Bunco - cha ching!

Just a quick blog to say - hooray! - I won Bunco tonight! $70...woo hoo!

Big Bang Boom Birthday Bash!

Last week went by quickly, it seems! Ricky and I went out Saturday night for his company's 85th anniversary and we had a good time chatting with some adults : ) Sunday we woke up and decided to go to 7:30am mass - we NEVER do that with the kids - but we all seemed to be awake and in good spirits. Each time I post I am going to try to remember something funny that one of the kids said (so that one day I won't forget). The prize goes to Andrew when we walked up for communion and RIGHT after Father Cook blessed AAA, Andrew practically got right in his face and said with enthusiasm..."I like cheese pizza!" Huh? Not sure where that came from but Father had a sense of humor and said that he liked it too! We took a quick trip to Lowes and Home Depot looking for a bird bath that I liked for a "new" area in the yard. No luck.

Just before our house got overly chaotic, it was time to go to a birthday party at the Hoeings. It was Jake's (5), Anna's (3) and Emma Kate's (5) trio birthday bash featuring a GREAT children's band "Big Bang Boom". They really got the kids laughing, dancing and their songs were really cool. The music reminded me of the Bare Naked Ladies (for all of my elders reading this...that is a band!) but with children's lyrics. Rachel and Kevin and the Halsey's did a great job planning the party and the kids received a CD to take home with song picks from the birthday girls and boy! How awesome is that??

The grand entrance...

All of the kids!

Following the party we headed over to our favorite place for subs - Jimmy John's (owned by the Hoeings!) I knew that Abby must be getting REALLY good at reading when she snickered and said "Look at that sign!" (in JJ's)...it said: "Your Mama wants you to EAT at Jimmy John's". I think what she thought was so funny was the word "Mama". Kind of scares me knowing that she can read just about anything now and she WILL ask questions if she doesn't understand it. Adam loves the Salt & Vinegar chips at JJ's and so do I. Finally, Andrew actually ATE a sub (not just the cheese!) I had to creatively roll it up and squeeze it together so it would look like a hot dog. Alternating bites between the chips seemed to work well! They say that it is all in the presentation and I know that is true for Andrew. We hopped in the van and headed home. Stopped at Ace Hardware and much to my surprise "we" found a suitable bird bath for the yard. Mission accomplished!

Boating and Jet-skiing and Snakes, oh my!

We had a nice, relaxing Memorial Day weekend. We just took it easy and tried not to focus on the house and the yardwork for a change. On Sunday we went to Grandma and Grampa Touchstones house and it was a perfect day to go out on the lake. We went out early to avoid the crowd...and so the kids could try their hand (tandem of course) at jet-skiing. I was nervous when Ricky took Abby out on the "real" water (as opposed to being in the cove) for the first time. She smiled the whole time and waved to all of the passing boats. Adam was not so willing when he first got on with me...in fact he said "I want to get off!" and "don't go over the bumps!"...but after a few minutes at about 10 mph, he was content with it and enjoyed himself. Andrew was next and he was telling me to go fast before he was sitting on the jet-ski. I went much faster (ok, about 15-18mph) with him and he wanted to go over the waves...so we did. He even pulled the throttle a few times to full speed ahead and I had to pry his hand off of it.

We also pulled them behind he jet-ski in an inner tube around the cove and they thought that was the greatest. Grampa was supposed to follow us out through the cove and we couldn't figure out where he was. Turns out that there was a copperhead snake under the other jet-ski when he backed it off the ramp. Yikes! So he took care of it and fed it to the fish and ducks. Grandma had our camera and snapped a photo of it. I'm glad I wasn't on the dock when he found it because I might not have gone out on the jet-ski after that!

Blog-spot...here I come!

Well, just as I thought I had enough on my plate, I decided to try out this ever-so-popular blogging thing. Guess it makes me feel like I am in the loop with the younger crowd. Of course, I still feel old because although I am computer/cell phone saavy I can tell you that I haven't even wanted to try texting! My sister-in-law Jennifer inspired me to start one of these blog-spots and I only wish that this was the "in-thing" to do when the kiddos were born almost 6 years ago. That might have been a bad thing though...who knows how much I would have written by now!

All that being said...I'll try to keep blogging as often as possible. Even if no one reads it or looks at it, I am sure that one day when my memory is COMPLETELY gone I will be glad that I kept a journal of what happened throughout the years. And when AAA are teenagers I will have proof of what my children said and did when they were younger : )