You Can't Help But Smile

One Step At A Time

Growing like weeds

Here's some new pictures of the kids.  Wow, I didn't realize how long it had been since I'd written anything on the blog.  Time sure flies....


Noah's picture from his soccer team.  Yes, he played soccer starting in February, which is quite a feat considering he didn't get his casts/walking boots off until early October.  The most exciting thing about this is that he could play a full game and never complain about his feet hurting.  This contrasted with right prior to his surgery having the inability to play more than a few minutes without having to "rest" his feet.

Here are the most recent school pictures for the boys.  Noah just graduated from Pre-K and will be going to Kindergarten in the fall.  Colin will be going to third grade in the fall.

Finally here are some pictures of all the kids that we had taken on Mother's Day.  Alyssa is now 7 months old.

She's Got Something To Say

Here's a cute video.  Enough said...

Speed Racer

Last week Colin and I completed the building of his car for the Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby race.  We had a lot of fun thinking of the design and building it, despite the challenges that his dad has when working with tools.  Thank goodness for a "workshop" his den held the week of the event, which was beneficial in getting some of the key elements completed (cutting out the template and adding a groove at the bottom for weights). 

It was quite the surprise when Colin's car finished in first place on his first race.  Then he continued to place in first for all but one other race during the 1st heat.  Watching the races, I could tell that his car was one of the fastest and hoped that he would be able to compete for one of the trophies. 

In a competition against approximately 40 other cars, Colin was called out to participate in the Grand Finals as one of the top 6 cars overall.  During those races, he didn't fare quite as well, but still ended up being in 5th place overall in the pack. That is quite an accomplishment and we were both quite proud.

Here's some pictures:

Family Christmas

Here's a picture of all the cousins taken about two weeks when we had an early Christmas get-together.  The funny thing about this picture is that it includes Alyssa....  We had all the cousins together and were taking bunches of pictures.  We decided we were all done when my brother asked if we were going to put Alyssa in the picture.  Doh!!

Front Row (l-r):  Jaden, Colin, Brandon, Noah and Nathan

Back Row (l-r):  Taylor, Alyssa, Robin and Courtney

Siblings

These pictures are from November, but they are too cute to skip.

Halloween

Here are a couple of cute pictures back from Halloween, with Colin as Mario (from Super Mario Brothers), Noah starring as Flash (DC Comics) and Alyssa as a cute ladybug.

Principal's Club

For the second six weeks of school, Colin was recognized for the A Honor Roll as well as Principal's Club (95 and above in all subjects).  He had told us his goal was to get it at least twice and he has now done it twice in a row.

The Takeover of the Robot Christmas Tree

Below is a story created by Colin that he wrote with a friend at school.  His teacher was quite impressed with the story and helped them type it up and format it.  Then she gave them each a copy and they illustrated it.  I just love the creativity of the story and the drawings.  For example, pay close attention to the pictures of the Christmas tree.  Notice that the "fingers" are the lights from a tree and the feet, in several of the pictures, are presents - "To Colin" and "From Santa".

He just loves to write.  We have a ton of stories he has written at home and they are quite entertaining.