Come Walk With Us

There are a couple of websites out there where you can input your address and see how "walkable" your house is. It is usually based on your location and its proximity to restaurants, stores, libraries, parks, etc. Well, our house still isn't on a map, but I can tell you, that our score would be pretty darn low! We like it though. Drive two miles in either direction and your by a mall or a farm.

What we can walk to right away is nature, and that is always a good thing. We got out for the first time in a long time the other day, and I thought I would share it with you!

If you walk out our backdoor and through the backyard, you hit a nature preserve with a path that winds in one way towards a pond...

It was pretty that day and we could see the white, puffy clouds reflecting in the water...




And Max says, "Look, Over There!"


A barn of some sort is always in sight around these parts!

So are animal skulls!





On a similar note, a sure sign of spring in Ohio- roadkill! It used to be gross, but now I find it kind of funny. If you didn't know the weather had warmed up, you need only look at the roads.


Zoey wasn't too in the mood for pictures that day, so this is the only one I have of her:


In the middle of our nature "walk" we decided to do some racing and action shots!
Go, Max, Go!!


Daddy's trying to beat ya!



Max ponders the race results... Something's fishy...




Okay, Mom... I'm done with the pictures!

And that's the end!


Hope you enjoyed our journey today:) Come again soon!

Signs of Spring

Along with celebrating Ross' birthday as his day of birth, we also celebrate the fact that it is the last day of winter! We won't see too much green for a little while up here, but we are seeing some signs.



And I know there are a lot of photography "wrongs" in the next pictures, but sometimes, something about them is just right, ya know? That's how these are to me and I just like them:

Ross' Happy Birthday

"The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate."
-Oprah Winfrey

I am a big fan of birthdays. And I think Oprah's quote is a nice way to look at them. I am working on Ross and his thoughts on the whole birthday thing and I think he is finally coming around! It is just one day a year, right? I don't think you need anything grand, but I don't think you should knock it off as just another ordinary day! So, I think Ross had a very happy birthday this year! We dropped the kids off at school, and went to breakfast. Ross then went to one of his favorite stores in the area. We hung out in the nice weather, the kids made cards and sang Happy Birthday, and we finally ended the day with a nice dinner at the Melting Pot! yum!!

I got a nice picture of Ross and the kids before going to dinner... So Sweet:

March Madness

My Dad set up a fun March Madness competition for our family to participate in! I explained the whole set up to the kids and Zoey has really taken to it!! She knows all of the teams that she has and we have been checking scores and watching games over the past couple of days! She is really into it! It is very cute. Her best seeded team is Duke and she calls it "My Duke" when she talks about it. It is neat for her to see the upsets as well as the wins, because she is learning some lessons as well! Here she is with the tournament bracket, gotta love it:



Max's teams don't have as good of a chance at winning so he is not as excited. Probably next year, since we are making it an annual thing!!

St Patrick's Day

As soon as Ross had his first Corn Beef and Cabbage Dinner one St Patrick's Day... he was hooked. Along with a Guinness, it quickly became a favorite! He jokes that it is seriously his favorite holiday meal! I had a burst of inspiration at the beginning of the week, so I decided to make the celebration last a couple of days!

We made Irish Soda Bread and Rumbledethumps (I think its also called colcannon?) one night!

And then on St Paddy's Day, we had the Corn Beef and Cabbage Dinner with a Guinness! And for dessert... yummy chocolate mint brownies. I don't think that's Irish, but I thought it would be fun. I only had neon food coloring though, so the brownie looked like a nuclear spill happened! Still tasted good. Here is Max helping me make the frosting for the brownies:

I love how most people embrace the green wearing and celebrating. It makes me smile! I helped in Zoey's school that day, and 85% of the kids were wearing green! Too fun.

and here is a toast to you!

We are Cool Parents!

HA!

The sun is out and the temps are warmer...

We were driving last night with the windows down and the radio up...

THIS SONG came on...

And Ross and I started jamming, of course!

We were singing to the music and moving our heads to the beat... Ross was being funny singing the words loud and high or low pitched. Just having fun.

The kids were just saying, "ohhh.... What is going on?" and "Stop, guys, stop!"

Finally, Max just shook his head and yelled over the music, " I don't think we can make them stop, Zo!"

Nope... too cool for that!

Five on Friday

1. I have wanted to do a Ten on Tuesday post for a while (lots of bloggers do it), but I didn't know if I could come up with ten things to talk about that didn't involve complaining about the weather! Five seems more manageable.

2. I got a fun and private photography lesson from Susie (thanks again) the other day! So Fun! Here is Zoey and one of her daughters, Sarah, jumping for us!



3. I Martha Stewart-ed it up the other day! Made Zoey a quick pillowcase dress:


And started St. Patrick's day early with Irish soda bread!! (my picture for that will be in another post!!)

4. The weather is finally starting to be spring-like and it is oh so welcome! Hello, Sunshine Love! I have missed you!

5. And, Today is a super special day! Ross and my Dad share a birthday! Happy Birthday to you both and God bless you! Wishing you the best for the day and year ahead!

Rainy Day Fun

We got almost 2 inches of rain today. It was just a long steady rain lasting the entire day, and needless to say... it kept us inside!

But, I played around a little with the camera, so I have pictures to go along with our indoor adventures...

We played one very long game of Monopoly. (I guess Monopoly is kind of synonymous with LONG though, right?)


And we made paper flowers to remind us that Spring is coming soon!


And since my children are already protesting being my models so I can practice taking pictures... I have to use Ross. Who is a willing participant (thank you!). Sometimes, something funny comes out of it... check out this nice advertisement for Einstein Bros. Bagels!! Hilarious!

Rock, Paper, Scissors....

and the Jedi Mind Trick! So for those of you who don't know, according to urban dictionary (a good source, I know)... the jedi mind trick is something used by Jedi's to persuade people to do things as they wish them to go. Ross and I would joke that we would need to use this in order to win the Rock, Paper, Scissors game against each other. Sometimes we take a good thirty seconds to think of the others plan and try and manipulate it before we play... I know, this is too much info and we are dorks, but stay with me here...

Well, apparently the Rock, Paper, Scissors game is pretty popular with second graders. Zoey has been wanting to play and she has taught Max to play as well.

We were driving in the car the other day and they were playing in the back. Zoey stops for a minute and gets really quiet... and then says,

"you know, this game is actually really hard! You think that the other person might do rock, but then they will think that you will think they will do rock so then they switch to scissors, because if you thought they would do rock than you would do paper and then they would do scissors to beat your paper, so you have to switch... It's TOOO MUCH!!"

Ross and I just looked at each other and laughed and said, "EXACTLY!" We are from the same mold.

Here are some cute faces of our Zo: These are with our old camera... I am still in transitions. you will see an amazing difference when I post some others soon!













Love you, Sweet Girl

Family Date Night

Something I look forward too starting February first or so, is our annually family date night to the Cheesecake Factory on March 6! You can read about some past ones here and here if you are interested or bored! Ross and I had our first real date together at the Cheesecake Factory in Redondo Beach, Ca and we just return there every year (a cheer for chain restaurants, since we move around so much). Depending on location, we get to sit outside and look out at the marina, or just watch passers-by at a mall. Either way, it is special and we are glad to have our family tradition. This Saturday was especially nice. It was 50+ degrees and sunshiney! That is a huge warm-up for us lately! You could tell we weren't the only ones enjoying it. We decided to head out early and go to our favorite bookstore for a while beforehand, but still planned to eat early so we wouldn't have a long wait. When we got to the area, the place was packed. We decided to head straight to the restaurant. It was 4:15 and we had a 30 minute wait anyway! Since the weather was so nice, the kids ran around outside during the wait and enjoyed some Vitamin D.

My Recent Purchase...

is allowing me to capture sweetness like this...



and this...


and even this handsome face!

Yay! A new camera! I have a lot to learn moving into the whole DSLR land, but to my simple eye, even these pictures are a great improvement. very exciting!!

Just Popping In...

To say HI! and smile:

I have lots of posts to write and funnies to share, but I just haven't had a chance to sit down and do it! Plus, the sun finally came out and it is almost 50 degrees!

Hallelujah!

I can wake up from hibernating now:)

We are glad March is here! It's going to busy and exciting! Ross is finishing up his thesis and doing his defense. Plus a birthday and graduation and then a new assignment!
And we each got a new purchase that I am excited to share as well! Wishing you happy, sunshiney, almost Spring days ahead!!