New obsessions and solutions!

I got a sewing machine a couple months ago.  And I have had so much fun (and frustration) learning how to sew.  This was a fun little project I made.  It is a headband made out of nylons.  I made it so that I can change the flower without hurting the ban

d.  This flower is ridiculously big but I love it!   I have also made matching PJs for our family and my brother Sean.  We all wore them camping when he visited, but I still don't have any pictures of them.

I also found the solution to the dilapidated Spiderman PJs.  I cut them off just above the holes in the knees and sewed them up.  So now they are shorts.  They look so much better now.  Plus the part I cut off makes a great hat.  

Spiderman will now live to see a few more days.

2 full days without power

Sunday, September 14Th we experienced our first severe wind storm.  It was generated from the hurricane devastating Texas.  I was making dinner around 3pm when the wind started to pick up.  I went out side and took this video of trees behind our condo.  I didn't even get the worst of the storm.  Sorry it is a little long but it picks up at the end.    The weirdest thing about the wind was that it was hot wind.  Normally wind is cool but it felt hotter then the stagnant air.

At about 4 p.m. we lost our electricity, our neighbors lost there storm door, and our trees stared to loose branches.  

The next day still without electricity we decided to go for a walk with the kids.  I soon became very apparent how lucky we were.  Just down the street from us power polls were snapped in half, trees were up rooted, and signs were managed.  There was one house with a huge tree, roots and all, on top of there car. 

This branch fell from a huge tree next to our condo.

Down the street we see why we don't have electricity.  These power polls snapped in half and hanging from the wires.  These homes were evacuated while they worked on replacing the damaged polls and lines.  Meanwhile our street was closed.

Theses were just a couple of the pictures we took of fallen trees.  It was really sad to see some of the huge ancient trees fall.  Some of these trees had been here for hundreds of years. 

So what did we do while the the power was out?

The Spiderman PJs

He is Spiderman! He says so to everyone he meets.

He wrestles the Incredible Hulk and other known and unknown villains on a daily basis. Just another day for your friendly neighborhood Spiderman!

But what do you do when Spiderman's suit begins to fall apart? I have tried to replace these PJs with new Spiderman PJs but they are not the same. He still insist on waring these every single day! He will only change cloths (if he must) to leave the house, and then as soon as we are back home "the red spidermans" must go back on. How do you tell Spiderman that he has to retire at the age of 3?

What can I say...my girl likes to accessorize!

Preschool!

Dash Started Preschool this week and could not have been more excited! I waited until the day before school began to tell him he was going. He was such a great agreeable kid the rest of the day. Things that would normally have him throwing a fit did not bother him. He was just way to excited to go to school, like Daddy! He didn't care that he had to drink water instead of juice or that his super cool Spiderman PJ's were in the wash. If I had known the affect that school would have on him I would have enrolled him a long time ago!

For as much energy as this little boy has he loves to sit and learn anything we are willing to teach him. He not only is learning his ABC's in English but He knows almost the whole thing in American Sign Language too. He can count to 20 by himself and he knows all his colors and shapes. Most of this I am not sure where he picked it up.

No Dash is not beating his teacher, Miss Davis, with the rain stick but it does look that way. Notice his cool backpack. It's my Camel pack and fits him perfect. He didn't want a kid backpack, he wanted one like his dads. Already the cool kid on campus!

These are his first school projects he brought home. You can't see because he used a yellow crayon but he traced all the upper case letters really well, then got bored and made a blue alligator instead. Way to go buddy! Dad and I are so proud of you!!!

Cosi

These pictures where from July 25th. I just didn't want to forget about our fun trip to Cosi. For those of you have have not been, let me tell you this family museum is amazing! It was voted number one museum in the nation. It has the coolest exhibits. You can walk through the old west and enter shops and see what it looked like in full scale. You walk around the corner and all the sudden you are walking down the street in the 60s. You can walk into dinners, appliance shops, or be an anchor on the news.

Dash learning how to holla hoop in the 60s

Chris had a bug like this in high school.

Dash the news anchor.

He could see himself on the monitors

I the human body exhibit we learned about

how babies grow inside Mommy's tummy.

Under the ocean exhibit. We were able to climb into the yellow submarine and play in the water.

Playing with Sean and the Family at the Red River Gorge in KY!

My brother in law Sean came to visit us in Ohio!!! We went down to the Red River Gorge to do some climbing and have some fun while he was here. It was great and I think that we all had a great time.



At the Red there isn't much in the way of eating areas or anything else for that matter but what we do have is Miguel's. Miguel's is a climbing shop/hangout/camping area/pizza place all packed into one. The pizza is always great and the company is too. Becca, myself, Dash, Miley, and Sean crammed into the "shop" after the first day and had some on the best pizza ever. We hope that Sean had a good time and we really enjoyed having him---We wish more people would come and visit us!!! (HINT-HINT)



Climbing makes you tired---just ask Miley. She and Dash were troopers for the whole trip and through we climbed all day and had a long time on the road they were both great. In fact when we got home Dash said he was going to stay in the car and watch toons.



This was a fun part of the trip. Right in the middle of all the climbing areas is this place, the Natural Bridge State Park. You can take a lift to the top and then hike around to see the rock bridge (like arches in Utah but much thicker and harder sandstone). It was fun for the kids they loved the ride up and had fun running around on the top. Dash had a hard time holding our hand once we were up there. I don't think he realized that we were hundreds of feet from the ground with cliffs on both sides of us. Luckily no one fell and we had a great little hike. We could have payed more to ride the lift back down but instead decided to walk the four miles back to the car. Dash walked about half and then I carried him on my back while Becca carried Miley the rest of the way. We are so proud of Dash he's a tough kid---he hiked a lot and was such a good boy. Much like his dad he would rather be outside than in, and would rather be moving quickly than slowly.



Lots of hiking! This is near the top of the bridge. We are about to descend and get back to the car. After this hike we were all a bit tired. So we got a motel with a pool for the kids and SHOWERS!!! The first night we slept in tents and the kids slept surprisingly well! But the hotel was a great idea and we would do it again. The pool was fun and the air conditioning was spectacular.

The next day we awoke and had some pancakes in a small park near the motel. Packed up and left KY for the four hour ride home.

Obsession

So what have I been up to the past month that has taken all my time away, and left my blog begging to be updated? Twilight...need I say more? I have read the entire series and then read it again. I loved it just as much the second time around as I did the first. I then read Wuthering Heights because the book is quoted quit a bit in the Twilight series. I have sunken to a new level of nerd! I found that the movie release date has been moved up and I could not be more excited. I will be there at midnight for the first viewing with all the other obsessed screaming teenage girls.

So now that the series is over and I have read it twice what am I going to do? If anyone has any reading suggestions I am open.

Miley had a birthday shout hurray!

August 21, 2007 I was induced and Miley Kay McQuivey made her dramatic entrance into this world! 8lbs 5 oz and 21.5 inches long.

I had been planning on having a pool party for Miley's birthday but she got an ear infection a few days before so we had to cancel the party. Thank you Grandma McQuivey for the birthday presents you sent Miley, she LOVED them. She is taking very good care of the baby doll. She is such a little mommy.

1st birthday stats...

weight: 21 lbs (she is in the 50th percentile for weight and height)
number of teeth: four (the two on top just barly came in last week and then the two on bottom have been there for awhile)
hair color: red
eye color: blue
favorite food: anything Dash is eating
favorite cartoon: Wounder pets and Back Yardigans
favorite toy: her baby doll and anything Dash is playing with
favorite activity: climbing...stairs, couches, chairs, windows, book shelves, strollers... She also loves to dance and sing along to any song she hears.
words she likes to say: all variations of Mommy & Daddy, hi, bye, no, all done, help me, 2..3 (she hasn't got the number one down yet), duo (clearly a Homer Simpson fan).
Things she hates: any thing that straps her down, sitting still, being quiet, baby food, or anything fed to her on a spoon.


Miley, your dad and I love you so much! We love your sweet hugs and kisses! We love your strong will and spit fire personality! You are a sweat gift from heaven and we are so glad that you are ours. We are so blessed to have you in our home. Love Mom, Dad, & Dash