A Beary Good Time!

Luke with his friends and green cake pops!

Wilson with his friends and orange cake pops.


Starting our party at Build*A*Bear

Luke ended up with a bear wearing roller skates and a hat!

Wilson made a police dog.

Washing the bears before getting them dressed.

Wilson and Luke agreed to have their birthday party at Build*A*Bear. They each invited 2 friends. We started at our house for cake pops (green for Luke, orange for Wilson), ice cream, and presents. You can't bring any of that into the store. Then we drove over to the mall for the rest of the party. It was so much fun! The store did a great job with the party. The kids had a blast making their animal and choosing clothes or accessories.

The party group with finished bears/dogs! Notice all of the boys chose accessories instead of clothes (except Wilson - he wanted a police dog!). I thought that was so funny - girls of course would choose an outfit as Luke's friend Eva did on the left! Boys surprise me all the time!

Season 5

Best episode of Season 5 is The One Where Everybody Finds Out. Chandler and Monica have been secretly dating since Ross's wedding to Emily. At the beginning of this episode only Joey and Rachel know of their secret relationship Chandler and Monica only think Joey knows. By the end, all of them know and Chandler tells Monica he loves her. Ross is currently living with Joey and Chandler but is trying to get Ugly Naked Guy's apartment to rent. Ross decides he is going to get that apartment- he sends mini muffins and even goes to UNG's apartment and hangs out with him in the nude, which gets him the apartment. When he goes over to fill out an application Phoebe and Rachel go with him. They check out the apartment and Ross goes down to apply. While Rachel is in the bathroom Phoebe looks out the window and sees Monica and Chandler together. She starts screaming and then Rachel comes back and tells her she knows, they are together. She tries to calm Phoebe down before Ross comes back because they don't want him to find out yet. Phoebe and Rachel decide they are going to mess with Monica and Chandler since they don't know that the girls know about their relationship. So when Monica says she's going to do 'laundry' Rachel gives her a big bag of dirty clothes and Phoebe supplies plenty of quarters. Then Phoebe starts flirting with Chandler. Anyway, Chandler and Monica realize the girls know and decide to play along. So Chandler acts like he is interested in Phoebe and they plan to get together later that evening. They are both hoping the other will back down - Such a funny scene of Chandler and Phoebe. Chandler is the one who breaks down and says he can't be with Phoebe because he is in love with Monica. So then 5 of them know about the secret relationship. The trailer is of Ross in his new apartment telling his boss that his rage is under control and he is ready to come back to work when all of the sudden he looks out the window and catches Monica and Chandler and yells "Get off my sister!" Don't think he got to go back to work right after that!

Friends Season 4

Ok, my favorite episode from Season 4 is The One with the Embryos. The episode starts out with the chick sounding like a rooster really early in the morning. It wakes Monica and Rachel up and Rachel is not happy. She walks over to the guys apartment and bangs on the door to get them up and find out what is making the awful noise. After being up so early she goes shopping. Chandler and Joey are able to guess the 5 things she purchased while shopping and claim they know the girls better than the girls know them. So they make a bet of $100 on who knows who better. Ross makes up the game with questions in different categories to find out who knows who better. Meanwhile, Phoebe is at the doctor to get Frank and Alice's embryos implanted. She realizes this is the only chance they have at getting pregnant and talks to the embryos before they are implanted. At Monica's the rest of the friends are playing Ross's game. It ends up being a tied game after Rachel misses the question about Chandler's TV guide- that is actually addressed to Mrs. Chanandler Bong. So Ross pulls out the Lightning Round and Monica and Chandler raise the stakes. If the guys win they get the girls apartment and if the girls win the guys have to get rid of the birds. The guys go first and get 4 questions right. Then the girls go and get 3 right but cannot answer their 4th question, - what is Chandler's job. So the guys win and are so excited to get the nice apartment. In the end, Phoebe also finds out that she is in fact pregnant. This is a great episode!! Season 5 coming soon, I've finished watching it as well!

Summer Reading

During the school year I don't have much time to read- I just read my Real Simple magazine and Everyday Food magazine. Occasionally I have a book I'm working on. So, in the summer I make up for not getting to read many novels. I found pics of all the books I remember reading from this summer. They were all good - but the main reason for this post is about 1 book in particular. The Shack. My mom read the book and then ordered a bunch of copies and passed them out and said "You have to read this!". So I started reading. I just finished this book last week. It's good. It is a book that will challenge what you think about God and your perceptions of who God is. It was amazing. It was not a light read - a quick read, yes, but one that really makes you think. I can't tell you much more other than you should read it! Andy is going to read it next, MIL orders and he doesn't read fiction. I'm very interested to see what he thinks and to then be able to discuss the book with him!

I'm reading Twilight now - there are 3 more books in the series (Maternity Leave!!) and then I need to continue reading Harry Potter. And watching my Friends episodes. This girl has got a plan! Remember these posts I used to do about my all time favorite show? Season 3
Season 2
Season 1

Season 3

The One with the Morning After

Okay, this epidsode is my favorite from Season 3. It starts out with a recap of the one where Ross and Rachel take a break. Rachel is frustrated with Ross because he is jealous of all the time she spends at work. In her frustration she says "maybe we should just take a break." Ross went out that night to a party and ended up bring the copy girl home. So, the episode starts with Ross in bed, under the covers. All the sudden he hears "good morning" and he sits up in bed with the covers still covering his face! It is hilarious. He remembers what happens and is upset. He listens to a message on his machine from Rachel saying she wants to get back together etc. Says she'll stop by on her way to work, which happens to be very soon. The copy girl is still there and Ross tries to hurry her out the door. When he opens the door Rachel is there and they hug and kiss. Ross is upset with himself and doesn't know what to do. He goes over to Joey and Chandler's to ask for advice. They tell him to never tell Rachel what he did. Then Joey asks him if he thought about the trail...which Ross doesn't even know about. They tell him the trail is from the girl Ross did it with to the girl he never wants to find out. So they figure out what the trail is and Ross runs all over town to stop the trail but he is too late. Gunther has already told Rachel and she is crushed. Meanwhile Monica and Phoebe are getting ready to be waxine girls with the new wax Monica ordered off an infomercial. They start to wax their legs and yell so loudly that Joey and Chandler run over to see what is wrong. While they are all in Monica's room, Rachel and Ross come home and fight for hours. Rachel keeps telling him it is over because she can't get over the fact that he was with another woman. Ross keeps begging for her to give him another chance. This goes on for hours while the rest of the friends are stuck in Monica's bedroom until after 3am. They are all hungry and have to eat the wax. The rest always makes me cry.

Rachel tells Ross she thinks this is it. He says I can't live without you. I can't live without these hands, your face, this heart, your good heart. They are both crying and it is so sweet. Ross says this can't be it, Rach and she says then how come it is??

It makes me cry every time. Do you remember this episode?

Season 2

Okay, so Season 2 is good! Again, it is hard to pick just one favorite episode. I've had it narrowed down between 2 for a while... The One Where Ross Finds Out and The One with the Prom Video. Season 2 also has the story line of Phoebe and Rachel getting tattoo's, which has always been a favorite. Rachel gets a heart on her hip and Phoebe gets a blue dot. Remember that one? Rachel tells Ross "Phoebe got the whole world," referring to her tattoo so that her heart tattoo won't seem like such a big deal!

In The One Where Ross Finds Out, Rachel is finally 'over' Ross because he has a new girlfriend, Julie. So Rachel just found out Ross and Julie are going to get a cat. Rachel goes on a date with some guy and talks about Ross the whole time. She drinks too much wine and borrows a cell phone. She leaves Ross a message saying she is over him. The next morning, she has forgotten what she did. Ross stops by to pick up some cat toys before he and Julie go get a cat and he checks his messages. He hears the one from Rachel and has to decide between Rachel and Julie. At the end of the episode he shows up at the coffee house and they end up kissing and it is so sweet. Monica is Chandler's personal trainer and works him to death. Those are the two funny story lines.

But the BEST episode from Season 2 is The One With The Prom Video. Joey buys Chandler a big gold "Mr. T" bracelet to show him how much he means to them. Chandler hates it and is so funny about it. Rachel tries to tell Ross it is over all because of the list he made about her and Julie's pros and cons from a different episode. Phoebe encourages Ross to keep waiting, that Rachel is his lobster, and lobsters mate for life. She does this funny hand motion of holding claws. Monica is without a job and had an awkward interview at a restaurant where she was making a salad. At the end, they are watching a video from Monica and Rachel's prom. When Rachel sees how Ross went to get ready to take her to her prom since her date was late he is totally embarrassed but it means so much to Rachel. She walks across the room, without saying anything and gives him a big kiss. Then, it has one of my all time favorite quotes from Phoebe "See, she's his lobster."

I've already started Season 3! I finished 2 last week :)

Season1 - Friends

Okay, remember this post? Well I've finished Season 1 (last week actually) and finally am ready to tell about my favortie episode. I really love all of them. I had a hard time choosing. You know how every Friends episode has 3 story lines, well I had to find one where I really liked all 3 plots! I thought about The One with the East German Laundry Detergent but I don't like Joey's story line with his ex. Then I thought about The One with the Blackout but I don't really like Paolo! So, drumroll please, my favorite episode from Season one is The One with all the Poker. I'll try to help you remember it since it was about 14 years ago. Wow, that is hard to believe!

The episode starts out with all 6 of them whistling a tune from the seven dwarfs as they stuff Rachel's resumes. She wants a job, anything but a waitress. They have an assembly line going. As they are almost done, Ross notices a typo "good compuper skills" and so they unstuff all the letters. Rachel's funny line is "oh, do you think it's on all of them?" Part of the episode is about Rachel waiting for her mail to see if she has any new job opportunities. She gets an interview at Saks Fifth Avenue as a buyer. She's so excited because she'd be shopping. In the end, the job doesn't work out.

The second story line is about Ross being hopelessly in love with Rachel. He tries to tell Chandler he's over her but as soon as she walks up to them in Central Perk he melts. The episode has a lot of tension between Ross and Rachel.

The third story line is about Poker. The guys get together for Poker nights without the girls. The girls convince them to let them join in. Monica makes snacks and the girls try to help each other in the game, all frustrating the guys. The guys say this is why they don't ask the girls to play. So Monica calls her aunt who is a great poker player to come over and show the girls how to play. She is tough and scares Rachel and Phoebe. She teaches them some stuff and the girls are ready for a rematch. But they still lose. The aunt does some more teaching and the girls surprise the guys at the 3rd poker match with how good they are. It comes down to being between Ross and Rachel. Rachel is egging Ross on and changing the rules of the game since she just lost the Saks job. In the end, Rachel wins. Ross acts like she beat him, but you are left thinking he said she won when really his cards were probably better.

There are so many other funny parts, but this is the gist! Now, go watch some Friends!

The best show EVER!

OK, if you know me well, you know how much I love the show Friends. As they started coming out with each season on DVD well, I had to buy all of them. A lot of them were gifts for several birthdays and Christmas's in a row. As I got each new DVD I watched every episode, preview, and bonus material on there. Usually with Andy in tow! He's a fan too, but not quite to the degree I am. Although he does like to quote it a lot! Then a couple years ago (not sure when) I watch all of the DVD's Seasons 1-10. It took a while. I had always wanted to see the entire 10 years in order to watch it progress and all. Since then I've not touched the DVD's. It fed the Friends Fix for a while! But...I started Season One (1994) this weekend! With the four day weekend I've watched 6 episodes! So one of 4 discs in Season One. I. absolutely. love. the. show. It makes me laugh soo much! It is hilarious! So my new goal for however long it takes is to pick my favorite episode of each season and tell you about it. I'm sure as soon as I start replaying the episode for you on my blog you'll remember it right away. (Won't you?!) IF you are a Friends fan. If you're not, maybe you shouldn't tell me. We might not be able to stay friends. Just kidding! I can always loan you my DVD's if you need to rekindle (or begin) your love of Friends. So 3 more discs to go on Season One before I can report my favorite episode. I know you are dying to find out which one it is so hopefully, I won't keep you waiting too long!

* Andy will be so proud of me. I used to have a really hard time picking favorites in anything. So hard to pick just one. But I'm getting better at it!

Tricia's Wedding

Tricia and Curtis were married on October 27, 2007. The wedding was beautiful! I am so happy for them! The wedding was at 3:30- Tricia looked gorgeous! The bridesmaids wore cranberry and carried cream flowers. Tricia carried white and red roses. They had an excellent photographer, great music and lots of friends and family around.

There was an overall theme of Mickey Mouse on the program, invitations, cake, etc. They even went to Disney World for their honeymoon! The ceremony went well and Tricia and Curtis are now Dr. and Mrs. Curtis and Tricia C.!! So happy for you all!! The reception was really nice. The place was beautiful and the food was great! They had a dinner for the guests with a picture slide show , a DJ, and dancing. It was fun. I got to catch up with some old friends. It was so nice! We missed you Jana! Wilson and Luke really enjoyed the cake.

Congratulation Curtis and Tricia! We love you!

Bittersweet

Tonight we got together with some friends, Matt & Olivia, and Anthony. We all went to dinner and had a great time talking and catching up. Anthony is moving to California on Tuesday for his PhD. Anthony, Andy, Matt (and Ted) have been friends for a long time. It was great to catch up and visit but a little sad knowing he is moving away! We are so happy for him though and think he will enjoy his time in California. We are looking forward to his visits home and his return in a couple years. We even joked about a visit to California (which I think would be GREAT!).

Here are the guys in front of the restaurant. Andy, Anthony and Matt.

And all of us one last time. (We missed you Ted!)

Matt, Olivia, Anthony, Andy, and me.