April 22 Girls night (aka party for Katie)

Before Katie left, we wanted to have another girls night. It turned out that Annette and I are Katie's only friends!! But really, no one else could make it, which made for more food for us. We got Asian Star food. I had not really been all that impressed in the past with their food, but apparently I was not getting the right stuff. We got Honey Shrimp (or something to that effect), and something else that was really yummy with sesame seeds (I'm stretching trying to remember what it's called, and having NO luck).


Really fun. We talked while we ate and had a great time. Then we watched American Idol (back when they did the Andrew Lloyd Weber songs).

We watched a you tube video that was amazing. I am sure this girl has bones, but not sure how she is SO flexible. Check it out here.
Then we had ice cream. What a perfect way to end a girl's night. I sure am going to miss her when she's gone.

Game Night(s)

We love to play Settlers of Catan. It was our family ritual on Sundays after church, while we were just having family time. This is Mitchell legitimately winning his first game..and then having to clean it up. All. By. Himself.


This was back in March. On of our last game nights with the Stirlings before they moved. Katie was not sure what to do at this juncture. I think she ended up winning this game though. It makes me sad just to think about it. (That they moved, not that she won!)




Some of our towers we create while playing Settlers (just had to post for posterity, you know).


But, we found new gaming partners; the Chamberlain's (or as Austin likes to call them, The Annette's). They taught us a new game called Hand and Foot. We love to play it until late in the night, while our kids all play together and are delirious the next day from lack of sleep. Annette was into her foot and trying to win.


Here is our score sheet from round one. As you can see, the boys kicked our trash.


Score sheet from round 2. Once again, I am not on the winning team.


Rachel and Havana playing. They are so girly. And they always have to have a purse. Each of them.

I really should blog this...

After really feeling the pressure to post EVERYTHING (and having a running commentary in my mind of things to post), I obviously took a bit of a break. Now, I'm back, but I feel like I set the bar a little too high previously, and don't want to feel the pressure to blog ALL THE TIME. So, here's the deal. I will post at my leisure. You will not bug me about posting. I just can't do it all (as witnessed by the fact that my front yard looks better than previously (except for the broken sprinkler that STILL is not fixed...do I have to ground you, Mike?), but my visiting teaching for May did not get done (you can't get kicked out of church for that, right?). So sorry Megan, but we've got a lot to catch up on.

Tradition lives on!!

Despite the weather's best attempts to thwart the annual Tie-Die Party, it went off anyway. We caught a break with just a few sprinkles over a two-hour period and got our shirts done. Dustin Morris has really set the bar high with his latest version. They not only had snow-cones, cotton candy, hot dogs drinks and normal BBQ stuff, but this year they rented three different blow-up items for the kids. A giant slide, a bounce/boxing ring and then a small slide for the smaller kids. We are exited to see how the shirts turn out. By the way, this is Michael posting this, so don't let up on the pressure on Mandi to post something new on our Blog.

Rachels wedding bouquet

Just thought I'd sneak in a "hidden" post for all you subscribers. This is Rachel in May. She picked a bunch of flowers from our snowball bush, and said it was her bouquet. She was so cute,I just had to get out my camera.

Addicted to Love

You may not realize by my lack of entries for the past MONTH, but I am so addicted. Now I have the results to show it.

74%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

OnePlusYou Quizzes and Widgets

As a side note, my friend (thank you, Stacey) showed me Google Reader. Man alive, if you are not subscribed, you'd better seriously consider it. You log in, and (after you've added the subscription to all the blogs you read), it will just show you everyone that posted since you last logged in. It's AWESOME!!... except it doesn't work for my friends that blog from web.mac.whatever. But, still! LOVE IT. I will have more later, but that would require work, and I'm done for now!

I'm the Birthday Girl

Well, today's my birthday, and I am going to tag myself. Here are 5 random things you may not know about me.
1. I'm fun. No, really. Just ask Mike.
2. I LOVE Toasted Almond Ice Cream from Leatherby's. Mike knows if I'm mad at him he needs to get me toasted almond, and I will be a little more reasonable. (but not necessarily forgive him...that takes a couple weeks.
3. I hold grudges. For a long time. (not for 30 years, though)
4. I can sing really well, but my kids (and Mike) don't know it yet. Oh, yeah, and I am a very LOUD singer.
5. When I was 16, my best friend, Ame, and I thought we would start a new trend. We wore all our t-shirts backwards...ALL the time. Sadly, it did not catch on.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes!!

Easter Sunday

Mitchell

Austin

Rachel

Boys

Cute kids!!



We really loved this tree.

Easter Saturday

I am starting to think posting late IS hereditary.
For our Easter Egg Hunt this year we decided to go to Wheeler Farm. The age group that Austin and Rachel were in was 6 and younger (which was a very big range). Somehow there was mass chaos (what else do you expect), and the north side of the field went en mass. So of course, everyone else had to go to.
Here are some pix:

Before the hunt.

Rachel

Austin (in the Gap sweatshirt and Spongebob moon boots)

I think I took this picture about the time the horn blew for the hunt to start...right when we were about done.

After my children come back to me (they both made it in reasonable time considering all the parents that were out there making it ridiculous to see anything!), we headed over to find Mitchell and Mike (in the 10-12 age group). They had so few people in their group that Mitchell was being very selective and was still picking up all the candy and eggs. His field was the place to be.
After much discussion (and crying and whining and begging to go to Burger King), the authority figures (mom and dad, if there was any question) decided to go to Porcupine Grill for breakfast. It was a yummy breakfast, and a fun morning.

Showers or baths?

I went to a shower for one of Mike's cousins who is having a baby. Mike was explaining to the kids where I was and why I was not there for cuddle time before bed.
Mike: Mom's at a shower.
Rachel: I like to take baf-es (baths).

I think I have told you this before, but the last shower I went to was for another of Mike's cousins who was getting married.
Mike: Mom's at a shower.
Austin: Is everyone going to be naked?