Undefeated 2: Electric Boogaloo

Drew learning the value of hustle

Simon exercising his judo chops before dominating his opponents

Olivia gets two pictures this week to commemorate her first goal

(As always, click on the photos to view larger versions.)

Holy Spider, Batman!

I was hopeful that this day would never come...

Today I had the dry waller here fixing popped screws and a crack in my wall. We were on our way into the casita to look for popped screws out there when he said "You have a pet tarantula". I of course looked at him very confused (because we don't have a pet tarantula and why would he say such a strange thing). His eyes wandered from my face to just above my head. I looked up and there about 3 feet from my head was a big hairy tarantula. I'm so glad I didn't embarrass myself by acting like a girl and screaming. Luck for me the dry waller was not afraid of tarantulas and scraped him off the wall and into a bucket for the kids to see when then go home from school. They were obviously impressed. I can handle the cockroaches but please don't send anymore tarantulas our way.

When Ryan arrived home we released the tarantula into the field across the street. At the very back of the lot. Hopefully it won't find it's way back to our house. He is one house guest who is not welcome.

Undefeated!!!

We had a winning streak today on the soccer field. Way to go kids!


Simon poised to head the ball.


Olivia making sure she looks cute :) She actually played better than I thought she would for her first game. She is quite the defender.


Drew kicking the winning goal for his team.

More of my favorites.

Trampoline fun

We had a great weekend full of food, fun, family, and laughter. The kids had a great time jumping on the trampoline with their 23 year old cousin (who acts about Drew's age, I may be being generous), playing basketball and being thrown around. They love it when Brent and Brandon and Rachel come down to visit. You would think they were the same ages but the Seller kids have ours beat by about 15 years. Thanks for humoring Drew, Olivia, and Simon and playing on their level once in a while. They did miss Tyler. Here are some pictures of the weekend spent with the cousins.






Thanks, Mom, for coming down early to help me shop and cook. There is no way I could have done it without you this weekend!

Birthday Wishes!

Happy Birthday to Awsome. What a stud you are :)

Olivia's Baptism

Thanks to all those who came and supported Olivia on her big day. She was so thrilled to have her family around her on her baptism day. Isn't she beautiful?

First Day of School 2009...

Only a week late but here they are.







Drew left angry that day and when I got to school he wouldn't let me take a picture of him at his desk, so no picture of him. Simon and Olivia where excited to go to school. I'm hopeful it will be a successful year for all of them. I can't believe Drew will go to Intermediate school next year (6th and 7th).

One more project finished

Other than finding some car posters to hand on the walls, Drew's new Big Guy bedroom is finished. It has been a longer process than I thought when I started it. It was pretty painless until I got to looking for a quilt for his new queen bed. I couldn't find any that I liked so I decided to make one. As I started I remembered why I really like to make baby quilts (they are much more manageable). I was able to reuse the dresser Pa-pou and Pa-Pat gave him when he was born and the rest is new. I think it turned out nice and the best part is that it should last until he is grown (I hope!)

To bind or not to Bind

I have two quilt tops sitting here and I'm not sure what to do with them. I'm too scared to finish the one because it's huge and I don't exactly know what I want to do with the second one. Any thoughts?


On a happy note-School starts tomorrow, Hurray!

Soup update

I have had a request for the story of how all of Simon's nebulizer cups were melted. It is not a long story or even an exciting story. But for those who asked here it is...

Once a week Ryan is really good about boiling Simon's equipment (just like we have been told to do). On this particular day I was gone shopping with Olivia. Ryan always turns on the timer or stays right by the stove as not to melt anything. On this day Ryan was occupied with the Wii and when the buzzer sounded he yelled to Drew to turn off the stove. Well Drew turned off the timer (that's what he thought Ryan had asked him to do). After about an hour Ryan started to smell something funny and realized what had happened.

I am excited to take the melted mess to the Dr.'s next time. I'm sure they will get a kick out of it.

Anyone for Soup?

$5.00 to the first person who can name Ryan's masterpiece...

Happy Birthday Livsilou!

Olivia celebrated her 8th birthday yesterday. It started as the worse birthday ever for her but ended as the best birthday ever. (I hope the drama doesn't get worse the older she gets!) She started the day by with lunch and a movie with two of her friends. Chloe gave her this shirt as one of her gifts. All the kids loved G Force.
Finally after waiting all day for dad to get home she was able to open presents. Grandma Sally made her this sock monkey that she had been asking for for some time. Way to go Grammy! The cute shirt is thanks to Pa-Pou and Pa-Pat. She looked really cute in it with her new white capri leggings.

Her cupcakes were made special by me this year. Linda gave me a cupcake cookbook for my birthday and Olivia fell in love with these ones. I don't know if I should thank Linda for the cookbook or be mad that it has made more work for me. But the cake and frosting were both handmade this year!

I love this picture of Olivia with her candles. Ryan was in charge of picking up candles this year and bought the relighting ones. Olivia got a kick out of that.

Happy 8th Birthday Olivia. Mom loves you!

Harry Potter

I really want to post more pictures from Mexico but life has been non stop since we got home. We got home on Sunday and I had one day to get the house ready for my mom, Jim, my sister and her boys who arrived Tuesday. Every one stayed until this past Sunday (including Morgan and Natalie who came down Thursday). and now I am getting ready to leave again Friday to pick up Andrew from California, he went home with my sister to spend some time. So hopefully I will get back to the Mexico pictures soon but for now here's one for you. Andrew got to go to Harry Potter tonight with my dad, Pat, and his cousin, Kyle. Harry Potter doesn't officially open until tomorrow but my dad was able to get tickets for a pre-screening and I am so jealous. Drew looks like he is having fun. I miss him.

Bucerias

Today we took a short cab ride up the coast to the town of Bucerias. I think it gave the kids a better look at Mexico (a little less touristy). We spent lots of money at the open air shops and then had a wonderful lunch at Mariscos El Gordo. We were a little worried about eating at an authentic restaurant but we were glad we did. The food was wonderful. We ate on the beach while being approached every 2 minutes by people trying to sell trinkets. I could not resist the cute little kids selling bracelets. I bought 5 but would have bought more had Ryan let me :) After lunch we decided to head back to our resort on foot. Along the beach it was only about 1.5 miles. Most of the beach was littered with trash and pretty nasty. Simon barely made it, he was tired! The kids finally got to enjoy a drink at the swim up bar in the pool. The last highlight was getting to watch a beach soccer game. Every night the cooks and bartenders have a game of soccer or volleyball on the beach after work. They were all very talented soccer players and Ryan is hoping to sneak into there volleyball game tomorrow night. Tomorow we are off to find the dolphins. Wish us luck!