Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Dinner Pal

Checkout who joined us for dinner the other night.

Allison loved watching her eat, before moving on to our neighbor's backyard.

Ethan's Buzz Cut

Today Ethan got his first buzz cut. Unfortunately it wasn't intentional. Luckily Ethan cares more about which lollipop he gets at the barber shop than what type of haircut he gets.

Ethan before.

Ethan afterward. Ya, he couldn't care less.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Allison's 6th Birthday Party

Today Allison had her 6th birthday party at a local painting studio. Ten of Allison's girlfriends came to paint an adorable penguin. Fun was had by all!

Allison painting away. Hmmm, I think one arm may be a bit longer than the other. I'm sure that's just me though.

The painters showing off their beautiful work.

Allison loving life while her friends sing 'Happy Birthday' to her!

Somehow the girls lost interest in painting when Lauren woke up. Hmm, I wonder at what age they can start baby sitting.

Yum!

Friday, November 5, 2010

Disney Baltic and North Sea Cruise!

To top off our time in Europe we (along with Dan's parents) headed off for a 12 night Disney cruise in the Baltic and North Sea in early July. Luckily we had perfect weather, smooth seas, and plenty of stuff to do. In the summer sunrise is at 4 am and the sun stays up until as late as 11pm!

Disney had the "service thing" down pat and seems to know a thing or two about kids. Seriously, Allison wanted a steak one night and presto: steak delivered to the table with a waiter who cut it up into kid-sized pieces and then made Mickey Mouse ears with the ketchup. Ethan absolutely loved the kids' pool and would spend up to 5 hours a day in there - coming out only to eat a bite of chicken fingers or fruit. Then again, you can't blame the kid since he found the section of the pool where the "older" girls were hanging out. Time and time again he played the cute card to strike up a conversation with a 7 or 8 year old. What can I say, the kid has game.

What was so nice about the cruise was the Kids' Club - a section of the ship where you can drop off the kids (all day if you wanted to) to do various activities, meet the Disney characters, and play with some Disney folks who seemed to love my kids more than I do. Of course, Allison's favorite activity was meeting the Disney princesses. For some reason that never got old to her.

Twelve nights gave us the opportunity to visit 7 countries - Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Russia, and England. The first few countries saw Bleichers young and old depart the Disney Magic ship, but by the second set of countries only the adults left the ship whereas the kids preferred to stay at the Kids' Club - can you say perfecto!

Here are some pictures from the ship (pics of the port calls to follow).

Meeting the Disney princesses in the lobby each evening never seemed to get old to Allison. Can't say the same for all of us!

Papa and Dan hanging out on the deck as the ship departs Germany.

Ethan didn't know what to make of many of the Disney characters, but he ran to meet Chip and Dale. Funny, I think that was his first time ever seeing Chip and Dale.

Papa and Gega hanging out with Ethan on the ship's deck as we navigate through the Norwegian fjord south of Oslo.

Allison and Ethan crushing Mickey Mouse.

We are in our stateroom sleeping as Papa and Gega took the kids to a character breakfast this morning. Don't worry though, we hit an unreal champagne brunch sans children a few hours later.

Allison resting for a moment before continuing to run up and down the deck, oblivious to the gorgeous Swedish archipelago passing by in the background. The island chain includes upwards of 24,000 islands of all shapes and sizes.

Allison about to say good night to Woody.

The ship had kid friendly shows each evening. This night Allison volunteered to go up on stage and participate! No idea what that ship did to our shy little Allison.

As luck would have it, just a day before the cruise Ethan took a nasty spill at the playground. He was holding a toy in each of his hands and opted to protect the toys as he fell down...at the expense of his face. It made him look pretty tough though!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Ethan's New Favorite Song

Here's Ethan's new favorite song. Can't say it isn't cute...

Monday, November 1, 2010

Landscapin'

As some of you know, we rented our house out while we were in Italy these past two years. The tenants were great about paying rent, but not so good about keeping the house up to Bleicher Standards!

So as soon as Dan got home he got to work on the landscaping. Here are a few before and after pics. I'm sure Dan will fill those beds with annuals come Spring! We'll upload some pics of the interior soon!

Halloween!!

Halloween in Oklahoma is more than just trick-or-treating - it's Storybook Forest, pumpkin patches, and yes, some trick-or-treating too! Above you can see the house with the gazillion pumpkins the kids "had" to have.

Ethan waiting patiently for some "customers" as the kids called them.

Allison and Ethan getting ready to trick-or-treat with Chloe and Chase!

Ethan found covering dad's eyes while crossing the bustling street was even more entertaining than getting free candy.

Allison preparing to help daddy carve a pumpkin.

A and E going crazy at Orr Family Farm. Of course we are partly to blame since both had 2 cupcakes about 30 minutes prior to this picture!

The kids continuing to work off those cup cakes on a giant air mattress.

Back in the US of A !!

Well it has been a while since we've posted anything, but we figured now is as good a time as any! We are settled back in Edmond, Oklahoma and enjoying life! Dan is busy at work in the squadron (VQ-3), Margaret is racing around town trying to entertain two energetic kids, Allison is having a blast in kindergarten, and Ethan is (in his own words) "crazy."

Here comes a slew of pictures from the month of October!

Here are some pics of Allison's first ever field trip! The class went to a farm south of Oklahoma City for some hay rides, pumpkin patch games, corn field mazes, and a petting zoo. Dan followed the bus and was a chaperon for the day. It was wild watching little Allison get off the big school bus!