Springfield Trip

Last weekend we left Greg at home to get things done and we headed to Springfield, IL.  It was very cool and worth the trip!

 Abraham Lincoln's home

 Silly children

 Around the corner was a Frank Lloyd Wright home, we didn't go inside, but just hung out around the grounds. 

 

 Lincoln's tomb

 Old State House

 Tickets to tour the house

Family Room

At the moment our Family room is all about Hockey.
More details to come as the room gets put back together...

 The crowd arrived by laundry basket, also known as the "bus"

Mimi Turns 10!

(we are now caught up on the blog!)

We kept the birthdays very simple this year.  

I had to keep reminding the kiddos that we had our parties down in Orlando, FL. 

Mimi, "Now I'm two hands!"

She thought a star cake would be too hard, but there's not much I can't find on Pinterest.

 Mimi's big interests lately are ducks, or any animal, the color green, the stars in the sky. 

 Robotic fish from her aunts. 

Cookies and a cute baby

Halloween 2015

I mentioned I'm behind on my posts! 

 Yoda was Clark Kent turning into Superman.

 Mimi was Lucy from Peanuts.

Parker was "#" with a hipster hat on.

Mid-Winter Gibby Happenings...

 Yoda started basketball, he does fine for a Kindergartner,
but here he is with his hands in his pockets and a big yawn...

 Mimi put Cupcakes on her Christmas list, how cute is that?
We took care of that on a long cold winter day.  

 Finally some snow!  Not as much as the east coast, though we'll take it.
I just noticed that the camera totally caught Yoda in mid-jump!
 

 Lots of Playdough that Yoda got for Christmas.
 

 Valentine's Day fun. 

And of course more fevers then I want to think about. 

Saturday Funnys

Mimi, "What's boogie boarding?"
Greg, "Well it's..."
Yoda * interrupting * "I know what it is, it's when you're on a surf board but you get up and dance"

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Mimi, "Have you ever been numb?"
Me, "yes"
Mimi, "And when you're not numb anymore it really hurts"
Me, confused, "it hurts?"
Mimi, "yeah, like when it's waking up from falling asleep"
Me (oh, she means when your hand falls asleep), "some people call that 'pins and needles'"
Mimi, "It doesn't hurt as much as a real needle, because I've had a real needle poked in me" --referring to when she had to get stitches in this post.  

Parker Turns 13!

Hey, everyone, there's a teenager in the house!  And this one is awesome.  He's kind to his younger siblings, jumps out of bed each morning to get to school, does his homework and keeps his room clean.  Believe me, he's got his challenges, and they are tough ones!  Stuff that I didn't anticipate when I thought about being a mom.  But he's working to become an even more amazing big kid. 

Side note about the cake, we found a fun bakery in the city that had these good looking Christmas cakes.  He thought it would be fun to get one, and it was great.  We may go there again....

I never thought I'd allow a handheld-gaming-device for my kiddos, but Parker is in an very unique Middle School that happens to be pretty far from our house, so the bus ride is forever.  He has to earn the right to have the DS each day, by having his work done, and done well. 

This year has been meant lots of changes for our boy, lots.  Just look at what he looked like just one year ago! 

Is it too late for a Christmas post?

I'm a little behind on my posts, this might happen most years...Here's Christmas 2015!

 We made a Lego/eco/gingerbread house--check out that windmill! 

 Christmas Photobomb

 Even Mimi got in on the photobomb

 

 BB-8 joined the family from Aunt Sonya

 How to make a 13 year old happy: a multi-tool from Nana!  

Marble maze madness from Aunt Tina!  

We had a great Christmas--I promised it would be small because we spent most of our Christmas budget in Orlando over the summer, but we still have fun!  Other highlights: Hot Chocolate and College fund contributions from Aunt Jill, Movie ticket gift cards from Aunt Merisa, and fun money from Aunt Michelle and Uncle Bruce as well as Grandma and Granddad. 

Yoda turns 6

Yoda on his birthdays...

 2009

 2010

2011

 2012

 2013

2014

what I hear...

While opening a box of Special K cereal.
Yoda said, "You like Special K"
Me, "I like you.  You're special"
Yoda, "and you're K"

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Mimi, "When you scratch an itch under a hat, you're just really scratching the hat."