School Pictures 2007

Here are the kids school pictures. We just got them back yesterday. It totally turned out the opposite way I thought it would. Nicholas' teacher said that he didn't want to have his taken, so I thought it wouldn't be so good. But his turned out AWESOME! If you enlarge the picture you can kind of see "water" in his eyes, like he was wanting to cry. But, I couldn't be HAPPIER with them. His FIRST school pictures. Now Emma's on the otherhand....she totally has that "forced smile". I thought she would do so much better. But, I can't complain too much because last year she absolutely refused to have her picture taken. So this is better than nothing. Let me know what you think!
We love and miss all of you!

Our Fieldtrip

Ok, so I have this patient at work that is the nicest guy you would ever meet. Well, one day he came in for his appointment and he had little bits of straw on his fleece jacket. So, being the nosey people we are, we inquire about this. He said he had to feed his animals and was running a bit late, so he didn't have time to change. Then, being the even nosier people we are, we start quizing him....never imagining what he was about to tell us. He says he has quite a few pets such as Camels, a Zebra/Donkey mix, Buffalo, a Donkey, a Yak, Watusi's, Highlanders and Indu's. A couple of which I couldn't even picture what they looked like. He goes on to say that he lets some people come up to his house and see and help feed the animals. Well, we called him about a week or so later and ask if we can come up and see his animals. Being the nice person he is, he says YES! Well, we pull up to his lavish drive to the gate and ring the bell and tell his wife who we are and she opens the gate and we pull in further up the drive to see this wonderland! And these are the first of many animals we see....


These are a couple of his Watusi's. I've never seen horns this big! They are very nice and calm (at least these were, they are probably used to being around humans. The interesting thing is is that they regulate their body temperature through their horns. When you touch them, they feel warm. Arden (our patient) says that if their horns get cut, they bleed to death! So sad. Bill was paying more attention than I was to their history, so I'll have to have him add some more info.

Then we went over to their "baby pen". This picture is of Jasmine, their white camel. They have three, and I only remember her name because she LOVES attention. She got upset when the other camels were getting the attention she wanted. All the animals in this pen are 6 months old. There are the three camels, a yak, a buffalo, a Zebra/Donkey (named Z-Donk) and donkey (named Donkey) and some kind of animal that I can't remember, but his name was Oreo because he was black with a white strip in the middle. They were fun and Jasmine liked to try to eat our coats and get Nicholas' belly which he thought was too funny!
Then we piled in for a tractor ride out to the pasture.....

These are more Watusi's. The kids loved to feed them, they would come up and eat out of our hands.

These are the Highlanders. They seemed to be pretty calm and didn't care that we were there.

This is one of his Indu's. Her name is Snowflake. They have a dark brown one and his name is Chocolate. Go figure!
Then we went to see the buffalo. He said they only have about 25 now, and they used to have 150. They came running out of the valley towards us (luckily there was a gate) and it was such an amazing site! I couldn't imagine having a herd of thousands running towards me. They are so beautiful.

Arden told us about the biggest buffalo he has (can't remember his name, but he is HUGE), but one time they were coming up to eat and there was a younger buffalo eating at the spot where he usually eats, and he threw him up and over the fence, which is about 8 feet high! I couldn't believe it.
I know this post has turned out to be a lengthy one, so I'll try and wrap it up. It was just so exciting to see these animals up close and personal. Trust me, I would have had more pictures, but the batteries were dying. I'm hoping to go back and take Bill's sister and her kids and Rich and Cheri and the kids.
It was a very good day...and best of all, it was free!!! (except for the $1 we spent on the little "rides" that the kids went on)....

Our love to you all, and I hope you have a great and thankful Thanksgiving!

Fall Festivities

I meant to post last night, but I was so upset by the Colts game that I just sat around and sulked.
The kids had fun on Halloween. Nicholas was especially cute in his costume, and Emma was a beautiful Princess Fiona.

Our neighborhood had a parade. There was a great turnout and the kids really were excited about the firetruck.

A few days before Halloween we carved our pumpkins, or as Emma insists we call them by their proper name "jack-o-lanterns". They had fun scooping out the "guts".

We went to a pumpkin farm a couple of weeks ago and the kids had a blast playing in the huge pile of hay. Emma was very good and kept Nicholas safe. Such a good big sis!






As you can see, we had a great time!

Tag...I'm it!

I've never done anything like this, but it sounds like fun. What a great way to make me really think about myself.

I've been tagged by my wonderful sis in law RACHEL!

The rules:

A. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.

B. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog, for these rules.

1. I absolutely LOVE to cook...anything! As long as it's not boring, ordinary food. I love to try new recipes and then add my own "secret" ingredient(s) and make it even better. As a matter of fact, I've been inquiring about "The Chef's Academy" here in Indianapolis. It will be a couple of years before I start, but I'm doing my research. Funny thing though that I never thought about....Bill and I were out to dinner the other night with some friends of ours and we were trying to figure out what something tasted like. Kathy said "well I think we might have to go to cooking school." I said "you know, that is what I'm going to do. I'm going to be a chef!" She said "Yeah! Like Monica on Friends!" Then Bill said something like "You ARE trying to become Monica!!! This all makes sense now!" Anyway, NO I'm not TRYING to be like Monica, I already am!! Just kidding! :-) So, yes, I LOVE to cook.

2. I love to be alone. I love peace and quiet. It's hard to come by with two little ones running around and causing chaos! I had some alone time today while the kids were at school and got some shopping done. Then came home and enjoyed the pure silence. It was heaven!!!

3. I am being sued. I NEVER in my wildest dreams thought that I would ever be sued. But yes, the jerk that I used to work for is suing me over a bunch of nonsense. He's just doing it because I went to work for one of his old associates and he knows that it's costing me a lot of money I don't have. It started in July, hopefully it will be over soon. Unfortunately I'm becoming more knowledgable about the legal system then I would ever care for! Please say a prayer for me!

4. I love to read. I have to read before I go to bed or I can't sleep. Even if it's just a page or two (which usually ends up being a couple of chapters). I love mystery novels. Normally I read James Patterson, Iris Johansen, Patricia Cornwell or Sandra Brown. They are all excellent authors. Speaking of authors, did you hear that JK Rowling "outed" Dumbeldore??? That is so rediculous. Seriously!!!!

5. I love to watch movies with Bill. We don't get to see very many movies in the theater, so we wait until they come out on DVD and rent them. We pop popcorn and he has to have Twizzlers and Pepsi and I have to fix my "movie drink" which is Sprite and cherry kool-aid. Half the time I fall asleep, but it still is a good time.

6. I don't like Halloween. Actually, I'm getting better about it for the kids sake. It all started in Wurzburg when a girl named Cathy rode by on her bike and stole my candy. My friend Jenny has taught me that it can be fun. Halloween is her FAVORITE holiday, she goes a little crazy though. Last year she organized a halloween party at work. We do take the kids trick or treating, but I'm always on the look-out for "candy stealers". I wonder if Cathy realizes that she scarred me for life!?!

I tag Mom! As for the other 5, I'm not sure. This has been fun!

Mom and Dad's visit to Indy

During mom's visit she took some great pictures. Thought I'd share with you.
Love you all!




Movie night!


Emma and Nicholas are so proud of their puzzle skills. It runs in the family.


Sweet Baby Tayler.

Emma-ism

Ok, Emma says funny things all the time. But this is one that I could not resist repeating.....this is right before bedtime....

Emma: "I want to marry Gabe" (a boy from school that was in her class last year, but not this year)

Me: "You still want to marry Gabe?"

Emma: "Yeah, but he's not in my class anymore(sad face). But I see him on the playground. He's mean to me. He's says he's not my friend anymore."

side note: in the school they call their classmates "friends". so I think that since Emma and Gabe are not in the same class this year that he thinks that they are not "friends". probably logical thinking to a 4 year old.

Me: (sigh) Well, you know, he's a boy.

Emma: (thoughtful pause) "yeah, so he doesn't know what he's doing."

Me: EXACTLY! Don't ever forget that!!!


You never know what she is going to say next!! She cracks us up. I hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day.

Just having some fun

Our Prince and Princess!
After getting home with Nicholas' new lunch box for school we found this awesome piece of cardboard type paper inside. Well, you know me and how creative I am (NOT EVEN!) I made a crown for Nicholas and then when Emma saw it, she had to have one too. So this little piece of cardboard lead to a whole afternoon of fun! Who knew?? And you might be surprised to know that after over two weeks, they are still in one piece!

Back to school

Ok, so our children aren't the best posers for pictures, but hey, we have fun! They are in their 3rd week of pre-school (I know, it took me long enough) and they are loving every minute of it. Emma goes Mon, Wed, Fri. Nicho goes Wed and Fri. They are both there from 9am to 3pm, so it's nice to be able to get things done (even though I haven't yet) if I'm not working...which I usually am. The only funny school story I have thus far is this...I ran into Emma's favorite teacher from last year and she said that she saw Nicho in his classroom the other day and he was just as happy as could be but he was trying to escape! See, they have this half door and on the inside door knob is a plastic knob thingy (moms know what I'm talking about) and so he was reaching around to the other side of the door and was trying to open it that way. She said "I took one look at him trying to escape and said to myself 'he's definitely a Latimer'"! It was really funny, but I guess you had to be there. It should be an interesting year.

Long Time, No Post

Well, it is really easy to let time get away from you. It seems that life gets so much busier in the summer, but I can't tell you that we've done a whole lot. We did however go down to Santa Claus, Indiana and went to Holiday World/Splashin' Safari. It's about a 3 hour drive through the middle of nowhere, but it was so much fun! We have never taken the kids to any type of amusement park, so this was an extra special treat for all of us. We went down and spent the night at a hotel (which is a whole other story) and so we were able to go to the park that evening and then spend almost the whole day there the following day before driving home. Unfortunately there wasn't a whole lot for Nicholas to do, but he was a good sport about it. Emma on the other hand wanted to (and did) ride everything that spun around in a circle. She was tall enough to go with an adult, so Bill and I would take turns going with her. Bill doesn't do so well with those rides. Poor Bill, but he loves his daughter, so he did it anyway. She had so much fun and would laugh and laugh. One funny incident was when her and I went on the Scrambler. I put my arm around her to make sure she was ok and she promptly says "Mom, don't put your arm around me, I'm fine, I can do it myself". Ok, well then I put my hand on her leg and she says "MOM! I CAN DO IT MYSELF, I'M OK". Those are not words I am ready to hear, especially since she is only 4 1/2. She is so independant. Bill says she is a lot like me. :-) Anyway, we had a great time and I can't wait until she is tall enough to ride the roller coasters...we are so going to be on those all the time. We did get to ride a kids roller coaster and she wanted to ride in the very back (a girl after my own heart), and before the ride even started she had her hands up in the air whooping and hollering. It was too funny. A lot of good memories were made those couple of days. I've added some pictures for your viewing pleasure. Our love to you all.

Our Little Pirates

I just had to add these pictures. One of the presents that Nicholas got was a book w/ pirate dress up stuff. It's pretty funny.

To Infinity and Beyond!!!

Another successful birthday party. I sure am glad that we have 6 months between the kids birthday parties because it sure does take a lot out of Bill and I. I do have to brag a little bit and say that I made the cake. Cheri has taught me a lot, so I'm trying to practice as much as I can. Nicholas had a great time being the center of attention, especially when 30 people stood around him and sang "Happy Birthday". He blew out his candle all on his own, even with 16 children standing close by that would have been more than happy to do it for him. He loved all of his gifts. Bill's mom gave him the first Shrek movie, and it was all over after that. He just kept saying "Shrek, Shrek". I should have known better and given him that present to open last. Here it is not even 24 hours after his party and he's already watched it twice! (though not all the way through). He received some pretty cool Toy Story things from us, and his "Aunt" Jenny and "Uncle" Hank. Lots of puzzles and books, a fun slip n' slide that we will try out after he gets up from his nap. Also some books and Thomas The Train stuff. Richard and Cheri and the kids got him this cool race track for little toddlers that he absolutely loves....even Emma wants to play with it a lot. One other thing that his Grandma Latimer gave him was this t-shirt that says "I'm two....you've been warned!" I think that is great! Too funny. Anyway, we had a great time and enjoyed seeing all of our friends and family. It's too bad that we can't get together more often, but I'll take what I can get.

Keeping Up With Tradition

It has been a long standing Mickelsen family tradition to have a movie night, and with this movie night also comes POPCORN. Well, it has now become a Latimer family tradition. Most of the time it is just Bill and I since the kids are usually in bed. But, we decided to have an early movie evening and let the kids see what it's all about. They absolutely LOVE popcorn! It's the Mickelsen gene I just know it! We watched Toy Story (for about the millionth time). It was obviously Nicho's turn to choose. We all had a great time!

Nicholas' birthday is almost here, so I've been trying to get that thrown together. Bill told me not to put it off till the last minute, but somehow time got away from me. Nicholas wants a Toy Story birthday party, so I've been trying to find Buzz Lightyear/Woody things. It has been incredibly hard to find because it's not so popular anymore. I think I can make it work. My neighbor was nice enough to give me what she had leftover, and I traveled clear to the other side of town to get a couple of other things. Ughh! The things we do for our children! :-)

I hope all of you are doing well and enjoying your summer! Our love to you all!

Getting to know us

As I continue to figure out the fine art of blogging, I thought I would share with you what we've been up to lately.

Bill - oh sweet Bill. He is such a hard worker and a wonderful provider for the kids and I. He is a Physicians Assistant. He worked in Cardiology for one year just after graduation, and is now in the emergency room, he's been there for 6 years. He is working long 12 hour days. It is very hard on him, I just wonder how much longer he can stick it out without losing his mind. It's difficult to not have him home for so long, and then add in the holidays/weekends that he has to work, it's not much fun for any of us. But the bill's must be paid! He has also become quite the handyman around the house. First, we bought the swing set, so he had to get the ground ready for that. Using landscaping timbers, some of the neighbors tools, and about 10 square yards of dirt, he leveled out the ground and built a 24' x 28' square. It turned out really well and I am so very proud of him. He did all this in under 2 weeks on his couple of days off, and then in the mornings before he would go into work. I think it about killed him, but it looks great. Meanwhile, during all of this, we were getting ready for his mother's 75th birthday party, so I asked him to paint some of the walls in the breakfast nook that the kids had left their marks on. They looked great for about a week. :-) Then his second big job (he calls me "the taskmaster") was to get the garage under control. We've been in this house for only 5 years, but it amazes me how much junk you can aquire. So we made a trip to Lowe's and bought some garage organizational stuff and he spent about a day and a half on that. It looks much much better, but there is still some work to be done. I don't think I will ask him to do anything else for awhile. So, that's Bill. He is a wonderful husband and father, and I love him with all my heart.

Marci- There's really not much to say about me. I'm doing the same old thing. I work at Hamilton Foot and Ankle Care http://www.hamiltonfootandanklecare.com/ on Bill's days off, which is usually twice a week. It's a great job, and I've known the doctor for about 7 years. We worked together at a larger podiatry group for a few years and then he left and opened his own practice and asked me if I would like to work for him. The rest is history. It is also an added bonus because it's about a 1/2 mile from the house and takes me 1 minute to get there.....2 if there is traffic. I've been in podiatry for over 11 years now. Feet are all I know. :-) So, when I'm not working, I'm taking care of the kids and the house. The only part of the swing set part is that I took many wheelbarrow loads of mulch from the driveway to the back and spread it out. That would be 11 square yards! Have you ever seen that much mulch??? It's a lot. I didn't think I would ever finish. That's about it for me.

Emma- She is getting so big! She is 4 1/2 years old. We keep telling her that she needs to stop growing. In a taunting voice she says....."guess what? I'm going to get bigger!!!" She is a stinker, and very loud. She has two volumes, loud and louder. She is full of energy. She is a wonderful big sister and loves her brother. She is a great helper around the house when she's in the mood or is being bribed! She just finished her first year of pre-school. It was a great thing. We absolutely love the school and teachers. She really grew up a lot during the year. She is "learning" spanish (I only say that b/c they only teach them a few words, but don't expect them to actually remember.) She makes up a word that means absolutely nothing and says, "that's spanish for open". She will start pre-school again in the fall 3 days a week, and then on to kindergarten. I'm REALLY not looking forward to that.

Nicholas- Or as we call him "Nicho", pronounced like nee-ko. He will be 2 on June 30th. All I can say is HE IS SUCH A BOY!!! He has to be in constant motion. He only sits still when it's time to eat, and then it's only for about 5 minutes. He always has bruises, bumps or cuts. He loves going into our pantry and looking around. I think that would qualify as his favorite room in the house. He loves his sister because she teaches him everything that he should not be doing. He is going through speech therapy because the boy refuses to talk much in anyway that we can understand him. Erin comes to the house every Tuesday. We can see progress, but she also agrees that he is just being stubborn....much like his father in this way. :-) He'll talk sooner or later. He will start his first year of pre-school in the fall at the same school as Emma. He will go 2 days a week. What will we do with our free time???? I'm hoping that being around other children his age will help him with his speech. Only time will tell. He is still a cutie-patootie and we love him.

Ok, that's a wrap. Cheri is bringing the kids over for a sleepover tonight. Tomorrow is her and Rich's 15th anniversary, so they are going on a date. The kids and I will have a great time. I've got some fun things planned.

Ta-ta for now. I'll try and get some pics on here. Love to you all!

Ok, Ok I give in!!!!!!

Alright.....since everyone else is doing it I guess I will too!!!! I do know that mom will be a happy camper. (I love you mom and miss you incredibly!!!) I think this is wonderful and I truely enjoy reading about everyone else's family, I thought that maybe you would like to hear about us.....you know, the ones that live far far away! I know very little about this blogging stuff, so don't expect too much! :-)
We have been enjoying the warm weather, although we are praying for rain. We have been keeping busy playing with the neighbor's, going to the zoo, playing on our new swing set, and eating lots of popsicles! Man it's HOT! Normally this time of year it is very very humid.....but NOT this year. We are just plain hot! Keeping the grass green seems futile, but we are trying. Tomorrow we will brave the heat and go to the zoo again. We just got a year pass, so we are trying to make the most of it. They also have an exciting "Oceans" exhibit that just opened a couple of weeks ago and Emma really enjoys "petting" the sharks. Pictures to follow......if I can figure out how. :-(
We miss all of you out there in Idaho (Paradise as dad calls it)....but if you ever want to venture back east, we will welcome you with open arms and show you a great time!
We love and miss you all........now comes the hard part....how do you add pictures?????????? :-)
(Thanks to Crystal and Kyle, this picture has been made possible. Love ya!)