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.

We're Back Blogging!

It has been what seems forever since the last entry. So much has happened, some of which is luckily over. Right now things are looking good. We had the house painted this summer by some college students and we only lost one due to heat exhaustion. He was from Ohio so I guess he didn't have his heat shock absorbers. The girls are back in school. Zalynn isn't, still looking for her. We have had some trips here and there before school has started. We went to Myrtle Beach to visit our wonderful great aunt Kathy and that was lots of fun. We went to the Jacksonville zoo were there was someone who recognized Bryan and I from high school. What a small world!

Now we are getting back into the routine of things. Well, off to do more exciting laundry, life would be so much easier if we could all go naked!

It's been a long time and life is still hectic but I hope to sum it up in a few sentences. Keah and Sienne did their Karate camp, Keah got her yellow belt so watch out! Then the girls did horse camp and both loved it tremendously. Zalynn of course is always telling me she can do all this stuff like her sisters and I believe her. The summer is just flying by and soon is Barbie camp so they are counting the days! Bryan is becoming super handyman and is just amazing. Eventhough the used car we ended up buying has a bunch of dings and scraps, it's doing great and the girls have fallen in love with automatic doors.

WE'RE ALIVE

We survived! We had a bad car accident on Monday and it totaled the mini-van and hurt the Honda. I am so happy that we all are still walking. Talking about an eye-opener to being thankful. Now I am forced into car shopping, the van was supposed to last us another 5 years, at least until we all knew that we will be around after December 2012. Anyway, just a short update until a certain normality comes back into our lives.

We are so busy now that the school year is ending. Oma had knee replacement surgery, that takes a long time to recover so we have been trying to visit every day. Tomorrow is the last soccer game of the season and then we have Sienne's karate celebration. It is just crazy crazy. I have been filling up the car with gas every other day! Ouch! Bertha is an awesome watch dog. She already peaks under the fence to make sure no one is coming. We feel nice and safe in our world!

Well it's been a busy couple of days. Bryan is doing some buffing on the upstairs floors and the good news is 2 out of the 5 rooms are done as far as flooring goes. Keah finally lost the tooth, it had been hanging in there a while so I decided it was time to pull it out. Tonight, Sienne had a piano recital. That was so nice, Great Grandmother made it out and it is so great to see Sienne's progress.

We had such a great weekend at Edisto Beach! We and another couple were invited by our friends and their parents to their beach house. We had a total of 7 kids and 8 adults. It was so fun. We all went sailing and swimming and just spent all day having fun. They had a huge table and we were all able to eat together. It was really like a big happy family!

Keah has her first loose tooth! Sienne is already telling her the ways of the tooth fairy. Keah has been so impatient because everyone else in her class has already lost a tooth. On Wednesday we went for a visit to Great Grandmamas and Caleb and Zalynn got to play a bit in the dirt pit. They got so excited they made monster noises and ran around. What a way to spend the day!