Lucas is growing so fast right in front of our eyes.  Sometimes it seems like he’s been with us forever, and yet other times it is like yesterday he wasn’t here.  He hit another milestone a few days ago…he cut his first tooth.  As I was writing that down in my little ‘Milestone Spreadsheet’ and comparing it to Josh and Audrey, Lucas blew them away in how fast he got his first tooth.  What does that mean?  The heck if I know!  But what I did realize is that we had footage of Josh reaching his milestone of riding a bike and I had never put it up or blogged about it.

So while Lucas gets the ‘photo’ for this blog, Josh gets to show off his bike riding skills.  It amazed both Ann and I at how fast he learned and all the while, never wiping out.  You’ll have to watch the video for a tip on how to avoid nasty wipeouts on the first attempts at riding a bike ;)

Considering that we are half way through March and a few days ago we got another 5” of snow (albeit most of it is melted now) I think I still can!  While you are reading, if any of you can think of a reason why I still live in Minnesota, please comment…Florida or Arizona sound so much better each year! 

I never got any Christmas videos or stories up, so I thought I better get at least one humorous story down in writing for Josh and Audrey to enjoy when they grow up…along with a little video evidence.  Don’t worry, I will not bore you with too much Christmas morning footage, but I have to present one video as Exhibit A in the case of “Dad versus Kids”.  Dad is charging Josh and Audrey with the crime of “Christmas Morning Liars” and I think my evidence will speak for itself.... [More]

Well, Saturday was surprisingly bitter sweet for me.  I finished my duties as ‘Head Coach’ of 40+ 4 year old hockey players…AKA Rookies.  Anyone not familiar with the first couple years of youth hockey in Minnesota, you spend all year practicing, culminating to a single Jamboree at the end of the year.  In our case, it was a single game by dividing up my players into two teams.

Our schedule had essentially been a 45 minute session every Saturday.  Oddly enough, I got pretty anxious about mid-week every week figuring out what I was going to do for practice.  Sounds pretty silly saying it now, given that it was only a 45 minute session, but hey, anyone who saw me in High School Speech Class knows I get worked up when I’m in front of a crowd - not to mention Minnesota hockey parents can be a tough crew ;).... [More]

Yes it has been a crazy, hectic winter (and we didn’t even go to Florida…yet), but the Aney’s are alive and well.  Just wanted to post a little item saying I updated photos in several galleries so take some time to view them if you been craving photo updates.  Note that I will be resurrecting my old, home grown photo browser from the previous version of our family site.  Although the Slide.Show component is a slick little piece of software, I’ve had several complaints.  So bear with me for a bit longer and soon you’ll have the old method back (although they did release Slide.Show 2, so maybe that has smoothed out some issues).

Anyway, here are the galleries that I updated:

• 2008 Fourth Quarter
• Lucas James
• Neighborhood Sitting
• 2009 First Quarter
• Audrey’s Birthday Parties

UPDATE – I’m removing our pictures from this blog site and putting them on facebook (so that I don’t have to try and maintain two sets of photos).  Add me as a friend and you can view our galleries.  I’ll update the links as I create the galleries.

I have never had the stomach flu this bad – at least I can’t recall. After 8 days of GI issues, an eye infection and a host of other symptoms, I think (fingers crossed) I’m on my way to recovery although my eyes still look like raw meat. I’m praying it doesn’t attack the rest of the family. Every time someone toots or starts rubbing their eyes, I get a little worried. I hope everyone stays healthy during the holidays. Luke stayed with me the whole time because I have to nurse him – but we got some nice one-on-one time together on a positive note through this all.

Thank goodness, Terry was able to stay home Thursday and Friday. And, then, the Arendt’s helped out on Saturday while Terry coached, which we totally appreciated and the kids thoroughly enjoyed! Now, today, Sissy and Carlos have Josh and Audrey. I’m sure their having a blast. Sissy and Carlos always come to the rescue for us when we’re in a pinch. We don’t know what we’d do without them. Thanks a MILLION everyone. Love you lots!

I can’t wait to see Josh and Audrey tomorrow – I miss them TONS!  I just keep watching this video and this video to bring a smile to my face!