Emmy Nomination for Pushing Daisies

Yeah for Pushing Daisies! I hardly ever watch prime time TV these days but before the writer's strike Andy and I got hooked on Pushing Daisies. It got 12 emmy nominations including best supporting actor and actress. I hope Kristin Chenoweth and Lee Pace win.

Lake Michigan

Since our usual beach at Lake Pewaukee is closed(the beach is flooded from all the rain) we had to do some exploring for other places to swim. Andy discovered a beautiful beach at the bottom of a cliff called Atwater Beach. It is only about a 20 minute drive from our house. We have usually not wanted to swim at Lake Michigan because the water quality scares me but this beach tests the water for bacteria levels to and posts a sign if the water quality is okay. We went once to check it out and loved it - so we brought our friends the Crosbys and Hunters the very next weekend.

The Dads taking the kids out for a swim

The kids had fun burying eachother in the sand and I like the picture at the bottom of Tyler and Kate Crosby. They are always good buddies, I think Ty has a little crush on her.

Build A Bear (or Dog)

My Mom and Dad gave money for Tyler to go to Build A Bear for his Birthday. He loved it! He chose a dog and put a little heart inside and a barking sound. He chose clothes and everything. He loves his new dog and now we don't have to get a real one, right. Thanks Mom and Dad.

Gramm and Gramp's Visit

A couple weeks ago we were lucky enough to have Andy's parents visit. Gary had business in Chicago and then they drove to Milwaukee for a few days to see us. Tyler was so excited to see his Grandma and Grandpa. He constantly wanted to hold both their hands and do 1-2-3 jump . Grandpa and Tyler played the "oh my goodness game" and Marilyn got Lizzy to laugh harder than I have ever heard her laugh. They sure are fun!

We spent one day in Chicago with them that started at the delicious Brazillian restaurant "Brazzaz". Everytime we eat there I am in heaven the food is so good and it is fun to be at a fancy restaurant. We then went to the Museum of Science and Industry. It was a cool museum and had lots of fun things for kids.

Tyler's Birthday was while they were here so Tyler got to open some neat presents. Andy and I gave Tyler a Woody from Toy Story and Grandma and Grandpa gave him Buzz Lightyear!

Lizzy was watching too and would clap every time we said "Yeah"





We took Gary and Marilyn on a driving tour of the many beautiful lakes all within about 45 minutes or less of our apartment. We took my mom and dad on the same tour last year, remember mom? We also went to the Discovery world museum right on the lakefront of Lake Michigan. One night we had a friend babysit and the adults went out to eat. I hadn't been out to eat without kids in about a year, it was so fun! We ate at McCormick and Smick's, yummy sea food! Gary got a huge Lobster and oysters! I went with a milder choice,-trout in an amazing lemon sauce. I think I am 5 pounds heavier we ate at so many yummy places that week- Brazzaz, Mccormick and Smick's, Cheesecake Factory, and Culvers. We shoped at some cool little shops in downtown and they got me two really cute new shirts and some adorable shoes for Lizzy. When we said goodbye Tyler was so sad and kept saying "I really miss them." Now he daily asks me if we are going to the airport to catch an airplane to Utah so he can go visit all of his Grandma's and Grandpa's. Thanks Gary and Marilyn for a really fun visit!

Tyler's Birthday Party Part 3 (see parts one and two first)

I told the kids that I had prizes and candy for them but Emperor Zurg came and stole them and burried them outside. We then passed out shovels and landed our couch space ship. They all ran outside to dig for prizes.

In all the comotion I didn't take any pictures of the best part of the party (Marilyn could you email me your pics and vidoe clip)? After they found their burried prizes I told the kids that they were almost ready to fight Zurg. After doing some excercises and flexing their muscles, I passed out squirt guns and Andy came running out dressed like emporer zurg. All the kids got really into it squirting zurg until he fell down and then they continued to squirt him. Marilyn posted a video of it on her blog click here to see it. Tyler was in heaven he had so much fun.

Then we ate rocket birthday cake and, of course, opened presents.

Tyler's Birthday Party (Part 2)

We played "feed Mr. Potato Head" and threw balls in his mouth

Here is where their Buzz lightyear Space Ranger Training camp began. They all sat on the couch and we pretended it was a spaceship. They watched a 2 minute clip of Buzz Lightyear flying throught space and finding his arch enemy, the evil emperor Zurg.

They had the bravery test to see who dared to reach inside the black hole. They found that it just had prizes inside (and my hand which grabbed them when they least expected it)!

Then they had to save the little green aliens (suckers with a picture of the LGM taped to it) with the claw (salad tongs) You can kind-of see the jar at the bottom of this picture with balls and suckers inside and a little girl holding the salad tongs.

Tyler's 4th Birthday Party (part One)

I can't believe Tyler is four years old now! A few weeks before his birthday Ty announced that he wanted a Toy Story birthday party. He absolutely loves Toy Story and he frequenly sports his Buzz Lightyear Halloween costume still to this day. He really get's into character when he is pretending to be Buzz, it is so cute. I had fun planning the party and got excited thinking about how much Ty was going to LOVE it. I planned games that I knew he would go nuts over and I wanted to make the day really fun for my special birthday boy. Luckily a four year old is pretty easy to please so everything at the party was homemade and cheap cheap cheap. I splurged and bought some prizes at the dollar store but that's about all the money I spent ( the med student budget doesn't allow for much). We were lucky enough to have Andy's parents in town too and Tyler was excited to have them there for his party.


The Invitation- we just invited a few neighbors that all live in our same appartment complex.

The kids wearing their Sheriff Woody badges. Tyler wanted to wear his to bed that night.

We had several games going at once. Here is one game of putting Mr. Potato head's face bak on.