Aquarium

Lily had a day off of school, so we headed to the aquarium and had a great day together.

Ben is showing me how big the sting ray is. (it's huge)

Lily touching the sharks. She's so brave!

Hard at play

The kids climb this tree/bush thing all the time. There's no way that even one adult could fit up there. The tree couldn't hold a grown up either, but those squirrly kids climb all over and through it.

What? Don't you paint on your face?

This was at 8:12 PM. He just couldn't keep his eyes open for one more second.

Backing out of the driveway.....

On my way to school, this was my view......

So Proud!

Matt was awarded the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Teaching Excellence Award and is going to fabulous Detroit in a few weeks for a ceremony. He is currently in Houston with his students, racing their design cars in the Shell Eco-Marathon. (Last night, they were in 9th and 11th place out of 50 schools, with one of the cars running at 832 miles per gallon). We are so very proud of him! We miss him terribly, but are so so proud!

Uh oh

Ben in his Papa Mustache shirt :)

Those are grown up juice boxes Ben. Move along.

Ben's going to be that kid that drinks out of everyone else's glass at parties and then pukes in a plant.

Basketball

We really got into LMU basketball this year. We can walk over to the games, hang out at the "tailgate" (really it's just a few people, students playing beer pong and a bounce house) and get into the game for free. The kids love watching and eating popcorn. Lily has a big crush on one of our star players, Kevin. She yells for him and gets so upset if he gets fouled. I've had a few classes with Kevin and he is THE nicest guy. He is also about 7 feet tall with a huge afro. He always high fives Lily on his way to the locker room and you'd think he was a Beatle. So I saw the LMU cheer outfit and it was SUPER on sale and got it for Lil. She makes us hold her up in games and she does all the "cheer girl's" moves. So funny. She'll tell us, "quick mommy, hold me up by my foot, I need to do an arabesque." Ben just goes crazy, flirts with the college girls and drinks out of other people's water bottles.

Go Lions!

This was at the LMU/Gonzaga game where we won and it was a big upset! So fun! Everyone is screaming and Ben just passes out.

Yes, we rushed the court with a sleeping toddler.

Lily's dream come true.....if only Kevin were in the picture :)

slowly but surely....

.....trying to catch up!

We had a gas leak....on a night that Matt was teaching late....and I was watching our friend's baby, Claire. It smelled so bad and I was freaked out, so I brought the 3 kids to our neighbor's until the gas company got there. There was a broken pipe under our ancient heater. We had no heat or hot water for about 3 days. Of course, they were the coldest days of the year. (I realize that we are not in Chicago, but it was like camping). Ben could not have been happier when the guys came to fix everything. He went and got his own tools. Such a dude.

On Valentines day, I took the kids to a movie. We watched the cool fountains afterward. I think they enjoyed the changing water more than the cartoons. They are so happy to throw a penny in some water. :)

What? I'm a fireman.

The fireman thing is only exasperated by our trips to the store. We go to Costco or Ralphs (and Ben is dressed in his gear) and always see a fire truck or ambulance outside. The guys are dressed just like him and invite him to check out their rigs. So it seems normal to Ben!

Sweet, sweet babies

Graceful Lily

Lily, I hope that you do not want to kill me for this. I also hope you have a strong sense of humor and can see that this joy had to be shared. If not, I have the name of a really great therapist. Love, Mama

Backlog of random pictures

Lily reading an article about Kevin, the LMU basketball player she has a crush on. :)

Ava passed out like this, flat on her face. I guess she was tired!

Look at those saggy pants! Just like a real plumber!

Ben with one of his favorite people ever, Neil Dean. Neil and Heather come over and he heads straight for the big guy and cares about nothing else. So cute!

John Popper

Snow Day video

Did you fall asleep, or did you pass out?

Snow Day part 2

We're all having a blast in the snow. We decide to go sledding again and head up the lift. Once at the top, Lily and I go to choose our sled and turn around to see Matt carrying one very passed out little boy. Ben had just knocked out on the lift! The people working there wouldn't let him ride the lift back down, so a sled was his only option. So there goes Matt, flying down the mountain with Ben who never flinched. He slept all the way down and all the way over to the table. (Matt had to push himself all the way over on the sled). And there he lay, like a slug, it was his only defense.

Snow Day!

We took a Friday off and drove up to the mountains. Shanon and Erik were off work and we met them, Kai and Ava at a ski resort near Big Bear. It had rained a lot in recent weeks, so snow chains were a must. We borrowed one of their trucks and headed up. The roads ended up being really clear and no one ever checked to see if we had chains, but oh well. Better safe than sorry. After one little barf (Lily), one bad turn and a freakish run in with a mountain man, (think young neighbor from the creepy house in The Burbs) we made it. Just seeing the kids in snow clothes was worth the trip. They were so excited about the boots. We got lift tickets for the sledding area and headed up. Shanon and Erik had staked out a great table and we were set. The first few trips don the mountain were crazy. We went so fast! When we tried to slow down or steer with our feet, the kids got blasted in the face with snow. Lily was with me and just screaming with her hands over her face. I was cracking up! Once we figured out how to direct our feet, it was all good. Matt said that Ben just screamed "YESSSSSSSS" the whole way down! They loved the lift too and sat very still, thankfully. Lily kept asking me things like, "where do they get all this snow?" "Where do they put everything at night?" I thought she meant the sleds, so I told her, "over there in that shed." She meant EVERYTHING, skis, sleds, and the snow. Silly bunny. To be continued........

Lily and Kai with the snowman that Matt and Lily made.

We spent a lot of time on this mound. We got kicked off though because it was actually snow plowed from the lot and not the cleanest. Oops.

KidSpace

After a very lengthy, traffic filled drive, we made it to our KidSpace field trip. The place is really worth the drive and we had a lot of fun.

Robert, Charlie & Ben painting on a leaf that is also a waterfall. Pretty cool!

Touching a very large insect. I mean BIG!

This river outside is the best thing for kids. They can get in it and float things down it. We built a dam and watched leaves get redirected. Our feet and legs were so red and cold! I was very thankful that Crocks are brightly colored and that they float.