Photo Overload

A perfect Easter Day.  The weather was not raining, which is all it has done since we returned from Florida.  It was a partly sunny day that was almost 60 degrees.  It has been a very cold, wet, grey Spring.  It reminds me of the summer two years ago that we only swam 6 times total because it was so cold and rainy.  We are praying that doesn't happen again.

The trees are just starting to show signs of Spring.

Look at my big girl, she is getting so old.  Just the other day we went to buy her shoes for Easter and I had to by a 10 womens!  Her foot is officially bigger than mine!

Bella and her headbands.  She is a true modern day punky brewster.  A true tomboy with a twist, she loves to dress up.

Gigi,  and her "mile", she hasn't master the "s" sound yet.  If she smiles then she closes her eyes!

After church we went to my parents for a super yummy ham lunch.  The girls decided they were going to raid the basement closet and play dress up.

Gabby went first.  She is wearing my senior prom dress.  The funniest part of this is that I wore that dress on my second date with the man in Orange.  I'm not sure what surprised me more, the fact that Jared recognized the dress or that it fit Gabby!

Bella went next.  She found a peach sherbet dress that I wore as a flower girl.  It fit her perfectly.  I am in shock that my mom kept that dress all these years, and that it was in perfect condition!

After our lunch, we headed back home for a Easter Egg Hunt.

Yes, a perfect Easter Day.

Jared's parents then came over for round #2.  They hide a whole new set of eggs.  So hunt number two produced quite a lot of cash and chocolate.


Notice the tulips in the background.  Each girl got a color, we are going to plant them after mothers day and hope they reappear next year.

Yellow, Red and Bright Pink tulips and one Easter Lily, hopefully the garden will be very colorful next spring.


Our perfect day ended in the backyard with a friendly game of freeze tag with all the neighbor kids.

He has risen, be joyful and glad in it!

"Hoppy" Easter friends! ......

Miss you SW FL....

Highlights from Spring Break ...

A day of boating on the Gulf of Mexico!

We saw a pirate ship.  

And lots of bridges and sailboats.

I didn't take pictures on the beach, there was no way I was going to chance my boyfriend(iphone4) to get all sandy.

One tired 3 year old...after a full day of playing on the beach.  She couldn't stay awake for the boat ride home.

A day of reading.  D2, D1 and Grandma.  D1 read for almost a full hour, so into her book, she wanted to finish it.  D2 was tired of the "baby" books I packed for her, so we bought her a chapter book the night before.  She was so excited to read like the big people.

D3 showing off her tan while playing in the condo.

We have been home for 5 days and the temp has not broke 55 degrees!  As a matter of fact yesterday, it snowed in the morning.  It didn't stick, but non the less, it fell from the cold, blueless sky.  Today the high is going to be 43!  Wow, so tired of this.

Saw this on facebook last night before I went to bed, made me laugh!
INSTALLING SPRING...
███████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 44% DONE.
Install delayed....please wait.
Installation failed. Please try again. 404 error: Season not found. Season "Spring" cannot be located. The season you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable in Indiana. Please try again . .

Of course I put away all the winter stuff on Sunday.  When it was 50.  I thought that maybe if I packed it away for the summer, the warmer weather would surface, I guess that was wishful thinking. ...

IT's ....

Snowing yet again!

Will this winter ever end?

Ok, I fess up, it not snowing, it is actually just a beautiful spring day. 45 degrees bright blue sky and sunny.

It is April Fools Day, did I fool you?

Today I am spending the day kid free. Two are at school and the peanut is off with her grampie for an afternoon of fun before vacation. I am packing, finishing laundry, cleaning and going for a walk.

With sun and blue skies like today, I feel like a walk. I the blue skies are a nice reminder of the weather/season we are about to be entering. I feel like today is the perfect day to take a nice 40 minute stroll to clear the brain. Today will be a perfect day to have a little chat with God. To thank him for all the blessing in my life that I often seem to over look. Today I will thank him for answering many of my recent prayer about friends and family.


Life is a gift, are you using your gift wisely?


Courtney

Could it be ....?

An early spring?

Nah, probably just luck, it was a great,super warm St. Patty's day. My friend the weather channel had this to say....
Temp: 70F
Feels like: 70F
Partly Cloudy and Windy
Humidity: 53%
Wind: S at 22 mph
Updated: 3/17/11 4:05 PM EDT

To celebrate, the day was spent with a haircut.

a picnic lunch,

snuggles and kisses from mom,

and a bike ride


Gosh I love Spring!

Courtney

This picture makes me smile and laugh out loud.

I am feeling stressed out and need a good laugh, so I am sharing.

I am a Midwestern , no doubt about it.

The temp was an amazing 38 degrees today!

I felt the need to not wear a coat.

Sad but turn, I have developed what they call a thick skin.  Fortunately for me my "thick skin" is also being used as a shield.

At times, PTO president is a crappy and  thankless job.... The past month has just been one of those times.

Someday soon, I will turn back into a stay at home mom who does just that, stays at home, until then I will take my thick skin and continue to devote my days/nights towards putting together a zaar that will hopefully raise another $30,000 for the school.

Oh yes, thankless and crappy for sure!!!




 Courtney

Family Dinner Night

So most of you know, I work 1 night a week at my friends restaurant.  A few nights ago, we had a school wide Family dinner night.  Our school does this once a month for the entire school year as a way to raise money and support local businesses.

Usually, a restaurant will give, 10, 15 or 20 % of the sales back to the school as a thank you for bringing business in to them.  For the 2nd year in a row, we went to the pizza place I work at and had the school teachers serve the food and work for tips.  We opt out for reduce menu prices and work for 100% tips instead of a portion of the bill back.  This is usually very successful and makes more money than any of our other dinner nights.


This is our principal.  It is his first year at our school.  His name is Rhett.  Rhett Butler, and no he doesn't want to hear your jokes about his name.  Frankly, he doesn't give a damn!  He was our host, for the night.  He seated everyone and worked the room.


This is me on the right and D1's 1st grade teacher.  She was a waitress for the whole evening.  On a side note, My 1st year out of college when I coached varsity high school tennis, the lovely Ms. Hamilin was one of my players.


Here is a 3rd grade teacher, cleaning and getting ready for the next crew to come and eat.  Mrs. Hershberger is a veteran teacher, who did her student teaching when my sister was in 3rd grade.


Here are two 1st grade teachers, a Kindergarten teacher and a 4th grade teacher.  I enjoy these ladies so much.  The one in the blue shirt has a sister that I went to school with and a daughter in my daughters class, and the one in the light gray shirt, was a freshman tennis player than I had the privilege to coach for 3 years!

Thirteen teachers in all help that evening.  They worked so hard and raised $535 dollars for our school next year!  With budget cuts this money will go directly back to them for the PTO to buy much needed supplies and materials that the corporates budget can't afford.

I have to say this, I was worried that this dinner night wouldn't be as successful this year, because we lost 200 students due to a new intermediate school that opened this fall.  All elementary schools are now K-4 instead of K-6.  I was also concerned by the economy and a little worried because we were only going to be open for 3 hours this year instead of 4 like last year.  

I should know by now that my kids go to a great school.  These teachers were averaging $100+ an hour in tips after only two hours.  Most families were leaving anywhere between $10 and $20 in tips.  This is a great community that rallies behind it's school.

At the end of the night, we made $135 more than last year.  Amazing....less students, less hours of serving and more $!

Now it is time to gear up for the biggest fundraiser of the year!  The Zaar, last year we made almost $30,000 in one night.  March 12th is when we will try to one up it!

So much to do, so little time.

Oh if your reading and wanting to help, drop me an email, We are looking for donations of items, gift cards, or services of any kind for the raffle.  This years grand prize $400 VISA card.  If you don't have anything to donate and would like to buy some raffle tickets, they are $1 each or $5 for 6.  Need not be present to win!



Courtney

Current updates from The Weather Channel

Another 2 hour delay!


When the alarm first went off this is what the weather channel app on my phone had to say ...
Temp: 2F
Feels like: -13F
Clear
Humidity: 65%
Wind: SSW at 9 mph
Updated: 2/9/11 4:45 AM EST

So I reset the alarm, pulled the covers up nice and snug and went back to the land of the sleeping.
When I the alarm went off again, my favorite app had this to say ...
Temp: 3F
Feels like: -9F
Sunny
Humidity: 54%
Wind: SW at 7 mph
Updated: 2/9/11 8:25 AM EST

Just put the kids on the bus and started to put the house back together and thought I would check Mr. Weather Channel one more time before I decide how to spend the rest of my day, my friends says ....
Temp: 9F
Feels like: -7F
Partly Cloudy
Humidity: 47%
Wind: WSW at 12 mph
Updated: 2/9/11 10:45 AM EST

Humm, I think it is going to be a cold one today!

8 weeks till Spring Break . . .
I think I can,

I Think
I Can,

I
Think
I
Can!

♥Courtney