March Madness

According to Adam these are the best two weeks in sports.... We watched the selection show yesterday and were happy to see K-State was seeded #5, but wishing it could have been in Tulsa. I think we were printing this bracket as they announced the last team--Owen was so anxious! He talked a little strategy with Adam, but made all of his own decisions, including KSU winning it all! I could go for that :) Miles didn't fill one out, but his picks are KSU and Texas, naturally.

By the way--Owen is no longer suiting up (outside in the driveway) as Jimmer, but is now Nolan Smith or Kimba Walker.
Adam found his app which apparently allows him to watch the games. That seems too good for a free app. I guess we'll see. As for me... I bought a green KSU hoodie two weeks ago and I'm just happy that it worked out that the Cats play on St. Patty's Day! Hopefully that's a sign of good things to come.

EMAW

I think the Cats could have used a few more fans yesterday--ouch! Hopefully the NCAA tournament has better results.

Cousins

We enjoyed having family in town for the second weekend in a row. This time, Graham had a little friend to play with. Brodie (our nephew) is two days younger than Graham. These guys are going to love growing up together.

Loving the Weather

What a fantastic day to be outside! Good-bye (for today at least) treadmill! Adam even got home early. . . and that meant he'd be locked into either baseball or basketball in the driveway. With NCAA basketball in full swing, Owen opted for some hoops. Owen (aka Jimmer Fredette from BYU) and Mom (aka Rodney McGruder) battled Miles and Dad to see who got to pick where we went for dinner. We pulled out a 10-9 win, picked So Long, but settled for Old Chicago since there wasn't a wait. Hope everyone enjoyed this awesome weather as much as we did.

8 Months

"I'm eight months old now... I'm soooo close to crawling and working on pulling up. I still don't sleep through the night because I'm starving at about 4:00 AM (and sometimes at midnight as well). I've been pooping about six times a day here lately; I think my top teeth are coming in. I've started eating those little puffs and they are delicious. I love my big brothers; they take really good care of me... but... I can't wait until I can get into their Legos, and crayons, and interrupt their DS games."

Making Himself Comfortable

Newman has decided he likes sleeping with Owen. He's never been a "human bed" dog, but it looks like he might be changing his ways.

Baby Silencer

My SIL Michelle had the app, "Baby Silencer" on her iPad this weekend and baby Jack loved it. We downloaded it for Graham and he does too. He was mesmerized last night. Are you wondering what it does? Well.... if you have an iPad, it's a free download, check it out; if not, it's a bunch of color/shape changing, fractal-like things that move all over the screen.

Note: Supervise baby with iPad, eventually he will try to eat it.

Blackout in Bramlage

A quick Varney's run to pick up some black shirts for the boys and we were off to the KSU v. OU game. Miles was pleased to see all of the black since that's his favorite color. We didn't see the end of the game due to Owen's basketball game, but were happy with another Wildcat victory!

Graham looks greasy because he has vaseline on his chapped cheeks. He loved the game and behaved perfectly.
The people behind us were probably the reason he was so enthralled--he spent most of the game with his head twisted around watching them. Oh well, he's too young to correct him for starring.

Happy (Late) Valentine's Day

The kids raked in a ton of Valentine's Day candy from the school and daycare parties. They also scored a 3 pound chocolate heart (which is going to childcare tomorrow) and some money from different relatives. Adam and I didn't exchange Valentine's Day gifts--we considered the KSU victory over KU was good enough!

The kids love our iphones, so we were excited to find this template to make tons of iphones. Too bad they aren't real--I'd be rich!
I had signed up to help with Owen's class party. It was fun to check out his classroom and meet some classmates (and to reaffirm that I belong at the high school).
Owen and Miles surprised me on Sunday by making this heart out of stuff in the garage. Very sweet and creative! I was impressed.
There was even some love in the air at the high school--Valentine's cards, each complete with five parabolas. You can't buy those at Target!

Sunshine

We definitely needed a weekend where we could get outside and play, although we were still confined to the driveway. HOURS of basketball--PIG, games, shooting practice, drills, . . .

Representing the Duke Blue Devils--Owen! This dude made 12 shots in a row today.
And for the Longhorns--Miles! Miles made 7 shots in a row (if he hits the rim it counts as a make since Adam raised the goal on him :).
And the Super Fan--Graham!

A Cup of Water??

Does this look like: A) a cup of water on the ledge of the bathtub? or B) a piece of sock fuzz taking a nap in his water-cup home (for the past three days)?

Answer: B. The camera, the light, and my effort aren't good enough for you to see the little piece of fuzz, but it's there. Yes, this was Miles' creation--no idea why.

Teacher's Aide

Owen asked me all weekend if he could help me grade papers (there were a ton!). And, although he is a whiz at subtracting with re-grouping, I don' think he's quite ready for logarithmic functions! I did manage to find some true-false questions that he was able to grade. He took it very seriously and even commented on some sloppy handwriting by a few sophomores :)

PS--Mom, this is the outfit he bought with some of your Christmas money--he's worn it three nights in a row.

Seven Months

Well, we are a couple weeks late posting a picture of Graham at seven months. He's still drooling everywhere (as you can see from the soaked bib--he goes through about five per day). Not crawling, but scooting, rolling, and spinning around on his tummy to move all over. He's eating the #2 foods and so far has liked everything he's had. He's had a little cold (and a lot of snot) the past week or so, but overall he's a happy boy!

iPad Alert

The kids got lucky today--Luke went home for lunch from Mathis and dropped Mason and Meg off for the afternoon on his way back. Owen and Mason were glued to some Wii hero game and Miles and Meg played a hundred different things. They were playing games on the iPad and I heard them giggling for a long time. When I checked it out, I learned they were laughing at "butts" and "pee-pee's" (or at least the muscles of the butt and the bones which they must have thought were something else). I'll blame it on Adam since these are his work apps.

Kids, Kids, More Kids...

Kite's Legends Room was NOT the place to be Saturday evening if you are young and single . . . If you have at least three kids, we probably let you in ;)

Neither are great shots, but you get the idea. A few kids were even too little or too "grown up" to be in this crazy mob. I don't think this group even noticed that K-State lost--way too much snacking/chasing/hiding/teasing. . .

Disguised

This outfit was my mom's gift to Amy. Graham modeled it so she could see how cute it was :) I think the owl trend is so fun!

Amy's Baby Shower

This past weekend, Sharla and I hosted a baby shower for our long-time friend, Amy. Since we have five boys, it was a lot of fun for us to "think pink."

Invitations.
Amy and David loading up on candy (no, he didn't attend the shower, he just drove her to town since she was going to have to come from St. Louis alone).
Napkins made into dresses--idea stolen from some blog that I should credit, but now can't find.
Onesie garland.
The food (my contribution was small).
Pink Valentine's Day candy worked well for treats.
It was fun to pick out/make pink stuff. I found the cutest stuff at Target like this sweat suit and these leggings.

Made a few burp cloths. I like the pink ones, but had to include the cats for Amy :)

Weekend at Grandma's

The little boys and I spent last weekend in Lebo (you know Owen is getting old when he has to stay home for practice). Miles loved being a one-man show! We originally went because Sharla and I hosted a baby shower for Amy, but it also worked out that we could attend Bonnie Lou's surprise 65th birthday party and see Quint and Susan.

He hid this Lego Man soooo many times and then gave directions warmer/colder.
And he played the "Fish Game" many times. Pretty soon this game will have to be moved to the table--Graham wants to crawl so badly, just can't quite get out of the Superman position. My mom took Miles to Wal-Mart to get groceries and was going to let him pick out a little toy. Instead he stopped her at the clothes and picked out a Batman T-shirt and reversible shorts. We all had to vote whether we liked the blue or silver side better. He also got to go meet Tex, Susan's parents' 20+ year old longhorn (great opportunity to wear the Texas jersey) and cat, and also check out their neighbors' array of goats, horses, llamas, etc. Those would have been good pictures!
Lucky for me, my mom had made these fun Star Wars cookies. We brought them home and I conveniently bagged them up and turned them into Miles' preschool half-birthday treats. He said his friends liked them and his teacher said he "rocked." Oh how I wished I enjoyed baking...

Dirty Man

Graham has been eating more food lately....well, maybe not eating it, more like rubbing it on his face!

Snow Day

We had a snow day a week ago. The big boys shoveled the entire driveway (Adam said he'd treat them to hot chocolate, but they came home with some frou-frou drink from Star Buck's instead). A week later, we are out for MLK and it pretty much looks the same out. Boo to all of the snow and cold weather!!

Six Months

Graham is halfway to his first birthday! Miles wanted Graham to suit up in his OKC jersey for a triplets picture even though his is a romper. At six months he is: sitting up, rolling and pushing to move around, messily eating some baby food, chewing on EVERYTHING, and (best for last) he has one tooth! He looks chunky but is smaller than the other boys were. He's 27", 16 lb., 10 oz. **Edit--make that TWO TEETH!

Gamers

The "bigs" (Owen and Miles) and cousins and friends have been VERY INTO playing Super Mario Brothers on their DSi's over break. . . however, there is another gamer in our house that likes to take his turn trying to save the princess (or whatever the objective is nowadays, didn't it used to be saving the princess?). Here, Owen is offering his advice.

Black Power Ranger

Miles has been very into the Black Power Ranger, Ninja moves, something called a "drive slammer" and the color black lately. Santa brought him new tennis shoes that were too tight so we exchanged them for these (even better) black ones. He spent some his Christmas money from Grandma Jean and Grandpa Harlan on these black clothes. When he's not Jacob Pullen, he's "Black Power Ranger."

For Christmas, Adam and I each picked something out for ourselves at Best Buy and called it good. I got a flip camera (not really a flip because I got the one that can go underwater, so watch out pool people :) so here's a video to share of Jacob Pullen/Black Power Ranger.

Fun DIY Gifts

I was able to use some of the ideas on my "to try" list for Christmas presents this year. I love making fun, SHORT, easy projects like some of these...

Coordinating tie shirts for the babies/cousins.
Gift card holders.
Yarn covered letters which I'd really like for my boys, but how many times can you put your name up in your room?? Made a few other things, but I guess there are no pictures of these.

Love Legos

This was one of Owen's Christmas gifts (he wanted to try other things in addition to the Star Wars stuff).

One day later.... He says he's ready for the Taj Mahal (of course, it was only $300)