Is it time for Summer yet?

I am so tired of winter. We have had such a blah winter with little snow and a lot of haze. The kids are getting restless. Actually I am getting restless. I am so tired of sick kids. I don't think we have had a week without sickness since the middle of December. Poor Connor (our healthiest child) took the brunt of it with pneumonia and strep in the same week. He is finally starting to feel better after about 2 1/2 weeks. Unfortunately, he might be suffering from dramaqueenosis now. Just kidding we are just happy he is at least about 75% back to normal. He was able to play basketball on Monday and this time he didn't look like he was going to pass out. Logan and Ashlyn have also had strep and various other colds. I would think it was just our family having bad luck but last time I volunteered in their class rooms it was like a cesspool in the school. Maybe the inversion is making all the illness stick around. I am ready for nice weather and goober free noses. I guess until it warms up I will have to dream of our upcoming family trip to California and Chad and my trip to the Mediterranean.

Steve the Gecko

Connor got a gecko for his birthday in November. He went birthday shopping with Grandpa and Grandma Hatch and this is what he came home with. He used his birthday money from both sets of Grandparents and from his friend Carson. I wasn't that excited about having another pet. I was worried that it might smell so we banished him to the basement. It hasn't been bad at all. He doesn't seem to have a smell and he isn't much work. Connor feeds him two small mealworms every night. The kids really like him. We are now the proud owners of 2 frogs, Kruger and Godfrey (that are really like fish); 4 fish, no names, that came as 2 from school and then multiplied; 1 dog, Foster; and 1 gecko, Steve.

I know that the names are weird but they are all named after football players. Even the boys Webkinz have player's names. Who would have guessed.

It reallly is Connor's gecko even though there are no pictures of him with Steve. Connor tries to avoid pictures.

Can you hear me?

Ashlyn got these headphone for New Years. She put them on the Barbie MP3 player that she got for Christmas. She wandered around the house yelling instead of talking. She yelled "Can you hear my Boice? I can't hear my Boice!" I thought the headphones would cut down on the noise in the car when they are watching dvds. Now I am not so sure. They might make us crazy.

More Christmas

What did Santa Bring?

The kids have been anxiously awaiting this day. They actually slept until Chad came home at 7:15. They were all happy with what Santa brought. The boys were happy to see he had brought an arcade basketball system as a bonus gift. When Logan saw it he said "Who asked for that". After going through the gifts Santa brought Ashlyn said, "This is the happiest Christmas ever!" That statement was short lived though. When we were upstairs opening the family gifts she said, "This is the worst Christmas ever!" She was not happy that she didn't get any Barbie's from Mom and Dad. Apparently the 6 Barbie's she got from Santa and Grandma and Grandpa Hatch weren't enough. I guess only Santa did well this year. Maybe throughout the next year we will work on being grateful for what we have. In her defense, she was happy with her stuff later on in the day. She blamed her imaginary friend "Josie" for the outburst. Should we worry about multiple personality disorder.
We spent a fun Christmas Eve with the Gray side of the family. The kids enjoyed showing off the talents they had worked on. We spent the Saturday before Christmas with the Hatch side. Grandpa and Grandma Hatch were in Thailand on Christmas so we celebrated it early. This was our first Christmas that we stayed at home the whole day. Chad had to work so after all the gifts were open he slept for awhile while the kids and I played. We had a fun day spending time together.

Celebrating Christmas with Grandpa and Grandma Hatch

Carter Family Christmas Party