Alex's Birthday Party

We celebrated one of Tessa's best buds Alex's birthday this weekend. A bunch of five or nearly five year old girls bowling...it was chaos. Good for the parents hosting that the bowling alley serves beers! Big brother Nate turned on the charm or begged rather and got to hang with the girls too. He thought he was pretty hot stuff bowling with all the ladies. He's ready for the youth bowling tour and now has an obsession with bowling. I told him it's a rainy day activity. Nevertheless, it rained the very next day and I had to listen to him cry and whine about going bowling!

Alex, the birthday girl, and Tessa

Opening the loot

Miss T bowling. The girls were seemingly more concerned with what color ball each was using than knocking down the pins!

Around the table, front to back, Ella, Tessa, Ava, Ruby & Ava K.

Ruby, Alex and Tessa

March Madness

Zack and family came up to God's country for the weekend of St. Patty's day. Of course, we had to keep up our tradition of celebrating Zack's birthday so, as ordered, we got him a Tigers baseball cake! The boys and Boz took off for the boat show and sadly did not return with a fancy new upgraded pontoon boat with plenty of cup holders and kickin' stereo that I had requested. Aunt Amy and I relished in the unseasonably sunny and 80 degree weather with the kids all day.

Kendall, Tessa, Molly, Zack & Nate. Yep, Tessa is wearing a bathing suit! She declared "it's summer!" I reminded her it was March 17th.

The birthday boy...NINER, NINER.

The boys, shirtless. And, Zack is pant less. If you look closely he's in his skivvies! Washing up the 4 wheeler after they tore through every mud pit on our property.

Zack and Nate. Someone feed these poor children!

Hockey in the driveway. Wolverines v Buckeyes, of course.

Look, there are no leaves on the trees and these kids are in shorts!

The ladies having a nail session.

Miss T showing off the polish work.

Our newest Rosebrook cousin, Rookie. Hanging (and apparently digging!) under a tree.

Rocks for Jocks

We closed out Nate's basketball season this week. The Slippery Rock Rocks had a great season! Nate's improved incredibly and is looking forward to getting high tops for next year. My only complaint is that now he refuses to wear shorts that don't go past his knees. This is only a complaint as he only has 3 pairs that meet this strict criteria right now and it proves to be a challenge for the house help/launderer/mom/me. It is also kind of sad for the several other pairs of gym shorts in his drawer that he has shunned.

The Rocks

L to R : Owen, Cal, Lucas, Connor, Nate and AJ

This is a terrible picture that I had to over expose so you could actually see it but I find it quite funny. That's Nate and the other kid, yep, that jolly old giant second grader, is the kid that Nate was defending! Good thing Nate has speed on his side.

Rocks are warming up with lay-ups

The Rocks enjoying a post game celebratory cupcake.

Winter Festival

Tessa's preschool hosted their annual Winter Festival. Essentially they serve chicken nuggets and mac n cheese, let the kids run around like maniacs, paint faces, twist balloons, the classes each perform a song or two and the night ends with an inspiring magic show. It's always a little painful for the parents but the kiddos just love it. Tessa stood front and center this year and actually sang the words to the song they were performing. In previous years, she would tell us a completely different song that they were singing and in the end would end up sitting on a teacher's lap and not participating much (not surprising when the whole class is singing I'm a Little Tea Pot and you've been telling us that you were gonna sing the ABCs!)

Miss T in the red dress and polka dot tights.

She untwisted her dog balloon. That pink smear on her cheek is a little heart. Apparently she had asked them to paint her face like spider man. While it would have matched her dress, I appreciated whomever talked her in to a delicate heart!

Michigan Hockey

Go Blue! UM v Miami of OH

Of course we supported the local fundraising organizations and bought our fair share of snacks and drinks from the concession stands.

Tessa & Allie

While Nate was away the afternoon with a buddy, Tessa enjoyed having the entire playroom to her and her friend Allie.

Allie and Tessa enjoying some Oreo cookies

Silly faces

The Simple Things

With Troy's latest fitness craze has come some new equipment for the Baughman home version of Bally's. Some of the stuff came in a perfect child-sized box that the kids converted into beds. These boxes were cozily laid on the couch and stuffed with blankets, bean bags, pillows, snacks and electronic entertainment like mobigos and nintendo DSs...you know, just like homeless children that have to sleep in boxes under the park bridge. Nate lost his marbles the one morning when he learned his "bed" had been carefully relocated to the floor to allow his parents to actually use the couch for just a short while to watch a non-animated, adult, television show.

Princess Tessa

Prince Nate