Landon the Tin Man

Cute boy! Into everything, including the kitchen drawers, not so cute!

Hailey in Sports

Hailey did the long jump, triple jump, and mile and a 1/2 in track. She also played club volleyball this spring as the Libero on her team.

We're Getting a Pool!

On April 8th, 2010, they did the 1st drawing of the new pool on our grass. This is the 3rd time we've discussed building a pool. 3rd times a charm, we are actually going through with it!

This is the "beach/walk-in entry".

Eric diving in from where the "jump/diving" rock will be!

Easter 2010

Easter and Easter egg hunt! Looks like the Easter Bunny was in our house!

....and left some goodies and gifts for the kids.

Dallin

Sydney

Hailey and Landon

Girl's Weekend in Arizona

To celebrate the "year of turning 40", 3 of my best friends from high school met in Scottsdale, Arizona (where we grew up) for the weekend. It was a blast. We talked, laughed, shopped, ate, talked and laughed. It made turning 40 this year not seem too bad, especially having great friends like these for over 20 years.

Ronda and Lara

Lara and Lara

Jen and Ronda

Lara (and kids!), Jen, Lara and Ronda

Eating and Talking!

One Republic Concert

In March, Eric and I attended a One Republic concert at the Oklahoma/Texas border. It was a small venue and we were on the 5th row. It was incredible! We wish we would have taken the kids, who love this band.

Sea World 2010

Kids are in the last row!

For Spring Break we went to Sea World with our friends, Suzi and Kendall. It was a great time. The kids enjoyed Shamu, the other animal shows and the fun roller coasters.

I'm in the wrong business!

The other day I received this flyer on my front door. It is from a 13 year old girl offering her babysitting services. Check out her prices! So if Hailey isn't available to babysit, it would cost me $17 PER HOUR for her to watch my other 3 kids. She's making more than most college grads an hour for sitting and playing games and watching TV. Glad she says she "can pull some strings to fit me into her schedule." Geez....gotta go work on my flyer!

Sydney and Symmetry

Sydney brought home this "Symmetry project" and I just loved her definition of Symmetry. It reads, "My bat is symmetrical, because when you fold it in half, it is symmetrical." Her teacher wrote, "What does it mean to be symmetrical?" Duh! Her teacher obviously doesn't get it!

Dallin Creates Cool Art

Dallin's artwork was chosen as a piece from his elementary school to be displayed at the Lewisville District's Art Show in March.

Hailey's District Cross Country Championships

Hailey finished 8th overall at the District Cross Country meet. I think there were almost 100 runners from about 10 middle schools in our district. She finished 1 1/2 miles in 9:53.

Getting ready to go. Look at that focus.

They're off!

Landon's Haircut

For Landon's first "official" haircut I took him to one of those special places where you sit in a cool chair and watch a movie. It cost extra but is worth it because they are usually still and focused so the person can cut their hair easier. Well....Landon ended up in my lap, in a normal chair, hating the experience. She actually did a good job, despite almost cutting off her finger or his ear numerous times.

Hailey's 13th Birthday

Wow, my girl is in her "teens", and I'm proud to say, "I still like her." Many moms complain about their teenagers (I know we are in the early stages :) ), but I am very proud of Hailey. She is smart, fun, honest and has a lot of integrity. I am glad to be her mom and enjoy being with her.

She had a "flag football" party with a group of her school friends. She has a great group of school friends. They are athletic, smart, respectful, and fun kids that we enjoy having in our home.

We also played "Center, Left, Right" with candy. The winner went home with a large stash!

Silly Putty and Hair - Sydney's Experiment

Sydney was curious if Silly Putty would stick in her hair. So, instead of just asking me, she decided to conduct her own experiment. Results are below.

Let's just say I wasn't too thrilled with Sydney as I was soaking her hair in "Goo B Gone" and trying to comb the gunk out. Once I got it out she asked, "Can I still keep it and play with it". I had seen all the Silly Putty I could bear for a while, so in the trash it went.

ITALY!!

Eric and I were able to visit Italy this past January. It was incredible. Eric left for a conference on Sunday and I met up with him a few days later, on Thursday, and then we traveled around for a week. It was amazing. I'm embarrassed to admit I wasn't very excited about Italy. It has just never made my "top 10 places to visit". I wasn't sure I'd get into all the old statues and art. I felt like I would just walk quickly by and be like, "that's nice". Wow, was I wrong! I was addicted. It was so interesting and just incredible to see and walk among things with such a history. We traveled to Rome, Florence and Venice. Here are some of our favorite pictures.

Our Hotel in Rome (still on Abbott's tab!)

Leaving our hotel room. It was winter, so we had to bundle up to stay warm!

Our trip to the Vatican and the Sistene Chapel. This was an amazing tour. The Vatican was very interesting and the Sistene Chapel was gorgeous. What a masterpiece! We were not allowed to take pictures inside, so I don't have any pictures of inside the chapel.

Inside the dome of St. Peter's Basilica

The Colosseum - what an incredible sight. One of our favorites!

Famous statues and monuments in Rome

The Pantheon

There's some kind of story with throwing a coin in the fountain. It has something to do with throwing in one coin for good luck with love. More coins have all kinds of different meaning, so we stuck with "good luck". So, "when in Rome", Eric and I tossed in a coin!

On the train to Florence!

I was very surprised by Florence. What an incredible and fun energy in this city. Here is our hotel (now on our tab!...actually it was small, but nice).

Our continental breakfast.

Florence is a city with a lot of energy! It is here that I bought my Italian leather boots. Florence is also where we saw the statue of David, which was one of my favorite parts of the entire trip. Okay, remember how I said I wasn't too excited about Italy because, although I like art, I'm not that "into" it! Well, I'm embarrassed to say that I did not know that THIS statue of David was THE David from "David and Goliath". I seriously never knew that. I tour guide was amazing as she had us really examine the statue (which is huge!). It felt like we were right there and could feel the tension, yet determination, of David as he prepared to sling that rock. I never even realized David was holding a rock in his hand and a sling over his back. I guess that would have been a clue, but I just never noticed that in pictures. The hands were one of my favorite parts. You could actually see the veins popping, as he held the stone tightly. Amazing art! You are not allowed to take pictures (because you exit by a nice gift shop selling all kinds of stuff), but somehow, my camera captured a couple :)

Next, we were off to Venice, pretending to look more European in my boots!

Okay, another embarrassing moment to share about myself. Did I previously mention that my geography and knowledge of the world is pretty bad? I knew Venice was surrounded by water, but I didn't realize there were NO streets at all. That literally there were only walkways all throughout the city, and very narrow at that. If you wanted to travel you went by a water taxi. It was amazing. I don't think we've ever walked so much in our lives. And I crossed an item off my "bucket list"...riding in a gondola in a romantic place!

Our hotel in Venice

Since the only transportation in Venice is by boat, we walked a ton. It was amazing, but a little difficult to navigate, as there are hundreds of narrow alleys and not many signs.

This was one of the things on my "bucket list", one down, many things to go!

More incredible sites from Venice...

You may wonder why my post ends with this picture of a bathroom. After going through airport security and almost to our gate, I decided I would go to the restroom before we boarded our flight. Eric decided he would continue onto our gate and I'd be there in a few minutes. Trying to hurry a bit, I decided I would go into the Handicap bathroom, since it was open and I didn't see anyone close with special needs. I would be quick! While sitting on the toilet, I noticed the handle looked a bit "messed up". I thought to myself, "how horrible would it be to get stuck in here." After washing my hands I went to let myself out and I was STUCK! The door handle would not turn. I kept turning the lock back and forth and tried jarring the handle. No luck. I tried not to panic as I worked on it a few minutes. Finally I started knocking and saying, "help". Surely someone would understand me. A couple of women tried speaking Italian to me, and then one arrived with a little English. But nothing she suggested helped open the door. It was going on 13 minutes and I was starting to sweat, thinking, surely Eric will get worried soon? Finally they got maintenance and they had to take the door off and let me out. I contemplated limping as I strolled out, but just decided I'd already learned my lesson. At that point, I had had a great trip but was ready to get safely home!

Bon Jour!