PEDICURE TIME....

Once you get one pedicure...you are addicted! The ultimate place to obtain a good pedicure...Nail Xpert in Evansville. It will be the best money ever spent!

Happy Birthday Aunt Waughneta!

My aunt turns 50 today! Happy Birthday!

Swimming...

The kids couldn't wait to go swimming at Neta's pool during her 50th Surprise Party!

Birthday Party!

Abby is having "friend birthday parties" now instead of family parties. This year's party was the easiest ever!!! She wanted to have it at Justice- a clothing store for Girls Only. If you are familiar with Limited Too, it is the slightly cheaper version! Abby is nuts about the store and I thought what the heck. Well, the party doesn't come cheap - $25 bucks a head and you have a minimum of 5 girls including the birthday girl. Abby invited 5 of her friends - they all came - and off we headed to Justice without any boys. The theme of the party at Justice is Rockstar party. The girls got their hair and make up done, played games including a dance off and modeling game. After the games, the girls got to go shopping for their favors - lip gloss, pens, etc. After the party, we headed home for some cupcakes & ice cream. After the cake, gifts were opened. Soon after, parents started arriving...oh what a fun party for Abby!

More Party Pics....

Bible School

Oh the kids are at bible school this week. The theme is Power Lab! Guess I should have volunteered...

Birthday Dinner at Nagaski

Abby had her birthday dinner with Papaw Dave at Nagaski. She was being rewarded for reading the 4th Harry Potter book which is 700+ pages long! A lot of people are anti- Harry Potter because of the wizard stuff. I'm not sure how Harry Potter is different than anything else out there. Hey I am happy Abby is reading- it's not pornography! Her reading scores and intelligence have been greatly effected by immersing herself in good ol' science FICTION Book! Anyway...I digressed!

Abby and Owen loved the Nagaski with the "crazy" chef. Abby is into salmon so she had salmon today!!

Happy 10th Birthday!

Wow! My Baby is 10 today! Hard to believe!

Happy Father's Day!

HOlIDAY WORLD....Company Picnic

Thirty minutes of standing in line for the scrambler at Holiday World, Matt and I were ready to go home. The kids enjoyed the few rides that were ridden in the original portion of Holiday World. I was hot and sweaty & uncomfortable. I was voted as the JOKESTER of the event. At the buffet lunch held by Matt's company, I say ( not in a quiet voice), Who's the Old Dude holding up the buffet line?. Now as an outsider to the company, this guy looked like the normal older man - shorts, dark socks/ shoes, glasses, etc. Matt looked at me and said in a muffled voice, SHUT UP! I still didn't get it. Sometimes, I'm slow to these things. He looked at me and mouthed, he's the one that signs my check. HOLY CRAP! I just said that about the PRESIDENT/OWNER of the company. He was oblivious and I am not sure how many people heard me. Oh well....

Before going to Holiday World, Owen wanted to know if there were any characters there. Ever since our Disney visit when he was 18 mos old, he has hated/feared characters. We discussed the one character - HOLIDOG. Of course in the middle of our lunch, Owen starts crying and freaking out. Before we realize it, Owen is sitting under the table. Matt and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. Guess what? Holidog entered the banquet room. Owen was having a true fear/ anxiety attack. Unforunately, the dog walked around the room, saw Owen under the table and waved at Owen. Owen literally freaked out similar to the "cow incident" from his very first character meeting. Of course, the president/owner of the company comes over and consoles Owen and literally "kicks" the dog out of the banquet hall. I guess he really didn't hear me earlier!!

After the very eventful lunch, we rode a few more rides then we headed to the real fun of the day - the Water Park. Everyone had a grand time at the waterslides, wave pool, splash pads, and relaxing oasis. The only thing that could be improved would be if a waitress brought me a margarita!

Friday the 13th...

Well...all I can say is that I tried to do a daily blog, and I failed. The month of June is pure craziness for the Wallace Family. I feel as busy if not busier than when school is in session. This week, I have been attending a graduate Chemistry class at USI. Even though the course, Chem 590X, sounds impressive, it was basically a bunch of Chemistry Teachers working on HS chemistry stuff. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that this week was my first time since my mother's college graduation that I had been on the campus of USI. I am mega impressed with our local university. I also am very impressed with the Chemistry Dept. at USI. I think I will be encouraging kids to attend USI instead of discouraging!

The kids had a busy week as well. Monday- Thursday, Abby and Owen hung out with Grammie. Monday night, I got the pleasure of going to Evansville twice since the kids have summer violin on Monday evenings. Wednesday night, I watched my niece and nephew while their mom took the older kids to see Indiana Jones #4. I am out of practice with a toddler ---whew....glad I'm done with the little ones. Today, Owen went to his cousin's house for the day while Abby went to a friend's house.

Tonight, we are headed to do some "special shopping" for tomorrow!

Church

The family's obligation today was to attend church and take up the gifts. Even though I am the one that signed us up for this, I absolutely hate doing it. I hate getting up in front of the entire church and walking down the aisle. (Not to mention the fear I have of dropping the Euchrist all over the floor!) Today prompted us to realize we needed to be more regular about our church going!!!

Shopping Trip

Today we went on a shopping trip. The kids needed new shoes for vacation since some walking will be done. Thanks to a "big" purchase at Trade Home Shoes, I had a $50 gift check. Owen's Nikes only cost us $4.99...what a deal. The kids both got an Indy Jones Lego game for their DS's. Now they can play multiplayer ----which translates into....now they can fight and argue while they play. After shopping, we decided to eat out and go to Jillians for Bowling and Skee Ball. Since I've been exercising, my back didn't hurt. According to Owen, bowling will "break" Mom's back! Geez, I need to exercise!!!

The Only Cat that I Like....

Abby has an orange cat in the county's kids production, The Aristocats. Isn't she just adorable? It's amazing how one week of camp produces such a cute little musical. Abby had a great time and everyone enjoyed going to see her.

May Events for Abby & Owen

May was a VERY busy month for us. Posted above are a few pictures from two events in May. The two darker pictures are of Abby's talent show at her school. She was in the Circle the State Choir act and she played her violin. She did wonderful in both acts. The pictures with Owen are from his Moving Up Ceremony for his school. In one of the pictures, he is saying his part with two boys from his class. In another picture, he is saying the Our Father. The last picture shows him with three of his best buddies.

Kickboxing

Yesterday, I started my membership at Elite Fitness Center. I have gained weight mostly due to my two surgeries this year, but really needed to be exercising anyway. I'm hoping to drop some weight and get fit before school starts again. Instead of just walking on the treadmill, I decided to go to a cardio kickboxing class. Oh my --- this class kicked my butt, royally. I did it and had fun. I wasn't very good at it, but they tell me I will get better. Hey at least I was moving for 60 minutes! Burn calories burn!

Shirtless Owen

Owen inherited one definite trait from his PaPa (my dad)- wanting to be shirtless.
Just randomly, Owen will take his shirt off and proclaim, I'm going shirtless. I think my sister's son, Carter, was always bothered by PaPa going shirtless whenever we were visiting in the summer.. Well, my kid wasn't bothered by the bare skin,he adopted it as his way of life as well. The funny thing about Owen going shirtless is Abby hates it. She is always trying to make me convince Owen he needs to be wearing a shirt.

Oh and by the way....I got the Nikon P80. I love it, but am trying to learn how to use it.

Drama Camp

Drama Camp starts today and Abby can hardly contain her excitement. Every year the Gibson County Theatre Company hosts a drama camp for the county youth for a small fee. This is the GCTC's big fundraiser. For one week from 9 am - 3pm, kids across the county meet up at the local HS and learn everything about drama. Each kid gets to learn how to paint sets, make costumes, do make-up, dance, act, etc. Through this experience, they put on a Disney Kids Production at the end of the week. Abby's first year to be involved was 101 Dalmatians (see picture above). Last year, Jungle Book was done (she was a flower in the jungle). This year, the camp is putting on the Aristocats. She tried out for a speaking part. Over 100 kids tried out for 20 speaking parts, needless to say, Abby didn't get a part. She will try again next year. In addition to the camp experience, Abby gets a t-shirt, a cast picture, a DVD of the production and two tickets for us to see her.

I Want a New Camera...

I decided recently that I need a new camera. Currently, I use a little point and shoot made by Canon. It is a great camera, but only has 3x optical zoom. I'm looking for something that can do a little more. I think I've found two options: Nikon CoolPix P80 or the Canon Power Shot D5 IS (posted above).

The Nikon boasts an 18 x optical zoom and the Canon only a 12x Optical zoom. I think my biggest hangup is that the Canon runs off 4 AA batteries.