Fall Festival!

What a FABULOUS Friday we had! Emma and Bradlee's school, Davisburg Elementary, held their annual "Family Fall Festival" on Friday night. It was a fundraiser for the school, and included game bracelets for the kids, dinner (a taco bar) and a TON of other activities, including a raffle!

We stayed the whole time, 6pm - 9pm, and the kids just loved it! They had tractor-pulled hayrides around the school property (both kids loved so much, we did it twice!). They also had cookie decorating:

And a CRAFT project!

This is where I got into trouble. There were a couple other kids trying to do the art project...so the "volunteer" in charge of the room asked me if I would be okay if she went to help the other kids. My reply: "No problem! I'm crafty!" Tony's response: "My wife is the stamping queen!" Great. That immediately got a response from the volunteer, who also happens to have a daughter at the high school who just "loves Mr. Coggins"!! :) She asked me if I would be interested in helping with the Santa's Workshop in December...then it moved to "Oh, I need a co-chair!" AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!! My daughter's only a Kindergartner! I don't even know what Santa's Workshop is!! We left her with my phone number and I agreed to consider having a table to sell a project...I roped my Mom into helping me! :)

Back to the Fall Festival...in the gym at the school, they had a ton of games, a gymnastics course set up, and a HUGE bounce house! Emma also found some of her friends from class! Here is Emma with Cindra (in the middle, they went to pre-k together) and Emma's new friend, Claire!

Bradlee and Emma both loved the gymnastics course. It was so cool to watch Emma take it so seriously...it was like she was thinking, "I KNOW how to do this..." She would concentrate SO had on the beams and making sure she did her somersaults just right! What a girl! Bradlee LOVED the bounce house...so much so, that the "bounce house supervisor" had to go in when his time was up to get Bradlee out! :)

Finally, both kids liked playing the "Plinko" game! Tony helped them win some tickets to redeem for prizes!!!

We had a great time at the festival and loved meeting the parents of Emma's new friends! :)

A Tribute...

Sixty years ago today, October 7, 1950, my grandparents were married! These are my dad's parents I'm talking about and for the blog, I'd like to pay tribute to them! :)

I have so many fond memories of my grandparents, now to be known as Snookie and Papa! Since they have only ever lived 45 minutes away, we've always been fortunate enough to be able to see them quite a bit! Some of my favorite memories include my sisters and me at their house during our summer vacations...my dad would drop us off on Monday, and we'd stay until Friday! Some years, our cousins, Amanda and Paige, would also join us! We would visit the Detroit Zoo, go shopping and go swimming at the neighbor's pool (there was one unfortunate time Paige jumped off the diving board and landed half in the water, half out and we had to leave early...and the several times Amanda, Karyn and Kat would play "Lifeguard" with rocks they would throw in the pool, then "rescue" them...) LOL :) Snookie and Papa had a HUGE basement with a ping pong table that we would play "tournaments" and even stage productions when we were older and would sing sing sing!! :) Great times!! Here's me, Amanda and Kat - circa 1985ish...and some shots from Tony's and my wedding!

I think some of my favorite memories include my own kids! I love that Bradlee and Emma know their GREAT-grandparents! They know them by name, and Emma even drew them on an anniversary card (gray and white hair, and all!). :) I also was fortunate enough to know 6 of my 8 great-grandparents...and I have memories of all of them!

Here are some pictures of Emma and Bradlee (or, as Papa calls him, "The General" or "Omar") with their great-grandparents:

The next time we are together with Snookie and Papa, I have to make sure I get some more pictures of Papa! He's usually also taking pictures!! :)

For Snookie and Papa's 50th Wedding Anniversary, they took the family (13 of us!) on an Alaskan cruise! It's hard to believe it was 10 years ago this past July! We had a fabulous time and will always remember the whole family being together for such a wonderful occasion!!

So, since I wouldn't be here if they had never been married, and for all those wonderful years together, I wish Snookie and Papa / Mom and Dad / George and Jackie / Mr. and Mrs. Kozloff a very very very Happy 60th Wedding Anniversary!

A Fabulous Weekend...

I had one of the most fabulous weekends last week....

On Thursday after work, I headed over to Waterloo, Ontario to visit my best friend, Lauren. Lauren and I lived together our last year at CMU and we've been fortunate enough to remain close, even though we live 200 miles apart!

Lauren and her husband, Scott, had a baby boy on August 11th, William Thomas. Scott had to go to China for a week for work, so I used a vacation day, took Friday off, and spent a long weekend with her and Will!

I had no problems crossing the border on the way there, and arrived right around 6pm on Thursday night. We made dinner (well, Lauren made dinner...I started bonding with Will!) and just talked and talked and talked. I didn't even mind missing the season premiers of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice! :)

According to Lauren, Will has had a rough 6 weeks of life. He's being tested for GIRD (acid reflux), so he's taking baby Zantac, and Lauren's also cut out dairy from her diet, both seem to be helping! He (apparently) was a totally different baby while I was there, and we even got Will to sit in his bouncy chair while we ate dinner!

Friday morning we got up and enjoyed breakfast and coffee with Lauren's sister-in-law, Stephanie, and two of her 3 daughters, Rosalyn and Zoe. Zoe was born the day before Will...and you should see her hair!

After lunch, Lauren and I loaded Will (unwillingly) into the into the car seat and we went out to Babies R Us and walked around the mall for a bit. Then we met Lauren and Scott's friends, Gia and Brett and their little girl, Charlotte (9 months old) for some Thai dinner! We had a nice time just talking and watching the kids! They both were so good, although they let us know when they were ready to go home!

Saturday morning, Will was all smiles...even when we put him in his swing!!

When I got out of the shower, I heard Lauren talking to Will in her room...and he was coo-ing right back! I went in and sat down for a bit and all of a sudden, Will let some gas RIP! :) Since he's also had problems with gas, this was actually a good thing! Then Lauren got this panicked look on her face and she lifted Will's leg up to display a trail of poop that had leaked out of his diaper and down her shirt and jeans...she was saying, "What do I do? What do I do?" I said, "Hold it right there, I need to get the camera!" :) I got Will cleaned up while Lauren cleaned herself up...all was good! :)

After that excitement, we went out to Walmart and to the market....WOW. That's really all I can say. This market was not only a food market, but a flea market and food court type market, too! It was awesome! We got homemade cinnamon rolls and coffee for breakfast/lunch and picked up some salmon for dinner and then headed back home! Will slept the WHOLE time! :)

We made dinner (again, Lauren made dinner) and I entertained Will some more...my sister, Karyn, made him a blanket: green with lizards on it! It was really cute, and Will was in a good mood, so I got a few pictures of him laying on it. He loved the material (fleece) and was so quiet, just looking around at his room and listening to me talking to him! What a cute baby!!! I'm in love!

I left around 4:45 on Saturday afternoon and had no problems getting home. I stopped at the duty free shop (Canada side) to use the bathroom and get a little something for the kids...other than that, and the custom's guard calling me boring :) , the ride home was pretty uneventful! I had such a good time, and I still just smile thinking about little things that happened, or thinking about Will and what a cute kid he is. I can't wait to see him and Lauren (and Scott) again! :)

Go Chips!!!

It's been a GREAT weekend! Bradlee's getting over a stuffy nose-thing, and since he's a little too small, he didn't get to participate in a few of the activities, but he still had a great weekend, too!

It's started...Emma brought home her first fundraiser of the year! We were told it was the only grade-specific fundraiser she'll have this year, and it's called a "Fun Run". For 20 minutes, the kids get to walk or run around a track to see how many laps they can do. They get pledges and donations ahead of time and then get to see how well they do! The funds go towards supplies and such for the school: books, paper, tables, computers, etc. So, if any of you would like to donate, we'd appreciate it! :) The Fun Run is October 1st, and money's due October 15th...so just let me know if you're interested in donating to her school! :)

On Friday, Bradlee stayed home from school with Tony's mom...Lynne took him up to the football field to see Beepee (Tony's dad), who was setting up the field for the varsity football game that night...Bradlee LOVES to talk into the microphone (oh no! not another one!)...here, he's singing "La lalalalala La laaaaaaaaaaa"!! :)

Friday night, I attended a stamping workshop at my Stampin' Up demonstrator's house..."Chicks and Chocolate!" while Tony and Emma went to the Holly/Fenton football game. They had a GREAT time!!! The football teams participated in a fundraiser for the last two weeks to see who could raise the most money for their respective armed services charity...Fenton had the Army and Holly had the Marines. Part of the game, they had an Army OH-53 surveillance helicopter there that the fans could sit in...

The good news...HOLLY WON! :)

Saturday night I started feeling really crappy and had a major pain in my side below my rib cage. Finally, after snoozing on and off, I had Tony take me to the ER around 5am. I was diagnosed with gallstones (after an ultrasound of my spleen, kidneys, liver and gallbladder) and a UTI. I got an antibiotic and was put on a "low-fat" diet for at least the next few days. Of course, once I was in the hospital room in the ER, I started to feel better....it's all psychological, and it drives me nuts! My mom told me, though...when I say I'm in pain, it must really be bad! I'm doing much better now!

Saturday we (of course) had some major plans...to take Emma to her first college football game! Central played Eastern at Eastern, and Tony, Emma and I were going to go along with my mom, dad and Karyn. Emma was SOOOOOOO excited (and that's an understatement!) to go, not only for the game, but to tailgate, too!! Well, a combination of the weather and my not feeling good kept us home, instead. And too bad, too! Emma was so disappointed, but we still went over to my parents house, Karyn found the game on her laptop, which we put on a table in the living room, and my dad set up the Florida room (which is under construction, so there's no furniture) with the food table and blankets for the kids to sit on...it was so neat!!! Of course, Emma still wore her CMU gear...which she was excited about, too!

The best part of the day was that CMU won, 52-14!!! What a game! :) We had a really good time, and promised Emma we would take her to a REAL football game and tailgate sometime this year! :) While we were there, Karyn kept trying to get Bradlee to say "Go Eagles!"...he would look at her a put his finger out and say, "No no no....GO CHIPS!" I've taught my kids well! :)

This morning, Kat and Garrett came and picked Emma up and took her to the Renaissance Festival in Holly. I remember going a LONG time ago when we were little and getting the tall, pointy princess hats...so of course, I was totally expecting this:

She had a good time eating her turkey drumstick, watching the jousting tournament and making a magic wand out of dragon snot (it sticks better than glue)!

Tony took Bradlee with him to see his family in Laingsburg (near Lansing). Tony's cousin passed away in a motorcycle accident last week, and since he can't really miss school, he went to visit the family this afternoon. Bradlee went with him and I stayed home and defrosted the freezers, did the laundry and then, when Emma got home, made dinner for the two of us! Here's my little stud...our problem with Bradlee now, is that he has no butt and is so skinny that he still fits in some 12 month clothing!! CRAZY. So his shirts are 10 or 24 months, and his pants/shorts are 12 or 18 month!! UGH. So frustrating! :) So, here's an outfit that Lynne got him...the shirt is 18 month and the pants are 12 month...the pants that came with the outfit are 18 month and there was about 2 inches between his tummy and the pants waistband! He's still quite the cutie, though! :)

This week will (hopefully) be fairly uneventful...I have Friday off, so Thursday after work I'm going to drive over to Waterloo (Canada) and spend the long weekend with my friend, Lauren...she just had a baby last month and her husband, Scott, is going to be out of town (in CHINA!), so I thought I'd go and spend time with both of them...and meet William! :) I'm sure I'll post some pictures when I get back! Until then, have a great week! :)

Emma's Eddy Picture

As promised, here's Emma's picture of Eddy, the elephant, as mentioned in my last post! :) I believe that if you click on the picture, you can see a bigger size! :)

Humor for the Week...

The first week of Kindergarten was great! Wednesday when I picked Emma up from her first day, she ran to me and was so excited to share stories from her day! Mrs. Allen (her teacher) has a stuffed elephant named Eddy. Eddy, we learned, doesn't really like grown-ups, but he loves kids! So, when Mrs. Allen isn't looking, Eddy does some pretty silly things, like dance, move his head, etc. Of course, Eddy always sits on Mrs. Allen's lap! :) On Wednesday, like I said, Emma ran to me and started telling me about her day...how Eddy started dancing when Mrs. Allen wasn't looking; how she drew a picture of herself wearing a crown for her family folder; how she had art class and drew a picture of lines; how she got to sit next to her friend, Cindra, for lunch, even though Cindra's in the other Kindergarten class; and how "Kindergarten ROCKS!" LOL

Thursday, when I picked Emma up, she was not as bubbly...she dragged her feet while walking to me, and just plopped her head on my shoulder and said, "Mama, it was a LONG day!" LOL When I asked her if she had her lunch box, she put her hand to her forehead and said, "Oh darn, I knew I forgot something!" So we went back down to Mrs. Allen's room to get her lunchbox. On the way back to the nursery to get Bradlee, I looked down and saw Emma had on pink socks with her mostly blue, green and purple outfit. I said, "Emma, are those the socks Mama put on you this morning?" (It wouldn't have been the first time I put totally non-matching socks on one of the kids...I do get them dressed in the dark!) The conversation went downhill from there...

Emma: "No, these are the socks from Ms. Joann." (Ms. Joann is the latch key instructor)
Me: "Why did Ms. Joann give you new socks?"
Emma: "Because I got blood on my other ones."
Me: "Blood?! Are you hurt? Did you get a boo boo??"
Emma: "No. Katie got a bloody nose when we were in the gym and I stepped in it."
Me: "Oh. Is Katie okay?"
Emma: "Yep. We saw Mr. Jim in the hallway a little later and he said he saw Katie and that she was doing good."
Me: "Who's Mr. Jim?"
Emma: "Oh, he's the guy who cleans the whole school."
Me: "Oh. Well, I'm glad Katie's not hurt."
Emma: "Yeah, me too. Other kids had to get new socks, too."

LOL I was laughing so hard just thinking about the conversation! When we got home, I took the socks out of the little Ziploc bag they had been put in (I was rather surprised they even sent them home with blood on them, instead of throwing them away right there at the school) and there was this little tiny dot of blood on the toe of one of Emma's socks...ah well. Threw them in the washer and it was gone.

Friday was another great day for her. She said Eddy hit Mrs. Allen in the face with his trunk! When I got the papers out of Emma's folder, there was a page that said, "We had a lot of laughs in Kindergarten today! Ask me about...." and then there was a picture of an elephant (a very good one, at that...I should try to scan it...), some blue lines, and a Laffy Taffy wrapper. I asked Emma to tell me about it! She told me that it was a picture of Eddy trying to hit Mrs. Allen in the face with his trunk and the blue lines are called "movement lines". "What's that mean, Emma?" I asked. "Oh, it means that I'm trying to show you that the trunk was moving." HUH??? What Kindergartner knows about movement lines?! Anyway, the Laffy Taffy wrapper was on there because that was a treat Mrs. Allen gave them to eat!

So, I think it's going to be a great year with my Kindergartner...I can't wait to hear more stories from her!

Bradlee's adjusted well to going back to school. He's now graduated to a booster seat at the big table and chairs instead of a high chair...and I was told that he went to sleep for his nap without even having his back patted!! HA! Wish he'd do that at home?! :) He has a bit of a stuffy nose today, but since he's 2 I can (finally!) give him something for the allergies and it seemed to work rather well that I don't think he'll have to miss much school for a drippy nose!! Keep your fingers crossed!!

After today, I'm beat...so hope you have a great week! :)

It's been a busy weekend!

What a weekend! It was filled with so many life-changing events!

On Friday, we got a call from a guy at a dealership we've been working with that they had finally found a car for us! We had decided to take advantage of an offer from the dealership we purchased our Cobalt from and traded in our 2006 model for a 2010 model! Thanks to our friend, Deb, we were also able to get the "Family and Friends" discount!! It was a great deal and we are so happy with our new RED car! :) I'll post pictures soon...

Saturday morning we got the kids up early, put them in the car, and we drove to Toledo! Our trip was two-fold...Tony was hired to DJ a wedding reception at the Zoo Saturday night, so we decided to make it a family weekend vacation! We got a hotel room and visited the Zoo on Saturday when we got there...then my friend, and Emma's godmother, Sara, came to visit with us while Tony DJ-ed. The kids loved sharing a bed and staying in the hotel! We liked the Zoo so much, we went back on Sunday! Then we ate at Tony Packo's for lunch (apparently it's a big deal to M*A*S*H fans!) and headed home! Here are some pictures from our Toledo Trip! :)

This picture just makes me laugh the more I look at it. This not-so-little guy was swimming around in the aquarium. Emma thought he was fascinating and sat up on the ledge right next to the glass. We were waiting for him to swim around the tank again so we could get a picture of him next to Emma...and just as he was coming around, Emma turned around and was face-to-face with this thing! She SCREAMED and jumped off the ledge and buried her head into my leg! I couldn't help but laugh...although looking at him, I'm sure you'd scream, too! :)

When we got home on Sunday, we had a little bit of energy, so Tony and I took down Bradlee's crib and put up the toddler bed...it's the same one Emma used and the bedding is even the same, too! Good thing both of my kids like Mickey Mouse! I just can't believe we don't have a crib in our house anymore! :)

Tuesday, of course, was the first day of school! Tony and Bradlee left early to get to school, and I took the day off to take Emma. Bradlee is in the same "class" as last year, which is basically a daycare. They do circle time, play outside, go for walks, color, sing, dance and all kinds of other things, and he just loves it! Here are my boys on their first day of school!

Emma entered Kindergarten (!) this year, and the first day for her consisted of a "Meet the Teacher" hour in the morning. I took the day off of work to take her and spend some time with her, too! I just cannot believe she's in Kindergarten already! She had a great time at the meet the teacher and today when I picked her up, she was ALL smiles...when I asked her how Kindergarten was, she responded with, "Mom, Kindergarten ROCKS!" LOL It's going to be a great year! :)