Happy Birthday Mackenzie, Courtney & Matthew!

Mackenzie, Courtney and Matthew turned 8 on Monday!

They had a party with their friends at Prime Time Sports on Friday. I made 72 cupcakes in all for three class parties. Mackenzie wanted green aliens, Courtney got monkeys, and Matthew had baseball cupcakes.

Happy Fathers Day, John!

Dad's day started with breakfast in bed (with chocolate frosted donuts, of course), some fun gifts (crocs, a hawiian shirt, a yankees shirt), and a family barbecue in the afternoon, and catching some of the US Open on TV. What more could a Dad want?

Lunch

Mackenzie was nice enough to make me lunch today. Tuna on rye, with raisins and green pepper slices on the side, plus a little box of nerds. There was a nice little flower in a pot, too, and I even got a little show to go with my meal. The best part was my drink. Looked like ginger ale, but I know we didn't have any. When Mackenzie showed me the soda can she found in the fridge, it was a Coors Light. I passed on the 'soda,' but loved the rest of my lunch.

Disney!

After Jamie & Shawn's fabulous wedding Betty and Carol joined us at our favorite place... Disney!

We ALL rode space mountain, drove cars at the Indy Speedway, had to go on Small World (which was way too cute for Matt), and loved the Hall of Presidents (where the kids think some of them were robots and some were real (not)). In a lapse of parental judgement I made Courtney go on Splash Mountain. She complained the entire wait about parents forcing children to go on scary rides, screamed bloody murder the entire time, and then said she'd go on again. She went on Space Mountain, for heavens sake!
We did Spaceship Earth, Mission Space, and Test Track at Epcot before walking around the countries. Ate schnitzel, sausages, and potato salad in Germany, and danced to the oompah music. Matthew got picked to lead the band!

Before heading home on Wednesday we ate breakfast at Chef Mickey's. All the characters signed Mackenzie's Pluto baseball shirt and she showed it off at school the next day.

Here comes the bride...

Jamie and Shawn were married on Saturday, May 19th. They looked stunning together. Christina was a jr. bridesmaid, Courtney and Mackenzie were flower girls with Lindsey, and Matthew was a hit as the ringbearer with Frank. Frank is a pug.

Mothers Day

My day started with our tradition of breakfast in bed. (Chocolate donut, blueberry pancakes, bananas and coffee!) I ran a 5k race in the mornings, and went to the beach in the afternoon. Overall a great day!

Matthew's Famous

Matthew's class is featured in the 1-800-Flowers Mothers Day catalog, and they're on the website, too!

There's a really cute video you should see at:
http://ww11.1800flowers.com/template.do?id=template8&page=4052

Earth Day

Saturday was Earth Day. The girls and I picked up trash around the preserve by Brady Park. Later Christina had a soccer game, followed by a softball game. (She had to change in the car!) Mackenzie had a soccer game, and then she and Courtney had a softball game that Daddy coached.

The weather was so warm and beautiful this weekend, that we had our first backyard fire this year on Sunday night and roasted marshmellows!

Hot Dates

Tonight is the Little Ladies Dance. The girls got all dolled up, and went out to dinner and then to the dance with the cutest guy in Massapequa.
Meanwhile, Matthew and Mommy had a date, too. We went to dinner, bought baseball cards, and played games at Dave & Busters.

Reflections Winners!

Christina won 1st place for literature, Matthew won 1st place for choreography, Mackenzie won twice, 2nd place for literature and 1st place for music. Courtney, despite writing an awesome story, didn't win a trophy, but got a medal for participating. (Click this link to read Courtney's story, and decide for yourself if she should've won.)

Easter Fun

Aunt Betty came for a week and took the kids to Vanderbilt Planetarium, The Cradle of Aviation, and The Firefighters Museum. Then their cousins from Maryland came for Easter. We enjoyed seeing Uncle Peter and Aunt Laura, but Matthew was in heaven with two more boys to hang out with.
Kyle, Matthew and Maxx digging in to dessert. (The best way to have it is everything in one bowl, topped with whipped cream!)

The Mattejat side of the family group photo: Mackenzie, Maxx, Courtney, Matthew, Christina and a reluctant Kyle. (What is it with parents and taking pictures all the time?)

Lunar Eclipse

Did anyone else see the lunar eclipse on March 3rd? Aunt Donna and Uncle Allen joined the kids outside to watch, and they brought light sticks, too!

Who Needs a Babysitter?

Can I get one for each of the kids?
(the crate, not the dog!)

Locks of Love

Courtney and Mackenzie donated their hair to Locks-0f-Love, where they make wigs for kids who have lost thier hair. Here they are, before and after....

Science Fair

Science Fair time again! Christina experimented with different ways to clean up oil spills, Mackenzie worked with moldy bread, Matthew figured out if heavier baseball players hit more home runs, and Courtney sent eggs flying with different packing materials.

Who's The Cutest?

It's tie. They're all cute.

It's a Boy!

We got a puppy! He's a cute little guy. His name is Toby. We got him at the shelter. Just because.

Eggsperiment

Courtney threw eggs off the back porch last night for her science fair project. She was testing packing materials, from cotton balls to crushed crackers. Matt and I smeared each other with the leftover shaving cream. These days I figure, what the heck, make a mess and have some fun.

You think you had a bad day...

Kind of says it all when Christina's grace before dinner was "Thank you God for me not having to go to the emergency room." Charlie Brown bit her finger this morning, Mackenzie wacked her in the eye this afternoon, and ten minutes later she was crying again, but this time for real and gushing blood. She hit her mouth on the fence and bit her lip. Two doctors at the pediatricians office looked at her, (checked her eye to boot) and told us lip cuts don't get stitches unless it goes all the way through. After half an hour with ice on her mouth, and a cold compress on her eye, she was back running around.

Happy New Year!

Celebrated with our friends. Here are all our kids, don't know where the grownups are. (hic)