tales from a far-land

Here are my two pumpkins on this Halloween.  We send you many "Bugs and Kisses!"  And hope that you have a "Boo-tiful" Halloween night.  Now, go eat, drink and be scary!  

Yesterday, when I arrived to pick up the kids at preschool, Aiden was sitting in the sandbox with his back towards me.  I quickly noticed something was a-rye.  It looked like Aiden was wearing a sports sweatband around his head.  As I approached, I figured out it was actually a bandage around his head.  I quickly turned to the teacher and inquired, "What happened?"  Madi responded for the teacher, "Aiden has a bandaid on he head."  Yes, I could see that.  The teacher explained Aiden fell on his way out the door to recess this morning and hit his head on the corner of the step walking outside.  As I said previously, this boy is crazy and has no fear.  And now that he has started to walk, he is even more fearless.  From the onset, he has always bumped his head on furniture, floors and walls.  I am not looking forward to the many trips to the emergency room I foresee in the future.  So, I was not surprised to hear this portion of the story.  However, the next part of t

Each summer, we try to visit my parent's cabin up north in Munds Park as much as we can to escape the blistering heat.  Sadly, this year, we only made it up there a couple of times.  Here are some photos from one of our trips -- at the end of June.   Madi and Aunt Lynsey building with blocks Aunt Lynsey wanted to plant some flowers and Madi wanted to help Aiden playing with his ball on the deck Post haircut picture ... he looks like such a "little man".   Grandma made spaghetti for dinner.  Can't you tell? A video of Madi and Aiden dancing 

This past May, my employer asked me to attend a business workshop in Newport Beach, California.  Since I was going to be in California already, we decided Josh and the kids should drive over for the weekend so we could visit with Josh's grandparents.  Josh and the kids drove over on Wednesday evening and spent a couple of days with his grandparents while I attending my business workshop.  Here are a couple of photos that were texted to me of the kids enjoying their time with GG and GP on Thursday.  GG took them shopping.  Madi loves to go shopping.. At the mall Eating breakfast with GG Modeling a new hat GG purchased for Madi When my workshop was over on Friday, Josh and the kids drove to Newport Beach so we could spend some time sightseeing.  We spent some time in Downtown Newport Beach walking up and down mainstreet while shopping at the boutique shops along the way.  We also walked over to the ferry dock and looked at the pier.  We then decided to begin the trip

After almost three months of blogging silence due to hectic schedules, exhaustion and, yes, I admit, some laziness on my part, I return.  I had to share momentous news -- my "little man" has taken his first steps.  Last night, as our children sat on the bottom stair in our kitchen enjoying some animal crackers, Aiden decided he would start walking.  He walked to Josh first and then he walked back to me.  Then, we placed him on the bottom stair to enjoy another cookie.  While eating his cookie, he just decided to stand up and walk some more, cookie drooling from his mouth.  After he would finish a cookie, he would get so upset, drop to the floor and cry because he wanted another cookie.  As soon as we would give him another cookie, he would stop crying, stand up and start walking all over again.  Happy as can be.  Wouldn't you know, our child would walk for cookies! And so, Aiden finally decided to walk one week before he turned fourteen months.  Madi walked on her firs