Giddy up!

This past weekend was also the Park Elementary Daddy-Daughter Round-up!
Maggie wore the pink cowboy boots and jean dress that Alicia picked out for her last birthday. Rick even picked up a 'cowgirl hat' for her to wear.

They had a great time.

Sleep Over

Aubrey spent the night on Saturday night. The girls love having her over. Rick took Maggie and Aubrey to Playworld while Em and I finished up at the dance studio. (Em danced and I rhinestoned)

They played some Dora Chutes and Ladders.

Sunday we went sledding at Charlie's Dump and then to McDonald's for lunch.

Plug for my sister

Do you read your horoscope? Do you try to see how it relates to your life? Do you freak out when your horoscope actually looks like it was written just for you on a particular day?

Check out my sister Stacey's blog:

http://www.staceyhoroscope.blogspot.com/

Opinions, please

I did my nails last night. They're dark. It's a purpley brown color that I thought was kind of cool. I got to work today and some co-workers were giving me a hard time. So I'd like some opinions. Do I go back to my boring, neutral shades? Or can I do the dark? Cast your vote using the poll, please.

Snow Day

Emily was actually hoping that Hudsonville would be closed, but Jenison still open so she would have dance tonight. Apparently, she flushed a few too many ice cubes or the fork-spoon combo was especially potent. I don't think there was a single school in Kent or Ottawa counties that was open today.

Wishing for a snow day

I do encourage goal setting so I had to support Emily's attempt to create a snow day for tomorrow. She got Maggie in on the plot, figuring they'd have twice the chance.
Here are the instructions.

1. Wear your pajamas inside out.
2. Flush ice cubes down the toilet
3. Put a spoon under your pillow. Or a fork.

She's heard both the spoon and the fork version, so figured she'd cover her bases and do both. Between the two girls, they flushed 8 ice cubes. While Emily was helping Maggie button her p.j.'s backwards, she did her best to prep her for the possibility that despite their efforts they may still have to go to school tomrrow. Then they went off to bed.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Yes we do have other children

Emily and Maggie take up so much of my time that it may seem like they are the only kids we have. But of course there are more. Today's entry deals with the two college students.
Daniel is in his third year at GVSU. Katie is in her second at Lawrence Tech. This semester, both of them have seemed to hit crisis mode in the 'What do I want to be when I grow up?' department.

Through a casual conversation with Daniel I discovered that he has not registered for classes this semester. He doesn't want to continue with engineering, but doesn't know what else to do. I mentioned it to Rick, who proceeded to call Daniel up and read him the riot act.

Similarly, Katie was struggling to fill her schedule and still be able to keep her part time job. She was also trying to decide if she should continue with the architecture program, switch to interior architecture, or go in a different direction all together.

It's so hard to give advice while letting them both make their own decisions. How can I help them decide what they want to do with the rest of their lives? I'm not even sure I know what I want to do with the rest of mine yet! And Rick is really pushing Daniel to at least stay in school so he doesn't wind up regretting it later, not to mention being able to stay on our health insurance.

Do I hold them by the hand? Or let them sink or swim on their own?

And it begins...

Emily and Maggie attended the New York City Dance Alliance convention in Lansing this weekend. It was a very long weekend of workshops taught by some interesting people. Among them was Sabra Johnson, winner of So You Think You Can Dance.

The weekends from now until early June are pretty much booked with extra rehearsals, competitions, recital and Festival.

The shirt I found for Emily pretty much sums up our lives for the next 5 months:

Karaoke Night

For those of you that don't know, I'm the leader of both Maggie and Emily's Girl Scout troops, and also the Hudsonville Girl Scout Neighborhood Manager. This past Saturday two Hudsonville Girl Scouts hosted a Karaoke Night to earn their Bronze Award. Of course we went to show our support. They did a great job planning, decorating, and running the event.

We heard about 20 renditions of "Fabulous" from High School Musical 2, but had a good time.

Check us out singing "Complicated" by Avril Lavigne.

And here's Emily getting her groove on!

She worked really hard to earn the 'Silliest Dancer' award, but alas was not chosen by her peers.

Happy New Year

I was feeling a little disappointed yesterday when I realized we didn't have anything exciting planned for New Years Eve. I stopped at Costco and picked up some jumbo crab legs and spinach artichoke dip to make a bit of a celebration. Doug Shuck joined us for dinner, then Mark came over with A.J. and Josh and Daniel came home. We played LCR and Apples to Apples. It actually turned out to be quite an enjoyable night.

Happy New Year!!

Christmas Camp!

Every 3rd year, we get to invade dad's hunting camp for the week between Christmas and New Year. We call it Christmas Camp.

This is our third time up there and we had a great time. Dad cooks amazing feasts for breakfast and dinner, and we play games, do crafts, and just spend time with our family.

This year mom got the younger girls little sewing kits and some fabric to make clothes for their American Girl dolls, and I took up a bunch of FIMO clay and tools to make the dolls some food.

Katie and Molly raided mom's bead stash and made some really cool bracelets. The only thing that would have made the time better is if Stacey and her kids, and Chip could have joined us. (And if Mere would have been feeling better)

It does seem to get easier as the kids get older :)