Halloween

Late in coming, but here are a few pictures from Halloween.

Blaine turns 5!!!!!!!!

This is from the Friday night celebration. He wanted a carrot cake, but not and actual carrot cake. So it is a vanilla cake decorated to look like a carrot cake!

Here is Blaine putting the birthday candles on the wall cake at school. Very exciting to be 5! Blaine and Mrs. Franzen just finished making his super-duper birthday crown. And we thought Aunt Agnes' were fancy!

Today is Blaine's birthday and we have had 3 whole days of celebration. His school celebration was on Thursday, and there was no way he was going to believe that Thursday was not his actual birthday! On Friday, the Andrews came over for a big feast of spaghetti and broccoli and Blaine opened his presents. And today (the actual day) we are going to Shawna's and the Lego Store. Everything Blaine wanted to do! A perfect 5 year old birthday.

Reyes/Andrew Sleepover

Madeline and Anna were holding Lillian hostage in bed.

Madeline and Jack came over last night for a slumber party. This morning Jack said to Blaine, "My bertday is gonna be soon." Blaine said, "Mine, too. On Sadooday. (It's not on Saturday.) I going to be 5." Then Jack said, " And then we will be 6 in a lotta days."

Jack continued, "My mom said that we are going to Rainy Lake every sumoo. Do you know what they have thayo (there) , Blaine? Soda!" Blaine said, "I want ta go dare!" "You know what else they have?" , Jack asked. " What?" "Wadoo.!" (Water)

Orlando

On Tuesday, June 10th, we swam in the pool and then ventured out to a natural spring just outside of Orlando. It was rather scarry to swim across the deep hole where the spring water was coming out, but we did it! Anna and Lyle even swam down into the spring!!

We headed out to the Magic Kingdom on Wednesday, June 11th, after relaxing at the condo on Tuesday. The first stop was the Haunted Mansion and we hit all the favorite rides....Buzz Lightyear for Blaine, Space Mountain for Lyle and Bruce, and Splash Mountain for Anna. We started the day running, and never stopped. Well, except for Blaine, who found a comfy place to rest while we were having lunch. He pushed a few chairs together and decided to sleep for a while! Good thing, we were at the park until 11 pm!!

It was a really long and exhausting day!

Summer Vacation

WOW! What a vacation. We started by going to the Donner Swim Meet down in Columbus, IN. It was at a fun outdoor pool. Lyle swam the 200 Free on Friday night, June 6th (he was supposed to swim the 200 IM as well, but for some reason they didn't have him listed for that event) and both Anna and Lyle swam on Saturday. There were major thunderstorms all morning, but they cleared out long enough for the afternoon session to take place. They both swam very well, cutting time in almost every event. I found out today (June 20th) that after we left on Saturday night, there were major floods around Columbus and alot of the swimmers had a hard time getting out of the city. Those who stayed at the Holiday had to be evacuated to a school..... we were blessed for not swimming on Sunday!




Lyle is the swimmer at the top of the screen.

It was a long, hot day for Blaine, but he was a trooper!

This kept everyone busy while we were waiting for the thunder and lightening to quit.

Left to Right: Gary Kostbade, Chase Pickford, Lyle, Ashley Pickford.

So we made it home without too many flood induced diversions, packed, went to Sacrament Meeting on Sunday and then headed off to O'Hare. We arrived safely to find cancelled flights and huge lines of disgruntled passengers. We decided to hop back into the car, drive to Cincinnati and then fly from there. We had a pleasant, surprisingly fast trip down to Cincinnati......we were just biting back at the Universe all day long! We found a great Hotel, were able to park for $10 for the two weeks (an unbelievable bargain) and made it out of
Cincinnati without a hitch on Monday morning. The Marriott's were very good to us in Orlando and we had a great time. Even the hour and half sales pitch that we had to sit through was bearable.....and we learned a few things to help us with our own time share. (We never did mention that we were Disney Vacation Club Members, and felt that we were being a little deceiving. Not enough to tell.)

We went paddle boating on the ameoba-ridden lake!

Jack and Blaine in Lituanica Park

Blaine's last day of school

Friday, May 25, 2008

Chloe's Side by Side Concert

May 18th, 2008

We wanted to take a video of her playing, but didn't want to get in trouble!

The famous Cow Costume

Kimberly watched Blaine for me the other day and when I arrived to pick him up, he was happily squeezed into Paige's Cow Costume.

Here are a few more pictures of the day.

Some funny things Blaine has said:

"Mom, I have a radish." (Rash)

"That won't better me." (He said his tummy hurt and I offered him a piece of toast.)

Right now he is lying on the couch because he thinks he has fever from the radish. Actually, he has a slight sunburn because we were outside all day yesterday for Memorial Day.

Tanner spent the night on Sunday and stayed most of the day Monday. Stacy and Miles and family joined us, bringing steaks and bratwurst. Tanner wanted some more steak, and when Miles told him we had to save some for Tucker, he replied, "She doesn't need it. She's sleeping. And it takes old people a long time to wake up." (She wasn't sleeping.)

First Invitational of the Season

UPDATE!!

Gary Kostbade and Lyle. Gary won 1st place high point for the 10 and unders. Lyle missed third place by 1 point to Hamoodi. Good job guys!


















Here is Anna on Saturday....she did GREAT! She won 3 of her 5 heats and placed in the top 12 in all of her events except one. She cut time off of every every event!

























Here is Lyles swimming the 100 Free. He is at the bottom of the screen in Lane 6.



Tonight was day one of the first invitational this season. Anna swam the 200 free and cut 17!!!! seconds off of her old time and got a 2:57.something. She beat Lyle who got a 3:00.23. She told him he needs to quit bragging! Lyle also swam the 200 IM. His strokes looked really good, but he added a few seconds. He and Hamoodi were neck and neck, and Hamoodi barely out touched him.

Blaine was a dream at the meet. I'm so sad that he is growing up so fast, but I have to admit, it is nice to have him out of those terrible 2's and 3's....especially when you have to sit at a swim meet for 4 hours!!

Bruce decided to demolish the front two windows this morning! It was a big job, but he got it done. We were able to go to sleep tonight without a big gaping hole in the house. Darn! I should have taken pictures.

Fun day with Fotine

Fotine and I were finally able to get together after way too long. We met at the Museum of Science and Industry will all the boys. (Her Michael and Luke and my Blaine and Jack). Jack got lost TWICE (both times I was only a few feet away) and you should have seen the tears flow. Blaine was just as lost as Jack, but didn't seem to mind in the least. Poor Jack, I think he was quite traumatized, as you can see in the picture. It was taken just shortly after the first incident.




















The boys loved the tractors! After we left the Museum, Jack said, "That was just way too much fun!" Blaine and I agreed.

Driving the cows??

Here are some more pictures from our fun, fun day.

I think that Blaine and Michael look more alike than Luke and Michael!

Jack still looks traumatized!

A Beautiful Day

Anna did get invited to that camp again this year, we'll see what we can fit in. There is summer band to start as well , so we will be busy.

We didn't go to swim practise today, because the weather was just too lovely and everyone wanted to play outside. Stacy and Jack came over this morning, and Jack stayed with us. We were backing out of the driveway to go meet Miles to make the switch, and Jack said, "Can I sleep ovo? How can you say no? The kids had loads of fun outside building forts.

Anna also took a film of Jack counting to 8 in Spanish. If I ever learn how to post a video, I will add that in one day.

Lyle and Blaine went to bed with fisticuffs, those stinkers. Lyle says Blaine always gets his own way, which he does.

Bruce just got home from a long day of tank testing, so I will sign off.

Stealing Pictures

I was looking at Kimberly Fowler's blog tonight and decided to borrow a couple of her pictures. At Christmas time, the Primary acted out the Nativity and did a marvelous job. It was the best Christmas program we have had at our branch.

Anna was Mary and Lyle was one of the Wisemen. Kimberly said that Paige was "thrilled to squeeze into her cow costume one more time." Thought that was pretty funny.

Blaine continues to grow and grow. His favorite things to say when he is mad at you are: "You penis" or "pee pee". I am also not his friend about a million times a day and I'm also a bad boy just as many times. Oh, how I love that little boy.

Anna was up late doing homework tonight. We went to visit Westchester Intermediate School today to see if she might like to go there. Hmmm......paying $2100 for a public school education seems so rediculous. We are going to take a look at Barker next week. Decisions, decisions.

Lyle was invited to got to the enrichment camp that Anna went to last Summer. I think we can just sign both kids up, even if not invited. We'll see....we have such a busy summer ahead of us with Swimming, traveling, possible weddings (Margit) and reunions.

Did I mention how much I love my kids?

I'm back!!! May 11, 2008

Blaine in his fablulous crab hat that he made at the Field Station pre-school.

So I haven't written for ages because I couldn't figure out how to get back into this thing. After many painful emails, I finally succeeded in finding passwords, usernames, etc. Quite the security precautions.

Anna has been busy fundraising at Pine School. She is the Student Council President, and organized a Hats On For Kids with Cancer Day, to help our friend Hannah Prokop, who was battling brain cancer. Hannah started her own fund, called Hannah's Cans for Cancer, and Anna helped raise $500 to send to her fund. Hannah buys toys and art materials for Children's Hospitals with the money that she raises. She has already donated two WIIs! Hannah is in the middle and her sister Colby is on the left. Hannah and Colby were visiting their Grandma and Grandpa for spring break and took some time to come over to Pine School and speak to the students about their experiences with Hannah's illness.

It was very interesting when, during the question and answer time, one little boy raised his hand and said he didn't have a question, but wanted to give some advice. He said, "If your life really s***s (a word that I was sure would get a reprimand from his teacher....it didn't) don't commit suicide because it isn't worth it." OK. Hannah's mom, Kim, looked at me and I didn't know WHERE to look. His last comment of the day was about guns being pointed at you and how to avoid getting shot! Oh dear.

Today is Mother's day and we had a lovely day. Stacy, Miles and kids came over along with Brother John's. The missionaries were supposed to join us, too, but got hung up somewhere. The kids were excited about their gifts for everyone.....I love them so much. I'll close with some pictures.

Here is Anna and Sarah in Berlin, quite intrigued with the City Pissoir!

Geoff and the girls in Paris.

This is Anna's artistic view of Flint.