May Madness!

Well it has been quite a week. We spent 3 days in Baltimore for my niece Emily's graduation from Hopkins. It was nice to experience this with her. Jacob spent most of his time under my dress staying out of the sun. Logan slept under the bleacher for the entire 2 hour commencement. He actually snaked his body under the guy next to me (who was a total stranger, but was very nice).

Then it was back home to prepare for Logan's party with his classmates. Logan turned 7! Logan was very excited to get an ipod and an iturtle. As well as some wii and ds games in the morning from us. Logan invited all 22 of his classmates , but it turned out to be 12 boys and 2 girls. We ate pizza, smacked a pinata, played kickball, and of course had cake, ice cream, and presents! Logan has a great time and his cousin Nick stayed longer to play and have dinner, so that was an extra bonus!

The next day was the family party. Dirtbike and quad riding and grilling out. It was a fun day and again Logan had a great time and got so many wonderful gifts. This year no one was hurt

either riding quads or otherwise. June should be exciting as well. The boys are done with school on June 4th and will continue with their motocross races. As for China, it continues to move at a snails pace, but we will continue to wait!

Spring happenings...

There has been a lot going on these days at the Vogel house, so I thought I would update and let everyone know what we have been up to. As the weather began to break we started to clean out the fish pond, that was attached to the deck and came with the house (fish too!), we realized that there was a problem. Matt and I have had limited success with these fish, here is the history. All of the fish survived the first winter, but the second winter all of the Koi fish died. We later found out that because we didn't crack the ice, they suffocated on their own carbon dioxide. I felt bad, but not bad enough to replace them. The 3rd year all of the bullfrogs died, and then this year ALL of the goldfish left were floaters... every last one of them. So we had a dilemma at this point. Do we get a new pump and more fish or do we drain the pond and make a nice space for a hot tub?? HOT TUB of course!

So that was a huge pain in the ass job and of course that weekend it was close to 90 degrees, but we got it done and the boys even chipped in for $2.00!

Right now all of the hot tub plans are on hold until we close on a rental property that we are buying at the end of the month. Matt is going to be wearing a landlord hat now... he's really excited about it. So the hot tub can wait... at least we can avoid West Nile virus now that all of the stagnant water is gone.

The other time consumer is the boys motocross racing. The boys have begun competitive motocross racing and they both really enjoy it. In the pictures Logan is on the blue bike with the #1 and Jacob is on an orange bike with a #53. It is pretty intense and there are many father's who are living their dreams vicariously through their children. Their kid's bikes are in mint condition, with the most expensive gear... you get the picture. And there are Jacob and Logan, bikes all muddy and scratched with gear in the same condition, and I wonder when the kids they are competing against ride. We bought our boys these bikes to ride, and they ride everyday that they can. It's a dangerous sport, but it is really great to see them having fun!

The next few weeks are going to be busy and we have birthday's coming up soon. Hopefully Logan's party this year will be injury free! For those who don't know a boy at Logan's party last year fell in the woods and cut his knee open to the bone... it was AWFUL!! I felt sooo bad. We are keeping our finger's crossed this year for no injuries and no playing in the woods will be allowed! Unfortunately my birthday is coming up as well. I'm starting to physically feel old, which is definitely something I don't like. Matt, of course, finds my aches and pains amusing since he has been already experiencing unexplained pains for a few years!

I will update again after our trip to Baltimore and the birthdays/memorial day weekend!