Just Me!!

Valerie was treated by Bailey and her mom to the Zoo and The Art Museum on Spring break so it was my turn to return the favor. I took all the kids to Jurassic Park 3D. Bailey had never even heard of it. Mark and I went to see it on Opening night back in 1993. We weren't even married at that point! It was the biggest hit of the summer. Watching it made me laugh at how much graphics and cinematography has advanced, not to mention how high waisted they wore their pants in the 90's. we finished the night off with dying Val's hair brown. Her first reaction was, "yes, now I finally fit into my family." Never knew that looking like her brother and sister meant that much to her.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl. My how you've grown!

One of my New Years resolutions was to start taking care of myself. I have started doing that daily by taking my BP medication, getting my nails done, spending more time with friends, purchasing the WW app, and by doing my make up daily. I have googled how to apply eyeliner and discovered there is a water line/lash line, and found out that when I apply my make up it only takes 26 seconds for all the toxins in the product to enter my blood stream. Amazing and disturbing. So I took a friends advice and switched the bulk of make up to Youngevity Youngevity which contains only all natural, gluten free ingredients. Loving it so far. Even my mascara is free of chemicals and contains Beeswax as its main ingredient. Better than bat poop, which mascara use to contain. Charlie even was able to enjoy a girls day with my friend Shannon and I. We had a mani/pedi and lunch at The Ram. Great day with good company.

“You need three things in the theater - the play, the actors and the audience, - and each must give something” Kenneth Haigh quotes A night at the theater with the kids turned into a great night. I didn't expect much from the junior high drama class, but they actually put on a wonderful production that was funny and entertaining. Donations were given at the door for Ford to continue this program next year. The past two years were funded by Smash:Make a Musical which was given to Ford in the form of a monetary grant to fund a theater production last year and this year. Next year Ford is on their own for funding! I hope that they continue to offer this program next year! Ice cream at B&R finished the night off.

March 2nd-March started off right. Two concerts in kid friendly venues allowed us to take Val and Ethan along to enjoy some great new artists. Ben Union and The Fame Riot. We love their music and as someone down in the south would say, "they are just good people." We had only planned on making one concert but thankfully the schedule of line up for The Fame Riot changed so we were able to make both. We had a great time supervising our kids while they rocked out. Ethan sported a Fedora with style, and Val bought some cool new "skinny" pants and a flashy peacock shirt to rock out in! March 15th- Our baby turned 14! We celebrated Valerie's birthday with Harry and Arlene at Valerie's choice of restaurant, The Rainforest Cafe. We had a wonderful meal with all those gorillas, elephants, and fish staring at us. Valerie's presents included tickets to Sakuracon, skinny red jeans from Hot Topic, British earrings, British socks, Russia...

Easter was candy free this year, thanks to a comment I must have made to my mom and dad. Let's me know that they really listen to me!! He hee. Poor kiddos survived just fine and they were thrilled with the Larabars they found in their Easter Baskets (umm bags). For several years we haven't given in to the ritualistic Easter Bunny or it's counter part, aka the Easter Basket. We however love giving the kids gifts so Ethan received a Sounder's soccer ball, Val got an anime art book from Sukuracon, and Charlie received more dresses for Sadie. The kids were thrilled, and less hyped up on candy at the end of the night. I did sneak them one piece of my EMERGENCY CHOCOLATE, as Charlie calls it. Grandma and Grandpa were thrilled to spend Easter together with all the grand kids, but missed Jer and the kids. Maybe next year. We did talk about the family camping trip that we plan to PLAN for this year. It will be a blast to have all the grand kids together. The kids are getting o...