Being blown away.....

How many times have you seen this??? A ballgame with a wind farm in the distance......pretty cool, hey?? This was Ben's first game of the year playing on the middle school slow pitch softball team....and they won!! 28 to 6 !

Wordless Wednesday...3rd baseman...Ben

The incidents

Over the last week, we've had a few incidents occur in our family.

While in Florida, Ben got hit in the nose with a beach ball, which caused the "bloody nose of the century".....while in the pool..... My friend saw me run in the house right after it happened, assuming that I was bringing an ice pack or something. NO WAY....I ran to get my camera!!!!! Bad Mom, Bad Mom....


Then, tonight I had made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and John was putting the leftovers away and ......BOOOM!...... the bowl slipped out of his hands and bounced on the floor, as you can see, leaving a trail of destruction. I immediately ran to help him clean up, but ended up giving him a standing ovation....for such a great job of spilling it!! and then I ran and got my camera....... I'm so mean.....I can't stand myself!!!!!

and wouldn't ya know, I cleaned the fridge yesterday...

Rain, rain, go away....

We had a goofy weekend because it rained all weekend here. I noticed that the grass is extremely green now....looks like it will be time to mow soon.

Last week, tennis season started and I caught a glimpse of Andrew's 1st meet of the year. Here he is playing #1 singles JV....

Luke learned to make pancakes this weekend....he made just enough for he and Anna. He was quite proud of himself....
he should definitely NOT be proud of this........ he said "Mom, I don't even need to wear a shirt."
What a silly boy!!!!!

Downtown Disney

We never actually went to any of the Disney parks, but we sure enjoyed Downtown Disney! My parents bought tickets for us to go to Cirque du Soleil one evening and it was FABULOUS!! (Thanks, Mom and Dad)
Before we went to the show, we stopped and ate at Wolfgang Puck Express. Here was John's butternut squash soup....isn't it cute??? It was tasty too....he was generous and shared it with me.




One afternoon we wanted to try a new restaurant, so we wandered into T-REX. It's a great, fun-filled restaurant with plenty of entertainment. The restaurant has a few "themed" rooms that come alive every 20 minutes or so when a "meteor shower" rolls through the restaurant!
Luke ordered an appetizer of Nachos.....here's the plate that showed up at our table...
We also visited a few shops.....the BIG Disney store and Lego land. Here's Anna in Legoland.

Cocoa Beach

Last Wednesday we left Orlando and drove down to see some good friends of ours, the Wolf family. They were staying in Cocoa Beach and invited us to come and enjoy the beach/ocean at their hotel. We took them up on their offer and enjoyed a wonderful afternoon of good food (Sonny's BBQ) lots of laughs, and fun in the sun! Here are the kids on the beach...

and an action shot. Can you see Benj jumping over the waves coming in??? They really did NOT like the taste of the saltwater....and I might mention to you that we forgot to put sunscreen on the kids...OOOOps.
after the beach time, we headed out and ate at an AWESOME italian restaurant. Here are Andrew, Ben and Howie at the restaurant....unsure of what they're doing, but I know they had a special fondness for the pink lemonade that evening.... and the garlic cheese biscuits that were floating in butter...mmmmm.

Wordless Wednesday... 3 kids reading...even in the hot tub...

Florida Adventure

Oh, I can't believe the whirlwind trips that we have taken over Spring Break. First, Iowa and now Florida for a week!! We are finally home and getting settled back into the groove of things....

We arrived home from Iowa the Monday after Easter and Tuesday morning by 8 am we were on a plane...Orlando bound!! Here's a picture of the boys on the plane...

We usually rent a house when we are down there. It's much easier to manage a big family when you have places to sit and relax or just hang out....not to mention the pool in the backyard and also use of washer and dryer too!! Here is a picture of our master bedroom. It was absolutely gorgeous!!
and here's the hub of the house.....the kitchen and dinette..... we even grilled brats one night. Do you know how hard it is to find bratwurst in Florida??????
Florida, continued......tomorrow......

Easter

Sorry for the delay in posting but......we were on the road to IOWA for Easter!! We had a marvelous time, yes all 6 of us and 2 dogs in the car for 5 hours. We even managed to get to church on time. Here are a few photos of the group....even Gma and Gpa Peterson.
When we arrived home from church the Easter bunny had come to visit and left some eggs in Gma's yard. Funny thing....Gma & Gpa Mackey were there sitting in their car in the driveway.....hmmm, they saw the bunny run off as soon as he was done hiding all of the eggs.

Yes, everyone hunts for the eggs....even the teenagers. They're no dummies.....candy...... and eggs filled with money!!!! Here they are after the big hunt!!
and here's Gma's beautiful table.....picture this "plates overflowing with ham and pork roast, mashed potatoes, noodles, rolls, homemade strawberry jam, mint green jello salad..mmmm."


Now for the bad news........after creating over 500 posts on this blog, I have decided to take a bloggy break.....to recharge the creative juices, to "sleep in" and to enjoy my family to the fullest while they're all home for the week. So, I will see you all next week...probably on Tuesday morning, OK???? and thanks for taking the time to read this nonsensical journal of sort....

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Everyone!!!

photo courtesy of christianmyspace.com

Boccie Ball

The temperatures here are still in the upper 30's but yesterday the kids thought it was a good day to go out and play boccie ball. They had a great time playing until I let Bella outside......

Are you noticing that the grass isn't even green yet??

Wordless Wednesday- Christmas 2001

Forever in our hearts....

March 29th is a day that our local school will not soon forget......2 of our very own students (Cara Peters & Luke Ziebart)were killed in a very tragic car accident on the way to church on that Sunday. The roads were slick and a big landscaping truck lost control and crossed the center line and then ended up crashing into their SUV, killing the father, son and also a friend of the family. All of the other passengers in the SUV sustained serious injuries, while the 3 landscapers who were illegal immigrants walked away from the accident unharmed.

It just doesn't seem fair....life, sometimes.....

Students at the school were encouraged to make a banner and write on the "wall" to help with the grieving process. There were messages of extreme sadness, messages of hope and even messages of regret..... it was a very hard week for the students and staff.

Easter Egg Hunt and Taxes

Another relaxing weekend here in Wisconsin. We had some friends over for dinner Saturday night. Saturday during the day, my friend, Laurie, took Anna and her kiddoes to an Easter Egg Hunt. Here they are, Madison and Anna, getting ready to go......yes, it was chilly....they had on their new "fingerless gloves" that Madison's Grandma made for them.
Here they are at the actual Easter Egg Hunt. They came home with a few goodies and a few "gooeys"---boiled eggs that leaked a little.

John was a trooper and finished our family taxes in 2 hours...WOW, and it's not April 15th yet. I must be dreaming.... and Andrew and Ben had to pay taxes this year too, so it was the perfect opportunity to teach Andrew how to "do the taxes." It truly was a beautiful bonding moment....

Well.........that's it folks!

Golf anyone?

We are really getting desperate for warm weather around here....my bedroom has turned into a putting green!!!

Daisies...

Anna joined the "Daisy" group this year at school. (Daisies are the 1st year of girl scouts)
Here's the Daisy group from our school, all first grade girls, saying the girl scout pledge.

On my honor, I will try
to serve God, my country,
and to help people at all times,
and to live by the girl scout law.

Can you find Anna? hint= pigtails :)