Pinterest

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

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

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!!!

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

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

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

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...