New Years Resolution

Geremu caught a fish...  And I'm back!  

I was planning on making blogging my New Years Resolution but after Nick forgot our camera at his brother's house I figured I can't commit to blogging because no one likes a blog post without a picture or two.  I've decided not to announced my New Years Resolution on the blog because you would all feel the need to hold me accountable and I don't want to put that sort of burden on you.  

Until our camera shows up I'll just spend a little time recapping our last year...  We had a fabulous year, the best ever actually.  We spent a LOT of time figuring out this whole family of five thing and getting to know each other, which went well.  The kids had a summer of outdoor fun which included but was not limited to:

Boating...

 and playing in the rain.  

Do you recognize that stump in the lower right hand corner in the picture above?  

That was our 2011 x-mas tree, the stump was removed this summer.

One of the highlights of the summer was the 4th of July which was spent up north.  The kids decided to ride their bikes in the local parade....

 Severe weather rolled into the area right before the parade was to start.  Which resulted in the fire truck leading the parade and my kids (with cousin Jacy) chasing the fire truck down the street on their bikes while Nick and Huyen ran after them.  Since it's a small town the crowded consisted of maybe 5 people including myself.  The chase scene is shown below...

I just want to end with a picture of my good looking husband with his shirt off...

If I forget to update this for a few months at least you'll have some eye-candy to look at!

You're welcome:)

First Catch of the Year!

 Geremu caught his first fish of the year today, it took roughly 20 minutes and it went something like this...

 I really should have video taped the chase scene for sound purposes because the ending was spectacular.  The fish was getting a bit tired and apparently disoriented.  The boys would kick up sand/mud and lose track of the fish but it wouldn't seem to go very far, when the dust settled we were able to spot it again and again.  I would point the location of the fish out to the boys and they would chase it down again.  The actual catch happened under the dock.  I didn't actually see Gere catch the fish but I heard it all play out.  The yelling went something like this, "NO, NO, NO, AHHHH, NO, NO!  AHHH, NO!  YES, HE GOT IT!"  Big breath as Gere gets above water and fits of laughter....

In other news, Nasuuna attended her first baseball game not to long ago.  Much like myself she seemed to lose interest in the sport as soon as her popcorn was gone.  Which was alright because she was really there to watch her favorite coach and not the game anyways...

Last week of school for me, looking forward to lots of family time!

My Heritage?!?

Recently I was introduced to a website that I found quite entertaining.  If you upload a photo it will recognize the face(s) in the photo then tell you your celebrity match.   Needless to say I've been busy... 

Nasuuna= Beyonce

Geremu= Carl Lewis

 Cullen= Carrie Underwood

 I have lots of close-up, head on pictures of my kids to choose from and it increases the accuracy (in my opinion).  Nick was a little more of a challenge, I struggled to find a picture on my computer that Nick wasn't wearing a hat in- every celebrity match for Nick also had a hat on... Weird???  I should also add because the pictures of Nick and myself aren't close-ups the format is a little different.

Nick= Mike Shinoda

 Last but not least,

Me= Ronaldo

Awesome right?

At this point I'm sure you are all dying to check out your celebrity match, here's the link. 

A Trip to see the Dr.

 This Memorial Day weekend I went down to Notre Dame to see the new Dr. in our family.

You might recognize him from his sexy legs...

I brought Cullen and Kennedy along for the fun.  It was great to have a little alone time with Cullen.  He was digging all the attention from the adults.  

And since Kennedy is fun she got to come along too.  She was a pretty good sport when it came to hanging out with a guy that may or may not have forgotten deodorant on a 98 degree day...

We took a little time to cool off by heading up to Lake Michigan.  The state park we stopped at had a CrAzY long car line just to get into it...  So we skipped that idea and instead found a path less taken...

 Pretty sure it's less taken because it was a bit of a hike in (up and down the dunes) and the sand might have been roughly 140 degrees.  By the time we got there our feet were on fire.  Fortunately the lake cooled them off pretty quickly.  Cullen enjoyed the adventure.

Chad is my cousin I spent a ton of time with growing-up.  I always seem to have a good time with him regardless of what we do, and this weekend was no exception.  Based off of Cullen's laughing at night and refusal to sleep when Chad was around I'm pretty sure Cullen thinks he's pretty fun too.

 I'm posted this just because I'm not sure what Kennedy is doing...

 In other news, we have two baby ducks.  

They are getting very big and will soon be taken to their new home. 

Mother's Day Weekend

Nasuuna and I headed to my parents house Friday night to try and catch a bit of my Dad's baseball game. Nick and the boys stayed back because they had a run to do Saturday morning...

 Nick and the boys came to my parents house after the run, they missed his Saturday baseball game but they did make it for Pop's Birthday Celebration!  

 Nasuuna got a chance to spend a little time with her girl Kennedy.

Today we stopped by to wish Aunt Kathy a Happy Mother's Day.  

You may remember, she is the one that made Nasuuna her quilt and pillow...

Well, she also made Cullen one...

 And Geremu...

 They are BEAU-TI-FUL!  

The kids LOVE them.  Tonight when I put them on their beds they kept thanking me.  I'm pretty sure I am the wrong one to thank.  They are now tucked in, sleeping soundly, under their new blankets- in their own beds!  Love my Aunt Kathy!

Before heading back home we stopped to show Adisa what God's Country looks like from up above...

Happy Mother's Day to all you Mom's and women waiting to be Mom's out there today.

Meet the Chickens...

One of the classrooms I've had the privilege of working in this year had baby chicks.  When Nasuuna had surgery a few weeks ago we got to chicken-sit.  Which resulted in entertainment for a girl who couldn't do much and two of my kids falling in love with the chickens.

 Cullen liked watching the chickens but wasn't that interested in touching them.  When I reminded him that he wanted to be a zoo keeper when he gets older he corrected me, "Mom, I want to be a zoo keeper with a net."  That ought to be interesting...  Last week we brought most of the chickens to their new owner.  The kids loved looking around the hobby farm.  I'm looking forward to the day when Cullen is walking around with a goat in his net.

*On a side note, when Nasuuna celebrated her birthday at school she got a birthday hat.  Now in Nasuuna's eye a birthday isn't really a birthday without a hat. So she insisted that we get hats for Cullen's birthday.  Everyone wore their hat on Cullen's birthday- Nasuuna has been sporting the birthday hats ever since.  Apparently it's an everyday accessory.  If I would let her, she would wear birthday hats to school- every day.  Instead she mostly just sports them around the house & neighborhood.

In the Words of Kelly Clarkson...

Miss Independent...

Miss Self-sufficient...

Miss Outta-my-way...

 Miss Almost-grown

 So, by keeping her heart protected

She'd never ever feel rejected

Little Miss Apprehensive

I said ooh, she fell in love...

We are creeping up on the 6 month mark as a family of 5.  The girl that I met back in October in Uganda is certainly not the same girl that we know now.  We have come a long way as a family in the last few months, but we still have a long way to go.  

I LOVE these kids of mine!

 Next post I hope to tell you a bit about the chickens my kids and I have fallen in love with...