Sorry about my Playlist

I have had a playlist on my blog for way over a year. I put it up and have basically ignored it ever since. Just today I opened my blog and there was a VERY OFFENSIVE announcement on it. I think someone hacked it. I have tried to log in and change or remove my list and even with a new password they emailed to me I CAN NOT log in.
I am sooo sorry if you have had to hear that. If you hear a womans voice saying, "Attention Customer" close your screen.

Sorry about that. I have written support services.

March Mayhem Then

So March of 2009 marked a milestone in my life. I had the first birthday where I really didn't care to let people know how old I was. This "how old I was" put me in a new catagory for surveys, a new catagory with the O.B. if I decided to have another child and then just one day after this said birthday I was closer to 40 then 30. I didn't like it. I DID like the card and headphones I got from my hubby and kids, the gorgeous tulips from my sisters, the cards and checks from family and all the wishes I got on Facebook for the first time. So I guess it wasn't all that bad :)


In the middle of March we had a day off from school and decided to take a road trip with the Smiths and Larsens to the Science Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. To keep kids together during group down time we decided to shelve them but didn't worry about alphabetization.

Camille and Sam shelf life 5 and 7 years.


Jenny, Spencer and Austin, shelf life 7,7 and just short of 1.


They all took a spin in the Earthquake Cafe. They got to choose a button that would serve up an earthquake the same strength of one that had occured earlier in history (i.e. Chile 7.1)
My kids loved building a capsule to encase an egg that was then strapped to the top of a car of their choosing and sent hurdling down a ramp.

Emily was so excited unknowingly celebrating the demise of her little oval friend.

Sam was a little more generous with his layering of bubble wrap, tape, foam, tape, bubble wrap, aluminum foil, tape, tape, and tape and his little eggbert lived to thank him.


We ended a long, fun day at Steak and Shake.





And just a silly random, Sam the Storm Trooper.

February's Blurbs

I loved 100s day as a teacher and I have loved it with my kids. Here is Emily's first 100s day project. She showed her passion for the breakfast of cold cereal that she shares with her Daddy every morning by counting out 100 pieces of cereal and used lots of glue for the milk. Sam's projects (missing pictures) were 100 Lego spaceships the first year and 100 handcrafted aluminum foil action figures he lovingly calls "creation pods" the second.

Feeding Chickadees with the Girl Scouts at one of Cleveland's fabu Metro Parks Nature Centers.

If you put food in your hands and hold really, really still you may find a tiny feathered friend.

And then you can sit back and chat with girlfriends for a little while.

Sam loved Karate and the new suit!!!

Reflecting WOW!!!

Sam's Pirate Ship of WOW!!!


The National PTA Reflections program is awesome. Every year PTA Reflections puts out a new theme and children around the country write, sing, dance, photograph, paint, draw and create projects. The projects become part of a local district show where winners are selected in each category to go on to the state show. In our case that is Columbus. From there the winners move on to Washington D.C.

I was asked to help with the effort at our school this particular year and so of course my kids participated and loved it.

The night of the show, in the lobby of a local medical center, we got to go and see the artwork on exhibit, hang out with friends and enjoy some refreshments.
Emily's Red Bird of Wow.

Sam's a winner and it is going to COLUMBUS!
Emily was excited to see her artwork but was not so excited when she realized Sam's got a blue ribbon and hers did not. Ahhh, such is life and she got over it :)
So Em, how do you REALLY feel about it? LOL
Our friend Isaiah was there.
Justina too!!!


And Micah from Kindergarten. Soooo exciting!!!
ITS GOOD TO REFLECT.

A Boy, His Friends, and Their Light Sabers

January 2, 2009

Looking back at pictures of Sam's first sleepover I remember there being A LOT more boys. I guess there were only 5 and a little sister but it seemed like more.

Sam had decided that he was ready for a party and a chance for his friends to come over and play the wii and his lego Star Wars and Indiana Jones games that Santa had delivered that Christmas.

So we armed ourselves with pizza ingredients, juice, grapes, carrots, cookies, the new Star Wars The Clone Wars DVD and a few working lightsabers that I had picked up at Walmart after Halloween for a whole $1.47. We were prepared!!!

Jeremy even had his suit!!!
Isaiah Waiters
Wesley Hatch
Gage Manning
Clone Wars became a play along movie. How can 7 year old boys sit through that when they have a lightsaber in their hands?


Wii Zombies

Success!!!

Even with a little sister :)

Celebrating a Mess - New Years

My kids love a good mess and we always do a good job of it for the New Year. Nothing like load poppers that spray confetti across the room.
To say goodbye to 2008 we had friends over to eat soup - Chicken Chowder and Tomato Artichoke - play some games of the board and wii kind and drink sparkling apple bubbly when the ball dropped. The Smith and Daouk kids didn't make it much past nine but the Flinders and Huangs stuck it out for the long haul.
The camera didn't make an appearance until after midnights so you will only be seeing the night owls.

The kids are crouched over the heat vents on our floor adding streamers and confetti that would blow back up in their faces.


Sam Flinders

Allison and Elise Flinders

Matthew Huang

Sam was just mostly interested in the wii. Hence the zombie face.

The Year of Vista - When My Computer Got Snooty

A YEAR IN REVIEW - This may be a long process and you are welcome to quit reading at anytime. I just thought I would get back at my conceited computer with its stuck up and temperamental processor that REFUSED to acknowledge my Christmas present from last year. Who knew it would be prejudice toward a simple cyber-shot point and shoot?
Here goes . . .

P.S. I don't blog well without pictures.