The Shearwater Nest

Birthday Party #2 For Evan

2012-01-25T08:20:00.003-05:00

A week and a half ago (I know I'm slacking again) we had Evan's second birthday party. I'm a fan of Groupon, and I ran across a great deal just before Christmas. The deal was for this place called the Lansing Hit Club. It's an indoor baseball place. I thought it was perfect seeing as Evan was into the Tigers themed birthday party this year! He had wanted to have some friends from school come to his birthday party, and since we already had a lot of people coming for his family/close friends party we decided to have another party. I normally don't do two birthday parties, but the price was good for this, and I didn't have to have 10 kids running through our house.

We had the party on Friday night. I didn't have a lot of options to choose from since I bought the Groupon so close to his birthday. It worked out good though because it didn't waste a whole Saturday. It was from 6:30-8:30pm which gave everyone time to get home from school and relax a little before the party. The Groupon included two hours at the Hit Club with decorations, pizza & pop, and an hour of batting cage or instructional time. We chose the instructional time and the kids got to play some baseball with one of the coaches there. Then they enjoyed the pizza & pop, and I brought in cupcakes which the kids really enjoyed! After we ate, Evan opened his presents and he got a lot of really nice things. We really appreciate everyone coming and thank them for all the goodies Evan got! The kids had a great time, and they all loved the place. I had done goody bags for the kids, and the Hit Club even had goody bags for them! It was so worth the price I paid for the Groupon, and I didn't have a mess at our house to clean up after. Here's a few pics from the evening!

Evan up to bat when the kids were playing a "mini" baseball game.

The baseball cupcakes I made with Detroit Tigers colors.

The birthday bunch! We asked the kids to wear their Tigers gear or come in blue/orange. They all looked great! I love this pic! (One of the girls couldn't make it because she was sick so Em and Evan's "girl"friend Jaidyn were the only girls. Em loved hanging with Jaidyn though.)

We are truly blessed that Evan has some great friends and parents.

Twitter & Spartan Love

2012-01-15T22:51:00.006-05:00

I decided a few weeks ago to get on the Twitter bandwagon. I figured I'd check it out and see what it's all about. I actually had a twitter account from a couple years ago, but never used it. Now that I'm back on it seems to be more fun than it was before. I think maybe having a Smart Phone makes it more useful. It's a great way to get up to date news quickly. Click on the app on your Smart Phone and everyone that you follow comes up in your news feed. Sort of like Facebook, but yet different. I follow things like The Today Show, WILX (our local NBC News), NBC Nightly News, Breaking News, Ellen, Katie Couric to name a few. Then of course I follow MSU Football and along with that I started following some of the football players while they were down in Tampa for the week before the bowl game. I have to tell you, those boys are funny! I've gotten quite a bit of laughs from all the tweets. If you don't know, I've got a little innocent crush on former MSU football player B.J. Cunningham. He's got the all time greatest smile among athletes! :) He's even replied to one of my tweets. Let's just say the boy loves Chipotle! LOL. I also tweeted Keith Nichol when they were in Tampa asking for a birthday tweet for Evan on his birthday. Sure enough the boy tweeted me back "Happy Birthday Evan!" I couldn't believe it. Evan was so excited, as was I. Now I've got a little Twitter addiction. I can't believe all I'd be missing if I hadn't gotten on Twitter. If you're on Twitter follow me @Spartanfan4ever!

You all know how much I love my Spartans! There's nothing but green and white in this household. I want to go back for a minute and give a shout out to the Spartan Football team. On January 2nd, MSU played in the Outback Bowl in Tampa. Oh how I would have loved to been there. We weren't though so we watched in from our living room. Our friend Brenda came over to watch the game with us. It was a weird game, not the game I expected. I knew how much MSU wanted to win a bowl game, especially the seniors. It was Dantonio's fifth straight bowl appearance with the Spartans, but he had yet to win a bowl game. The Spartan's were down 16-0 at halftime, but I had this feeling that I knew it wasn't over. I had a good feeling that they would rally back in the second half. That's exactly what they did and took the game right up to the end to tie it up. After three exciting OT's the Spartans won the game with a blocked field goal. FINALLY, MSU won a bowl game with Dantonio. A much deserved win for the team, seniors, and Dantonio.

On Tuesday, Jan. 3rd the football team returned to East Lansing. Well, almost all the team. Some of the seniors that graduated in December went onto their hometowns, but for the most part a majority of the team returned. I was a little bummed because I thought there would be a celebration at Breslin Tuesday night like there was in 2010 after MSU won the Big Ten Championship. However, late that Tuesday morning I heard the team was coming back at 1:30pm and there would be a welcome back at the Skandalaris Football Building. I debated about going because the kids were in school. I didn't really want to take them out of school on their first day back. So after I dropped Em off at school I decided I'd swing by and see what was going on. There were a few people, but not many. I ran a couple errands and came back closer to 1:30pm. There were more people there, maybe 50 so it wasn't too bad. I happened to grab Evan's football and Kirk Cousins jersey right before I walked out the door. I was hoping for a few autographs and with not many people there I figured I had a pretty good chance. So with that said, the team was a little late getting back, it ended up being about 2:15pm when the buses arrived. It was so great to see the team and coaches and the big smiles on their faces still excited about their big win against Georgia. Evan's football already had some player's autographs, but their were a handful of names that I still wanted to get on his special football. Two of them were Keshawn Martin & Edwin Baker which I managed to get. B.J. Cunningham & Jerel Worthy didn't come back on the bus, and I missed LeVeon Bell. I also was able to get Ev's Kirk Cousins jersey signed which I was so excited about. I was so glad I grabbed it at the last minute before I walked out the door. Greg was there taking some pics for work so he also took my pic with Cousins and Coach D. I didn't really want my picture taken, but now I'm glad that I did. I was glad I decided to go to campus and check out the "welcome back" as well. It was definitely worth it.

When I picked Ev up from school I told him about the players coming back and he was so bummed he didn't get to go. So was I because I would have been able to get his pic with lots of the players. He was super excited though when I showed him his football and especially his #8 jersey signed by Cousins! Check him out!
Although MSU lost some great players with the seniors leaving, and a couple turning pro early, I can't wait to see what 2012 brings for the Spartan team. It's only January, and I'm already for college football to start! Go State!

Evan Is Seven!

2012-01-12T22:54:00.005-05:00

New Year's Eve is a special day around here. It's not just New Year's Eve with celebrating the end of the year and ringing in the New Year. Since 1999 it's been a day to remember. It's the day that Greg and I got engaged. Crazy to think that was 12 years ago. Who would of thunk that five years later, that special day would become even more special? It's the day that Evan came into this world, and I am truly blessed that he did. I knew I would love my child dearly, but I never knew how much I was capable of loving. It hasn't always been sunshine and roses with Evan (we all remember how colicky he was as a baby), but it doesn't change the amount of love I have for Evan. He'll always be my little boy, but as of December 31, 2011, Evan turned seven, and I just can't believe it. Where have the last seven years gone? He's growing up way too fast! I'm such a proud mom of Evan. He's a good kid, he does well in school, he's kind, generous, friendly, loving, funny, and he's my Spartan buddy. I get to call him my son, and I'm thankful he's mine. I can only hope that as the years go on and life gets tougher he remains that same kid that he's become over the last seven years.

Evan's been wanting to have a Spartan room, so this year for his birthday I told him we'd redo his room. It's been a tough decision because since we built this house and did his room he had a very nice mural painted on his wall. His room was a "surfer doggy" room, and I really loved his mural. However, I've kind of know for awhile that it was time to move on. It seemed as though he kind of outgrew it awhile ago. So as much as I hated to paint over it, I stuck to my word and we painted his room over winter break. I originally thought of doing two walls white and two walls green, but with the white trim in our house I didn't want white walls with white trim. So then we thought about doing it all green. We had a hard time picking the right green, but finally we all decided on one that everyone liked. Evan didn't want his room too dark though with all green walls so we started with painting over the two blue walls and leaving the tan walls. We decided it didn't look Spartan enough so we opted to go with a light gray for the other two walls. I showed Evan a few gray samples and he chose one. We're really pleased with how the whole room turned out. It looks great! After three comforters, we finally found one that looks good with the walls and the bedding all matches. You would think when you buy a bed in a bag set that it would all match, but the one we had the shams didn't match the comforter. Ugh! Then the comforter he got for Christmas didn't match the sheets that went with it. Ugh again! I ordered one from JC Penney, and although it didn't come with sheets, it matches the sheet set he got for Christmas great and looks good with the walls so we're going with it.

The room is done for the most part. We've hung a few pics, and got his bedding on. I also found a new lamp for his table, and hung a new shelf for his autographed balls. I still need to get a couple of his jerseys framed and decide on which other pictures I want to frame. It's been a little longer process than I thought it would be, but it's getting there. I'll post pics soon.

We had his birthday party last weekend with close friends and family. Evan wanted a Detroit Tigers party. It was fun, and we appreciate everyone coming to help him celebrate. We're also having a second birthday party this weekend with his school friends. I don't normally do two birthday parties, but this was a good deal I couldn't pass up. More on that later. Until then... wishing my little guy some belated happy birthday wishes since I didn't blog on New Year's Eve. Here's to a great year of being seven Evan! We love you more than you'll ever know! Here's a few pic from his party!

The birthday boy all set for the party in his Tigers gear!

I discovered that one of the 1st grade teachers, Ms. Charnley, at Ev's school makes cakes. Evan and I looked through some pictures and put some ideas together and came up with this cake that she made. It was a big hit at the party! He loved his Tigers cake!

End Of The Year Recap

2012-01-10T18:07:00.002-05:00

Yes, I'm behind AGAIN, but now I'm back. I left off right before Christmas, and while I could go into a lot of details about winter break and Christmas, I'm not going to. It seems like it was so long ago. Since we're into the new year now I'm going to give you the very shortened version. Otherwise I'll never get back up to date. It seems like I've been busy non-stop with this and that since the kids were on Christmas break. So here we go:

The first week of winter break for the kids, I made it a point that the kids and I did something special together each day. I wanted to make some memories and share in some fun activities with them. We weren't going anywhere over break so I had to bring the fun to them! Day one, we made some more pretzel buttons (this was after I had already made three batches to give to teachers) and another batch of party mix (again after I had made three batches the previous week). Day two, we made our first gingerbread house together. The kids had a blast, and we'll definitely be doing it again next year! Day three, we made a Rice Krispie treat Christmas tree! Later that night we made peanut butter pretzel bites. I decided to try these this year instead of my Peanut Butter Pattie cookies I usually make. A recipe I found on Pinterest. They were o.k., but not as good as the cookies. Day four, we made some more Sour Cream Cut-out cookies like the kids had made with Katie a few weeks before. I thought we'd surprise my mom, sister, and Kaite at Christmas with some. Unfortunately though something went wrong and they didn't taste quite the same. Oh well. The kids still had fun making them. Day five, (Friday) Greg was off work with the university being closed Friday before and Monday after Christmas. He and the kids went to see his cousins that were in town, while I pampered myself with a manicure. We had family game night Friday night. Emmaline kicked our butts in Candyland three times! It was a nice way to end our week before we started our four Christmases!

Christmas Eve we celebrated Christmas #1 with Greg's mom during the day. Then she took us all to dinner. The past few years we've gone to Bravo!, but this year we decided to change it up and we went to Mitchell's Fish Market. Crab cakes and filet need I say more? Delish! Christmas morning we had Christmas #2. We've made it a point to have that time just the four of us Christmas morning so the kids can open their Santa stuff. The kids really didn't need anymore toys this year so we kept it low key with less stuff. I told them I'd rather save money on toys and use it towards a vacation this year. It would be nice some year to not have to travel and stay in our pj's on Christmas, but that's not how it works so after our Christmas we were off to my Dad's for Christmas #3. Thankfully the weather was decent this year so no travel problems on the road. My dad and step-mom made Christmas dinner and then we did presents with them. Later that afternoon we headed to my sister's and my mom came down to her house and we celebrated Christmas #4 with her. It was a busy couple days with family, nice dinners, and nice presents. Thanks to all our family for everything!

We came back home on Monday and Greg had the week between Christmas and New Year's off. It was nice to have him home and all of us together not having to run back and forth to school and activities! We spent a couple days doing returns/exchanges from Christmas. Then the rest of the week was spent re-doing Evan's room for his birthday. Stayed tuned... more about that and my little guy turning seven in the next post!

Elf On The Shelf... A.K.A. Sparty

2011-12-23T22:45:00.005-05:00

Have you heard of the Elf on the Shelf? I hadn't heard about it until right about Christmas last year. What I knew about it then was very little. Then on Christmas last year, my dad had gotten the Elf on the Shelf "kit" for us which included the little elf and the book that tells the story about it. Basically this elf comes into your home (around Thanksgiving/beginning of December), and as a family you are to name the elf. Once you name the elf he/she gets magical powers. The elf keeps an eye on the kids behavior daily, and then at night he/she flies back to the North Pole to report to Santa. When he returns in the morning before the kids are up the elf will be in a different spot and the kids have to find him/her. The elf cannot be touched because if he is then all the magical powers are lost. And he/she only moves when nobody is around. There were some days where Sparty needed to be moved before nighttime, like when he was in the freezer, or on the kitchen counter. So I would always have to make sure the kids were out in the car, and I was the last one to walk out the door so I could quick move Sparty. When we'd get home they would immediately look for where Sparty's new hiding place was. One weekend we were even gone to Grand Rapids, and the kids were wondering if Sparty would be at Grandma's. Sure enough when we got there, Sparty had arrived! All this elf fun happens up until Christmas Eve when the elf leaves for good to help Santa with Christmas deliveries. He/she doesn't return until the next year.

So now that you have the background info, our elf came to us at the beginning of December. We had to decide on a name for the elf, and well as you know we bleed GREEN in this house and of course the kids came up with naming him Sparty (Note- this was right in the heart of the Big Ten Championship game time so we were in full swing Spartan mode). I did a little research on the elf and some people just move their elf, but some people have their elf get into a little mischief. I saw a few ideas on Pinterest which I thought would be fun, but many of them I didn't care for so I began to brainstorm things I could do with Sparty. Well, after the first couple days the kids really got into it, and I knew I'd have my work cut out for me. Almost every night before bed since Sparty has been around, Emmaline has said, "I wonder what Sparty will do tonight." Then almost every morning when she gets up she says, "We have to go find Sparty!" Some nights have been a little more work than others setting Sparty's antics up, but it's been well worth it! I'd do just about anything for my kids, and the joy they get out of seeing what Sparty has done is all worth it. These are moments I'll cherish forever and they are truly priceless! If you're on Facebook you've seen my album "Sparty Antics." He's done everything from playing UNO to unrolling the toilet paper, to hiding all the Christmas presents. A majority of the things I did come up with on my own, but as I mentioned there were a few on Pinterest that I "borrowed." Many of the antics related to things that we had done the day before. Here's a few pics of Sparty's antics that were my favorite so far...

Sparty made a snow angel... a.k.a "sugar" angel.

Sparty decorated the living room in candy canes!

"Sparty" was busy a few days before preparing a bunch of snowflakes to hang on the windows. I really loved this one because the snowflakes really added to our Christmas decor and beautified the house!
Emmaline had to take her lunch to school one day because she went at a different time. So since both kids had to pack a lunch, Sparty made their lunch with a silly combo of stuff.

Sparty wrapped some of the furniture, and then he wrapped himself in this box for the kids to unwrap. They had been asking if they could open just one present, so Sparty left a note that said, "You can unwrap this one present before Christmas." They were so excited, but then surprised to find Sparty inside! LOLSparty was guilty of getting in the laundry! I had a basket of the kids clothes to fold the night before, but never got to it so it was perfect for me (I mean Sparty) to throw some clothes around the house!

Tonight is the last night of Sparty this year since tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and it's time for Sparty to head back to the North Pole for another year. It's been fun, and while I'm really going to miss the kids reactions in the morning, I'm a little relieved because I'm running out of ideas! I'm going to have my work cut out for me next year! Merry Christmas everyone!

Emmaline's Stage Debut

2011-12-19T22:02:00.004-05:00

Last Thursday was Emmaline's last day of school before winter break. She had her Christmas party at school, and then in the evening she had her first stage debut in her school Christmas play. Her teacher Miss Shirley does this Christmas play every year with all the preschool classes. Emmaline had been practicing at school for about a month, as well as singing her songs at home. She was so excited to be in the play. She was an angel. She was also "Eight Maids A Milking" in the 12 Days of Christmas which she had to hold up the number eight every time it came up in the song.

The play as I said had all three classes participate so it did get a little chaotic with all the kids, especially the younger one's. There were a few melt downs and some that shouted their line in the microphone. I don't know how Miss Shirley, Miss Sallie, and Miss Gail all stay so calm. I was stressing just sitting in the audience. Emmaline's class did very well, and I was very proud of my little girl. She remembered her line, and she did a great job singing all the songs. Of course she was adorable in her angel costume, and her antlers & red nose for the Rudolph song were so cute! After the play was over, they had refreshments of punch and cookies. It was a very nice way to finish off the year before the start of winter break. Here's a few pictures from the play.

Angel buddies- Chloe & Em

Saying her line- "He is the son of God"

Singing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"(The kids had a hard time keeping the antlers up)

"Eight Maids A Milling"

This was supposed to say "Happy Birthday Lord Jesus" with all the letters up. It took a few minutes, but eventually they all got it together.

Sour Cream Cut-Out Cookies

2011-12-16T23:53:00.002-05:00

Here's the recipe as promised for the Sour Cream Cookies the kids always make at Christmastime.

Note: The dough rolls out better if made the day before and refrigerated overnight, or at least chilled for a few hours before rolling out.

Sour Cream Cut-Out Cookies:

Ingredients-

1 3/4 cup Sugar
4 1/2 - 5 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup shortening
1 cup thick sour cream (regular not light or fat free)

Directions-

Mix all together well and chill in refrigerator. This may be dropped by spoonfuls or rolled out and used for cut-outs. We always roll out. Don't roll too thin thought. They burn easier that way.

Bake at 325 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Cool on rack.

These cookies are so good we never frost them, but in case you want to here's a frosting recipe below. Also, we have colored the dough with food coloring and make candy canes. Example- Red & Green dough rolled in strips then twisted together & shaped like a candy cane.

Frosting:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 Tblsp water
1/2 tsp almond or vanilla

ENJOY!!!!

Weekend in GR

2011-12-15T22:31:00.003-05:00

This past weekend we spent it at my mom's in GR. It was her birthday last Thursday so we headed there for the weekend to celebrate and my sister and Kaite came too. So my mom had a houseful of all of us there! She had foot surgery again about five weeks ago so while she can start driving again, she's supposed to take it easy and not drive too much. So instead of her usually coming here, we headed there. It was a fairly relaxing weekend. The kids made Christmas cookies with Kaite which they loved. Kaite's been designated the cookie maker over the past few years so she and the kids make the cut out cookies. The kids love making cookies with cousing Kaite! They all did an excellent job this year! The cookies turned out perfectly. I just love these cookies which my mom used to make over the years. The kids have grown quite fond of them too. They're sour cream cookies. I know, it sounds weird... sour cream in cookies, but they are sooooo good! We don't even frost them they're that good! I will post the recipe soon!

Here's some pics of my little bakers and cousin Kaite!

This was at the end of making the second batch of dough. They were being silly playing with the flour! They thought it was funny that Kaite put flour all over their noses.

Thanks to Kaite for making the cookies and to my mom for making not one, but two batches of dough! While we were at my mom's the kids discovered the cabinet of games my mom still has from when we lived at home. They were all into checking out as many games as they could. One they discovered was Monopoly. I couldn't believe how well they picked up on playing the game, and how much they enjoyed it. Evan was bummed when we left on Sunday that he wasn't going to be able to play Monopoly with Kaite. Looks like there will be game night on Christmas when we see Kaite again! Here's the cousins having game night!

Saturday night we went to the mall for a little bit. It had been a long time since I had been to Rivertown Crossings so I wanted to stroll around for a bit. Even though it had been awhile since we had been to the mall, the kids surely did not forget about the carousel! They wanted to go with Katie over mom & dad of course. They had a fun time and were being silly on the carousel every time they passed us.

It was a nice weekend. It's too bad cousin Kaite doesn't live closer to us because the kids sure do love spending time with her. Up next I need to tell you about our Elf on the Shelf and Emmaline's Christmas play at school! Slowly but surely I'll get caught up... thanks for hanging in there with me!

Preschool Bake Sale

2011-12-12T21:36:00.004-05:00

Yes, I'm still playing catch up on here. Let's just face it... I think it will be that way until the end of the year. The fact that Christmas is now less than two weeks away, the kids are done with school this week, and I've still got shopping, baking, and teacher gifts to make, and a school Christmas party to get ready for means I don't have a lot of extra time for blogging. I'm trying to get a lot of this stuff done this week. Some of the things need to be done this week, but I also want to get as much done as I can before the kids are out of school for winter break.

I had to take a break from everything to share with you the bake sale that Em's preschool did last Thursday. Let me remind you that Em's preschool is at her teacher's house. It's not a huge preschool. Her teacher Miss Shirley is a certified preschool teacher and has her whole basement converted into a classroom. There are two other ladies that assist Shirley with the teaching. It's a very welcoming environment for the children and with only 12 kids in Em's class and three teachers it makes for a perfect learning environment. I believe Shirley has three different classes (divided by age groups). Anyways, Shirley organizes a bake sale every year with Okemos High School students to raise money to buy gifts for needy children in the area. This year the money raised would be given to the Meridian Township Police Dept. to buy gifts such as coats, boots, hats, and toys for Christmas.

Parents were asked to donate something like cookies, cupcakes, party mix, puppy chow, etc. to be sold at the bake sale. I made these coconut chocolate chip cookies that I recently discovered when my friend Brenda brought some over. Super easy and yummy! I'll have to post the recipe. I also made some of my pretzel buttons. Some of the high school students also made stuff to sell. Each preschool student was paired up with a high school student to sell the baked goods. Each child got a baker's hat to wear and a balloon tied around their wrist so they could be spotted easily among the "big kids" as Em calls them, a.k.a. high school students.

Back to the bake sale in a minute so I can give you a little side note. Em had a make up dance class to do last Monday and since it was at a different time than her regular class she had different teachers. One was Kate, my neighbor and the other was Tess a high school student at Okemos High School. Em sees Tess often at the dance studio, and on Monday Tess told her she was going to be at the bake sale. Em was pretty excited. So now back to the bake sale. When we got to the high school the preschool kids had to find their high school buddy. Right away Tess saw Em and since Tess did a lot of the organizing she paired up with Em which made her really happy. Emmaline quickly forgot I was there and went about her duties helping with the bake sale. She was so darn cute! Check her out with Tess!

They took turns with the other kids working at the tables of desserts as well as walking throughout the cafeteria taking trays of goodies around to sell. Here's a few pics I thought you'd like to see. It's just too adorable for words!

Helping set up the goodies!

Working at one of the tables!

Going around to all the tables of students at lunch time to see if they want to buy anything.

The sale went from 11-12:45pm and each item was $1. For example one cupcake, a bag of 2-3 cookies, a cake pop, a baggie of puppy chow, etc. each a dollar. The amount of desserts was phenomenal! Just look at this!

I just received an email from Miss Shirley last night with the total amount of money raised from the bake sale. Drum roll please...... $1,976! Isn't that amazing? I'm just floored by that amount and so proud of all the preschool and high school students! Lots of needy children will be getting some much needed items this Christmas! This event went above and beyond my expectations, and kudos to Shirley for organizing this!

Speechless

2011-12-04T16:45:00.005-05:00

Today has been a very low key day for us around here. I spent the last three days cleaning, putting out all my Christmas decorations, cleaning, decorating the tree, and yes more cleaning. Friday night Evan had a friend come over for pizza/movie night. His good friend Gavin from kindergarten isn't in his class this year so they don't get to see each other often. We finally had a free Friday night so he was glad Gavin could come over. I wanted to get the house decorated and everything done before the weekend so that was good motivation. I love the house at Christmastime, it looks beautiful in here! I've had candles burning, the tree on almost all the time when we're home, and the house is clean (well the downstairs)! Love it!

Saturday morning we went and had breakfast with Santa at Bravo. They had a breakfast buffet, a coloring & cookie decorating station, and Santa was there! This was the first year Bravo has done this so we thought we'd check it out. The kids had fun. Here they are with Santa!

After we got home from breakfast I pretty much cleaned all day and prepped some food for our football get together with friends last night. Our neighbors Jim and Kate, and friend Brenda & her daughter Keyera came over to watch MSU play in the inaugural Big Ten Championship game. A rematch against Wisconsin after MSU beat them in the final seconds earlier in the season. I wanted to go to the game really bad, but it just wasn't gonna happen. So the next best thing... invite some friends over, eat yummy food, drink some beer, and cheer on the Spartans! I was hoping for a great performance by the Spartans. I did not want a let down like the Nebraska game. If the Spartans were going to win they had to play a full 60 minutes of football. Well, the game was great! Everything you want in a championship game! The Spartans had some trick plays up their sleeve, Cousins didn't choke under pressure. The big guys, B.J. Cunningham, Keith Nichol, Keyshawn Martin, LeVeon Bell, and Edwin Baker all played their hearts out. As did the rest of the team.

MSU lead most of the game, and then it all changed with about 3 minutes left in the game. I'm really not being a poor sport when I say this, but MSU was robbed of the Big 10 Championship and a trip to the Rose Bowl. MSU did what they needed to do to win that game, and because of two huge plays called back, the officials cost MSU the game. One was a long reception by Keyshawn Martin which he clearly caught with one foot in bounds, but they ruled differently after replay. Then with about 1 min 45 sec left Keyshawn again came up huge for the Spartans and returned a punt all the way to the Wisconsin three yard line. It was clear MSU would score and win the game (they were down by three at this point). However, the Big Ten clearly wanted Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl and called roughing the kicker to give the ball back to Wisconsin. The Badger kicker is a former soccer player, and you can clearly see on the replay how he held his leg up (a popular soccer move) until the MSU player got close enough to him to bring it down on him and thus getting the roughing the kicker call. With no timeouts left there was nothing MSU could do. At this point I was totally speechless, I still am. I hate sometimes that I get so wrapped up in football, but I do. I am that true diehard Spartan fan. I'm literally sick over how this game ended. It's one thing to lose, but to lose a deciding game for a trip to the Rose Bowl like this is horrible. Once again MSU gets shit on, and the Big Ten won't have their best team in the Rose Bowl for the second year in a row. I feel so bad for the team, especially the seniors, as well as Coach D. They really are deserving to be playing in Pasadena this year.

It was hard to get up this morning, and with the gloomy weather it just sort of went with the mood. Not much motivation to do anything. It's been nice to be lazy. We did go out for a little bit and went to the Arts and Crafts fair at MSU. It was pretty much picked over by this afternoon. I really wanted to go yesterday, but didn't have time. Tonight isn't going to be much different than today. Sitting by the tree and fireplace and waiting to see if MSU gets any respect for their bowl selection. Doubtful, but I guess there's always a little hope.

Hello Again!

2011-11-28T21:46:00.003-05:00

I'm back!!!! Wow, I've been neglecting this blog for the last couple weeks. Ugh! It's been a busy couple of weeks for me, and unfortunately life just gets in the way of blogging sometimes. As much as I love blogging, even if I have some down time at the end of the day, sometimes blogging just isn't what I want to do. I don't even know if I remember what I've done over the past couple weeks. It seems like everything has all run together. A lot of it has been with my Uppercase Living. Unfortunately UL sort of took a back seat over the past six months or so (especially over the summer). I had been trying an trying to promote it, and just wasn't getting anywhere. Such a bummer because I really love the stuff and think UL makes beautiful expressions. Then our new catalog came out and in September UL launched their new jewelry line Blume. There were lots of changes in the company, and with all that I decided I was going to try to get my UL going again. I created my own UL Facebook page. Slowly, but surely it's picked up a little. Because of my UL Facebook page I got two parties booked. One gal searched Facebook for UL and she found my page and emailed me. Yay! I was so excited! I got the two parties booked, but had to wait patiently because they weren't until November. Those parties finally took place over the last couple weeks, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting back into UL! I had two fantastic parties and even got three parties booked from them. Yay again! I'm still not where I want to be with UL, but I'm not giving up and still working hard to promote it. It's not widely known around Michigan as it is in some other parts of the country, but I think if people just "check it out" they will fall in love with it too. There's so much you can do with UL, the possibilities are endless. I encourage you to visit my website sometime and just take a peek and see what UL offers if you're not familiar. http://lisakohuth.uppercaseliving.net Also, check out my UL Facebook page and if you're not a fan, "like" my page to keep up to date on UL. Sometimes I even do giveaways on there! Invite your friends, family, co-workers to "like" my page as well and to visit my website. If you ever decide you want to order anything you can always order from my website or contact me and I will help you. I'm always looking for hostesses to have a party. I'd love to share UL with you. I even travel within about an hour so don't let distance keep you from hostessing. With all that said, on top of my two UL parties I decided to try out a vendor fair. Other UL demonstrators say it's a way to "get your name out there." We'll see if anything comes of it.

In other news over the last couple weeks, it's been day to day "stuff" around here. Dance continues to keep us busy a couple nights a week, as does homework, housework, laundry, and kids, all the time! I can't even believe Thanksgiving came and went as fast as it did. The fact that Christmas is less than a month away is a little scary! We ended up staying around here for Thanksgiving this year. I really didn't feel like being on the road. It was nice to have a low key long weekend and sort of relax. We went to Greg's mom's for Thanksgiving dinner. Everything was delicious, and of course we ate too much turkey and fixings. I made my sweet potato casserole which Em requested and loved! I also made green bean casserole which Evan fell in love with, and is already asking me to make again soon! I skipped late night/early morning black Friday shopping this year. I ended up going out about 7:30am to Target & Ulta. Picked up a couple things and that was about it. Eastwood Towne Center (the mall right by us) was passing out 100 grab bags at 10am with free gift cards in them ranging from $10-$50. I wanted to go there, but didn't want to stand in line forever. I ended up getting there about 8:45am. The line was only about 30 deep so that wasn't bad. I got in line and then awhile later Greg and the kids, and his mom met me over there. I ended up getting a $25 gift card, Greg, $15, and his mom $20 so that wasn't too bad. We did pretty good! We saw the Muppet movie on Friday which we enjoyed. Saturday was football day, and then I finally decided it was time to tackle the basement mess. I spent a good chunk of the day down there, reorganizing, cleaning, and getting rid of stuff. It's time some of the toys go! What a project! It's a lot better down there, but still not completely done. Sunday we had a birthday party to go to for my friend Marie's kids. It was nice to see them and hang out for awhile. I did manage to get the tree up yesterday morning as well. It still needs to be decorated, but at least it's up. That's my project for this week.

That pretty much brings us to today. Time to get back into a routine after a long holiday weekend. I'm gonna really work hard to try and not neglect this blog again. I'm gonna be more realistic and shoot for three posts a week for now instead of trying to get to it everyday. I've still got a few "old news" items I want to share with you so bare with me as I try to get caught up here over the next week or so.

Iceman 2011 Traverse City

2011-11-09T21:53:00.004-05:00

Last Friday we headed to Traverse City for the Iceman bike race. It was a short trip only staying one night and coming back Saturday because Evan had his last football game on Sunday. We lucked out again this year, and the weather was pretty decent. The morning was chilly, but by mid-day the sun was out and it was almost 60. I'll take it! Greg did the 30 mile trek from Kalkaska to Traverse City. It was his eighth year racing in the Iceman. He wasn't well prepared this year, as he had been sick with cough & cold for two weeks prior. Plus he didn't ride much before the race. He was quite congested on Saturday for the race, but he still managed to finish. It's more than I could ever do. We're still proud of him. Riding through the woods, with big hills, and mud for 30 miles isn't my idea of a fun time. He enjoys it though. He's determined to be well trained for next years race. Here he is nearing the finish line.
This year both kids wanted to race! This was Em's first year racing, and Evan's third year racing. Emmaline was so excited to get the chance to race finally. She couldn't wait to get on the bike. She did the little kids short version, about a half mile. She did such a great job. That little girl of mine pedaled that bike until the finish line, and then still didn't stop. She didn't get off her bike at all and she finished with a big smile on her face. She was so proud of herself, as were we. She was wearing her medal all night long. She even tried to wear it to bed. Silly girl. Here is Em crossing the finish line! Such a great moment!
Evan did the longer version which was like a mile and a half. Because both races started one right after the other, I wasn't able to watch either take off at the starting line. Greg ran along side Emme in case she were to fall over or something, but she didn't really need daddy. I had to get over to the finish line so I could get both kids coming in. Evan was a big boy and handled it well that neither of us could see his take off. He said he could handle it by himself. It definitely was a proud momma moment when I saw him cross that finish line. He climbed the big hill at the end still on his bike. He didn't get off once to walk the bike up hills. He was pretty excited that as he was finishing he was racing with some of the "big" guys who were also finishing. (These were the first timers that took extra long riding the 30 mile big race & finished 4 hours later from their start time. Hey, at least they finished!) Here's my not so little guy anymore crossing the finish line!
It was a fun afternoon, and I even ran into my old college roommate who I haven't seen in probably 10 years. What a nice surprise it was to run into Becky and her husband Phil. It was nice to catch up and we're hoping to meet up again next year in Traverse City (she lives in Cadillac) or maybe she and her family will come to E.Lansing for a visit. Here's a few more pics from our day at the bike race!

My two little bike racers!

With their medals after the race!

Sunday Funday

2011-11-07T22:06:00.004-05:00

Before I tell you about this past weekend I have to back up and get you caught up on the previous weekend. If you remember we had the hockey game on Saturday and Evan's football game on Sunday. We also went to the MSU basketball game on Sunday. Every now and then Greg's office gets tickets to sit in the president's box at Breslin. Unfortunately only employees get a ticket and there's not any for spouses. There's usually a drawing among the employees to see who gets the tickets. His name got drawn so he asked if we had plans for Sunday. We didn't so he was planning to go. Then he found out that not everybody in his office that were offered tickets could go. So there were a few extra and they drew names to see who would get the extras. He got picked for one so lucky me I got to go!!! It was only an exhibition game, but since we don't have season b-ball tickets and rarely ever go to a game, it was still fun! It was nice to have a little "date" kid free and be able to actually enjoy a full sporting event!

Let me tell you folks, this is definitely the way to go to a sporting event. The "Royal" treatment all the way. Nice seats for the game, and whatever food and drinks you wanted. They give you a menu and you order the items you want and when you want them- start of game or halftime. It really was a nice experience. I could totally get used to it, but the likely hood of it happening again anytime again soon probably is slim to none so I'm thankful for the experience. Mark it off the bucket list! Here's some photos from our afternoon.

The view from the door inside the president's box!

Another view

A few munchies pre-game

The MSU basketball team

The one and only "Dancing Bear," Draymond Green at the free throw line! He's our favorite player!

Looking up into the president's box from the "regular" seats. LOL

School Halloween Parties & More

2011-11-02T22:43:00.008-04:00

I'm gonna try to give you the quick overview of the kids' school Halloween parties. Evan's party was on Friday. I'm not sure why. I guess they didn't want the kids all hyped up on Monday, but c'mon it's Halloween. The kids are bound to be hyped up. Anyhow, I had volunteered to make cupcakes for the party. I went with some that I had seen on Pinterest. I just used a box mix because well it's 1st grade and they really don't appreciate made from scratch. LOL. I thought they turned out pretty cute with the pumpkins on top!

Evan's party was only for about an hour. Not the whole morning like last year in kindergarten. They had Halloween themed centers to go to. The kids had a good time. Here's a couple pics from the party. The whole class was cute in their orange & black and Halloween shirts.

Here's Evan working on his "Dem Bones" graphing.

Emmaline's party was on Monday. She got to wear her costume to school. It was cute to see all the little one's in their costumes. Here's her class all dressed up. Even her teachers wore costumes! Here they all are.

They all got to parade around the neighborhood by her school and show off their costumes. It was too cute. Em's teacher Miss Shirley had her dog lead the kids. Too funny!

I was the party planner mom for Em's class, and I had volunteered to bring snack. I found these adorable Pumpkin Rice Krispie treats on Pinterest and thought they'd be perfect for her party. These were pretty sticky to make into pumpkin shapes, but with the help of my wonderful husband, we got them done. They turned out pretty cute!

And, one more Halloween thing to share. Saturday we took the kids to their first hockey game. I got an email that the Jr. Spartan Club kids got two free tickets to the game with their membership card. I figured this was a great opportunity to take them to a game. Ev's been saying he wanted to go to a hockey game. So we went, and it was also trick-or-treat night with Sparty there so the kids got to wear their costumes. Here they are with Sparty.

Hey Sparty, "Trick-or-Treat" Sparty has such big hands that he gave big handfuls of candy!

Trick-or-Treat 2011

2011-10-31T23:16:00.008-04:00

Wow! I'm so far behind on this blog, I don't even remember what I've told you. Until my busy life with two kids slows down, I think this blog is going to always be behind. :( Before it's Christmas, I better get our Halloween pics posted. We've had a fun week of Halloween festivities. It started on Wednesday when Em got to wear her costume to ballet. All the little kids got to dress up at dance. Here's all the girls in Emme's class. Love my ballerina cheerleader!

The girls doing their ballet moves in their costumes. Cute!

Then on Thursday we went to T-or-T downtown E. Lansing. It's been a tradition for years to take the kids downtown for the Great Pumpkin Walk. They always have a blast trick-or-treating and then heading down M.A.C (the street with a lot of the Greek houses) and enjoying all the festivities the Greek students put on. My little MSU cheerleader and MSU football players were HUGE hits with the MSU students! Everyone was asking Evan if he was playing in the football game Saturday, which I think he should have and maybe MSU would have actually gotten a touchdown with my little guy playing. Ugh, what a depressing game that was. Get your act together on the road Spartans! Anyhow, here's a couple pics from our night.

My Spartan trick-or-treaters this year... cheerleader and football player obviously.

T-or-T at one of the businesses downtown E.L.

I love this pic of the kids in their costumes with Sparty.

Evan had his school Halloween party on Friday and Emmaline had hers on Monday. I will post about that next time so this doesn't get too long. I want to post trick-or-treat night pics in this post. It was a perfect night tonight for the kids to be out trick-or-treating. The weather ended up cooperating, and it wasn't too bad out. We did some group shots with other kids in the neighborhood before we started t-or-t. Then the kids were off and filling their bags quite quickly. I went to a few houses with them and then came back home and passed out candy while Greg walked them around. Here's a few pics from Halloween night.

I told her to show me her cheerleader pose... I guess she has it down and doesn't need told how to do it!

I love my little football player!

I was glad I got such a great picture of the kids with Grace & Matt.

Chloe & Drew stopped by to t-or-t!

The kids got back to Jim & Kate's house just in time to wipe Jim out of the last of his candy!

We had a lot of fun with trick-or-treat this year, and now we've got LOTS of candy!!!! I think we'll be giving lots of it away. Another year of t-or-t in the bag. Wonder what the kids will want to be next year????

Cider Mill & Pumpkin Patch Fun

2011-10-20T21:46:00.006-04:00

I mentioned in my last post that we went to the cider mill with my sister and Kaite when they were here last weekend. Every year we head to St. Johns to Uncle John's Cider Mill. We've been going since Evan was little. Since then, Uncle John's has grown over the years. There seems to be more and more things to do out there. We didn't have much time this year to do a whole lot because we had to get back for Evan's game. We made sure to get our annual pics of the kids done, get some donuts, and visit the pumpkin patch. Here's some of the pics I promised from our visit.

We take this picture every year. This year Emme got to "drive" the bus, and Kaite brought along her friend Libby.

Let's see how tall Evan is this year at the cider mill...

Now it's Emme's turn to measure up...

The annual cousin pic at Uncle John's Cider Mill

Uh oh... pumpkin thieves!

On the hunt for the perfect pumpkins!

Looks like they had success!

What A Great Weekend!

2011-10-16T22:42:00.005-04:00

We had a fabulous weekend! It started off with a quick trip to IKEA for Emme and I on Friday, with my friend Brenda. I've been working on weeding through the kids toys, clothes, etc. and trying to get some kind of organization around here. I've reached my limit with the toys overtaking this house. Especially the living room. I had seen a couple storage unit shelves at IKEA that I've been wanting so decided Friday was the best day to get back there and get them. After Brenda, Emme, and I made our way through the store and got the shelves, we decided to peek in the clearance section. I saw a sofa table that I've really been wanting and after debating for a few minutes Brenda talked me into getting it instead of one of the shelves. It has a few marks on it that's why it was on clearance, but nothing major that I decided I could live with. So I swapped out one of the shelves for it. I'm very happy with my purchase. It looks nice in the living room. Ann, it's the same Hemnes Sofa Table that you got! I love it. Now I've just got to find the right bins/baskets to put in it so I can store some of the kids items!

Friday night we took the kids to Midnight Madness at the Breslin Center. If you're not familiar with Midnight Madness, it's sort of like "Meet the Spartans" with the football players. It's a night at the Breslin to meet the men's and women's basketball teams along with various other festivities. There's always a build up of excitement to see what Coach Izzo and his family dresses up as. It usually has something to do with what's coming up in the season. One year it was an astronaut costume (the Final Four was in Houston), one year it was an Indy race car driver (the Final Four was in Indianapolis), another year it was a hippie (to celebrate the 30 years since Magic Johnson & the MSU b-ball team won the NCAA title) to name a few. This year was no different and Izzo didn't disappoint. The theme was "Top Gun" and he was dressed as Maverick and came in on a mock fighter jet. This was to represent MSU's upcoming Veteran's Day match-up against North Carolina. The game on 11-11-11 to be played on an aircraft carrier in San Diego will have President Obama in attendance! So very cool! MSU thinking outside of the box again and taking sports to a different level. Here's a few pics from Midnight Madness. The rest I posted on FB already.

The kids got to stand by all the basketball trophies for a photo opportunity!

Maverick, a.k.a Coach Izzo thanking the Spartan crowd for coming out for Midnight Madness!

Saturday was just an absolute beautiful day in Spartan country. Not so much the chilly, windy weather, but rather the sweet victory over Michigan by the MSU football team! Such an awesome win for the fourth year in a row. I'm so so happy for the seniors especially, but for Coach D as well in marking a "W" in the books again against the Wolverines. This is when I especially love living in Spartan country! We'll enjoy this win all week and for the next year, but the Spartans have a lot of prep to do for Saturday's homecoming game against Wisconsin! Saturday evening my sister and Kaite came to visit. They came so they could go to Evan's football game on Sunday. They watched the kids for a little bit while Greg and I went next door to Jim and Kate's. They had some people over after the football game and had invited us over. We had some great laughs over there once again. Thanks to Jen and Kaite for watching the kids.

Sunday morning we made a trip out to the cider mill. It was sort of a quick trip because we had to get back for Evan's football game, but we wanted to get the annual cousin pic at the cider mill. The kids each picked out pumpkins after we got some donuts. They had fun walking through the pumpkin patch trying to find the perfect pumpkins. I'll post pictures in my next post. We got back, had some lunch and my mom came so she could go to Evan's game too. Last weekend we were sitting in the hot sun frying while watching the game, and this weekend we were all bundled up trying to keep warm from the crazy wind. It was another great game for Evan's team. Although they really don't keep score, they're now 3-0. It was a special game because my little guy scored his first touchdown ever! So awesome! He was so proud as were we!

That wraps up our weekend! A busy weekend it was, but very fun! Now another week is upon us and it's Homecoming week at MSU! Sparty on!

Apple Recipes

2011-10-09T22:07:00.007-04:00

Remember a couple weeks ago the kids went to the cider mill when I had gone to pick up my mom from the airport? Well we've still got a never-ending supply of apples and I've been trying recipes galore to use up these apples. First Greg made an apple pie, then I made Apple Slab Pie which the recipe was in a Pillsbury email I got. This weekend I decided to try another recipe. This time I made Apple Pie Muffins which I found on Pinterest. I also saw a recipe for Pumpkin Apple Bread on Pinterest. My friend Brenda said she would make that. Then we swapped bread and muffins. I gave her some of our apples to use for the bread. Both recipes turned out great. I ended up making a second batch of the muffins today since they were so easy to make. Here's the recipes for all the apple yummies!

Apple Slab Pie

Photo courtesy of Pillsbury

INGREDIENTS:

1 box Pillsbury® refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on box

1 cup granulated sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

9 cups thinly sliced, peeled apples (9 medium)

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons milk

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat oven to 450°F. Remove pie crusts from pouches. Unroll and stack crusts one on top of the other on lightly floured surface. Roll to 17x12-inch rectangle. Fit crust into 15x10x1-inch pan, pressing into corners. Fold extra pastry crust under, even with edges of pan. Crimp edges.
2. Mix granulated sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and lemon juice. Stir in apples to coat. Spoon apple mixture into crust-lined pan.
3. Bake 33 to 38 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbling. Cool on rack 45 minutes.
4. Mix powdered sugar and milk until well blended. Drizzle over pie. Allow glaze to set before serving, about 30 minutes.

Apple Pie Muffins

Photo & recipe courtesy of runningwiththegirls.blogspot.com

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1 egg
1 cup 1/2 and 1/2
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 cups diced apples

topping:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon
4 T melted butter

Directions:
- preheat oven to 375
- mix dry ingredients in large mixing bowl, mix wet ingredients (w/ apples) in small bowl - add wet mixture to dry mixture, mix well
- mix topping ingredients in small bowl
- grease muffin pan, scoop batter into muffin pan, sprinkle topping mixture over batter - bake 25 minutes
- eat and enjoy!

Pumpkin Apple Bread

Photo & recipe courtesy of divinecaroline.com

Ingredients:
3 cups whole-wheat flour
1 cup sugar
1-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Three eggs
1-1/2 cups pumpkin puree
1/2 cup chopped tart apples
1/2 applesauce
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Note: Brenda didn't use raisins, which we both thought would be better without.

Directions:

Heat oven to 350° F degrees. Butter two loaf pans.

Mix first nine ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl, beat together eggs, pumpkin, apples, applesauce, and oil. Add in dry ingredients and mix until just moistened. Stir in raisins and walnuts.

Bake for 1 hour 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool in pans for about fifteen minutes; remove from pans and cool on rack.

If you're in need of some fall recipes with apples, these were all very tasty. Enjoy!

Gifts From Grandma's Trip

2011-10-03T22:42:00.005-04:00

Last week I showed you our wonderful Spartan helmet my mom brought us back from Greece. The kids also got some gifts. However, I was waiting to post pics because when my mom was getting stuff out of her suitcase last Sunday when we got back to my house she couldn't find everything. Her lock was busted off one of her suitcases and she thought some stuff got stolen out of it. Needless to say, it was dark outside when she was digging through the suitcase and she was a little jet lagged. Thankfully when she got home later and started unpacking she found the things she thought were missing. What a relief! One was Emme's and one was Ev's. So Saturday she came back to visit so the kids could get the rest of their stuff. They loved it all!

The kids love their t-shirts from Greece. The tag is in the way in Ev's, but I'm sure you can tell it says Spartans!

Grandma knows Emmaline loves her Hello Kitty. All the way from across the water, she brought Em back a Hello Kitty purse. She takes this purse with her every morning on the way to school when we drop Ev off.

Em really likes her Greek doll Grandma brought back.

The drum was well worth the wait (this is what my mom thought was missing from the suitcase). Evan loves it! He can add it to his collection. If you remember, Grandma got him a drum in Africa a couple years ago.

One more t-shirt for Emme. She got a Spartan one like Evan's.

Here's all the goods!

Thanks so much Grandma for everything. We love it all. You're a great shopper!

On The Go!

2011-09-26T22:33:00.002-04:00

Wow, were we ever busy last week, and it's going to be like this for awhile. I didn't know if I was coming or going last week. I think I spent a majority of my time in the car. I clocked 270 miles on my car for the week just going back and forth between schools and sports/dance. I already told you Em started school last week. She absolutely loves it, and she had a great first week. Tuesday was our second week of "Sporties for Shorties." Em learned some of the fundamentals of t-ball. She had a blast with Chloe. Wednesday night was ballet again. I just love watching my little girl doing her ballet steps. It's just too cute! Last Thursday Evan started flag football. He really enjoyed it and is looking forward to games that start this week. He will be having practice once a week, and then games are every Sunday for six weeks. Friday we finished off the week with some drinks and taco bar at Lou Ha's. We met our friend Brenda there, and it ended up being a great way to wind down after a busy week. Saturday Greg had to work for a little bit so the kids and I went with his mom to see Lion King in 3D. I love that movie. It was great in 3D.

Sunday, I had to pick my mom up from the Detroit airport. She had been in Turkey and Greece for two weeks. Since I didn't have to pick her up until about 5pm I decided to make an afternoon of it on that side of the state and made a stop at IKEA and to see my friend Ann (she's the one who got me started blogging and we went to high school together). Ann met me at IKEA, and we had some shopping fun. It was nice to have some peaceful shopping without kids going in every direction. We each picked up a few items, and as soon as I win my IKEA shopping spree I'll be back to pick up some wish list items. Oh, I guess there probably needs to be an IKEA shopping spree entry first. Haha. After our shopping, we went back to Ann's house for a little bit. I got to finally me her little girl Evelyn for the first time. I also got to see her other daughter Sylvia who is almost three. I had met her one time before. Both girls are adorable with the blonde hair. It was a nice afternoon. Thanks Ann for spending it with me. Then I was off to the airport to pick up my mom.

She had a great trip to Turkey and Greece. The traffic was crazy coming home, but it was nice she actually got in a little early and there weren't any flight delays. We grabbed a pizza on the way back into town before she headed home to GR. She brought us all some goodies back, and I absolutely love our gift. A little background first... Before she left she kept asking me what I wanted her to bring back. I didn't really know. Then the week before she left I was watching a new show "Step Into My Office" on the Big Ten Network. It's about Big Ten Coaches, and the debut show was about MSU's football coach Mark Dantonio. They were touring his office, and he pointed out a Spartan helmet that a grad student had brought him back from Greece. I instantly knew it was what I wanted my mom to bring back. I told her to catch the show on replay to check it out. I knew it was probably a LONG shot that she'd be able to find the Spartan helmet like Dantonio's, but hey it was worth a shot. Well folks, when she handed me the bag yesterday and I unwrapped the package, I couldn't believe it. She brought us back the Spartan helmet. It's so cool. It's absolutely perfect for this Spartan family (& the fact that Greg is Greek) it's pretty much fitting for us. Here's our Spartan helmet.

And here's Dantonio's Spartan helmet in his office. (Not the best pic since I took a pic of the t.v., but you get the point). If it's not the same exact one, it's pretty darn close!

Thanks Mom for the Spartan helmet, and all the goodies for the kids. They love their stuff! While I was gone all afternoon Sunday, the kids and Greg went to the cider mill and the kids picked apples for the first time. Unfortunately I don't think he took any pictures. Bummer. We now have apples galore! You know those reusable shopping bags? I guess the cider mill they went to, you have to buy a bag and then you go out and pick enough to fill it! I think I'm going to have to get creative with the apples. Greg made an apple crumb pie tonight that I can't wait to try tomorrow!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

2011-09-23T21:45:00.004-04:00

Today is the first day of fall, and with fall comes the "pumpkin" season. Everything pumpkin sounds so good this time of year. I love foods with pumpkin, but really only eat it at this time of year. It was a busy week and a little baking therapy seemed to be perfect to finish off the week. This bread is so yummy! Our neighbor/friend Liana made us some last fall and we all loved it. Evan had been asking me if I could make some so I got the recipe from Liana, and whipped up a couple loaves today. I normally wouldn't think of pumpkin bread with chocolate chips, but once you try it you'll agree it's so yummy! Here's the recipe.

(Photo courtesy of myrecipes.com)

Ingredients

2 cups sugar
2 cups canned pumpkin
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup fat-free vanilla pudding
4 large egg whites
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.
Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture, stirring just until moist. Stir in chocolate chips.
Spoon batter into 2 (8 x 4-inch) loaf pans coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pans on a wire rack, and remove from pans. Cool completely on wire rack.

* Note- I made the pudding, but Liana told me she often uses the premade vanilla pudding in containers (like Hunt's or Meijer).

Emmaline's First Day of Preschool

2011-09-19T23:13:00.003-04:00

Today was a very special day for my little girl. It was her first day of preschool. Not only that, but it was her very first day of school ever. She's been waiting for this day for a long time and she just couldn't wait to get to school. She was excited about everything from picking out an outfit to her backpack, to seeing her buddy Chloe at school and meeting new friends. I loved her enthusiasm for school. I think I told you we decided on a different preschool from where Evan went. We wanted a school that was pretty much on the same schedule as Evan as far as breaks (Winter break/ Spring break). We decided to go with this lady who teaches out of her home. She's been doing it for 20+ years and it's where Em's friend Chloe has gone for a couple of years. Em goes four days a week in the afternoon for three hours. Miss Shirley is her teacher, and Miss Sallie and Miss Gail are the assistant teachers. I think Emmaline is going to have a great school year. Here's some pics from her first day!

My little preschool girl
She couldn't wait to get out the door with her backpack!
Emme and her best friend Chloe when they got to Miss Shirley's!
Checking things out at school.
Too much fun at school today makes for a tired little girl!

Sporties For Shorties

2011-09-15T21:55:00.003-04:00

Recently I was looking through the East Lansing Community Activity Guide and ran across a sports camp this fall I thought would be good for Emme. The camp is for 3-5 year olds and focuses on learning various sports. I mentioned it to my friend Wesley on Saturday to see if she would be interested in enrolling Chloe. The class was to start this past Tuesday. She thought she probably would and said she'd look into it and let me know. She had mentioned that Chloe had done a similar class last year. Then on Monday she emailed me some info about "Sporties for Shorties" which is the class that Chloe was in last year. It's through Meridian Township Parks and Rec instead of E. Lansing. It was fairly similar in that the kids learn to play various sports. I think one of the sports was different, but no big deal. She said the coach was really awesome and Chloe had a lot of fun in the class. She wanted to know if I'd be willing to sign Emme up for that one instead of the E. Lansing class. I was fine with it, no big deal. Emme and Chloe could be in the same class. So Monday afternoon I went and signed her up and the class started on Tuesday. It's a four week class, that's once a week, and each week they focus on learning a different sport.

Emme was so excited to start the class, and kept asking me over and over if it was time to go to "Sporties for Shorties." The class is Tuesday mornings for an hour. The first class went well, and Emme had a blast. She loved every minute of it, and she participated the whole time. The kids learned to play soccer. It was so cute seeing the 3-5 year olds running around kicking the balls. Em had a lot of fun with Chloe too. Here's a few photos from her morning at "Sporties for Shorties"

All set and ready to start "Sporties for Shorties"

Listening to Coach Mike explain the rules

Practicing kicking and stopping the ball

Practicing kicking a goal!

It was a great class, and I'm so glad I signed Emme up for it. She had a blast and can't wait to go back next week!

A Spartan Day For A Spartan Family

2011-09-13T14:32:00.005-04:00

Last week was a short week with the holiday, but seemed to drag on and take forever. We made it through the first week of 1st grade with Evan, and on Wednesday Emmaline started ballet again. By the time Saturday rolled around, I was definitely ready for some Spartan football. I signed the kids up again this year for the Junior Spartan Club. It's really a great deal for the kids, especially if you want to take your family to a football game sometime during the season. We did this last year, and I probably told you about it, but here's a little recap. Each membership is $25, and each child gets a ticket to a Spartan football game along with tickets for their parents. So for $50 all four of us got to go to the football game on Saturday. One ticket is usually $49 so all four of us went for the price of one! Plus there is a tailgate for families at Munn Arena before the game. My friend Jess signed her kids up too so we all went together. The membership also includes various sporting events throughout the MSU "school" year that the kids get in free. It's really a great program for Spartan families. Here's some pictures from our Spartan Day on campus.

Emme couldn't wait to get her picture!

Evan playing a little bean bag toss at the tailgate festivities.

Ready for some Spartan football!!!

We had a great afternoon as a Spartan family! It was a little hot at the game, but much better than sitting in rain. Both the tailgate and game were fun. The Spartans won so that was great! Now this weekend the Spartans are on the road at Notre Dame, and Greg and I are going to the game! Looking forward to it.

9/11- A Day To Remember

2011-09-11T23:11:00.005-04:00

Ten years ago today the world changed forever. I remember that moment like it was yesterday. I'm sure you all remember where you were and more than likely what you were doing on that horrific day. Greg and I were newly married, almost three months. He was off to work which he had recently began at Michigan State. I was sitting in our apartment watching the Today Show like any other day. It was a beautiful day. The Today Show was about over, and I would soon be going about my day, and then it happened and Matt Lauer said, "We wanna go live and show you a picture of the World Trade Center." I sat staring at the t.v. in disbelief. I was all alone in our apartment, and I remember saying to myself, "What the hell is going on?" I was crying, I felt helpless, I wanted my family with me, and after the second plane hit, and it was certain that it was far worse than "we" knew, I was angry. A little while later the Pentagon was hit, and the plane in Shanksville, PA went down. That beautiful day quickly became very "dark." Flights were grounded soon after and the world seemed so "quiet." Once planes began to fly again, I remember looking cautiously at every plane that passed overhead for days. From that day on, our world would never be the same....

I did not personally know anyone who was lost or injured in 9/11, but as an American I feel like I lost "family." My kids are too little to understand the magnitude of what happened, but as we sat this morning watching some of the tribute on t.v. and the CBS special tonight, I think they understood a little of it. I hope they never have to tell their kids about such a horrific day happening in their lifetime.

So today we remember the victims of that tragedy as well as the heroes. Take a moment to say a prayer for the families who lost loved ones. Cherish the moments with your loved ones. Be proud to be an American, and God Bless this great country of ours.

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Evan's First Day Of First Grade

2011-09-06T21:53:00.004-04:00

Well, summer is really over. School started today and that means, it's first grade, full days for Evan. This is going to be a big switch for the both of us! I'm so used to picking him up after a half day of school. Today actually went by fast, but I really missed having my little guy at home. Emme doesn't start school until the 19th though so at least I still had her home. Here's a few pictures I wanted to share from Evan's first day as a first grader.

I love this pic. Emmaline told Evan she was going to miss him while he was at school.

She wanted a kiss, but he was trying to get out of it. Em won! :)

How is my little boy in first grade already?

This is when I started getting a little emotional...

First Trip To The Detroit Zoo

2011-09-05T21:21:00.008-04:00

About a month ago, my friend Ann who also has a blog had written about her visit to the Detroit Zoo with her family. This was about the same time we were talking about going to Chicago and going to Brookfield Zoo. Then I won the Legoland tickets and our Chicago plans changed. We decided to go to Legoland, the Aquarium, and Navy Pier when visiting Chicago instead of the zoo. So in the back of my mind, I often thought about Ann's blog post about the Detroit Zoo. Since we didn't do the zoo in Chicago, I thought maybe we could head to the Detroit Zoo before summer ended if we got a free day on the weekend. You see, we've never been to the Detroit Zoo, but when I read Ann's blog and saw pictures of a Dinosaur exhibit there, I just knew it would be something Evan would love to see. Yes, there's always next summer to go to the zoo, but the Dinosauria exhibit was only at the zoo until today, September 6th, and then it was going to be extinct. That was even more incentive to get there. From the time we got back from Chicago until school starting we had two weekends to get to the zoo. However Greg had to work all last weekend so that left us with Labor Day weekend. We had also talked about taking the kids to a Tigers game, and when Greg looked into it we found out Sunday is kids day at Comerica Park. So with one weekend left of the summer we had pretty much decided to do the Tigers game until we found out that the game yesterday didn't start until 8pm. On kids day, the kids get to run the bases after the game. So if we were to go to the game we'd definitely have to stay until the end so the kids could run the bases. With that said, and knowing how long baseball can go we vetoed the Tigers game because it was just going to be too late of a night with the kids and driving back from Detroit. So the zoo it was for us yesterday.

The weather was a little iffy in the morning so we kind of waited around a little to see if it was going to rain or not. The zoo was open late for the holiday weekend until 8pm so we figured we had plenty of time. Greg's mom went with us so we went to breakfast before we hit the road and finally left around 11am. It was still overcast, but the radar looked good and didn't look like any rain until later at night. The zoo was pretty busy when we got there, but the crowd was spread out for the most part so it wasn't too bad. When we got our tickets the lady informed us that there were a couple things closed due to the storms the night before. We couldn't feed the giraffes, the Otters weren't out, and the Simulator was closed. As we started to walk through the zoo we couldn't believe how many trees were down. There was a lot of storm damage and there was clean up crew everywhere trying to rapidly clean up the mess. We also found out that there was a power outage and they had to bring in a bunch of generators. Of all days we pick to go to the zoo! I wasn't aware until be walked on this trail that on the other side of the fence is a neighborhood. We heard all this noise and went to check it out and there were trees uprooted everywhere.

Despite all the damages, and a couple closed exhibits, we had a fun time. The kids loved the Dinosauria exhibit! It was neat to see all the life-like dinosaurs. There were 30+ animatronic dinosaurs that roared and moved, as well as a few that spit water. The DinoTrail recreates prehistoric life and the life-like dinosaurs really were amazing! Here's a couple of the dinosaurs (I'll post all our pics on Facebook).

We made our way through the whole zoo and the weather was pretty overcast most of the day, but it was a little muggy and we had a few sprinkles, but nothing major. We saw everything from lions and tigers to zebras and giraffes to kangaroos and rhinos. We also saw the polar bear which took some time because he was hiding the whole time we walked around the Arctic exhibit until we got to the end and we spotted him. There was also prairie dogs, elk, bears, bison, the butterfly garden, vultures, camels, a gorilla, and chimps to name a few. There was a momma chimp with a baby that was only five weeks old. She was cuddling that little chimp so tight and wouldn't budge for anything to show it off so visitors could get a picture. Here's a few of our pics from the day at the zoo!

This gorilla was cool!

We loved the giraffes. This is the baby giraffe. She turned two in June.

Ready to go see the polar bear.

Sunday was this chimps birthday. He turned three!

We left the zoo about 5pm and wanted to grab some dinner on the way home. We ended up going to On The Border in Northville which is right by Trader Joe's. So we made an impromptu stop at TJ's after dinner before we headed home to stock up on a few things. Thanks to Greg's mom for the zoo and dinner! We all had a great time and I'm glad we got to the zoo before summer vacation was over. Now it's Monday night on Labor Day which means tomorrow is the first day of school! My little guy is going to be in school all day for the first time! This mom is a little sad about that.... *sniff sniff*

Fill The Bus

2011-09-01T22:54:00.007-04:00

Early on I've made it a point to teach my kids that it's important to help those in need when we can. While we're not millionaires by any means, we have a pretty good lifestyle. We have a roof over our head, food on the table, vehicles to drive, clothes to wear, and my kids have a surplus of toys to play with. While they are always wanting new toys (what kid doesn't), I make it a point to let them know that they have it pretty good. Of course we'd all like to make more money and have some of those luxury items, but at the end of the day, especially in this economy I'm happy that my husband has a job and can provide for us. I remind my kids that there are kids/adults/families that aren't so lucky and really can't afford some of the basic things in life. I want them to know what it means to help out those in need, as well as how it feels when donating items to those in need. I try to give donations to various causes when we can. While I'd like to do it all the time, it's just not possible. I still have a family to take care of, but we try to do what we can when possible. Especially when it comes to giving back in the MSU community. Not because it's MSU, but because it's the community we live in.

I ran across a video of Kid Rock today (I posted it on my Facebook) in which the timing couldn't have been more fitting as the kids and I "Filled The Bus" (more on that in a minute) yesterday. You might not be familiar with all that Kid Rock has been working on to help revive Detroit. There's lots of various things he's been working on and one is his new beer Badass. It's made at the Michigan Brewery. He chose to have it brewed there to help bring jobs to the state. In the video he talks about why he's so adamant about helping out Detroit (It's where he's from if you didn't know). He says, "We all need to work together as "neighbors" and address the real problems. Help your "neighbors" out first before you can help anybody else out . There's people hurting all over the world, but there's a lot of my neighbors hurting. It's important to start there." Of course I'd love to help out in bigger ways like donate millions to help find a cure for cancer, but I just don't have that kind of money. However if I can start by helping out on a smaller scale, like in my own community... well then I can feel good about myself. Knowing that I've helped in some way even if it's just a little, feels better than not helping at all.

So with all that said, I heard about "Fill The Bus" on Monday and told the kids about it. "Fill The Bus" is an annual service project that asks for the help of the MSU community to donate school supplies that will be delivered to Lansing area organizations. I asked the kids what we could do to help, and Evan said, "buy some school supplies to give to kids that can't afford them." Then he said, "Let's go to Meijer mom!" At only six years old, he already has such a joy when we do these kinds of things. As a mom, it makes me feel good. I love his enthusiasm to help others in need.

We went to Meijer Tuesday night so the kids could pick out the school supplies. Here they are getting the goods! They each got to pick out the same thing.

All set to check out!

This is what we ended up with to donate!

After we were done shopping, we took the kids to MSU for the Spartan Spectacular fireworks they have to kick off the new school year. I thought they would enjoy it, and they deserved it for helping out. They had fun watching the fireworks and listening to the Spartan Marching Band.

The next day on Wednesday, we headed to the MSU Union to drop off the "Fill The Bus" items. Both kids told me that, "now some kids will be able to have some school supplies when they start school next week." Then they were asking when we could drop off the food for the food drive. They were talking about the food drive we always donate to in November. Em remembered where they have the buckets for the food drive. It puts a smile on my face that they're already excited to help out again! Here they are dropping off their donated items!

You can learn more about "Fill The Bus" by clicking here.

1st Grade Open House

2011-08-31T22:53:00.006-04:00

Last night we had Evan's open house at school for 1st grade. It's really hard to believe the summer is quickly coming to an end. I thought July flew by, but then August seemed to go by even faster. I could use like another month of summer. But reality is, my little guy is starting first grade in less than a week! It's crazy and exciting all at the same time. We got his teacher assignment in the mail a little over a week ago. I've been anxiously awaiting it all summer. I knew we wouldn't find out until the end of August, but I was hoping he'd get the one first grade teacher that I knew at his school. He did, and both he and I were pretty excited. His teacher is Mrs. Park, and I actually went to grad school with her at MSU, and she used to live in our neighborhood when we moved here. She has the "sports" room which Evan thinks is really cool. If you remember last year he was in the "bee" room.

So last night we got to go to school and check out his classroom, meet the teacher, and meet other students in his class. I was a little surprised to find out that there weren't many classmates from his kindergarten class in his first grade class. There are three kids from kindergarten in his class. They really split up the students from his class between the seven first grade classes. We got to look around the classroom, and Evan had a sheet that he had to complete before we left. It was sort of like a scavenger hunt where he had to go around and find his locker, mailbox, meet a new friend, etc. We then walked around the school a little to get him reacquainted with where things were, which he remembered everything. Then there were popsicles on the playground, and all the kids got to play. Evan got to see some of his friends from last year which was really nice. He had a great time at school last night and he can't wait to start first grade! Here's a few pictures from our night at open house.

Evan found his seat, and is working on his sheet.

Checking out the room... he found the chore chart. He loves that there's a lunch tub helper!

Evan and his teacher, Mrs. Park!

Some fun on the school playground after wards!

Lake Weekend!

2011-08-30T22:37:00.004-04:00

The kids and I had somewhat of an extended weekend. Greg had to work all weekend so we decided to head down to my sisters. It was pretty much our last weekend of the summer to have some lake time before school starts. Since Greg couldn't go with us we left earlier on Friday than we normally do to head down there. We got to get in a boat ride at my dad's Friday night since we got there at a decent time. The kids love being on the boat, and even more, they love driving the boat with Grandpa. It was a perfect evening on the lake. It was slightly chilly, but with a sweatshirt on it was just right!

Saturday was another day on the lake. We spent all afternoon out on the boat. The weather was perfect! My Dad had gotten a new tube for all the kids to go in. It's got three seats so Evan, Emmaline, and Kaite could all go at the same time. When I asked Emme if she was going to go on it she said yes! I was a little surprised, but then again I shouldn't have been since my little girl loved going on the huge Ferris Wheel in Chicago! Evan didn't want to have anything to do with it. He said he would go if daddy was there, but I think that was his excuse. For some reasons from time to time he gets scared of the water. I definitely think it's time for some swim lessons this fall/winter. So Kaite and Emme got on the tube and were ready to go! Em was pretty excited, I think the pictures tells you she's more than ready!

Kaite was yelling to us that Em kept saying, "Faster Grandpa!" Then when we finally started going faster she said, "Now that's what I'm talking about!" What a kid! She had no fear at all. She loved every minute of it. Look how much fun she's having here.

Sunday we spent another good chunk of the day on the lake. Evan said he was going to try out the tube. He got in, and I was really excited that he was going to do it. Then when it was time to head out he changed his mind and decided he didn't want to. At least I got a picture of him in it for a second.
So it was another girls day on the lake tubing for Emme and Kaite. There was no going slow on day two. Emme wanted to go fast right away, so we did. Look at that face on my little girl... having the time of her life! She's my little princess, explorer, daredevil all in one. She loved it just as much if not more on day two as she did on day one!

Since Greg didn't come with us, we didn't have to rush to get back on Sunday for him to have to go to work on Monday. So the kids and I went home Monday morning so we could enjoy some extra time on the water. We got in three boat rides on Sunday which was really nice! A great way to end the summer with some lake time and great weather. I'm so proud of my Emme for trying out the tube. She did awesome. I'll admit I was a little nervous since she hasn't had swimming lessons and is on this big lake, but the tube doesn't tip over and I knew Kaite would take good care of her. It was a fun weekend, but it was nice to get home and see Greg.

Family Trip To Chicago

2011-08-23T21:09:00.008-04:00

I told you we had plans to go to Chicago after I had won the LEGOLAND tickets. Well we finally went last Thursday and Friday. It's somewhere the kids have been waiting to go since a couple years ago when Greg was there for work. We went with Greg's mom and left Thursday morning. We debated whether to drive or take the train and ended up with driving. The train was a little expensive I thought, and we wanted to go out to Schaumburg to LEGOLAND so we thought it was better to have a car. We got on the road about 8am, stopped for breakfast in Kalamazoo, made one other pit stop on the way there and got to LEGOLAND around 1pm our time. I picked up my free tickets I had won, and we began our way through LEGOLAND. It was everything the kids wanted it to be and more. They loved everything about LEGOLAND from the Lego miniland to the 4-D shows to the Dragon Ride to the Lego Factory and more! Lots of cool Lego sculptures throughout! The mini version of downtown Chicago Michigan Ave. area was one of my favorite parts! Take a look for yourself!

John Hancock Building, Water Tower, Omni Hotel and more!

Navy Pier- love the Lego Ferris Wheel!

Absolutely amazing how they make all this stuff out of Legos down to every little detail! Very cool! We ended up spending just a little more time than we thought there. LEGOLAND suggested planning 2 1/2 hours and we were there for three. After wards we headed over to The Cheesecake Factory at Woodfield Mall for late lunch/early dinner. It's one of my favorite places, and when I'm around one I try to go! I had the Thai chicken pasta which was delicious. Unfortunately I was too full for cheesecake!

We then made our way into the city so we could get checked into our hotel. We got to our hotel about 5pm local time. After many hours on the computer earlier in the week, I finally found us a hotel Tuesday afternoon. I was trying to find a place that was in the middle of everything we wanted to do. We ended up at the Hyatt Place which was right on the river. I found a really good deal there that included parking. When we got to the hotel, it turned out that it was even more than I expected. The valet guy directed me to go in and up the escalator to check in. I went through the doors and was a little in awe of how nice the hotel was. The lobby was amazing, and once I got to the top of the escalator and turned around there was this bar along the front windows that was amazing! Very very cool! I got checked in and the guy told me my request for a river/lake view was granted. (When I printed out the confirmation the night before I ran across a link that you could request upgrades. It was only $11 more for the upgrade so I figured what the heck.) He informed me we were getting a really really nice room! When we got to our room and walked in, I couldn't believe how great our view was! It was super awesome. Evan was really happy too because he kept asking if we were going to have a view of the river and I told him probably not. Here's our view.

We made a plan of what to do first and decided on Millennium Park. The kids couldn't wait to see the big jelly bean. They totally remembered seeing pics of it when Greg went to Chicago a few years ago. The park was absolutely beautiful and the jelly bean was very cool! Here's my Ev in front of the jelly bean!

After the park we walked down Michigan Ave. a little and then headed down to Navy Pier. The kids were real troopers with all the walking. We got to Navy Pier just before it was getting dark so we got to see it before all the lights came on and then later with it all lit up. We walked around, went in shops, and rode the Ferris Wheel and Carousel. Evan didn't want to go up on the Ferris Wheel, but Emme did. She couldn't wait to get on it. Greg's mom stayed with Ev, and Emme, Greg, and I went on it. I was a little nervous, but wanted to experience it with my little girl. I got on and we started to move up and up and up, and I couldn't believe I was riding all the way around. No turning back! I did get a little nauseous, and was a little freaked out at the top, but not my little girl. She was having a blast! She loved every minute of it. Here she is with her daddy enjoying her ride! What a kid!

After the Ferris Wheel I went on the Carousel with the kids. We did some more walking around and then went back to the Carousel one more time before we walked back to the hotel. It was definitely a fun-filled day!

We got up early Friday and got going so we could get to the Shedd Aquarium when it opened. We decided to take a taxi so we wouldn't have to worry about parking. The kids thought that was awesome! It was their first taxi ride, and they wondered why there were no car seats. Lol. Everyone had told us there are long lines to get into the Aquarium, and we should buy our tickets ahead of time. We did and got right in. The line wasn't too bad when we got there, but it was super long when we left. It's been years since I was at the Aquarium and there's been some additions. The kids really had a great time there, as did we. It was a great way to spend the morning. We got a late check out and had to be out by 2pm. We came back to the hotel after the Aquarium and got packed up. The hotel said we could leave our car parked until 6pm so that was great! We loaded the car up and had them park it again so we could do some more things.

We headed to lunch at Giordano's for Chicago pizza. Then we decided to do a boat tour. We had thought about going to the John Hancock Building or Willis Tower (a.k.a. Sears Tower), but it was $17 for adults to go up and $11 for kids. We decided we'd get more of our monies worth on the Wendella boat tour which was $26 for adults and $14 for kids. It was a 90 minute tour up and down the river and along the shore on Lake Michigan. It seemed like a better way to spend our time and it was a beautiful day in Chicago so it was perfect for the boat. It was a great tour that we all enjoyed! Lots of sights to see and the kids had fun on the river and going out on Lake Michigan. Plus we had to go through the Chicago Harbor Lock which was a neat experience for the kids (and us as well). The boat tour took a little longer than the 90 minutes because we had to wait in the Lock for all the boats so by the time we got off the boat we only had about an hour before we needed to get the car out. We made a quick trip down Michigan Ave. so the kids could see some things and then headed back to the hotel. We got the car just before 6pm (7pm our time), and then it was time to leave Chicago and head home. I figured we'd hit all the work traffic, as well as the weekend traffic, but we really didn't. We got out of the city in good time and made our way home. We got home about 11:30pm.

We had a fantastic time. I knew the kids would have fun, but they enjoyed themselves much more than I ever thought! We got a lot done in two days, and a big thanks to Greg's mom for everything- Hotel, meals, Navy Pier, Shedd Aquarium, Boat Tour, gas, and souvenirs for the kids. We really appreciated the great trip. It was tons of fun and we can't wait to go back! Lots of great memories for the kids and their first time to Chicago! I'm sure you've seen all my pics on Facebook, but if you haven't I posted tons so check them out!

Before I leave you tonight, I'd like to wish my dear friend Jess a very happy birthday! Hope you had a fabulous day Jess, and we'll have to have that birthday drink soon! Cheers to a great year ahead and fun times!

Meet The Spartans 2011

2011-08-21T22:14:00.007-04:00

I've got a few things to share from this past week, especially our wonderful trip to Chicago! First though I want to share our evening with "Meet the Spartans" last Tuesday. The week flew by so fast that I didn't get the chance to tell you about it yet. You might remember last year we went downtown to "Meet the Spartans" and got all the football players and Coach Dantonio's autographs. Well, when I heard it was happening again on August 16th, I knew we had to be there. Once Evan found out about it, there was no way he was going to miss it. We planned ahead this time and got downtown E.L. a little early because it got busy fast last year. It started at 5pm and we got there about 4pm. We went into a couple of the bookstores and by the time we came out at 4:20pm it was crazy. I thought we had planned ahead, but I guess we shouldn't have gone into the bookstores. There are two huge tents set up, one for the offense and one for the defense. Then a smaller tent for Coach D. The lines for the offense and defense were already long at 4:20pm so I told the kids we should get in Coach D's line. I really really wanted Evan's picture with Coach D for his Spartan room that will be in the works this fall (it's his 7th birthday present). I knew if we weren't at the front of the line there wouldn't be any chance for a picture. So we were fifth in line, and we waited and waited. It ended up getting pretty hot on Tuesday, and then the team was late coming from practice so it didn't start until 5:30pm. We got Coach D's autograph and then Evan asked him for a picture. He was like, "Hurry up and sneak behind the table. We'll have to be quick." I don't think he was supposed to be doing pictures so the line would keep moving, but he graciously accepted not only once, but twice so Emme could get one too. Here's the picture I was determined to get!

It turned out pretty good I think! I can't wait to frame it for Ev's room. Here's Emme's picture with Coach Dantonio too. It came out nice as well. Coach even told Emme how much he liked her Hello Kitty sunglasses. :)

After we got Coach D's autograph and pics, we went and got in the defense line. It looked a little shorter than the offense, but not by much. As we were in line they kept announcing that autographs would end at 7pm and the seniors and Coach D would speak to the crowd. (Last year they did it at the beginning, but since they were late this year and so many people in line they just started with autographs.) As the line slowly moved, we finally spotted Sparty. Em had been asking where he was. There was a short line forming for Sparty pics so while Greg stayed in the one line, the kids and I went over to see Sparty. Em told me she wasn't afraid of Sparty anymore and she wanted her pic by herself. Sure enough she went up to him and I finally got her picture alone with Sparty. Here she is with the greatest college mascot!

As 7pm approached, we decided to get out of line because we knew we weren't going to make the cut-off. So unfortunately we didn't get any football players autographs this year, but at least we got the pics with Dantonio that I really wanted. Last year the team stayed until everyone was finished. I'm not sure why they didn't do that this year. I think the players would have if they could, but their "people" made them leave the tables right at 7pm and get back on the bus. A little bit of a bummer. It was a much larger turn out this year after coming of a Big Ten championship year so the lines moved slower. I wished they would have realized that the crowd would be bigger after having a great season, but it seemed to be a little disorganized this year. I thought they could have stayed to at least 7:30pm to make up for the half hour delay. Oh well! The seniors did speak at the end, and while they were doing that at least Coach D finished his line of autographs. He didn't turn anyone away! We're still looking forward to a great football season this year, and have high hopes for the Spartans. Here's wishing them good things when football season starts in two weeks! GO STATE!

Kid Rock In The D!

2011-08-15T22:22:00.004-04:00

What a fabulous weekend we had! Saturday was one of those days I've been waiting for, for a long time! We went to see Kid Rock at Comerica Park in Detroit. I got tickets back in June. This was after missing out on getting tickets for his shows at Ford Field and Van Andel in January. When I got these tickets back in June I ran across something for Kid Rock's fan club and saw that if you joined the fan club you could pre-purchase tickets on the Friday before the Saturday they went on sale to the public. For the $10 I spent to join the fan club so I could pre-purchase the tickets, it was $10 well spent. I didn't have to worry about trying to get tickets early on Saturday morning when everyone else did. Not to mention the pre-purchase tickets for fan club members were pretty good seats from what I could tell online. I had never been to Comerica Park before so I didn't know anything about the stadium.

Greg and I had tickets with our friends Brenda and Jess. Then my sister and Kaite got tickets together, and my dad and step-mom had tickets. My dad & step-mom got us all rooms at the Marriott at the Renaissance Center so nobody would have to drive home after the concert. The hotel was awesome and we really appreciated them getting us the room. Thanks so much! It worked out perfectly! We left late Saturday morning in the pouring rain which was not good. Remember the concert is at Comerica Park OUTSIDE! Ugh! As we got closer to Detroit the rain lightened up, and by the time we got into he city the sun was coming out. Fingers and toes crossed, I was hoping it would stay that way. We ended up getting to the hotel at the same time as my Dad, step-mom, sister, and Kaite. It was great timing since they had to drive further than us.

We all got checked in and settled in our rooms and then we walked down to Comerica Park to pick up the tickets. Since I had bought them through the fan club it was will call pick up only. It ended up warming up nicely and by the time we got to Comerica Park it was pretty hot out. After we got the tickets we walked back to the Hard Rock Cafe and had lunch. It was a late lunch so then we headed back to the hotel for a couple drinks and to get changed for the concert. There was a Kid Rock Block Party going on before the concert so we wanted to get back down to Comerica for that a little early. We decided to take the people mover to Comerica the second time so we weren't all hot and sweaty before the concert. We hit up the Block Party for a little bit, and I finally got to try the Kid Rock Badass Beer. Yes, I'm a beer girl so it was a must on my list to try on Saturday. It got the approval on my list of likes for beer and am hoping to find it sometime soon. It's not sold around here, only in the Detroit area, Jackson, and Battle Creek.

We headed into the stadium during the opening acts. Ty Stone and Sammy Hagar opened for Kid Rock. We weren't too into them so it didn't matter if we missed some of it. By the time we grabbed some drinks and got to our seats it was in the middle of Sammy Hagar. It turned out that all of our seats were pretty good. I was happy with my purchase and we had a great view of the stage. Almost towards the end of Sammy, it started to get really dark & we saw some lightning. We decided to head up to the concourse and go in one of the restaurants we had seen on the way in. We got in there and sat down at a table pretty much just in time because it started to pour. We sat in there for about a half hour and then the rain stopped and it cleared up and was a perfect evening. We headed back to our seats and about 15 minutes later Kid Rock came on stage. The concert was everything I hoped it would be and more. A fantastic show and I definitely felt like I got my monies worth! Kid Rock really knows how to put on a great show. He played for about 2hrs. 20min and it was awesome! I loved every minute of it! Kid Rock really isn't my "type," but honestly he looked pretty good when his shirt came off. Brenda and Jess agreed... WOW! A little eye candy for the ladies! :)

It was an awesome day spent with my hubby, great friends, and family! I didn't want the concert to end. A great time was had by all, and it's a night I'll never forget! I can cross it off my bucket list, but believe me I'll be back to see him again! Fun times, fun times! Here's a few pics from Saturday. I've already posted them on Facebook so you've probably seen them!

The view of the venue, Comerica Park, from the Marriott.

The Kid Rock Block Party

Wow!

I'm A Winner x2

2011-08-10T22:46:00.003-04:00

My luck has changed over the last week. It's been a little crazy. I'm really not a lucky person, but it seems the last two Tuesdays I have been. Last week Tuesday I was on the LEGOLAND Discovery Center Chicago Facebook page (I'm a fan of the page), and saw they were having their Tuesday contest. I "liked" the page about a month ago, but have always forgotten about the Tuesday contest. LEGOLAND posted some pics of different Legos and all you had to do was comment which one you would choose and why. So I asked my little Lego guy to pick one. Evan looked through them all and chose one and said he liked it because it looked like something that could go to outer space and he'd like to ride on it. Works for me so I commented on the one he picked. I figured, why not and then really didn't think too much more of it. Then when I went to my Facebook on Wednesday I saw a post on my home page from LEGOLAND with the three winners name. Mine was first on the list. I couldn't believe it. I won four tickets to LEGOLAND in Chicago! Evan was beyond thrilled and wanted to know when we were leaving. We had actually been talking about going to Chicago this month. Greg's mom said she'd take the kids and us before they went back to school. So we're going to be going next week! The kids are so excited!

This week on Tuesday I was on Facebook and saw a post from Eastwood Towne Center (the mall by us). It was to enter for a $100 gift card to the mall that they would be giving away at the summer concert series they hold every Tuesday night. There was only like an hour left to enter, and I wasn't doing anything so I figured why not! I entered and then pretty much forgot all about it. I wasn't going to the summer concert at the mall, but the winner didn't have to be present so that was good. Tuesday was Greg's mom's birthday so we had gone out to dinner and then when we got home we took the kids to the park. I happened to be checking my email on my phone and saw an email from Eastwood Towne Center. I instantly new what it was, but yet I couldn't believe it. I knew the only reason I'd be getting an email would be because I won. Sure enough I did. Seriously though, I couldn't believe it after just winning the LEGOLAND tickets the week before! The gift card is good for anywhere at the mall so that's nice!

So two winnings in two weeks! I'm wondering what next week will bring... hmmmm, maybe I should play the lotto!

Em's Hello Kitty Birthday Party!

2011-08-07T22:18:00.009-04:00

I had a busy week getting ready for Emmaline's birthday party on Saturday. There was running errands, cleaning, cooking, and all the other stuff that goes along with all the party prep. The week flew by, kind of like this whole summer has been! Emmaline wanted a Hello Kitty birthday party this year. I kind of had a feeling she would since she's been so into Hello Kitty this past year. I was glad she picked something decent for her party, but I was dreading what I would do for a cake/ cupcakes. I felt like I needed to make her a cake this year since I went the easy route last year and got her princess cake at Sam's. So after searching the internet, pondering cake options, and talking with friends about Hello Kitty cakes, I decided to buy the Hello Kitty cake pan and make a cake shaped like Hello Kitty. My friend Jessica said I should pipe the frosting on the cake, but I had never done that. She said she'd help me with it so I figured let's give it a try.

I spent the afternoon Friday in the kitchen pretty much prepping all the party food, making cupcakes and a cake. My sister and Kaite came for the weekend on Friday evening, and then Jess came over Friday night to help me decorate the cake. I made the frosting and then we started piping away! It was a little time consuming, but it was a lot easier than I thought! It just takes a little patience. We got through it, and although it was a late night, it was lots of fun! Thank you so much Jess for coming over and teaching me how to pipe! Great times and some fun conversation with the piping! LOL. I think for my first time the cake came out pretty good. I was pleased with it and I got lots of compliments so I guess it looked like Hello Kitty. Haha! Plus it tasted great so that's all that really matters right? I didn't make my own cake this time, I opted for the funfetti box mix because I just didn't have time. It was still very good though. I can't really complain with Pillsbury cake mix. Love that cake mix, it always turns out very moist! So here's some pics of the Hello Kitty cake and you can tell me what you think!

The start of the cake piping!

Making progress...

Time for some facial features- eyes and nose, which I used black jelly beans and a yellow spree!

The final product! Not bad huh?

And here's the cupcakes I made to go along with the cake!

The party was a lot of fun, and everyone had a great time! The Hello Kitty party was fun to plan from the cake to the decorations and goody bags! I decided to go with munchies for the party. We had veggies & dip, fruit & fruit dip, lil' smokies (smokies wrapped in crescents), pizza dip, and guacamole! It was all very tasty! Here's a few more pics from the party. The rest I'll post on Facebook.

My birthday girl all ready for her party in her Hello Kitty attire!

The centerpiece I made! I found the idea on Pinterest!
The party decor!

The kids enjoying some cake and ice cream!The family photo Jess made me do! I'm posting this for you Jess! Haha!

After the party Jess, Kaite, and I all went for manicures and pedicures! My sister and Em came along to and hung out while we were getting pampered. My sister had planned to get a pedi too, but then ended up getting one the weekend before. I had painted Em's nails before her party, but the gal that did mine put a couple flowers on her nails which she thought was really cool! We ended the day with Jess' kids and Jess coming back to the house for movie/game night and we all had a sleepover! Fun times! It was a great day, and we even hit up TB for late night munchies! Lol. A great weekend overall to celebrate my little girls birthday!

The kids getting ready for the movie and sleepover. Grace didn't get in the picture unfortunately!

Happy 4th Birthday My Sweet Emmaline

2011-08-01T20:17:00.003-04:00

Today is my baby girls birthday! My little Emmaline Grace is four years old today. How can that be? It seems like yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital. She'll always be my baby though. She's been full of cuddles over the last week and I've just been loving it! Em was up bright and early this morning, and oh yes she knew it was her birthday! She was so excited it was her special day. I just loved seeing the excitement on her face all day long. It turned out to be a spectacular day.

The kids played all morning while Greg was at work. He had the afternoon off so that was nice. We had birthday lunch at Smokey Bones, Em's choice. We told her she could go wherever she wanted and that's what she picked. Then we let her choose what to do in the afternoon. She wanted to go to the MSU 4-H Children's Gardens. It was hot, but we haven't been there yet this summer (I know, right! Summer is going by too fast!) so off to the gardens it was. I asked her in the morning if she would like to invite her friend Chloe along, and then after wards Chloe could come back to the house and have some birthday cake with us. She loved that idea! Chloe isn't able to come to her party this weekend so I thought this would be fun for Em. I had made a practice run on her birthday cake last night so we had cake that needed to be eaten! The girls had a blast at the gardens and of course loved having some birthday cake! Here's a couple pics from our afternoon!

I just love this pic of the girls! Best friends walking through the gardens!

The birthday girl and Chloe at the MSU Gardens!

Our celebration continued after Chloe went home with present time! Emmaline of course loved opening presents! Then it was time to head to dinner. Greg's mom told Em she'd take her to dinner wherever she wanted. All last week she had said Culver's, and while I like Culver's I was hoping for something a little better for birthday dinner. A couple of days ago we figured out that it was just ice cream that Emme wanted there, she didn't want to eat there. So we told her we could always just go for ice cream after dinner if she wanted to go somewhere else. She ended up deciding on Olive Garden for dinner, and Culver's for dessert. Yay! I love Olive Garden salad! We had a nice dinner and Emme got more presents. She was loving every minute of it! Especially the yummy frozen custard at Culver's after.

We ended the night with her opening one present she saved for after dinner and the kids playing with her new dollhouse pieces. Followed by my little girl snuggling in the chair with me for a story before bed! A perfect day with the birthday girl at the Shearwater Nest! My dear Emmaline we all love you bunches and wish you a very happy birthday. Mommy loves you as high as the sky, as deep as the ocean, and to the moon and back! You make me smile everyday, and I'm proud to be your Mom!

Here's my 4 year old! (I love how she rocks the side ponytail!)

Latest Pinterest Finds

2011-07-27T21:15:00.005-04:00

Oh this Pinterest thing is so addicting. I've managed to hook some more friends on it too. Haha! I love though that we all have this fun addiction and I really do enjoy seeing what other people pin, because it gives me lots of good ideas! Here are some of the latest things I've been pinning.

Mmmm, brownie pops! Don't they look delicious? I've seen many cake pops and marshmallow pops, but this is the first I've seen of brownie pops!

This is pinned on my "dream home" board. I would love someday to have a house with ceiling beams. That's a long way down the road though so for now I'll just keep dreaming... unless I quickly win the lotto!

I thought this was a clever way to organize ribbon.

I really like this candle display with the candy corns for fall. I'm going to do this!

I've been wanting to paint the basement for a long time... like three years! I've wanted to paint it green too, and I really like this shade. I think it would be fun for the basement! This was from one of the HGTV's dream home.

All photos are courtesy of Pinterest. Once again thanks Ann for getting me started on my addiction! Haha! Speaking of Ann, I'd like to wish her a very happy birthday! Hope you had a great day. Welcome to the 36 club!

Hot Hot Hot!!!

2011-07-24T22:39:00.001-04:00

Wow, what a week it's been with this heat! The air conditioning has been running 24/7 and it doesn't look like it's going off anytime soon. I hate to see my electric bill! Although I'm not complaining about the heat. I'd much rather have this than it be cold and shoveling snow. The summer is going by far too quickly and before we know it winter will be upon us. Ugh! I actually didn't think it was all that bad a couple days. Only one day was pretty miserable, Thursday I think it was or maybe Wednesday. Anyhow, the only downfall with it this hot is that we've pretty much been staying inside to keep cool. Too hot to go to the park or play outside. We've taken a few walks, late late into the evening, but even those have been cut short. Like I said though, I'll take the heat over the cold any day!

On Wednesday at Em's ballet class, we found out she's got the class all to herself. Kate told us the other girl isn't going to come so if we wanted to stop the class she'd give us a credit for the fall. Emme likes it though and gets excited to go, and I don't really think she cares that she's the only one. So we're just going to finish the last three classes out. It's kind of nice for Emme to have the one on one time with Miss Kate.

We had a pretty low key week and weekend. Friday night we found out Evan's friend Ethan was having a birthday party on Saturday. His dad, Nick had text me Friday night and asked if we could come. Due to some problems with his ex-wife, it was a last minute thing. We didn't have much going on Saturday so we were able to go. The party was at Chuckee Cheese, which if any of you know me, I absolutely hate that place. I've only been to one other birthday party there which was a chaotic mess. Nick's been through the ringer with his ex-wife, she will hardly let Nick see the kids. I don't know why exes and the courts have to be like that when kids are involved. Nick is a great dad, and he deserves to see his kids more and I feel bad for Ethan and Aivree going through all this. I knew Ethan really wanted Evan to be there, and it would mean a lot to Nick if we came. It had been awhile since we had seen them too so I figured we'd go for a little while. It turned out that it wasn't that busy for the first hour and a half we were there so it wasn't that bad. I just made sure the kids washed there hands over and over after touching all the games. It was nice to catch up with Nick a little and the kids had fun with Ethan and Aivree. They're planning to come to Emme's party too so that will be nice.

Sunday we ran some errands here and there. We finally made it to the East Lansing Farmer's Market. It opened two weeks ago when I had my girls shopping day so I couldn't go. Then last weekend we totally forgot about it. We got a few things- green beans, zucchini, and squash. I was a little disappointed that we couldn't get any hot peppers. The guy we usually get them from said he got a late start planting them this year due to the weather so he was hoping to have some by next weekend. So hopefully we'll remember to go next weekend and he has some. We love to make tacos with the hot peppers! That's about it from around here. Nothing big and exciting going on. I've been pinning more lately so I'll share some of my finds soon!

The Week In Review

2011-07-18T22:42:00.003-04:00

Gosh, another week has gone by since I blogged. Where the heck did last week go? I don't even know if I can remember, but I'll try to give you the run down. Monday and Tuesday we went to look at a couple preschools for Emmaline. I know we're so far behind on this. We need to get making a decision. For some reason it seems harder this time around. I think it's because Evan's teacher from the MSU CDL preschool isn't teaching anymore which we're really bummed about. Hopefully we can make a decision this week. Tuesday and Wednesday I worked out in the garage setting up for garage sale number two. I had a lot of it set up on tables already from the last time, but it was all pushed to one side. Some of the clothes I had put back in tubs, so I had to set those back out on the tables. I also had a couple bags of new stuff to put out and price that I had bagged up when I cleaned the kids closets a couple weeks ago. I had pretty much everything set up and ready to go by Wednesday night for the sale on Friday.

Thursday we went to my friend Marie's for the afternoon and went swimming. It was a nice hot day so the pool was perfect. Her kids and mine got to play and we got to catch up a little. After we left Marie's the kids and I headed to Kalamazoo. Marie lives in Bellevue which is between here and Kalamazoo. Since we were only about a half hour from Kalamazoo, we met my sister in Kzoo and picked up Kaite to come back with us. My sister and Kaite were planning to come up for the weekend, and my sister was going to help with the garage sale on Saturday. She had some things she wanted to put in my sale. So I thought if she wanted to meet us on Thursday I could get her things, and then Kaite could come and spend an extra day with us. She could watch the kids on Friday while I was doing my sale and I could try to sell some of my sisters stuff on Friday instead of waiting until Saturday (Fridays are always better around here for garage sales). Plus the kids liked having Kaite here for an extra day!

Friday I had my garage sale pretty much all day. It wasn't as busy as the Friday in May when I did it, but I still did pretty good. I got rid of my jogging stroller which was a big item that I was hoping not to have to store again. Plus it was worth getting my sisters stuff because I sold two of her end tables and a coffee table, as well as some other things. I got rid of lots more kids clothes which was nice too. The day went in spurts, there was never really a steady pace. My friend Brenda stopped by and sat with me for a little bit which was nice to have some company. She even brought me some brown butter chocolate chip & bacon cookies. I wasn't sure about the bacon and chocolate chips, but they were pretty good. Thanks Brenda for the treat and for sitting and chatting with me. My sister got here Friday evening and we met up with Brenda and Keyera at Lou Ha's for taco bar. It was a cheap dinner and the beer was just what I needed after sitting out in the heat all day!

Saturday we had the garage sale for just part of the day. I didn't want to waste the whole day with the sale and Saturdays are usually slow anyway. It's a good thing we didn't plan to do it all day because it was SLOW! We ended up closing up a little bit early. My sister and Kaite had eye appointments at Jessica's eye place so we did that in the afternoon. Thanks Jess and Steve for coming in on a Saturday for them. If anyone needs eye exams, glasses, or contacts go to Thompson Eyecare, they'll take good care of you. They've got a referral program now so if I refer 6 people I get a free pair of glasses. Who needs an eye exam and wants to help me out. I only need three more referrals!!!

Saturday evening we just chilled pretty much until Jess and Brenda came over. The two of them were volunteering at the Common Ground Festival and had planned to come over for some adult beverages after. Well they ended up not coming until 11:30pm so we got a late start. We had drinks on the deck and lots and lots of laughs! Good times for sure! I even had my first chocolate martini. I'm not sure why I've never had one of these before, but I've been missing out! Oh yummy deliciousness! Brenda cut out on us about 1:30am because it was way past her bedtime. It was past mine too, but the chocolate martini was tasting too good. Then Jess wanted "late night munchies." This is often brought up when she's over having drinks on the deck. Yes, she's talking about Taco Bell and really wanted to go for some "late night munchies." Kaite offered to drive us so I figured this time I wouldn't bail on Jess and we headed to Taco Bell since I had a driver. Jess says it was just what she needed because Sunday morning she didn't have a hangover. You know what? Neither did I, go figure.

After being up so late on Saturday, we all slept in on Sunday. I didn't get up until almost 10am! We lounged around and then my sister and Kaite headed home after lunch. Sunday was really really hot and I wanted to get the garage sale stuff cleaned up. I worked out in the garage a little at a time, coming in for long periods of time to cool off. Then I ended up taking a nap and Greg and the kids went with his mom to see Winnie The Pooh. Later Sunday night I worked out in the garage a little more. My friend Angie came down and bought a bunch more of Em's stuff. She pretty much wiped me out and I've only got one tub of Em's clothes left! Yay!

Today it was hot hot hot again so we all just stayed inside! Looks like the rest of the week is going to be just as hot if not hotter so we probably will be staying cool in the air conditioning! And two weeks from today is my little girls birthday! She's already getting excited! :)

Girls Day Shopping

2011-07-11T23:31:00.007-04:00

Yesterday, it was a fun-filled day of girls shopping. My friend Brenda and her daughter Keyera, and I shopped til we dropped! I've been wanting to make and IKEA and Trader Joe's run for sometime now. Last week Brenda was telling me she wanted to go to IKEA to get some furniture, so I told her we needed to have a girls shopping day. I've been putting it off, and I figured if we didn't make plans I wasn't going to make it there anytime soon. We left just before 10am and got to IKEA around 11am. We were probably at IKEA for a little under two hours. When we left, the entire back end of my car was full. We did good making everything fit. Most of it was Brenda's furniture. She came home with a new chair and ottoman, some tables, a tv stand, a floor lamp, and some other odds and ends. I needed some votive holders and small vases for my UL shows, and then I also got myself a new vase and I found some flower pots for the deck. I've been looking and looking and haven't found anything I really liked that wasn't extremely expensive. When I saw these they were perfect! When I got home I was looking at IKEA online and found some different sizes I already want to go back for. Not sure how I missed them when we were there. Here's a picture of the new flower pot, I got two of them.

After IKEA, we headed towards Trader Joe's. We stopped for lunch by TJ's before we stocked up. We figured it probably wasn't a good idea to go into TJ's on an empty stomach. We ended up eating at On The Border. I love that place and never knew there was one by TJ's until the last time I had made a TJ's run. I managed to stock up on some items at TJ's and had a packed cooler on the way home. (I always take a cooler and ice packs when I head there so I can get cold items and get them home safely.) I ended up with four bottles of two buck chuck. If you don't know about it you're missing out. It's nicknamed "two buck chuck" because out in California this particular wine is $2. It's the Charles Shaw wine, and here it's $2.99 a bottle. Due to some Michigan law it can't be sold for $2. Still you can't go wrong with $3 for a bottle of wine that tastes good. I like the Pinot Grigio, but there's a variety of whites and reds that are available. This is the wine.

I also got some Mahi Mahi, Salmon, red licorice bites (love the TJ's licorice), some chicken tamales, spinach artichoke dip, and a few other things. I could stock up nonetheless. Brenda also got a few things. Then we headed for home, but not without making a stop at the Coach outlet. A girl's gotta look right? I found a couple things on clearance that I liked, but didn't get anything. We got back in town about 5pm so we had made a full day of it shopping. It was a fun day though and I'm so glad we went.

While we were gone, the kids and Greg, and Greg's mom had gone to Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek. It was a hot day for the zoo, but they had fun. The kids had spent the night at Ya Ya's Saturday night and Sunday morning decided to go to the zoo. Greg was going to change his oil and go for a bike ride, but he ended up going with them. This was Evan's second time at that zoo. I had taken him when he was really little. This was Em's first time at Binder Park Zoo. Both kids fed the giraffes for the first time. Emmaline couldn't stop talking about it when she got home. She thought that was so cool. Evan also fed the goats, but Em wouldn't. They made a day of it as well, and got home just after I did. Here's a few pictures of their afternoon. Ready for the zoo!

Evan on the carousel!We found "Africa!"

Emmaline checking out the giraffe with daddy before she feeds it.Evan had fun feeding the goats!

And today is 7-11 which means the store 7 Eleven is giving out free small Slurpees. Evan didn't forget so we made a stop, and here are the kids with their Slurpees!

1st Summer Visit To The Aquatic Center

2011-07-10T23:01:00.004-04:00

It turned out to be a pretty jam packed weekend around the Shearwater Nest. It started Friday night when I went to a PartyLite candle party that my friend Jessica was hostessing. She was actually co-hosting I had only been to a PartyLite candle party one other time. My friend Brenda and her daughther Keyera came along too. It was a nice girl's evening of socializing, food and drinks, and candles! Brenda won the big door prize, a glass hurricane candle holder, and I won a smaller door prize a votive candle holder.

Saturday it was going to be hot hot hot so we decided to finally visit the East Lansing Aquatic Center. The kids have been asking for awhile now if we could go. We just haven't had the chance to go as a family, and the idea of me just taking the kids seemed a little overwhelming. The Aquatic Center opens at 11am, and I figured if we were going we better get there right away. The chairs get taken up quickly and we always like to get a spot under one of the umbrellas so we have shade it we want. Jess and her kids also went so we met them there. There was a little bit of a line, but we got in and got some chairs under one of the umbrellas. The kids were anxious to get in the pool and after they got their sunscreen on they took off into the pool. While I was hurrying to get our chairs set up and our towels laid out, the kids took off so fast that I was running into the pool after them. I apparently got distracted trying to look after them that I forgot to stop and put on sunscreen. Not a good thing after four hours in the pool. Ugh! I got so sunburned Greg told me I was more red than the lobster he ate last week in Maine. So a much needed trip to Meijer last night was in order to get some Aloe Gel.

We had a great time at the Aquatic Center though. We all were in the pool for hours, and Jess left for a little bit to run home and make us hot dogs for lunch. She brought hot dogs and chips back and we ate outside of the A.C. at the picnic tables. Thanks Jess for doing that for all of us. It worked out perfectly. The kids had a blast swimming, and somehow Evan passed for 48" tall (which means he didn't get the "kiddie wristband"), as did Jess' daughter Grace. Finally during our last hour there, Evan got brave enough to try the water slide. He would only go if Greg and Grace went. So they all got their tubes and headed up the stairs to the slide. I was pretty certain Evan would be coming back down the stairs when it was his turn, but he didn't. My little guy toughened up and went down the slide for the first time all by himself. He did so awesome, and I was so proud of him. He came down backwards from spinning around along the way, but glided into the pool nicely. Here's a picture of Evan's first time down the slide.

He got out and told me how fun it was, he was going again. This time no daddy though. Off they went, he and Grace up to the slide. This time when he came down he did a huge flip into the pool. Here he is flipping off the tube.

Of course as a mother, my heart is racing because Evan had never done this before, nor had I seem him go under the water like that. He did great though and pushed himself back up out of the water very quickly. A sigh of relief came across me, but it really made me think we need to quit putting off the swimming lessons and get both kids enrolled if Evan's going to keep doing the water slide. I thought Evan would for sure be done with the slide after the flip, but he went again. So proud of my little guy for the awesome job he did. My little Emme did awesome as well on the froggy slide. She loved that slide and was up and down it several times! Here she is coming down!

Here's a few more pics from our afternoon at the water park! The kids had a blast at the splash pad.

Emmaline catching some rays in the pool!

Pictures From 4th of July Weekend

2011-07-06T22:20:00.007-04:00

Here's the photos from our 4th of July weekend that I promised. Enjoy!

The new $5 sprinkler I found at Target!

The kids loved it!

Evan being silly in the sprinkler!

I pulled out some pool toys and they had fun filling them with water!

Sneaky brother!
Emmaline soaking up the sun! She laid down and did this all by herself. Silly goose!

My two little firecrackers loving the Pop-Its!

Emmaline doing a sparkler at the fireworks out in Okemos!

Evan & Matthew doing sparklers!

4th of July

2011-07-04T23:36:00.003-04:00

Happy 4th of July everyone! Hopefully you had a great extended weekend. I'll get to ours in a minute, but first about my last week as a single parent. It was a long week going at it alone while Greg was in Maine for work. You didn't hear from me for pretty much two reasons. One being, I was a single parent with two kids needing a lot of attention. A little more so than usual since Greg was gone and they were really missing him. Two being, I had to keep busy to help the days go by faster so the weekend would arrive sooner than later and Greg would be home. I did this by pretty much tearing this place apart and cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning! Yep, that's right I pretty much cleaned everyday! It was much needed, not only the normal vacuuming and dusting, but time for the good cleaning again. The kids even helped me quite a bit. We cleaned out closets, drawers, toy baskets, and moved furniture to clean out the dust bunnies. I quickly accumulated more bags of stuff for my next garage sale. It really is a never ending process of getting rid of stuff.

I cleaned the whole upstairs and the main level. All the bedrooms, the loft, the kitchen, the living room, and all the bathrooms got a good cleaning. I even scrubbed bathroom floors really good. Ugh getting hairspray off the floor is not a fun time. It felt really good to get things done and have a nice clean house. I didn't get to the basement, but the kids did get the toys in the family room down there picked up. My goal was to have it all done by the time Greg got home so he could come home to a nice clean house. Seeing how I got two out of the three floors cleaned I think I did pretty good. You know how one project leads to another so some parts took me longer than others. I'm pretty pleased though with what I got done. I had to sacrifice a lot of Pinterest, Facebook, and blogging time to get it all accomplished. Sometimes you just have to make yourself do it though, and put other things aside.

In between all the cleaning Evan had his last two t-ball games last week. I was a little sad to see them end. He had such a great time with t-ball and it was a fun way to spend a couple evenings a week. Emmaline also had her second dance class. She's so adorable doing her little ballet moves with Miss Kate! While I love my kids dearly, by the end of the week of just me and them I was ready for some adult time. A big thanks to Greg's mom for taking the kids Friday afternoon and letting them spend the night so I could have a girl's night out. It was just the right "medicine" I needed to recoup from the long week! I decided awhile back that it would be fun to do a bloody mary tasting of East Lansing. I love me a good bloody mary, as do some of my friends. So Friday night we started our Bloody Mary Bonanza Tasting Tour. Throughout the rest of the summer we will be visiting local places and rating their bloody mary. Then at the end of the summer I will be blogging about our tour and post the ratings. We hit two places on Friday night, Reno's East and Lou Ha's (it was Friday night, we had to hit the free taco bar). My friends Brenda and Jess went with me. You'll have to stay tuned to hear about the bloody mary's at a later date! Afterwards we came back to the house and made some martinis and sat out on the deck and enjoyed the beautiful evening.

Saturday I ended up having most of the day to myself. The kids wanted to stay at YaYa's until dinner time. So I was able to do a little more cleaning and run some errands. It is so much easier to run errands alone than hauling two kids that's for sure. Saturday was also the day that Greg was finally starting his travels home from Maine. He left Maine about 9:30am and had planned to drive most of the day until he got tired. He figured somewhere around Pennsylvania or Cleveland he'd stop for the night. We things didn't go quite as planned. He couldn't find a hotel room for anything between Erie, PA and just past Cleveland, OH. Yes, it was the holiday weekend, but who would have thought that every single hotel would be booked in Ohio! Really do that many people go to Ohio for the 4th of July holiday? Apparently, or there was something else going on because there wasn't a room to be found. He ended up stopping at the toll road service station and took a half hour power nap in the car (which I totally didn't like, but really there was no choice), before he continued driving. It was already 1:15am and he had decided he was only about three hours from home so he would just drive the rest of the way. Of course the worry wart that I am, couldn't sleep that night with him on the road alone in the middle of the night. Finally about 5am he rolled in the driveway safe and sound. I was SOOOOOO happy to have him home.

The kids were super surprised to see daddy in bed when they woke up Sunday morning since originally Greg wouldn't have been home until Sunday afternoon. We were all a little messed up on our sleep since Greg had a long day on the road and I couldn't get any good sleep until he got home. So it was a lazy morning around here on Sunday. I seriously did not get in the shower until about noon! Sometimes though you need those kind of mornings, right Ann? We had a pretty leisurely day all around which was nice. I had bought the kids a new sprinkler, some bubble wands, and Pop-Its which they had fun doing all afternoon and evening. The sprinkler was a huge hit! It was $5 well spent! Do you remember Pop-Its from when you were a kid? I figured I'd let the kids try them for our 4th of July weekend and boy did they love them. They had so much fun! I'll post some pics of our 4th of July weekend fun soon. We ended the day with a late night pizza dinner on the deck followed by the kids first time doing sparklers. Great day with the family back together.

Today for the 4th of July we didn't have any big plans. The kids played in the sprinkler again, we grilled burgers, the kids did more Pop-Its, and then we went out to Okemos with Jess and her family and Brenda and her daughter to watch fireworks. The kids did some sparklers while waiting for the fireworks to start. The adults chatted and we did some sparklers too. It was a great evening and the firework show was spectacular! We went out there a couple years ago to watch fireworks, and this years seemed to be a lot better. I did miss being at the lake this year for firework, as did the kids. However, it just didn't work out with Greg coming back from Maine in the middle of the long weekend. Now it's back to somewhat of a normal routine around here with Greg back to work and all of us under one roof again. I definitely know that I don't like the single parent thing, and I really appreciate the family that we have! And a little bonus with finishing this blog... I'm finally caught up on my blogging! Yay me!

Time To Make The Jam Again

2011-06-30T23:56:00.007-04:00

Here it is the end of June, and it wasn't until about two weeks ago that I realized it's time to make the jam again for the next year. This month flew by and we've been so busy that it sort of slipped my mind. With everyone's busy schedules, just Liana and I made jam this year. Actually Elizabeth who has made jam in the past with us grew her own strawberries and made jam already. So the best day that worked the same for Liana and I was last Sunday. Greg's mom watched the kids for me so I could go pick berries and make jam.

Liana and I headed out about 10am to pick berries. Once again we went to Felzke Farms in DeWitt. I was glad that we went early because the weather was absolutely perfect. The sun was out, but it wasn't too hot yet. Once out in the fields we discovered that the berries were few and far between. There were a lot of smashed strawberries as well as bug eaten berries. This year we were a little later than in the past years, and a few days later sure made a difference. It was a good thing it was only Liana and I because the selection of strawberries to choose from weren't that great. We made a mental note to make sure we get out there earlier next year. The 20th-23rd of June seems to be the best couple of days to pick. It ended up taking us a little longer than we thought it would since we had to go up and down the aisles searching for the good berries. I knew I wasn't going to pick as much this year because I still have some jam left from last year. A little more than in previous years. With the slim pickings though, it worked out good to pick less. I ended up picking just over 10lbs of strawberries. Liana picked about 13lbs, 10 lbs for her and 3 lbs for her sister-in-law. Here's the berries we ended up with. Mine are on the left.

We headed back to Liana's to make the jam. It only took us a couple hours to make the jam. It went pretty fast since we didn't pick the normal 15 lbs we usually do, and there was only two of us making it this year. I ended up making eight batches this year, which is eight boxes of pectin and about 10lbs of sugar. Here's the link to the recipe again strawberry freezer jam. That gave me 18 containers of jam. I forgot to take a picture of the containers before I put them in the freezer. Instead of hauling them all back upstairs to the kitchen counter for a picture, you're going to get a crappy picture I snapped in the basement on top of the freezer.

Not the greatest picture, but at least you can see the jam I made. So another year of jam making is in the books, and we've got a nice supply to last us until next June!

Kick For The House Soccer Fundraiser

2011-06-29T23:03:00.003-04:00

Last weekend we had a busy Saturday. It was kind of a good thing to keep the kids busy because Greg left Saturday morning for Maine. Yes, that's right. My other half went to Maine for work to attend a week long workshop. I was dreading the day that he had to leave, not only for me, but also the kids. They're not used to daddy being away for that long, and neither am I. It's the longest he's been away from them. He left Saturday morning and started his drive to Maine. Yes, he drove by himself! I think he's crazy, but he wanted to. He made a two day road trip of it and stopped in New York for the night on Saturday. Then he drove the rest of the way on Sunday. I knew it wasn't going to be easy for the kids so I figured the best thing to do was keep them busy.

Thank goodness Cars 2 came out on Friday! Evan's been waiting and waiting and waiting for it to come out probably since the first one. He loves the Cars movie. As soon as he heard the date it was going to be in theaters, he didn't forget it. Greg's mom said she'd take the kids to see it, so we went to the first show on Saturday. We had plans later in the day and so did Greg's mom so it worked well to hit the first show. We got to the movie and were surprised to see my friend Jess and her family. The kids were excited to see Grace and Matt too and wanted to sit by them. The movie was pretty good, and the kids loved it. I think I probably like the first one a little bit better, but overall Cars 2 was worth seeing too. It was quite predictable, but was entertaining.

After the movie, we made a stop at Meijer on the way home. I had to get stuff to make jam (which I did on Sunday), and Evan had seen there was a Cars 2 promo thing going on at Meijer on Saturday. He saw a sign earlier in the week when he was there with Greg and also saw a commercial. I tell ya, the kid doesn't miss a beat! They had some coloring activities and some giveaways of Cars stickers, tattoos, and coloring sheets, as well as some food samples. It wasn't anything spectacular, but I had to go to Meijer anyway.

We headed home after Meijer for just a little bit, and then we headed out to Grand Ledge for a charity soccer event. My neighbor/friend Liana sent me an email about a soccer event with former MSU athletes. I thought the kids would LOVE to go to this, especially since Ev's favorite MSU football players Greg Jones and Javon Ringer were playing. The event was called Kick for the House and it raised money for the Ronald McDonald House of Mid-Michigan. It was held at the Grand Ledge Football field. There were various former MSU football and basketball players that volunteered to come out and play. This was our first soccer game we've been to so it was something new for the kids to experience.

The game was a couple hours long and there was also a chance to get autographs from the athletes. We got there a little early and we were able to get Greg Jones and Javon Ringer's autographs before the game. There was also "autograph alley" where the players sat at tables after the game and spectators could get autographs. We took a soccer ball to get signed and the kids also had little notebooks for autographs. I also threw in two of Ev's football jerseys in case we could get those signed which we did before the game started.

His #23 Javon Ringer jersey signed
His #53 Greg Jones Jersey signed

After we had gotten the jerseys signed, a guy from the State News (MSU Newspaper) came up to us and asked us if he could interview us. Our interview ended up making the paper on Monday which was pretty exciting. Evan reminded me all day that we had to go get a State News to check it out. We got a few copies to put in our "keepsake box." Here's the link to the article in the State News if you're interested in checking it out. State News Interview

We had a wonderful time at the soccer event. The kids loved meeting the athletes, especially Greg Jones. I was surprised how into Emmaline was too. She was right up there with her brother getting autographs. It looks like this will be an annual event so we really look forward to going again. It was a great Saturday afternoon. We only wished Greg could have joined us. I posted all the pictures on Facebook, but here's a few pictures from our afternoon at the soccer game.

The kids with former MSU football player Javon Ringer who now plays with the Tennessee Titans. What a really nice guy he is. I also had a great pic of Ev and Javon, but it's not showing up on my iPhoto for some reason.

The kids with last year senior MSU football player Greg Jones who will be playing this year with the NY Giants. Another great guy!

Greg Jones (center of pic) playing in the charity soccer game

Emme getting a high five from Greg Jones in "autograph alley"

The kids with former MSU basketball player Drew Neitzel

Ballet Class For Emmaline

2011-06-27T14:52:00.005-04:00

Last Wednesday, Emmaline started her first ballet class with Miss Kate at Elite Dance Company. Kate is my neighbor, the Jim and Kate I talk about often. Her husband Jim is Evan's buddy. She owns Elite Dance Company in East Lansing and the eight week summer ballet class we signed Emme up for started last week. My little girl has been waiting and waiting to go to Miss Kate's class. She thought when Evan started t-ball she could start dance, but since the class didn't start until mid June she's been having to wait. She was so excited finally last Wednesday when she could finally put on her new ballet outfit. Here she is already to go to ballet!

Starting class and following Miss Kate's instructions!

"Follow the leader feet" which the girls were a little confused and thought they were supposed to follow Miss Kate so they were right behind her.

My little ballerina with her "pizza feet"

My camera wasn't working right for some reason so my pics didn't come out that good. I'll get more at one of her other classes. Just wanted to post a few for your enjoyment!

Father's Day Weekend Part 2

2011-06-26T23:19:00.005-04:00

After our afternoon in Kalamazoo, we headed onto my sister's. We made a stop at the DQ on our way because I promised the kids ice cream if they were good in the car on the way down. They even got to get cones which they were pretty excited about. (I usually make them get their ice cream in a dish because it's just a lot easier and not a huge mess like the cones end up being.) Evan actually did pretty good with his cone. Emmaline of course got chocolate on her brand new shirt, but it wasn't too much and she did better than I expected. When we got to my sister's, we hung out there for a little bit, and then went over to my dad's for pizza dinner. After dinner we decided to do a bonfire at my sister's and the kids got to make s'mores again. Twice in one week, they were so excited! Thankfully the weather cooperated and it was a beautiful day and night for our outdoor activities.

On Saturday, my niece Kaite had a double-header softball game. We didn't go to the first game because it was pretty early, and we weren't all up and ready by then. We did make it to the second game though. Unfortunately I didn't take my camera so I didn't get any pics. Kaite did an awesome job and her team won both games. Evan was glad he got to watch her game. It's a little different than the t-ball he's used to, but it opened his eyes of what's to come if he keeps playing ball. We spent the late afternoon and evening at my dad's out on the boat. The weather was beautiful and just perfect out on the lake. The kids thoroughly enjoy being on the boat and they LOVE to drive the boat. We got in two boat rides on Saturday! First time around the lake they got to drive with grandpa. The second time we went back out they got to drive the boat with daddy. Below are some pictures from our lake visit on Saturday.

Grandpa bought the kids bubble wands. Why do kids love bubbles so much?

Emmaline is ready to do some boating!

Driver number one...

Driver number two

Sunday was Father's Day and we spent it back out on the boat. It was a beautiful day once again. Perfect to be on the lake. The kids got to drive the boat again which made them very happy! After our ride we had a nice steak dinner, and then we hit the road to head home. It was a nice relaxing weekend. Sunshine, beer, and the boat doesn't get much better than that! These are a few of my Father's Day photos. I'll post the rest in my album on Facebook hopefully this week!

Greg got a nice Father's Day card that Evan made all by himself. My little guy does such a great job making cards!

Emme lovin' her daddy!

Grandpa also got the kids some hula hoops which Evan actually did quite well with.

Father's Day Weekend Part I

2011-06-26T21:04:00.005-04:00

Our Father's Day weekend started a little early since Greg was on vacation. We were headed to my sister's and dad's for the weekend so we left Friday afternoon and stopped in Kalamazoo for lunch and then the park. Greg and I love Schlotzsky's which is no longer around E.Lansing. However, there is still one in Kalamazoo so once in awhile we'll stop there for lunch when we're passing through town. After lunch we took the kids to Milham Park again. We took them last summer one time and they loved it there. It's a huge park in Kzoo that I grew up going to all the time when I lived there. They played on the playground and fed the ducks. I forgot to take bread with us, but there was a family there that had a bunch of extra bread and they graciously gave us some. The kids were excited they got to feed the ducks. Emme's been wanting to go on campus for a couple months now to feed the ducks, and we just haven't gotten around to it. Here's some pictures for you to enjoy from our Friday afternoon at Milham Park.

Peek-a-boo coming through the tunnel

Emmaline chillaxin'

Em thought this was so much fun, but she didn't want daddy to let go of her.

Evan got a push from daddy and went flying across to the other side.

The kiddos throwing the bread to the ducks.

My two awesome kiddos! Aren't they cute?

What can I say? She loves to pose for the camera!

Stay tuned... part two of our weekend is to follow!

Camping & Summer Reading Program

2011-06-25T23:30:00.008-04:00

Wow, there just isn't enough hours in a day! I'm going to have to give you the super duper shortened version of a couple of things over the past couple weeks so I can get up to date. I hate being behind on here! So almost two weeks ago (the week of the 13th) Greg was on vacation. It was more of a staycation because we weren't going on vacation anywhere, but at least he had some time off work. He decided to take the kids camping on that Tuesday night. They only went for one night because with Evan's t-ball and Father's day weekend it was pretty much all they had. This was Em's first time camping and she was super excited to go with her brother and daddy. They just went out to Sleepy Hollow about 20 minutes from here in case Em wanted to come home and didn't like it. I on the other hand opted to stay home. I'm not much of a camper. Maybe one time they'll get me out there. So with that said, the three of them went and had a fun time. They walked the trails, biked, played at the park campground, and made s'mores.

Greg text me about 9pm and said Emmaline told him she had just seen a cat take something from their picnic table. He went to chase it away and came back to the campfire, and asked her about it again. Then she told him it was black and white. He never saw it, but thank goodness he didn't because more than likely it was a skunk. He's pretty lucky he didn't get sprayed chasing it away. He thought it might have just taken a banana peel, but they weren't sure. When they got home the next day and we were putting food and stuff away I asked him where the loaf of bread was he took. He said he didn't know and thought I put it away already. So we determined that the "cat" a.k.a. skunk took the loaf of bread and not a banana peel. Here's a few pics from their camping expedition. I don't have time to post all my recent pics on here so I can get caught up. So hopefully over this next week, I'll be making an album on Facebook and adding pics to it little by little.

Ready to camp at Sleepy Hollow

Sweet sibling love...got the tent all set up!

Almost s'mores time!

Time for bed! All snuggled up tight in our sleeping bags! They text me this picture... "Good night mommy!"

Wednesday afternoon when they came home we headed to the library so the kids could get their "Reading Passports" for the summer reading program. They have to read or do reading activities for 20 minutes each day and then after they get their seven checks for the week they get a little prize each week. We did this last year, but this year the library is doing it a little different. We spent a good hour or so at the library and the kids picked out books to bring home for the month. Here's Evan and Emmaline looking for books, and the stack of books we ended up taking home!

Our 10 year Anniversary

2011-06-23T22:15:00.005-04:00

Wow, what a difference 10 years makes! Today Greg and I are celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary. Two apartments, two houses, two dogs, and two kids later, the two of us are still very happily married and going strong. It's hard to believe that 10 years has gone by. There's been lots of ups and downs (more ups than downs) throughout our marriage, but it's been a great ten years. I look forward to many many more years of wedded bliss. The weather was pretty crappy today. It rained off and on all day, and it was a bit chilly. Thank goodness 10 years ago it was a nice beautiful sunny day. We didn't have any big plans for today. I know right? We should have been going on some nice vacation just the two of us. Well when you have two kids that just doesn't happen right now. Greg did take the day off work so it was nice to have him home. We had a leisurely morning around the house with the kids. We celebrated with the kids out to lunch at where else of course, Noodles and Company. I love that place. It never gets old. They have some excellent new summer salads!

Then Greg's mom graciously watched the kids again for us so we could go out to a nice kid free dinner. We went to Ukai of course. It's the go to place for special occasions. It was actually our first time there just the two of us. Usually we're there with family and the kids. We were hoping for a nice pleasant dinner, but the group sitting at our table kind of ruined that. Four very loud, very annoying, very rude, Jersey Shore wannabe's was not what we wanted to share our Anniversary dinner with by any means. We decided to make the best of a not so good situation and posted some things on Facebook which got a few laughs. Seriously though folks, these people never stopped talking or drinking (and doing lots of shots), and they were so rude to the waitress and the cook when he was making our meal. (In case you don't remember, at Ukai they cook the food right at your table.) Thank goodness the food was excellent so we still had somewhat of a nice anniversary dinner. Greg told me I needed to take a picture of the "Jersey Shore four." So after a few attempts trying to get a decent picture discreetly, I was able to get one. My friend Jess told me I had to put it in the blog so without further ado, here's the Jersey Shore gang we had dinner with. LOL. It's kind of hard to see the girl on the left, but she really actually looked a lot like Snooki . (Just so you know, I do not watch Jersey Shore.)

The last picture is the surprise I got in the mail today. I got 18 beautiful red roses from Greg. The first time I ever got flowers in the mail from Greg they were red roses from the same place. Aren't they lovely? Thank you honey!

I've still got a couple things to catch you up on from last week which is my goal for tomorrow.

My New Wheels

2011-06-20T21:18:00.003-04:00

I hate being so far behind on this blog. I'm working on catching up really I am. It's just how it is so bare with me. Soon I will be caught up... hopefully. Haha. So I'm going to give you a quick post about my new car. It's been just over a week since I finally got my new wheels. We got them a week ago this past Friday (the 10th). It was a long wait for this car. About 2 1/2 months to be exact. We got a new Ford Explorer and basically they're just nowhere to be found. It's a hot item among cars these days. We got the call two weeks ago that it was finally in, but we couldn't get to the dealer until the end of that week so a few more days we had to wait. It was well worth it though. I love my new Explorer. I think Ford did a great job with the redesign, and it looks beautiful. While I really really loved my Mountaineer and I do miss it, it's really not too hard to get used to the new car. It's got lots of new fun features, and I'm loving the dual panel moonroof. The kids love it too because they can look up into the sky from the backseats. I'm still learning how to use some of the new features, but in time I should hopefully have it all down. Here's a few pictures of my new ride.

Bye bye old car...

Hello new car!

Another angle...

And one more picture... all week I didn't want to put too much gas in the Mountaineer because I didn't want to turn the car in with a full tank. Not with the price of gas these days. So when we pulled into the dealer this is what was left...

I think I did pretty good.

End Of The School Year Ice Cream Party

2011-06-16T23:00:00.008-04:00

I'm back trying to get caught up still. I told you about Evan's last day of school. It's hard to believe it's already been a week since they've been out. Now for the end of the school year ice cream party. I told Evan since he did so good in school this year that we could have an ice cream party at the neighborhood park with some of his friends if he wanted. He thought that was a very cool idea. Plan A was, I told him he could invite ten kids from class and we'd have the party at the park. If it rained then we'd just do at the house. Then it ended up being that I didn't have everyone's contact information, and I couldn't have him pass out invites to just some of the class at school (that's frowned upon at school). So we went with Plan B which was we'd just invite the whole class. I decided to put a rain date on the invite because there was no way I was having the whole class in this house. Then we crossed our fingers that one of the two dates would end up being a nice day. It was a little last minute throwing it together so I figured more than likely half the class wouldn't be able to attend. The plan was the kids could meet at the park and play for a little bit and then they could build their own sundaes at the ice cream sundae bar!

We ended up having about half the class (yay I guessed right), and I invited Jess and her kids to join us. The weather cooperated and last Thursday evening turned out to be nice and sunny (yay again)! We had chocolate and vanilla ice cream. The toppings included chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup, three kinds of sprinkles, crushed Oreo cookies, and marachino cherries. The kids played for probably about 45 minutes, then they made their sundaes and ate, and then played a little more. They all had a really good time and the parents thought it was a great idea and way to end the school year. I'm so glad we decided to do it! Here's some pictures from the fun evening. I didn't get as many as I would have liked.

The boys were playing tag. Evan going after his friend Ko, and Ben up on the stairs.

Emme found a friend in Jaidyn (Evan's little crush) and they played together all evening.

Emme even got Jaidyn's dad to push her on the swings.

Evan's friends, Joey and Ben were first in line to make their sundaes.

Evan making his sundae!

Some of the girls eating their sundaes. Notice Emmaline sitting next to Jaidyn. I was scooping ice cream so I had Greg snap a few pics, but the boys were too fast and by the time I got done scooping they were already back on the playground.

Before I leave tonight, just a little fun tidbit. It was five years ago today that we moved into our house. It's hard to believe in a way. At times it seems like we've been here forever, and at other times it doesn't seem like it's been five years.

We Have A 1st Grader!

2011-06-14T21:41:00.004-04:00

Last week brought the end of the school year for Evan. Where oh where did the year of kindergarten go? It flew by so fast! I remember my little guy going off to kindergarten on the first day of school, and now he's all done! We now have a first grader in our house. That seems so weird to say. Thursday was Evan's last day of school and the kindergarten classes had picnics out on the playground. Each student could bring their family to the picnic which was really nice. Greg was able to leave work for a little bit, and he, Emme, and I went to the picnic. Emmaline was so excited to get to go to brother's school. She was too cute just making herself at home in Evan's class. It was just like she knew what to do. Here's some pictures from our morning at school on the last day!

Heading out for the picnic. Yep, that's Emme! She jumped in line with all the other kids.

The kids getting their picnic lunch!

Emme was off to play on the playground with all the other kids!Evan and Em wanted to watch Mrs. Mills open her present!

Mrs. Mills' presents are in the photo below. Evan gave her this cup that said, "thank you for quenching my thirst for knowledge" which I saw the idea on Pinterest. He also gave Mrs. Mills a Biggby gift card, and then I put a UL bee on this jar and filled with M&M's. Evan's class was the Bee Room. Evan also made a really nice card too which I forgot to snap a picture of.

The students got beads which meant they are officially 1st graders! Here's Evan getting his!

Mrs. Mills had to get a hug from Evan. She told me she's really going to miss him.

Leaving school for summer vacation! Yep, Emme even got some beads too!

Evan had a fantastic year in Kindergarten. We couldn't have asked for a better teacher. Mrs. Mills was wonderful and we're really going to miss her. I'm so proud of my little guy and how much he grew over the school year. I never imagined how good of a reader and writer he'd be by the end of Kindergarten. He brought home his report card on the last day of school and for the third time in a row he got a perfect report card with all "M's" (Meets expectations- the highest letter one can get on their report card). Lots of great memories from Kindergarten for him. Mommy, Daddy, and Emme are all so proud of you Evan. Keep up the awesome work in first grade!

The Rundown

2011-06-13T16:40:00.006-04:00

Wow, I was a bad girl last week when it comes to blogging. I was on Monday and then somehow the week zipped by with various activities (maybe some pinning too), and here it is Monday again. I've got a lot of things I need to give you the rundown on. So while it all happened last week and over the weekend, it's going to take me a couple of days probably this week to get through it all. Or at least a couple posts a day to get through it.

First up is t-ball games because my family has been begging, pestering, ordering me to get some pics of Ev's t-ball games posted. I tell them yeah, yeah, I'll get to it soon. I'm busy lately! So now's the time I'm getting to it. Evan started his first game last Monday. He's got games Mondays and Wednesday nights for the month of June. It's going to go by fast I know. He loves it though and I'm so glad we signed him up for it. Games are played at one of the East Lansing elementary schools. There's three fields and ten teams, and they rotate the fields they play on and the teams they play. The coach rotates the positions they play and all games are about an hour long. Usually both teams get to have all kids up to bat two or three times. They don't keep score, it's more just for fun, but they do make the kids go out of the game if they get an out. In just two games last week I couldn't believe how much the kids on Ev's team had improved from the first to the second game. Evan's doing a really great job hitting the ball! Here's some pics from the first game.

The team waiting to bat.

My left-handed batter getting ready to bat. He's learned the pre-batting moves from some of the other kids. It's really too funny to watch these kids!

Running home!

He got to play catcher...... and he got to play pitcher! (No pitching obviously in t-ball, but many times the ball isn't hit past the pitcher so lots of action getting the ball right here)

Little Miss Giggles at her brother's game!

So that's some of the pics. I'll post more on Facebook soon. I'll try to be back later tonight (no promises) to continue on with some more of our busy last week. We had the last day of school, Evan's end of the school year ice cream party, my new car, and the weekend! Stay tuned....

Beautiful Weekend

2011-06-06T22:57:00.002-04:00

It was an absolutely beautiful weekend from start to finish! We had a nice relaxing evening doing fun stuff. Friday night Evan had a classmate's birthday party to go to. I took him since I sort of know the mom from helping out at school. Jackson, (the classmate) was having a Lego birthday party which Evan couldn't have been more thrilled about. We all know how Evan LOVES Legos. Emmaline and Greg had some daddy/daughter time riding bikes and going to the park while we were at the party. The birthday party was fun and there were lots of kids from Ev's class there. All together there were probably at least 20 kids. I don't know how Jackson's mom stayed so calm through it all as the kids went from one floor to the next in her immaculate new house. They played and played, did some party games, and watched Jackson open his presents. Jackson is a special needs child. He has down syndrome so he needs help with some things. Since there were so many kids there were lots of presents for Jackson to open. Most of the kids got tired of sitting around as Jackson opened presents and ran off to play. I was so proud of my Evan for staying behind and helping Jackson out. He was a very good helper. We had a very nice time at the party and Evan was excited that he got to bring home some Legos in his goody bag.

Saturday we didn't do a whole lot. Ev and I went to a few garage sales in the morning, but we didn't find anything good. I must give myself a pat on the back because of the garage sales we went to, I have to say nobody sets up a garage sale like I do. Most that we stopped to had junk, pure junk that should have just been thrown out and everything was just thrown in piles on tables or on the driveway pavement. Seriously it made me not even want to look. We were at nice houses too and some of the stuff was so old and gross. I told Evan not to touch anything. It might take a little more time to organize stuff, but I think it's worth it to make it appealing to customers to buy. We even ran across a house that had a "tip jar" on their checkout table. Really? I just couldn't believe it. While we were out Ev got a haircut that was much needed. He's got a cute fairly short summer cut (shorter than we normally cut it). After we got home we lounged around, and I ended up taking a nice long nap on the couch while the kids and Greg watched a movie upstairs. Then we went out to dinner and finally used our gift certificate we won at Greg's work Christmas party. We ran a few errands and came home and finally got to sit out on the deck and have some drinks. It seems like every weekend we have tried to relax on the deck and light the tiki torches it rains. It was a nice relaxing evening and my friend Jess came down and hung out too.

Sunday Greg went for a bike ride in the morning. We went for a late lunch with Greg's mom, and then we made a Sam's run for a few things. Later on we took the kids mini golfing. Last summer a few people told us about the golf course down the road has free mini golf for residents of our neighborhood. We never got around to checking it out last year. More like we always forgot about it. Anyhow, we went to check it out and sure enough there was a mini 18 hole putt putt course at the golf course. All four of us mini golfed for free! The kids had fun putt putting around. Since we had a late lunch we weren't really hungry for dinner so we did the Tasty Twist dinner again. It was hot and worked out great instead of having to cook in the heat. The kids wanted to play outside when we got home so we went for a walk/bike ride and then headed to the neighborhood park. It was a nice ending to a great weekend.

Now we're on the last week of school for Evan. Only three more days and I'll have a first grader. WHAT???? I just can't believe it. Tonight Ev had his first t-ball game. It was a lot of fun to watch the kids. I'll post some pics tomorrow.

Memorial Weekend Wrap Up

2011-06-01T21:23:00.002-04:00

Wow, this week is flying by. That's good and bad. Nice it's a short week, but I feel like I have a lot of things I wanted to get done around the house this week that aren't getting done. Yes, part of it is because of my "pinning," but part because tomorrow is Thursday already. I guess there's always next week. We had a nice Memorial Day weekend which started with a garage sale Friday and Saturday. The Homeowner's Association finally organized a neighborhood garage sale. When I first heard it was Memorial Day weekend, I wasn't too keen on the idea. However we weren't going anywhere so I decided I'd jump in with the rest and do a sale. It turned out to be a successful sale so I guess it was worth my time. I wouldn't say it was any better than some sales I've had in the past, but I was able to get rid of some big items that were taking up room in the garage. Friday was a super busy day. Probably one of the busiest days I've had for a garage sale. Saturday was a little slower with the rain in the morning, but I still got rid of some more things. While I got rid of a lot of stuff, I still have a lot of things so I'll probably be doing my sale again in July. There's about four other houses that want to do sales too so hopefully we can coordinate the same weekend.

The kids got to go see Kung Fu Panda 2 with Greg's mom Friday afternoon while I had my sale. They ended up wanting to spend the night so after a long day doing the garage sale we ended it with a movie and free taco/nacho bar at Lou Ha's again. We went with my friend Brenda to see Hangover 2, which I thought was pretty funny. It was predictable after seeing Hangover 1, but I still thought it was a little funnier than the first. After the movie we met up with my friend Jess and a few others at Lou Ha's. Who doesn't need a drink after a long day of garage sale? It was much needed and the bonus free taco/nacho bar was perfect for our dinner. We ended up coming back to our house after Lou Ha's and watched Hangover 1 because Brenda hadn't seen it before.

Saturday we had a guy come out to take care of a bird issue we've been having. The birds like to build nests in the vents on the sides of the houses around here. We noticed a few weeks ago that they've chosen our house finally. Our neighbors Jim and Kate also have had the same problem, as well as some other neighbors. I tracked down the guy that does the siding on new builds around here a few weeks ago and he said he doesn't really do the vent covers anymore, but if I found enough people to make it worth his time he'd do it for me. So I rounded up 6 houses for him to put screens on the vents. He said he'd do the three vents for $100 per house, but since I did all the leg work getting the houses together he'd only charge us $75. I thought that was nice of him, and I was so glad he was able to get it done before the issue got worse.

Sunday we didn't do too much. Just some things around the house and then pretty much chilled. We got that bad storm late Sunday afternoon which pretty much kaput any plans for the night. We were hoping to have drinks on the deck with friends and get the tiki torches going for the first time, but that didn't happen. Monday Greg went for a ride with our neighbor Rich and then in the afternoon we decided to have a cookout and Rich & Liana and their daughter Veronica came over, as well as Brenda and her daughter Keyera. We grilled burgers and hot dogs and had a few adult beverages to cool us down on what turned out to be an incredibly hot hot day! We did a late lunch early dinner so we opted for ice cream for dinner later on. We made a trip to the Tasty Twist which hit the spot since it was so hot!

It was a great weekend overall, and now we're counting down the days until the end of the school year. Only six more days of school! How is that possible. Today Evan's class had a field trip to the Nature Center so Greg helped out with that. Evan was so excited that daddy got to go to school with him. I sent my camera to school with Greg, but I haven't even had a chance to look at the pictures yet. I'll try to post some tomorrow if he got any good one's. So that brings you up to date on our long weekend and only two more days and it's the weekend again! Yay!

2011-05-31T21:27:00.005-04:00

O.k. I'm finally getting around to telling you about my new addiction. I'll recap our Memorial Day weekend next time, but this post is long overdue so I must tell you about Pinterest! I can't believe I didn't hear about it sooner, but thanks to my friend Ann who introduced it on her blog, and now she's gotten me seriously addicted! The website Pinterest is basically a site where you can keep a virtual pinboard. You catalog collections of things you love and can refer back to them at a later time. You have to request an invite to be able to "pin" things. I understand this can take a little time, but when I requested mine it only took maybe four days. I think if a friend sends you an invite then it moves a long a little faster from my understanding. Once you get your invite accepted and create your account (it's all free), you're free to "pin" away! Watch out this gets seriously addicting, but so much fun! You can create different boards and "pin" items you find on the Internet to a specific board, for example, one of my boards is "recipes to try." The link to the original website is saved and no more hassle of bookmarking. Each item is saved with a picture which makes it very nice to refer back too. It's brilliant, absolutely brilliant! Think of all those times you've seen something on the Internet and wished you wrote down the site or bookmarked it, and you've forgotten where to find it again. Now you can go right to your Pinterest account, and it's all right there! Below are some of the things I've been "pinning!"

Here's a couple things off my board "Ideas to Remember"
This is so simple for those hot summer days when the kids are eating popsicles. Put a cupcake liner on the popsicle stick to catch the drips! So easy to think of yet, I've never thought of it!

This one is also a great idea. Use a tea jar and fill with bubble solution so the kids can refill their own bubble containers. My kids are always asking me to get them more bubbles, this is a must!

The next two are off my boards "Recipes to try"
This is another thing that makes me say, "Why didn't I think of that?" Stuffing raspberries with chocolate/white chocolate chips. How fun if you're entertaining!

How great are these strawberries for 4th of July? Dip them in white chocolate and then blue sugar sprinkles. So fun!

This next one is on my "Party Planning" board.
Great time saver for birthday parties- freeze scoops of ice cream in cupcake liners the night before so the ice cream is ready to be served with the cake!

Those are a few of my finds so far. I could go on and on. It's really a great site. Ann calls it "Internet Crack" and it's quite fitting. I've already got a couple of my friends addicted and they've passed the addiction on to their friends. My friend Brenda said we might need a support group and have monthly meetings. Hahaha! If you find yourself with nothing to do some afternoon go check it out. You can browse all you want, but you can't "pin" until you request and get the invite accepted. You'll find everything from images of food you'll want to try, to arts and crafts ideas you can do with the kids, to fun quotes you might want to remember, to images of beautiful rooms that will give you decorating inspiration, to beautiful places around the world you'll want to put on your "travel" board. Not only can you create your own pinboards, but you can also follow other peoples pinboards. It's so fun! So if I'm not blogging you know why now. You'll probably find me pinning. I can't even tell you the ridiculous amounts of time I've spent on it. Ahhhhh Pinterest why are you so addicting? If you want to see what I'm pinning you can follow along at http://pinterest.com/lisakohuth/

A Perfect Saturday On Campus

2011-05-23T21:57:00.004-04:00

Hello readers! I know I'm so slacking on the blogging. I've got a new addiction that I promise to tell you about next time, but I want to catch you up on our busy busy weekend! I feel like I've been in overdrive since Friday afternoon and haven't stopped. We ordered mulch for around the house and it was delivered Friday around noon. Our neighbors Jim and Kate ordered some too so we ordered together so we could split the delivery charge. I got started shortly after 1pm on Friday filling the wheelbarrow, hauling the wheelbarrow, and spreading the mulch over and over and over. Finally about 5:30pm Kate and I finished and we were exhausted and aching all over. Both the husbands got home just about the time we were finishing. Very convenient huh? We did pretty good on the mulch and only had a little bit extra. Kate brought out some skinny margaritas and then we had a beer. Much needed after an afternoon out in the sun doing hard labor. I wasn't cooking after all that so we all got cleaned up and Jim & Kate went down to Lou Ha's with us for dinner. We had their free taco/nacho bar that they have on Friday nights at 8pm. We missed out on it the week before when we were there. All you have to do is order alcohol and it's free. So beer and nachos it was!

Saturday was a busy busy day. I got up early and headed downtown East Lansing to the Art Fair. I love this time of year when the Art Fair rolls around. I met up with my friend Wesley there and we strolled around looking at all the booths. Then Greg and the kids met me on campus around 11am so we could go to the Junior Spartan Club spring picnic. If you remember we joined the kids last fall in the Junior Spartan Club which we got to go to a football game and then the kids got into different sporting events free throughout the year. I heard about the picnic a couple weeks ago and mentioned it to my friend Marie. Her kids are in the club too so they met up with us there and went to the picnic too. There was free hot dogs, popcorn, pop, and ice cream. Plus they also had a kids area with a bounce house set up, a soccer area, and a baseball area. There were student athletes from various sports that attended and hung out with the kids. My Evan quickly made friends with the guys and before I knew it they were passing by saying, "Hi Evan!" That's my little social bug! Of course Emme was all about the cheerleaders there. Once again she wanted a picture and had to hold the poms. The kids also got to see Sparty which they were excited about. I think my Emme has finally passed that stage of being afraid of characters. She was all about getting a picture with Sparty again just like she did at the Lugnuts/MSU games last month. After the picnic, families got to attend the MSU baseball game for free. We had never been to a baseball game on campus so it was a first for us. Just the kids and I went because Greg had a bike race he was doing. We stayed for five innings, but then the kids were ready to go because it was so hot and we had been in the sun for a few hours. Plus they wanted to go to the art fair for a little bit. The Spartans ended up losing the game which was a bummer because they would have been outright Big Ten champs, but instead they clinched a part of the title and are Co-Big Ten Champs. First time since 1979 so pretty exciting. Congrats Spartan baseball team! Here's a few pics from our afternoon at the picnic. I shared the rest on Facebook.

Emmaline with the cheerleaders!

Evan with his "buddies"

The kiddos with their favorite mascot!

The kids and I walked over to the art fair and did some of the kid activities. They had a fun time, but it was a hot day on Saturday so they were a little restless! I'm not complaining about the heat, but once again Michigan weather brings no gradual warm up. It goes from the 30's the weekend before to the upper 70's-80's this weekend. The kids got to do a bunch of different arts and crafts-masks, bracelets, crowns, coloring. Finally about 4pm we decided to call it a day on campus and head home. Greg was doing this bike race his buddy Layne from work put together, and I figured he'd be getting home soon. Then we were to head over to Layne's house for a BBQ. I had to stop at Meijer on the way home and apparently I lost my mind there because when I got home I didn't have my phone. I hauled the kids back to Meijer and was praying it was in the only spot I could think it would be. Sure enough it was on the shelf where I thought it was and I was so relieved. The kids were troopers hustling back in the store while I was in my frantic state of mind. Finally we got home about 5pm and we waited and waited for Greg. The race ended up taking longer than all the guys thought. The bike race consisted of riding, target shooting, an obstacle course and canoeing down the Red Cedar rive. They left from campus on bikes and ended at campus in the canoes. Finally by the time Greg got home and cleaned up we got out to Layne's house for the BBQ around 8pm. It was a nice gathering and the spouses got to hear about the race. When we got home Saturday night, I was pretty much ready to drop. Two days of on the go non-stop with an achy sunburned body was enough for me.

Although not quite enough because Sunday we all headed back to the Art Fair since Greg didn't get to go on Saturday. The kids wanted to do more arts and crafts. We also walked around some more, but after just a couple hours we were done! It was hotter than Saturday, it was packed downtown East Lansing, and the kids and I had sunburns so we were really uncomfortable. I felt so bad for the kiddos that I forgot the sunscreen on Saturday. :( We just took it easy the rest of the day. I was exhausted and just wanted to sit after being on my feet for two days. Emme hadn't had a nap in two days so she had a much needed one on Sunday!

Today I got absolutely nothing done. Part due to my new addiction I'll tell you about next time and part because I'm still trying to recover from the weekend. I really need to get it in gear over the next few days because I'm supposed to be having a garage sale this weekend. It's really the last thing I feel like doing, but the neighborhood is having one so I figured it would be a good time to do as well. Wish me luck getting ready!

T-ball Time

2011-05-17T22:45:00.005-04:00

Big news at the Shearwater Nest! Well at least for Evan it is. I thought I mentioned in my previous blog post that Evan's other top middle tooth was loose when the one fell out last week. Looking back though I guess I didn't. Anyhow, both top middle teeth were loose at the same time. After the one fell out, then the other one got a little looser. It too was pretty much dangling by one side. Well yesterday evening Greg was getting Evan in the car and they were goofing around. Evan was giggling up a storm and bit down on his lip and his tooth ended up popping out. Once again Evan has a new look.

So within a matter of five nights the tooth fairy paid another visit to our house. Evan got another two dollars for his tooth. He says he's saving up for the space shuttle Lego that he really wants. Speaking of the space shuttle. Monday the Endeavour shuttle launch finally happened after a two week delay. Evan had been asking and asking when the launch was going to happen. He was so excited to see the shuttle launch once again. It happened while he was at school so I had to DVR it so he could watch when he got home. Later in the day I saw a photo posted that some lady took while on a flight from NY to Florida. She took a picture of the space shuttle from the plane.What a once in a lifetime photo opportunity. How cool would that be?

In other news, it's t-ball time in our household. Last month we signed Evan up for t-ball and ever since then that's all he's been talking about. Tonight was finally his first practice and boy was he excited. He's got practice twice a week until June and then his games start. There are only eight games so I'm sure it will go fast, but I'm sure he's going to have lots of fun nonetheless. Last year we were gone on vacation during t-ball so he couldn't play. His team is called the Clearwater Threshers and their mascot is a shark. I guess all the teams this year are named after minor league baseball clubs and the coach gets to pick the name. We're looking forward to Evan learning a new sport and having a fun time with it.

Before I leave tonight I'd like to wish my friends Brenda and Missy a very happy birthday! The 17th is a great day to have a birthday!

Happy 35th Birthday Greg!!!

2011-05-15T21:08:00.004-04:00

Today is Greg's birthday! For those of you that don't know, Greg is younger than me. He hit the big 35 today. Finally he's not two years younger than me. For that whole two months between mine and his birthday I have to hear how I'm two years older. Now he's 35 and we're back to only being a year apart. He didn't want to do anything special for his 35th so we just had a pretty much quiet day. He would like to have gone for a bike ride, but the weather this weekend just didn't cooperate. For crying out loud it was warmer on March 17th than it was today! Geesh Mother Nature what's the deal? It went from cold to super hot, and now it's back to cold. We did do a little pre-birthday celebration and went out Friday night to the new sports bar down the road, Lou and Harry's, with our friends Brenda and Jessica. Then we came back to our house and a co-worker of Greg's came over with his wife. We sat around and pretty much drank. I got to break in my new birthday martini glasses and cocktail shaker! It was a nice evening of good times with great friends! Today Greg chose Tomato Brothers in Howell for his birthday lunch/dinner with his mom. It was a crappy day for a drive, but the food there is awesome so it was worth it! Happy happy birthday to my wonderful husband! We all love you very much!

Now in other Shearwater Nest news.. Tuesday I volunteered for one of the last times in Evan's class. I had been going in every second Tuesday of the month to help out. I really enjoyed it, and with the end of the school year in sight that means the volunteering is coming to an end. It makes me a little sad. I'll be in one more time to help out on the last day of school which I'm looking forward to, but also will be a little sad that it will be Evan's last day with his teacher. He's had an awesome school year with an awesome teacher!

Wednesday the tooth fairy paid a visit to our house. Evan lost his third tooth. This time it was the top middle tooth. It had been loose for what seemed to be FOREVER. It dangled there, was crooked, and would not come out when Greg tried to pull it a few times. We didn't want to force it out so we let it be and knew it would fall out when it was ready. It finally did while eating a burrito for dinner. Ev was pretty excited and couldn't wait to put it in his tooth box. This time the "tooth fairy" brought $2. It was $10 for the first tooth, $5 for the second, and I decided for the rest the amount would come down. Here's Evan's new look!

Let's see what else... Last weekend our dryer went out. I came home from my mom's and Greg informed me that his clothes had been drying for over two hours and they weren't getting dry. So we went to Sears and browsed around at new one's. Then Monday we went to Best Buy and browsed around there. We went back and forth about should we call to have someone come out to look at it and fix it or should we just get a new one. The dryer is nine years old and we thought what if we spend the money to fix it and there's not guarantee it's going to last. So after finding a dryer on clearance at Best Buy, we decided to just go ahead and get a new one. We stumbled upon a new washer too on clearance even though we didn't really need one. It was too good of a deal to pass up so we walked out with both a new washer and a new dryer. We went with the high efficiency front load, and I think we're going to be really happy with it. The guy at Best Buy told us that the old style washers use 50-60 gallons of water per load and the front load high efficiency washers use about 20 gallons of water per load. That's crazy! Looks like we saved money on our clearance washer and we'll be saving money on our water bill! The washer and dryer arrived on Friday and as much as I hate doing laundry sometimes, I was happy to be able to do laundry again after a week of no dryer!

Yesterday Emmaline and I had a girls afternoon. Our neighbor Kate owns a dance studio and she invited us to the spring recital. We've been thinking about enrolling Emmaline in dance classes again so this was a great opportunity for Em to see all the dancers. It was held at Okemos high school and the performances were fabulous! We both had a great time and enjoyed all the different dance routines. Emmaline loved it! It was a great thing to do inside on a crappy Saturday afternoon! Thanks Kate for the invite! Now it's time to call it a night and get ready for a new week!

Mother's Day Weekend

2011-05-10T21:51:00.004-04:00

We had a nice Mother's Day weekend. It started with some drinks Friday night. Greg and I went to Pizza House with our friend Brenda and had a couple hours of kid free time. Brenda and I had a couple bloody Mary's. We love Pizza House bloody Mary's. I'm pretty sure they're the best in town. They load them up with what we call a "salad" in our bloody Mary, celery, pickle, and lots and lots of olives! So yummy! It was nice to have some adult conversation without two little one's interrupting.

Saturday the kids and I headed to GR again. Greg was supposed to work, but then ended up not having too. He still decided to stay home so he could work on my cousins wedding album. Remember our trip to Arizona last May for the wedding. Well my cousins have finally picked out their picks for the album so now Greg's putting it together. He got the book half done over the weekend It's going to look nice when it's all finished! My sister and Kaite also were in GR and we once again ran a bunch of errands for my mom since she's still laid up. Only 9 more days and she can start walking on her foot again. Yay! We got all the errands run on Saturday as well as got things around the house done. We ended the day with Chinese for dinner which was nice. Thanks mom for dinner. I hadn't had Chinese for awhile and it hit the spot.

Sunday we had a nice breakfast before the kids and I headed home. My sister made a tasty egg casserole and we had some fresh fruit with it. I'll post the recipe soon for the casserole. I think many of you would enjoy it. Thanks Jen for making breakfast. It was a fast weekend since we were only there for one day, but we got everything done and the weather even cooperated and it was beautiful Saturday and Sunday! Thanks to my mom for helping out with the gas tank again! These gas prices up and down (mostly up) lately are ridiculous!

The kids and I headed back and we had a nice afternoon at home. Evan gave me the stuff he made at school and he really did melt my heart. He was so proud of the stuff he made me, and I was so proud of the hard work he did on everything.

Here are a few of the things he made. The green envelope he decorated and then inside was the bookmark he made and the hand flower poem.

Also inside was this "I love my mom because..."

the back of the paper.

It read as follows: I love my mom because she makes good macaroni and cheese. I love my mom because she helps me write a book. And she likes to go to the park. And she likes to go on a walk. Love, Evan

Too too sweet. He did an awesome job writing all those sentences! I'm going to frame his hand poem and hang it up. I will treasure these forever!

We had a late lunch early dinner at Champp's with Greg's mom. Champp's was giving out free gift cards to all mom's. It's a gift card that is good for a year, and it's $10 off $25 every month. Pretty good deal. Last year they did the same thing except it was $15 off $25. I guess with the economy they had to make adjustments. Still a good deal since we do go to Champps often. After lunch we spent some time outside with the kids. Nobody really wanted a big dinner later on so we just went to Tasty Twist and had ice cream since it was such a nice day. It was a great ending to a nice Mother's Day weekend. I'm so lucky to have the two kids that I do. Evan and Emmaline you mean the world to me. You know I love you to the moon and back. You two are such wonderful blessings in my life. I love being a mom and you bring me joy each and every day.

Our Weekend In Photos- Part Two

2011-05-04T22:42:00.005-04:00

Continuing on with our busy weekend...

On Saturday Evan seemed to be feeling better so we took the kids to the MSU Football Spring Practice "Green/White" game. It's our third year going and finally the weather was fairly decent. It was a little windy, but the sun was out and at least it wasn't raining. We got to campus, and I couldn't believe the traffic. I've never seen so many people at the spring game. I think being Big Ten co-champs the fans were ready for some Spartan football and hoping for some great things come fall. Lots of green and white support in the stands cheering on the Spartans!

My cheesy Emme ready to watch some Spartan football!

Evan didn't want to looks at the camera, he was too busy watching the players warm up!

The Green and White warming up.

The greatest college mascot around... Sparty doing push ups center field!

She loves the Spartan Fight Song! Clapping along all the time! I think I'm raising her well! :)

The "Green" offense on the field for the first time, with Kirk Cousins at quarterback!During the "mini" halftime some former players were introduced. The guy in the middle (6th from left), one of Ev's favorites... Javon Ringer.

Coach Dantonio being sneaky again and pulling out the tricks. You see the tall guy in white (#83)? That's basketball player Draymond Green. He was just filling in for the practice game. It was too funny seeing him on the field. He had a huge false start foul and the announcer said, "Draymond, in basketball that would be called traveling." It got a good laugh out of the crowd!

Touchdown for the green team at the end of the 3rd quarter right before we left.

We had a fun time and cheered for the "Green." We left a little early because it looked like rain and was cooling down a little. The Green beat the White 24-10.

Saturday night the kids went to see African Cats with Greg's mom and then ended up spending the night. Greg had to work Saturday night so I had the house all to myself. Ahhhh, peace and quiet!

Sunday the Home Goods in Lansing opened! Woo hoo! I was there right at 8am, but there was a long line that I wasn't about to stand in. Finally after the crowd filed in the store which moved fairly quickly, I headed in as well. I shopped around and by the time I was ready to check out with my few things the line was around the back of the store. I decided it wasn't worth waiting in that line so I decided to leave and go back later. Greg ended up going back with me and it was still busy, but the line was shorter and moved quickly. I still ended up getting everything I had in my cart earlier.

Sunday afternoon we had a birthday party to go to for the kids friend Matthew (Jess' kid). It was a nice party and we hung out there for awhile. The kids had a blast playing with Grace and Matthew. It was a nice afternoon. Thanks for the invite Jess. Here's the kids watching Matthew blow out his candles on his HUGE cake. We had to give Jess a hard time about the size of the cake. She didn't realize how big a sheet cake was. LOL Too funny!

So that was our weekend, and now it's mid-week and only two more days until the weekend arrives again! Yay!

Our Weekend In Photos- Part One

2011-05-03T21:22:00.006-04:00

I figured the best way to tell you about our weekend quickly would to be by posting some photos. I took a lot of photos so I'm going to post them in two parts. We sort of had an extended weekend since Evan was sick Friday and he missed school. Greg had Friday off, he was planning to go help in Ev's class, but since Evan didn't go to school we were all home. So our long weekend basically started Thursday night with Family Fun Night. Here's some pics I snapped at Family Fun Night. They are mostly of Em because unfortunately Evan didn't have much fun at fun night since he wasn't feeling good.

First thing Em wanted to do was get her face painted

Finished product a pink and purple butterfly!

Evan and Em doing the cake walk. Em had a blast, poor Ev wasn't too into it. However he won a plate of cupcakes first time playing!

She wanted to play again, but Ev didn't. She was fine doing it all by herself without brother. Here she landed on purple which was a winning color, and Em won a plate of cupcakes too!

Ready to leave Family Fun Night with hers and brother's plates of cupcakes!

I already shared our Friday photos watching the Royal Wedding. Tomorrow I'll share our Saturday and Sunday. Stay tuned...

The Royal Wedding

2011-04-30T21:42:00.007-04:00

After all the hype leading up to the big day, it's now in the history books. I'm sure you can guess what I'm talking about. The Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Yes, I'm one of those people who was fascinated with the wedding and all it entailed, the dress, the procession to the church, the ceremony, the guests, the hats, the carriage ride to Buckingham Palace, the kiss, etc. I remember the engagement announced back in November. While I didn't follow every detail of their lives from then until the big day, I did know that I'd be watching the Royal nuptials once they announced the wedding date. I'm an avid watcher of the Today Show, and as they counted the days down to the Royal Wedding I got more and more excited. I remember 30 years ago watching the Royal Wedding of Princess Diana and Prince Charles. Yes, I was only six, but I do remember having to wake up early to watch the most talked about nuptials. This Royal Wedding brought back so many memories. Now 30 years later, it's was time for it to happen all over again, and I wasn't about to miss it.

As the wedding got closer and Emmaline would see coverage on t.v. about it, I kept asking her if she wanted to watch the wedding with me. Greg had no interest at all. He doesn't get all the fuss. I think it's a girl thing or maybe a girly girl thing. I'm definitely a girly girl, no tomboy here and I love weddings. Especially a wedding with a prince and princess! I told Em that when Kate married Prince William she would then be Princess Kate (well Catherine). She said to me, "Like you mommy when you married daddy?" Awww, my little girl melted my heart. She thinks her mommy is a princess. Well, not quite, but it was too cute hearing her say that. Emmaline kept telling me she wanted to watch it over and over. I told her she'd have to get up super early if she wanted to watch it with me. She still told me she did. All week as we saw t.v. coverage leading up to the big day, and she saw Kate on t.v. she'd say, "Look mommy, Princess Kate. Then she'd clap and say, "Yay, the Royal Wedding!" I loved seeing my little girls excitement.

Em and I decided to camp out in the living room Thursday night on the blow up mattress so we wouldn't wake Greg and Evan up. She was so excited and ready for the Royal Wedding and Princess Kate. Here she is Thursday night preparing for the wedding.

She's got her princess crown on pretending to be a princess like Kate!

I pulled out my wedding veil so Em could see it and try it on. She LOVED it and thought it was so beautiful. She said, "Mommy, I'm a princess!" (She has a butterfly on her cheek from Family Fun Night)

Since we were camping out, Evan asked if he could sleep with daddy in our room. So they had their own camp out. Unfortunately the night didn't go quite as planned. I wanted to get to bed early since I had to get up so early. That didn't happen, one because I wasn't tired and couldn't fall asleep, and two right when I was finally about to fall asleep my poor little guy got sick in our bed. Not fun times. Finally after changing sheets, etc. I got in bed about midnight and set my alarm for 3:45am. Of course the wedding wasn't until 6am, but I was watching all the coverage live starting at 4am.

The alarm went off and surprisingly I wasn't as tired as I thought. I didn't wake Emme up until about 5:30am when it was time for Prince William to get in the car and ride to the church. At first she didn't want to get up and said she just wanted to sleep. I told her the prince was on t.v. and heading to the church. She sat up, looked at the t.v., clapped her hands, and said, "Yay!" That's my little girl! Here she is all set to watch the Royal Wedding!

We had a fun time watching it. It was all that I was hoping for, and I thought Kate looked absolutely beautiful! Her dress was beautiful, the walk down the aisle was magical, seeing Prince William say to her she looked beautiful was so sweet, the two of them walking out of the church and hearing the crowd for the first time was great, and I loved seeing them ride in the carriage! I was a little disappointed in the kiss, but I was so giddy with excitement when they did a second kiss. Then there was the surprise appearance when they came driving out in the Aston Martin. So cool they made that surprise appearance for the public! I thought Kate's sister Pippa looked absolutely beautiful too. Her dress was gorgeous! Those are some very beautiful children the Middleton's have. I loved Kate's second dress just as much as the first, and I really like Pippa's evening dress too. The emerald green was so pretty! The only thing I wished would have been different is that Kate's dress had a little bit longer train. I know though she didn't want it to over the top like Princess Diana's, but still I thought it could be a tad bit longer. It was still gorgeous nonetheless. It's too bad Princess Di isn't still around to see her son get married. I think she'd be very proud of him and just adore Kate.

I watched the wedding coverage all morning and then again at night on all the shows that had specials. I know some of you probably could care less about the Royal Wedding, but I thoroughly enjoyed it all! I don't agree with all the Monarchy and their "rules" and the taxpayers money that is spent on them, etc. However, in a time where everything in the news lately is so depressing, the weather has been a drag, and our state sucks, it was nice to just be able to watch something so beautiful and enjoy some happiness in the news for a day. It was like seeing that fairytale that all little girls dream of, the girl finding her prince and having that fairytale wedding. I truly hope that they live in wedded bliss for many many years to come and the outcome is different than that of Princess Di and Prince Charles. As a mother, I can't imagine what Kate's mother must think of her daughter becoming a real princess. So crazy! However, I know that it brought me great delight to see my own daughter enjoy and share in the viewing of the Royal Wedding with me. My daughter will never be a "true" princess, but she will always be my Princess Emmaline.

Fast Week

2011-04-28T21:48:00.002-04:00

Wow this week flew by it seems. I thought it was going to be a long week since it seemed to start off slow, but now here it is Thursday and the weekend is creeping up. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the weekend and definitely ready for it. I didn't get quite as much done as I wanted to this week, but I guess there's always next week, right? I really should be in bed now as I'm getting up at 4am to watch all the Royal Wedding coverage. Yes, that's right! I will be watching. My little Emmaline has even gotten excited about it with me so she wants me to wake her up. We'll have to wait and see if she actually gets up, but I think she will.

Tonight Evan's school had family fun night. I had volunteered a few months back to make cupcakes for the cake walk. This morning when Evan got up he said his tummy hurt. I wasn't sure if he was just saying that and didn't want to go to school for some reason or if he was really sick. We told him it was fine if he wanted to stay home, but there would be no family fun night. He went back and forth and decided he wanted to stay home. Then at the very last minute decided he wanted to go to school. We rushed out of here and I got him to school just in time. After I dropped him off I was worried all morning if he would be o.k. or if he was really sick. I dropped off the cupcakes at school when I picked him up and we headed home. He said he was fine at school and didn't get sick. He still wasn't acting himself though. I made us some lunch and after just a couple bites Evan got sick. (No, not from my cooking) He then pretty much slept all afternoon. I figured we'd just skip family fun night at school, but when Evan woke up from napping of course he wanted to go. So we got to school when it started and I was a little disappointed in family fun night. There really weren't that many activities. Evan wasn't too into it and I could tell he wasn't feeling well again. Em got her face painted and we went down to the cake walk. Evan won a plate of cupcakes the first time. We left and went to another room where the kids could get a free book. Then Em wanted to do the cupcake walk again since she didn't win any cupcakes. Evan wasn't interested and he and Greg sat in the hall and waited for us. Em did great without her brother in the cake walk and guess what? Yes, she won a plate of cupcakes too. She was so excited. We then decided to head home because Evan really wasn't feeling good.

We got home and he had a little bit of a fever. I gave him some Tylenol, and he had a little bit of chicken noodle soup for dinner. About an hour or so later he turned in a completely different direction and started feeling better. He was definitely acting more like my usual little guy. I'm hoping whatever he had is gone and he's fine tomorrow. I must get to bed now. The 4am wedding coverage is going to be calling my name sooner than later. Tomorrow the space shuttle Endeavour also lifts off so it's going to be a great day. Emme is super excited about the wedding, and Evan is super excited about the space shuttle launch.

Easter Weekend 2011

2011-04-25T22:31:00.004-04:00

Hope you all had a nice Easter weekend. We headed to my mom's in Grand Rapids for the weekend as I mentioned in my last post. We had a nice weekend, but it was busy. My sister and niece also came to my mom's for the weekend. The kids loved having cousin Kaite to hang with. By the time we got settled in and had dinner it was already getting late. The kids watched Tangled with Kaite while the rest of us chilled.

Saturday morning I had a hair appointment with my friend Rochelle. I really needed my hair highlighted so since I was in GR for the weekend I thought this would be the perfect opportunity. Rochelle does hair out of her home so she's very reasonably priced. Highlights around here would have cost me around $100. She does it for $35. I took Em with me so she could get a haircut too. I'm still trying to grow her bangs out, but she just needed a little "cleanup" so I didn't get very much cut off. I got mine highlighted and cut a little. It felt so good to have my blonde highlights again! Here's my Emme ready to get her haircut.

After us girls got back from getting our hair done, we all headed to On The Border for lunch. It's our favorite place to go in Grandville when we're in town. My mom needed us to run some errands since she's unable to drive right now since her surgery. So we made an afternoon of running from place to place checking off everything that needed to get done. While we did that the kids went with Kaite to see Rio again. It was Kaite's idea and of course the kids didn't mind seeing the movie again so they were all excited! My mom treated the kids to the movie so that was really nice that they got to go spend some cousin time.

My mom tagged along running errands with us and got around pretty good with her scooter. We hit Best Buy and helped her pick out a new computer because her old computer she'd been having problems with. Then we hit Bed Bath & Beyond, and also made a trip to Meijer to get her groceries and stuff for Easter dinner. After the movie got out, Greg took the kids back to grandma's and they all took a nap while we were at Meijer. By the time we got home it was already 6:30pm. I couldn't believe we were gone all day. We ordered pizza for dinner and after we ate the kids and Kaite colored Easter eggs. Then we knocked out a few projects around the house. Greg installed a new shower head in the downstairs bathroom. The one that was in there we've hated for 25 years so it was long overdue. I can't believe it never got changed before now. Sunday morning it was so much nicer taking a shower. We also got my mom's new computer going for her (She's a little technologically challenged. LOL.), and got some cable boxes hooked up for her. After the kids went to bed, my sister and I hid eggs for the kids. We debated whether to do it outside in the morning, but there was a chance of rain so we just hid them inside.

Sunday morning the kids were super excited to find Easter eggs! They did a great job finding them all and both of them were so into it. I couldn't keep up with Em as she was collecting because she was so fast. Then they couldn't wait to open them up and see what was inside. They managed to whip through them pretty fast and then had a ton of Easter presents to go through. I don't remember getting all the stuff like they did for Easter when I was a kid. They had quite the haul between their Easter baskets from us, then gifts from grandma, Aunt Jen & Kaite, and they also got stuff from grandpa and grandma that my sister had brought with her since we didn't see them for Easter. The kids loved everything from everyone so a big thanks to grandma, aunt Jen, Kaite, and grandpa & grandma for thinking of them at Easter time!

Since we didn't have our normal chicken tetrazzini for Christmas we decided to make for Easter lunch. Or should I say, I made for Easter lunch. Somehow it was my sister's idea, but I got nominated to make it. We had a yummy lunch nonetheless and then it was time to hit the road. It was a nice weekend, but I was tired by the time we headed home. I really expected the kids to sleep on the way home, but they didn't. Thanks to my mom for treating the kids to the movie, for pizza Saturday night, and especially for filling our gas tank to get us home! I seriously cannot believe the price of gas these days and it's only going to get worse. Today it hit an all time high of $4.17. Ugh!

When we got home we had to go pick up Molly from Greg's mom's. She watched her for the weekend which we really appreciated. The kids got their Easter presents from Ya Ya and got a ton more stuff. Then we went to Champps with Greg's mom for dinner. It was a nice way to end the weekend, and I didn't have to worry about cooking. So thanks to YaYa for the kids Easter presents and for dinner. The weather turned out to be fairly decent yesterday for Easter which was nice. Here's a few pics to enjoy from our weekend. I posted more on Facebook so you can check them out there too.

The kiddos ready to head upstairs and see what the Easter bunny left!

Emme finding Easter eggs!

Evan was excited there were even more eggs out on grandma's porch!

The kids had the cutest faces while opening eggs. Here Em found bunny marshmallows!

I love Evan's funny face when he found money in his egg!

A Mommy Scare

2011-04-20T22:59:00.002-04:00

Well, it's been quite the week so far. The weather is still crappy and boy what a storm we got last night. Yesterday I had to take Evan to the doctor. Last week Tuesday he fell while running at the park. He was down on the ground for a few minutes and said his foot really hurt. Finally when he got up and we asked him to walk on it he could, but said it really hurt. So we headed home and iced it and had him stay off it. Later on he said it wasn't too bad and was getting better. The next day he was still limping, and I was thinking we should call the doctor, but Greg said give it a couple days. Of course when Ev heard "doctor" he said his foot was getting lots better. You know how kids are about doctors. So by the weekend he was still limping a little, but not as bad as the first couple days. Then Sunday it seemed to get a little worse so I thought I'd better get calling the doctor on Monday.

We couldn't get in on Monday, but they could get us in first thing Tuesday morning. I really didn't want him to miss school, but it needed to be checked out so we headed to the doctor yesterday. Evan was bummed he couldn't go to school especially since he was student of the day and his turn to take snack. The doc told us she thought it was either his tendon or his 4th bone in his right foot. He was able to walk on his tip toes and his heel so she didn't think it was broken, but possibly fractured. So she sent us for an x-ray. I was feeling guilty for not calling the doctor last week, and if he did indeed have a fractured foot I would feel terrible as a mom. Evan was a little nervous about the x-ray, but I reassured him it wouldn't hurt at all. They would just take a picture of his foot and he wouldn't feel a thing. He did a super job laying still for the x-ray technician, and when it was all over he said, "You were right mom, it didn't hurt at all."

We then had to head back to the doctor with the CD of the x-rays so she could give us the results. After looking them over, she came in and said it didn't look like Evan had a fractured foot. He just pulled his tendon a little and it's gonna be a little tender for awhile. It will take a little time to heal. No big worries, just take it easy on the foot a little. She would send the x-rays onto the radiologist, but she was pretty sure they would say the same thing. What a big relief for this momma. I still don't like that it's bothering him, but I guess it will run it's course and in time he'll be back to normal. I'm sure hoping it's soon because next month he'll be starting t-ball. We did get done in time for Evan to get to school before he'd be marked absent for the day so he was able to take his snack and be student of the day! :)

If you remember a couple years ago over Mother's Day weekend my mom fell and broke her ankle and wrist. Well, ever since then her foot has been bothering her. So after seeing a few doctors she decided to have surgery on her foot again. She had the surgery three weeks ago and now is laid up for a couple months until she gets a walking boot. We're going to my mom's for Easter weekend and she's using a scooter to get around. I'm really glad that my little guy didn't fracture his foot or there would be the two of them with limited mobility this weekend. Although Ev had fun playing with grandmas scooter a couple weeks ago so he probably would have liked to be able to use it. LOL. I'm just glad it's nothing too serious. I hate seeing my kids hurt. It's the part of being a mom that's the hardest.

In other news, I had a surprise kid free afternoon today. The kids went to Greg's mom's for the afternoon so I was able to get some things done around here. It's time for my spring cleaning again even though it still feels like winter out. Last week I cleaned the living room from top to bottom- washed windows, cleaned blinds, wiped baseboards down, dusted, vacuumed, moved furniture, and sorted through toys. This afternoon I tackled part of the upstairs. I had three laundry baskets of clothes to put away, but before I did that I decided to go through the kids closets and pack up old clothes, put away clothes from the laundry baskets, as well as some new clothes I had in bags. I got quite a bit done, but I've got a couple of piles of clothes that I need the kids to try on. It's stuff that I'm not sure if it still fits or not. So I've got a little more work to do on both closets and then I've got to do the deep cleaning in their rooms with the blinds, baseboards, etc. Fun times, right? I guess it's better I get it done now while the weather is crappy so when it gets nice I can be outside instead of inside cleaning. That's about it from around here for now.

Cold Weekend

2011-04-17T22:56:00.004-04:00

The date on the calendar says April 17th, but if you walk outside you'd think it was February or early March. A month ago it was my birthday and it was in the 70's, today it was in the 30's when I woke up, it was crazy super windy, and there were a few snow flurries. Yes, you read that right... SNOW FLURRIES. All I have to say to that is WTH? I wonder sometimes why I live in Michigan because I really do hate the cold. I sure hope Mother Nature gets the memo soon that it's spring and this weather makes a turn in the right direction. The whole week was crappy weather wise. We went to the park one night and it ended up being colder than I thought it was going to be while we were there. That sun is so deceiving. The next morning Em woke up and had a runny nose and was sneezing all morning. So needless to say we didn't play outside the rest of the week. Crappy weather = being cooped up inside again. Ugh! A week ago the kids were in shorts and today they were in boots and winter coats (more on that in a minute).

Yesterday was supposed to be our neighborhood Easter egg hunt. This is the first year the association has planned it and it was to take place at our new neighborhood park. In past years some of us have organized it and just did at someone's house. I almost wished we would have done that again this year because it was so disorganized. The weather was crappy all morning. It had rained all night then rained off and on all morning. I called one of the ladies organizing it at about noon to see if they were still planning on it (at this time it had stopped raining), and to find out about maybe postponing it until Sunday. Well, no thought about having a rain date plan so they were still going ahead with it unless there was a torrential downpour. A little while later it started raining again and Greg and I decided we were skipping it. It was too cold, wet, and the park would be a muddy mess. We didn't want the kids out in the nasty weather and we had been holding off on going to the movie all day because of the Easter egg hunt. So we decided we were going to the movie instead. At about 2:30pm, a half hour before the egg hunt was supposed to be I got a call it was canceled due to weather and would be today instead. REALLY? I can't believe it took them so long to decide. Hello, the weather was crappy all day. The kids were glad it was canceled because they really wanted to go to the egg hunt, but also wanted to go to the movie. Greg's mom had told the kids she'd take them to see Rio this weekend and it looked cute so we wanted to see too. It was a perfect way to spend a rainy afternoon at the movies. It was a fun, cute movie and we all enjoyed it! I recommend you take your family.

So today we woke up and it was super windy. It was cold, a few snow flurries as I mentions, and the 45mph winds on top of it. A great day for an Easter egg hunt, right? NOT! It's all the kids could talk about all day and couldn't wait to go. It was at 3pm and we headed to the park about 15 minutes before. On the way there we were all freezing. The wind was crazy! The organizers of the egg hunt were still disorganized and by 10 minutes to 3pm they still didn't have all the eggs out. Stuff was blowing all over the park and they ended just dumping the eggs in piles basically. It was basically a quick grab the eggs, put them in your basket, then when they were all collected the kids had to quick open them and find any with golden tickets. One had a golden ticket to win a filled Easter basket, and five had golden tickets to win bags of jelly beans. We had dumped Ev and Em's eggs together and after going through them all, they had three golden tickets and won three bags of jelly beans. We collected their winnings, but before we left I asked Ev and Em if it would be o.k. to give one of the bags of jelly beans to Em's friend Maddie because I didn't think we really needed three bags of jelly beans, plus the candy in their eggs. They both agreed that would be a nice thing to do so we did. I try to really enforce sharing with their friends and doing kind gestures for their friends so this was a great moment for that. We were pretty much done with the egg hunt in about 20 minutes and back home to warm up. Who would have thought we'd be wearing winter coats and boots to an Easter egg hunt. Too bad the egg hunt wasn't last Sunday. Hopefully next year the weather will be better and the egg hunt will be a little more organized. It all went so fast, that I only had the chance to snap a couple pictures. So here's a couple of the half way decent one's I got.

And they're off to collect eggs!

They found some up on the the steps of the play structure.

Quickly opening the eggs to look for golden tickets.

Evan was cold and didn't want to smile for the picture so this is the best I got of them with their bags of jelly beans they won!

Yes, I know it's cold and Evan has ripped jeans. I didn't know if it would still be a little wet at the park and he's got very few good jeans left to make it the rest of the school year so I wanted him to wear an old pair. He wanted to wear these pants even though they had holes. Before I leave I want to wish my friend Marie a very Happy Birthday!

Good Intentions

2011-04-12T22:43:00.004-04:00

Well here I am again needing to catch up on my blogging. I had good intentions of blogging last night and then Greg had to work later than expected. He was to be home around 6:30-7pm and then ended up not getting home until almost 10pm. It's a crazy busy time of year for him which stinks for us here at the Shearwater nest, but I'm thankful he has a job so I can't complain too much. So since he was working late, Evan wanted me to play UNO with him and read some books, etc. So I spend a lot of the evening with him. Em was at Greg's mom's because I was helping out at school today.

So now I'll catch you up to date on the happenings around here. Spring break went by kind of fast and kind of slow. It seemed like Ev was off forever. However, then when Sunday rolled around and it was time to get ready for school, I was wishing he had longer off. We made another trip to the library last week. We returned all the books we had for "March is Reading Month" and got a new stack of books. I'm really proud of all of us for completing our reading goal in March. We either read to the kids everyday or Evan read to us or his sister. We went through A LOT of books!

Saturday we went to Birch Run and Frankenmuth with Greg's mom. It's been probably a year and a half since we were there last. We just hit a few stores at the outlet mall and the kids each got a new pair of Crocs for the summer. Greg hates the shoes, but I love them for the kids. They're perfect for playing outside and wash up easy. We ate at the Bavarian Inn for lunch and had the yummy chicken dinner. It always tastes so good when you're eating it, but then when you leave your so full! We were all stuffed!

The weather was fairly decent on Saturday and when we got back we went for a walk. Emme finally got to drive her Barbie "mustache" that she got for Christmas from Greg's mom. It's really a Barbie Mustang, but ever since she saw it she could never get Mustang out so she said mustache. Finally yesterday I said something about her Barbie "mustache" and she told me, "It's Barbie Mustang!" All righty then! Lol. It took her a little bit to get used to the steering and pressing the pedal, but she did pretty good. She was so darn cute driving that "mustache" down the street. Thank goodness our neighborhood isn't fully developed so the streets back in our phase aren't too busy. Here she is cruising the neighborhood.

Sunday was absolutely GORGEOUS! It was almost 80 I think. The shorts and flip flops were out, and the windows were open! We were outside a good chunk of the day. It was an awesome day to end spring break. I got a little yard work done, the kids played outside, we went to the park, and Evan and Greg went for a bike ride. Greg asked Evan if he would want to ride his bike all the way to the Tasty Twist. It's about a four mile ride there. Evan was so excited and definitely said yes. So he and Greg left on their bikes and Emme and I planned to meet them there. It was too far for Em to ride her bike which she didn't understand so she was a little mad she couldn't ride her bike too. It ended up taking them a little longer than Greg thought, but they made it there without making any stops. Evan was so proud of himself and thought it was pretty special he got to ride his bike to the Tasty Twist. I was very proud of him too. We had some ice cream which hit the spot on a beautiful hot day. Thanks to my friend Brenda for the Tasty Twist gift certificate for my birthday which we used. I took Greg's car in case Ev didn't want to ride back and we could load the bikes on top. Evan didn't think twice and when done with his ice cream, he was ready to ride back home. He made it home and he didn't complain about the long ride at all. He clocked a little over eight miles! What a great accomplishment for him. I'm guessing he'll want to do it again sometime. Here's my little guy at the Tasty Twist!

Here it is Tuesday and all day I was thinking it was Wednesday. Yesterday it was back to school since break which was a little rough getting up early after sleeping in all spring break. Today as I mentioned I helped out in Ev's classroom. It was a fun morning. I can't believe there's only two months of school left! That's it around here. I have a million things I need to get done between scheduling appointments, finding a preschool for Em, and getting some spring cleaning done this week. I'm hoping I have some success by the end of the week!

The Peanut Butter Girl

2011-04-09T22:51:00.005-04:00

About a week ago I caught my little Miss Emmaline in the kitchen being very quiet. I walked into the kitchen and found her like this.

She had gotten into the cupboard and gotten the jar of peanut butter out. She also got into the drawer and got a spoon out and sat down at the kitchen table. She then went about eating some peanut butter out of the jar. I couldn't but help not to laugh. I don't know what made her do this, but I really don't blame her because peanut butter is so yummy! She was so sneaky about it too. She never even said she wanted a snack or anything.

Then on Thursday at lunch time she said she wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I was putting clothes in the dryer so I told her just a minute. By the time I got back to the kitchen she already had the bread and peanut butter out. She was once again eating the peanut butter from the jar. However she also had started to peanut butter her bread. I guess that's a bonus right? At least she's starting to use the peanut butter properly. The color on this picture isn't the greatest, but here she is so proud of herself.

She said, "Mommy, I started making my own sandwich. Did I do good?" All while she's licking peanut butter from her fingers. All I could do was smile and chuckle. Oh, and yes it's lunchtime and she's in her pj's. It was a pajama/sweats day around the house.

Today we had a big lunch so by the time we had dinner it was late and nobody wanted much. Emmaline chose pb&j again. All I can say is, the girl is fast. She told me what she wanted, ran into the kitchen, grabbed the peanut butter, a knife, and the bread and immediately tore into the peanut butter. Once again she was eating from the jar. I caught her as she was about to take her first bite, and what does she do? She looks at me as she scoops her peanut butter, takes a big bite, and starts laughing. Now she thinks it's a game. Here she is caught in the act again.

I gotta say, the girl has good taste. I mean really, who doesn't love a big scoop of peanut butter!

First Baseball Game

2011-04-05T23:06:00.006-04:00

Tonight we took the kids to their first baseball game. It wasn't our first baseball game, but it was our first MSU baseball game. For the past I think five years, MSU has played the Lansing Lugnuts in a preseason match up at the Lugnuts home stadium- Cooley Law School Stadium. I can't remember where we heard about it a couple weeks ago, but Evan heard the game announced and really wanted to go. I figured since we weren't going away for spring break it would be something fun to do. It's all the kids could talk about the last couple days.

We had to wait until the last minute to decide if we were for sure going because the weather has been a bit unpredictable. Thankfully though the rain/snow (yes I said snow and it's April, but truth be told it's still been snowing) held off and we were able to head out to the game. It was a little chilly, but the sun was out and in the 40's. We bundled up in winter coats, hats, and mittens, and took some blankets. It wasn't too bad at first while the sun was out, but as the sun set it cooled off. We even spotted Coach Dantonio and Coach Merchant (MSU Women's B-ball Coach) at the game. The kids got a kick out of watching Sparty and Big Lug (Lugnuts mascot) doing a dance off at the game. MSU was up 2-0 in the fifth inning so we decided to leave. The kids were ready and it was getting colder. By the time we got home and I had checked the score online, the game was over and MSU won 2-1. Go Spartans! We didn't miss much so I'm glad we didn't stay out in the cold freezing. It was a fun family night and the kids had a great time. They were so excited that they even got pop with their hot dogs. It was dollar night so they had hot dogs, pop, popcorn, and ice cream sandwiches for $1 each. The hot dogs weren't the greatest, but I guess for $1 I can't complain too much. Here's a few pics from our family night.

Ready to head into the stadium to watch some Spartan baseball. Yes, Em had to pose before I could take the picture. What a kid!

National Anthem time

Evan was excited to get his pic with Sparty!

Finally as we were leaving I talked Em into getting a pic with Sparty. First she gave him a high-five and then she let me take the pic as long as brother was by her side. So this is her first pic with Sparty!

End Of The Month

2011-03-29T22:51:00.003-04:00

Wow, another month has flown by. I can't believe it's the end of March. My lease on my car is up in about a month and a half so Greg and I headed to Novi to the car dealer to talk new cars. My last two cars we got from Varsity Lincoln Mercury in Novi. Well, now that Ford is no longer making Mercury it's just called Varsity Lincoln. They also have a location in Ann Arbor that is all Fords- Varsity Ford. I'm so sad that Ford doesn't make Mercury anymore. I LOVE my Mountaineer. I never drove the car before we got it, and I totally have loved it for the almost three years that I've had it. It's been a great car. I love the size of it and how it drives. We met with Denise who is so great to work with there. She can also deal with Fords even though they're not at her location. Basically we knew what car we wanted. Since there are no more Mountaineers, we had to go with the Ford Explorer. It's pretty much what is comparable to my Mountaineer. There's some really good leasing deals on Lincoln's right now so we thought about the Lincoln MKX, but I didn't want anything smaller. Greg gets a Ford discount through MSU so that's why we pretty much aren't looking at anything else. After looking at the all new Explorer and talking some options we made a decision. Apparently right now the Explorer is a very hot item. They're few and far between around here, or anywhere for that matter. After Denise searched for one that fit our criteria, there were none to be found. We don't really want to pay extra for options we don't need. So with that, we decided to just order one. It will be built just for us with the color we want and the options that we want. The only problem is that it looks like it's going to be two months for it to be built and my lease is up sooner than that. Ugh. We'll either have to do a lease extension or try to get by with one car for a couple of weeks. Until then I'm going to enjoy my Mountaineer because I'm going to miss it when it's gone.

I can't believe I went to Novi and didn't hit up Trader Joe's, Home Goods, or Tomato Brother's for dinner. It was a fast trip and we had to get back, but hopefully next time! Speaking of Home Goods, I don't think I've told you that there is one coming to Lansing! I'm so so excited. The AJ Wright that was in Lansing closed up and word had it that either TJ Maxx, Marshall's, or Home Goods would be going in. Since we've already got the first two in the Lansing area, Home Goods it is that's coming to town. It opens May 1st and I can hardly wait! You know I'll be there right away! No more having to wait until I get to the Brighton/Novi/Canton area to go to Home Goods!

In other news, that same day we were on our way to look at new cars, I got a call from Best Buy that my iPad 2 was in. Oh what a wonderful day!!!! Finally after waiting and waiting. It was our first stop when we got back into town. It's now mine all mine! Well almost, because my little Evan has taken to it quite quickly and LOVES it. All of us are having fun with it. So it looks like I pretty much got all the things on my birthday wish list! Yipeee!

That's about it from here. Evan has two more days of school this week and then it's Spring Break! We're not going anywhere so we'll be hanging around home. I've got some things I want to get done around the house and the kids will probably have a couple playdates.

The Birthday Week Wrap Up

2011-03-20T22:34:00.003-04:00

Well, here it is Sunday night and the birthday week has been great! My St. Patty's Day birthday started off with gorgeous weather for March here in Michigan. It was like 65 and sunny! Greg surprised me with taking the morning off. He took Ev to school for me and picked him up. I had a leisurely morning and then met him and the kids at Noodles & Co. for lunch. Of course it had to be Noodles for lunch, right? It's my favorite place to go for lunch, and I had a free birthday entree coupon to use anyway. However, when we got to Noodles I realized I walked out of the house without my coupon. I tried to pull the email up on my phone, but couldn't find it and the manager still gave my my free entree anyway. That tells you how well she knows us. Lol. I had my favorite spicy Indonesian Peanut Saute. Mmmm mmmm good! Love it!

Greg went to work after lunch, and the kids and I headed home. We stopped for a shamrock shake on our way home. Yum-o! Have to have a shamrock shake on St. Patty's Day of course! I've gotten my kids hooked on them too. :) I had a few things to do when we got home, and then I took the kids to our neighborhood park. I decided it was too nice to stay inside so I let Em skip her nap. It was our first visit to the park this year! The kids had a blast and we were there for an hour and a half! The weather was perfect and we ran into my friend Wesley and Jess so the kids had fun playing with Chloe and Grace too. A perfect birthday afternoon with my kiddos!

After Greg got home from work we headed over to Spartan Hall of Fame Cafe for dinner. Our friend Brenda and her daughter joined us, as well as our friends Rich and Liana. It was nice to hang out and catch up with everyone while we watched a little bit of the March Madness there. I got my green beer which made me a very happy birthday girl! The kids got a special treat too and got to order green Sprite! They thought that was very cool! After dinner we headed home so we could watch the Spartans in the first round of the tourney. Unfortunately the team that needed to show up didn't, and the Spartans were knocked out of the tourney right away. A very short run this year in March Madness makes for a very boring tourney for us. I guess they can't win them all and make it to the Final Four every year, but 14 straight appearances is something to be proud of. Next year will be better, I'm sure of it! Still love my Spartans!

I got almost everything on my birthday wish list. I got the cookbook from Greg's mom. The kids and Greg got me martini glasses, a cocktail shaker, and a brownie pan. However the pan wasn't exactly the right one so I'm going to exchange it, and the shaker Greg got me was way to big so I'm going to look around for another one. My sister and Kaite also got me some martini glasses (thank you) so I have to decide which ones to keep and which ones to take back. Or maybe I'll keep both then lots of people can come over to drink! I've looked and so has my sister for an egg separator which is nowhere to be found. Apparently nobody carries them anymore. Weird! The iPad 2 will hopefully soon be mine. I didn't know it was going to be so hard to get, but it is. So I'm on a wait list at Best Buy. It's no real rush so I get it when I get it. Probably it will be about three more weeks.

Friday we headed down to my sisters for the weekend. Friday night we went to Chick-Fil-A another one of my favorite places. Another perfect birthday treat! On Saturday we had a 90th birthday party to go to. The neighbors (Bob & Betty) that live across the street from my dad have always been like a fourth set of grandparents to my sister and I. Bob's birthday is the day after mine and he turned 90! It was great to see them again, as we don't get down there very often. Saturday evening we met my step-mom for dinner (my dad was out of town for work) at Pete's Patio in Niles. This restaurant goes way back for all of us as we used to go there all the time when we were little. I love love love the pizza there. So when I get down that way and get the chance I try to have a Pete's pizza. It's been a long time since I had it last, so Saturday night was yet another special birthday week treat! A bloody Mary and Pete's pizza was the perfect dinner to round out the birthday meals this week! Thanks to my step-mom for treating us to some delicious Pete's pizza. I even get to enjoy it tomorrow for lunch since we had left overs!

Today we didn't do a whole lot. My dad got back in town before we headed home so we got to see him before we got on the road. He had a bunch of t-shirts and stuff for the kids which they love so I was glad the kids got to see grandpa before we left. I also requested some beef and noodles while we were down which my step-mom made, thank you thank you! It's one of Ev's and my favorite things. Was a perfect lunch on this rainy day before we headed home. Greg's mom kept Molly for us over the weekend which we really appreciated, thank you, thank you! It just makes the trip so much easier with two kids! She also treated us to dinner at Bravo when we got home which was nice so I didn't have to cook.

I can't complain about the birthday week at all. It was a great week. However the cold weather today with the rain was not welcome so hope the sunshine returns soon! Thanks to everyone who made my birthday so wonderful! I really appreciate it! Now Monday is creeping up so I think I should probably head to bed!

Happy St. Patty's Day/Birthday!

2011-03-17T22:00:00.003-04:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! It was a beautiful day today, and I hope you all got to enjoy some time outside at least for a few minutes. Hope you remembered to wear your green today. We all did of course. There's no way anyone in this family is getting out the door with no green on today. It was a great day for a birthday and I'll share all about it in my post to follow. It's late and apparently I'm getting old because I'm tired after having only two beers. I'm officially 36 today, and I guess that means I can't party like all the students did downtown E. Lansing today. The streets were filled with green, and as Evan put it, "Wow, there's a lot of green going on around here today." What a kid. I'll catch you up on my birthday festivities next time. I think I'm off to bed here soon. My Spartans are playing like crap tonight and it's really not much fun to watch. Another birthday has come and gone, and hoping 36 treats me well! If I'm not back tomorrow, have a great weekend everyone!

Birthday Eve

2011-03-16T22:22:00.002-04:00

Warning.... wear your green tomorrow or you'll get pinched! Yes, it's my birthday Eve and I've had a great week so far. My mom is back from Florida and she came up to visit the other day and took me to lunch for my birthday. I picked Evan up from school and then the kids and I met her at Champps. Thanks mom for the birthday lunch and birthday money! She also brought back some goodies for the kids from Florida. They love their t-shirts and new book about things found on the beach and in the ocean.! If the weather stays like it was today they'll be able to wear their new shirts very soon! Both kids were so cute sitting on the couch last night together looking at their new book. It's a lift-the-flap book so they took turns lifting the flaps. Thanks grandma for the goodies. The kids love everything!

Tonight Greg's mom took me to dinner for my birthday. We went to Ukai and once again it was very tasty. Evan loves watching the fire at the table and all the tricks they do. Em is still a little hesitant when she sees the fire. We had a nice dinner, and I can now check off one of the items on my birthday wish list. Greg's mom got me the Taste of Home cookbook I wanted, and I got birthday money! Thanks so much! I can't wait to check out some new recipes! She also surprised me by picking up some clothes I had on hold at Children's Place. The kids will look adorable in their new outfits. Thank you!

Tomorrow is the big birthday day! Looking forward to some nice weather again tomorrow. Supposed to be warmer than today and reach 60. Woo hoo! Evan told me the leprechauns are coming to school tomorrow and the kids have to catch them. Can't wait to hear all about it! He's so excited because he made a special magnifying glass to use tomorrow to catch the leprechauns! I've decided on Spartan Hall of Fame Cafe for my birthday dinner tomorrow. I know we usually go to Bennigan's, but time to switch it up this year. It's across town and with traffic and construction it's a pain to get to. Hall of Fame Cafe will be serving green beer and it's close to home so works for me. It seems fitting since my beloved Spartans are playing on my birthday! Speaking of, I'm saying my prayers tonight that the Spartans are ready to play tomorrow and can pull off a birthday win for me! Go State!

Birthday Week!

2011-03-14T22:33:00.004-04:00

It's officially birthday week around here! I kicked off my birthday celebration over the weekend. On Friday we headed down the street to Jimmy's Pub and had some drinks with friends. It was a nice kid free evening out. I had a few martinis, and Angie insisted on buying me a shot. Jess recommended a Girl Scout cookie shot so I went with it and it was tasty! I can't remember the last time I did a shot. It's been a few years probably. Thanks Angie and Andrew for the shot and martini! We also watched some MSU basketball while there and I celebrated with a Spartini! Here it is with some Spartan B-ball in the background!

It was a fun night that was topped off with a Spartan victory against Purdue in the Big Ten tourney. I was actually amazed how well the Spartans played, and it was like watching last years team all over again. They connected on all levels and played a great game. Jess came back to our house after Jimmy's and we whipped up some Kool-Aid martinis. This time we had grape and it was good, but I think I like the tropical fruit martinis the best so far.

Saturday we were still kid free most of the day. They stayed at Greg's mom's Friday night and hung out there most of Saturday. Greg went into work to paint his new office and I ended up going to get a haircut. I went back to a gal that cut my hair a couple years ago. She's actually at a new place now which is closer so I thought I'd try her again. I have to say I was very pleased with my haircut. I went shorter this time which I'm glad I did. I know my husband would love for me to grow my hair out, but it's just not for me right now. I tried for awhile now, but I was sick of it so time to chop it off some! Saturday night we were lazy around the house with the kids and watched Toy Story. My kids just love that movie... all three of them!

Sunday flew by with the time change. While I didn't like losing an hour of sleep, I love it being lighter longer. It definitely means warmer weather, walks at night, and playing at the park are in the near future! We took the kids to the library Sunday afternoon. We exhausted our stack of books from a couple weeks ago and we've got the second half of reading month to get through! We're doing great with reading this month and I love how much my kids are into it! Then last night it was selection night for March Madness, and after crossing my fingers for 40 minutes during the selection show the Spartans made it in. They're a #10 seed this year and take on UCLA in Tampa on Thursday. I'm thinking my beloved Spartans will be giving me a birthday win. I mean really, it's all about green on St. Patty's Day so it's gotta be the Spartans night to get a "W" right? I sure hope they can play like they did on Friday night. If they can get their act together and do that then they could go far in the tourney. If they can't, then they'll be out quick. Fingers crossed again, good things happen!

Now it's Monday of birthday week and only three days until green beer time! I'm not sure exactly what we're doing yet, but it will involve some going out to dinner and watching the Spartans! Don't forget to wear your green on Thursday! Also a shout out to the women's basketball team for getting a #4 seed in the Women's tourney where they'll take on Northern Iowa. Good luck to the men's and women's basketball this week!