Jacob starts baseball!

Friday evening Jacob had his first baseball game and boy was he excited for it!  Last year he took kickball and maybe it was his age, but he didn't seem to take much interest in it.  But baseball he was really fired up about and was smiling and dancing around for most of it.  It's so great to see him so excited about something like this.  It's going to be a busy couple weeks though between baseball and his swim lessons starting next week. 

Check out pictures here...1st day of baseball pics

so whaddaya think?

I just got a new Photoshop action called "Urban Acid"...does something kinda cool to the picture, don't you think?  Definitely a more artsy feel, cool for the right photo.

The Circus came to town!

My Mom and I took the kids to see the circus today.  We weren't sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a well put together show.  I was a little nervous that it would be under the traditional circus tent but fortunately as you can see it was not.  I had a 'traumatizing' event in the past at a circus under the big top with some elephants RUNNING by us way too close.  Between that and the scary clowns, I had just about written off ever attending a circus again.  This was much better! 

By the end of the night, we really were starting to think that Ella's future plans would include running away with the circus.  At intermission they offered pony rides and elephant rides.  She of course wanted to ride the pony's, which we did.  We then walked over to check out riding an elephant and it would have cost us $24 for the 3 of us to ride (a parent had to go with).  After the tickets in, cotton candy, popcorn, soda, pony rides--that wasn't in the budget!  Well, you don't tell Ella no when she wants to ride an animal.  We heard about it the whole second half of the show and up until she went to bed this evening.  So I won't be surprised if one day she up and joins the circus! 

Check out some more of our photos from the circus here...Circus Photos

mini photo shoot

playing around

It's that time of year again...

for the Pancake breakfast!!!  Yum-O!

Just playing with some new freebie toys...

You just can't keep me away!!

For American Idol Chris fans...

with a little Rob thrown in.  ;-) 

Chris on PLJ regarding his future plans_

 

Happy Mother's Day everyone!!

How I spent my Mother's Day
...

MORE PHOTOS HERE!  :-)

I love my friends

Last night we hosted our monthly Dinner Club and boy was it ever fun.  We had a tropical theme and played Texas Hold 'em Poker.  We ended the night with some hot-tubing and hanging around the fire pit.  Nothing better than a beautiful summer night with beautiful friends. 

I love my Mac

Since today seems to be a rambling kind of day, I thought I'd ramble a little about another favorite of mine....Mac computers.  I have had my iMac since December and do not miss having a regular PC at all.  In fact, I've even recently converted my Mom to Mac and I believe she is happy with her decision too.  Recently Apple has been running what I find to be cute and clever commercials...the 2 actors in them are perfect.  You can check all the ads out here... Mac TV Spots

The funny thing is, even though I totally love my Mac, I don't really want them to become much popular then they are right now.  With popularity comes problems and viruses.  I have read that only about 5% of the computer owning population owns a Mac.  That is incredible.  I'm proud to say I'm in that very small minority.  That would be great if my family and friends join me, but shhhhh....don't tell the masses!  :-) 

Rob Thomas cracks me up and other thoughts...

OK, first of all this may not interest many people (yes it's more ramblings on Rob Thomas) but I find it hilarious.  I belong to a message board that Rob Thomas also occasionally visits.  Well to make a long story short...recently his management has changed fanclub companies and it's causing some people to be upset by the way ticket sales are being handled for his summer tour.  I have been avoiding the board because of all the bickering between each other lately but this morning I thought I'd just visit real quick.  Rob had just left this message to one of the negative comments, "nick, let it go.  i have already apologized and this is what it will have to be for this tour. by the way, the first few rows are NOT for people who really want to SEE and HEAR the show.  ask any musician and they will tell you that the first 10 or so rows are the worst sound in the venue and you can't really see the light show. (don't you remember a while back when people complained that you couldn't hear me in the front row? and we added little speakers to the front of the stage, but it still hardly sounds the way it's supposed to) those are for people who want to see my nosehairs, and i get it, i have cool nosehairs, but if you just go, you'll see that there isn't a bad seat on the floor.  the seats that you guys are bitching about are the seats our families sit in. sometimes they get worse. this is just how it is for this tour. sorry, but let it go.
Rt"

and my personal favorite when someone said his show better be worth a $130 ticket...  "you know, you don't HAVE to go.  Rt"

Love it! 

My other thought for the day....what is up with American Idol?  Last night ticked me off...no more Chris D.  :-(  I have no interest in the show now...don't care who wins.  However, I know Chris will do bigger and better things.  And just to relate this thought back to Rob....he's publicly said how much he likes Chris D as well!!  Who knows...maybe he'll open for him one day. 

Happy Birthday Jacob!

Whew, what a day!  Jacob had an incredible fun filled birthday and we're all so honored to get to share it with him.  He started out with chocolate chip pancakes and ended it with chocolate-chocolate star cupcakes.  It was all Jacob's choice today and lots o' fun all day!  Check out the pictures here...   Jacob's 4th

4 Years Ago Today....Wow!

Birthday Party

On Saturday we had Jacob and his good friend, Wyatt's 4th birthday party.  Their birthdays are within 5 days of each other so we decided to have a joint party.  Fish was the name of the game at this year's party!  Originally we had planned to have the party down at the river and have all the boys fish, however a schedule change with a local event forced us to look for alternate locations.  Wyatt happened to live within walking distance of a fish pond so they offered to host the party.  We had fish games, a fish pinata, TWO fish cakes, fish snacks, a fish fruit bowl, fishing, and everyone got to go home with a fish....could it get any fishier?

Here's a portion of the almost 300 photo's taken!  Party Pics

A lesson in life and death today

The kids got a little lesson in life and death today.  Today my beloved goldfish, Phil, past on.  Last night I sensed something was wrong with him and tried to convince Aaron to take him to the vet...yeah, he wasn't going for that.  We have had him for 4 and a half years and I seriously thought he'd outlive all of us...he was a Christmas gift from my brother our first Christmas in our house.  Jacob had a few seconds of sadness and then said, "OK, can we get a new pet now?"  We had a little ceremony for him and Jacob did the honors of the flush.  Goodbye Phil, we will miss you! 

A couple of hours after the Phil incident, Jacob and Ella came running in from the backyard to say there were "baby cats" in the back.  We went to see what they were talking about and saw this...


Not sure who this mama cat belongs to but she has 4 kittens with her and has apparently made a comfy spot between our garden shed and fence! As cute as that white one is, Aaron says they are not staying for the long term! 

Love the Springtime!

We had a really fun family day today.  We started it off with a 2 mile jog on the trail near our house, then came home to load up the bikes and headed to the River Trail.  Jacob rode his bike and Ella rode on the back of Aaron's.  We rode all the way to the Aboretum and walked amongst the trails and plants.  We then headed to a pizza place for lunch.  Really fun day...we recommend getting out and enjoying all there is to offer here...before it gets too hot!  Here's some pictures we took (all of us acted as photographer today!)... Bike ride pictures

Whew!

Basket Party 2006 was a success!!  Final charity figures are still being determined but over $600 was raised from the raffle alone!  Steph and I are so excited by the outcome and excitement of everyone in attendance that plans are already under way for next year.   Please check here for some of the photos from the day... Basket Party 2006 pictures

Details will be available soon so you can save the date for next year!

Big Day Tomorrow!

The day that Stephanie and I have been working hard on for the past few months is finally here...Basket Party 2006 is tomorrow!  The party has grown every year since our first one in 2004...I believe we have about 60 people attending this time around.  We did a kitchen theme this year and added a charity component to the whole thing.  We feel really proud that we can help some other causes in the process of our 'little' party we enjoy putting together each year.  More reports to come soon!

Could they be any cuter?

American Idol Last Night...

OK, now how good was Chris's performance last night?  I thought it was so good and had to watch it again...thought someone else might like to too!  Here you go....

Chris D's performance 4/25/06

Karen's Birthday Dinner

We had Karen and her family over for dinner last night to help in celebrating her birthday.  It was such a beautiful night to get together with incredible friends.  I also revealed myself as her birthday stalker!  Here's that story... Birthday Stalker...month by month I think I had her unaware of my identity through most of it but by Tuesday afternoon, since no one revealed themselves, she pretty much knew it was me!  Just wait until your 50th, Karen!! 

Happy Birthday Karen!

Just got back from a late night stealth maneuver to one of my bestest bestest friend's house.  Tuesday is her 40th birthday...WOW!  The kids thought I was crazy getting them out of bed but it was all in good fun...it's so peaceful in the night but I had such an exhilarating feeling that I could get caught at any moment!  I hope you have an incredible day Karen! 

Bike Day at the park

Despite the dreary morning we headed to playgroup bike day at the park. 

Hello Again!

It's been awhile since I've been here...5 days or so, and for me that's a long time!  It's been a busy week with playdates, appointments, a road trip, party planning, plus the usual daily activities.  Crazy me...I have 3 parties coming up that I'm co-planning or planning the next 3 weeks in a row!   

One thing I did manage to finish this week, (just a bit ago actually) was the book, The Da Vinci Code.  Excellent, excellent book.  So good that in the middle of me reading it, we went and bought Aaron a copy so he could start on it immediately.  Him and I have a date for May 19th when the movie comes out.  Can't wait! 

HAPPY EASTER!!

CLICK HERE FOR MORE EASTER PHOTOS!

Ella and the bunny

Ella seemed really excited to meet the Easter Bunny when we stopped by the mall yesterday so we headed back to the mall today to see about getting the kids picture taken with him.  After a slight incident of the bunny almost passing out due to the extreme heat of his costume, Ella got her picture taken with the furry one.  Jacob wanted no part of getting close to him but he certainly didn't turn down the candy being handed out! 

Coloring eggs

More photo shoot fun

Since Ella was in the mood today, I thought I'd try some more photography practice with her.  What I'm trying to work on is portraits and lighting, while I know these aren't the greatest there is just something about them I like.  Ella's photo shoot 

Here is an example of a photographer I completely admire... Tara Whitney Photography

Ella and her spring dress

Playgroup Easter Egg Hunt

This morning for playgroup we went to an Easter Egg hunt.  We had to hold it indoors because guess why?  More rain of course!  It was still a lot of fun...I think we're going to be having lots of Easter Egg hunts between now and Sunday. Click here for Playgroup Egg Hunt Photos! 

Busy weekend fun...

This past weekend was quite full.  Lots of birthday parties, Cool April Nights car cruise, dinner club, etc.  Spring has sprung...just wish the weather would clear too.  While we did get a few breaks in the rain over the weekend, we're back to a downpour today.  Let's hope that April Showers, bring May flowers ... minus the rain! 

Little bit of sun and these kids think it's summer!!

The plot thickens...

American Idol--Vote for the Worst

Random Thoughts....

• Yesterday Aaron and I took a tour of the Preschool we want Jacob to go to in the fall.  My how time has flown, it's time for us to put Jacob into someone else's hands!  Yikes, it's scary and exciting all at the same time.  We were so impressed by the school and know that he would have such a great time there. 


• American Idol last night...what the heck happened?!  Why is Mandisa gone?!  I never in a million years thought she'd be going already.  Granted her country performance really wasn't that good but every performance before that was excellent.  I look forward every week to seeing what song Mandisa, Taylor, and Chris will choose and now I have one less favorite to watch.  Guess I'd better step up and start voting for Chris!  Hey...hope this wasn't a twisted plot by AI producers to get people to vote more...


• Can we have some Spring weather soon...PLEASE!!  It has been rainy and chilly for weeks now and looks like for the next 10 days at least it will continue to be.  I want to bust out the capris!  And the kids have so many cute new clothes I want to see them wearing too!  Not to mention hanging out outside.  I'm even starting to crave doing some yardwork! 

Rob Thomas on Punk'd

Last night on the new season of Punk'd on MTV, they pulled a stunt on Rob Thomas.  Very funny stuff!  You can check it out in the video below (wait a few seconds for it to begin playing) or at the video link to the right (V Social box).  His wife is hilarious in it, most likely what my reaction would be! 

 

http://lisaski.typepad.com/lee_family_happenings/files/RT_Punkd.wmv

Happy Birthday Jeffrey!

We had a fun weekend.  We started Saturday morning by seeing Ice Age 2:  The Meltdown.  For MONTHS Jacob has been asking to see it and we've been constantly watching the first one for weeks.  We were all excited to go see it and we weren't disappointed.  Really cute movie with some really funny parts. 

We're all fans of Scrat and he had lots of screen time this time around. 

Saturday evening we celebrated Jeff's birthday.  Jacob took over as photographer for the evening and got some interesting shots.

Happy Birthday Jeff! 

You're almost caught up to me, I think next year you'll probably pass me in age!