Lake Rudolph Halloweekend 2007

So I'll just apologize now for the massive amounts of pictures I've added to this post - but it was hard to sort through 156 pictures and just pick out 4 or 5!!! Just call this my equivalent to scrapbooking!

We've made this a yearly weekend trip and it just gets better and better each year we go! We met up went with our best friends from Cincinnati, the Cassidy's - Kevin, Linda, Alexis, Taylor and Megan, Friday morning about 60 miles from the campground, had lunch, then went to set up our cabins and campsite. We also took along our neighbors across the street, the Rock's - Mike, Jody, Amanda and Ben. If you like Halloween and/or Trick or Treating, you've GOT to take your kids down to Holiday World's campground and check this out - it's something we look forward to every year and it's worth every penny!!!

We finally broke down and splurged on the family cabins this year (we used to rent the RV's) - now we're really spoiled . . . and hooked! We've already reserved our cabins for next year!!!
Daddy, Evan and Grant - riding bikes and playing football!
Grant, Kevin, Blake and Alexis hangin' in the woods.
So Evan is way too young to know what the Bates Motel is, but he thought it was a cool thing to hang outside of our cabin. It's one of the few "decorations" we have left from our wild Halloween Party days.
Evan and Blake, chillin' on the couch inside the cabin. It's amazing that my kids never missed having a TV or XBox the entire weekend!!! It gives me hope that they really CAN live without it!

Blake loved the 3 twin mattresses up in the loft - he can't wait until he's old enough to sleep up there with Evan and Grant next year!
The Urban Assault Team - Another Evan (whose family was on the other side of our cabin), Evan, Grant and Ben
Daddy and Kevin playing football with Blake - he's actually quite good!
This was hilarious - Evan gave his plastic knife to Megan, and she kept trying to "stab" him with it, so he pretended to look scared so I'd take a picture of it!
Grant LOVES babies, so he loved every opportunity he got to hold Megan.

Blake and Taylor jumping in the "Monster House" during the carnival on Saturday.
Blake, Grant, & I getting ready to make some sand figurines (fish of course).
Blake loved trying to pour the sand into the funnel on top of his fish, and Grant was a true pro with a little bit of help from Amanda!
Blake, Grant and Taylor fishing for prizes.
Blake actually liked the clown - Grant wasn't so sure, but he eventually got a picture with him too.

Grant picking out a pumpkin to decorate.
Evan picked out a turtle figurine to fill with colored sand.
Everyone costumed up and ready to get "the booty" (candy) as they called it.
Another great feature at Lake Rudolph is the golf carts you can rent. Makes travelling around the campground so much easier - cuz' it's a pretty big place. This is me with the girls (cuz' I have to live vicariously through Linda with her 3 girls, and she through me with my 3 boys) and Blake couldn't stand it, so he wanted to be in the picture too.
Blake getting some candy from Amanda.

Evan and Grant going for more "treats".
The campsite decorations were unbelievable this year. Grant thought this one was cool, cuz' you had to reach into this slimy thing to get your "treat".
I think I'm going to be in trouble when my boys start driving!!!
Shawn and Kevin hangin' by the fire - and you should've seen the blaze these boys put together - good thing Smoky the Bear wasn't around or they would've been arrested for almost burning the entire place down!!!
Linda and I on the last night there! Love and miss ya already girlfriend!!!

MMO Fall Hayride

Blake looks forward to the Hayride every year, he loves picking out his pumpkin and hanging out with his friends from class!

"Big Blake Liller" and the girl who gave him that name, Ally.

Blake and his bud Ryan.
Mommy and Blake on the way to the pumpkin patch.
"Hey Mom, I found one!"
Aren't I cute?
Blake and his class in the wagon.

2 videos and a picture

So here is Blake's tribute to a few things and people! I think we're more than in trouble in with this child!!! Blake just wanted to be like Sophie and show off that he also has the capability of having 2 binks in his mouth at 1 time. Usually he's only allowed binks at nigh-night time and in the car, but now he has discovered ways of getting them out of their hiding places, then comes back to me and says "I found it". Guess we're going to have to come up with better hiding places or just get rid of them altogether!

So I'm trying to get ready for an event I have to sing at Saturday morning, when Blake (who LOVES to play with our DVD player in our bedroom) decides to pop in a Worship DVD while I finish getting dressed. The first song is a Hillsong video called For All You've Done and Blake LOVES IT!!! I thought this was so cool though, because he's imitating the people in the video and raising his hand to worship during the slow part of the song, then he starts jumping up and down with the crowd in the video during the fast part (which is a whole other video, so I just decided to post this one since it's the sweetest!!!). Future Worship Leaders, look out!!!

For all you drag queens out there, you'll love this one. I think Blake walks better in my heels than I do!

Remember when???

Okay, so I was organizing some of our photos on our computer today, and I ran across these from when the kids were really young! It just makes me miss them from when they were innocent and little - it also makes me realize how quickly they grow up!

Grant at 7 months - now he's almost 6!!!

Evan, Christmas of 2000 - in this picture, he's the age Blake is now!!!
Evan and Grant, Christmas 2002
My 3 sons, January 2005
Blake 6 months old, loved to fall asleep in his high chair!
Evan, when we were visiting my dad in the hospital in 2000 - whenever I see this picture, it reminds me of all we went through moving to IN, my dad being diagnosed with his brain tumor, and all Evan and my family endured through that whole ordeal! What a lasting bond it's been though with his Papaw!

Blake's Wall Art

Okay Shannon Pongratz - or should I say Sophie, this is for you!!!
Just as I posted that wonderful comment on the Pongratz's blog about how responsible it was for mommy Shanny to let Sophie have washable markers/crayons on a wall she had drawn on, I get a text message from my hubby while I was singing at church yesterday telling me that Blake also has this talent. Only problem is, it WASN'T a washable crayon or marker - it was an ink pen (courtesy of Brian Lingle and RotaTeq, some pharma drug his company makes ;o))

So, I come home and this is what I find! I really tried hard not to laugh as I told Blake what a bad choice that was to write all over our office walls - but luckily it's the only room in the house we haven't painted yet! Looks like that will have to change now. It actually looked a lot worse, but my awesome babysitter Ashley Hermanson, decided to try and get a good majority of it off last night while we were at life group with the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. Apparently, that really does work - even on ink, so she's picking up some more for me to get the rest of it off! I just wish I had taken pictures before she erased half of it - it was BAD!!!

In-between the 2 office windows under our diplomas.
Just inside the office doors.
Inside the office door and under one of the windows.

The best karaoke duet EVER!!!

Well, blogger let me down, so I was finally able to post this video on YouTube and upload it to the blog (although the movie is a bit dark and a tad out of focus, but hey, the sound is awesome!!!) Enjoy Scott Pongratz and Jason Chapman's 30 seconds of fame from the Worship Arts party last night!!! Who knew our tech boys could sing??? Bon Jovi Forever, rock on!!!

NVCL Worship Arts Summer Party

So we hosted the Worship Arts party last night, and truly had to thank GOD that the rain held off the whole night!!! Nothing like good friends (about 85+ showed up), food, fun, music, karaoke and cornhole to make a party complete!

Enjoying the yummy food and mingling with the team and their families.

The kids were LOVING the dance floor - we set up the DJ/Karaoke in the garage b/c it threatened to rain off and on all night (of course, it didn't rain - but I'll bet it would have if we had set up in the backyard!!!)

Shawn in his natural element as DJ! I'm not sure who had more fun, him or the kids!
A little friendly cornhole competition.
Future WA Vocal Team members!

GRASSHOPPER ENTERTAINMENT DJ & KARAOKE

THE GHE BLOG HAS BEEN CREATED AND WILL BE UPDATED WITH EVERY EVENT SHAWN DOES - SO SPREAD THE WORD AND LET'S GET THIS BOY SOME BUSINESS!!!

http://www.grasshopperentertainment.blogspot.com/

Now that Blogger has made it easy to upload videos, I can finally post this one of Grant and Blake when we were at the State Fair last month. This is hilarious!!! It's Grant trying to navigate through the Hall of Mirrors in the funhouse, and Blake is just doing exactly what his older brother is doing. Enjoy the laugh!!!

Labor Day Weekend

Well, I ended up getting pretty sick on Saturday (I started feeling bad on Thursday, but it held off before getting terrible) and it's been all downhill since. I'm finally feeling well enough to at least put a post on the blog though. We had a great time Friday night at our best buds' labor day party (which was technically Shawn's first "gig" as DJ/Karaoke host), then it was on to the Leaky Classic Wiffle Ball Tournament on Saturday - which is in it's 18th year running (and the Rush concert for Shawn and his buddies later that night) , then back to my parents house for my nephew's birthday party on Sunday. I don't have any pics of Kyle birthday as I came back home to Indy on Sunday morning since I felt so terrible, but Shawn and the boys told me they had a fun time. Here are a few pics...

Grasshopper Entertainment is open for business! Shawn is ready to party after setting up all the lights and equipment for 4 hours!!!
The "Lil'Cass" Crew before the party starts.
Group karaoke was really popular, everyone had a great time!!!
Shawn steps up to the plate, he swings and . . .
Scores . . . eventually anyway. Those wiffle ball boundaries are hard to hit home runs, but these old guys are giving it their best swings anyway! The chiropractors should probably sponsor these events from now on.

2 Down 1 to go!!!

Well, the first day of school is FINALLY here!!! WOO HOO!!! Grant was pretty excited for his first school bus ride. This was a monumental picture for us - because it's the ONLY year ever that Evan and Grant will attend the same school together. So Evan is now in the 4th grade and Grant attends morning Kindergarten, whatever will Blake do being home with mommy a few short hours each day during the week... I'm sure he'll think of something! ;o)

Evan and little bro Grant on our front porch before walking down to the bus stop.
Waiting for the bus to come - and it was actually 2 minutes early, does that really happen??? I thought for sure the bus would be late, but she was EARLY!!! Will wonders ever cease! And check out Blake, I guess he thought he'd get in line too, just maybe they'd take him to school with the bigger kids too!

State Fair August 8, 2007

Okay, so most people thought we'd be crazy for attempting to go to the State Fair on the hottest day in the world (Wednesday), but it was actually a great time to go! We had cloud cover for most of the time, so the heat was bearable - and the kids assured us they wanted to stay - so we did . . . for 5 hours!!! Enjoy the pics - and I would highly suggest going, it's a great time with great memories for your family!!!

So Blake was bummed out at first, he wanted to ride the bumper cars with his brothers, but his 36" didn't quite make the cut off, so he pouted under the sign here.
It didn't last long though, he was totally mesmerized by how the horses on the carousel went up and down.
I finally convinced Evan to ride one of the rides with me - this flying ride I'v been trying to get him to ride for the past 2 years. And wouldn't you know - he LOVED it!!!
Grant and the giant corndog!

Blake loved this one - cuz' "it looks like daddy's Hummer".
The boys in their big ole' stompin' truck.
Grant and Blake on the motorcycles.
Evan and Grant tearin' up the dodge'em cars.
Evan: "Halt! You will now succomb to this beast of a roller coaster" Grant: "Arrrggghhh, get me off of here!"