Happy Birthday, Buddy!

On November 28, 2005, our life changed…again. The 3 of us turned into the 4 of us, and it was wonderful. Our life went from normal speed to Mach 10- with our hair on fire speed. Our days went from quiet days, reading books and playing puzzles to… yelling, running, crashing, demolishing, laughing, squealing, and lots of lots of smiles. We still read books and put puzzles together just a little differently than we did before.  You brought a whole new energy to our house, that we never knew was missing. We love that you like to ride your bike as fast as you can. We love that you like to build a tower out of blocks and then run and crash them down. We love that you like to make your cars (or trucks, airplanes, or anything with wheels) crash into each other over and over and over again. We also love the way you make us laugh, you are such a funny, funny little boy. We love the way you like to snuggle with your cheek pressed right against ours. We love the way you say such sweet, sweet things to us, like “Mommy, you have beautiful eyes”.

Most of all, we love that you are our son and Hannah’s little brother.

Happy 3rd Birthday, little Buddy!

We love you, Mom, Dad and Hannah                      

Nothing like blue icing says “Happy Birthday”

”

Yippie! I got a Dump truck.                         

 “Daddy, please help me open this.”

Happy b-day song.

Dancing to the music that comes out of his new dump truck.

Marine Corps Ball

Early November was our annual Marine Corps Ball. Of course I do not have any photos of us all dressed up. We did have one professionally done, if I remember I will scan it and post it once we get it. Anyway, here are a few photos of our crazy night out on the town after the ball.

Just starting our night out after the ball in downtown Boise.

Kraig, Sanchez and Benny “the tongue” posing for the camera.

YUMMIE! Root Beer Floats. With Janet and Benny…let the party begin.

Tim, who is the Chick now! Yes, that is lip stick that he is wearing.

A little glassy in the eyes, but we had a great time and look forward to next year.

Oregon Trail

Went for a run today on the Oregon Trail. I took a little video of a small part of the trail. I wanted to show you the actual wheel ruts from the old covered wagons.

Buggy Ride

Alexander getting ready to go for a Buggy Ride to the zoo.

Trick or Treat

Trick or Treating was so much fun this year. Hannah had fun taking her little brother up to the doors and saying “Trick or Treat”, and Alexander was so excited about people giving him candy.

Welcome baby Kellen

One month ago our friends, Brook and Dan lost their home to a devastating fire. The fire took out their home along with 10 others and many other homes were damaged. The fire started as a small brush fire but was fueled by high winds and quickly got out of control. It was supposed to be a happy time that month before the babies’ birth. The room was ready, all the new little baby the clothes were hanging in the closet. Never did they imagine that they were going to have to start all over just a month before bring home their new son. Brook and Dan are amazing people and pulled through this tragedy and yesterday their day got a little brighter. Kellen was born yesterday morning to Brook and Dan. He looks like a little angel and I cannot wait to meet him in person. Congratulations Brook and Dan, you have a beautiful son.

What was left after the fire.

Beautiful little Kellen.

 

Hello strangers

Hello, I have been so bad about updating our blog. I seriously have not had the time. School is back in session for Hannah and myself, I had sinus surgery and Kraig had back surgery. Life has been so busy for us over the past few months. We are all doing fine and it looks like we are back on the road to some normality. I have some photos that I took with my cell phone, so please excuse the quality.

We went to Colorado to pick up Hannah and to visit our friends.  On our way back we went on a fossil dig in Utah ( http://www.u-digfossils.com/). We had so much fun and we brought home about 30 Trilobites (A trilobite is form of invertebrate marine life that lived more than 500 million years ago).

Here is one of those trilobites.

 

Hannah’s first day of 5th grade. I cannot believe my little girl is in 5th grade already, she is growing up WAY to fast.

 

Here is my little guy helping me vacuum. Yes, those are underwear he is wearing. He has been doing very well potty training.

Hannah we miss you!

Hannah is in Michigan for 5 weeks!! Yes, I know…how am I going to make it. I have to say it has been a lot harder than I thought (it has been a week now). I cannot stand looking at her empty room and not talking to her, especially at night after Alexander went to bed.

Right now, she is on a whirl-wind vacation with my sister and her family. They went to Orlando, and then a cruise to the Bahamas. I will post photos as soon as my sister gets them to me.

Have fun Hannah…we all miss you very much!!

Happy Anniversary

Thursday was our 15th wedding anniversary. I cannot believe that we have been married for 15 years already. The week prior to our anniversary, when my mom was here to watch the kids, we took a little bike trip for our anniversary.

We rode our bicycles from our house to Eagle, Id. We rode along the greenbelt, which winds along the Boise river the whole way. It was a beautiful ride and it was really nice to be able to talk to each other with no kids interrupting. We decided to make this an overnight trip, so we stayed at the Hilton in Eagle. We had a great Thia dinner and just relaxed the rest of the night.  The next morning, after a hardy breakfast, we headed back home. It ended up being about a 45 miles round trip that we rode (see map), and the most time we had had with each other in a LONG time.

A huge shout-out goes to my mom for watching our kids overnight. If it was not for her we could not have gone on our little excursion. THANKS MOM!!

And to my husband….You have been the most patient, loving and caring husband that I could have ever wished for.  Thank you for your support, and your encouragment that you give me everyday to be a better person. You are a wonderful friend and a great father.

I love you,  Michelle

Me, taking in the view along our ride.

Kraig, reading the sign along the river.

The sign said that along this path there were once tunnels used for the Chinese slaves to get around the city, so they would not be seen (hummm, that explains all the Chinese restaurants around here).

Snow Cones for sale!

Hannah and her friend Savannah, wanted to get in on the entrepreneurial action in our neighborhood. Recently there has been a slew of lemon-aid stands in our neighborhood. The girls thought they could make a clean sweep with a snow cone stand.  Savannah’s mom had all the supplies, they made the signage, and Alexander and I were their first customers. Business was a little slow for a Thursday afternoon, they did sell a few cones but they mostly just sat on the corner and ate their own snow cones.