I had hoped that this would come out better and be bigger, but since I am limited on what I can work with, here's nothing. Supposedly I am getting one of our computers back today...Gary's work computer. Our personal one is still out there being fixed. But at least I will back online. Wohoo!

Anyway. Life has been great. Gary is in the Dominican Republic this week with 25 other students and leaders. I know he was really looking forward to hanging out and being with this group of people. I will try to update more on his week when he lets me know more.

For now, this is Brendan being thrown in the ocean by his dad. It is an AWESOME close up...I WILL be getting this one printed and framed.

Please forgive!

We are computer-less right now. BOTH of our computers are down, our personal and work one. HOPEFULLY after I make a phone call today we will be back up and running. I have some fun pictures to post and have been wanting to do that but CAN'T! Fingers crossed....

one LONG update...

Rocky when we frist got her.....

Rocky now....MUCH bigger.

Ok, so I realize that I am getting worse and worse about uploading pictures to the blog. I have found that my time at the computer is getting less and less, and will be even more so come this fall once Baby #4 is here. Ah well, here are a few snap shots of what we have been up to the last couple of weeks.

Below is Mother's Day. We went to Cracker Barrel. Not the fanciest meal, but all I know is I didn't have to cook! It was actually a very nice morning and meal with the kids and Gary.

Here is Brendan before one of his T-Ball games. He LOVED playing and did really well. He has a great arm and can hit the ball pretty good too! I guess next year we'll move up to "coaches pitch." I am not really looking forward to it simply because the games are later, longer and further away. Who knows though, he could end up being a really good player. We'll see. You just can't beat a league that only charges $3 per kid!! We can afford to sign up and not go at that cost!

This is Teddy. When we tell him to make a happy face, this is what we get. Needless to say, it makes the rest of us laugh, there by making us happy. He looks more "pirate" than happy.

Here is Cecelia and Lana. They informed me that they are "real" princesses. The test was if a toy monkey moved on its own. Funny how it moved for both of them! Real princesses carry flowers, wear pretty dresses and don't have to get married. That is just what I was told by these two...I'll have to check the handbook...

This is Cecelia in the Edgeworth Club baby pool. Man that is such a cool pool. When I was little it was just a sorry square space that was strangely warmer than the other pool....now they have this amazing water fall, gizers, and a walk in entry. It's three times the size and as an adult, I like it almost better than the big pool!!

We were able to celebrate Brendan's 7th birthday at Nana's. Here is the cool ninja turtle carrot cake that he got. It was HUGE. Poor kid was so tired though from the ride up, he couldn't even finish his favorite kind of cake in the whole wider world. He appreciated it though, and still talks about it.

Here are my three. They were very happy to get a weekend in with Nana and Pampaw. Cecelia liked it so much she informed me that she wanted to move there. Although now that we are home, she is happy to be here and has discovered some of the issues of moving....like, what about her room? How will her room move? We'd be blessed anywhere God puts us.

Well, I know there are pictures I am leaving out, but I feel good that I at least got these on. I will also be adding videos of the kids jumping off the diving board at the Edgeworth Club. It is so funny to see them doing the same things I did DAY after DAY, summer after summer....I was so proud of them. They had to pass their deep water test and did it the minute they stepped into the water. They were cleared to jump freely in the deep in within 5 minutes of being at the pool!! Too fun. Alright, well, until next time!

Our mini vacation

This past weekend, we were very blessed to have a friend offer their lake house to us for a few days. This is probably one of the most wonderful family vacations we have ever taken. We went there two years ago, and I swear, the kids remember EVERY minute of their time at this place. They swam in the lake from the minute they got up to when they were down in bed. This time we remembered to bring our fishing poles and were able to catch some fish as well. I have to upload those pictures off of my new phone!! (total side note: I LOVE MY NEW PHONE!)
ANYWAY! We went out on the lake a couple of times, letting the kids look around at the amazing scenery. The mountains were beautiful and they had those picture perfect clouds topping them. I am pretty sure they didn't really watch TV for more than an hour the entire time we were up there, and they didn't even ASK to watch it either. Even though Teddy wouldn't jump off the dock, he was able to play in the water a little bit. He EVEN caught a fish. I wasn't able to get a picture of that because while I was asking to take a picture, he was busy knocking the tar out of it to get it off his rod. He succeeded, and Gary said he even saw the fish with the hook and weight swimming under him later that day! Poor fish.
Needless to say, it was a great time, and well worth the sleepless travels. (we got there at 11:30pm Thursday, and got back to Pawleys at 11pm Saturday!!) Even though our time was short, we are incredibly grateful and feel very blessed to have spent that time making wonderful memories with our kids.

Doin' a little fishing off the boat....because we didn't catch anything, I think we
were legal. Really he was just "swishing" his bait in the water....

This picture does not do the scenery justice. It was BEAUTIFUL!!

Teddy got a real kick out of the boat and going VERY fast.

Captain Gary and his First Mate, Brendan!

Letting Teddy have a shot at the wheel!

They had the best time, and LOVE the lake.

Birthdays, puppies, musicals, awards, Oh MY!!

I realize it has been a very long time since I have posted last. The good news so much has happened in the last few weeks that blogging really is the last thing on my mind. The bad news is our personal computer decided to call it quits on us. Now I have to call someone to come and bring it back from the dead. Good times!

Anyway. So lets think. Well, Teddy, my youngest, has turned three years old! I can't believe how quickly he is getting older. In so many ways it feels like he was just born, but in so many other ways it seems like AGES ago that I had him. Life has gotten so busy, that some days I feel like I blink and a month has passed, then other days I'd swear that one day was 6 weeks! Never when I want the time to go the way I want, does it.

So here are some pics from Teddy's 3rd birthday party. We got him Nascar cake and he LOVED it. He really is into everything cars.

Blowing out the candles....

A little birthday fun with Uncle Matty, Spencer and a Noodle! What more could a boy ask for!

Here he is blowing out his candles. The cake is the dashboard of a racing car. The wheel makes noises and talks. He LOVED it.

We also discovered that we may have a little Tiger Woods on our hands. We bought him some play clubs, and his swing is AMAZING!! He even gets the ball in the air, like over our heads, in the air!! DEFINITELY going to encourage this little hobby....SCHOLARSHIP $$$$.

Along with Teddy turning three, we also had the arrival of Rockie. She is a good puppy so far. Only a few accidents. No more than the other kids made I guess. She is getting bigger every day and more spunky. If she's going to make it in this house, she's going to have to be! We are in the process of figuring out what it's like to be dog owners, but we have reassured by many that owning a German Shephard is a good choice. She's smart and desires discipline....just like my kids! Shouldn't be too hard, right? HA! Teddy and the Rockie. They play chase ALL the time. Teddy has a love/hate relationship with that game. He likes when she chases, hates when Rockie actually catches up and gets him!

Cecelia LOVES Rockie. She is much better with the dog than she was with the cat. I think it's because the dog fights back in way she gets. Rarely does she mess with the dog.

Brendan is over the moon with having a dog. Since the first day we got the cat, Brendan started asking when he could get a dog. The name came from Brendan, and he LOVES her. He has informed me that when he turns 10, he will take Rockie for walks ALONE in the morning,...because then he'll be a big kid. I was just hoping that he'd start taking over some of the feeding and taking out to the back yard,...like TODAY! He'll get there, whether he wants to or not. :-)

Brendan was also in his class musical: Bugz! He was a firefly and had a speaking part. He was VERY excited about this and did a great job. We were very proud of him and Teddy cried for Brendan when his part was over...we'd like to think that he was just so moved by his performance that he was 'moved to tears'. (really he just wanted his brother.)

Post performance: Here are his Biggest fans, besides his parents of course!

The other AMAZINGLY PROUD news is that Brendan won a pretty big deal art award for the county. He beat out 9 other elementary school children to take Honorable Mention for the Superintendents Art Awards. The first place winner got $100, which Brendan was pretty bummed about not winning. But seeing as he got 4th place out of ALL the county children...well, I couldn't be more proud. Here he is with his trophy and ribbon.

This was the actual picture that he won for. It is a self portrait with his daddy. Now, you may ask about the "color" of his dad. It appears that he may have been limited in his chalk colors, since this was done with chalk. Brendan DID explain to us though, that Gary IS more tan than Brendan and that his skin technically is darker. So we accepted that. The title of the portrait is "family ties". If you look closely, the little yellow sticker in the bottom right corner has a '1st' on it. Who knows, perhaps my kid has talent yet! For a first grader, I was impressed. I only took one art class in college, and well, it was of nudes, much to my horror! So for my one class trained eye, I thought this was pretty darn good. Hopefully he'll keep with art and earn himself a scholarship somewhere...lord knows with four kids, we won't be putting them all through on our own!!!
So I think that does it for the last couple of weeks. So much going on. I don't think there is anything else. I will try to update again more regularly. If I can get our computer fixed, I'll be back in the regular business. But these are the highlights, enjoy!

Meet the newest Wieder...

These were taken by the breeder, she gives us weekly updates!

Well, we finally bit the bullet and decided to get a dog. A friend of ours told us about a german shephard breeder in Georgetown. We went out this past Saturday to check it out, and immediately fell in love with this little girl. She is a silver sable german shephard, pure bread.

She will be named Rocky Raphael Wieder.

(Rocky for Rock-n-roll, Raphael after the Ninja Turtle of course! )

This is supposed to be Brendan's dog, since Cecelia had the cat, God rest her precious soul. (we think that due to the fact Coco had cravings for non-food items like casette tape, strings, bed stuffing, and any other non edible item, that perhaps her little intestines no longer functioned properly and well, this led to her untimely demise. insert tear here...)

So after about 5 minutes of consoling Cecelia and mentioning that we might get a dog, TA-DA! ROCKY!

We will get to take Rocky home in two weeks. They give us to her when she is 6 weeks old. In the mean time, we have our crates already, Gary is going out to get some books on training dogs, we are getting a doggie bed and bowls, and a collar and leash. Oh yeah, and LOTS of dog food! We are excited to get her home and trained. She'll be an outside dog for the most part, but will be allowed in CERTAIN parts of the house when it's too hot or cold.

So, be prepared when you come over now...we will have a dog!

Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa

WE MISS YOU!!!

Best buds

December in Pawleys

Nothing like the world's best natural playground for the kids....

THE alive cub...

THANK YOU NANA/SANTA. She still loves it and plays with it. Which is a good sign for her, because her tastes and wants change with the wind. But this one she still sleeps with and takes with her most every where.

The Wii bowl off...

I am not going to say who won.....

Christmas Eve before Church

We got two nice pictures so I could show how nice we all looked before it got crazy....... but in order to get the nice ones I first had to coax them with the third picture below.....

Two nice smiles followed by our crazy faces....Teddy wasn't really sure what the heck was going on with the crazy faces, clearly more disturbed by his sister though.