The month my blog stopped

I left ya'll hanging in March.  And not just any March.  But March of 2010.  But it was a blog entry.  Which in and of it self seemed to render some speechless.  Now we just need to see if I can make it a habit again.  I must tell you that it greatly depends on blogger.  The more I have to fight with blogger to get my pictures where I want them, the less I want to blog.  Do ya'll fight with blogger?

So...April follows March.  And we started our April with a visit to the girls' pediatrician.  Because I could schedule their check-ups on Spring Break and not miss any school.  We have been seeing Dr Weiss since Katie was born and I just love him.  Love him so much that I drive 45 minutes across town.  In horrid traffic.  Because he is that fabulous.  (Do your kids sing the "fabulous" song from Phineas and Ferb?  I am thinking that it's just me that has to endure it.  That and "Squirrels in my pants.")

A visit to Dr Weiss was how we started Spring Break.  Michael took the week off and we had a staycation.  Naturally, Michael's staycation involved work.  We went to Lowe's and bought flowers for him to plant in the yard.  My job was to supervise.

We couldn't staycation and not play.  So, we went out for ice cream.  Do ya'll have Bruster's where you live?  I like Bruster's.  But I just can't eat that much ice cream.  And obviously the girls can't either since it drips all over the place.  I think I still have sticky spots on my shoes.

Our big day out on our staycation was to finally venture downtown to the Coke Museum.  You start by seeing a very extended Coke commercial.  Like a 10 minute commercial.  Then you move to different "hubs" in the museum.  They have memoriabilia.  There is a theatre where you can watch commericals from over the years.  There is Coke art.  And a bottling plant.  But really the highlight was the tasting center where you can taste coke products from all over the world.  Some are rather vile.  Some are strange.  Katie had a "Holy Grail" moment when we found Eldeberry Fanta (what?  Your kids don't go around quoting the Holy Grail?  And the infamous French accented insult of "your mother is a hamster and your father smells of eldeberry!"  Why is it just me?!).

The girls found the American Idol couch, too.  And wondered whose tuchus had also been planted there.

And no outing downtown would be complete without a visit to "The Varsity."  With a side of onion rings.

Our staycation week rounded out with Easter.  And somehow this year we managed to not do the world's largest Easter Egg hunt.  With our 700something eggs left over from last year.  You know we found eggs not that long ago.  I wonder how much longer we'll be discovering those nasty candy filled eggs in the yard.  I just want to find that last gold dollar. 

Katie heard from one of her friends that Erin Hunter, one of her favorite authors was coming to speak.  Erin Hunter writes the "Warriors" series for kids - it's about cats.  And.  Ummm.  That's all I know.  I think that there are 6 series of 6 books.  So, Katie brought her hardback copies and got autographs.  After the author did the book signing, she talked about the writing process.  And oh, my, was it funny.  It turns out that she uses a pen name.  And she chose Erin Hunter because it would put her on the shelf by Brian Jacques who writes the "Redwall" series - which is a fantasy about mice.  (Yep. That's all I know about that series, too.)  She was also drafted into writing this series by her publisher.  She actually hates cats (and apparently rather awful things happen to the warrior cats in the stories).  Her stories about the contrivances in the publishing world were rather fascinating!

Madalyn's birthday falls in the middle of April.  And for her birthday, I thought it would be fun if we surprised her with a room makeover.  Here is the before picture:

Michael took the day off of work - we told Madalyn that his work took a holiday that day - and as soon as she was out the door, we took the bunkbeds down and moved them to our basement.  And we brought up the double bed from the guest room.  We had ordered a new headboard - but it had not arrived - so we stole the one out of Katie's room until the new one arrived.  I wish we had time to paint - but we completed the transformation with a new quilt, valance, and lots of framed pictures on the walls (actually, there is even more now - there is another set of collage prints, plus the pictures of Madalyn swimming with the dolphins when we were in Mexico.)  And here is the after:

When Madalyn got home from school, I met her at the door and asked her what happened to her room.  She really thought I was mad at her.  So she went up to her room to see the damage - and was sooo surprised with what she found.  It was a great birthday gift!

The next day, Madalyn had a party at the rock climbing place.  She loved climbing.  And then was totally wiped out!

Katie had a new brace made for her scoliosis.  I am thinking that I should do a whole post on scoliosis.  And the horrors of the Boston Brace.  This picture is of her being casted.  We had another brace made last month.  It was our third in a year.  My poor checking account.

We still have cookies left.  After two months.  People are very hard to track down for deliveries.  Actually, I still have 2 boxes in my dining room right now for someone that we never delievered for.  I wonder if they are any good any more?

Speaking of scouts, Madalyn and her troop went horseback riding.  This horse farm is actually less than a mile down the road from my neighborhood.  I love living in the burbs where there is still the odd juxtaposition of Target shopping centers, neighborhoods, and farms.

And we wrapped up April with Tacky Day.  Isn't that how you wrap up your Aprils?

What I did on my summer vacation

It's been a sad two years of blogging. I kinda got thrown off course. And I am still not quite sure that I am back on the straight and narrow. But I want to be. Especially since I haven't scrapbooked in 4 years. I rather need to be back on that path. Of filling the internet with our stories. Anecdotes. And proof in pictures.

So. This is what we did last year.

I always start my scrapbook off with Katie's birthday. Even though it happens on the last day of the year, we usually celebrate on the first day of the year. And last year was no exception. We started the party on her birthday with lunch (or maybe it was dinner. It's been a whole year. I really can't be expected to remember. So. When I start scrapbooking again, is it okay to make up details??) at Red Robin. And surprised her with a cell phone.
 

And the following day, she had some friends join her for rock climbing.

She might have made a new friend, too.  (Do you think that workers at rock climbing places are required to go shirtless for tween parties?)

Of the few posts that I did last year, I did manage to cover the excitement of Madalyn's straight A's. And my bookclub trip to Asheville.

I also started a second blog last year. It was supposed to be a photo a day thing. Which was fun to work on my photoshop skills. But like this blog, it too fell off my radar. And was way too much pressure to remember to take a photo every day. It lasted about 90 something days.

In February, the girls started back with their tennis lessons.

I took my Latin class to see "Percy Jackson" - and the students who had not read the books loved it. The rest of us were rather disappointed.


We celebrated Valentine's day with cards, candy, and a movie.

Madalyn and Michael went to the Girl Scout Father/Daughter dance.

 

And we had the arrival and attemped delivery of those dreaded cookies. (Did you know that sales start up on Friday? Do you need any or want to donate any??)

March brought us more tennis.

Mine and Michael's 14th wedding anniversary. We celebrated by going to Ted's. Just the two of us. And I think we went to Barnes and Noble after. Maybe.

Oh. And there was St. Patrick's day. Madalyn's school had a contest to see whose class could wear the most green. She even wore a blanket. And a green pen stuck behind her ear!

And that was our first few months of 2010.  And if formatting on blogger doesn't kill me first, I'll hopefully tell you about the rest of our year.  Cross your fingers!