Buddy vs. The Dinosaur

Buddy defends his turf, fearlessly taking on a fierce prehistoric dinosaur who he has mistaken for the notorious stork that has been rudely intruding on his peaceful single child life.

Papa spends some quality time with Buddy after his brave battle.

Update on Miss Beverly

Miss Beverly, seen here in her plush, new pink surroundings, has grown by leaps and bounds in the past week. Her eyes are still closed and she hasn't quite managed to figure out her legs, but she is eating every 4 hours. I think its safe to say that Miss Beverly has inherited her Momma's strong will and her Daddy's belly. She has yet to be introduced to her new big brother Duke, but we're sure she's going to love having someone to play with and boss around.

Stork Returns to Stalford Residence

Doug and Monica had another visit from the stork this week, this one was more planned then Miss Beverly. Duke is a white German sheppard, 6 weeks old and Monica's birthday present. He love to play outside and with his tremendous toy collection that Papa has bought him. His favorite is a purple doggie that squeaks. Congratulations guys!!!!

Doug and Monica's New Addition

On their way to work at the Beverly Hills sub-station this week, Doug and Monica stopped at the bank and came away with more than just money. Doug found this little girl puppy lying on the sidewalk and being the tender-hearted man he is, scooped her up and made her the newest addition to their family. Monica and Doug are experiencing feedings every couple hours and are loving every minute. They have decided to name her Beverly, since they found her on the way to the Beverly job. Buddy isn't so sure about his new sibling, but we hope they'll soon become great friends. Congratulations Monica and Doug!!!!!

Family Visit

We were lucky enough to have the Todd and Corinna's Family come up to Salt Lake a couple of weeks ago and visit with us. The kids had a great time playing together and us adults enjoyed catching up with each other. We had some fun activities planned and some activities planned that were supposed to be fun but didn't quite turn out that way. We went to the Treehouse Museum and played for a couple of hours then headed to Chuck-a-rama for a yummy lunch. The next day tank took everyone but me, Caleb, and Brock (because we had school) to breakfast and then all of us but Caleb and Cole (School) headed over to the Air Force Museum. Where the kids got a lot of one on one attention from the nice volunteer there. Friday was our supposed be fun but not quite activity of swimming in the Great Salt Lake. (For the rest of Tanks family members, we are more than willing to take you out there but just FYI it is not so GREAT!!) After that fun time we headed home to relax and hang out. We did a lot of that too while they were here, just hanging out. Saturday it was time to say good-bye but before we did we headed down to Thanksgiving Point to the Children's Gardens. The kids had a blast getting soaked in the Noah's Ark play area.

Thanks for coming guys, we had a blast!

Tunes for Troops!!!

Here is the article about Michelle published in the local paper! This sounds like an awesome idea. Great work Michelle!!

Tunes 4 Troops collecting CDs, DVDs
Published: Sunday, August 16, 2009 12:59 AM CDT
A national effort in support of American troops serving overseas has come to Boerne.Michelle Shaffer is the Boerne sponsor for Tunes 4 the Troops, a nation-wide effort to collect CDs and DVDs to send to American military personnel serving in foreign countries.Shaffer is spearheading collection efforts here with help from Sherri Fisher, owner of Treasure House at 905 N. Main, where local residents may drop off donations.The program was started by a teenager in Cleveland, Tenn. While attending the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet camp in Florida, Kaylee Radzyminski met troops returning from overseas military service. She asked what they missed most from home, other than family. She learned many service personnel have limited access to Internet and satellite service and often, many soldiers have to share a small collection of CDs.
Radzyminski organized community and school drives for CDs and DVDs to send to troops overseas and the effort spread throughout the country. Since 2005, more than 200,000 CDs and DVDs have been collected and sent to deployed service members all over the world.“I have been a volunteer with the program for about two years,” Shaffer said. “I collected CDs from family and friends to send. Now, I have more time and with a Main Street location for a drop spot, it seemed like the perfect time to expand.”Everyone in the community is invited to participate by taking donations of CDs and DVDs to the drop box at Treasure house, 905 N. Main.Local residents who have family members serving in the military overseas are also invited to drop off names and addresses where CDs and DVDs may be sent.“It would be so special if we could send some entertainment to service people from here,” Shaffer said.

Argondizzo Visit!!!

Auntie Dre and Uncle Vinnie came up to Salt Lake this week to visit us! We had a great time with them. It was nice to be able to sit back and relax and visit and enjoy some good food! Boy did we eat good! Tank has been telling about this BBQ place in SLC that has great food so we went there for lunch on Monday. After that we headed over to see the Great Salt Lake. Funny thing is after living here for 4 years we had never actually been to the Great Salt Lake. So we went there and the boys waded in the water and we took some pictures.

Later that night we had Cafe Rio Salads which is one of my favorite meals. Vinnie even though he is supposed to be on vacation and off of his knee, decided to treat us all to his delicious Lasagna and Meatballs. Tuesday we headed to the Splash pad for the kids to get wet and have some fun. Then we went to the Lofthouse Cookie outlet in search of Lemon Cookies for Auntie Dre! No such luck but we found some other good ones! That night we feasted on Vinnie's meatballs and lasagna.

Overall it was nice to just kick back for a few days!

This is what the boys sent the majority of the time doing, introducing Uncle Vinnie to Tiger Woods, Star Wars Legos, and MLB Baseball on the Wii. Thanks for coming guys! We had a lot of fun!!

Rock On!!!!

Zach got a new Guitar!

Watch out Van Halen!!!

Baseball Boys

Caleb and Cole both completed their baseball seasons. They really enjoyed playing and they both improved a lot. It was fun to watch them and I got a glimpse at what the future holds with 4 boys and sports. It is gonna be crazy!!!

Gabriel and Cali

I took these pictures of the kids yesterday and had to show them off. I thought they turned out pretty good. We are very excited about the reunion next year. I love the east coast and can't wait to share it with everyone else.

Lots of love,

Corinna

Siera's Locks of Love

Siera got her hair cut for Locks of Love over spring break. She really likes it... no tangles! but at the same time is ready to grow it and cut it again

Here are Siera's 'before' and 'after' pictures.
For those of you who aren't familiar with Locks of Love, it is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis.

What a wonderful thing to learn at such a young age! Love you Siera!

Faster than the Speed of Light!!

Michelle sent me some pictures of Siera at her first Track meet. The results weren't quite in when they left at 10:00 pm but as soon as I get them I will post them. Michelle said that Siera is

super fast and that they are thinking about buying her some spikes. WATCH OUT!!!

From the looks of these pictures Michelle had better watch out Siera is about to pass her up on the Height Department. We are all so proud of you Siera and all the fun new things you have been doing! Keep up the Awesome Work!!! We Love You!!!!

Welcome to the Family!!!

As most of you already know Andrea and Vincent Argondizzo were married on Valentines day. February 14, 2009 in Las Vegas.

We are so happy for them and wanted to welcome Vinnie into the Stearman Family. We are so glad that you guys are happy and so in love.

We wish you all the best! And Vinnie WELCOME TO THE FAMILY!!!

Cereal Box Fort

The weather in Virginia has been frightful, and the kids . . . not so delightful.
Since the weather here has been bone chilling cold, which makes it hard to stay out for long periods of time. We decided it was a great time to pull all of our cereal boxes from the attic and build a cereal box fort. We saw the idea in Family Fun magazine last year, and thought it would be a fun project for a day just like that one.
We used a glue gun to stick the boxes together. The fort has 3 sides and the front opening, plenty of look outs to keep an eye out for the enemy, but no roof yet. It's big enough for both kids to chill out inside.
According to the kids, we have somewhere between 50 and 70 boxes. No we don't eat that much cold cereal for breakfast, my kids usually get a hot, healthy breakfast. We do, however, like to eat it for dessert. YUM!

Wonderworks

We went on a science field trip to Wonderworks a couple weeks ago. It was so awesome. Todd and I had as much fun as Gabriel and Cali did.

The whole concept behind Wonderworks is that it started out as a top secret laboratory on a remote island in the Bermuda Triangle. In an attempt to harness the power of a man made tonado, the experiment went terribly wrong and the whole building was torn off its foundation and landed upside down in the heart of Tennessee.

Inside the lobby, everything is upside down. If you look up, you see the floor and front door upside down. You have to go through an inversion tunnel so that, you too, can be upside down.

Once inverted, you can stand in the middle of 65 mph hurricane force winds, sit at a table and experience a 6.5 earthquake, lay on a bed of real nails, scale a rock wall, feel how cold the water temperature was when the Titanic went down, or have your brain waves read. That's just 1/4 of the first floor. We were in there for 3 hours and still didn't do it all. Every 'experiment' had an explanation next to it; the how and whys of it all. If anyone ever comes to the east coast, I highly recommend going. (There are more pictures on Walgreens.com.)

Love to all,

Corinna

Happy Birthday Cole!

Cole turned five yesterday! He had a great Birthday! We took him and 3 friends to the Classic Fun Center where they have a Pirates Cove and Bounce Houses, Roller Skating and video games. It was in the early afternoon so we were the only people there! It was really nice. Then Tank took him to a Jazz game and he got to go on the court and meet the Jazz Bear and a few players. I will post more pics when I get them up!! Happy Birthday Cole we love you!!!

Here's to Healthy Kids

Gabriel and Cali just got their yearly check up and we are happy to report that they are both healthy and growing faster than expected. Gabriel is 9 years and 9 months, 60 inches tall and weighs in at 78 pounds and Cali is 6 years and 6 months, 51 inches tall and weighs in at 57 pounds.

I hope this finds everyone just as healthy and happy as we are in Virginia.

Love to all!

Caleb is Eight!!

This was suppoesed to post on January 8th. I thought it would because I was doing it at 12:30am on the 8th. So, yes I do know when Caleb's birthday is!!

Today is Caleb's 8th Birthday!

Caleb you are such a good boy and we love you so much. You are always willing to help me out with your brothers and be my big helper whenever I need it. You are a great example to your brothers and others around you. You are a great little athlete and we love the competitive side of you! WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!! Happy 8th Birthday!