Happy 39th...

Last Friday I celebrated my 39th birthday (for the 1st time). The kids and Daddy baked ME a Big Top Cupcake and it was yummy lemon with lemon filling - my favorite! Max said he wants one just like it for his birthday (I may even give him the pink icing!) After a celebration with the kids, Scott took me out with friends to Benihana - Japanese Steak House and Cheesecake Factory for dessert! It was a great night!

Birthday Celebration #3

Since Mia has never had a birthday party, we decided to go ahead and splurge for what she wanted - a Buckeye Gymnastics party. They have a preschool gym dedicated for ages 3-5 and she's taken gymnastics there before. We invited Mia's playgroup and close friends. It was a really fun afternoon. Max had to miss most of it due to a last minute schedule change with basketball. Turns out they had a game scheduled the exact same time as the party! Gotta love travel teams!

In the "cheese" pit On the balance beam
Taking a break!
Cookie Cake is YUMMY!

Duck Duck Goose

Her favorite thing to do!

Mia with her friends (and sister!) Mia with

Alexa (they have known each other forever!)and Lily (our neighbor)

Birthay Celebration #2

All Mia and the big kids have been talking about for weeks is the "Big Top Cupcake". Seems there is an advertisement after Dora that is shown and Mia has fallen for this cupcake that is supposed to be 25 times bigger! And, it was! I found it at Walgreen's (in the "As Seen on TV" section) and couldn't resist picking it up. She requested chocolate cake, with white icing and sprinkles. Since she likes princesses, I found some princess sprinkles to go on top with a #4 candle. She was thrilled! After cake, she opened some presents and went to bed! The girl was exhausted with all the Big Top excitement!

With Daddy

With Mommy

Celebrating with Max and Megan

"My princess iPhone"

A tinkerbell book she wanted

Birthday Celebration #1

With a crazy week this week, we elected to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa on Sunday in between basketball games. Grandma prepared Mia's favorite - noodles! She opened presents from them and we were off to another game. Here's some pictures from celebrating with her grandparents!

Happy 4th Birthday Mia!

My baby is turning 4 today! I can not believe how time flies. A little scared 10 month old..and now a big 4 year old. Amazing! This is the picture that was used for her birthday party invite. She will be celebrating all week long, with a "family party" on this past Sunday, and a Big Top Cupcake today (Tuesday), passing out a birthday treat at school on Wednesday, and finally a birthday wrap up with her playgroup and other friends at Buckeye Gymnastics on Saturday. I don't know anyone who is going to celebrate more than Mia! Happy Birthday Mia! We love you!

Upward Basketball - Go Lady Wildcats!

Upward Basketball kicked off this week. This year, Megan wanted to try her hand at basketball instead of cheerleading. Guess she wants to be like her big brother. Upward is such a great program to learn and be introduced to the game. She is on the Lady Wildcats (Go Northwestern!). This year we are trying to ignore the fact that the uniforms are Gator colors...and instead we're thinking they are Illinois colors. Much better!

Megan has 7 girls on the team, so lots of playtime. So far she's been playing all positions, but I think we have a future point guard on our hands. They won their 1st game 26-14. And MJ had 8 pts. She was all over the court, and coach Kevin gave her the blue star for the week for best effort. Who knows, maybe we havea future Lady Buckeye on our hands! She's fast and quick and makes the shots! Here's a few pictures from her 1st game.

coming out of the "tunnel"

hanging out with coaches (coach Kevin on the right is her head coach!)

getting the rebounds

supposed to be throwing in-bounds...but she has to dribble if it's in her hands!

Love the tounge action...

Officially Caught Up

I've updated and am caught up in the blogging world. I back dated a few posts, so be sure to go back to December and catch up on our holiday happenings. I'm going to try and blog a little more often in 2010!

Congrats Buckeyes!

It wouldn't be "Buckeyes Back Home" if I didn't take out a moment to talk about the Rose Bowl! The last time our Buckeyes went to the Rose Bowl, Scott and I were married a year, and we took the trip out west. We had 50 yard line seats and watched them beat Arizona State! Now 13 years later, they went back and beat Oregon. FINALLY we have a BCS win and can maybe look forward to not being disappointed over and over again! Here's Max and Megan in their Buckeye attire. Mia was napping when the game started, but she had her cheerleader outfit on too!

Happy 2010!

Happy New Year! I can't believe that we are in a new decade. In the last 10 years, I look back and have accomplished and changed so much. I wonder what the next 10 years will be like.

In 10 years let's see:

- our 1st baby was born right after we celebrated Y2K and I became a mom, followed suit with another in 2002, and another in 2006. What followed was at least 1M hours of lost sleep.

- We've lived in 3 states during these 10 years. Texas, Georgia, and Ohio.

- We've owned 4 different homes in 10 years.

- We've traveled to Florida, California, Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Georgia, Texas, and China

- We've lost a grandma, and 2 parents, and our kitty Simba

- We started kids in mothers day out, then preschool and then elementary school

- We celebrated our 5-14 year anniversaries (I'll leave out the birthdays!)

- We went from "dial up" to broadband high speed Internet also hardly ever checking email to now checking it all the time and cruising the net, not to mention blogging!

- We went from collecting Beanie Babies to Webkinz (my MJ would appreciate that)

- In 2000, I never online shopped, now it is how I get the best deals!

This is by no means a complete list. Just a moment to look back and see the experiences of life. No matter what we've done, or accomplished, it is always our family and friends who make our life whole. So, thank you for making the last 10 years a blessing to our family. And here's to the next decade! Happy New Year to all of you!