Spring break

was last week. So was Dad's birthday. Monday evening, we went to Dad's to have dinner and celebrate his birthday. I love you, Dad! Here's a pic of my kids and Dad looking at the bragbook pages I made for him. Tuesday was a big day for D. He made Bobcat in Cub Scouts. Here he is w/ another boy getting their Bobcat pins. I'd been told that they turn the kids upside-down to put their pin on them - but apparently they don't do that anymore. :( Too bad - I thought that'd be fun. :)
Wed., we picked up the kids from spending the night at Grandad and Grandma Angie's, and headed to Branson. We love the Titanic Museum. I just took a pic as we drove by. We didn't go through it this time, but have before and really enjoyed it. We went to lunch on the "strip", then on to the vacation home rental we we staying at near Big Cedar. (south of Branson)
We had dinner w/ friends Wed. night, and they gave us tickets to Silver Dollar City. So, of course, we got up Thursday morn, and headed out to SDC for the day. We had a lot of fun. Of course I got pics of the kids, but I really liked this one. There were early spring flowers blooming all over the place, and daffodils everywhere. I wanted to get a pic all day - but we were always on the move and among other people - so I got this shot at the end of the day waiting for the trolley to take us back to our car.
Friday we went to the outlet mall mainly to check out the deals at the Oneida close-out sale. We picked up 2 boxes of new silverware to replace all the silverware that has been mysteriously disappearing since I've been watching my niece and nephew. Hubby has caught my niece several times throwing silverware away! There have obviously been many times no one has caught her, though, as our silverware is dwindling down to nothing, and I've taken to washing and re-using plastic spoons and forks! We also went to the Fudgery, Disney store, Polo and Claire's. Angel had fun in Claire's with the cool sunglasses and accessories. I don't know how much $$ I spent in that store as a teen, and looks like my girl may be on the same track. She spent $2 of her allowance on a pink, glittery brush/mirror that collapses and folds in half.
Saturday, we headed home just in time to drop the kids off at a birthday party. 1/2 an hour later, I had to pick up Angel to take her to a diff. party. This one was a pool party. Here she is standing under the tipping buckets. She's wiping water from her eyes as a bucket just tipped over right above her head.
Sunday night, some friends came over for dinner and games. Here they are being cute and in love. They're about to celebrate their 1st year of marriage in a couple weeks. Aren't they cute?

This morning, I caught Hubby and nephew having a quality moment. I thought it was cute enough to capture. :)So, we're done with spring break, and the kids are back to school today. I'm back to childcare, and Hubby's back to "work". It's Monday. Have a great week!

Broke my camera!

I'm so sad :( But also hopeful that I'll get a cool new one! So, for now, my Project 365 posts will be phone camera pics. It'll have to do. Actually, for this first one, I'm going to cheat. I friend emailed this pic to me that she got of D and a friend "break dancing" at the school dance. Aren't they so cool? (I took pics, too w/ my phone, but not this good).
Ok, I wasn't actually there for this one (but I would've taken it if I'd been there). Hubby took it w/ HIS phone. Sat., the boys took off to St. Louis to the Supercross. The lucky ducks got special access passes and spent the day w/ some of the big names in SX. At least I got to watch the races later on tv. While the boys were gone, the girls had some fun. Here's Angel and her aunt on the bumper cars at Incredible Pizza.

This is what Hubby did today. Don't worry it was on purpose. It's "cool", don't ya know? Once again, I did not take this pic. - wasn't even there. Like a good girl I was at church. A friend of mine (w/ a camera I'm seriously jealous of) took this pic.
The kids are on spring break this week - so hopefully we'll do some fun stuff, and I'll get great fuzzy camera phone pics to post up! :)

Did you miss me?

Yeah, I've been gone a while. Not out of town - just kind of out of it. Not feeling myself, you know? My schedule was disrupted, and I just lost motivation to do any of my normal stuff. I did, however help out at the kids' school a couple days this week, and that's always nice. :) So - I'll tell you what I have been up to w/ my daily photos. Here goes: Thursday, the 12, after swim lessons, D got his new iPhone! No - of course we did NOT get him a several hundred dollar glass screened phone! Well, we did...but not for several hundred dollars, hee hee. He actually bought it at a price he could afford from someone we know who had gotten it wet - so you can imagine it has problems. But, since all he wants it for is to play games and listen to music - he can get those parts of it to work, to some extent. For the price, it was worth it - and he loves it! :)

Friday, Frank and I got to go out to dinner and a movie. We went to our fave Mexican restaurant again. I just love the way the outside of the building is painted. Here's Frank "sitting" on a bench outside of the restaurant. Isn't he cute? (I'm sure that's his favorite word for me to use to describe him.) :)
Saturday was our St. Patrick's Day Parade. D rode w/ several people from Spokes BMX, and Frank walked along passing out flyers. D's the one in the green sweatshirt and red helmet on his race bike. Luckily, we had the luck o' the Irish w/ us, and his group was done before it started raining.
Sunday, Angel gave a talk in primary (the kid's meeting) at church. She did very well, even though the microphone wasn't working. She said she was nervous, but you couldn't tell. Damian has been asked to give a talk this next Sunday on the same subject in senior primary (for the older kids). That evening, Angel found her baby book, and wanted to go through it with me. That was fun - brought back a lot of memories.
Monday, my mom brought the munchkins back. My youngest bro and sis came, too, since they're on spring break. We had a nice visit - and now I'm back on my normal child care schedule again. Here's D showing off his monkey-like ability to climb walls. I was actually pretty impressed, because Mom and I both had him stay up there until we could get our cameras ready and take several shots each, while my little sis kept going back and forth under him. He held it for about 2 minutes, I think.
Tues, 17th - Happy St. Pat's Day!!!! Yes, we all wore green! (except T, as shown here). My bro had the day off and spent it taking his kids to the park for a picnic. They loved spending the day w/ their dad, and I think it really helped their transition back to us after 10 days of being spoiled by grandparents. I worked at the school in the morning, helping w/ kindergarten registration, then drove to the park to pick up Bro and munchkins (they had walked there). I snapped a few shots of them swinging first, though.
Wed. is our library story time day. Our normal story time lady is quitting to have a baby, and this was her last story time. We'll be sad to see her go, but she says she'll be back to visit. I'm always a little concerned everytime we've had to switch story time ladies (I've been taking kids there for 7 years) - how could the next one be as good as the current one???? But, amazingly, they are always wonderful! So, I'm really not THAT concerned. Anyway, they had the hula hoops out this time, and they both gave it their best shot.
And here we are today! We have almost an hour between the end of school and swim lessons. Sometimes we just go early and play air hockey at the Y, but today I needed to pick up a few things that were on sale this week at Walgreens. I had all 4 kids w/ me, and at one point, they could see themselves in the security mirror. They were making faces and cheering themselves, so I just had to snap a pic. Aren't they cute?
And tomorrow's Friday - YAY!!

Happy Birthday Munchkin!

Saturday was my niece's birthday. As you can see, she turned 3!!! We went bowling w/ some more family members, and a couple of friends stopped by, too. Later, her Grandpa came to get her and her brother for the week. It sure is quiet here!Angel got this clock/radio for Christmas - and she loves it! I'm really happy for her, EXCEPT that she likes to listen to the radio ALL the time at the highest volume - even if the station is rather fuzzy.

Isn't this the sweetest little face. I didn't quite get the shot I was hoping for - but it's still cute. This is a friend's daughter, and I just started snapping pics Monday. :)Hubby got me an early birthday present! THANK YOU!!!! Mwaaaaah!

My poor bro. had to take his bike in today to get new tires. Too bad the tires didn't come in a couple days ago when it was in the 70's. He had to ride today in the 20's and 30's! I've been enjoying my week off from watching the munchkins, working at the school, and starting a project that I'll have ready to post up soon - I hope. :)

Like father, like son

Damian has discovered the world of ebay and craigslist. He is going crazy! He is also a bit of a packrat, so the 1500!!! Pokemon cards he just bought will probably be living with us for the rest of his life! He's happy, though, which makes me happy. :) We're just one big happy family. Awwww!

Angel got to meet

Nastia Liukin! The 2008 Women's Olympic All-Around gold medalists in gymnastics. There was a gymnastics meet here, in Springfield, as part of the Springfield Winter Games, and they got Jonathon Horton and Nastia Liukin to come do an exhibition. They each did a routine, and said a few words. There was a lot of waiting around, but Angel and I finally got to the front of the line (2 1/2 hours and a bump on the head later). Nastia signed Angel's program from the 2008 Tour of Gymnastics Superstars, which we attended last Nov. It was a long, but exciting day. :)
Now on to my Project 365:
Thursday, Feb. 26, was a relatively nice day. The kids got to play outside for a little while.

Friday, 2/27: It amazes me how kids fall asleep in any random position.

Sat. 2/28: Here's Angel with Nastia. Awwww! Afterwards, Angel looked at me with big eyes, and said "I forgot to say anything to her!" What a great experience, though.
Sunday, 3/1: Another random sleeping position. I call this one frog-legs.
That darn cat!!! Ok, this pic wasn't really taken on 3/2 (it was on 3/4) - but I promise it could have been! She looks the same. We have started letting the cat in to eat so that we're not feeding every animal in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, that means I haven't been able to take a good, deep breath in over a week. My allergy med. takes care of the itchy eyes and sneezing - but apparently doesn't solve the asthma problem triggered by the cat.
3/3 - McTeacher's Night! The teachers from the kids' school were working at McD's, and a portion of profits went to the school. I was trying to get both kids licking their ice cream at the same time - and never got it. I like Munchkin's eyes in this one though. Check out those baby blues!3/4 - another nice day. Angel's doing very well on her bike, and she really enjoys riding.

3/5: Highs in the 70's today - can you believe it? We spent the morning outside again.

AHA Jump Rope for Heart 30th Anniversary

Hello! I'm checking in to post up a plug for the American Heart Association. Both of my kids are jump roping for heart this week at their school. Since I am a bit of a slacker mom, I have not helped them actively raise money before NOW, the week it's actually due. I do believe it's for a great cause, though. The AHA is working to reduce childhood obesity, and to advocate for policies that will increase access to quality physical and health education in schools. My kids only get PE for 1/2 hour 2x/week. I was surprised by that. I thought they'd have PE more often. If you'd like to donate to the AHA, and support Damian and Angel's jump roping efforts, please go to their website HERE to donate. Thank you!