Ahoy, Matey!

 

It was all Ronan's idea. From start to finish.  He wanted to have a pirate party--not a birthday party, just a pirate party.  One of his requests was for Daddy to build a cannon, and you know Josh, he took that on with pleasure!  It took him a week or two design and built it, and then we were all set.  Ronan asked me to invite some of his friends and his cousins & grandparents, of course.  It all came together at the last minute, but we still had a good turnout for the party.  The Green and Chase families came, along with Grammie, Memaw & Papa, and the Turanskis.

 Here's Josh explaining how the cannon works.

  

Josh made three different-sized detachable barrels so that he could shoot tennis balls, Nerf footballs, etc.

  

 Ronan thought it was really cool that Memaw & Papa dressed up for the party--they are such good sports!

Captain Griffin

  

  

Even Grammie got to shoot the cannon!

  

Josh is such a kid at heart. (:  He has so much fun with this kind of thing & our boys love it, too!

  

Fire in the hole!

  

The Turanski boys checking out the cannon

  

John getting ready to shoot it.

  

Eli's turn

  

  

The big kids ganged up on Alan and they had a big sword fight battle.

 

Last Basketball Camp

 Ronan's final session of YMCA basketball camp was last Saturday, February 13th.  It was such a great program--I'm so glad we did it!  The coaches were great and made it really fun for the kids! They taught the basic skills of basketball for the first four sessions, and then on the last day they played some real games.  Ronan had some moments of being really anxious when playing.  This was the first time he had to put together the passing, dribbling, and shooting skills, and that's a lot to think about!  He stuck with it, though, and ended up having a lot of fun.

  

Ronan had a big cheering section with both sets of grandparents there and also Great Grandpa & Grammie Lermo!  He's a lucky boy!

  

Memaw & Papa

  

At the end each kid got a certificate from the coaches for completing the camp.

  

Way to go, Ronan!  We're so proud of you!

  

the Annex

Here are some before, during, and after pictures of the youth building remodel that Josh helped orchestrate.  He spent many hours designing and helping to plan the remodel, and he ended up doing a big portion of the work himself.

Before:

During:

Josh tiled the cafe floor and built a coffee bar.  We both helped with painting the walls.

  

Framing the coffee bar

  

He did the drywall & texture on the coffee bar, then painted it and topped it off with granite counter tops. (:

  

Josh also built this media booth

 The boys and I helped out, too.  We would put a kids movie on the big screen in the building while Josh worked and I cleaned/painted/assisted with whatever needed to be done.

The almost finished and newly-named Annex!

Grace Group

  2/6/10~ Our small group from church got together last Saturday night for a game night at the Fisher's house (without kids).  It was fun to hang out & laugh with everyone!  We played a funny game called The Game of Things & learned some new things about each other. (:

The Kohs, Sims', Fishers, Rogers', Chases, and us

Kristina holding baby Gabe

  

  

 

Sunny Friday!

 Last Friday, February 5th, was the most gorgeous winter day!  The sun was shining and it actually felt warm--I think it got to 62 degrees or a little higher??  It felt great and we spent as much time outdoors as we could.  While Ronan was at school, Griffin rode his bike then played some basketball with his neighbor/cousin, Cohen!  Then, with Griffin in the BOB, we left our house early to pick up Ronan so that I could get a run in.  Once we got Ronan we went to a little park by our house and played until it was time for Josh to come home.

  

  

 

boys in the kitchen

 2/2/10~Josh likes to cook (sometimes)...he almost always makes breakfast for us on the weekends (I love that!!), but I don't think I've ever seen him bake cookies before. (:  He got the idea when he found butterscotch chips in the cupboard and asked if we had all the ingredients to make his favorite oatmeal butterscotch cookies.  We did (thanks for the butter, Becca!), so the kids pulled up chairs to help Daddy.

  

Dinner with Friends

 On Saturday, January 30th, we went to Mezza Luna pizza with the Turanski family.  I was supposed to be bringing them dinner that night (because Kelly is going through chemotherapy), but she was feeling so great that day that she wanted to get out of the house and asked if we could do that instead.  We joked throughout the evening that she just didn't want me to cook for her...and I tried not to take it personally. (:  Ha ha!  I was fine not making dinner, especially if it meant getting to go out to eat with them!  We had such a fun time visiting and laughing together.  It was a good thing for all of us! 

The pizza was sooo yummy!

  

 the boys

  

A blurry picture of Alan tickling Griffin & Eli.

  

Me & Kelly

 

5 and a 1/2

January 29th was Ronan's half-birthday (celebrating half bdays is one of our family traditions).  I thought it would be fun to wait until that day to tell Ronan that it was his half birthday, because he loves surprises!  The day started off great because Ronan realized that it was a no school day--Yay!  Then, I told the kids that we would be going out for a few surprises for Ronan's special day.  First we went to Bounce, where we had two free passes to the open gym.  They were both so excited when we pulled into the parking lot and realized where we were!  It was a crowded day at the gym (because of the no school day), but it didn't bother us.  We found plenty to do to keep busy during the hour+ we were there.

Playing on the big mats 

(It looks like they are stuck between the trampolines, but there is a net separating them from the trampoline area.)

  

 jumping beans

  

After Bounce we picked up Josh for lunch and to take Ronan to his next surprise...Toys R Us!  We rarely take the kids there because one or both of them usually leaves in tears because they wanted to buy something.(:  Ronan had been asking for & dreaming about getting an army playset that he saw there around Christmas time.  He didn't get it for Christmas (what was Santa thinking??), so we thought it would be a fun thing to get for his half birthday.  It was a huge hit...he was beyond excited.

  

 For lunch we stopped at Little Caesar's Pizza for a $5 pepperoni pizza--Ronan's favorite food. (:  The rest of the day Ronan kept saying to me, "Mom, thank you for surprising me today." (:  "Thank you for my army stuff."  We all had fun celebrating our five and a halfer!