We have a date!!!!

We have finally come up with an exact date to when Curtis will be home for good!! And the date is.........drum roll please.......................May 30th!!!
For the last few days we had played with the idea of taking a vacation to Hawaii but to be able to afford to do that he'd have to stay until the end of June. After having a meltdown tonight I decided that Hawaii is going to have to wait because I can't wait one more month. I need him now, but we have a goal to reach that will be reached by the end of May!! HOWEVER, we will take a vacation when he gets home....without kids. So we'll be in need of babysitters ;) Maybe we'll drive to the Oregon Coast or something. It will be a lot less expensive. But we definitely NEED some alone time and I NEED to get a real break from the kids.

Jack's 1st Birthday

Last Friday was Jack's first birthday. Once again Curtis was able to join us via web cam to enjoy this memorable event. I am very happy to say that this will be the last of the kids' or my birthdays that he will miss in person. Yay! Some family couldn't make it because of illness or other obligations but we had a good turn out. I feel bad for the way Jack's cake turned out. I was going to try and take it out of the pan and onto a foil covered cutting board like I did Nikki's but when I flipped it over it wouldn't come out. Then the top of the cake ripped off and got stuck to the pan I was using to flip it with. So I decided to leave it in the pan and cover my mistake with frosting. But I didn't wait long enough for the cake to cool so as I was spreading the frosting I was finding little cake crumbs being spread around too. So I covered it with a lot of sprinkles and decided I would do better on his cake next year. Turns out he just doesn't like anything sweet right now so he didn't even like the cake. Good thing I didn't put too much effort into it. But he sure enjoyed all of his presents, especially all of the toys. He received Donald and nephews beanie baby dolls from Gma Verne and Gpa Tony; an Elmo outfit and 3 soft balls from Gma and Gpa B.; a package of cookies from Stillman and Michelle; and a toy phone, straw sippy cup, and lion sit and ride/walker from Mommy and Daddy and siblings. Happy 1st birthday Jack! We all love you so much!

This is how I have a "girl's night out"....

I went over to my mother in law's house last night for a girl's night to eat some taco salad for dinner and then watch a movie. Since all of the chick flicks we wanted to watch were too long we ended up watching an action movie with a lot of fighting and killing, oh my. The movie was called "Timeline" and it was the first time I'd ever seen it, probably the last too. Too much killing in it for me. I was the only one there with my kids so we had to set them up with something that would make them happy while we watched our movie. It worked until the last 30 min or so then they started coming in asking for things. By the time the movie was over I just wanted to hurry and get the kids in their pjs and home to bed so I didn't get to chat with the girls as much as I would have liked. Oh, I long the day that my hubby will be home and I can have a "real" girl's night out....not to mention DATES! :)


My sisters in law, Jenna and Shauna. And of course me. My mother in law took the picture but she didn't want to be in one, lol.

This is where Jack was for most of the movie. He wouldn't let me put him down and he didn't want a nap either. So he was happy eating cheerios on my lap. I also got him a cookie that he wanted to hold on to all the time but never wanted to take a bite.

Jack had to stay with the girl's downstairs. See how thrilled he is (lol).

Garrett nice and cozy on Grandma and Grandpa's bed upstairs, ready to watch "Wall-E"

Nikki all set up to play online games on the laptop in the kitchen. She was so into it that she didn't notice me take a picture.

100th Day of Kindergarten Valentine

On February 8th it will be the 100th day of Kindergarten for Nikki. So the "Parent and Me Project" for February was to decorate a heart and to glue 100 items on it. So last night Nikki and I picked out all the items she would use. Things from pasta noodles, to buttons, to stickers, to cheerios, to beads, to safety pins and rocks, etc. This morning Nikki colored and designed the heart all by herself. The only thing I helped her with was gluing them on. She is quite the artist!

Finished the heart and now it's time to wait for the glue to dry.

Nikki with the finished heart, already to take to school to be hung in the Kindergarten hallway. They will also be having a little party at school to help celebrate this momentous occasion. And of course, they'll be doing some counting to 100 also. Happy 100th day of Kindergarten!