I should have know better...

I should know not to leave this room unattended with the door wide open. Those darn little sneaky fingers made their way in when I ran upstairs for a few quick minutes, or at least what I thought was a few quick minutes.

I returned downstairs to find one little girl with a half of a cookie in her hand and passing the other half off to her sister. How could I be mad, at least she was smart enough to share.

And then I went into the kitchen and discovered she had taken a bite out of two other cookies. I guess she didn't like the gloves, but rather the ball instead.

She is very lucky she grabbed the ones for her Aunt, who is a little more forgiving. Rather than the cookies that were made another customer who really needed all the cookies ordered.

I won!

Last week I entered a contest to win some "bling". All I had to do was get enough votes to be in the top 20. To my surprise I got enough votes and found myself heading to the jewelry store for the big revel tonight. Once there the top 20 girls all got a little black box. The count down began and we all opened our box. One lucky winner received a box that said winner inside. The others received a piece of jewelry. The winner received a $1500 necklace.

 

The woman standing next to me won the big prize and I was delight to find I won these little gems. Sure, it would have been fun to walk away with a $1500 dollar piece of jewelry, but I am happy that I walked away with something, cause hey it didn't cost me a dime!

 

 

 

 

Since the boys had a boy scout meeting. The girls and I got dressed up and made a date out of it. It was fun, just the girls and I admiring all the fancy jewelry behind the glass. Who knows maybe one day we will head back and let them pick something out.

 

But not until they are much older that is :)

 

 

 

Rolling pins

Break time has ended. This week I was thrown back into baking cookies full force. On Monday I only had an order for 24 cookies. No big deal, but by Tuesday that lonely 24 turned into 148. So today we headed down to the basement to get our baking on.

 

While at the store this morning we came across these cute little rolling pins. Funny enough Mackenzie had just asked me the other day for her own, so of course we threw one for her in the cart and one for Lainey too.

 

 

 

 

The girls set up their "bakery" at the bar, while I worked in the real bakery. Oh how they loved rolling their play dough and showing me their flattened pieces. They sat there for a good hour and  probably would have lasted longer had it not been time for a nap.

 

 

 

 

So tonight I am grateful for those wonderful little rolling pins that helped me get a head start on the 124 cookies left to finish by Friday.

 

 

 

Go horsey Go!

This little girl thought she would see how far she would make it until I quit hanging laundry to come get her.

 

 

Believe it or not she made it all the way out there on this little guy. Kinda reminds me of a crazy game I played this summer at a survivor challenge, only she made it look like a breeze!

 

 

 

 

Summer's end has come

It is not the kids going back to school that I consider the end of summer. In my eye's it is when we head out to the island for that final camping trip of the year that I officially know summer has come to an end.

 

We were planning to make this our last overnight at the campsite this weekend, but once we heard the mid 30's temperature that they were calling for last night, we opted to head out for the day today instead to close everything down for the winter.

 

 

This was the final time this year we will pull up to our site.

 

 

 

This was the final time this year we will comment on how incredibly low the lake was this year. So low that the boat was beached here as Steve was taking out the pier.

The kids were happy to find this down tree when we arrived today. They spent ALL day climbing up, down and all around this thing. I'm not sure they will let us cut it up for firewood when we return next year. I am tempted to leave it. It is moments like this when they are not stuck in front of the tv or video games, but rather enjoying the great outdoors and making up games with the things find in nature. Pure love!

 

 

Looking forward to our return next year!

 

Popcorn

Today we took on this new adventure of Boys Scouts in full force. The popcorn sale officially began today and we wasted no time visiting a few special people to fill up our order forms.

 

Aunt Tricia was first on our list. She was so excited to see the boys dressed in their uniforms.

 

 

We also stopped at Grandma Schneider's and Aunt Amy's instead of answering the door they called us in, so no photo ops with them :(

 

 

We stopped at home for a quick lunch, then hit the streets.

 

 

The Boys did great, Michael hit the house's on one side of the street and Landon the other. I hung out on the side walk to keep an eye on both and let them work their magic. I was amazed at how well they went up to the doors by themselves, gave their little speech and sometimes encountered success and other times no luck. The "No's" didn't discourage them, they just continued onto the next house.

 

I was so proud of Landon today, Mr shy guy sure came out of his shell. When Michael was ready to call it quits, Landon was not and wanted to continue on. So while Michael headed home Landon and I ventured on. It wasn't until the storm clouds rolled in that he finally was ready to head home, and just barely made it in the door before the down pour began.

 

 

Before we went out the boys set their goals at $650 each. To my surprise they are already half way there after only 2 hours of walking the neighborhood. With 4 weeks to go we shall have our goal easily met.

 

Popcorn anyone??

Cub Scouts

I don't know who is more excited about joining the cub scouts, me or the boys. They came home from school last week and told me all about the meeting they had at school about boy scouts and both were excited to join

 

I tried really hard last year to get them to join, but neither one were for it. I think because I was a girl scout and enjoyed the meetings with friends and working on trying to get every badge that I could, I was hoping they would feel the same about scouts.

 

So it looks like this will be the year!

 

Once Landon heard they were going to a meeting to sign up, he of course immediately changed his mind. Once he got there and saw how fun it would be, he again was all for it.

 

The boys game home with this sign for the front yard, and if they can get someone to sign up they will get their very first badge.

 

 

Let the badge earning begin!

3rd year and counting

Three years ago we did the Briggs and Al walk for Children's Hospital in honor of my nephew Vincent who was born at 32 weeks.  My sister had placenta abruption which is when the placenta pulls away from the uterus. When this happens the baby is not getting its full supply of blood, instead it just spills back into the mom. Thank goodness my sister had noticed Vinny wasn't moving that day and went to see her Doctor. She was quickly sent to the hospital where they then did an emergency c-section. Vinny had lost a lot of blood causing him to go into cardiac arrest and needing several blood transfusion. Four weeks later he went from from the NICU and we continue to be very grateful for all the care they did to keep him with us.

 

So as a thank you we show our support by walking in the Briggs and Al walk.

 

Again this year we had absolutely beautiful weather! And to our surprise a few guests, that the kids fell in LOVE with, were there.

 

The boys were first to get their picture taken with the storm troopers.

 

 

 

 

And once the girls saw how cool that was, they too followed suit. I have no clue who the guy on the right is, but the boys of course did so we got his picture too.

 

 

 

 

Our pack ready to walk!

 

 

We started dead last in line because we were waiting for a few slow pokes in our group to arrive, but Vinny in the green up ahead quickly caught us up to the  other walkers.

 

 

And then we slowly inched our way along until people got going and spaced out.

 

 

Three miles later we made it to the end

 

 

We enjoyed some food by the fairgrounds and let the kids do some slides.

 

 

 

It was another great year, spent with some amazing people, all for a good cause!

 

See you next year Briggs and Al!

Girl time

Why waste a beautiful day inside when you can head to the park.  After we got the boys on the bus the gals and I took a walk to the park.

 

The girls hopped in the stroller. 

 

 

 

 

Put on their shades and were ready to go.

 

They wasted no time racing down the slide!

 

 

Or bouncing like crazy on the teeter totter.

 

 

I am so grateful to have blessed with two beautiful little girls. I love watching the two interact and play so well together. I am hoping they continue to enjoy each other and grow up to share the wonderful sister bond like I share with my 3 sister!

 

Sunday Funday!

I am always reading of these Sunday Funday adventures my sisters go on and can't help to think, I want to join them. Being of Mom of 4 doesn't allow me to get away very often, but when this Sunday Funday fell on my sisters birthday I thought that's it, I need a sitter to go see what the fuss is all about.

 

 

(The Birthday girl)

 

My Brother in Law set up lunch reservations for the birthday girl at the Highland house in Mequon. So we began our day with some yummy food and of course Margaritas.

 

 

Next we headed to bar that had just recently opened in Milwaukee called World of Beer. The atmosphere was great and I even enjoyed a beer.

 

 

We didn't stay late because the kids were with a sitter and Monday was back to school. But I must say I had a great time chatting it up in adult conversations and enjoying a few adult beverages!

 

Til next time Sunday Funday!

6 years

For 6 years we have been getting together for an end of summer picnic with the Schneider kids. Each year we rotate to a new backyard and this year brought us back to Lisa and Jeff's house where it all began.

 

 

 

 

Of course a get together wouldn't be complete without a little friendly bean bag tournament

 

 

 

And a BIG thank you to Bobbi Jo for trying to keep this cheesy smiling girl out of trouble so I could put my horrible bean tossing skills to use.

 

And to Jeff who was daring enough to pull out his air gun to let the boys give it a try. You are BRAVE!

 

 

 

I am so grateful the rain held off so we could make use of the beautiful outdoors and all the room to run!

 

 

 

 

I think I may have lost 10 pounds just keeping up with this runner today.

 

 

Oh how this little girl became attached to her Uncle Jeff today. At one point she was in sobs when he went to show the boys how to shoot.  She so badly wanted her Uncle to play with her. So sweet. Even sweeter that Jeff was so eager to play non-stop with all the kids today.

 

I am looking forward to next years picnic and all the fun memories we will share. Here's to hoping it continues on for many more years to come!

 

Painting

What to do on a cool rainy day you ask? Why paint of course! I was a little hesitant to bring paints out, but since I was already making a cleaning sweep through the house I figured, why not add to the mess.

 

 

To my surprise the girls did great. Only coloring on their papers and even left the paints on the table.

 

 

 

 

So guess what girls next week we shall paint some more.

 

 

 

 

 

Heck, we have to keep our selves busy somehow while the boys are at school.

 

 

 

 

 

Success!

I am happy to report we had a successful first and second day of school. As Landon got off the bus yesterday I asked him if he did ok with the long day. His response, "that day seemed short" Well I guess all my worrying about his new full day was not needed.

Micheal, as I figured, did just fine and is excited to learn all he can this year.

So here's to hoping the first two successful days continue on and carry on the same for the rest of the school year!

2 in School

Summer has ended it is now time to accept the new school year with open arms. This year I officially have 2 full time students. I am excited to not have to worry about being at the door on time for bus drop off mid day, but yet I am extremely nervous for Landon and full days.

 

 

Michael has always been my social butterfly, so I have no worries that he will do just fine again this year. It's Landon who was put in 1/2 day kindergarten last year because his 4K teacher felt he just wasn't  ready for full day. I keep reminding myself that was a year ago, he has matured and will do just fine. So in a few more hours I will find out just how well he did.

 

 

 

 

 

My 2 BIG boys ready for 1st and 3rd grade.

 

 

 

And away they go, Good Luck Boys!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now what shall the girls and I do for the next 8 hours??