Beth Turns 30!!!

So, I'm now 30...no longer a 20-something! Oh well!! :) For my 30th birthday Joe planned a wonderful party for me!! We had a big cake moonwalk, food from Portillo's and about 55 of my friends and family at the house!!! It was a beautiful day and everything was perfect!!! I couldn't have asked for a better way to start my new decade!!

Here are some pictures and video from the party (we didn't take very many pictures, but here are a few that we did take):

Peeps at the party, out front on the driveway by the moonwalk

Kids in the moonwalk!

Gabe, Loren and Ellie in the moonwalk

Loren and Kaylynn in the moonwalk

Birthday cake!! 30 candles!!!

Here are some video from the party:

This one is a quick one of Loren and Ellie jumping:


Here is another quick one with a bunch of kids jumping and my mom trying to get out of the moonwalk:


This one is Jeremy in the moonwalk being attacked by Gabriel, Jack and Grant:


This video is of the "singing":

Loren's Big Girl Bike

A few weeks ago, Loren got her very first big girl bike (thanks to Booma and Boompa). She was SO excited to get a big bike!! When we got to the store, she rode all the bikes and chose which one she wanted (although she constantly changed her mind and Mommy convinced her to get the one I liked best)!! The first few days of riding were good, then she fell a few times and was scared to go on the bike. After a couple days, she was back to doing it herself and she is riding like a champ!!



Here are a few pictures of Loren on her big girl bike:






Here is a quick video of Loren riding her new bike:

Learning Tree 2 yr Old Preschool Closing Ceremony 2008

Today 5-22-3008, Loren had her preschool closing ceremony for the year. It was really cute, all the kids from the 2 year old program (both classes, the 9:15 class and Loren's class, the 11:00 class) were there. The kids all walked in, some needed their parent with them, but Loren (miss independent) walked in herself!! Each kid received a certificate and then we all went down to the big room for ice cream and cookies (I think that was Kaylynn's favorite part)!! It was a fun way to end a wonderful first year of preschool!!

I never thought I'd be bummed about the end of the school year, but it really is different being on the parent side instead of the teacher side!! Loren absolutely loved going to school every day (she never missed a day of school)!! Her teachers were wonderful and we can't wait for school to start again...but, we'll enjoy the warm summer weather first!! I have some pictures and video of today to share!!

Here are some pictures:

Loren getting her certificate for completely 2 year old preschool!!

Showing us her certificate (she was really excited about it)!

Smiling with her certificate!

Loren with her teachers, Mrs. Wiedeman and Mrs. Winterling

Having some ice cream with her friend, Ellie.

Kaylynn enjoying some yummy ice cream with Daddy!

Loren with her friends and classmates, Jack and Ellie

Loren, Natalie and Kassidy (Loren's friends and classmates)

Here are 2 videos, the first one is of her class walking into the ceremony, the second video is of Loren receiving her certificate:

Edible Finger Paint!

Yesterday (Monday 5/19/08) I made some edible finger paint out of Jello for the girls to "paint" with! They had a BLAST playing with it and painting and eating!! They got all messy with Jello in their hair, on their clothes, in some places that weren't even exposed! Then they had to go right into the bath (at 10am), and the bath water turned pink from all the jello!!! It was so cute to watch them playing and making a mess that I just had to share some pictures and video with everyone!

Here are the pictures:

Here is the video:

FYI for all you moms out there, the recipe for the jello finger paint: Add 1 cup of boiling water to the mix, then add about 6 ice cubes and mix until melted. Then put it in the fridge for about 3 minutes and it'll be ready to play with! It'll be kind of like a slightly watery, goo texture, which is perfect for playing!

Cubs Game Rooftop!

On Sunday May 18th Joe, my parents and I went to the Cubs game on the rooftop at Beyond the Ivy at 1010Waveland. It was soooooo much fun!!! The day started out at Peggy's in AH at 9am for a breakfast buffet and drinks, then we boarded the bus for the game! At the game there was a bunch of food, hot dogs, hamburgers, polish sausage, meatball sandwiches, pulled pork, and bbq chicken along with chips and cold salads (cole slaw and potato salad). And of course there were plenty of drinks (although they ran out of MGD, which was a bummer for Dad and Joe)! The day was mostly overcast, but when the sun did come out it got nice and warm, but when it was behind the clouds, it got pretty chilly! Around the 6th inning, we went inside and hung out in there to stay warm! The Cubs won, then we headed for the bus, only to find some of our Peggy's friends and headed to a bar for a quick drink before going home! We got back to Peggy's, went in to say goodbye to everyone, then headed to Joe's parents house to pick up the girls!! It was a fun day with lots of drinking (maybe TOO much)!! :)



Here are some pictures:

Joe and Beth on the rooftop!

View from where we sat on the rooftop.

Another view, you can even see the score guy in the scoreboard!

Dad, Mom, and me inside!

The 4 of us! We're standing on a balcony area that's attached to the inside area.

Indy - Chris's Birthday and Children's Museum

This past weekend we went to visit Amy and Chris for Chris's 30th birthday party! We drove down Friday night and got into some construction traffic on 65, but finally got there around 12:30 (eastern time). Loren had fallen asleep about 20 minutes before we got there, and was VERY excited once we arrived!! We got all the beds figured out and Kaylynn went right back to sleep, but Loren was up until 4am!!! Yikes!!!

Saturday morning we went to a park by their house then got things ready for the party. Mom and dad got down there early afternoon. The girls took really good naps and were able to enjoy the party!!! Dad bbq'd and mom and I helped get food ready and out! It was nice to see/meet some of Amy and Chris's friends!

Again, Loren was up late (went to sleep around 2:30am). Sunday morning we went to the hotel mom and dad were staying at to go swimming!! We then went back to Amy's for lunch and mom and dad and Joe all left to go home (I stayed another day with the kids). The girls took a good nap then we just hung out, went to McDonald's and came back and went to bed. Although Loren still stayed up until 12:30am!!!

Monday morning Amy and I took the girls to the Indy Children's Museum! It was a lot of fun! Both the girls enjoyed playing with all the activities at each exhibit! It was a lot of fun despite some carousel drama (at first they wanted me to have to pay to ride with Kaylynn, who rode free, and we didn't have any more money, but luckily we got to ride)!! We could have stayed for hours!! But the lack of sleep was finally catching up to Loren and she got very crabby!!! Plus, we needed to get on the road back home!!

It was a very fun visit!!! We hope to be able to visit again soon!!!

Here are a few pictures from the museum:














And here is some video of Kaylynn playing at the museum: