Bowling

Last weekend we wanted to take Timmy bowling but they didn't have any bumper lanes available by the time we went (it wasn't even 6 yet but whatever). Today I decided we would go again. I really wanted to give it a try and was unsure of how it would go. Timmy LOVED it! He was so excited to learn how to roll the ball down the lane and eventually didn't even want any help with it. We went earlier this afternoon and then came home for naps. Timmy just asked about 15 minutes ago if we could go bowling tonight. Not tonight, little man, but we will be going again. Success!

Timmy looking at his bowling ball while Daddy sets up the names

Daddy putting his bowling shoes on

And it's off (sorry for the blur, didn't have the flash on so it wouldn't distract other bowlers)

So serious!

Mommy's turn to help

Watching the ball go down the lane

He loved being able to get his ball and take his turn

Not so great about waiting to see the results of his bowling though

Ready, set, bowl!

Watching the ball

Final score. Pretty horrible for Erik and I but a great first for Timmy

Fall Football

At the beginning of September we decided to take in a football game. It was great weather (about 50/60 degrees) and a really great game. We weren't able to stay for all of it but the team looks pretty good considering they got a new coach this year. Timmy had a blast and kept wanting to go play with them on the field (turns out that's frowned upon). I'm glad that he liked the game and that we were able to go so early in the season too. We usually end up going sometime in October and turns out it's a little cool then.

Timmy and I at the game

A little bit of the game

Timmy cheering when the coach's wife cheered

Timmy and Daddy drinking Gatorade

PostSecret

Speaking of things I've been thinking about for a while but not posting...

I'd been wanting to look at the book PostSecret for a while now and finally checked it out just a few weeks ago from the library. I'm sure you remember the PostSecret craze, where you could write a secret on a postcard and mail it anonymously to this guy, Frank Warren. I don't know if he made all of them into books or art displays or whatnot, but that was the original idea.

It really got me thinking, after looking at the book, about what a secret actually is and what it does to people. What is it about a secret, something that you don't feel you can tell someone else, that makes it a dark glimpse into ones soul? Just wondering your thoughts on the topic...

Arrested Development

Back in March (or April), around Easter, my younger brother suggested that Erik and I watch 'Arrested Development' because we might really enjoy it. We had a trial membership to Netflix and decided to give 'Arrested Development' a try.

There are a few things I really like about the show. One, the dynamic of the siblings. It just cracks me up. Two, the writing, it's just great. Three, how the scenes from the next show are never really on the next show. Four, how it's narrated by Ron Howard. Five, how the opening credits actually tell you the background to the story.

So, we've watched about 16 episodes of 22 for the first season and I find myself having moments where I can almost hear my life being narrated by Ron Howard. Strange. Yet, that means clearly the show must be entertaining, right?

Field Trip

A few weeks ago (the first Friday in May), I was able to go with Timmy's school to see a play. If you know the area, we went to Southridge and the little stage company is where Red Robin used to be when it was in the mall (which was before I started working at Southridge). Anyway, we saw the Little Red Hen.

The other parents were all moms too for this trip (the last field trip had been to the pumpkin farm and there were a few dads there), well mostly moms and one grandma. Of course it was pouring out, so it's a good thing we were going to an inside event. We did potty time before we put on coats and got on the bus. Then, most of the kids needed to go potty again immediately after we sat down in our seats. After 10 minutes they all came back and we were still sitting there waiting for the other school to arrive.

A few minutes after 10 (the show was supposed to start at 10) the other school showed up and things could get rolling. I took Timmy to the potty two times during the performance but overall it went pretty well. It was a little loud which I think frightened some of the kids, especially some of the kids up front by the speakers. But overall it was a really good time. Timmy's little schoolmate, Olivia, was absolutely captivated by the show. She sat with her head propped up on her hands with her elbows on her knees the entire time. So cute! The only thing that slightly annoyed me (and the teachers) is that for audience participation the cast chose 3 kids from the other school and only 1 from Timmy's school. But oh well, things can't be perfect.

I'm glad that I had the opportunity to go with his class to this! Since I currently have a fairly flexible schedule it's nice to be able to tag along on little field trips. Next up for us is going to Timmy's end of the year performance next Thursday. Should be a good time (need to remember to make cookies).

My Funny Little Guy

I keep thinking about Timmy stories and sayings that are so funny and then forgetting to put them on my blog to actually remember them. That's the problem with thinking about doing something, sometimes you forget that you haven't actually done it!

Timmy really like the Disney movie Cars and quotes it all the time. If you don't know the story, here's a brief recap. There's a huge race and it's a 3 way tie with a tie-breaker in California. There's the car who is on the last race of its career (Streak Weathers aka The King), the car who is constantly in second place (Chick Hicks) and the new car whose in his first year of racing (Lightning McQueen). When the announcers are doing a recap of the three lead cars they call them The Legend, The Runner-Up, and The Rookie.

Today when Timmy was watching Cars he said: "The legend, the runner-up, and Timmy!" and then ran around the living room like he was in a race. What a cutie!

He also asks Erik and I if we want to be his best friends. Of course we do, little buddy, of course we do!

Jesus Has a Little Lamb...

On Sunday, Timmy and most of his other classmates from 3K and 4K at school were at Pilgrim to sing for the service. It was in honor of PCDC's 10th anniversary. They were so cute! It was good shepherd Sunday and so they sang about being Jesus's little lambs. My favorite part of it was how for the first verse half the kids sang Mary and half sang Jesus (because it was to the tune Mary had a little lamb). Cracked me up! I think Timmy even sang a little bit instead of just standing up there.

Now you know that I love having pictures of my little guy and the different events in his life. However, it's church, you don't need to have pictures of your little 3 year old singing in church to know that it happened. Not all of the parents shared my thinking and when they kids were up there to sing some were snapping pictures. Most (if not all) of the kids do not belong to Pilgrim so it is not their home church. When you are a visitor somewhere you just don't take initiative like that. Maybe that's just me.

Anyway, we had a great time and I'm so glad that Timmy has this opportunity in his life!

Easter 2010

This Easter we were able to make the trip down to Joplin to celebrate with my parents. It's been our idea to go down for Easter since before the New Year...and then my brothers totally copied our idea. It was nice to be able to get together for a holiday as a whole family. I don't think we've done that since before either Paul or I were married. So, yeah, it's been a few years!

We took off on Thursday night after Erik got home from work. We stopped in Fenton for the night and then finished the trip in the morning. It was a pretty good time with the hotel. The only true issue was that we forgot Bud's dog bed (oops). When I woke up he was in front of the door just laying there watching it. At least he's not a barker!

When we got to Mom and Dad's we met up with Tim and met his girlfriend, Amberlynn. It was nice to have a little bit of down time before Good Friday service. After church, Erik, Timmy, and I went to pick Mom up from work. So, this time we got to see a little bit more of Joplin, if only by about 12 blocks. =)

Saturday we went to play in the park with Timmy before heading out to lunch with Tim and Amberlynn. After lunch we went to Toys 'R Us and Tim bought Timmy a few birthday presents. Back to the house for a nap for the little man and some egg boiling and stump removal for the grown-ups. Woo! Once dinner was over and the eggs cooled, we were able to decorate and dye the eggs for Easter.

Easter Sunday we went to brunch, participated in the Easter egg hunt, and then late church. Timmy didn't do too badly with the hunt. There were some people who didn't seem to realize that the point of the event was for everyone to get some eggs and not to hoard them all but, that's how it goes sometimes. That night Amberlynn and I went to Blockbuster to rent a few movies. After watching "Couples Retreat", we decided to call it a night.

On Monday, after breakfast, we hit the road to come back to Wisconsin. Both Timmy and Bud did really well on the trip (again) and I'm glad that they are both such great travelers.

Grandpa and Timmy reading "How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night?"

Daddy and Timmy playing on the playground

All tired out

Opening presents from Uncle Tim

Dyeing eggs with Grandma and Auntie Katie

All set for the Easter egg hunt

My silly dog

Opening another present from Uncle Tim

Playing with his new toys with Uncle Tim

Chris's 30th Birthday Party

On March 6th we were able to be part of a surprise party for our friend Chris. His wife, Beth, started planning it back in January and he was completely surprised. Chris decided that he wanted a party for his birthday but that he wanted to do all the work for it. Meanwhile, Beth contacted everyone to have them say they were busy and couldn't make it when Chris asked about getting together. Chris actually invited people only the Wednesday before his birthday (so it ended up working out in Beth's favor anyway) and Dave and Buster's (an adult Chuck E Cheese I guess) that had only opened the day before. Clearly that wasn't going to work anyway.

Erik and I contacted Beth on Saturday to say that we were able to get a babysitter at the last minute (yeah...3 week last minute) and could join them for drinks. So we waited and met them outside Benno's in 'Stallis and went in with the birthday boy. He was COMPLETELY surprised! It was great!

A picture of the birthday cake

Erik and I

The Book Club girls (minus Jen who had to work and Steph who was out of town)

Doing a shot of Jager with the Birthday Boy and his wife

Yeah... I've got nothing

Time to make a wish!

Presents! Here's what we got Chris

Here's one of his other gifts

Book club does a shot (I think a Lemon Drop but I'm not for sure)

One more of Erik and I

What's So Interesting...

I don't understand what's so interesting about being in Bud's crate. Timmy thinks it's hilarious and sometimes even won't let Bud in at all. Bud is understandably confused by this, but it's all in good fun. Enjoy!

100th Anniversary of the Zoological Society of Milwaukee

I honestly can't remember if I blogged about this already or not and couldn't find anything with a quick look, so I'm going to guess, no.

Back in January (I know!) the Zoological Society of Milwaukee celebrated its 100th anniversary. There were a lot of different events going on to celebrate, one of which was a cake decorating competition. It was really interesting to see all of the different cake designs and how they designed the animals.

We had decided that we wanted to go to this event back in December and of course when the day came it was freezing cold. But we bundled up and headed on out. Enjoy the pictures!

One of the cakes in the competition

Another cake in the competition

Another cake in the competition

At this point I realized I didn't have my flash on but I think you still get the idea (it's a penguin cake)

This is the cake that won the competition

A cake for the competition in progress. I thought this was very interesting to have one cake that you can actually see being made (you can see the other two tiers being made in the background)

Another cake in the competition. The cake next to this one was a Sampson cake but one of the hands fell off and I thought it was too sad to take a picture of it like that

More giraffes on a cake (this is actually the number that we have at the zoo)

Penguins, polar bears, and monkeys, oh my! (and a light up sign)

An elephant cake that had some structural damage, but I thought it was great that they replicated the entire zoological society logo

A cake representation of the zoo's new hippo, Happy

A tiger cake from Grebe's (don't know if it's the one by our house or if there's a different one)

Timmy and Daddy enjoying some of the cake samples (and popcorn)

My little marshmallow kid in the aviary

Timmy and Daddy playing with the snow

Daddy throwing Timmy in the snow. I'll admit that I played the Mom card and was more concerned about us getting yelled at for throwing snow and jumping in it than actually enjoying the snow at the zoo...

Post-snow fun

The camels stay outside for the winter

Timmy and I by the camels (look at his little rosy cheeks!)

Apparently at the snack machine in the barn you can buy an elephant...