Happy Campers

Bella's fish
Xavier's first of many

Sleeping in the tent
Catching caterpillars
The beach
Eating his frist open flame hot dog
Bella roasting a hot dog

So this past weekend we went camping! We had such a great time. The weather was pretty good, the heat wave started Saturday but it was much cooler where we were! The kids loved sleeping in the tent, the campfire, the caterpillars, the beach and fishing. My friend Suzanne taught them how to fish and Bella caught 1 fish Xavier caught 6 fish! I was so impressed! He was casting and reeling them in all by himself! I'm thinking about getting him those fishing tournaments! What do you think? We will definitely be camping again soon!

My Blankie

If you have been to my house you have more than likely seen the Shandis blanket. I call it the Shandis blanket because well, it has my name on it! My dear friend Ashlee made it for me in 1997. Can you believe that? I have loved it ever since! It has gone to the hospital and seen two C-sections and it has been on more outings and road trips then I can remember. It has lived with me in four different states and I would have taken it to Cancun with me if I thought I might have needed it! The sad part is in it's old age it's really starting to fall apart! All the edges are frayed, the top and the bottom are almost separated except on the edges and the batting is all but shot. Even the Shandis letters are pulling away from the fabric! I don't know what to do!?!!? It will be going camping with me this weekend and then put away for the summer but I know when it starts getting cold again I'll want just one thing, my blankie!

Book Tag

"What am I going to do?"

The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella

Rules of the tag:
1. pick up the nearest book.

2. Turn to page 123.
3. Find the 5th sentence.
4. Post the 5th sentence.
5. Tag some people.

I'm Tagging Mel and Lexie whom both think tags are lame!! And MJ, Liza, and Mimi.

A little dirt never hurt anyone!

Happy Mother's Day to me! We were all sitting at the table enjoying mine and Mel's Mother's Day dinner when Bella came in looking like a coal miner! Her and Xavier and Alexis had gotten into my pot of dirt! There was dirt EVERYWHERE! When Mel went out and saw her dirty daughter all I could hear was NOOOOOOOO!!! She never lets Alex get dirty! I thought it was pretty funny. So they all took a nice little bath together and for the most part got clean! The bath water was brown and when the water drained there was tons of dirt in the bottom! Yuck! Needless to say I got rid of that pot of dirt and have been doing after math clean up all week! Oh and Yes that is Bellas church dress that is filthy!

Scrapbooking Weekend

Mel was SOO tired! She quite literally fell asleep in mid sentence!
Camille and Rilee
Jenn and that dang lap top!

Mary brought the most stuff and worked the hardest!
Me spending WAY too much time on this layout.
RiLee making paper bag books.
Jenn "worked" all weekend but really she was just chatting with her long distance love.

Camille finally got started on scrapbooking at about 3PM Saturday.

Mel was also here but her picture didn't turn out. Plus she disappeared for half the day because she just couldn't stay away from Steve or vice versa.

So as you can see Friday I turned the kids play room into my play room! We had a great time scrapbooking and eating and talking! It was so much fun! We stayed in our PJ's all day. We would love to do it again but i don't think the husbands would be so keen on the idea! We'll see! I had to throw in the sleeping shots as well! So fun!!

Field Trip

Bella and Xavier at the zoo
Inside a huge egg shell
Mommy and Xavier on stage for the dance party
Don't feed the animals!
Xavier and his teacher Ms. Powers.

Xavier had his first field trip ever. We went to the Turtle Back Zoo. It was such a beautiful day and we had so much fun! We saw all the animals and even got to do some extras like a few carnival games, played in a huge nest with eggs, danced on stage with a DJ, and even got our picture turned into a button! When we got to the car I asked him if he had fun at the zoo and he said,"Yeah, I danced a little, played basketball, sat on a lizard and played in the nest. It was fun" I wonder if he knows the zoo is actually for animals?!?!

Harlan Coben

Here we are meeting Harlan Coben. Before I tell you about that I must start at the beginning. Joanne, Mel and Lexie had been saying for the longest how much they liked Harlan Coben. So a few months ago I got his book Tell No One and am now a huge fan! He lives here in Jersey and all of his books take place here. It's so cool to read about these places that I know so well! Anyway I decided to email him and after just a few emails he was my BFF. Well maybe not that tight. But we did email a few times and he seemed so cool! So while I was checking out his website I noticed his last stop on the book tour was close to home and at Costco of all places! So I emailed him again and he said there wouldn't be a lot of people and we should come.......so we did! Well when I told the girls they thought it was so cool that I was emailing Harlan Coben. Then I told Joanne and she rained on my parade. She said there was no way that it was really him. Could me and Harlan being BFF's be my imagination? Well we got to the book signing and when he was right in front of me I brought up the emails and he said he remembered the emails and what we wrote and that yes it really was him! Hallelujah! So he signed my book "To Shandis, You Rock! Best wishes, Harlan Coben" What a day! I mean Costco and Harlan in the same place?! Does it get better than that?

Imagine That!

Bella the biker babe!
Xavier is ready to fight fires!

My ballarinas.
Rat ta ta ta ta on the drum!

We went to a children's museum called Imagine that! The kids had so much fun playing in an airplane, VW bug, fire truck, tractor and motorcycle! There were tons of other stuff too like a doctor and dentist office, the post office, a grocery store and an arts and craft center! The place was great and the kids couldn't have been happier! We were there for like 4 hours! Crazy!!

Spring Fever

Xavier and his outfielder's.
Bella playing soccer.
Elder Henderson burning his tie.
Bella the car model.
Yesterday was Beautiful! 72 degrees. We spent the evening blowing bubbles and playing soccer and baseball. Isabella is good at soccer! She can dribble the ball for a long time, then she picks it up! She doesn't quite get that there are no hands. Xavier was the baseball superstar! He was batting right handed and wasn't so hot but when he switched and started batting left handed he was doing amazing! The Elders were worn out! Elder Henderson hit his six month mark so he burned his tie. The only thing I was worried about was Isabella's hair catching fire! We ended the night with Bella modeling on the Elders car. It's not exactly a sports car and she will not be in a bikini EVER but they are still cute pictures! I hope we have more beautiful weather in our future!

The Moment of Truth

OK so last night I was flipping through channels as I was organizing my recipes. (I know very exciting) and I came across this show and I was shock and appalled. The premise of the show is to answer these uber personal questions about yourself and your marriage while being hooked up to a lie detector. For each of your answers you get money. Firstly I was just shocked to hear some of the questions that this woman was answering in front of her husband and her Mother (and the country) and then come to find out that they are members of the church! The host asked her on more than one occasion if she wanted to continue even though her answer might end her marriage and she just kept smiling and said Yes. Whatever I think the show should be called " I need some drama in my life and want a divorce so just make it easy for me!" It sad for me to think that this is what's on TV. I usually don't pay much attention or get heated about things I can not control but this was just too much! Have you all heard of this show before? Maybe I'm the last to know but I won't be watching any time soon!