Nic and Megan's parent teacher conferences

NIC . . . .  will be 10 years old in 2 weeks.  Hard to believe it.  He now towers at 4'10" and we are guessing he will be at least 6'4" by the time he is done growing.  Jason is 6'2" and is the shortest of his 2 other brothers. Nic was born 9 lbs. 9 oz. and 22" long.. . . . a big long baby.   

We are so proud of him.  He made the honor roll for the first time ever this year.  He also got a 96% in math for the first semester so they are thinking of moving him to hi-math.  During his parent / teacher conference I have to admit that I was a little nervous, but his teacher said that she has no concerns about Nic, only that she has to remind him sometimes about talking when he is not suppost to be talking.  She said he was a good listener, always has his work done and is eager to learn.  Way to go Nic ! 

And at Megan's parent / teacher conferences she got good reports from 2 out of 3 teachers.  Two of her teachers told us basically the same thing about her . . .  that she was a good listener, always helpful, gets work done, and both said she was a joy to have in class.  One of the teachers even said that he wished he had 20 more of her and that we should be so proud of Megan and that they don't come any better than her.  They had no concerns at all.  The third teacher was not so much in agreement with the other two, but I won't get into that, only to say her words were "she has a lot of blonde moments".  Megan did make the honor roll again. . . . Way to go Megan !

This is what happens when you take a mini vacation . . . . . . . . .

While we are out of town, this is what happens at home.  Oh what fun this will be to clean up.  Our neighbors sent us these pictures and called us to let us know right as it was happening.  I guess there was some payback to be had for us teepeeing alot of people the last couple weeks.

Mini vacation / 15 th Anniversary Celebration / Birthday Parties

My nephew Andy turned 5 yrs. old and had is birthday party at PUMP IT UP (bounce houses).  It was out of town (about 50 miles away), so we decided to make a weekend out of it because Alex and Adrien are also having there party in the same town the day after my nephews.  So day 1 we went Shopping and to Andy's birthday party and then to the hotel.  We actually had reservations at another hotel, but changed our minds after arriving.  We have always wanted to stay at this hotel.  It was kind of our Anniversary away(with kids). Pics below. . . . .

PUMP IT UP . . .  there are 2 big rooms like this and the kids had a great time. 

Nic playing tee ball

Malia climbing into a bounce house 

Malia 

Megan and her cousin Casey and Malia playing tee ball 

Jason coming down the slide with Malia 

Megan shooting an air gun 

Nic getting ready to battle with big gloves on 

Nic 

Our view of the pool from our balcony 

Malia on balcony  SCARRY 

OK. . . . . now you may ask why show this pic. . . . GOOD STORY. . . .  Nic went running to the balcony and didn't realize the door was shut and ran right into it and fell back on the floor and I think the whole hotel heard us laughing.  He kept saying over and over, I DIDN'T KNOW THERE GLASS THERE, LOOK DOES IT LOOK LIKE IT TO YOU.  Really it was hard to see the glass, we were the first ones to use this newly remodeled room, so maybe the doors are new and very clean. Sounds good reason enough, right. And I caught Malia almost running into it.  The kids want to sleep on the balcony tonight. UMM, NO.  But right now, they are sitting out there with chips and drinks having a good time.

OK. . . .  ANOTHER FUNNY STORY. . . . WELL (not really). . . . This is the elevators and we were on the 4th floor and when we first went to use the elevator, we all went to get in and Malia and Nic were not in yet when the door shut right on Malia and pinned her in between the doors.  Nic was helping her in, when he jumped back, but she got pinned.  Megan started screaming and we all had our hands full of stuff to take to the room, somehow Jason managed to drop it all and pull the door apart to get her out, and it seemed like an eternity, but was only seconds.  She was not injured or even bothered by it, but right after we got Malia out the door shut again leaving Nic out and he was screaming WAIT. . . .  well somehow Jason managed to get his hands in the door and got them pinned in and could hardly pry the doors open with his hands in them but he got Nic in who had a look of horror on his face watching his dads hands get closed in the doors.

They are looking at the elevators, talking about how this time they are gonna make sure the doors stay open. 

The pool changes colors, blue, purple, red.  Megan and Nic in the pool.  We watched them from the balcony.

This hotel was very nice and I highly recommend it, the Holiday Inn at Evansville Airport.  Tomorrow we have another big day ahead. 

my pretty girls

Malia trying to wear Megan's shoes

Some room make overs done, some in progress and some to come

We have been in our house 10 years, and we continue to work on it.  It seems to be a weekly thing.  The lady that owned the house before us, loved the color yellow.  It was obvious, because every room was yellow, with yellow shag carpet. 

The dining room is about done.  I bought a couple more things this week.

The door going to the kids room was replace with bar doors, that they picked out this week.

Our Basement. . . . We cannot put a drop ceiling in the basement because of the pipes and duct work hanging.  So our basement will never be fully completed.  The laundry room, the only part of the basement that the kids will not have to play in.

I would like to put another bathroom here someday.  5 people, 1 bathroom = trouble.   All of our Christmas stuff is stored under the covering.

This is the kids room that was done a long time ago.  See how low the duct work is too low for a ceiling.

The black and white checked floor (for when they play JUST DANCE on the WII). 

Still a mess and we have alot of cleaning up to do.   But look at all those empty containers we cleaned out.

We have storage shelves under the stairs.   And look, some empty space after cleaning it out.

And this is Jason's room.  Its pretty full of hunting stuff and golf stuff, and a couple tools.  Its a room in the basement that was the old coal room.  And part of the room is under the stairs. 

Ok, now this is my front door we are going to replace next week (I hope anyway).  This door screams out that kids live in this house.  Look at all those scratches.

I want to get an ALL glass door.   

All that going on, plus I am getting new vinyl flooring in the bathroom in the next couple weeks.  It needs replaced after 10 years.  Believe it or not, this flooring will cost under $100 to replace.  And now you can see why I want to put another bathroom downstairs.  TINY.. . . .

Here is one project done.  Malia's Room / Playroom.   Her bed is still in our room.  Well, we still have to paint the room and replace the curtains (it use to be Nic's room).

 And we just finished our living room.

Our built in shelves.  Something else the previous owner did.  And there use to be a closet behind it that she had closed in for this.  This is were everyone throws their stuff.

Megan . . . . no more t-shirts and jeans kind of girl

All dressed up for school . . . . . .  WHAT ???? We were even shopping last night and she picked out 4 new shirts at Kohl's. . . . .  she has never picked out anything but t-shirts, but she choose 4 very nice dressy shirts.

Malia's 18 month check up

Malia had her 18 month check up yesterday and she is 29 pounds 6 oz. and 33 inches long.  The doctor said she is going to be tall.  She was 95% on height (for those of you who don't know what that means, she is taller that 95% of children her age.)  And she was 90% on weight.  But since she was born 9 lbs. 10 oz. she really has not gained alot over the last year and a half. 

Her new favorite movie is "The Polar Express".  She keeps saying cho cho. 

Lay-off extended 1 more day

Well we just got a call and Jason's layoff was extended 1 more day.  So he gets a 5 day vacation.  On the other hand the basement is coming along nicely and now we will have time to maybe get it all done.  Cannot tell you how much we cleaned out today, but the garbage pickup is in 2 days and I don't want to be home when they stop at our house.  Who knew we collected so much junk.  The back of Jason's truck is also overflowing with stuff to donate.  AND we are still not done cleaning out.

And since Jason is off tomorrow, I think I will let him take Malia to her 18 month check-up. I can see it know, I will get a bunch of texts asking me "hey are Malia's shots up to date", and "hey how much milk does she drink a day" and etc.  Should be interesting.

Pics of Malia . . . 18 months old

Malia the firefighter.  Trying to be like daddy.

Malia and I listening to the ipod.

So cute. . . . she is holding the ear piece up to listen.