class) sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Jingle Bells.

The kids were all really cute and had a great time. After the program there was a little table with refreshments. Jane was thrilled. She got three cookies to eat on the way home.

Drawing...

2007-12-19T19:52:00.000-05:00

Here are the kids doing what they like best -- drawing.

Jane was drawing a picture of the family

Bruce is just happy to scribble with markers, often on his face and clothes. He was drawing at the desk with us when he saw his chance and took it. He'll climb on anthing when given the opportunity.

Last night was the daycare Christmas program. Jane performed two songs with her class. I think I got some video -- we'll soon find out. Bruce enjoyed it even though it was after his bedtime. I think all of the people kept him entertained along with the teddy grahms and chocolate milk. We were home by 8, but it felt like 11 to me.

Happy Birthday Jane!

2007-12-12T21:16:00.000-05:00

This weekend was Jane's birthday and she has more than celebrated. She started her parties on Friday at school. We made cupcakes for the class and she got to be the birthday girl at school.

Saturday she had her big party for all of her friends from school. There were 15 kids plus parents and a few babies in attendance. They all had a lot of fun at JumpZone. After running and jumping the kids got pizza and cake. By the end of the afternoon we were all worn out and ready for bed.

Here are a ton of pictures from the party:

Sunday we sang happy birthday and leftover cake for her actual birthday.

The birthday season wrapped up with a trip to the doctor for her annual check-up and shots. Jane got the scoop on shots from her friend Mia who had been to the doctor the day before. She came to school and reported on all of the details. Jane tried to negotiate her way out of the shots. The doctor told her she could pick a treat from the treat bowl after her shots. She told me that we could just go home and get a treat--We didn't need to stay for shots because we had treats at home. The negotiation didn't work and she did not take the shots well. Hopefully she will forget some of this before the next round of shots.

A couple of pictures from tonight

2007-12-04T18:32:00.000-05:00

Bruce got into the markers again, not a big surprise since he searches for them everyday. I let him keep them for a while. He had a great time and eventually drew all over his hands and shirt. He did not enjoy it when I finally took them away, but quickly forgot when he got to wash his hands like a big boy in the sink.

Then he found a plastic cup and spoon in his drawer and fed me. He was so happy that I liked his pretend food. He would give me a bite and say "mmmmm" like he was feeding a baby and then take a pretend bite himself and then laugh and laugh.

Jane got a birthday present from her friend Ethan at school. He can't make it to her party so he brought a present to school. She was very excited. It is a doodle bear that she can draw on and then wash. She named her a very formal and long name that I can't remember right now.

Then she decided to do funny dances and wanted me to take a picture.

Bedtime

2007-12-03T20:02:00.000-05:00

Jane and Bruce before bedtime tonight.

They are really enjoying playing together these days. Bruce climbed up into the chair and then patted the space next to him for Jane to sit with him. They cuddled and rocked for a while until I had to pull Bruce away for night night time.

I love it when they are so sweet. It makes me forget the cranky times.

Catching Up

2007-12-02T20:25:00.000-05:00

The last week has been a blur -- work, class, getting the house back to normal, wrapping Christmas presents, putting the tree up...

So here we are. We still have some shopping to do. I still have a list to get ready for Jane's party next week. The tree is up, but not decorated. That's the beginning of the not done list.

Jane with the birthday stroller:

I've spent most of the last couple of days feeling really sick, so the pile of not done has grown. I tried to spend as much time as possible laying in bed, on the couch, in the chair (notice a theme) and Bruce and Jane happily ran around and made mess after mess. Jane did try to take care of me and I got lots of hugs to make me feel better. I think I'm back to normal now and hopefully the rest of the family doesn't get sick.

Bruce has been quite a character. He is either drawing (on the marker board, paper, his face, his hands) or climbing. I am really thankful for washable markers, otherwise I think I would have a permanently green, blue, and orange child.

Here Bruce is a year ago -- I can't believe how much he has grown.

Bret and Jane worked on a special project this afternoon. Last week at Lowe's the cashier gave Jane a project apron and a packet of three projects to work on. Bret and Jane made one last weekend and another today. Here they are working:

And a couple pictures from Thanksgiving from Bill and Cindy -- Thank You!

Thanksgiving

2007-11-23T18:15:00.000-05:00

We all had a great time Thanksgiving Day. We had a houseful: Mom, Dad, Granny, Katie, Cindy, Bill, Liam, Bret, Jane, Bruce, and myself.

We had a big dinner with lots of leftovers. After dinner we had a little birthday party for Jane with the family. We had chocolate cupcakes, sang happy birthday, and Jane opened lots of presents.

Jane had a great time. She got Barbie, babies, baby clothes, a magna doodle, clogs, and even a stroller. She had a blast playing with everything. Bruce really liked the magna doodle, and there have been many fights over the stroller in the last 24 hours. Last night Jane went to sleep with her babies. She drew them pictures and told the stories with the magna doodle until everyone went to sleep.

Here are some pics of the messy kids with their desserts:

Jane with her pumpkin mouth

and Bruce with cupcake... everything

Birthday Parties and more

2007-11-19T13:37:00.000-05:00

Saturday Jane went to two birthday parties. One was at a local toy store, Duck Duck Goose, where they had a build a bear party. Jane built MoMo - a pick tie dye looking bear that she loves. The second party was at Jump Zone where she will be having her own party in a few weeks.

Jane is busy planning for her party. Over the weekend she went from wanting Dora to Cinderella to Batman and back to Cinderella. She'll have to make a final decision when it's time to order the cake.

On Sunday we went to Lake Jocassee. The weather was beautiful, we didn't even need jackets on the water. Bret climbed up the boulders at a waterfall while the kids and I watched and played in the sand. We were all ready for baths by the end of the trip.

Bruce still does not enjoy riding in the boat. He doesn't like his lifejacket and he doesn't like sitting still. He spent most of the ride screaming and trying to climb over the edge of the boat. He was happiest when Bret got up so he could take the drivers seat. He climbed all the way up to the drivers seat in the up position and "drove" the boat for us. He also quickly learned which buttons made good noises (blower, raise/lower trim).

I'd have some good pictures to insert here, but we took out the camera and it had no batteries. We did get a few things on home video.

Time to buy new batteries...

Special Request

2007-11-14T21:14:00.000-05:00

I should be writing a book review right now, but I'm having writers block. Since I have some time and I'm infront of the computer I thought I would post pictures of "the shed." Bret and Dad have been working on this for quite a while. Our boat now has a home...

While looking for the shed pictures I ran into a cute picture of Jane from a couple of months ago. She's doing a silly dance and is wearing Bret's Mickey Mouse t-shirt from when he was a kid. It won't be long before Bruce can wear it.

The rest of the family is asleep. I had better finish my work so I can join them.

Climbing Machine

2007-11-11T22:41:00.001-05:00

Bruce has turned into a little climbing machine. He is climbing everything -- chairs, couches, upside down toy bins, window sills... Bret got a new tree stand this weekend and Bruce and Jane took a turn in it in the backyard. I've got pictures, but will add those later.

ETA picture:
(Jane insisted on the bow. She's been calling it her birthday bow)

Bruce is also constantly climbing on and off his rocking horse. He doesn't spend much time on it, just on and off, on and off -- I guess that is more fun. Today he climbed on stood up on the seat and bounced up and down and said, "I did it!" Very cute.

Escape

2007-11-07T18:01:00.000-05:00

As I pulled into the driveway this evening, Hunter greeted me. He is now officially an escape doggy -- we'll have to see what happened.

Here is the escape doggy looking guilty:

Anyway, he was free when I arrived so he helped me bring in my new vacuum and set it up.

I've done a quick vacuum of the house and it picked up quite a bit (it's actually scary to see all that it picked up). I'm also amazed at how easy it was to set up and use. It takes no effort at all to use it. I can't believe I'm excited about vacuuming. I need to hurry up and get the whole house done well before the newness wears off.

...and a couple random pics of the kids

Bruce on the kitchen floor the other weekend

Jane before her bath

Halloween

2007-11-02T23:48:00.000-04:00

All right, Halloween was a few days ago, but it's been a busy week. I had an exam last night so I spent the early part of the week studying.

We started the Halloween season at Boo in the Zoo a couple of weeks ago. Jane was a monkey and Bruce was Winnie the Poo.

The kids had a lot of fun. This was our first year going and I was surprised at how many people were there. We got there about 10 minutes before the gate opened and the line was already huge. I think it doubled by the time they did open. The kids were fairly patient and we got in pretty fast. Jane really enjoyed herself and the big bag of candy she walked away with.

The kids both had Halloween parties at school and Jane got to dress up in her monkey costume. After school we did a little trick-or-treating in the neighborhood.

Haircuts

2007-11-01T20:57:00.000-04:00

Bruce had his first haircut.

Before:

and After:

Jane also had her first real haircut.

Both of the kids look so grown up with their new haircuts. I don't know where my babies are going.

It's a Monday

2007-10-29T20:01:00.000-04:00

Hunter seems to be happy. So far so good. He made it through the night without getting sick or making any kind of a mess so I'm impressed.

Jane was funny last night. She now thinks that because Bret brought home a dog that she can have a horse also. The horse has to be a girl because Hunter is a boy. We'll see if she remembers this.

Here are a few pictures from this weekend:

Jane helping with cornmuffins on Saturday

Bruce in the car on our way to Sam's to pick up pictures

Jane and Bruce playing in the front yard

... And we have a dog

2007-10-28T20:53:00.000-04:00

Bret spent the day at my parents' house helping build a storage building for our boat and all the other miscellaneous equipment my dad has. It was just me and the kids -- then about 5 Bret called to say he was on his way home. I saw the car pulling up around 6:30 so Bruce and I went out to meet him. I saw something moving in the seat next to him and knew he got a dog.

I'll leave out my next thoughts, but it looks like we have a new addition to the family. He is on loan for the next week to be sure he fits in, but it looks like he is going to stay. Bret and Jane named him Hunter and went out to get supplies tonight. He is setup for his first night in the unfinished part of the basement.

Bruce and Jane are thrilled and I'm warming up to the idea. He really is a sweet dog with a great demeanor.

Hunter is 8 months old - born February 14, 2007.

Where do I begin?

2007-10-28T19:48:00.001-04:00

Okay, this is my first post. So where do I begin?

First of all I'm not a writer and not creative, so this isn't really meant to be entertaining. I guess the real purpose is to keep up with what we are doing with our lives. I mean, we've got this kind of fishbowl life going on -- we get up, go to work (daycare for the kids), home, eat, bed and start again the next day. I don't mean to say we don't have a great life, we do. We have interesting things happen everyday. We laugh, cry, and in general experience life, but next week when someone asks what we've been up to my usual response is nothing - the usual. So I'm going to attempt to capture "the boring usual" here for us.

This is a picture of Bret carving our pumpkin with the kids. They really thought it was neat. Jane was very excited to have a "scary" pumpkin.