Relay for Life #1

A friend of mine....actually, it's a woman who used to babysit my sisters and me, is on a Relay for Life team through her school. Their event was this weekend, so Emma, Tony's sister, Lynne and I wet to visit and see Tina (my old babysitter) and two of her three daughters, who were also participating!

Here's Emma riding the pony...can't remember the pony's name!

Getting her face painted....her facial expressions are priceless!!

The final product! It's a butterfly with GLITTER! :)

Emma with Rebekah and Rachel and their matching faces!!!

Resting after some running around at Relay!!

I think the hardest part about Relay and Emma is trying to explain to her what it is and what it is for...I think I did a pretty good job of telling her that it's to help give money so we can find a way to help sick people with Cancer get better, because right now they don't know how to fix it...we'll see how long that explanation holds her! LOL Our Relay for Life event is June 27-28 at Davison High School, from 10am-10am...Emma is so excited that she gets to spend the night with us in a tent! It's going to be a lot of fun!!! If you're interested in donating or are wondering how our fundraising efforts are going, here is the link to our website: "The Family" Relay for Life Website. You are more than welcome to join us at the event as well! There's always something fun to do for the whole family, and as I told Emma, all the funds raised go to help find a cure for Cancer!!

Hope you have a great week! :)

Almost Summer!

What a wonderful few weeks we've had! You can tell it's getting to be the end of the school year, because both Emma AND Tony are getting pretty antsy!

We had a great Memorial Day weekend...Bradlee ended up with a double ear infection, but other than that, we had a very nice time! I got a lot of work done outside on Saturday...trimming the bushes and tree next to our garage (so you can now see the driveway and not get attacked going into the garage!) and mowed the lawn and really cleaned up the garage. We have saved a lot of things over the 5 years we've lived here (actually, 5 years on Monday!) and we're having a garage sale next weekend, so I sorted through a lot of stuff and pulled some things to sell.
Sunday we spent the day at my parents' house with some friends of theirs...it has become our Memorial weekend tradition. We had a nice time, and Emma loved playing outside, of course! She decorated Gramma and Boppa's driveway, and I even traced her body....Boppa was just hoping the Flint police didn't show up at his door!

Monday (Memorial Day) we went to Potter's Park Zoo in Lansing. It was going to just be the 4 of us, but Emma decided it would be fun for EVERYONE to come....so Tony's parents and sister, my parents and both of my sisters, Uncle Paul, Aunt Deb and the four of us all headed to the park for a grilled dinner and then most of us went into the zoo to see the animals. It's a small zoo, but wonderful for Emma and Bradlee to see animals and it's actually a really nice zoo! In August we're going to the Detroit (DETROIT JUST SCORED A GOAL AGAINST PITTSBURGH! YIPPEE!)... Zoo, but it will just be the 4 of us for sure! It's a tradition we started about 2 years ago...and we just love it!

Here are some pictures from our trip to Potter's Park:

As you can see, we all had a great time!!!

Totally Forgot!!

So I totally forgot to add this video...I was making dinner one night and Emma wanted to help...I was by myself, and Bradlee was getting hungry also (isn't that always how it goes?!)....so I told Emma that she could help by feeding Bradlee (totally thinking she'd say, "No way!")...boy was I wrong!!! Here she is feeding Bradlee, and doing a pretty good job, I might add!!

Mother's Day?

What a busy week it's been! We got a new friend in the house! :) Emma brought home her "caterpillar" from school...it's a stocking filled with soil and grass seed...how creative!!! She picked out the eyes and antennae and watered it every day (with her teachers' help, of course!) and she got a very cute, green little caterpillar! Emma thinks it's so funny that her caterpillar has grass on it's tummy! LOL

Emma was great at gymnastics last Wednesday. She goes for an hour every Wednesday and just loves it, as I've said before! It's so amazing to go each week and watch how much she's either learned, advanced or even is just willing to try! In this picture (she's the one wearing pink, with her feet in the air!), she is practicing her handstands against a mat. I call it her "dolphin impersonation"!! The most amazing part is that she does this on her own!

THEN....her teacher, Miss Jessie, took the kids over to the "big bar". Jessie gets up on the platform and the kids come up one at a time and swing over the pit (a hole in the ground filled with foam pieces) and then drop into it! Emma has been terrified to do this on her own since she started gymnastics. Last week, she did it! When she got out, she said, "That was fun Miss Jessie! Let's do it again!"

After gymnastics, since she had done such a good job, I got to tell her a secret...on Friday, Aunt Kathi (my sister) was going to take her to see "Annie" on stage!!! Here's her reaction!!

For Tony's mom for Mother's Day, we got her a toolbox, which sat in our kitchen for about 4 days prior to giving it to her. Bradlee loved pulling himself up on it...so when I was putting some things in it and such, it was open and Bradlee basically climbed right in! So, I sat him in it and took his picture. Not to be outdone by his brother, Emma was next...she didn't fit in quite as well!!

After school on Friday, Emma came home and we picked out a dress to wear (WITH tights!) and shoes to wear and headed over to Grandma and Boppa's house where Aunt Kathi was waiting...after Aunt Kathi got dressed, and we got some pictures, they headed to McDonald's for some chicken nuggets and then to the Fischer in Detroit for the show. Emma loved it...she was so excited that Aunt Kathi got her a program ("WITH PICTURES!!!!"), which also came with a little backpack!! What a great time they had together!

Unfortunately, the fun didn't last too long, for after Emma spent the night with Aunt Kathi, she woke up with a fever and not feeling well. After the fever being under control with Tylenol, I took the kids to Tony's parents' for the night so I could go to a girls' night at a friend's house. I got a call around 8:30 that Emma's temp had jumped to about 104, so I decided to take her to the ER. (By the way, Tony was DJ-ing a wedding through this part!) We got into the ER and she was finally diagnosed with a (you guessed it) virus. She threw up in the waiting room and immediately starting feeling better, but they gave her a purple Popsicle to make sure she would keep it down. We went home and she slept the rest of the night! (into Mother's Day).....

Mother's Day morning Tony got up with the kids and took care of them downstairs until about 10am when he and Emma brought up breakfast in bed for me! Emma proudly told me she buttered the toast herself!! Her and I enjoyed breakfast together in my bed and then we got ready for our early dinner with our families. In school, Emma made me a little "vase" out of a milk carton and tissue paper. It had a little flower in it! Emma also colored a picture with flowers on it and they also sent home a little poem, saying thanks mom for......putting bandages on my scraped knees (which I had done to Emma just that week), for reading stories (we read a chapter of "The Wizard of Oz" every night!), etc. etc. Emma just looked at me when I read it out loud to her and she said, "Mama, you do ALL of those things!!!" Talk about making your heart melt!!! Here's a picture of the two of us with the goodies she made at school:

We went to the Bavarian Inn Lodge for dinner with both Tony's and my families...it was a good meal and we had nice company and the kids acted great. Here's Grandma feeding Bradlee (sitting on Aunt Lynne's - Tony's sister - lap) tapioca pudding and cool whip!!

This is the card that Bradlee "made" at school...it's a "kiss coupon book" with kisses from him to me...I asked Tony how comfortable he was knowing that his son had lipstick on! LOL It was cute nonetheless...and this picture is EXACTLY how he kisses now!!!

This is the card that Emma made Mother's Day morning for me. She prints so well...Tony just told her how to spell everything (she knows "Mommy", "Daddy", and "Emma")...she loves making projects and I had given her the flower punch from my craft supplies...so it's even cooler!!

I wish I could say that everything ended great, but alas, I'm not that lucky! Sunday afternoon when we got home from dinner, Emma and I both started feeling crummy. We both had fevers and went to bed early. Emma, Bradlee and I all stayed home on Monday and Tony's parents' come to get the kids...oh I forgot, Bradlee had pink eye the previous week!! So, Emma had the fever, I had a fever and aches, and Bradlee was recovering from pink eye...Emma has since been diagnosed with a throat infection and is finally starting to get her fever under control and Bradlee's been doing well. I was home again today (Tuesday) for a sore throat, which has ended up only being a darned virus...I just want a healthy family for, like, a month!! Is that too much to ask?!!?!? :)

I'm sure we'll all be on the mend soon, and by then it will be summer break and the kids will be away from the other kids' at school and the germs (only to start again in the fall!)....ah well.....Hope everyone has a great week!

Busy days of spring!

It's been a busy few weeks! It started off with my "baby" sister graduating from college! Karyn graduated on April 26th from Eastern Michigan University with a major in Communications and a minor in Marketing. She did it in 5 years...which seems like a long time, but when you consider that she completely changed her major (twice, I think) AND she went through that whole thing with being sick...and never quit taking classes! I can't even describe how proud I am of her!! Now on to the real world!

We took Mom and Dad's van to the graduation, which includes everyone being COVERED in Maggie's (their Golden Retriever) hair...it was rather entertaining watching Mom go around and "de-fur" everyone...especially Dad! :)

The proud graduate with her family!!

I think Kathi and I always do this when we get a hold of a camera!!

Bradlee had his 9 month check up this past Thursday...he's growing like a weed!!! Emma came with me since Tony had Parent/Teacher conferences. He (Bradlee) was happy he didn’t need any shots…Emma was disappointed because she “just wanted to see how he does when he gets a shot!” LOL Here are Bradlee’s stats:

WEIGHT: 21 lb. 4 oz.
LENGTH: 27.25 in (2 inches more than he was at 6 months!)

What a big boy! :) Here’s a picture of him in his new Tigers hat!

Emma has been such a good sister. She loves playing with Bradlee and seeing him do and try new things. It’s so funny, the things that come out of her mouth! She sings songs to him and loves trying to make him laugh. Of course, there are many times we hear, “MOOOOOMMMMMMMMM…..Bradlee’s playing with ** fill in item here **!!!!!!” For the most part, though, she’s just awesome. Tony and I will just look at each other and wonder how we got so lucky to have two beautiful awesome kids!

Here’s a picture of Emma in only part of her dress-up glory…usually there’s a dress and shoes, crown, bracelets and magic wand…this day, she only opted for the earrings and necklace!

Tony’s DJ season is starting to pick up again, so he takes every opportunity possible to spend some time with the kids…Bradlee loves being read to, so Tony was introducing him to his Detroit Tigers book!

Hope you have a wonderful week!! Happy Mother’s Day to all of you mothers reading!

Bradlee's Michael Phelps Impersonation

Here's how Bradlee gets around these days....I'm convinced he's going to be a swimmer....

Tony and the kids had a great Spring Break week and we had a great Easter. I still had to work, of course, but it was nice to hear about their days when I got home.

On Saturday we went to the 3rd Annual Easter Egg Hunt and Pancake Dinner at our friends' house (Matt and Desiree). They have 2 kids also, Dorian (3 1/2) and Griffin (11 months). Tony and Matt have known each other since high school. We had a fabulous time watching the kids look for eggs (which were mostly thrown across the lawn...they wouldn't touch those, though...only the ones that were up higher...go figure!). Here are some pictures:

Easter morning we were up bright and early to see what the Easter Bunny had brought...we all got a Webkinz animal and I think Emma's best gift was "Bolt" on DVD. We went to see it in the theater, and she still talks about it! She had a few other goodies in there as well. We went to mass and then to my parents' house for dinner with Tony parents', Lynne, Paul, and my grandparents. My mom and dad made lamb and ham as the main course...and it was delish! Emma even tried the lamb and liked it!

Bradlee hiding from Emma in his Exersaucer.
My mom and dad

Tony and me
Emma with her great-grandparents

My little stud :)

Our week also included a trip to the ER with Bradlee. He was diagnosed with croup and is doing fine now. Emma may win the award for "youngest in the ER" (she was taken in around 6 months)...but Bradlee won the "shortest ER visit" by far! Only 2 hours!! :) Not that this is a competition we want to continue, but what else can you do in a pediatric emergency waiting room?

Bradlee has started experimenting in his eating habits...he enjoys the biter biscuits (although they are very hard to find!) and teething biscuits and he snacks on Cheerios and fruit puffs also! He also loves watermelon and strawberries...as shown here:

Hope you have a great week!

Happy Holy Week!

It's been a while, I know...here are some pictures from our busy lives!!!

Every once in a while, Emma decides that Pinky (her bear) needs to be nursed, so she gets a small "boppy-looking" pillow (it's really one of those curved neck pillows), lifts up her shirt, and lays Pinky across the pillow, covering her up with a blanket. It's so funny...and she evens burps Pinky when she's "done eating".....

The last weekend of March, Lynne, Tony's mom, Emma, Bradlee and I went on our annual girls' weekend in Frankenmuth. We stayed at the Bavarian Inn Lodge and enjoyed the game room and pools! Here are some pictures from our fun-filled weekend!

Bradlee ready for the pool!

Emma and the "Whack-a-Mole"!!!

With the Easter Bunny at Bronner's! Bradlee LOVED the fur!

She was supposed to be taking a nap...but I caught her playing!

Bradlee's getting so big! He's really close to crawling...for right now he's content just doing the "land butterfly"...I think he'll be the next Michael Phelps (without the weed....).......He loves sitting and looking around, and especially watching Emma play...now he tries to play with her! :)

Here's Bradlee snoozing with his favorite toy...a water bottle! And yes, that's a MSU shirt he's got on!!! It's been worn more than any other outfit in his wardrobe!!

Finally, here's a great one of bath time!!! :) Have a great Holy Week and a wonderful Easter!!