A Visit from our Cousins!!!

Brian, Tawnya, Skylar and Lexi

Lexi and Sam eating icecream

Max and Skylar were good buddies.

"The Twins" went to O'Hara School together. They were so excited!

All of the kids in their O'Hara uniforms,

all ready for school on St. Patrick's Day!

We have had so much fun having our cousins visit from Bozeman, Montana. The kids even got to take their cousins to school for a day. We have gone shopping, stayed up talking, watched the kids play and tonight we are going to go out for dinner and to the Cooler to see Dad's band play - No kids yipee!

basketball trophies

Sam (top right) and his team!

Max (middle) and "The Blazers"

Sam with his "Wolverines" trophy

Coach Franssen and Max




Both boys had great basketball seasons! Sam actually played 2 seasons in a row. He played with kidsports and YMCA. Sam' s best friend and neighbor Kameron asked Sam to play on his old school's team. Kameron's dad was the coach. Sam has so much confidence and it is so fun to watch him learn and grow. They had a really good season and won almost all of their games.


Max played on a Y-Ball team with his buddies from school. His team improved so much over the season it was amazing. Max also improved a lot. He amazes me with his ability. He is really growing into a strong player. I guess that it always shocks me when my children show any athletic ability since I never had any!



They were both so proud of their well deserved trophies!

St. Patricks Day Party

My Dad plays in an Irish Band called The Irish Echo. They only play about five "gigs" a year. One of them is always a donation to the St. Paul Auction. For the past 2 years Kevin and Amy have bought the Irish Echo Party at the auction and we have been lucky enough to be invited. It is so much fun!

Delia,Christy , Steph, Me, Kelli and Amy

Pancho, Donnie and Kevin

Steve, Dad and Dan

"The Irish Echo"

They always start off playing traditional Irish songs with a few jokes and stories mixed in. Then for the last 45 min or so, they play some great 60's and 70's songs that we can all dance to. We were all out there "bustin a move" it was so much fun! After the party, we all made our way over to Kevin and Amy's house and kept the party going. Dad and the other guys brought their instruments in and we were all singing and dancing till midnight (or was it 1:00 am? the time change always kills me)!

Creative. . .but Messy!

Creative . . .

. . .but messy!

I have been making invitations for my brother and sister-in-laws Baby Shower. It is so much fun to get creative, but not so much fun to clean up when I am done. As you can see, I am the messiest scrapbooker ever.

I made two different invites. There were a couple of reasons for this. . .

1. The scrapbook store did not have enough of one kind of paper

2. I had too many ideas that I wanted to try

3. I guess that I enjoy making more work for myself?

Anyway, I am soooo excited to have a new nephew in June, and Kate, if you are looking at this, sorry to spoil the "invitation" surprise :)

Good Mom or Crazy Mom?

Kameron (neighbor) and Sam playing Wall Ball

Boys! Boys! Boys!, because I have two boys, my house always seems to be full of boys. My boys are also VERY active, so they have started playing wall ball against our sliding glass doors. We have constant wall ball tournaments going on in our Family Room. At first, I thought it was a crazy idea, but they LOVE it! Its hard for them to get outside when it is pouring rain out, so they have thought of a way to get their energy out inside! They have an intricate set of rules and they all know where the "in" and "out" lines are (even though I can't see them).

So . . . I let them do it. What do you think good mom or crazy mom?

Sam G. (friend from school) & Max playing Wii

Oh, I just thought of another crazy mom thing. Our garage is full of junk. No...I mean full!

Sam G and Max have spent the whole morning digging trails through the junk in our garage and they made themselves a fort way out in the middle somewhere. I can't take a picture of this because I am too embarrassed by the state of our garage. I guess its like turning a negative (messy garage) into a positive (hours of entertainment) though right? I wonder why the kids always want to play at our house? Could it be because of the crazy mom?

Max's Braces are GONE!!!

BEFORE ...

...and AFTER!

Max got his braces off today! He has had them on for a little over a year. I guess all of that $$$ paid off because his teeth really do look a lot better than they did before braces. Dr. White told us that there is still a chance that Max may have to have braces again as a teenager (I don't get it either). Hopefully, this was it though, so now we will just have to focus on not losing his new retainer!

Oh yes, and by the way. . . Sam gets his on next week! Here we go again!

Home Again . . .

From this . . .

. . .to this.


I can't believe that we are back home! The week went by so fast, but we have so many wonderful memories to hold on to now. This was such a fun vacation. The kids all did a great job travelling, they are at a really fun and easy age to travel with now. It was such a fun thing for Pancho and I to be able to see all of these cool experiences through their eyes. I still cant believe everything we saw and did while we were in Maui . . . snorkeling, boogie boarding, swimming, train ride, luau, building sand castles, hula dancing, looking at underwater sea life, whale watching, shopping, eating, and spending time with family! It makes you realize that vacations like this are priceless. I am already trying to plan another one . . . (just not sure how to pay for it). Now its back to reality . . . making lunches, doing the HUGE pile of laundry in front of me, 5am walk/runs, rainy cold drizzle etc. It just makes me more thankful for this wonderful family experience and the memories we take away from it!

Last Day in Hawaii

Lucy doing the Hula!

She thought that the REAL Hula dancers that we saw were so pretty, so she has been trying to be like them ever since.

She also bought a ukelele in Hawaii and she plays it all of the time and sings her own made up songs about Hawaii.

This is the best food in Maui . . .REALLY. It is in the little town of Paia and they have the best fish tacos anywhere!


All of the cousins finishing off some of those Mahi Mahi tacos . . .YUM!

This picture speaks for itself.

More swimming in the pool . . .they LIVED in this pool for a week!

Yes, that is Max snorkeling and diving down to the bottom . . .I can't even do that!

My brother Kevin and Sam snorkeling together.

They're Gonna Kill Me . . .

. . . but I think they are so cute!!!

My sister in law Kate (6 1/2 months)

and My cousin Heather (7 1/2 months)

gotta love pregnant bathing suit pictures!

Snorkeling Cruise

Shaka Lucy and Shaka Pancho at lunch today.
Shaka Mama and Shaka Max

We took the boys on a snorkeling tour today. Lucy stayed home with Grammy and Papa. The boys have fallen in love with snorkeling. We have found quite a few places to snorkel at while we have been here, but the snorkel cruise today was the highlight. We went to a beautiful place with tons of tropical fish to look at. It was a blast. I really like snorkeling too! Most of our pictures were taken with a waterproof camera that I still have to get developed, but I thought these pictures were cute.

Shaka Bros

This is the cruise boat that we went on complete with yummy Mai Tai's!

Whale Watching Cruise

We went on an awesome whale watching tour today! We saw tons of whales. They were spouting, rolling over and jumping out of the water. It was soooo cool and a once in a lifetime experience for the kids. It was also fun to just cruise on the boat in the sunshine and drink hawaiian drinks!
Pancho, Lucy and Kyla

Sam, Casey and Max

Mama Whale and Baby Whale

This was so cool to see. . .

Our Romantic Dinner!

Mom and Dad watched our kids so that Pancho and I could go out to dinner. We went to the Grand Wailea and had dinner as the sun was setting. It was sooooo nice and relaxing. We decided that we need to come back here and do this same vacation every year! It has been a dream come true for our family. Now we just have to win the lottery!!!

This was our view as we were sipping fruity drinks and eating a delicious dinner (talking about car washes -just kidding!)

The Yellow Submarine

We took the kids on this cool boat that we called "The Yellow Submarine". It was really fun.

The kids got to see tons of tropical fish out the windows.

Sitting in the bottom part of the boat looking for fish, turtles and octopus. . .

The divers brought an octopus up to the window for the kids to see up close.

Snack time on top of the boat . . . we also got to see a few sea turtles floating by.

The divers brought up shells for each of the kids.