Prest-O Change-O

Chelsea called me into the office today to show me her "Princess Changing Closet". She climbs in as Chelsea ...
...and comes out as a princess!!! Isn't that amazing! Don't you wish you had a princess changing closet at your house?

Devon

"Better late than never" seems to be my motto lately. Devon turned 11 on January 4 and I just realized I never even posted any pictures. We were in Chicago for Christmas which is where we celebrated Devon's birthday this year. Debbie and Ryan had a "surprise" birthday party for him at their house with a cake made of his favorite waffles.

Devon shared the spotlight with Chelsea as she was led into the kitchen like a queen with trumpets.

Lauren made Devon a cake with her new Easy Bake oven.

Ice skating in Chicago.

Bowling with cousins (Parker, Devon, Blake, Payton, Carter)

Devon, Ryan, Blake and Carter

Ryan filled a Superman pinata for the kids to destroy in the garage. (Devon, Lauren, Carter, Brooke and Chelsea)

Bruce strangling Superman after Devon and Carter decappetated him.

Devon started playing basketball this year. For anyone who thinks Devon doesn't have an aggressive side just come to a basketball game and you'll change your mind. It's kind of surprising.

Devon also just started 11 year old Scouts. No more Cubscouts.

We love Devon and are so proud of him. He is such an incredible kid!!!

Pinewood Derby

Just a few pictures of the latest adventure in car-racing. Lauren got in on the action this year with her yellow lovebug.


Carter's favorite spot of the night was the finish line where he made sure the judges were doing their job right. Too bad the track was rigged and Carter came in 3rd. ;)

Here's the 2nd place winner with Carter and one of their leaders.

Who Needs School???

Chelsea's first time sledding. We tried to take her in Chicago, but she fell asleep on the way to the hill. She was fearless and loved getting pulled back up the hill each time.

Carter, Devon, Lauren, Tiffany and Chelsea hiking back up the hill. Yes, it was a hike. The hill looks much smaller in this picture than it was.

Needless to say, the kids were not happy to go back to school this week.

Ice Storm 2009 - More Pictures

Here is the tree that hit our deck with the most damage. It is the tree that took out our grill.

The trees all looked beautiful with all the ice. I should have taken more pictures of the pretty trees instead of the fallen trees at our house.

Another Power Outage

We actually have had other things going on between power outages besides Halloween. Some day I will go back and fill in the months between Oct and Jan. Just a couple little things like Thanksgiving and Christmas happened. :) Here are a bunch of pictures that really don't tell the whole story. For those of you who live in Louisville you may get more of the full picture. The sounds that accompanied these trees falling during the night of Jan 27 were enough to keep me up all night running from window to window to see what the latest damage was. The tree that is blocking our garage fell in two pieces, one of which you see and the other which smashed down on our neighbor's car. The tree that is plunging through our grill on the deck is actually a huge tree that hangs down to the ground below the deck. I was too nervous when I took these picture to venture to the backyard. There are still many trees that look like they may fall. Many trees like the ones in the first picture are simply bent to the ground under the weight of the ice and snow. I'm not sure what will come of those trees. The tree near our mailbox (or what is left of it) split in three sections throughout the night, one falling across the driveway and hitting the mailbox, one falling the opposite way causing no damage and the other falling straight across the street blocking it only for a short while before a snow plow came and pushed it out of the way. Enough explanation. You'll get the idea. Louisville actually looks really pretty right now with all the trees covered in a layer of ice with snow on top. We were without power for just 36 hours which sounds wonderful to those who are still without power and sounds horrible to those of you who don't live in Louisville. We are very thankful. The snakes are very grateful too. They had to be warmed by the fire by the boys this morning as they were without their heating unit all night. They are doing great for all you snake lovers out there who might be worried about them. :)









The deck from below. The tree branch sticking up over the roof is the one that smashed our grill and extends all the way to the ground.



The back of the house


This is the view from the top of our driveway looking down at the tree that blocked our garage and hit the neighbor's car





The top of our driveway is somewhere under those branches beyond the tree trunk.


View from front porch


View from front porch


Looking over the edge of the deck to the lower driveway


The deck


The deck


Another view off the deck into the backyard


Looking out our kitchen window to our poor neighbor's car. This car wasn't really damaged because the tree just bent down to it and didn't fall.


View from front porch


The boys warming their snakes by the fire



Can you tell who chose their sleeping spot first?



We drove around for a while to charge our DVD player so everyone could fall asleep watching a movie




Chelsea wore her headlamp non-stop for 24 hours.


Chelsea and Lauren having a tea party

Halloween at the Louisville Zoo

Each year the Louisville Zoo puts on a big Halloween trick or treating party for the kids. This year they had a lot of characters that the kids wanted pictures with. As always we had a great time. It was especially fun this year with Grandpa Bridges tagging along. Next time he comes we'll be sure to get him in a picture that isn't blurry. Sorry Dad, no pictures of you this time.


Lauren (Supergirl), Carter (Darth Vader), Chelsea (Snow White) and Devon (?The Grim Reaper?)

The unmasked children so we know that it was really them when we look back at these pictures.

Bruce and that goofy wig! He wears it every Halloween. It's his way of participating without actually having to dress up. If he had the time I think he would go all out.

Chelsea and Snow White

Devon, Carter and Lauren with Batman

Lauren and Superman

The kids with Shrek (the dumbest looking character at the zoo) and Fiona

The girls with Belle

Devon stole Bruce's wig.