Play Ball?

Bella brought in a ball from outside....and it was VERY wet. The only way, you see, to play ball and NOT get your hands wet, is to place a paper towel on your hand first......She's all girl, wouldn't you say??

Entertained....

Some friends of ours needed a weekend away, so we watched their 2 kiddoes while they were gone. It's been a few years since we've had little kids in our house and we had a chance to bring out the "old" toys. For instance Luke LOVED playing cars with little Benji...they had to make a spot for the fire engines to be parked....
Ben and Luke weren't quite so thrilled when little Ben woke up and started playing legos at 2:30 am....or when he had to "go potty" at 3am...or when he had a bad dream later and started yelling his sister's name.... :)

BIG Ben even taught little Ben how to sort laundry....colored clothing goes here and whites over here....
Anna had another female in the house which was a plus....Elise got a kick out of making Minnie her own personal baby.....Minnie wasn't as thrilled.....

and hubby got inspired and cooked a turkey with all of the fixin's.....
baked potatoes/sweet potatoes and fresh green beans......YUM!!

So I guess you could say that we were well fed this weekend AND well entertained!!!

My friend, Becky....

This is one of my college roommates. She is a principal of an elementary school in Iowa. Evidently, she had promised her students that if they raised enough money for a certain cause, they would have permission to duct tape her to the wall....well, I guess that goal had been met......what a good sport!!!

Our New Favorites...

We're desperately trying to break our "ice cream before bed" habit. This is one of our new favorites with the kiddoes...they like lime flavor and their absolute favorite is lemonade! YUM!


A favorite with Minnie is her new doggie bed. I saw it and knew she just had to have it....it's called a 3-way bed....but I call it a "pita pocket".

Wordless Wednesday...Engagement picture 1990

The Golf Trip

I thought I would dedicate 1 day to John's golf trip.....because he had a GREAT time!!! Of course I have no idea about the stories behind the pictures, so I will make them up as I go along, OK?

This picture proves that even though they played 126 holes of golf, they still found time to relax at the Clubhouse...
This picture was taken to prove that John's shirt and hat did NOT match....but aren't things just "peachy"????
and finally this picture tells the story of why John is missing a $20 bill from his wallet...... but he looks the part, don't you think????
I'm so glad he had an opportunity to "blow of some steam" with some buddies.....but I'm SO glad to have him back home. :)

Disappointing...

While John has been doing this for the last 5 days in Biloxi, Mississippi, I have been home with 4 messy kids! I had planned to go to Chicago on Saturday with the kids to visit some friends but SOMEONE decided to have a fever of 103....
Even though there were lots of pity-parties going on, the kids decided to have a little fun and go golfing with their friend, Jase. They spent most of Saturday afternoon on the golf course...it was 60 degrees!!! Here they are.....
and we made pancakes......because that makes everyone happy....

John comes home this morning......hooray!

A warm spring day....

It was warm in Wisconsin this week...in the 60's and 70's, so it was a great time to take my doggies to the park. My friend, Ann, lives right across the street from the park so she joined us with her doggie, Bentley. (He is the 115 pound black lab in the pictures.)

All 3 dogs enjoyed running around and chasing after the tennis ball and then "fetching" it back to us. Even though Minnie (my Yorkie) is all of 4 pounds, she keeps right up there with the labradors....she thinks she IS a labrador. She is very careful to stay out of the way when the 2 big dogs are wrestling. Both Bella and Bentley are so gentle with Minnie and she appreciates it by giving them smootches.....
All was good.......except for "dooty" duty......

Have a fun and relaxing weekend, everyone!!

Waterpark

While Wendy and I were having a fun and relaxing weekend at home, the boys and Anna were at the Wisconsin Dells with John. Bless his heart, John also took 2 extra people. They rented a condo and here's where all of the boys stayed...all 5....
They had loads of fun in the wave pool..... Can you find Ben?? Kinda like "Where's Waldo."
and played a little outdoor basketball too.....it's all about sports, ya know.....
They came home all worn out, pruney and itchy from all of the chlorine.....but they all slept like babies Sunday night.

A big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my friend, Laurie...it's the big 40!!

Wordless Wednesday... Waterpark girlie

Weekend Tidbits....

Even though there were lots of things being organized inside the house this weekend.....Bella still had time to stop and relax...maybe she just got tired of waiting for someone to hit the ball with the tennis racket.


While John was at the waterpark this weekend with the kids, he gave me a call and told me to check something out on the internet. Evidently the waterpark has a Web cam and he and the kids were waving to me. The web cam wasn't very clear and kept scanning the area so it was hard to see them, but I did get a glimpse of John..... (you won't be able to see him on this)
John did apologize for the large white glare on the screen....I didn't understand at first.....then he told me..... " I don't have my shirt on....it's my winter white belly."

Room Makeover Weekend...

John took all 4 kids(and 2 more) to the Wisconsin Dells for the weekend and left me here at home to have some peace and quiet. Well, once my friend, Wendy, caught wind of that, she headed up from Chicago and joined me at my quiet, peaceful house.

We weren't quiet for very long because we decided to give Andrew's (17 yr. old son) bedroom a makeover. I thought that it was probably time to get rid of the shelf made of baseball bats that he received as a present in 3rd grade. Time for an upgrade. Now, I would say that this makeover was more of an "organizational makeover" rather than a "knock down the wall, re-paint kind of makeover, so here are the results.....

BEFORE......



AFTER...
yes, be sure to click on the picture to see all of the beautiful organization. Wendy did such a great job...she was born to organize.....do you see all of the perfectly folded jeans and shorts on the shelf?? How about the "getting ready" station, filled with his eye drops and deodorant and cologne?? His closet even has a picture of John and I there...on the mirror.... it's as if we're saying " You look Mah-velous, buddy"

Yes, people, I did help with this job too...I obeyed Wendy when she said " these need to be wrinkle released in the dryer"...and off I went.... or when she said " could you hand me the screwdriver??..Oh, I was the best helper ever....

Here is the new comforter set and decor above the bed...... the guy loves tennis, can you tell?
The catfish on the bed is a joke....he's had that ugly thing for nearly 10 years...

Here's a picture of my dear friend, Wendy....she can do quite a balancing act putting up the "stuff". She measured using the kleenex box....one box up and one box over on each side. We tried not to use ANY Mathematics this weekend, so we had to get creative at times.
Here's the new bulletin board...all organized and just "so".....
Hmmm...I wonder how long the room and closet will stay this way........ :)

Lunch with my girlie-girl....

I had a chance to serve lunch yesterday at Anna's school....it's something that I really LOVE to do. Here's a photo of the 2 of us...and yes, I still have my hairnet on....isn't it attractive???!!

Manly Benjamin

Being the usual jokester, Ben decided last night that he needed some "chest hair". Conveniently, I had just given him a "buzz" haircut so it worked out beautifully.

Wordless Wednesday...Luke & Grandpa Phil