Meeting the Girls!

So, who are these girls I speak of...well, none other than the fabulous Kastning Chickens!!! My friend Lisa and her husband Ryan have adopted these great chickens...they are so spoiled!!! I have never met a chicken that eats what they do...they like yogurt, hotdogs, corn, carrots, cucumbers, and cereal...they do not however like apples!! So, Ryan and Lisa are having a Chicken Open house this whole week, so all of their friends and family can meet the ladies....the open house was complete with a tour of the chicken coop, chicken feeding and snacks!!! The boys had a chance to pet and feed the girls...they had a blast!! We had a great time Lisa and Ryan...thanks for having us!!

Here is Early Girl...all of the chickens have great names...in addition to Early Girl there is Ruby, Truly, Spooky and Morning Glory!

Lisa is giving the boys a tour of the fabulous chicken coop...this place is awesome! Ryan built the whole thing and they posted the "making of " videos on facebook, so everyone was able to go along on the chicken journey with them!! Notice the marigolds planted in the window of the chicken coop!!!

Lisa and the boys feeding the girls....Grady was even brave enough to let Spooky eat from his hand!! Two of the chickens will even jump for their food....so not are they only cute, but super talented!!!

Here are two of the eggs from the chickens...notice the one in Grady's left hand....a normal size egg...now check out the one in his right...this one was at least double the size of the regular egg....Poor Chicken!!

Gymnastics!

Grady had gymnastics again yesterday! He is doing so well....yesterday they practiced hand stands and a back bridge into a back flip over?? ( I am definitely not a gymnast, what I know is what it looked like...I do not know the technical names!) They also practiced again on the bars...he is pretty strong on those for being just a little guy! They were supposed to swing from it with a foam square between their feet and while still hanging on to the bar, release the square into a circle! He did it on his first try...I was impressed....I mean he had to hang on, swing, concentrate on holding onto the square and then release it at the right time...and continue to hang on and land on his feet....I don't think I am coordinated enough to have done all of that!! Anywho, all of that was to teach them to keep their legs together and straight while swinging on the bars....just like the olympians are judged for...impressive!

Oh, and I forgot they also practiced the vault....sorry the picture is kind of blurry...he had to run really fast down the runway and jump on to the vault! Pretty cute!

Red Sox VS. Cubs

Yesterday, we had another Red Sox game! Gabe played 1st, short stop and center fielder! He had one stop at s.s. and a great out at first! He also had awesome hits all 3 times he was up to bat...scoring all 3 times! The team we played was a pretty young team....the final score was 19-0...ouch! It was great batting practice for our fellas, but they pretty much just stood around when they were in the outfield...and when the other team did get a hit, we were a little bummed to get them out! Hopefully Tuesday's game will be a little more evenly matched!! GO RED SOX!

An action shot....what a hit!

Oh no...Run Gabe!! Fortunately the boy missed the ball and Gabe arrived safely at 3rd!

Family Bowling Night!

Gabe's school had a family bowling night on Thursday! In the 3 years that Gabe has been at Picnic Point, we have never made it to one of these! It usually lands on a baseball game night....but not this year, so we went and checked it out! Gabe ditched us as soon as we walked through the door....but Grady, Shawn and I had a great time anyway! This bowling was sort of difficult....we used rubber balls and I would have to say, I don't think the gym floor is even! I am no star bowler, but I don't usually miss completely! Grady had the best score....but he was also only about 3 feet from the pins! Gabe did pretty well...they have been practicing bowling the last few weeks in P.E., so he was a little more accustomed to the gym floor bowling! He did bring a couple of his buddies over and bowl with us for a little while....but I think Shawn and I have officially hit the "uncool" phase of parenthood...oh well!

Our Little Birdies!

For Christmas, Seth and Ang gave us this awesome bird feeder! I am typically not a bird watcher...and don't usually think a thing about a bird until one does its business on my beautifully cleaned car! But, I have to admit, I am becoming awfully fond of my little bird family...they come twice a day, like clock work! They are here around 7:30 in the morning and again around 5:30 in the evening! They will come snack on the feeder when I'm in the kitchen and they are getting comfortable enough with us we were able to snap these pics! I just bought some new seed...a sunflower and dried cherry mix...they are getting soooo FAT--they love this stuff!! I think I just found someone else that will be sad when we leave!! Thanks Seth and Ang for the feeder...We love it!

Red Sox VS. Tigers!

So, finally, baseball season has started in the Fox household! Gabe was originally supposed to have his first game on Saturday, but he got a vicious 24 hour flu that sat him out that game! He was less than impressed with Mom and Dad when we called the coach to let him know, but after another couple of hours of being pretty sick....I'm sure he saw the reasoning behind our decision! Anywho, he had his first game on Tuesday night and it started with a bang! He played pitcher, right field twice and first base! He also had 4 great hits and scored 3 times! He was the lead off batter for the team, and did not disappoint! He had some really good plays to first from pitcher and got one out while he was at first! Wow....he has really improved from last year! He is the oldest on the team this year, which is always a funny position to be in.....it's nice being one of the best, but he also gets a little frustrated with the younger ones making silly mistakes! My how the mind forgets that not too long ago he may have been one of the ones making a silly mistake! So, even though Gabe had a great game the Red Sox came up short in the end....15-11! The Red Sox get another shot on Saturday, we'll keep ya posted!!! GO RED SOX!

Ready for some action!

Grady the Gymnast!

Grady is really taking to this gymnastics thing....and I think Shawn is okay with it, because he knows it is good for his balance and flexibility for future sports...and I assume if he did become the next Paul Hamm that would be okay too! So, in light of our move we have decided to keep him in gymnastics through June....and not doing t-ball. For one, the YMCA is not starting their baseball season until late June, and ending in the end of July. Since we are scheduled to be home by the 19th of July...he would miss half of his season. And secondly, Grady really likes this...and he is doing pretty well! So, we will put aside of aspirations for him going to the major leagues this year, and wait until we can sign him up in Augusta....the no guts, no glory league!!

Grady is the one in blue...he is learning how to do a flip on the bars! He was a little unsure at first, but was flipping all by himself in no time!

They also learned how to do a head stand during this class....here he is actually practicing his cartwheel...but he was supposed to be practicing his head stands against the big red and yellow roll! Oh well!

Running the Gauntlet!

Wednesday night Gabe had his District Spelling Bee! This bee was on a whole different level than the last...they started out with pretty hard words, no warmer uppers! There were two kiddos that got out in the first round...and these were the top 3 spellers from the entire Mukilteo School District! So when Gabe made it to the 4th round, Shawn and I thought he had done extremely well! The 4th round was the round of death....by the end there were 9 kids left...that was it, unfortunately Gabe was not one of them. He got out in the 4th round, finishing 13th overall, on the word gauntlet....afterwards, he said, "Mom, I have never even heard of that word!" It was kind of funny as soon as the judges said "gauntlet", Gabe immediately asked for the definition, which is exactly what Shawn and I told him to do if he didn't know a word...that way it would give him time to sound out the word, but I don't think any amount of sounding out would have helped him on that word! He was extremely disappointed in himself....but thankfully it wasn't anything a Slurpee couldn't fix! By the time we got home, I asked him how he was feeling and he said, "Oh Mom, I'm over that!" I am so glad he bounces back so quick! Way to go Gabe....We are so proud of you!!!

An Olympic Gymnast in the Making??!!

Today was Grady's first gymnastic class!!! About a month ago he brought home a paper from preschool advertising a gymnastic class....well ever since that day, I have heard nothing but pleases and begging! Last week, we went and signed up for a month long class....this was quite possibly the LONGEST week of my life! Everyday, "Mom, is today Olympics day??"....I'm not quite sure where he got the Olympic thing...but that is what he calls it!! So, this morning fully expecting the same question...I said "Grady guess what today is ??" to which he answered "Am I going to Josiah's today?" Really?....the one day it was actually Olympics day and this was his guess...geesh! So, after I told him not Josiah's but gymnastics day....the bouncing ensued...and did not stop until we got there!!! He had a blast! He was most worried about doing a cartwheel, and while he is still not completely doing one...he is much closer than myself! He bounced on the trampoline, walked on the beam, climbed a rope, crawled through, over and under everything, plus he learned the basics of a cartwheel and hand stand....all of this in an hour!! Perhaps the next Paul Hamm in the making??!!

Grady doing a somersault into the pit!

FUSiON!!

OOPS....I totally forgot last week when I was doing the vast amount of blogging after our trip, to include the FUSiON and Easter pictures! So, sorry their late...but you can enjoy them now! Easter FUSiON was awesome....there were over 970 people (that is roughly 4 times as many on any given Sunday) on Silver Creek Family Church's campus....800 attending at least one of the services...WOW! We had 2 HUGE egg hunts, but the catch was to win the BIG prizes, the Nintendo DS's, the IPod touch, bikes and other fantastic prizes you had to take your ticket into the FUSiON service and wait for the number to be called...tricky, yes....extremely clever way to get new comers to see what we are all about...absolutely! And while there were a few grumbles for the most part this was received wonderfully...the FUSiON staff put on an excellent program...and may I also add Gabe did a wonderful job dancing as well...over 120 people served at different areas, parking, greeting, egg hunts, cotton candy making, popcorn machine, bouncy houses...it was a ton of work,but, by posting this a week late, I can also tell you I saw several new faces this morning...so it worked! This morning one of our Pastors (the younger, crazier one!), said a lot of much bigger and much smarter churches would have never tried pulling off something this crazy on Easter...but look what it did for us! Of course, that brought a huge amount of laughter from all of us "not so smart" attendees! I love this church...what are we going to do??!! The way it's growing, I fear they will no longer fit in the moving van ;-)

One of the areas Shawn and I served in was dressing as the Dog.....this is actually Shawn in there!! I had the easy job of leading him around...but Grady did most of that...he was a great handler! Shawn was fantastic...at one point there was a little girl following him everywhere..I'm not sure he was even aware!! It was totally my idea to get him in there....I was signing us up in different areas a couple of weeks ago, and was joking around that Shawn would be a perfect Dog...I couldn't believe it when he agreed!!!

Grady hunting eggs....there were hundreds of eggs...not everyone went home with a big prize, but every child went home with a basket stuffed with balls, pencils, candy, card games...so everyone walked away with something!


Gabe dancing his heart out!!! He has made us so proud with all of the effort he puts into this!

Shawn the parking lot boy......I don't know how he got all the cool costumes!!

Grady and the Easter Bunny!

Some Catching Up To Do!

So, since I last wrote a couple of weeks ago A LOT has changed! We are pending on a property in Augusta, we are owners of a go-cart, and we are all caught up on our Vitamin D! We had an excellent visit to Kansas...the weather was great, we spent lots of time with our family, and even got some tasks accomplished! So, as I blogged our adventures...I did it backwards, so if you would like to read them in order, scroll down to March 25th and work your way back up....but if your like reading the ending to the book first, then by all means start at the top!

It's Official!

Pending any major and I mean MAJOR hiccups we are the official owners of property in Kansas! The contract has been signed, loans approved, inspections complete...yep, we are really doing this! It was really hard coming back to Washington...I just wanted to pitch a tent on the 10 acres..it will be so nice having something that is "ours" again! I'll give you some specs on the house, but of course we are wanting each and everyone of you to come see it for yourself! It has 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, lots of storage, a fireplace, a wonderfully huge detached garage (a.k.a. the Man Cave!), a Dixon 3-blade 0-turn mower (oh, now your jealous...HA!), 10 acres, on which the mower will come in handy, and lots of roosters, chickens and goats who like to visit from time to time....and did I mention this is all on paved road, less than 5 minutes from Augusta...that means I can be a country girl WITH a clean car....bonus! It's official we are Country Folk now!

A BIG Surprise for the Boys!

So, after we signed the contract on the house....we decided to get the boys a little something for the new house! A gentleman at my mom's work had a go-cart for sale...the price was right and it ran good, so on Saturday morning before heading back to Washington we picked it up! The boys were so excited! We all took our turns driving...it is a blast! I can't wait until we move into our new house....you are all invited to come for a spin anytime!

Fun Time at PaPa and Grandma's!

We also spent time at Papa and Grandma Foxes' house...the boys spent a lot of time outside, helping Grandma feed the cows, playing with their cousins and even getting in some baseball practice! Our time in Kansas went way too fast...I'm sure all of us could have stayed another week!

Grandma Judy and Grady in deep conversation....I think they may have been discussing names for the kitty!

Papa, Gabe and Shawn getting in a little baseball!

Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer!

We were blessed with awesome weather while we were in Kansas last week! The boys were even able to strip down and have a water gun fight! We spent most of Monday soaking up the sun at Nana and Joe's house.....we even squeezed in some Italian in Independence and some playtime at the Riverside park...this park has been there for a long time! My Mom even broke her arm at this park when she was a little girl!

The rolled up jeans, bare feet and no shirts were screaming Tom and Huck to me!

"Will Wash Cars for Candy!!"

Gabe soaking up some wonderful Kansas sunshine!

On your mark, get set, GO!! Racing down the slides at Riverside Park!

Lovin' Me Some Pork Chops!

So, for those of you who don't know, my Aunt Joyce and Uncle Lee are hog farmers, and while we were at their house for Easter we were taken on a tour! Their farm is huge...this is not just a couple of little piggies here and there...there are thousands of those stinky oinking things! We were given the WHOLE tour and I mean from the how they get the piggies pregnant to how they were born...the whole shebang! We were about 20 minutes late on getting to see an actual birth...I can't say I'm bummed....the aftermath was hard enough for me to stomach! I'm glad my aunt and uncle love their farm....because I love me some pork!

Here piggie piggie!

These yummy little pieces of ham were about 10 weeks old.....they were loud, stinky and scared!

Easter with the Seiler Side!

On Palm Sunday we spent the day with the Seiler side of our family! We haven't been able to make an Easter with them since moving to Washington, so this was extra special! This holiday also holds an extra special place in Shawn and my life as this was the place he hid my engagement ring in an Easter egg! So needless to say Easter at my Aunt Joyce's is always my favorite! The boys had a blast with their cousins running around on the farm, hunting for eggs and just being kids! I had a great time sharing laughs and inside jokes and stories with my cousins.....a wonderful group of gals who have known what it's like to wake up at the crack of dawn to pick blueberries and who are finally able to laugh about it 20 years later! I love this family and I can't wait to be closer to them again!

My Aunt Joyce always hides lottery tickets in the Easter eggs...well this year, Gabe was the big winner....$15 bucks!!! The money burned a hole in his pocket all week!

Grady could have cared less about the lottery ticket....he was lovin' him some big 'ol lollipop!


The Silly String Fight! Somehow, I ended up with silly string on me.....I guess it's the price you pay for getting good pics in the middle of the battle!

And those silly bunnies hid the eggs a little high....but no fear Grandpa Glen to the rescue!

And their off......Gabe and Jordan in the big hunt!!!