"Ride for Heroes"

Last weekend we participated in a 25k bike "Ride for Heroes"

Uncle Aaron came out from raleigh and rode tandem with Savannah, and Matt rode tandem with Isabelle. These cute pictures were in the paper.

Aaron and Savannah just starting out.

Matt and Isabelle

Matt and Isabelle

Isabelle (see the grin!)

Grandma watched Adam and Logan so the rest of us could go. Thanks Grandma! The girls were real troopers and we had lots of fun. I think the favorite part for them was the snack stations. Savannah admitted to eating 6 krispy cream donuts by the end of the race! It was pretty cold and Isabelle's cheeks were constantly rosey but always smiling. We had a great time and i was really proud of my girls.

Boys are Gross

I mean really really gross.

Okay lest you think i'm a terrible mother and call social services it really isn't poo. It is just a dirt clod. BUT the fact that he THINKS its poo and yet is still playing with it... Gross.

: ) okay, Seriously though. Adam has had such a fun time having his Dad home this summer. They've fixed cars, lawn mowers, line trimmers,

Gone Shopping (adam's favorite places are the stores with lawn tractors where daddy patiently lets him try out each one.)

Sanded, nailed, screw-drivered, (built a dresser) cleaned stuff, fixed the toilet, learned to use compressed air,

Gone swimming, Boating, to the Zoo, and The Bird Sanctuary.

Spent countless evenings at Grandpa's having what we call "Testosterone Time"

(Adam calls it cookie time)

It has been a seriously awesome summer for a little two year old dude.

He has gone through MAJOR with drawl this past week since Matt has gone back to work.

Little does he know how much worse it will be when the girls go back to school next week.

Spring Break 2011

We were so blessed to get to go to Disney World during spring break. It brought back so many memories and made lots of new ones. We had so much fun i forgot to take many pictures. Here is the girls on the tea cups with grandma.



and the Kids digging for dinosaur fossils at Animal Kingdom.
We also made a trip to the beach where we met our old friends the Chavez's. Savannah and Vallee picked up like we had never left. (Isabelle and the others were mostly too young to remember when we left.) It was fun to get all the kids together again.

L to R: Archie (6) Isabelle (6) Vallee (9) Savannah (9) Isabel (8) Henry (4)

(Brandi if i got ages wrong you better tell me!)

Adam was asleep in the car. Miss you guys.

We had a great vacation. We played hard and came home tired. Adam was a little trooper and happy to be doing whatever we were doing. It was kind of fun to go "home" again, but also interesting that it no longer feels like home. I guess that part of our life has past. So it was also good to figure that out. Here is to the future.

Fun Run for Charities

Our family ran in the fun run for charity's a few weeks ago. Savannah and Matt ran together in a 5-K. LouAnn Walked a 5-K. Aaron ran a 10K then ran with Isabelle in a 1 mile run. And Tricia and Adam ran a 1 mile (at Adam's pace) We had lots of fun. Aaron and LouAnn both medaled! LouAnn got FIRST PLACE and Aaron got THIRD PLACE in each age group. At the end of Adam's race everyone ran out to finish the race with him. He loved it. Just after the finish line was a huge bucket of ice sitting on a table and filled with water bottles. Adam ran right over, stuck his little hand up and for a water bottle and said "I hot, I hot."L to R: Tricia, Adam (age 2 next month), Matt, Savannah (age 9), Isabelle (age 6)

"I Wanna Run!"

Last week our running club started its spring session. So after a long cold winter we were ready to get off our behinds and run. Since Adam is so much bigger this year I thought I would let him run to wear himself out then I'd piggy back him the rest of the way. The girls run a track that is about a half mile each way, so they run one way then turn around and head back for a total of about a mile. We set off with all the other kids and despite Adam's best efforts he quickly fell behind. He chugged on and on. about halfway to the turn around he started to walk some. thinking he was wearing out I'd ask him if he was all done. Immediately he'd start running again and say "No! I run." So we got to the turn around and headed back still running most of the way. Within sight of the end of the trail I stopped at a bench to tie a shoelace. Adam walked over to the bench leaned against it and threw up. Then said "I no run. I walk." I guess he does have a limit. : ) Even then he didn't want me to carry him, so we walked to the finish.

Silly Adam Moments

March 2011


In church last week... WAY past naptime... Adam walked up to me and said "pow,pow,pow" while using me for a punching bag. Then on the back swing bumped his elbow on the pew and immediately needed mommy kisses to feel better. I made him kiss my owwie too. :)



March 2001

This morning my not-quite-two year old son and i had this converstation.
Me(for the 3rd time): Adam, come here!
Adam: I tumin!
Me: you're coming? (shocked that he even knew how to say that AND got the pronoun right.)
Adam: uhuh. I tumin. Sheesh!

Where did he learn to be such a sassy pants?

Then we went to walmart. I just needed milk but adam was still in his pjs. Normally he loves to push the cart for me. (mostly he pushes and i just hold on so he doesn't crash into anyone) Since he was still in his pjs today he didn't have any shoes so i explained to him that he couldn't push today because he didn't have shoes and he would have to ride in the cart. I thought he understood until we walked into the store and he started saying "I pushy, I pushy!" So i explained again that he couldn't push today because he didn't have any shoes and added that if he rode in the cart i would buy him a treat. as soon as i said the word "treat" he said "uhuh." and willingly sat in the cart.

So I said. "You are a good boy. You sit right there and I will buy you a treat." He said "A ball." me: "You want a ball instead of a treat?" him: "uhuh."...

yeah so i WAS going to buy him like a $.50 treat (and split it with him) and he talked me into a seven dollar ball!
Oh well, I guess it is better for his teeth.

Santa

Super excited for Christmas. Saw Santa at the mall. Savannah sang at the mall with her Glee club. Isabelle sang with her class at school. Both did a great job. It is fun that they learned some of the same songs so we can sing them in the car. Adam keeps trying to "blow out" the candle shaped bubble lights that we have on our tree. We are having a great christmas time. Loves to all.

Horse Camp

In July we signed the girls up for Horse camp. They've always been obsessed with horses and they LOVED Horse camp. It was perfect for them. They were each assigned a horse to work with all week. The learned how to groom and saddle and ride and... Well more than i know about horses!

Isabelle sitting on "Lady" while her helper adjusts the stirrups.

Isabelle riding Lady. It was so fun to see such a little girl on such a big gentle horse. Isabelle is a natural she was so confident and excited. They even trotted! She was one of the youngest there and did Great.

Isabelle leading Lady back to the stall after her ride.

Savannah riding Heart. Heart was being a bit lazy that day and wanted to just stand there. Savannah did a great job and still had fun.

Savannah leading Heart back to the stable after her ride.

Cleaning Heart's feet. I laughed to watch Savannah pick up Heart's foot to clean it. She was one of the few that figured out the trick. She was amazing.

10 things i've learned about boys.

Boys:
1. RUN! Everywhere they go!
2. Want to be big!

3. Want to be like their dad. (notice the funny face due to the "car noises" -see #4)

(and yes, he is sitting on Matt's Handle bars!)
4. Can't play with toy cars without sound effects. (Cars don't make good church toys!)
5. Will resort to pushing a pink baby stroller around the house, but only with adding "truck" sound effects. (see #4)

6. Love Sticks, Poles, Pipes or anything else they can "Fix" (bang on stuff) with.

7. Love to "help". (Adam has become a proficient Dish-Washer Emptier. He still doesn't understand the concept of "loading" and it is generally a race to get it loaded before he puts all the dirty dishes in the drawer!)7. Love Balls: big balls, small balls, bouncy balls, bumpy balls, round or not, they LOVE balls!

8. Always have bumps and bruises. (especially when they tease their sisters.)

9. Lack patience and tend to help themselves to things

10. Are amazing and fun and perfect.

Admitedly I started this post months ago... forgive my tardiness! Busy being a mom and all that! : )

Miracles

On the way home from raleigh this weekend, (after visiting cita at her hotel pool!) when we were still about 30 minutes from home, and on the freeway, Our car suddenly lost power. Matt coasted to the side of the road and we were stranded. The closest exit sign was back the way we had come. (the sign said 1 1/2 miles) In the opposite direction we couldn't even see any exit signs. We had no cell phone. It was dark. We had all three kids in the backseat. The car wouldn't start.

Matt suggested that he would walk to the nearest exit and try to get some help. I was hesitant to split up, because then if help did come how would we get Matt back? but we didn't know what else to do. The girls have been learning about prayer in primary and one of them suggested we needed to pray. We climbed into the backseat and knelt where we could. We asked our Heavenly Father to help us stay together, and to get home safely. Then we told the kids to stay buckled in and Matt and I got outo of the car. We stood next to the van and matt said. "Lets try to flag somebody down." I felt silly standing there in the dark waving my arms over my head, but I didn't have a better suggestion. Within minutes a tow truck pulled over and asked what the problem was. Matt said we needed a tow and was he available? The man said, "Well, i'm on a call already, how far do you need to go?" Matt said "Well, we live in Rocky Mount" The man got a funny look on his face and said. "I'm going to Rocky Mount. I can take you there."

We felt so blessed and watched over. Heavenly Father hears our prayers.