The Award Goes To. . .

Famous Dan!

Dan got this awesome award at work. He's been up for the award for many years now, but he finally got it. These awards are submitted by co-workers for advisor excellence. We think Dan made lots of people happy this year because he works every Saturday so that they don't have to. We like it because it allows Dan to be home more nights, and gets him a day off instead during the week. Good job baby! You work hard, now you have an award to finally show it. :)

And. . .

If you pick up a free (Michigan) copy of this magazine this month. . .

You'll find that Dan is the weight-loss success story inside!

A co-worker submitted Dan to the editor of this magazine after he lost all of his weight. She called Dan and got an interview, and voila! He's a success story! We're all very proud of Dan for the hard work that he's done on losing his weight and keeping it off. He's quite a motivator in our home to eating healthier and using exercise to our benefit. Donovan knows where to look to find the calories (not that he needs to worry about it yet) and tells me all the time if it's something that has too many. We don't eat fast food anymore (when we did for a quick eat, we ALL got really sick afterwards) and we rarely eat out except on special occasions. It has helped us to make healthier habits that will hopefully improve and extend our lives. Thank you Dan! Congratulations!

We Are the Pirates!

Arrgh! The Pirates did a fantastic job playing floor hockey this season! Especially this little buccaneer. :) Donovan learned so much this year with hockey. There was a big difference from the first game to the last, even though it was only for 6 weeks. Donovan is an excellent player and very knowledgeable in all the positions.

The mighty Pirates!

Donovan receiving his award.

Go Dono!

Catapult Project

The science fair is here again. This year Donovan and Daddy made a catapult (more like a trebuchet) to fling 'stuff' and see how far it went. What a great project for a 6 year-old! Dono gathered 16 small objects and guessed how far they would be tossed, and which would go the farthest.

They did the measurements "march madness" style where two objects were competing for the longest toss, the winner got to go to the next round, and so on. Donovan thought that the mint would go the farthest, but it ended up being the paperclip that beat all the others.

And here was his finished science board. Donovan loves science.

We are Lucky, and We're Irish!

We enjoy having Irish roots (well more predominately on Dan's side)! St. Patrick's Day is always fun in our home. We don't go whole hog with the leprechauns and such, but we do wear green and eat the yummy grub. :)

Green Pancakes - top o' the mornin to ya!

We also finally broke down and bought a wii, with love from the tax man. The kids are much better at it than the big kids!

And Mr. Ross tried to find some gold in the potty for the first time. He didn't strike it rich yet, but some toots later and he's excited to keep trying.

Comfy and Happy

Avery is such a happy little girl. She's usually content and rarely cries (unless someone takes her away from mommy!) She can sit, and has for a very long time, however she prefers to 'lounge'. She'll sit for a bit, and then she goes right into lounging. I guess it's more comfy for her. :) Here's some more pics of her active little self.

She's always trying to get to the kitchen for some reason. hmmm... future chef? or just likes to eat??

Not All Gums Anymore

We've had a break-through around here, literally. :) Avery finally got her first tooth! We saw some white at her 6 month check up, but it was a molar! Now, months later, we realize that the gums of that molar are really thin on the side, so it looks like it's poking out, but it's not. weird. But this I guess is her first tooth that IS popping out. Yay! I like that my kids are late teethers! And she is still so happy! She hasn't had any bad temper or anything. She has been waking up a little earlier than usual and a little more clingy to mom, but she hasn't been fussy at all. We are so grateful!

GOAL!

Dono got to play goalie today! He's really good at blocking the goals. He also got to play center today and got a goal-his first one! It's funny how he tells his version of the play-by-play. "I was standing close to the goal, I wasn't paying attention, then all of a sudden the puck was by my stick, I said 'Whoa' then looked at the goal and hit it. I got it in!" He has wanted to make a goal in a game since last year. I'm glad that Daddy was able to be there, Mommy was at a church women's conference and was sad to have missed such a great moment.

Great job my boy!

Ahoy! It's Character Day!

For school, Donovan got to have storybook character day again! He loves this day! Last year we frantically scrambled to create a Super Why character. This year we made it a little simpler. We made a list of the costume items that we had already and searched for one of our favorite books to go along with it, because they needed to bring the book that they were representing.

So. . . Donovan got to be young Jeremy Jacob from "How I Became a Pirate" by Melinda Long. (We also love "Pirates Don't Change Diapers" but Dono wanted this one.)

He loved being a pirate at school. But then, he usually loves being a pirate on any given day. ARR!

Library Prizes

Our local library has fantastic programs for the youth. We just had the winter reading that had the theme of the wild west. Cowboys! Elliott was so excited-he is fascinated with cowboys! He tells everyone that his name is Wild Bill Elliott-a name that Cowboy Papa Earl gave him. Each of the reading programs and crafts had to do with cowboy or western stuff. The kids got to have a bingo sheet and for spaces they had to say "howdy" to the librarians, tell a cowboy joke to a librarian, find and hide toy snakes among the book shelves and other fun things. If they read so many books (which is never a problem in our house!) they can enter into a drawing for a prize of their choice. *In the 4 years we've been doing this, we have never been drawn for anything!

Well, it's a new day! Both Elliott and Roswell won a prize!
Elliott chose a long plush snake, and Roswell chose a battery-operated bubble maker. They were so excited!

I Love This Girl!

Avery makes fantastic faces lately. Here she is blowing her raspberries. She does it a lot and it's hilarious how she gets her hole face involved, including her tongue. I've tried several times to videotape it, but once she sees the camera she freezes and smiles. What a sweet girl! :)

Snowman

With the last snow storm, Donovan had a snow day from school and I had the chance to have fun with my older boys outside. We made snow angels, and a tiny snowman. The snow wasn't sticking so much, so he was a midget snowman. :)

Elliott with our dude.

We didn't want to give up our hats, so he has a leaf mohawk!

Floor Hockey Season Is Here!

When Donovan's school floor hockey program looked like it would be challenging with our schedules, we looked to our local community programs. It works out great! We like this so much better than last year! Don't get me wrong, we enjoyed it last year, it was just a hassle. This year we don't have to travel far, it's a smaller team so Dono gets more play time, it's cheaper, and the coach isn't yelling at the kids because they aren't behaving like professionals. I loved that it was based on fun. There wasn't even score taken! Loving it!

Dono in his jersey. They're the black team. They've given themselves the name "The Pirates".

Go Pirates!

Dono is the one in the white helmet. We kept it from last year- though they only require eye protection for the community- I like the protection better anyway.

I think we had a tie game, but I can't be certain, I lost track since no score was taken. We're looking forward to a fun season.

Sink Reflections

I'm always wanting to keep my home clean. It's not dirty, but with a family of 6 it's not easy to keep it orderly and there seems to be clutter in lots of spots. I've been working on cleaning up spots a little at a time and then just managing them while they're clean. It's been working, but can be better.
For my book club this month, we have been asked to read "Sink Reflections" by Marla Cilley. She has great ideas on how to have an easily managed and clean home that takes only a little amount of time, and how it promotes a happy home. In her book (and also on her website http://www.flylady.net/) she says to start with a clean sink. A really clean sink, one that you can see your reflection in, hence the title. I've been cleaning up parts of the house and decluttering, but I've neglected to start with the sink. I have been trying to keep the kitchen clean and dishes washed right away, so it's looked ok, but I finally cleaned the sink (bleach, ajax, windex, and all!)! I wanted to post a picture because I just love the look of it. I think she was right, when you have accomplished cleaning your sink and can see your reflection (I tried, but I don't think I can really see my reflection, I understand the concept though) you want everything else to look good too.


Dan even commented on how nice it was and that it would be a shame to get it dirty, so he's going to try to keep it clean too. On to the rest of the house!

Some Silliness

Elliott loves to be goofy. He was playing with Donovan's joke face and decided to use his own nose. We joked that he resembled Papa Earl with the glasses and dark mustache. At Elliott's last dr. appointment, they were concerned about his eyes. With Dan being the only member of both families with no eyesight problems, we're not surprised. We'll be going to an eye dr. soon to see if it's something that will need glasses, or just a pediatrician's mistake. He looks pretty cute with spectacles regardless. :)

Not a complimentary picture, but this is what happens when you have a confrontation with a horse. Let me rephrase, a miniature plastic horse in the hands of an energetic two year-old. That tiny cut hurt! I thought for sure it bruised my nose. But alas, merely a flesh wound! Too bad it wasn't in a less conspicuous spot!

This isn't silliness, just a cute little girl!

Oh Deer!

We love how our home is situated. We have 1/2 acre of yard, and then beyond our fence, our neighors have a stretch of 2 acres that are nicely wooded. Because of the openness of it (ours is the only fence), we get to see much wildlife. A few weeks ago, we had these two deer out back. (You can see the one, and the second is faintly beyond it.) I joke with my parents because they get jealous that we see deer so often. Dan claims that they are more a pest here because there are so many. During hunting season you can shoot up to 5 deer on one ticket. And you have to watch out for them year-round when driving.

In fact, there's a family of 5 that keep running in front of my car when I'm on my way to teach seminary at 6 in the morning. Gratefully, I've been alert and haven't run any down. I believe I caught the same deer family in our backyard. I think they joined ranks with others because now there are 8.

They are so beautiful! When they ran off, I noticed that the last deer was limping pretty badly. I guess someone hit it afterall. I hope they can survive.