Wednesday, August 12, 2009

FOOTBALL has taken over!

Matthew is trying really hard! Here as you can see he is having lots of fun! We are so proud of how hard he is working! It has been very hard work for the boys. Both of them are new to football and are the younger ones on their teams.

A little bit of conditioning...goes a long way!

Mathew got his practice uniform! Oh wholly cow!


That is Joshua....yes he is letting his hair grow! And right next to him is Drake. I have been going for a walk during practice with Drake's mom...it has helped break up the long night!


Go Joshua...go!


He turned to look at me just for the picture....he is such a great kid!

Joshua is having a great time! We are so proud of you!

Monday, July 27, 2009

THE KITCHEN IS DONE!


You probably didn't know we were going to remodel the kitchen....we really needed to! When I find a before picture I will post it too! I forgot to take one....we have many from when we bought the house...I just have to find them!

Here it goes! Enjoy the tour and come visit!


Pretty much the appliances stayed in the same places, with the exception of the fridge....it moved over a few feet. When you first walk in from the entry way you see the dishwasher and the sink.

Then you turn to the right and you see....

The stove and the microwave with this beautiful....

....metal tile. The main tiles are tumbled stone. The three accent tiles are metal! This one has a grape leaf design. The backspalsh is fun, we love all the colors! Here is another view!

The colors change with the sunlight! There are even lights under the cabinets...so helpful when cooking! (I have done a bit of cooking!)

Turn to the right again....

This is the breakfast prep area~ Rob has the coffee pot, coffee grinder, and toaster all set up. The cabinet above has the coffee mugs, cereal bowls, oatmeal, bread, coffee....etc...everything for preparing breakfast. He is so happy with his area!

Turn right again....
There is the island....It has 7 counter height stools around it. It is so amazing. It ended up bigger than I had imagined...yes we did change a few things to make it bigger and bigger is better! We ended up moving the pantry over to the wall it is now on and we took out the rest of the entry way wall to the living room. Making that entry way larger made both rooms seam bigger and the island ended up being 9 inches wider so we could have an overhang all the way around the outside edge! So exciting!
Another view....
The far left is the living room..the pantry...right behind it is the washer and dryer behind the white double doors. The door behind that is the door to the garage. To the right is the new buffet...I put it together! It is going to match the 36" round table that will be here ...2-3 weeks....that was 2 weeks ago! I don't know when it will get here but it will be great when it does! Yes, there is a TV in the kitchen....and next to that is the new windows we had put in...That space was the mud room! There used to be the door to the deck where the windows are now! Now we have a bigger kitchen! (the white things is a portable AC...it works great!)

THIS IS IT! We love our new kitchen!

Grandpa Brad Comes to Visit

Grandpa likes the Fireman's Carnival. It is just down the street from us and it benefits the Monroe Volunteer Firefighters. Grandpa Brad gets right in there and does most all of the rides the boys do! I stand by and say "No thank you!".
The Dragon roller coaster....Just enough!

All on the bumper cars....I think that is Joshua way in the back. We got there right when it opened so they got an EXTRA LONG turn!
Ali Baba! This is the worst one...Joshua looked like he wasn't going to make it at one point...but he did. Since Disney...Matthew is all about the rides....! I still say "No thank you!"


This is the best ride....not scary....just FUN! Looks like Joshua won!

We had a really fun visit. Grandpa and the boys went back again the next night too. It rained quite a bit and the rides closed. They were able to eat all of the yummy Carnival snacks before it rained!









Sunday, July 26, 2009

Grandma Judy and Grandapa Dave Visit

Grandma Judy and Grandpa Dave came to visit us! We went strawberry picking over at Jones Family Farms! We ha a lot of fun. We ate a lot while we were picking them. We picked way too many to eat so we made Strawberry Margarita's...yummy!

Getting ready to pick some berries!

You could walk to the picking fields....but why do that when you can take the
BERRY FERRY!
Waiting for the Ferry!


Here we go!

Yes, we had to pay for the berries. The picking part was free, however we did pay for it with our hard work and back breaking bending!
We are having FUN!

They didn't eat enough in the fields...a few more for the road!

Disney World

We spent 8 days and 7 nights at Disney World. We stayed at Saratoga Springs. The boys had a great time! Rob and I were so tired! We were ready to go home!

Matthew got to spent 8 days celebrating his 7th birthday! Every dinner we had they staff sang 'Happy Birthday" to Matthew! What a great way to spend a birthday!

Another candle to blow and and oh darn....another amazing dessert to eat. He even shared them with his brother...who had his own dessert to eat...we all did!


Fireworks at the Magic Kingdom!

Matthew was pretty amazed at the beautiful show!

Silly boys!


Dinner at the Flying Fish!

This is how the boys spent their time waiting for the buses! We did a lot of WAITING for buses!


This was probably our best and most wonderful meal. We ate at the Brown Derby so we could get preferential seating for Fantasmic! It rained so hard the show was canceled after we sat there for 30 minutes...soaked and sad we did not get to see the show!

Fabulous boys. They had a great time! So did we!

Friday, June 12, 2009

One Year Ago!

Robert J. Machan and His boys

One year ago today we lost Robert J. Machan to a very long battle with cancer! Robert fought the fight for over 20 years. He was very well taken care of by his amazing and patient wife MaryAnn! When MaryAnn suddenly passed away from cancer herself on February 7, 2007, we all knew Robert would not be with us much longer. He lost his true love, his life partner. He went to go be with her on June 12, 2008.
Today we remember the funny and entertaining man that
brought smiles to our faces!

Saturday, April 11, 2009

NorCal Family Comes Visit CT

Debby, John, KaiLeigh and MacKennzie arrive at JFK.
KaiLeigh was very excited to see her cousins!
Matthew decided to sit in the car with me for 2 hours and pick up his cousins. He couldn't wait to see them.
KaiLeigh is not too sure yet!




Hanging with the cus!







Joshua, KaiLeigh, and Matthew! HAving FUN!



MacKenzie....and Auntie Christy! She is tooo cute!