Baby Felter

Where the elves read...

2012-01-11T21:51:00.001-05:00

There was a service that we signed up for over the holidays where elves come to your house and read a story. Pretty cool. The girls loved it!

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One down a few to go.

2012-01-11T21:47:00.001-05:00

Nicki also made an awesome pillow for the tooth fairy.

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Christmas Cookie Time!

2012-01-11T21:44:00.001-05:00

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Decorating the tree

2012-01-11T21:40:00.001-05:00

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A scary movie

2012-01-11T21:38:00.001-05:00

Charlotte was watching a movie in the car and ...

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A Merry Zoo Christmas

2012-01-11T21:36:00.001-05:00

Holiday lights at the Columbus Zoo!

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This Memory

2011-11-29T11:10:00.000-05:00

Last night as a family we were playing memory. Charlotte was bouncing around the room, acting like she wasn't paying attention. While cleaning up for the win!

Nicki Should...

2011-11-29T09:26:00.000-05:00

Nicki really should stop wear A-Line dresses. They are not flattering. Art by Isabella.

Puzzling

2011-11-29T09:24:00.000-05:00

Charlotte has been loving puzzles. Every day after school she runs to the bin and starts a puzzle until dinner is ready.

Some Randoms

2011-11-29T09:23:00.001-05:00

Picasso

2011-11-29T09:23:00.000-05:00

Isabella came home with this piece of art recently... I love it!

'Yim Nastics

2011-11-29T09:22:00.000-05:00

Charlotte has been really enjoying her gymnastic class. Even more than ballet so far! Once a week she will learn to use her body more and more. As a parent I can really tell it has been helping her.

A successful beggars night

2011-11-07T10:54:00.001-05:00

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Our Little Helper

2011-11-07T10:24:00.001-05:00

I was asked by a friend to help out at our local marathon. So I asked is Isabella could help as well. We both went and she had a blast! Isabella was helping hand out drinks to the runners as well as help out where ever possible. When she was handing out drinks, runners actually turned down other helpers to get a drink from her. She was a hit!

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A healthy life

2011-11-05T08:04:00.001-04:00

Recently the girls and I had to eat I the car because there is a very quick turn around to get to some of the kids activities from school. This day we were going to Irish Dance Class. There done with their meal and only had a small piece of candy left when I was eating my pear. They opted to finish my pear instead of eating the candy. However later they did eat the candy as well.

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Master Piece.

2011-11-05T08:00:00.001-04:00

Isabella decided yesterday that she wanted to draw a picture of our family. Here is the result. I think Nicki has decided not to where an A line dress ever again after this portrait.

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McDonalds New Buckets!

2011-10-25T16:02:00.000-04:00

Do you remember the buckets for yester-year (Pictured Above)? They McBuckets started back in October of 1986! Here is a picture of the girls with the newest version of McDonalds Buckets.

Halloween With the Cousins!

2011-10-25T15:55:00.001-04:00

Decorate It!

2011-10-25T15:53:00.000-04:00

Batter Up!

2011-10-25T15:52:00.000-04:00

This weekend we went to a Halloween party where the girls were able to hit a pinata!

Getting Brave

2011-10-24T11:12:00.001-04:00

As Charlotte is getting older her bravery has been drastically increasing. Take a look at these new pictures.

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IronDaddy

2011-10-08T22:16:00.004-04:00

On September 24, 2011 I did an iron distance triathlon event which consists of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run. The girls had such a good time cheering on daddy! While I was running the were helping the volunteers signaling runners to go a direction. And at the end the girls ran with me across the line!

- Posted from my iPad

Location:Cambridge, Maryland

Stronger!

2011-10-08T22:16:00.001-04:00

The girls are getting stronger and more coordinated everyday. Isabella is turning into a monkey and Charlotte has learned to pump her legs on the swing!

- Posted from my iPad

Location:Hanna Park Gahanna, Ohio

Buckeye Town

2011-10-08T22:15:00.001-04:00

Around Columbus you are submerged into the buckeye culture and the girls love it! We were heading for a quick stop at the grocery store and look what we bumped into.

- Posted from my iPad

Location:Giant Eagle Gahanna

A day at Easton

2011-10-08T22:14:00.001-04:00

Some days at Easton they bring out remote control sail boats. For the girls it was pretty hard to control, however we gave it a valiant effort.

- Posted from my iPad

Location:Easton Town Center

First Day

2011-08-29T21:56:00.001-04:00

Today was a day of firsts. Isabella is in a new building starting kindergarten and Charlotte is in Pre-school.

Did you know according to wiki...

It isn't kinderGARDEN.

The first kindergarten in Hungary was founded on May 27, 1828 by the countess Theresa Brunszvik in her residence in the city of Buda under the name of Angyalkert (Angel garden).

Later, Friedrich Fröbel opened the first institute of preschool education outside Hungary, on June 28, 1840. Fröbel created the name Kindergarten (Children's Garden) for the Play and Activity Institute, which he had founded in 1837 in the village of Bad Blankenburg in Germany.

The first kindergarten in the United States was founded in Watertown, Wisconsin, by Margarethe Meyer-Schurz in 1856. It was based on Friedrich Fröbel, whom she was intrigued by in Germany. Her sister founded the first kindergarten in London, England.

- Posted from my iPad

Gone Through A Lot

2011-08-25T22:06:00.001-04:00

On this vacation so far we have been through a lot. Extreme Makeover being filmed, an earthquake, a trip to Rehoboth Beach, to Ocean City, and now we need to leave early due to hurricane Irene.

One day the girls found a mole crab, however growing up I always called sand crabs or sand dabs. Both of those are completely different creatures.

Another day we found a group of men fishing with a net. They were catching fish they could sell and tossing others back in. They had many needle fish and one really cool striped burrfish that actually croaked! They both held some small anchovies.

The girls on our very last day found a conch shell and asked me if it was live. I walked over thinking no way an alive conch would come ashore. However it was! I turned it over and it squirted water at us!
We talked about why it needed to put back into the ocean, and I tossed it back.

- Posted from my iPad

Location:Texas Ave,Lewes,United States

Life's a beach

2011-08-25T21:57:00.001-04:00

Today at the beach we had a great time. We were able to fly a kite and we found a bunch of horseshoe crabs on the beach.
Did you know, according to Wiki?
Horseshoe crabs resemble crustaceans, but belong to a separate subphylum, Chelicerata, and are therefore more closely related to spiders and scorpions. The earliest horseshoe crab fossils are found in strata from the late Ordovician period, roughly 450 million years ago.

- Posted from my iPad

Location:Texas Ave,Lewes,United States

Summertime Backyard Fun

2011-08-15T21:40:00.001-04:00

Who doesn't remember long summer days like this?
Here is a picture of Isabella, Charlotte, and a friend.

- Posted from my iPad

The Summer is fading

2011-08-13T13:35:00.001-04:00

Now that the heat of the summer is fading the girls are once again starting to venture outside. Our two girls play so well together. Isabella is the mom out of the two and Charlotte loves to explore. As a team they are unstoppable.

- Posted from my iPad

Fresh Food

2011-08-13T13:30:00.001-04:00

I am pretty sad that we were not able to get too many farmers markets this year however we were able to get to one recently and the girls had a blast! They picked out what they wanted, I gave them money and they paid for it. What a great time. Of course Charlotte went for black berries, she loves them.

- Posted from my iPad

Isabella's Performance in the Dublin Irish Festival 2011

2011-08-09T15:21:00.001-04:00

Here is a look from her point of view...

From Drop Box

Have you seen these beautiful girls?

2011-08-08T22:13:00.001-04:00

- Posted from my iPad

DIF And Columbus Feis

2011-08-08T16:31:00.002-04:00

Did you know? According to Wiki
The Dublin Irish Festival is an annual music and cultural festival held in Dublin, Ohio. It takes place during the first weekend of August, and it attracts an over 93,000 visitors to eight entertainment stages on 27 acres in and beyond Coffman Park. Activities include Irish and other Celtic music, genealogy, food and drink, dance, cultural exhibits, games, sports, arts and crafts, and children's activities

The event, produced and supported by the City of Dublin, is one of America's largest Irish festivals. The Columbus Feis, an internationally renowned Irish dance competition, occurs every year at the same time as the Irish Festival.

Columbus Feis 2004 Statistics

6047 Individual Competitions
1515 Registered Competitors
97 Adult Ceili Dancers
88% of the participants are female
87% of the entries were made through the Internet
Registrants are from 338 Cities
Registrants are from 20 States / Provinces
Registrants are from 65 Schools

This is Isabella finding her name on the results board at he Columbus Feis.

Isabella in her winning jig at the Columbus Feis.

Here is a group of girls waiting to perform at the Dublin Irish Festival. Isabella is at the bottom.

Location:Dublin Irish Festival,Dublin,United States

- Posted from my iPad

Dublin Irish Festival 2011

2011-08-08T14:49:00.003-04:00

- Posted from myiPad

Location:Dublin Irish Festival,Dublin,United States

1st & 2nd in the 2nd

2011-08-07T19:51:00.005-04:00

- Posted from my iPad

Location:Dublin Coffman High School,Dublin,United States

Coloring with Great Grandma

2011-08-07T18:11:00.005-04:00

Recently we were able to spend some time with Great Grandma who was visiting from Arizona. Charlotte loved showing her how to color pictures.

- Posted from my iPad

Location:Livonia,United States

Dance Perfomance

2011-08-05T23:44:00.002-04:00

Tonight was Isabella's first Irish Dance performance at the Dublin Irish Festival. He had a great time and she really enjoyed herself. After it was all over her, Charlotte, Lucy, and June danced on the dance floor.

- Posted from my iPad

Location:Dublin Irish Festival,Dublin,United States

Peaches for you!

2011-08-04T21:27:00.001-04:00

Today we were able to pick a peach from our tree in our front yard. Most of the peaches have already been taken by animals however some remain.

Did you know according to Wiki:
Although its botanical name Prunus persica suggests the peach is native to Persia, peaches actually originated in China, where they have been cultivated since the early days of Chinese culture. Peaches were mentioned in Chinese writings as far back as the 10th century BC and were a favoured fruit of kings and emperors.

- Posted from my iPad

Location:Wickham Way,Gahanna,United States

2011 Pool

2011-08-03T20:07:00.001-04:00

This year we joined a local pool. Let me tell you the girls love swimming! We have taken the approach of no floats ad let them become used to the water.

Dinner in the park!

2011-08-02T22:33:00.002-04:00

Nicole playing with the girls after a dinner in the park.

Location:Columbus,United States

Story time!

2011-07-02T11:34:00.002-04:00

Its story time at the library!

Crafts of Gatlinburg

2011-06-21T16:36:00.000-04:00

Here are the girls watching a broom being made.

Here are the girls watching some taffy being started.

Here are the girls watching the taffy being pulled.

Getting the Cousins Together!

2011-06-21T16:32:00.000-04:00

Having all of the cousins together in one house for a week was such a great bonding experience for all of them! They loved it.

Off to Gatlinburg!

2011-06-21T16:27:00.000-04:00

So it is almost summer time and we decided to take a family trip to Gatlinburg, TN! I have only heard good things about this place so I am going to have a few posts about our adventures.

Hot days like these...

2011-05-31T18:22:00.001-04:00

On hot days like these I couldn't imagine a hot meal. So I made the kids a classic PB&J along with a PBJ and banana role up. They loved it! Welcome to the heat.

Quilting

2011-05-28T11:30:00.001-04:00

Today Nicki was showing the girls safety and techniques of quilting and sewing!

Found.

2011-05-02T22:14:00.001-04:00

When saying good night to Charotte last night... this is what we found.

Royal Wedding

2011-04-29T05:52:00.001-04:00

Here we are watching the Royal Wedding at 5 AM.

Monkey Crossing

2011-04-25T20:54:00.002-04:00

According to Wiki:

The first jungle gym was invented in 1920 and patented by lawyer Sebastian Hinton in Chicago.It was sold under the trademarked name Junglegym. The term "monkey bars", was first documented in 1955, though Hinton's initial patent of 1920 appeals to the "monkey instinct" in claiming the benefits of climbing as exercise and play for children, and his improvement patents later that year refer to monkeys shaking the bars of a cage, children swinging on a "monkey runway", and the game of "monkey tag". Hinton's father, a mathematician, had built a similar structure from bamboo when Hinton was a child; his father's goal was to enable children to achieve an intuitive understanding of 3-dimensional space through a game in which numbers for the x, y, and z axes were called out and each child tried to be the first to grasp the indicated junction. Thus the abstraction of Cartesian coordinates could be grasped as a name of a tangible point in space.

Hinton's second prototype jungle gym is still standing at Crow Island School.

Easter 2011

2011-04-24T11:58:00.004-04:00

Did you know according to wiki:

Bringing Easter eggs seems to have its origins in Alsace and the Upper Rhineland, both then in the Holy Roman Empire, and southwestern Germany, where the practice was first recorded in a German publication in the 1500s (early 16th century).[5] The first edible Easter Eggs were made in Germany during the early 19th century and were made of pastry and sugar.[citation needed]

The Easter Bunny was introduced to the United States by the German settlers who arrived in the Pennsylvania Dutch country during the 18th century.[6] The arrival of the Osterhase was considered one of "childhood's greatest pleasures", similar to the arrival of Kris Kringle on Christmas Eve.

According to the tradition, children would build brightly colored nests, often out of caps and bonnets, in secluded areas of their homes. The "Oster Hawse" would, if the children had been good, lay brightly colored eggs in the nest. As the tradition spread, the nest has become the manufactured, modern Easter basket, and the placing of the nest in a secluded area has become the tradition of hiding baskets

Monkey Bars

2011-04-24T11:58:00.001-04:00

Easter 2011

2011-04-24T11:55:00.000-04:00

Easter weekend we spend in Michigan. The egg hunt was once again really fun. The girls had a blast and Isabella learned how to cross monkey bars... video to come.

About that time.

2011-04-13T18:54:00.003-04:00

2011-04-13T18:54:00.001-04:00

Great Setting

2011-03-28T19:27:00.002-04:00

What a great setting for dinner with the girls. Hoover Dam has been our dinner choice lately before ballet class.

Jacks

2011-03-28T19:22:00.002-04:00

Here are a few pictures of Isabella learning to play jacks.

According to Wiki:

The game originated hundreds of years ago, when the only playthings boys and girls had were materials they found near their homes. They collected small stones and animal bones and learned to use them in a game.

Charlotte is Three

2011-03-19T08:30:00.001-04:00

Here are a few pictures frm Charotte turning three.
Her Orange Puppy cake was requested by Charlotte.

Kisses

2011-03-10T08:57:00.001-05:00

Charlotte sometimes gets into a kissing fits and she loves just kissing your entire face. Recently Nicki's was caught in the middle of both of the girls kissing fits, resulting in boths lenses covered in lip prints.

What a great book!

2011-03-09T14:23:00.001-05:00

I recently heard about this book and right away I looked for it at the library. The girls love it!
Life Sized Aquarium is a book that shos the reader how big, and small, things in the ocean really are.
They were not big fans of the spider crab.

Flash cards

2011-03-03T20:55:00.001-05:00

Here are two quick pics of Isabella playing flash cards at school. How it was explaned to be from the teacher is he shows the cards and they need to call out the word on the card that goes along with the picture. It may sound easier than explained. Because sometimes they will show a face and you need to read the letters to figure out if it was a man, grandfather, etc. Who ever gets it right gets the card.
As you can see Isabella's stack is about 5 times bigger than the rest of the kids. The teacher said that is about par. She never loses.

Like mother like daughter

2011-03-03T20:50:00.001-05:00

Charlotte loves her spaghetti-o's and dipping in toast, just like her mama. These are Amy's brand organic... yum!

Hoover Dam... Ohio

2011-02-24T21:24:00.003-05:00

Today I took the girls to Hoover dam in Westerville, Oh. It was a little cold, but they had a great time. The girls can't wait to go back.
Hoover Dam in Ohio hold 20.8 Billions Gallons of water and has a surface area of 5 miles, which is much smaller than the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River.

Too cute!

2011-02-24T21:24:00.001-05:00

Take a look how much Charlotte is progessing in her ballet class!

Puzzling

2011-02-22T23:59:00.001-05:00

Our girls have been loving puzzles lately! They can't get enough of them. Every night while I am cooking dinner they pull out a new puzzle to do.
Our newest is this map of the United States. I have to help out with this one for now. But what I have been doing is saying stuff like... "The big one is Texas. The one on top of Texas is Oklahoma, that is where Aunt Patti and Uncle David live... the one connected to California is where Great Grandma lives... "

Girls being girls

2011-02-22T21:40:00.002-05:00

Here is a picture of our girls being girls. Combing hair and playing with dolls.

Charlotte Playing with all toys while sick.

2011-02-08T09:30:00.000-05:00

Here we are at the doctors office and Charlotte decides to try and play with all of the toys at once.

Making up a song

2011-02-08T09:29:00.000-05:00

Isabella Shopping

2011-02-08T09:20:00.000-05:00

Work Day

2011-02-07T12:34:00.001-05:00

Last week we had to bring Isabella into work due to the fact tha she had a slight fever in class the day before. The next day she is not allowed to go to school so we brought her to work. Isabella had a great time meeting everyone and doing crafts.

Winter Trax

2011-01-31T20:54:00.001-05:00

This weekend I brought the girls out in the backyard to look at all of the prints in the backyard. I was hoping for some good ones, hoping maybe a deer. But mostly we found squirl tracks.

No fun!

2011-01-25T19:49:00.001-05:00

Its cold!

Trader Joe's

2011-01-25T19:48:00.001-05:00

In this house Trader Joe's is called "the store with the small carts" the girls love going there and pushing their own cart around.

Magic time

2011-01-17T22:40:00.001-05:00

Nicole recently had a great magic trick for the girls and the loved it! It is the simple chemistry that is always fun.
6 cups
6 spoons with a powder
Some are "magic" some aren't. The ones that are magic will bubble up and change color... can you figure it out?
Isabella sat playing with this for almost an hour.

Dear Girls... 2010

2010-12-29T13:43:00.004-05:00

Dear Girls,

Once again I find myself writing another year in review for my girls, in hopes that this blog still remains when you are old enough to read and digest it. Once again I will mention some events that probably will never be in the record/history books and others that I am sure will endure through time.

Our family has grown once again with Tio Christian and Lina introducing the first baby boy cousin to our family, Dexter. I was able to go to his baptism in London and it was beautiful. Your grandfather (grandpaw-paw) had a huge year and was able to retire! Isabella you have now moved from ballet to Irish dance classes. Right now your teacher is very excited to have you in her class because she think you may have what it takes to become a great dancer. Charlotte you have started your first ballet class in Westerville, Ohio. You bother you teachers all the time and tell them it is ballet day. However they need to remind you that it is on Thursdays.

Over the Thanksgiving Holiday Season we drove a total of 1300 miles taking us to Virginia, Washington DC, Youngstown(OH), and Michigan. I completed my first half ironman and Nicki was able to complete her second half marathon. Girls you were able to swim in Lake Erie for the first time, jumping off Grandpaw-paw's boat!

The war in Iraq is probably far from over but they are rebuilding their culture and buildings. While in DC your mom and I were able to see a friend of your uncle Keith that was injured in the war. It was great that he was back home and walking.

In technology 3D TV/Movies has been the rage! They are selling in stores and people are paying top dollar. Something that made the biggest splash in technology was the iPad by Apple. That came out around April 2010 ever since then may other people have been trying to make one. One more major technology note is that smart phones are everywhere while the iPhone is still leading the charge the Andriod OS is catching up very fast. Windows has just released a phone to try and compete let's see how it does.

Some of the major events this year were the world cup in South Africa, this year it introduced the world to the Vuvuzela. There were so many at the events that the TV channels had to mute the sounds on the field. The winter Olympics were in Canada, there was a 7.0 earthquake in Haiti (Jan 2010) which to this day my uncle is still there trying to help the Haitian people. There was a massive Oil Spill in the gulf that lasted for months! And finally there was a cloud of volcanic ash that covered most of Europe and all air transportation was grounded for days.

In sports one of the major stories was LeBron James leaving Cleveland and moving to Miami. Just so the history books get this correct. Yes Ohioans were upset that Lebron left, but it was how he did it that made everyone really upset. An hour long broadcasted TV show to announce his decision is just rude. Brett Farve and Lance Armstrong may have finally retired again!

While on TV all the rage was Simon Cowell leaving American Idol and Lost going off the air.

In entertainment Brett Michaels made a huge comeback to the world. As a teenager I loved the rock band Poison led by Brett, but this year his courage has brought him back into the spotlight. Eariler in the year he was the star or a cheesy tv show called "Rock of Love". From fox news: In April, the “Rock of Love” star had a major health scare when doctors discovered he had suffered a massive brain hemorrhage after complaining of a headache. “Less than two weeks after (an emergency appendectomy), I was sitting on my couch—and I knew instantly," he said. "When you have a subarachnoid hemorrhage, the vein actually explodes. There’s nothing left of it. It felt like someone shot me in the back of the head.” Michaels' girlfriend, Kristi Gibson, rushed him to the emergency room. “I thought, ‘This is it. I’m going to die.’ They were asking me if I had a will in place. It was painfully surreal.” Michaels spent eleven days in intensive care, followed by weeks of physical therapy. As the live finale of “Celebrity Apprentice” approached in May, fans were concerned the bandana-bedecked rocker wouldn't be healthy enough to tape the show. Michaels not only returned for the finale, he won—donating his prize of $640,000 to the American Diabetes Association, a disease he has suffered from since childhood.
Just days later, against doctors’ advice, Michaels performed on the “American Idol” finale, watched by almost 20 million people.

10 New words to the Oxford Dictionary are: Catastrophizing, Overthink, Matchy-matchy, LBD, Frenemy, Cool hunter, Bromance, Exit strategy, Defriend, Soft skills

Winners:
Oscars – (hosted by Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin)
Actor – Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
Actress – Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side
Best Picture & Directing– The Hurt Locker

American Idol – Lee Dewyze
NASCAR – Jimmie Johnson
Heisman trophy – Cam Newton of Auburn University
Super Bowl – New Orleans Saints
World Series – San Francisco Giants
NBA Champions - Los Angeles Lakers
NBA MVP – Lebron James

Top Movies at the Box Office:
Toy Story
Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Iron Man 2
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Inception
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Despicable Me
Shrek Forever After
How to Train Your Dragon
The Karate Kid

GOOGLE Searches (according to Google Zeitgeist): Google.com - Fastest Rising
ipad
chatroulette
iphone 4
world cup
justin bieber
myxer
facebook
grooveshark
glee
mocospace

Google.com - Fastest Falling
swine flu
wamu
cash for clunkers
new moon
susan boyle
circuit city
myspace
michael jackson
stephanie meyer
northwest airlines

Google News - Fastest Rising
oil spill
haiti
earthquake
sandra bullock
favre
lindsay lohan
immigration
apple
unemployment
tiger woods

Google Image Search - Fastest Rising
jersey shore
kesha
justin bieber
nicki minaj
katy perry
avatar movie
facebook
iphone
haiti
earthquake
ipad

Rest in Peace
Corey Haim
Peter Graves
Fess Parker
Robert Culp
John Forsythe
Dixie Carter
Gary Coleman
Dennis Hopper
Rue McClanahan
Sen. Robert Byrd
James Gammon
Mitch Miller
Kevin McCarthy
Eddie Fisher
Tony Curtis
Barbara Billingsley
Tom Bosley
Jill Clayburgh
Leslie Nielsen
Blake Edwards

Timeline
January 1 – A suicide bombing occurs at a volleyball game in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 95, and injuring over 100.
January 4 – The tallest man-made structure to date, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is officially opened.
January 8 – The Togo national football team is involved in an attack in Angola, and as a result withdraws from the Africa Cup of Nations.
January 12 – A 7.0-magnitude earthquake occurs in Haiti, devastating the nation's capital, Port-au-Prince. With a confirmed death toll over 230,000 it is one of the deadliest on record.
January 15 – The longest annular solar eclipse of the 3rd millennium occurs.
February 12–28 – The 2010 Winter Olympics are held in Vancouver and Whistler, Canada.
February 18 – The President of Niger, Tandja Mamadou, is overthrown after a group of soldiers storms the presidential palace and form a ruling junta, the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy headed by chef d'escadron Salou Djibo.
February 27 – An 8.8-magnitude earthquake occurs in Chile, triggering a tsunami over the Pacific and killing 497. The earthquake is one of the largest in recorded history.
April 10 – The President of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, is among 96 killed when their airplane crashes in western Russia.
April 13 – A 6.9-magnitude earthquake occurs in Qinghai, China, killing at least 2,000 and injuring more than 10,000.
April 14 – Volcanic ash from one of several eruptions beneath Eyjafjallajökull, an ice cap in Iceland, begins to disrupt air traffic across northern and western Europe.
April 20 – The Deepwater Horizon oil platform explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, killing eleven workers. The resulting oil spill, one of the largest in history, spreads for several months, damaging the waters and the United States coastline, and prompting international debate and doubt about the practice and procedures of offshore drilling.
May 7 – Scientists conducting the Neanderthal genome project announce that they have sequenced enough of the Neanderthal genome to suggest that Neanderthals and humans may have interbred.
May 19 – Protests in Bangkok, Thailand ends with a bloody military crackdown, killing 91 and more than 2,100 injured.
May 20 – Scientists announce that they have created a functional synthetic genome.[39]
May 20 – Five paintings worth €100 million are stolen from the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.
May 22 – Air India Express Flight 812 overshoots the runway at Mangalore International Airport in India, killing 158 and leaving 8 survivors.
June 11 – July 11 – The 2010 FIFA World Cup is held in South Africa, and is won by Spain.
July 1 – Belgium takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from Spain.
July 8 – The first 24-hour flight by a solar powered plane is completed by the Solar Impulse.
July 25 – Wikileaks, an online publisher of anonymous, covert, and classified material, leaks to the public over 90,000 internal reports about the United States-led involvement in the War in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2010.
July 29 – Heavy monsoon rains begin to cause widespread flooding in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Over 1,600 are killed, and more than one million are displaced by the floods.
August 10 – The World Health Organization declares the H1N1 influenza pandemic over, saying worldwide flu activity has returned to typical seasonal patterns.
September 28 – Seven people are reported to have been killed and around 100 are missing after a landslide in Oaxaca, Mexico.
October 10 – The Netherlands Antilles are dissolved, with the islands being split up and given a new constitutional status.
October 13 – Thirty-three miners near Copiapó, Chile, trapped 700 metres underground in a mining accident in San José Mine, are brought back to the surface after surviving for a record 69 days.
October 22 – The International Space Station surpasses the record for the longest continuous human occupation of space, having been continuously inhabited since November 2, 2000 (3641 days).
October 25 – An earthquake and consequent tsunami off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, kills over 400 people and leave hundreds missing.
October 26 – ongoing – Repeated eruptions of Mount Merapi in Central Java, Indonesia, have killed at least 240 people and forced hundreds of thousands of residents to evacuate.
November 11–12 – The G-20 summit is held in Seoul, South Korea. Korea becomes the first non-G8 nation to host a G-20 leaders summit.
November 13 – Burmese opposition politician Aung San Suu Kyi is released from her house arrest.[62]
November 17 – Researchers at CERN trap 38 antihydrogen atoms for a sixth of a second, marking the first time in history that humans have trapped antimatter.
November 28 – WikiLeaks releases a collection of more than 250,000 American diplomatic cables, including 100,000 marked "secret" or "confidential".
November 29 – December 10 – The 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference is held in Cancún, Mexico. Also referred to as the 16th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 16), it served too as the 6th meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 6).
December 2 – NASA announces the discovery of a new arsenic-based life form in California.
December 21 – The first total lunar eclipse to occur on the day of the northern winter solstice/southern summer solstice since 1638, takes place.

A new twist.

2010-12-27T15:11:00.003-05:00

As a Christmas present the girls received a princess domino set. I thought this was going to be a little too advanced for the girls however I was proven wrong. They loved it and Charlotte is good!

Did you know? According to Wiki...

Domino pieces were historically carved from ivory or animal bone with small, round pips of inset ebony. The game's name comes from the pieces' resemblance to Venetian Carnival masks known as domini, which were white with black spots. These masks were so named, in turn, because they resembled French priests' winter hoods, being black on the outside and white on the inside. The name ultimately derives from the Latin dominus, meaning "lord" or "master."

The oldest domino sets have been dated from around 1120 A.D. Modern dominoes, as most of the Western world knows them, however, appear to be a Chinese invention. They were apparently derived from cubic dice, which had been introduced into China from India some time in the distant past. Each domino originally represented one of the 21 results of throwing two dice. One half of each domino is set with the pips from one die and the other half contains the pips from the second die.

It is almost Christmas

2010-12-09T18:44:00.001-05:00

What a paradise from a kids persective. Christmas is a great time of the year.

Old vs New

2010-12-01T12:54:00.006-05:00

While visiting family our girls found. A few different way to entertain each other... some old and some new (iPad) intersting contrast in technology but same amount of entertainment.

Did you know?

Connect Four (also known as Four Up, Plot Four,

According Wiki:
Find Four, Four in a Row, and Four in a Line)The game was first sold under the famous Connect Four trademark by Milton Bradley in February 1974

Isabella's first tie

2010-12-01T12:54:00.005-05:00

This was the first day that Isabella tied her shoes successfully by herself for school. Great job Isabella!

... and biscuits

2010-12-01T12:54:00.003-05:00

We love making things from scratch when we have the time. Making things in the kitchen is always a great way to get kids involved with the cooking process. Buscuits are a great easy item to make with your kids.

Playing around

2010-12-01T12:54:00.002-05:00

If you have kids take as many pictures as you can! Its digital.

New craft

2010-12-01T12:54:00.001-05:00

Here is a new craft that I had fun making with Isabella. Wepicked a whole bunch of fire wood ou for each piece of the raindeer and she told me where to cut. She stayed far away during the cutting. Anyway, go give it a shot!

Home Schooling.

2010-11-13T16:41:00.001-05:00

We recently switched day cares and we think it was the best idea we have ever done.
Since the switch Isabella has been playing school at home. You can see above where she is filing papers so the parents can take them home. You can also see Isabella "reading" a book to the class.

Charlotte's New Thing

2010-11-13T14:32:00.001-05:00

Now that Isabella is tall eough to see on the counters, I have a feeling that Charlotte has been getting a little jealous. So she disapears to the bathroom and gets her stole. Its really cute... until she gets into something!

Quick dinner.

2010-11-08T22:17:00.001-05:00

Today we needed to make a quick fix meal and wanted to make it fun for the girls. So we pulled out some tortillas, red sauce, string cheese, and some mini peperoni... they has a great time and ate it up.

Ballet class

2010-11-07T13:52:00.001-05:00

This past week Charlotte had her second ballet class, she is getting so much more independant!

Taken from iCarley

2010-11-07T13:50:00.001-05:00

I know I have said this before that our girls love to watch iCarly. On the show they invented spaghetti tacos. So this past Friday I decided that we should ditch th veg for the night and go for broke! Here it is... Charlotte still doesn't understand how to eat tacos.

When asked...

2010-11-07T13:47:00.001-05:00

I came home yesterday morning and Nicki informed me the girls wanted a crib built by daddy. When asked nicely, I have to comply! Here it is. A little wood, a saw, and some nails you really can do wonders. Paint is still to come.

More Irish Dance

2010-11-03T19:37:00.001-04:00

We as a family we joined Isabella for her Irish Dancing. What a great time.

You can see her new shoes as well! Let me tell you for only being a peice of leather and lace... it is one of the hardest things to know how to lace up! In the solo picture above, that was my best guess... it was later corrected by the teacher.

Did you know? According to wiki...
The soft shoes, which are called ghillies, resembles a ballet shoe minus the hard toe, the ribbons for laces, and the pink color for black. Gillies are only worn by girls, while boys wear a black leather shoe called a reel shoe, which resembles a black jazz shoe with a hard heel. Boy's soft-shoe dancing features audible heel clicks.

"Hide It?"

2010-11-02T20:40:00.002-04:00

Yesterday Charlotte was telling me she was going to hide her because she didn't want to eat it. Too bad she choose a place that was pretty easy to find!

Did you know? According to wiki...
Cooked bread and cheese is an ancient food, according to food historians, popular across the world in many cultures; evidence indicates that in the U.S., the modern version of the grilled cheese sandwich originated in the 1920s when inexpensive sliced bread and American cheese became easily available. The cheese dream became popular during the Great Depression.

It was originally made as an open sandwich, but the top slice of bread became common by the 1960s. U.S. government cookbooks describe Navy cooks broiling "American cheese filling sandwiches" during World War II.

Outfits 2010 II

2010-10-31T23:29:00.001-04:00

The many outfits of 2010

2010-10-31T23:29:00.000-04:00

With so many activities including school, beggers night, and others, this year our girls didn't want to wear the same outfit twice.

Boo At The Zoo!

2010-10-30T22:01:00.001-04:00

If you have been reading this blog for a while you will know we are huge fans of our local Zoo. This year is our third consecutive year we have made it to 'Boo At The Zoo'. When the kids are able to dress up an get treats while looking at th animals. We had a great time today!

Enjoy your jack-o-lantern!

2010-10-30T21:10:00.001-04:00

Make sure to look inside!

Once cut... make it pretty!

2010-10-30T21:01:00.001-04:00

Use a pin and mark out your pattern... cut it out.

2010-10-30T20:58:00.001-04:00

You have to open it up!

2010-10-25T18:42:00.003-04:00

2010-10-25T18:42:00.002-04:00

Carving time!

2010-10-25T18:42:00.001-04:00

Its about that time... the girls picked the pumpkins.

Rowing in rounds

2010-10-21T10:25:00.001-04:00

Every once and a while I will sit the girls down with me before bed and have them just sit still and listen. Sort of trying them to open their ears. It will work for a while until Charlotte starts touching and looking at everything... however last night we moved from opening our ears to trying to sing 'row your boat' in round... it was very hard at first with the girls, but we slowly got better!