I am missing my sister...terribly.

Happy Birthday B!


B and her gang at the birthday party at Classic Skate. We celebrated her day on Saturday. Her and 10 of her friends went skating and had all sorts of fun. This was her year for a big party and she chose to go roller skating. In addition to the roller skating, she got to go into the "cash blower" (I think that is the name, if not, it is now!)and she got to spin the wheel and get a prize. She had a blast!


(Sorry, I tried for 20 minutes to rotate this picture, but to no avail. So, it is what it is!) The boys had fun too, except when Luke was skating on a couples skate and Alex didn't like that he was out there at all. Here he is, trying to pull Luke off the rink. It made me laugh!


Luke was on the go almost the whole 3 hours we were there!


Nanny, Papa, and Violet


Aunty Julie did a GREAT job on B's SpongeBob cake. B loved it! Julie went the extra mile on this one!!

We all had a great time. B had an awesome 10th birthday!

10 Today

My girl turned 10 today. It's a happy and sad day. Happy because she is growing into a fantastic young lady. She is developing her talents, she is kind to her brothers (well, most of the time!) and she is just a loving girl who really tries to be a good friend to everyone. The sad part is...she's growing up. It makes it real that I am aging and time is going faster than I can hold on to.

We had a nice day today. We were going to go swimming after school, but had to bag the idea when Alex came home from school with a fever. So, we hung out. I made grilled cheese for dinner - at B's request. We waited for dad to come home so she could open a few presents. Her big party is on Saturday at the skating rink. She and 8 of her friends will get the "Royal" treatment at the rink. She is excited! I am excited to see her face when she opens all her presents. She is getting some good stuff this year!!

I love my girl and I am proud of the young woman she is becoming. As I wipe a tear from my eye...my baby is growing up!

Man...that stinks!

So we have been a bit boring these past few weeks as we have all been getting over being sick. The most we ventured out was to B's Jr. Jazz game and a movie on Saturday. The rest of the weekend was spent in our lovely home, de-germing, sanitizing, and washing sheets. What a fun weekend. We did however, catch up on a few movies that we had been wanting to see. Top of the list...Madagascar 2. I love that movie. So do the kids. We also rented Igor..haven't worked up enough to watch that with the kids. They watched it though and really enjoyed it. After the kiddies went to bed, me and Kev watched Burn After Reading. Man, that is 2 hours of my life that I will never get back...not my favorite movie. It was weird and not in a good way. In a Fargo-kinda way. Wished I would have done something better with my time! Then, we watched Eagle Eye. Now THIS was a good movie. Kev and I both enjoyed it. It was fun to just snuggle on the couch with a big blanket and watch movies. It's been awhile since we've done that! Sunday we had the in-laws over for dinner. We had a good laugh with them and always enjoy their company.

Other than that, there's nothing going on. I was just sitting here, browsing FaceBook and my dog, Maggie is laying at my feet. She is a great dog. It's been a while since we've had a dog that I "care" a ton about. But, there's something different about Maggie. She just fit in with our family the first 5 minutes we had her. She pushes my buttons on some days, but other days, she's my great protector when Kevin is at work. I love having her in our home. The only down side...she farts. Not only farts, but can CLEAR a room!! It's so bad. I forgot this little gem of information when we went to look at Maggie. Boxers carry this special gift and they use it often. I guess it's the one thing I can over look as she is a great dog. We are buying Fabreeze in bulk now!

I guess tonight is a slow blogging night.

What a ride!

We have had a busy/fun/hectic past few days. We started with B finishing her book report. She did it on "Diary of a Wimpy Kid". For any parent who has a child that has not been introduced to this book, I highly suggest it. B devoured the book in 2 days. She couldn't put it down! Anyway, she finished her book report w/ a little help from dad. This was her finished project.



Friday treated Alex to a day a vomiting. He woke up and vomited several times. Poor kid. After a few hours though, he was running around. I thought he had eaten something bad. Turns out it wasn't bad food, but a bit of a stomach bug. It hit him again at 3:00 am Saturday morning. He ended up going back to sleep and woke up feeling much better. We, however didn't leave the house just to be sure. Until Kev got off work. By this time, I had already cleaned the house, entertained 3 kids all day, so I needed to get out of the house. And since I had missed FUN FRIDAY at work and our weekly Cafe Rio meal, I had a craving that needed to be filled! (I stayed at home w/ Alex on Friday so Kev didn't miss out on the over-time he had already accrued.)So, we packed the kids up and went to Cafe Rio and dined on my favorite food. Kev got a little bit of food stuck in his teeth. Nice.....it made us laugh.


Friday night...I left the sicko and the wild child with daddy and me and my girl went to the Jazz game. We had a BLAST! We took 2 other girls that played on her Jr. Jazz team with us. We were in the very last row in the upper bowl. But, we could still see the specs running around on the floor..somewhere! It was fun and not bad for free. Because we went with the Jr. Jazz, with our ticket we even got a hot dog and a drink! You can't beat that!! It was a great night out for the girls.



Me and my girl!



B and her girls! (I've never heard so much screaming from 3 little girls...my ears are still ringing!)




This beauty...I just thought was downright funny! I was driving behind a big truck and I looked up and saw this. Struck me funny....

And lastly, we started off our weekend with a me calling Kev on Sunday and begging him to come home because I was not feeling very good. My throat was on fire..again. But this time, I knew it was strep. I was going to go and have it swabbed on Sunday, but of course nothing but the ER is open on a Sunday...and I wasn't about to pay that co-pay!! So, I drugged myself and slept. Kev said he wasn't feeling very good either. By Sunday night, we both had full-blown strep. We decided Monday I would go to the doctor and get enough drugs for all of us. B has also developed a sore throat and a bit of a fever. So, after a painful swab...I even knew I had strep by the 3 large white lumps planted firmly in the back of my throat, my results were in...Yep, I had strep. So I asked the DR. for a prescription for B and Kev. He obliged. (He must understand that we are in a recession!) So, me and Kev (well..mostly Kev) fought the kids all day from our death bed. The boys were going stir crazy! So were we. Thank goodness there was no school on Monday. We didn't do a darn thing. Tuesday we were granted a little piece of heaven...and undisturbed rest by Kevin's awesome parents. Not only did they come and bring us meals, but they entertained the kids, let us sleep, and disinfected the house! What a blessing and a huge help! We are so grateful for their generosity and unselfish acts. I love and appreciate their willingness to serve and it is much appreciated. So, back to work it was today for me and Kev. I had the better end of the deal though..I only had to go for a few hours. Kev's on for 12. We were both worn out just getting ready for work. Oh well..at least we are feeling a lot better today than we have in the past few. Our conversation was something like this, this morning. Me: "Do you remember much of the last couple of days?" Kev:" Nope". Me:" Me either...maybe that's a good thing." Here's to the worst sickness we've had in our house in a long time!