Just the Girls

A friend of mine recently sent me this picture of Marci and me. Since I'm usually the one taking the pictures for this blog, I thought I'd better take the opportunity to make an appearance! Marci and I were sitting on a bench in front of the school watching the pre-K and kindergarten students parade around campus in their costumes. If Marci would have had it her way, she would be been a parade participant instead of observer!

Life is Good!

Life is good--I mean especially good--these days for Wrigley. She's had a bit of an arthritic limp for the past few weeks, but she still wags her tail most of the time. What a trooper! She is as sweet as ever with the kids, especially Marci who loves to smother her with affection. I found her this afternoon snuggled in Osten's chair. He was sleeping off the stomach bug that cut short his soccer game when he came off the field throwing up this morning. He got such a kick out of this picture when I showed it to him after his nap.

13.1

Daddy ran in his first half marathon today! Both kids were excited for him, but due to a nasty (but thankfully, short-lived) stomach bug neither of them were able to attend the race.

Osten colored most of his sign himself and even did some of his own lettering, too.

Yay, Daddy! You did it.

What a great accomplishment!

Birthday Boy

Osten's long-awaited sixth birthday arrived yesterday. Per his request, he started the day with a "6" pancake. He also got to open one present before going to school. And because he and Marci were up so early, they got to watch over half of his new DVD copy of "Zookeeper." He has been asking to own that movie ever since we saw it in the theatre this summer.

Marci and I took cupcakes to his class in the afternoon.

It was also Nora's birthday, so we made it a joint celebration with her mom. (By the way, she and I figured out that we delivered at the same hospital with Osten arriving in the morning and Nora arriving in the afternoon. They could have very well been side-by-side in their incubators in the hospital nursery!)

And here's the bithday boy getting his sticker from Mrs. Dempsey. (Marci got one, too, of course!)

Birthday Fun

Marci was so excited to celebrate her birthday at her new school. They had the birthday banner waiting on her when we got there.

And she got to wear a special birthday hat. They did such a sweet job of making a fuss over her on her special day!

Turning Four

As usual, we went to the neighborhood Mexican restaurant to celebrate Marci's birthday. She was so excited to get to wear the big sombrero!

Excited with a side of silly!

It's hard to believe that she is four, but at the same time she is growing into a sweet big girl right before our eyes.

Of course, we had to get a shot out back by the dumpster ~ the kids' favorite place to play!

Wanna Lift?

We recently had our yard sodded. The kids had a ball watching the yard as it was prepared for the laying of the sod. And then came the delivery of the sod. It hadn't even occurred to me that it might be a major event in and of itself.

We were just getting ready to load into the car for school. Imagine the kids' surprise to find a semi-trailer truck and a forklift in their driveway! Adn to top it off, the forklift driver immediately offered to give them a ride. They were thrilled!

They went up and down our little street and did donuts in cul-de-sac . . . and we still made it to school on time, just barely!