I Always Knew Having 5 Kids Would Come In Handy!

So yesterday I came home to this in my driveway...

This morning, my kids woke up to the fun job of stacking the wood.

No one fought. ( a miracle)

They used their creative thinking skills to figure out how to move the wood from the driveway to the back of the house. (by the way, trash cans work really well...much better than my Pottery Barn basket that one of the kids grabbed from the house!)

The work ethic was amazing...no one was slacking.

Tyler was the stacker.

Isn't this a beautiful sight?



The best part of all, I didn't have to lift a finger!

How I Spend My Saturdays

And Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Ammy plays for Team USA...

Tyler coaches Team USA with two other guys.

Kellen plays on Lutherville Grey...

This was an awesome goal--his second goal of the game and his third in 2 games!

And Tristan plays for the McDonogh Varsity Team.

Now you know why my e-mail is sportzmom!

The Newest Member of Our Family

Meet Oreo...

She joined our family the last week of August. I hesitated to mention our latest pet because I wasn't sure that she would make it past the 14 day guarantee. We were in the pet store getting Allie a fish for her room and we saw this hamster running on a wheel in the cage. The hamster was rather hyper--she would hop off the wheel, run around the cage and then hop back on the wheel and run, run, run. Kellen fell in love with her and just had to have her for his birthday.
Since we already have Charlie, I figured it was no big deal to get another one.

As we were getting the hamster to take home the employee told us that she was so happy we were taking this hamster because she was constantly picked on by the other hamsters in her cage. To get away from them, she would run on the wheel ALL THE TIME!

She spent the first 24 hours in our house running on her wheel. She was completely freaked out. The second day, every time we tried to touch her she would run away and get back on the wheel. When we tried to pick her up, she would bite us.

A friend suggested we wear socks on our hands when we pick her up. These pictures were taken yesterday--we've had the hamster for a month and we still can't pick her up without them! Kellen also wears a dress shirt so that his arms are covered.



It's a good thing she's so cute.

Sunflower Fields Forever

Flowers... are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues
all the utilities of the world. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I have lived in Maryland for 21 years and until last weekend, I never knew that this sunflower field existed. Yellow as far as the eye can see.

Yesterday, the kids had off school so we drove up to the corner of Jarrettsville Pike and Hess Rd, parked the car and got out and walked around.

Kellen and his friend, Tucker.

Tyler and his girlfriend, Payton.

Allie--her friend had to go home early so she missed out on our sunflower adventure.

Me and my girl, Ammy.

If you have the chance to go see these flowers, I promise you that you won't be disappointed.

2 Down, 3 to Go!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Nine

This was a picture of me on August 23rd, 2001. This picture always makes me laugh because I was so huge and my friends were/are so tiny.

Five days later, I went into labor (on my own for once--it had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I was seen kicking a soccer ball before Tyler's soccer tournament). The twins were born 3 1/2 weeks early weighing in at 6 lbs, 15 oz. and 7 lbs, 3 oz.

They learned the "Who Me? I didn't do it." very early on.

The babies, as everyone called them for the first 6 years of their lives, spent many hours sitting together like this on the sidelines of all the older kids' games.

During Hurricane Isabel we lost power for several days...Tony was in a trial so he moved downtown to a hotel. We spent time at Alden's house and wore her kids' clothes.

Ammy's hair finally started to grow! We spent a lot of time with our twin friends, Cameron and Connor who are two weeks younger. (Funny story, but their mom, Sharon was in my wedding. We lost touch for a few years and we ran into each other at our OB on the day that we both found out that we were having twins!)

Ravens fans from an early age!

The first day of preschool.

We spent a lot of time playing dress-up when the babies were 4! Let's just say that I have many pictures that will come back to haunt Kellen in his later years!

The first day of Kindergarten, back when it was only half-day.

1st grade was the first time the twins were separated in school...it was also the beginning of calling them the twins instead of the babies!

Second grade...a lot of time spent riding scooters and bikes outside on the driveway!

The first day of third grade...moving up at school and into the portable classrooms...a BIG deal at school.

This morning...the day of their ninth birthday!

Happy Birthday Kellen and Ammy! I love you!

Please stop growing up so quickly!

Hardware

Yesterday was the Bill Clarke Tournament at Hillendale. Four of my five played in it--Allie is in North Carolina right now so she couldn't play (and probably wouldn't have if she was here)

Ammy was one of two girls in the 7-10 age group. She lost to a 10 year old, but she got the runner-up trophy!

Both Tyler and Tristan played in the 15-17 age group. Tyler didn't place, but Tristan won the tournament with a score of 76.

Kellen played in the 7-9 group with 6 other kids. He won his first threesome with a shot of 4 for the hole. (The little ones play a one-hole tournament) Someone in the other group shot a 4 also, so he had to play a play-off. He lost the second time around, but he too got a runner-up trophy.

3 out of 4 with trophies...not a bad showing for the Meaghers!

Boys Will Be Boys

The other day when we went to the stream, Kellen got in with the dogs. It wasn't long before he was totally drenched and in full-on swim mode.

Look mom, I caught the ball.



I love that he can still find joy in the simple things!