May (Jace's Birthday)

We celebrated Gaga's birthday late and Jace's birthday early (since it was his golden birthday this year, we planned a few celebrations anyway!).  Jon made grilled pizza.  

(Funny story: when Rylee was at her Universal trip, Jon made grilled pizza for the 3 of us.  Rylee was soo pissed when she saw the leftovers in the fridge.  So when Jace and I went to Universal, Jon made the 2 of them king crab to even the score!)

My parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this summer so Gaga bought Papa an iFly flight.  (He's always said he wanted to fly like a bird.)

We celebrated Jace's birthday again on the 11th.

We almost forgot to take a picture in front of the marquee. 

Last time for that tradition.  :(

We went with a Mario theme this year 

(since the Mario movie had just come out).

Rylee made Jace this cute mushroom from the Mario games.

Papa came over for dinner and dessert, because Gaga wasn't feeling well 

(she wouldn't know it for a couple of weeks, but her appendix ruptured!).

Jace picked an ice cream cake for his cake this year.

Yum!  

Jace wanted a big gift for his golden birthday

so we got him a gaming laptop.  He loves it!

I drove my parents to Miami that weekend so they could head back to MN.  The rest of the weekend, the 4 of us played a bunch of mini games.  They were so fun and some of them were hilarious like the oreo face wiggler challenge.  We also did games with cotton balls, ping pong balls, and dice.  Blindfolded Nerf Gun Battle was a hit too!  Though it was challenging to hit people.  Ba Dum Tsh!

Pro tip: Use golden oreos for the face wiggler game.

Otherwise you have black oreo dust all over your face!

Jon and Jace tied, but Jace won in the tie breaker (another round of the Blindfolded Nerf).

I was the biggest loser!  I didn't even win one challenge!

Jace won the star just like in Mario.

Happy Golden Birthday Jace!

Philly Trip Part 2

Saturday- was the Ovarian Cancer walk.  We got up early and headed downtown.  

And Jon was able to walk it this time!  Last time, he had just had 

knee surgery so we had to push him everywhere.  Lol

It was a beautiful morning for the walk (minus all the sneezing and runny noses 

from the allergy bloom - more like explosion!).

It's always fun to get pictures with Rocky!

Grandma Sandy, we love and miss you!

That afternoon we got to watch one of Ben's hockey games.  

Then we had dinner and relaxed with a movie at their house.

Sunday- was our last day.  Rylee, Maddie and I did a little shopping in the morning.  

Then we all went to Valley Forge for a picnic and some sight seeing.  

The boys took off early and the girls went to the bookstore and shop.

Monday - it was time to all head back to the airport.  Sigh.  What a great trip though! :)

Philly Trip Part 1

Wednesday - We flew into Philadelphia on a Wed afternoon.  We coordinated with Grandpa Chip's flight so Laurie could pick all of us up at the same time.  We drove back closer to where they live and met the boys for dinner (Anthony, Nick & Ben) for dinner.  Maddie met us at their house later (she had a mandatory pre-prom meeting).

Thursday - The kids had school and Anthony had work so Laurie took the rest of us out hiking and for lunch.  That night we hung out at their house.

Friday - was Prom Mania!  Both Maddie and Nick had prom at their respective high schools on the same night so we needed to divide and conquer.

The girls went with Maddie to get her hair done, then back to the house to get dressed, and to a park to take pictures with all her gal pals.  We went to the school to watch the kids stroll in.  Then we left her to her fun and went out to dinner with Florence (her grandma).

The boys (Anthony, Jon, Grandpa Chip) helped Nick get ready, drove into Philly to get pictures with Nick's date Marissa, then went out to dinner once the two of them left.

Ben & Jace opted to stay home, hang out and play video games.  :)

Everyone looked amazing!  Maddie picked a dress that reminder her of Hermione's dress from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire movie.  Marissa went with a roaring 20s vibe since that was the theme of their prom.  

Nick and Marissa have been dating for the past couple of years, but they actually broke up since they will both be going different directions for college.  They're still great friends and talk on the phone every night.  They are together so much, that it prompted people to ask how it was any different from when they were actually dating.  Nick said something like now there was no kissing, no snuggling, and no pet names.  Lol.

April 2023

April was Easter.  Dying eggs...

Hunting for eggs and baskets...

Dinner with Gaga and Papa (not pictured lol)!  

But we tried to get a few family pics...

Hawaiian shirt boys...

Gaga took the pictures.  We didn't know she was getting our feet.  Lol!

Rylee made us an Easter cake...

The rest: Florida had a freak rain storm that flooded many areas so school was cancelled.  The kids and I went out for breakfast and had happy hour with the Froyds and Edwards.  It was at our house, but they they braved the rain!  Speaking of happy hour, our New Years Resolution was to have more happy hours with our crew.  We did manage to get a couple in!

We went to Philadelphia, but I'll write about that in a different post (so fun!).  When we came back, Jace had a terrible sinus infection so he missed school on Tues and Wed.  His Universal field trip was on Thursday and we toyed with the idea of not sending him, but in the end, we sent him.

It was an interesting day.  Before we even got there, I was handling a threat assessment on the bus because one of my 5th graders decided to air drop a picture of a handgun to pretty much every kid on the bus.  I'll spare you the long story, but there were backpack searches, interviews, tears, and the police had to go to the kids house to see the gun (which turned out to be an airsoft gun).  Oy Vey!

Jessica and I were the two chaperones that walked together.  We had 22 5th graders including Oliver and Jace.  It was fun, but exhausting.  Most of my pictures include the whole class, but I do have a couple of Jace.

Jace and his buddy Adon.  Adon was playing Pokemon Go on his phone half the day so Jace had to make sure he didn't walk into people or walls!  

Jon and Jace have been watching the Simpsons together 

so we had to get this pic...

By the end of the day, Jace was done for...

He was still happy he went though!  

Ending with a random, but cute pic of Rylee at a birthday party

for Alexis's daughter.  :)

March 2023 Recap

March was a good month.  We had lots of things going on, plus Spring Break.  

First, we went to the electives showcase at Rylee's middle school (Jace and his friends Oliver and Genna will be attending next year).  Rylee performed with the color guard.  She did great!  She had a couple of solo parts and made her catches beautifully.  Here she is with her middle school squad, plus a few girls from the high school who had been helping them practice and performed with them.

For  my birthday, I thought it would be fun to go to 

this Pixar pop up mini golf at the beach.  

Caught in the claw machine!

Jon and I both shot a hole in one on this hole!

It was fun, but it was the hottest day and there was zero shade and zero breeze off the ocean.   We had planned to go out for lunch afterward, but we were all too exhausted from the heat.  Lol

The school had a mother son dance (rock and roll themed).

Jace texted me to ask me to the dance.  Awww

With Oliver and his brothers...

Jace is a good slow dancer too!

Spring Break was full of fun activities:

Fri - kids hung out at Gaga and Papa's/ swam, played games etc

Sat - the 4 of us went to the Ren Fest.  Then Emily came over for a sleepover.

Jace was really into the archery.  He did several rounds.

Sun - disc golf with Jon

Mon - dentist appt for Jace, met Gaga & Papa for breakfast at Ikea,

Rylee was showing off her henna tattoo that she got at the Ren Fest.  

Later, Rylee and I had eye doctor appts.

Tues- I took the kids to the trampoline park and out to lunch at Culver's 

(that always makes Jace's to do list for school breaks)

Wed- Rylee had a private iFly lesson from Captain Frijoles

Gaga came to watch and then we all went out to lunch

Thurs - we went out school and went to the park, 

then Gaga & Papa's for lunch

Friday was hilarious.  On Monday, the dentist had told me that Jace needed his tooth pulled, but she didn't want him to know about it.  He was a little suspicious and asked what we were whispering about.  Lol.  She lied and told him that they were only going to be putting a cream on it to help loosen it.  He went through the whole procedure, got his tooth pulled, and was sucking on his ice pop afterward.  It wasn't until her saw the blood on the ice pop that he said, "did they pull my tooth?"  We should have gotten a video for AFV!  

Rylee went to her friend Ariana's for the day and dinner afterward.  While the rest of us hung out and had dinner with my parents.

Sat - Jon and Rylee golfed, while Jace and I played video games

Sun - Jace golfed, then we all had a lazy pool day

The last story to share from March was Rylee's Universal field trip.  They were given free range.  They just had to stay with their group and check in via text every two hours.  They had a blast!  

Feb 2023

 I can't remember too much about February.  

The kids were recognized for their Straight A efforts at school:

In case you wondering about Jace's outfit, it was pirate day at school.

He removed his hat and dreads for the ceremony.  Lol

Jace spent the afternoon with Oliver so Jon, Rylee and I went to the beach for lunch.

Jace participated in his last Panther Prowl at school (2 miles).

Jace has been taking golf lessons.  

This spring he started golfing in their tournaments.

This was from his first outing.

He did really well and had fun.  

Middle school golf here we come!