Great pics!

Our good friend, 'Uncle Mike', had a break from school and came to visit. We took a ride out to Montauk and he was so nice to take some great pictures for us. We had a great time playing in the park, shopping and of course, singing the kids Disney music in the car. Amazingly Mike knows all the words. :) Thankfully, he put his foot down when Payton wanted to listen to an old n'sync cd he'd found. (I know I know, from HS!!)
When my kids see a camera, they pose. I swear, we didn't teach them that. It's hilarious though. I love it.

Payton at the top of the Lighthouse.


GQ here I come......
It's so hard to get us all looking semi decent. :)
I call this look, 'blue steal'.


A lady came up to Halle and told her she was so cute. Halle said, "Thankyou, I AM so cute!"

whatever, I'm the greatest

For some reason, I seem to be ALWAYS doing laundry. So much so, that my kids now think it's fun. CRAZY! Anyway, they are my little helpers and decided they wanted a washer and dryer of their own to play with. I looked on craigslist and couldn't find anything. I even looked on line at several toy stores to see if there was maybe something affordable but nothing. So....being the super mom that I am, (ha ha) I grabbed some boxes and tada! I wanted to paint them but they wouldn't let me. These are so much better than anything I could have found.
There are so many times when my kids are whining and not listening to a thing I say; won't go potty or share their crackers and make the house a disaster. So many times I feel like a crappy mom but today I felt totally redeemed. Though most days here are chaotic, there are few things I can't do with super glue and markers. The kids now do a lot of laundry and ironing. If only they really worked!
Haven't updated these for a while but this is our 'yellow day'.

More Fun at Grandma's

Payton put on numerous concerts and shows for us on the trampoline. Though he does a wide variety, I'd still say 'Camp Rock' is his forte.
So cute. She's finally not scared of the trampoline. That's the only thing she was nervous about though. Halle was climbing all over the playhouse and swings. She insisted on going "super high and super fast". High enough so she could kick the tree. :)

Such is the life. Eating Cheetos and chillin on the boat. Later we roasted marshmallow's, mm mm good. Halle of course eats anything but Payton just volunteered to do the roasting.

FuN WitH FaMilY

Aunt Alice and Robyn

We headed to the south for a nice break from the cold and had a great time with the our Gold family cousins. We had the best time just playing, playing, playing. The kids played from morning til dark and were so tuckered out they actually went to bed despite they all filled the loft for several giant sleep-overs.
Payton and Spencer had a fun birthday party BBQ. And after everyone gets their pj's on, Grandma breaks out the little ice-cream dishes! I've never seen kids so attentive and sitting so still at the table. :)
aunt Ashley
aunt Afton and Kris
Though it wasn't exactly 100 degrees, the kids had a blast playing in the lake. Halle kept saying, "this is where I get to splash, but not in the bath." They rode the paddle boat, jumped from the pier, and at least attempted to make sand castles.
Next, us 'old' ladies just watched but the kids had fun playing duck-duck-goose and making giant bubbles. Well, mostly they just got extremely sticky but a few of them managed. :)
The next day we headed with Grandma and some of the cousins to the Houston zoo. This is one of my favorite zoo's. It's huge, shaded and has a ton of animals that you can actually see up close. We'll definitely have to get a pass when we move.

Like my kids need more sugar....

Another extension of Payton's birthday was when Grandma Lori came to visit. On the one day it didn't rain, we went to the city to play. We found Dylan's Candy Store and of course had a fabulous time finding all sorts of goodies. I told the kids they could each pick out 1 thing and it took us a long time to find something they could finally decide to keep past the next aisle. I love that there are huge stores devoted to chocolate and treats!
Peyton and Payton

We then headed to the Wax Museum. Grandma hadn't been there yet and Payton was very excited to see the new Jonas Brothers figures.
Of course my kids are American Idol fans... Only a strong girl like Halle could put up with Mr. Cowell.
Payton and the Jonas Bro's
Not a day goes by that we don't hear a tune from this band. The kids were so excited to say the least.
"this is real, this is me, I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.. Gotta let the light, shine on me!" Oh yeah Halle, go girl! Cracks me up that she knows this entire song.

Happy Birthday Payton!

OK, so Payton's birthday was back in March but I'm just now getting caught up in our journal. I can't believe he's 5 years old! Took him a while to stop saying he was 4. For a while he'd say he didn't know how old he was and now he's finally adjusted to being 5.
Payton was so lucky to get to a few birthday parties this year. We had a fun birthday at Grandpa and Grandma Gold's house. Almost all the cousins were there and we had so much fun. He and Spencer got to have a joint party and he was just so happy. They had a blast playing duck duck goose, making giant bubbles and running around. Notice Grandma is trying to keep Halle from blowing out the candles. Classic Halle...
As always, he was so spoiled. Thanks so much to all the aunts, uncles and cousins for such a great party. We love you!
On the actual day of Payton's birthday we had our own little family party with our good friends, Raegan and Jack. We made yummy scones and homemade chili. We had a wonderful time and are so grateful for friends.
Halle and Payton helped make his cake. When I asked what he wanted he said a Gingerbread man cake. (he gets this from watching Shrek 2. ) He even did the frosting himself! Great job!!

Guess I couldn't be a Vampire

Oddly, the first thought that came to my mind this week, was that I couldn't be a vampire. Most likely because I got talked into reading the Twilight series and just finished.
Halle has been pretty sick with a viral gastro intestinal thing since last week. She wouldn't eat or drink and we finally had to take her into the ER after she wouldn't even lift her head.
We surprisingly got in quicker than I thought. I knew they'd need to give her fluid and that she'd be a fighter against the IV. Uh..Yeah.... It took 3 of us to hold her down and since they were also trying to get a blood sample, it was much worse. It was taking soooo long. Drip, drip, drip. I don't know how they expected to get it done without a mess. There was blood everywhere; Halle's arm, the nurses hands, the bed. I started getting a little light headed and I remember saying I need to sit down and the nurses yelling for help. Yep.......I passed out. So embarrassing. I woke up and it took a minute to realize where I was and what happened. They had a bunch of people in there and they quickly put me on a stretcher with oxygen and ice. Poor Halle kept saying, "mama, mama".
So Halle and I layed there together while she got some fluid. Both of us strapped with lines of some sort. Luckily our good friend is a chief resident in the ER and he called Andy, who seriously thought he was playing a joke on him.
After two bags of fluid and no urine they decided to admit her and we then waited 6 hours to get her a room. Luckily she slept but I was worried she'd get something else just sitting there in the hallway.
We had a stressful 3 day stay but thankfully she is doing much better and we were able to come home. She even smiled at the nurses and told them thank you as we left. It was a big change from when we first got there and she would tell them that they could NOT touch her belly and they could NOT take here temperature. "No you can't", "Leave me alone!" That's a red head. All I could do was laugh.
I didn't realize how good we had it in Southern Utah hospitals. We shared a room with two other sick kids. It surely wasn't ideal, but luckily, we had Disney channel.
I'm so grateful to the Francis Family for keeping Payton for us. He had a great time and it was nice to not have to worry about him too. You guys are awesome! We definitely owe you.
Halle still has a little tummy pain every once and a while but other than that she is back to her wild and crazy self.

Yep, that's my boy.

My friend Reagan was about to have her baby and since we've been hanging out with her, I can only imagine she is the reason for this post. I love the things my kids get from you, :) JK....
We found him this way one night. Yep, he was preggers.
While I've been trying to get the house packed up, my kids have been putting on concerts again for the neighbors. They can obviously here us above them. The bed is their stage and I believe this particular song was 'This is me' duet from "Camp Rock".

Happy Mother's Day--from us Men

This shout goes out to all those Huge Mother Striped Bass in the Long Island Sound that gave us Medical folk something to do on a rare R &R Monday in NYC. While our women are back home sleeping or reading gushy Vampire romance, we're out there putting our lives on the line to bring home meat for the table. Well, sort of...
Jeremy, Me (Andy), Dave, Rob and Capt Joby Vinarski met up at the dock a few blocks away at 6am for the first trip of the Spring Striper run out on the Sound. On Long Island all of the world record stripers (now at 78lbs) were caught and is home to some of the most prestigious fishing ground in the USA for saltwater Bass. Jaws was filmed based on a semi-true story off Long Island East end. Though we didn't find Jaws, we found something a little closer to reality, and much better tasting.
We started the trip under the Throgs Neck Bridge, (the bridge to get to the Bronx) a short 20 minute boat ride, but rather cold, where we found a few Bluefish running off with the cut bunker slabs in about 50 ft of water--but none of us able to set the hook... I finally reeled in a (Capt Joby calls small) 15 lb 30 incher to break the ice and open up the adrenaline.
With the overcast and temp at 50 degrees with 15 mph winds we headed back to Manhassett bay to catch the Bass moving up into the warmer shallows as the tide came in. Dave finally hooked up with a gorgeous 20+ pounder approaching 36 inches on some cut bunker in under 6 ft of water. It was a beauty to watch and as good as it gets. For this early in the Spring we had a blast and stocked up the freezer for the next time us guys get a night off...very soon... It's nice to be this close to NY and not have to ever see concrete or climb a subway stairwell with a stroller!! Most guys avoid the big city, but they just don't know about these large mothers that are sitting a short stone's throw off shore. So to them we say--happy late mother's day!!

Slightly Embarrassed

Yes I know it's been forever since we've posted. I have a lot of catching up to do. Not because any of you REALLY want to know what has been going on, but because this is basically our family journal. We've had some fun times and also a little slump of just being too lazy to write. So be patient at the next few days of major posts.

I decided that I probably should try and train a little better for the Avon walk coming up next week. I'm in ok shape so I haven't worried about it but now I think I'm in for a shock. I keep thinking, I've been running, it's just a walk. I've since decided it will probably be very hard and I've just been stupid. In my head I can see my mom shaking her head at me. Either way, I'm very excited to be doing it with Nicole and Leslie.

So the other day I told the kids we were going on a long walk. It's slightly difficult here to get in the mileage because many of the roads don't have sidewalks. There was a park on route so they were all for it.

We came to a major road and were just merrily skipping along when I noticed they had a large section closed and covered with trees. They were cutting and mulching with huge trucks. We had no where to go. A worker asked me if I wanted to cross the street and I reminded him there was no sidewalk there and I obviously had a double stroller and kids.
Now, I don't get embarrassed very easily but when he full out stopped traffic, I came about as close as one could get. We probably had about 200 yards to get around them and I can only imagine the evil glares we were getting. Not to mention the traffic pile-up it was causing. Luckily it wasn't on the big hill and I could just jog it. That was actually very nice of them to help us out. Had to laugh though.

When we reached the park, the kids were so happy to have their picnic we'd taken. We'd been there 20 minutes and it started to rain. We had about 7 miles back to our house. Yeah, so luckily the train was a block away and we got a ride home. I had thought that we could probably just walk home from the station by then but nope, it was then POURING. So.. we took a taxi. Our long walk turned out to be about 2 miles. I'm so ready for 39!! :)

How to Lose 20 lbs in 20 Mins Guaranteed!!

For all of y'all out there who are bustin' the calories and drinking the diet couph syrup flavors from your new year's resolutions, there's a new way to do it, and it is guaranteed, with no chance of ever regaining it back!! This last week on the vascular team I was taught proper techniques that works great for diabetics, smokers, and those who suffer from venous stasis and sedentary lifestyle syndromes. Meet Mr. Gigli saw. We call him "Mr. Giggly". One of the fun parts about being a student/intern is you always get to do the sweat work and burn a few calories yourself. So you come in with a foot or leg that is no longer circulating blood like it should and becomes a gangrenous mass--and Mr. Giggly and the gangrenous extremity part their ways, leaving you with a decreased BMI and an anesthetic smile! The extremity is dissected to the bone carefully and then at the bone the saw is slipped behind tibia/fibia and while friction works its magic you can lose up to 20 lbs!!! (results not typical). And if you're worried about that extremity and the ressurrection, we can work it out so you can take it home and bury it yourself. You can go for the typical peg leg, pipe flute, or the athletic spring charged for getting back on the track. Or maybe even have an adjustable hook up for a rake for the fall or a spear for fishing, and a snow shovel for the winter, or perhaps a garden tool for weeding. But really how morbid. Y'all must be thinking how insensitive of me. O well, if it doesn't warm up outside so I can get out and get some exercise, other than the few calories with Mr. Giggly everyday, I just might start enjoying vascular surgery a little too much!!!

Avon Walk for a Cure

My aunt Cheryl and cousin Nicole, at the end of Nicole's marathon last year. Cheryl surprised her at the end of the 26+ mile walk. I love this picture!

I just wanted to make a post to get the word out of something I feel very strongly about. Finding a cure for breast cancer. My cousins Nicole and Leslie are going to walk in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in Washington, DC in May. They are walking in memory of their mother, Cheryl "Cherry" Jensen, who passed away last June after battling breast cancer.

I got a mix up on the dates and am worried I wont be able to raise enough money in the short time until the 2 day marathon walk on May 2-3. I loved my aunt very much and want to help in the fight. I am still trying to raise the amount needed so I can register and walk along with them. If I am unable to raise the amount required, I will be giving my cousins those donations which I have received.

The money we raise will be managed and disbursed by the Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade to help provide access to care for those that most need it, fund educational programs, and accelerate research into new treatments and potential cures.

I can’t do it without your help. Though I’m required to raise at least $1,800 in donation, I want to raise much more!

How To Help Me

Write a check, make it payable to "Avon Walk for Breast Cancer" and send it to my home address. I will then send it in with the appropriate form. As I mentioned before, I am still trying to raise the amount needed to register. If I am unable to reach the amount required, your and my donations will be added to my family fund raising campaign on the Avon Walk website in the team name "Pink Cherries".

While at the site, you might want to spend some time to find out more information on why this event is so important, and the organizations and people that will be helped by the money we all raise.
If you have any questions, you can email me at andyandkristen@hotmail.com.
Love and thanks to you all!

Weird?

Today we went on a nice family drive. As much as we dislike Walmart, we drove over and hour to Connecticut to go to one. Not just any Walmart, a SUPER Walmart. Nothing special to west coast people but here they are very rare. It's the only one in the state. The ones here are small and most of the time the shelves literally have hardly anything on them. No kidding!!
So we were in crazy heaven stocking up on a few things and happily paying 3 dollars less for milk than we do at the local grocery store.
We stopped at Wendy's to eat on our way home. We were sitting there and Payton said,
"Mom, look at that weird guy."
"What weird guy?" I didn't see anything odd.
"That guy has orange hair."
I looked to see a middle aged red haired man eating a hamburger.
"Payton he's not weird. He has red hair just like Halle does."
"Oh!"
We just laughed and shook our heads because I've never heard him say that before. And that's surprising since we live in NY, the melting pot of the world. Muslims, Jews, African Americans, Mexicans, Chinese, Koreans, Goth's, Cross-dressers, the 'Naked Cowboy', and all sorts of "different" looking people and he's never seemed to notice. He picks out a guy with nicely combed red hair as "weird." Could always be worse I guess.

Jesus Loves Me

This weekend we had so much fun visiting our good friend Mike in Connecticut. The kids just love 'Uncle Mike', especially since staying at his house means having a sleepover on the big bed.
Every time we go, however, Halle turns crazy with excitement and can't seem to fall asleep.
Mike has a new picture in the living room of Jesus smiling. The kids haven't seen this one before and were very intrigued. "Look mom, he's smiling cause he loves me!"
The cutest thing though was when we had to keep getting after Halle to calm down and go to sleep. Payton said, "Halle, you better go to sleep cause Jesus is watching you." He was indeed.

Liar Liar, Pants on Fire

After a long day of swimming, we went upstairs to check out the arcade. They had a lot of fun games and the kids quickly found their favorites. #1 Dance Revolution. Oh yeah, our kids can get down! They even get the whole pout lip out, I'm cool look and everything. Hilarious!

So difficult to get a good shot because she was running around like CRAZY!

OK, so here's the moment of truth. Confession of non super-parents #1. It's very hard to go to arcades with the kiddos cause WE want to play and WIN! Well, while it was difficult, we finally let Payton and Halle shoot the balls themselves and wreck, I mean, drive the cars. But he and I are obsessed with the ring where you punch the button and if you land in the middle you win a gazillion tickets. I tried several times and always got the one next to the jackpot. On the 4th try the ticket machine got jammed after only giving me 2 tickets. Well, we needed 8 more! So I told the guy it was jammed and he came to fix it. I then went to play with Payton while he fixed it. I came back to see Andy and Halle with a pile of tickets. The guy thought we must have won the jackpot! Guess only losers would tell him it's jammed for a few tickets. D'oh! Andy and I looked at each other and then said, OK, this is the moment of truth, what are we gonna do?

Dude, we kept the tickets! With our additional tickets we had about 600! Well, when we went to get the kids some prizes they had nothing! Totally lame prizes. The best thing they had was a pack of playing cards, SERIOUSLY. So we won a big pile of tootsie rolls and some GI Joe's for Payton. We didn't feel bad at all cause we'd spent $20 on playing arcade for lame prizes. Yep, we are terrible people. No wonder we can't sleep good at night. I just thought it was the neighbors, oops.

Batman

I won!!

40 Degrees, Let's go Swimming!

It has seemed like a very long winter for the kids and I. Without a car during the week we can only do so much in the house. Andy wanted to get away for the weekend so we found this indoor water park close to our friends house in Connecticut. I didn't realize how many of these places actually exist. It was a ton of fun for the kids, once they got used to the water anyway. (Not as warm as I would have liked). It's a little different swimming in 100 temperatures outside. It was decorated really cool with life-like beach paintings on the wall and palm trees. I loved not having to worry about sun screen.

Basically the have a huge building with all sorts of slides, big and small for all ages. Rope swings, water basketball, and a lazy river which was our favorite. And then there was this gigantic playground/slide. It had an enormous bucket at the top that would fill and dump water every few minutes. Looked cool but the kids were scared of it, especially Halle. We learned to time it though so they could enjoy the kiddie slides. And thanks to Grandma Gold, they new they'd love the spa and spent most of their time there.

She sure LOVES her swimming suit.

They had cute holes all over that sprayed water up.

It was great fun but I still think I prefer being HOT in cool water. Must have been just me but I wished the water was all warm like the spa. :) The kids loved it though and I was so glad we went. They now are counting down the days until we can go swimming outside! Until then, we'll just have to stick to long "Bumble" baths.

Happy Valentines Babe

I have the most romantic husband. For Valentines we said we weren't going to do any gifts. We were just going to have a family day. Well, my awesome hubby just can't hold back and surprised me with this. Being the awesome wife I am though, I gave it back to him in return for Valentines.

For real though.. We were watching TV one night and this infomercial came on about this small oven that cooks in half the time. It has magical powers and is practically got Hogwarts written all over it. I laughed at it and funny enough it showed up in a pretty package a few days later on my doorstep. I was very skeptical but didn't want to hurt my man's feelings on this very loving gift. So we gave it a try. Andy loves it and this is him anxiously awaiting his steak. I put it in frozen and it cooked in 35 minutes.

It cooks with convection, and two other types I can't remember...Anyway, it steams and can do dehydration, and all sorts of mind boggling things. It actually turned out great. AND because he ordered at a certain time they through in a bunch of goody stuff like a pizza flipper and a blender of some sort. Anyhoo, My hubby is happy to have this for him, I mean me for Valentines. :)