Three's A Charm

We partied yesterday with Claire and all her family for her third birthday. She could hardly wait to open all the packages.

Cate is going to have just as much fun with the Aqua Doodle as anyone!

We got everybody to pose for us papparazzi before the cake was cut.

And Claire was pretty excited about her Mickey Mouse ice cream cake!

Everyone agreed she had the biggest piece of all and she pretty much ate the whole thing. I'll be curious to find out if she ever got to sleep last night!

Three Sticks 2010

The Three Sticks have surfaced again! Two nephews and a friend put on their show at the college Friday and Saturday night. They did their usual shenanigans and then some.They even paid tribute to some of their non-sponsors.

It really is pretty amazing what they can do with their homemade instruments.


My favorite part is still what happens when you mix liquid... ...and drums! Click here for a reminder from a previous post how that all looks.

The reveal...Brian, Tony and Wil!

We Have A Winner!

I was mistaken in a previous post. Mom and Dad had taken only two waffle irons back. So today for lunch we went out to try their new one with them. Mom was nervous so maybe that's why the first one didn't turn out...

...but actually, this third iron was a charm! I think we just didn't have enough oil on the iron for the initial attempt because every one after that was perfect.

Thanks to Angela and Darrick for their shopping advice!

New Schedules

Yesterday at Claire's we kept busy all day! There were crafts to do...

...dress-up to play...

...snacks to have...

...balls to catch......car rides to take......gymnastics to practice......books to read......and hair to fix.Whew! We even took time for a little walk outside. The main thing we didn't get done was the afternoon nap. Not for lack of trying, mind you. More like lack of interest. Not only did Jill help with all the fun but she went to bring us back supper from McDonald's. Thanks Jill!

Better Late Than Never!

Mom and Dad stopped after church today for lunch and a belated birthday celebration for Mom. We had chicken from Pizza Ranch and a little game of Dominoes that wasn't won by the scorekeeper (me) but by the other hostess that forgot you're supposed to let the guests win!

We decided not to light 86 candles since we already know the smoke and fire detectors are working as they should.

Grandmas's first try to blow out the candles left five lit. Jill and I thought it meant she has five boyfriends. Gramps thought it meant she had five years to live. Is that a generational thing?!

G and g have recently bought three waffle irons and taken them all back because they don't work the way Gram expects them to. So we got her one like Angela and Darrick have that we know should work just fine. If this one doesn't work Jill said we're taking Grandma back, not the iron!! :)

Happy Birthday, Mom!!

Our grand matriarch turns 86 today! Happy day, Mom!

Look Out Betty Crocker!

We baked some belated Valentine cookies today. Cate just wanted to squeeze the dough. Claire was busy eating the pink and red chips before we even got them in the oven.

Claire's a good little kitchen helper. She likes to pitch in and she's good at it...whether it's helping with the dishes or baking the cookies.

We did get to have one for our snack. Claire picked the biggest one for herself and the broken one for me!

Will You Be Mine?

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!!

Have We Got Snow Or Have We Got Snow?!

We've got snow!! Our back deck is as snow covered as it's ever been. The washtubs are dwarfed by the load on top.

Standing in the driveway up at K2's this is what you see of my car parked on the street.

Here is Natalie's eye view of what it's like walking down their sidewalk. Claire calls those piles of snow the "stacks."

'Sitting With The Greats

While Mindy had parent-teacher conferences we stayed with the kids on Thursday. Natalie kept disappearing but when we asked "Where's Natalie?" out she'd pop from her tent! Harvey was wondering how all those points were going to feel when he uses this ball for his exercise ball!Oliver's probably not supposed to be up on the couch but the sitters didn't know any better.Harvey was the engine and Laur was the caboose!Just before supper Natalie was reading a book to Harvey. He peeked at it a couple times but seemed more interested in his train.We thought maybe he was having a little stranger anxiety early on because this is how we started out with Natalie trying to comfort him. (She did the trick!)

But by the end of the afternoon all was well!

House Of Bounce

We had a little outing with four little girls and their parents yesterday. The House of Bounce was the choice for a fun time. We'd never been there before so didn't know what to expect. They have guidelines just like on rides at the Fair...some of which Jill would just barely meet!

But there were little slides....

...and big slides...

...and mazes that even mommies could go through.

And after all that bouncing and sliding we ended up at Paradise Pete's for a little birthday lunch with Claire.

To The Gates Of St. Peter

Last weekend we took an excursion to St. Peter to visit Kate and Brian at their cabin. Never been there before so even though we were closely following Brian's directions we were sure we'd made a wrong turn! Six miles to Cleveland?!

And we didn't have our passports with us so we better not take the turn to Ottawa!!

The real purpose of the trip was a working weekend to help paint cabinets. They were recycled ones from Cher and Alan's old kitchen. Here's how we started...note the kitchen in the background.

In between there was this coat of lovely pink primer....

...before the final coat of Blaze Red. Brian even got to installing some of them. So this is the way it looked when we left. I bet by the time we visit again the doors'll be on and there might even be stuff packed away in the cupboards!

New Horizons

The other day at Claire's we explored downstairs where the cars have been moved. Just like everyone's basement it was much cooler (temperature) down there. In spite of that, Claire claimed to be plenty warm even though she'd chosen her two piece swimsuit for the morning's dress!

But this was after we'd had a little party for her birthday...

...and after Miss Cate went down for her nap. I thought Cate's hair was looking pretty good but this picture is after onesie's going up and down six times over her head. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Wednesday Afternoon Theatre

When I first saw the preview for "Avatar" I thought now there's a movie I don't need to see. But everyone I knew who'd gone to it had nothing but rave reviews for it. So I wanted to see what everyone was talking about. We went today and I'd give it at least 4 out of 5 stars. The two hours and forty minutes went by pretty quickly.

It was in 3D so the effects were pretty amazing. In fact, why in the world would you choose the 2D version at Chateau when the 3D one is right there?! There were a few scenes where my stomach kind of dropped out...you know the kind where you're following along and all of a sudden the ground falls out from underneath you. I can't even imagine how you put a movie like that together. When the credits first started rolling I said there must be hundreds of people involved in its' production. I don't think an estimate of a thousand or more would be too far off base! If you like an action packed, futuristic movie with lots of special effects and a storyline besides, this one's for you.

Fire!

We recently replaced all our smoke detectors which I just found out you're supposed to do every ten years. (Ours were only nine years overdue!) Today I discovered the new ones work. My toast this morning got a little darker than intended and it triggered the alarm. We'd gotten $240 worth of detectors to replace the hardwired ones and add battery operated ones to the bedrooms. Then Menards came along with a sale on one of the models and a 10% rebate on all so we returned the originals and bought them all over again for a grand total savings of $51.54! Don't tell any Menards employees you may know that we do this kind of stuff all the time!

Detective Kate Beckett, Beckett, Beckett

Do any of you watch "Castle" at 9:00 Monday nights on ABC? It's a detective show about a mystery writer who shadows a New York City cop to get ideas for his fictional character, Nikki Heat, and ends up helping solve the crime. Well, there really is a book by an author of that name. I picked it up from the library just yesterday. I'm beginning to feel like browsing the online library catalogue is like being a kid in a candy store. I hear about all these different books and authors and, for the most part, they're available. It's even better than shopping online. It's easy and the books are free!