Rub-A-Dub-Dub, Zeke's-In-The-Tub!

One of Lindsay's chores today was to brush Zeke. While brushing him, she thought that it was time for him to get a bath since it has been a while. Zeke stays indoors all the time so he does not get dirty but Lindsay thought it was time for him to get freshened up a bit. Luckily, he does not fight us while getting washed - just a lot of meowing. After drying himself all off, Zeke is looking his finest . . . not bad for being almost 15 years old.

Wii Want To Wish You A . . .

to family and friends. . .

. . . and a special Valentine from Lindsay and Caleb to all kids, and big kids at heart -

.

I think the Wii Valentine is funny so I had to include it too. Who is going to be player 1 and player 2 has caused many arguments between our kids. Where's the love?? When mom & dad play Wii instead!!

.

Love,

.

P.S. This is my 100th post, but who's counting?! :)

Yoga Class

Now offering an 8 week beginning yoga class in our home for those, regardless of age, shape or size, who want to experience the many benefits of yoga...no experience or flexibility required. This beginning class will teach each student yoga fundamentals such as alignments, breathing, flexibility and relaxation techniques.

Our instructor is a compassionate and knowledgeable professional who loves what she does. Class size is limited so

pre-registration is necessary.

.

Yoga mats will be provided.

As you can see, the class is almost full. I was told that the chimpanzee is an excellent instructor. Lindsay had the "studio" set up one day and asked me to take a picture. I thought it was so cute how she thought to use paper for their mats. I smile every time I look at this picture. I love it when they are creative and use their imagination.

Lindsay's Birthday Slumber Party

Lindsay had a slumber party for her 11th birthday last weekend. She had 5 of her friends come and celebrate with her. This was the first year that I did not plan any games for the evening. In years past, I always had games planned for the kids to play at their parties. This year, I told myself and Lindsay that they were old enough to entertain themselves. That's less stress for me!

.

The girls were funny to listen to. They all pretended to have different accents from around the world and they talked like that for most of the night. For example, Emily was from Australia, Savannah was from England and Sierra was from Kentucky. Sierra had the whole "redneck thang goen on". It was hilarious!!! They played Wii for awhile, had a few imagination stories they acted out, watched the American Girl Kit movie, among a few other things that kept them entertained. They sang to Lindsay as she blew out her candles from her cookies and Lindsay loved all of her gifts.

.

I told Lindsay ahead of time that she was NOT going to stay up all night. If it was up to her, she would since she is a night owl like me. So the girls went in the spare bedroom around midnight to watch some Disney, play games on their DS and talk. At 1 am I told them to turn everything off and it was time for bed. I was pretty proud of them because they were asleep shortly after 1:30. I did, however, have to play a prank on them. I got out the trusty fart machine. I put it in the room and as they were in bed with the lights off, I pushed the remote from the front room and FFFFAAART!!! (Oh the simple things that crack me up). The girls were blaming each other, laughing and saying "Gross!" I waited a minute and pushed the button again, FEERT. (Just so you know, I am laughing as I am typing this because I am imagining this in my head!) This time, Lindsay realized that it was the fart machine and they all started looking for the thing as I am constantly pushing the button, pushing the button, pushing the button!! Oh, what fun!

.

The next morning they slept in until 8. We had pancakes for breakfast and then it was time for the party end. Lindsay had a wonderful time and we hope that everyone else did too.

Top Left - Lindsay & Rachel

Top Right - Emily & Sierra

Bottom - Savannah & Melissa

Birthday Cookies!

...Happy Birthday To You!

Sleeping or Pretending?

Some Are Smiling and Peeking :)

.

Pancake Breakfast

Friends!

Emily, Sierra, Rachel, Savannah and Melissa

.... .. ...and

Lindsay's Birthday Dinner at Red Robin - "YUMmmm"

Last night we went out to Red Robin for Lindsay's birthday dinner with Scott's parents, Ken and Vicki and his grandmother, Elaine and cousin Rachel. Did you know that if you sign up for the eClub on Red Robin's website, everyone in your family will receive a free meal around their birthday every year? The e-mailed coupon expires a few weeks after your birthday so you don't have to rush there to use it. Anyway, the food was good and it was nice to visit with everyone. The waitresses came and sang Happy Birthday to Lindsay and brought her a sundae. Well Caleb enjoyed the sundae since "Miss Picky" did not like the whipped, cream and sprinkles. The waitress noticed and was nice enough to bring her another one with just ice cream and hot fudge. After a few bites, she informed us that it did not taste good either. Oh my goodness!! Caleb wanted that one too but it sat there to melt instead.

Today, we have a few last minute things to get ready for her party tonight. She is sooo excited - me, not so much! (Mom, look at the shirt Lindsay is wearing - it is really cute on her :)

Happy 11th Birthday Lindsay!

Today is Lindsay's 11th Birthday and we would like to wish her a Happy Birthday! It was kind of hard to celebrate her birthday today since there was a lot going on but we did the best that we could with some of her favorite meals. For breakfast, she requested a German Pancake, also called a Dutch Baby, or what she likes to call a "Big Pancake". For lunch, I brought Burger King to school. She really likes their chicken fries. Later on in the afternoon, there was a small celebration in her classroom. We brought chocolate chip cookies and milk to share. Lindsay is our extremely picky eater when it comes to sweets. As most of you know, she does not like cake or candy along with many other treats but she LOVES chocolate chip cookies - so tonight we will be putting a birthday candle in a cookie! And finally for dinner, she requested spaghetti, garlic bread and salad! We will be celebrating her birthday more at the end of the week. On Thursday we will be going out to dinner with her Grandparents and Great Grandma and on Friday, she is having a slumber party. (YIKES!) A tradition that we have every year is to give our kids a Birthday Minute Kiss. A kiss from us on the minute they were born. So tonight at 10:25 p.m., Lindsay will be getting a kiss from mom on one cheek and a kiss from dad on the other! We sure love you Sunshine! Enjoy your special day!

School Swimming Lessons

Each year, the third, fourth and fifth graders in all the schools in our district receive free swimming lessons during 8 days of school. They have had this program for a few years now thanks to a generous anonymous donor. Caleb's class just finished their session and Lindsay's class starts next week. The kids enjoy getting out of school for 90 minutes each day. It was nice for me to go and watch his class too. On the first day, they are tested to see what level they are in. They have lessons for the next 6 days and then on the last day, they are able to have fun going off the diving board, swinging on the rope, playing water basketball, and volleyball. Caleb had a lot of fun and enjoyed being able to have swimming lessons with his friends. The pictures that I took on the last day are a bit blurry but it was hard to capture him in the air while swinging and jumping with my camera. :)
.
-Natalie

Caleb "Rode On Through The Night" At Cub Scout Lock In

(Place your curser over the pictures for a description)

Hi this is Caleb. I went to Cub Scout Lock In on Friday night. Lock In is a night where hundreds of Cub Scouts from the area come to the fairgrounds for fun activities and also to spend the night. I went with Dad and saw a lot of my friends there including Miles and Trevor. This year's theme was western. When we first got there we had to check in and then go put our overnight stuff in a box. Then we had to listen to some people talk about Lock In. They then opened up the curtains with the booths behind it. First I went to a bucket of water where I put on a scuba diving mask and put my face in the water to see what it was like to breathe underwater. Afterwards I went to a blown up event where I had to throw a baseball at a catching mitt as hard as I could. Some other events were BB guns (where I got a bull's eye), archery, painting, digging for fake gold, learning to use a lasso, bean bag toss, fishing, an egg race, and a lot of other fun activities. Then we blew up our air mattresses and laid out our sleeping bag. We got to watch movies all night long on 3 big screens. I tried to stay up as late as I could but I fell asleep at 2:00 in the morning. We had to wake up at 6:00 and had a doughnut and fruit for breakfast but I gave my fruit to Dad. We came home and I went back to bed and slept until 11:00. I had a lot of fun!

-Caleb