Memorial Day weekend...

We kept very busy during the long weekend. We hung our flag, went to see Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, walked to the beach at the lake where Alex went into the chilly water chest deep, roasted marshmallows with our neighbors at their fire pit, stained the deck, fixed the screen door, shopped at WalMart, ate out twice, played at two different parks, went fishing on the lake and were thankful to everyone who has served or is serving our country!

Alex in front of "his" boat:


The fish were sparse and tiny, but at least Alex caught something:

LOVE the park:

Kindergarten Concert...

Edited*** Before playing the videos, pause the blog music

Last night was Alex's Kindergarten concert, it was SO cute!

Alex is on the top right side (he waves at the end of the first video!):

After the concert, they had a slideshow, with a picture of every kindgergartener! Alex sat on his teacher, Mrs. Bree's lap, he loves her so much:

Alex and Max outside the school:

It was such a fun night! After the concert, Alex's dad took Max, his mom, Alex and I out to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner and games at the table (the boys shared so well and I don't think they even noticed what they were eating, they were so enthralled with the game, maybe I should sneak some veggies on Alex's plate next time, he probably wouldn't notice...just pick it up, super dip it in ketchup and eat, all the while not taking his eyes off the personal tv game at our table!).

Another one...

Yes, I got another layout done today!!

Here it is:

I don't remember where I saw a cute tulle flower, but I just had to make one:

Now we're off to the kindergarten concert...you know I'll have pictures of that tomorrow!

Layout...

I finally finished this layout that I've been working on for weeks, it took quite a while because I used some Prima paintable paper and had to let it dry, cut it, spray it, let it dry...you get the picture!

This is totally lifted from the amazing Prima Donna Salazar:


She offered kits a while back and I just loved getting all Donna-like with ink all over the place, but love how it turned out! The blue denim flower is cut from an old pair of Alex's jeans!!

Thanks for takin a peak:)

Haley's Graduation and some random pictures...

We'll start with the random pictures, to catch up...

Alex's dad went fishing and caught MN's state fish, walleye. I fried it up and it was yummy, Alex tried it (with lots of coaxing) and loved it, ate quite a bit:

Alex and I on Mother's Day:

Alex on Cinco de Mayo:

A card that I lifted from one in Scrapbooks Etc.:

Haley's graduation card (inspired by one I saw on Fiskateers.com):

Haley's recipe album (I made it from the awesome stash of Teresa Collins' papers that sweet Dawn gave me for my birthday), I put all of our family recipes in here, with notes about most of them and she just loved it! (thanks Dawn!!!)

Now, on to our trip to TN!!

On Saturday, my sister and I drove to Knoxville. We went to lunch with Haley, Alex, my sil Jenny and two of her sweeties, Maddy & Katy.

Here I am with the graduate:

Me and my sil Jenny (we joked because we always seem to dress in the same color, never planned and this time, we had the same haircut too!):

Sweet Katy-bug and Haley (Haley's cousins all adore her and she is always happy to have one on her lap!):

Maddy and Alex:

Alex cuddlin with his Aunt Jen:

Then the big night!!

Here Haley is after she got her diploma:

Alex wanted to give Haley flowers, so Jen & I got her these beautiful sunflowers that he insisted on holding the entire graduation. He was SO excited to give them to her (he said, "Haley, you did a great job!"):

Haley with her diploma and her Salutatorian certificate (she was a little upset not to make Valedictorian, but didn't really want to have to get up and give a speech):


Alex was just so proud of his sister, he loves her SO much:

Alex was so funny, when I introduced him to Haley's mom (she's hasn't seen him in a few years), he said, "I'm Haley's brother, Alex Buhl!" and then when he met Haley's other brother, he definitely didn't like that, he might have given him a little bit of "stink eye"!!! He's so funny and extremely protective of his sister!

Happy...

Happy Mother's Day!
Alex and I are headed to church and then maybe get some lunch after. He has been eagerly waiting days to give me the Mother's Day presents that he made for me at school, so sweet and cute!!
Hope all the mommies out there have a wonderfully relaxing day!

Our trip...

to Florida! **Warning, picture heavy

Love landing in Tampa and seeing palm trees lining the interstate:


1st stop, SONIC!! And we were there for happy hour, RT. 44 Strawberry Limeade baby:

and cheddar peppers with ranch and a chili cheese coney to split with my mom!

Shopping at SuperWalMart was a treat, especially since they have Monkey Bread! Alex kept saying he hadn't had it since he lived in OK and it was Yummy:

(we don't have Super WalMart in MN:( . )

The next day was my Grandma's memorial service. It was a beautiful service, their old Reverend flew in from Texas just to perform the memorial (he grew up with my aunt and has always been special to my Grandma - bless his heart he gave her her first computer and taught her how to use it). This was the table at the entry:

I love that picture of my Grandma, it was her Senior picture. The picture in the back is my Grandma, her sister, four brothers and their mom (Grandma is in the center).

Me with my Uncle Rick (my mom's baby brother who I haven't seen since I was 20!) and his son, Matt, who is 15, looks just like my uncle when he was that age:

After the memorial and a nice gathering at a family friend's house, mom and I dug in my grandma's closet, trying on hats! (I LOVE hats, so momma wanted to see which ones I would like, of course I told "all of them"!)

This was mom's when she was a teen:

This was my great-grandmother's (Josie Main):

I teased Momma that we HAD to wear hats the next day because it was Derby Day - she didn't know if I was kidding or not, NOT!!

That evening my Uncle Rick's other son, Ryan, came over and Alex jumped right in the back of his truck - he's so not shy!! We headed to the pool so Alex could show off his swimming to my mom. She said that he didn't have lungs, he had gills because she has never seen anyone hold their breath for that long or stay in the pool for that long!


On Friday we headed to the beach! We had lunch in the sand (grouper sandwich melted in my mouth!!!).

Alex colored a beautiful rainbow fish that Grandma Patti hung up on her refrigerator as soon as we got home:


We played in the water for a while, it was SO nice! Alex had a great time playing in the waves and karate chopping them:

Saturday morning we went to see my Aunt Phyl (she's my dad's aunt who has always been like my third grandmother):


Aunt Phyl lives in a beautiful retirement community and she gave Alex some pennies to throw into the fountain to make a wish:

Alex wished for a puppy and didn't want to leave because there was going to be a puppy come out of that fountain, "puppies love water mom!". He's such a nugget!

That evening we went for a bike ride down to the water. Alex and I rode on my grandma's three-wheel bike, he had so much fun standing behind me like it was his chariot:

Sunday after church we went to a cute local steakhouse, they serve your beer to you in a paper bag, so cute:

and yummy!

Alex's wish for a puppy came true that afternoon when Grandma Patti bought herself a Chihuahua puppy:

She is so adorable and just perfect for my mom, who needed to have a companion since she's spent the last year taking care of my grandma. Just the distraction that she needed so she wouldn't be too alone after we left.

Next we went to my cousin Jessica's ranch. They have lots of sweet horses, but Alex and I didn't get to ride that day, maybe next visit.

Alex had the puppy (her name is still being debated on!) in the backseat with him on the way to the airport. He kissed and petted her the entire way:

On our way to the airport over the Skyway Bridge:

Man, what a sight, LOVE me some saltwater!!!

It was a great trip and I'm so glad that we would be able to go, to be there for my mom and to see lots of family.

Where oh where...

does time go? I haven't blogged in over a week.
Alex has been keeping me busy, very happily! We've been on several play dates with his friend Max, going to the park lots, but since we live in MN, we're back to being cold, so what should we do? Fly to Florida you say? I think we will!
My grandma, my mom's mom, finally went to be with The Lord after suffering from emphazema for many years (second hand smoke DOES kill!), so Alex and I will fly down for her memorial service. We are leaving Wednesday and get to stay until Monday. Alex hasn't ever been to Bradenton and there are lots of people there that cannot wait to meet him! Alex is going to be beside himself to swim in the outdoor pool since it's plenty warm! I'm looking forward to seeing my mom and getting out of MN for a little bit.
I'll be back with many pictures!