Carson Turns 4!

Carson just turned 4 and we celebrated by having a Robot Birthday Party for him! There were 5 boys that came to the party and what a fun time we had! Everything was Robot-themed!

This utensil holder is made out of empty soup cans and one big formula can.



All the food even had a robot theme to it.



Here's what we served:

Computer Chips - Potato Chips
Memory Cells - Cheese Puffs
Nuts and Bolts - homemade Chex Mix
Robot Energy - Fruit and Veggie Trays
Battery Cells - M&M's
Machine Oil - Juice Boxes
Fuel Cake - Cupcakes
Robot Pizza - Pizza









Each child got to color their own robot.





We played Robot BINGO.









Next we played "Pin the Battery on the Robot". Each child was blindfolded with a scarf, turned around 3 times, and asked to stick a Post-It note with their name on it onto the robot to see who could get closest to the battery.





And last, we played Musical Robots. This is similar to the game Musical Chairs but I had taped pictures of Robots onto the floor and the kids had to keep walking in a circle, stepping on the robots while the music was playing. Once the music stopped, whoever was standing on the robot that said WINNER got to pick out a prize. We kept playing this game until each child had a chance to win.





Even the party favors were made out of empty soup cans!



Here's Carson blowing out his "4" candle! Happy Birthday buddy!



He had such a fun time opening presents and playing with all of his friends!

Hiatt New Year's Eve

We traveled to Mom & Dad's house to celebrate Christmas on New Year's Eve. We had a Christmas/New Year's Eve party all in the same night! We decided to have Appetizers galore for dinner that night. Everything was so good! Then the kids were excited to open up all the presents!









Here is a barn that Dad made for Carson. What an awesome Christmas gift! I can see him playing with this for hours! It even came with a gator, "just like Grandpa's" as Carson would say!





After presents we played some adult games. One included searching for safety pins in a bowl of uncooked rice (while blind-folded). Who knew that would be so difficult!!! It was a lot of fun watching everyone give it a try. Kim won by finding 10 pins in one minute. There were over 100 in the bowl but it was a very tricky game.



We also played Christmas Bingo and a guessing/feeling game of what was inside of a Christmas stocking.

The following day we even managed to get some really good shots of all the grandkids. This one is my favorite!

Chicago Christmas

We spent Christmas in Chicago this year. We headed to Plainfield the night before Ryan's birthday. It was a week full of fun activities!!! For Ryan's birthday we went out on a triple-date for all-you-can-eat sushi followed by a chocolate fondue dessert at The Melting Pot. We had such a fun time eating and chatting with the Chans and Clarkes. The following day, we had yet ANOTHER date night. Ryan and I went out to dinner at Joy Yee and then went to see Jim Brickman in concert. He was playing nearby in Aurora, IL for his Christmas concert series. I think Ryan and I were one of the few couples there that didn't have white hair but Jim Brickman's music was such a joy to listen to. We played several Jim Brickman songs at our wedding so it was neat to hear several of those songs live in concert. On Christmas Day all 3 kids had a blast opening up all of their presents! The Barnett's also drove down to spend the day with us and we went to the Clarke's for a Christmas dinner. We got to play Alan and Melissa's new XBox360 Kinnect and got many laughs out of watching Catherine and Justin do a dance-off. We headed back to Michigan the day after Christmas. Here are a couple pictures to highlight our trip:

The boys sledding...


The gingerbread train that Carson, Ethan, Aunt Melissa, and Uncle Alan put together...

Happy Halloween!

We had a great time trick or treating with Johnna and Tori this Halloween! Kadence dressed up as a lady bug and Carson was Buzz Lightyear. We went to several of our friends and family's houses that night collecting candy and wishing them all a Happy Halloween.









Look at this cute little family!

Kadence is 6 Months Old!

Kadence turns 6 months old tomorrow. She went to the Dr. this morning and got 3 shots. Here are her stats:

Weight: 17 lbs. 5 oz (75%)
Height: 27 3/4 inches (98%)
Head Circ: 17 cm (75%)

Her favorite pastimes now are making loud noises, giggling, and drooling like crazy (but no teeth yet)! She has become quite a good eater and loves cauliflower. I haven't fed her anything she doesn't like yet, but she really goes to town when I feed her cauliflower!

The best way to soothe Kadence when she is crying is to have Carson sing her a song. It works EVERY time!

Just for comparison, Carson was 22 lbs. 12 oz. and 28 1/2 inches long at this age!!!

Here are some more pictures from her 6 month photo shoot.

Kicking Out Cancer

On October 23, 2010 Ryan and I had the honor of participating in the 1st annual Megan S. Ott Kickball Tournament. We had so much fun and what a great way it was for all of Megan's friends and family members to honor her. Megan was a friend of mine from the Fishers MOMS Club. She died 6 months ago, at the age of 34, after her 21-month fight with breast cancer.

The kickball tournament was followed by a dinner and silent auction and they were able to raise over $18,000 for Megan's foundation!!! We look forward to playing again next year!

(Thanks Mom and Dad for watching the kids so that we could be a part of this amazing event! :)

Here's a picture of Megan's husband and two daughters as the get ready to roll the first pitch.


Here we are - The Innies & Outies!!! 1/2 the team was from Fishers and the other 1/2 was from out of state, hence the name. We came in 11th place that day. (I guess I should also mention that there were only 12 teams, but hey, at least we didn't come in last! :)


Ryan in action...


Taking a break after one of the games...

Family Fun Day

We had a fun family day today! This morning we went hiking at a local park and took in all the beautiful Fall colors. I just love looking at all the tress this time of year. Here are some pics from our walk.















We ended our day with a game of bowling tonight. We did not take any pictures there but it was a lot of fun. Carson was so happy that he scored 42 points! :)