Busy, Fun Weekend!

Wow! What a busy, fun-filled weekend it's been and it's only Sunday morning! Can't wait to see what today brings!

It started out Friday afternoon. I had planned on getting Mackenzee while Sara and Maddison attended a Girl Scout function at the school. Sara called and asked if Mackenzee could stay the night because Maddison was having a bunch of friends spend the night and they were already fighting with Mackenzee. Of course, Mackenzee can come hang out with me! To hear her side of it, they were playing house and she was the "doll house baby" and all the girls were spanking her and that is just not right "you don't spank a doll house baby" (!!)

I picked her up and we started by meeting my mom at Country Kitchen SweetArt where there was a big extravaganza going on.

As we walked in we received a bottle of drinking water with their logo printed on the label and a receipe booklet. That alone got Mackenzee's attention! Every 5 feet or so was a table set up with all kinds of samples of everything from candy bark, to popcorn, to cookies, soup, meatballs, etc., etc., etc. Mackenzee was having a ball as were my mom and I. We went into the kitchen part of the store and watched a demonstration on making a cookie bouquet. Mackenzee and I came up with a cool idea for her birthday.

We left there and across the street is Putt-Putt Golf, Games & Go-Karts. I pulled in there and to Mackenzee's surprise, she and I hopped into a Go-kart race car! She LOVED it!

Mackenzee and I in the race car.
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We then headed home to finish Maddison's birthday cake for the party on Saturday morning.

Here's Mackenzee licking the beater after I colored some frosting pink.

Here's Mackenzee with pink frosting all over her face (this, by the way, stained her face RED)!

My mom came over to help with the decorating. She did a fabulous job!

Mackenzee was helping by washing dishes. She told me "I love dishin'!"

Here's my mom trimming the top of the cake.

Here is the finished product.

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On Saturday morning, we were up and out early to get to the 10:00 a.m. party at Rollerdome South. Maddison wore one purple knee pad over her stitches so she wouldn't break the hole open again. Everyone had a blast. Brent, Karen and I all skated too. Maddison participated in the limbo contest and WON! She got to pick a prize from grab bag and she chose a "Go Army" lanyard because her Uncle Ricky is in the Army! Usually, when they go skating, Mackenzee wears a pair of plastic skates over her shoes. At the party, she insisted she wear real skates. Bless her little heart, she spent more time on her bum than she did upright, but by golly, she never gave up. At the end of the party, she could make one whole circle around the rink without falling.

Make a Smilebox slideshow Maddison's birthday party at Rollerdome South. Lots of friends and family attended and everyone had a great time.

After the party, Brent and I went to the Back Nine Family Fun Center to hit some balls at the driving range. I started golf lessons this week so I can actually go out on the course and get a ball off the tee box in a few shots before Brent forgets where he hit his! (that happens whenver I go with him!) At the driving range, I got a HUGE basket of golf balls and could actually hit some that looked like I knew what I was doing! That was fun!

After a little nap, we headed out again to another birthday party. Our friend, Cam is having a birthday this week and his wife, Brea had us all meet at the Trolley Bar & Grill for a super dinner and fun with friends. Brent and I both had steak. Yum!

After dinner, the party continued at Crazy Pinz where we bowled for an hour. That was a blast too!

Now, it's Sunday morning and it's rainy (not really too cold, though). So there goes our big idea of working out in the yard. I sure hope we can get it done tomorrow or Tuesday, because Wednesday night Brent has his golf league and I have my golf lesson.

Then on Thursday, we are heading up to Watertown, NY to visit Ricky and Ashley for a long weekend. We're going to have a jungle in our yard by the time we get to it!

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY MADDISON!!

Maddison turned 6 years old today. It is just so hard to believe. Where does the time go?
She has been waiting for this day for a long time because at her school, when it's your birthday, you get a special pencil and you get to take cupcakes.

Her mom and Mackenzee surprised her at lunch time and took her a Happy Meal. Then, Brent surprised her and showed up in her Spanish class with flowers for her! He said she was so excited and surprised that she was shaking! AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

Sara usually schedules the girl's Well Child check-ups on their birthday. Today was no exception. She had an appointment after school. I was actually talking to her when they got called into the office. About an hour later I was talking to Brent on our cell phones when he said Sara was trying to call him.

Long story short, Sara now feels like a horrible mother. Maddison was standing on the exam table tracing the patterns of the wallpaper with her finger while waitiing for the doctor to come in. She slid on edge of the roll of paper and fell..............and CUT HER LEG AND HAD TO GET STITCHES.

Oh my gosh. Well, Maddison cried and cried and said she wished it wasn't her birthday, she will never go to another Well Child check-up and wanted to know WHY OH WHY her mom put her up on that table!!!

She's having a roller skating party on Saturday with friends from school.

Happy Birthday Maddi!

Fun on Easter!

Sara and Mitchell playing Guitar Hero World Tour for the first time. Now they want it!

We all had a blast on Easter, thanks to Maddison and Mackenzee! My mom and I each had a basket for the girls, so they each got two here. Brent hid Easter eggs out in the yard. After dinner, they went on a very long walk out in the woods. Later, Mackenzee told Brent she wanted to go hunting again! She told him it's hunting because they were searching for things to bring home! Each girl walked a dog too. They brought their dog Mason to our Easter celebration and he had fun too.
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Here's Mackenzee checking out her loot from the Easter egg hunt.


The girls decided to go check out Grandma Great's backyard for eggs.

Mackenzee getting ready to eat.

Maddison checking out one of her Easter baskets.

Mackenzee checking out one of her Easter baskets.

After dinner, Maddison and Mackenzee treated us all to a great dance performance to a Miley Cyrus song. You can tell they've done this before....it looks very well coreographed!

Happy Easter ~ Signs of Spring

Happy Easter! The sun is shining this morning and it's beautiful. My backyard critters are out in force this morning. I'm making Easter dinner...on a much smaller scale this year, though. My mom, Mark, Sara, Mitchell, Maddison and Mackenzee will be here this afternoon.
Missing are, of course, my Dad who LOVED ham. He's having dinner with the angels today.
Ricky....he and his wife are having their own ham dinner in New York in their new apartment (which I have yet to see any pictures of). Laurel....she's in California....not sure what she's having for dinner today.

I made some yummy sugar cookies from a pound cake mix and glazed them in bright, springy colors.

I made some pink and purple meringue....it's surprisingly easy and Brent loves it.

And, HEY........this is NOT a hummingbird! This guy was really digging the sugar water in my hummingbird feeder. I just put them out in case we get some early arrivals. Now they'll have to fight the squirrels for their dinner!

And a SURE sign of spring.....Mr. Robin Redbreast! There were a BUNCH of them all over the yard finding worms!

Friday Night Fun

Friday night, Brea and Cam came over. Their computer was on the fritz and Brent was fixing it. They came over to have a bowl off on the Wii. We bowled and played golf, then broke out my favorite: Guitar Hero World Tour. I'm getting pretty good on the drums if I do say so myself!

Cam, Brent and Brea.....the computer is now fixed!

Cam on the guitar.

Brent and Brea

Me, Brea and Cam jamming together as a band. The name of my band is called Livin' the Dream!

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Real Men Read

A couple of months ago, I read a small article about a program called Real Men Read. They were looking for local volunteers....men....to read to elementary students.
Real Men Read is a simple program that has a huge impact. Men read to a classroom of kindergarten, 2nd, 5th, or 7th graders for one hour each month.
All students, boys and girls are read to, but the thinking behind this program is that teacher tend to be women and the books being read tend to be geared towards girls....not on purpose....that's just how it happens. So the thought behind this program is to show young students that "real men read" too. I thought it sounded like a really cool program and mentioned it to Brent. I even cut it out of the paper and he said he might give them a call. Well, like always, our busy lives get in the way and nothing was done. A few weeks later there was another article somewhere that Brent saw and he did call! He went to an orientation and signed up. Wow!

He was assigned a school, Washington Center Elementary, and a classroom. He reads to a second grade class. He was given a packet containing three books. Each book has a set of note cards that he uses as he reads. The cards tell you how to start the story, what questions to ask before you read and when to stop during the story to ask questions.

He was a little nervous the first time. When it was over, he said it was fantastic. ALL the kids were participating and it took a little longer than it probably should have because he didn't want to leave anyone out. He said he could tell that even shy kids that don't normally raise their hands were timidly raising their hands. He got them all to talk.

He just went to read the second book this past Thursday. He has one more month, but I'm pretty sure he'll do it again next time.

I am so proud of him!
They gave him a pin to wear....he wore it ALL day!

This was the first book he read.

This is the book he just read.

This is the book he'll read in May.

Kindergarten?

Wow, has kindergarten changed since I attended....since my kids attended. First of all, it is ALL day which I think is NOT right. Maddison is SO tired every afternoon. And these kids not only already knew their ABCs before they started kindergarten, they are learning SPANISH.

This is Maddi counting to 50 in Spanish. Gees, I can make it to only 10!

April Fool?

Okay, so every morning when I wake up, the first thing I do is look out the window. I'm not sure what I'm looking for, I just do it out of habit (from when the kids were in school ~ checking to make sure their cars were here meaning they were home in bed and making sure ONLY their cars were here!).

ANYWAY....I could not believe my eyes! Today is April 6 and it is SNOWING. Not only is it snowing, it's ACCUMULATING.....WHAT IS UP WITH THAT, I ask you? Are we just going to have winter year 'round here now? Is there a place where it NEVER snows and stays nice and warm all the time? Yup! Brazil! Can't wait!

In October, this is a beautiful sight. In April, it's just plain MEAN.

Even Ringo was in awe. When we went to bed last night it was POURING rain.

The Bunny

Maddison, Mackenzee and Sara stopped by Saturday afternoon to show Brent their new bunny that we got them. Her name is Loveable Hannah which is an example of how the girls are learning to compromise. Mackenzee wanted to name her (we're not sure if it's a boy or girl, so we just picked one!) Hannah Miley and Maddison wanted to name her Loveable!

She is the sweetest softest little thing and she likes to be held. They carry her in a little dog purse and she's as content as can be!

"The One with the Grasshopper" - Funnier Than a 30-Minute Sitcom!

Anyone who knows me knows that I love 30-minute sitcoms such as Will & Grace, George Lopez, King of Queens, Reba, etc. I need my laugh each day and I get it from those.

Today, in the middle of my heavy spring cleaning in the house, I decided to clean up my computer desktop....meaning finally burn the many, many pictures I've had stored in folders since last July to disks. There are so many so this is a long process.

In looking at one of the folders, I saw there was a video and decided to check it out. I don't remember if I posted this last August, (if I did, think of this as a rerun - I love 'em!) but OH MY GOSH, HOW FUNNY IS THIS?!!

Please excuse my snorting in the video, I couldn't help it. I wouldn't make a good camera man! I really needed this laugh today (it's been an extremely long, stressful week) - hope it makes you laugh too. I think Brent, Maddison and Mackenzee should have their own series, don't you?