Brandi's Blog

2011-06-28T09:37:00.000-07:00

Black and White snapshots from June 2011

2011-05-18T05:28:00.000-07:00

She turned 13 on Friday, May 13th. By the way 13 is her lucky number and mine too...we figure that since everyone else thinks it's unlucky then we will take it for our own!
We invited some of her crazy-silly-giggly girlfriends over last Friday for her b.day celebration. They played the "T-shirt" game, ate pizza, salad and watermelon. Then we took them to "Dave & Busters" to do some kiddie gambling....gotta get them ready for Vegas! Or as Aunt Deb refers to it the "Hillbilly Hang Out". Then it was back home for ice cream cake, gifts and some fun on the Wii.

I will try and post the "D&B" pictures on my other blog later...enjoy :)

from left to right...Cara, Lauren, Paige, Lindsey and Brooke.
Brittany could not make it this year...she had to be up at 5 a.m. to go to Cedar Point with her schools band...that is what we are doing THIS weekend.

Lauren drew...yes drew this beautiful horse picture for Paige. We went out and bought a frame for it the next day. Paige really has a sweet bunch of friends and they happen to be very smart and talented too.

Paige's friend Lindsey gave her this cute quilted black and pink case that had nail polish and hair bows in it. I love this picture below of Paige and Megan looking so amazed at the little mirror inside the case. What a couple of monkeys!

We invited Megan's b.f.f. Cameron so Meg would have a friend to hang out with. Cameron's mom adores Paige and they gave her a very generous g.c. to one of Paige's favorite stores.

This is her "going to California" shirt! I saw it on the sale rack and new she had to have it...it was hard to save it for her b.day.

This yellow "Life is Good" shirt says "forecast mostly sunny". I thought that was a pretty good shirt for a 13 year old!

We got her some t-shirts, a make up bag with some eye make up, earrings, a bird call, a cute little plaid handbag, and this mp-3 player. It's by Polaroid and it has a touch screen, a built in speaker and it also holds photos and videos and came with headphones. Plus we took her and her friends to Dave & Buster's and gave them each a $10. game card to play on.

Most of them picked out these big plastic slinky's to get with their points at Dave & Busters. You never outgrow slinkys!

You know your kids are growing up when they are more concerned with how the cake taste than what Disney character is on it. Paige had a cookie dough ice cream cake from Graeter's. It was very tasty of course. Her friends sang/yelled her a big happy birthday. You can see Mike standing there trying not to laugh.

2011-04-27T03:17:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year...time for the girls to get their dance costumes for the Spring dance recital. It will be on Sunday, May 29th and their show starts at Noon this year. Let us know if you would like tickets to the show. Megan will have a Tap, Ballet and Jazz dance in this years show and Paige will have a Tap dance.
Tickets go on sale Monday, May 2nd
Adults - $12.50
Students and Military - $8.50

This is Megan's Tap costume they are music notes. Miss. Erin has choreographed a really cute and fun dance for them.

Paige's tap class is dancing to John Travolta's version of "Grease Lighting" and they are the cutest "Greasers" I've ever seen. There dance is pretty fast and has lots of fun moves in it.

This is Megan's costume for her Jazz class. They are dancing to "It's a Hard Knock Life"from the musical "Annie". It start's out with the traditional song then halfway through it goes into the rap version. It's a fun dance to watch.

This is the beginning and end of her dance...if you want to see the entire dance we can get your tickets for you.
Their show is on Sunday, May 29th and they are in the 1st show which starts at Noon.

We will get Megan's ballet costume next week since she will miss her ballet class this Thursday because of her schools Spring Art Show.

2011-04-24T14:59:00.000-07:00

Here are the last of our zoo pictures...I got a little carried away at the Flamingos. I could just snap pictures of them all day.

It kind of amazes me that the Manatee's main diet is Roamaine lettuce. You wouldn't think there would be enough calories to keep them alive considering they just eat the lettuce no croutons or Caesar dressing.

I always enjoy watching the Green Sea Turtle...he makes me smile.

2011-04-22T14:01:00.000-07:00

Today's photo's from the Columbus zoo and Aquarium will start in the Australia and The Islands regions and end in the African Forest.
Enjoy your trip and please don't feed the animals!

Oh happy day...the Koala was awake! I can't ever remember seeing him when his eyes were open...and hey look he moved his arm...he's really alive! Don't ya think his ears sort of look like SOS pads?

This little Wallaby (above) sure was sweet. They look a little more delicate than the Kangaroos.

The girls were ahead of me on the trail and I noticed this roo in the background. I was shouting directions at the girls to scoot this way and that trying to get the roo to look like he was posing with them (it was kind of like herding cats) but I think it turned out pretty cute.

Is it just me or does this Kangaroo look a little like Nicolas Cage?

I was surprised that this shot of the Leopard turned out as well as it did...another shot through a dirty window!

Oh my gosh I could have stayed and watched this baby chimp all day. I was snap snap snapping have lots of cute ones of her, just wish the viewing window was clean.

Here's my sweet girl..I love taking pictures of her too especially when she's not looking. Her skin looks so soft and her cheeks are naturally rosy she could be an Ivory girl.

2011-04-21T18:26:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday morning I was at the zoo by 9 a.m. to meet up with all of the 7th graders from Paige's school. Lucky for me I was only in charge of these three sweet girls..from left Paige, Tiffany and Lauren. I couldn't ask for more polite or friendly girls to spend five hours at the zoo with, plus they put up with all my photo taking pretty well too.
I am only posting half of the zoo pictures tonight because it is getting late and I have had a long day...so check back in the next day or so for kangaroos, penguins and the cutest baby chimp ever.

Introducing Hanna the daughter of the late great Fluffy.

Look baby (he just turned 2) Beco is getting his tusk!

Just look at those paws! They look so powerful yet soft and fluffy at the same time.
Oh and looks he's sticking his tongue out...I seemed to catch quite a few pictures of various animal tongues today. Luckily none of the kids stuck theirs out at me as I was snapping their pictures...they just roll their eyes instead!

l
The lion family was in the North East corner of their pen and for taking pictures of them it doesn't get better than that. I beats trying to take picture from above and getting shots of the tops or backs of their heads. I even managed to blur the fence out for the photo below. Go Nikon...you make me look so good!

When we arrived at the Mexican wolf exhibit we spotted two of them lounging in the grass about 30 feet from the exhibits window. I snapped a few photos through the dirty glass window hoping they would turn out okay. Then to my surprise one of the wolfs got up and ventured over for his close ups. I love how quick our camera is. It was fun to catch the wolf licking his lips and then immediately afterwards I caught this expression below. The funny thing about this is Rebel makes the same face after he licks his lips. Must be a canine thing.

The night before we went to the zoo a big thunderstorm rolled through with a ton of rain. The otters were making good use of the mud by having a spa day. They would roll around in the mud and squeak at each other then run and dive into their pool. It was fun watching them dive into the water and we could see the mud washing off of them in brown streaks. It pretty much muddled the water so I only took one halfway decent shot of them swimming.

I was pleasantly surprised that these polar bear pics came out so well, as I shot them through a smudged up window. When I first started snapping the two polar bears were just lounging around. Then one of the sisters went over to a rock and started licking it so this enticed the other sister to go check out the tasty rock. So that is what lead to the last photo of them mouthing at each other. Typical sisters!

I took this shot of the Timber Wolf through the dirty glass viewing area and I was surprised that it turned out halfway decent. I wonder if the folks at the zoo would freak out if I brought some windex and paper towels next time so I can clean their windows!

I love this photo below...look at the soul of this wolf... so intensely beautiful.

Check back soon for part 2 of the 7th grade field trip to the zoo.

2011-04-08T05:41:00.000-07:00

Well Spring is finally here and that means Spring riding lessons for Paige. She had to start them a week late because on the 30th of March when she was supposed to have her first class it was snowing and blowing like a mini blizzard. So she started her lessons a week later in the sunshine and it was near 70 degrees. She also did her make up lesson the next day so she was able to ride two days in a row so she was thrilled.

That BIG dog running around in the arena is Blue he is a 10 month old blue Doberman pup who thinks he's a horse. Lucky for Paige Calliope could care less about the dog running through the arena nothing much fazes her.

While I was snapping pictures of Paige trying to get a few close ups without hitting the camera on the electric fence I would turn around and take a few snaps of Megan. She was over on the other side of the fence goofing around and making faces at me.

Megan needs a haircut it's at that in between stage....too short for a real ponytail but long enough to look messy. There won't be any haircuts in her future until after the dance recital at the end of May. I think they get their costumes in the next week or so and we will find out what we have to do with their hair. I have a feeling Megan's will be in french braids and Paige will have a high curled pony tail for the show. At least Megs hair looks cute blowing in the wind.

It's hard to believe she's going to be 10 this summer. She has done a bit of growing this winter..her size 8 jeans are getting too short but the size 10's are way too big around her waist..thank goodness it's getting to be carpri and short season soon.

2011-04-01T14:23:00.000-07:00

On March 29th we got an inch of snow...it melted on the 30th and on April 1st (fools day) we went fishing.

These shots were a special request from my dad...
Mike and I went fishing at Blue Limestone Park today. They released 500 yearling trout into the pond. We did not have any luck catching any. A few guys would catch them in spurts but by 2:30 we hardly saw any reeled in. It was in the low 50's with pretty strong winds. I was tired of the cold and wind by 2:45 so I headed home to take the dogs out and feed them. Mike stayed until after 4 and came home to thaw out. Maybe when it warms up we will have better luck.

2011-03-16T09:43:00.000-07:00

Lauren and Paige wearing the latest Toga fashions.

Last Friday I went up to Paige's school to watch the fun and games of "Rome Day". The kids were celebrating the end of their studies of Rome by wearing togas. playing games and having snacks. Paige brought pita chips and hummas.

2011-03-01T05:27:00.000-08:00

I snapped these photos at the Fishing - Camping Expo a few weeks back.
I just have not been in the blogging mood....maybe because I have cabin fever and I have not been snapping many photos. Maybe when the weather warms up so will by blog post.

Mike is ready to go quading with Steve again later this summer.

Like most kids they were all about the bunk beds in the travel trailers.

They met some furry friends too. These dogs were with an obedience training group. The dogs were better behaved then most kids and even some adults!

This sweet girl with Paige is Herra, she is such a gentle soul.

I told Paige that if she wasn't good I was going to post this picture of her and the bear on her face book page.

2011-02-02T09:00:00.000-08:00

On the first day of February we woke up to the aftermath of an overnight rain storm that blanketed everything in ice since it was only in the mid twenty's and as soon as the rain fell it froze. This is the view from the window above my kitchen sink.

Yes the girls had a snow day and Mike decided to work from home. I called the dance studio at 3 p.m. and I was kind of surprised to hear that they were open. Megan had a tap class that starts at 4:30 p.m. so we gave ourselves a few extra minutes and left just before 4. We were about 2 miles from the house when Mike called and told us to come back. The dance studio had called back to say that they decided to cancel classes after all. So glad that I remembered my cell phone that would not have been fun to drive down there just to find the place closed.

The back storm door was completely coated in ice.

Yeah for the snowplows and the drivers that clear our streets!

Anyone interested in chilling out on our patio?

These are the grasses that are out by the Sweet Bay Magnolia tree at the corner of the house. We usually cut them down in the fall but didn't get to it this year. They remind me of Chihuly glass.

The metal stake that we hang the humming bird feeder from in the warmer months.

Mike took these from our kitchen window looking out across the patio and down the street. It is like a skating rink out there this a.m. Luckily we have these "Yaktrax" that slip on to the bottom of our boots they have metal coils that dig into the ice and make walking across our ice rink/patio much safer.

2011-01-31T05:46:00.001-08:00

Check out this post...if you want a sneak peak of the girls dance costumes for their May recital.

These pictures are from the first week of January. I remember that it was snowing pretty good on that Tuesday. So I made Paige come to Megan's Tap class so we could just go get a bite to eat afterward and go back to the dance studio so I wouldn't have to drive back home only to turn around an hour and a half later to take Paige to tap and Megan to jazz. So we ended up eating dinner at Pei Wei Asian Diner. We snapped a few silly shots while we were waiting for our dinner.

The dance show this year is "The Legend of the Scarlet Slippers" the last time they performed this show Paige was in fist grade.

This is Paige's "50's Greasers" costume. I have not heard the music for it but it will probably be a combo of "Rock Around the Clock" and maybe another song. I love the zebra print and the scarf, very cute!

This is Megan's ballet costume they are dancing to the "Titanic" (the instrumental version of the song). After looking in the costume book for the entire show we all agree that this is one of the prettiest ballet costumes. It will have clear straps so don't worry my 9 year old will not be dancing in a strapless costume!

This is Megan's Jazz costume and they will have buckets to dance with to the song "It's a Hard Knock Life" from Annie. They start out with the rap version then go into the classic version from the Broadway musical. I pointed out to Megan that it may not have sparkles but it will be comfortable at least.

This is Megan's tap costume they will wear suntan colored tights with it and we all think it will look much cuter on 3rd and 4th graders. Megan loves the hat!
When they get their costumes in April I will take more pictures and post them.

2011-01-14T05:34:00.000-08:00

Hey it's mid January and I am finally getting the Christmas day pictures up on the blog....now I am going to go take down the rest of the Christmas decor. We left it up a little later than usual because Aunt Deb and Bud came over this past Sunday to have lunch and open Christmas gifts.
So that's my excuse!
We really did have a fantastic relaxed Christmas this year and we hope that all of you did as well.

The girls always open their stockings first while the dogs are opening theirs too. Then they open their ornaments from Santa so they can hang them on the tree.

This year Santa brought the girls a big box that was to both of them...it was filled with three cool gifts to share.

Santa gave them a "Bloggie" video camera so they can make their silly shows and music videos...

and Just Dance 2 for the Wii

and Cooking Mama Cook Off for the Wii.

Megan picked out this horse photo for Paige. She says "it looks like Calliope"
We are going to hang it above Paige's desk in her room.

Paige gave Megan this bright peace sign picture that lights up and blinks plus she gave her a Llama webkinz. Megan named the llama Daphne.

Megan's shirt sums it up well "Every Thing is Awesome with Sprinkles"

Rebel is in love with hes new squeaky raccoon toy, he totally slobbered up it's tail! That's a true sign of doggy love!

Mike and the girls gave me this adorable snowman platter, it looks great on our dining table.

The girls love their new coats and scarves they are very plush and cozy!

The girls wanted to get Mike a snow boarding game for the Wii but that required getting a balance board. So he ended up with a balance board, Wii fit plus, a snow board to put on top of the balance board and the snow board game. We have all had fun playing the games..the kids love it (I think they may have had ulterior motives).

Mmmm spice drops!

Love, love, love my new plaid handbag!

Santa brought the girls new snow saucers. Megan was doing some carpet sledding!

Rebel was trying out the new snow board for the Wii.

Paige received lots of earrings ( for her newly pierced ears) and a few necklaces for Christmas and she filled up her new jewelry holder that we gave her.

"You Are A Very Lucky Dog"
This was Rowdy's fortune on his fortune cookie toy before Rebel chewed the fortune off.

Megan and Mike snowboarding in the family room!

Mike was testing out the new flash that he got me for our Nikon. It's pretty awesome!

Megan was dancing to Wii Just Dance 2. She was cutting a rug!

Rebel zonked out with his new snowman...too much Christmas excitement!

2011-01-11T08:09:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the best gifts don't come in shiny packages and they aren't brand new. Sometimes they come in big cardboard boxes and the contents might have a few miles and lots of memories.
That pretty much sums up Mikes Christmas present from my dad this year. I had talked to my my dad in early December and told him that Mike might like a gift card to a sporting goods store since he was looking to get a reel for a fly fishing pole his dad had given him last year.

Well my dad came up with a better idea he decided to send Mike his old fishing vest and my 94 year old Grandma's fly pole. When the package came in mid December I peeked inside and then wrapped it up. I was pretty excited that I didn't have to work on Christmas eve day since that is the time that we usually open our gifts from our family out West.
That metal tube contains my Grandma's fly pole and it has her name inscribed on it along with her nickname "Road Runner'. She put a lot of miles on her old Ford pick up/camper when I was a kid. She has fished with that pole in some pretty sweet spots in Northern California. If that pole could talk I'm sure it would have some great fishing stories to share.

You can see from the grin on Mikes face that he is pleased with this generous gift. He did ask me if I could make a new fabric pouch for the pole, something about the daisy's being a little bright or something. I told him I will make one out of some manly flannel but I'm keeping the daisy one because it reminds me of my Grandma and it makes me smile.
By the way the other day I was chatting with my Grandma and I told her that Mike was thrilled to have her fishing pole. She said " I wish I could come out there and fish with you kids" and then she added "don't let Mike out fish me with my old pole". I told her " Grandma I'm pretty sure that would be impossible for him to do".

My dad say's he thinks he got that fishing vest in about 1971 or 72 so Mike would have been about 3 or 4 years old. I washed up the vest after Mike unloaded all of the gear (reels, and tackle) out of the pockets and it looks good as new and ready for more adventures.

2011-01-10T04:14:00.000-08:00

Over the holidays and the kids winter break Mike took 2 weeks of vacation. It was nice having him home, especially since I had to work the 3 days before Christmas eve but it also meant that I did not have time to get these pictures posted. So here they are better late than never.
The girls made sugar cookies on Dec. 22nd. I helped them mix up the cookie dough then I turned them loose with the rolling pin and cookie cutters. They did a pretty good job..

It's all about the sprinkles!

2010-12-19T17:54:00.000-08:00

The girls and I enjoyed one of our Christmas gifts today. We went to the afternoon show of BalletMet's Nutcraker. It was a fun way to kick off the girls winter break. This was their first time seeing the big ballet and they were very impressed by the special effects, costumes and the incredible sets. I think they are the perfect ages to enjoy the show and appreciate all of the hard work that a show like that takes.
We had a magical day!

Before we headed off to see the show I had Mike snap a few picture us in our festive attire.

A quick photo before we went into the theater for the show. Those were nice smiles considering we had just walked 2 blocks and it was about 25 degrees outside.

After the show I took the girls over to the main branch of the library to see the winter train display. I had seen it last year while I was there to pick up my sisters gift. I knew that they would get a kick out of it. We also picked up a few books for Paige so she could do some reading over winter break.

Paige snapped this picture of Megan. They each had a point and shoot camera and they had a ball snapping photos.

It was my idea to pose Oliver and Scout in the flowers for their portrait.

Her new earrings match her pretty green coat perfectly!

I love this areal view taken from the stairway.

I think Megan took this picture of me waving to her as she stood on the staircase above the trains.

Megan was sporting her fancy handbag that Mimi got her a few years ago. She always gets lots of complements when she carries it.

Jasper and Murphy posed for their portrait too.

2010-12-18T15:46:00.000-08:00

The weekend is only half over and we have been busy. Friday after school let out for winter break I took the girls to get their haircuts. Their bangs were getting a little long and Megan wanted her hair bobbed a bit. Miss. Melinda did an awesome job as always and the girls were thrilled to have shiny pretty hair.

This afternoon we picked up Paige's best friend, Brittany on our way to the mall and Aunt Deb met us there. You may think we were just doing a little last minute Christmas shopping but the real reason was to get Paige's ears pierced as part of her Christmas present. After Megan had hers done for her 9th b.day last summer Paige decided to get her ears pierced as well. I told her she had to wait for a special occasion so she decided that Christmas would be the best time.

The last picture of Paige's perfect hole free ear!

When Megan had her ears done they had two gals pierce them at the same time but with Paige they did them one at a time. Lucky for Paige she had her Aunt Deb and her best friend Brittany to hold her hands.

It's Paige with pierced ears!

Admiring her new tiny emerald green (her birthstone) earrings that she will wear for at least the next 8 weeks!

The girls were being mannequins at the Justice store. At first Brittany and Megan were standing there and Paige was waiting to see what the other customers would do before she finally joined them. Silly girls they are easily entertained.

2010-12-10T12:27:00.000-08:00

I know these are a few weeks late but I still wanted to share our Thanksgiving pictures. Although we didn't have a huge gathering the food and good company were more than enough to make a memorable meal. Bigger is not always better.

Megan is a great little veggie chopper!

Megan helping her dad open the wine. She was intrigued by the cork puller now if I could only get her intrigued with a sponge so she could clean the toothpaste out of her bathroom sink!

Paige looking a little too sweet!

This is a good candid shot of Aunt Deb.

Megan setting up her elf's little house so they could be in the dining room for Thanksgiving. Jasper the elf and his little dog Murphy came down from the North Pole for their annual visit.

Please note the camera angles..I managed to take a picture of Mike without making it look like his nose was on fire. Just saying sometimes you have to adjust the angle.

This one is for Carole a.k.a. Mimi...all of us girls were sporting our aprons. Thanks for helping us to look so stylish while we were cooking!

Happy Turkey day from the sassy apron wearing turkey girls!

2010-11-24T20:35:00.000-08:00

Mike had a good day of fishing the day before Thanksgiving. It was a rain/sleet mix with a temp in the low to mid 30's. State stocked 810 trout into a local 42 acer lake.

Good - 14 1/2 " 1.3 lbs Rainbow Trout

Better - 18 1/2 " 2.5 lbs Rainbow Trout

Best - 24" 6 lbs Rainbow Trout

2010-11-08T04:16:00.000-08:00

for joy!

If this doesn't make you smile (even on a Monday) then it's hopeless.
Enjoy your day!

2010-11-06T13:55:00.000-07:00

Getting Carried Away...

The other day when I was putting these pictures on the computer Mike said "gee how many pictures did you take?" He probably thinks I get carried away, but it's so easy to snap pictures when the subject is this darn cute and her expressions change so fast. I just want to stop time for a while and remember these lovely days of 9 and 12. I remember my sister saying as her kids have grown (Cody and Chelsea are 23 and 26 now) that she enjoys each age and stage as much as the others. I am just at a great place with my girls. They are so charming, funny, sweet and full of positive energy. I really enjoy hanging out with them and they seem to enjoy my company too and I know it's not always going to be like that.
Another reason I love snapping her photo is that she is a willing subject and that wasn't always the case when she was a toddler.

Sometimes when I am looking at Megan's face I catch a glimpse of my dad's ornery smile the one you see after he says "gotcha" when he has played a trick on you. When I get a shot of her with that sparkle in her eyes then I know I have caught her "Reil" smile.

I have been hearing "your girls are so beautiful" for 12 years now. I always say thank you...and think well all kids are beautiful. But sometimes when I see my kids I think "wow how did I have such pretty kids?" or when someone tells me they look like me I always think "yeah they resemble be but they are so much prettier." I have always thought of myself as more on the cute side than the pretty side. I always take it as a compliment when people tell me that they look like me because I think they are beautiful...of course I am their mom so I am probably a little prejudice.

2010-11-05T14:14:00.000-07:00

The other day at Paige's riding lessons I was out in the arena snapping pictures of her and Megan was standing on a step stool. Then Megan says "take my picture while I shake my head". Luckily we have a Nikon D-90 so it just snaps away and catches all the action. I also snapped a few pictures of Cody, he is the new lesson horse. He just came to the stable a week ago so he is getting used to his new home before he starts being ridden by students. Paige cannot wait to ride him. He is really tall and so pretty.

I love that she has this big silly grin on her face the entire time that she is shaking her head back and forth...she cracks me up!

2010-10-31T09:17:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween 2010...our neighborhood actually had trick or treating this past Thursday. Don't ask me it's a central Ohio thing to have it practically any night but the 31st. I don't really understand it, but whatever.
The kids had fun trick or treating with Deb, Bud and Joe Boxer. Bud designed Joe's train costume and everyone wanted pictures with him. He was quite the hit with our neighbors.

Lauren and Paige has a horseback riding theme, Lauren was the English rider and Paige was the Western rider.

Megan and Ayva posed for a quick picture.

2010-10-22T10:55:00.000-07:00

It's flashback time...October 2009.....
Megan was a pink and green haired witch for trick or treat.

It's a new year now and a new witch.....it's the "2010 version of Megan the dancing witch"
She will be absent from her ballet and jazz classes next Thursday because it will be trick or treat night in our neighborhood. So she got a little head start in dressing up last night for her dance classes. Plus she has a Halloween party to go to tonight.

2010-10-19T17:17:00.000-07:00

We are not crazy about spiders...but snakes are no problem, especially when they are as pretty as Kovu. Kovu is the class mascot for Paige's Watershed class. We were supposed to have a class campfire at the fire pit at their school last night. It started raining about 45 minutes before it was to start (the 3rd time it got rained out) so we had an indoor potluck and played "Watershed games" in the gym. We all had a fun time and made lots of good memories.

2010-10-12T04:21:00.000-07:00

First Trout

While I was working (sweeping and cashiering in the Nursery at The Anderson's) Mike and the girls were fishing. Last Thursday they stocked a local pond with trout. So Paige and Megan caught their first trout on Saturday, Oct. 09,2010! The weather was about as good as it gets for early October, sunny blue skies and in the low 80's plus there was a slight breeze as the day wore on. Wish I could have been fishing with my family instead of ringing up mums and mulch. Oh well, at least they remembered the camera!

2010-09-15T17:13:00.000-07:00

Paige wore my old red boots (by the way they were made in the U.S.A. over 20 years ago) to riding lessons. I never wore them to ride in, back in the day I had a great old pair of pigskin boots that I wore when I was out riding horses in California. My red boots were my dancing boots. I'm glad that she is wearing them it's much better than their previous fate of sitting in a plastic storage container in the basement. They are feeling the love now!

Wednesday is her favorite day of the week...at least for the next 10 weeks! Paige is back in the saddle again for fall riding lessons and she is thrilled that her best friend Brittany is taking lessons with her. We pick Brittany up after school and take her to lessons with Paige then Brittany's mom swings by our house on her way home from work and picks Brittany up. The girls are thrilled to get to see each other for over an hour each week (they do not go to the same school and we live about 10 miles apart). Luckily the stable is just a few miles from Brittany's school so it works out perfectly and as you can see they are both happy.

Brittany looks like a pro in the saddle, look how nice and tall she sits. She has done some riding at horse camp so I think her and Paige are pretty close in their skills.

It was a bit dusty and warm , about 87 degrees...we are to get some rainstorms tomorrow maybe that will settle the dust for next week.

I asked Paige what they were chatting about and she said "I was telling her how we ride bareback when it's real cold out". That will come in a few months...about mid November when they are doing a lot of their lessons in the arena inside the big old barn.

2010-09-03T12:45:00.000-07:00

She wears a size 6 in woman's shoes now....she got these cute high tops at Payless..it was B.O.G. (Buy one get one 1/2 off) so they were all of $4.50!

So the other day Paige says the kids at school have already started talking about Halloween costumes. Her friend Lauren suggested they go as horseback riders. Lauren is going to wear her English garb and Paige is going Western. This made me think (fondly) of my lovely red cowgirl boots (the ones like Lori Singer wore in "Footloose" ). I got them as a Christmas gift one year from the Turpin's. I wore them out dancing for many years. Then after I had Paige my feet got wider and a size bigger so they haven't been on my feet for more than 12 years. But I kept them...because I love them. So today I dug them out along with my leather belt with the silver heart buckle that Lisa got me one year for Christmas. They fit Paige perfectly! I told her she could wear the boots to riding lessons (her riding boots are getting tight) too. I figure they might as well get used and loved a little more. By the way I looked inside of them to check the size, they are 6 1/2 and they say "Made in the U.S.A." gotta love that!

2010-09-02T05:38:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures from the camping trip we took the weekend before the kids went back to school. Rowdy was relaxing in the shade while we put the tent up.

Paige relaxing in the tent Friday afternoon while Mike did a little fishing on Hook lake. We camped right next to this lake...you had to walk down a steep trail but hey nothing like fishing from camp.

Me and Rowdy dog Saturday on the canoe.

This one cracks me up...Mike trying to fish and Megan posing like a superstar.

Can you tell that quarters were cramped...that is Paige's foot, my hand and Rowdy resting on his beach towel at my feet next to the sack with the snacks and camera in it.

The one that got away. Megan caught the first "keeper" on Saturday, unfortunately Mike dropped it as he was trying to put it in the fish basket that hangs in the water on the side of our canoe...so now Megan has a "one that got away" story to tell. We told her she can catch him again next time we fish there..and it will be even bigger!

My first keeper of the day...and Paige got one too!

In this picture you can really tell how crowded our canoe is with 4 people and two dogs. Lucky for us the dogs are small and like to sleep on their beach towels. Also it is kinda hard to take photos from the front of the canoe..you have to be careful not to rock the boat when you are turning in your seat and trying to point the camera behind you.

The kids were enthralled with all the dragon flies, they were even giving them names. There were also a ton of butterflies but for some reason I didn't snap any pictures of them. There would be clusters of 10 or 12 butterflies on the road and paths. They would land on our tent too. They were pretty and entertaining.

The girls sacked out on Sunday morning.

Rebel was licking his chops...we had puppy treats and the doggy water bottle for them on the canoe..he also swiped a few pringles from Paige.

Mike caught this nice size bass on Sunday...but not quite big enough to keep.

Rowdy our happy canoe dog...he snores so loud I worry that he'll scare the fish away.

2010-08-25T08:45:00.000-07:00

Back to School 2010-2011

Today was the first day of school for the girls. Paige is in 7th grade and Megan is in 4th. Paige gets on the bus at 7:15 and Megan gets on at 8:25. So that means a long morning for me...get Paige up..make her breakfast and pack her lunch on most days then I take the dogs out while she gets on the bus. Then it's back inside to do it all over again with Megan.

Paige gets her locker today so she has lots of supplies to carry in. I told her she could bring in a little each day but she wanted to bring it all with her today. I talked her out of taking her clarinet...I'm pretty sure they don't play music on the first day of band class.

Megan's allergies were bugging her but she seemed to perk up when we went outside and she saw all of her friends gathering at the bus stop. Lucky for us we live on the corner that the bus stops at (that is especially nice when it is raining or there is snow on the ground).

She was originally going to wear her new jean leggings but I told her she would get too warm on recess so she changed to jean shorts. The pink shoes that Aunt Shann got her for her b.day look great with her plaid shirt.

Is it me or does Megan look too mature in this photo? I just can't believe she only has 2 more years of elementary school then she's off to middle school. I'm not ready for that :(

2010-08-06T07:16:00.000-07:00

The Sea Dragon!
The first roller coaster from designer John C. Allen and the only one remaining of three built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company with this layout. Sea Dragon at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium's Jungle Jack's Landing is a double out and back, figure eight wooden coaster. This family attraction has a 37-foot tall lift, 1,320-feet of wood track and a maximum speed of 25 miles-per-hour. It was built in 1956.
It's a classic!

Paige and Megan kept trying to get the very front seat but would have to settle for the 2nd row of the first car. I told them next time to just let everyone go and wait back so they could be 1st in line so they could jump in the first seat of the first car.

"The Scrambler" a.k.a. the masher because if there are 2 people riding together one gets mashed against the far side of the seat.

My ultimate favorite carnival ride is the "Tilt-a-Whirl". Back when we were kids my dad and uncle both worked for P.&G. and they would have their company picnic at Mickey Grove Park just South of Sacramento each year around the start of school. We would get our hands stamped and we would get to ride the carnival rides with our cousins all day. We spent lots of time on the ol Tilt-a-Whirl making good memories.
Now when the kids and I go to the zoo we are doing the same. There's never a line for the rides and if no one is in line the kids running the rides just let you stay on and ride again and again that is what we did yesterday.

The last ride of the night was the Sailing Parrots..note to self "do not put on sticky lip gloss before riding parrot ride unless you want your hair stuck to your lips!"

2010-08-05T07:44:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday (7-31 Happy Anniversary Dad and Carolee) the girls were both at sleepovers so Mike and I decided to take the canoe out for some fishing at the ponds. The last Saturday of the month is late night fishing so it didn't really matter that we didn't get down there til 6.
We paddled out to the island that we used to call "Charlie Brown island" but now we are referring to it as "goose poop" island for obvious reasons. The fishing wasn't so great in that area not even a nibble so we paddled over to the East pond and had better luck.

That is the same fish in the picture above as well as below but I think the sky looks cool in the picture above.

2010-08-04T17:12:00.000-07:00

Paige finished up her summer woodwind camp with Dr. Clark last week and then they had a concert for us on Friday. One of the other kids could not attend because of a family emergency, so Dr. Clark asked Paige to play that persons music in a trio. She practiced it twice with them when they were warming up and then nailed it perfectly during the concert. Needless to say we are very proud of her.
I wish this picture below turned out better. Dr. Clark is moving out of state for a new college level teaching position. We wish him all the best but we will miss him greatly. He has been such a positive role model and has taught Paige so much this past year. He is one of those people that just makes you smile, he exudes this genuine warm energy.

After the concert we took the girls to Molly Woos for dinner, yummy!

2010-07-21T06:26:00.000-07:00

Megan's birthday night celebration...from opening gifts to kissing toads.....

Who knew she would get so excited over a ninety-nine cent box of Mike and Ikes ?

This is the cute b.day card that Paige made her. Paige picked her out a really cool gift too. She got her some blank books so Megan can copy the stories that she writes into them. Paige said that she would help with editing. I think this will be a great rainy day project to keep them busy.

Megan enthusiastically modeling her new apron that Mimi made for her.

This is the card I made for her. I was worried that she would count the pink flowers (on the felt ribbon) and realize that there were only 8 so I snipped one more and put it inside by the greeting. Inside it said "Butterfly kisses and birthday wishes".

Our little Megan is ready for the roller derby now. Her friends around the block have a long flat driveway and sometimes they put cones out and play music and have their own outdoor roller rink.

I actually bought these earrings for her before she got her ears pierced, so I didn't know she was going to pick out blue flowers. The ones I got her are a little different shade of blue and they are dangley-post.

This is kinda cool...I put a picture of Megan in it from her rock star party last year and her friends all signed the frame with highlighters. When you flip the switch little black lights shine on it and makes the words and drawings glow. You can wipe it off with a tissue and write on it again and again. It was a big hit!

Pictures from Megan's b.day dinner at Red Lobster (she wanted popcorn shrimp for dinner).
We had to wait until after Paige's tap class to go out so we had a late dinner.

Our waiter was nice enough to get a lobster out so Megan could pet it. He also gathered a group and sang her happy birthday too.

When we got home from dinner I took the dogs out and found this baby toad. I brought it home to show the girls and Megan pretended to kiss it.

2010-07-20T05:32:00.000-07:00

Megan celebrated her 9th birthday last Wednesday, July 14th.

I let Megan open this one gift in the morning before we went to Paige's music lesson. That way she would have something new and fun to play with.

Since Paige had a 1 1/2 hour band class in the middle of the day and then a 45 min. tap class at the end of the day we did some celebrating around that and it worked out fine. Plus she had a party with more friends on Saturday....so we did a little partying this week.

After we dropped off Paige at the music store we picked up Cameron and Meghan and went out to lunch at Culver's. Then we went over and picked Paige, grabbed Paige some lunch and headed for the splash pad at the park.

Cameron, Megan the b.day princess and Meghan celebrating at Culver's.

The girls posing at the splash pad.

Here's a cute picture of everyone after they got soaked!

They played on the playground for a bit and then warmed up in the sun. I don't think Cameron realized that I was actually going to catch her cute little tongue sticking out, they were pretty far away...but the big lens sees all!

2010-07-16T12:37:00.000-07:00

Someone had a groovy giant frosted cookie for her b.day on July 14th.

Happy 9th Birthday dear Megan,

We love you with all our hearts, Mom, Dad, Paige, Rowdy and Rebel

2010-07-14T14:17:00.000-07:00

Here's the story...for years we have had a family joke about the kids getting their ears pierced. I have always been a little surprised that they have not asked me to get their ears pierced because almost all of their friends have theirs done (some of them since they were babies). So whenever we are strolling down the mall and we get in front of "Claire's" I will say in a loud voice "Who wants to get their ears pierced today?" and they would always put their hands over their ears and yell "NOT ME!".

Well about a month ago we were talking about Megan's up coming 9th birthday and I said you should get your ears pierced then all your friends could get you earrings. Of course you will want to do it before your b.day party. So July 7th we were printing out her b.day invites and she said don't forget to put "I got my ears pierced for my b.day" on them. So that was it...in black and white...she had to get her ears pierced. So on Saturday, July 10th we went to the mall and marched into Claire's and our little girl got her ears pierced while Aunt Deb, Paige and I took pictures.

Here is the last picture of Megan with un-pierced ears, (that is her fairy ear...see how it's a little pointy on top...when we were at Disney she showed it to Tink and Tink confirmed that Megan must be half fairy)

She practically squeezed the stuffing out of that poor bear...but she didn't flinch or even get a tear in her eye. Just before she had them done she got a very serious look on her face, Aunt Deb exclaimed "I have never seen Megan look so serious".

Aunt Deb came along for support too. After the piercing was done we went to CA Pizza Kitchen to celebrate and to share our piercing stories from "back in the day".
Like for instance when I had mine done when I was 7 they used a big metal thing that looked like a staple gun...and they only did one ear at a time...AND when they did my first ear the darn thing got STUCK on my ear. So they were yanking it around and finally got it off and then I had to be brave so they could pierce my other ear...luckily without a repeat of the stuck piercing gun. I wonder if they gave my mom a discount for the trauma they caused me? Probably not, but hey what doesn't kill ya makes ya stronger...and gives you a good story to tell.

2010-07-09T07:06:00.000-07:00

Oh No it's the "croc A gators"!

Here are some picture's from the neighborhood pool at Grandma and Grandpa's in Georgia. I had some fun taking pictures with the new lens as Mike, Paige and Megan goofed around in the pool on June 19, 2010.

This is what happens whenever Mike get's in the pool with the kids. They climb on him and try to dunk him...they should know by now that they will never win at this game.

Then one of them makes the mistake of getting on his shoulders and then this.....

......happens!

Can you tell how frightened Megan is in the picture above...going into the water head first with a big fat grin on her face?
Yep, she's scared!

I wonder at what age they will figure out that when you jump into a pool holding onto a big ol beach ball that the ball will not go under the water with you but pop up like, well a big ol beach ball.. but hey it's fun to watch.

One last smile....we will call it "Megan Spouting Off"!

2010-06-14T20:03:00.000-07:00

I don't think I have documented Megan's new glasses on my blog...just on facebook. She got them back in mid May. She just needs them for reading and computer work.
We think she looks adorable in them!

Question) What comes the week after the Spring dance recital?

Answer) The Summer "bob" courtesy of Miss. Melinda.
Yep, it's summer time and Megan loves her new bob...and so do I especially since she can comb it all by herself.
Not only does she look cool she feels cool!

2010-06-11T19:09:00.000-07:00

I took these pictures of Paige with our new Nikon last month. She will start the summer lessons next Tuesday. Lucky for her they are in the a.m. so it won't be too terribly hot.

I took these while standing in the arena shooting across the field.
(This camera is so fun!)

Her shirt says "instant message" under the picture of the pup wagging it's tail. We love "Life is Good" shirts.

Look at the confidence in that smile...she's in the zone!

2010-06-06T06:21:00.000-07:00

Megan's 3rd grade class had their "Pioneer Day" back on May 26th. We had a warm (85 degrees) day but no thunderstorms at least. The kids had a great time, they are so fortunate to get to pretend to be pioneers it's so much more fun than just reading about it.

Grandma Barb had made the costume for Paige three years ago and it looks just as cute on Megan as it did on Paige. They are lucky girls to have such a talented Grandma.

Megan and her teacher Mrs. H.

I worked at the biscuit making station in the morning and then after lunch I was at stenciling. The kids made their own butter before heading to mix the ingredients, roll out the dough and cut their biscuits. The best part was eating them hot out of the oven!

Megan cleaning the rugs the way they did it before Dyson came along. The moms would sprinkle baby powder on the rugs before they let the kids beat them...smelled like a fresh clean diaper at the chores station!

They square danced!

They did some tin punching with a nail and a aluminum pie plate.

They dipped candles.

They made butter...a little heavy cream, a pinch of salt and a marble in a plastic lidded cup and a lot of shaking makes good butter.

I wonder if the buckets were that small in pioneer days? I doubt it!

They had a good lunch...chicken legs, noodles, corn, fresh veggies, fresh fruit and Megan's favorite pickle spears. After lunch you could pick either a brownie or cookie for desert. "Either" was a hard concept for some of the kids. Megan went with the brownie and deemed it two thumbs up!

Squint your eyes a little and remember back 30 years and you might see a glimpse of Laura Ingles a.k.a. Melisa Gilbert.

They stenciled designs on cotton bags. Some got the concept of a little paint goes a long ways and some just globbed it on. I was helping with the stenciling station the last part of the day.

They helped make rope.

2010-05-26T04:05:00.000-07:00

(Brittany, Paige, Olivia and Cara on Laurens back)

Paige's 12th b.day party was back on May 14th...the day after her b.day. She invited 7 friends plus Megan invited Cameron over for dinner and mini golf. Deb and I made salad and cut up watermelon and pineapple and we heated up "take and bake" Donato's pizza.
After dinner and a few pictures on the patio we loaded 10 girls in two cars and drove across town to the glow in the dark mini golf place. We lucked out and had the place all to ourselves. It was really cool...too bad that I forgot to grab the cameras.
Oh well we had fun and that's what counts. Two of the girls got hole in ones and coupons for Rita's Icee's.

So here are the pictures we snapped at home...before and after golf...and playing at the park.

Megan and Cameron enjoying their dinner

Aunt Deb having a quick bite to eat...I can't imagine getting through these parties without Aunt Deb, she's a life saver and always so much fun!

The posed shot followed by the silly shot...
back row: Olivia, Brittany, Paige, Brooke, Sydney and Megan
front row: Reilly, Cara, Lauren and Cameron

Cameron and Megan running around....in socks!

2010-05-25T04:02:00.000-07:00

Flashback to Paige's 12th birthday....May 13, 2010

We started the evening off with her school band concert. Her teacher was nice and let her be excused after the 6th graders played and exited the stage. That meant she did not have to stick around to put chairs away and we could get on with the celebration.
We enjoyed the concert, the kids always wear black and I guess the 8th graders were grumbling about the lack of color so their teacher brought fabric scraps with a different color for each grade. The 6th graders got yellow sashes...it was fun to see how each child wore theirs. The boys mostly made "Rambo" style headbands or arm bands and the girls were a little more creative...with bows in their pony tails, scarves around their necks and belts.

The birthday girl with her gifts. She started with the envelopes then with the California gifts and finally the gifts from Megan, Mike and I.

She received $50. from her Grandma and Grandpa that she is putting towards summer horseback riding lessons and Raj and Suman gave her a dollar for each year.

Megan looking cute and waiting for her sister to open the gifts that she picked out.

It's not an official b.day party until the dogs start helping with the gift wrap!

Mimi made Paige this adorable apron...can you tell by the big smile and pose that she's loving it?!

She also received a set of notebooks and $25. to go towards summer horseback riding lessons.

That's the cute card that my sister made her.

Aunt Shann sent a cute pair of pink plaid shorts and matching top, plus a g.c. for Old Navy...plus she sent a big bag full of glow sticks for Paige's party with her friends.

Megan gave Paige this cute "Tink" t-shirt and some bracelets and a set of "Japanese erasers" that were in the shape of cakes.

Paige was thrilled with the dolphin wind chimes that Megan picked out for her from "Tropical Trends".

This is the b.day card I made her, give it a click for an enlarged view.

We gave her a bunch of t-shirts.. some art supplies and she will be getting a cell phone when Mike decides which one will be best for her.

Oh and I found this cute little metal doggy at Cost Plus ...he reminded me of the way Rebel sits with his legs all cockeyed...plus he had a red collar with a heart dangling from it....just too cute!

May all her wishes come true, as long as they don't involve us buying her a horse! Ha ha :)

2010-05-06T04:16:00.000-07:00

Paige had another fun horseback riding class. After we brushed about five pounds of hair off of Calliope she saddled up and put her through the paces.

You can see here that Paige had Calliope in a pretty good trot. Miss. Ginnette was very pleased with how straight Paige was sitting in the saddle and how she was keeping her hands low and together on the reins. She told Paige that she will have her canter next week.

The canter is a controlled, three-beat gait performed by a horse. It is a natural gait possessed by all horses, faster than most horses' trot but slower than the gallop, and is used by all riders. The speed of the canter varies between 16-27 km/h (10-17 mph), depending on the length of the stride of the horse. A variation of the canter, seen in western riding, is called a lope, and generally is quite slow, no more than 13-19 km/h (8-12 mph).

While Paige was riding I thought it would be fun to take a few self portraits with Megan.

Of course you have to take a few of theses to get...one of these.

Then just for fun I decided "if I can't beat her I might as well join her"!
I don't want her growing up thinking I never played with her.

2010-05-05T05:56:00.000-07:00

Last Friday's Fun

Last weekend it rained here pretty much all of Saturday and Sunday.....but Friday it was beautiful. Mike took the day off work and went fishing. He brought this nice sized Blue Gill home.

While Mike was off fishing I took the girls to the park for some fresh air fun.

Paige and Megan enjoyed "hanging out" at the park.

After the park we had dinner at Steak and Shake. Megan told me she needed me to e-mail her teacher a picture of us together so we snapped a few while we waited for our burgers.

2010-05-02T18:49:00.000-07:00

Dance Recital Update...
This years dance recital will be on Sunday, May 30th The girls are in the 3rd show which starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets go on sale two weeks from tomorrow, so give me a call if you want tickets.
They received their costumes last week. It's always so much fun when they try them on and then do their dances in them for the first time.

Here is Megan in her "Piano Keys" costume. They are dancing to "Rollover Beethoven". It's a fun and fast tap dance number.

This is Lily, she is Megan's best friend at dance.

Paige's tap class is dancing to the "Conga" . Their dance is extra fast and a little bit flirty too. The girls love their costumes....because they are comfy and don't have feathers!

Megan's jazz class is doing a fun dance to Gwen Stefani's "If I Were A Rich Girl". It is Megan's favorite class. The girl likes to move!

Megan love's her ballet costume the most. She like's how soft the fabric is. They are doing a sweet dance to a song from "Sleeping Beauty".

2010-04-30T04:11:00.000-07:00

Hey where did April go? Does anyone else feel like this year is just flying by? Well it is for me...I have been a very bad blogger and have not kept up with my postings at all. I will try to do better next month. In the meantime scroll on down for some snapshots of our April.

Wednesday is Paige's favorite day of the week...Wednesday equals horseback riding day and that makes her happy!

Megan giving Cece some love while Paige was grooming him.

A good cowgirl always checks her horses feet for rocks.

Paige and Cece last week at riding lessons.

Megan hanging out while Paige does her riding lesson.

Megan hanging out on Jake's swings!

Paige and baby Braden....he zonked out in the swing while we were visiting with his mama.

We went to a recognition ceremony for Paige and her classmates one morning before school. As you can see Paige received straight A's for her 3 rd quarter in 6th grade. We are so proud of her, especially since she is in pre algebra (which is 7th grade math).

We enjoyed playing the Wii with Grandma and Grandpa. Megan was bowling our socks off she was the strike queen!

The kids and I were riding with Grandma and Grandpa in their car since Mike had met us at Pei Wei's when he got off work. We decided to take his picture as he rode past us on his motorcycle.

Mike and his mom sharing a smile.

Paige and Megan goofing with Grandpa at Pei Wei's Diner.

Paige and Rebel having a snuggle before the school bus comes in the a.m.

Megan at Jeni's ice cream.

We went to the high school to see the Spring art show and to see the African zebra mask that Paige had displayed there. She received an A on this project for art class.

Is it me or does Joe Boxer look like the Easter Bunny?

Joe taking a siesta in the grass.

Megan's fashion purchase with the Justice gift card that she got for Christmas from Aunt Shann. She also bought a cute gray tank dress that has neon green, pink, orange and yellow stripes on the skirt. She is wearing it in the pictures with Grandma Barb and Grandpa Jim.

Mike caught some trout!

Paige got a temporary Eagle tattoo for spirit day at school.

Megan and the daffodils from Easter Sunday.

2010-04-11T10:34:00.000-07:00

Flash back to Mike's 42nd birthday.....April 5th 2010!

The girls were being a little silly while their dad was opening his gifts. We got him a new fishing reel, a "Magic Worm Farm" (to keep our fishing worms alive), two fishing themed t-shirts, some orange spice cashews from Whole Foods, and some root beer and orange crush flavored ice pops.

After the gifts we went to dinner at "The Lost Shepherd", it was a nice night to sit out on the patio and enjoy a nice meal. After dinner we enjoyed watching heat lightning off in the distance. The storm held off until after we returned home.

Mike found some extra room in his dessert stomach for some chocolate cake and ice cream.
Happy Birthday Sweetie we hope you had fun!

2010-04-11T08:41:00.000-07:00

The Great Easter Egg Hunt of 2010
You would think there was gold inside the eggs instead of jelly beans and chocolates. Paige and Megan take their egg hunting very seriously even though they dump all the candy into community bowls when they are done. They do get to keep any money they find...there was all of $4.50 hidden in the eggs this year. Paige found two buck and Megan found two fifty but Paige convinced Megan to give her one of her quarters so they would be even. Big sisters seem to have that kind of power over little sisters, at least that's how I remember it with my sister.

The Easter Bunny left lots of loot in their baskets.

After breakfast the girls went outside with the dogs and did a puppy treat egg hunt on the patio.

Then when it was time for the dogs lunch Paige thought it would be a good idea to put their dog food in eggs. Rowdy and Rebel had to work for their lunch, it was quite entertaining.

At 3:30 we marched down to the cul de sac for the annual neighborhood egg hunt. They had the kids line up for pictures first. Then they let them go...little ones first and then the big ones could go when Mr. Matt or Mr. Xavier tapped their head. That way we didn't have a crazy free for all.

After the egg hunt we went home and sang happy birthday to Mike (a day early) .
Then we enjoyed the yummy Texas sheet cake that Terry made.

2010-04-11T08:27:00.000-07:00

Bear with me as we do a little back tracking and catching up from Easter weekend.

Easter Egg Dyeing 101

Start with hard boiled eggs( unless you are a prankster like my dad and you want to trick a 5 year old into cracking an uncooked egg on his head.).
I make my kids wear their tie dyed shirts...that way you don't have to worry about getting stains...hey what's a little more color on a tie dyed shirt?
Cover the table with newspaper (duh!)....and get dyeing.

Paige tried out the tie dyeing kit...it was a little messy but made bright eggs. Oh and when I was peeling them to make deviled eggs the dye came off all over my hands.

Paige and Megan with the colored eggs...they turned out bright and beautiful...just like my girls.

Oh and we always pick out our favorite two eggs to show off, one of our silly traditions.

2010-04-08T05:32:00.000-07:00

Paige Is Back In The Saddle Again

Spring riding lessons started back up last night at 5:15. We dropped Megan off at her friend, Meghan's house on the way out of the development. Megan was happier hanging out with her friends than watching her sister ride horses.

Speaking of saddles...Paige can fetch her own saddle and heft it up onto Cece's back now. I think she has grown quite a bit since last fall.

I asked Paige on the way to lessons "which horse do you want to ride?" . She said she didn't know and she was wondering who else was going to ride with her. Miss. Ginette usually has two riders per class plus her helper (neighbor girl Harla). We were the first ones there so when Miss. Ginette asked Paige who she wanted to ride Paige didn't hesitate when she called out Cece's name.

Cece has a mud puddle issue...he doesn't like them. Paige knows this so each time they came to this mud puddle she would make him walk around the entire thing before continuing on.

After lessons as we were driving back out to the road Paige said " Riding lessons are like therapy, when I'm out their riding I don't think about anything but me and the horse". She said it's nice to give her brain a break from school and homework. This made me smile because I know exactly what she's talking about.

2010-04-02T15:41:00.001-07:00

Here are some of the "April Fools Got'chas" from our house this year.

Paige did this one to me...the old post it note on the bottom of the mouse so it acts dead as a doornail. She also taped the handle of the faucet sprayer at the kitchen sink so my shirt got soaked when I went to rinse her thermos out.

Paige requested that I put neon purple food coloring in Megan's milk at breakfast. I told Megan it was a "new grape milk" instead of the usual chocolate or strawberry. She wasn't having any of it! So I had purple milk on my cereal.

Paige gets on the school bus for middle school before Megan gets up. So before Megan went off to school I helped her turn Paige's room "Upside Down".

We don't have any pictures of the last prank of the day...but I will do my best to describe it.
Before Megan and I returned home from Megan's dance classes Mike and Paige blew up a bunch of balloons. They did not tie them shut but they twisted them and shut the ends in the door. That way they would fall down and the air would whoosh out. They did the door from the garage to the house and also Megan's bedroom. It was a big hit!

2010-04-01T06:13:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures from Sunday, March 21 when we spent the afternoon at the auto show.

Paige and her penguin.

The girls stood in a long line to get balloons sculptures from Matt the Balloon Guy http://www.protwister.com/
He was pretty amazing, he could twist those balloons so fast while he was chatting with the kids and I never heard him pop a balloon and he never looked at his hands while he was working.

Megan and her monkey.

Speaking of monkeys they had the big tall rock wall up for the kids to climb. Megan climbed it three different times. She made it to the top two of the three times. They had to disconnect the button for the siren on the top because the folks at the auto show kept thinking it was the fire alarm. So when Megan got to the top she gave us the thumbs up!

Mike in the new claustrophobic Camaro. The side windows are very low profile and it feels a little like a cave for being such a big car. When I sat in it I had Mike go stand in front of the nose. I would not feel comfortable parking this in a parking lot that has those cement block things between each space. But not to worry I don't think there's a Camaro in my future anytime soon!

This was the last shot of the day...Megan makes the windows look big!