A Boy's Saturday

Isaac and I slipped out Saturday morning at 7:30 am, we left Lexy and Momma asleep in bed. We headed out to have some breakfast and get supplies for a project.

First off we found a turtle trying to commit suicide. It was hanging out in the middle of the road up to our subdivision. He was in trouble. So, after a short ride, we dropped him off on the grass at our gate.

Next, we stopped by Panera Bread. We had some wonderful pastries and boxed up a few to take home for the girls. Then off to The Home Depot, son of a gun, I am still striking out on the 4x4's. I was going to cave in and buy the $25 each cedar 4x4's, but nope, they were out. Lowe's didn't do us any good with the 4x4's either. They did how ever have a kids workshop starting in a half hour. So we called Isaac's friend Henrik and invited him. They had fun building little fire trucks. Lowe's even had the local fire department there with a real ladder truck for them to check out.Then off we went to fill Isaac's request. We went to the Porsche dealership to look at cars. Henrik was game too. They luck out with the salesman that let them sit in this sweet little 2009 Boxter. Pretty sweet but it's a $56,000 car.

And that was all before lunch. All boy day... Haha...

Rain Rain...

We have had a little rain the last two days. NOTHING like what Alabama has had, but some rain. This posting is for Rickey, I hope the rest of you enjoy it too, but he asked me a long time ago to post some pictures of our creek and the base of the hill and the gate to our subdivision when it was flowing strong. Pretty good flow here. I did see it higher one day this last spring, but this is still a pretty good flow for that little creek. Enjoy

Has anyone seen our camera...??

We can't find the camera...

I want to post pictures. I want to take pictures. I can't find the camera...

Sorry.

Sickos...

Well, we are all sick. I am just about over mine. Amy is just peaking. Isaac should be on the downhill and Lexy is just starting into it.

It all started on Sunday morning Isaac and I both woke up feeling a tingle in our noses and a scratch in our throat. Isaac was coughing enough that he and I waited in the car while Lexy and Amy when to church. Isaac has missed school all week. It is interesting, they have a big list of questions this year if you are calling in for your kid. I bunch of questions to try to track the Swine Flu. Lexy missed yesterday, and we didn't even try this morning. I let them all sleep in.

We are taking several Emergen-C's a day and trying to get over this. I blame Lee in my office. He has been sick since last week. He must have licked my mouse or something.

I hope you are all feeling better than us. Take care.

Normal Weekend...?

So, I think we had a NORMAL weekend. I am not sure what that means. For us a weekend typically mean driving a state over, boating, dirt biking, or going to a show. Not this weekend. We hung out at the house.

We had a good family workout on Friday night. I am still sore. We walked down to the club house. Isaac and I lifted weights and did sit ups while Amy did the stair stepper and Lexy furnished us all with cups of water. Isaac's mind works a lot like mine. He told me while we were doing sit ups that he imagines that he is training for the FBI to fight robots and that helps him work hard when he works out. We took the long way home by walking down to the dead end of the road past the clubhouse before heading back. Once we got home Isaac challenged me to a few games of P-I-G at the basketball hoop, in the dark. That is always fun.

Saturday was Awesome...!! I worked on Isaac's new desk in the garage. I got a bunch of sanding done, got the drawer put together and glued, and got the lower part of the desk top ready to be glued and screwed into place. I LOVE my new drillS that Amy and the kids gave me for my birthday. And, I love my pocket screw kit, it make connections much cleaner. Amy studied all freakin' day... again. But that is what she does. Lexy played with Emma for hours. :) Amy took the kids to the pool for a while. It's a nice set up for her to study while the kids play in the pool. We even watched a little football.

Lexy used some of her birthday money from Grandpa Blake and Grandma Penny to buy the new Barbie movie. I think she watched it a dozen times this weekend. In between practicing to be a Barbie Musketeer.

Isaac bought a new video game for the computer. Sim City 4. It is a little addicting. I stayed up way too late Saturday night playing that with him. I put him to bed at 10:00pm and played entirely too long after that. It is pretty fun building city's and towns.


Sunday, Sunday, Sunday... We got up and headed to church. Amy got to teach Relief Society. Isaac and I had developed colds. He was coughing and we both had sore throats and stuffy heads. So, I stayed in the car with him. We ran to the store in our church cloths and got milk, eggs, bread and cheese. OK, that is not exactly what we got, but you get the idea, the basics. Then, FOOTBALL, FOOTBALL, FOOTBALL. We watched some at home and some at the club house with the retired party crowd. There were about 8 different kinds of chicken wings that people brought. Isaac really liked the party.

So, I guess that is a normal weekend.

Skating...

Another round of ice skating lessons are in the history books. Isaac finished Basic Hockey 3 and Lexy finished Basic Figure Skating 2. We start again in a few weeks. They run these lesson groups for 6 weeks. The kids are seeming to have more fun with it as they learn more. Isaac got board with it last session at the end, but he finished this one strong and is excited to keep going. Lexy is loving it. She learned to spin a little during this session. We hope to keep her going in this and get here in the local show in the spring. There's the pics...

Lexy in her new birthday tights. Ice skating tights. With the new skirt and jacket. What a little doll.

Isaac with his end of session grading sheet and Hockey 3 patch. Watch Josh Burkart (#16) on TV playing against USU got Isaac more excited and motivated him more. I have more pictures on the camera, these are the two I had on my phone to email to Amy who was studying hard for a test the next day in Beckley.

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL..!?!?

We slipped up to Cincinnati for the season opener of the Bangels. They were playing the Denver Broncos. It was an interesting game. Rather boring except the last 2 minutes of each half. The Broncos put together a drive at the end of the first half and kicked a fieldgoal with 2 seconds left. It was 0-3 at the half. They scored again in the middle of the third 0-6. Then blah blah blah. Toward the end of the game the Bangels pushed down the field and scored a touchdown, 7-6. With a wild tipped ball catch with 11 seconds left the Broncos scored the winning touchdown and won 7-12. Talk about the air being sucked out of the stadium... It was loud and wild, then silent. Ha-Ha. Here's our pics.

Isaac carried Lexy part of the way up the ramp.

Picture from our seats. We were on the top. It's hard to find a bad seat in the house.Isaac and I enjoying the game.All four of us... Except Amy's eyes are closed. Look no books in her hand.Lexy was happy.Our team in the stands after the game.Isaac was happy the the Broncos won the game.

Nashville Trip

We ran down to Nashville this weekend to meet the Eppley's. They made it that far we figured we could drive down. Besides, Amy is always up for a trip to Nashville. Of course, Amy spent half the time in the hotel room studying. The kids and I attached the town on Saturday morning. We saw the Country Music Hall of Fame, rode a tour trolley around town, walked around the downtown area. Then Amy met us for lunch and Jack's BBQ (if you ever make it to Nashville you should try it). Amy took the kids on a guided walking tour of downtown and when through the Ryman Auditorium while I pick up Aaron and Collette at the airport. We then all when to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel for a few hours, the kids never did get board in there. And then off to the Wild Horse Saloon for dinner. Here are some highlight picks... There will be more to come...

Amy and the kids on the Opry stage at the Ryman.

Lexy Jo by the 'Gorgeous George' plaque.

Taylor Swift was in town for a show. This is Lexy by her tour bus.

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Super...
Nope, that is the Batman Building.

Lexy found a cool cupcake shop... Too bad we didn't make it back when they were open.

Lexy is dancing the Chicken Dance at the Wild Horse Saloon with all the other birthdays. After all of this we took off early Sunday morning for Cincinnati...

Cakes of Birthdays Past

Here are some more of the cakes we have made for the kids birthdays over the years:

Isaac's 5th

Isaac's 6th

Lexy's 4th

Isaac's 4th...?

Isaac's 7th

Easter Cake

Another Easter

Lexy's 3rd (with Kayler)

Isaac's 8th

Isaac's 8th #2

Lexy's 5th
Not that these are in order... but these go back to the beginning of our digital camera days. There are more, Tweety Bird, Scooby Doo, Tigger, etc. I just don't have the digital pictures for them... yet.

Lexy's Birthday Party

Lexy's birthday isn't until Sunday, but we will be out of town all weekend and Amy will be in school next week. Soooo, we had her birthday party tonight. She begged and begged, so we did it... at Chuck E Cheese. Busy. Crazy. Chaos. Wild. How many other words can I come up with to describe the craziness of a 1st graders birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. Amy and I chased kids back and forth for two hours.

Anyway, those of you that know me know the best way for me to show you all the party is to make a Muvee...

Here ya go... Enjoy...

Sweet Clip

Hey... Allen... Allen.. Allen. Allen...



I love it... Hahahaha

Meat Cake

It's birthday cake time again...

We talked Lexy into a pizza cake, because she is having a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese's tonight. She is quite excited about both the party and the cake. She wanted to eat it for breakfast this morning when she saw it.

Lexy's Pizza Cake

For those of you who are new to our pictures here are some of the other cakes from last year. I didn't have a picture of Lexy's Cinderella Castle from last year's birthday. But, it found these.

Treasure Map Cake

The Skull

This one is not a picture of it when it was

done. He had teeth; and piping that

brought out the detail of the nose, eyes,

mouth and some cracks. but, it shows

the main idea.

Amy's Life Flight - Birthday Cake

Bridges

So, Aaaa... I don't ever work on bridges. But, I still find them fascinating to look at. Which works out well for me living in at area with many, many bridges. I was in Wayne County (West Virginia), yesterday looking at a water line project and ran across this bridge. I think that these bridge supports are cool. I am not sure if the photo portrays it well. But, I enjoyed it. Sharing that picture from yesterday makes me think of my favorite bridge. The Tacoma Narrows Bridge. The first one, in 1940. That thing was cool, rocking, swaying and crashing into the water. Here is a sweet collection on photos from the construction, life and collapse of the bridge.

Stylin' Momma

Amy hijacked Isaac's Fox shoes on Sunday. He left them in the front seat of the car when we got home so Amy put them on and told him he had to wear her sandals. Yeah, Right..!! There is NO WAY that boy would put on the sandals.

It is kinda fun that they wear the same size shoes right now. Isaac has been wearing Amy's running shoes now and then. And Amy is HOT in those Fox shoes...!!

Last Points Race...

Tonight was the last points race for the Tyler Mountain Series. Boy, we has some ups and downs. Isaac slammed the first moto with a first place. Then struggled with his start on the 65cc, and got way held up on the start of another 50cc class and ended up 4th. He was ready to quite and about got his butt kick for having a bad attitude. He came back strong, riding fast. But, his Dad didn't get the choke turned off and he got 4th because the bike kept dieing. C-R-A-P..!! He got 3rd on the second moto of the 65cc class and a solid 2nd on the last moto of the night. He ended up with two 3rds and a 4th on the night. But, he kept riding hard after some tough breaks. That is why we race.

Isaac's friend David (from our neighborhood)

stopped by for a while to watch him race.

David got to see him win a moto.

He's flying high on the big table top.

Here is a shot of Isaac and Casey Wood. Casey lives in Beckley, WV. He is an awesome kid. Casey races the 65cc classes and an 85cc class. He and his parents were pretty much the first folks to welcome us to the track. Good people.

That's all for now... Stay tuned.

Nice Melons...

Here is Amy working on pushing meds into a fleshy melon. She is working hard for our future. The kids being back in school is helping her keep up on her studying. She gets up at 5:45am (really, I promise) to help get the kids ready to catch the bus. Then she stays up and hits the books. Thanks, babe...!

A Day at the Clay Center

You know those pin impression toys... Well, the Clay Center has a full body one. it's like six and a half feet tall... I picked the kids each up and pushed them into it... Here ya go...

Rock on Isaac

Live and Pin Impression

Lexy with demons horns

Live and Pin Impression

We also did the optical illusion desk. Lot of cool experiments.

Yep, poor Amy was home studying... :(