My boy is 6!!

He got a guitar from Grandma Z...here he is preparing for his "rock star" career.

Yesterday my son turned 6. I celebrated with mixed emotion. Glad he is growing up, but sad he is growing up. We had a big party first at the Bounce Inn in Germantown. It is not officially open yet, but she agreed to let us come in to party. The kids had a blast. After an hour of bouncing, we came back here for cake, presents, pinata and swimming. It all went so fast.

Simon, his best buddy Nathaniel, dad and I went to Taco Bell for dinner. His choice. Nathaniel was supposed to sleep over, but at 10 decided he wanted to go home. It was a good day.

Rams training camp

The St Louis Rams warming up

Really nice player stopped for a photo with the boys

Simon getting the quarterback's autograph...Mark Bulger #10

Today was very exciting. Sam, our good friend Nathaniel's sister, goes to college at Concordia. They are hosting the St Louis Rams Training Camp this year. Sam just happens to be going to college for sports med, so she got the job as intern for the team. Isn't that exciting. So we went to watch her work, see the team and get some autographs. It was so fun. Afterwards we went down to the see the big lake. The campus is right on the lake. It is really quite beautiful. M

Zoo Fun

Good friends are the best

We decided not to renew our zoo pass this year. Just too much other fun things going on, so this was our last trip. Besides, it just is not about the animals anymore. We went with our friends from school. We were done it about 3 hours, that includes lunch! So Julie and Madeline invited us all over for a swim to cool off. It was alot of fun. Randy had a friend come over and they finished up the one section of roof today. Tomorrow looks like another fun filled day, stay tuned..... M

Weekend Update

Going green

This is what came off

This is the tear off

The BIG project started this weekend. Randy and some friends/family started the roofing project. There was the tearoff-the plywood-and then the shingles. It all was very overwhelming and they did not get as far as planned. It is extremely hard work and being up on the roof in the sun was exhausting. Under the shingles was another layer of shingles that were cedar shakes. Uncle Ben came up with a perfect "go green" recycling plan. So he brought over his chipper and we sorted thru all the tear off stuff and pulled out the cedar. It was enough to go almost all the way around the pines and it looks beautiful. The crew on that job was Uncle Ben, who I think is 67, Aunt Dorothy, who is 74! and Grandma Z (GG) who is 64. This generation can really give us all a lesson in the value of hard work. I helped with that project as well, while keeping tabs on SImon and his friend. Simon and I managed to sneek away for some fun turning this time and enjoyed Falls Fest and Community Fest at our church. Today we are off to the zoo and then we need to plan a birthday party for someone this week!! : ) M

Friday Fun

Today was so fun. We started the morning with tutoring. The teacher was alittle late, so the kids got to play and get the antsy out of them before she got there. The mom's went for coffee while they were busy. We had the best time. I have not laughed that hard in a long time. I think we scared away some of the patrons of the coffee shop with our sillyness, but we could not stop. : ) We stayed at the Kohn's for a while after that and the kids swam in their big new pool. Simon and I shopped and prepared for the big day tomorrow. Oh, I also went to Kate Larson's house and took some photos of her in her beautiful gardens. I know she would not mind if I shared with you. Enjoy.....M

Evelyn and Thumper

Sorry I have been so non consistent in posting. We have been busy every day doing this and that, having fun, taking care of a bunny and meeting Evelyn.

Today was the day we met sweet baby Evelyn. She is adorable and Danielle is doing a great job taking care of her. We also have had the fun of taking care of Thumper this week. Simon and "T" have been enjoying watching SpongeBob together. I cut the grass for the very first time on our zero turn mower. Randy is busy getting ready to put a new roof on the house, so I said I would help him out. It was harder than it looks, I almost took out the swingset!! I cut thru the leg!! oops. We also had friends over and golfed this week. Tomorrow is tutoring, oh, and I just had to make a shopping trip to JCP and get some cute little girlie clothes for my new great niece. Girl shopping is SO fun. Have a good weekend, I will update with how the roofing is going. My job is feeding everyone. M

New addition!!

Our niece, Danielle, had her baby today. A girl. Evelyn Grace. We went to see them at the hospital, mom and baby were sleeping so we did not disturb and get a photo. If you want to take a peek at Evelyn, you can see her on the Community Memorial website. Otherwise, I will be visiting next week and will post a photo then. We are also rabbit sitting for "thumper" our old friend. We have him for a week and Simon is thrilled. This is a photo from our last visit with thumper. We also wrapped up VBS and it was awesome. For those of you attending NB church, there will be a slideshow this weekend. Have a great weekend. M

What a week!!

Ok.....this week has been nuts. We have VBS at church all week. It has been fun, but very tiring. Simon is enjoying it, I have been photographing all the kids each day. On top of that, we have been to the zoo, I have been to Johnson Creek on a little shopping trip I call my "retail therapy" , we picked raspberries at Aunt Jane's we spent the afternoon with Angie and the kids and pretty much collapsed into bed each night. Simon has 2 birthday parties this weekend. I hope next week slows down alittle.

Cousins and Ice Cream

Today we spent the day at Aunt Jane's house. Our cousin Anige and her 4 kids from FL are in WI vacationing for a week. It was great to see them. Tonight at church was the ice cream social. We helped scoop and serve.....some of us just ate! : ) Our very favorite cousin, Jenny is sleeping over tonight. Simon and her have so much fun together. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Birthday party

Today was the big party day. We had the party at the Bushman house, which is beautiful. The weather could not have been better. Lunch, swimming, cake, presents and pinata. What could be better?? It was such a great day. Happy #6 (well, soon to be 6) sweet boy. I love you.

Stage Debut

Well, tonight was the night. Simon had his stage debut as Zacchaeus in the Oakbrook VBS. He was alittle nervous but did a fabulous job! I was so proud of him. He forgot one line, but no one noticed, he was adorable. Here is a photo of him and Jesus. Love it. I can just imagine that when we get to Heaven, in the arms of Jesus. Tomorrow is the BIG party day. He and 3 of his classmates are having a joined birthday party for their classmates. It is a pool party and it is going to be a hot one tomorrow, so it will be perfect. Watch for photos of that soon..... : )

Best day ever

In the words of Spongebob, this was the "best day ever" or pretty darn close. We had golf league with our friends today, most of us invaded Pizza Hut where kids eat free!! The waiter did not look happy when we walked in, and I think they cheered when we left, but none the less the kids had fun. After lunch, Simon had his best buddy over to play...all is good in the world. We ended the evening with VBS, we brought Rene and Vanesa so Lydia could pack and get ready for their trip to FL, which starts today. I miss her already. Did I ever mention how much Lydia means to me?? She's the best. We also brought Nathaniel along and the kids loved it.

Tonight is Simon's stage debut....stay tuned. Enjoy the day God created!! : )

Tuesday, tutoring and vbs

Today was the day sweet Ms Hetzel came to tutor the kids. The JAMM mom's headed to Starbucks for some relaxing and catching up. The gang stayed for lunch and swimming. We then went to photograph the lovely Lechner ladies. We ended the day at VBS. It is going very well, I love to see the kids praying and learning about our awesome God.

VBS

We have the priviledge of being involved in the first ever Oakbrook VBS. It is God's Big Back Yard. The story was about baby Moses and family. I helped with the crafts, it was all good. Simon loved it and on the way out, bonus.....he found 6 baby toads!!! We brought them home and one escaped in the car. Randy is out there searching for it now. : ) When it jumped out of the cup and was crawling on my hand I screamed and Simon says "you scream like a girl" well, yah. More fun tomorrow.

Restful weekend

Hi-We had a pretty restful weekend getting caught up on alot of things. Randy is working on the house outside, I worked inside. Simon's job was to get in the pool and "stir things up" dirty job, but someone has to do it. He was happy to help. We had Grandma and Grandpa Z over for dinner last night and even got them up on the scaffolding...yikes. Today was spent at church, and having Rene over for a playdate. We are headed for 2 weeks of back to back VBS. One at Oakbrook this week and Northbrook next week. It should be alot of fun. Simon is going to be Zacchaeus this Thursday...stay tuned. I will try and update when I can.

Fun times

Well, the 4th was full of family, friends and fun. We started at the Gtown parade where Simon ran into 2 friends from his class. We hung out with them and enjoyed the parade. Then off for a few hours of swimming at the big pool. We ended the day at our friend's, the Maher's. Enjoying a yummy dinner and the most beautiful fireworks I have seen in a long time! They were so awesome, it was like there were 10 finales. The kids had fun with 3D glasses which made the fireworks even more cool. Today is a do work around the house and swim day. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

PS

The search is over, we have new tenants!! Very cute young couple from FL, he transferred for a job, she follow for love....very sweet. Please pray all goes well with the transissions.

I just didn't realize how long it has been since I blogged in!! So much has been happening, I will try and get up to date. After the fun week of VBS, we settled into a more "normal" week, if there is such a thing. Last weekend was spent at the Cedarburg Strawberry Festival and celebrating Grandpa Z's birthday. This week I photographed my good friend Megan's new baby Tyler, we went to sunset zoofari and played in the rain, we played with freinds, we went to a parade and watched the fireworks.....so much fun. Today, the 4th, we are going to the Gtown parade, swimming and Auntie Jane's and dinner/fireworks with friends....whew I am tired already. Hope you all have a great holiday weekend with the folks you love..... GOD BLESS AMERICA