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!