family vacation

we went to an Appleton Timber Rattlers game with G's sister and her family:

M--at school

This photo made it in the weekly newsletter, sent home from M's class:

PSA

Me, popping in with a public service announcement ;)

While McDonalds' Iced Coffees are really yummy and a great deal, the new McCafe mochas are gross and highly overpriced.

OK, it wasn't GROSS, but it tasted like hot chocolate. Or like one of those "capuccinos" that you get from a dispenser at a gas station/Quick Mart thing.

And at close to $3, I'd rather go to a REAL coffee shop.

JMO, of course ;)

The Sarah Palin's Children Meme

This one's just too funny NOT to do.

Found numerous places on Facebook, blogs, email:

Sarah Palin kids' name meme,
From Wikipedia:
[Sarah Palin] married her high school boyfriend, Todd Palin, on August 29, 1988.[6] The Palin family lives in Wasilla, about 45 miles (72 km) north of Anchorage. The Palins have two sons (Track, 19, and Trig, four months) and three daughters (Bristol, 17; Willow, 14; and Piper, 7) [ages as of August 2008].[98] Todd Palin has said Track's name came from the interest Sarah's parents had in the sport and the fact that he was born in the sport's season; Bristol was named after Bristol Bay in Alaska, where Todd grew up and where he does commercial fishing; Willow was named after Willow, Alaska; Piper got her name because it is uncommon and "a cool name"; Trig's name is Norse for "strength".

1)Your first-born will be named after your parents favorite sport: Ping Pong

2)Your second-born will be named after a nearby area that you're not from but you like the sound of part of the name, and maybe you have nostalgic memories of said place: Presque

3)Your third-born will be named after another nearby place, for no reason other than you already have two children and don't have time to put much thought into another name: Escanaba

4)Your fourth gets a "cool" name: Brock

5)Your fifth gets something mythological, possibly straight out of Lord of the Rings: Pandora

First Day of School 2008

(NOTE: edited to add more pictures at the bottom)

Though I haven't been posting on this blog much (using the 3 simple things one more), I thought I'd put the early back-to-school pics here.
And of the moms, who went out for coffee after the tearful drop-offs:

Changing Gears...

It's very obvious that I am not doing a good job of keeping up with blogging! A dear (online and IRL) friend does a list, each day, of at least three things that made her happy. I'm stealing it flat-out from Michelle, and thinking/hoping it'll revive my posting here.

Stay tuned...

p.s. Me again. I realized I may yet, someday, want to return to this blog or to post recipes, or I might start knitting again... At any rate, I decided to instead set up another blog just for my list of three. Here's the link:

3simplethings

I hope you'll join me there.

Easter fun

Easter is so early this year that it seems to have snuck up on us!

But we got some egg-dying in last night:



Here's a cute picture of the kids waiting for T. to finish he Gameboy game so they could look for baskets and eggs:
And the baskets--and CANDY!

Second Snowiest Winter on Record

We've officially surpassed almost all other winters in terms of snowfall. The "official" snowfall for Milwaukee this year (recorded at the airport) is 96.9 inches, with 12.9 inches falling on Friday the 21st (yep--C's birthday party).

Luckily we had gotten some bare spots and the roads and sidewalks were bare before this snowfall. We still had banks built up, though. I can't imagine what it would have been like if we'd not had any settling...
We're several miles north of the airport, and closer to the lake and we got at LEAST 14 inches. You can see it piled up on the wishing well below:
But since it was such heavy, wet snow, it was perfect snow for making snow bunnies:
or snowmen in the neighbors' yard:
Temps hit 50 on Saturday and (unfortunately) both the bunny and the snowman lost their heads...

OK, I'm perfectly happy being second snowiest--we can be done now. No, seriously!

C's Birthday Party

Her 13th birthday isn't until next Friday, but with Spring Break, we decided to have C's party this Friday.

She had 12 friends over for a 70's themed party that lasted SIX hours (yikes....).









They painted pet rocks:

People brought 70's music and they danced, played twister, watched The Brady Bunch, and generally hung out and did teenager things. :)

There was pizza--and cake, with singing:



The cake was a layer of chocolate and a layer of yellow cake, with mocha cream filling and buttercream frosting.

That's five boyfriends, if you're keeping track...

I think a good time was had by all--and six hours wasn't "too long" after all!