Give a girl $50...

Little Lexy Jo got a $50 gift card from Christmas from her Grandparents. It didn't take her long to find some things that she wanted to buy. In one trip she spent the whole thing. She got (2) shirts, (2) pairs of pants, and pink gumball machine, and new tea party set, and a Ringpop. Good job, Lexy.The story goes that she and Amy were in the store when Lexy saw a shirt that she wanted, the pink one with a rainbow and hearts. Amy asked her if she wanted to spend her money on that shirt, and it was game on. She got to pick out the cloths that she wanted and then got some toys too.

She always tells people that "...the gumball machine doesn't even have to have a quarter to get a gumball." If we give in and tell her, "yes, I'll have a gumball." It is delivered in an upside down tea cup on a matching saucer.

It's been fun to see what she buys with her own money.

What the kids got for Christmas

Here is what the kids got for Christmas... from their perspective...

Christmas

Christmas happen anyway at our house this year. We did prep for it. Amy and the kids put up a tree the day after Isaac's birthday party. We made the cookies and candies that we wanted to. In fact we had the missionaries come over and help us. We had two of them frost cookies with Lexy, while the other two make carmel popcorn, cinnamon fudge, and lemon hard candy. We were even able to slip in a little visit with Santa Clause.

Then Christmas Day came. There were presents every where... for everybody. Isaac and Lexy got WAY more than kids ever should.

Each of the kids will post a list of their gifts later... Enjoy.

Nutcracker Photos... Finally

I figured out my trouble uploading photos to the blog from my laptop. I have been using my work computer or other computers at home the last few weeks. It was the AdAware that was running in the background. It's funny how the software that is supposed to make things better gives you trouble with what you want to get done.


Anyway, here are the pictures from the Ice Nutcracker that both of the kids were in. Isaac was a mouse and Lexy was a soldier. Lexy had a blast in the show, Isaac didn't like it. Isaac was fine with the skating part of it, but the girls that where soldiers were mean when they were all off the ice.

Here is a picture of them both right after the show. Isaac had given back the mouse ears already.This is Lexy and two of her friends enjoying the ice after the show. Soldiers during the show. Lexy is the one in the middle.

The mouse crew watching the show in between their parts. Isaac is the dark grey, tall one in the middle of the picture.

The ice skating has sure been nice for the kids. It is something that is fun and will be a skill that they will always have. We sure are glad that we have the opportunity to have them skate so much.

Sleding over the weekend

With such a great snow storm this last weekend the kids have been spending a lot of time playing in the snow. I have wanted to up load some pics. But a video is a little better. Here is a quick video of them .

The sledding hill is only two houses away. Plenty close enough to let the kids walk on their own or we can just pop over the check on them. I spent some time helping them get the runs built for their little $5 disk sleds. Then I when back to the house and change is to sweats and slippers... after that I drove the truck over to check on them. The hill where they are sledding belongs to a neighbor that we had not met. His name is Aaron, he is a trauma orthopedic surgeon. We haven't met his wife yet, she is an ER doctor. He was fun to visit with and even invited one of his PA's to bring his kids to the hill. There were about 6 kids tearin' it up. They all had fun.

Isaac's Birthday

We always put together a party for the kids birthdays. This year Isaac had his at The Ridges clubhouse. We hooked up the Wii and a sound system to the big plasma TV so that the boys could play Mario Kart and Guitar Hero. They also played some non-video games, they played Apples to Apples and a balloon game.

This was a four way race.

We decided to make it harder for them. We tied balloons on to their wrist to make it harder for them to see and distract them. It made for some great fun. Lots and lots of balloons...

There is a shot of the boy with his cake.This is the party shot. All but one of the boys that came are in this shot. Make a wish and blow out the candles, dude...

Power was out...

Well, our power was out from about 9 am on Saturday to 9 pm on Sunday. It made for an interesting weekend. It was pretty relaxing actually. It makes us think of a simpler time. It kept our weekend quiet. The snow was nice, Isaac spent every bit of day light possible out there in the snow playing. He made several sled tracks (jumps and all), an igloo, a fort, etc. We couldm't convince him to come in the house. He even skipped lunch on Saturday. Needless to say he LOVES the snow.

Here are some pics of why we were out of power. This is right down near the gate to The Ridges. A tree fell into the power lines and pulled some of them down. There is a burnt spot on the tree where the power lines came together.

It is a bit hard to see in the picture but there is a power cable hanging down from the pole into the ditch. It starts in the top middle of this picture and goes down to the left.

We all slept in the living room on Saturday night. We moved Lexy's mattress in on the floor. On Sunday after dinner the kids decided to be nice to each other long enough to lay on the bed and watch a movie on Lexy's computer. With out power.They can't keep me from cooking for my family dinner. We fired up the grill and made our dinner with out the microwave or the stove. We made BBq pork chops, fried potatoes (in a pie tin), breaded chicken, and we heated up some corn. We had a nice dinner...

We woke up this morning and what did we see...

Snow... Snow... Snow...!!

We got a good snow over night. It was starting to snow when we went to bed last night. By the time we got up this morning, there was 10" on the driveway. And that was on top of the rain that had fallen for 3 hours yesterday afternoon. It's still snowing at 10am...

Here is a nice pic of the front yard at just before 8am. We got a little on the truck...

Lexy was all bundled up first and got some early morning play time in the snow.

The kids and I bailed and when to Panera from some quick breakfast. When we leave here we are going to go find a sled and the kids are going to tear up the snow...

We'll post again later with more snow pictures...

Our First Nutcracker

I have been trying to upload photos of the kids skating in The Nutcracker from Sunday afternoon. I have been haveing trouble.

Anyway, the kids skated in The Nutcracker. Isaac was a mouse and Lexy was a soldier. Lexy's and the other soldiers were the beginning synchro team. They did their routine from the competition that was in Novermber. Isaac skated with a few of the hockey boys. They mostly did circles around the cernter circle and then fast loops around the ice. We had some fighting about the fact that the soldier push the mice off the ice...

Breaking Ground

Look at that clown on the right end...

Yesterday we had the official ground breaking of the waterline connection between Cumberland and Byesville, OH. It is about 9 miles of 8" waterline. The project is about 125 miles from the house, it makes for a long day to head up there to check on things. Triad hired an inspector to go up there and be the full time onsite guy. In the photo are the Mayors from both towns, the Village Administrators, one Council member and the Ohio EPA Rep. I even got to paint up the shovels for this photo opp. It was a pretty good day.

More Isaac's Birthday

Here are some more pictures of Isaac's Birthday. If you've been around us much you know the we go overboard on the birthday cakes for our kids. This year Isaac asked for a Wii-mote. So, we put together 2 of them. We did a regular 9x13 cake cut in half and stacked with white fondant. We used the fondant for the buttons and regular cream cheese frosting for the detail. Now those of you that are Wii players, please notice the detail of "Player 1 and Player 2". Click on the photo to enlarge. Isaac is a bit of a video game kid. He has been begging for a Nintendo DSi. It's the latest version of a GameBoy. Well, he got one...

We also got a Skin It for the DSi that has pictures of him and other dirtbike stuff on it. Here he is with the giant block of Rice Crispies treats from his Grandma Becky, it was packed full of gummy worms too.

Here he is opening the Big Ol' Nerf gun that he got from Grandpa Blake and Grandma Penny. I don't think that you can tell from this shot, but it was wrapped in Ferrari wrapping paper. I am pretty sure that was as big of a deal as the toy its self.

He got a bunch of more presents from Grandparents, parents and his sister. But that is it for now. I still have his party to blog about as well. But that will have to wait for another night.

Happy Birthday Isaac

It's Isaac's Birthday today...

He opened a present from Payson this morning. He was soooo stoked...

He has wanted a pogo stick for a long, long time. He spent some time bouncing around before school. He even said, "Hey, I could bounce all the way to school with this thing."

More to follow...

Isaac's Desk

I finally got Isaac's desk done and moved into his room, well we moved it into his room.He already has his dirtbike number carved into the side of the desk. Well... I admit, I carved it.
We got it all set up under his bed, complete with a super power strip (10 outlets)above the desk (see the cords), lamp and Guitar Hero stool.
We got some good stuff set up on the desk. Little shelf, desk organizer, some of the books that he is currently reading, his computer (and power cord), Gameboy charger, mp3 player charger, cell phone charger, all the things a boy needs at his desk.

And here he is, as if he were doing his homework. Set up under his bed with a rockin' new desk. All the charging a boy needs for his electronics, sharp pencils in the drawer, and plenty of small toy distractions. Oh yeah, you can't forget that it has a view out the window.

For those of you who I have not talked about this desk with. It is a small desk that fits under the loft bed that we built for him 2 years ago. It matches the bed with the scuffed black paint and natural wood inlays. It also has a sweet, boy twist, diamond plate aluminum inlaid in the top. I put a 2x6 frame around the top with diamond plate in the center. I used a bar top finish that put a thick clear finish over the top and made it smooth enough to write on. There is a nice sized drawer in the middle of the front. I made a little pencil tray in the drawer with two separate compartments under the tray. I did find my project brand and branded one of the wood slats by the desk leg. I hope this desk gets years and years of use.

Early Birthday Present

Well, I couldn't wait. We got Isaac ice skates for is birthday (that isn't until the end of the week) But, I couldn't wait. My excuse was that he had NutCracker practice on Saturday morning and I wanted him to have the chance to skate in them a few times before the show that is on Sunday the 13th.

I looked quite a bit on the internet for a good deal. I found them on hockeydeals.com. He got a pair of Bauer Vapor VI's. All the guys at the ice rink say that the Vapors are great skates. I hope they work out for him. They came into my office on Thursday when I was out of town and I dropped them off to get sharpened at the ProShop on my way home from work on Friday. Saturday when we went to skate they were sharp and ready to go. Isaac was jumping up and down yelling "Yes... Yes... Yes..." He was pretty excited. Here they are on the ice. I know ya can't tell, but he can. These will form to his feet.

Isaac invited his friend David to go skating. We have to force David into skates, we had to force him on to the ice, we had to force him away from the wall. In the end, he had fun and said that he wanted to go again some time. Isaac was a good, patient coach.

Here is a picture of the three skaters.

More First Snow Pictures

We got some snow. The kids have had a blast playing in it. There was a skiff on the ground at 7am and by noon there was about 3 in on the cars. I think the kids when through about 3 sets of snow cloths. Isaac have been so worried that it will melt that he dosen't want to do anything else. They packed buckets full of snow to move it where Isaac is building a ramp. But, suprise the cubes of snow were fun too.
Lexy made a snow angle first thing when she went out.

The snow looked pretty on the trees driving toward town.

The creek at the Ridges entry.

First Snow

Well, we got our first West Virginia snow this morning. I just snapped this photo, pretty much at first light. I am sure the kids will be out in it as soon as they know it's out there. Soooo, I am sure there will be more pictures to follow.

Lexy and Manney

We have been getting the kids dressed for school in front of the fire lately. I treasure that memory myself. Getting out of the shower grabbing my cloths and running down stairs to get dressed by the warm fire. Unlike then we have central gas heat and keep the house heated with the furnace, but it is still nice on a chilly morning to dress by the fire. Trouble is the kids want to sit there and not finish getting ready. This morning Lexy was playing with the dog on pillow and blanket that Amy left there from studying by the fire until 2am. Lexy was sooo excited that Manney was holding her hand, she begged me to take a picture and put it on the blog. It is pretty cute. Enjoy

Oh No...!!!

Well, I am glad I wasn't there, but a contractor on one of the projects I am working on had some serious bad luck yesterday. As the crew was loading a trackhoe on the trailer, in the rain. The brakes on the truck weren't set, the wheels were not chalked, and off the edge of the road and into the creek the whole mess went. There was enough movement that it took a personal truck of one of the guys with it. That is a bad day, man. These pictures were taken by one of our guys that inspects the waterline as it's installed. I didn't even get to see the mess. But I thought it would be nice to share these messy pictures with everyone. Enjoy.