Happy Birthday to Kaycey

SEVEN


SIX


FIVE


FOUR

THREE

TWO

ONE

I can't believe she's seven!! We had the party with my Dad and Maria and my sister, and she got great gifts--Hannah Montana sports barbie (she even played barbies for the first time in over two years after opening it!!), soccer ball, aluminum bat, and her favorite, a Ryan Braun shirt, which she wore to the game the night of her birthday!! And for the first time, the Brewers won when Kaycey went to the game. So one party down, two birthday parties to go...one tomorrow night with my mom's side of the family and one next Saturday with Mike's family. I am not brave enough to have a party with school kids. Mike's family has so many little kids, I count that as the party with school kids.

house news

Wow, haven't had anything to say about the house for a while, even though there is still so much work to be done.

The drywallers came today and finished up the unfinished stuff (an area in the entryway, a spot at the top of the stairs, upstairs ceiling area, and basement steps). So I guess we'll be painting those areas this weekend... Next week the electrician is coming back to put dimmers on switches(which is how it was supposed to be done in the first place), put some lights in back of the house outside (also was supposed to be done), and also to repair the numerous outlets and switches that do not work right now. Also it sounds like soon we will finally get a REAL painter in here to redo all of the white woodwork, trim, doors, etc. I'm glad I'm not that guy. We were hoping to do the driveway this year, too, but that's not looking too promising. Might have to wait till next year. Unless there's a money tree in the yard I don't know about...

New addition to the house: rocking chairs on the porch. I had bought 4 of them last summer, and Mike put them together last week.

Top priority for me: painting the porch white & putting on a deck out back. Those are not top proiorities for Mike. Ugh.

Happy Earth Day!

Random musings....

I am full of useless information, I could totally be on one of those game shows with random facts.

Did you know billboards are illegal in Vermont?

Did you know all 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill?

Did you know that in the US Interstate system, all I-odd numbers run north and south, and all I-even numbers run east and west?? And even number prefix number means it avoids the city, odd number means in goes into the city. For example, 894 goes around Milwaukee, 794 goes into downtown.

wedding, cont.

the stage for the band



the view when you walked in the barn-- really cool hanging lanterns and lights!! This pic doesn't do it justice,



the groom & groomsmen (from L to R--Anthony, Mike, Darren, JJ, Chris, and Spencer) Maddie saw this picture and said, "Look, Mom! They are having a tea party!!"



bride and groom with groomsmen and their dates (& Ant and Rebecca's kids, Immy & Addy)
Darren (groom), Chris, Rebecca, and Anthony are from England. How fun to sit and hang out with people with a great accent : )



me & Mike



Christina (best man's girlfriend), me, and Joette (groomsman JJ's wife)


Friday was the rehearsal and dinner. Saturday, the wedding wasn't till 5pm, so Mike and I walked down to the lakefront--it was such a warm day!! What a nice little area. Saturday night was the wedding. They were even able to have the ceremony outdoors. Who would ever have guessed in the middle of April that could happen!! The band at the reception was great! Everyone was dancing. And Sunday we left around noon or so, and hard to believe the weather had been so nice, because it dropped about 30 degrees and was rainy.


So, anyhow, a great time had by all!!

Photographer and/or scrapbooker's dream site....

We had a really nice weekend in Michigan at a wedding for Mike's very good friend. Can you imagine the photo ops I had to take advantage of at a place like this???? I swear, I am going to go buy a barn. So the story is that this 26 year old gal bought the barn and farmhouse next door and renovated it to use for her own wedding. Then she thought, "Hey....I think I have an idea..." and she rents out the barn for weddings/receptions. She now owns two barns. From the outside, while awesome, it looks a little disheveled (maybe a little hard to tell in the b/w pic)...

but the inside....WOW! It was so beautiful.

They got married & had a reception at the Blue Dress Barn in St. Joseph, Michigan. I have never been to a more beautiful location for a wedding. It was absolutely beautiful. Everything about the place was absolutely stunning. Not to mention the bride and groom : )

I really have not fallen off the face of Earth, and I plan on catching up on all my posting I've missed out on in the past couple weeks!! More pics to come on the wedding, too!!