Happy Birthday Tara!!!

Tara turns the BIG 3-0 on May 11th
The birthday girl thanking everyone for attending her bash

Rockin' on Karaoke

Hitting the high notes for the crowd... go "Brittney"

Ahh, the duet: Mr. Kelly and Mz. Toner

The Ahlfelds hosted a great party in honor and celebration of Tara's 30th birthday on Saturday night. We had a fantastic Rock Star night singing, dancing and catching up with friends.

Mr. & Mrs. Colin Newton

The entire Newton Klan gathered together Friday night and celebrated the marriage of Colin and Megan. We had such a great time throughout the evening. The wedding was beautiful! Congratulations!

She's No Lance Armstrong...

Inspecting the tires and pedals...
The handlebar seems sturdy...

And she decides she wants to walk the bike, not ride it...

We'll hold off on the Tour de France til next spring!

Popsicle Princess...

Great Wolf Lodge (Sandusky, OH)

Saturday night the Reussers and the Shavers stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge indoor water park. Talk about a great time. Giggles, splashes and squeals of pure delight were sounds that filled the air. Addie had the time of her life. She road the big water slides with mom and dad and braved the junior slides all on her own. The entire family enjoyed the fun house and the lazy river... you couldn't help, but act like a kid!

Happy 90th Birthday GrMa Stone!

Saturday we traveled to Ohio to help Great GrMa Stone celebrate the BIG 9-0! The Stone girls put together a lovely party full of good food and great conversation. GrMa Stone looked absolutely beautiful on her special day. It was nice to see everyone and to catch up.

Sister Save...

This is too funny and too cute to not share with you all. Addie was an absolute nightmare the other night for Doug and I. It was bath time she was having a complete melt down. Desperate, I phoned Mandy to pretend that she was Cinderella. I quickly instructed her to review the princess good manner rules in her best fairy godmother voice to Addie on speaker phone... we all know only good little girls get to visit Disney World! So any who, Mandy goes through this whole shpeal and you want to know what my stinker's reply is... "Wake up Sleeping Beauty, I want to talk to her."

Sewing Seeds...

Preparing the soil
Sprinkling the seeds

Tah-dah we have the start of an herb garden!

I love the dollar isle at Target! At least once or twice a month I find the neatest little trinkets or activities to use for some quality mommy and me time... anything to keep that blasted TV off! Today we started our first ever herb garden. The educator in me couldn't help, but teach Addie that seeds need soil, water and sunlight to grow. She loved shoveling the soil into the tot-sized pots and sprinkling the seeds. Addie is hoping for flowers to grow, but I'm just hoping to see sprouts of parsley, oregano, chives and basil in the next couple of weeks!

Back To Basics...

Measuring and mixing our raspberry recipe

This is FUN mom... look at it spin!

Enjoying the "fruits" of our labors!

Target carries a brand "Back to Basics" that I love. They are retro/vintage items that remind me of my childhood. Homemade snow cones, popsicles and ice cream... yummy! I remember making all of these things as a kid in the kitchen or on the back porch and thinking how cool it was making them as a family verses going out somewhere or pulling them from a box. Saturday morning after gymnastics, Addie and I had a Back to Basics Cooking Class 101 - Homemade Popsicles. We had so much fun! We made red raspberry and blue bomber pops using frozen fruit and V8 Fusion Juice. Of course Addie wanted to eat them right away... try explaining the freezing process to a two year old! But we settled on having one after she woke up from her nap. Right when she rolled out of bed she giggled and said, "Time for popsicles mommy!" She enjoyed every last lick and I was pretty happy she just consumed a daily serving of veggies and fruit!

Little Miss Saggy Britches...

Next time you see Addie, take a glance at her tiny hiny. She is carrying a little less junk in her trunk these days as she is now proudly sporting her BIG GIRL PANTIES, instead of a bulky diaper or pull-up. One day down... the rest of her life to go! Seeing her in her "pretty panties" as she refers to them, makes me smile. Her little tushy is so stinkin' adorable!