Top Ten Reasons Why Spring Break Rocks!

10. Sleeping in.
9. No soccer games.
8. No piano lessons.
7. No homework.
6. No housework (I wish this one was true!)
5. Sleeping in (this one is worthy of being listed twice ;)
4. Swimming with good friends.
3. Feeding ducks & turtles (upper right picture). Have you ever seen turtles eat bread??
2. Celebrating Jake's birthday & St. Patrick's Day made us feel green inside.
1. A visit from Aunt Ann (and a steak dinner to boot!)

"AFTER"

Last week you saw the "BEFORE"....well here's the "AFTER".
What a difference a week makes.
In my biased opinion a little scar won't mar this beautiful face!

Jedi Knight Jake

Celebrating Jake's 9th birthday ended up being a multi-day extravaganza. It started on Sunday night when Aunt Ann visited us from California. We had Jake's birthday dinner where he selected his favorite food....STEAK.

It continued on Tuesday (his actual birthday) where we got to wear green and say "Top of the mornin' to you" in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

It then continued onto Wednesday when Jake achieved the rank of "Jedi Knight" at his birthday party. We enjoyed celebrating with his two favorite brothers and six of his friends. The boys enjoyed light saber balloon challenge, planning & filming a Star Wars movie, opening gifts and of course food (hot dogs, chips, drinks, grapes & cupcakes). The force was definitely with us ;)

We are so thrilled to have Jake in our home. He is an amazing boy and full of life and smiles. He does well in school, is an AWESOME piano player, he is good at sports and is kind to others. He is very imaginative and always has good ideas. He does a good job completing his chores at home and has a great time with his two brothers in-tow.

As you can see he's growing up fast. Now that he's 9 he's half-way to adulthood (can it really be??) We look forward to enjoying the next 9 years too! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAKE! We love you.

3 Days Short of Nine Years.....

.....that's how long we lasted before one of our boys had an injury that required stitches. Ryan fell last night and hit the corner of the kitchen cabinets. He split his head open. We stopped the bleeding pretty quickly, but the small cut was just gaping open and I was pretty sure he needed stitches.

Two hours later we emerged from the urgent care center with a very brave little boy with 3 stitches in his head. He did so good while the doctor worked on him. The doctor was very impressed as Ryan laid there and didn't move an inch as he told us they have to sedate many children to do that procedure. Here's a picture of our brave little soldier.

Here's hoping it's another 9 years before we have to do that again ;)

There's A Wolf Among Us

Jake earned his "Wolf" at the Cub Scout Blue & Gold Banquet on February 26th. In the outdoor ceremony he got to drink wolf blood and howl at the moon.

Congratulations Jake! We are very proud of you and are looking forward to working on your "Bear" over the next year.

It's That Time Of Year Again....

......Need I say more?

The Sunday View

Ryan has been begging us to wear a tie to church for over a year. I was just viewing that as one more shirt I would have to iron (poor me?!?!). So I told him once he graduated from his nursery class and started attending the Sunbeam class with the older kids that he could wear a tie.

Well, he didn't forget and in January on his first Sunday of Sunbeams he reminded me. So here's the view from the Ortler house every Sunday morning.