Party In GR

Wow, this weekend went fast. Here it is Sunday night already and a new week is about to begin. The Winter Olympics are coming to an end, and while I've thoroughly enjoyed them and love love love how well the USA did in many competitions, I'm glad they're over so I don't have to stay up so late! Now hopefully I can go back to a normal bedtime. Unfortunately the hockey game didn't turn out how I wanted today, but a great effort by the Men's USA team nonetheless. While a gold medal is great, silver isn't so bad either. Just making to the Olympics is a huge accomplishment in itself! Great job USA- 37 medals overall- 9 gold, 15 silver, and 13 bronze!

I think my weekend went fast because yesterday I was gone for most of the day and spent it in Grand Rapids. Two girls I went to high school with wanted to have an Uppercase Living party so I offered to go there for it. Ann, you'll probably remember them, Melissa Hobbs & Melissa Jo Stachowiak were the hostesses. It ended up being a great party! My biggest UL party so far. There was a great turnout. We had about 15 people at the party and lots of orders! Woo Hoo! There were even three other gals from high school that came to the party. It was like a mini reunion. Uppercase Living is offering Buy two get one free right now which is a GREAT GREAT promotion. I highly urge you to check out my website. lisakohuth.uppercaseliving.net if you're thinking of ordering anything anytime soon. This offer is too great to pass up because UL doesn't offer this promotion very often! Great time to be a hostess with this promotion. It was a big hit at the party Saturday! Thanks to both Melissa's for hostessing and I'm excited to see all the free and half off items they get once we close their party in a few days! It was great to see old high school classmates, and I'll be heading back to GR for another party in April that someone booked from the party Saturday! Woo Hoo!

While I was in GR yesterday, Greg took the kids to Jumpin' Jax. It's a place here in town where kids can go play in big bounce houses and inflatable slides. Evan got a gift certificate for there for his birthday back in December from our friends the Toburen's so he was finally able to get a chance to use it yesterday. It was the first time the kids had gone there. They had a blast. It was a little crazy Greg told me, but I expected it would be on a Saturday afternoon. Better him than me. Haha! Just kidding honey. I'd actually love to see them play there sometime.

Now I've got some things to finish up before bed and it looks like a busy week ahead. I've already got four of the five weekdays with plans and then a playdate on Saturday to finish it off! Before I know it, it'll be next Sunday night and I'll be sitting here writing again!

My Kids Crack Me Up

Do you ever wish you had kept a notebook of the things your kids say? I do! At one time I had wrote some things down Evan said that were just so darn cute. I thought I would keep that notebook and look back on it someday. Then life gets busy and well... things get pushed aside and it just doesn't happen the way you had planned. If you asked me right now where that notebook was that I had written down a few things he said, I'd have to tell you I have no idea. I'll admit that since that idea crossed through my head the first time, I did it. Then when it has crossed through my head again and again and again, I haven't done it. I think, "Oh I'll remember what they said." Yeah right! Now I kick myself at times when I try to remember what it was they said.

Over the past three months Emmaline's vocabulary has increased immensely, as has her sentences. Sometimes she gets trying to say such a long sentence that I think she gets ahead of herself a little bit. Then I'll ask her what she said, and she'll repeat it even faster the next time. I just laugh because even though I might not understand it, whatever it is that she has said still sounds like it's something really important. I'd have to say that I can decipher her words better than Greg. That's probably because I'm around her more all day than he is.

Today the kids were playing and they made me laugh so hard. I really wished that Greg could of seen them. It was the cutest thing between the two of them. Emmaline was sitting under her little table looking at the Kohl's ad. Evan was sitting in one of the chairs at the table playing with Legos. He bends down to look under the table at Emmaline and here's how the conversation went:

Evan: "Emme, what are you looking at?"
Emmmaline: "Lookey at boys!"
Evan: "You're looking at boys?"
Emmaline: "Yes, me lookey at boys!"

At this point I'm already laughing and Evan's cracking up as well.

Evan: "Emme, you crack me outta my shell!"

Now I'm really laughing hard. First Emmaline is saying "lookey at boys," and then Evan pulls out this line of "you crack me outta my shell." Where does he come up with these lines? Oh it was a great laugh this morning. The topper was when Emmaline walked over to me with the Kohl's ad and shows me the page she was looking at and says, "Mommy, me lookey at boys." The look on her face was one I'll never forget. I'm beginning to think my little princess is going on 13 instead of 3! Yikes! The good news is... at least she wasn't looking at the boys in their underwear in the ad!

A New Bunco Group

Last night was finally a girls night! It was bunco night for the ladies! You haven't heard me talk about bunco lately and that's because well.... there hasn't been bunco since October. It's been a little sad, and I've missed it, but thankfully we've gotten the ball rolling again and have started it up again. There's been a new bunco group put together with some of the "oldies" and a few new ladies. Some of the gals didn't want to commit to every month anymore and just wanted to be subs, and some just opted out all together. Others decided to stay in the bunco group which is great. I'm going to miss those who aren't in the bunco group anymore. I've moved up from a sub to one of the twelve hostesses. There's a hostess for each month which breaks up the responsibility of hostessing and then there's a sub list in case there's times when one or more of the "12" can't make it. Right now though we've only gotten 10 hostesses and still have two months that we're hoping someone will jump in and take. I personally think it's fun to be a hostess. You get to pick when to have bunco for your month and what the theme will be. Then you provide a little food and drink for the bunco festivities that night and have a lot of fun. It's really nothing to stress over for all you new hostesses that have joined or for those who are thinking about it. The main thing is to just get the girls together and have some fun! So with that said, I'm now the June hostess. I can't wait! Lots of possibilities for hosting in the summer! My friend Liana who lives across the street has joined the group as a hostess. She had never played before last night. I'm glad she joined the bunco group. It's going to be a lot of fun. Also, my friend Carmen who subbed a few times with me in the old group has joined as a hostess so I'm excited about that. Look forward to bunco-ing with them, as well as those from the old group, and getting to know some of the new faces. So ladies if you're reading this and not sure about hostessing, it's really not hard. It's only one time a year and you get to pick when for your month... Dawn, Christina, Jess??? If not, then I'm glad some of you are going to be on the sub list!

We didn't get the new group going in time for January bunco so February bunco got kicked off with my friend Becky (she's the one that cuts my hair). She chose a "sweet" theme for bunco last night. There was a lot of fun had by all and I actually ended up coming home being a winner! Woo hoo! No big bunco table prizes, but three baby bunco prizes and $25! Here's my winnings below.


A bottle of wine and lots of sweets, along with the cash! Greg was happy with the cashew turtles! I'm not a huge fan of some of the candy. Pretty much my favorite is the Reese's pieces, but I'm sure someone will eat the other stuff nonetheless. The wine I can handle. I'll just have to have some of the girls over to enjoy it with since Greg isn't a wine drinker! Thanks Becky for hostessing and kicking off our new bunco group. Can't wait for next months bunco which Liana will be hostessing. It was definitely a much needed girls night out and a big congrats to my friend Susan and her husband Nico. They're expecting a little bundle of joy in July! Wow, another baby in the neighborhood! It seems like every bunco there's a baby announcement! Crazy!

Family Fun Night At The Science Center

Saturday was family fun night for Evan's school. It was held at Impression 5 Science Center in downtown Lansing. The school holds this family night every year. It's free to families and they serve a free pizza dinner as well. Evan was super excited to go to this family fun night. It's been awhile since we had been to Impression 5, so he couldn't exactly remember which place it was until I started telling him things about it. Then it clicked and he remembered all the fun stuff there was to do there from the last time we went. For those of you not from the area, Impression 5 is a hands on science and technology center. It's a place where kids (and adults) can explore and discover the world in which they live in. It's a great learning environment for children (adults too). Last year Em was a little young to do some of the things there, but this year she definitely jumped right in on the action. Here's some of the fun the kids experienced.

Emmaline giving it a whirl at pitching. She was a little small to have her pitch speed register.

Evan wanted Daddy to pull both of them up on the chair.
So here's Greg using the pulley to raise them up.

Em gave it a whirl by herself, and she sat there while Daddy pulled the chair up.

Em weighing in on the scale.

Both Evan and Em loved going through the heart maze. Evan was so fast though so I didn't get his picture, but here's Em making her way through.
One of the favorite spots was the bubble area. The kids had so much fun you can see in the picture that they got the sleeves a little wet. Here they are getting trapped in bubble.
Before we left Em had to try out the digger because brother did. Evan didn't want anymore pictures so here's Em.

We had a fun evening and a big thanks to MSU CDL for providing this free family night!

1 Month To Go

Today officially marks one month to go until my birthday. Which means that I've only got one month left until the big 35 hits. Whoa! I'm not sure how to feel about that. I'm excited for my birthday, I always am. I like the day my birthday is on... St. Patrick's Day! However, turning 35 seems different to me than last year when I turned 34. I guess it's the whole notion of the "5" like turning 25, or 45, or 55. The same as turning 30, 40, or 50, you get the point. So I've got one month left to enjoy being 34. With the birthday right around the corner, this time of year also means it's shamrock shake time! I'm not a huge ice cream fan in the winter, but when McDonald's starts having shamrock shakes at this time of year then I am. I love, love, love shamrock shakes! So yummy! Mint shakes in honor of my birthday, o.k. St. Patty's Day, but still my birthday nonetheless! I've even gotten the kids hooked on them! True story... Evan first learned to drink from a straw with a shamrock shake! I guess he knows what's good! So if you've never indulged in a shamrock shake from McD's, you must try one. I also recommend mixing half chocolate shake and half shamrock shake, yum! Or throwing some mini chocolate chips in if you bring the shake home. Super good! So here's to turning 35 in a month... March 17th, also known as 3/17... which those numbers I have some crazy stories to tell you about some day!

My Valentine's

As we all know Valentine's Day was just on Sunday. These were my two Valentine's.

Over the weekend Evan & Emmaline made Greg & I some Valentine cards. It was so sweet. Evan helped his sister and they did such a fabulous job that I thought I'd share them with you. I cut out some hearts for them to use and then they did all the rest! Here they are working on the Valentine cards.

This is the card Evan made for Greg.

These are the cards Evan made for me.

This is the card that Emmaline made for Greg & I. She got some help with the writing from her brother. She was having fun with the glue stick and picked out the spots on the card of where to put the hearts.

They did a great job I think. This was all Evan's idea to make the Valentine cards. How thoughtful, huh? Here's one more picture of my silly Valentine's modeling their new sunglasses they got in their Valentine goody bag.


Thanks Evan and Emmaline for the wonderful Valentine cards! Mommy & Daddy love them and will cherish them forever! We love you!

Only 24 Hours With One Car

Well, it didn't last long. I knew it wouldn't, but I thought it would be at least a little longer than 24 hours. I told you on Friday we turned in Greg's Mazda that we were leasing. He had the rest of the afternoon off so it was no big deal to figure out the no car situation and him getting home from work. Then on Saturday the kids had been planning to go to Greg's mom's for the day. With no kids in tow for the day Greg decided he wanted to go to Holland to look at cars. He had found a place on the Internet that had a used Subaru Legacy he was interested in. So we made the road trip there and after driving the car he thought he was interested in and driving some others, we both decided although the Legacy was a little cheaper it wasn't what we'd be happy with.

We drove three Subaru Outbacks, a Subaru Legacy, and an Audi A6 Wagon. It ended up being down to one of the Subaru Outbacks and the Audi A6 Wagon. Both were 2002's, around the same price and both had some plus and minuses. The Audi was really nice and fully loaded, however when we drove it there was quite a bit of exhaust coming out. At first we thought it was because it was cold, but then it continued. We both decided that probably wasn't a good sign, and Greg had heard that Audi's from that time don't have the rep that they do now. Plus they're more to fix and more for insurance. So with that being said, we ended up deciding to go with the Subaru Outback. Subaru's have a pretty good reputation, it's AWD, and a good car for what we need it for. So while it's not a fast, cool car like Greg likes, it practical for our needs and should get the job done! So we are now the proud new owners of what I'm calling our Sparty mobile.


It's green and tan. At first Evan didn't like it when he saw a picture because he wanted daddy to get an orange car. That wasn't ever going to happen obviously. However when we got back to town with the car and Evan saw it, he liked it once I told him it was our Sparty mobile and green for Michigan State. Then he rode in it and said he really liked Daddy's car. Emme likes it too. It really is in pretty good shape for an eight year old car. I don't really think it looks like it's that old. So now we can STOP looking for cars. Thank goodness!