Playdate with the Ridenours

Tricia invited the boys & I over for a playdate yesterday. She made us lunch, and then we just hung-out all afternoon. My boys had a lot of fun, and were asking to go back today!! Here are some pictures from the day...
Haydn and Hutch have bunk beds, which I'm pretty sure my boys have never been around before...so of course they wanted to go up top!

Put your hands up!!!

Gwenyth was the odd girl out. She's a cutie!

Below is Nick loving on their dog, Vegas

We almost left with out a group kid picture!

"Baby" Newman

Newman cracks us up! He is the biggest baby of a dog we've ever seen! He is afraid of so many bizarre things, but not afraid of things you would think he would be (ex vacuum) We brought him home last August, and he was a little chunker of a puppy. During the summer, we spend a lot of time outside with the boys...but Newman got too hot, and would whine at the back door!! Then when we let him in, he would go lay on the A/C vent to cool off! We got a good laugh out of this... Well, fast forward to the last couple weeks when it's been frigid cold and Newman lays on the heat vents to warm up! (below) What a goofy dog!

16

I...

have never learned the proper way to tie my shoes. I make two loops and tie them together - I guess someone else will have to show my kids how to do it!


had stitches minutes after my birth. The doctor cut my butt while making the c-section incision.
I still have the scar.


went to a babysitter who is my husband's Aunt. We were probably there at the same time, though neither of us remember each other.


never liked coffee until a couple years ago. Now I drink about 1/2 pot each morning.


was in college for 7 yrs, but graduated with an associates degree. A girl's allowed to change her mind!!


like the smell of unusual things such as bleach, gasoline, and skunk.


dislike the smell of anything pine-scented or rose-scented...unless it's a real pine tree or rose...


love Disney World! It's one of my favorite places to go! (We went there on our Honeymoon)


never admitted to dating my husband, or called him my "boyfriend"


made my parents hide all the Christmas presents, and put them under the tree over night well beyond the years of believing in Santa. I think I was about 25 before they refused to do it anymore.


cannot stand to have lights or television on when I'm sleeping.


cannot stand sleeping with the top sheet on me. My husband gets so annoyed by this.


went to Europe for 2 weeks the summer after I graduated from high school.


got up at 5:30am, 3 days a week (along with a group of friends) to go work out at the YMCA my senior year of high school.


once ate an entire tub of CoolWhip in one sitting, with my cousin Nikki.


love food. Cooking it, eating it, and sharing it.


So there you have it! 16 things about me you may or may not have known. I was tagged by Nikki, and I now tag Tricia and Ryanne to do the same!

Swimming Lessons

I, of course, forgot my camera in the shuffle of things tonight...but the boys had their first swimming lessons on their own!! No more parent/tot classes for us! I was soooo nervous about Nick and his listening skills (or lack of)...and also of the fear of animals in the water (remember that from last summer?!) He did ask me on the way to the YMCA if there were fish in there...but they did wonderful! I think Nick even enjoyed it more than Trey! I'll try to remember to take a photo of them next week.

Nick's Birthday Party

It's always amazing to me the difference in personalities my kids have...but birthdays are where I really see it. Trey is just about giddy with excitement when his birthday is near. Nick enjoys the festivities, but doesn't get too worked up.

We had a party for Nick at Grandma Cathy and Grandpa Jim's house last night. Below is the Buzz Lightyear birthday cake.Blowing out his candles...Opening some presents... He got some stickers in a card, and wanted to put them on his belly! Funny!

We decided my cousin Megan wins the cheesiest smile award!

Jenny and her boyfriend

Two cuties! Trey & Avery (Avery is actually 6 months younger than Trey! I think she could kick his butt!)

Avery and Julie

We tried for a family photo, but you can see how well that went...

Thanks for letting us have the party at your house Mom & Dad!!

Happy Birthday Nickerbocker!!

Today is Nick's 3rd Birthday! Wow time goes by fast! We had great day hanging out as a family. My little angel (ha!) started his day sleeping on the couch... At lunch time we went to McDonald's Playland, and the kids had a ball as always. Then in the evening we went bowling! This was the boys' first time bowling, and boy was it interesting!! It took about 5 frames before they really understood the "taking turns" thing! There was some sort of tournament going on at Olympic at the other end of the building...Nick actually took off running down one of the lanes and of course wiped out!!! We were soooooo embarrassed! Bill had to walk down the gutters to drag him out of there! Below is Nick's first ball rolling down the lane (we did bumper bowling...)

Trey was actually ahead of me some of the game!!

Our Bowlers!

Look out PBA! Here comes the Evans Family!

Our last stop of the day was for supper at Bob Evans. Nick had a "Smiley Face Sundae" for his birthday dessert!

Yum!

Happy Birthday Nick! We love you bunches!

Brrrrrrrrrrrr It's Cold!!

Here's a snow angel that Trey made the other day. I don't think we'll be going outside to do this for a couple days!! It's too COLD!!

Snow Daze

Saturday, Trey stayed home with me and Nick went Snow-plowing with Bill. Trey and I went outside and played in the snow for a little while (when I say little, I mean about 15-20 minutes) until he was too cold. We made snow angels, had a snowball fight, and wrestled with Newman!! I took quite a few more pictures, but these were the only ones I could get to post.

Spaghetti Faces!!

Spaghetti is by far the boys (and mine) favorite meal. Bill on the other hand despises it. So, since he is usually not home for supper a night or two during the week, we have it when he's gone! Actually the first time I made spaghetti when he was home, his response was "What did I do wrong?" Point taken, but I did laugh pretty hard!!
I make the boys strip down to their underwear...as you can see below, It gets pretty messy!
Notice anything different between the two boys? They ate the same portion, and Nick is a MESS!! :)

Rewind

I'm going to go back a couple weeks...I had some events I wanted to share, but unfortunately didn't take pictures. My Mom emailed these pictures to me...
We surprised my Mom & Dad with a day trip for their Christmas present. We only told them to be ready at a certain time, then a Limo picked them up. They had no idea where they were going! We (Me & my family and Steve) got them tickets to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and then dinner at The Columbus Fish Market. Below is a picture that Steve took of them in the Limo before they left. The next day we had a Christmas get-together with my Aunt Mary, Uncle John, Megan & Trent.
The boys were super-excited to see that they brought Trent with them!

We tried so hard to get a good picture of the three boys in front of the Christmas tree, but this was the best we could do. I thought it would have been really hilarious if Trey had his hands over his eyes...(Mom & I thought it would look like the "Hear no evil, See no evil, Speak no evil")

I honestly don't remember what was going on when we took this picture...

Happy New Year 2009!

We had a fun-filled, but very late night last night! The Figleys invited us to their house for a party...kids included. There were quite a few adults there, but TONS of kids!! It was insane!!
I was so surprised the boys made it awake until midnight, especially with the constant running and playing that started the minute we got there. Of course you'll notice that there aren't actually any pictures from the event...
Well regardless we did have a great night, as I hope everyone else did. Today we are lounging around, and eating saurkraut & sausage per tradition (below). Some lounging going on below...

Little PJ's

Well, he's not a "Fat guy" and it's not a "little coat" ....but you can see where I'm going with this...
Santa brought Trey a new set of Transformers PJ's which were the correct size before I washed them. Now his belly sticks out, and the sleeves and pantlegs don't reach where they're supposed to. But he LOVES them!!!! and insists over and over that they are not too small. Everyone have a safe and fun evening tonight!! See you next year!! (haha, had to throw that in there!)

Belated Christmas Greetings!

One would think with all the Christmas gatherings we went to in the last several days I would have so many pictures, I wouldn't know where to begin! -Not me!- It was a combination of forgetting my camera, forgetting the battery in my camera, and just plain forgetting to take pictures!! It wasn't a total loss though, Bill used the camcorder Christmas morning with the boys, and my Mom has some pictures as well. I'm chalking it up to spending quality time with the family!!

Anyways, I hope everyone had a Wonderful, Magical, Heartwarming Christmas this year!!

Below is a picture of the Milk & Cookies we left for Santa...Trey insisted Santa would need a straw because he was in a hurry!
One of Nick's gifts was a Viewmaster. We got a good laugh when he would look in it and see Buzz Lightyear, and start waving to him...

Hot Cocoa

I'm sure this came from TV or a book, but Trey wanted to drink "Hot Cocoa by the fire"... It just cracks me up when they come up with something like this! They did drink hot chocolate, but they had to settle for candlelight instead!

Finally!!

Usually I'm really excited to get the tree up for Christmas...like as soon as I eat the last bite of Turkey on Thanksgiving. This year I've been pretty much avoiding it because of one thing - Newman. He still chews EVERYTHING in sight!! So far the tree has been up for about 2 hours, and he's already stolen one ornament (while I was in the bathroom).

Growing up, our Christmas tree was never decorated fancy or trendy. It was full of ornaments Steve and I made, and other odds and ends. I loved it, and I love our tree now because it is already full of those things! Trey was so good at helping put the tree up! He really did make it go a lot faster!!

Nick helped for about 30 seconds, then decided the box looked like more fun...

Awww, they love each other so much! (most of the time)

Browns Program

Last year Bill & I went to the season opener Cleveland Browns game against the Saints. We're talking 2007... We went with one of Bill's friends from work, and his wife. Scott is a huge Browns fan, and has season tickets. He was going through one of his programs from last year and saw that we were in the program!!! Well, what I think is even more hilarious is that the same "ad" with our picture is in the 2008 programs also! At the game last Sunday we bought a program to see, and sure enough, there we were!! Scott is also in the picture to the left of Bill.


A little bigger...notice I'm still wearing my blue Colts attire even though it was Browns vs. Saints :)

Cleveland Browns VS Indianapolis Colts

Through work, Bill was able to get tickets to almost any Browns game he wanted this year. It was perfect because the Browns played the Colts this year! We took two of the craziest Browns fans I've ever seen to the game with us... Ryanne and Steve!! Below you'll see our tailgating spread before the game...

It was cold on Sunday...but was it THIS cold?? Ryanne wore about 50 layers of everything! All I know is...that's a lot of overlapping long johns!

Colts vs Browns catfight...

Below is the parking nazi...Nothing makes him more mad than when people who aren't very handicapped use a handicap sticker!! Just ask him about it! (btw...we did not do this, he just vented to us about for a LONG time!!)

Steve & Ryanne

Jackie & Bill...and yes this WAS Peyton's Place!!!! (ie Final Score Colts 10 Browns 6)

Holiday TV Schedule 2008

I absolutely LOVE Christmas shows, and hate it when I miss one of the "good ones" so I thought I'd share this schedule with everyone. Once you get to the site, you can print it out to post on your fridge...okay maybe you aren't crazy like I am :) Enjoy!

The boys first sleepover

We had my cousin Amanda's little boy Trent over on Friday night for a sleepover. (Trey called it a pajama party) At one point he came out of the playroom and said "Mommy, the pajama party is going really good!" I thought that was so cute!
We started the night off with dinner and playing at McDonald's Playland. Below are some silly faces in the Playland. Having some juice in their pajamas

On Saturday I took them all to see "Bolt", which I think they really liked. Needless to say, by the time Trent went home they were all exhausted!! They didn't go to bed until about Midnight, and woke up around 7:45am....and didn't have a nap! My boys were both asleep for the night by about 8pm, and Amanda said Trent fell asleep in the car after about 2 minutes!