Strawberries

Stephen's Birthday

Dianne and Bill invited us to their grandson's, Stephen, birthday party. SO fun. The birthday boy and his Bat-Cake


The kids played musical chairs, hot potato....


...move the beans...


... opened a geode...




...opened presents...


Even baby and Maisy got in on the fun. Bill missed Wayne, who was at a bridge tournament





And a FUN bounce house!









Flying a helicopter!

Field Station Golf Outing

As a volunteer for Maya's school on the Fund raising Committee, I coordinated the silent auction at the golf outing. These are pics from the auction and the event.... The auction ended up netting over $1,000 with only seven items.

Reading with Grandma

Vanenture Day

Grandma and Grandpa took Maya and me to The Morris Inn for a celebratory birthday lunch and Vanenture Day! I love that place. Ahhhhh........ Notre Dame felt welcoming and gives me a sense of grounding and peace. Kinda like home, ya know? It was a beautiful day and the campus looked so pretty. The students looked so young. They get younger every time I visit, it seems like.

The food was scrumptious. I had a cold strawberry soup with vanilla cream. Yummmmmy! I shared it with Maya - see, I'm a good mom ;) Then chicken salad with my fave Terra chips. Grandpa shared his creme brulee with Maya and she shared with me (this sharing can be a good thing).

I suppose I got used to it and we actually ordered Maya the $7 Kraft Macaroni and Cheese! It still cracks me up that it actually says "Kraft" and costs $7. This time I even noticed that if you order it for dinner, the price goes up to $9. I kid you not. Oh well, every diamond has a flaw, the flaw at Sorin's is the child menu prices.

Then we went to the bookstore. Notre Dame, food and shopping.... p-e-r-f-e-c-t!
I bought matching "The Shirt" shirts for Maya and I to wear at the next party.

Thank you, Grammy and Grampy - another awesome Vanenture Day!



If you haven't seen the "Grandpa / Maya show" yet, this picture may look a little strange. Grandpa and Maya have a, shall we say, unique relationship. In this picture, Grandpa was trying to tweek Lambie - he was "misbehaving" a bit and teasing her. So, in her usual style, she teased him right back. Grandma is about to say, "Oh, Edward, stop that or next time you'll stay home."

Grandma and I had a good time on this trip listening to the two of them in the back seat. She didn't have to say, "Don't make me pull this car over." one time ;)

Green Day

Day TWO of Maya's school experience......Green Day!

Poor little minchkin, Maya's second day was not so good..... I woke her up and let her have her normal morning, then said, "today is a special day". She said, "what's special, what's special" - happy and excited. I thought oh, this is going well. Pluh! I said "It's green day!" and got out her outfit for school. She crawled into the corner under a chair in our bedroom, saying, "I don't wannnnnnna go to school" Sheesh! So I asked her about green stuff and made some jokes, she cheered up, got dressed, and we came down for breakfast. It was going pretty well until we were ready to leave. She wouldn't put her shoes on, starting crying, wouldn't get in her car seat. Not pretty. Wayne took her and he said she just wouldn't let go of him. After school she said she had "lots and lots and lots of fun, but I cried alot, mommy". It's definitely going to take some adjusting!