Daddy Daughter Dance 2012

So, last night the girls went with daddy to their annual dance. This is Emily's 7th! And Grace's 6th! Could that be right? We didn't have a digital camera back in 2006 for Emily's first dance so you can't see that beauty but...how about a look back at those precious years...

2012

                                     

2011



2010



2009



2008



2007

Pre Christmas

Well, while it appears no one is interested in what may be a budding pandemic of rabies, I will, as your friend, keep you abreast of any updates (regarding the status of rabies in the United States) that I receive through my email correspondence with the World Health Organization and the CDC. You can thank me later. Now on to more pressing news...
I don't feel that I can properly jump into our Christmas celebrations without first sharing with you our holiday preparations. As you can see from the picture above, we have had an elf visiting our house over the past month. His name is Ben and he showed up on our kitchen counter on Dec. 1st, tucked away sleeping in a tiny little bed-in-a-box. He made a few crazy trips around our home and has since vanished.

Ben coloring on garage floor.

The girls then spent a special evening out with grandpa seeing It's a Wonderful Life at the Debartolo. They always love to get dressed up in beautiful dresses.

And of course Christmas concerts...



Mr. Swihart...AWESOME music teacher

Check out that cute hair!

Our very first time doing gingerbread houses. Thanks so much to the awesome Norton family. Hey Jill!!

And last day of school treats...

And #1 on the list goes to...

This.

Boo!!

Did I scare ya? I know you were checking my blog out of habit, not expecting me and then you were like Whoa! By golly, Ethyl...there's a sign of life here!
Ethyl is my new favorite old lady name. Does anyone even know anyone named Ethyl? Am I even spelling it right? Not important, but did you know that Ethylene gas is a hormone let off by certain fruits that causes early ripening? Yep, last semester I was flauntin' my math skillz now I'm fixin' to demonstrate me some science expertisezes.
Speaking of science (and school) guess what!!!!! I got all A's this semester!! I can not believe it! This was my most difficult semester so far. But, with the help of my most awesome friend Carrie, my fabulous (and way good looking) husband Merkle, and my genius mom...I managed straight A's. Maybe I will graduate with honors after all. And I won't have to resort to plan B which was to go purchase my OWN pretty piece of cord from Joann's, pull it out from under my graduation gown and throw it around my neck just as I'm about to go across the stage-which I am NOT above doing! I mean, who wants to look like this on graduation day:

When you could look like this...

Holy cow, Ethyl!! As I'm perusing Google images for graduation pictures I stumbled on this beauty! And I asked myself, "Alice, why stop with some measly cord I could pick up for 2.99/yrd? Let's go for this...

See that chick in the big blue robe with the dark, velvety bands and beautiful blue sash...yeah, I don't know what any of that means but mama wants. Anybody know where I could pick one up cheap and how I can stash that baby on graduation day?

Keeflie Day 2011

Another great Keeflie Day down in the record books. For myself, it's Keeflie Day #30(ish). Every year, day after Thanksgiving while thousands of shoppers were out pushing their way through throngs of other shoppers, me and my Grandma Kensinger and Great Grandma Miles were down in grandma's basement baking keeflie's by the hundreds. Now, it's my daughters' tradition. The last few years we have been joined by my dear friend Anne and her daughter Grace. I love this picture of us, this pretty much symbolizes my friendship with Anne, she does something goofy and I laugh at her.

Happy Keeflie Day everyone!

Sheldon

asked Amy Farrah Fowler to be his girlfriend!!!!

This is THE BEST show on TV!!

A Full Weekend

What a great weekend we had! It started out on Friday afternoon when the girls and one friend each and I went to Notre Dame to watch the marching band practice. That was awesome! They march down the front steps of the Golden Dome and across campus to this roped off parking lot where they go through their entire game day routine. And let's face it, the best part of college football IS the marching band.

Then we headed over to the bookstore at Eddy Street Commons where Grandpa works. Turns out Notre Dame legend Rudy Rudinger was there signing autographs. He and my dad had connected over a purchase Rudy had made a few days prior to this so Rudy asked my dad if we would like a picture with all the kids. Pretty cool, except I didn't have my camera. So...

After we left there we headed over for some Hot Box pizza. Delicious. Then we met up with my dear friend Carrie and her family and we all walked around the campus for a bit. It was great. The whole campus was alive with the excitement and preparations of a home game the next day. 

So, Saturday morning Emily had her horse lessons so while she and daddy were off doing that Grace and I did a little shopping for a wedding we were going to later that day. Boy, did we have fun! We had our first ever visit to Charming Charlie's! Oh My Word! We had sooooo much fun! Grace is such an accessories girl! We bought 2 headbands, a purse, a coin purse, and some perfume. What a blast!

Then the wedding...beautiful!

And to top it all off, Sunday was my mom's birthday. Can I tell you how much I love her? I don't have the words to tell you how much I love my mom. She is truly my best friend. She always mends my heart when it is broken. She always listens, without judgement, when I call and rattle on and on about school. She always laughs at my vain attempts at humor. She tells me she's proud of me, that I'm a great mom. She's brilliant, patient, kind, a model of conservative values. And...and this is the part that baffles me...she likes me!! She thinks I'm great! My hero likes me. It simply doesn't get better than that.

Rethinking Things

                                                                                                                                                                                              Found these beauties while doing some online Christmas shopping for my girls. A sign for those of you young people who don't have children yet to run, don't walk to the nearest deserted island when you have your children, lest they be infected by this ugliness!! And, you can have this picture of feminine beauty for your TODDLER for the low price of $170.00!!!

Seriously, with what outfit do these shoes work? And where does said toddler wear these, the library for story time? ArGgGGHHhh!!! Oh, wait, I know...the rest of the outfit looks like this...silly me...now I remember.

Ya know, I have to say, it's so great raising little girls today. I mean, they really can be anything they want! But, I'm concerened. My oldest daughter wants to live on a ranch with 50 horses, will this outfit work for that? My other little girl shows signs of a budding architect. But, I dunno, maybe we should rethink things. Maybe vampire slut is the right choice for our family. Man, there are just so many choices today. I've said it before and I will say it again: We've come a long way, baby.