The baby is 4!

Today is Aiden's 4th birthday. We had a party at the house for family and friends. I must admit while I do not have a favorite child his birthdays certainly man more to us than the others since his near drowning on the eve of his 1st birthday party. It's more of a milestone than a year of life, it's another year since we nearly lost him too!

After lunch Aiden opened lots of presents, and cards.

He gave dozens of thank yous and he kept saying "I knew I wanted that!"

We had a Monster Jam Gravedigger Pinata!

And the kids scrambled for the candy and toys!

Here's the Monster Jam cake I made him

He loved the cake topper and couldn't wait to get it off the cake!

So he made a wish for more monster trucks and blew out his candles

And he played and played for hours on end with those new Monster trucks!

Market day

Today was the 2nd grade Market day at our grade school. The kids set up store fronts and sell goods, and/or service. They collect money, and make a great lesson out of the activity.

Dane sold post card pictures that we printed off of our hoe computer. He had some pretty hot sellers, including Justin Beiber for the grils, and Taylor Swift for the boys. He also sold Pokemon, Star Wars, and various cartoon characters.

I enjoyed watching him count back change, and communicate with the customers at his store.

It's not very often I get pics of ths boy, as he is not a photo bug, so I took advantage of the opportunity to snap a pic of him and his dear old mom.

1 mile fitness challenge

Our oldest childs Middle School hosted a "1 mile fitness challenge" during today's track meet for 5th graders whom would soon be graduating into the 6th grade as a sort of recruiting exersize. Andrew ran the 2400 today in 9:01. Not a bad score!

Our daughter, Nadine, wants to join the Cross Country team this summer so we decided to take her to run in the meet and see how she liked it.

We met one of her "besties" there so that she could run with Nadine. The girls had a good time, and they did better than us mom's thought they could!

My parents didn't really offer athletics as an option for my brither and I when we grew up. It is one of those things I have on that list...you know, that mental list of things you wished your parents had done differently and you strive to do it better for your own children. I want my children to have a sense of accomplishment. This meet is one of the many ways they learn that they can do great things if they put their minds to it!

Nadine and her bestie, Kalah

The girls and their ribbons for participation

I've been lucky with Nadine. She's enjoyed Cheerleading, Basketball, and running since she was 5 years old. Our oldest loves to run, but wants nothing to do with any sport that involves throwing or catching anything. teehee!

It was fun to watch them run, and I can't wait to see how she does in Cross Country this summer!

Spring concerts

I love the Spring Concerts. It's the first of a line of many end of the school year functions. Our oldest, Andrew, is finishing off his 7th grade year at the middle school. Soon enough he'll be in the 8th grade, and I am still baffled at how this happened. The boy cannot clean a bathroom to save his life, but he's done good with playing the alto sax this year! This is his 3rd year playing and he sounds so much better with every school year!

The concert was for teh 6th and 7th grade pands, each group playing 4 songs. I enjoyed the music, and the crowds weren't to bad this year! My son was most excited about this song from the Wild west. I recorded a videop of just this song. I doon't have a fancy video recorder, so this is just with my digital camera. Apologis for image quality ;)

Mothers day

This was the best Mothers day of all Mothers day past. It was my 14th Mothers day, and it couldn't have been better! I woke up to breakfast in bed delivered by my oldest, Andrew. Had I been awake you know I'd have taken a photo of the moment, but sadly I did not think about it as I enjoyed my homemade waffle and coffee.

My daughter, Nadine (2nd oldest) gave me a homemade Flip-Note. It was better than any card I've received in years. I love that she used her creative talents to make me this little flip-note, and the message was very much appreciated!

Aiden decorated the flower pot at his daycare, and planted the marigold for me. Dane made me the card with flowers, and had all his siblings sign it. Jon got me the Teva sandals I'd been wanting, and a gift card to a salon, and my own Momma got me a gift card for the salon as well.

Most importantly to me was that the kids helped me plant the garden. I love sharing a bit of that experience with them every year on Mothersday, and hope we continue to do it for years to come.

Organizing Your Hair care products

How to make your morning (or whenever mom gets herself ready) easier! I've probably shared this before a time or two in previous blogs, but it really does make all the difference for a mom who has virtually no storage for herself when it comes to getting ready for the day! We have a nice linen closet in the kids bathroom. but the master bath, unfortunately, has no storage other than the tiny sink base cabinet.

For years I shared the bath with 4 kiddos so I could have storage for moms stuff nearby in the linen closet when I took my showers.

In 2009, with the goal being to make my husbands and I's life closer, I moved back into the master bath. I had to find a way to contain my many hair products so that I could get ready without knocking over 12 bottles of gunk!

I bought a shower caddy during back to school time at Wal-mart that was sold with all of those dorm room items they get in seasonally, and I use it for my hair care items. Some of you may not have as much hair care product as I do. Some may have more make-up than my non-existent collection. Maybe lotions and perfume is your thing.

However you do your mornings, find containers that will hold your daily use items. It makes getting ready so much easier!

My container holds 2 hairsprays for me, 1 for DD, my mouse, gel, lens cleaner, deodorant, body spray, 2 types of perfume, some hair ties/clips, hair lotion, spray, shine, body lotion, pics, combs, and a few other items.

It's easy to store under the sink vanity, and I can pull everything out without dropping anything. It's a nice way to make getting ready a bit simpler.

Look at how tiny that sink vanity is!

It is a cruel joke for a woman to have such little space to work on!

Am I right?!?

Belly dancing!

I went on a Mom's night out with my heathen mommy friends this month to enjoy dinner and belly dancing. We had so much fun getting a private dance lesson from Judy at her private dance studio.  

Her studio is in the basement of her Broadripple home, and it is beautifully decorated with plenty of room to accomodate larger groups. She has a seating area, and a small library in the sitting area along with her costumes and belly dancing accessories that she sells to her students. 

Jusy is also a featured dancer at one of my fave restaurants, Satorini's Greek Kitchen in Indianapolis, IN. 

I was pleasantly surprised at how much of a work-out such a fun activity really was! If you are looking for a unique party venue in the Indianapolis, IN area give Judy a call to schedule a lesson. The price we paid was very reasonable, and the lessons were pretty easy to follow even for the non-dancer.