{karma}

I love this child.

His picture frequents this blog more often not because I love him more, but because of the four children, he is simply quirkier. This is my new blog word...my husband used this word to describe me. I think it fits, OK, I know it fits and I think I'm rubbing off on my family. Please refer to the John Deere birthday hats in the previous post. BUT FOR NOW, LET'S TALK ABOUT THIS PICTURE.

Plain bad luck is also a trait of mine that has been passed on to Jake. You see earlier in the day I was in the school office on "official" PTO business (do you think maybe I need a job?). Anyway, there I was conversing with one of the secretaries when who should appear in the office with the P.E. teacher??? BINGO. He was in some sort of trouble and was spending a portion of his recess writing a letter of apology. I gave him my best mad mom glare and promptly turned my back to him for fear he would see me LAUGHING! Seriously now, how bad can his luck be? The one day he gets into trouble his mom just happens to be in the office. I'm sorry Jake, you probably won't ever win any major contests either.

The P.E. teacher explained that during their skating party, some boys had formed a human slingshot and Jake had been "shot" into a girl and knocked her down. So why was my child the only one in the office? Yep, plain ole bad luck! Of course, I did not let him see me enjoying this moment. Every now & again I would turn and make glaring eye contact with him. By the end of the 7 minute apology letter, he was near tears. I know, I know I'm a cruel mommy. He started to walk away without so much as a "sorry mom" when he made that fatal mistake of turning around and making eye contact with me one more time. That did him in! I walked into the hallway to reassure him we would discuss this at home and there was no need for chin quivering at the moment, he could save that for later. Again, I know I'm cruel, very, very, very cruel.

He went his way and I went home after another good laugh with the secretaries. They too realized that a bad luck cloud lurked in every corner near my child. I got home and relayed the story to George who was a bit indignant that the child had gotten into any type of trouble at all for what appeared to be an accident. Can you accidentally form a human slingshot? Hmmmm....

After having another hearty laugh about the child's bad luck, my cell phone started ringing in the all too familiar "school ring". Oh no, not more trouble. Well, no it wasn't more trouble, it was the nurse telling me Jake had accidentally crashed into a pole. Crashed into a pole? Are you kidding? Crashed into a pole minutes after I had placed the fear of me into him? Why, why? Now I felt horrible! Leave it to him to ruin my fun. Apparently, while playing some ridiculous turtle football game on the playground, several kids had collided sending Jake flying face first into a pole.

Hours later, this is what he looked like. So no, no, he didn't get into trouble when he got home for the rollerskating incident. Karma got him instead.

{you be the judge}

This is my idea of FUN!

Birthday tractor fun!

How creative can you get with a party hat fun!

Can you blow ALL the candles out with one breath (and Mikayla's help) fun!

Open your presents fun!

Again simple, maybe slightly quirky, but still FUN!! Do you think I'm rubbing off on them?

{the hunka turns 40}

This will be a simple entry because like with George, a few words go a long way! He’s 40 today and I love him more than when I met him 8 years ago. The time he spends with us is truly the best of him; he plays, he cooks, he helps with homework, he does laundry….he fights fires. Woohoo I love that last one! But to say that this man is an integral part of who I am is not saying enough. We combined our lives with the highest of hopes for a solid family that would be “built to last” and what we have now is diamond tough. I would not be the person I am today without him. I loved you when you were 32 and I love you more now that you are 40. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

.

And now for the traditional birthday poem (he gets one just about every year).

Turning 40 isn’t so bad.
Look at it this way, you’re younger than my dad!

So what if you are no longer a young lad,
You have Richard Gere gray and that’s really rad!

Celebrate today like it’s a new fad,
Just please don’t wear those new shorts of plaid.

Be happy, be cheerful, be really glad,
because today you get to eat cake like mad!

(Tomorrow you’re going on a diet for Pete’s sake, you’re 40 now you have to take care of yourself!!)

{hottest teacher no more}

Many, many years ago, I won something special. I never really shared this information because I am a private kinda person and I certainly wouldn’t want to brag about my awesome breathtaking luck. But, seeing that I am getting older (or so I’m told) and I’m trying to become a more open person, albeit through a blog, I’ve decided the time has come to share my prize or at least the story of my prize.

So here it is-- the story I must share…..in 1997, while I was happily teaching at Westmont H.S., I was voted the hottest teacher in the school by the graduating class!!!! This honor was bestowed upon me at an all school assembly. Yes siree bob that’s right, teachers, counselors, kids and the principal (who now happens to be a superintendent in Antioch) were all witness to the fact that it is possible for a person to go from the color of pasty olive to pink to red to maroon and still walk across the stage to get her computer generated certificate!!!!

But my embarrassment is not why I choose to share this story now. The real reason is this…. while talking to my friend Shellie this morning, she happened to mention that her high school son thought I looked “old” in my profile picture on this blog. Don’t bother looking----it’s gone! Trying to cushion the blow, she quickly added, “He said you don’t look old in real life just in the picture.”

Hmmmm….really? What in the world did that picture magnify that can’t be seen in real life? There goes my modeling career! Unless of course I want to model for AARP! So what’s an aging woman to do?

Botox??? It is quickly becoming a consideration, but I’m already addicted to Diet Coke. So that option is out for now….although I may feel differently as the aging process continues!

Do I crawl into a hole, never post a picture of myself on the blog again and refuse to be seen in public, at least by high school age kids?

No, no those options just aren’t me. I know! I’ll tell the world about my prestigious award AND share my 1997 teacher ID picture that won me that honor as confirmation that I once was cool! Now don’t be jealous, it was many, many, many years ago and apparently the high school generation of this year would not bestow that same honor upon me now! Ahhh, I can at least revel in the memories!! This one’s for you Rusty!

{an unlikely hero}

…..but first a history lesson. In the year 2001, George & Gina were married thereby merging their powerful sovereignties. This merger resulted in many people living in an itty-bitty kingdom. “Why must we suffer so?” the queen would often inquire. “Aaahh, but to suffer makes the inner soul grow stronger” the king would reply. He was consequently demoted to jester as his comment resulted in my hearty laughter. See even my fairy tale history lessons are a tad twisted!!

What was really going on was this. We got married and moved into his teeny-weeny 2 bedroom 1 bathroom ranch house.

Was there a basement to which we could banish the children? NO.

Was the one bathroom spacious enough to house 6 people attempting to get ready for church? I DON’T THINK SO.

Was there enough privacy for a hard-working English teacher to put her make-up on and make it to her first period class? I THINK NOT.

Quite often, my make-up session would be interrupted by two boys playing Light Saber with their pee streams. Trust me, this is a true story.

I did manage to handle all of the shortcomings of the teeny-weeny house because, well frankly, I was madly in love! However, there was one bathroom shortcoming which I found completely intolerable. And that is why this is my new hero.

We literally had to take four minute showers in order not to run out of hot water. It was enough to bring this hot shower lovin’ woman’s tolerance to a shrieking halt. The following are some of the comments that really did escape my mouth during those harsh years of the itty bitty water heater.

“Ummm, what do you mean we’re out of hot water? You just got in!!
I’m going first from now on AND YOU’RE GETTING YOUR BUTT TO HOME DEPOT AND GETTING A BIGGER WATER HEATER!!!!”

“I don’t care if you have soap in your eyes, turn the water off!”

“I’m flipping the 3 minute hourglass timer RIGHT NOW!”

OH and this is me at my best:

“If we run out of hot water before I get in, you’re all taking showers in the back yard with the hose tomorrow!”

Whew, I’m startin’ to get the sweats from these flashbacks! Let us concentrate on my much happier current life.

Today:
Four mini hot water hogs took four sweltering showers AND YES, amazingly, I still had enough hot water left for my luxurious, uninterrupted (not really, but I can hope) 15 minute steamy shower!

I love my hero!

{fleeting moments}

Today this kid asked for an IM account.

Today I said no.

Today he questioned me.

Today I answered like this:
I know what goes on at this stage of the game. I like your friends, but I love you. I would hate for you to get into an inappropriate conversation and give in to peer pressure just to fit in. You’re a funny, witty kid & there is so much to experience out there. Let’s leave IM out for now.

Today he responded:

O.K.

Mom, I love you. You’re so smart. You help me so much.

Today I cried with gratitude.

{meet the family-lone star edition}

Most often you will read about my mom & sisters as they are more local and much easier to make fun of! However, there is a whole other side that I don’t see as often, but are just as much fun to write about….they are the Texas relatives!

Did you know????

*Texas is the only state to have the flags of 6 different nations fly over it. They are: Spain, France, Mexico, Republic of Texas, Confederate States, and the United States?

* More wool comes from the state of Texas than any other state in the United States?

*You can walk my non-Spanish speaking husband, George, across the border from Brownsville, Texas into Mexico and then pretend to not know him and walk away?? But I digress.

*I have a dad George, a brother George, an uncle George and a cousin George? With the exception of my brother, they all live in good ole Texas! Ridem' cowboy!!

There is probably some deep psychological theory attached to why I married a George as well, but we won't delve into that today!!!

So for today, we shall spotlight George......my dad, George that is & his very cool Columbian wife, Geovany.

He is a retired postal worker, who managed not to go postal but instead moved to Brownsville, Texas where his biggest decision of the day is do I water my grass while I smoke my {very unhealthy} cigar or do I golf?

OR

Lose the cigar Dad!! Pretend you're a firefighter & hold that hose with two hands!!!

Now my dad does manage to keep himself busy doing other things............. hmmm...what would those retired things be? Fishing, fishing and more fishing!! He is actually a Catholic deacon too who can write one mean sermon; which may I add I heard plenty of growing up! Oh wait, those were lectures...is there a difference??

He did finally settle down & married the best Columbian cook around. George (my George) craves her gourmet Columbian rice. She was going to teach me how to make it until I found out it involved a pressure cooker. Now, I'll cook "under pressure" but I don't think it's a good idea to combine cooking & real pressure. It scares me. And this leaves my George dreaming of the good ole days when Geovany lived here and made rice just for him. She really made the rice for holiday gatherings but my George convinced himself she made it just for him.

Here she is holding my newest sibling which brings my brain to another pychological quandary.

Why is it now that they are empty nesters they feel the need to adopt new siblings and pamper them and make them exquisite doggie meals? Seriously, this sibling is undoubtedly more pampered than I ever was!!

Please note, I'm not calling the new sibling by its name as I am not quite ready for that yet!!!

So there you have it ~ my dad, Geovany (the most awesome cook) and the sibling

direct from the

Lone Star state of Texas!!

{repentance}

Well that didn’t take long did it? I must now repent for my sin of gloating.

What I left out of {gloaters} was the reason George backed into his brother’s truck. He was rushing to leave on a fire call! There I’ve said it; the weight has been lifted! Whenever George is in Richmond and not actually at the fire department, he is on “call” which results in him having to rush off anytime the pager says so! I’ve secretly thought about turning it off sometimes (not such a secret now), but he also receives text messages to his phone about 5 seconds after the pager goes off so it would be pointless.

So, not two days after he gave my van a sore hiney, he got a “quad” call. Essentially this means there is a fire of some sort and they need the assistance of the four local fire departments (Richmond, Spring Grove, Hebron and Wonder Lake). As he rushed out the door, he tossed me the radio, so I could listen as I sit and worry…what a thoughtful guy!! Apparently, some careless trash burning led to a fully engulfed barn fire less than a mile from our house. This is where my IV’s, many of which you have already become acquainted with, took over. As a result I ended up at the fire taking pictures. I was too chicken to get really close so I only got smoke-no flames. I wasn’t afraid of the actual fire, I was afraid that I would embarrass George. “Hey George, isn’t that your wife interfering with the firemen trying to save this barn?” Nope, I was definitely keeping my distance. So here is an example of what these guys do and they are without a doubt a special breed of brave fellers!!

This was what I saw after I evaded the police officer blocking the street. By the way, that is smoke.

Route 31 was lined with "rigs" from seven FD's! Ooooh, all those cute firefighters!!

Several hours later, this is what was left of the barn!

As part of my repentance, I must also say how proud I am of my hubby for being one of "those guys". I love you very much..............even though you're going to turn 40 really, really soon!!

Sorry, I couldn't resist! I can only be so good! Geez!!

{gloaters}

Gloating is a terrible thing!!! It really can demonstrate the uglier side of a person. I am definitely ANTI-GLOATING. That being said, please be advised this entire entry will be dedicated to exactly that…..gloating…..that horrible, ugly trait that we discourage our children from exhibiting when they win a game for example.

Mikayla is usually the queen of gloating in our household. She does not hesitate to do an “I won” dance or give a loud hoot & holler when she beats us in what was supposed to be a friendly game of UNO. See exhibits A & B below.

It is not uncommon for her victory dance to be followed by my lecture explaining the finer points of winning gracefully. It goes something like this, “Mikayla, when you win a game, it’s OK to feel good abo “WOO, WOO, I WON…..I’M THE UNO CHAMPION OF THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

(That is her interrupting my skilled parenting lecture).

Here I think I’ll try again. “Mikayla, really I want to explain… “NOT NOW MOM, I’M DOING MY UNO CHAMPION DANCE!!”

So…. while I strongly discourage my children from gloating, there arise certain opportunities in life that cannot be ignored and call for exactly that which I so strongly discourage…GLOATING.

Right about now, you may be thinking.....

What is she babbling on & on about?

Why this sermon on the evils of gloating?

GET TO THE POINT!! Ok, ok if you insist!!

So here it is. I will now gloat, revel, take pride, triumph in the fact that (drum roll please)....

I DID NOT DO THIS!!!!

OR THIS

OR EVEN THIS!

Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. (say it like a true grammar school cheerleader while doing Milayla's victory dance!)

Her comes MORE GLOATING…….

IT WASN’T ME!!!!!!

• I ONLY BACK UP (and slowly at that) INTO MAILBOXES & SMALLER CARS.

• I DON’T DO MAJOR ­DAMAGE!!!!!
  

• I ONLY GET HARMLESS LITTLE SPEEDING TICKETS THAT REQUIRE ME TO GIVE UP 4 HOURS OF MY LIFE AT TRAFFIC SCHOOL.
  

But hey, compared to this what’s a little ticket? (let’s look at it again shall we?)

AHHH, the joy of gloating!! Does it always feel this good? No wonder Mikayla ignores my pleas to be graceful.

Now, many of you may be wondering,

“Well, if Gina, the best driver that ever lived in God’s Country, didn’t do this, who in tarnation did????”

Please refer to exhibit C for the answer.

Yes, it’s true. This hunka, hunka burning love backed my van up into his brother’s hunka, hunka trucking truck!! AND HIS BROTHER WASN’T EVEN PARKED DIRECTLY BEHIND HIM!!! Excuse me, while I have another laughing fit! I do apologize for being so gloaty, but I don’t often get the chance. I am hahahahaha (sorry!) happy to report no damage was incurred to my brother-in-law’s truck!

So for today…. I AM THE BETTER DRIVER. PERIOD!! Gloating over. Bye.

{internal voices}

7:50 Blinded by the sun shining through the curtainless window bouncing off the full length mirror inside my walk-in closet.
Internal Voice (IV for short): I really should get a curtain or maybe I’ll just tactfully tack a nice dark sheet up there until I can decide what color I want this room.

8:00 Pull the covers over my head.
IV: Wow, it’s hot under here. But it is still Friday, I have no children so I should be able to guiltlessly sleep-in, right?

8:05 FIRE CALL!!!! I lay there and listen to the tones and giggle as George groggily tumbles out of bed and attempts to get dressed.
IV: I really wish he would bring his fire gear home…it sure would be more exciting to see him put those on instead of jeans!

8:25 While still in bed, I learn that the fire call is a false alarm and the Richmond Village Hall isn’t really burning to the ground. Shoot! Poor Georgie, he’ll be disappointed. He loves fires!
IV: Maybe you should surprise him with breakfast…that’ll make him feel better.
IV#2: Buuuuuttt I have no children to be responsible for!

8:35 OK, OK I’ll get up! But reluctantly!
IV: Now go make a nice big breakfast & he’ll be soooooo happy!

I make my way downstairs carefully….don’t want any splinters! I open the fridge and because I have a self-diagnosed case of ADD, I am distracted by the containers of left-overs that have by now undoubtedly gone shopping for new furs. So what do I do? I start cleaning out the fridge.
IV: Hey, this is great! I’ll get the fridge cleaned out and wiped down and it will be all sparkly & clean to put nice new groceries into.

8:57 Since no one is around some of my IV’s are having a conversation!
IV#1: Why did he put the whole pot of soup into the fridge? Why couldn’t he separate it into nice little containers?
IV#2: Wow, it sure is a nice pot though! (It’s my Calphalon Soup Pot that I got for my bday.)
IV#1: You really should take the pot out and separate it into little containers.
IV#2: Yeah, then you can make more soup in the really nice pot!
IV#3: I really don’t think you should hold it with one hand! Grab it with both hands! You’re making me very nervous.
ME out loud: OK, just slide over and I’ll pull you right out………..NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
IV #3: Told you!

This is what it looks like when you drop almost 5 quarts of Italian Wedding Soup!

9:01 George walks through the door. His voice: Wow!! That’s a big mess. Did the lid break?

IV#4: NO, BUT IT MIGHT WHEN I THROW IT AT YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!

10:32 Finally finished cleaning up the mess. I actually had to use Q-tips to clean the itty, bitty pastina out of the crevices of the fridge. I was really grateful for the dogs as they licked most of the mess right up!

And yes, after all that, I did make breakfast for my Hunka, hunka burning (not so much today) love!!!

{i'm a snob}

As most of you know my affinity for DC goes back to my post pregnancy days with Mikayla. You see, when I got pregnant with Mikayla my life changed. Most lives usually do change when you unexpectedly become pregnant. That, of course, was not a big deal…the being pregnant part I was actually pretty happy. However, the bigger deal was the addiction that came with that pregnancy. Before Mikayla, drinking soda was not part of my drinking fare. I was more of a Perrier/LaCroix drinker (I admit I’m a water snob). However, one day there I was in the teacher’s lounge looking at my gourmet lunch of Lemon LaCroix and a beautifully put together egg salad sandwich when I glanced over at the pop machine. My eyes immediately focused on the “RC” button. I have no idea what power took over my body, but the next thing I know I was happily chugging down an RC!! And so it began…. my love affair with pop! I thought for sure it was a temporary craving that would leave me once I gave birth. But alas, that was not so! Eight years later my drinking has morphed as follows: RC for the next 3 years to regular Coke for about 2 years… I’m also a “diet snob” but finally got over my snobbiness when I switched to Diet Coke.

Why the drinking history you ask?

Well, this past week I was attacked by the flu bug promptly followed by the cold bug! I, however being the “bug snob” that I am, refused to attribute my general achiness & major headache to the flu. Instead I was sure it was withdrawal symptoms as I had also decided to just stop drinking Diet Coke (cold turkey). So for the next 3 days, that’s right 3 days, I was again possessed by some unknown force that resulted in family retreating from me every time I walked into a room. That is a bit of an exaggeration, but I think they were really scared!!!! LOL. So, after two days of seeing my family disappear from the room I was in and several really bad phone conversations with my sister, she convinced me to just have one Diet Coke to take the “edge” off. Because she is the medical field (that’s how I rationalized it…she is actually a practice manager for a doctor’s office!! LOL) I trusted her advice. Two DC’s later I still felt just as bad as I did before. It was then that I became more conscious of my symptoms and decided to lay down for a little “nap” on Monday. My nap lasted the rest of the day on Monday and all day Tuesday. I felt like a Diet Coke truck had delivered my supply but run over me in the process! My symptoms were all but gone on Wednesday which fooled me into thinking I was “back to normal”. I went about my normal activities and then as I was driving home from my very cool Script class I started sneezing and sneezing. I looked in the rear view mirror and there it was the COLD BUG!!!

There you have it, a very detailed description of my week. BUT…out of negative always comes positive, at least in my “happy little Gina world”…that’s what George likes to call it. I found a new favorite thing… Puffs tissues with Vicks & lotion right in them! They smell soooooooo good! I’m still sniffing them & I’m not really sick anymore. I swear they are best thing next to Perrier… ok, ok Diet Coke!

Have a great day & be kind to a stranger!

{god's country}

In my last entry I made a reference to "God's Country" which is my mom's pet name for how far I live from the city and more importantly her house. Actually, on a good day, it's only 65 minutes to her house. However, when we hit traffic, it's a completely different story. At the beginning of our relationship, George (a.k.a. My hunka, hunka burning love) and I made that trip quite often as we were desperately infatuated with each other. As our relationship got more serious it became apparent we would have to choose:

A) A house in Melrose Park within a 10 minute radius of both my mom & sister. This option would have satisfied me, the city dwelling, downtown clubbing, manicure every week girl, except for the unfortunate fact that my ex was also located within that radius.

B) A house in the country, actually George already had a house in the country, pretty convenient huh? Of course this option satisfied him being the lemonade drinking, country music listening, tractor loving guy that he is.

OR

C) we find a house in a central location. Knowing I could probably manipulate finding a house in a more urban area outside of that 10 minute radius that encompassed my mom, sister and ex I was very keen on this idea.

The choice was obvious to George as he had an established house and I had given mine up. I have no idea why the choice didn't seem as obvious to me!!! After many, many, many hours of discussion and tears on my part, we decided we would "try" his house. I stress "try" because his country house was actually a country cottage with two lovely bedrooms, a kitchen a bathroom and a living room! Yep, that's it! Not exactly the best set-up for a family of six! But we gave it a whirl and here we are almost seven years later permanent "country" residents. (I'll discuss the trauma that accompanied this transition in another post.) We've gone from the two bedroom country cottage to the remodeled three bedroom country cottage to the ugliest, oldest house in Johnsburg to our final resting place....George's version of my Gone With the Wind dream; built with his own hands here in "God's country".

So this is my traffic....

I know it's a bad picture, but I took it while driving!

The spots are actually from my dirty windshield!

I ran out of wiper fluid.

This is my view....

out of the bedroom window

and my front porch.

These are our pets.

I'm telling you, people who knew me before would never have imagined this is really who I was!!

One of the many organic egg layers!

The pygmy goats--Bentley & MiniCooper. See what happens when you don't have malls nearby!

The bane of my early morning existence!! I've actually named him Chicken Soup!

Juniper Rose & Oliver George

(Another funny story for a later blog.)

Now folks, (see I even use folks in sentences what HAS happened to ME???) the vision of my dream home consisted of porches and swooping willow trees and neighbors. Yes....I think in my vision I had neighbors AND a mall. But as I adjust to my new street lights (the stars) and my new neighbors...oh wait nothing to adjust to there! Simply stated, I love it here and wouldn't want to be anywhere else! Thank goodness for God's Country!

{candle hog}

Traditions. What would a family be without them? We have always been big birthday celebrators in my family; my family being my mom & my sister and our significant others. The celebrations have evolved from the extravagant dinner parties in restaurants to the more intimate setting of our homes. (My preference.) Usually the meeting place is my mom’s or sister’s house because I live way out in “God’s country” as my mom likes to say.

So we met at my sister’s house this weekend for our February & March birthday celebrations…. Mom, Jason (my sister’s beau), Niko (nephew) & myself. After dinner came time for the traditional blowing of the candles. This year it could actually be compared to the traditional running of the bulls! Here we are merrily singing "Happy Birthday".

And then literally, in the blink of an eye....THE CANDLES ARE ALL OUT! My mom AKA "The Candle Hog" blew out all the candles before the song was even over! Did she give thought to the other three people celebrating? NO! Did she think hmmm... Let's do this all together? NO!!! Did she inhale as deep as she could and blow with all her might? YES, why YES she did!! Don't you love my shocked expression?

So I did the only thing I could, I blew out pretend candles! I felt so much better! Mom, next year your candles will be isolated on a chocolate island of their own!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVERYONE!!!

{introducing the gossip girls}

They're only 2 days old and already they are gossiping girls/chicks! Isn't this the cutest picture ever?

These are the three Black Sex Link chickens (really that is their true name) who will be laying speckled brown eggs for us in about six months. We love going out to the coop and collecting our morning eggs. We especially love sharing them! Put your requests in now! Mikayla named hers Miranda.
George picked the fluffiest one he could find!
This month we'll be getting the rest of our new chickens so stay tuned to see them. I'll be posting pictures soon of what they'll look like grown up...you're going to love these! We ordered some rare birds this time around. Until then stay "tweet"! (Oh, I kill me!)

{homemade fun}

Simplicity...I love it! I truly appreciate homemade birthdays and "37" was no exception. George & kids did a fabulous job throwing me a rockin' party complete with Bozo Buckets, the limbo and a pinata!

We ate my favorite (at least for the moment) homemade Pizza Margherita with a delicious wheat crust!

Mikayla is the family's master balloon blower upper! Seriously, I have no idea how she can blow up so many balloons! I can barely get one done in the time it takes her to do three!

The party really got going after dinner with a little game of "Bozo Buckets"! I never could win at this game, but since it was my birthday I got extra shots! Bucket #5 was always my demise!

George was having his own fun with the "LIMBO"! He did comment on quad muscle strains being the reason he couldn't limbo quite so low. Courtney's teeth were really sore from having her braces tightened the day before. I think this is the only picture I got with her actually smiling & using her head!! She makes me so proud!

The favorite of the night had to be the Princess Pinata! Leave it to George to find a tiara for a pinata! The boys both had good luck because they were using their SOX & CUBS mini bats! Gavin is the die hard SOX fan & Jake is ever loyal to the CUBS even though he has been threatened with sleeping in the chicken coop if he doesn't cross over to the SOX side! Jake actually broke the pinata in this picture but he was nice enough to let Gavin have the last shot.

Look at Gavin's face! The tiara didn't have a chance. If you look closely you'll notice Jake is already gathering candy! I thought he was being nice letting his brother have the last shot....but ALAS he had a master plan!

Devious little feller!

What a great memorable birthday! I can't think of anything I would have rather done!