Par-taaaaaaay!

Let the celebration begin! If you remember last year, Taylor had three different birthday celebrations. Well, it's three weeks before her actual birthday and she already has one party under her belt! Mike has all-day basketball commitments the next two Saturdays and her actual birthday is the following Saturday. I figured she wouldn't get a very good turnout on a holiday, so we had her "friend" party on Saturday. Most of the kids were from her preschool class and she hasn't seen them in three weeks. Her class seemed unusually close, so they were all THRILLED to be together again.



We went with a neutral Luau theme since it was for girls and boys. I'll tell you, I'm absolutely exhausted right now after planning, cleaning, feeding, entertaining and cleaning up after about 10 5-year-olds and their siblings. Whew! It was a great time though and Taylor was just so excited the whole day. She's such a gracious, good kid that you just want to do special things for her. She hugged me and told me "thanks" about 20 times tonight. A few times, I'd catch her staring at me and then she'd just dive on me with a big hug. Makes you want to have a party like that everyday.



The kids ate and played outside, then worked on sand art projects. This was a huge hit, especially for the girls. I bought everything for under $25 too, so it was well worth the price. Next was a treasure hunt, pinata, cake and ice cream and then presents.




The decorated deck, pre-party. We're six for six on no rain during her parties. Thank you, God!

Sand art! Glad I bought two containers of pink sand. :)

Pinata time! Here little cousin Abby takes a swing. Too cute.

Taylor, cousin Haley on the left and friend McKenna on the right.

Taylor getting help from one of her BFF from preschool, Courtney.

Michael and the other handful of boys at the party spent most of their time playing with the balls I threw out in the yard. In that way, boys are easy. :)

Taylor and McKenna later in the day. Look at all of the bruises on their little legs, haha.

Is it just me, or does she look about 7 or 8 here? No that's not Jabba the Hut in the background, it's Champ.

Ms. Social Butterfly had another party to attend on Friday night. Her buddy from Susan's house, Bryson, was turning 4 and had a fun little party at the local swim club.

Bryson (little guy in the middle) and his ladies. That's Taylor on the end.

You'll probably notice that Taylor's hair is short again. I took her for her first salon haircut last week. She got the cutest bob and it's even stacked in the back. It's waaay more stylish than anything I could ever attempt. I also got my hair cut, but have no pictures. :(




She was super excited. My stylist was amazed at how good she was.

The after. She loves it!

Not much about my Main (little) Man in this post, but the Pear is doing great! Loves to have me read books now, continues to amaze me with his daring and athletic ways and just as cute as ever. :)

Until next time,



Mommy Kel

Summertime!

What have we been up to the last week?

A little bit of this...


And this...



And a whole lot of this...




And this...





The calendar might suggest otherwise, but it sure feels like summer around here! We've been busy, busy, busy, but good busy. Taylor's school picnic was last Wednesday and she had a blast with all of her friends. The school rented a huge obstacle course and Taylor LOVED it! It was kind of sad at the end of the day, saying good-bye to her little friends and their moms. Her two best buds are in different school districts, so they'll all be going to separate kindergartens.



Taylor at the top of the obstacle course!



Michael playing with Taylor's friend's little sis. They've become buddies, too!

The Pear.

On Friday, we went to a graduation party for one of Mike's players. I've written about Craig before. He's just a great kid and will be missed. We're talking about a straight-A student, two-sport all-conference athlete, Homecoming king, etc. etc. Hopefully, he'll come visit next year!



Coach and his good ol' #10.




Graduation parties = brownies. Yum!


On Saturday, another one of Mike's all-time favorite players, Aaron, stopped by with his wife Allison and daughter Kalli. Kalli just turned 2 and is sooo adorable! Her little bob cut, big eyes and impressive vocabulary reminded me of Taylor at that age. She had fun hanging out in the pool with the Worm and the Pear.

That's Aaron sitting behind Taylor. I always say that he hit one of the biggest shots in Wabash basketball history, a game-winning three-pointer in a huge upset over county rival Manchester. Of all the games I've seen Mike coach, that probably goes down as my favorite!


Sunday and Monday were pretty much just hang-out-with-the-family-and-chill days!

The Pear and Daddy seem quite pleased about the Steelers' tackle.

The Pear, the Worm and the Ben (and his mom, Michelle) hanging out. Ben is our neighbor.

Our buds the night before.

Taylor and Michael really play well together now. The Pear wants to do anything and everything he sees his sister do!

Of course, they still have their moments...

As Taylor said when she saw this picture, "He's not waving 'hi' here."

Sometimes there's a peace offering...

...and then they make up.




Now that's a good way to end my night. :)


Until next time,


Mommy Kel

Spring Has Sprung

There is a definite correlation between nice weather and my lack of blogging. Now that it's finally pretty outside, the kids and I spend almost all of our free time at the park, on walks/bike rides or playing in the backyard. I am 100% an outdoors person and could totally do without TV and computers (well, within reason). I don't even have a cell phone. I may be the last person under 70 to be able to say that. My darling 68-year-old father even has a cell phone. Oh well. I've never been "hip" and I really don't care.

The past week was a lot of fun! We rented a pontoon boat on Cowan Lake on Saturday. This is one of our favorite warm-weather activites because the whole family can enjoy it, including Champy. Yes, even our beloved pooch gets to come along. Saturday was beautiful - 70s and sunny. We brought the fishing stuff, but only drop a line a few times. I was all about relaxing. We ate lunch out there, cruised around the lake a little, then headed back. The kids had a blast.

Straight-up Stinkers.

The Pear made me nervous about 5,000 times. He kept trying to get out of the gate onto the bow, climbed the benches, leaned over the sides, etc., etc.

She LOVES being on the boat. This is her fourth year!

Champ is just happy to be included.

We let the Worm drive the boat quite a bit this time. Not cutesy pose-behind-the-wheel-for-a-picture driving, but actual driving.

We had rain on Sunday and I accidently let Champ loose (didn't know the gate was open). I guess he found the nearby creek, because he came back gross. Taylor and I were forced to give him a bath, then hot showers for us!

Champ, pre-shake. Dare I say that he actually looks kind of thin??

All poofy post-shake.

Mike's basketball banquet was Sunday night. The AD organized a dinner and slide presentation to go along with the usual awards ceremony. It was awesome. I'll have to find a way to link to the basketball Power Point. It actually made me kind of teary-eyed.

On Tuesday, Mother (I always call my mom this, kind of as a joke because we are so NOT formal) came up and treated us to a trip to the Outlet Malls. Michael was a little gassy (I call my kids "Olde English Tudors" when they get like that. Get it, "Tooter"?) and not really too happy, but we did get some good shopping time in. Good ol' Mother even treated her baby to a few little things. She rocks.

We got an awesome treat on Thursday. My dear old friend Lea came to visit! Lea is probably my oldest friend (as in time, not age). I think we started hanging out when we were 5 and our older brothers played Little League together. She is so awesome and I could just talk to her for hours. We hadn't seen each other in years, so I was glad she got to see the kids (and meet Michael). I'll be planning a trip to her neck of the woods soon!

Lea swinging Taylor.

Taylor and the Pear. Michael usually takes awhile to warm up to people, but he liked Lea right away. Animals and kids always love her. I think that says a lot!

My old buddy and I.

Cutie!

Michael loves balls. It's one of his favorite words, too. Check out the video below. Watch it twice - once to see Michael's cuteness and a second time to see Champy's fat butt rolling around in the grass. I didn't even realize he was doing it at the time.

I'll end with a few more pictures from the week. Enjoy your weekend!

Michael is a dare-devil. He shimmies right up the steps on our playset. Hard to believe he just started walking three months ago!

Taylor is getting braver, too. She's mastered most of the challenges at the park.

The Pear loves to run around with Taylor's purses. It's hysterical.

Until next time,

Mommy Kel