Obsessed

I think it's safe to say that this little guy

is very much

obsessed

with ELMO!

I remember Taylor being the same way about Dora when she was this age. Everything the Pear draws is Elmo, he's enamored with the color red and sings the Elmo's World song about 20 times a day. So stinkin' cute!

My little man and I. I think we look a lot alike here! He says "Wuv you Mommy" now. Melts my heart!


Taylor has her own new obsession. We pulled out Mike's old Playstation 2 the other day, along with some games and she just begs to play it. We limit it to 30 minutes or so a day. She gets so into it and is actually pretty good at some of the games!

If I sat like that, I'd have to ice my knees for a week.

Intense. (And yes, Champ is huge.)

Here's another shot of the Worm from today. Aren't pigtails the cutest?

And one last shot of the cake balls that Taylor and I made the other day. We made about three dozen of the basketballs and "W" ones for Mike's team. The rest were for us. :)

I thought they turned out really cute except for the "soccer ball blob" in the upper right.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Shoot Ball

What does a family that spends thousands of hours engrossed in basketball do on a free night?

We watch basketball, of course.

It wasn't actually a free night for Mike, as he and the Hurricane were wrapping up a perfect FAVC record at God-awful Turpin Friday night, but the kids and I had long ago decided to forgo that game. Then, when I heard my alma mater, Lockland, was honoring one of my favorite people ever, I knew we needed to be there.

Mr. Phillips was the boys basketball coach at Lockland for three decades. He's a great coach and was also my ninth-grade Earth Science teacher. But let me tell you, I learned way more sitting in the caddyshack (yes, those do exist) listening to his inspirational stories of hard work and doing the right thing over nine summers as a golf caddie. I owe a lot to Mr. P. as he introduced me to the Evans Scholarship, the nifty little scholarship that paid my entire room and board for four years at Ohio State. Great man.



The kids, ready to check out Mommy's school.



Mr. Phillips thought he was being asked to speak during the dedication of the new gym floor. He didn't realize that part of the celebration was for him! While he stood at the podium facing the crowd, over 50 former players swarmed him from behind. It was so cool!



The kiddos and I in the gym where I played many games/matches/practices, etc. I hadn't been back in probably 15 years!


The legend himself, getting a little love from the Pear. It was so funny, Michael loved him right away. Must have something for shoot ball (what he calls basketball) coaches.


Remember the stray kitty we rescued? Here she is, all pampered and getting big, with G-ma. My mom, also a Lockland alum, joined us at the game.

Saturday was Senior Night for the Hurricane (overtime win over Lakota West). It's so sad to see these kids play their last game at Wilmington! They are such a talented and good group of kids. They will be missed. Of course, we're hoping for a loooong tourney run. They finished the regular season 15-5!



Class of 2010 (and 2023 and 2026 and 2027). :)



Mike and Michael, Jr. with Nyles and Nyles, Jr. We joke that Nyles will be ripping down rebounds for Michael some day.


The kids ready to swarm the court after the game. That's the highlight of Taylor's night, running around on the court.



We sit right next to the band, so be sure you turn your speakers down before you view this video of kids jacked up on concession stand snacks.

Michael and another little girlfriend, Reagan.

Yes, I made them Senior Night T-shirts again (check out last February's post for the story behind the shirts).

It's been considerably warmer here the past few days (think 40 instead of 20), so we indulged in ice cream the other day. The kids were in heaven.

Have a great week!

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

When in Rome...

I finally conceded that the mounds of snow that we have occupying our lives are going nowhere fast. After getting the Pear down for his nap today, I put down the shovel and just had some fun playing in the snow with Taylor. (For the record, Michael hates the snow and being cold, so don't feel too bad for him missing the fun.)

It's been gray and gloomy here - waaaaay too gloomy. The Worm and I decided to brighten things up a little. A little food coloring, a few old spray bottles and voila - a snowy masterpiece!

I don't know which is more colorful, the snow or Taylor's mis-matched outfit.

Taylor's buddy Michael (she can't get away from the Michaels) was visiting his grandpa across the street, so we invited him over to play. Snowball fights, snow angels, sledding (compliments of mom, a dog leash and a teeny little sled) were in store. For that 90 minutes, I embraced the snow and we had a great time.

Taylor and big Michael throwing snowballs at Champ. See him peeking at the window?

Back to basketball tomorrow. Because of snow postponements, Mike's team now has three games in three nights. Oy.

Some cute pictures to round out my night:

Michael loves to hang out with Mike before he goes to bed.

Posing with the county tournament trophy. Notice Michael's most recent haircut. He looks so grownup! There's a picture of the Pear with the trophy in a blog from last January. Check out how much he's changed!

Yeaaahhh, I think she might be double-jointed like me. Look how she's popping that hip!

When Taylor was about 2, she did this thing she called the "Moo Dance." She learned it on one of her Baby Einstein videos. It's even funnier to see it now that her legs are nine miles long! (She refuses to part with those jammies. They are going on two years old and clearly too short.)

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Be Mine

How was your Valentine's Day? I was lucky enough to spend time with lots of people I love today.


I filled and hid goody bags for the kids and had them search for them when they woke up. It was nice for Mike and I to get credit instead of a big rabbit or some old dude in red. :) My darling husband of seven and a half years had the sectional draw today and then scouting tonight, so just a few hugs and kisses after church and in passing. We love and miss our hubby/dad, but we understand why he has to work so hard! More about the Hurricane below.

My main man.

The kids and I spent the afternoon in Cincy, delivering handmade Valentines to Grandma and Grandpa T. I can't believe it's the first time we've seen my folks since Christmas!

We did a lot of preparing for Valentine's Day, making cookies, our own Valentines and more. Now that it's over, I feel Spring getting that much closer (despite the big snow storm we're expecting tomorrow).

The cookies were for the Worm's school, but I let each kid decorate and eat his/her own.

The Pear loved gluing foam hearts onto his Valentines.

She'd make a thousand Valentines if she had time. Loves crafts.

I love this picture.

This one too!

Taylor with her friends at her school party. That's 75 percent of the girls in her class - 4 girls, 11 boys.

Delivering Valentines with Mrs. Cline.

Playing with her buddy Noah. They've been going to the same sitter since Noah was 3 months old and are joined at the hip.

This picture is hilarious. That's Bailey, Michael's friend from Susan's house (the babysitter). She's about 10 months older and they just adore each other.

This picture is so telling. Typical Michael at his daddy's basketball games. Notice how flushed he is. That's because he's always jumping, dancing, climbing around. You'll also notice the snacks all over the floor and the snack slime on his mouth. The boy in the stripes on the right is Taylor's friend Parker. They always sit together at the home games. He made her a sweet little Valentine and couldn't wait to give it to her Friday night. So cute. See the woman on the left? That's one of the elementary school's principals. Michael walked right up to her that night and kept kissing her totally out of the blue. Yes, my little heartbreaker!


Alright, back to basketball. The Hurricane wrapped up the conference title (fourth in Mike's five seasons here) by beating Walnut Hills Friday and Saturday. They are 12-5 and just got the No. 3 seed in the sectional tournament. Took the bye and play March 3rd against the winner of Fenwick and somebody really bad that I can't think of now. Can't wait!

Alright off to beddy bye now. Have a great week!



Until next time,



Mommy Kel

There's so much you can do...

...when you play with Bendaroos!




A foot of snow on the ground + another away basketball game + a cool spider created from Bendaroos = silly fun for the kids and I!











Five weeks until Spring.



On another note, the Hurricane have pretty much wrapped up the conference title (fourth time in Mike's five seasons here) after back-to-back wins over Walnut Hills Friday and Saturday. Walnut Hills is a huge Cincinnati public school. Their team was 13-1 (7-0 in the conference) coming into the weekend and both games were just complete blowouts! Sectional draw is tomorrow. I'll keep you guys posted. The sectional is loaded.



Gotta go get the kids' Valentine's bags ready. We've been all about Valentine's Day here lately. I'll post about it tomorrow.



Until next time,



Mommy Kel

Little Picassos

My winter boredome cure No. 548 was to roll out Taylor's easel paper and tape it to the kitchen floor Wednesday afternoon. I gave the Worm paint and the Pear waterproof markers and let them have at it. It went surprisingly well! I was afraid Michael would get into the paint, but really, he was so into scribbling his picture that he just left "Tay Tay" alone.

What Mommy, you don't trust ME?

Cutie with a paintbrush.

Hard at work.

I know it's too early to tell, but I think we might have another lefty on our hands.

He was having so much fun.

The pictures were the perfect size for the inside of the pantry and utility closet doors!

It makes me so happy to open the doors and see their hard work.

This, on the other hand, makes me a little less than happy:

Later that night, Michael found his own canvas - our basement couch!! Notice the red and blue. According to the Pear, it's Elmo and Cookie Monster. Not sure how we missed him at work. It's a cruddy old couch and needs to be replaced anyway, so we aren't upset. Still, what a stinker!

Until next time,

Mommy Kel