father's day 2011

We had a fun day last Sunday celebrating Father's Day with the best daddy (and husband) ever! For something a little different, I geared the day's activities around the letter B! For every activity, Mikayla handed him an envelope that had the letter B on it and inside was the name of what we were going to do next.

The day started with...

Breakfast in Bed
{homemade Blueberry muffins}
The kids really wanted to join Ryan!

Mikayla gave him her little gift she made at pre-school and the kids made a little book for daddy with a picture they had drawn of him and I also had them answer some questions about him. I thought this would be a fun thing for the kids to do every year and see how much things change in a year.

Berry picking at Baggenstos Farms

Busters BBQ
Ryan's favorite place to eat!

Bridgeport Village
{Kung Fu Panda 2}

Berry Smoothies

We had also planned on going Bowling, but ended up deciding not to add one more thing to make it too busy of a day (plus, I had a Groupon that wasn't active until Monday).

At the end of the day we played some Wii together as a family and then topped it off with a little present for daddy to open.

Austin was a little upset that he didn't have a present to hand daddy, so he went upstairs and found the tape and a bow and re-wrapped the box in the tissue paper. He was proud of his work...
...and of course wanted to open it for daddy.
He wrapped his stuffed doggies...so cute!
The kids are so lucky to have such a great daddy!!

a trip to Great Wolf Lodge!

We took a mid-week one night vacation last week as a family and headed North a couple of hours to Great Wolf Lodge.

We had such a blast!!

We had just arrived and the kids changed into their swimsuits right away!

Taking a quick break for dinner and some play time...

Most of the time I spent splashing and playing around with the kids, but on our first night after having dinner, I took an hour or so to just take some snapshots while Ryan played with the kids in the water. I loved seeing their faces having SO MUCH FUN!

Getting ready to play!

The wave pool was by far the most favorite!!
They loved being tossed around by the waves!

More fun throughout the park...

The fountains!

A wall of water

{my favorite picture}
Playing in the "kiddy-land"...
Mikayla was tall enough to go on some of the bigger innertube rides with either me or Ryan...she had a blast! I had a terrible time trying to get a picture of her coming down the tubes. This was the best I could get!
While Ryan stood in line for ice cream on our way back to the room for bed time, the kids and I went to visit Wiley the Wolf. Of course, Austin didn't want to have ANYTHING to do with Wiley, so it was up to Mikayla to get the picture.

Daddy & his girl

Cotton Candy ice cream...right before bed time!!
This really must be vacation!

Taking our things to the car and then one last time having fun in the water!

Saying goodbye to Great Wolf Lodge...

24 hours of great fun!!

pre-school graduation

{Ooops...long time no see, huh?}

Let's see...what's been going on these days??

Mikayla has "officially" graduated 4's pre-school and in just a little over 2 months will be starting Kindergarten.

Wait...give me a minute to let that sink in.

Nope...it will take much longer than a minute!

KINDERGARTEN?! Where did my baby girl go?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Pre-School Graduation Day

June 11, 2011

The Graduation Day started out with a picnic lunch and cupcakes!

Mikayla's teacher gave each of the students a special memory album of pictures she had taken throughout the year. I thought that was very sweet.


The kids sang some songs which Mikayla had been practicing at home. It was fun to watch her animation, but you could still tell she was a bit more shy up "on stage" than what she would be if she were singing them at home.


Then it came time for the teachers to call each of the students' names and to hand them their "certificate of graduation".

Mikayla & her teacher Mrs. Hylton

Congrats, Sis!

Best Buds

Mikayla & Mrs. Salzberg
And, you can't forget the Sensational Six!
{Tenley, Ava, Mikayla, Ellie, Allie, & Alaina}
What a blessing it was for Mikayla to have a year of being with her friends she already knew before pre-school started! I know this school was exactly where Mikayla was meant to be this year, especially with two of her best girlfriends leaving and with her beginning her elementary education in another town starting next year. I look back and am so thankful for this year!

candy-coated pretzels

A week or so ago, the kids and I decided to make an easy little snack idea!

I had some of these "Melt 'n Mouth" vanilla-flavored candy pieces leftover from Christmas baking, so I thought I would use them up by covering some pretzels.

{Melt in microwave 30 seconds until easy to stir and smooth.}

Line some pretzels on a sheet of waxed paper.
Next time, I'll be sure to put the waxed paper on a cookie sheet first.

Let the kids drizzle the melted candy over the pretzels.
If I do this again, I though about putting the melted chocolate in my Pampered Chef frosting tube for an easier way to drizzle.

They don't have to look pretty to eat them!

Place waxed paper on cookie sheet and put in freezer for 5-10 minutes.

And enjoy!