oh my goodness! oh my goodness!

oh my goodness!  oh my goodness!

remember the orphan in the movie/play Annie, who always says that line?

well, those are the words that come to mind when i think of our recent trip to arizona.

we had a wonderful trip filled with sunshine, which is important for us buffalo gals!

 ella, aftie and i flew to phoenix by ourselves.  ryan came from shanghai where he had been for a few days prior, looking at a lab or something.

 one of the first and most important items on our to-do list...

hit the pool!!!

i told the girls they could swim every single day if they wanted to.

and i'm pretty sure they did!

there is always lots of game-playing at grammy's house.

 here's grammy, ella, uncle brent and ashton playing a game outside.

in november!

 we all ran/walked the mesa turkey trot.

uncle kurt was the super star of the day for running the 10k!

it was fun for us 2-milers to wait and cheer him on at the finish line.

 ryan made his famous rolls.

the little sweeties helped roll them out.

teags, peri and elle.

 carving the bird is for manly men.

 dad took his three beee-utiful daughters for a golf date.

there's megan trying to figure out how the golf cart works.  hee, hee.

we all had at least one good drive and putt.

kara had the "shot of the day"

when she hit the roof of a house and the ball bounced into the front yard. 

that one made us laugh.

it was a fun time to spend with our cute dad!

 one night we all went to see a production of annie.

the kids LOVED it!

especially the treats at intermission.

 breakfast at ihop.

a person can only stand so much turkey, right?

 the kids had a ball playing cards with grammy and uncle joel!

i wonder how many card games that table has seen over the years?

there's always a serious game of pinochle going on with all the uncles and gram.

 auntie kara took the little girls on a crazy fun golf cart adventure.

they loved it and couldn't stop talking about it!

 the little girls also showed us their talents and creativity by performing a song with actions that they made up themselves.

it took a lot of time practicing in the bathroom before they were ready.

they were soooooo darling!!

 this grammy-girl is just about the most wonderful lady in the world!

she was so loving and patient with a bunch of crazies taking over her house!

and isn't kara ALMOST as beautiful as her oldest sister?

 oh!

and here's mr. excitement, waiting for his thanksgiving dinner.

i've never been so entertained by disney channel theme song renditions in my life.

hey jess-ay!!

 there was plenty of time to relax and enjoy the warm air.

this little man only decided to like me when he discovered my iphone.

i was a little bothered about it, but he made it up to me with a snuggle.

such a sweetie!

aftie, tay and cali-girl.

they had sleepovers every single night!

this vacation was filled with precious cousin time.

since we all live so far away from one another it's important to make the most of the time we have when we are together. 

the kids all did a great job loving each other and playing together and making memories.

thanks mom and dad for a great trip!!!!

we love you grammy,

auntie teresa & uncle kurt,

uncle brent and auntie shelia,

uncle joel, lael, and ziah,

gg and marmee,

uncle cam, auntie meg, tay, ashton and peri,

auntie kara, cali and teags!!!!

oh and i can't forget how wonderful it was to see my dear friend, christina joy!

it's been a long time since the days of our lounge singing act.

i've missed you liz...

like a bridge over troubled waters.

girls on the run

for the past 10 or so weeks, ella-bella has been participating in a program called Girls on the Run.

it has been such a fantastic experience for her.

it's a national program, but her team is just 3rd & 4th grade girls from her school.

she had three coaches who were moms of some of the other girls.

tuesdays and fridays after school, they practiced running, learned how to be a good friend, built their self confidence, etc.

all of the running practice was to build their endurance in preparation for a 5k.

each girl needed a running buddy to run the 5k.

guess who ella's running buddy was?

 fall 2012

girls on the run members

 ella had her hair spray painted before the race.

 ella earned the "kind spirit" award at the end of girls on the run party.

that means, she was always kind to others and was easy to get along with.

good girl.

here we are, waiting to start the race! 

 we just crossed the start line!

we were all worn out by the end.

ella did an amazing job! 

even with a sore pinky toe, she ran over half the race.

i'll bet she could have run even farther if her mom had helped find her good running socks, and not thin, church socks.

it was fun to run with my ella girl.

i love her and feel so happy for her accomplishments!

above average

 

our sweet aftie is growing up. 

with each inch she gets smarter. 

just to prove it, her report card says...96.9% average.

trick or treat!

hApPy HaLLoWeEn!!!!

silly sisters at the farmer's market! 

 we carved pumpkins on saturday, just in time for the first halloween party.

 this year afton dressed up as a witch, with a beautiful peacock feather hat.

and ella found her new calling in life...cheerleading.

 she tried on her costume last week and said in a dreamy voice,

"i've always wanted to be a cheerleader" 

aaahhhhhh.............

and afton is looking on with such love.

or concern.

hard to tell.

 today we did the 3rd grade party.

(ella and friend, hayley)

 the kids paraded in their costumes,

made witch hats out of cookies and candy,

and then they played "dont eat frank!"

some of the other room moms were not completely on board with this game.

but i stood by my 'frank' game, and it turned out to be a big hit!

doubters.

 tonite the girls hit the streets with ryan.

they returned with a bucket of candy, each.

then the girls hit the other streets with me.

another bucket of candy.

and a toothbrush.

here they are throwing their obscene piles of candy in the air,

laughing and yelling "it's mine!  all mine!"

like they've found a buried treasure chest filled with gold.

another halloween, another dentist bill.



hulse family reunion 2012

i can't believe i haven't shared all about our fun hulse family reunion!

the reunion was held in celebration of mom & dad hulse's 40th wedding anniversary.

we met up a couple hours past chicago in the teeny, tiny town of sterling, illinois.

we all stayed at a beautiful, old mansion right on the river.

we did a lot of nothing, which was just perfect.

amazingly though, grandma found a quilt shop!

 grandma and aftie love a good quilt shop!

 we tried to get all of the cousins (with their birth number)

in an organized photo.

we almost got it!

 this little train belonged to the cute neighbor (driving) next door.

he took the kids on tons of rides around his track.

they loved it!

he even had wooden train whistles and hats for the kids to keep.

 prescott and ella are the best of cousins! 

they love each other and love playing together.

they always pick up right where they left off.

 an added bonus to the week, was dad's birthday!

we had a fun picnic at the park to celebrate.

 the aunties made this miniature replica of mom and dad's wedding cake.

we celebrated with cake, a drawing done by travis, and reminiscing.

 two monkeys!

 the whole entire cute hulse family!

grandpa and grandma with some of the crazies!

we had a great time making memories with our family!

cousin sarah

the girls and i have fallen in love!

with cousin sarah!

sarah is actually ryan's cousin, and i'm sure he would have loved her too, except he left town the day she arrived at our house.

i think sarah was about 10 or 11 the last time we saw her.

she was visiting a friend in toronto but decided to come to buffalo for a day or two.

sarah is so fun and was such a lovely guest to have in our home.

she was so fantastic with the girls and they were sad to see her leave.

we took her niagara falls and ordered the famous la nova pizza and wings.

in return, she helped ella with math homework!

she had to go home to utah because her school break was over.

otherwise we would have bribed her to stay forever!



a perfect day

all of these things make up the perfect day

for me... 

 ryan's home!

a fort is being constructed

 conference is on

perhaps an outing to this lovely place

 handstand practice 

 resting after a morning run with mom and dad

 

funny how time changes our perspective.

such simple things make the truly perfect day.

birthday celebration!

in celebration of

uncle rand...

dinner at 5guys!

at aunt pat's request, all family members were to join in celebrating uncle rand's birthday by partaking of a cheeseburger, fries and diet pepsi. 

ryan's out of town this week, but the girls and i definitely enjoyed our dinner out.

we brought afton's friend along. 

AND we had a special toast to uncle rand!

eating uncle rand's favorite meal was a great way to remember such a fun-loving guy.

happy birthday uncle rand!!!!!