February Visitors

1st group - THE CHENEYS

The girls got to meet Cinderella and the prince after the show.
A gothic interpretation of losong the glass slipper.

Positioning Cinderella Barbies in a hug.

Re-enactment of the barbies.


2nd group - THE CHAPMAN-SMITH FAMILY

Brooke and her Rachel. Every girl needs a crown!

The 4 musketeers!

Doug, Lisa, Me, and Matt

3rd Group - THE KILBYS

Austin chipped a tooth and Brooke lost a tooth within about one minute of each other.

The most theatrical dance I have ever seen!

Holding down the fort.

We "kind of" got to eat in peace.

Are they all related or what?

Trying to teach the kids some facts about the presidents as they indulge.

4th group - BETH AND JACOB JONES

Jacob, Beth, me, and Luke

Target practice.

Always working on a Lego creation! This time it is a Harry Potter village.

One thing Matt and I love is having people come visit us. I thouroughly enjoy having friends and family I love stay at our house and spending time with them. Well, February was our lucky month as we had guests every weekend. It began with our neighbors from our first Ohio house, The Cheney's. Missy and I took Brooke and Julia to see Cinderella at the ballet and Matt and Kyle took Joey, Andrew, and Luke to Dave and Busters. Brooke and Julia loved getting dressed up and they had the chance to meet the stars of the show afterwards. We wish we were still neighbors!!! Unfortunately, we have no pics of the adults.

The second set were the Chapman-Smiths, also neighbors from our first Ohio house. The grown-ups were able to enjoy a nice dinner out at McCormick and Schmick's while Rachel babysat the crew. We spent the rest of the weekend indulging in our favorite activities, which consists of shopping and eating for the girls, and video games and air soft gun wars for the boys. We also wish they were still neighbors!

Our third set were the Kilby's (Matt's cousin and family) from St. Louis. It was so nice to be able to have three days together with them as our time is usually brief and divided. Although we got off to a rocky start on the first day with temporarily losing Jacob on a bike ride home from the park, and then Austin and Macy collided heads resulting in a chipped front tooth for Austin...yikes!...we had the best time and the kids had a blast. We were even able to celebrate President's Day with a themed menu. Presidential chipotle steak chili (most Presidents ate beef stew, but I thought chili was a little more interesting), Spiro Agnew crab cakes, Jimmy Carter peanut dip, Ronald Reagan jellybeans, Geroge Washington cherry pie, and Presidential cupcakes.

We love you Kilby's!

Our final set of visitors were Beth and Jacob Jones. Luke and Jacob have been best buddies ever since 1st grade. They were in class together every year and Luke has definitely missed him this year. They share the same passions - legos, air soft guns, and anything having to do with the military. We took the boys to the Lego Store at Easton and then they just played at the house. It is so nice only being two hours away from Copley so that our kids can keep these friendships going. I have a feeling they will always be friends!!

Skiing in New York

Peak N Peak New York
The boys looking fast!

Luke coming out of the trees on his "Wipeout Zone"

The Bendicks and the Milligans

Doing a little night skiing.

Matt giving Brooke a push.

Audrey and Andrew texting each other as they stand beside each other. It would be too much work to open their mouths and form the words!

We went skiing in New York at Peak N Peak resort with our good friends from Copley, the Milligans. We had the BEST time!! The snow was great and it was good practice for our big trip out West someday. We even got to do some night skiing which was great!! The boys are at the age where they wanted to go off on their own and be cool. We stayed together, but tried to give them enough space to feel independent. Luke renamed one of the runs 'His Wipeout Zone' as he tried to make it down over and over again without falling. The boys also enjoyed going through the tree trails and I did, too! I pretended I was 16 years old again skiing the run 'Pinball' at Monarch in Colorado which was my favorite tree trail. The day we left we had to drag them off the mountain. Luke told us that he wanted to live there. They are going to go nuts when they ski Colorado. I can't wait!!!

New Year's Eve

Getting ready to toast to 2011 with the Strandbergs. We managed to sneak the girls to bed!
Wildlights at the Columbus Zoo.

The kids goofing off. They are all livid right now because they are starving and we made them pose for another picture.

One of my New Year's resolutions was to be more timely with my blogging. Hmmmmm.... it is Feb. 9th and I am just now posting new Year's Eve. I just don't think it is going to happen.

New Year's Eve was spent with our friends, the Strandberg's from Copley. It was unseasonably warm so we visited Wildlights at the zoo. The adults enjoyed it and the kids complained (well at least our kids did) about being hungry the whole time. So we skipped out early, headed to City BBQ for dinner, and then back to our house for games. The kids had a great time acting crazy while the adults could hardly keep our eyes open for Ryan Seacrest to ring in the New Year. I have never liked New Year's Eve very much. It was nice when the kids were younger and didn't know what it meant to be able to stay up until midnight. We could celebrate at ten and be done. Those days are long gone.