Blogger slacker at it again!

My little sister Kelcee called me tonight to chat, which in turn led to a conversation about this very blog, which ultimately led to my guilty conscience about doing anything BUT blogging lately! Sad to say, but blogging has not been a priority of mine lately. Truthfully, it's been down towards the bottom of the list of things I need to accomplish, but I ended the conversation with my sister by promising her I would go upstairs to my computer and blog something....anything.... that has happened in the past month or two. Actually, it feels kind of good to be back at the computer typing up my memories. So now the question is what should I start with. I guess I'll begin with our trip to Toronto and Niagara Falls. We took off the last day of school on June 11th and had a fabulous time checking out Canada, eh!

So we started off our trip right. We spent Sunday morning traveling to the Toronto Temple. It was beautiful, but because it was Sunday the gates were closed. I wish we could have gone in and walked around the grounds. There is nothing more peaceful in the world to me than being on the temple grounds.

My baby and I

Plus my 3 super babies.

The CN Tower was a huge hit for all of us. I believe it is the 2nd tallest building in the world, and boy did it have an amazing view!! We were there on an overcast day, but on a clear day you can see Niagara Falls from the top.

The CN Tower has a glass bottom floor that made me leery, but was still very cool.

Yep~~Those would be 5 camels posing for a picture!! Lucky me lol!

We made our way to the Royal Ontario Museum and hit the McDonald's across the street for a quick lunch break. We loved being in Canada where everything is labeled in both English and French. It helped make our vacation feel a little more exotic.

The ROM had a lot of neat exhibits including one about Egypt complete with real mummies, including one that was open on display!

I just love this picture of two happy boys.

This is the Casa Loma Castle.

All the boys exploring the grounds around the castle.

This was Caleb's face the majority of the vacation. He's such a sweet kid!

My hubby given' me some lovin'

Caleb at the Science Center. Another museum that the boys couldn't get enough of.


Overlooking Niagara falls. This is one of my favorite places in the world. It is gorgeous!


We went to one of the world's largest indoor aviary's. Yet another beautiful, peaceful place to go.

One our favorite activities of all was going to an indoor butterfly pavilion. There were hundreds, probably more like thousands of butterflies flying all around us. It was amazing.

Inside the butterfly pavilion.

All my sweetie's.


Picture mix-up...back at the aviary.

Hmmm...Yep, Caleb is a man that LOVES his chocolate!!

My incredibly handsome pre-teen, Kyler.


Niagara Falls. I've been here twice in my life, and can't wait to go back again.

So, I'm beginning to remember why I don't blog as much as I should. It takes me WAY TO LONG!! I start multi-taking on the computer, and before I know it an hour has gone by to write a paragraph and upload a few photos. I hope you enjoy Kelcee. Thanks for giving me the motivation to put my memories down on paper...errr...at least put down in some sort of format. I had a good time looking back over these photos and reminiscing happy times last month.

This one's for you, Kyler!!

This post is for you, Kyler!!
First off I think I should give a little background info.
Kyler is in a computer class at school this semester. During the class he is given time to look up pictures, collect information, and do research on the web for various projects he's involved with; however; he's not suppose to use classroom time to check his e-mail (thank you teachers!!) Well, this of course got Kyler's creative juices flowing. How could he communicate with me during school hours and still make sure he's not breaking any classroom rules? Voila...problem solved! Just log into the family blog and comment on different posts. Blogger sends the comments directly to my e-mail and Kyler manages to get out what he wants to say without getting in any trouble. Since I'm sure he'll be checking the blog again today I thought I'd dedicate an entry to him.

Kyler's back to raising caterpillars this spring and summer. He currently has 6 Painted Lady caterpillars he's been raising the past couple of weeks. As a mom I've been a tiny bit worried about these little critters because Kyler is banking on the health and well-being of the butterflies for his end of the year advanced science project (talk about stressful!). Yesterday 3 butterflies emerged and it was already looking a little shaky. The first butterfly to emerge was missing half a leg, the second butterfly emerged and thankfully looks perfect so far, but then the third came out with totally dis-formed wings. Poor girl can't fly, but gets around pretty well by walking. Kyler set up a big terrarium out back complete with host plants, flowers, and nectar for the butterflies to live and hopefully thrive. He's now going to start collecting data on which host plants the butterflies will lay the most eggs on (fingers crossed he gets a mix of male and female butterflies or this little experiment will tank before it even begins!!) Well today the last 3 butterflies came out. Butterflies #4, #5, and #6 all look great. I hope this makes your day Kyler!! Here's a couple photos for you. See you in a couple of hours.


And on a completely unrelated topic.....We've had a robin nesting outside our front door who is named Ellie (daddy is named Carl. Can you tell Caleb had just finished the movie UP when he decided on their names?). Ellie and Carl are officially parents. Hopin' these babies get cuter pretty quick because so far they're not the cuddliest little babies I've seen around.

Pinewood Derby Time

The Car...err...Monorail!
I thought Jordan did pretty good for his first attempt at building a car,
and he's already thinking about next years design.

Jordan was the first one to check in at the Derby.

It really was a night of Magical Memories.

Ready for the races to commence.

Kevin, Jordan, Dylan, Brendan, Ryan, JD, Jacob, & Joey

Tonight was Jordan's first official Pinewood Derby. He had a blast graphing, designing, making, and painting his Disney Monorail car that he named Magical Memories. If you happened to miss past blog entries revolving around Disney than you might not realize how much of a Mousejunkie family we really are. This just proves it a little bit more. Unfortunately, Magical Memories wasn't as fast as a real Disney Monorail (not by a long shot), but Jordy didn't seem to mind tying for last place...yep last, but **Magical** nonetheless!!)

13 years and counting!

Our special treat. The sorbet was sooo delicious!!

My cousins Julie, Cara, and Callie

13 years and going strong.
I LOVE this guy!!

With 2 major events under wraps you would think our weekend would start to slow down, but we had one last celebration to squeeze in before Spring Break officially wrapped up and that was the celebration of my wedding anniversary to my incredible husband of 13 years this past Monday. We were able to go to Chicago over the weekend with my family and visit with a bunch of my relatives including my grandma who recently had surgery. It was so good to see her, and she looked absolutely beautiful. It's impossible to be amongst my family and not eat like there was no tomorrow. We dragged ourselves back to the hotel every night completely stuffed. Between Chicago style pizza, cakes, cookies, and desserts, I think I gained a few pounds in the span of 48 hours. On Monday we were able to meet up with 3 of my cousins and eat in the Signature Room at the top of the John Hancock Tower. The view was breathtaking, and the food was tasty. As a special surprise our waiter brought Kevin and I out a special anniversary treat at the end of the meal complete with his and her candles. So sweet, and so much fun!! Love you, Kev!! Happy Anniversary!!

It's great to be 8!!

Jordan, Kyler, and Caleb.
The boys looked so handsome that day!

My mom and dad

Two of my siblings: Brooks& Kelcee.
Our family: Kyler, Kevin, Jordan, Tami, & Caleb.
My parents: Jeanne and Tom
I loved having my family celebrate this special day with us.


Our family on the morning of April 10th.

In addition to Kyler turning 12 this past week, Jordan also had a very important weekend. Jordan was baptized on April 10th and is now an official member of the LDS church. It's one of the many perks to being 8!! He was so excited for the day to finally arrive, and his dad and I could not be happier or prouder that he made the decision to be baptized. As an added bonus Jordan was baptized with 2 other friends on the same day (a little unusual in MI.). Jordan asked my dad to be one of the speakers and he spoke for a few minutes on the importance of baptism and the reasons we are baptized. We were reminded that when we are baptized we are making important covenants with our Father in Heaven to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and that we will try our best to live the principles of the gospel. In turn we are promised that our Father in Heaven will forgive us if we repent of mistakes we make, that we can be given the gift of the Holy Ghost, and that ultimately we can be together forever and have eternal life. Jordan also asked my sister Kelcee to sing a solo and she chose to sing I am a Child of God . She did a beautiful job, and it helped keep the spirit strong in the chapel as the children prepared for their confirmation where they were given the gift of the Holy Ghost. I'm so glad we were able to share this experience with some of my family members, and that Jordan has such a strong testimony of the gospel already at the age of 8. Congratulations Jordan!!