Happy Birthday Papa 2009

It's been way too long since we posted on our blog. We thought we'd start up again by singing "Happy Birthday" to Papa. I hope you like it. (David was too tired to join. Sorry.)

Square Foot Gardening

We decided to put in a garden this year. Since we haven't had much luck in the past with grass choking out our plants, we are trying a different method of gardening called Square Foot Gardening.

First we built our boxes and put cardboard in the bottom (so grass and weeds can't kill our plants again):

Then Brad and Grandpa made the special soil:

Next, put the soil into the boxes (with David and Cameron's help):

Now we need the grid on top to guide our planting:

Cameron is supervising

Brittney's quite the carpenterLook at all the helpers
All done!
Finally, we get to plant:

Making the holes for the seeds

Don't plant the rocks David

Very cute Dani!

Team work

Can't wait for the seeds to start growing!

David's First Snow Trip

Well, we figured it was time to take David to the snow. We went over President's Day weekend up to the Rim for some fun in the snow. We went with the Whitings and had a blast. We were quite impressed with how well David did in the snow for his first time.


We had to do the best we could with our "winter clothes." They were more like "spring" clothes, so we layered.

I especially like Cameron's gloves. Hey, "Eat it up. Wear it out. Make it do. Or do without." We made it work.

Here's the Dynamic Duo. They worked quite well together, although David definitely outlasted Cameron in the "tolerance-to-snow" department.

Here's the boys helping Mom make a snowman. I don't think Mr. Snowman ever actually came to fruition.

David and his cousin, Braden, are "chillin'" in the snow. Clearly, Braden was far more prepared for snow outings than David. Oh well.

Brittney and her cousin, Brianna, were sure having fun "boogey boarding" down the slopes.

Either Dani wet her pants or the snow did. Either way, it was time to change into the next set of dry clothes. Hi, Dani.

Go, Riley! That's a really good likeness of you. I think you made your hands with too many fingers, though.

All in all, we had a great time. I'm looking forward to next year. (Though, secretly I'm glad it's a whole year before we have to do it again.)

Dani's famous .... I think?

Dani's recently been the star of a hit video on YouTube.com called Kitten vs. Girl.



Gripping!

She was at her friends house and they put this together. It's pretty funny to watch this with Dani because she's laughing at them and we're laughing at her. Hope you enjoy.

Well, it's December and that means birthdays!

As you may know, we have three birthdays to celebrate before christmas in the month of December. First, we had Danielle's birthday party. It was a "Tie-Dyed" shirt party. The birthday girl and guests, with the help from Christine, made tie-dyed shirts. According to a report from one of the guests' mothers, "you have to use a fork to make a tie-dyed shirt." They also made flower barrettes using a silk flower, a brad, a bit of ribbon, and a barrette. One of the girls, a noted Tom Boy, didn't know what to do with the barrette. (She was wearing it practically on her forehead.) She had to be educated in the ways of wearing barrettes. Another report: This just in ... "Sister Strader is really talented."

Second, we had Brittney's birthday party. Christine had a great idea to have the birthday party at Bounce-U. It's a warehouse with a bunch of "bouncing castles" in them. Of course, they're not all bouncing castles. There're slides, boxing rings, obstacle courses, etc. It was a ton of fun and afterwards Brittney et. al. had cupcakes and opened presents.

Finally, Brad's birthday has been lost due to Brittney being born on the same day. So, he has to make an appearance where he can.

Happy Birthday!!

3, 2, 1, Blastoff!

Well, we've decided that we should be a bit more "online" with our lives, but we realized after reading several other blogs, that our lives may not be blog worthy. (Have you seen Dare's Affairs? Hysterical!) We're hoping that our Funny Farm doesn't lack anything to be desired.

Just a quick update on our kids.

Dani (12) is doing great in her extracurricular activities. She's in 6th grade and playing violin in advanced orchestra at school and she is flat-out awesome. She's 1st chair and dominating. She has been taking private lessons and practices very little, which suggests to us that she's very talented. For her twelfth birthday, she got her ears pierced which she was very excited about. She's also excited about a new chapter in her life -- going to Young Womens, wearing makeup, and preparing for Junior High.

Riley (9) is also excelling in his ECA's, too. He's following his nerdy dad's footsteps and playing trumpet. At Frankling Elementary, you can start playing an instrument as early as the summer before 5th grade in intermediate band. He's currently half way through 4th grade and he's already in advanced band. He got special permission to start a year early and we're glad he did. We're very proud of him and how quickly he's developing this talent. He also loves basketball and starts a new season next month with his dad as coach. (Not so nerdy now, is he?)

Brittney (6 ... she'll be 7 on Monday 12/15/2008) is in 1st grade and currently hiding most of her talents. She has an unparalleled ability to speak non-stop for several hours at a time (we're considering contacting The Guinness Book of World Records). We affectionately refer to it as "verbal vomit" or "diarrhea of the mouth." It's almost insufferable. We're sure other families suffer from this rare gift, but we're willing to put Brittney up against any other child. By the way, our money’s on Brittney. All that said, she has a knack for convincing adults to do whatever she wants. We are obviously immune.

Cameron (5) is doing great. He’s “The Man” on campus according to reports. We guess he’s made quite an impression on the other kids at school as he makes his way from the bus to his class. He’s currently attending two preschools. The first is at Johnson Elementary, a public school that provides free preschool for children with developmental needs. At Johnson, he is able to get some therapies that help him develop his speech, physical, and motor skills. He’s also attending a private preschool that is being run by a former teacher at Franklin. She’s helped Cameron out tremendously and we’re very excited about his progress.

David (1) makes life interesting. He is a very dynamic child. He’s very entertaining when he wants to be, but mostly cries. He has a million dollar smile, but hides it regularly. When he’s the “man” of the house and all the other kids are gone, he’s enjoyable and can entertain himself with whatever he finds around the house. However, when Cameron’s home, he becomes very clingy and provides Mom with no opportunities to accomplish anything. Cameron follows him everywhere and pesters him to no end. On one hand, it’s cute how Cameron loves to be around his brother. On the other hand, it’s annoying that it bothers David so much, that all he does is cry. We’re hoping it gets better.

Well, that's it for now. More to follow ...