make your reservation now...

I cannot believe that there's less than six week left in the school year. Emily is over the moon excited for summer vacation. I hope that we can make this years summer vacation as much fun as last years. No big plans to speak of at the moment. We would love to have some visitors...hint, hint...we have lots of room, fun things to do, good food....and a summer wide open with possibilities. Check with the reservation manager for your custom Michigan/Gottlieb vacation today!!

Emily told me last week that EVERYONE in her class has these things that she calls "squishies". I guess that they are pencil toppers that are, well, squishy. They are not sold in stores. You can get them at those vending machines they are in restaurants and stores...you know, the ones that you put a couple of quarters in (I swear, these things were only ONE quarter when I was a kid), turn the handle and something comes out in a little plastic bubble. Apparently, there are already "rare" ones. They trade them. And they are probably pretty hot property for the teaching staff at the school.

Well, thanks to my good friend Ginger, Emily is now the proud owner of TEN squishies. Emily, armed with a bag of quarters, went out with her buddies tonight after dinner on a squishy run. I stayed home with Paige. Emily returned victorious. Did I just dole out $4 for pencil toppers?

It was too late when she returned - we had to do baths and reading - so I will take and post some pictures tomorrow. Truthfully, I just want you to be in the dark like me....until tomorrow.

For now, a couple other pictures from the past few days....

The girls after the first photo shoot for Mother's Day pictures. I didn't end up using any of the pictures I took of Paige from this shoot - didn't like the shirt - too busy. But, still a cute photo of the girls. Emily has really mastered the smirk, don't you think?


I am really not sure what Paige is doing here.

This was Emily's shirt by the way...

And here are a couple of my favorites from the re-shoot with Paige. I love this one - but I really wanted to use one where she was looking at the camera.

And this one is also my favorite - but I liked the one with the tree because it matched Emily's picture better. Also, the dress strap is a little too sexy for the Grandmas...
And that is all!

Mother's Day

I haven't been a very good blogger this past week. I have lots of pictures to share, but no time in which to do so.

And that trend is continuing this week....no time.

So, I will leave with these photos I took as a present for all my Mothers. This one with Paige only took 80 shots to get. She is a tough model.


Emily is a bot more cooperative. Although, she does have a bit of a smirk. What are you gonna do?
Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there - hope your day was more restful than mine.

Monkey and Hula Girl

We were supposed to have total yuck weather this weekend. And, yes, it did rain a bit. But for the most part, it was warm and even a bit sunny at times.

We have been getting in some serious outside time.

Paige is into doing the monkey bars. Of course, she doesn't hold on and do it all by herself - but she can do a pretty good job with minimal spotting by me. Totally different from Emily. Emily was afraid to do it for a long time, and just within the past year has conquered that fear...somewhat.....

But, she's not afraid to play with the hula hoop. Emily and her girlfriends put on a hula hoop show for us Saturday evening.


It was full of tricks. Although, I am not really sure what trick is happening here...


Or here, for that matter.

Yeah, she's no real whiz with the hula hoop...but she's cute isn't she?


Oh wait...here's a good trick. All she has to do now is catch it. She can do that, right?

Yeah, not so much.
Maybe next time....

something to make you smile

Beautiful morning to walk to the bus stop.

My poor Emily was in much better spirits this morning. I am very sorry to say that I made her cry last night at dinner. No, she didn't get in trouble - she was very sad to find out, from me, that her teacher would not be coming back for the rest of the school year. I guess Emily didn't realize that having a baby puts you out of commission, as far as teaching first-graders, for a while. She totally thought that Mrs. Kalso would be coming back. She even asked if Mr. Kalso could just watch the baby while Mrs. Kalso came back to school. Poor thing. It would be a traumatic thing if it had happened to me as well. Mrs. Kalso should know she is loved.

Have a great weekend!

Go Paigey Go!

Paige has really taken off on her tricycle. She figured out the whole peddling thing about a week and a half ago, and has not looked back. She even went all the way around the block last Monday - and that's quite a distance.


It's a darn shame that the little bell is broken....but maybe that's why she can ride it now. No distraction.

After all that riding, you need to get in some swinging as well!
**Yes, I have a new watermark on my photos. It's just a little protective measure. If you print photos from this blog, (and with the crappy resolution, I don't know why you would) please let me know what photos you would like, and I would be more than happy to email you un-watermarked, higher resolution photos.

{10} on tuesday

I have seen this concept on other blogs, and thought it was a cool idea. So, I am giving it a whirl. And yes, I know it's not Tuesday, but I ran out of time yesterday....forgive?

1. I am almost done scrapbooking May 2009 - and since I have at least half of June 2009* already finished, I could be less than one year behind myself...and that pleases me to no end, as well as sounds very weird.

*I began this campaign last year to scrap recent stuff that was fresh in my mind...or probably more like, "Who wants to scrap snow and winter stuff in the middle of the summer??" So, I did some June 2009 stuff in July or August. I liked it, and I am probably going to continue that trend again. Which, totally goes against my strict code of not scrapping out of order....but, lately, I like to live dangerously!!

2. I love spring and summer, but it is so hard to get out of the habit of not having to worry about your feet and more specifically, toenails. I really need to remember that toes need to be repainted every few weeks during sandal season.

3. Emily has a very hard time eating breakfast in the morning, but when you tell her that she gets a doughnut if she finishes her cereal - it's amazing how fast she can eat.

4. Eric tried to help me out with laundry this past weekend, and instead of taking the CLEAN clothes upstairs to fold, he took the DIRTY ones with him. And I didn't realize it until the next morning.

5. Paige likes chili. Who knew?

6. I am really wanting to make a batch of homemade Oreos, but I only think of it right after I clean the whole kitchen. And, of course, I am thinking about it now, but I am busy doing this.

7. It seems as though all my new plants from last year have survived the winter - save for ONE out of five of these moss rose thingies - yes, that the scientific name. That's not too bad.

8. Emily starts gymnastics next Saturday....and she has asked me, "How much longer..." about 1,347,200,001 times. Do you think she's excited?

9. I think Paige is going through a very big growth/learning spurt. I just hope her clothes and my sanity hold out for a few more weeks.....

10. Emily's new book/toy/stuff shelf from IKEA.

It's a lot bigger than I thought, but I think that's just because we're used to something much smaller in that space. But she loves it, and that's all that matters.

Thus concludes the new feature of this blog.....

fish and swings

This morning, at around 6:05, I was suddenly woken up by a ringing alarm clock in Paige's room. Apparently, yesterday, while Paige was having a playfest in her room, she got a hold of her Pooh Bear clock, and set the alarm. Oh fun. So, I jumped out of bed, raced into her room, and shut off the clock. Paige was SOUND asleep.

But, the older child, was not. She was WIDE awake. Eagerly anticipating her stage premiere later in the day. Her class was putting on a trio of plays - Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Rainbow Fish, and Little Red Hen. Emily was in the Rainbow Fish - and she was none other than The Rainbow Fish herself. (actually, in the book, The Rainbow Fish is a boy, but that's just weird...)

Emily was dressed and ready by 6:45. We don't even go downstairs for breakfast until 7:30.....


She did a WONDERFUL job - as did all her classmates.



I was a proud Mama.

And I had Eric snap this picture of Emily and her teacher - Mrs. Kalso. Her teacher is VERY pregnant, and I am thinking this may be one of the last photo opportunities I will have before she has the baby and is on maternity leave. As it stands - she left right after the play this afternoon for the hospital...she was having some pains....

After dinner, I was fully committed to getting the girls in the tub, pj'ed, and in bed before 8. Then, I let Max out and it was BEAUTIFUL. So, we went out to play for a bit before bed.




I love happy girls!