Aunt Stacy Visits!

We had a house guest again this weekend and we had a great time. Darren's sister Stacy is staying with us until Tuesday morning! Braeden and Brooklynd have had the best time with her. Her flight was delayed on Friday night, she was supposed to get into town at about 8:30pm, but didn't arrive until just before 10pm. The boys were tucked away in bed and fast asleep, but Braeden had gone to bed asking with "Sacy" would be home :-) He was so excited to see her when he awoke Saturday! We all went to Kody's game on Saturday at noon and then Stacy accompanied Darren to get his check up from his injury last week. He is now on light duty for a few days! Sunday morning we headed to the beach to Waldport to meet up with my family and we had a great time, we didn't want to leave, but I realized very quickly I had a few minute of homework left (due by midnight) and no way to access it from down there as it was saved on my computer. So after half of a card game, hours playing on the beach, an hour or so with the ladies in town and a great dinner, we headed home. We arrived at 11:30, just in time for me to complete my work- while I did that they unloaded the kids who were sound asleep and tucked them in tightly. Darren continued to work on our broken garage door so I could get my car out of it and he was successful, by the time we were done with that it was near 1:00am we were tired but okay, however a long day after with not a lot of sleep continues for me! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. Here are a few photos from our beach excursion....

Kody and Braeden playing at the Beach!

Trista, Kody, Braeden & Jason

Braeden

Stacy & I

Darren flying his kite

Happy Valentines Day!!

The Origins of St. Valentine's Day

St. Valentine's Day Quiz:
a) a priest in the Roman Empire who helped persecuted Christians during the reign of Claudius II, was thrown in jail and later beheaded on Feb. 14.

b) a Catholic bishop of Terni who was beheaded,

also during the reign of Claudius II.

c) someone who secretly married couples when marriage was forbidden,

or suffered in Africa, or wrote letters to his jailer's daughter, and was probably beheaded.

d) all, some, or possibly none of the above.

ANSWER IS: d) give yourself a box of chocolates. Although the mid-February holiday celebrating love and lovers remains wildly popular, the confusion over its origins led the Catholic Church, in 1969, to drop St. Valentine's Day from the Roman calendar of official, worldwide Catholic feasts. (Those highly sought-after days are reserved for saints with more clear historical record. After all, the saints are real individuals for us to imitate.) Some parishes, however, observe the feast of St. Valentine. The roots of St. Valentine's Day lie in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, which was celebrated on Feb. 15. For 800 years the Romans had dedicated this day to the god Lupercus. On Lupercalia, a young man would draw the name of a young woman in a lottery and would then keep the woman as a sexual companion for the year. Pope Gelasius I was, understandably, less than thrilled with this custom. So he changed the lottery to have both young men and women draw the names of saints whom they would then emulate for the year (a change that no doubt disappointed a few young men). Instead of Lupercus, the patron of the feast became Valentine. For Roman men, the day continued to be an occasion to seek the affections of women, and it became a tradition to give out handwritten messages of admiration that included Valentine's name. There was also a conventional belief in Europe during the Middle Ages that birds chose their partners in the middle of February. Thus the day was dedicated to love, and people observed it by writing love letters and sending small gifts to their beloved. Legend has it that Charles, duke of Orleans, sent the first real Valentine card to his wife in 1415, when he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. (He, however, was not beheaded, and died a half-century later of old age.)

Grandpa and Grandma Visit!

Braeden and Brooklynd had 2 very special visitors this past weekend! Grandpa and Grandma Ellwanger (Darren's mom & step-dad) came into town Friday and headed out Monday morning. The boys were very excited to see them, they officially got named by Braeden He-Ma (Grandma) and He-Pa/Papa (Grandpa)! Braeden is still asking when they will be home. He thinks everyone should live at our house. Brooklynd took a few minutes to warm up, as he typically does, but once he had, he was happy to see them! The boys were sick and there schedule was off, so it made them a bit crankier at times - but over all it was a good weekend. Darren, the boys and our visitors went to dinner Friday night, while I had a girls night with Katie and Kim and had a TON of fun! Saturday was spent at home mostly and we went out to dinner at McGrath's as we often do when they visit, it was so very yummy! Sunday I headed alone over to my parents house to get a lot of homework done and then came home and did more while continuing our Invasion series (a birthday present for Darren from his mom & John). We are all addicted, we recommend it to you all, apparently it was only on TV for 1 season, but it is VERY good! We hope everyone had a great weekend! We will have Aunt Stacy (Darren's sister) visiting with us next weekend, we are very excited!

Baby Faces

Happy 31st Birthday Darren!!

Darren's 31st birthday was yesterday! We celebrated with friends for a night out on Saturday evening, and had dinner on his actual birthday at Olive Garden. It was a fun weekend and as per our usual we celebrated for several days. I think Darren had a great time and was greatful to all of those who were able to celebrate with us! The funniest thing is that Braeden thought it was his birthday twice this month (Brooklynds and Darrens) and although he was a bit disappointed when informed otherwise, he still got cake one of the times and he got to (help) open presents on both occasions! We are blessed to have wonderful friends and families. Thank you all for making his birthday a special and memorable one! Here are some pictures from the weekend celebration...muah!

Happy 1st Birthday Brooklynd!!

Our sweet boy turned one! Thank you to those of you who helped us celebrate. He is such a blessing and we love watching him grow alongside Braeden, they are the best of friends (with their cousin Kody too!) Brooklynd is a happy baby who's a bit attached to his mama (who's not complaining at all!!)

Random Pictures

The babies playing before Xmas...

Braedens shirt says "I do all my own stunts" Isn't that the truth?
Uncle Ryan (officially) and Brooklynd hanging out on Christmas Day...

Posting Slacker

Well for the few of you who actually read this you may have noticed there hasn't beee a post in quite some time. I have had troubles logging in for a few weeks and no time to figure out why. I usually try to post during my lunch time, but was having problems posting from my work computer, we finally deducted somethings going on with my browser, so I am finally posting and will have more regular posts now (hopefully.) In addition school has started and Darren, the kids and I have been extremely busy. Brooklynd turned 1 two weekends ago on the 20th and we had a small family celebration at home with cake and icecream, he loved it and Braeden thought it was his birthday again so he loved all the toys :-) Darren turned 31 yesterday and we celebrated with a small dinner out last night and also went out with some friends Saturday so that was a lot of fun. More details to come, when I have the time (which may be never...heehee!) Hope you are all well. I am posting a few pics to update everyone...Take care

The New Year Begins..

As the first week in January comes to end we had a fairly uneventful week. Darren has been sick off and on for about 2 weeks now. He has a bad cough along with sever other ailments. This weekend Darren worked with my dad and I spent some much needed and precious time with the boys. We had a quiet weekend, dinner with my parents on Saturday night and lots of cleaning out continues at our house. It seems we are still recovering from Christmas. Whenever I think I'm done something always resurfaces. I start school tomorrow and am anxious to see what this term will bring. I haven't gone to school in...let's see...8 years I believe! I am excited but a bit nervous on how I will do, since I have been out of the loop for so long. Wish me luck on my new endeavors! Tata for now!

Happy 2007!

Happy New Years to you all! We spent our New Years Even with Kody and our babies. It was very fun! Our boys were in bed at there usual time (well almost- Kody was there) and Kody stayed up playing games with Darren until midnight. We took him outside to watch fireworks and bang pots and pans, it was a good time. Shortly there after we all went to bed. I woke up and made breakfast. We hope everyone had a happy and safe New Years celebration!