Tulip Time

My mother-in-law is a great seamstress so she enjoys making the costumes for the kids. In the years past, I took the kids to get the "fat free" food, from the venders, and have some pics taken of them on the Sunday AFTER Tulip Time. This is the first time, in 7 years, that I have gone into town for Tulip Time during the festival and now I am smack dab in the middle of it dancing about every night this week. I usually stay away from the caos and enjoy the peacefulness of my home, or I would travel east instead of west if I needed anything!

I've got the Dutch Dance blues!

This here, is a picture of my badly sprained ankle. The black and blue has wrapped itself all around my ankle now! After 6 weeks of practicing every Wednesday night, I "gracefully" missed a step walking downstairs on Monday night- didn't want to step on one of Abbie's toys :-0! Since my husband is a Jack of all trades, he is also certified in first aid so he kindly wrapped my ankle, big time, so my foot wouldn't move. It sure did help out when I had to "hop" around in wooden shoes!

Happy 7th Birthday, Abbie!

Mmmmmm Chris Burton's cakes! Gotta love them! I don't make my own, just to spare those at the parties! Well, the whole week prior to Abbie's birthday, we had the flu go through our family, everyone except me! God must've known that I had too much to do that week to be sick! Since I figured that we still had the little germies in our house, my mom was kind enough for me to move the party to her house. We invited my parents (of course), Jeff and Helene, and my Grandparents just for a small birthday celebration. The Jacobsen party will be in a week - mmmm, more Chris cake!

SURPRISE!!!!

It sure is hard trying to wake a kid up at 6:30 on a Saturday morning even if I told Abbie that we were going shopping! I COMPLETELY surprised her and she had no idea that I had a big birthday celebration planned for her at American Girl! I wanted to wait until we got on the train, but my mom was just too anxious to wait that long so I told her she could let the cat out of the bag! Once my mom told her, it took a good couple of minutes to "sink" in, since it is 7:00 in the morning! Awhile after she was told, we boarded the train and let me tell you, that was THE longest train ride I ever took. I think every 5 minutes I had Abbie asking me if we were going to be "there" soon!

Abbie and her new, just like you, American Girl!

I had scheduled a lunch at the cafe and they sure do think of everything! They had a minature highchair that clips to the table. At the time they serve us with appetizers, they give the doll a tea set so she wouldn't be left out! They even came and sang to Abbie and put a candle in her dessert!

Well, you can't expect a 7 year old to go to the bathroom and leave the doll with someone, so one of the "perks" American Girl Place has is a doll hook right in the bathroom stall with you!

Exiting the store I had to get a picture of Abbie and her new doll!

1st Grade Field Trip - Butterflies!

Abbie's class had their final 1st grade field trip last week Thursday. Hard to believe that in 19 days, school will be over and my girl will officially be a 2nd grader! Time flies! We took a trip to Meijer Gardens and the kids loved it! The butterflies were all over and constantly landing on people. However, their best part was the playground area. We had some sheets of paper that had "educational" questions for the kids to do, but I think most parents/chaperones just let the kids play like I did :-)!