Our New TV Room.

Well we finally got our new couch and since everything else in the TV room was new Jennie finally let me get my new TV. The couch, a leather sectional, showed up on Saturday and really made my old TV stick out. So we went to a couple stores that night and came home with a brand new big screen. It is amazing what the TV's can do now and it looks great with the couch. With the help of Greg and Bill I was able to get the TV set up last night and now just need to figure how to hook the Bose into it for surround sound. I messed with it a little last night and tonight but think I am going to have to call and have someone walk me through it. Anyways everything looks great and here are some pictures so you can see.


The new couch.


We love the huge ottoman and being able to kick your feet up and relax.


I was finally able to watch the CAV's in HD tonight and boy is there a big difference. Feel free to stop over and catch a game, they will all be on.

Bounce City.

Thursday was Lauren's (Brooklyn and Maddux friend) birthday and her party was at Bounce City. The kids absolutely love that place and have a ton of fun. As usual I took the camera and took a bunch of pictures. Here are some pictures from the party.


Here are Brooklyn, Meghan and Maddie all doing the bum bounce.


Maddux on his way down the giant slide.


Brooklyn going down the slide. Not sure about the position.


Payton discovering that she really likes Dairy Queen ice cream cake.


Maddux sprinting to the next slide.


Brooklyn had a rough couple of minutes. All the other kids won items out of some of the machines and she did not. She was really sad until Lauren came up and gave Brooklyn one of her little bears and necklaces (thank you Liz). She had no issues the rest of the night.


Maddux playing air hockey. He probably wouldn't admit to it but he lost to Meghan 7-5.


Jennie, Payton and Meghan. Meghan got some good smiles out of Payton.


Maddux playing one of his favorite games, Skeet-ball.


Nolan attempting to climb the ladder. He did not make it very far.

Anyways the kids had a lot of fun and can't wait to go back again. Thank you Lauren for having a birthday party and inviting our family.

Lebron James and the CAVs.

Last night I took Brooklyn and Maddux to watch the CAVs take on the Magic and boy was it a good game. The CAVs are fighting for home court throughout the playoffs and the Magic are one of the teams they are fighting with for that. The CAVs have only lost one game at home this year so they have played very well. I have taken the kids individually to a game but never together. It was also St. Patrick's Day so downtown was a little crazy. I felt bad for Jennie because she dropped the kids off downtown and then it took her 2 hours to get home because of all the traffic but as it turns out it was well worth it. I took the kids over to the mall for dinner and then we headed to the game. I like to get there early so the kids can have a shot at being a ballkid. Brooklyn got to do it last year when we went and they actually asked Maddux when I took him but he was too scared and didn't do it. Well this time we got lucky and they asked both of them to be ballkids. When you are a ballkid you get to go to midcourt and when the players come out of the locker room the starting five hand balls to the kids. I think I was more excited than the kids. Brooklyn got the ball from Anderson Varejao which was kind of funny because when she did it last year he also gave her the ball. She definitely knows who he is. Maddux got the ball from none other than the King himself and soon to be MVP, Lebron James. The funny thing about that is that after the kids came off the court I asked Maddux who gave him the ball and he said, "I don't know." Lebron James is his favorite player and the guy that he always recognizes on TV. I am thinking that he just didn't know what to do in when seeing him in person. I was very excited that Lebron gave him the ball and now need to figure out a way to get him to sign it. The game was a lot of fun and the CAVs pulled it out in the end so a very good night. Here are some pictures from our night.


This is right after the players gave them the balls. Last year they put them on the jumbo-tron but for some reason didn't this year.


Here are the kids waiting to go out on the court. Before the game the kids got their hair spray painted, got tattoos on their arms, and had their faces painted. I think this is their favorite part of the game, along with seeing Moondog, the mascot, running around.


Speaking of Moondog, here are the kids seeing how they measure up to him.


For some reason Bugs Bunny was at the game and the kids got to get a picture with him.


We didn't get home until about 10:15 and Maddux didn't make it very long. It was funny that he fell asleep on the ball not too long after getting in the car.

Two Teeth and some Spring Weather.

Payton has gotten her two bottom teeth and is now eating all kinds of food. She has figured out that she really likes pizza, grapes, graham crackers, and cheerios. She also really likes cinnamon rolls and cookie crisp cereal but I have to watch out for Jennie before I give her those. She tried mashed potatoes yesterday and also likes those. She is into sticking lots of different things in her mouth now and is experiencing with all types of food.

Yesterday and today were in the mid to upper 50's and tomorrow is suppose to be in the low 60's. It is feeling like Spring and I hope it is here to stay. We had Meghan and Lauren over yesterday to play and broke out the trampoline. The kids played out there all day and then again today and had a ton of fun. It is so nice to have a fenced in backyard now that we can just turn the kids loose and not have to worry about them (Thanks again dad). Here are some pictures from yesterday and the trampoline.


That is one scary face.


Maddux has become quite good at flips on the trampoline. He has even figured out how to land some of them on his feet.


Maddux at the top of his jump.


Brooklyn at the peak.


Maddux getting tackled by the girls. He is so lucky that Brooklyn's friends don't mind him playing along. Although Lauren is his same age and could be his girlfriend of the future.

Our Little Gymnast.

Well today started with me taking Maddux to karate this morning. He was very excited to go and had a fun time. We then went back home and picked up Jennie and the rest of the clan and headed out for some errands. First off was a trip to get Nolan a haircut. He has the worst bedhead and really needed a trim. One of these days Jennie will let me buzz him like Maddux.



Then it was off to find a new CD player for the van. A few months back Nolan decided he as going to fill the CD player full of coins and inserted $5 or so worth of coins into the CD slot. Needless to say the CD player doesn't work anymore. I also think it shorted out the radio as we have had other issues and actually had it unplugged to stop all the noise. So next Saturday we are having a new one installed and will have to keep the change somewhere other than the van.

We then went and ate lunch at CiCi's Pizza, one of the kids favorite places, and then went grocery shopping at the Super WalMart. They say it is better to go shopping on a full stomach but I don't think that works because everything still looks good and we buy way to much stuff.

Then tonight we are watching Grandma Elaine while Bill and Connie look for some kitchen stuff. Maddux was putting on a show jumping off the couch, doing a flip, and then landing on the LoveSac. Here are some pictures from his routine.


Getting ready for the dismount.


Tucking the arms.


Maddux upside down.


Sticking the landing.


Scores please.

Payton's Blessing .

Yesterday was a very special day as both Payton and Cambrie were Blessed. We were fortunate enough to have almost the whole family in town to be here for this special occasion. The last week we have had everyone here but Donovan and have had a lot of fun. We have been to Kalahari, had a family night up at the gym, went out for ice cream, and then blessed Payton and Cambrie yesterday. It has been a lot of fun and I know that Jennie enjoys spending time with her brothers and sisters and their families. We also were fortunate to have Karolyn and Lauren out for a couple of days visiting. It is so funny to watch Lauren with the little babies; she absolutely loves them. It was such a wonderful day and we were glad that so many people were there to take it in with us.


The whole family minus Donovan (we will photoshop him in).


All the men who partook in the Blessings along with the Jennie & Tacie and Payton & Cambrie. Thank you to all who were there and helped make this such a special day.

Family Kalahari Trip

With Jennie's family all in town they decided to head up to Kalahari, which is an indoor waterpark, on Wednesday. Greg was able to get discounted tickets for everyone to go Wednesday and Thursday. He got one suite and an extra room so all 21 of us could go. I originally was not going to go due to work but ended up getting everything done early and surprised Jennie and the kids by just showing up. I called Jennie from the parking lot and asked her what room they were in just in case I needed to get a hold of them. Then 5 minutes later I knocked on the door and surprised them. They were so excited and we had a lot of fun. The kids had a blast and I think the adults enjoyed themselves as well. The slideshow is all the pictures from our trip.