Bowling Mishap

Both of the kids decided to bowl on Saturday. There were three kids on the lane and after each had bowled once they realized their balls did not come back on the return. So, the staff started checking the ball return and apparently the night before somebody thought it was funny to keep throwing balls down the alley even though they weren't returning. The staff ended up taking out 18 or 19 house balls from the return before they got to the three our kids had thrown. Lacey's ball, probably because it was a 6 pounder and a few years old, got damaged. Did you ever want to know what a bowling ball looks like inside?? Here's what it looks like. The little beige colored spot is actually the core showing through.

So, needless to say, the bowling alley gave us a great discount on a new ball. Lacey really liked the red/black/gold swirl so her new ball looks almost like the old one, except shinier. Also, it is a 9 pounder.

Lacey's average has been around the 50s, with the new ball she bowled an 80! Seth also had an awesome game at 119. Considering we had to change lanes in the middle of a game because their lane was out of commission, those were great scores.

Forever Family

Today was National Adoption Day and Shae and Sean officially adopted Macey and Alyssea. It was going to be extremely difficult for me to attend due to work and other appointments, so Lacey got to go in my place this time. Macey (who chose her name because she loves Lacey) was very excited about this day. She is old enough to know how important it is to have a 'forever family' and was very excited about the event. The day was extra-special because Macey wrote and sang her very own song for the occasion. She was even "published" on the back of the program. As you will see, she is very comfortable with a microphone and unphased by a roomful of about 100 people. Here is her song and performance......

Macey and Lacey

Alyssea and Lacey

Kobe the Kubota

We have a new "vehicle" in our garage. As is tradition with Lacey and I he needed a name. Lacey named him Kobe. Erik mowed the lawn with him and he did a really good job in half of the time that the old tractor took.

For those of you unaware of Jason Aldean, his most famous song is Big Green Tractor. So, I'll share one chorus that we have modified to fit Kobe.

I can take you for a ride on my big orange tractor
We can go slow, or we can go faster
Down through the woods, and out to the pasture
'Long as I'm with you it really don't matter.

I'm sure he has found a happy home. = )

Meet Charley

Meet Charley -- the adorable Havanese/Dorkie (that would be Dachsund and Yorkie). Unfortunately, he is not ours, he belongs to my Mom. The kids had not met him yet, so we went to Mom's for a puppy fix. He was happy to oblige.

Kisses.

Now, he's tired, but still wanting to know what is going on.

For more pictures, check out our Picasa page.

Silver-ific

Another great year of bowling! Seth received a silver medal today at Regionals, here he is sporting his medal. He bowled a 101 and 79.
Seth and Noah receiving gold and silver respectively.

After Regionals we went to Halloween bowling party and Seth bowled a 123 and a 107. What a day. He reminded Grandpa that he owes him $3. = ) A few weeks ago, Grandpa promised him $1 for every game over 100. I told him that if Seth keeps up this pace Grandpa will go broke. Grandpa said that is OK because he would be happy to be broke for that reason. Way to go Seth!

My Daughter, the Vampire!

We spent a large part of today bowling. Seth had Regionals earlier in the day and then we were invited to a Halloween bowling party. Lacey had the most fun sporting her new vampire teeth.

Breakfast Pizza

At school, Seth's class incorporates a lot of cooking for the kids. Food is the way to Seth's heart so, needless to say, he loves this part of school. He brought home one of the latest recipes for breakfast pizzas and they sounded really good. So, this weekend, we decided to try them out on Grandma and Grandpa at the beach. Lacey and friend Isabel were there too and loved them so much they ate two.

Here are the pictures pre-baking.

And, below, is a picture of them after 10 minutes in the oven. If you would like to try these at home, the recipe is posted at the bottom.

Breakfast Pizzas

1 can of refrigerated biscuits (we used buttery Grands - no calories here!)

Make scrambled eggs as usual

Fry bacon - we used one slice cut in two for each biscuit

Shredded cheddar cheese.

Flatten each biscuit into a circle about 4-5 inches across, spoon a portion of scrambled eggs on top, place the two half strips of bacon on top of that and cover each with a little shredded cheddar cheese. Bake in a 425 degree oven for 10 minutes. Yummy!

Jason Aldean!

I totally surprised Lacey on Friday and took her out of school for a Jason Aldean concert! She was so excited! Every few minutes on the way to the concert she would just blurt out JASONALDEAN! = )

It was a "standing in the dirt" (rodeo dirt) concert, so I was a little concerned about getting her up front where she could see. We met some really nice girls who had been to the venue before and they helped get her where she needed to be. She was close all right -- hands on the stage! Here she is before the concert got started.

This is the view behind us. That is about 5,000 people pushing us into the stage. It meant being way too chummy with way too many, but I pushed back against the crowd to keep Lacey from getting the brunt of it.

In case you aren't familiar with Jason Aldean, his song "Big Green Tractor" is currently #1 on the country charts. He also sings "She's Country" and "Amarillo Sky".

This is the video of the handshake. Lacey is at the very end of the video with her little hand sticking up in the air. I get bumped from the crowd when he first grabs her hand, but I did catch him letting it go. The very last seconds of the video, you can hear it finally hit Lacey and she gives a little high pitch scream.

After the handshake -- the "I'm never going to wash my hand" picture.

All Smiles

Apparently, Lily thought she needed a bigger smile! Cheese!

OH NO! NOT IN MY HOUSE!

Last night I was sitting, innocently working on my computer in the living room while the rest of the household was asleep and I kept hearing this "schck, schck" sound. I couldn't figure out what it was, but it seemed like it was happening at regular intervals of about 10 minutes. My best description was that it sounded almost like a cricket. I started watching the clock and went and stood in the family room when I thought it was going to make the sound. I had to wait a bit but then realized it wasn't coming from there, it was in the kitchen area. 10 minutes later I was standing by the island waiting and I heard it near the door and/or table. So, thinking it was coming from the timer light switch (the one that controls the lights on the porch), I stood right by it for the next interval. It happened again and I realized it was not from the timer, but it was coming from up above me in that same area. I thought the window must be slightly ajar and I was indeed hearing a bug from outside, so I lifted the blinds and seeing that the window was not ajar, I looked up. At the top of the window casing was the biggest cricket I have ever seen!! He was three inches long at least. This is not him, but the closest picture I could find:


Now, you have to understand, that I HATE grasshoppers/crickets (not a little dislike kind of hate, but a VEHEMENT, NOT-FUNNY, GET-AWAY-FROM-ME kind of hate). I cannot even write about this without squirming. It's a good thing that he decided to stay put because if he had jumped, the entire neighborhood would have known it. So, I had a dilemma -- what to do about him? Believe it or not, it took a while, but I actually convinced myself that he would not go upstairs with me and probably wouldn't venture very far from the window so I had to just leave him. He was too big for me to squish without having him jump and I couldn't risk having him do anything like that. So, I closed the blinds and prayed that a cover of small plastic blinds would keep the vermin somewhat caged so he could be dealt with in the morning. Morning comes and, not wanting to open the blinds and risk a leaping lizard, I stepped outside to see where the caged intruder was and he was not there! Yikes! I told Lacey about him and asked her to keep an eye out (she loves grasshoppers). Luckily, Seth found him lurking above the kitchen window. Lacey crawled up and got him and then took him outside. I told her the porch was not good enough, he needed to be much further away from me, so she took him towards the tall grass by the pasture. She played with him a while, letting him crawl on her, **glaaaagh** and then carefully, lovingly, set him in the grass. Where.........Lily, watching this whole ordeal, promptly went over and ate him. = O Lacey was mortified! She came in a told me what had happened and even though I was slightly grossed out watching Lily smacking her lips, I was secretly relieved. One less disgusting, spiny trespasser. I don't know what good things grasshoppers/crickets might do in this world, but Lily and I have a message -- NOT IN MY HOUSE!