This past August and October both my oldest girls turned one year older. Sniff!!!

Madelyn turned 4 and Katelyn turned 6. I never wrote any kind of special posts dedicated to them so here’s my attempt to fix that.

We had a BBQ birthday party for Maddy ( the poor thing is probably always going to get that type of birthday since her birthday is a Summer birthday in New England)

The birthday girl

True to Maddy’s nature, she mostly hung out with her Papa the whole time. She wasn’t much for joining in the group games.

She did, however, choose to participate in playing with water balloons.

Story behind this cake: Tried to make her cake, it crumbled upon trying to remove it from the pan.FRUSTRATED. Bought one from Sam’s. Yummy cake.

Maddy has grown so much in the past year! She still continues to be my shy, quiet, loner cuddle bug. She’s content hanging out at home playing with her toys. We’ve tried to push her a bit by signing her up for soccer and AWANA. She’s hates the first and tolerates the second. We love her so much and wouldn’t have her any other way! God blessed us with our little blondie!

Since Katelyn’s birthday is in October, we’re never quite sure what the weather will be here in New England. In the past, it’s been cold and I just don’t have the room to host a whole party in my house at this point. So, we held her party at a dairy farm super close to our house. We’re so glad we found out that they did parties. It was so cute!

They provided the decorations. A cute cow theme.

We started off the party with a tractor ride to the barn.

The children then got to have a “tour” of the barn and learn how the dairy farm is run. It was pretty stinky in there as you can see by the children holding their noses!

Then it was back to their farm store for make-your-own-sundaes with their delicious ice cream! (Katelyn hadn’t started making her sundae yet in this picture)

After the sundaes the kids did colorful sand art in milk bottles. So cute!

The kids holding up their finished art.

Then it was time for the last activity of the day. Milking “Hazel The Holstein”.

Katelyn continues to be our adventurous go getter. She’s doing so well with her homeschooling and reads like champ! She is sweet, funny and loves to talk shop with the adults. She’s also doing soccer and AWANA and started Brazilian Jiu Jitsu a couple of months ago.  We are so thankful for our first born, big girl!

I love my two oldest and can’t imagine my life without them. God has truly given  us great gifts in our children. I know that God has great things planned for their lives.

]]> http://www.simplymelsblog.com/four-and-six/feed/ 0 http://www.simplymelsblog.com/katelyn-today-you-are-5-years-old/ http://www.simplymelsblog.com/katelyn-today-you-are-5-years-old/#comments Wed, 13 Oct 2010 11:48:19 +0000 SimplyMel http://www.simplymelsblog.com/?p=2462 Dearest Katelyn,

It’s cliche but I CANNOT BELIEVE that you are FIVE today. Seriously. We prayed for almost two years to have you and now…..you’re five! You are one special little girl. We love you so much! We are so proud of all your accomplishments and I’m so happy to have the honor of being your mommy.

You have changed so much over the past few years….

Making faces with daddy at about 13 months old.

Making cookies with mommy at two years old. You still love to help!

Easter 2007. You still love to dress up and play with baby dolls.

You loved being a big sister….

………………………………….And still do!!

You were so brave at your first dentist appointment, although you were scared. (You ended up loving it!)

You are my soccer star this year!

You’re my big, smart and loving girl!

Happy Birthday to my sweet girl!

Please bear with me as I try to turn said tea party into a coherent, and not too long,  Top Ten post today.

I hope you will take some of the ideas I picked up along the way and use them for your own child’s tea party themed birthday in the future.

1. The Invitations:

If you are crafty (which I’m really not) you could make your own cute tea party invitations. I was going to even try to get a tea pot pattern and create tea pot shaped invitations out of colored paper. Then I remembered I’d have to go buy different envelopes to fit these invitations. So I scratched that idea. Instead I found these cute, inexpensive ones from Oriental Trading.com. I added in the margin to “please come dressed in your favorite tea party attire.” I invited 11 children plus their parents. We ended up having 8 children com plus my two girls. So, ten party guests in all and their parents. A good group!

2. The Menu:

I searched several websites and spoke to many different people about what kinds of food I should have at this tea party. The overwhelming consensus for the kids was crust-less, finger sandwiches. So I made tiny turkey/ cheese, ham / cheese and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the kids. For the adults we had the same sandwiches ( Plus chicken salad.Minus peanut butter and jelly) on sub roll type bread. We also had chips, a cucumber and tomato platter, a fruit platter(orange wedges, cut up cantaloupe, green and red grapes and pineapple chunks),  Wheat Thin crackers, mini muffins, raspberry tarts, Pigs In A Blanket, and Bagel Bites. My mother in law and I prepared most of the food ourselves.  There are many menu options. These were the easiest and most economical for me. And the kids seemed to like all of them.

For drinks we had soda and I made my “famous” punch, as Katelyn calls it. We did not actually have one drop of tea at the party. Each table had a tea pot with apple juice in it. The little guests really enjoyed this and drank a  lot of apple juice in their tea cups.

3. The cup cakes:

Instead of a tradition birthday  cake I opted for cupcakes this time. It seemed more tea partyish.

Since I had never made cupcakes before, this was a new endeavor for me. I made 50 cupcakes just to make sure I had enough for everyone if they wanted seconds. Or thirds. I most certainly had enough cupcakes! I made three different flavor combinations. There was chocolate with pink, cream frosting, gold with chocolate frosting and strawberry with Funfetti frosting. Since I’m no good at decorating cakes or cupcakes I just inserted little rosettes into each cupcake to go a long with my tea party/floral theme. I was quite proud of my cupcakes!!

Did I mention that I overdid it there were PLENTY?

4. The Set Up/ Decorations:

Thankfully, my inlaws’ church let us use their fellowship hall. ( I have connections!) I certainly didn’t have room inside my house to do this appropriately.

We set up three small round tables for the ten children who were going to be sitting at them. The tables were really small but perfect for the occasion.

Pink and white were my main colors. We set some cute paper doilies on the tables and put some artificial flowers I bought at the Dollar Store as a center piece.  I bought most of my party goods at the Dollar Store! The main attraction were the real tea pots and tea cups each table had. I had one nice set and my mother in law had two. We had plenty to go around! My mother in law even had some tea cups with the each month written inside so Katelyn got a special “October” tea cup.

I made place cards for all the kids using tea bag packets I already had.

I don’t have any pictures of this but the food table was set up with some “tea time books” scattered around. My mother in law also had some tiered serving platters so we used those to look fancy. We also scattered some smaller children’s tea sets around for decoration.

5. The Party Favors:

I bought these cute little buckets at Target in their $1 spot for 50% off. I LOVE them.

I pulled some things I had been buying on clearance for the past several months from my Party Bin and  Gift Bin for my little buckets.  (Thank you to Mandi from It’s Come 2 This for this idea!) So, I didn’t actually have to go out and buy anything for the party favors. I already had everything I needed.

This is what was inside the buckets….

6. The Party Attire:

As mentioned in #1 I requested that the children come in their “favorite tea party attire”. I wasn’t too specific because I didn’t want to make dressing for this party a burden. What I was pretty much hoping for was that the kids dressed up a little for the party. How much they wanted to dress up was up to them. Well, my dear daughters BEGGED to wear their princess dresses so I caved and let them. I e-mailed all the moms to let them know that if their children wanted to wear princess/prince dress up clothes that was fine with me. Whatever worked for them! My girls were the only ones to wear actual princess dresses and the only little boy to come to the party came as Spider Man! He was quite a hit!

7. The crafts:

I had two crafts set up for the kids to do.

a) Yarn and bead necklaces and bracelets.

b) Color-Your-Own Tea Funs. I got these fans at Oriental Trading as well and LOVED them. The kids really seemed to enjoy that particular craft.

Psssst… check out my father in law in the yellow hat! Our Papa is very silly and fun.

8. The Activities And Games:

When the children first came in I had them pick accessories from a table I had set up.

This was a mish mash of stuff I have and stuff my mother in law keeps at her house for the girls. The kids also seemed to enjoy accessorizing throughout the party.

The first game we played was “Kiss The Tea Cup”. I came up with this game on my own. At least, I think I did! If it already exists out there let me know!

I drew a teacup on some large paper. Then I put lipstick on the kids and blindfolded them. Once they were blindfolded I spun them around and then let them try to leave their “kiss mark” on the tea cup. The closest to leave their kiss marks to the rim of the cup, wins!

*Note: I waaay contrasted these pictures so you can see my tea cup drawing, lipstick marks and other details. There are some very unflattering pictures of me coming up. You’ve been warned!! At least you get to see my growing baby bump some.

The girls really enjoyed putting the lipstick on. They even asked to play the game themselves once the gifts had been opened and cupcakes had been eaten. It was really cute to watch them!

The next game we played was a dress up relay race. The kids lined up in two teams and raced each other putting on the accessories I had piled on the floor and then taking them off and handing them to the next person in line.

The last game we played was a variation on “Doggie, Doggie Where’s Your Bone”.  Instead of a bone we had a tea cup and instead of  chanting ” Doggie Doggie where’s your bone somebody took it from your home” we changed it to  ” Tea Pot, Tea Pot, where’s your tea cup somebody went and snatched it up”.

9. The birthday Princess’s conclusion:

“THIS WAS THE BESTEST PARTY EVER!!!!!”

10. Some other tea party ideas and resources:

~ Teddy Bear Tea Party

~ Doll Tea Party

~Costume Tea Party

Websites:

Birthday Party Ideas. com

FamilyFun.com  Tea Party Ideas

OrietalTrading.com

Facebook!!! Yes, I got many ideas from my friends on Facebook. I just asked a question in my status and several people replied with some ideas. Facebook (and Twitter) is a great party planning resource.

This post is linked to Top Ten Tuesday at Oh Amanda.

I couldn’t enter Fall without posting our beach pictures from last week. It was also the day before my birthday so we killed birds all around with one stone. We went to the beach, then my inlaws kept the girls while we ate at the Outback and then watched “Vampires Suck”. The movie was…..eh. All in all in was the perfect day for the beach and a wonderful birthday/Labor Day weekend.

The beach we went to is about 40 minutes from us and wonderful since it’s clean, small and is never packed out when we go. That is one of (grumble) the perks of living in New England. There’s a beach not far from us in every direction for the most part.

Not only was the weather perfect, but I’d say this was the most relaxing trip to the beach we’ve ever had. We took less stuff and were actually fine! The girls were a lot more content and easier to deal with this time too. We didn’t have to entertain them because they were busy entertaining themselves! Madelyn wasn’t afraid of the water this year so we could all go in together.

The water was cool but not freezing. In the shallow end it was actually warm!

There were actually little fish swimming around our feet. The girls were a little freaked by this since they don’t actually want to be up close and personal with any sea life. Mike caught, with his net, a crab (not hermit!) in one of the many tide pools  and when he put in on the ground the girls started SCREAMING. Katelyn ran behind and me screamed ” Put it back before it crawls on me!!!”. The poor crab was moving slower than a snail and Katelyn was ten feet away from yet she was still afraid the thing was going to get her. Kids!!! We also caught a tiny little starfish that was stuck to some seaweed. Of course, I failed to get a picture of it!

We parked ourselves next to one of the tide pools and the girls enjoyed playing in it and building next to it. Madelyn especially loved the tide pool. Katelyn preferred being in the ocean but the little tide pool was more Madelyn’s cup of tea.

Katelyn worked very hard on her sand castle. I was impressed with her focus! She built the foundation and then Mike helped her build it up.

I thought it came out pretty neat!

“Look at me, mama!”

After we were done packing up and changing clothes in the HOT public bathrooms (my least favorite part) my inlaws took us out for a late lunch at a local seafood place and then ice cream. Mike and I were so tired when we got home we had to take a nap before we left for my birthday evening! We were tired but happy folks!

Yesterday we had a big church cook out with lots of friends from everywhere. It was a lot of fun! We had close to 50 people come throughout the afternoon and there was pretty competitive volley ball playing going on.

I’m pretty tuckered out today but it was worth it!

I had my first prenatal appointment and ultrasound in the past week or so. Everything looks good!

Here the first picture of my “Sweetie”.

The quality of the picture is not so good but if you were to look at the original photo you’d be able to see the baby’s little head and two teeny arms and legs. We got to see a nice strong heart beat. Everything is exactly as it should be. I’ll be 11 weeks along on Wednesday! Almost past my first trimester! Can I get a what what??

I’ve been having some neck pain that is causing me some pretty bad headaches so I’m hoping a good adjustment and possibly a deep tissue massage will take care of it. I’ve been sleeping in in the mornings(well, until the girls get up anyway) so I haven’t been blogging. I have a hard time blogging after everyone is up. I’m hoping to get back to a semi-normal routine within the next couple of weeks and ramp up my blogging again.

Speaking of routines, ours will be changing soon! Now that we’ll be homeschooling our daily schedule will be changing a bit.

Katelyn’s Kindergarten books have come in and I am SO.EXCITED. I don’t know what public schools teach Kindergarteners but this curriculum seems a bit hard! I am inpressed with everything she will be learning, however, and I’m chomping at the bit to get started.I love how each subject is infused with the God’s word and there are  new Bible verses to be learned with practically every subject. In case you’re wondering we’re doing the CLASS system. (Christian Liberty Academy School System.) I’m not at the point where I feel comfortable picking and choosing curriculum from various places. They have a standard Kindergarten curriculum and an advanced Kindergarten curriculum and I trust their judgment on what books should be in each kit! And, as it so happens, we did the CLASS system growing up and it worked great for us!

Here’s a picture of the books and subjects she’ll be doing. I’ll write a more extensive post about what she’s learning, the activities we’ll be doing and the homeschooling schedule we’ll be following once I have it nailed down.

Mike has been busy the past several days creating a nice homeschool room for us in our basement. It’s been the laundry room/guest room/playroom so far. Now the play room/guest room area is turning into the homeschool area too.

This is what the room looked like right before Mike started construction. This is also in the midst of moving things around and organizing toys etc. You can see our walls down there are made of field stone which makes putting anything on the walls impossible. Mike is putting drywall in front of the field stone to make me some nice walls down there. I’m so excited! I’ve wanted “real” walls down there forever!

A different angle….

The walls….ugh.

The progress being made! My poor hubby suffered a two by four blow to the head the other night but thankfully he’s ok!

Last Friday was my birthday (ahem) and we celebrated by going to the beach on Thursday. (Another post in and of itself too!) But here’s a sneak peak at the fun we had…

Katelyn made an impressive (if I do say so myself) sand castle by herself. She worked long and hard at it (which is not always common for her) and did a great job. Future engineer??

So that’s what’s been going on around here! Thanks for reading!

Happy Labor Day!

We celebrated Madelyn’s third birthday party this weekend. So, for my Top Ten today I give you my favorite pictures from her party!

For breakfast I let the girls have toast with Nutella as a special treat. Love their Nutella smiles!

The cake! It was a little lopsided and I had a super hard time using the frosting pouches and tips from Cake Mate (never again!!) so my writing was a little off. But still…

The theme was  just a Flower/Butterfly theme. Madelyn couldn’t decide one so I finally just picked some cute, matching party goods from the dollar store and went with that. I don’t think she really cared what the theme was!

This was the smallest party I’ve ever had. There were all the kids I invited, minus one. Madelyn doesn’t like a lot of commotion or large groups of people so a large party wouldn’t have been what she really wanted. We had a simple cook out.

Love this picture of Madelyn trying to open her gift. Like it required a lot of exertion! She received a lot of Barbies and Barbie stuff. She loves them. With every gift she would say ” I wonder if it’s a Barbie?” and then gasp and “oooh and aahh” over each new Barbie she got.

This is the best picture I got of her in her party dress. We got a lot of complements on it. My mother in law has good taste! From now on you’ll notice Madelyn is holding that Mermaid Barbie in.every.single. picture. She literally did not let go of  it for two days.

Cake time! She didn’t have any, by the way. Once she opened her Mermaid Barbie we didn’t see much of her after that. She’s my loner and perfectly happy playing in the corner by herself.

Madelyn holding her Mermaid Barbie? Check. Madelyn not eating her birthday cake? check.

For party games, I turned on the sprinkler and let the kids throw water balloons. Mike had them try to get the water balloons in the little basket ball net. They had a blast! I love this picture of the exploding balloon in Katelyn’s hands.

Post water play snack. Madelyn did not participate in any of the water play and instead chose to watch holding her Barbie.

This picture was taken after everyone left. The girls sat on the deck and played with Madelyn’s new Barbie Camper. It was so cute to listen to their play. It was a perfect day for a third birthday party and we all had a great time.

For more Top Ten Tuesday head over to Oh Amanda!

My cute, 9 pound baby girl went from this:

to this:

to this:

to this:

to one of the sweetest, most content and cuddliest almost-three-year-olds I’ve ever met.

To my sweet, adorable Madelyn Reese:

We love you and are so proud of you. We are so happy that God gave you to us!

HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY!!!

Our trip there and back went well.The girls were pretty good on the plane flight. I was impressed! We really enjoyed ourselves. The first few days were hectic with planning Katelyn’s 4th birthday part, the actual party itself and then getting our pictures taken but after that things slowed down a bit.  I’ll finish our trip recap with some pictures.  So, let’s go..

What We Did On Our Trip To Texas Last Week (In Pictures)

We met, held, hugged and kissed on cousin Brooklyn.

A lot….

Madelyn called Brooklyn her “sister baby”. Is that a hint?

Uhhh….help?

Wait…. how did this picture end up here? She gets to hold Brooklyn all the time! (I thought this was the best shot of them!)

We visited with Geemaw and Geempaw and got spoiled rotten.

We ate out at all my favorite restaurants. Which are many in Texas.

We visited with my grandparents…

My uncle James…(who went with all his nieces,nephews and nephew’s in law to see a movie. He’s cool like that)

My sister and her husband…

My brother….(for the record Maddy was still calling him “uncle Bob”)

Katelyn playing with uncle Bryan and Uncle Waylon.

We sang together…

And here’s a little video of our song…

We celebrated Katelyn’s 4th birthday with a big shindig at my parent’s church. It was a Strawberry Shortcake theme.

The kids played some games…

Katelyn opened a ton of presents…

Madelyn even got some presents of her own!

It was a great trip! It went by way too fast. We look forward to hopefully being able to go to our family reunion next summer.

You can see the rest of the pictures from this trip on my  Flickr album

I didn’t have to time to edit and fix these pictures at all so they are there in all their uncropped glory. I don’t usually do that but couldn’t wait to post these pictures.

And as usual, you can also check out this album if you go to my “Pictures” tab at the top of my home page. Click on the “October 09 Trip To Texas” link.

]]> http://www.simplymelsblog.com/miss-me/feed/ 3 http://www.simplymelsblog.com/katelyns-4th-b-day-pictures/ http://www.simplymelsblog.com/katelyns-4th-b-day-pictures/#comments Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:36:56 +0000 SimplyMel http://www.simplymelsblog.com/?p=455 We celebrated Katelyn’s birthday here at home a little early this year since we’ll be in Texas next week for her actual birthday. I have to say that her party this past Saturday has been the best, most well planned, least-stressed-on-my-part party I’ve thrown at my house.*Pats self on back* I wasn’t running around like a chicken with my head cut off this time. I had signs posted around my house like ” Please don’t use basement bathroom” and a cooler labeled “Water”. Now, you may be wondering why this is even important. I’ll tell you why. Usually when I have parties like this at my house I get asked many times over “Which bathroom should I use? Upstairs or downstairs?”  My basement is a huge mess right now and instead of stressing about getting it clean for the party I just decided I wouldn’t clean it therefore no one could use the bathroom down there. Plain and simple. Melissa logic. I put a “water” sign on my cooler in the mudroom so everyone would know where to look to get water. There would be no questions about where they should get water. Tap? Fridge? Aha…right here in this cooler.

This may  not sound like a big deal but it lended  to the smoother running of things. Mike ended up taking Katelyn to dance that morning while I finished up last minute details. It also helped that my inlaws watched the girls the Friday before while I cleaned and prepared my house.

Here is a run down of the party. You can check out the rest of the pictures on my “Pictures” page. Just go to my blog’s home page and you’ll see “Pictures” at the top. Click on the “Katelyn’s 4th Birthday” link.

The Cake

It was a Princess and Prince themed party. I ordered a princess cake and we had pizza,salad and punch. I allowed myself a tiny moment of guilt for not making Katelyn’s cake myself. And then I moved on. The store I ordered the cake from had just run out of Disney Princess figurines (naturally) so her cake had a crown and scepter on it.

The Birthday Girl

Katelyn was being difficult while I was trying to take these last two pictures. She didn’t want me to take anymore pictures of her at that point, hence the “party pooper” face.  The little boy with her in the  middle is Keith. He’s a friend from church.

The Party  Activities

My mother in law’s kind neighbor was cleaning out her attic and found 13 plain wooden music boxes in plastic wrap that she had gotten for pennies a while back. She didn’t have any use for them so she gave them to me! They were perfect for painting and decorating. I cleared off our train table and set it up as a craft table (another self-congratulatory pat on the back!). I had paints, glitter and stickers for them to decorate with. They seemed to enjoy that. All in all we had nine children and various parents and family attend the party.

Madelyn’s box

It kind of blends in, but, inside the box there’s a wooden heart that pops up when you open the box and spins while the music is playing. Some of the kids painted the hearts or stuck stickers on it. I believe the tune that it plays is “Dance Of  The Sugar Plum Fairies” from “The Nutcracker”.

Katelyn’s box

After painting and eating lunch we played two games. One was a game where I wrapped a Sweet Tarts box many times over and the kids had to pass the gift around while music was playing and whenever the music stopped the child who had the gift got to unwrap a layer. The child who ended up with the box at the last layer of wrapping paper got to keep the gift. The other game we played was “Slipper, Slipper Who’s God The Slipper”. One child sad in the middle of a circle and had to guess which friend had the princess slipper behind their backs.

The Gifts

Katelyn and her friend Lainey(Keith’s, the boy from above, sister)

The Party Favors

My friend, Trish (Lainey and Keith’s mom) is seen here modeling the princess crown and the silly glasses-nose-mustache mask the girls and boys got to wear at the party. Along with those and the music boxes the kids also took home goody bags I put together. The goody bags also had stuff that my mother in law’s neighbor gave me!

So, the party was a success! Now we’re headed to Texas next week to visit my family and while we’re there we’ll celebrate Katelyn’s birthday with my family as well. That girl is spoiled!

Don’t forget to check out the rest of the pictures in my “Pictures” section on my home page.

]]> http://www.simplymelsblog.com/katelyns-4th-b-day-pictures/feed/ 1 http://www.simplymelsblog.com/all-about-me-on-my-birthday/ http://www.simplymelsblog.com/all-about-me-on-my-birthday/#comments Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:01:39 +0000 SimplyMel http://www.simplymelsblog.com/?p=164 Today, I turn 31. I don’t know how that can be. How have I reached my thirties already? I feel 21 still. OR 17.

Some days I still feel like that insecure 17 year old from high school. But, most days, I’m thanking God that I’m not that 17 year old anymore(well, except for wishing I still had the body of that 17-year-old)..

I was 17 and 16 here)

(can you believe I thought I was fat then??)

I was born tiny, at 2 lbs,

(this was my first birthday)

and and never got too much taller! I still wish I could be just a bit taller…

Especially with my very tall husband

(This was taken at my bridal shower)

I used to bite my nails, worry about what other people thought, and hate talking on the phone

I still do those things. Well, most of them. I only bit my nails every now and then.

I used to think it was uncool to hang with my family….

I don’t anymore. Now, I miss them like crazy…

I went from a friendly, sensitive, wear-my-heart-on-my sleeve, singing, dramatic, animal loving, crying-at-the-drop-of-a-hat little girl..

To a friendly, not-so-sensitive, seemed-like-I-was-single-forever, wear-my-heart-on-my sleeve, singing, not-so animal- loving, more reserved, crying-at-the-drop-of-a-hat young woman..

(this was taken when I was 19 or 20 in the infant room where I worked in NH. Can you believe I thought I was fat here too?)

To being a not-single-anymore, mom of two little girls

(our first family shot after Katelyn was born)

To a coffee loving, worship- team- piano -playing and singing, Sunday- School- teaching,blogging addicted stay at home mom

(who, for real now, could stand to lose a few pounds…)

I thank the Lord for all the lessons I’ve learned, the maturing I’ve done, and yes, even the the trials He’s brought me through since then. I thank Him for the husband he’s given me and my beautiful children. And I know He’s not done with me yet!

So, on this day of celebrating my 31st birthday I thought it would be fun to post some “About Me” surveys. You’ll learn more about me than you ever wanted to know!

Alphabet Soup Of My Life

A – Age: 31

B – Bed size: California King

C – Chore you hate: cleaning my tub

D – Dog’s name: Benny

E – Essential start your day item:COFFEE!

F – Favorite color: purple/pink/brown/turquoise

G – Gold or Silver: silver.

H – Height: 5′1 and a half

I – Instruments you play: piano

J – Job title: Prefessional mother.Maid. laundress.cook.errand runner. Kisser of booboos and chocolate milk maker.

K – Kid(s): Katelyn and Madelyn

L – Living arrangements: Own my own house. A 1936 colonial

M – Mom’s name: Aileen

N – Nicknames: Mel, Missy

O – Overnight hospital stay other than birth: appendix out and c-sections

P- Pet Peeve: Too many to list!

Q – Quote from a movie: “I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed but can you ever just be..whelmed?”

R – Right or left handed: right

S – Siblings: Twin sister in Heaven, Melanie, Steph and Bryan

U- First word that comes to your mind for “U”: umbrella?

V – Vegetable you dislike: brussel sprouts

W – Ways you run late: not getting up early enough

X – X-rays you’ve had: knees and back

Y – Yummy food you make: chicken, casseroles and brownies

Z – Zoo favorite: monkeys

My Firsts…

1. Who was your FIRST prom date? We didn’t have prom. We had banquets so I guess it would have been Jason Graham. He was two grades ahead of me. I asked him.

2. Do you still talk to your FIRST love? If you count my first love as being my first boyfriend then, yes! It was Mike.

3. What was your FIRST alcoholic drink? a sip of beer. It was horrible.

4. What was your FIRST job? preschool assistant in TX

5. What was your FIRST car? Honda accord

6. Who was the FIRST person to text you today? Nobody yet. But probably will be my sis

7. Who is the FIRST person you thought of this morning? My girls

8. Who was your FIRST grade teacher? LOL. My parents!

9. Where did you go on your FIRST ride on an airplane? Brazil? Not sure if we flew to a different state in the US before we left for Brazil.

10. Who was your FIRST best friend & do you still talk? Andrezza Cadete from our church in Brazil. And yes, we still talk on FB

11. Where was your FIRST sleep over? I don’t remember.

12. Who was the FIRST person you talked to today? Mike

13. Whose wedding were you in the FIRST time? Christina and Peter Capobianco

14. What was the FIRST thing you did this morning? Went to the bathroom

15. What was the FIRST concert you ever went to? Rebecca St. James

16. FIRST tattoo? musical staff

17. FIRST piercing? ears

18. FIRST foreign country you’ve been to? Brazil

19. FIRST movie you remember seeing? Care Bears Big Adventure or something like that

20. When was your FIRST detention? in high school. I think it was for tardies? I do remember getting just one.

21. What was the FIRST state you lived in? Oklahoma? I was born there but don’t think I stayed for too long.

22. Who was your FIRST roommate? As in live in a house together? Mike. Steph and I shared a bedroom as kids so I guess it could be her.

23. If you had one wish, what would it be? To move to TX

24. What is something you would learn if you had the chance? cake decorating or sign language