Christmas

Last weekend we stopped at Chick Fil A for dinner and the since the cow was dressed up like Santa and I happened to have the camera, we couldn't pass up a photo op.

Christmas was a nice quiet day here in NJ. The kids let us sleep til almost 7. Santa brought them lots of great gifts including a laptop for Kelsey and a DSi for Nick. It was nice to have a low key day which included a two hour nap for Mommy. We have been on the go so much the past few months that we are all looking forward to a slow pace this week. Rob fortunately has the entire week off too.

Today we woke up to the weather forecast of 12 inches of snow. It started snowing early in the afternoon and hasn't stopped since. I don't think we will get the foot that was predicted but there is a pretty strong wind so I bet it will be a mess in the morning.

Koda visits Santa

The kids wanted to take Koda to see Santa. I was a bit worried since he usually gets too excited and pees wherever we go. He did indeed make a small mess on the floor but Santa's boots were spared and we got a great picture. The kids were happy and I was so proud of him for good behavior.

House Projects

Here are some pictures of the house projects we have had done recently. A friend of ours is a trim carpenter by trade and put crown molding, shadow boxing, chair rails and window boxes on the main floor of the house. We then had the entire first floor, stairway and hallway upstairs painted including ceilings. The painter we hired had a huge crew and promised to get it all done in a week while Rob was in Germany (he has an intolerance to wet paint fumes because of his latex allergy). Well, they showed up 2 weeks ago and he said he brought the whole crew to complete it in a day. He wasn't kidding. There were 12 painters and they tarped the entire house and everyone took a wall it seemed. They worked from 8:15 to 5:15 and did indeed finish it all. It was a crazy day but it gave me the rest of the week to get the house put back together before Rob got back. The kitchen table is new too as we were still using the "temporary" table we bought the day we moved in 8 years ago.

Then a friend of mine decided to get new king size bedroom furniture and she offered us her old queen set. She had a beautiful sleigh bed and armoire and since Kelsey was still sleeping on my old bed (with a more recent mattress) that was 30 years old we decided to upgrade her. She loves her new grown up bedroom....now I just need to get her to make that big bed every day.

Snow on Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! Yes, there were actually flurries this morning. I was hoping not to see any of those white flakes after last year. Guess I am not going to be so lucky. Kelsey & Nick were quite excited and I think were hoping for a blizzard.

Fall yard work

On Sunday we cleaned the leaves up from the yard. Rob was teaching the kids to use the leaf blower. Maybe next year they can handle the job themselves?? And who couldn't resist playing in the pile of leaves..we raked up this pile 5 or 6 times but the pics are cute!

Measure Up

Sometimes it's hard to tell how big the kids are getting when you don't see them much. As we all know kids love measuring themselves up against their grandparents. So, while Grammy and Papa were here this month we had to have them all stand near each other. Keep in mind my Mom is 5'10" and my Dad is 6'3". It may not be as long as we thought until Kelsey and Nick catch up.

Nov 1st thru Nov 5th

To celebrate Rob's 40th birthday, Mom & Dad came to NJ to watch the kids for a week so Rob & I could get away and enjoy some couple time. Our favorite place to go is Disney so away we went. Being the big kids that we are we had to see Mickey. One day Rob went on a ride along in a race car at the Disney Speedway, we spent a day in Epcot and a day in the Magic Kingdom. The weather was nice and warm but a bit rainy. It was fun to get away just the two of us and Kelsey and Nick enjoyed having Grammy and Papa all to themselves. They kept busy with school 2 days and movies and games and karate class. A huge thank you to all 4 of them for giving us the time to get away.

The Annual Halloween Party

For the past several years we have hosted many of our neighbors for a children's Halloween party in the garage. This year we decided it would be our final year as the kids are all getting older and the guest list keeps increasing....this year we were at about 65 people. Our friend Shane dressed up as Dr Doofenshmirtz (from Phineas and Ferb) and he and Rob conducted all kinds of science silliness with the kids. There was glow in the dark liquid in test tubes, screaming balloons, bloody handprints, green slime, oozing pumpkins, worm goo, egg in a bottle and snow in October. It was quite a departure from the usual games but I think everyone enjoyed. Thanks for the extra help from Grammy & Papa. The final party was a success!

Pumpkin Carving

Mom and Dad arrived on Friday October 29th. The kids put them to work the next day carving the Halloween pumpkins. Kelsey carved her pumpkin all on her own (her first time) and Nick enlisted Papa to carve an elaborate design. They all turned out awesome!

Nick and Bec

If Nick were only 7 years older....his first real girlfriend is our neighbor Bec Moran. Tonight was Homecoming and he would have gladly been her date. He does have a bit of competition from our neighbor Caden. Here are some pics we took before she left for the dance. It is a tradition for an Andrews' guy to dress up goofy and pretend to be a Moran girl's date. Rob used to be goofy when Bec's older sister Kayla went to dances.

Indian Acres Pumpkin Patch

A little late in the season but we finally managed to get to Indian Acres today to go pumpkin picking. As usual, the kids each wanted to pick out their own large pumpkin. Rob is going to be busy carving this year!!! We were joined by our friends Eric, Victoria, Jodi, Mark and Emma.

Happy 40th Birthday Rob!

On October 16th Rob celebrated his 40th Birthday.



We had a surprise party for him and a bunch of his friends were able to be here to party with him. And he has been so busy with work lately we were able to completely surprise him. He says he had no idea!

Also, here are some pictures to take a walk down memory lane for the past 40 years!
Happy Birthday Rob! I love you!

Philadelphia Zoo Sleepover

Kelsey's ACE class planned a sleepover at the Philadelphia Zoo. Siblings were allowed to attend also. Nick, Kelsey and I went together. The zoo gave a night tour in the dark as well as some animal demonstrations. When we woke up in the morning we got a sunrise tour, however someone forgot to wake up the animals first. Many were still snoozing and out of viewing range. We did get to see a few animals including a female lion who had previously taken hormones for a medical condition and when they stopped the medicine, she grew a mane. There was also a special LEGO exhibit with many animals recreated with the plastic blocks. This was a really cool exhibit to see.

updates

I have gotten really behind in blog posting. I am going to be working on it. I went ahead and posted Kelsey's birthday pics but I have a ton to add for August. So check back later and see what's new.

Happy 11th Birthday Kelsey!

She is getting closer to the teenage years! Kelsey started Middle School this fall and she is really quite a remarkable young woman. She has grown another inch and looks so much older with her braces and growing out her bangs.

Here's Kelsey at 1 day old weighing in at 7 pounds 8 ounces. She was 20 1/2 inches long.

Now she is 107 pounds and 60 1/2 inches tall. Pretty soon she'll be borrowing my shoes! Here she is yesterday on her birthday.

And when Nick was asked to give the birthday girl a kiss it turned into a wrestling match!




Happy Birthday Kelsey. We love you and love watching you grow up. I can't believe it has been 11 years.

And what was in the box? The last book of a 24 book series she was missing, a camera case and tickets to the Rascal Flatts concert on Saturday night. We can't wait to take the kids to their first concert!

Kelsey and Rush...again

Kelsey loves riding Rush and she had another chance today. While Kelsey and her friend Maddie take riding lessons, the younger brothers, Nick and Bryan have been busy. Each lesson they are getting bolder about getting near the creek at the stable. Today was no exception. In fact, today while they were fishing with their nets from the bank of the creek, Nick somehow ended up in the creek. He was wet from the tips of his toes to above his waist. What a mess the boys were when it was finally time to leave!!! At least they had fun...that's what I reminded myself while I was trying to get the mud out of his clothes today.

LBI (Long Beach island), NJ

Yesterday was our first trip to the beach this summer. The kids love going and now that they are bigger it is getting easier because they can carry their own stuff. I am not a big beach lover and hate being a pack mule through all the sand...not to mention the sole member of the clean up crew when we arrive home. We had beautiful weather and great friends to enjoy the day. Carolyn, Rebecca, Victoria & Eric went with us as well as Jodi & her daughter Emma and their friend Leah. It was a very relaxing day and we finished our time at the shore with a shopping trip for souvenirs and dinner at Pizza Hut. Kelsey, Nick and I were sound asleep before 10 pm...we were wiped out from all the fresh sea air!

Kelsey loves horses

Here are a few pictures we took of Kelsey this week at her riding lessons. Today she was riding Rush.

Payton Shea has arrived

Payton Shea was born on 7-19-10 at 12:32. She was 7 pounds 6 ounces and 20 inches long. Everyone is doing well and getting settled in at home. Papa Bruce took this awesome picture of my beautiful nieces. I can't wait to see them!

5K Run update

Well the 5 guys had a blast and the other wives who went got some great pics of the muddy mess. All the men are home napping on their couches. check out these messy guys...and if you are on facebook the complete album of pics is on the website.



Next year maybe Rob can talk Kelsey and Nick into doing the kids race!

Down & Dirty Mud 5K Run

The guys are on their way! Along with 4 friends, Rob is on his way to do the Philly 5K Mud Run today. This may be the only pic I post even though I bet a pic at the end of the race will be more amusing with them all covered in mud. It is supposed to be pretty hot today and since 4000 people have registered for the event Rob and I decided it might not be something worth dragging the kids to. Crowds, crazy parking and heat do not rank high on any of our lists for relaxing Sundays.

Happy Birthday Nick

Wow, my baby is 9 today. It's the last birthday before he gets to the double digits. The last 9 years have flown by! We were sitting here on the couch earlier tonight and I said "Nick want to know what I was doing 9 years ago right now?" I picked him up and cuddled him in my arms. His arms and legs extended well past my lap. I tried to explain to him how much easier it was to hold him with one arm when he was just 8 pounds. He is maturing into quite a wonderful young man and we are so proud of him! Happy Birthday!!!

Here's a post idea I borrowed from my sister Amy.

Here's Nick at 2 days old (7 pounds, 13 ounces and 20 inches long)




And here he is today on his 9th birthday (78 pounds and 54 inches tall)



He spent the day playing with his friend Jake and then we went for a family dinner to Outback Steakhouse. To top off his evening he hung out with his buddies Matt & Jared and played on Matt's huge inflatable water slide. Here are a few more pics we took tonight when Kelsey, Rob and I surprised him with LEGO's from Toy Story 3.











And since we were measuring Nick, Kelsey decided she would stand next to the ruler too. Kelsey measures in at 59 inches tall and 104 pounds. Where did my babies go?

Happy Early Birthday Nick

Nick will be 9 on July 8th. Our schedule for July is so crazy we decided to have a spur of the moment camp out party in the backyard for him. Unfortunately many of his friends were unable to come so I think we will be repeating it on a week day later this month. We had a backyard cookout & the kids roasted hot dogs and marshmallows on the grill (even if it was just charcoal). For those of you who don't know, our yard is so extremely small that an open flame firepit was out of the question. The kids caught lightning bugs, played in the sandbox, and played flashlight tag. Then everyone went home. I am not a huge fan of actual sleepovers but I am all for playing til bedtime. All the kids had fun and everyone went home for a good night's sleep.

And a little explanation about the cake..."Happy Birthday Tito" is a neighborhood joke. Last Labor Day weekend we celebrated a group of birthdays but the Dad who went to pick up the cake couldn't remember which kids were celebrating so he just had them write "Tito" on the cake. Now everyone thinks the Birthday cakes should all say "Tito"!

Nick and Becc

I should break the news gently...Nick has a girlfriend. He insists that even though there is about a 6 year age difference, he is going to take her to prom in a few years. They really are great buddies but I am not sure how he will handle it when she gets a boyfriend her own age.

Kelsey's Riding Lesson with Midnight

Today was Kelsey's first riding lesson of the summer. She got to rider her favorite horse, Midnight. She is once again riding with her friend Maddy. While the girls ride, Nick hangs out with Maddy's brother Bryan. The boys like to play around in the dirt and run after the cats at the stable.

Let the Summer Vacation Begin!

Finally we have finished the school year. It seemed like this day would never get here. I think this is the latest we have ever been in school and going until June 25th is the pits! In fact, I was at Target Friday morning before school (our last day) and they were starting to clearance out summer stuff and build Back to School displays. How depressing is that?!? Here are some pics of the kids on the last day. There was a 5th grade promotion ceremony for Kelsey on Friday and a celebratory breakfast with ACE (her honors class)students on Saturday.

Ironwood Ropes Course

Kelsey's girl scout troop went to Ironwood for an afternoon of fun. Nick was invited to join in. There was a huge rock wall, zip line, vertical obstacle course and flying squirrel (a rope swing of sorts). The kids had a blast.

Baby Shower for Kelsey's Teacher

Kelsey's 5th Grade teacher is expecting her first baby in September. As their end of the year party, the room mom's planned a baby shower. The kids played games and had cake. Mrs Guarini was very surprised. Kelsey and her friend Maddy helped me make a quilt for her. Instead of wrapping it in a gift basket, we created a baby made of diapers, dressed it up in an outfit we bought in Disney World and put it in a basket like a real baby. We nick named it G-Baby (for Baby Guarini).

Nick's School Birthday

Nick celebrated his summer birthday on the last full day of school. Since it coincided with the opening of Toy Story 3 he chose Alien cupcakes. With some help from his friends Jared & Jacob, the boys decorated all of the cupcakes.

Gettysburg ACE Trip

Kelsey's ACE Class(Advanced Class for Education..honors class) traveled to Gettysburg for a day of exploring. Rob and Nick were also able to join the group for the day. I think Rob got more out of the trip than the kids....all that studying for ROTC in college came right back to him and he was able to visit many of the places he read about.

Malibu Dude Ranch Girl Scout Weekend

Mother's Day Weekend Kelsey and I went to a dude ranch in Pennsylvania with Kelsey's Girl Scout troop. The weather was not very cooperative..it was rainy off and on and cold most of the weekend. We even woke up on Sunday (May 9th) to snow flurries!!! We were able to go on three trail rides and the girls were able to try out archery and rowing. There was also dancing in the lodge and a hayride in the rain. We even had a rainbow make an appearance while the girls were having a horse grooming lesson. The weekend was awesome and all 16 of us really enjoyed ourselves.

Disney World April 21st - 27th, 2010

We traveled to Disney World with Rob's brother Tony, sister-in-law Tammy and their son Nathan. It was great to share Nathan's first trip to Disney World with them. We packed a ton of activities into our week in Florida. We participated in Disney's Give A Day, Get A Day volunteer program. We all made quilts for Project Linus in January. Besides the great feeling volunteering gives you, we were treated to special passes for short lines at the parks and the kids each received a collectible set of Mouse Ears. While we were at the Magic Kingdom, Kelsey lost her Philly Flyers hat on Goofy's barnstormer ride. We were told it may show up at lost and found and we should check back daily for the duration of our trip. After a few failed attempts, we found it there on the last day of our trip. It is truly amazing!! I think that was the highlight of the trip for Kelsey. Nathan and Nick were chosen to be the Big Kahuna at Typhoon Lagoon and we were treated like royalty for a day with a private Beach area and a private tour of the park before it opened for the day.

Papa Bruce and Grammy Pat's Visit

Grammy Pat and Papa Bruce arrived on April 5th for an almost two week visit. We were so busy enjoying their visit we didn't take too many pictures. Papa did manage to capture a few of Kelsey & Nick's karate moments and Nick's flag football moments with the camera. We also were able to catch a cute picture of the two dogs together. Rob had shoulder surgery on the 13th which thankfully was not as bad as we had feared. He had messed up a tendon while shoveling snow in February. Grammy & Papa stayed extra days to make sure we were ok with Rob out of commission. I am happy to report he is almost 100% now. Mom also took MacTavish to Kelsey & Nick's classes to give a therapy dog demonstration.

Annual Easter Egg Hunt

Each year our neighborhood has an Egg hunt on the day before Easter. We have been doing it for many years. We roundup all the kids (about 20 or so) in our yard within the confines of the fence. The adults work on hiding all the eggs and then the flood gates are opened and the kids spill out into the neighboring yards and have a blast. The older kids have transitioned to hiding rather than hunting. It is a little bittersweet as Kelsey is now in the older group and Nick is teetering on the edge of too big to do the hunt.

After dinner Kelsey & Nick decorated Easter Eggs. On Easter morning the kids woke up to a crazy peep hunt searching for all the marshmallow goodies the Easter Bunny has left.

Easter Weekend 2010

Here is a picture of the kids in front of my friend Carolyn's Weeping Cherry Tree. The blooms lasted only two days but it was truly a sign that spring has arrived.
I am having trouble loading some pictures so please bear with me. Now that we are back from Disney this is not the time for the pics not to work.

March 21st

It's almost 80 degrees! Bring on the spring weather. Nick opened up the sandbox for the first time this year and lots of kids came running. At one point there were 8 boys in the 3 foot by 3 foot box. Then the girls took their turn.

Smash that Record!

After all the complaining about the snowfall this winter I thought I would share an interesting bit of info. Philadelphia's previous snowfall total was 65.5 inches set in 1995/1996. So far this year we have had 4 major snowfalls for a grand total of 78.7 inches (51.5 inches in February alone).

Today was in the mid 60's and spring fever is in full bloom (as are the allergies). Hopefully we will stay with the warmer temperatures and the daffodils will continue to grow. We have several plants already 3-4 inches tall.

Happy Spring (in a few weeks officially)!

Everyone loves the Circus!

Believe it or not, we have never taken Kelsey and nick to the Circus. When we saw that Ringling Bros was coming to Philadelphia we couldn't resist. We all had a great time. It is amazing what these performers (animals & people) are capable of doing.

Ice Skating

Nick has been begging me to take him skating. While he enjoyed it he is in no hurry to return...too many falls I guess. Kelsey also went with us but I was unable to get any pics of her before the blister on her foot caused her to ditch skating.

Rock Climbing

We needed a break from all that snow so we took the kids rock climbing with some of their friends. There is an indoor rock climbing gym not to far from here. Nick and Kelsey both made it to the top of their climbs but Kelsey definitely enjoyed it more.

Ugh! More Snow

Another 12-18 inches are expected today! I am so ready for Spring! This is our third "crippling" (the weatherman's term not mine) snow storm since Dec 19th and our second in 5 days.



OK, so I had to bribe the kids just a bit to get this picture but how many times can you stand in 2+ feet of snow in your bathing suits? I promise they were out for less than 3 minutes and what a picture to remember the snowiest winter in recorded Philadelphia history. Who says it doesn't snow in New Jersey!

Another 20+ inches of Snow in NJ

Yuck! More snow! I can't believe I ever fell for the "we barely get snow in Jersey" fairy tale everyone out here told me when we moved. It's our second massive snow storm this year. This weekend's storm is the second largest in Philadelphia history and only missed the top record by about 2 inches. Towns around us are reporting anywhere from 21 to 27 inches.

Nick had a blast playing outside in all the white stuff. Rob got to do a ton of shoveling and I helped some and as usual I'm the one behind the camera. You will notice that Kelsey is missing from all the photos. That's because she is on a Cabin Camping Weekend for Girl Scouts. What a weekend!

Enjoy the photos and hopefully this will be the last of the snow pics for this year. Maybe we'll venture out tomorrow to the big hill in town.

Karate Tournament

The first Amerikick tournament of the year and Kelsey wins a gold medal in sparring! She faced off against her friend Sierra (a very fierce & advanced competitor) and Kelsey walked away with the gold. She was a very happy young lady. She also received a bronze for her kata. Nick won a silver medal in sparring and a bronz medal for his kata. We are very proud of our karate kids!

40 Winks with a Sphinx

Kelsey's ACE (honors class) had a sleepover last night at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Nick was also able to go. We got to sleep on the floor under the watchful eye of the sphinx (third largest granite sphinx in the world)and even got a midnight flashlight tour of the museum....mummies and all. It was cool but they couldn't get me to touch the 1500 year old mummy. I couldn't miss the photo op. The kids had a blast and want to go back for another visit.

Project Linus

Disney is sponsoring the "Give a Day Get a Day" Volunteer program. The company is giving away 1 million free tickets for one day admission to one of the parks. We decided to volunteer our time and the opportunity that fit our family the best was Project Linus. This group delivers homemade blankets to sick and needy children. Kelsey and Nick made fleece no sew blankets and Rob and I made quilts and we also donated a few afghans I already had crocheted. It was such a great feeling to make and donate these blankets I am going to try to make a few more this year to donate. This picture is of the kids with the blankets before we donated them.

Kelsey's Belt Graduation

Kelsey earned her red/black belt in December but the weekend of belt graduation we got so much snow they had to cancel and reschedule for Jan 9th. This is her last belt before her black belt testing in about a year and a half. We are all very proud of her accomplishments!

Welcome 2010!

We celebrated New Years Eve here at home with several other families. The kids partied in the basement and watched Night at the Museum 2 and the adults had some time to just hang out.

Christmas 2009

Here are a few pics from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The kids had a blast opening all the boxes that had been mailed here from our far away relatives. It is always hard to be here on Christmas but I think it may be harder to travel during the holidays.

Record Setting Snow Dec 18-20th, 2009

The weekend before Christmas we had a huge snowstorm (by New Jersey standards). We got over 20 inches of snow. It began snowing sometime overnight on Friday til Sunday mid morning. The kids loved it and so did the grown ups! Being a winter scrooge like I am all I keep thinking is "Now we've had our snow....bring on the warm weather and daffodils!"