Friday, March 28, 2014

Basketball Party at Coach Bev's Home!!!

Jack's basketball coach had an end of the year party at her home on March 23rd!  We had heard that the house was amazing and that it was such a great time from the kids on the team last year - so we were so excited to go!  Her husband owns his own Masonry business, so their home is AMAZING!!!  All brick and slate and stone - the driveway, the house, everything about it!  They have animals and land and a river and I could post for hours on what a great time we had and the stories she told us, but I'll try to keep it short(er)!  

She did tell us to have the kids wear clothes they could get muddy in and to bring an extra change of clothes, as well as extra shoes.  Parents could either drop them off or stay and siblings were welcome!  We stayed and had a blast!

A side view of the house - amazing brick porch and brick columns!

Coach Bev took the boys (and any sibling that could fit) on her 4 wheeler to go see the Black Angus cows they have!  Dan and I and some other parents followed her daughter through the woods and along some fencing to get to the cows.  

When we came to this electric fence, the 7 year old daughter ducked through it between the second to last and third to last lines.  We asked what we were supposed to do and she said to just go through it - so a parent grabbed the top line, not thinking it was electrified.  It was.  And she got a huge shock - but was so good about not being to rattled by it!  She was a trooper!  The daughter came back for us and explained that two of the lines weren't electrified, so we could just go through them - and we did!

Coach Bev explained to the kids and parents that they have 70 Black Angus here that they breed and sell and that they have them bred within 2 weeks of each other, so that in the spring they calve almost all at the same time!  She said that they normally lose about 4 calves - 3 to not surviving the birth and 1 to mountain lions in the area!  (Dan and I didn't even know there were mountain lions in the area!)  

Then we walked up a bit to the Angus - but couldn't get much closer since some were new mommies and really protective!

Me and my Tweeter

 Then all the kids piled on again to go down to the creek!

 
 The girls rode up front and the boys in the back!

 
This fun creek we got to walk along for a while!  Coach Bev explained that she uses a chuck wagon triangle to call her kids to come back inside on most days - they are allowed to roam anywhere on her property, but they have to be within hearing distance of the bell - and have to be back in 10 minutes when they hear the bell, or the time gets shortened the next time!

 
Kylie had fun walking on downed trees and Jack loved throwing things in the creek!

 
This crazy tree on the far side of the bank was growing out of a rock that jutted in the creek!

 Me and my Moopert

 
 Coach Bev's house and yard is insane!  Her husband explained that he has built it all himself - over the last 15 years.  He normally has 1 project each summer that he works on to complete!
A koi pond with a water wheel and waterfall

 A pergola with a hot tub in it - and iron gate that locks to keep kids out when they aren't using it!

 Beautiful flowers that they've planted all around - Coach Bev's husband explained that he planted everything so that at all times throughout the growing season, something would be in bloom always!

They had an amazing portico that he's just finishing - with a huge stone fireplace and HDMI plugs for a tv, a fridge, a stone sink he's putting in and these cool ceiling fans!


 The pool that separates their house from her parent's home!

 Dan on an amazing brick bridge that runs over the little river in their backyard from the Koi pond

 In ground gas fire pit!

Megan on a rock in their back yard pond

They have fun animals, too!  They have ducks and geese and bunnies in these three yards here - and two houses!

 
They have a goat who lives with 2 pigs!

 Dan loved the goat - Kylie loved the pigs!

The pigs were 475lbs each!

 Kylie in the chicken coop!

Trying to catch a duck!

And driving home after an amazing day!
We had a wonderful time and loved getting to see everything and know them a bit more!

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Minnie Mouse

Kylie was asked by Mrs. D if she would dress up as Minnie Mouse for Tucker's birthday!  She agreed, but was a little hesitant - Mrs. D purchased the dress and ears for Kylie and brought it over the night of Dan's birthday!  The next night, I dressed her up and drove her over to drop her off!  He was having a Mickey Birthday and Kylie played Minnie - she had a purse filled with goodies for the little boys - mini bubbles, Mickey keychains, etc.

 Aunt Heath was outside and made her feel less nervous about being Minnie Mouse!
(and they matched)!

 Kylie ended up having a great time and enjoying being Minnie Mouse!

Tasha posted this pic on Facebook and added:
MINNIE surprises TUCK at his birthday party! He went to bed tonight saying Minnie home ..then blew kisses ... Perfect way to end the day... Thx for the gift today!

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Kristen's Birthday

 I had a great birthday!  It was a low key Monday morning, but we had a great dinner of Pei Wei's!  Grammy and Grandad came out to celebrate with us, Dan came home a bit early (it was still light out!) and we had two friends over to do dinner with us, too!

 Grammy made a chocolate cake and we had leftover lemon bars, too!  Dan stuck a candle in one for me to blow out and have Happy Birthday sung to me!

 Our lineup of kiddos eating dessert :)

 Me and my Tweeter, the new 36 and 38 year olds :)

 Rachel, Kylie and Jack eating dessert

 The Megan's eating dessert

 Grammy and Grandad

 My presents!  A piggy picture by Kylie

 And cute turquoise glasses Dan and the kiddos picked out for me for my birthday!  I love them!
(and a turquoise spatula and poprocks!)

Our Family!!!

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Dan's Birthday

 Dan had a great birthday!  His actual birthday fell on a Thursday - so we celebrated him that night after work with his favorite dinner - Papa John's Pepperoni Pizza and a homemade chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream cake!  

 Dan and his kiddos

 Birthday presents!
His big birthday gift was him getting to take a weekend motorcycle class to get his motorcycle license back, after the DMV wouldn't renew it when we lived overseas!  He took the class in February and had a blast!

 Reading cards with Bugga

 Birthday Cake Peeps!  A combo of 2 things he loves!

 Some wrestling going on while Daddy was opening his presents

 Dan and Jack got to play xBox :)  A fun birthday time together!

 We sang Happy Birthday to him and gave him only 1 candle instead of 38!

 Me and my Birthday Tweeter

 Blowing out his candle and making a wish!

I baked a bottom layer of chocolate chip cookie on the bottom, let it cool, spread cookie dough ice cream and put it in the freezer, then added a layer of caramel and chocolate sauce, froze it and then added a layer of cool whip on top and froze it again!  It was delicious!


Yummy!

Then on Saturday night, we had our friends from Kuwait out for dinner to celebrate his birthday!  I never take pictures of them for some reason- but we had a great time!  It was so nice to have them out!  They brought Dan presents, we made lasagna and enjoyed hanging out :)  This little cutie was the only kiddo of the group and we missed having Cara join us because she was visiting another Kuwait friend's kiddos across the pond!

Monday, March 24, 2014

Hi, My Name is Kristen, vol. 6

...And I'm the Birthday Girl because today I turn 36!!!

Random Things that Make me Happy:  Anything Turquoise, Stripes, Painted Toenails, Tinsel in my Hair, My Silver Hoops, Black Tank Tops, My UGGS (I only take them off to shower and sleep), Flip Flops, Coke, York Peppermint Patties, Our Home - our great paint colors - our new kitchen - our awesome kitchen table - our hutch - the great sun we get in our house - our closets with stripes - our turquoise bookshelf in the basement, Pumpkin Spice Chai Tea (with sugar and milk), Our Neighborhood and the Tree in our Front Yard. 

TV shows I've enjoyed this year:  New Girl, Call the Midwife, Sherlock, How I Met your Mother, Hart of Dixie, Downton Abbey, Restaurant Impossible, The Sing Off, Treehouse Masters and The Americans.

Meals Currently in Rotation:  Chili, Stir-fried chicken - veggies and rice, Grammy Casserole, Chicken with Broccoli Oriental, Maple Chili Chicken (recipe here), Crack Broccoli (recipe here), Roasted Brussel Sprouts, Roasted Okra (olive oil and salt - baked at 425F for 15 minutes or so until wilted), Shrimp and Grits, Lasagna, BBQ Chicken Sandwiches and Sloppy Joes.

 Me and My Tweeter

Me and my Kiddos

Our Family

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Hi, My Name is Dan, vol. 6


...And I'm the Birthday Boy because today I turn 38!!!

Favorite TV shows/Movies:  How I Met Your Mother, Brooklyn Nine Nine, Treehouse Masters,
The Americans, The Sing Off.

Hobbies:  Beard growing and twirling, Cigar smoking, xBox, Home Renovation, IT Gadgets.

 XBox Games I've played recently:  Minecraft, Lego themed games, Call of Duty, Castle Storm and Terraria.

Favorite Foods:  Pizza, Ham, Peeps, Grilled Stuft Nacho from Taco Bell, Mandarian Kung Pao from Pei Wei, Lasagna.  

Favorite Sayings:  "I'm a bargain."  "It's a Win-Win-Win."  "Supe sent me another email about a motorcycle."  "Let's take the truck!"  "Let's play some Minecraft."  During our renovation "I'm just gonna run up to Home Depot" and to Kristen "Can you lift this?" (the answer was almost always - no.)

Things I did while I was 37:  Got my 5 years in overseas, Moved back to America, Swam in the Persian/Arabian Gulf, Renovated our house, Bought a truck, Enjoyed playing music with buddies from work in Kuwait - RTO Speedwagon Forever!, Completed my dream of owning a truck to go chop down and get our Christmas Tree, Started teaching and working in the 4th grade class at church, got furloughed.

Hardest project I've done on our house:  Pulling out 10,000 staples out of the floor from the subflooring that was laid down.

My favorite project I've done on our house:  Knocking out the wall between our kitchen and the dining room.

What I like about living in 'Merica:  It's America, do I really need a reason?

Why my Tweeter loves me:  Because you are an amazing man of God and you love me and our kids so well!  You are so much fun to be around, you love our extended families so well, you wrestle us and know how to tease each of us well - so we're not grumpy but think it's funny, too!  You know soooo much about so many things and do a great job teaching us how to do things - electrical work, how to saw, how to use the drill and how to level things, to name a few.  We are so thankful to God for you and we love you so much!  Happy 38th Birthday Daniel Scott!!!  We love you!!!


Me and my Tweeter

 Daddy and Jack at lunch at school

Daddy and Kylie in Colonial Williamsburg

Megan and Daddy at Myriah's birthday party

Uncle Matt and Dan at the Crab Feast

 Leading worship in Kuwait with Brad

Rocking out with his buddies in Kuwait

And our family going to get our Christmas Tree in the truck!