Banquet time

Saturday night was IMS' banquet. IMS is the local private school that also happens to be my alma mater, and the school where Kent coaches baseball. IMS doesn't have a junior-senior prom, but instead has a banquet. Last year we were in Ohio during banquet, so I didn't get to see my nieces Alyssa or Taylor in all their finery. Since Taylor is a senior this year, I was thrilled to be around to see her get ready.


I think I want someone to come and do my makeup every day!



Awwww...isn't she pretty?



Sisters...
Taylor and her date went to banquet in Taylor's dad, Rod's restored Camaro. Rod got the car started, and drove it around the block before relinquishing it to Taylor's date. At one point, I wasn't sure if he would let it go!


Taylor and her date, Jarron.


Kristen and I drove to IMS to see some of the people arrive in style. The funniest thing was that after most people had arrived, a bunch of junior guys walked around the parking lot checking out all of the cool cars. What do you think their dates were doing while these guys were outside?


Anyway, I had a great time, and felt privileged to be a part of this rite of passage for Taylor!

Pretzel-mania

Kent is currently in Cincinnati for the week. He left yesterday and will return on Sunday.

Last weekend I read about Pioneer Woman making awesome looking pretzels. (Go here to read about it!) And Meredith and I decided that when Kent left for Ohio, we would make yummy pretzels to cheer us up.

Yesterday after school we started the recipe, and although both kids were totally distracted by other things by the time the pretzels were actually done, they both totally loved them.


We got the actual recipe on Smitten Kitchen (find it here.)

Yes, I made T, J, and M pretzels. The M worked the best - by far. Both the T and the J ones kind of came apart.


I made some with coarse salt on the top as the recipe indicates. But then I made some with cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on top. And to kick it up a notch, I also made cream cheese frosting to dip the cinnamon/sugar ones in. You know, because a sweet pretzel isn't fattening enough by itself!


The cinnamon/sugar ones were our favorite. Meredith even had one for breakfast this morning.

Ok. Ok. So did I!

Kent, rest assured that this recipe will not be lost forever. We will make them when you are back home!

Kindergarten Blog

So Meredith's Kindergarten teacher has a blog that she updates every so often that you might want to check out. She writes about what they have been studying and also posts pictures. Meredith is even in a few of the pictures.

Go to http://wtkdg.edublogs.org/ if you want to check it out.

Here's a teaser picture from the blog - Meredith and 2 of her friends are digging for dinosaur bones!

Chi Town Take II

So when we were in Chicago with Kent's family, we went to Buca di Beppo. Buca di Beppo is an awesome family-style Italian restaurant. The food was of course amazing, and we totally stuffed ourselves!
Since we were there 2 days before Kent's 32nd birthday, and since we were in Chicago for Jim's 65th birthday, we had to celebrate both birthdays at the restaurant. Yes, they brought 2 lit candelabra's while we sang Happy Birthday. And both Jim and Kent got 2 large pieces of the most delicious red velvet cake. Ever. Thankfully they shared the cake with everyone!


Lots of fun pictures from the night out.


Lots-o-fun!

Chi Town

For Easter weekend we went to Chicago to meet Kent's parents. Kent's dad, Jim, knew that they were meeting us, but he didn't know that all 4 of Kent's siblings and their families were meeting us there also. It was a fun surprise for his 65th birthday.

The hotel where we stayed had a large indoor waterpark. The kids had a great time playing in the water, getting splashed by the huge water bucket, riding on the lazy river, going down the waterslides, and warming up in the hot tub.

They also had free face painting, which was a highlight for the kids.


Jesse didn't have his morning nap, but he did snuggle up and take his afternoon nap on Grandma's lap. Too cute, right?

More pictures coming soon...

nighty-night

I thought Jesse had a good nap yesterday.

I really did.

But when Meredith got home from school, he was ready to take another nap.


On the stairs! (Of course along with his baby.)


Meredith was so sweet - she was totally mothering him! She said prayers with him, read him a book, and sang the ballgame song with him. (Yes, he requests Take Me Out To The Ballgame before every nap and before he goes to bed.)


And then it looked so fun, that Meredith decided to join him on the stairs!

Was it you?

So tell me - how does my house get to be such a wreck in just a few short days?

Our week was off because we were still in Chicago on Monday, and that has totally thrown off my cleaning and laundry schedule. (Wow, am I really that predictable and schedule-driven that one day throws off the whole week?? How sad!!)

So I'm wondering who it was that came into our house and made it such a mess.

Was it you?

Was it the mess-making fairies?


Because I know it wasn't me or my kids. And to be Supportive Wife, I probably shouldn't blame Kent.

So do I get right to work cleaning up? Do I put aside all other things until I get everything back in order?

Oh no.

I blog about it.

Gotta love creative prcrastination tactics!

(If you ever want a good dose of humility, send me your dirty house pictures to be posted for anyone to see...)

I haven't forgotten...

So it's been forever since I last posted.

Have you noticed?

If you haven't, then I'll stop feeling guilty that I haven't taken the time to do anything online. If you have noticed, why not leave a comment and let me know...

...is anyone even out there?

We were busy all weekend in Chicago celebrating my father-in-law Jim's 65th birthday (Jim, I hope you don't mind that I just gave away your age!) We had a really great time, but of course I didn't bring my camera out of it's bag one time. So I don't have pictures. But I am trying to get them. Because I know there are some really good ones of the kids with their faces painted and good ones of them playing in the waterpark in the hotel where we stayed. I'm sure there are plenty of not-so-good pictures with me in them...but I certainly won't be posting any of them here!

Now we're trying to get into the swing of spring. Mainly planting grass and my garden. Neither of which is done yet, both of which I hope to get a good start on before it rains this weekend.

Anyway. We don't have a computer at home for the time being (stupid spyware and stupid viruses) so until my parents leave on vacation next week (and I can confiscate their laptop), I'm forced to go elsewhere to blog. And check my email. And keep up on the blogs that I read. And everything else that I do online. On Wednesday I was trying to find a gluten-free coconut cream pie recipe to make for my dad for his birthday. And I was forced to look at my actual cookbooks. Oh the horror!

Until next time...