Beauty & The Beast

Today we had the

opportunity to watch an production of Beauty and The Beast. It was presented at our church by members of the homeschool co-op, which a lot of our friends from church belong to, which means their children were in the play. The girls were so excited. Gretchen has seen the production at Miami East a couple of years ago and LaComedia, but Delaney had never been to anything like this before. So we decided to go and invite Grandma to join us. There was an tea party before the production which included a beautiful box from Mrs. Potts, which included an cupcake, candy, rose shaped sucker, bubbles and an autograph book. They also served them punch in a glass that they got to keep. Roses were on everything - attention to detail was amazing!! Then Gaston, Lefu, Cogsworth, Lumiere, Babette, Wardrobe, Mrs. Potts, and of course The Beast/Prince & Belle came in to greet us, sign autographs and invited us "To Be Their Guest" at the Show. And then on to the show, which I am always amazed to watch students perform because they are so wonderful and young and obviously dedicated for all the hard work they do. The show was wonderful and all had a great time "Being their Guest."

Cousin Fun!

So Missy(my cousin) and me (we are the Hot Mommas in those Sexy Glasses) knew the kids would be off of school today and since they are leaving for Spring Break in AZ thought this would be a good time to have some cousin fun! You have to understand we didn't grow up together and we love being together and so do our kids, none of "OMG do we have to go there?" I think we get as excited as the kids do to be honest. So we all pile in one car and off for lunch, Frisch's today since we still had some Valentines' coupons, which means kids eat FREE! $10 is the cost for my meal with tip. Then off to see Monsters Vs. Aliens in 3D, which side bar here is they totally screw you with that extra pricing because of those glasses and being special technology it cost me $31.50 to just get in for 3 of us and mind you this is matinee pricing. Then it is off to the snack bar for our FREE Popcorn, I guess since we have the frequent buyer card we earned a FREE popcorn and of course had to have something to drink, we shared to cut costs on this too. So I got away with $5 there and that is because we are both candy smugglers - candy jail here we come (see earlier movie post). So basically $46.50 later we are at the movie, but the experience and fun we have all together is Priceless! Of course, we both laugh afterwards because we compared notes and noted they showed all these other cool upcoming 3D movies to bait us now or so we can save up and that we both checked during the movie to make sure there is a difference with these glasses, yes we are eerily alike. But all of us love going to movies and even better all together. Our goodie bags filled today with a variety of candy and popcorn. Should have taken a pic of what we do, ziploc bag with your name on it and then we bust out all the candy and ask who wants what and we place some in each person that wants that particular type of candy, but hey it beats passing constantly and asking do you want this? So then we all head back to the house and the kids play outside and we talk some more, while they play. There never seems like enough time to talk about everything with each other and there is never enough time to spend together, as it winds down and they are starting to pack up, of course, this takes a while with 5 kids and 2 adults all having to get in their hugs, kisses and I love you, I start to feel sad already because our day of fun is about to end and I know they will be on their trip next week this time, but I already miss them! Thanks for another priceless memory!

Shake Your Thing!

So for my Brownie troop to earn their Dancerize badge we decided to pick them up from school bring them back to my house and dance, dance, dance! It was so funny they danced, played freeze dance and decided they needed a little break. We put in the Hannah Montana DVD so they could dance and watch, whatever they felt like as we fixed their pizza for dinner. So we danced some more and had pizza. After that they danced some more, played some more freeze dance and was really getting tired, so alas the Dancing with The Stars segment. Alot of them loved the show and we tried to show some good dances, not so good dances and talked about body image some ( I am amazed & sad how 1st & 2nd graders are already so concerned with this, which is why I think that Dove Foundation is so important) and how the same dance can look so different because of the interpretation of the dance from the dancer and their choice of music can influence this. Of course we did not watch the complete thing (some of those outfits are a little much, plus I sometimes think they are to distract from bad dancing), but they loved seeing and guessing scores too. Then it was time for parents to pick up. All and all they had a great time and we had a great time with them. Of course, Gretchen had already asked me before all her friends came over to "Please don't dance mom, you might embarass me" and I have to respect that, because if you have seen me dance anything other than slow I should probably be embarassed too!

Preschool at the Pizza Place

Just as the title states I had the opportunity to visit the local Fletcher Pizza Parlor right around the corner from Delaney's preschool on Thursday of this week. I had to laugh though Delaney didn't think it should be considered a field trip because we could walk there. And loudy announced "I can't believe we have to walk" the whole block I thought, crazy kid. They let each of them make their own pizza, of course the hardest part was waiting for your yummy creation to be baked to try it. Thank goodness we have very smart teachers that brought plenty of paper and crayons so the anxious little ones could create art as they waited for the delicious pizza to be baked. It was YUMMY!! And only had to dodge a couple spring rain drops.

Spring Has Sprung!!

Isn't this picture beautiful? We have 2 trees that are starting to bloom and other flowers starting to pop up. It is so great to only have to wear an spring coat or maybe not one at all and beautiful walks. Hope you are taking time to smell the flowers and watch the blooms at this most beautiful time of year.

Movie Time!!

So my weekend consisted of lots of fun!! First, they were having another Family Movie Night at the elementary school and I told Gretchen she could have a friend come with us. So after school off to pick up her friend, fix pizza and off to the movie, which was Kit Kitridge The American Girl Movie, but don't let the title fool you it is actually a really good movie about the Great Depression that I think everyone can relate to especially in todays turbulent economy. So the pic is my 2 girls and Gretchen's friend. Jason opted out of this to let us have a little GNO (Girls Night Out) for you non -Hannah Montana fans. I laugh because he even used the term GNO - he is a man with little girls and who has had the priviledge of getting his ear drums rattled as he enjoyed the Jonas Brothers/Hannah Montana concert - what you don't do to make your kids happy! So I digress! Then her friend spent the night. Then it was up early because Gretchen has been taking these Saturday enrichment classes because of some high test scores, so I took this time to get some retail therapy in and then Gretchen and me had our lunch date - lots of fun and then some more retail therapy. Which I have to say is always fun with Gretchen because she likes fashion and is brutally honest with you about clothes and how they look on you - not for the faint of heart I have to tell you! And then came home to do some things before off to the local volunteer Fire Dept. fish/chicken fry - yummy! But the best part was that I then got to go with my good friend, who happens to be my cousin, for a movie date. Long story short, Christmas present was a movie date for just the 2 of us because we like to take our children, but we never get to just go. So off to see a movie that had just been released, Duplicity. I was just excited to go see something that just came out and it wasn't kid related - sad I know! Have to be honest, not what I thought it would be and go in knowing you are going to have to think and I am the type that goes to have fun and not think at a movie, but I had great company (minus those stalkers -ha, ha) and great snacks - I love movie theatre popcorn and a coke!! And of course, the candy smugglers we are, Swedish Fish. Which I will digress again, funny story though. Over Christmas Break Jason and me took the girls to a movie, as promised, and we usually will let them get a drink and popcorn, which by the time you pay to get in, even to a afternoon showing is expensive, so I stock up on the candy beforehand. Well this day I was blessed enough to sit next to some freak that found it necessary to tell me, not to my face mind you, but under her breath ever so often that people go to jail for that - I guess smuggling candy, sorry I take my chances. Of course, she must have thought the candy police was going to come and haul me away and didn't want to be part of it because part way through the movie she got up and moved, which was fine with me because the constant "you are going to jail" was getting a little old. Okay, sorry, I digress again, but the real point is that I did have a great time with my friend, eventhough the movie was so so. And today was our last Cookie Booth - wahoooo!! Hope you had a GREAT weekend too! Busy week coming up with Pampered Chef and Girl Scouts, so until next time. . .

Beautiful Day, Park and Friends

Aren't they cute? Holding hands and all.

So after a call this morning wanting to know if we wanted to enjoy an afternoon at the park we threw caution to the wind and decided other things could wait - laundry, at least it is clean, desk - will get cleaned later and the mopping, well isn't it supposed to rain later anyway? We have been doing that all
this week I have to say, Monday errands ran into a friend and off to shop we went, but I did find Gretchen's Easter dress she wanted - whew!!, Tuesday was breakfast date with Missy, which then we end up spending the rest of the day together, because 2 hours is never enough time and then today, but sometimes you just have to enjoy life and it makes you feel good. So off to work on dinner, I think grilled chicken is on the menu tonight and then maybe we will enjoy a walk afterwards and maybe a little ice cream too -don't laugh - it balances out okay!! Enjoy the beautiful day God has given us!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

So Lucky O. Leprechaun as Gretchen told me he was named made a visit to our house, Gretchen's school and Delaney's school, plus other friends' houses. Boy that mischievous Leprechaun was sure busy! It all started at our house when we got up, I had promised Gretchen pancakes for breakfast as they are testing at school this week and what do you know, our pancakes and milk had turned green. Gretchen and Delaney both thought that was so cool, except Delaney thought the milk tasted weird. Then both off to school, Delaney after school could not wait to tell me that the Leprechaun had made a visit to preschool and was drinking the teachers water, messing up their toys and rearranging pictures, but mainly anything green! Then Gretchen could not wait until she got off the bus to tell me what happened in her class, desks turned over, chairs rearranged, cupcakes missing and the crumbs on the floor, but they were lucky the other class got locked out of their room! And then we found out at dinner time, Lucky had turned our icing for our dessert green too! And we finished the night with an book about "That Is What Leprechauns Do." They had a blast today and their excitement was contagious, they could not wait to get to school to tell their teachers about Lucky's breakfast visit and then could not wait to get home to tell me about school and then Jason at dinner and anyone else throughout the day that would listen to Lucky's antics. So here is to giving Lucky a rest for another year and we hope the Luck of the Irish was with each of you today and throughout the coming year! Happy St. Patrick's Day Friend!

Pay It Forward

I promise it will not be wrapped in Hannah Montana, this is just a b-day present I had available and an Brownie project. I got girls, this is what we have handy.

1. Be one of the first three (3) bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me.
2. Winners, you must post this challenge on your blog, meaning that you will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift for the first 3 bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!
3. The gift that you send to your three friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember: It’s the Spirit and the Thought that count!
4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate Linky Love! If you are not one of the 1st three commenter's on this post, you can still play along. Post it on your blog; start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same!

Caught Up and Looking Forward

So after not posting for 2 months I think I have got you all caught up, maybe next time I won't wait so long. Some things we are looking forward to at our house is next week wearing Green for St. Patrick's Day and seeing what those pesky lepruchans get into, another Movie Night, getting our last 2 cookie booths and completing our first offical cookie season/Brownies year complete with activities, watching Beauty and The Beast at our church, complete with an tea party, Jason going on another trip, they don't really like his trips, but it sounds like this year they might want to get used to it, but they do like the excitement of daddy coming home and usually bring them a little something, last time were New York mugs, we will see what wares we get from Colorado Spring - I am waiting on something good like Chicago, Florida, California or Hawaii, but no such luck. We are also looking forward to Spring Break, complete with Boonshoft and maybe a movie, Easter, Preschool Trip to the Pizza Parlor, Preschool Art Show, Softball starting, gymnastics being complete (Gretchen will be okay, because of softball, but Delaney will be missing it), Preschool Graduation, our niece Staci graduating and of course, Summer Vacation - wahoooo!! So I will try to stay better up to date and keep checking back!

Spring and Kite Flying

So we have been teased lately with some GREAT Spring weather and the kids could not wait to get outside and play and I couldn't wait to get some of that yard work started. One of the many things they wanted to do was kite flying. Oh what fun they did have! Isn't our six weeks up yet of winter? Spring where have you gone? We are ready for you, Spring!

Brownies and Cookies!!

Something that has been taking up a lot of time lately is Girl Scouts/Brownies. Last year Gretchen started and long story short, they leaders from last year stepped down and I along with my good friend Jen, stepped up to be co-leaders. We have went from 4 girls, 2 being our daughters to 13 girls and more interested for next year. We must be doing something right, right? We have collected food for food pantries, made blankets to donate to Children's Medical Center, caroled at an assisted living facility, made Build A Bears, had pizza parties, and earned a lot of badges, Try Its from our book and Fun badges. Some of us have enjoyed Cowgirl night at the Fairgrounds, slept (or tried to )at the Miami Valley Centre Mall and we are looking forward to our dance party, delivering our cookies that we got donated to Ronald McDonald House, marching in the parade, attending an local concert event, having our end of the year b-bque complete with getting presented with more earned badges. But before all that fun we have to finish our cookie sales including sitting at Walmart 2 more afternoons to hawk our cookies, at least it is supposed to be warmer than our last Walmart outside booth - FREEZING! But I have to say the girls make it all worth it and they are a lot of fun and it gives me an opportunity to connect with Gretchen even more and some of her friends. And when we give them the end of the year trip, thinking Jumpy's (an indoor inflatables), again they will have totally deserved it! There is only one problem, I think Jen and me will be running 2 troops before we know it, since Delaney and her daughter Emma love to take part in the big girls troop and can't wait to get their own group together, at least we have another full year before they start Kindergarten.

Preschool Visits the Library

Delaney is in a Preschool in the Miami East school district, same breaks that way as Gretchen, called Fletcher United Methodist Preschool. We put Delaney in this program at 3 because she was so shy! Needless to say she is always going to be more reserved than Gretchen, but is loving school, just like her big sis. They have had wonderful programs throughout the school year, including going to Fulton's for an Pumpkin Hayride, Grandparents Tea day with wonderful yummies, activities and just enjoying each others company, a cute Christmas program with cute little songs complete with a visit from Santa, but today we went to the newly renovated Piqua library to take in a puppet show and explore the new library. They once again had a great time and I was once again privleged to be able to go with Miss Janel (who we will miss next year as she is planning on retiring) and Miss Jeannie, who we see all the time because of her children being in the elementary with Gretchen. The picture is of my Delaney on the right and her good friend Delaney O. There is only 3 girls and 2 of them are named Delaney, how funny. Plus they take tumbling/gymnastics together too! Where does the time go?

Viking Fest 2009

So last year they started VikingFest at school, basically a school fundraiser/carnival complete with games, food, silent auction, stage entertainment and all. Gretchen entered the cake decorating last year and Jason his world famous cheesecake, bet some of you didn't know that about Mr. Jason huH? WEll needless to say they both took top honors - YEAH!! So this year it was off to defend their titles and Gretchen was decorating her cake (sorry can't find the pics but it was an butterfly) Jason making his cheesecake and he decided to enter the chili competition this year. I just stick with donating a cake or two for the cake walk. And then we went and enjoyed the festivities, including winning our Boonshoft membership at the Silent Auction, Gretchen doing stage entertainment with her tumbling/gymnastics (Delaney did not want any part of it), eating some lunch and just having a good family fun day. And then it was announcement of winners time, Gretchen did not take top honors this year, but one of our Girl Scout Friends did - way to go Savannah!! Jason is still the reining champ on cheesecakes, even beating out an older, known baker in the area and he was champ of the chili too - although he has been issued a challenge from last years chili champ it is head to head chili in 2010!! It should be exciting Shannon! Although they both are talking about throwing their hat in the Miami County fair ring competition this year. I have to laugh though because I had a Pampered Chef party the night before and he is calling me to see if I can pick some things up at the store on the way home since he changed his chili receipe. Now I don't want you to all get the wrong idea, he never cooks at home, just for things like this.

Happy Valentines Day!!

We typically don't do a lot for Valentine's Day, to be honest we usually try to go to dinner and we get the kids a little something. Of course, they were both excited for their school parties and their gifts from us, Webkinz. The local Elizabeth Township Community Center ETCC hosted a parent's night out PNO and we talked to the girls and some of Gretchen's friends were doing it, so off they went and we were able to have a nice long casual dinner. We got back to pick them up and they were telling us they could not wait until April when they could do it again, they had so much fun!! So another date night is scheduled that easy and for only $6 for 3 hours - what a deal! Then on Saturday Feb. 14 we went to our friends/cousins house the Tuckers and another 2 couples, both Wallings came and our friend Erica made all of us (9 adults and 9 kids, 1 due any day now) her famous baked spaghetti - YUMMY!! Then Missy and Buf made dessert, beatiful cakes they decorated in their cake decorating class, I was in charge of breads, garlic butter and dipping oil and Diantha was salad girl. So we had a wonderful dinner and off to an local hockey game, I know weird way to spend a Valentine's Day, but we had a fun family/friends night at only the cost of tixs for the game, which we were able to get cheaper because there was so many of us, pays to have that many of us for once LOL! And to think at one point my only stipulation was no hockey of any sort on Valentine's Day since I was dating an hockey player in high school, wow how going on 11 years of marriage to a non hockey player and 2 kids later you change, you are just happy to be going out!

100 Days of School

In First Grade they always make a big day out of the first 100 Days, so again after much changing of the days due to weather, welcome to Ohio and an country school system, they got to celebrate 100 Days. Gretchen was so excited to be-dazzle her shirt, which I promise there are 100 gems on the shirt although it doesn't look like it. This was her design and handy work, my oldest is all about the "bling" factor, that is why her and my secret sister Missy, who is surrounded by all boys, get along so well, LOL! And come to think of Missy and her men in her life, John, Noah, Jackson and Daniel got her the be-dazzler for Christmas, hilarious. I think Missy picked that out, or those boy cousins really know Gretchen well huh? And they also had to take something in a baggie with 100 of them, even those could not be just plain pom poms for crafts, they had to be the shimmering ones. And to many more days of fun and learning!

Happy Groundhog's Day!

So Delaney and me braved the cold to watch Ivy the resident groundhog at Boonshoft and her "job shadowing" buddy Ned come out to see what the prediction of winter was, of course, 6 more weeks, like always in Ohio right? We had never done this before, it is a big production there, complete with refreshment and Channel 2 and this is all FREE!! Then we went inside and took in the rest that Boonshoft has to offer, including specials like make your own birdfeeder on this particular day. Needless to say we had a blast and Delaney could not wait to tell her sister and dad what fun she had, of course, Gretchen wasn't quite as impressed since she was at school and missed out, so we promised we would go back to Boonshoft real soon. Maybe on Spring Break we will try it again and maybe even dad can go is there hope and Delaney already said she is wearing her light up shoes because the otters love them. We bought an family membership last year and have fully enjoyed our time spent at Boonshoft, plus you get discounts to other family places, such as zoo's, COSI and this is all over the United States, take a look, it is so worth it and a great way to spend a day. Our membership is expired now, but we already knew we were going to purchase another one and then we won one at the Vikingfest(school carnvial's) silent auction - yeah!!!

Family Movie Night at Miami East

So on an winter night what do you do? Watch a movie? Well we watched a movie in our pj's and comfy clothes, took blankets and pillows, but not at home. They turned the auditeria at Miami East Elementary into a theatre. It was a lot of FUN, we watched Kung Fu Panda and what is a movie without refreshments right? So yes, we even had popcorn and drinks for an minimual donation. They do this a few times a year if they can and I have to say all the other times were in the fall and we had hayrides to go to, but I am so happy we could attend and as you can see there was a good time had by all! We are looking forward to another one, next week. I have to say we are so very proud to be part of such a great school who has an awesome PTO program with lots of wonderful ladies, that I enjoy working with!

Happy Half Birthday Gretchen!

On January 21, after a snow day and me making another batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies, so they would be fresh you know, not that we ate them or anything, ha, ha! Gretchen was ready to celebrate her half birthday with her class. She was very excited to have Delaney and me bring in her special treat and share with the class. We even got to see them play a game of Bus Stop, working those addition and subtraction flash cards. I was very proud of her to travel so far from stop to stop. They travel until the get one wrong. The picture is of Gretchen and her teacher Mrs. Simmons, who we think is great!