What a great weekend! We all went out on the boat..we finally bit the bullet and had it fixed. We went to Fort Sumter which was great because we had the whole Fort to ourselves before the tourist ferry arrived. The big hit was tubin'..I'm not a fan because I don't like the brain shaking, but we went just fast enough to launch everyone in the air a few times. We all really enjoyed being in the water this weekend and it's nice to have the whole family out on the boat. Off to more camps this month!

Karate Kids

Oh I can't believe that we already have a purple and green belt in the family. Sienne, out of about 500 kids, was one of four to get the 'most improved' trophy. I wasn't expecting her to get that so unfortunately it's not on video. Poor Keah has hardly any front teeth. It's funny to watch her try to eat. Because she has lost so many teeth at one time I am hoping that her adult teeth come in straight (knock on wood). There is so much going on these last few weeks of school, haven't found the time to go strawberry picking before the season ends...at least there is always watermelon!

Summer is Coming

So much has happened lately. My chicks, down to 5 from 6, are doing great. I have two roosters and already put one on Craig's list, can't bring myself to eating him. I never realized however how dumb chickens are. At least they don't look up when it's raining and drown. Kids are great, we have been up to so much, swimming, camping, and soccer. The weather has been great, the other day I noticed our new pond turtle basking in the sun. I don't know where he came from, was actually about to go get some from another pond. Well, only one more month of school and then the summer. Can't wait to sleep in!

One Little Two Little Three Little Chicks..

Oh this being a chicken mom thing is awesome. We have six new members to the family. They are Buff Orpingtons (apparently the sweetest of a chicken breed that one can have). Unfortunately, we had to get six of unknown sex (we will know in about 3 weeks if hens or roosters). Judging from the size and a bit of character we think there might be as many as three roosters, we'll see. They are a week old now and they have grown so much. We put a spot of food coloring on them so at least we can talk about them. I am surprised that they have survived this long under our care, hopefully they make it past the two month mark. Bryan spent a lot of quality time with them last night and you should have heard how upset they were when he left. We keep them under red light (lady at the store told us with the red light they don't pick on each other as much...wonder if I put the kids under red light if that would work as well. We used to have red light on our ear infections or muscle strains growing up and it worked like a charm. Kids are doing OK. The piano teacher is moving so I am trying to find a replacement. Next on the list is to go to our old pond and get some turtles. The log in our pond just doesn't look good without a turtle basking in the sun!

Well we have had a busy couple of weeks. We went up to spend the weekend with some friends and stayed at their parent's house. Sienne even helped with planting a cherry tree (and of course petting the neighbor's dog). Then we ended up going sailing on Lake Murrey and it was so nice! We are also going to try our luck with getting chickens for eggs. The process takes about 6 months, but we shall see. We will get two hens and name them A and B (hopefully by the end of the year we won't be at Z). The girls love the hen house and asked their super dad if he couldn't build them one. The high point of our week is that we are in process of getting gutters. Water has recently been our enemy.

We had such a nice weekend. We had some friends come over with kids and we went on a nice nature walk, which ended up being a swim in the mud for some kids. Bryan is now reading on bird species because he got outsmarted by a second grader that knows so much about birds. Last week we had one of the girls' favorite cousin visit, they didn't want to let him leave. Keah lost another tooth, now we are totally toothless up front and it is so funny to make her say certain things without her two front teeth. We are just truckin along, the rabbits are growing and now have a nice cage. Happy Week!

Well, we are back! We have internet again..yeah. It's not what we had before (no more free movies) but it's faster than dial-up so we take it as it comes. So so much has happened...we have two new members to the family; Sienne got 'A' honor roll so we allowed her to get a Dutch bunny (actually our friends got her everything for them and even took her for a day to Prosperity South Carolina to pick them out), then of course we ended up with two rabbits so that it wouldn't be lonely when we aren't around. Please welcome Daisey (Sienne's bunny) and Firsky. They are both females (so we were told) and well one is super calm and Firsky, well she is very hop-pity. Everything else is actually really good, Keah is creating some great artwork (as usual). Zalynn is cute as ever, she does well with the rabbits and they do good at tolerating her strong love. Sienne is doing good at taking care of the rabbits, they produce massive amounts of fertilizer so it can be a daily chore. All the gals in the house are growing, can't believe it's already February!

We have had a busy couple of days. We went to Great Wolf Lodge in Concord N.C where there is an indoor waterpark. The park was great and even Keah got to do the big ride. Zalynn's first ride was a high speed water mat race where she was laughing the whole way down. It was great that she is such a risk taker, a lot of other kids and moms were so scared of the rides but our girls just went with it all. We met some of our great friends there (with their two girls) and had a fun packed two day watersliding bash. The girls got their nails done and we just had a good time. On the way up we visited with Bryan's mom and Charlie (her husband). We have so much to do at the beginning of next year. It will be crazy these next months and losing our high speed internet won't help. Happy New Year everyone!

It's official..we now have a yellow and orange belt in the family. Both girls got really good grades on their karate report card and we all enjoyed the ceremony. We are still truckin with the house. Getting excited, overwhelmed, stressed, all emotions in one! With our new front door we now get a lot of light in the house, which looks gorgeous! I am so glad we decided on double glass doors. Looking from the transom to the outside it looks like someone painted a forest on the window, it's just nice. We are getting a lot of beautiful holiday cards; they are my decorations in since we aren't doing a tree at the house. Can't wait to see if our hot water heaters work.

I can say with a lot of 'stolz' that Sienne and Keah did not make one single mistake at the Christmas piano concert. We sat through some tough moments of kids crying and singing at the same time they were so nervous. That was Keah's first concert and wouldn't you know it, the damn battery on the camera ran out just as she was getting started. Haven't had the heart to tell her yet. Great Grandmama bought each of the girls a rose and it was just a nice evening all around. As tough as it is to get the girls (Sienne) to stick to piano I am starting to see how it is benefiting them in school especially(having to learn the things they really don't want to etc.). Now we are counting down to Christmas and Keah is keeping track like a champ. Every morning she wakes up letting us know how many days are left.

I can't believe the year is over soon! So much to do so little time! Bryan had a great time for his birthday helicopter ride. The pilot told him that he is definitely one of the 2% of the population that has a 'nack' for flying a helicopter. It was totally different than an airplane and it would be so cool to have one and be able to keep it on our roof! Maybe one day when they kids can buy us one. We had the best time for Thanksgiving. Having it at Grandmama's house, and with the kids playing so well together, it was such an awesome family event. We liked the fact that we could really just hang out all day and talk with everyone. Anyway, Christmas cards are out and catch everyone again soon.

What a bonfire! We had a great time with our little bonfire day. There must have been at least 20 kids that showed up, every time Bryan took the tractor out he had a whole bucket full of kids. They loved it and we were so happy that so many friends and family showed up. One big highlight..Bryan's aunt bought these marsh-mellows that were the size of softballs. They were a hit with everyone! All the kids loved adding to the fire and they kept it going real good. Everyone that came out seemed to like what we have done to the house thus far, some even liked the color in my crazy room. We definitely will have more of these little get-togethers. Thanks to all that made it out and see you soon!

Halloween was a blast! We had two 'modern day' Dorthys and one dog. I was actually surprised how many people guessed Dorthy when we were trick or treating. Zalynn was great this year as far as knocking on doors and not being afraid to say "trick or treat". She didn't really get scared when we approached 'scary' houses either. We ended up going to the fair and it is so nice that the kids are getting bigger because then we don't have to ride those rides that make us big time sick. Sienne and Keah must have ridden this one ride called 'zero gravity' about eight times. Just watching them made us dizzy. One of the pictures of the girls was taken at a playground on Daniel Island. You can see the bridge in the background but I took it because in five years instead of that view there will be houses covering up the background. Well, with soccer being over we might actually have a relaxing Saturday this weekend.

It has been a very busy month. October always is with my two birthday girls. My mom bought a new toy that we are loving! A compact tractor. It is really nice and fun too, we can't wait to use it on our jungle at the house. My mom took the girls on their first yard sale trip. They took their birthday money from grand-mama and it was so fun to see them negotiate with everyone. It was fun to see how quickly Sienne was catching on. Keah still needs a bit of a push to do it, she kept asking her sister or oma to do it for her but eventually she will get there. Yesterday we went to a childrens' festival and spent 5 hours there. It was so fun and Zalynn is ready for the crazy rides that shake and swing you back and forth. Whatever her sisters do, she is right there with them no fear! Earlier in the month Sienne fell on the concrete and chipped her tooth. Our insurance sucks, so luckily they have a clinic we went to and it won't kill us financially to get her chip fixed. She isn't so sensitive about it anymore so now we can call her those funny toothless names and she just laughs. I cooked artichokes for the girls and that was Bryan's first artichoke experience. He actually likes it so I was impressed. All in all everything is going well. I painted my 'crazy' room in the house, it was supposed to be gold but Bryan calls it a baby poop room and that fits the description better. It is pretty funny to see the facial expressions when they walk into the room. I should put up a web cam.

We had a wonderful sailing trip/ camping weekend with our friends Geoff and Caroline. The girls loved the camping and being able to swim off of the sailing boat. I had never been to this park (Dreher Island in Columbia) so it was a nice adventure. The next weekend we went to Bryan's mom's yearly party. Sienne was really in to the games the kids were playing. Keah and Sienne are celebrating their birthdays this month and of course we are still moving forward on the house. Things are really going well.

Ode to Floors

Yeah..the floors are almost done! I had never been on my hands and knees for that long (doing floors)! The floors are so beautiful and now we don't want anyone to use them :). We still have football fields worth of quarter rounds to put in but other than that, the floors are almost over. Next are the bathrooms. School has started and we are almost at full power between soccer, piano, and soon to start karate. Keah, Sienne and Zalynn have been so busy on weekends between birthday parties and everywhere else we land. Zalynn started a daycare so that I can do a bit more project management at 'the houses'. She hates it and I hate it, but I try to keep her there only for half of the day.