new tricks

August is flying by for Team Fulkerson!

Football (x2) is in full swing. Karate and lots of back-to-school-parent-meeting-open-house outings are keeping us hopping.

Here at home Luke taught himself to cut with scissors.

Not quite proper form, but he gets the job done.

Oddly enough, Luke learned how to use the vacuum cleaner the very same day.

He might like the vacuum a little too much.

Baby Leah, 11 months old, loves showing off in her new favorite place to play.

It's also new schoolyear!

Alex (our nephew) and Noah, ready for the first day of second grade.

Daniel, awake at the crack of dawn for the middle school bus. 5th grade is middle school here in Zionsville. I personally think it's criminal to make middle school last any longer than necessary, but here the kids get treated to four years of it. Blech.

Emma, our seasoned middle-schooler, starting grade 7.

We hope you are enjoying these last days of summer!

Love, Team Fulkerson

summer

The weeks since Dan moved home have flown! We are loving every minute.

Dan's new work wardrobe :)

Our fourth of July tradition is driving downtown to watch the fireworks in Indy. Our friends tipped us off to the fabulous trick of letting the kids climb on top of the van - a pleasure they look forward to all year (thanks, Gills!). Luke didn't love the noise. He was thankful Daddy was home to hold him.

We had the chance to take the kids to an amusement park in Santa Claus, IN (yes, you read that right) called Holiday World. It's well-known in these parts for 1) being in the middle of nowhere, which says something if people from rural Indiana say it's in the middle of nowhere. 2) boasting rides and water slides for kids of all ages - a major plus for a family like ours with a wide age spread and 3) providing free soft drinks and sunscreen throughout the park. Yes, you read that right! The amount of Sierra Mist that Luke consumed by himself during our day there was probably worth the cost of his ticket. ;) Seven Fulkersons worth of sunscreen for an entire day? Score!

Some highlights:

Emma, Noah and Daniel . This IS Indiana, so the manger scene was just around the corner. :)

This seemed like a more appropriate photo op, though -- complete with signs warning us not to climb on Santa.

Noah was a great sport- he rode the smaller-kid rides with Luke all morning.

Dan with Luke, Leah, and our massive bag of gear. It's a good thing Holiday World doesn't charge fees for oversized, overweight baggage like the airlines do! It would certainly offset the free drinks and sunscreen.

Every July I subject the kids to a group photo. As expected, adding one more person adds to the challenge, especially when that person loves to arch her back and try to fling herself to the ground when someone tries to hold her still. We did the best we could, and we took a few individual shots too. You can kind of see the wiggling, even though these are still shots.

Emma, age 12

Luke, age 3

Leah, 9 months

Emma 12, Leah 9 mo, Luke 3, Daniel 10, Noah 7

one of MANY attempts. Photo day always makes me grouchy. Then when I remember that I can sometimes edit out non-compliant siblings I feel better.

Daniel and Leah

Emma, Daniel and Leah

Keep enjoying your summer! Team Fulkerson

the end....and the beginning

Team Fulkerson is finally, once again, living under the same roof! We successfully moved Dan back to Zionsville last weekend, leaving Texas Children's Hospital --and Houston-- behind. We started driving at 11 a.m. on Friday morning and were in Indianapolis at 6 a.m. Saturday morning. We weren't kidding when we said we were ready to be FINISHED with that commute!

Here are a few photos from his last few days in Texas.

Dan ordered brain-themed cookie cakes to leave for his co-workers on his last day- or as close to brain-themed as Kroger's bakery gets. Cute, eh?

Good scotch, I guess? I wouldn't know. It made an appearance at Dan's going-away party.

The night before we left Dr. and Mrs. Luerssen threw Dan a lovely going-away party, Texas BBQ-style! It was so much fun for me to meet everyone!

The pediatric neurosurgeons from Texas Children's Hospital raise

their glasses.

It's July 1, so today was Dan's first day at his new job! He's not on the Goodman Campbell Brain and Spine website yet, but I'll post a link when he makes his appearance. He's been photographed and fitted for his coat so we have progress! Below is his business card, just in case any of you are in the market for a pediatric neurosurgeon.

It's official! :)

We are so thankful for all of the prayers said on our behalf this year. Prayers plus adrenaline kept us going.

Counting our blessings,

Team Fulkerson

countdown, single-digit style

Hello to all!

There are EIGHT DAYS until Dan is finished with his fellowship!

In four days my brave mom is coming to take care of the oldest four kids while Leah and Amy fly to Houston to help Dan clear out of his bachelor pad and drive home. Say some prayers for her as she gets ready to take up residence in our minivan...that's certainly where I have been for the last few weeks!

Note to self: Scheduling a whole summer's worth of organized activities into the span of three weeks is not fun. For anyone.

Wow, it's been a long time since Team Fulkerson managed to post.

Here are a few highlights from the last month.

Okay, more than a month. Humor me.

Emma participated in her art school's exhibition.

We acquired a new family member - a pet anole named Zipper. It changes color like a chemeleon, which is cool. It only eats live crickets or live worms. That's not so cool.

Luke drew his first life-sized self portrait on the wall.

Again, not so cool.



Leah continues to teethe. Poor girl still has no teeth.

Woe to anyone -and their unsuspecting body parts - that she can reach.


We finished 6th (Emma), 4th (Daniel) and 1st (Noah) grades. This is Daniel and Noah on the last day of school.

Leah learned to play in the grass. This is her 8 month portrait. :)


(Below) Daniel attended Dwight Freeney's football camp. It was very cool.

flying time - or- a great big catch-up post

Dan's fellowship is over in 45 days! We are hatching a plan for me to pick him up at the hospital on his last day and head directly to the highway....Houston, buh bye! We'll see if he and I will really have the energy to follow through with pulling an all-nighter that night. Anyway, I got this in the mail yesterday:

Do you people see the word GRADUATING on this invite? This is an invitation to Dan's graduation dinner!

WOOOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I hope they have a delicious dinner and really live it up that evening! The kids and I will surely be raising a glass (of lemonade? Sprite? ) to him that evening from our kitchen table in Indiana!

So far as I know, this is the LAST time Dan will graduate. ;) He's been really good at it all of the other times!

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Now for some parental (rather than spousal) bragging...

A few weeks ago Emma had an Academic Superbowl competition here in Indianapolis. She was so nervous in the weeks leading up to it, certain that she was the weak link on her team. She studied and studied the topic: "An American Generation: 1964 - 1980."

I know...seems like kind of a long time period to study, doesn't it?

Her specialty area was social studies. We're happy to report...

that Zionsville West Middle School won!

Emma even knew a few answers that her teammates didn't --what an awesome feeling! Way to go, Emma!

Emma with her Academic Superbowl ribbon. We are so proud of you, Emma!

*****************

Daniel turned 10 in March and I am just now managing to post his birthday portrait.

Daniel - age 10

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Leah, age 7 months, has decided that she doesn't like pureed baby food. No, despite her toothless state, she wants her food in chunks. She crawls all around our house in search of leftover bits. Cheerios are her current favorite, but she is pretty fond of goldfish crackers too. And blueberries. And wads of paper. And Legos (eek). Mom spends a lot of time doing the finger-sweep motion. A big shout-out to Daniel for digging out that Lego this weekend!

Leah has also decided that being the earliest roller, sitter, real-food eater and crawler in the bunch wasn't enough - she now pulls up to a standing position. Here are a couple of shots of her showing off her newest trick.

Team Fulkerson is in real trouble now.

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Noah was stuck at home last week with a fever.

As in ALL FIVE SCHOOLDAYS last week. Isn't that awful?

He built legos to pass the time. He was also home to watch some handyman *revisions* take place.

[Team Fulkerson is glad to report that things in THAT department are going much better!]

Here are a few shots of Noah's handywork last week:

Careful, Indy! Don't fall!

That kind of says it all, doesn't it?

Team Fulkerson hopes that none of you are stressed (streast) out today!

Have a great Tuesday (Lostday), everyone!

Luke's third birthday

Luke turned three a few weeks ago (OK, going on a month ago is more accurate). I have been distracted, OK? I thought I'd catch up with his birthday post while he's down and out with a fever. Poor guy! Never fear, he's watching Little Bear and sipping apple juice from his sippy cup, so all is right with the world (other than the stinkin' fever, of course!).

Luke with birthday loot! I wish he would look directly at the camera. You'll notice that he refuses to do that in all of these pictures - unless he's looking very sad, of course.

He chose white cupcakes with sprinkles for his 'cake.' That's good, because my attempts at making fancier cakes have fizzled so many times that I've pretty much given up. I'm not sure why he looks so miserable in this shot - he'd just blown out all three of his candles and was handed a cupcake!

Yeah, these are out of order. I'm ignoring the urge to delete the pictures and switch the order around. Here he's waiting for the cupcakes and candles to be placed in front of him. He kept looking at us like he wasn't sure what we were going to do to him.

Now THIS is the three-year-old Luke we'll all remember! He'd just pilfered a freshly-baked cupcake (not even frosted yet) and, well, did THAT to it. Notice his "little guys" all over the floor. Maybe he wanted to share crumbs with them? They're there pretty much all of the time. We're considering working them into the decor on a permanent basis. Could we weave them into a rug or something?

At age three, Luke's favorite things are:

Using an "H" sound wherever a "Y" or an "L" should be, meaning his name is Hukey, his baby sister is Heah, ("Heah is hittle."), he eats hogurt and one of his fave Star Wars characters is Hoda.

Throwing things.

Licking (hicking) sticks of gum.

Watching Little Bear, Curious George (love) and Spongebob Squarepants (UGH).

Wrestling with Daddy.

Getting piggy-back rides from Daddy.

Eating McDonald's french fries.

Wondering aloud "Why baby Heah doesn't have no hair?"

Getting a hot dog at the baseball concession stand

Playing at the park

and going to Chuck E. Cheese

We love you, Luke! What a big boy you're becoming!

(Sniff...)

home improvement?

Mother's Day came early this year! This week Team Fulkerson has delved into some much-needed, much wished-for home improvement projects.

We had the carpets professionally cleaned for the first time ever! What a concept...I kept playing with the kids, doing dishes, folding laundry...and the carpets were cleaned at the same time!

Only problem was that the guy who did the carpet cleaning asked for a tip.

Twice.

I wasn't expecting that. I'm new to this...someone needs to warn me about these things! I don't tip my furnace maintenance guys or the guy who carries my water softener salt down into the basement.

Have they both hated me for the last 8 years?

We also hired a handyman company come do some things around the house. I've been wishing for a new bathroom faucet and some new light fixtures for years...so I had high hopes. I was so excited to get started!

Then the handymen arrived.

One of them spilled coffee on my cleaned-less-than-24-hours-ago stairs and didn't cop to it or say he was sorry. I found the spots after he left. That's a lucky thing for him. He'll get an earful if he ever comes back this way. I thought that was pitiful.

Maybe he's friends with the carpet cleaning guy I stiffed.

The guy who was assigned to work on our to-do list for three days apparently is handy when it comes to patching drywall and painting (good!) but not so handy with having the necessary tools, being willing to go buy the necessary supplies, or plumbing in general (bad, considering I wanted a faucet installed). Without giving you all of the gory details, I'll just say that after three days we still can't use our downstairs sink, we have several holes in the walls surrounding the new light fixtures, and the other major project he was hired to do (build frames for our existing vanity mirrors) wasn't even started.

Here are a few photos so you can all enjoy the view.

Is it normal for the after to look decidedly worse than the before?

Maybe just for Team Fulkerson.

Have a great weekend everyone! Be thankful you're not our handyman's boss, who's coming bright and early Monday morning to finish the job!

This used to be our drain...and one of our nicer hand towels.

Mirror and faucet look good. It will be great when we can use this bathroom again! I know I should pick up the towel and clean up the mess but I'm being obnoxious and leaving it for the handyman's boss to see Monday morning. (Tattletale).

I am so happy with our new light fixtures! Too bad the previous light hid several holes in the drywall that are now exposed (see the rectangles next to the globes?). Our handyman doesn't carry drywall in his truck, nor does he go to places like Lowe's (literally a mile away) to acquire some. Instead he asks ticked-off housewives with crying children to go to Lowe's - for the second time that day- to go buy drywall instead.

Interesting approach.

The good news is that the wood frame surrounding our front door is repainted and we have a functioning doorbell for the first time in six months! Aah, the little victories in life. The doorbell chime was only installed upside down for a little while...