More Sunday Evening

Boys playing football, Bean adding her squeeky toy to the mix (thanks Ma! ;)

want it, Bean?

enjoyin the ice cream drive-thru

TV!

I'm excited nervous shocked sucking my gut in what do I wear amazed that we will be on tv this FRIDAY!!! After some persistance, not annoying, but emails here and there to contact different local newsies, we finally got our break! On a new show that airs weeknights from 5-6pm! What amazing exposure this will be for us two lil stay at home momma's (well, technically Shawna works at school now so she's a workin' lady). Can you believe it!??!??!

Ernie of green GABLED

Well the weather outside is... AMAZING!! Just came in from pricing some garage sale stuff. WOW, I love this weather! I know it won't be here forever, so we appreciate days like this :) It's been a really nice weekend. Yesterday both boys had t-ball/baseball practice, so Erk took Jack (and Molly went with them) and I took Mikie. He and I decided to go a little early so we could play catch. Mike grabbed the baseball bat too so we went into a field nearby the baseball diamond (there were girls practicing so we didn't wanna be in the way) and Mikie hit a few of my pitches. I kept covering my face with my hands, afraid he was gonna break my nose! An old school fear of mine... softball/bat/hitting my face, flashbacks! After Mike's practice I told him he and I would go get a hot fudge sundae. I called Erk on our way home to see what they were doing and they were heading home too. I told him our plan and he said we were on speaker so everyone heard the plan! So we'd better go thru the drive-thru and get 5 hot fudge sundaes :) So we did. We sat on the front porch steps and enjoyed... Ohh, I wanted to tell you, slowly but surely we are learning more tidbits about our house. I discovered last week where the original basement walls were, so now when we sit at the table and eat, I tease the kids "I'd be sitting outside." Apparently the outside laundry room wall was the back of the house, all the way across. But at some point they added on to our kitchen area (to give the house plumbing), and the mudroom/bathroom. From some research online to find out what type of house this is, I found it was built as a "Gabled-Ell". Most likely the front room of our house (which is now our den, was our dining room) was the kitchen. COOL, eh!? Perhaps you aren't as interested, but I find it intriguing! I hear Bean barking at some poor bikers. Her bark is sounding slower, more "I'm trying to scare you but I'm 70 years old" sorta sound. She just doesn't have that agile, take off like a bullet sorta run in her anymore. We play catch and after 3 tosses of the ball, she won't drop the darn thing out of her mouth cause truth be told, she doesn't really want you to throw it again. Then she'd have to chase it.

First Ballet

Mousie trying on a costume before the ballet! I love this picture! Jack getting a tattoo Nanny and Mol colorin before the show

Molly and Maya ended up with the same tattoo. Cute lil buddies :)

Today was the first real ballet experience we've ever had. Sure I took ballet in 2nd grade and Molly just finished her 6 week class, but this was a whole new ballgame. The liturgical dance leader at church (who was also Molly's ballet teacher) asked if any of the girls would like to go see the local ballet put on a children's program.

So, a few weeks ago, I asked the boys (separately of course) if they had any interest in going. First I talked to Jack, "sure, sounds cool..." shrug of the shoulders and half smile. I went upstairs to ask Mikie while he was playing in his room and his response (which kinda surprised me actually) was "Nope, I'd rather hang with Papa." And so that's how the ticket purchases shook out :) We called Nanny and she was pleased to join us!

Come this morning, Mike was still glad he wasn't going and Jack was trying to convince Mike that he was gonna miss out (and I believe convincing himself that it'd be worth it). And it was. Truly, Jack even said when I asked if he had rather gone or not gone, he said "have gone, that was fun!"

Anywho, once we got there, they had fun stuff around for the kids, like costumes to try on and tattoos and coloring. Then we lined up (fortunately Miss Jennifer knew that we'd better be ready when the doors opened) and got in the 2nd row. The show opened and it was really cool. Granted in those leotards you can see an awful lot (if you get my drift)! Ohh and Molly yelled out twice, "where's Nemo!?"

Overall, I feel we got some culture today and Molly sure looks cute in roses intertwined around her head :)

Waiting for the curtain to open! After the ballet Molly, Jack, Nanny and I went to have some lunch. Mouse was a tad on the grumpster side, but she came thru it. Jack and Nanny talked solar system books and bargain bookstore ideas :)

This Old House

Ok, so we met a few road blocks. That's ok. We're gonna keep diggin... For the longest time I've wanted to research our house. When was it actually built? They told us 1900, but is that accurate? We have reason to believe otherwise. How many families have lived here? We know an old woman died on our front porch, but who was she? How big was the original house? What rooms were added on later?

(if Jack would just zip up his sweatshirt he'd probably be warmer :)

With Spring Break this week I thought this would be the perfect time to start to find answers. The kids and I headed to the bank to get cash in case we needed it for making copies and on over to the Township Hall. Nice people in there, but they couldn't help us with squat. They confirmed the "1900" year, but that's because that's the only record they have. There were 3 people in the office and a dude in the back chimed in and said it's because "any house built before 1940 doesn't really have the paperwork to say when it was actually built so many homes that vintage are a guessed year." And the chick sitting in the back chimed in and said it's "because there weren't many building permits back then to keep track." Interesting facts indeed. So I asked where we could go from there and was told to check the Census records. That's something we'll look into later.

From there we headed over to the town Historical Society to see what we could find. We parked and took a little stroll near the dam, freezing our butts off only to find that they are "Closed for the Winter, See you in the Spring!" Last I checked, technically it is Spring! Oh well, back to the truck and on home we came. Not before snapping a picture of this place, the color scheme we'd like to paint our house, perhaps this summer!? Wouldn't that be cute! We'd be adding to the history of coolness to this house :)

"Sticky Forrest" Trail

Jack rearin' and ready to go Mouse bringing her pink scooter on down (and Bean, of course can't miss being nutso)

And he's off!

we were in our back 40, even though it's just one acre :) Isn't that a cute farmhouse?

there goes Mikie!

showin the last leg of the trail

ready to go it again