Easter 2012

The O'Hara's came to Napoleon for Easter. We had too much food, plenty of eggs and sunshine AND we got to meet our newest baby cousin Stephen George!  Sadly, I was too busy cuddling him to take any pictures of the little man.  But, believe me, he's a cutie!

 

 Hanging in the driveway for the long awaited Easter Egg Hunt.

 That's Miss T out in the distance fetching some eggs.

 Kendall plucking eggs by the house.  The boys and Molly were too fast for me to get any pics!

 Paige and Aunt Lola

 The Windau Family.  L to R: Cole, Ali, Lauren, Stephen, Mar and Steve.  Where's the baby?

The Neuenschwander Grandkiddos. L to R: Nate, Kendall, Tessa, Molly, Paige and that's Zack with the bucket over his face.

Spring Breakin' in Ohio 2012

So, nothing like the Baughman kids living in the lap of luxury and Spring Breakin' in Ohio!  Kind of have to laugh as that certainly sounds like an oxymoron! However, the reality is that our kids would never pass up some serious Gramma Gayla and Gramma Char time regardless of the location! They split the week with the grandparents.  They played hard, ate well and got nothing less than spoiled rotten.  They came home with enough paraphernalia like Tshirts, books, toys and trinkets that you would think they had been on quite the vacation tour.

Nate has developed a serious obsession with the Titanic.  We've read book after book and sometimes the same book several times over of the story, details and facts of the Titanic.  If you are any family or friend of ours Nate has checked and double-checked the passenger list to see if there was anyone related to anyone that he knows.  Well, lucky for him, the Titanic exhibit opened at the Henry Ford Museum the week of break and Gramma Gayla put it on the agenda.  Poor Gramma Char got stuck having to build a Titanic replica out of cardboard boxes once the kids got to her house.

 All bundled up and fishing in the pond.  As usual, springtime in the Midwest there can easily be a 30-40 degree temperature change within the same day. 

 Nate doesn't seem so sure about this catch?!

A little cool weather doesn't keep Cole and Nate from picnicking on the patio

Boys being boys

Bowling at the River City Bowl Away

It wasn't raining, but it was certainly cold enough and Gramma G caught wind of Nate's recent obsession with bowling!

The Titanic exhibit at Henry Ford Museum.  Cousin Keaton played hooky from school to come along!

Nate and Tessa at the stairwell. Can't you see Leo and Kate and Victor Newman coming down those stairs just like in the movie!

 

 The kids wanted to trade in the mini-van for this ride.

Playing Gramma's Kindle.

 Fishing and playing in to pond...wearing shorts and tshirts now, must be warming up!

De-mucking the pond.  Great job for kids!

 Tessa washing her feet? Not sure what she's doing here?

 Had to take the hockey equipment along to Ohio.

Picking Cole up from school

Cole didn't get to go to the exhibit, but he scored a Titanic Tshirt!

 Doing puzzles

Alex's Birthday Party

We celebrated one of Tessa's best buds Alex's birthday this weekend. A bunch of five or nearly five year old girls bowling...it was chaos. Good for the parents hosting that the bowling alley serves beers! Big brother Nate turned on the charm or begged rather and got to hang with the girls too. He thought he was pretty hot stuff bowling with all the ladies. He's ready for the youth bowling tour and now has an obsession with bowling. I told him it's a rainy day activity. Nevertheless, it rained the very next day and I had to listen to him cry and whine about going bowling!

Alex, the birthday girl, and Tessa

Opening the loot

Miss T bowling. The girls were seemingly more concerned with what color ball each was using than knocking down the pins!

Around the table, front to back, Ella, Tessa, Ava, Ruby & Ava K.

Ruby, Alex and Tessa

March Madness

Zack and family came up to God's country for the weekend of St. Patty's day. Of course, we had to keep up our tradition of celebrating Zack's birthday so, as ordered, we got him a Tigers baseball cake! The boys and Boz took off for the boat show and sadly did not return with a fancy new upgraded pontoon boat with plenty of cup holders and kickin' stereo that I had requested. Aunt Amy and I relished in the unseasonably sunny and 80 degree weather with the kids all day.

Kendall, Tessa, Molly, Zack & Nate. Yep, Tessa is wearing a bathing suit! She declared "it's summer!" I reminded her it was March 17th.

The birthday boy...NINER, NINER.

The boys, shirtless. And, Zack is pant less. If you look closely he's in his skivvies! Washing up the 4 wheeler after they tore through every mud pit on our property.

Zack and Nate. Someone feed these poor children!

Hockey in the driveway. Wolverines v Buckeyes, of course.

Look, there are no leaves on the trees and these kids are in shorts!

The ladies having a nail session.

Miss T showing off the polish work.

Our newest Rosebrook cousin, Rookie. Hanging (and apparently digging!) under a tree.

Rocks for Jocks

We closed out Nate's basketball season this week. The Slippery Rock Rocks had a great season! Nate's improved incredibly and is looking forward to getting high tops for next year. My only complaint is that now he refuses to wear shorts that don't go past his knees. This is only a complaint as he only has 3 pairs that meet this strict criteria right now and it proves to be a challenge for the house help/launderer/mom/me. It is also kind of sad for the several other pairs of gym shorts in his drawer that he has shunned.

The Rocks

L to R : Owen, Cal, Lucas, Connor, Nate and AJ

This is a terrible picture that I had to over expose so you could actually see it but I find it quite funny. That's Nate and the other kid, yep, that jolly old giant second grader, is the kid that Nate was defending! Good thing Nate has speed on his side.

Rocks are warming up with lay-ups

The Rocks enjoying a post game celebratory cupcake.

Winter Festival

Tessa's preschool hosted their annual Winter Festival. Essentially they serve chicken nuggets and mac n cheese, let the kids run around like maniacs, paint faces, twist balloons, the classes each perform a song or two and the night ends with an inspiring magic show. It's always a little painful for the parents but the kiddos just love it. Tessa stood front and center this year and actually sang the words to the song they were performing. In previous years, she would tell us a completely different song that they were singing and in the end would end up sitting on a teacher's lap and not participating much (not surprising when the whole class is singing I'm a Little Tea Pot and you've been telling us that you were gonna sing the ABCs!)

Miss T in the red dress and polka dot tights.

She untwisted her dog balloon. That pink smear on her cheek is a little heart. Apparently she had asked them to paint her face like spider man. While it would have matched her dress, I appreciated whomever talked her in to a delicate heart!

Michigan Hockey

Go Blue! UM v Miami of OH

Of course we supported the local fundraising organizations and bought our fair share of snacks and drinks from the concession stands.