One of Parker's Biggest Fans....

Throughout Parker's entire 4 year "career" playing golf in HS, he had at least ONE person following him on the course for every single meet except his Freshman year playing at Whistling Straits. Usually me and/or his Dad, Grandparents, etc. MANY times, his sweet sister walked those courses too, usually in flip flops, and a time or two, she did it alone. These were taken at his final trip to WS, it was FINALLY a nice day weather-wise and she got sunburned nicely. At most of the holes she "acted" out what was written on the sign. She's just the first in a long line of goofy kids that I've birthed....

So Pretty.....

These next few pictures were taken on one hole at Trappers Turn in Wisconsin Dells at the Sectional meet that Platteville (led by the #1 golfer you all know and love) qualified for as a team. You tee off from atop a big hill that looks out over a huge basin that is flanked by lush foliage (this was before the height of the drought we experienced this summer). Lush green growth that will eat your pretty white golf ball in a New York minute! Which is exactly what happened to Parker's tee shot. When you're a part of the gallery, one of your roles is to look for errant balls---no matter who hit them! Unfortunately, despite a tremendous effort in searching, we did not find his ball and he had to truck back up that hill and hit another ball =(

Five days? No new post?

Well that'll get you a text from a reader!!! I could think up all kinds of excuses as to why there's been a 5 day drought, but I've got nothing! I even had a birthday in the middle of those days! Kurt took me to a Japanese place where our dinner was cooked in front of us and we had yummy sushi =) The only picture I took was of the dude starting the grill, LOL.
So until something more interesting happens, here's some pictures of Arielle and Beckett being goofy. Ok, mostly Beckett...

Ferry Time!

Saturday after our Trick or Treat adventure (and after Xmas card pictures---dang we were BUSY on Saturday!), we took the ferry across the Mississippi River over to the Iowa side. It had been quite awhile since Paxton had ridden and I don't think Beckett ever had. Needless to say, they had a very enjoyable ride--helped along by the lollipops that the nice gentleman collecting the fare gave them =)

HS football (game)

Paxton has been wanting to go to a football game for a few weeks now, which I haven't figured out because it's not like we know any of the kids who play on the team. He know Parker goes to the games, maybe that's where it came from? Anyway, tonight was a perfect reason for going--the elementary kids here did a walk-a-thon as a fund-raiser and tonight they got to take a lap around the stadium to wrap it all up. Paxton didn't want to walk, but Beckett did. While we waited for Kurt and Beckett to join us, Paxton had a ball running up and down the steps and goofing around with Arielle--they LOVE when she does things with them =)
They did shave about 4 years off my life when Arielle lifted Paxton up so he could see over the top of the stadium wall, HA!!

Happy Golden Birthday, Arielle!

My first-born is 20 today! So 20 ON the 20th means she's having her golden b-day (although she's more looking forward to 21, eyeroll).
Just posting a few pictures from previous birthday parties (back when new Barbies and American Girl clothes made her one happy little camper!!)

Our in-house IT

aka: Arielle. And actually, that's kind of misleading, since she came over here so I could help her download a book onto her Nook. But THEN she worked on getting Microsoft Office installed on my laptop, so that part fits the title =) Actually, we're just glad to see her whenever she comes by for whatever reason!

Flashback Friday

Can it really be that THREE years have gone by since we were on the hunt for the perfect prom dress? How did that happen so fast?! I've noticed that the dresses are on display, so that time of the year approaches!!
A little backstory on her dress: she came home one day and told me she found the perfect dress and it was ONLY $400 and she was going to order it, OK? Um, NOT OK! I told her no way bay-bay and she promptly told me that was the one she loved, she'd never find another one like it. She and her friends had all already "claimed" their colors and she was lime green. She wanted VERY full, sparkly, strapless and wanted it to lace up the back. Well, Momma went a-hunting on eBay and found a dress with 4 out of 5 requests and Arielle decided that maybe Momma knew what she was doing after all! We won it for a little over $100 and my girlfriend did the minor alterations for us. It was a beautiful dress worn by my beautiful baby girl =)
One of my favorite pictures from that night was the one of the masses of tulle in all the colors that the girls chose---you can pick her out of the crowd even without her face, HA!

COACH!!

One of Arielle's Christmas gifts was an almost empty box, save for a piece of paper printed with the Coach logo--which translated to "a trip to Coach for a new purse"! Makes for a very happy 19 year old =)
We met my sister and one nephew at the outlet mall in Wisconsin Dells and hit it! We made a couple of laps and narrowed down our favorites and each got a nice accessory!! Arielle's final two are pictured above, she went with the the classic brown one =)

PUMPKINS!

We don't always carve pumpkins for Halloween. There is a large college student population near our home and jack o'lanterns do not always survive long term on our porch! This year though, the neighborhood is a pretty "tame" group of kids, so Arielle took a chance and purchased 2 big pumpkins for the boys to carve. Kind of.

She cut the tops off and I think they each took one handful of the "guts" out before they declared themselves DONE--HA! Arielle and I finished scooping, the boys picked out the patterns they wanted to use, she transferred them onto the pumpkins, Beckett broke one of the "knives" meant to cut out the pieces, she and I took turns carving, I separated out the seeds to roast for Arielle and the boys came back in time for pictures! Pretty much how we figured it would go =)