Emma Leigh Princess Pea turns 12

 On June 7th 2001, I was up watching Mtv's movie awards, went to bed and within 15 minutes felt a powerful kick from the little person in my belly.  The kick broke my water and sent Rick and I scrambling to race to the hospital to find out whether it would be a boy or girl.  At 4:31am we would meet our first child, Emma Leigh.  6lbs 4oz and screaming the instant she came out.  Now at 12, she is all leggy and smiles.  It's funny because when Grandpa and Grandma came to visit her at 3 days old, she was also all skinny legs and smiles.  For her June 8th birthday, she wanted a cheesecake.  So, I went to foodnetwork.com and found Alton Brown's Sour Cream cheesecake recipe.  It was considered an intermediate recipe level..oooooooo  It cooked for 1 hour and then sat in an unopened oven turned off for another hour, to prevent cracks.

 She wanted to go out on the boat and snorkel for her birthday and had 1 more little request.....

 to try parasailing for the first time.  So, with the support of her Dad and Reece, Emma got geared up for the ride of her life.  When asked, while the harness was being put on his legs, if he was scared, Reece replied " YES!" Jesus( our captain and launchman) told him not to be, that it would not even be as scary as the Wonder Wheel.

 Adeline absolutely refused to even consider going up parasailing, ahhhhhhhhh

 The big Yellow Parachute was named Smiling Bob and he was way bigger than he looks here.  Just his eyeball alone was twice the height of Rick.

 Sit your bum in your swing belt, here on the back of the boat

 And they are off, think those kids look nervous

 slowly being reeled out.  Then when you are at maximum length of rope out, Jesus comes along to shake the rope a few times, to freak you out.

 the mandatory dip in the water, the kids loved it.  Here Sharky, Sharky, Sharky.   The teenagers who went right before us, got dragged along sideways, thank God, that didn't happen to them.

 THAT WAS AWESOME!!! Straight out of the harness, we LOVED IT!!!  Best birthday ever.

 And now the moment she has been waiting for all day.  And Reece can't contain his boredom with how slwly she is opening things.  Adeline kept being disappointed everytime something was opened and it wasn't a toy.

 Finally, Adeline a toy.  Just wait.  This is what Emma wanted.  A 400 piece marble racetrack.

Light up spectacles and a cheesecake to end the night.  Happy Birthday, baby giraffe!

Elementary School Rocks!

Sitting in my green big chair loving on our big fat chubby nubby, Mischa.  In the afternoon Adeline comes home and plays on her bike or scooter.  Then,  plays "school" upstairs with her baby dolls while sitting in an American Girl Doll barber shop chair.  I never told her that I used to play school when I was little.  I had a chalkboard on my wall that I would write math problems and spelling words for my "class".

 Reece was in the February Presidents Play with the entire 2nd grade.  His class did an Abraham Lincoln skit and Reece portrayed one of Lincoln's sons.  Colton sitting at the table was Lincoln and these are his three sons standing next to him.

 The good looking Lincoln Crew during their after-party back in the classroom.  Sanjay, Reece, Colton and Samuel.

 Dr. Seuss's Birthday was in February, and I decided since Emma had green eggs and ham in Kindergarten in St. Paul's, I would make them for Adeline's class.  Mrs. Hall told me when Reece was in Kinder, they got actual green shelled eggs from another teacher and made hardboiled eggs and ham.  Can you tell I used the neon green die for the scrambled eggs?

 Speaking of green, our Winterfest was held in March and this year we were in charge of the Cake Walk or Sweet Treats Booth.  We won 3rd place for the decorations of the Candy Land theme.  Reece ran right over after the Pickle Lady set up her Pickle booth and bought a pickle flavored slushy.  This was his first lick.

Adeline's table in Kindergarten trying the green eggs and ham, believe it or not, most kids cleaned their plates.

Gentlemen Start Your Engines

 Reece had his first Pine Wood Derby Race in late January 2013.  He has been a cub scout now for exactly a year in Pack 10 with Ben Boyer as his leader and his best friend Jake as a buddy.  The den leader gives everyone a box containing a rectangle of wood and 4 wheels and you have to do the rest.

Rick took it upon himself to research strategies of winning , such as using dry lube on the wheels

and lifting up one wheel so the other three roll faster.  However, these " tricks" ended up backfiring during the race, when Reece's blue speedster kept hitting the walls instead of rolling straight.

Oh well, we'll know what to do better for next year.  He was a Tiger Scout last year and is a Wolf Scout this year.  He meets at the Sacred Heart Scout " hut" on Tuesday nights every week.

Here is Reece and Jake in between races.  The Saints car was the winner of every race, so they got to move on to the district races.