The wait is finally over....

CALLIE IS 18!!!!!!!!!!!!

To say that she has been counting down the days for this birthday would be the understatement of the year. I KNOW that all of you who are friends with Callie on facebook KNOW when her birthday was and how many days until her birthday. All of us in the house were made well aware of the upcoming big event almost daily so we had to make it a fabulous birthday for her.

It started Friday night with Grandpa and Holly taking Callie down to the Cavs game with her cousin Jennifer. You will never meet a bigger Cavs fan than Callie, sometimes we want to take her LeBron James jersey that she wears every game day and hide it just to see what would happen

Callie and Jen ..dinner before the game at the Hard Rock Cafe

Jen, Callie and Grandpa

Callie had an absolute blast at the game, the next day we had a small family party and some friends over later in the evening

Did she turn 18 or 78?

I was in a hurry and thought i grabbed a "1" but I'm undecided if that is a 1 or a 7??

Callie and her friends had a alot of fun playing "Do you really know me?"

Holly had them busy busy busy decorating chalk boards that you hang outstide your dorm or bedroom door for notes..

**Disclaimer -Jenna loves her cousin Jordan and despite what her chalk board says she does not think she is stupid, I believe Jordan's says "I"m with challenged --->"

Callie, we hope you had a great birthday!! We love you

I'm pretty sure at some point during the last 4-5 challenging years I told her she wasn't going to live to see her 18th birthday and she did!!!!!

Name that booty!

Over Thanksgiving break we took the kids to the rock gym to climb, really...what other pictures could I get except of their backsides???

I'm sure you figured it out but the pictures are as follows (in no particular order according to size)

1. Jenna

2. Jorey

3. Ryan

4. Tyler

Carrying on the tradition

Jorey started playing ultimate frisbee with some kids from school and invited Ryan along. They both love it!! Jorey and Ryan both have a pretty good forehand and I think they impressed some of the older kids. All of Jorey's siblings and brother in law play in leagues and Jorey and Ryan will definately be future players!!

Jorey in white top and black shorts.

So the conversation went something like this at 8pm on a Monday night:

Ryan - "mom, did you give my cleats away when we moved? i'm playing ultimate tomorrow after school"

Mom - "Ryan i have no idea and why are you telling me at 8pm that you need cleats for tomorrow? i'm tired and you will have to just wear you tennis shoes for tomorrow"

Ryan - "mom, if i wear my tennis shoes i will be sliding all over the place and i will probably fall and hit my mouth and since i just got my braces on that would be bad"

Mom "no Ryan"

Eric - " oh look i have a coupon for Dick's sporting goods"

Ryan " cool"

Mom "So"

Eric " and i have a little something left on this gift card, between the coupon and gift card you probably wont' be spending anything"

Ryan " oh cool. thanks Eric your the best"


Mom "he sure is"

****Note his brand new blue cleats in the pics below*********

The end.

Meet "The Baby"

Callie has a Parent and Child Development class this semester and part of the class and a significant portion of her grade is bringing home and taking care of a baby for 5 days. She got him on Thursday morning. Technology is amazing and this baby was as close to a real baby as you can get. Callie had to wear a wristband with a sensor in it so only she could tend to the baby. The baby has a sensor in his back, a sensor in the bottle and diaper so it would record how often she fed him, how long she fed him, how often she changed him and how long he cried before she tended to him. And yes, he did wake in the middle of the night for feedings and changings.
I believe the first day it was fun. Callie had a doctor appt the first day she had him and the baby started wailing during the middle of her appt. The doctor said "this is first, i've been interuppted by real babies but never a fake baby"

We did get alot of strange looks for various reasons. From a distance you can't tell its fake so people just assumed Callie was a teenage mother. Callie made sure everyone knew it was a school project.

By Sunday morning she had enough, she soon realized how hard it was. I woke her for church and she basically had a meltdown...crying she said "I'm so tired you don't even understand, the baby kept me up all night, I couldn't go to the football game and I can't even find time to take a shower, this is so hard -you don't even know"

Oh, I know....

Happy Halloween

He's such a nerd!!

Jorey and Jenna really stepped out of their comfort zone (note sarcasm) Jorey was a drummer and Jenna was a skateboarder

Jorey had a couple of her friends come over and they were all kind enough to let Jenna trick or treat with them

Sorting and trading, I never did that as a kid -I just took my bag and hid it from my brothers..

The kids had alot of fun. They have alot of candy which is good for them, not so good for me...Did you know that you have to run a mile to burn off 5 little tootsie rolls? I didn't either until one day a page from a magazine article miraculously appeared on my fridge, any guesses?

To have and to hold..

Shea and Britt's marriage took place in Los Angeles. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding and Eric's cousin Michael performed the ceremony. Shea and
Britt had that look of real love and happiness in their eyes!!! It was wonderful to be there and be apart of it. Shea's brother Shyler is in Mexico serving his mission so I put a few extra pictures on here for him to enjoy. Thank you to Laura for taking these pictures and sharing them with me.

After the wedding festivities, we got to spend the next day in Santa Monica where Eric lived as a kid for a brief time. It was alot of fun, Shelton and Stephanie spent the day with us and Shea and Britt met up with us for dinner because we were all leaving for home the next day.

This is what I got to see a good part of the weekend, the horrid traffic of LA. It is as bad you hear and it is why I could never live there. I would explain what it was like to drive with Eric in LA traffic but I would just raise my stress hormone levels and probably gain weight while typing this.

For our family we have 3 weddings down and 6 more to go! ugh!!!

A little bribery was worth it!!

Jorey was adamant about not going to Homecoming, makeup-dress-heels, No way!! So Eric offered her a bribe to get her to go. He thought it would be a good experience for her and she pretty much refused until he sweetened the deal with some concert tickets. I was blissfully unaware of the task at hand. Finding a modest, appropriate dress proved impossible. Jorey tagging along behind me for 3 hours saying "Ugh, i hate dresses" every 30 seconds didn't help either. Finally i said to her that every time she said "I hate dresses, i hate this nonsense" she owed me a dollar" After 3 hours and going in every store in the mall we walked out empty handed but had one possibility in mind. We tried again the next day and after texting Jayna and Eric pictures of Jorey in the dresses, we found the dress!!! I had a brief moment of happiness until i realized she still needs shoes!! She put up somewhat of a fuss about wearing a small heel but relented.

I actually have never had anyone growl at me while I was applying their makeup before. Despite the growling and the glares, she let me do it. I felt i would be pushing me luck if i tried to curl her hair or put it up so we just straightened it.

We had pictures at one of her friends house before they left for dinner and then to the dance

She looks like she is enjoying this!

Jorey looked absolutely fabulous!!! We were a little nervous to get the report from her, we were really hoping she had a good time....when asked how it was she replied "tolerable" which for us was a victory!!