SUMMER IS HERE

POOL'S OPEN!!!!!! We went to the pool today. Bring on summer!
Jordan went for a pencil dive.........While Cody opted for the ever popular cannonball! Those of you who haven't seen Forest Hills Pool in a while realize that not much has changed! Except maybe the prices at the snack bar!

birthday

Yesterday was DJ's first birthday party! (Our nephew) He loves to give hugs and kisses. The party was at a real nice park in Scottdale. The weather was good and we got to watch Alexis play a killer game of softball! GO LEX Starting him early on his Thomas collection!
More presents and more Thomas! Getting these things out of the package was hard. I think it's easier to break into Fort Knox than it is to get these toys from their packaging these days.
Jordan was very excited to finally have someone look up at him like " woo, look at that big kid".

Jordan just loves his Uncle LennyOkay, so my 2 brothers and I just love the movie My cousin Vinny. Everytime we get together we start reciting all of the lines and laughing hysterically. Drives our spouses crazy! So my brother Dayne was at the store and saw it and just had to get each of us a copy! Now we can watch it at the same time and call each other on the phone and recite lines! If you haven't seen it I'll lend you my copy.....but you have to promise to give it back!

Anniversary

So Friday was the big 21st anniversary. My favorite color is yellow, so Tom had the florist make up a bouquet of all yellow flowers! Aren't they pretty? Some ladies like roses but I think this is better because he had to actually put some thought into it! Tom you are an unbelievable man and husband! I don't care who knows it! Here's to another 20 years!

Skate night

Saturday was a skate night for the McKelvey clan. We went back to On a roll. It was Word fm night again. Here's the troops gearing up.......
Jordan in his skates and ready to go.....I guess he thought that his wrist was going to sweat alot.... Extreme close up.........
And here is the best part of the night for the kids......The Arcade. How many of you out there remember playing video games on toe stops?

Oh well, fun was had by all.......

School

So friday we finished up our 180 school days! YEA Here is Cody with his "periodic Pillowcase" that was part science and part Art! Pretty neat huh? Our Evaluator came today. She sat down with each of the kids and asked them all about their school year. She took notes on everything that we did, looked over the 2, 3 inch thick binders that I have for each of them with their "samples" of school work in, Looked at all our art work, and asked about their extensive reading lists and declared that "Mom, gets an A for all your work this year"! I am so glad that is over. She'll write up a report for the school district, telling them if she thinks they got an "appropriate education", then we send everything in to the school. Take a deep breath and prepare for next year! Happy Summer!

Mother's Day

So Hope that everyone had a nice mother's day. Ours was pretty uneventful.......The family did dinner on the grill for me (no cooking and no clean up! What more could you ask for?) Then both kids made up a cake for me, But only one decorated it. Can you guess which one! (I secretly told everyone not to say anything about it being spelled wrong) it was the most adorable thing.....and really tasty too!
He's so proud of himself!

baseball

So baseball has started for Jordan again. He loves to play baseball. He played second base for awhile now he's at shortstop. Here he is ready to make the play. I think maybe he just loves getting dirty! He's got his batting gloves and bat, Look out Barry Bonds, Here comes Jordan!

trauma for the week

No your eyes are not deceiving you, that's Cody in a wheelchair. We had our trauma for the week last night. Cody got out of the shower and stepped on a pencil that Jordan had left on the floor. Of course the point of the pencil broke off in Cody's foot! I tried getting it out but it was in there good. So off we go to the ER at 9:45 at night. We finally got paperwork started after being there for almost an hour. They gave him a wheel chair so that he could stay off it.
We finally made it back to x-ray and a holding room at 1 am (yes that is in the morning) That black mark on his foot is the pencil point,
As you can see from the nasty scab ("ICK") on his other leg we already had some trauma this week. Let's just say it involved a bicycle chain and his leg!
SO finally around 2:15 am he was numb and the doctor "dug" out the pencil. He says he'll be fine. He gave us some antibiotics and we have to follow up with our pediatrician. What a night. We finally got back home around 3am. All those with boys will get a kick out of this story! Others may just think "poor boy"!

Let's Go Bucs

Went to the first of 8 Pirates games tonight. As you can see attendance was a bit out of sorts.........
But then again Tom picked these seats on purpose. He wanted to be under the roof in case of rain, And we were able to see the whole field. Actually being the only ones around for an entire section was kind of nice. We had lots of room and the kids didn't have to stay in their seats and worry about kicking someone.
We played the Marlins so here is the Pirate Parrot trying to catch himself a fish dinner!
One of the ushers saw Jordan with his glove so he gave him one of the game balls....... That was really "cool"!We won the game which makes it a little more fun..... and we get see fireworks at the end. So it was a good night all around.

.

Madam president?

Saturday night there was a rally nearby for Hillary Clinton so thinking this would be a good educational experience and kind of cool we decided to go......

A secret service agent who was working the metal detector. Not so secret is he? The glasses don't fool anyone, pal! Probably shouldn't have been taking his picture....Opps! Never caught him talking into his sport coat sleeve though!
Anyway, we were there for 3 hours and then were told that where we were sitting, we were not going to be able to see anything. It was around 8pm and we then found out from some people nearby that she wasn't actually going to speak until 9:30pm. Then it began to downpour. A message came over the loud speaker that she was running late. At this point we made a dash for the car and gave up on our "educational experience"!

Earth Day

How did you celebrate Earth day this year? We went to Frick park to the nature reserve. They had a real nice day planned. There were some really fun things for the kids to do and see Wool spinning and natural dyes. Jordan dyed his own yarn using pigment from a tree........
They made bird feeders from bagels, and sunflower seeds......
Visited a Native American village..........
Had a piece of fruit and some fresh lemonade while they watched the honeybees ..........
We got to see a screach owl, and a lady making bread in a clay oven. So much to do. We'll definitely be back next year. Happy Earth day everyone!

.

Art

Jordan loves to collect coal from our yard. So I was trying to figure out a way to make an art project from coal. We decided to make a necklace. I drilled a hole in a piece of coal, he then painted a cross on it and then strung some beads on the cord and voila! Cool jewelry! I just thought this was really cute. Yesterday Jordan called me outside for a suprise. Here is what was out on the back porch waiting for me!
Thought the picture was extra cute with the baseball glove. Baseball season has started again. Jordan loves to play baseball. He thinks he might actually get to play second base this year! We have only had practices so far. First game is next week. I'm sure I'll be adding pictures here.

Friends

Last weekend we went roller skating at a new place in Cranberry. First time Jordan had been to a real skating rink! He said that he didn't think he was going to like it because of the booming music and lights but after he saw that he could blow his whole allowance on video games he was all for it! It was great fun. A real blast from the past for Tom and I. I did take a pretty good spill and had a swollen elbow half the night, but it was really fun. Anyway, last song of the night (it was word fm night, christian songs) was a song that I used to share with a wonderful friend from all the way back in elementary school. I have been thinking about her ever since and so, Patty, I put this little movie together for you! I hope you enjoy it. For everyone else, always cherish the gift of friendship. It is truly one of lifes greatest gifts!

Fool's

Happy April Fool's Day everyone......We played some great pranks on the kids today.

First when Tom brought our mail in I slipped an envelope in with the mail addressed to Cody and Jordan from the IRS. It said that they failed to pay taxes on their allowance and that they were now in trouble. After explaining who the IRS was and all they got very worried and totally bought into it. You should have seen their faces.

Then as a "treat"for school today I gave them each a puzzle to do. Jordan's was a maze, of course what he didn't know was that it was unsolvable! And Cody got a word search where the only word that is actually in the puzzle is April's fools! For dinner I told them as part of homeschooling today we were going to try some new food......Sushi. I got chop sticks and everything. What they didn't know was that it was really rice crispy treat with a gummy worm in the middle wrapped in fruit by the foot! The best part was that Cody actually still thought it was sushi and that raw fish was really good!!!

This just struck me as funny!

One of Cody's favorite comics!

Awesome Nascar

Today I surprised the kids (thanks to Uncle Lenny letting me know about it) by taking them to Home Depot in Monroeville to see the Tony Stewart Toyota racing car on display. We missed seeing Tony by one day (he was in Cranberry, PA yesterday) but the kids still thought it was "super cool" to see the car. This is apicture the man took while we were there. Then you go to this website and can download it. Awesome! These are a few pictures I took while there. This is the trailer that they bring the car in. Of course it also includes a gift shop! So they each got a die cast car. Cody picked the Monte Carlo that Tony used to drive and Jordan picked the Toyota that he drives now. (Not Jordan driving)
They loved checking it all out. Wanted to take it for a spin but couldn't reach the gas peddle!

Don't know the big dopey guy in the picture but am familiar with the 2 little darlings on the left!

"Easter best"

Hope everyone had a nice easter. Ours was good. I love easter. It is my favoriote time of the year. To think that God can love us that much is incredible!!!!!

So here's the boys in their "easter best" right after we got home from church and they searched for their baskets. I hid them in their own rooms!!!!! It took them awhile to find them. Goes to show how much they pay attention. They are boys after all. Here they are diggin' in! They both got books and book marks, CD's. Jordan got a new bible, and Cody got a cross necklace. And then there is usual chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate! We had a nice dinner with Uncle Lenny,Who played all afternoon in the yard with the kids. It was a very nice day. I just wish it wasn't so cold! ANd there were more spring flowers up. But all I can leave you with is....Thank you Jesus, for your blood, that saves us from our sins and your glorious resurrection!