Birthday Fun

We made a commitment at the end of last year to be less materialistic when it came to gift giving within our household. Christmas worked out well, we got five gifts from Santa and then some cash to use as we each saw fit.

For birthdays this year, we had a commitment not to spend more than $50 for each person on gifts. We have been quite successful on this, with both boys having had their birthdays recently and loving their gifts so much that they didn't notice we had spent considerably less than the previous year. Aurora had a specific item in mind that was outside of our dollar limit, however she offered to give up having a party and eating out for her birthday in exchange for the extra amount spent. This worked for us, so we went ahead and bought her the item she requested.

For Caed's birthday, he received Marvel Ultimate Alliance for the Wii (that grandma bought us for all of our birthdays this year) and then we gave him some cash since he didn't have anything else he wanted that would allow us to come in under $50. We also went to Austin's Park and Pizza for his party, which included his two closest friends. We avoided the media room, as usual, and sat in a quieter room so we could have conversation and enjoy one another's company. Surprisingly, we only stayed for 3 hours as Caed became anxious to come home and put together the Lego toy he received from one of his friends.

With the cash he got from us and the Toys R Us giftcard he received from his mother, Caed bought himself a Tomb Raider game for the Wii. He's been spending a lot of time on the Wii lately, but this doesn't bother us as he was spending just as much time reading various books this time last year. He tends to become quite absorbed in whatever interests him, so we know that once his interest changes, so will his activities.

Andrea's birthday was great for her as well. She woke up early for no reason she could tell and promptly showered, gathered a daughter, and went bargain hunting at the Blue Hangar Goodwill (super discounted Goodwill). She found many prizes, including an Unabridged Dictionary published in 1979 (coincidence?), a nice pair of leather sandals (not real leather), and a Holistic Healing Guide. There was much more found and for all she only paid $16.

After Goodwill, she picked up the rest of the family and we went to see a house for lease in the area. It has 6bedrooms and 3bathrooms. It's a lot of space, we fear perhaps too much, but we love the fact that everyone can have their own room during these teenage years and there are many shelves and storage places everywhere. We've been trying to minimize the things we have, but we would still like space to place what we have. The house is available now and we're not sure they'll hold it for us until we return from vacation, but there's only one way to find out, which is to ask.

So, that's been our week. Sam and Andrea start a new workshop tomorrow, which we will be attending from 10am until 10pm. On Sunday, we're planning a birthday party for Andrea, something we haven't done in a long time, so it should be fun!

At least it wasn't a month

So, it's been two weeks since we last blogged. As the title suggests, it could have been worse.

So let's see, not much has happened since we last blogged. We had Shane's b-day, that went really well. Shane decided the day before that he wanted to go out to a movie with friends, so we e-mailed several and rounded up two: Daniel and Austin. Shane, Daniel, and Austin went to see StepBrothers while the moms (and Dad) buzzed around running errands and hunting down a birthday apple pie for Shane. Shane got a pair of noise canceling headphones and an Itunes giftcard from Mom and Dad, both of which he loves.

After the movie, we all went out to Red Lobster as a party of 9, which was tons of fun. We sat around telling dirty jokes, hoping we wouldn't get kicked out, when our waitress (who was in her sixties) came up and told us a few of her own. A great time was definitely had. Austin ended up staying the night and the girls went home with Daniel and his mom to hang out with Daniel's older sister, who is Karma's best friend. Austin and Shane enjoyed some little brother (read: Caedmon) torture at 3 am that had Mom get up and threaten to make them sleep in the street.

Shane declared it was his best birthday and Mom and Dad patted one another on the back.

We have two birthdays coming up this week, Caed's birthday is on Tuesday and he'll be 12. Andrea turns 29 on Thursday (no, for real) and is not feeling old in any way--unlike when Sam was turning 29 and panicked that he was getting old.

We're still on for our vacation starting September 9th. We're heading to the Mall of America first and then after that, we'll head East and hopefully see some family along the way. If we haven't called you yet, please call us if you can snag a minute, we tend to get voicemail alot!!

This year, we'll be spending a minimum of 1 week in New Hampshire as requested by Sam's family, who we only spent a day with last year. We're also planning an actual stop in NYC of at least 3 days and several days in NC with some friends of ours that moved there earlier this year.

If you're reading this and you live E of the Mississippi and would like us to visit, drop us a comment!!

Wow

Last time we posted, we committed to posting on a weekly basis. Here now it's been just over 3 weeks without a post. So, what's going on with us?

Well, our lease was up on July 31st, but we're hanging tight until we go on vacation. We moved all of our stuff into storage today, just to have it out of the way and in case we get told that the place has rented and we need to vacate. We've hung on to a few items necessary for survival, like food and a few dishes.

Let's see, what else has happened in the last 3 plus weeks? Sam and Andrea attended another workshop, which was just plain awesome. We'll have to give details about that in person, it just can't be done justice in a blog.

Oh yes, Aurora has a boyfriend now! His name is Dakota and he's a good kid. They're 1 year and one month apart, he being the older one. That's a little more of a thrill ride for Mom and Dad than Karma and her boyfriend, because those two are perfectly shy together. Aurora and hers are a little less so. We'll keep you posted.

More recently, we got Breaking Dawn, the fourth (and final?) book in the Twilight series. So far, Mom has read it and loved it. Karma and Aurora are both reading it, but Aurora was borrowing a copy that went home with our friend, so she's now impatiently interrupted. Karma is a little less than halfway through the book and thoroughly enjoying herself. If you haven't started the series yet, we highly recommend it! Everyone but Shane has read or is reading the series.

Other things that have happened recently...For the release party of Breaking Dawn, Karma and her friend Cameron were going to dye their hair black with temporary dye. They misread the package they bought and applied a not-so-temporary hair dye to their hair while Mom and Dad slept. Needless to say, both girls have black hair and will have for quite some time.

We may not have ever mentioned it, but we received a Wii for our Birthdays this year from Andrea's Mom. We now have five or six games for it and very much enjoy playing. So much so, that we are bringing it on our vacation this year.

Oh yes, for those that we haven't announced to yet, we are taking a vacation on Sept 9th, until no later than November 11th. We will be travelling first to MN to see the Mall of America before continuing on to see Sam's family in NH in late Sept and Karma's boyfriend's family in NC in mid-October. We have no other set or solid plans, but if you would like us to drop in and see you, please let us know! If you are a certain sister-in-law with a brand-new (nearly 1 year old) son that we haven't met yet, we would love to stop and see y'all for a day or two (or more if you're up for it).

So, that's about it! Shane's b-day is this week, so we'll come back and update y'all later in the week.

Hello

Long time no blog.

Much has happened since last we posted as tends to happen in life. Highlights of the last many months: Shane lives with us; Sam and Drea participated in the Landmark Forum; Caed has lost many teeth and his 12 year molars are growing in; Karma has been commissioned for two art projects, a mural and a sign; Aurora is crocheting like a madwoman; Shane is almost done watching the complete Angel series; Andrea let her hair grow out to past her shoulders and then let Karma cut it (it's cute!); Sam has shaved his head again; Shane shaved his head again; Aurora let Karma cut her hair; Caed is wearing size 8 shoes but is still only 4'8"; Aurora is 1/4" shorter than Andrea; Karma grew 1/8"; we're heading out on a roadtrip on Sept. 9th to see the Mall of America, Andrea's brother and his family, Sam's family, and our friends who moved to NC.

Hmm, that may be about it. Oh yeah, we've got a new vehicle, a Chevy Uplander, which we will be driving on our vacation. Okay, so as lackluster as that was, that's the update! We'll start updating on a weekly basis, we promise.

Our Family Song

Our family movie is Meet the Robinsons. This song is played at the end of the movie. We love it.

Rob Thomas Lyrics

How we're doing

Hey everyone. Sorry it's been so long since we last posted. As you can expect, we've been quite busy with all the changes around the house.

Things are going pretty well, there've been some bumps in the road, no surprise, but we're making it along.

That was about the end of the inspiration. Hopefully, we'll say more later.

The Day of Reckoning is Nigh!!

For all those of you who are tuned in to our latest happenings, our changes are occurring in just a couple of days. We are busily arranging the house (read: cleaning like madmen) and are anxiously awaiting the newness of it all.

We'll keep you updated on the changes as they occur.