A Birthday Boy Named Ray

This weekend we celebrated Ray's birthday. Already he is three years old!

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February...

It seems that February is typically the month that we have the fewest pictures. Guess there isn't too much going on. I did receive some lovely flowers for Valentine's Day. The kids did hand out and receive Valentines to/from their respective class. According to the few pictures that are in my February file, it would appear that we had a nice day, once the snow and ice melted. Brandon was able to get his skateboard out. The one he recieved for Christmas...
We attended Brandon's first Blue and Gold banquet for Boy Scout. Awards, skits, and Dinner (I thought it would be more like lunch, so we were hungry!) Jessica had a field trip with her Girl Scout troop at the same time as the banquet. Thank goodness that Grandma and Grandpa were able to help by being her taxi. The timing of, well, everything, just seemed to be a comedy of errors that day.
I had a birthday. It was a very nice day!
Along with the virus that each of them had earlier in the month (completely different symptoms), on Monday, we discovered that Brandon has strep and an ear infection. The good thing to this is that he loves his pink medicine!
And so here it is, February in a very short slideshow...

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Checking in

Just a quick check in. We are still here! Glad to see that the snow and ice finally melted away with a few days of much warmer weather. Each of the kids went viral. They were nice enough to take turns coming down with some virus. Different symptoms. Of course. Each had a trip to their doctor's office. And checked out fine...other than the virus. That was followed by cough and runny noses. But again, thanks to the warmer weather, I think I can finally say that they are well again! Good ol' fresh air, it does the body good!

Jess is in the midst of selling cookies. She isn't doing too bad considering the nasty weather and being sick. Mostly, we have to thank our family, friends and daddy's work for supporting our Girl Scout. Thanks!!

Brandon has a banquet to go to this weekend for Boy Scouts. Awards, pictures, food...should be fun stuff.

It's a bit icy out there...

It has been icy and nasty out since Monday. The kids were off school for three days and will have a delay Friday. We have not ventured out hardly at all. The one trip out that all of us ventured out, I didn't even make it to the truck without falling. Jess stayed upright, but I'm not sure how! Even the poor dog is having problems getting off the deck because it is so slick. 

On the first go of cleaning the ice off the driveway, the kids went sledding down it. They even left the sleds and slid down on their bellies. They looked like little penguins. Check out Brandon's form! The second to last picture sorta reminds me of the beach. It's a stretch, I know. Foreground is the sand, the breaking waves and then where the sea and the sky meet. Maybe it's just wishful thinking...

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Monster Jam

Loads of pictures of monster trucks...

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Monster Jam Meet and Greet

A few pictures taken pre-Monster Jam. While the kids didn't want to wait in the long lines to get autographs or their pictures with the drivers, they did like getting up close to the trucks. We didn't sit with Gabe and Alex this year. Gabe had his tickets thru his Scout pack. With Brandon now being a Scout, but in a different Pack, our tickets were in a different section. But of course we had to meet up! And it was Gabe's birthday to boot. Happy Birthday Gabe!
Uncle Alvin, Aunt Shannon and Ray and Uncle Mike and Aunt Rachel met us there. Jess was particularly happy this year because Gravedigger won the freestyle event. Unlike last year...remember this?

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This is it for now. I'll get more of Monster Jam up tomorrow.

Pinecar Derby

Brandon has had his first Pinecar Derby race. Almost a week ago. I think that he enjoyed the process of creating his car. He came up with the basic design, chose the stickers and paint color, and even the number when we took it to weigh in. The boys raced four races; the winner was chosen by the best average of those races. For the car that raced in Lane 1, that boy was allowed to push the start button. Pretty exciting stuff for a little boy! We did not win the race. But Brandon had fun and cheered for his fellow Tiger Cubs. Plus, there is always next year!

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I forgot to add this in the slideshow. This makes a little boy happy-

He finally received his Marshmallow Shooter!