Wordless Wednesday... Bird/Squirrel Watching

Science Project

Ben started his end of the year project for Science in January. He is finally finished! Amen! His project was "Grape to Raisin". He had 4 different environments in the house and set out grapes in each one to see which environment was most conducive to making raisins. It was a difficult feat, let me tell you when you have a dog that's always hungry.
He included pictures of the grapes each week, information about the dehydration process, nutritional info on both grapes and raisins, even a survey of the 7th graders in his class asking them if they prefer grapes or raisins to eat. To add a nice touch, he even drew a California Raisin character... Nice Job, Ben!!

The surprising final result was that the grapes that were in the dark, cool closet were the first to turn into raisins....and we had predicted that the ones in a window sill in the sun would turn first...hmmmm. I guess we all learned something from this project!!! Jill

Look, a medal!!!!

Our weekend was full of events and friends but the most significant event was Saturday morning. Andrew had a JV Tennis Invitational at his school,and won a medal!! No it wasn't for the grand champion tennis player, but it WAS for Consolation champion (Winner of the Losers bracket).He lost his first match and then won the next two. What an accomplishment considering there were at least 4 other high schools there and he only learned how to play tennis last year!! Yea Andrew!!

Did I mention that John and I sat and watched the matches all morning?
Did I mention that the car temperature gauge said this...


but the wind chill was in the 20's... Brrrrrrr.

The players wore hats and mittens....they all needed winter coats in my opinion, but what can I say, I'm a pansy...

Here's "Da Man" serving to his opponent....


and this same guy, started a new job at our local grocery store last week. He's now a "Produce clerk". Very Cool. He needs the gas money!!!

Yes, we DO have other children that had a fun weekend. The boys had 2 of their best buddies over for a sleepover on Saturday and Anna played with friends too. Oh the fun we have!! It's a FULL life- and we wouldn't have it any other way!! Jill

The Lantern

Maybe it's because they could stay up later than usual-
Maybe it's because they are using a really cool lantern-

Maybe it's because they actually LIKE each other...

But when a 3rd grader reads a chapter book aloud to his little sister, it's just darn cute....and that's all I have to say... Enjoy your weekend.... Jill

Grandma Sue will be happy....

I just had to show you what happened at our house yesterday. Grandma Sue is going to be thrilled! No more wobbly daybed to sleep upon in the basement...

BEFORE


AFTER

Isn't it awesome??? It's called a Murphy Bed!!!!

She even has a place to hang her clothes and put her cosmetic bag....

But Grandpa Phil will still get to sleep in the bedroom downstairs....snoring issues, ya know.

and this guy got home last night at 8:15...he was with the JV high school team playing tennis...he had his first match of the year, and WON!!!! Yea! Jill

Wordless Wednesday- Bedtime Snack

The Cookout

Remember these cutie pies?? Well, these kids and their parents came over for cook out on Sunday...the very first cook out of the year, I might add.

We had a great time. The boys and Dads had a little game of kickball going...


and the girls had a good time NOT playing kickball...


and we had chocolate cake...can you tell??


We had some uninvited guests too...we swatted our first mosquitoes. Amazing that just last week it snowed a little and this week we have a batch of bugs...only in Wisconsin. Jill

Wrong!!!

The Weatherman was WRONG!!! and I'm so happy about it!! He predicted rain from Thursday to Sunday and we didn't even see a drop!! I think the kids LIVED outside this weekend. Ben had his first baseball practice of the year...the pony league...which means a bigger field, farther to pitch, but more room to run and steal bases!! He's excited about that. With the weather being so nice, it was time to scope out the garden...


the boy posse was "out and about" in the neighborhood...


I played a few games of Chutes and Ladders...


A few friends came over for the first cookout of the year...they all have little kids. Aren't they cute???


We sure enjoyed our weekend-hope you did too! Jill

Concert #2

Wednesday WAS a busy day. After Luke's performance, the family (G-ma and G-pa too) came back to our house and took a little rest, just long enough to gear up to head to the BIG city to see this guy...


We traveled down to the big city, found a little Irish pub for a nice dinner...I had fish and chips...

the kids found a fun shuffleboard game to play...

and then went to the concert. Yes, I think we were the only people there that were under age 70, but that's OK. We heard some great music, had a bunch of laughs and made some good memories with Grandma and Grandpa... and that's a good thing. Jill

2 concerts in one day

Yes, 2 concerts in 1 day. Well, actually, one was a musical. At our school, when you reach 3rd grade, you get to be a part of a special event that happens in the Spring...The Third Grade Musical. This year's musical was "The Phantom of the Music Room", and it was performed yesterday afternoon. Check out Luke as "Deputy Barney". He had 54 lines to memorize and sang 3 songs!! We were so impressed! (sorry about the blurry picture)Even Gramma Ellie and G-pa Walt got to see the performance!!


After the performance, Luke took us back to his classroom for a little celebration...notice that the button down shirt came right off as soon as the musical was finished!!


check out the dessert buffet! YUM!


Speaking of performers, Look what Ben wore to school yesterday for "Wacky Wednesday"..

More details about concert #2 tomorrow!! Jill

Wordless Wednesday...Pool playin' Gramma

She's growing up, right before my eyes...

Amidst the busyness this past weekend, Anna (age 6) and I decided to do a little cleaning in her room because things were just getting, well, WAY out of hand in the clutter department. We went through her bookshelves to try to get rid of those books that are well past her reading level....she informed me that she was now "done with princesses" and done with those baby books...


I guess my baby girl is moving on.....to Hannah Montana and High School Musical...
But I still HAVE to keep these....my favorites!!

We're awfully mean parents...

This weekend was full of "friends"!! We had 2 kids stay over night on Friday night and one on Saturday night. In that respect, we not mean parents. We are mean parents when it comes to bedtime. We believe that all kids should be in bed by 10:30...even if it's a sleepover--and we stick to that! No crabby kids the next day...we've been through that a few times.

On Saturday morning, Anna asked "When will my pancakes be done?" I just didn't like the tone that she had used, SO...she and her friend made the pancakes....supervised, of course.


On Saturday night, we went to a friend's house for dinner. Our family has 4 kids and so does there's, plus she was watching her 3 nephews for the night....yes, that's 11 kids to feed and 4 adults. After having a taco buffet, we had the kids all go downstairs(mean, mean, mean) to play so that we, the parents could enjoy a little conversation...er, I mean golf.


Sunday, we had friends go to church with us... that was fun! We just love people!!!
Hopefully they love us too....even if we're mean..... Jill

Warm, Sunny Florida

Because it's rainy/snowy and cold here, I wanted to live through John's recent trip to Florida to convince me that warmer weather is coming. I wanted you to see the fun that the guys had too. First of all, he flew down to Orlando with a bunch of buddies...


Rented a house with a pool/hot tub...


golfed 36 holes a day on beautiful courses, just minutes from the house. Had a few good shots, but ended up here sometimes...


saw some interesting wildlife on the golf course (no alligators this year)...


But the best part for him was hanging out with friends, talking and watching sports and just relaxing. Good for him! Now, when is my vacation??? Just kidding...cold cash is fine with me..... Jill

X-tra credit Fruit Pizza

Andrew is taking a culinary Arts class this year in high school and really enjoying it. He asked me yesterday to get "the makings" for fruit pizza because he wanted to do some extra credit work. So....he rolled out the cookie dough on the pizza stone...

Then he mixed the "sauce" together and placed in on the dough. He cut up some fruit and added it on top...


Check this out....Yummy!!


Fruit Pizza
1 tube of refrigerated sugar cookie dough
8 oz. cream cheese (regular)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 t. almond extract

Roll out cookie dough onto pizza stone--bake at 350 for 13 minutes (or until slightly brown on top). Cool. Mix the cream cheese, powdered sugar and almond extract together and spread on top of the pizza. Add fruit(kiwi, strawberries and blueberries work best) to the top and then chill the pizza. Enjoy!! Jill

Wordless Wednesday- Anna's friends...and she knows them all by name

More Chicago fun

While we were gone, we put Bella (dog) in a kennel and the kids were really missing her. Our friend's dog, Marley Sue, got SO much attention and she also tried to keep up with the commotion of all of the kids. She was exhausted....look at her red eyes!!


I guess Marley got a little break from my kids when we headed to this Sporting Goods store. Look what they did to this poor display--hike up those drawers a little more!


My friend's kitchen became a nail salon for just a little while...no wonder the boys stayed downstairs and played "Rockband" (video game).


Bless her heart, my friend planned a HUGE breakfast (eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, hash browns, muffins and bagels)and we had it ready for the kids at around 10 am. They scarfed down a ton of food...


After brunch, the kids walked down to the park and played for an hour or so. My boys came back from the park, helped to get our stuff packed up and then said..."What's for lunch?" Can you believe the nerve of those boys?? Luckily, the leftover breakfast was still sitting out, so they finished up the breakfast, and even ate the leftover pizza in her fridge from the night before. Oink, oink. I guess she got a little taste of our world and how boys are "hungry."

So we came, laughed, cooked, talked, painted nails, played sports, watched movies and ATE. Now I call that a great weekend!!! Thank you Miss Wendy & family!!

Trips all around!!

Good Morning!! While my husband was suffering (ahem) through a 5 day trip to Florida to golf, the kids and I went on an adventure to Chicago-land!!!

Where else can you..

play basketball with friends..


get curly hair...


play with your food...


Chill out while watching a 65 inch tv...


But don't you worry yourself one little bit that this was a trip all for the kids, because it wasn't. My friend and I sat on her 3 seasons porch and chatted, we watched a chick flick of our own, we shopped a little and chatted even more about such relevant topics as fruit dip and summer tank tops. Your not worried about me having fun, are you??? More Chicago Adventures tomorrow... for now I will have my work cut out for me. I think the kids just emptied out the car, right into my laundry room...ugh. (No, it's not urine on my counter, it's Tide free) hee, hee!