Rhys on a better day...

Here's Rhys all dressed up in flannel for church the other day...

Rhys is sick...

We wondered why Rhys was so crabby Christmas Eve and Christmas day. I took him to the Dr on Wednesday and turns out he has a double ear infection AND pink eye! Poor kid.

Here's a pic of Rhys' eyes, yucky...

Merry Christmas!!!

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve at my mom's house, Christmas morning at our house and Christmas evening with Scott's parents. It was a very fun, relaxing and joyful time!

Christmas eve at the Krueger house (Back Row: Cameron, Paul, Taryn, Brian, Amanda, Jason, Mike. Front Row: Me, Ethan, Dave, Jeanne, Rhys. Floor: Scott)

Cookies, milk and carrots, along with a note, left by Santa!!!

Our beautiful and lovely smelling tree!

Christmas morning. Can you tell Ethan was excited?!?

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends. We got to spend it up north in the cold weather. We went to Grace Lodge Wed-Fri and had a great time with Scott's parents and his brother and family. The lodge is on Rainbow Lake in Lakeside, AZ which is about 3.5 hours NE of the Phoenix area.

Scott and the boys on the dock...



Scott carrying the canoe to the lake (he went out on the lake by himself)...



Ethan and Jonathan on the paddleboat (they did NOT go by themselves :))




The cabin we stayed in (5bed/4ba)...




The view of Rainbow Lake from the porch...


My 3 guys...



Our family picture in front of the fireplace...





May and Rob with the 4 grandkids...

Anyone else with the winter crud?

Not sure what the deal is, but we have all been sick this month. Between the four of us, we've had the regular flu, stomach flu, bronchitis, chronic coughs and colds. Poor Scott got it all this year and he never gets sick!! He's still fighting that nasty cough, so his Dr. wants him to get a chest x-ray or some more antibiotics! Here's a pic of Rhys doing his breathing treatments. He has had a chronic cough too, but fortunately it has cleared up this week...

Happy Birthday, Scott!!

Scott turned 31 on November 13th. We went to Joe's Farm Grill for dinner with the family. After dinner we came back here and had root beer floats and pizzookies (half-baked cookie dough with ice cream on top). Yum!

Scott and I...

Scott with his parents...

Ugghh....the flu/cold

So, it has been nuts around here with the whole flu/cold thing....Scott and I have been fighting a cold for about 2-3 weeks. Last week, Scott's cold morphed into the flu and he was home sick 3 days with fever, chills, body aches, etc. Rhys has had a nice cough going for about 3 weeks. I took him to the pediatrician this a.m. and he is now on breathing treatments (got his flu shot too). Scott is at the docs as I write and Ethan is in bed right now with the stomach flu. He has got a nice little temp, plus has spent the last 24 hours throwing up. Fun, fun....Hopefully we'll all be feeling better by next week for Thanksgiving...

Happy Halloween!

Sorry it has taken me so long to post our Halloween pics! We had a great time trick or treating in grandma and grandpa's neighborhood. The boys made out like bandits, coming home with about 5 lbs of chocolate. Yum....err...I mean, yeah, they liked it :). I didn't steal all the Kit Kats....

Ethan and Rhys digging into the candy before even leaving the house...


Ethan as Spiderman...


Rhys as a dinosaur...

BOO at the Zoo

We went to Boo at the Zoo today. It was fun and the kids enjoyed themselves. It was so hot that they had to take their costumes off within 30 min, though. Anyway, here are some pics...

Aidan, Ashton, Rhys and Ethan...

Boys on alligator...

Ethan in turtle shell...

Lambert got caught by the orangutan...

Video of Ethan and Rhys with glowing pumpkin

Face Painting and Pumpkin Carving at Trader Joe's

We had a great time carving a pumpkin and getting the boys' faces painted at Trader Joe's this morning. Although, we are all dealing with a bit of a cold, the boys still had fun.

Rhys as a mouse (or cat)...

Ethan as Spiderman (which ended up all over my sheets and bedspread this afternoon when the boys started wrestling!)...

Ethan and Scott with the Pirate Flag carved pumpkin...

Scott and Rhys...

Rhys and Aidan

We went to the zoo on Friday with my dear friend Maria and her son Aidan. The boys had a great time and enjoyed their time together. Here's a pic of our cuties :)...

Rhys and Aidan

Ethan and Bert

Ethan was lucky enough to get Bert for an overnight this week. Bert gets to go home with a very well-behaved kindergartener each night and Ethan has had the privilege of Bert spending the night 2 times this school year (and Betsie once, Bert's sister)! We are proud of Ethan and how well he is doing in school. Mrs Ence says that he is one of her star students! I asked her if she'd come home with me or teach me some of her tricks :)...



Ethan and Bert

Party at the Park

The boys were invited to two birthday parties last weekend and here are some pics of them doing what they do best-playing!

Ethan

Rhys

Scott and Rhys going down the slide, while Ethan looks on. I think some skin from Scott's knee was left in that slide!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ETHAN!!

Ethan officially turned 6 years old at 6:19 a.m. today (09/30/07)! Wow, I just can't believe it! He has been doing really great lately, learning how to play soccer and doing so wonderfully in school. We are so proud of our big guy and we are looking forward to watching him grow over the coming years. Today after church the four of us went out for a special lunch at Joe's Farm Grill. Ethan got his favorite-a cheeseburger and fries :). Here are a few pics...

The birthday boy in a tree...

Mom and Ethan...

The Hodin boys...

Ethan's 6th Birthday Party

We celebrated Ethan's 6th birthday on Saturday with a little party. He invited 6 or 7 'big kids' to come over and hang out, have cake, play games, etc. He had a great time and loved all of his gifts. He got transformers, a GI Joe, Wacky Wigglers, $$$, a rocket launcher nerf ball, a Hot Wheels case and cars, pj's, soccer lessons, a Piranha game, a 50 state puzzle, a desk chair and lamp, etc., etc. We also got him a beta fish, whom Ethan has named Luke. So we now have 5 members of our family and Ethan is so excited to have his very own beta fish!

Ethan and dad with the cake Scott decorated (thathat is the Transformer 'Optimus Prime')...

Ethan, mom, dad, & Rhys...

Kids swarming Ethan and his new fish, Luke...

I got a job!

I (Melanie) got a job and will be starting tomorrow, 10/01/07!! I will be working from home doing unitizing for a small company called MCT (Mortensen Coding Technology). Basically what I will be doing is taking large chunks of scanned paperwork and breaking it up logically for lawyers who need it during trial. I was blessed with this great opportunity through someone I met at church a month ago and she was just about to hire someone else. I told her that I was looking for a work-from-home job and the timing for both of us just worked out great :). So, I will keep you all posted on how that is going as I get comfy in my new role. The best part is, I'll be doing it from home and can work around the kids schedules!

Ethan picks a sport...

We signed Ethan up for Karate and he hated it. He said it was too loud! So we decided to try soccer instead. He seems to really like it and enjoys going every Saturday morning to practice with his team, The Raptors. They will start playing other teams in a few weeks, after they all learn how to play :). The first practice was really hot, but they take lots of water breaks and it is great exercise for him.



Ethan kicking the ball...

Ethan with his teammates (and assistant coach)...

Ethan taking a water break with mom and grandma...

What we do on a boring day...

This past labor day was SOOO hot and we had nothing to do, so Ethan and Scott built this out of the boys legos...

AZ Museum for Youth

Rhys and I went to the AZ Museum for Youth this morning with Carrie K (along with her two boys, Matthew and Jonathan) and Randi (and her little guy Jonathan). The boys loved it and had a great time. Rhys didn't want to leave.

Rhys reading a book...





Rhys playing with the car on the race track...





Rhys in the 'bubble'...

Rhys on the slide (a little blurry, but still cute!)...

Rhys driving the bus...

Civic Si Photoshoot

Scott continues to build up his 14-year old Civic more to his liking. He found some used Civic HX alloy wheels on Craigslist and had Discount Tire swap his tires over. Next he purchased some Tanabe GF210 sport springs and spent the better part of Friday night installing them himself. His new lightweight wheels and lowered stance made a big improvement in the aesthetics and handling of the car. After a quick wash on Sunday, he ran out with Ethan and snapped a few photos at this random location.