Another One Bites the Dust...

This year Cullen's school picture looked a little something like this...

  He refused to smile with his mouth open because according to him he was the only 2nd grader in his school that had not lost a tooth.  (Don't ask me why he appears to be falling or tipping forward- he couldn't explain that to me.)  He has watched while his younger brother and sister have both lost several teeth, silently and not so silently begging for his turn.  He made me take nightly pictures of him because he was sure every night was the night he was going to lose a tooth.  He just knew it would change his whole appearance.  Then right before Christmas he lost his first tooth.  It called for a BIG celebration- we had a tooth party!  

I assumed the nightly picture taking would stop...  Not so much.  

You're lucky I'm just posting one because they all basically look the same.

 Last night, after the Littles were already in bed, Cullen lost another tooth!   

This morning he woke up extra early to show me his Tooth Fairy goods.  Then asked me not to tell his siblings that he lost a tooth.  Guess what...  They never even noticed.  Cullen began prompting them asking if he looked different.  They NEVER. EVEN. NOTICED!  Cullen ended up finally tell them.  Of course they were happy and excited for him but Cullen was shocked they didn't notice.

When he came home from school he told me, "No one in my class even noticed that I lost a tooth."

Tonight before bed Cullen didn't ask me to take his picture...

Happy Birthday Nick!

Today was Nick's 33rd Birthday.  

I told the kids how old Nick was then snapped a picture...

Adisa is the only one not shocked that Nick is so old!  

I encouraged the kids to pick out or make something to give Nick for his birthday.  Cullen heard Nick tell me he wanted something for Christmas that I hadn't remembered to get him.  So I helped point out some backpacks that would work for Nick and Cullen picked the colors.  I tried to steer Geremu and Nasuuna to gifts that Nick needed so I took them to a sports store.  Geremu picked out a pair of pants that Nick loved but weren't long enough, I've since ordered them online in longs.  Nasuuna picked out a running jacket...  That is totally Nasuuna's style.  It's bright blue and fits him good- after Nasuuna left the room Nick asked me if it came in more subtle colors.  I told him it did...  Then Nasuuna walked back into the room wearing the new jacket- as a dress.  Nasuuna loves the jacket so much it will not be returned for a different color.  If you see a tall, thin guy running down the street in a bright turquoise jacket remember he got it from his daughter. 

Tonight I'll leave you with a video of Nasuuna singing Jingle Bells with some cute back-up singers.  This is pretty much how she sings all songs, including her schools winter concert songs.  I've caught Geremu trying to teach her songs slowly, word by word but she always resorts back to her own method as soon as the pace picks up....

At least she has the name and the beat/rhythm correct, right?

Our Cheerleader

Last night we went to an inner-city basketball game.  

Nasuuna wore her cheerleading outfit and did her thang...  

The picture above was pulled off of our local newspapers website.  I'm not sure when it was taken. Towards the end of the game when she was too tired to cheer (or stand by the cheerleaders and stare at them occasionally mimicking their moves a few beats behind) she was sitting on my lap.  The photographer came to ask her some questions.  His last question to her was, "When you grow-up do you want to be a cheerleader?"  

To which she responded, "I be a cheerleader now."

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.