HOMELESS BIRD

The other morning I peeked out the patio door to see how the day was shaping up when I saw a bird fly past the door and looked to be landing somewhere on the patio (with straw in mouth) My curiosity got the best of me and I went out to look -

WAIT, LET'S REWIND....
My parents gave us a grill a few years ago. We decided to officially start the grilling season a couple weeks ago. We had a great dinner with BBQ hamburgers and hot dogs - now, here's one of our weaknesses....we never put the cover back on the grill.

FAST FORWARD TO THE OTHER MORNING....When I went out on the patio I saw this:

and I thought, "oh, that bird was making a nest on our propane tank."
Then I looked up a litte higher and saw this:

and I thought, "oh no! that bird MIGHT be making a nest IN the grill!"
And then I lifted up the grill lid to find this:

Adam cleaned out the BBQ grill and I actually felt bad that we had just destroyed this hard working, little birdies home! I'm sorry dear birdie, but we do love to grill - you'll have to find another home somewhere else!

So, for all you lazy people out there like us, remember to put on your grill cover - EVERYTIME!! Because if you don't, it will happen to you over and over again (yep, that's right...a week later we had BBQ, didn't put the cover on, and by the next morning that bird had started right back to work!)

MOVE OVER BAKERELLA?!?

I decided this Mother's Day to get crafty. It is hard to find something to buy for both mothers now - so, I went onto Bakerella's blog and found these cute little cake pops. I'm only posting this because they turned out pretty cute, but I think they looked better than they tasted. I would suggest using a chocolate cake recipe or some other flavor than yellow cake; it was a little too bland for me. Anyway, here is my attempt at being crafty in the kitchen:

Although they turned out for the most part, I didn't complete the cake pops without some falling apart:

Here's the finished flowers. I must give credit to Adam; he helped me with the whole decorating part of the project...pretty good huh?!

I had these cute little tins that I ended up putting them in...great ONE TIME experience !

FAMILY TRIP - APRIL 2009

Around the end of April, we decided to go on vacation and try to get away from all the wind and rain....we decided to make our way to California, again, but try a few different amusement parks this time. Here was our original itinerary: Legoland, Knotts Berry Farm, Beach, Sea World - and a couple extra days to spare. First off.....

LEGOLAND

Here is our "family" getting ready to go....Kenna's lego tower....Harrison making amends with his archenemy, Darth Vader...

I was amazed at all the lego creations...and these are only a few

Family picture moment - Legoland 2009

Next day, just as planned...

KNOTTS BERRY FARM

McKenna and Harrison loved Knotts Berry Farm - Kenna especially loved a rollercoaster called the "Side Winder" she and Adam went on it atleast a dozen time - no kidding! And Harrison's favorite ride had to be the "Snoopy's Air Mail". He would go on that ride everytime Kenna went on the rollercoaster - they were conveniently right next to each other!

Family picture time - Knotts Berry Farm 2009

That evening, Adam took the kids to the beach which was right across the street! When they got back ,they had decided that the beach was not that great - they didn't have any sea shells to collect at the beach! Later that night, as I watched the news, I saw all the reports on the dreaded Swine Flu making its way into California!...so, we decided we needed to revamp our itinerary...we no longer were going to the beach for a day, and I wasn't going any farther South in California ...hhmmm..where could we go?!? Disneyland!! Even though we had planned on venturing out past DL this trip, we all smiled when we came to the decision to go back! Adam went down to the hotel computer and bought 3 day hopper passes - even after going every year since McKenna was born, we still love it!

DISNEYLAND

We usually don't take too many character shots; this is the only one from this trip...

Here is Adam with the kids on the "Thunder Mountain Railroad" - one of their favorites

Toontown - McKenna and Harrison

We stood in line the longest at the new Toy Story ride, but decided to entertain ourselves with the 3-D glasses

The unfortunate part of our trip was the fact that McKenna was sick the whole time! She is usually so excited and energetic, but she had a fever and just wanted to sleep the whole trip; so we missed to fireworks this go round, but still enjoyed spending time together. Harrison was a trooper by walking the whole day, everyday while Kenna and Tyler shared the stroller. All in all, another successful and fun trip together!

WEEKEND WITH THE GIRLS

It's been about 10 years since I graduated from college, but more importantly, It's been 2 long years since Elena and I took a trip to visit our college roommates...we decided it was about time again! We loaded up and left for a girls weekend with Jennifer and Michelle (unfortunately, Michelle was unable to come last minute). We met with Jennifer (aka - Fur) at the Cheesecake factory for dinner and then caught a movie together - it was so fun to go to a movie without a baby or child, because I got to watch the WHOLE movie, uninterrupted!

And we're off...

Me and Fur- all smiles- because we're eating CHEESECAKE!! We really wanted a picture of all three of us, but, honestly, the waiter was so weird we didn't dare ask; afraid he'd want in the picture too.

Fur brought her photo album from college, and that was great to look at! However, take note, do not take a photo album to the Cheesecake Factory unless you're ready to show them to your waiter (or atleast the one we had) wow, he was strange?!? (did I already mention how strange he was?) We talked, laughed, made fools of ourselves...and went to the Cheesecake Factory not once, not twice, but 3 times in less than 24 hours - who could ask for more?!?! I had a fabulous time remembering "way back when" and look forward to making the trip annually if our lives allow!!

Let's take a peek back in time....

2 years ago at the Cheesecake Factory (2007)...

Here we are at the neighbor boys apartment (1996?)...who knew back then that Fur and Ryan would end up together?!?

Fur's graduation (1996?)

One by one, we all got married..here we are at Elena's wedding (1997) - we must not have known how good cheesecake was back then...girls we looked GOOD!

And finally...Elena and Fur, this one is for you - we had a good laugh over this one! The "Where's Penny" Picture...

BIRTHDAY WISH - GRANTED!

One birthday wish McKenna had was to get her ears pierced. So, last Saturday, we went to good 'ol Claire's Boutique (where I got my ears pierced A LONG time ago) and had her ears pierced. The worst part about it was definitely the wait and anticipation. She had two other girls in front of her, both older than her, and one cried right after....which in turn, made McKenna start to cry! She cried and worried the whole time the employees were preparing the earrings and then after they were done, she DIDN'T cry...

She loves having her ears pierced and can't wait for the 6 week period to be over so she can changer her earrings - grandma/grandpa Bean got her some really cute pairs for her birthday! Notice the black stuffed animal that had to accompany her to the jewelery store...

BEFORE -

AFTER -

FAMILY PICTURE

We had a family picture taken back in November and finally received the final print - looks great right?!? Well, I have to give a HUGE Thank You to one of my neighbors, Matt, who spent hours working on this picture!! Now, are you wondering, "what is she talking about?" Well, we had a photographer come and take the pictures, but they just didn't turn out quite right...

It seemed in EVERY picture someone was blinking, laughing, moving or something! And we had originally planned on taking the picture outside, not in the family room (but it was windy and cold) so, with the magic of digital pics, Matt not only got us all to look at the camera, but found a background that complimented our clothes! Matt did a great thing, because this is the one and only extended family picture we had taken before Josh's passing - and I could not be happier with the final picture!

Here are a few of the pics we had taken and that Matt had to work with. He had a different "layer" per change or edit to get the final picture - in the end the picture contains about 25 different layers!

DANCE RECITAL 2009

McKenna took dance again this year - her third year in a row. And the dress rehearsal just happened to fall on her birthday this year. So, after cake and ice cream with the cousins, we headed over to dress rehearsal. She is a great dancer and really enjoys "being in the spotlight"! Here is McKenna and her little friend, Ella - they 've taken dance together since the beginning. Ella moved to a new neighborhood a couple years ago, so it's fun for these two to have dance together still!

Just for kicks, here's a picture of her at dance recital last year - 2008 -

And here's a picture of McKenna and Ella from her first year in dance (age 3) they are so cute and just TINY!! - 2007-