tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84772106019311438722024-03-05T00:41:29.271-05:00MAYHEM IN THE MIDWESTLife as we know it....as told by Heather.OhioFamOf4http://www.blogger.com/profile/03306437309657338988noreply@blogger.comBlogger252125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8477210601931143872.post-5131822742079331502013-04-12T16:58:00.000-04:002013-04-12T16:58:30.410-04:00April Currents<strong>So I haven't gotten back into the groove of blogging like I had hoped. I guess this will have to do for now.</strong><br />
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<strong>Current Books</strong>: Ha, ha, reading. I think the last time I opened a book was at church Sunday when I was following along in my bible. Does that count?<br />
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<strong>Current Playlist</strong>: I've been in a hip hop kind of mood lately. Doing lots of cleaning and organizing and it helps me keep moving.<br />
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<strong>Current Color</strong>: apparently still eggplant</div>
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<strong>Current Drink</strong>: ChocoVine = red wine and chocolate in a bottle. But a little goes a long way, so I've had the same bottle for a little over a month. It also makes me sneeze, so that should tell me something.</div>
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<strong>Current Food</strong>:Jason's parents took us to Der Dutchman this week for a family dinner and I really don't know the last time I actually savored beef gravy like I did on those mashed potatoes. If they sold just gravy I would buy it. I might possibly eat it on something besides potatoes, heck I might just eat it right out of the container. It was THAT good.</div>
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<strong>Current Favorite Favorite</strong>: Having family visit this week. I love having playmates for the kids and sitting around drinking coffee with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law in the mornings. And Jason was off this week too and up during the daytime, which I love.</div>
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<strong>Current Wish List</strong>: a bible cover and a cover for my tablet<br />
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<strong>Current Needs</strong>: more time. Can I get some more of that please?</div>
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<strong>Current Triumph</strong>: not stressing out about Xander's birthday party. I had no idea what was going to take place and he wouldn't let me decorate and do theme-type stuff for his food and goodie bags. And I was able to let it go and play out by itself. And it did, while I sat on the couch and ate Doritos. And he said it was awesome. Who knew?</div>
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<strong>Current Annoyance</strong>: the weather. 60's, snow, 80's, storms, 40's......pick something already Mother Nature! </div>
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<strong>Current Indulgence</strong>: restuarant food. With family in town and both kids having birthdays, we've been eating out a LOT.<br />
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<strong>Current Blessing</strong>: Xander didn't get written up at school this week. Not once.</div>
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<strong>Current Outfit</strong>: yoga pants and an OSU sweatshirt</div>
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<strong>Current Excitement</strong>: Our trip to Pennsylvania. We were supposed to go late July/early August but might have to go in June now. Pretty excited to experience some place new.</div>
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<strong>Current Project</strong>: Kids' birthdays. Having two kids born in the same week takes up a lot of my time. And space. Will be glad to have party supplies picked up, no more gifts hiding around the house, no more cake. There has been way too much cake in this house.</div>
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<strong>Current Link</strong>: <a href="http://sugaredblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/few-of-my-favorite-things.html" target="_blank">My cake recipe</a> </div>
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OhioFamOf4http://www.blogger.com/profile/03306437309657338988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8477210601931143872.post-19859346859243444032013-03-14T09:26:00.001-04:002013-03-14T09:26:32.432-04:00Thursday ThoughtsI often ponder a lot, but two things in particular have been on my mind this week. You might think it would be sequesters, North Korea, electing a new pope, or something else along those lines that is rather important. But it's not. <br />
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It's PINK. Not the color, although I do hate it, but the clothing line from Victoria's Secret. They write PINK on everything, whether it's pink or not. Obviously it's because that's their logo. But I can't stand seeing a gray or blue or green shirt that says PINK on it. Like this one.<br />
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<a href="http://www.victoriassecret.com/pink/tops/boyfriend-crew-pink?ProductID=97098&CatalogueType=OLS" target="_blank">http://www.victoriassecret.com/pink/tops/boyfriend-crew-pink?ProductID=97098&CatalogueType=OLS</a><br />
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It's NOT pink. It's gray. I can't even wrap my head around wearing a gray shirt that says pink on it. It's just wrong. Although, fat women that wear sweatpants proclaiming "sexy" on the butt is also wrong, but that still happens, too. I can only imagine how bad this could be if the same logic was implemented in the produce department. You wouldn't put a sign up at the limes display and write "oranges" on it, would you? Blasphemy, I say! <br />
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Something else that bothers me is this newish radio station in town. Their slogan is "The Answer." Well, I want to know what the question is. What do they have the answer TO? Their website says "Intelligent. Conservative." Okay, that's great, but I still don't know what we're answering here. Dennis Miller is one of the syndicated hosts they play and he has referred to environmentalists as "the great unhinged" which leads me to believe he thinks all environmentalists are liberals. That doesn't scream intelligent to me. I think you can be an environmentalist no matter your political beliefs. Maybe they should change their tag line to "Ignorant. Conservative." <br />
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So these are the things that keep me awake at night (okay, not really) that will probably never have any resolution in my mind. But in the meantime, I'm on a mission to find a conservative environmentalist who doesn't wear clothing from the PINK line at Victoria's Secret. Wish me luck!<br />
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<br />OhioFamOf4http://www.blogger.com/profile/03306437309657338988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8477210601931143872.post-59010083027094049902013-02-20T22:28:00.009-05:002013-02-20T22:28:59.857-05:00BlahhhhhhhgYes, blah is how I've felt about blogging lately. Or for the past however many months. Maybe it's been a year, I haven't looked. It's not as easy to upload photos from my iPhone as it was from my Droid, and I always like pictures with my posts, so I just quit doing it. But some of my favorite blogs are written by people who never post pictures, so I figure maybe it's okay to be photo-free. My blog friend will often post a list of "currents" or a SMP (7-minute-post - can't remember how she came up with the number 7) so I figured today I will do one of those to ease my way back in to blogging again.<br />
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<strong><u>February Currents</u></strong><br />
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<strong>Current Books</strong>: I'm actually reading two. One is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Asperger-Syndrome-Anxiety-Successful-Management/dp/184310895X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361414490&sr=8-1&keywords=asperger%27s+and+anxiety" target="_blank">Asperger Syndrome and Anxiety</a>, recommended by my doctor who thinks I may have a "smattering" of Asperger's. Some people seem surprised by this revelation, but not me. It actually explains quite a lot. I'm only about 1/4 of the way through so the beginning has been kind of boring since it's technical and terminology related, but it is getting interesting and I'm looking forward to seeing how I can relate it to Xander and/or myself.<br />
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The other book I'm reading is my winter/spring bible study <a href="http://www.lifeway.com/n/Product-Family/James:-Mercy-Triumphs?intcmp=iTeam3-MTX-Search-James-BethMoore" target="_blank">James: Mercy Triumphs by Beth Moore</a>. I love me some Beth Moore. She's not for everybody, but to me she is to the bible what Cliff Notes are to Shakespeare. My favorite study of hers that I've done so far is about the book of Esther, but James is fascinating as well. <br />
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<strong>Current Playlist</strong>: I'm such a wild card with my music, the other day I downloaded Christian, Rap, Country, Fats Domino, R&B, Rock and Cajun music. My favorite song right now though is Daylight by Maroon 5<br />
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<strong>Current Color</strong>: eggplant</div>
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<strong>Current Drink</strong>: my new smoothie concoction.....almond milk, banana, almond butter, chia seeds, cocoa and ice. Healthy and keeps me full.</div>
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<strong>Current Food</strong>: these <a href="http://www.traderjoes.com/fearless-flyer/article.asp?article_id=502" target="_blank">Quinoa and Black Bean Tortilla Chips from Trader Joe's</a>. So yummy and you don't need salsa.</div>
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<strong>Current Favorite Favorite</strong>: Extra-clean master bath. Thought I couldn't afford a cleaning service, but I can afford my kids. Taught them how to clean our bathroom this weekend for some cold hard cash. I'm talking toothbrush-to-the-grout kind of deep cleaning. They are already responsible for cleaning the other two bathrooms, so if I can keep this up I could get out of cleaning bathrooms for at least the next 9 years while they're both still living here.</div>
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<strong>Current Wish List</strong>: new flooring, new kitchen table, new family room furniture.....you know, just a few odds and ends - ha!</div>
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<strong>Current Needs</strong>: A pantry. Who buys a house without a pantry?! Apparently we do. I was so excited to get a garage and a basement that I was sure having an island and more cupboards would be plenty of storage. Wrong!</div>
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<strong>Current Triumph</strong>: Cleaning out my closet (literally, not like the Eminem song). I donated three trash bags worth of clothes to the Goodwill this week. Yay, me!</div>
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<strong>Current Annoyance</strong>: School parking lot. Ingress, egress, it's really not a difficult concept. And if you're in the pick-up line, don't leave your car and walk away. And don't make your own new lane. Seriously, people. It's not hard.</div>
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<strong>Current Indulgence</strong>: New recipe I got from Pinterest for some cookie bars that taste like no-bakes but are healthier. </div>
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<strong>Current Blessing</strong>: Some things seem to be falling in to place</div>
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<strong>Current Outfit</strong>: pajama pants and a t-shirt</div>
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<strong>Current Excitement</strong>: Going to the Autism and Asperger's conference next month. The main speaker is <a href="http://www.templegrandin.com/" target="_blank">Temple Grandin</a> and I'm so excited to hear her.</div>
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<strong>Current Project</strong>: Organizing. Got a few things for my half of the master closet today at The Container Store with some gift cards my dad and step-mom got me for Christmas. I could spend all of our money in that place but I was good and spent only what I had gift cards for. But in the meantime I found a whole bunch of other things that I could put to great use.</div>
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<strong>Current Link</strong>: <a href="http://pinterest.com/all/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a>, of course.</div>
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OhioFamOf4http://www.blogger.com/profile/03306437309657338988noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8477210601931143872.post-20221940501586085602012-05-13T13:18:00.000-04:002012-05-15T22:46:01.037-04:00Some Like it Hot!<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">So this was the theme of the bridal shower I just had for Jason's little sister. She just turned 28 so she's really not that little, but she will always be his little sister to me. :-)</span></div>
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<br /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Anyway, she and her fiance met at Buffalo Wild Wings, and I was trying to go kind of old Hollywood glamour so I tried to mesh the two with the Some Like it Hot theme. I know it's kind of a stretch, but once I get an idea I do whatever I can to make it work.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I made the invitations to look like a movie theater with the title on the screen. I made Monique the starring lead character, the date was the premiere day and the time was the showtime. Jordis and I were the directors. I had a picture, but alas, it's on my old computer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I decided to go with the colors of red, black and white after finding the plates and napkins I liked at Hobby Lobby. It also kind of went with my Hollywood movie idea and matches my great room, too. I created some decorative touches out of tissue paper and scrapbook paper, and also found quotes from old Hollywood acresses and sat them around in frames.</span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I served hot wing bites, hot and sweet sausages, queso and chips, and popcorn since we had the movie theme going. For the dessert table we had red velvet cheesecake brownies and hot fudge cupcakes with buttercream.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I also got some pop in bottles to go with my theme.</span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Jordis made her own gift for her Nanny Mo, wrapped it herself and put it on the gift table. It was so sweet. I think she gave her some Mardi Gras beads, a bouncy ball and a pencil.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Jordis also felt the need to sit next to Monique in her princess chair and help open presents.</span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It was a beautiful day so we went outside to take pictures before everyone left.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Jordis took this one.</span></div>
<br />OhioFamOf4http://www.blogger.com/profile/03306437309657338988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8477210601931143872.post-38992740487149365992012-05-13T12:51:00.002-04:002012-05-13T12:51:10.574-04:00Lately<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We sure were busy last month. Both kids and my mom had birthdays, there was Easter and Jason went back to work. On top of that I went on a field trip with Jordis' class, we've been doing online school with Xan and have been trying to keep up with getting the kids to church every Wednesday night, my busier work schedule, hosting a bridal shower for Jason's sister and trying to get the fence finished.
Of course I have photos of most of these things, but my laptop finally went kaput, so that's why I haven't been blogging about all of these fun times.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I just got a new laptop last week and got pictures downloaded from Monique's bridal shower so I will have something to post soon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Happy May, everyone!</span></div>OhioFamOf4http://www.blogger.com/profile/03306437309657338988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8477210601931143872.post-36698368907966079612012-04-24T22:18:00.000-04:002012-04-24T22:18:03.858-04:00Rolling in to April<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">On April 1st we got invited to a birthday party for one of Jordis' friends from church. It was at the skating rink that we had actually considered renting out for our own kids to have a joint birthday party, but we ended up skipping big celebrations for them this year. The kids were pretty excited about going. Then they got skates on. Xander had on roller skates and Jordis roller blades, but neither was successful, so Xander quit skating and Jordis switched to the skates that go on over your shoes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I think I had more fun skating than either of the kids, even though it wasn't nearly as easy as I remember it being when I was younger.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">This is my friend Becky, the birthday girl's mom. Sadly, we were both wearing roller skates and still look really short.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I'm not sure what this was about but I like when both of my boys are laughing together.</span></div>
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<br /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">So handsome!</span></div>
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<br /></div>OhioFamOf4http://www.blogger.com/profile/03306437309657338988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8477210601931143872.post-18378243128949628772012-04-10T22:50:00.001-04:002012-04-10T22:51:14.840-04:00Working Girl<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anyone who knows Jordis is fully aware that she loves to be a helper. Cracking eggs, washing dishes, cleaning baseboards, she likes to volunteer for pretty much anything. I want her to learn skills, but there are some days that her "help" leaves me more flustered than not.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A few weeks ago she came in quite handy though when it was time to paint the fence posts Jason had put up in the yard. She is like her momma and LOVES to paint.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Today she decided she was going to go to work with me. She didn't even really ask, just told me she was packing her purse so she could come with me and have things to do. Typically I would have to let her down and tell her no, but my boss is on vacation so I called her assistant and she told me she didn't care if I brought her. So off we went. Jordis brought some 3D glasses, a mini Santa Claus puzzle, a pencil, a red crayon, an orange marker, a necklace made out of beads and pasta, a miniature bible that came with her baby doll, her DS, and her wallet (filled with play money, of course).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As any typical woman would do, we had to stop in the restroom as soon as we entered the building. In fact, we had to go to the restroom four times over the course of the afternoon. Maybe because I taught her how to use the water cooler, or because she became a connoisseur of hot tea while we were there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A co-worker gave her a few of her (personal, not stolen from work) file folders to put her drawings in that she created with an ink pen and her one crayon and marker. I also let her open my mail and will now probably start hiding my letter opener at home. Whew! She can wield that thing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was very impressed with how well she entertained herself even though she had more fun with my phone than she did with any of her own things. Apparently she knows how to use the camera.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I think she might grow up to be the girl who goes to work and takes pictures of herself on the copier.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She was looking like quite the professional by the time we left to come home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Come on, Mom! Places to go, people to see.</span></div>OhioFamOf4http://www.blogger.com/profile/03306437309657338988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8477210601931143872.post-60976868742561124192012-04-07T10:51:00.001-04:002012-04-07T10:51:46.249-04:00Spring Break<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Our Spring Break has been pretty low key this year. Jason's sick time from his shoulder surgery ended and we've already taken an unexpected vacation, so we've been hanging out at home. On Monday, the kids and I had a play date at our neighbor's house. Actually it was a coffee date for the moms and you were invited to bring your kids, but for the sake of the kids we called it a play date. It went well considering we had seven kids there aged 7 and under.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Xander and Jordis got these fun glasses from my dad and step-mom in their early Easter basket, so we've been laughing about them as well.</span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We've been letting the kids stay up late and play their DS's together. We give them until 10 but they usually can't hang that late and end up in their rightful beds, sound asleep, all on their own. We've really lucked out with these two and the disciplined sleep habits they both have.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">And of course Mr. Jake has been getting lots of extra love and attention this week as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Spring Break is almost over, but the excitement is just beginning. Tomorrow is Easter AND Xander's birthday. I feel a sugar rush in our future.</span></div>OhioFamOf4http://www.blogger.com/profile/03306437309657338988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8477210601931143872.post-16119743128403056952012-04-06T11:32:00.001-04:002012-04-06T11:32:02.375-04:00It's that time<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Spring is officially here, although the way the weather has been lately you'd think it's arrival had preceded the real date. My hyacinths came up two weeks ago and my neighbor, Dena, split some of her daffodils and I added those to my collection. Actually, the kids did it for me. I was so impressed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The kids have also been enjoying some time outside, which I love. The winter's are usually long with them cooped up in the house.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">And Jason's time off from shoulder surgery has come to an end, so we've been enjoying as much time with him as possible.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As well as enjoying some beautiful days.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Hope you're enjoying your Spring, too!</span></div>OhioFamOf4http://www.blogger.com/profile/03306437309657338988noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8477210601931143872.post-60125742188773527842012-04-05T12:55:00.000-04:002012-04-05T12:55:43.996-04:00Feeling Green<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">This is the first time I can remember wearing shorts on St. Patrick's Day. The weather has been so pretty that I keep forgetting it's technically still winter.
The kids started off the day with their annual breakfast of green scrambled eggs.</span>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We had pizza with festive holiday napkins for dinner while we watched this week's episode of Swamp People. I also made cookies for the occasion. I love an excuse to make dessert.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Happy St. Patrick's Day!</span></div>OhioFamOf4http://www.blogger.com/profile/03306437309657338988noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8477210601931143872.post-82016607740618944672012-03-17T09:29:00.001-04:002012-03-17T09:29:07.053-04:00Dance Fever<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Our local Daddy-Daughter dance was last month, and it couldn't have come soon enough for Jordis. No joke, she's been asking about it since last summer. See how excited she was?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">She was slightly more patient for the hair styling this year. And I do mean SLIGHTLY. Two days previously we had decided to go on vacation, leaving right after the dance was over, so getting these two ready and out of the house was hectic when we added trip preparations to the mix. But they couldn't have looked any more stunning.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Jordis had quite a few friends there this year. Here she is dancing with a few of them, instead of her date. (Sideways, of course, because for whatever reason certain pictures will not upload here the way they are showing up in my computer. I think it's an i-phone thing).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">And of course a few trips to the ice cream bar.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> Xander and I usually have a dinner date during the dance, but we had to make it a quick one this year so we could get home and finish packing. So I suggested the KFC buffet. Xander loves mashed potatoes and he loves buffets, so he was a pretty happy guy.</span></div>
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<br /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Then home we all went to finish packing and load up the car for our trip south.</span> </div>OhioFamOf4http://www.blogger.com/profile/03306437309657338988noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8477210601931143872.post-83628722998081442982012-03-05T21:27:00.001-05:002012-03-05T21:27:37.923-05:00Happy Heart Day<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">They say that Valentine's Day is overrated, or a Hallmark Holiday, but I love any reason to turn an ordinary day into a celebration. Especially with little ones in the house. Jordis was dressing for the holiday a few days in advance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I was pretty excited that my Valentine's treats for bible study turned out exactly like they looked in the picture. That rarely happens.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I also got a box of chocolates from my secret sister. Yum!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Jordis and Xander each brought home a ton of cards and goodies from their classmates.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We ended the day with breakfast for dinner (and a picture that for some reason keeps showing up sideways even though it's upright in my computer...grrrrrr).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Hope you had a fantastic Valentine's Day, too!</span></div>OhioFamOf4http://www.blogger.com/profile/03306437309657338988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8477210601931143872.post-44676461582984284252012-02-02T21:34:00.000-05:002012-02-02T21:34:21.430-05:00Happy New Year!<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I know, I haven't blogged in a while. A long time, to be exact. I usually do my blog posts at night when Jason goes to work. But since he's been off for his shoulder surgery/recovery, I've been enjoying having him here EVERY night since November 28th. It's so nice to have someone here to talk to that I haven't been spending as much time on my computer in the evenings. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">So, Happy 2012! Let's see how quickly I can catch you up. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We had a lovely Christmas season. I didn't put up all of my trees or decorations and Christmas still came. Imagine that. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I took the kids to a pancake brunch at our local Arts Castle a few weeks before Christmas. It was a good time, albeit crowded. Xander volunteered to cut Jordis' sausage links for her, so I had to capture that. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Jordis also had a very nice visit with Santa</span>. </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Then Xander told everyone in the room that Santa was fake because he was wearing a watch and Santa should know what time it is since he is magical. Luckily we were about done at that point, so I quickly ushered them out of there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We got a dog. Meet Jake. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">A friend of a friend couldn't keep him and because of his age we were afraid he wouldn't get adopted if they took him to a rescue, so now he's ours. I'm not a fan of big dogs, but if they were all like this one I would love them. Well, except for the shedding. I'm still having issues with that part. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We had a nice, low-key Christmas with our Latiolais/Hartman/Bradshaw families. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The kids were not very grateful for their gifts this year and were complaining of being bored a few weeks later, so we took away their birthday parties for 2012. I love planning the parties so this absolutely kills me, but they need the lesson and it will save us money, so I'll get over it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Not much else has been going on except for our serious lack of winter. The kids were so excited when we first got some snow in January and it barely covered the ground. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Other than that we aren't doing much, which is kind of okay with me. But I will try to find something to blog about more often. </span></div>OhioFamOf4http://www.blogger.com/profile/03306437309657338988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8477210601931143872.post-83639239440759806362011-12-13T21:53:00.017-05:002011-12-29T09:58:11.295-05:00The Nutcracker<div align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I try not to wish away my kids' childhoods, but I have seriously been looking forward to the day I could take Jordis to see The Nutcracker at the </span><a href="http://http//capa.com/venues/ohio-theatre"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Ohio Theatre </span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">in downtown Columbus. With Jason's surgery and other Christmas happenings, I figured this wouldn't be the year. But then I got free tickets from work. Yea!</span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAGWC2IwiYYqotY1HWemnTuslUM67Jm0BewXQCB7ZcY-0jO8QzA6XJJQwLOKoR4ZvOGAW1l9vjyWa7axoQKK2hWSjzl-ZkH21TJ7hDJs3Hgp8HWTEuzDm945qhQXOmyiaZdorbsLvpsrE/s1600/IMG_0158%255B1%255D"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691548760351658994" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAGWC2IwiYYqotY1HWemnTuslUM67Jm0BewXQCB7ZcY-0jO8QzA6XJJQwLOKoR4ZvOGAW1l9vjyWa7axoQKK2hWSjzl-ZkH21TJ7hDJs3Hgp8HWTEuzDm945qhQXOmyiaZdorbsLvpsrE/s400/IMG_0158%255B1%255D" /><br /><p align="center"></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Jordis used my phone to take our picture before we left.<br /></p></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691549902236934898" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwCZyLyjER0VcYLnlwvsShiwSE83BV_b5zPDhqF6YccmwrTVXExSgwpKOmgzqVek6-BwOa8SqZbQ6_FWyH4IMYgzNp4mkGmKsdYyhTzzoSxOj-k9gW66v1f7Zo0l6thyphenhyphen-goPTPYqnAvqE/s400/IMG_0161%255B1%255D" /><br /><p align="center"><br /></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We parked in the lot under the statehouse, which is across the street from the theatre.<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqSYc-DDVZem4T2w8bYFFzE1D1h7vmerhwMPioPCn_LbG3qOg932vMMDg4sdTFIH-FQXFLnx1qyu53GN_ON9FyYjIPkBgqDxM1Ngwch7weRPqU4yLlBVkCnweCS9nxNzTkMK79KqIwkv8/s1600/IMG_0164%255B1%255D"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691550619126352466" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqSYc-DDVZem4T2w8bYFFzE1D1h7vmerhwMPioPCn_LbG3qOg932vMMDg4sdTFIH-FQXFLnx1qyu53GN_ON9FyYjIPkBgqDxM1Ngwch7weRPqU4yLlBVkCnweCS9nxNzTkMK79KqIwkv8/s400/IMG_0164%255B1%255D" /><br /><p align="center"></span></a></p><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a href="http://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LeVeque_Tower">LeVeque Tower </a></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">was looking very festive with its red and green lights and cross pattern in the windows.<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXb2KP0gbWQBFZ0Zzt_YEmENvtFxsAp_fTbnt2lAh6C6j0LLYZY8JiUgaTPnoQghH35viQ68ftG5n29R6VDlP2BHJ9PqEpNw1hyA2jfkLpQs8JM3Whzg7lyFgzKXGZY11vUjQlbbk1c6s/s1600/IMG_0165%255B1%255D"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691551992178248450" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXb2KP0gbWQBFZ0Zzt_YEmENvtFxsAp_fTbnt2lAh6C6j0LLYZY8JiUgaTPnoQghH35viQ68ftG5n29R6VDlP2BHJ9PqEpNw1hyA2jfkLpQs8JM3Whzg7lyFgzKXGZY11vUjQlbbk1c6s/s400/IMG_0165%255B1%255D" /><br /><p align="center"></span></a></p><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I love the Ohio Theatre and have been in it many times, so I was excited to be with Jordis when she got to see it out for the first time.<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLzbiRGtN4zWIiiqrJuRX_BImjCK2XYQO_C5jG_QpkkanU3WNAtDdjV0hFl4Oy9WPTOXrWLuhJWU1fOGGCLQrTNdRrQxplZwbu6hQgqYh9skncc9-a8tG7C6bszDgiDIi9j0bODslMjd4/s1600/IMG_0166%255B1%255D"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691553069360649378" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLzbiRGtN4zWIiiqrJuRX_BImjCK2XYQO_C5jG_QpkkanU3WNAtDdjV0hFl4Oy9WPTOXrWLuhJWU1fOGGCLQrTNdRrQxplZwbu6hQgqYh9skncc9-a8tG7C6bszDgiDIi9j0bODslMjd4/s400/IMG_0166%255B1%255D" /><br /><p align="center"></span></a></p><p align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We arrived early and they had some singing groups up in the loge and mezzanine lobbies. Our seats were on the floor level so I took her upstairs to look around and watch the singers.<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSMUXeQqsZDBnJRKJitG_GjsAvMoBamOF4CDEt4vKxhxS1chYg3_MrewnzWEIV0JDA2Y4enhHyRZKA7S7pvnPZzSLjmp0Jz3jcdjkSkugA7CM7cs8sDICRqA-myz1ovQBWzcvqdY7fO6Y/s1600/IMG_0168%255B1%255D"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691556718381280754" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSMUXeQqsZDBnJRKJitG_GjsAvMoBamOF4CDEt4vKxhxS1chYg3_MrewnzWEIV0JDA2Y4enhHyRZKA7S7pvnPZzSLjmp0Jz3jcdjkSkugA7CM7cs8sDICRqA-myz1ovQBWzcvqdY7fO6Y/s400/IMG_0168%255B1%255D" /><br /><p align="center"></span></a></p><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">While we were standing there a little boy wearing a suit, who appeared to be about 8 or 9, approached and basically hit on her. At first he bowed slightly at her, then said, "Hello, aren't you looking beautiful tonight." In typical Jordis fashion she gave him the stink-eye, so then he looked at me and said, "Hmm, must be a shy one." His parents were standing off to the side drinking cocktails and seemed to be in serious discussion so they didn't witness this exchange (and I couldn't get my camera ready in time before he walked off), but it cracked me up. And of course he was right, she did look beautiful and she picked this dress out herself.<br /></p><br /><p></span></p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYohX7wTGCUx3xMDDf9gZHKDz5ccRcvqHHEuUEbQh-8UgQW3aK3ErV9xXMvT0choIkd9bFlOmsC9zK9d3KzVxLLFMmk48umLoiS0rVcRz1BFCfkSotlIx54Os07-Zab3JtM5ZByWix-CU/s1600/IMG_0170%255B2%255D"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691562673362820018" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYohX7wTGCUx3xMDDf9gZHKDz5ccRcvqHHEuUEbQh-8UgQW3aK3ErV9xXMvT0choIkd9bFlOmsC9zK9d3KzVxLLFMmk48umLoiS0rVcRz1BFCfkSotlIx54Os07-Zab3JtM5ZByWix-CU/s400/IMG_0170%255B2%255D" /></a><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><em>Like the Christmas tattoo on her arm? She is a Latiolais after all.<br /></em></span></span></p><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We went in to the theatre and Jordis thought it was so pretty. </p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqsxy42hkq7z5TioC36zwrCyZ2AOmEKIT21jnZYkEBwjjPLhO3TiwBwDh9KmiCENyk3QpBOK2IxPBuF3cK3svcJ9LgumDodxJ-QdNLU9JUckSw9QyIp1NCTGz7VrpokN9r1NI1CX3q83Q/s1600/IMG_0172%255B1%255D"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691561266344755090" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqsxy42hkq7z5TioC36zwrCyZ2AOmEKIT21jnZYkEBwjjPLhO3TiwBwDh9KmiCENyk3QpBOK2IxPBuF3cK3svcJ9LgumDodxJ-QdNLU9JUckSw9QyIp1NCTGz7VrpokN9r1NI1CX3q83Q/s400/IMG_0172%255B1%255D" /><br /><p align="center"></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">She was really excited when the curtain opened and did a really great job of paying attention. I paid a small fortune to buy us a snack during the intermission and that held her interest a bit better than the actual ballet did when we returned to our seats. But then it was over and she clapped very loudly until the curtain calls when she said her hands were just too tired. Apparently the rest of her body was tired as well, because she was asleep before we made it to the freeway.<br /></p></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5691561274213017026" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIuSSNQsr2rioXyl_qjFY3fAh2-WKkxPNLcskJhe19iIGLLOLmQhGjq5RxKA69ynqJ_ezVeJiKeEGeKrysaZnkZlUVb_bFHzL_t5oUysPEgDBqYXJh4ft1l-a19hk4J965lcd7K3EmZVc/s400/IMG_0183%255B1%255D" /><br /><p align="center"></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Hopefully she was dreaming of sugar plum fairies.<br /></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>OhioFamOf4http://www.blogger.com/profile/03306437309657338988noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8477210601931143872.post-34161889553114406072011-11-18T16:19:00.000-05:002011-11-18T16:19:00.451-05:00Fire Prevention WeekLast month we stopped by the local fire station near Jason's work for their open house. The kids had fun and Jason visited with his firefighter friends. I took pictures, of course.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnyugONrD1TIn1bsj_EOObyFd2c6hN9nJr-n1UzmNQJ6O7RoeKIMhRYTiWDvz_ZjCJKk9GviAZLNo0ROTEtXAQ7TRoPRx3rkSoZPo0Lujjv19Uw9Lbcx8NIdh9OyUKWsBJngU6RNgJMO0/s1600/IMG_20111009_144725.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5676447345492530370" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnyugONrD1TIn1bsj_EOObyFd2c6hN9nJr-n1UzmNQJ6O7RoeKIMhRYTiWDvz_ZjCJKk9GviAZLNo0ROTEtXAQ7TRoPRx3rkSoZPo0Lujjv19Uw9Lbcx8NIdh9OyUKWsBJngU6RNgJMO0/s400/IMG_20111009_144725.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9pF-9_aX2zAbBEsDWYWU45URIWi42ES8NufLjbJ4CG2B8ZnfwBRg5en04dVU3NNsJCDh2Dr5mY-lFc1mZ8EbwwzMt9xo6su2H-n8q1FOeeBZI4ZDutE27icbaC6WZSH7j7QCmrBZz1Z8/s1600/IMG_20111009_144055.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5676447342439060242" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9pF-9_aX2zAbBEsDWYWU45URIWi42ES8NufLjbJ4CG2B8ZnfwBRg5en04dVU3NNsJCDh2Dr5mY-lFc1mZ8EbwwzMt9xo6su2H-n8q1FOeeBZI4ZDutE27icbaC6WZSH7j7QCmrBZz1Z8/s400/IMG_20111009_144055.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguvufmVTXgxIQjZ9k5P6KiL4KoxVVB7D1upYi3cPa1U2SjGm7b_MBwfNblS03wVFJ0vgBYc1TlIBU7qnnnTwyBCpPPVoqgtdU8wanVfFzlCfOzUdrjn2FtsXVch1ikcEVqcPhUbRDg8fg/s1600/IMG_20111009_153156.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5676447758722060930" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguvufmVTXgxIQjZ9k5P6KiL4KoxVVB7D1upYi3cPa1U2SjGm7b_MBwfNblS03wVFJ0vgBYc1TlIBU7qnnnTwyBCpPPVoqgtdU8wanVfFzlCfOzUdrjn2FtsXVch1ikcEVqcPhUbRDg8fg/s400/IMG_20111009_153156.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHt4U44auh-LbsAE0BED29Vb5CwETftrIcsfBOS4VCvWIbnQfjqT8ptkFZe1jSvBbOzDtYtyWvyvbrdfTt6SE3-gISZKcwDdsN2uhsivfye4Q5mj5rINTZefxBfcmWhoZvNWEVd4KGb1E/s1600/IMG_20111009_151057.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5676447746514438050" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHt4U44auh-LbsAE0BED29Vb5CwETftrIcsfBOS4VCvWIbnQfjqT8ptkFZe1jSvBbOzDtYtyWvyvbrdfTt6SE3-gISZKcwDdsN2uhsivfye4Q5mj5rINTZefxBfcmWhoZvNWEVd4KGb1E/s400/IMG_20111009_151057.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-S9c8ARMoCMEGdJop13yR57e0NVUQAoY2_RmAtnIQSmIiJGR98Ae_DFQrpQyaMW_61rmd_IqYMWn5vM9Ime_2kfaBD2sCGL5rnhK0JVGsCUC7dkPcZF75UFH0M40qo011DWLSV6iwF84/s1600/IMG_20111009_150526.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5676447741486209666" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-S9c8ARMoCMEGdJop13yR57e0NVUQAoY2_RmAtnIQSmIiJGR98Ae_DFQrpQyaMW_61rmd_IqYMWn5vM9Ime_2kfaBD2sCGL5rnhK0JVGsCUC7dkPcZF75UFH0M40qo011DWLSV6iwF84/s400/IMG_20111009_150526.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div>OhioFamOf4http://www.blogger.com/profile/03306437309657338988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8477210601931143872.post-54284269675857277382011-10-28T12:50:00.014-04:002011-10-28T13:21:06.523-04:00Fair Time<div align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Our county fair was last month, so of course we had to go. We prefer to go in the evening, but Jordis' squad had to cheer so we figured as long as we were paying to get in we might as well stick around. We had to get there early so the girls could get their shoe poms, face tattoos, hair glitter.....you know, important stuff.<br /></span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNGZjuV_RDtpYM4xz3iF9iIQCoxaXZVE7pyLjX7GTmEI8plX4e9i-FarHcLo3eqLozVegmzpz-M7WFGYw_UYoOxOgxmcO_QT2bpLbxMOYjHYNWuNnn4oF4F5yknSi6hm5VXBy6FBHakQA/s1600/SAM_0972.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5668587479725432418" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNGZjuV_RDtpYM4xz3iF9iIQCoxaXZVE7pyLjX7GTmEI8plX4e9i-FarHcLo3eqLozVegmzpz-M7WFGYw_UYoOxOgxmcO_QT2bpLbxMOYjHYNWuNnn4oF4F5yknSi6hm5VXBy6FBHakQA/s400/SAM_0972.JPG" /></span> <br /><p align="center"></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Like how none of them are doing remotely the same thing and Jordis is looking around to see what comes next? I love it!<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_QU57S0j9klKxdvVBznX_V5tfYlpAMl_o2PDNZ2iuH00pmFTCLILfujEkENj8Ce4OsohCNK-1ds7s8fn_dozi5swwxdKK8tXQQ_GqWQnraBkq-QzPVZRvL7j5_ehfMEr3iHMMyLJ08Vg/s1600/IMG_20110918_121245.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5668588250107231458" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_QU57S0j9klKxdvVBznX_V5tfYlpAMl_o2PDNZ2iuH00pmFTCLILfujEkENj8Ce4OsohCNK-1ds7s8fn_dozi5swwxdKK8tXQQ_GqWQnraBkq-QzPVZRvL7j5_ehfMEr3iHMMyLJ08Vg/s400/IMG_20110918_121245.jpg" /> <br /><p align="center"></span></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We ate lunch after the cheering and the kids always love getting shaved ice. It was a great day for it.<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT2ezHgMbv5jTvrjoapawIBXR4gGPIqZ71EznQlwullENBVKFnmpSNzSA-UY1EB84dnspG7t43eDhvnODmQCPFdika5-LaeR4Zm4A3Sg1aTaGxVr5Ux35Xyxt6H2k5zBSneAxlN5l2Vbo/s1600/IMG_20110918_133144.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5668588871238781058" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT2ezHgMbv5jTvrjoapawIBXR4gGPIqZ71EznQlwullENBVKFnmpSNzSA-UY1EB84dnspG7t43eDhvnODmQCPFdika5-LaeR4Zm4A3Sg1aTaGxVr5Ux35Xyxt6H2k5zBSneAxlN5l2Vbo/s400/IMG_20110918_133144.jpg" /> <br /><p align="center"></span></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Then the kids rode rides.<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgmIF-jSnQ12bWjIyYaRKl7kKogIhDSSpKPiSHXkwu_8U0ZtHYmZ1NDNtbfj8Fhcp45-pM6NkOA8RqlrcIB1KyFQ_PNua2Iqx1KLEVWuQgUKyFhcFAsThGR_-ddyHnf-6OGPAlvV_fzzA/s1600/IMG_20110918_141508.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5668589180174379330" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgmIF-jSnQ12bWjIyYaRKl7kKogIhDSSpKPiSHXkwu_8U0ZtHYmZ1NDNtbfj8Fhcp45-pM6NkOA8RqlrcIB1KyFQ_PNua2Iqx1KLEVWuQgUKyFhcFAsThGR_-ddyHnf-6OGPAlvV_fzzA/s400/IMG_20110918_141508.jpg" /> <br /><p align="center"></span></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I couldn't believe Jordis got on this thing. She saw her cheerleading friends on it and decided she wanted to go, so one of the girls' dad's got back on it with them. I love the little hand-holding chain they had going on.<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOiez39Owqi7B5HTbZ1yA4c5bhOOpE9qWQ2GaBKstnDFWllinO2gtoxutPpSaypvMA6z7OzFIB3nTIllhfFIB3AABDQcPCQUrGQJHz7srweyAAGGshFjpZldPBkMFuh19nlufsxfbfExU/s1600/IMG_20110918_151500.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5668590115673207234" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOiez39Owqi7B5HTbZ1yA4c5bhOOpE9qWQ2GaBKstnDFWllinO2gtoxutPpSaypvMA6z7OzFIB3nTIllhfFIB3AABDQcPCQUrGQJHz7srweyAAGGshFjpZldPBkMFuh19nlufsxfbfExU/s400/IMG_20110918_151500.jpg" /></span></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAc0lXqEF3Vxt-K1vouX2FZvkmw1qZ2S9SB2uYQF5CtVo74exOl8KOJ3rl2OgzgD4uD1YIQJKfyddMaUcuTEAfNQKhTzjenCNI7zyqfO4hyphenhyphenTeQCszitrn7fHhUvRn8t_9b6pa5oKRyeHg/s1600/IMG_20110918_151533.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5668590918109088402" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAc0lXqEF3Vxt-K1vouX2FZvkmw1qZ2S9SB2uYQF5CtVo74exOl8KOJ3rl2OgzgD4uD1YIQJKfyddMaUcuTEAfNQKhTzjenCNI7zyqfO4hyphenhyphenTeQCszitrn7fHhUvRn8t_9b6pa5oKRyeHg/s400/IMG_20110918_151533.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS0ipCGt143x4HwKq1SvMtHkxjt64kP_lGXvg7k8R4WrIv1jLKcjs-yBn1LmvDyCVItlmWOQCrs9lyPBcLG_tqiw56riA_x431E9R0nk9AyeGYJMHBwh3Z3Hh0nETQ87Z2nCC0isUFzps/s1600/IMG_20110918_152257.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5668590530918498258" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS0ipCGt143x4HwKq1SvMtHkxjt64kP_lGXvg7k8R4WrIv1jLKcjs-yBn1LmvDyCVItlmWOQCrs9lyPBcLG_tqiw56riA_x431E9R0nk9AyeGYJMHBwh3Z3Hh0nETQ87Z2nCC0isUFzps/s400/IMG_20110918_152257.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV4ouDs3HHS1fWCHA5n_ewBixBmsl2aEP0Y_1fbbgEKD0LRWAnQtKvOQohXQO3NfazxYCrz3eKM2CleZNjN8BOYa7TNIr4fz3vDszkz-Btep5SjBIHildnuu9bRaLLxLOok7oX2_Hn5WY/s1600/IMG_20110918_161136.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5668591420470816834" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV4ouDs3HHS1fWCHA5n_ewBixBmsl2aEP0Y_1fbbgEKD0LRWAnQtKvOQohXQO3NfazxYCrz3eKM2CleZNjN8BOYa7TNIr4fz3vDszkz-Btep5SjBIHildnuu9bRaLLxLOok7oX2_Hn5WY/s400/IMG_20110918_161136.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKxlrEt0ywi0iFvoLuYVm0KcfgJNYzFEa64UbsV86snLmcO-Beedqu2o5__veCHsGUX2VJxlPSCiQjPLPJXHu7zv-Szv0YmIR9WK11_o_D7ibX2ONFoBRQNmxkPpX6CxCRdj5jEZY0sQU/s1600/IMG_20110918_161211.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5668591417804630770" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKxlrEt0ywi0iFvoLuYVm0KcfgJNYzFEa64UbsV86snLmcO-Beedqu2o5__veCHsGUX2VJxlPSCiQjPLPJXHu7zv-Szv0YmIR9WK11_o_D7ibX2ONFoBRQNmxkPpX6CxCRdj5jEZY0sQU/s400/IMG_20110918_161211.jpg" /> <br /><p align="center"></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I told Jason he better keep treating me right or I might leave him for this sexy guy.<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGhnOV2wK-oChWzzcUFchvYjC_klZVw4Pw66aEayxE8DYz1hqawcFawdmFW58EuJH7KW5We35oVWIwMFyd7uvV0_zgC5eXvYZ83IPKkP5ic58pK-iG969e0iy5T1ieiDR9LMvA-kU7hL4/s1600/IMG_20110918_143012-1.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 196px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5668592941291256066" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGhnOV2wK-oChWzzcUFchvYjC_klZVw4Pw66aEayxE8DYz1hqawcFawdmFW58EuJH7KW5We35oVWIwMFyd7uvV0_zgC5eXvYZ83IPKkP5ic58pK-iG969e0iy5T1ieiDR9LMvA-kU7hL4/s400/IMG_20110918_143012-1.jpg" /> <br /><p align="center"></span></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">On the way out we stopped to look at the animals and we were just in time for the turkey costume contest. Yes, I'm serious.<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDcHyjh5Z2IjhrIAfiHg4pwnNkU_DZPKkPfFbmFML0BFilJoGs41GhWfX5xnXkqFKdsSun3wZBwSR28lcugpsLFan2UzPB_lYQr-T06Cm4pXHlWF849LvwSnZJiJPXQUjXWAM2bBld30k/s1600/IMG_20110918_173108.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 301px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5668593333584042370" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDcHyjh5Z2IjhrIAfiHg4pwnNkU_DZPKkPfFbmFML0BFilJoGs41GhWfX5xnXkqFKdsSun3wZBwSR28lcugpsLFan2UzPB_lYQr-T06Cm4pXHlWF849LvwSnZJiJPXQUjXWAM2bBld30k/s400/IMG_20110918_173108.jpg" /> <br /><p align="center"></span></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Welcome to Delaware, y'all!<br /><br /></span><br /><br /></p>OhioFamOf4http://www.blogger.com/profile/03306437309657338988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8477210601931143872.post-65794491616320972792011-10-19T22:45:00.012-04:002011-10-20T22:27:16.660-04:00Our favorite day<div align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We always look forward to our annual trip to the pumpkin patch and this year was no exception. Luckily it was a beautiful day because Jordis also had a football game. In two separate cars the kids, Jason, my mom and I headed out. We made sure the camera was working and the fun began.</span></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5665404606946861522" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy3D_qphJ8hbLaEOwIL1cCR5pQwXb2SIDPRYBFLJr9tyJbWI7ZmfGrfVrjL_Ud_yLdLFPVc3QQvCD5U9Pjyk1uJHDAUjTbKoB9PydpaMpmGJgJ5jF1HqEHDvLJsR2BXmJ3rogfQL8X8_o/s400/SAM_0966.JPG" /><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">After a few runs on the zip line, my mom and I left for a few hours to get Jordis changed and to her game. Xander enjoyed chatting with the baby animals while we were gone.<br /></p></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5665406945340009250" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo784GW8KFggJpHCgvcygW2tIC6LI1BvGGQrPDz15eTYeDR4nIULIrQPtW-MpFvuM34FjbR8mYxbBz8CjIWjaJvApZ6SeHIziRp5aDxaSWlY9zCsUUueb8x_0iyG2kYfDj-kgYnCO7oII/s400/IMG_20110917_085359.jpg" /><br /></span><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">After the game Jason went home to sleep since he had worked all night and Xander spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with the ladies. Our first order of business was lunch. It was a healthy affair.<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWrTKumA3RiByMIYK4RLYyfls4zVzsNvueucfWyeuJfK290fE6mgrIyyA7q6-DkrTCMvoeXg-N3RdGHrwWuDQBM8j5Yc77-IZyOAO-H-vK2-CrQ6d7IZdUPT1Dkm7iZYh7jW4VGVYNdSo/s1600/100_1173.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5665407588793128354" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWrTKumA3RiByMIYK4RLYyfls4zVzsNvueucfWyeuJfK290fE6mgrIyyA7q6-DkrTCMvoeXg-N3RdGHrwWuDQBM8j5Yc77-IZyOAO-H-vK2-CrQ6d7IZdUPT1Dkm7iZYh7jW4VGVYNdSo/s400/100_1173.JPG" /><img class="gl_align_center" border="0" alt="Align Center" src="http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif" /></span></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiVI5mE1yUra1nrFUNsZw-vn5a6O2V36bDODOSkgp3cDq7dxQ72R5KGnPvUcFzGYwOnRU4ffOaN-XvDaq17PBGJ7tHFolYBxpuC5FbcUbj3XtE6llvjGpMuIsvkxDKWivT9r9UPePxMEo/s1600/100_1174.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5665407584310695058" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiVI5mE1yUra1nrFUNsZw-vn5a6O2V36bDODOSkgp3cDq7dxQ72R5KGnPvUcFzGYwOnRU4ffOaN-XvDaq17PBGJ7tHFolYBxpuC5FbcUbj3XtE6llvjGpMuIsvkxDKWivT9r9UPePxMEo/s400/100_1174.JPG" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXnb0tN3roCey4X8hFZKJNGzgoZ8-ePovVtVzyaMa_ToQ8U8uv_brB4v5a0KHmOgSaWIGramM5eJlhVGjPo1qQhpCkR4w22Mhzsj7HQELFbpRzaJskZREr_xPq_FriFe6-z0KaYqtZBs0/s1600/100_1177.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5665408389198292994" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXnb0tN3roCey4X8hFZKJNGzgoZ8-ePovVtVzyaMa_ToQ8U8uv_brB4v5a0KHmOgSaWIGramM5eJlhVGjPo1qQhpCkR4w22Mhzsj7HQELFbpRzaJskZREr_xPq_FriFe6-z0KaYqtZBs0/s400/100_1177.JPG" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDm_gXTfgIfEsBHIWSrapdDltQ1fwE4UvF1oYWGyBWEmPOpeyoAjlXTc8w1JzuDaG3dAvQTZsbdY4RwStpOqzbQWW6aKTLVoZmbEzvvs5IZtbS_2sCa03UGdpZ926usfe-w_JRjJbrR5s/s1600/100_1178.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5665408383881163490" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDm_gXTfgIfEsBHIWSrapdDltQ1fwE4UvF1oYWGyBWEmPOpeyoAjlXTc8w1JzuDaG3dAvQTZsbdY4RwStpOqzbQWW6aKTLVoZmbEzvvs5IZtbS_2sCa03UGdpZ926usfe-w_JRjJbrR5s/s400/100_1178.JPG" /></a><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5665408380911901026" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglPZFuVaFOGcJyQaQkjxaPsZcbj_uXbKTSer1sU5_cuziLgEcQNd8xEsDjDjgMciApiAx07nhrG16MWsSXHEq5xJt-yWXC5OGAajBxC3UE6f2RVSxR6mM7MFNaJAuhzrv71FVNqKEttsA/s400/100_1179.JPG" /><br /><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">With full stomachs we were able to continue on for the rest of the afternoon. Here are some highlights:<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6bAVbbLd-HNX40IX7o1ZrbGbv4KNP_Kabq5vSszQE9DkMK_NCjnmxML9HuQoZ-j1LzpoZTbp4bRpLhGudY7zvff5dhOXcK9oN6VDXXCn8GgM1vPSaxKhJRWEuvM1-1M05ekaohcd669k/s1600/100_1248.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5665761525122882962" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6bAVbbLd-HNX40IX7o1ZrbGbv4KNP_Kabq5vSszQE9DkMK_NCjnmxML9HuQoZ-j1LzpoZTbp4bRpLhGudY7zvff5dhOXcK9oN6VDXXCn8GgM1vPSaxKhJRWEuvM1-1M05ekaohcd669k/s400/100_1248.JPG" /></span></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7gVFxP6GRm0tqZfBu248In44TPFUn_Hbq6DH7th-wW5D9AQ-UbCWZVovf6fqO6w5cG1nXQ1JxFspbuYQBGaocKaLgQ1LhS1A_oqeSdVw0oIT0A-0y5XxvR-c98sdPzEXS2gKACWmm7mo/s1600/100_1235.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5665761508674059794" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7gVFxP6GRm0tqZfBu248In44TPFUn_Hbq6DH7th-wW5D9AQ-UbCWZVovf6fqO6w5cG1nXQ1JxFspbuYQBGaocKaLgQ1LhS1A_oqeSdVw0oIT0A-0y5XxvR-c98sdPzEXS2gKACWmm7mo/s400/100_1235.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzG9MUClrbAyiFRlIWy-FSy17OhN_doqH2D26ZUByNLWihj09CKEbpzLV76mPJ2n7LbgTH8wcxkeBPesUDiLGAB61vV5FgyCWDrl9fDH-cicOAilT2pFC7jSfW3r9XEwcw80OiZw1yy2c/s1600/100_1223.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5665761502690806098" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzG9MUClrbAyiFRlIWy-FSy17OhN_doqH2D26ZUByNLWihj09CKEbpzLV76mPJ2n7LbgTH8wcxkeBPesUDiLGAB61vV5FgyCWDrl9fDH-cicOAilT2pFC7jSfW3r9XEwcw80OiZw1yy2c/s400/100_1223.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPLeLjYnDIue2bIKYnXV3BGCT7N6bZm5BQ2QW38MKq5z4iymkqVbWSe_FhikBeEdGjHKPOt28MYJ-L1eZODne1dfcRH-0B0HKz5I8xYZO90C2gkV3V_nhMTfqyo3qLwau3Gojy8oIQyNQ/s1600/100_1212.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5665761496610425618" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPLeLjYnDIue2bIKYnXV3BGCT7N6bZm5BQ2QW38MKq5z4iymkqVbWSe_FhikBeEdGjHKPOt28MYJ-L1eZODne1dfcRH-0B0HKz5I8xYZO90C2gkV3V_nhMTfqyo3qLwau3Gojy8oIQyNQ/s400/100_1212.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">And the obligatory annual photos I make the kids take.....<br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxcummPeZmcw9AtZMBZJcDY-GgVQH9tDHmYoJg2FHKeSl_zxxZquuTR4qlG49-5iaKfBDu4g940aWJKC1bLIp5xSjFd1N7sphLCu177ZqnqS2-MfMGmj-n8H1O36ZRmBqrNFWWc9pIC_c/s1600/100_1215.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5665764580880047058" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxcummPeZmcw9AtZMBZJcDY-GgVQH9tDHmYoJg2FHKeSl_zxxZquuTR4qlG49-5iaKfBDu4g940aWJKC1bLIp5xSjFd1N7sphLCu177ZqnqS2-MfMGmj-n8H1O36ZRmBqrNFWWc9pIC_c/s400/100_1215.JPG" /></span></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpxQolJGvfavK3dmi6cKJiHhIQheRfmcMv3KI7mG7KrMjMKFIaMybtWHtJjOwanWk_MB6wgBZRN8UbNuovyOjpVM4N8W3Q0lmNq-Fc1NCF7EtOPpyhKmXRUwWqcV7ZGHywx5Q3O-3MqU0/s1600/100_1214.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5665764576825412978" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpxQolJGvfavK3dmi6cKJiHhIQheRfmcMv3KI7mG7KrMjMKFIaMybtWHtJjOwanWk_MB6wgBZRN8UbNuovyOjpVM4N8W3Q0lmNq-Fc1NCF7EtOPpyhKmXRUwWqcV7ZGHywx5Q3O-3MqU0/s400/100_1214.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBWJFiZ8cJWAiWUh9FtmZvuVypkmedU1_MZxrOKDjZSt66EnAAedYkyOPNkUCYLD9OhqzxwMOPC-PH3I2HYpHCM6BwbKDKR5JHoMaFSJwGC7pZ2GzXTNF-Kf8vyFvhhuNa_5tJRi3Smpw/s1600/100_1192.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5665764572049771730" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBWJFiZ8cJWAiWUh9FtmZvuVypkmedU1_MZxrOKDjZSt66EnAAedYkyOPNkUCYLD9OhqzxwMOPC-PH3I2HYpHCM6BwbKDKR5JHoMaFSJwGC7pZ2GzXTNF-Kf8vyFvhhuNa_5tJRi3Smpw/s400/100_1192.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We left tired and with goodies, a successful day indeed.</span></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6rrQtMSwrIjgOcTZ2oBEmevit8pLB-6N7EvAfkogAhphT2aWU4t2uRHhS-mGxe8milB8OE-noxyI4wgunvFCoDUNwoIHl57kdNczXUipk9WYvL4_Pf3_0mlq1NJB9XTy1AfPZHqMBp6c/s1600/100_1249.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5665765462033274946" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6rrQtMSwrIjgOcTZ2oBEmevit8pLB-6N7EvAfkogAhphT2aWU4t2uRHhS-mGxe8milB8OE-noxyI4wgunvFCoDUNwoIHl57kdNczXUipk9WYvL4_Pf3_0mlq1NJB9XTy1AfPZHqMBp6c/s400/100_1249.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div></div></div></div></div>OhioFamOf4http://www.blogger.com/profile/03306437309657338988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8477210601931143872.post-56789099066585029622011-10-01T22:08:00.015-04:002011-10-01T22:57:29.166-04:00COSI<div align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Over Labor Day weekend our friends from Michigan were here and we were looking for something to do inside since it was cold and supposed to rain. We settled on a trip to </span><a href="http://http//cosi.org/"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">COSI</span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> since none of us have been to the new one. When I say new, it's been there at least ten years, but most people my age grew up with the original COSI.<em></em> The kids have been wanting to go for awhile so they were pretty excited. It was the last Monday they were open for the season, and the final day before they closed for their annual two-week cleaning, so we were in luck.<br /></span></div><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The ball tossing maching in the courtyard was a big hit. You hold these balls up to the machine and they get sucked up inside and then spit out into the air. Then they rain down onto whoever is standing there. I was really proud of the kids because they collected balls and gave them to our friends' little guy, Baby Joe.<br /></div></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNXnBcP52ONDIGzhy-adI75eX03-JmUI4edBFa7svapi43dSFt4fNXhFfFkgo1C16PNnFKQYshK0tS4cl0Pw7CjRsxHqpJpaQXK-58XJHQbRDUOUO8AkT8Rmy_k8jFz2LFYLaLxhlHNqI/s1600/IMG_20110905_113658.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5658715847350752066" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNXnBcP52ONDIGzhy-adI75eX03-JmUI4edBFa7svapi43dSFt4fNXhFfFkgo1C16PNnFKQYshK0tS4cl0Pw7CjRsxHqpJpaQXK-58XJHQbRDUOUO8AkT8Rmy_k8jFz2LFYLaLxhlHNqI/s400/IMG_20110905_113658.jpg" /></span></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXkRQTuGpR9mrTqgtvLijbcMZKKZ0kcQJ1zJuHcnB0M3bGKzDgQdnyimXqrpY9z9jBrd3NfpoKpKM0GmwmUyNwppn0TGYbS-P0gzWvzNNhlxaolDOdO2w3UJVbgBW0MlVOL3D_uXOBg8U/s1600/IMG_20110905_114820.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5658715823333488642" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXkRQTuGpR9mrTqgtvLijbcMZKKZ0kcQJ1zJuHcnB0M3bGKzDgQdnyimXqrpY9z9jBrd3NfpoKpKM0GmwmUyNwppn0TGYbS-P0gzWvzNNhlxaolDOdO2w3UJVbgBW0MlVOL3D_uXOBg8U/s400/IMG_20110905_114820.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCQvgxaMxCgr2607vrfgUHyd6EEqBgvG9QnWTNIB1OiiatmlC-suOWmy8YmjoH6S6cIkkbeAqG0rGeV2XrD9uE9_Y3S0LW47ccv_ix3ejFRmvOtDI3FzwETiSUjfOH2dP1yAkOlFuf6y4/s1600/IMG_20110905_114126.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 301px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5658715806261030882" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCQvgxaMxCgr2607vrfgUHyd6EEqBgvG9QnWTNIB1OiiatmlC-suOWmy8YmjoH6S6cIkkbeAqG0rGeV2XrD9uE9_Y3S0LW47ccv_ix3ejFRmvOtDI3FzwETiSUjfOH2dP1yAkOlFuf6y4/s400/IMG_20110905_114126.jpg" /> <br /><p align="center"></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Of course you can't go wrong with shootable water.<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpSLaqmQBD4kKSUWJXE98na-prIWZe8Idm5P7mJk6Kqv2Hj7N4PYXOXf7uiH0-xoQIIxEDXzljEOBW6i7Z8dTaE8gWo_bQeUeppOZi327pVv__nfC8lwhPzPmsoeCeOuWoaFEr2XVyfJw/s1600/IMG_20110905_115658.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5658717651938921218" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpSLaqmQBD4kKSUWJXE98na-prIWZe8Idm5P7mJk6Kqv2Hj7N4PYXOXf7uiH0-xoQIIxEDXzljEOBW6i7Z8dTaE8gWo_bQeUeppOZi327pVv__nfC8lwhPzPmsoeCeOuWoaFEr2XVyfJw/s400/IMG_20110905_115658.jpg" /> <br /><p align="center"></span></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">And submarines are cool </span></p><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>(to some people....if you like feeling claustrophobic, which I do not)<br /></em></span></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1bwUS3M-zPC69d74lqSUl-c-mQ5uabh-xe_xYJT4h1bcthf5e94ffydsEt9CeTZQtk-AfnvatgFVR6URF68s5IKbZs9DD9OnYITfQXBXbY0I9DEnpoB0AtnMIZdIwixfGXwMZmyv6soo/s1600/IMG_20110905_120805.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;"><em><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5658718026331242850" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1bwUS3M-zPC69d74lqSUl-c-mQ5uabh-xe_xYJT4h1bcthf5e94ffydsEt9CeTZQtk-AfnvatgFVR6URF68s5IKbZs9DD9OnYITfQXBXbY0I9DEnpoB0AtnMIZdIwixfGXwMZmyv6soo/s400/IMG_20110905_120805.jpg" /> <br /><p align="center"></em></span></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Dr. Jordis loved the little-kid area...<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhscUM7Jp9cHF87Ab_wb7Dxy995C23VmuEEjDS8yKpuAHPc0Fsy4bwQPAKlUfwO2ZA8HHstgcurUk7IW8lmTuv9bsNXI-N_lSJMMtIuKz0r2eVOxGhdkt1yCH-M7SCqSz8aA7nTqDaWDBM/s1600/IMG_20110905_131437.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5658718550264560994" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhscUM7Jp9cHF87Ab_wb7Dxy995C23VmuEEjDS8yKpuAHPc0Fsy4bwQPAKlUfwO2ZA8HHstgcurUk7IW8lmTuv9bsNXI-N_lSJMMtIuKz0r2eVOxGhdkt1yCH-M7SCqSz8aA7nTqDaWDBM/s400/IMG_20110905_131437.jpg" /> <br /><p align="center"><img class="gl_align_center" border="0" alt="Align Center" src="http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif" /></span></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">...and the soda shop in the Progress exhibit.<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFQ5yYJ_OhqeBWjV5PQ8L-FIqZSC6LUffKng7pgaty4rlJW8CGVwRTLScd1_HgujXeeC1e4bPDSYtpyE5mbCjH1VHlqcLg8qD2nlwHFdiIyca-ctYxUbnVFIPVQafSx_OFDKyMwUN-Bto/s1600/IMG_20110905_140452.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5658719319619184866" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFQ5yYJ_OhqeBWjV5PQ8L-FIqZSC6LUffKng7pgaty4rlJW8CGVwRTLScd1_HgujXeeC1e4bPDSYtpyE5mbCjH1VHlqcLg8qD2nlwHFdiIyca-ctYxUbnVFIPVQafSx_OFDKyMwUN-Bto/s400/IMG_20110905_140452.jpg" /> <br /><p align="center"><img class="gl_align_center" border="0" alt="Align Center" src="http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif" /></span></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Xander was fascinated with this rotary phone. It was really weird to have to show him how to use it.<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuqE1Z1jgd5eCm97vwIowRV4UrHZDiaTRboz2ryZO1lKNV1OxAZrXJHiLDNv0jbWi5i2XyOfP_7T7D6FDjbfz8n7ROIkXJU6XuaQh1XsktWlRGEk-0mbnihNq_cvcJg3eg812TtUCzCqQ/s1600/IMG_20110905_141202.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5658720220962330402" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuqE1Z1jgd5eCm97vwIowRV4UrHZDiaTRboz2ryZO1lKNV1OxAZrXJHiLDNv0jbWi5i2XyOfP_7T7D6FDjbfz8n7ROIkXJU6XuaQh1XsktWlRGEk-0mbnihNq_cvcJg3eg812TtUCzCqQ/s400/IMG_20110905_141202.jpg" /> <br /><p align="center"></span></a><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Giant Lite Brite!<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYNx3itCXcJ0mAH9_I7jEDXsvHNlcE-FApyDpK_0b6HU9BNJoZTJvLsazMC8NVTL5chhrqKtbJOVPVpGxcFmmiHQu9b5Hm3334yLa8hmTBZYmkIDnRD_IWW_6kkxz373LeOuSTmqHu0-s/s1600/IMG_20110905_150208.jpg"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5658720639400227746" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYNx3itCXcJ0mAH9_I7jEDXsvHNlcE-FApyDpK_0b6HU9BNJoZTJvLsazMC8NVTL5chhrqKtbJOVPVpGxcFmmiHQu9b5Hm3334yLa8hmTBZYmkIDnRD_IWW_6kkxz373LeOuSTmqHu0-s/s400/IMG_20110905_150208.jpg" /></span> <br /><p align="center"><img class="gl_align_center" border="0" alt="Align Center" src="http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">For dinner we went across the street to have dinner at </span><a href="http://http//www.meatballs.com/"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The Spaghetti Warehouse</span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">.<br />Three active kids made for a wild and crazy dinner hour.<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4_tH8jtUCvzv6D9wOUPJ6blNGvN_4EzvvnXipHqlwgNplVIblxeEIqRn4fFTaCPCx6qsRK-3SrDPk7qdYN4uQUgegkgg5NniIg4Osxb5FvhrgvKYszUtNOhRczIc69_sK-eld61042WI/s1600/IMG_20110905_155302.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5658721717445403218" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4_tH8jtUCvzv6D9wOUPJ6blNGvN_4EzvvnXipHqlwgNplVIblxeEIqRn4fFTaCPCx6qsRK-3SrDPk7qdYN4uQUgegkgg5NniIg4Osxb5FvhrgvKYszUtNOhRczIc69_sK-eld61042WI/s400/IMG_20110905_155302.jpg" /></span></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHCrmodvF1rxAYB0xZtS2Gd15H_PvZ0DrahM6ufCKhByyaeqdnaKgko_mG3Mi0KKE0hYkEUXbb2pKKhxvvRqbGsElns8KC4Esk_-TVEPBxt1hU4uvWC7X1cgJ1H_Iikr0qeKCaCcbPEag/s1600/IMG_20110905_155208.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5658721690260663778" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHCrmodvF1rxAYB0xZtS2Gd15H_PvZ0DrahM6ufCKhByyaeqdnaKgko_mG3Mi0KKE0hYkEUXbb2pKKhxvvRqbGsElns8KC4Esk_-TVEPBxt1hU4uvWC7X1cgJ1H_Iikr0qeKCaCcbPEag/s400/IMG_20110905_155208.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglGh5sHN_bOVcRUtlXJk9TDtj1AxZzeuZ7SEi2MZXyxeSSqScQtM7zIjFtEFtM7W1dORnGEsf2p6gLKcBNHSEIbNu2amxQALOAl1sO5IsoPliggyAgz8ROPTq2GWeu8UKjgULUt74TWnY/s1600/IMG_20110905_155202.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5658721679040124594" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglGh5sHN_bOVcRUtlXJk9TDtj1AxZzeuZ7SEi2MZXyxeSSqScQtM7zIjFtEFtM7W1dORnGEsf2p6gLKcBNHSEIbNu2amxQALOAl1sO5IsoPliggyAgz8ROPTq2GWeu8UKjgULUt74TWnY/s400/IMG_20110905_155202.jpg" /> <br /><p align="center"></a><br /><span >And the food was good, too!<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglS9mM6iX-6CmU_uW2h6I9jCg48QVizKwWXhpBUGsw-dYHhrwWlQamxvqPqv5AkRsx6ft_Rl2iS9sWdGsmu4qBgByDeydTiD3xMFaGk8ISxKPOqyjY0WfGaHgxiOox230NduEU6uht0sQ/s1600/IMG_20110905_161606.jpg"><span ><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 301px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5658722481465268914" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglS9mM6iX-6CmU_uW2h6I9jCg48QVizKwWXhpBUGsw-dYHhrwWlQamxvqPqv5AkRsx6ft_Rl2iS9sWdGsmu4qBgByDeydTiD3xMFaGk8ISxKPOqyjY0WfGaHgxiOox230NduEU6uht0sQ/s400/IMG_20110905_161606.jpg" /></span></a>OhioFamOf4http://www.blogger.com/profile/03306437309657338988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8477210601931143872.post-58232692948969628922011-09-29T21:46:00.003-04:002011-09-29T21:59:48.084-04:00GeniusOkay, it might be a little early to start throwing out labels, but check out my kid's first test scores of the year in math, science and spelling.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsDJXU3benOyYm77sbnjD694gV9O6uo7Q2YrC9q6DfvUvloJ33aok11sWzwGls0WLLk6QS0KdRAm-k9FLC2qU5t-PAs_dYfbNZ6w0I5b0zKryQzoWPFF_RiRe5WFwCf3IMvIBIaarrs3g/s1600/IMG_20110928_171657.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsDJXU3benOyYm77sbnjD694gV9O6uo7Q2YrC9q6DfvUvloJ33aok11sWzwGls0WLLk6QS0KdRAm-k9FLC2qU5t-PAs_dYfbNZ6w0I5b0zKryQzoWPFF_RiRe5WFwCf3IMvIBIaarrs3g/s400/IMG_20110928_171657.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5657964596831621650" /></a><br />(Math has never been my strong suit but I'm not sure how you can get-1 and still have a score of 32/32 when there's no bonus question.....).<br /><br />At any rate, we are super proud of our little second-grader. He never ceases to amaze us.OhioFamOf4http://www.blogger.com/profile/03306437309657338988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8477210601931143872.post-1002705699419173462011-09-21T21:15:00.011-04:002011-09-21T21:59:56.880-04:00Go Packers!<div align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Jordis started her first activity this year.....cheerleading! She started taking cheer classes at the local gymnastics center, but we didn't feel like she was getting much out of it so we signed her up for football cheerleading with our local Optimist Football league. She was put on the Packers with 16 other girls and now she's learning how to cheer, as well as understanding when and why cheerleading is used. She was a trooper when it came to her three practices a week in August. Then she got to go to her first spirit night where we had pizza and cupcakes and painted banners for all of the games.<br /></span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMhLcH6sBdDZfggLl-Vl-3CqJ9uLbt7und6l3arfgYB4XX-CT9KZ3HF5b9yNRT6-ITVcv-qCvirgKw9rdWVO6iJrLaXXperwl5RHpHPYiLuRanSQeG1tLzW5pDc7pnRQP_FOGrVTyOzlQ/s1600/IMG_20110814_184618.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5654990103808945250" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMhLcH6sBdDZfggLl-Vl-3CqJ9uLbt7und6l3arfgYB4XX-CT9KZ3HF5b9yNRT6-ITVcv-qCvirgKw9rdWVO6iJrLaXXperwl5RHpHPYiLuRanSQeG1tLzW5pDc7pnRQP_FOGrVTyOzlQ/s400/IMG_20110814_184618.jpg" /> <br /><p align="center"></span></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Her first game was a little shaky. Grandpa, Grammy, Maw Maw and Paw Paw all came to watch, and she refused to participate. People were looking at her, the pom poms were too scratchy and there a lot of pouts and faces like this.<br /><br /></p></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5654988755720352642" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGsqYOM9crGgI0sUO_SXukJpCF4TQDiuFvoTWolJd0OoLLl4fbQBpdx1JaZuDZHZP8CZeRy7K_x7_CqTFbS6MSKJra_0iQLUL06K_tYCooV0XATJMr3h6Ul7Xk50yHCWiD1NomYxfTnnI/s400/IMG_20110827_091620.jpg" /> <br /><p align="center"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Jason and I both had a few "chats" with her...<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSsyeU73p31ocf8OXwXJXG43qmny4ON8tMP3bA9dUBCKA12ZqMiI-tuJ_Nan9EG2kD49WCz7w7j0lQqD8sAjphSjf8xds2jwT2LOaoEA_YA2V5wugNUkRQbUkwZmeiyhNFrpXjF911pZM/s1600/IMG_20110827_092632.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5654990888913202706" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSsyeU73p31ocf8OXwXJXG43qmny4ON8tMP3bA9dUBCKA12ZqMiI-tuJ_Nan9EG2kD49WCz7w7j0lQqD8sAjphSjf8xds2jwT2LOaoEA_YA2V5wugNUkRQbUkwZmeiyhNFrpXjF911pZM/s400/IMG_20110827_092632.jpg" /> <br /><p align="center"></span></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">...and finally, after being bribed with $1, she cheered during the 4th quarter. After all the grandparents went home.<br /><br />The second game went a little better. She got to be a banner holder that day so she had something to look forward to.<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGet1G2VHfa5ogfSYuoQRu-fNzCAumDbI2ksWS0xv9t9plUXXCBlSKv1yUl7WJE4vMXyFHDFU5AgSkxqVGdHgT-p3bTUuXrrahD9LtF70syh60tyraPExcNg58VP4jMv-a89ughgpJXQ4/s1600/100_1121.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5654992359249025906" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGet1G2VHfa5ogfSYuoQRu-fNzCAumDbI2ksWS0xv9t9plUXXCBlSKv1yUl7WJE4vMXyFHDFU5AgSkxqVGdHgT-p3bTUuXrrahD9LtF70syh60tyraPExcNg58VP4jMv-a89ughgpJXQ4/s400/100_1121.JPG" /> <br /><p align="center"></span></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Nanny Mo and Mr. Brian came and she said she'd cheer as long as Mr. Brian didn't look at her.<br /></span></p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj89akS8qIaT1pmnJ7dv35mYD6_bQIxhcC7_hOptdp7h8daOusK6pCJ9sAJMJgV7Q5-9SnSXz7c2_VUj9RLoFfQ6oWrf2eh0uU9cJL9MfHnuBes9dFPHunQPPIuK2EeNYY_V_7Y6lCSACw/s1600/100_1126.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5654992970233414226" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj89akS8qIaT1pmnJ7dv35mYD6_bQIxhcC7_hOptdp7h8daOusK6pCJ9sAJMJgV7Q5-9SnSXz7c2_VUj9RLoFfQ6oWrf2eh0uU9cJL9MfHnuBes9dFPHunQPPIuK2EeNYY_V_7Y6lCSACw/s400/100_1126.JPG" /> <br /><p align="center"></span></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Little did we know it would be 99 degrees that day and the girls would be spending almost half of the game sitting under a tree eating popsicles.<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFkjH4iulOO1ZRmy6-pbO_rHlrjQW0EGNCbYyf9SU5BPCy7R66ZYUZDqCQvmtri0B7prQjREL3-9X9jyekZVSGKM4LczShaI4bqzbE9u4BoICRgVhwuaso2Y6Z7Sk8HlKNiPHe0GKpcqU/s1600/100_1135.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5654993292451199890" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFkjH4iulOO1ZRmy6-pbO_rHlrjQW0EGNCbYyf9SU5BPCy7R66ZYUZDqCQvmtri0B7prQjREL3-9X9jyekZVSGKM4LczShaI4bqzbE9u4BoICRgVhwuaso2Y6Z7Sk8HlKNiPHe0GKpcqU/s400/100_1135.JPG" /> <br /><p align="center"></span></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">After a bye week we had a really good day this past Saturday. It was much cooler so we had to bring out the sweat suits. Grandpa and Ba Dee were able to come this week and Jordis not only cheered, but looked like she was having a good time, too.<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidyeTS9ygPxLJXIKeZpWfnH_V-VApy6oXGi8nnIPszwN568RiwuMpomjDT1oICmtGYXnAWpbVNV0ZKIfc9dVuTpnE_Mde7GpmasRGr7bSWIn3Xxja2938gDOMMkdAM5kZRGovDH5fh67Q/s1600/100_1158.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5654995743505956738" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidyeTS9ygPxLJXIKeZpWfnH_V-VApy6oXGi8nnIPszwN568RiwuMpomjDT1oICmtGYXnAWpbVNV0ZKIfc9dVuTpnE_Mde7GpmasRGr7bSWIn3Xxja2938gDOMMkdAM5kZRGovDH5fh67Q/s400/100_1158.JPG" /></span></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1BO_JJef5plX6VOuzY1Ea6ntGxunlaDi9VHEW1X-U2ipcUZfGm33Lb1HtV-aomHyypsgf57PTw-EHvzkatm-ARh2j3uUERipPTAiGKXNnN3wW7B_aKr3KYDYCypWag4uOLR1IyE6lPmg/s1600/100_1152.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5654995730578278626" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1BO_JJef5plX6VOuzY1Ea6ntGxunlaDi9VHEW1X-U2ipcUZfGm33Lb1HtV-aomHyypsgf57PTw-EHvzkatm-ARh2j3uUERipPTAiGKXNnN3wW7B_aKr3KYDYCypWag4uOLR1IyE6lPmg/s400/100_1152.JPG" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo-HzXrirxn1v_YRO7wqJSiUlmuokh_kH0MaZQV6BbULHuGxV_N-5BfdKvssfaW11nQmvE5F8zP_fsCzzSclJ2at0B0W4fDqJV8i7sRERDJvp2k74BmHrFd2ay7hIW9nZMgj1x5dBM4tk/s1600/100_1142.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5654995722608671506" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo-HzXrirxn1v_YRO7wqJSiUlmuokh_kH0MaZQV6BbULHuGxV_N-5BfdKvssfaW11nQmvE5F8zP_fsCzzSclJ2at0B0W4fDqJV8i7sRERDJvp2k74BmHrFd2ay7hIW9nZMgj1x5dBM4tk/s400/100_1142.JPG" /> <br /><p align="center"></a><br /><span ><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We couldn't be more proud of our little girl and can't wait to see how she does the rest of the season</span>.</span></p>OhioFamOf4http://www.blogger.com/profile/03306437309657338988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8477210601931143872.post-84587050049105416902011-08-29T11:28:00.008-04:002011-09-06T10:03:44.772-04:00Football Friday Nite<div align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We love football here so we decided that this would be the year we attempt to take our kids to a high school football game. The season started Friday night (August 26th, I started this post a few weeks ago), the weather was gorgeous, and Jason didn't have to work that night, so we decided it was the perfect evening to go. The plan was to go to the local game but they were playing their biggest rival and it usually sells out, so we thought maybe we should find something a little more low-key. The next obvious way to decide, of course, was to find a nearby school that was also close to a great restaurant. We live 20 minutes from a Der Dutchman Amish restaurant that is right down the street from a high school, so off we trekked. Xander hated it immediately. It looked too fancy and there was a loud pianist. But then he saw the bakery. And the gift shop. And the buffet. It has now become his new favorite restaurant.</span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ypYUfFlUouI_ISdfA9eg6sPaQRRTsQ88sh7nkZLDdQSju31dK1cYw2kVlVKRKiI40HgGotQHw_ooE88zTJhOS8f6GBLTP-_Xb1W-OoA1noNtVhtSqkUgqUj5Imhua-zlqWFMecugHKU/s1600/IMG_20110826_182428.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649242717341739810" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ypYUfFlUouI_ISdfA9eg6sPaQRRTsQ88sh7nkZLDdQSju31dK1cYw2kVlVKRKiI40HgGotQHw_ooE88zTJhOS8f6GBLTP-_Xb1W-OoA1noNtVhtSqkUgqUj5Imhua-zlqWFMecugHKU/s400/IMG_20110826_182428.jpg" /><br /><br /><p align="center"></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;"><em>(Like Jordis' headband? She's apparently channeling her inner Olivia Newton-John.)</em></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Next up was the football game. Even though they were expecting a giant stadium like they see on TV, they were still overwhelmed with all the sights. Xander was impressed that people were allowed to stomp on the bleachers on purpose and make lots of noise. I was impressed that I saw people coming away from the concession stand with funnel cakes. Then I saw sno-cones, and Chick-Fil-A sandwiches and Cow Tales. Forget the Amish place, we might just start coming to games at this school and eating at the concession stand.</span></p><br /><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We decided to sit on the visitors side since Jason had a friend also in attendance and we thought we'd support the high school that his brother and sister went to. It was clearly the wrong side. The football team was horrible, and so was the band. And I'm still not sure why the flag corp was using flags that didn't coincide with their school colors. But the kids didn't seem to mind. Xander was learning how to read the scoreboard and Jordis was enthralled with the cheerleaders.</span><br /></div><br /><br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqTGzqfATAGL-yFhEJRwtzK6IYa3H1DdWGirxmYi0_du-tjaxe295QffqTsDxXiQ5Lv5MqYxblVa9Ou7R0mHnnHr5pKtYYqduABw-bdayjaT-ANhtBfRyu9BD1XH1SMIxCsKY0wAVpqPY/s1600/IMG_20110826_193629.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649244050332306018" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqTGzqfATAGL-yFhEJRwtzK6IYa3H1DdWGirxmYi0_du-tjaxe295QffqTsDxXiQ5Lv5MqYxblVa9Ou7R0mHnnHr5pKtYYqduABw-bdayjaT-ANhtBfRyu9BD1XH1SMIxCsKY0wAVpqPY/s400/IMG_20110826_193629.jpg" /></a> <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">As is par for the course, Jordis made a friend while we were at the game. She also thought the team mascot was HILARIOUS. She made Jason take her down to the track so she could see him up close. Then she tried taunting him for the rest of the evening.</span></p><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649244696479700626" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi446LgL_E2qWDqBhdZBEbb02cuXkLMeMXDk8xHzfhOgZtaNzbQRcvVj_IljgwGvaXPL5oAMNYhmt5DuKJtEIECD9i6Di1UNYztdZo35Y1lqj9QxdpcHxX0W1ayirusSTzX9r4F8YuxQ7I/s400/IMG_20110826_201129.jpg" /> <br /><p align="center"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We decided to leave during the fourth quarter. I was clearly channeling crowd avoidance techniques I picked up from my dad.....had to get out of the parking lot before the game was over and we were sitting in traffic wasting gas. But I do have priorities so we made sure to pick up a funnel cake to eat on the ride home.</span><br /></p><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Kids had fun + mom & dad had fun + little to no drama = SUCCESS!!!!<br /></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span>OhioFamOf4http://www.blogger.com/profile/03306437309657338988noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8477210601931143872.post-12272350411448038322011-08-25T22:44:00.010-04:002011-08-27T00:40:53.892-04:00It's that time<div align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">School supplies
<br /></div></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg02PpCL5up90XuFmSgsMAxgKDoJJ_ZhG6lf0r-7vESgULBfpxSgAqJ_qKjY91B_P2_Ri1f_XDtTQaS33R1XOsCvcEt58VnkYAPuMnToI66tAo6oDJPgB3T46G8XqOBGccrQ9MrteNTms/s1600/IMG_20110822_133328.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644991563115295138" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg02PpCL5up90XuFmSgsMAxgKDoJJ_ZhG6lf0r-7vESgULBfpxSgAqJ_qKjY91B_P2_Ri1f_XDtTQaS33R1XOsCvcEt58VnkYAPuMnToI66tAo6oDJPgB3T46G8XqOBGccrQ9MrteNTms/s400/IMG_20110822_133328.jpg" />
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<br />New backpacks and lunch boxes
<br /></p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5o4hqWfIGDbygid_v0L3_MrQ_hxn4iRpMLUm6wrFxjJn5QnBTWxT878-0jR1EOmBRcoNPN-WKghB_S3g4h9lWa9Leg_b602mErFD-T38dxbubQwdjh0-DS3NGcyRtwr18tg1wZEAFy2U/s1600/IMG_20110822_133404.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5645382970430905362" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5o4hqWfIGDbygid_v0L3_MrQ_hxn4iRpMLUm6wrFxjJn5QnBTWxT878-0jR1EOmBRcoNPN-WKghB_S3g4h9lWa9Leg_b602mErFD-T38dxbubQwdjh0-DS3NGcyRtwr18tg1wZEAFy2U/s400/IMG_20110822_133404.jpg" />
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<br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">New fabric napkins to pack in lunches (because we are all about recycling and not making extra trash in this house).
<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSIx2afXbkycdIOErcK67jQihENby7jIqWIH-d9nKPVQpNa-g22qZxazD637VyyEk8awqnidKsccVpMdZIGMTjRD8Tn53xwu3qkyGzgtRBzIWUB_BsrCiQj0f95uWAA_-S6CRpTZpsQzM/s1600/IMG_20110824_002250.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5645383440631808722" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSIx2afXbkycdIOErcK67jQihENby7jIqWIH-d9nKPVQpNa-g22qZxazD637VyyEk8awqnidKsccVpMdZIGMTjRD8Tn53xwu3qkyGzgtRBzIWUB_BsrCiQj0f95uWAA_-S6CRpTZpsQzM/s400/IMG_20110824_002250.jpg" />
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<br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Ridiculously expensive name-brand shoes that I swore I'd never purchase
<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE2KG2IFGjDF72SiGuuIxeciryC_3FdLyXVtulkN1wKfP3BQxRby4oZXGnljtMyUpsC6OnEsb_RgKGyhTB8IieJgS67X22gQHW6o52W9RghC_EfwIZB2cH12sBUYmPiRPFOoB6Ch1oy3s/s1600/IMG_20110824_004540.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5645384871080780642" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE2KG2IFGjDF72SiGuuIxeciryC_3FdLyXVtulkN1wKfP3BQxRby4oZXGnljtMyUpsC6OnEsb_RgKGyhTB8IieJgS67X22gQHW6o52W9RghC_EfwIZB2cH12sBUYmPiRPFOoB6Ch1oy3s/s400/IMG_20110824_004540.jpg" />
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<br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Two adorable kids wearing new outfits
<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFcBLvlyyVC2jV9VK_uORNr5Kij0CUv8L0DAsJKFCchCa-pfFMIsSuthatM7bJ7ZHDRtTdCMkkcGUCPWtM2AMNXfiZMbv9YFHL_EPUWt_zSkUZ4G3cvTYZ_gb4bYAcaaSCah5UUFBJOkE/s1600/IMG_20110824_075815.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5645386345542129330" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFcBLvlyyVC2jV9VK_uORNr5Kij0CUv8L0DAsJKFCchCa-pfFMIsSuthatM7bJ7ZHDRtTdCMkkcGUCPWtM2AMNXfiZMbv9YFHL_EPUWt_zSkUZ4G3cvTYZ_gb4bYAcaaSCah5UUFBJOkE/s400/IMG_20110824_075815.jpg" />
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<br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">One really sad mom who doesn't want her baby to be old enough for school
<br />(definitely no picture of that)
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<br /><p align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Two kids who couldn't wait to tell us about their first day
<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZAsOJPrTZle8IMQ0cX6tc-ypxg8HKW3ppp-DloVFVbMFSNkMF144_o7jIbQ7sDf0l3kECtXbs6bTB8RzZQJSfLhoeDpPF8z8wAgU6xSZ7BR0rZwStD-xWQtNTOlCJJAAq2J6XoAk8uEk/s1600/IMG_20110824_161357.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5645389750705473554" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZAsOJPrTZle8IMQ0cX6tc-ypxg8HKW3ppp-DloVFVbMFSNkMF144_o7jIbQ7sDf0l3kECtXbs6bTB8RzZQJSfLhoeDpPF8z8wAgU6xSZ7BR0rZwStD-xWQtNTOlCJJAAq2J6XoAk8uEk/s400/IMG_20110824_161357.jpg" /></span></a>
<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqy-7yQj4_J9yVmtrQJpneKMdajGdLgqZaLIy-XOc5cbRWpia0FCGbgYshAYgDHW_PWZpSwxkG7t5_9zXgPHsnVCIhXTeIZ_QdoFVqkCAztvfkipJD2v3Bw9-QLjX6_g8l2AE-m2OmVsU/s1600/IMG_20110824_161541.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5645389744649565170" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqy-7yQj4_J9yVmtrQJpneKMdajGdLgqZaLIy-XOc5cbRWpia0FCGbgYshAYgDHW_PWZpSwxkG7t5_9zXgPHsnVCIhXTeIZ_QdoFVqkCAztvfkipJD2v3Bw9-QLjX6_g8l2AE-m2OmVsU/s400/IMG_20110824_161541.jpg" />
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<br />Happy Back to School Xander and Jordis! </p>OhioFamOf4http://www.blogger.com/profile/03306437309657338988noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8477210601931143872.post-76998347149013870462011-07-19T09:06:00.014-04:002011-07-19T22:22:25.364-04:00Summertime<div align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Wow, I haven't blogged in almost a month! Can you tell I got a part-time job? It's definitely making my summer go a little faster than usual since I'm not here 3-4 afternoons a week. We've definitely been keeping busy.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The kids and I have had a few slumber parties on the sofa bed. The first time we watched "Because of Winn Dixie" and the second time we watched "The Karate Kid" (the original one). I let them eat popcorn on the bed which they thought was pretty cool. One night we also made chocolate covered bananas. They were yummy!<br /></span></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5631050688247595490" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrPTz-rPill5pY1n3R5XlIlzqQrq4e435rkSHL0zJrgjf-_WfYeIqpoNBJP2Uv0UEO13m8sg-OHkxAIpzfqMSUrIY5l31PJX_43NoMYbjILcSMpPmf07SZ44Z-0OFqCjSJmTRMxOqYXus/s400/IMG_20110604_200246.jpg" /> <br /><p align="center"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">One day, right before school was out, Jordis and I took our neighbor on a little tour of some of the finer points of south Columbus. She is from Michigan and we've been discussing a little field trip since last year, so we finally made our way out.<br />We started at Schiller Park.<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9nhm9zDvgGAHCLbMZNejzqHwN3WtciGD6pbJeS3RDrwLXyMsI9qceh0rRk_aOscjtgACev37o-Q-LLQgUUUNkGHGprUyekKJiR-SpBvw-jfAtD0JHLTyqkssMDcfVAjx4YyhyN45JtsQ/s1600/100_0989.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5631052635194952066" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9nhm9zDvgGAHCLbMZNejzqHwN3WtciGD6pbJeS3RDrwLXyMsI9qceh0rRk_aOscjtgACev37o-Q-LLQgUUUNkGHGprUyekKJiR-SpBvw-jfAtD0JHLTyqkssMDcfVAjx4YyhyN45JtsQ/s400/100_0989.JPG" /></span></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtAuKvYWXfT4Sxat8t_bVhgMUkf1A7NaygQfnZGfSObmkZSJgmUNpVSf8GGA7MHs106lnKDdQpUc3rLYmuZwV7qSI0GH0tB1w3B72_k_ub7YItATB0jch_b-5MToEKVoMjhBbIqaDr_5A/s1600/100_0980.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5631052621645732210" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtAuKvYWXfT4Sxat8t_bVhgMUkf1A7NaygQfnZGfSObmkZSJgmUNpVSf8GGA7MHs106lnKDdQpUc3rLYmuZwV7qSI0GH0tB1w3B72_k_ub7YItATB0jch_b-5MToEKVoMjhBbIqaDr_5A/s400/100_0980.JPG" /><br /><br /><p align="center"></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Then we stopped for goodies at Pistacia Vera. How I love their macaroons. Jordis had a delightful lemon sugar cookie. I forget what Nancy sampled, but it looked equally as tasty.</span><br /></p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaHK9EO6-mFgthGnoeKEsq14wOBwLo3bSp1VJg7oNXbZCunD-W_1JRhsDmVVdD0zk-N3mFZRirjBbW_6Hf8F6Ezkp3xOHH9bYMSvxZTJhqsUJH-XD-AZZ-YRTGzAgXi0x4L5lDez2SxRs/s1600/100_0993.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5631053612387173858" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaHK9EO6-mFgthGnoeKEsq14wOBwLo3bSp1VJg7oNXbZCunD-W_1JRhsDmVVdD0zk-N3mFZRirjBbW_6Hf8F6Ezkp3xOHH9bYMSvxZTJhqsUJH-XD-AZZ-YRTGzAgXi0x4L5lDez2SxRs/s400/100_0993.JPG" /><br /><br /><p align="center"></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Next was a trip up High Street to the North Market. We checked out all the booths, grabbed some lunch to go (yummy mashed potatoes and mac and cheese from a local eatery) and continued north. Oh, and Jordis always has to take her picture with this cow whenever we come to the market.<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ5D1qt62xGovxI1ZVH6n_00LaEOBsqHiqCMQ_H7pP7nbqpy8PlcQF0yPU9vBzvrIIkgoCWizFMzcJQ2E-qSCKHq-wWPzp_TvCTh4hIRZLLf4kZBmQgAjM1DxphhfUJpKAa5cul-RXruA/s1600/IMG_20110608_125117.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5631054596178963090" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ5D1qt62xGovxI1ZVH6n_00LaEOBsqHiqCMQ_H7pP7nbqpy8PlcQF0yPU9vBzvrIIkgoCWizFMzcJQ2E-qSCKHq-wWPzp_TvCTh4hIRZLLf4kZBmQgAjM1DxphhfUJpKAa5cul-RXruA/s400/IMG_20110608_125117.jpg" /><br /><br /><p align="center"></span></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Our final stop was the Park of Roses. It was a few days before the annual festival so the roses should have been at their peak, but it had been so hot at the time that they were looking a little pekid. We enjoyed them anyway. It's always fun to take someone there that has never been. You'd never know that such beauty existed in that busy stretch of High Street without someone showing you. It's definitely off the beaten path.<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVVqrxEHaVjTQ9IQ9LhpT1GXNWdVTXJGKkUbXgfbYIJVRkQUATnMmJliZOX9tU51JT2o84c8Z4LMl7W3H3m7Gk7jjVHPXGo0y8eDcmlH-JlTedsRNaC0L-6PGYBbjLIc6QfO7eVp3TiLQ/s1600/100_1002.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5631250188996528706" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVVqrxEHaVjTQ9IQ9LhpT1GXNWdVTXJGKkUbXgfbYIJVRkQUATnMmJliZOX9tU51JT2o84c8Z4LMl7W3H3m7Gk7jjVHPXGo0y8eDcmlH-JlTedsRNaC0L-6PGYBbjLIc6QfO7eVp3TiLQ/s400/100_1002.JPG" /></span></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaRp4nRKVeWN1S59JtfxhPnUD87Mybkj1-_Lygabu90Q5Zz0SqeyVk6ZN0ZbUsHDNHuXbhCEN14pIYIucFfl860y1D270Uo84S3xG2d2LPjkvQ7THP5ydljIDJmKxBHtCPPhYW7Iu3-KI/s1600/100_1004.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5631250188504989762" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaRp4nRKVeWN1S59JtfxhPnUD87Mybkj1-_Lygabu90Q5Zz0SqeyVk6ZN0ZbUsHDNHuXbhCEN14pIYIucFfl860y1D270Uo84S3xG2d2LPjkvQ7THP5ydljIDJmKxBHtCPPhYW7Iu3-KI/s400/100_1004.JPG" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiWo2GggeltzTJJWhAj0yK2T1g1Lb2_i0SsRfUEnyyeQRtNCRWrK7rG0-78bKeMEACR4Hh6i-0GNbTeNBu5iPTdKxSo5Q-hKqVJFlZgXnzVX7QQSwX0oOylumw7eQ0NA91MqTyHKrVW9s/s1600/100_1009.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5631250178600193634" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiWo2GggeltzTJJWhAj0yK2T1g1Lb2_i0SsRfUEnyyeQRtNCRWrK7rG0-78bKeMEACR4Hh6i-0GNbTeNBu5iPTdKxSo5Q-hKqVJFlZgXnzVX7QQSwX0oOylumw7eQ0NA91MqTyHKrVW9s/s400/100_1009.JPG" /><br /><br /><p align="center"></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We've also had some creepy summer storms....<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixCFgwHnDMa1cY3gnEpaS62LX40x7VMsFM5SG30GdgzPVanT_6X7skaEnmm0hP7uN_J1VxduWSKqOOQV773d6Ytbdw0JmCM_x1YEfpjDIp0-7C9N-Dhm2J34FEv0rIy5bnSffwjFTfkMU/s1600/100_1025.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5631250725118230658" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixCFgwHnDMa1cY3gnEpaS62LX40x7VMsFM5SG30GdgzPVanT_6X7skaEnmm0hP7uN_J1VxduWSKqOOQV773d6Ytbdw0JmCM_x1YEfpjDIp0-7C9N-Dhm2J34FEv0rIy5bnSffwjFTfkMU/s400/100_1025.JPG" /><br /><br /><p align="center"></span></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">...made homemade donuts....<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRRTApL1pjzGCgZka7viY6XbxL9VTUxcclslXhv4vxnpZ536CNi3MoFyGIlstU9RFWd23rYHdTC-fU3TEdxg4NEj8HhUAN2HRVa2oHdN-QR6r9qQlmI4WWVdCNb_6fGKHStmgkJujiNDI/s1600/IMG_20110614_090658.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5631251443158864082" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRRTApL1pjzGCgZka7viY6XbxL9VTUxcclslXhv4vxnpZ536CNi3MoFyGIlstU9RFWd23rYHdTC-fU3TEdxg4NEj8HhUAN2HRVa2oHdN-QR6r9qQlmI4WWVdCNb_6fGKHStmgkJujiNDI/s400/IMG_20110614_090658.jpg" /><br /><br /><p align="center"></span></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">....been to the park.....<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW3IsBEdjnEyR1gU2z8dLqgDiEVNn0Kocj4XN-YyXmI9WNAhFTwyyQrW3j_trQ2kFxItxbDyUkcajSOebthhCPnzy7aysIfhrOqureT93rkdMPeA2plPcQpslRaY8TgVBDdx4rLkcLzqA/s1600/IMG_20110616_125353.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5631251705451962610" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW3IsBEdjnEyR1gU2z8dLqgDiEVNn0Kocj4XN-YyXmI9WNAhFTwyyQrW3j_trQ2kFxItxbDyUkcajSOebthhCPnzy7aysIfhrOqureT93rkdMPeA2plPcQpslRaY8TgVBDdx4rLkcLzqA/s400/IMG_20110616_125353.jpg" /><br /><br /><p align="center"></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">...and discovered silly string.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpz7MFYDTNYSMN3WFWz69ZNO4GrRoFN3vk1J_IW-rT8kToK3IGhZyPLj2nqtHrGHTVVaw1AK0qHMxxlA04u2oJZK6jxDIX4wJmWpoobHg4ADSOv-1XpdDzqlGuzUuSaY1GDzVWChV3G84/s1600/100_1029.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5631253290871216418" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpz7MFYDTNYSMN3WFWz69ZNO4GrRoFN3vk1J_IW-rT8kToK3IGhZyPLj2nqtHrGHTVVaw1AK0qHMxxlA04u2oJZK6jxDIX4wJmWpoobHg4ADSOv-1XpdDzqlGuzUuSaY1GDzVWChV3G84/s400/100_1029.JPG" /></a><br />There's still 35 days until school starts, so I'm sure we'll have some more summer fun in the weeks to come.</p><br /></span>OhioFamOf4http://www.blogger.com/profile/03306437309657338988noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8477210601931143872.post-44893243463075041022011-06-22T22:26:00.012-04:002011-06-22T23:02:51.562-04:00Zoo trip<div align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Shortly before the end of the school year I took Jordis for a day at the zoo. It's so much easier to take just one kid because there's no fighting about what to see, and it was a beautiful day, so I was looking forward to it. And Xander was going with his class the following week so I didn't feel bad about either child being left out<br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Jordis loves to climb all over these words in the Habitat Hollow, which is right next to the petting zoo. Those sweet animals have the most patience to let so many little ones run around and touch them all day.</span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi3CDmvhA3SjUCt_PkBJTQJ_eSl2TjTtH3UQn0LsBCG0IEmheMxzPHLjKqeQRlpG_zqdA-g9_LR5zg2wIr58thf7hRULsp-ZLxh587ejAIol4lTRFa6tQpvjb0o2DDdmvIVHpih9x_OXA/s1600/IMG_20110509_110733.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621245167031327762" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi3CDmvhA3SjUCt_PkBJTQJ_eSl2TjTtH3UQn0LsBCG0IEmheMxzPHLjKqeQRlpG_zqdA-g9_LR5zg2wIr58thf7hRULsp-ZLxh587ejAIol4lTRFa6tQpvjb0o2DDdmvIVHpih9x_OXA/s400/IMG_20110509_110733.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG00ba6g_ql2Q2tIbzOfaLfonp3W9BcbNH3MXdefTYtaiLxQ2ogxJ3kr66vOlJ_uwgFyZajNWYRImEkOP_zj7DGD8er9UUstNoNUkKBRB0M_KWRIczsvHZlUMGgbuKS8vA5mDQNg30Mkg/s1600/IMG_20110509_111940.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621238934008560226" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG00ba6g_ql2Q2tIbzOfaLfonp3W9BcbNH3MXdefTYtaiLxQ2ogxJ3kr66vOlJ_uwgFyZajNWYRImEkOP_zj7DGD8er9UUstNoNUkKBRB0M_KWRIczsvHZlUMGgbuKS8vA5mDQNg30Mkg/s400/IMG_20110509_111940.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCsOMLpAVOZTgrm__NMc6AabrD7iRdHIib-jPbKMvG1iNXU2ACA9QA7ahF1WkspwhqffWNreHbYBovDaFS5PGP8rUy-8TAloD7SYMP5RNnRn8AozqQWPP7c-s8iLc_IzNZ0tfvZQ5i4GQ/s1600/IMG_20110509_112007.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621238925343996322" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCsOMLpAVOZTgrm__NMc6AabrD7iRdHIib-jPbKMvG1iNXU2ACA9QA7ahF1WkspwhqffWNreHbYBovDaFS5PGP8rUy-8TAloD7SYMP5RNnRn8AozqQWPP7c-s8iLc_IzNZ0tfvZQ5i4GQ/s400/IMG_20110509_112007.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The polar bears weren't out because their outdoor area was being cleaned, but we were able to go to the educational portion of the exhibit.<br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHJTdcIeIy0K4uQ6cbpTXQqhPwFIAP9Rorqf0b1-XeBotXoNcuJaNRbIZIVhweCzesppQYAGonnVJ95bVFjQHOKsnyGCs3_-jsfYVP-Qw3T2ijfRUBaY8NRKV5HiTyh1MfMr5AGdajUb4/s1600/IMG_20110509_120430.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621239825002902370" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHJTdcIeIy0K4uQ6cbpTXQqhPwFIAP9Rorqf0b1-XeBotXoNcuJaNRbIZIVhweCzesppQYAGonnVJ95bVFjQHOKsnyGCs3_-jsfYVP-Qw3T2ijfRUBaY8NRKV5HiTyh1MfMr5AGdajUb4/s400/IMG_20110509_120430.jpg" /></span></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We rode the train<br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJcQl7w38Yh0eLgGY6jkBLJMA-uZKsyUoML2LG6GNyAcQIky8rD8-VcohOsIhPGn8lwkDWPfjfRp9LFeHJ3Yf2MEhNjd5vJjRtunzetUlLaR026n4qIp-sYEWhdh81Lut3zy6lTmLdPbQ/s1600/IMG_20110509_122259.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621240051346964418" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJcQl7w38Yh0eLgGY6jkBLJMA-uZKsyUoML2LG6GNyAcQIky8rD8-VcohOsIhPGn8lwkDWPfjfRp9LFeHJ3Yf2MEhNjd5vJjRtunzetUlLaR026n4qIp-sYEWhdh81Lut3zy6lTmLdPbQ/s400/IMG_20110509_122259.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br />Enjoyed the flowers</span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9uLeM3-Ax2EH2T9BWUOygNJ2QhT7VbbOXAf1Ckwr6IjfMEbBmq7rnRIw6K_S-5xkOUDptEBr5FDJg-98SB0e9U74_UHrBO8z3DZedNn39fgCfpXtj4uT6ZdViZYaybDe3Y84APJDdJOs/s1600/IMG_20110509_125605.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621240454203778258" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9uLeM3-Ax2EH2T9BWUOygNJ2QhT7VbbOXAf1Ckwr6IjfMEbBmq7rnRIw6K_S-5xkOUDptEBr5FDJg-98SB0e9U74_UHrBO8z3DZedNn39fgCfpXtj4uT6ZdViZYaybDe3Y84APJDdJOs/s400/IMG_20110509_125605.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">And spent a lot of time in the primate area. They are my absolute favorites and Jordis likes them as much as I do. I could spend all day watching them and on this day they did not disappoint.<br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN1jMb-yh6yBbdK3Utn_vfiwz8uiwbTZ0Cj0TjCru8vo0bMTzV2AxQxoHNCy3-RZbAwpRKPb-gorhHPfAf5mDVpydZFe3h583P67LF1ItZ1nvE41NMEqyvWktB-iM5bC4ABkyMLcBmsp0/s1600/IMG_20110509_134917.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621242752756969410" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN1jMb-yh6yBbdK3Utn_vfiwz8uiwbTZ0Cj0TjCru8vo0bMTzV2AxQxoHNCy3-RZbAwpRKPb-gorhHPfAf5mDVpydZFe3h583P67LF1ItZ1nvE41NMEqyvWktB-iM5bC4ABkyMLcBmsp0/s400/IMG_20110509_134917.jpg" /></span></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQz0fjaDCxEVqbDusButUXTUfJRU7JhEywdur7dYoJEMzQEceaqgzwN03KwPrqR4PybuUUWo2ce80KcQPiOGMEFC2macwgaUbTqc4cUloN9aQGBIdKVbgu5dVlWD_mmJ3zZjwRYv9EmaA/s1600/IMG_20110509_135126.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 299px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621242748659771394" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQz0fjaDCxEVqbDusButUXTUfJRU7JhEywdur7dYoJEMzQEceaqgzwN03KwPrqR4PybuUUWo2ce80KcQPiOGMEFC2macwgaUbTqc4cUloN9aQGBIdKVbgu5dVlWD_mmJ3zZjwRYv9EmaA/s400/IMG_20110509_135126.jpg" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHw6lgeOyS0NdCx5C-Wf0mR3xwYVAGbOTDYl1nqgLNjrt5FB19HcHnqhQTCFQC8M99qIhfxl_Hy0FCrQINzjL0GJyFH7gx3f3p0ec8vDXrtwBnplHcCUqLu7UOazaHD9Oyym37adLXcp0/s1600/IMG_20110509_135548.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 299px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621242742594860578" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHw6lgeOyS0NdCx5C-Wf0mR3xwYVAGbOTDYl1nqgLNjrt5FB19HcHnqhQTCFQC8M99qIhfxl_Hy0FCrQINzjL0GJyFH7gx3f3p0ec8vDXrtwBnplHcCUqLu7UOazaHD9Oyym37adLXcp0/s400/IMG_20110509_135548.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">And it wouldn't be a day at the zoo if Jordis didn't make a trip to the reptile building. She was disappointed that they didn't have a snake out to pet, but she did like that this snake was looking at us.<br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4CZzuBu1dBQHqIQyWEg_IM75aky_jJeP4-US2kXNk109m-guDBL0ThTZZ1zv0FNN-xzYuexiAde2XCg22TJyWXf0HS6OJk2yNUFFchS1VBH469o3hv6CqAHb57HZb7Dzh4oR1DEEs_yY/s1600/IMG_20110509_142205.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 301px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5621243202257254274" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4CZzuBu1dBQHqIQyWEg_IM75aky_jJeP4-US2kXNk109m-guDBL0ThTZZ1zv0FNN-xzYuexiAde2XCg22TJyWXf0HS6OJk2yNUFFchS1VBH469o3hv6CqAHb57HZb7Dzh4oR1DEEs_yY/s400/IMG_20110509_142205.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> Such a fun day getting one-on-one time with my little girl who's growing up way too quickly.</span><br /></div><br /></span>OhioFamOf4http://www.blogger.com/profile/03306437309657338988noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8477210601931143872.post-37908698870751411002011-06-14T22:18:00.007-04:002011-06-15T12:37:03.257-04:00Catty<div align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Typically, this is what people think of when they hear the word catty: </span></div><br /><br /><p align="left"><strong><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">cat-ty</span></strong></p><br /><p align="left"><strong><span style="font-family:trebuchetms;"><em>adj</em>. cat-ti-er, cat-ti-est</span></strong></p><br /><p align="left"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">1. subtly, cruel or malicious; spitelful: <em>a catty remark</em></span></p><br /><p align="left"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">2. catlike; stealthy </span></p><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">But not at our house. Catty is our former caterpillar. The caterpillar my kids captured in their bug catcher late last summer because he was going to turn into a butterfly. He wrapped himself into a chrysalis and settled in for a time. </span></p><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Then fall came, and there was no butterfly. </span></p><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Winter was next and, well, you know.</span></p><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I put the bug catcher in the garage for the winter. Our <strong>very.long.winter</strong>. Our very long, <strong>COLD</strong>, winter. The very long, cold winter that we all thought would never end. </span></p><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">(You get it, right?)</span></p><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Once it was finally starting to warm up, the kids brought the bug catcher back out and sat it on the porch. I let them continue to believe that this pupa survived the winter and was still undergoing metamorphosis. I didn't want to break their little hearts by telling them that their caterpillar probably didn't survive for seven months outside in the cold.</span></p><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">But apparently the joke was on me. </span></p><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Meet Catty.</span><br /></p><br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqkcemTJRtGJ0GsOn9WkPsbnXAPBow08dHqei_R0KIWo7XMELZO6m-wbgjTVNMuOtk-cACyoq_Fb9juMEqWPkPmWTRiVuquuPQqOJ88ihFF0U6XfQxDgAYO7P6EbzNDPh527pyQXsl8WQ/s1600/100_0941.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618480406690547106" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqkcemTJRtGJ0GsOn9WkPsbnXAPBow08dHqei_R0KIWo7XMELZO6m-wbgjTVNMuOtk-cACyoq_Fb9juMEqWPkPmWTRiVuquuPQqOJ88ihFF0U6XfQxDgAYO7P6EbzNDPh527pyQXsl8WQ/s400/100_0941.JPG" /></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br />Xander was outside playing one May afternoon and came running in shouting that Catty turned into a butterfly. It was a gorgeous butterfly at that. And the odd thing was that Xander had brought home a butterfly book that day for his reading homework.</span><br /></p><br /><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The kids wanted to keep it, but we had to explain to them that it needed to be free, so we opened up the door and watched it for awhile.</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618481796326566482" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLqmz1HpVFwCNNUhZc4NdULzYO_1DqwEXKXdmrAZLc2oDSqq170ndKUStWvqPlSaDrQT3KsWgeEI-WM06WESQWS8qUG1gTzAsCbEZbgJkrlO_nOStDe2uZ0kqW8KW9yaqV9KCBjJy622Y/s400/100_0943.JPG" /><br /><br /><p align="center"></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Catty seemed to have trouble finding his way out, so Jason found a thick piece of mulch for him to hop up on and we brought him out of the bug catcher where he made his way down to the flower bed next to our lilac bush.<br /></p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV0kxCdp7siQUae3TwlpP_gkfwfrRIlPivyuRbMiHQkT58BKBuAn4KRWlrQfQbAwzoqzg5jh4H_pLIHBbYGNV7kxmyoXtUL8lcwXTI-ank3qqQRCKS4JAcCiD1Xgo9Oh0XETL-epH0oUQ/s1600/100_0952.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618482622255319010" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV0kxCdp7siQUae3TwlpP_gkfwfrRIlPivyuRbMiHQkT58BKBuAn4KRWlrQfQbAwzoqzg5jh4H_pLIHBbYGNV7kxmyoXtUL8lcwXTI-ank3qqQRCKS4JAcCiD1Xgo9Oh0XETL-epH0oUQ/s400/100_0952.JPG" /><br /><br /><p align="center"></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">He stayed there for quite a bit, flapping his little wings. We thought he was learning to fly, but after a quick internet search I discovered it's how they dry off their wings after first emerging. And then he must have gotten tired of two little kids ogling him and breathing on him, and he flew away.<br /></p></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618483450724899474" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifA5-AndwLeEa2oXZm4GOIbK8Eh3Ie9S5bMUuN24kNmQl_1cZzWKhyRu4haawA8_F_UR3bnCHyyzlZbQSMYWtc-NdFnhkgeHxo0kyL5l3arO4yQsCF4kh2_vwRiA_0N8ZNu0J2kqBZTO8/s400/100_0948.JPG" /><br /><br /><p align="center"></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I hate being wrong, but I'm so glad my kids got to have faith in nature and see that some things are worth the wait.</span> </p>OhioFamOf4http://www.blogger.com/profile/03306437309657338988noreply@blogger.com0