First Game!!!

Saturday was opening day for Danielle and her Lake Villa Timberwolves.




Danielle is making some new friends too, which makes us happy. The Twolves got the best of Waukegan today, 20-0. As Uncle Chris said, "At least one of our teams won today".

Confident 2nd grader

Here is the little Diva on her way out the door for her first day of 2nd grade with Mrs. Burke. She picked the outfit that Busia and Dzia Dzia got her for her birthday for the special occasion. New Year, New School. Danielle will be attending Oakland Elementary School. Her new school is just minutes away.

Move in Day Photos

Here is just a little insight into BJ's new home away from home...


Our son can be seen here opening the door to his new palace.



And the moment he realized that there was nothing more than meets the eye....




But look at his view...



That's something people in Chicago would pay a ton on money for....and its right outside his window.


This is a shot that I am going to send to HGTV for a tv show idea...how the heck are we going to fit all of this in this tiny space. Maybe they will buy my idea of dorm room takeovers. Who knows. I think its a good idea.




Maybe it wont be so bad afterall...

South 476

So, today was the day. We packed him up and drove the few miles to Carthage. (ok not so few..it took about 40 minutes) We made it through our 6 morning checkpoints...admissions, financial aid, the registrar, the office of the dean of students, the health office and security. (sounds backwards doesnt it?)

We got BJ's room key and headed over to the South Tower...or the new Villa Fuller. If you could have seen his face....priceless. Im not sure what was expected, but he looked like he drank sour milk when he opened that door. His room is a standard dorm room. 2 beds, 2 desks, 2 closets. He cant get over how small it is. I kept telling him that we ALL went through it and we ALL survived. His Mom and Dad agreed. Danielle didnt help though when she kept saying "Man BJ, your room is really gross!"

He does have a room with a lake view. The campus is on Lake Michigan. No need for air conditioning (which is good because he doesnt have it) with the lake breeze. I dont think he knows how lucky he is to be able to walk to class along the lakefront everyday...at least until its winter and FRIGID.

After we moved his things in, we went to lunch and met his CC coach, Coach Witt. Very nice guy. We ate lunch with the team and some other parents. The cafeteria is a couple of buildings over from his dorm...that was surprising to me. Danielle was happy that there was a slurpee machine.

After lunch, we had to get a going because he had practice that afternoon. So we left him, in the cafeteria. Probably better that way so there was no tearful exchange. It was relatively painless.....

On the way home, Danielle must have had some form of light bulb go off. She was kind of quiet, listening to her Cheetah Girls CD. Then it happened. It goes a little something like this....

"Mommy? Can i ask you something?" She said it really, really quietly.

"Sure Baby," I said. I thought she was going to ask me for a toy or something to eat on the way home.

"What time will BJ be home tonight?" She asked it matter of factly, like he was just hanging out at a friends house.

"Well, Baby, Bj isnt going to be at home tonight. He has to stay at college for a few days or so. He might not be home until the weekend." (he wont be home this weekend, but it was the best I could do.)

"THAT is college? THAT place we were just at is his COLLEGE? He has to stay THERE?"
It was strange. She was still talking very quietly.

"Yes Baby. He has to stay at that place we just left. He will be home soon though. You will see him really soon"

"How old will I be when he comes home from college? I will be 11...college is four years right Mommy?"

"I hope it is only 4 years Baby, but he is not far away. We can go see him whenever we want to. And you can call him, and you can ichat with him, and we can see him on the computer. It wont be bad. And he will be home LOTs of times before you are 11".

She was almost too quiet at this point. I figured she was lost in her own thoughts for a second. So i checked her out in my rear view mirror. BIG streaming tears. The quiet ones. Not the kind you know are fake, like when you say no to a toy or to a cookie. The real ones. Then she started with the sniffles and not being able to catch her breath. "Im going to miss him Mommy." WOW....that did it for me. She had us BOTH bawling then. We left the school around 1:15 and she didnt stop until after 2. My poor Baby.

There were lots more questions after she stopped crying..."Will he be ok? Who will cook for him? What if he gets sick? Who is going to make sure he wakes up?" and on and on and on.....

"He is Baby...he is going to have to take care of himself now." At least until he comes home and we can spoil him a little.

UGH. What a day. Happy and sad all at the same time.

I have photos of the place. I will post them soon.

Danielle's Friends Party 8.23

We had 14 of Danielle's closest friends over on Saturday for a birthday party. WOW. Thats really all I can say.

It started officially on the night before when her friend Angelina spent the night at our house.


Sometimes I really feel badly for Timber. Poor doggie. I bet she wonders why I let the stuff that happens to her happen. Look at her poor, pitiful face in this one. Kind of like saying..."Come on, really? You are really going to let these two do this to me?"



The next morning, all the gang showed up for a Noah's Ark Workshop. Ms. Cheryl brought an assortment of animals over that the kids could stuff and name...ala Build A Bear for those of you familiar.






Im sure there is still fluffing stuffing all over my house. But the girls had a lot of fun.


Danielle and two of her friends proudly display their new animal friends.

Then it was time for MORE presents.....




We ended the day pretty quietly with just the four of us on the back patio. Danielle went swimming, we had a fire in the fire pit and made S'Mores. It was a good opportunity to get a couple pics of the kids together before BJ leaves for school Monday.

First a flashback...


And now look at them...






Nothing like hamming it up for the camera...think they are related?

Happy Birthday Danielle.

Danielle's Family Birthday party 8.16

We had a little early family get together for Danielle's 7th birthday. Well, really more of a birthday festival....she is having a sleepover on her actual birthday, and a party for 14 of her closest friends on the 23rd.



I'm not sure what the ladies are plotting here, but it could be that Becca was looking to play with some of Danielle's new Hannah Montana toys. Or maybe she was just telling Bushie a good story.






There were LOTS of presents. Lots.



Timber got no cake, and no presents. Rough life being a dog.



We had chocolate birthday cake. Thanks to Busia for making the cake so all I had to do was frost.


Someone took a bite out of her cake right after blowing out her candle....




Timber got no cake, and no present. Stinks to be a dog.


Here it was Auntie's turn to hear a story...



I think Danielle had a good time...I know that I did. Can't believe she is already 7.

Timberwolves Cheer practice

I think I have mentioned that Danielle has joined a cheer squad for the Fall. She will be cheering on Saturday mornings for the Bantam Division of the Lake Villa TImberwolves. (yes, i know, right up her alley)

Here is a little clip from her practice the other day....she is with the ever present cheerleader pony tail in the front row, brown shorts, brown and cream tank. (in front if the little girl in hot pink that sometimes blocks her out in the shot)






She seems to enjoy herself there so we will see how it goes.

Here she is in her uniform...

A Day at the Fair

We took Danielle to the Lake County Fair last Sunday. Surprisingly, for the last day of the Fair, it was not crowded and we had a really nice family (minus BJ, the working man) day.

We enjoyed several trips through the fun house. I think that Danielle laughed the whole way through the fun house because Mommy had trouble walking on all the different obstacles in the floor.


Brian and Danielle went on this crazy flying ride. It went really, really, really high in the air. Danielle is usually not afraid of rides, and she was pretty good with this one too, but Brian did say that close to the end she said that she was ready to get off!!!

I kept looking up in the air and thinking "wow, that's pretty high".




One of Danielle's favorite rides was the Spider. I think we rode this about 6 times. (Mommy didn't like it so much after the third time...I'm getting old.)

The best part of Danielle's day was winning two goldfish at one of the fair games. We had to throw ping pong balls into the little fish bowls. I bought us a bucket of ping pongs and started throwing. Once I got a ball in one of the fishies, Danielle also tried and wouldnt you know it....SHE ALSO GOT A FISHIE. Now we have two. Isn't that just great. She named her fish Lucky and Goldie. Let me tell you that there was NOTHING better than going out to the store after a long day at the fair to buy a fish bowl.


We tried to explain to Danielle that although we were really glad for the new additions to the family, we were not so certain how long they would be staying with us. Unfortunately, Lucky wasnt so Lucky and left us on Tuesday. Goldie was a fighter and stayed here until Friday. Danielle was pretty ok with it, but now wants some "real" fishies from a pet store. Stay tuned.





All in all, we had a great day.