a Notre Dame birthday

A good friend of Jake's invited him to come with him and his family to Notre Dame for a long weekend. Jake had so much fun last time he was there that he jumped at the chance to go again. And plus, it was the perfect way to celebrate a birthday weekend!

They went to the spring football game on Saturday, which  also happened to be Jake's birthday.

It looks from these pictures that he had a fun day! :)

I am not sure how we are going to be able to top this for his next birrthday! :)

birthday boy

Happy Birthday to my sweet boy Jake!

15 years old today!

It seems like just yesterday that we were celebrating his 1st birthday!!

(Oh my gosh, where does the time go??)

We celebrated his birthday a few days early because he is out of town with some friends for the weekend. (This does seem kind of weird to me to not have him home on his birthday- but I know he is having a great time this weekend.)

For Jake's birthday dinner he wanted me to make crab legs.

I was a little nervous to make the crab legs because I had never made them before and wasn't sure how they would turn out. I have to say that I tried to talk him into going out for dinner at a restaurant to get crab legs - but he really wanted me to make them. And when your boy asks you to make you a homemade dinner and tells you that he would rather eat at home than out at a restaurant... well, that just melts a mama's heart. And a mama makes that requested dinner! :)

And I am so glad that I did because it turned out to be so easy and they turned out great.

I used an Emeril recipe that was super easy. The recipe called for steaming the crab legs for 1o minutes in a big stock pot (in a steamer basket) with 1 clove of garlic, 2 lemons and 3 bottles of beer.

Jake loved the dinner!

And I made his favorite cake!

Happy Birthday, Jake!!

frisbee

I love when I go to move pictures off my camera and I find photos that I had absolutely no idea that were taken. These are some pictures that I found recently on my camera that put a smile on my face.

If I were to imagine the story here this is what happened… because this always what happens when we try to play ball or Frisbee with our dog.

Drew is playing Frisbee with Bella.

Drew throws the Frisbee.

Hoping that Bell will catch it..

Which she does.

Drew waits for Bella to bring the Frisbee back..

Which she doesn’t.

Because she never does.

She would much rather play ‘runaway from Drew’…

So Drew ponders how exactly to get the Frisbee back.

He tries resoning with Bella.

He tries crawling.

He tries rolling.

And lunging.

He then tries good ole fashioned tug of war.

He finally manages to get the Frisbee back.

And then

He throws it again…

This is how you play ‘catch’ with our dog. (smile)

beautiful day

Today was another gorgeous day! We have been having the most beautiful weather this spring. It has been warmer and sunnier weeks earlier than we usually get here in Minnesota… and I am loving it!!!

This morning was my nephew’s First Communion. We were so happy to be able to help him celebrate his special day!

Doesn’t he look handsome?

Today was just one of those days where you wanted to spend every second outside. And we tried to!
Drew and I took Bella for a long walk this afternoon and I had to laugh when we got home because the dog completely crashed the second we walked in the door.

Which made me realize that after the long winter- we need to get back into a walking routine again! We both need it. :)

something that made me smile today

I received an email today that made me smile.

It was from my Aunt.

My Mom and her sisters are on a "sister weekend." They started these weekends a couple of years ago and meet in different locations and spend time togetherto catch up on each others lives and to just have fun.

I think this is awesome!!!

So, I get this picture emailed to me.

(My Mom is in the middle in the back row.)

I think they are having fun. (smile)

Sisters are different flowers from the same garden. ~Author Unknown

decisions

National Response Day for college decision is May 1.

Which means it is crunch time.

The past 3 days Tyler and I have spent at 2 different colleges.

We spent some time on each campus and Tyler sat in on some classes to try to get a better feel for which school he wants to go to this fall.

2 very different schools

1 is a small with 4,000 students – 1 is large with 47,000

1 is a private school – 1 is a public University

1 comes with a great scholarship

1 is in our state – 1 is out of state

2 very good schools –2 very different schools

And he is having trouble deciding.

As a parent I want to help him and make this whole process easier for him- but in reality this is his decision. I can offer my support and I can offer resources in helping with the decision making process, but in the end, it is his decision.

I know he will make the decision that is right for him and I have faith that he will be where he is supposed to be.

2 schools

1 decision

Sadies

Saturday night was the Sadie's dance at the high school.

The theme this year was 'Beauty and the Geek'. Each year they have a different theme and keep it fun and pretty low key, which is really nice since prom is in just a few weeks.

Tyler was the beauty and his girlfriend was the geek. :)

So cute!!!

the Bahamas

Our last stop of the cruise was at Princess Cays in the Bahamas. This is Princess' own part of an island and has an absolutey beautiful beach area. We enjoyed swimming, snorkeling, sunning and relaxing.

Cozumel

The third port that we stopped at was Cozumel, Mexico. We boarded a smaller boat for a 30 minute ride  over to Playa del Carmen.

We headed on a tour to visit Tulum the ancient Mayan ruins.  Our guide was fabulous and our whole family really enjoyed this excursion.

The beach area at Tulum.

Back on the ship that night we enjoyed Movie Under the Stars. We watched Blind Side on the big screen TV. So fun!