Holy Cow!

Why didn't someone tell me it was 2011 already...
I've got sooooo much to post but, sooooooo little time to do it. Where to begin?

Well, I hope to do better during the last half of the year.

First Snow Fall

Yesterday we had our first snow fall of the season. Emma was being a good, big sister and took Grace outside for 30 mins. or so after dinner last night. We ended up receiving around 4" and the kids were able to stay home from school today. I love it!

Latest Addition...

This weekend we got the kids a Lion headed rabbit. It is part Christmas and part an "I don't want a dog" gift. We had been thinking about it for awhile and we found a girl in town who just bread them and had them for sale. He has been a good addition to the family so far.

Turkeybowl 2010

Halloween 2010

Halloween is always a busy time of the year are our house. It always seems like the kids have several ideas of what they want to be. This year was no different, except for Caleb of course. He had his mind set on being Luke Skywalker for a long time. He prepared by watching the original Star Wars Trilogy all month long. Literally, every night before bed he was watching. Grace's ideas were all centered around princesses. Princess Leia, Snow White, Cinderella... He settled on the Butterfly Princess that you see here. Emma went out trick-or-treating with her friends from the neighborhood for the 2nd straight year. As you can obviously see they were "80's" girls. Hannah was doing homework on the 31st until an hour before Halloweening began. I am still not sure what we was. It didn't look like a costume to me. Unfortunately she ran out the door before we could snap a picture of her.

RWVA Appleseed Project

For some time now, Jamey and I have been wanting to take a shooting course to learn about marksmanship and gun safety. Jamey saw a spot on the news about an organization that combines American History and learning to become a Rifleman. The Appleseed Project is run by the RWVA, Revolutionary War Veterans Association, and has been in operation since 2007. They host events in most states and have had nearly 60,000 attendees over the last 3 years. In addition to marksmanship and the history of our nation, they promote being an ACTIVE member of society. They preach that if you are not participating in the local and federal government you will get the government you deserve. Since all of these are near and dear to our hearts, it was a great experience. The event was from 8:30Am to 6:00 PM Saturday AND Sunday. Jamey attended with me the first day and Hannah on the second. One of the great philosophies is to get the whole family involved. With that in mind, all woman and children under 21 are FREE. We all learned a lot. After spending the weekend shooting 22s, I got to fire an AR-15 at a long range, 500 yd., target with iron sites (no scope). We were shooting 16" targets from nearly 1/3 of a mile. Pretty cool for a city boy.

Kings Island and the Creation Museum

The first weekend in September we took the kids to Kings Island, out side of Cincinnati, and the Creation Museum on a last minute "vacation". Jamey found some great tickets to the amusement park through Friends of Liberty, a grass roots organization in Ohio. We spent the day with the kids riding what we could ride. The girls enjoyed some freedom form most of the day but, the rides got the best of Emma so they came and found the rest of us during the evening. Grace loved meeting all the Snoopy characters and had to give each one a hug. The girls drug Caleb, who is afraid of just about everything, to ride Ocean Motion. As you can see, he was not amused by the ride. Hannah and I hit a few coasters at night before we enjoyed a concert hosted by the F.O.F. That night we stayed a few miles from the park and headed to the Creation Museum in the morning. It is located just south of Cinci, over the state line. We explored the exhibits that took us on a trip from creation up to present day. They had a 4D theater and many other multi-media displays that epicted various Bible stories and other historical events. We also enjoyed visiting the petting zoo where we all got up close to the animals.