Abby's birthday morning

This little one has been counting down the days for a LONG time! Six, at last!! She was more excited than words can tell.

For a long time Abby has wanted gold fish. Months ago I told her we weren't allowed to have pets (at least without a huge deposit) and sort of left it at that. Well, I checked, and fish don't count. So we picked up a bowl, the necessities, and fish knowing she would be incredibly happy. And she was. She is SO proud to have REAL pets!

Watch this little video to find out their names!

gymnastics

All three kiddos were in a gymnastics class with the Germantown Rec. Department this spring. They had a blast and didn't want it to end. Sadly, today was the last day. Here's a little peek into their classes:

Eliza met this cutie-and-a-half, Elli. A new friend!

They were SO proud to get these certificates (that they were not expecting). You should have seen Eliza.

my Mother's Day

Boy, did I get the royal treatment! Here's the morning...

The kids were of course trying to keep this a secret. Saturday afternoon Eliza says to me in a VERY excited, semi-hushed tone, with BIG eyes, "Mom. Have you ever had breakfast in bed!?"

"Umm, I don't think so." "How about tomorrow, on Mother's Day!" Big smile, gleaming excitement. She almost made it.

Debra sent me this completely adorable apron she'd made...(It wraps around and ties in the back--looks almost like a skirt since it matches my sweater so well!)

I got to talk to my Mom in the Azores. Love you Mom!

Daniel made us broccoli/mushroom fettuccine for dinner. Yum yum.

And most fun was watching home videos that Daniel had transferred from cassettes to DVDs. We have hours of entertainment that everyone enjoys! It is so fun to see the personalities of the kids and how they've grown. Thanks Daniel!

What Andrew's up to...

He and Daniel built this cool birdhouse for a cub scout requirement...
We've also put out seed (and watched it disappear) on the deck, gone on a bird walk, and the kids are studying bird identification books.

Yesterday in the car we were playing 20 questions. Abby was thinking of a bird...it was narrowing down...it had red on its neck...after a couple seconds pause, Andrew bursts "RUBY THROATED HUMMING BIRD!" Mis-match day at school brought some good ol' fun.

A hike/walk I went on with the scouts.

Andrew's in Little League this season. Man, he is cute out there! He loves it and is pretty good! The teams sure score a lot as fielding is not their specialty! :)
Check out our first video of Andrew in action...(he's up to bat) and yes, there is some action we didn't expect.

Idol Girl

Most of you probably know by now that Abby was on American Idol! She is in the video montage of Danny Gokey's visit to Milwaukee! You can get a couple second peek at her with this link. You'll see Abby roughly 1 min. 50 seconds into it after the running girl in plaid pants tries to catch up to Danny's limo. Poor thing.

Enjoy!

It was pretty hilarious right after the clip aired. I had 4 friends call me within thirty seconds--bam. bam. bam. bam. I was dying of laughter. I hadn't even seen it yet--we were just getting pjs on and were going to start it (was recording) in a few minutes. Then I got a call from Utahans who saw it the next hour, then Washingtonians who called us at 11:30pm they were so excited! Abby had loads of friends and teachers telling her "I saw you last night!!" the next day at school. Too much fun.

It's been a fun 2 seconds of fame for the whole family! (Does that mean she has 14:58 minutes left? Sweet.)

At school with Abby

Friday was "Family Appreciation Day" in Abby's kindergarten class. With Mother's Day and Father's day around the corner, they invited any family members to come see the classroom and pick up a gift from their child. We were lucky to have Daniel squeeze it into his work-day!

Abby with the class The fam (minus Andrew who was in his own classroom)

Danny Gokey Day

If you follow American Idol you might remember that Mr. Danny Gokey is from Milwaukee! Yesterday was declared Danny Gokey Day, and who was I not to participate!!?

Danny was scheduled to sing early Friday evening at the Summer Fest grounds. Upon hearing the news Thursday, a couple friends and I tried to finagle a way to get there AND keep our double date plans that were already set. That just wasn't working out. I was a little bummed. The New Yorker in me wanted to be a part of the crowd and the craze! Well, Friday rolled around, and I wasn't about to quit. Megan and I were able to drop everything (including her yard sale), grab the kids and a load of junk food and snacks, and head out to see Danny on one of his Milwaukee tour stops. The kids had a half day at school and it worked out perfectly! We even made it home just in time to keep our previous engagements.

Word was that Danny would be stopping at any of four possible locations within an hour and a half slot. So we took a gamble and waited at a museum called Discovery World. There was a group gathering there, but it wasn't overwhelming in size. We staked out our spot right up front. Just before time was up, Danny came rolling in in a nice black limo! It was too much fun!! We were so excited all the waiting paid off! It was pretty cool to see our Idol star up close--really close! After watching the news following the whole day I could tell that they were really rushing Danny in order to get back onto schedule. His earlier stops he was able to spend a lot more time with the fans. Nonetheless, he paused at Andrew and gave him a little hug and a "Hey, what's up buddy?" on his way. You can tell he's a good guy, and we like his singing! Check it out:

no zoom necessary

While he was briefly in the museum we got a pic with the Idol limo

After the crowd left...

What's life without a little excitement?