You thought you had a lot of laundry . . .

To fit all the summer clothes we brought back from North Carolina into our Suburban, we were forced to be a little creative. Clothes were rolled under seats, inside the stroller, and anywhere else they could be stuffed. Needless to say, I had to refold it all when I got home. Being such a great housecleaner and coming back to a place where warm clothes aren't yet a priority, it sat a couple of days (and a couple in this case may be more than 2). By that time, I had regular laundry to wash, too. When finished, I was faced sorting this pile. For perspective, the bed is the extra full size bed in our bedroom (and Brenda thought the kitchen was funny looking). And, in the interest of full disclosure, this picture is short one load of laundry (still in the dryer) and two loads of towels I folded downstairs.

Goodbye House

Well, I took some pictures of our house before we left. It has been hard to be 6 months without our furniture (Can't say I'm overlly fond of the rental's furniture) so I thought I would take some pictures to get me through till the house sells (or the off season beach rental goes in season and we have to move to a new UNFURNISHED rental). Thought you might like to see the old place or, if you've seen it before, the new bathrooms, kitchen, and floors we added. I forgot the basement, but it now has a new sumppump that both doesn't leak and not turn on (a double wammie). Enjoy!

Pogo Mania

A few years ago, Mom gave one of my kids a pogo stick for their birthday (Ryan I think?) Anyway, it was always a little hard for the kids, but for some reason this spring break they finally "got it." Here are videos of the oldest three pogo-ing their newest technique- Hands Free.
Ethan discovered the technique:

Elise refined it:

And even Ryan joined in:

The kids had so much fun we took the pogo stick back to CT with us.

Spring Break Highlights

We had a great spring break. For those of you who are out of the loop (Gordon), we went down to North Carolina for two weeks to work on the house, see our friends, and see our family. Grandma Red was there for the birth of our newest nephew, and Grandpa even flew up one weekend to see everyone. After the 1st week, we were joined by Peter (he was working before). It was a great 2 weeks! Here are some highlights:

One of the days we spent at the Marbles Museum in Raleigh. The kids loved it and we took a lot of pictures

We also spent a day at the aquarium and the beach.

Poll Answer

I think everyone who took the poll was mean! If you think back, the last time I went on the 12 hour drive we only had one bathroom break (and since it was also a McDonalds for lunch break you could technically call it 0 breaks) This time we had to stop twice for the bathroom. Although one of them was for gas, too and the station didn't have a restroom so we tried the CVS nearby (which also didn't have one) and ended up in a fancy grocery store (the kind with wood floors). Oh yeah, Joseph did have to stop at the end of a freeway ramp once, so I guess you could count that as break #3. Next time depends for everyone!

Spring Break in NC

We are heading out tomorrow for a two week "vacation" in North Carolina. Peter is working next week during spring break, so he is joining us for the 2nd week. The teachers have been notified that the kids will miss a week of school, the car is tuned, the snacks are bought, the ipods are charging, and we are getting ready to pack and load the car. I've done the 12 hour drive once before by myself and even though it wasn't bad at all, I am nervous to do it again. It is a work/vacation trip because we are trying to get everything perfect so our house will sell (the basement started flooding and the sump pump stopped working, so we have to fix that). I can't wait to move all our possessions up to CT and buy our own house here. Wish me luck!

Ethan's Eye

The story of Ethan's eye is pretty simple. He was playing basketball and he and another boy ran into eachother. I didn't get a picture the first night, but it was almost swollen shut. Peter was worried it might be broken, but the swelling died down in a day and all that was left was the black eye (although the kids called it a purple eye and now a green eye).

Pinewood Derby Race

We had fun, even if we didn't win. Everyone liked the Wii design (Thanks to Kirsti for coming up with the idea!)

My Easter Pictures

I know that I am a little late, but we did celebrate Easter and here are some of our pictures. Unlike some people, we were freezing on our easter hunt! This year Peter hid the eggs (he worked all night and thought he would fall asleep if he sat more than 30 seconds). He made it much harder than I do!

Matthew Speaks!

So Matthew has finally started to communicate. He has been saying Momma and DaDa for a while (when he sees us), and recently started repeating the kids names when we call them. But on Monday he had had enough. Kirsti took his toy and he came up to me (crying) and said as clear as day, "Momma, KIRSTI!" Of course he picked the hardest of all the kids names. And I don't know if it is a bad sign if he starts his talking career by tattling, but he speaks! Yesterday (tuesday) he brought me a banana and asked, "Banana?" So I guess he is starting to get that talking is not too bad. (And of course I gave it to him even though I was going to make banana bread with it, but his second word- who could resist that?)