Xtreme Bounce

To beat the gray-ness' round here we headed over to a bounce place. Believe it or not, we had never been to one before. $10 - not bad to kill some time one afternoon.









Ava had a great time. Violet went down twice and then hung out with N and I. Pretty much clinging to my leg. Not like anyone else was there, we practically had the whole place to ourselves.

Ahhh, then we had the beloved St. Patrick's day craft. I'd seen a cute leprechaun craft where a hand print was turned upside-down to make the beard. So we started with that, and then I read the girls a story about a leprechaun. Somehow they turned evil, grew an extra couple legs, and the markers and paint just went crazy. Pretty funny.

Bunny Buns

I usually wouldn't have posted something like this, but we worked for 4 hours producing these little (or big, rather) bunny buns. Rising, resting and rolling. They turned out super yummy.





I always enjoy looking at people's yummy baking pictures, and am rather proud of these. The recipe can be found here

It comes from a kids' magazine called the Friend, and the girls are really beginning to enjoy reading the stories.

Where are we?

No, it can't be. The sun? Here? Now?

Today we went to the park twice. TWICE!! Once with a coat, once without. I think my camera is in shock. The pics even look a little washed out.



There is nothing quite as glorious as the first days that point to spring. It's been a long, hard winter. Much worse than last year. If I were a pioneer I probably would have died. No joke.



This is representative of the WILD imagination that is taking place in our house lately. The girls seriously could just play and imagine all day.

A whole lotta this going on

Tyler has been working harder than I have ever seen him work. Maybe it's because he's really excited. The other night I came home and he had 12 ft. of butcher paper taped across the wall with arrows and words going everywhere.

First Loose Tooth

One week after after Ava turned 5 I noticed her teeth looked a little crooked in the front. I asked her if her tooth was loose, and she didn't know. I checked, and sure enough, it was loose. Fast forward one month and suddenly the tooth was much looser. It looked something like this:



I kept telling Ava if she kept wiggling it, the tooth would fall out! A short time later, it happened. My baby's first tooth fell out.



Voila! A new smile for Ava. Blood and all.



My mom said I lost my first tooth at 4, so it is no surprise Ava lost hers so soon. I was kind of sentimental about it because this was the first tiny tooth that poked out so many years ago with so much anticipation. That first little tooth on that sweet little baby isn't there anymore.

Congratulations Tyler!

We had some good news a couple weeks ago :)

Zell Lurie Institute Announces the Winter 2011 Dare to Dream Grant Recipients

The Dare to Dream Grant program encourages students to move through the business creation process by offering business development seminars and $500 - $10,000 in funding. Within the program, students meet deadlines to produce deliverables that guide them through the business development path from a nascent idea to formulating and assessing potential businesses to planning and launching these businesses. The program awards up to $100,000 per academic year in the Fall and Winter terms.

The following teams were awarded grants for the Winter 2011 phase:

Winter 2011 Integration Grants (up to $10,000 each team)

AYAH, LLC $5,000 - Tyler Paxton (MBA ’11), Reid Tatoris (MBA ’11), Biswaroop Palit (MBA ’11), Benjamin Blackmer (MBA ’12), David Levitch (MBA ’11)
Develops and markets a game-based CAPTCHA that is simple, intuitive and secure

ReGenerate $ 10,000 - Paul Davis (MBA/MS ’11), Nolan Orfield (PhD/MSE ’13), Bobby Levine (PhD ’13), Hunt Briggs (MBA/MS ’11)
Provides food service operators with on-site biodigester systems

STIgma Free $5,000 - Rameshwar Rao (PhD ’14), Sasha Cai Lesher-Perez (PhD ’14), Jeremy Holzwarth (PhD ’14), Patrick Ingram (PhD ’14), Joshua White (PhD ’14), Bethany Tong (MBA ’12)
Develops and sells point-of-care diagnostic devices for small clinical and home use to test for sexually transmitted diseases

StrideSports $10,000 - Brian Beard (MBA ’12), Grant Weber (MBA ’11), Patrick Fay
Designs and produces standing bicycles

Home again Home again Hippity Hop

This is what my parents would say every time we pulled into our driveway.

I am glad to be home with my hubby. It was a much needed break from laundry, cleaning and the perpetual gray skies that shroud Michigan this time of year. I think we may go somewhere each February because it is a tough month to get through. Some weeks I only leave the house a handful of times because the cold and labor of getting everyone ready, there, and happy is too much. This seems really sad. Maybe I should work on getting out more? But let's face it - 3 kids are a lot to tote around everywhere and I already get looks and comments constantly, "You certainly have your hands full, don't you?" Why yes, I do, but I love it.

Here are some of my absolute favorite pictures. If you want to see more, click on the picture and it will take you to the online album.

We had a fabulous time with Grandma. My days consisted of waking up, working out, feeding the kids and making the tough decision of whether to go to the beach or the park/water park.

From Untitled Album

From Untitled Album

Flying with 3 kids alone

Note to self:
Prepare to sweat the entire flight
Eat enough so I can nurse the baby the whole time
Dress baby in onesie because my body heat + everyone else's makes for one hot experience
Pray you do not sit behind a grumpy business traveler - if anyone would have crossed me I think I would have punched their lights out (thanks P90X and Jillian)
Prepare to tell magical stories
Have snacks and water a plenty in the older kids' bags so they can get them out themselves (not in diaper bag)
Make sure portable DVD player is charged and movies are ready
Say a prayer