Caden the Birthday Boy

Yesterday was Caden's birthday and so today (because yesterday was very busy) we had a party here at the house. When Chris and I first started to talk about doing the party here at the house she had suggested that we rent one of the inflatable houses to put in the yard and the kids could play out there on it. Thinking that it was a splendid idea we called the local bounce house (House of Bounce actually) and set it all up. So today it came and it was everything that I could of imagined it to be. First of all it was huge, plenty big for the  6-8 kids that were in it at any one time, and sometimes if you were lucky then you got to be the only one in the house. Secondly it was really good for the kids to be able to go play out there or in the house to cool off sometimes (it was a pretty hot day today, June and summer are upon us) but we had popsicles, Kool-Aid and Ice Cream Cake to keep us cooled down. Just like anything all good things must come to an end and as the guy from House of Bounce came back to take down the bounce house and put it on the truck, Caden started asking me, "Daddy is that his house, what is he doing, is he taking it home?" I told him yes and he went up to the guy and said, "Thank you for letting up bounce in your house." I love those sweet things that my children say sometimes. Happy Birthday Caden I hope that you had a great birthday.

Cats and now more Cats

Last Sunday when we got home from Walmart we had 2 more cats than before we left. In about an hour we had another two for a total of 4 new cats in the house. These cats will not become permanent additions to the house, but for now they reside here. Thought that I would share them with all of you. If you would like to share one of them with you forever just say the word. The white one is given away and I think that I am mailing the orange one to Africa (LOL).

Micha's Special Night

Tonight Micha had her open house at her enrichment school where she got to show off all of the things that she has been working on in class. I apologize that you are unable to hear her explain them all that much because of the background noise in the hall but at least you will get to enjoy her work from far away.

Logan Fletcher is 4 Years Old

 

There have been some really great days and some otherwise rough days but 6 years after starting the journey into parenthood, and 4 years of being the parents of Logan Michael we celebrated his birthday today. Saturday night (which was his actual birthday) we had a terrific family birthday party at the house with the family and the surprise guests Grammie and Papa. Grammie and Papa came in for a couple days on a little get out of the house trip even though the visit was short it was wonderful and well timed. For dinner on Saturday we had Spaghetti and Meatballs, per the choice of the birthday boy. Growing up that is a tradition that I have tried to keep that they birthday person gets to pick the dinner for that night and that is what Logie Bear wanted. So I made up some meatballs and  boiled up the spaghetti for a wonderful dinner with wonderful company as well. We did the party on Sunday so Logan was not only under the impression that we was having two birthdays but also that he would also turn a year older with each one. So Saturday was his 4th birthday and he turned 4 so that must mean that since he gets another birthday party it is another birthday and today he turned 5. Sadly for a child that does not hold true and today was his party for his friends. We had the party at the local roller skating rink and it was an absolute blast. I know that all of our family had a great time attending the event and I would like to think that the other guests did as well. Happy Birthday Logan! We love you!

Changes are coming

After a wonderful visit to Michigan to see Jessica, David, Grant, and Charlie as well as my parents, we came home and decided that there was a lot that we needed to do to make our house the way that we want it. Thanks to Jessica and the things that we saw in her house it gave us some thoughts and ideas so this last week has been the beginning of a new home for us to live in.

 

When you move into a place you spend some time getting it all set up the way that you want it and there are things that you cannot live with at all, and other things that you think that are okay for right now but you would like to change down the road. That is where we are now, down the road and the journey will be long but after the vacation from the things that we cannot live with at all, alas comes the things that are down the road. Of those include the ugly dark wood cabinets in the kitchen that we would like to replace but the cost of that would be huge, the old table that was our first matching table and chairs for the kitchen, the kids beds, finishing the guest room downstairs (not sure if that one will get done for the next two), the green carpet in the hall and the front room, and the sectional downstairs. I was not ready to give up on carpet, I love carpet and wish that I could put carpet in the garage and in the yard and on the street and everywhere. I love the feel of carpet and socks or slippers it is so comfortable, but after looking at David and Jessica's house for a few days I am thinking that the look of wood is classy so I like that too and with some talking about it I will get to keep carpet in the bedrooms and downstairs which are the lounging places anyway; and just put wood in the front room, the kitchen, and the hall. So it will have the classy look but I will still get my carpet in all the cozy places. It will be like Hanna Montana...."The Best of Both Worlds" Flooring is expensive so we are looking at manufactured or laminate flooring but some of the good stuff looks real. With this thought also brings the thoughts of the couch will not fit right because the upstairs is more of a sitting room and the couch is more of a lounging couch with multiple recliners plus we spent a lot of money last year for the couch and love seat that we are no longer using upstairs, so with progress makes more changes as well. We will most likely move the couch and love seat downstairs and retire Dad and Mom's old sectional.

I am very excited about all the changes that we are making and again making the house look just like I want it to, we will get to all the other stuff as time goes on and now that I have a camera again I will get back to blogging as well. I will share pics of the kids and more pictures of the house as we reach new milestones.

Christmas in Missouri

Well It took me a couple weeks to get back on here to post and I do not have a lot of stories to tell this afternoon but I wanted to share some photos.  I guess the only story that I have time to share today is so that you understand what Micha is doing in some of the photos that fall in here later on.

        For Thanksgiving Micha learned how to make Magic Cookie Bars and they we a huge hit. None of Chris' family had ever had them including Chris so now we had her make them for us again. It is quite a simple recipe and she has come close to mastering it. As always you can check out flickr to see more of the Magic Cookie bar photos as well as the Christmas Tree decorating.

We got our first snow of the year here and as it was not enough to really even hang around longer than just the morning of it was enough for the kids to get out in the back yard and have fun for a few moments. I am thinking that we are going to the Christmas parade this weekend so I will snap some more photos then. If not then I will get some more on here the first of next week.

Christmas is coming....and we are gearing up

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

You thought I forgot......

Well the only thing that I forgot to do was make the blog, but as promised I photographed the quality time that the Fletcher Five spent together this last weekend. Sorry I missed uploading the photos and as always there are more photos of the event in the new set on flickr so check that out. This last weekend we went on a short little road trip to Pittsburgh but it was great for the kids to get away for a little while. Even though it was only to Pittsburgh the kids thought it was the perfect trip because we left Joplin but were not driving forever. After the little trip we came back home to enjoy some time at the bowling alley. Micha wanted to go roller skating again but bowling was the consensus of the family. We rarely go bowling but when we go the children enjoy it so much we wonder why we do not go more often. Micha had a blast in fact she ended up finishing up the game while bowling for everyone. Bowling was a huge success and I cannot wait to see what this weekend has to offer us. I bet you cannot wait to see the photos as well. Tomorrow is the family volunteer day at Ronald McDonald House so I am thinking that the pictures might involve "The House" it is always a trying time when we are all there as well as a great time. We all go as a family once a month and tomarrow is our day. Chris goes a couple times more than that at least and usually takes one of the kids with her. I should take lots of photos there tomorrow and tell you about a day in the life of the Fletcher Five at Ronald McDonald House in Joplin. That will make for a great blog post! Until then...........

Fall Leaves

I am not sure why we love fall here at the Fletcher Five house. Maybe it is an end to an unbearably hot summer, maybe it is the joy of getting out all of those clothes that you put away to seem like you have a whole new wardrobe. For me I think that it is the first sign that Christmas time is drawing near, and my mind starts to wonder of the joy filled 30 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. For whatever reason we got out and enjoyed the weather today and by the pictures one would assume that we got some yard work done but the  truth of the matter is that we just played.

 

This week was such a busy week but I am trying to stick to my weekly flickr additions as well as my weekly blogging to tell you to look onto flickr and see the fun that we are having. I guess a couple of weeks ago I realized that I do not take enough pictures of the kids. Sometimes I have to brush the dust off of the camera before I take it out to shoot photos and I figured that means that I am not getting it out enough.

 

So that brings me to today, we got the leaf blower out of the garage and decided that it was about time that we made ourselves a big pile of leaves to jump into. The kids were more than happy to help make that pile up as much as they are very willing to knock it over. Each one of them had fun with the blower (as you can see Logan thought that it was especially fun to blow Caden but that was okay because he thought that it was equally as fun for it to occur. Then Micha got this great idea to pose for some photos with the scarecrow so the photo at the top and there are a few others on flickr that were all her idea, but the poses turned out okay so it was some pretty good thinking with people placement.

Now another weeks begins, but I will do my best to stop at some point and photograph some memories of the week to cherish forever and share with with all of you.

Life has been busy, but not without some fun

It has been a long time since anyone has been on here to talk about life, but with Micha in school and the boys, well just being the boys it is hard to get on here and have time to do this.

Speaking about Micha in school, this year has been great for her. She really enjoys school and it wears her down to the point where she will just come home and crash in the evenings a lot of the time. My little girl that used to stay up until 1 AM is now coming home and falling asleep on the couch at 8 o'clock. So it has been nice to see her finally get some sleep and have something that fills her day with fun and challenges (although I think that she is not all that challenged at school) Tomorrow night we will go for parent teacher conferences so I guess that we will get to hear more then.

The boys are a totally different handful every day of their lives. I am thinking that life would have been much easier if one of them had been a girl. First of all they are both very much boys. Everything about them is different then when we were bringing Micha up through that age. Logan is all about the toilet humor and as much as I reprimand him for his amazement of it he still seems to stick it into about everything. He is a lot of fun to have conversations with but is also just hitting that 'questions about how everything works phase' which can also get a little old when you are explaining where Diet Coke comes from. I think that I just need to set him up with a Discovery Cannel marathon.

 

Caden on the other hand is an entirely different person although he learns from his brother and sister as well as follow them around (usually fighting with Logan) he also marches to the beat of his own drum a lot of the time. One of the 'games' that he and Logan play is the ' Yes I am, No you are not' screaming game. Sometimes it is humorous when one of them pipes up into the game however they were not even having a conversation prior to that. He is really having fun being the baby though I see how the youngest child can stay the 'baby' for so long and Chris and I still agree that we miss our baby sometimes but it is also a lot of fun to watch them all grow up. They will all always be our babies but I know that we baby Caden the most.

Then there is Christine and myself, we are doing quite well. Finally just about all settled into the house here, at least we have everything that we need to provide for our family. It is difficult to get time alone with each other with both of us working all the time and the rest of the time we are tending to children's needs but sometimes when we look back on  even the last year it is all a blur so we are both trying to slow down sometimes just to enjoy life and each other. Not to say that it is always working but that fact that we are trying is great.

I have been trying to put some new pictures on Flickr this week so you all can see the kids a little more often. Back to the life is a blur, a lot of the time I forget to take out the camera and document some of the fun that we are having as well as take photos just so that you can see our beautiful children, so cruise on over to Flickr and enjoy

Micha is 6 Years Old

September 7, 2002 Micha Renee Fletcher was born to Michael and Christine Fletcher, and today we celebrated her sixth birthday in an all day event that started as we woke up and has just now ended. It was really nice having her actual birthday on Sunday, since we were both off of work we were able to devote the whole day to her and the events that we had planned. When birthdays fall on a weekday we do a little party with the family on the day of the birthday then another little party with family and/or friends on a weekend day. So today we got to combine all of them into one big event. The morning started with Micha getting up too early (for being up late last night) but she was excited and understandably so. I had plans on making biscuits and gravy for breakfast but in a little bit of a birthday fashion.   We all enjoyed the breakfast then it was time for getting ready for the day, and the party. Christine and Micha were going to Sam's to get the cake as I started to get lunch for the party prepared. Micha wanted BBQ for her birthday lunch so we made hot dogs, sausages, and Chicken wings (BBQ and Teriyaki). After everyone got home and we started lunch and the guests arrived. There were a total of 12 kids and about 15 adults here so we were glad to have the bigger house, in fact we used about every part of the house for one thing or another, the garage was a sitting area with outdoor furniture, the basement was home of the Rock Band game (mostly for the adults LOL), and the rest of the house was used for eating, sitting, and for the kids to see how many kids you could pack into one room at one time. After the playing, the fun, it was time for the best part for a 6 year old...the cake and the presents. We did all then then a lot more of the kids playing, and a lot more playing and finally a lot more playing until finally about 8:00 PM this evening the last guests left, and we were left with three very happy, very tired children, and two very satisfied parents. It was a great birthday that lasted for almost 13 hours and was worth every moment of it.

First Day of School

 Today we sent Micha off to school for the first time. She wanted to share some of her day with you all today so we made a little video to post. 

Painting Day

Well we spent today painting our new house. There were some rooms that we decided that we could live with for now, and there were others that we wanted to change as soon as we could. For starters we got all the stuff moved into the house and got the front room looking like we live here (That was my Thursday job). 

 

For today we were painting the kids room, the main bathroom. and the basement. Chris had some friends from work and help her out so we were able to get a lot more done than if it would have been the 2 of us. We got at least one coat on almost all parts of all the rooms that we planned on getting, we totally finishefinished the bathroom and almost finished the basement. We were not sure if we should stain the wood  that seperates the two colors in the basement or if we should paint it a dark color like maroon to being the walls and the carpet together?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe you can give some advise there.    

We Moved :) (almost all the way)

So it has been a while since we posted anything but that is because we have been busy this summer. A while ago Chris and I started to talk about how we needed to think about getting a place where we had some room to grow as a family. As our children got older there would not be a lot of room in there for things like friends staying over, the boys to have a place to get away from one another. Chris and I to get away from the children, etc. Additionaly I always wanted to live out of the city a little bit, not totally 'out in the sticks' but away from all the traffic, lights, people walking/driving by your house all the time. Just to be away when you are ready to be away. This summer we decided that we might look and see what is out there on the market and we finally found a place to call home. It meets a lot of the criteria that we wanted (two stories, at least 4 bedrooms (it actually has 5), out of town a little bit, big back yard, and not a lot of work to be done right away but enough that as we do it, we can really bring up the value of the house). So with this blog entry I have also included a 'tour' of the house for all of you that are too far away to come see it right now. Enjoy the show!!

Happy Birthday Caden!

Wow, our baby is 2! Where has the time gone? We celebrated his Birthday on Sunday. We didn't have a big party because we just did that with Logan. We had a few people over for a Barbecue on Sunday. It rained so hard Sunday morning, we were really bummed but by 1:00 the clouds cleared and we had a wonderful day................................................... I would say he has been 2 for about 6 months and he'll be 2 for about 18 more months.

His new thing is reading books. Lots and lots of books, we read and then he reads and then he runs for another. He also loves animals. Any kind of animal, I would love to get him a cat or dog but we don't have the time for them. (I want one for me as much as I want one for him, Mike does object)

I hope this next year goes much slower than the last, I need all of the baby time I can possibly get, he is the last one.

Happy Mothers Day!!!

I wanted to make a special post for those mothers out there and tell them this...........

(Micha and I made that after the rain tonight)

My mother made such a difference in my life and I also know that my beautiful wife makes a great impression on my children. She molds and creates them daily into the wonderful little people that they are. Chris and I were actually talking tonight about how great our kids were and how sometimes we dwell on the the bad experiences but really overall the good times outweigh the bad days. For all mothers (pretty much Mom, Chris, Trace, Jay, and Lynette) I give you this bit of wisdom.....

Mom's smiles can brighten any moment,
Mom's hugs put joy in all our days,
Mom's love will stay with us forever
and touch our lives in precious ways...

The values you've taught,
the care you've given,
and the wonderful love you've shown,
have enriched my life
in more ways than I can count.

I love you all! Thank you for all the blessings that you have given me!

Tee Ball

  Micha has officially started playing Tee Ball. Which I think is more fun for me than her but she is still having a good time. I played Softball for a long time so I was super excited to sign her up. She has done really well. Its a little difficult for her and every other 5 year old in the world to get the basic concept and she does get a little bored on the field but finally this is all about her. With 2 little brothers who are always in need of something she gets left out in the attention getting department.  So everyone gets to come watch her play and I get to help coach so its great time for her and I. We aren't sure whether she will decide to play again next year but this year will be a new experience and fun for all of us!!!!!  Soccer may be more fun for her (Mike will have to Coach that one).   

Fun times at the Zoo

Last weekend we got the opportunity to go to the Zoon with Uncle Kenny, or Uncle Papa (not sure which one he is all the time) but it made for this realy cute moment that I wanted to share with all of you, so here it is!

object width="425" height="350">

Happy Birthday Logan

It has been over a week since his actual birthday, but we decided to do his party a little later since my brother was coming down so that Sophia could come to the party as well, so this whole week has been Logan's Birthday Week. It started last week on his actual birthday we did a little family party.

Then following that we had a week of vacation from work, we did not do a lot on our week off of work other than hang around the house and enjoy spending time with the kids. We are not able to do that all the time between the hour that we are rushing to get ready in the morning and then when we get home from work it takes another hour and a half at least to make dinner and get everybody back into the swing of things, so by then it is like 7:00 PM and bedtime is between 8:00 and 9:00 so that does not leave us much time each day to watch them grow and turn from babies into little people. However this week we got that time.

Back to Logan' birthday though, yesterday we went Chuck E Cheese for his birthday party and it was a chaotic blast. The whole thing was so fast moving and a whirlwind. First of all the place was packed so it was extra insane in there with  all the is that we brought and keeping track of them all as well was quite a chore, trying to talk to the adults was next to impossible. The day was all together wonderful and, Logan had a great time as well. I think that after it was all over though I told Christine that next time that we go it will be a lot easier since all the kids will be 13 years old the next time that we go.

Happy Easter

Thought that I might share some of our easter day with you all.