A Busy Weekend!

Whew, this past weekend flew by so fast! We went and did our HUGE grocery shopping trip to Trader Joe's on Friday night. We gave American Burger Emporium out in Woodbury a try. Good burgers, but not even close to the Blue Door!
On Saturday, we did yard work and watered all the plants and flowers. Then, I went down to St. Luke's for the funeral of a friend my high school class. So sad, she was 42 and was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer five and a half years ago while pregnant with her third child.
Barb leaves behind her husband, Dennis and her three kids, Grace, Luke and Owen. Such darling kids.
On Sunday, we went to church and then up to Rick and Drea's house for a party! Vanessa is leaving next week for 26 months in Swaiziland. She is going to be an HIV/AIDS educator in a remote village. Such a brave and determined woman! So proud of her for doing this, she is amazing! I know that I couldn't do it.
We took a picture of all the Pelletier grandchildren that were there yesterday.
Vanessa and Becca, sisters.

Lorenzo was having fun outside, playing with all of Becca's outside toys.

When we got home, the Brandt's came over for dinner. Audrey brought over an AWESOME pork tenderloin for the grill and we had a yummy salad and grilled sweet potatoes.

After dinner, the kids had ice cream sandwiches. This one (can't tell if it's Harrison or Christopher) was eating it like a harmonica. So cute.

The other one, playing football after dinner. (sorry Audrey!)

Double trouble! getting ready to go home! these boys are going to be 2 in August and they are such big boys! hard to believe they were so little when they were born! Such cute little boys!

Betty Crocker???

We had a little Bake-a-thon this morning! Our niece, Vanessa requested a Hummingbird Cake for her party tomorrow, she's leaving for a 26 month stint in Swaiziland for the Peace Corp.
Emily and I baked a cake and we also baked a pan of the yummy chocolate chip cookie dough brownies that are every chocolate lovers dream!
More on those later over at "Let's Eat."
Right now, we're getting ready to build a fire to have some 'smores with the kids before baths and bed! It's been a long day!

It was Kay's turn with the Pelletier's last night. Dinner at the Sunshine Factory and a family photo.

Happy Birthday to me!

Walking the Plank

We don't let our kids watch a lot of TV, but they do watch some shows on PBS and Noggin. They also watch a variety of movies. The upside of watching some of these shows and movies is the creative thinking and imagination that our kids have developed.
Louie likes to pretend that our sandboat is his very own pirate ship. On Friday, he used the T-Ball thing as a periscope on his pirate ship. (check out those blue eyes!)

He was walking the plank of the sandbox all afternoon.
Other things that he uses in his own little make believe world: a turkey baster is his Zurg (from Toy Story)
Everyday there is something new that he's using in his world of Toy Story and Muppet Treasure Island.

Garden update

Here's an update of how things are going in our garden:

We grew the majority of our plants from seeds this year. It was a fun winter project, to plant the various seeds and watch them grow.
This is our jalapeno pepper plant, this is one of the many peppers that has sprouted.

Next, we've got onions. We weren't planning on putting in onions, but Tesa ended up buying a bag of onion sets so, we planted some of her extras.
There's a variety of tomatoes (Sweet 100, Roma, Early Girl and Beefsteak) and cilantro, so we've got our own salsa garden.

Over by the driveway, we've got a little garden of bush beans. Hopefully, we'll have a great crop of vegetables and fruits (we also have a Sugar Baby watermelon). We will keep you posted!



QUESTION: How does one know when onions are ready to pick? I've never grown onions before . . . if you're reading this and have a clue, leave a comment and let me know!!!

ECSE Party

We had a party at Expo School on Tuesday night. It was the end of the year party for the
Special Education Preschool that Emily attends Tuesday through Fridays every week. She LOVES going to school and LOVES her teachers. Each and every one of them is awesome and we are so grateful for the fantastic progress that they've helped Emily make this past school year. Her teachers are: Ann (speech), Lori (speech, team leader), Mary (class aid) and Amy (teaching assistant. Emily's other two teachers weren't there that night: Lois (OT and Emily's favorite) and Carol (Physical Therapy). They are fabulous teachers!

Louie could not wait for the party to get started, he was waiting for the ice cream!

They have music from "The Flyers." They are a fun couple that's been playing music at the ECFE and ECSE parties for years. Audience participation is so much fun for the kids.

Emily loved singing and dancing along with the music.

Billy's Graduation

My nephew, Billy graduated from St. Rose of Lima grade school last night. All three of my sister's boys were there. They're all grown up. Hard to believe how fast the time passed since they were little (giant) babies.

Nick's Graduation

My nephew, Nick graduated from St. Bernard's High School last night. The ceremony was at the Cathedral in St. Paul. Such a lovely place for a graduation.

Nick and his girlfriend, Sam.

There's more pictures from his party on Saturday and the ceremony on our Smugmug website.

Coming soon to Louie's room . . . .