Ross Reflections. . .

On my way home from our weekend garage sale. Here's the trouble with selling your stuff with your friends. It becomes one big swapfest and I come home with more crap. Somehow, this "stuff" seems new and needed. We will see how long I keep it before it ends up right where it came from, a garage sale. Thanks ladies for a great weekend and Dez you are so gracious to let your house be taken over for the sale. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!!!

Today we went over Lafayette to spend the day with Dan, Luci and the kids. Jack was testing for his black belt and we didn't want to miss that. It is extremely cool and we are so proud of Jack and his determination to reach his goal by age 7. He is very good and it is fun to see him in his zone. breaking boards!!! It's official, Jack Ross, black belt in Karate!! The cousins were all together to celebrate with fireworks after we all had cake and ice cream. We love you Jack!!

Something about being five has made Logan SO BIG in her mind. Yesterday we went for a family bike ride and Logan was quite upset about sitting in the trailer with Isaiah. She was so wanting to ride a bike on her own. It is just too slow with training wheels for us to bike as a family. We told her she needed to ride on two wheels in order to ride a bike on family bike rides. Well, not 24 hours later, she was doing it and never fell. We are so proud of you Logan!!! It really took about 20 minutes and she was off.

Need I say more?? The boy reads anywhere and everywhere!

This year we are sad to lose two very special couples, Meg and Zaino and Jon and Jaclyn. Our kids LOVE all four and Gary and I have special places in our hearts for them too. We have spent hours with them playing Settler's of Catan and enjoyed watching them date eachother, getting closer to marriage each time we'd see them. We have plans to see both couples this summer which makes it easier to see them move back home but we miss them!!! Meg and Zaino Jon and Gary Jaclyn and the kids

So Isaiah is two and if you can't tell from his toddler frame, or how he tries to keep up with Noah and Logan, just listen to him talk/sass/fuss/ for 5 minutes. Welcome to my world, where Isaiah keeps me on my toes and he is really lucky he is so darn adorable. (in my opinion) This picture above was taken after my panic attack when I couldn't find Isaiah at the ball park. I thought he was sitting in a chair and had positioned myself to see him if he moved. I thought it was a great plan since he had a brick wall on his left, bleaches on his right and a chain link fence in front of him. I was guarding his back, when I looked for him after a minute, he had disappeared. I freaked out, couldn't find him anywhere, even checked the dug out but couldn't find him. On a second round of searching and rechecking the dugout, this is the face I see, as if he was ready to take his place on first base with Ella. He had gone between the fence and brick wall into the dug out and was so ...

Excited for her guests to arrive and receive their party bags of fancy accessories to dress up for our photo shoot. Miss Dorothy also came to the party dressed quite fancy and fabulous herself. Playing Bingo, love the gloves. The Cake Over the top, out of control, totally fun and extremely girly, how else could I describe Logan's 5th birthday party? Logan has been counting down the days until her birthday for weeks and this morning she walked in at 7 am saying, "I AM FIVE." She had been so excited for her Fancy Nancy party, probably because I have been planning since January when the $1 Spot at Target had high heals, tu tus, wands, lace gloves and jewelry. I bought it all and started to mentally plan. I mentioned my excitement to my neighbor Dorothy who took my accessories to the next level by adding sunglasses, scarfs and boas for each girl along with other party supplies. Late last night I pulled out a 10 year old Lavender bridesmaid dress and decided to dress up myse...

My FAVORITE thing in LIFE to do is LAUGH. There is nothing better in life, althougth Gary would disagree. (ha, ha) My Mother's Day was fabulous and full of laughs. The day started with our first huge laugh when on the way to church Noah asked about excessive bleeding or something to that effect because of book he was reading and when Gary casually answered the question, Logan had a comment. "You know all about bleeding Mom, like when you have to use your COUPONS." (Yes, Loggy I do, but I refer to them as tampons.) We were laughing pretty hard when we arrived at church. Our second big laugh, came on the way home from Outback Steakhouse. We were listening to kids music and one of the song lyrics was scripture saying, "Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." Gary thought he would tease Noah and asked, "Noah, why do they say out of the overflow of the heart the MOUSE speaks?" Ha, ha Gary. Noah, without skipping a beat, answers very seriously ...

Taken by Noah. Isaiah is loving his naps lately, often getting his Pup Pup and Night, Night (creative names, huh?)when he is ready to sleep. As I put Isaiah down I say, now just take a "little nap" and he yells back, "NO, BIG NAP" I agree that a big nap would be a better idea and he lays right down. I'd love a big nap to these days.

Do you know what your children do before you get up in the morning? Noah has been making movies and I wanted to share one of his latest. He may look like me, but he completely can act like Gary. I was gut laughing when I watched this, my stomach hurt. Noah gave me permission to post this on my blog. What a character, he's got moves and he learned them all from his dad. Hilarious! This whole video clip reminds me of the last few minutes on Meet the Parents when Ben Stiller is talking into the hidden cameras.

Off to the links and Logan is way excited. Grandpa Pigott bought her lefthanded clubs last summer and the set came with a Jack Nickolas hat, a perfect "accessory" for Logan. We have no idea what will be Logan's sport or even if she will have a sport. Drama, singing and dressing herself multiple times a day seem to be her love at this age. We are just enjoying her love and expression of all things. Today it was GOLF.

Deborah Pasko, Dara Syswerda and Me (Traci Falder in spirit) This was not only the big race day, but today is also my blogging anniversary, ONE YEAR!! Just a side note there but I have loved blogging and it is so wonderful to have a year journaled with things my kids had said and done that I would normally forget. Our small group runners: Mark and Christa Sieglin, Dara, and Me I was so thrilled with this years mini experience, what fun and great memories. Deborah, Dara and I went out to dinner, shopped for Under Armour and spent the night in a hotel down town Indy. We woke up early, ate our breakfast, wearily followed the Garmin to the race site ( I have issues with my GPS, a true love/hate relationship) and easily found our corrals, all ready to run. Deborah and I took our Sport Beans (jelly beans) with water 30 minutes before the start looking forward to the extra energy they would provide us throughout the run. Little did we know that as a result of those silly little beans...