Push-Ups

After dinner last night all the kids got Push-Ups for dessert. Lucas wasn't quite sure how to eat it - first dipping his finger into it, then sticking it to his forehead. Ultimately, he figured it out before I got that shot, but you can see the globs on his forehead!


I don't know why Sarah decided to wear a tiara to dinner. It was a birthday party favor from the weekend.

Five By Design

Mark and I went to a San Antonio Symphony performance featuring a group called Five By Design. One of the members is a friend from my advertising days at Campbell Mithun, Sheridan Zuther. Their show, titled Club Swing, is a tribute to the music from the 30's to 50's with some comedy and storytelling thrown in. Four of the five members have been together for more than 20 years! Sheridan joined about four years ago and has been touring the country and making studio albums and producing video segments...I'm so proud of her! Check out their terrific show at a theater near you! Visit www.fivebydesign.com for more information.

Best Buddies

Here's Ethan and his best buddy Matthew. Their birthdays are only 10 days apart and we'll be having a joint party again this year. It's amazing how much they've changed in the last year!

3rd birthday pic (last year):

4th birthday pic (today):



And yes, I'm fully aware that Ethan could use a haircut! Why is it that I always seem to realize it the night before picture day?

International Shower

These adorable people are Alaina and Bobby. I helped host their international-themed couples shower this weekend. I've known Alaina for a couple of years since she worked with my friend Robyn. We served foods from all over the world ... Spanish paella, Jamaican jerk chicken, Mexican chips and guac, Mediterranean salad, German sausage, French brie, Greek feta and olives, etc. We had a game where you had to guess the name of the country by its flag. There were international beer tasting stations, lots of wine and wonderful guests.

For dessert there was German chocolate cake, French eclairs and Italian chocolate truffles. However, Alaina preferred to lick the paella bowl! I'm happy to say it was a big hit (Phew!) since I've only ever made it once before. You can find the recipe in the Williams Sonoma One-Pot cookbook...it was relatively easy and flexible for personal preferences.



And from tonight, here's one of our little turkeys...
Don't know if he's more annoyed with me for serving turkey or with dad for photographing it. The little girl turkey decided she'd rather skip dinner. Too bad for her I'm SO OVER making three separate entrees!

Busy Weekend

It started off last night with a basketball game. We took some friends to see the Spurs vs. Cleveland - or rather - LeBron. He did not disappoint. Unfortunately the Spurs did. They were lacking two of their Big 3 and lost miserably. We also saw a presumably fake marriage proposal and some guy make an improbable shot into a barrel winning himself a big screen TV and Whataburger taquitos for the entire arena. Post-game we saw a 70s cover band called Le Freak! (http://www.lefreakband.com/our_story.html). And yes, they were super freaky, yeow! Here's Mark and Donny getting some love from the Bud Light girls.

This morning, Jacob attended a 3.5-hour Faith Formation class with Mark while his basketball team (that only won one game during the regular season) continued their tournament success and played two games today. Jacob missed everything but the last quarter of game two. Ultimately they lost a very close game to end their season. There were lots of tears. But they perked right up when reminded of their party at Incredible Pizza tomorrow.

I'm off to prepare for a bridal shower, get a coach's gift, take Jacob to a playdate and make paella!

Husker Du!

We only have borrowed allegiance to the University of Nebraska through friends and hand-me-downs. This one goes out to the Kubicek family and Jon Chappell! And thanks to Valerie for the shirt!

Train Show

Mark took the three oldest kids to a train show on Saturday. Lots of trains of all sizes and some Thomas things they could actually play with! Even a whole setting made of Legos! See the Statue of Liberty in photo #2? Legos!

I'm Baa-aack!

Seriously, has it been FOUR DAYS since I've posted? Good grief! I blame Edward Cullen, my secret vampire crush and books three and four in the Twilight series. I haven't looked up since Thursday night!

Except to see this...

Lucas has a shoe fetish. He tries on everyone's shoes. Gets them out of the kids' bin in the hall closet or even my bedroom closet and wears them all around. His preference is for slip-ons - the bigger, the better - so he can slide his little feet right in. Sarah's cowgirl boots are great for that!

As predicted, I was not exactly SuperMom while immersed in these books. Luckily Mark has almost always been in charge of bathtime anyway, so the kids' hygiene didn't suffer. This was taken as they were all laughing at a monsterous belch from THE BABY! In his defense, it was right after dinner.

So, nose to the grindstone for me. I've got 9,200+ Box Tops for Education to get clipped, counted and mailed by Friday. That's $920 for Jacob's school! And if you aren't saving Box Tops for anyone, I'd be honored if you would send them to me! Check out the program at www.boxtops4education.com
Thanks!