A perfect holiday weekend!

We had such a fun weekend. Friday night we kicked off the weekend with an early bonfire, we cooked out hotdogs and had chips, pop (ghasp) and smores! Not the healthiest meal, but it was fun... the kids each burnt their dogs over the open flame. The kids told us ghost stories... and we were laughing so hard... great belly laughs, with Mason's--he even had to get up and stand in the yard and was doing gestures and special voices... it was so funny! A memeory I will always have of him!

Saturday we rolled out of bed at our leisure... Paul had a few things to do in the morning and I quickly cleaned the house while the kids played outside... then it was a quick pack up and off to the lake we went! It was beautiful weather,a little breezy but nice. We had a fun night there, the kids went on 4wheeler rides, went on the golf cart, played bean bag toss, ran around, ate way to much... and played with Daisy...

and ended it with the bonfire and the kids slept in Grandma and Pa's bunkbeds!

Sunday morning we woke to quite a storm... the camper was shaking with the thunder and the rain came down hard... but it was over pretty quick to. We took off early morning and headed back home... the kids played outside while we unloaded and then came in and both took a nap (ok I did too - camping takes a lot of a person)! Since we didn't do up the big breakfast at the lake (cause it was so wet outside) we opted to have breakfast for dinner-- a fav of the kids (and DH)... and then the storms rolled in again (this time in DBQ) the sirens went off (though in the distance) so we snuggled downstairs and watched a movie, while my DH th stormchaser, listened to the scanner and watched out the upstairs windows searching for signs of a twister! Finally it appeared to have passed, so we came up to bed and woke in the morning to find we received 2.5" of rainful! Whew!

Monday was a beautiful day... we loaded up again and headed to Eagle Point Park for a picnic lunch. The kids looked at the Lock and Dam (Lauren asked if she could call it that, or if it should be Lock and Darn-- to cute) and we wandered over to the Koi Pond to watch the fish and frogs! We also played on the swings and jungle gym, although the swings were the biggest hit since Paul was giving underdogs to the kids! They love to go so high! Then it was off to the River Muesum for a walk through... we only stayed an hour or so... enough to take in a movie, see the Otters, and a few other exhibits...and they walked on the dock - holding hands! I see this in black and white and enlarged for my photo wall! and then we headed to Swiss Valley for our big idea of letting the kids go creek stomping! HA! That has changed since DH was a boy! First the water was rushing was to much and was way to deep to make it safe, second, the not so nice looking kids that were playing in it (unsupervised) we throwing rocks without a worry of hitting anyone, and third the water was so muddy and yuck, there would be no way they would be playing in it! So of course we had hyped it so the kids were totally bummed... but we will try it some other place or time. We were totally mean parents, since it was so warm (yes it was 80 yesterday woohoo) we let them end the day with fun time in the sprinkler-- even though the ground had taken in about as much rain as it could the night before... and really didn't need even a drop more of water on the grass--- they enjoyed it!

What a beautiful blessed weekend... and while we missed church this weekend, we did feel spiritually connected-- easy to be when there is so much to be thankful for!

Guess who is going to New York?! Ok me!!

At work I am an active part in a community outreach board. We work closely with a Domestic Violence Coalition. Last year we receive over $9,000 in grants through work for various projects. In the past we have tooted our horn by submitting our group for a Corporate Achievement Award. We have gotten honorable mentions (which pretty much anyone who submits receives) but to win is a VERY big deal. The recipients of the award are given a check for $10,000 that goes to the non-for-profit group of their choice plus the team is flown to New York for the presentation and a private dinner with the President (of the company, not the US, which my Mom thought I meant) It is a really big deal, I work for one of the top global textbook publishers. So guess who's team won!! Mine!!!!!!!!!!! So we will be flying out in June and for those who know New York the headquarters are on Avenue of the America's, just one block from Rockefeller Center!!!

I have travelled for work before, but never to New York, nor have I ever been to new York!!! So I am really excited, can you tell!?! I might even extend my stay and hit a Broadway play!

Happy anniversary to me!

Today is our 7th wedding anniversary... and my in-laws 52nd wedding anniversary!

Friday we celebrated Mason's birthday with a friends party! He ended up with 6 little boys, 4yrs old or about to be 4 yrs old! They had a fun time! We had pizza, cake and ice cream. They opened presents, did a relay race and cracked open the pinata-- then they just wanted to play on the swing set!


Here he is at the end of the night with all of his "loot" (his word, I kid you not) and he had it all stacked up really nicely-- not in the picture, he even went and got his new Spiderman shoes and lined them up in there too!

Saturday Paul finished up a landscape undertaking--he move 14 tons of river rock from the driveway (where he had it dropped) to a section in the middle to far back of the yard-- and he ran out... he needs atleast another ton.

And we planted the garden and got the "fencing" up around it. See all of those containers... those all have tomato plants in them... I think the neighbor and I went a little overboard-- we have 18 regular tomato plants and then we also have Roma and grape too!!! We have a whole row of peppers and much more! I still need to get the pumpkin, cucumber and kohlrabi planted (in a different section).

Mason was a huge help-- he stayed down in the garden section with me, helping to fill the jug and then the watering can from the creek-- he was filthy!!! But you know what that means-- He had a good time!!!

Our intention was to either go out for pizza to celebrate Mason's actual birthday or cook out, but time got away from us and by the time we were coming into the house it was 4:30 and none of us had any lunch! So we all showered up, and Mason picked Red Robin (or as he calls it Reed Robbins).

My Mom gave Mason a Tiger Webkinz while there-- Sunday he told everyone he got the Webkinz from Reed Robbins-- they gave it to him with his balloon and sundae! LOL!

Sunday we went to Paul's parents for Mothers Day, and to celebrate Mason's bday with his family and to celebrate our anniversaries! I swear I think my kids feel that their birthdays are a week long celebration-- and sometime they are!lol!

Tonight Lauren goes and meets her soccer team and gets her uniform. I am trying to find a net that we can use in the yard for her to practice her kicking into... if anyone knows where you can get one-- please email me!

What a handsome lil' man

I took Mason to get his 4yr pics done, quickly and last minute, last night. I tried Por_trait Inno*vatio*ns for the first time and loved them. So much so I am going to take Lauren to get hers done, even though she just had spring pics at school... I'd like matching one to Mason's for the mantel... might even do the two of them together!

This isn't the best "copy" I didn't scan it in, just took a pic of the pic to post here! lol! It is a really nice bright white background, which looks great with his bright green shirt and khaki shorts! He looks so grown up! He likes to have his hair done... aka gel, combed and sprayed!

Happy (day early) Birthday to Mr. Mason--- the big 4 years old!

So tonight is the big night... Mason's little friends will be at the house at 5:30. I was debating what to do with Lauren... wasn't sure if she'd be a helper or a hinder, so my plan, I am having 2 neighbor girls come down and they are going to play and promise me that they will do there thing on their own! Lauren has been having so much fun with them, they are sisters (One is a year older and one a year younger than L) and they all play so well together! I am excited for her this summer as she has made some really good friends in the neighborhood and this year she can venture around a bit more, with in reason! Oh and we need to get a new bike... This was Lauren riding her friends bike last night, and she can pedal up the hill and all with her friends, she can't with hers I think b/c it is getting to small... so we need to head out and get a new one for her!

And Happy Mother's Day to all!

Theme? Which one!

Mason has been really hard to pin down to a theme, so what did I decide to do? I picked a little of everything he liked, so the theme is: Spiderman/Spongebob/RaceCar/Diego/Shark/Balloon/MickeyMouse Birthday!

His cake is a racetrack and he wants shark candles (if I can find them!lol). His napkins and plates have balloons and confetti on them, his gift bags have spiderman card games, bubbles and fun bubble blowers, Diego bouncy balls, playdoh and candy. I made his pin the tail game and I am having it printed and laminated at Copyworks today... it looks like this...

And the kids will be "pinning" on Mickey ears... let's see have I forgotten anything?? Oh yes, the relay race. Will be two teams, they will each have a Disney stuffed animal and they will have to run down to a bin, grab a birthday hat put it on the stuffed animal and drop it in the bin!

I really wanted a single theme, but this is what Mason wanted... and it is all about him tomorrow night!

On Saturday for his actual birthday we will go out for pizza and ice cream and they sing to you there! He loved it when we went there for Lauren this year, it was like he didn't remember it from years past! And then on Mother's Day we will celebrate with Paul's side of the family when we get together for Mother's Day and we will also celebrate our 7th Wedding Anniversary and his parents 52nd anniversary (we were married on their 45th wedding anniversary)! So a busy busy busy weekend... but the weather looks good and that will make it a great weekend!

Whew Wednesday already???!!!

Wow this week has flown by. We are in final prep phase for Mason's fast approaching birthday party. I still need to get the pinata picked up, make his treat for school tomorrow, pick up cake for party and candles, pick up more candy for the pinata, as well as juice boxes for the boys. Since they are 4 yrs old my game ideas are: pin the tail on the donkey, a relay race with bean bags in teams of 3, a bucket toss game, and then free play. Friday is looking like it will be a nice day so we are hoping to be outside for the entire party. We are thinking picnic style for the pizza, cake and ice cream... and then all the games out there. I picked up the items for the gift bags, bubble kits with bubbles and fun blowers, playdoh, card game, bouncy balls, and then the candy from the pinata. Mason is SOOO excited as are we for him! He is going to have a blast!!!! It is his first friend party.

Our Daisy meeting went great last night. We did decorate mugs for the Mom's and then filled with dirt and seeds that will flower. The girls decorated the box as well and colored a neat card. But what was extra special was circle time. The girls were asked what was their favorite memory from our camping trip and we went around twice, each girl at some point said having their mom there with them! It was soooo sweet!!! Other fav's were the bunkbeds, hiking and the food! So the trip was a success!

Ok off to make my to do list! I don't want to forget a thing!

Whirlwind weekend!

Lauren came home from school Friday with an invite for a birthday party..... for Saturday!!!! I literally check her bag EVERYDAY, so I know it was not in there on Thursday or any day prior. After juggling our plans around, I called to RSVP, as Lauren really wanted to go. So Saturday we got up bright and early, go her bag packed for her overnight stay, showered and cleaned up for the party and off we went to pick out a birthday present and head to the party by 11am! I got her all dropped off and headed back home to pick up Mason and Paul as we headed out to hit a few garage sales! We haven't done this in years, but we are in search of a few things that typically you can find at garage sales: canning jars and an old desk to refinish! We didn't find either, but Paul did get a few craved ducks for his den and a tripod for the camera-- $12 spent! We picked Lauren up and headed home for a quick change and herded her out the door to spend the night at her cousins house! It is fun to just spend some one on one time with Mason... although by Saturday night we were all missing Lauren. Oh and I finally was able to watch 27 Dresses, cute movie, although I expected to be blown away by it! Sunday was another beautiful day, and a bit warmer! We spent most of the day in the back yard... Paul was working on the drainage issue we had in the waaaayyyy way back "flower bed" which turned into a nightmare when the drain tile he tied into somehow clogged, and now he needs to run a new drain tile to correct! He was pretty ticked with himself... he thinks he should have left it alone... but he didn't and now created more work for him self- not to mention has to dig up the yard a bit. Mason and I laid out/staked out the garden and bought some seeds, haven't planted yet, but will, when I have the plants bought so I can do it all at once. So far I am planting; tomatoes, peppers and onions, cilantro, basil, radishes, cucumbers, squash, pumpkins and watermelon. I need to pick up kohlrabi, asparagus (will be years before we can pick) and zucchini plants- and that will probally fill the space! I took a cat nap out in the sun, while Mason played on the swing set (Paul was out there to, so it wasn't like I let Mason run free! while I slept)... When Lauren came home they played out there till 8:30 and I had to force them inside as Mason hadn't even had supper yet! lol! and they both needed a good bath!

Blast from the past

I was doing a google search (just interested to see what people can find out about my by doing a search-- the thought scared me) and this came up http://nicklepickle.blogdrive.com/. It is my old blog... that I started in 2005! It is fun to look back at it and see the pics of the kids so young, and where we were in life back then! So even though I often feel I am blogging for myself, I am glad I do it... it is like my online diary, but with pictures!

How does your garden grow?!

Paul got our the tiller and now we have a new home for the garden. It is a 16x16 patch (he will enclose to keep the rabbits out) we are sharing with the neighbor! I am super excited, we are going to go out and pick out the seeds with the kids this weekend! They are thrilled to be planting things again! Lauren has her watermelon seeds ready to go (not sure how that will really work... but we will see)! On the planting list is; radishes, zucchini, kohlrabi, sweet peppers in every color, pumpkins, rhubarb, some sweet corn, and of course tomatoes and grade tomatoes!

So it was super funny, Mason played on the swing set for like all of 1 minute when he caught wind of Paul getting out the big green machine and off he went "to work"! Mason is a hands on kid. He flew back up the hill to get his rake and shovel to help!

So here he is "workin"-- note the tape measure, measuring the little post behind him, he was buildin'-- he must have said that 20 times, just like Bob!

Then he worked up a sweat - "I was sweatin' Mom, this buildin' is hard work" (Seriously that is a direct quote!)

And then had to go hang the shirt up in the tree, like Dad!

And then he was investigating the way back yard and found the creek flowing pretty good from all the rain, it was a really pretty setting, so Mom mode took over and started snapping pics!

And after all that of being outside for 4 hours you'd think he come in and fall fast asleep no problem at bedtime, but nope! He is my night owl!