My baby left high school....forever!

On Saturday, May 20th, 2010 my first born child graduated from PVCS highschool!!! We are so very proud of her and blessed to have her for a daughter.
<3 <3 <3
I am excited to watch this momentous moment in her life and eager to watch her take the road ahead! She is entering a community college this fall to work on her core courses while awaiting entrance into the RN program.

Here are some pictures of the special day:

last time in the school bathroom, after the graduation

singing The Prayer (she is front row middle in white)

we wrote "seniors" using a '10' in place of the 'io';-)

receiving her diploma

Her entire graduating class, yes, all 35 of them!!

Mommy's Day 2010

Mom's day was a sweet day. We had ordered pizza the night before for Mike's birthday dinner, so breakfast in bed consisted of Mike handing me 2 slices that were leftover. haha Which actually worked out GREAT because I am an early riser and love to putt around and make my coffee etc,.. and normally when they try to cook me breakfast I feel tortured, banished to my room and waiting, waiting waiting bored. Sorry! That is just how I am. This was great..haha

Then all the children had printed me out cards and coupons for various chores as gifts. Mike gave me a huge hanging pot of flowers, which is on our front porch. It was all very sweet. We went to church and enjoyed the service, came home and relaxed. I watched the Bridges of Madison County while the kids played together. The movie, not what I normally watch, was a good movie and it broke my heart on SO many levels. :( Then my man and I enjoyed a couple glasses of Adesso wine with a few bites of dark chocolate. It's red and very sweet, dessert like. It was a tame day, and nice.

I wanted to get a picture with myself and each of the children alone. I thought they may appreciate that some day when they are grown, yet I only succeeded to get two taken that way. We can only take pics outside until I buy my external flash and it was SO COLD that day!!

Sometime in April we learned of a Mother's Day contest on WGRZ, thru Westermeier Martin Dental. The grand prize was really far out: pick up in limo, free dental work, limo for the appointments and back, spa, total makeover, night out etc,... etc,... followed by a big reveal.

Well, I found out that everyone who was entered, won the "second prize" which was a free tooth polishing, free bleaching (to be done at home) and a goodie bag, prize worth $450+ How fun!! It's a half hour drive from home, but I have to drop the kids off at Mike's work in order to go anyway, so it's half hour to Mike's work, then it's half hour from there.

The dentist office was the NICEST one I had ever set foot in, no joking! Everyone was uber friendly, leather chairs, smile photo albums with before and afters, the whole 9. I had my cleaning with a super friendly hygienist. After that she made molds to my teeth. What a fast yet WEIRD procedure, and this stuff feels very strange coming off your teeth as it hardens relatively quickly. Then it turns into stone and they chisel and fix 'em up, eventually making bleach trays by using the molds. What turns out is a perfectly fitted silicone-like tray which you put the bleach solution in, and then put on your teeth. This way you can leave the bleach on for 30-60 minutes and still talk, and have a pretty normal routine. I have done two treatments so far at home. SO COOL! I didn't think I was going to even do this at first, because for the most part I am into natural ways, and there is nothing less natural than whitening your teeth with a whitening solution. However, I threw caution to the wind and say hey let's try it! It's mom's day and this is a WICKED COOL free gift. Yes, I am from New England, hence the "wicked cool". ;-)
Here is a picture after two "bleach" treatments:

Birthday Times

Today was Mike's 36th birthday. We took a drive to his office early this morning. I know what an exciting way to celebrate a birthday, huh?!! While there with all the boys, I noticed the horrifying shape their two spider plants were in. They had about 100 babies on them between the two, and I am NOT exaggerating, I wish I was. Tips were brown, lots of yellow, really appalling! I took them down, removed the dead leaves, clipped the ends at an angle with scissors, and removed all babies but one. I mixed up some plant food that was available with water and fed them. I took these babies all home in a box. It is an outlandish amount I have here. I need to find a container big enough to allow them to fit into while keeping the ends in water until they root. I only have 5 pots to put them in, so I will have to work on accumulating some more. At this rate, we can have both our porches lined with these things once they take root and can be planted!! I actually made the mistake of potting about 35 or so of them in 5 pots, only to get a twinge of a vague memory of having to root them first in water. After looking it up on the net, LOVE the net! I now need to remove them and do it right. ;-) Maybe now I can save more because I still have a box FULL even after the 35 were potted.

Anyhoo, it is So stormy here today. On our drive this morning, the lake was unusually violent! The waves were strong and coming fast. The waves were crashing against the walls spraying up to the road in a couple spots. I was pretty impressed because there is a beach down there, so for it to get to the wall like that, wow, the strength was something to see! There is a lake shore flood warning in effect as well as wind warnings. Boy is it whirling around out there causing a ruckus.

This afternoon I made our usual birthday chocolate fudge cake with my daughter, Felicia. We ordered the area's famous steak and cheese pizza. It's so unique and yummy, the obvious, steak and cheese! but also jalapenos and I'm not sure what kind of cheese but I want to say and asiago?? A real winner! We also ordered a cheese pizza for the kids, and some hot buffalo wings. You just can't get boneless around here like we used to get from Quicky's in Chicopee, but it'll do. ;-) We also have some adesso wine for later with some dark chocolate. Here are a couple photos from the day.



Happy Birthday honey, and a prayer for MANY more!! I thank God everyday for your love and kindness, good nature and generosity. For loving me even when I don't deserve it. Loving our children the way that you do.



Felicia was not yet up in the morning when we took this shot, I'll have to take one of her and daddy later when we have the cake...

Bunny Friends

MUST. FIND. TELEPHOTO. LENS.

These friends could have been so much cuter, close up and personal if only I knew where my long lens was. I haven't used it since moving in March, and I *really* need to find it and have it close-by! We often witness our bunny friends trampsing through our yard. This morning I was watching Peter Rabbit on hind legs, eating from the hedges it appeared. Very cute. Before long, Benjamin Bunny came hopping over. I got a few shots, made him a bit nervous before he high-tailed it outta there. Love the cotton-tails as they beat feet.

By the way, if you have a garden and consider these cute crittersr a nuisance, did you know you can deter them harmlessly by planting a border of parsley around your *real* prize, because they love parsley and will leave your other things alone if there is plenty of that to distract them.