It's Been A While.....

It's been a while since I last posted, I just haven't been in the mood for blogging. Julia has started to get so that every conversation involves a passionate and guilt provoking dissertation on how she's missing out on the lives of my children. She gets that way every time I take a break. I don't know why she doesn't just come visit if she wants to see these kids. I guess I can put something up. ;)

This is one of those video's that most people will just find boring, but it makes me laugh, and I think Grandma will like it. Quincy's going to be famous one day ;) This actually reminds me. When Quincy started school she taught me this song that they sing everyday at the beginning of class. The words are "Rise, and shine, and welcome to school today........" It had this tune that I had never heard before, but we sing it together all the time and I have learned it pretty well. A couple of weeks ago parents were invited to come in for a special craft day at school. The teacher let them sing their "Welcome to School Today" song, and lo and behold, it's to the tune of that camp song "....rise and shine and give God your glory...." I would never have known - Quincy loves to sing, but she cannot carry a tune. I'm pretty embarrassed by how dirty the rug behind her is in this picture, and I know that maybe you wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't said anything. Anyway, I'm embarrasses, but I'm gonna be real. Yes, sometimes the carpet gets dirty and I take pictures before I have had the chance to clean it.

I've been so lazy with posting, that I haven't even put anything up to show our Christmas. Most of the people we knew here went away, so we spent the day as a family. Poor Max tripped on his pants that were a little too long, and got a giant gash/bump on his head. He loved the potatoes though.

Laura introduced us to "Fancy Nancy" last time we were in Utah. Nancy is a little girl who loves to be fancy, just like Quincy. She speaks alot of french and uses fancy words. She's a girl after Quincy's own heart. Quincy loves it when we use our flutes for "bubbly." She can often be heard quoting Nancy "Ooh la la, my family is posh." Yea, we are so posh. The word she is saying here is "Merci".

There's something I just love about this picture, maybe I can talk one of my photoshopping friends into removing the food from her face, and putting her on a cooler background - I just love the face....

Julia specifically asked for some pictures of Max, so here's the little guy, just hanging out with Israel's feet. You can see that two weeks after Christmas, he still has a little scar on his head.

My friend Ruth gave us these awesome Red Velvet cupcakes one night, as you can see Max loved them and snuck in for late night snack...

Here's the boy hard at work with his dad.

I let his hair grow a little longer during the winter. I really like it that way, but the only way I know to cut hair is with clippers and I just can't seem to get the hang of cutting the long hair with clippers. It's shorter now, but I think that once it grows out a little, I'll keep it that way and just start forking out the money for real haircuts.

There really isn't any commentary for this next picture, other than to say I don't usually let him roam around the house in the buff. I just know that Julia will love this one.

Quincy loves to dance - she especially likes to do fancy "piro-whips." Max just loves to do anything that Quincy is doing. Neither of them really like to share the camera, or me for that matter.

Here's Max, caught in the act again. This time sneaking Quincy's ice cream that was out softening. It seems like for a few months, he (and his little buddy Ben) always had some kind of wound on their foreheads. Fortunately, it seems like they're both getting a little more coordinated now.

Quincy and I went on a date with some of our friends, we saw Disney On Ice. We loved it, I don't know which of us was more enchanted. I think when you're a grown up you appreciate the athleticism and grace more. As a kid it's just so magical. It was one of my favorite things that my parents took me to as a kid, and so I was so excited to share this with Quincy again (we saw one in St. Louis a couple years ago). The costumes were awesome. We had a great time.


And, finally, here are a couple shots from one of our recent family activity's. We went to one of the Metro Parks for a program called "Return to the Sugar Bush." Did you know that Michigan is the #6 producer of maple sugar in the world? We learned all about how they do it. It was very interesting. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. We got to see them tap a tree (which produces one gallon of sap on a good day - the producing season is 6-8 weeks long), and even taste the sap as it dripped out of the tree (it tastes like water). These two pictures totally show the real Quincy, in the first she is showing that ever present attitude, (I should call it spirit or sparkle, right?), and in the second she's got her hand raised. She always wants to answer questions and talk.

They collect the sap in these bags, which are emptied everyday.

They "cook it down" in a special vat on top of this wood burning oven. They don't actually sell the syrup that is made here at the park, but they sell syrup there (does that make sense). We bought a couple of small (expensive) bottles, and I have decided that I actually prefer my Great Value, made from corn syrup with butter flavor syrup on my pancakes. I'm so glad that I have cheap taste.



After our little woodland adventure we went to one of my favorite places to eat - Macaroni Grill. These pictures say it all.

So, Julia, you'll have to think about something else to talk to me about now.....