American Girl Trip - Day 1

Sarah decided not to have a birthday party at home this year and instead, we drove up to Dallas to visit the American Girl store with some girlfriends; Charisse, Bella and Lexie. It was Bella's birthday the day before Sarah's. The American Girl store a two-story free-standing building near the Galleria. Little Girl Heaven.




Just picked out her doll. We got one with brown hair and brown eyes but had to get a medium skin tone instead of light.



We met Charisse's friend Sarah and her two daughters, Ashton and Reece, for dinner at the American Girl Bistro. The girls all got an appetizer of fruit, muffins and yogurt dipping sauce. Sarah got the Tic-Tac-Toe pizza and a had to promptly remove the green pepper strip Xs from her plate. The dolls got their own little high chairs that attached to the table and a tea cup and saucer at their place-setting.



After dinner, the girls all got a brownie bite. It was a fudgy brownie coated in a chocolate shell with pink sprinkles on a stick. They came three to a sundae dish filled with sugar to hold the sticks and a candle for Sarah and Bella to each blow out.



We closed down the store Saturday night but the staff was so nice and patient. They asked us if we wanted to shop after dessert even though the store was already closed. They would have pulled items for us too had we asked them to. Service was excellent! I highly recommend the experience and look forward to visiting the store at the Mall of America someday!

American Girl Trip - Day 2

Phinneas & Ferb & forts in the Embassy Suites.



Swimming after the "free" breakfast. The girls thought the breakfast was free since they didn't see us pay for anything that morning. Little did they know that complimentary means we'll make you pay somehow...





Headed home after a great trip. Bella and "Brittney." Sarah and "Natalie." Lexie and "Samantha." Thanks for making happy birthday memories girls!

Baby Blake!

On Tuesday night, Laurie called me about 10:45 p.m. and said that her water had broken and asked if I would come stay with Grace until her mom could get there. Blake was at 37 weeks - early, but not critically. I went over and stayed with Grace until about 1 am when Judy arrived during a torrential downpour! Although an ark would have been helpful, they chose not to name him Noah. Blake Andrew was born at 6:45 am on Wednesday morning. 6 lbs. 7 oz. and healthy. Mom and baby are doing great!

He's adorable and incredibly light, but my arm still went numb holding him for 30 minutes. I'm out of practice!



Proud Daddy, Donny.

Sarah's 7th Birthday

Sarah's birthday fell on Labor Day this year. We had spent the day at the pool and Mark and Lucas arrived back from New Jersey. We stopped at Target to pick up a cake for the family celebration and order cupcakes for school. Being Labor Day, her ready-made cake choices consisted of red, white, blue, flags, star sprinkles and more red, white and blue. Add to the fact that she only wanted chocolate cake, her choices were limited even further. So we got this:



If you look closely, you'll notice how the nice lady behind the counter scraped off the red frosting on the top of the cake and replaced it with the purple Sarah asked for. I'm not complaining...I thought is was a sweet gesture on her part to salvage a patriotic cake into something suitable for a little girl's birthday while we finished the rest of our shopping.





Then we stuck trick candles in the cake that kept re-lighting themselves so it was a fun night. The cupcakes for the school were very cute - chocolate frosting with Bratz rings. Thanks Target.

Lucas, the Ring Bearer

This look pretty much sums it up. "This wedding stuff is fun and all. I like cantaloupe and Shirley Temples and going to grandma's but this ring bearer job is for the birds."



"At least I look good in this suit. Alright, I'll smile for one picture."



The Field of Contemplation. Will he walk down the aisle or not?



"Nah."

Samara's Wedding

Seems like it was a gorgeous day for a wedding! Jay, Wayne, Samara, Barbara, Robin and Marty.



Cousin Leah and Lucas



Samara and her husband, Justin



More cousins! Brittney, Emily, Abigail, Kate, Leah, Samara, Mariah, Gavin and Nick

Happy Wedding Day Samara!

My friend Charisse took these pictures of Lucas at the house the other day. His eyes look very dark in the pics but he's still got those dreamy steely-blue eyes and I think he's pretty darn cute.




Let's hope Naughty Boy, the Ring Bearer, doesn't pull this at Samara's wedding today!

I got a D+ Education!

Oh boy. Hope this won't reflect poorly on my resume. Oh wait! I don't work for paying companies anyway!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100903/od_yblog_upshot/great-moments-in-collegiate-marketing-drake-universitys-d-campaign

Wonder if the "edgy PR guys" who thought this up were Drake grads. If not, maybe that should be in the follow up article.