*sigh*

Man, I'm tired! Here's why...

Halloween was great! The kids had a great time at the "trunk-or-treat" at church, their school parties and Halloween night!! My little Buzz Lightyear and Kit Kittredge (American Girl) were awesome!!

Last weekend, Tony and I planned to have a family weekend. We all took Friday off of work and school and headed up to Traverse City to the Great Wolf Lodge. We hadn't told the kids anything, and they were SO surprised!! Emma had been there before, but Bradlee had not. It was so fun hearing them think of the places we could be going...Bradlee was convinced we were going to Zehnder's Splash Village (in Frankenmuth), even when we were past Mt. Pleasant...and when we went over the Zilwaukee Bridge, Emma was convinced we were going to Canada! LOL We had a FABULOUS weekend and even took the kids up to Mission Pointe Lighthouse and to see Lake Michigan! :)

Emma and I went to a Ladies Night Out in Downtown Holly with her friend, Allie, and Allie's mom, Sara (also the Daisy Troop leader!). We had a great time! It is so fun to see Emma make friends...and a great one at that!!!

Bradlee and I stopped by Gramma and Boppa's house on Saturday and found Boppa painting the upstairs hallway. Bradlee HAD to help....and both Gramma and I were SO surprised at how patient Boppa was with Bradlee's "artistic" abilities! :)

Back to the grind! I'm busy with Wind Ensemble and have a few Christmas concerts headed my way...plus I'm playing in the Saginaw Eddy Concert Band's Christmas concert on November 26 at 7:30pm at the Dow Events Center in Saginaw...if you're in the area, come and listen to some great Holiday music!! :)

Yep, still alive!

What's this? A new post?? :) You got it! I'm still alive...finally things have slowed down a bit!!

Back on October 15th, my sister, Kat, was married to Garrett...what a beautiful wedding it was! The ceremony was my absolute favorite part of the entire day - here are a few pictures from the day!

The kids were both sick the last few weeks...Bradlee started the weekend of the wedding and was home from school the week following...then it was Emma's turn, she was off of school last week! Now they're feeling better and we went on a field trip with Emma's Daisy troop today to the Indian Springs Nature Center. It was pretty neat, and each of the kids got to collect leaves on their nature walks and make a leaf book. Bradlee had a great time collecting leaves (and sticks, and acorns...) and Emma had a great time just being back to normal and with her friends!

After the nature hike, Tony and I took the kids to the pumpkin patch to (finally!) get their pumpkins for Halloween! We tried out a new one we learned about and even though it's the day before Halloween, they still had quite a few decent pumpkins to choose from! It's also the last day they were open for the season, so we got the last batch of cinnamon donuts! :)

When we got out of the car, I noticed Emma was drawing in the dirt on the van (there are a lot of dirt roads on the way to and from school each day!)!! I was about to get after her for getting all dirty...until I saw what it was she was drawing on the side of the car...how could I get mad at her for this???

We got home and immediately started carving the pumpkins! Bradlee was okay washing off the outside of the pumpkin, but wanted nothing to do with touching the "guts"...so he enjoyed his donut while Emma and I worked on the pumpkins...Emma was so proud of herself for using the little knives to cut out her own design!!

Here are the finished products...I used Bradlee's pajamas for inspiration for his pumpkin!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

The King and I!!

Well, the first weekend of performances of "The King and I" by Flint Community Players is over....WHEW! After a week of rehearsing until 11:30pm and then three performances, not to mention other rehearsals, football games, and the first week of school, we were ALL THRILLED to see Sunday! :)

Emma and I (I'm playing in the orchestra pit) had rehearsals Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday last week. It was the first time they had costumes for the show!! Emma gets to wear a wig (since there aren't really any blonde Siamese princesses!). She was SO excited!!!

Then you add the costume, and she was hooked!

Although the nights have been long, and getting up for school in the morning has been hard, she's done really well in the show...

Opening night, Thursday, I decided to keep her home from school during the day so she could sleep...and boy did she ever! She FINALLY woke up at about 12:30pm when I yelled upstairs that she had a delivery!! Tony, Bradlee and myself sent her this! :) You can see I woke her up!!

That night, she got flowers from some friends, Ron and Pat, and we missed the delivery of flowers from Aunt Kat and Uncle Garrett!! Here she is....what a drama queen! :)

Friday night, the conductor of the Flint Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Roy, came to see her...and sent her flowers backstage before the show!!

She thinks it's SO funny that our living room and dining room is turning into a flower shop! :)

Saturday night, my parents came to see the show, and Emma just giggled when Boppa asked her for her autograph!!

This last picture pretty much explains it all....

There are four more shows this coming weekend, Thursday-Sunday (8pm Thursday-Saturday, 2:30pm Sunday)...call 810-237-7333 for tickets!!! :) Flowers are NOT required! :)

It's getting closer...

My sister, Kat, is getting married October 15th....less than 2 months away!!!!! We're really getting excited for her, and we had the shower for her and Garrett this past Saturday! I think we did a pretty good job, considering one bridesmaid lives in Mt. Pleasant, one lives in Homer, and the other two live in Flint...plus the bride lives in Clinton Township!!! We met once to put everything together and relied on texting, Facebook and phone calls to make it all happen. It was excellent, and I really think everyone had a nice time!

We had the shower at our old elementary school...in the social hall (also our church, St. John Vianney). It was a big hall, and we were only expecting less than 30 people, so we used the pillars in the hall to our advantage and made it cozy looking...

Carrie, the Matron of Honor, was in charge of the cake...there was a new little bakery in her hometown (she's the one from Homer), and they did an excellent job on this carrot cake! Cutting it was another story...

Emma was so excited to go to a "wedding party"! I bought her a new dress to wear, since she's grown so much the past few months! Look how old she looks?!!?!?!??!!?

When everyone was dressed and ready to start the party...naturally, we all had to pose for some pictures!! Here is the "women's side" of the bridal party!!! (L to R: Tarah, Kristy, Kat, Karyn, Carrie)

Here are the "Kozloff Women" :) (L to R: Emma, Kristy, Kat, Karyn, Mom)

Of course, there had to be a "sisters" picture!!

Emma wanted her own picture with Aunt Kat, so she got one...in front of one of the pom poms she helped put together!!! (it's now hanging in her bedroom!)

We played one game...and it was a blast! We had everyone write down a "Newlywed Game"-type question....we read them out loud to Kat and Garrett, who had dry erase boards, and had to write down their answer...if they were wrong, they had to put on an item from their opposing team! (Kat went to CMU, Garrett went to WMU!) Garrett started it off right with having to wear a CMU hat!! I personally think it looks pretty good on him! :)

Of course, there were some questions that Garrett had NO idea...like, "What was the name of Kat's favorite elementary school teacher?"....here's his answer:

In the end, they were both EXCELLENT sports and even posed for this picture! Garrett definitely had more CMU gear on that Kat had WMU...he even *got* to sit in a CMU chair!! :)

So, like I said, it was a great party to celebrate Kat and Garrett...we're so excited for the BIG DAY! :)

All About the Birthday Boy...

I am the mother of a 6.5 and a 3 year old....how the heck did that happen?! :)

Bradlee turned 3 on July 29th. What a day it was! He got a phone call from Winnie the Pooh that morning, wishing him a Happy Birthday...and many other phone calls throughout the day. We went to Red Robin (his choice!) for dinner and he loved having the workers sing to him! I think he loved his ice cream sundae even more...

In order for Bradlee to attend preschool in the fall, he has to be potty trained. We have known this for a while, and also known it was going to be a challenge with him, since he's so stubborn! :) When we were in Disney, he would ask to go potty and would go when we'd take him. I don't even know the last time I had to change a poopy diaper! That's how good he's been doing! So, we made a rule, when we got back from Disney, that Diapers are only for night time...and he wore pull-ups during the day. They were still wet, but he would still ask to go potty.

He kept telling us that when he turned 3, he would wear big boy underpants...so on his birthday, he wore them all day until I got home with no accidents! We'd put a pull-up on when we would go out. He's been wearing the underpants a little bit each day...and then on Monday, he wore them in the car! We just went to my parents' house a few blocks away, but it was a step in the right direction! He wore them the whole time we were at my parents' and then I took him to Barnes and Noble to get his birthday cookie. Then all the way back home, and no accidents!! He had one accident yesterday when we were in the car, but he had just woken up from a nap while I was putting him in the car, and instead of taking him back into the house to put him on the potty, I just put him in the car and left...my fault. Other than that...NO ACCIDENTS! :) This evening, Tony had the opportunity to teach him how to use a urinal! LOL He (Tony) said it was easy and he did a great job!

We went to Lake Orion last night to have dinner with my grandparents and my aunt, in town from Connecticut. Papa was the only one to get dessert, so naturally, he and Bradlee were buds!!! :)

This afternoon, I took Bradlee to the doctor's for his 3 year check-up/back-to-school physical. He's 31.7 pounds and 37 inches tall! What a big boy!! Dr. Banerjee froze a little wart on his hand and sent him home with approval to go to school in the fall! He's doing well! :) I'm so proud of my little big boy! :)

Busy busy!!

Who ever said summers were for relaxing was never a mother...

I don't remember if I mentioned this, but back in June, Emma auditioned for her first theatrical performance!! Flint Community Players is kicking off their season with "The King and I" and Emma auditioned to be one of the Children of Siam! :) Here she is, singing for the director...ALL. BY. HERSELF. :) She did awesome!!!

A week later we got a phone call that Emma made it in the show! She's been going to rehearsals 3-4 times a week since we got back from Disney and has really enjoyed it! She's learning her songs and her "choreography" and practices at home all the time...so much so, that Bradlee knows her parts, too!! Here she is in rehearsal:

One day, about two weeks ago, we told Emma to get her shoes and socks on (they have to wear shoes and socks to each rehearsal, no sandals!), these are the socks she put on...we just let it go! :)

So, unfortunately, this past week, both kids, guess what? Developed spots on their tummies...yep, you guessed it.... THE CHICKEN POX STRIKES AGAIN! This time, though, they are definitely chicken pox...and are now in the blistering and crusting phase. Stupid vaccine. I'm thinking, though, that since Bradlee hasn't had the booster for the chicken pox vaccine yet, that this will be it for him. Emma got the booster when she was 4 (I think), so I have no idea what her body's doing to her. Poor kids...they are all over the trunks of their bodies and the upper arms and upper legs...none on the face, head, hands or anywhere else, so it is definitely less than when I had them...but still...it sucks being quarantined when it's summer!! We had a nice family movie night tonight, though, so we're still trying to come up with a few fun things!!

Emma's big concern was the show. I told her that there is a chance the director won't let her be in the show, depending on how many rehearsal she misses. Her response was "But they already measured me for my costume!!!" *sigh* When we told the director about the chicken pox, he said we'll just take it as it comes and see what happens. "She's a smart one and learns quick, so I won't be too quick to count her out" (that's what he said!)!!! :) WHEW.

If you're interested in coming to a show, you can click on the link above for more information! The shows are in September...

In other news, I'm playing with the Saginaw Eddy Concert Band again this summer for the second half of their season. It's a pretty decent gig, rehearsing Tuesday and Thursday, then a concert Sunday night. I get a check each week I play, so that's nice, too! Plus I just get to play music! The kids and Tony love coming to the concerts...and this week we're playing "Selections from The King and I", so Emma's REALLY excited to come! We'll just have to make sure she sits far away from anyone else!!! :) Although I've been playing with this group for several years, this is the first year I've been considered a "regular" (instead of a "substitute") since I was at CMU! To solidify it, they gave me an *official* shirt to wear for concerts! :)

What a slacker...

I wish there were an easier way to update this blog...it seems like I just don't have the chance to sit down at the computer to write!

Lots has happened in the last month, of course! To start, right after that last post I did, BOTH the kids got Chickenpox...seriously. I couldn't make this stuff up! LOL Both recovered very quickly, since they had the vaccine...however, Emma wasn't able to participate in the Relay for Life like she usually does...we're all geared up for next year, though!!

On Thursday, June 30th, we went to the Detroit Symphony concert at Greenfield Village. It's the 7th year we've done this and it is a very important tradition for Tony and myself. We just LOVE LOVE LOVE the concert...which ends with Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture"...complete with canons and fireworks! It's a fabulous concert and the kids look forward to the "big concert" each summer...

The Saturday following the concert, we packed up and headed to Florida/Disney World for a week! Just got back on Saturday, and it was a great trip!! Both kids had a great time and made some wonderful memories not only for themselves, but for us, too!! For starters, Emma rode her first "water ride" (SPLASH MOUNTAIN) AND her first roller coaster (BIG THUNDER MOUNTAIN RAILROAD)!!!!! She hated them both...but wanted to try them again in the daylight (we rode them the first night we got there) to make sure she hated them. Unfortunately, we weren't able to ride them again...but she's already talking about the next time we go!

Since we were in Disney for the 4th of July, we saw some awesome fireworks! Bradlee was scared out of his mind of them, so I took him back to the hotel while everyone else stayed to watch...he was out before I got him to the bus...

On Wednesday, while waiting to meet "Phineas" and "Ferb" at Hollywood Studios, BOTH of Emma's front teeth fell out!! :) The tooth fairy visited that night and brought Emma two new charms for her new charm bracelet...she looks even cuter now!! :)

On Thursday, Emma was treated to a "Princess makeover" by Aunt Lynne (it was actually her Christmas present!!)...she was *magically* transformed into Princess Tiana from "The Princess and the Frog"! She had a WONDERFUL time being pampered...and left her hair in the bun for three days following it! While Princess Tiana doesn't have pink hair, I think Emma's looks fantastic! :)

I think one of my favorite parts of the week was getting to see my grandma (mom's mom) who lives about an hour north of Orlando. Tony and I went to pick her up Thursday morning and then took her back home Friday morning. It was the first time Bradlee had met her, and they were immediate buds...especially when Doodoo (that's what we call her) got her dessert (ice cream) for lunch!! :)

We had a really great trip...I'm sure I could go on and on about it, but these are some of the highlights! :)