Spring Break - Meijer Gardens

Last year over spring break we made snowmen and I was determined to go to Texas and see my sister this year!!!! I looked and looked for affordable prices, but no luck!!! I still need my sister fix, so maybe I'll find a way to sneak down by myself. Anyway, this spring break - the weather was gorgeous!!! I was so excited!!! We were even in the 80's for a few of the days! We had a good time and I was so excited to see everything start to warm up. We decided to go to the Meijer gardens and see their butterfly exhibit. Tiana brought her great friend Andrew with us. He is such a good and fun young man! We just love him and his family. We were excited to see that Plainwell Ice Cream had re-opened and we HAD to stop and get some Ice Cream on our way out.

They have the best Key Lime Pie and French Silk Ice Cream!

Can you tell the girls are excited too!!

The gardens were beautiful and the flowers made me so excited for the change in seasons.

Then we were off to see the butterflies

What do you think of these strange looking butterflies?

The butterflies were beautiful and they were everywhere!! It was about 90's in the butterfly house!

Warmth+ butterflies+ flowers= Happy Valerie

This butterfly likes to rest on your finger. It is such a beautiful butterfly!

There were even some beautiful birds!

After the butterfly house we went our to the fun gardens!

Posing with the sculpture

Poor Larisa - they locked her in!!

Don't worry - She was able to get even!

They had this beautiful waterfall and it looked so inviting on a warm day!

Tiana and Andrew decided to really cool off, it is spring break after all!

The water was really cold - brain freeze!!

Getting ready to go through the maze.

Look at the cute little birds in the nest waiting for their mother bird to feed them.

Watch out 3 little pigs, your house will blow down!

It was such a fun day!! I love spring break!

St Patricks Day

Life has been a little busy lately and I almost skipped the day!! Still, the leprechauns managed to turn our milk green! We had potato soup and Irish Soda bread! For dessert - mint brownies - yum! It was a little later in the evening, but the leprechauns still managed to leave a golden trail(Rolos) to a special gift!

Next year I hope to teach the girls more about their wonderful Irish heritage!

Daddy Daughter Dance

Tiana was really excited to go to the Daddy Daughter Dance this year!! Chris had to go and pick up Larisa from a party and Tiana was excited for me to get her already and surprise Chris when he came back home! I loved styling her hair and getting her already!! We had so much fun together and she felt beautiful!!! We didn't get a new dress, but she wore last years Easter dress! She looked like a princess!! Chris let her pick where she wanted to go to dinner and she chose Wendy's - we will enjoy that pick while we can! They arrived at the dance and Tiana got her pretty corsage. They were at the dance from the beginning until the end. They danced almost every dance and had a blast. Some of the girls would dance a dance and then go and run off with their friends, but not Tiana - she would say hello to her friends, but was there to be with her dad! When they come home Tiana was on cloud 9!!! She said that it was the best night of her life!! She danced around the room just trying to relive the moment! She woke up in the morning still so excited! What a special Night for both Tiana and her wonderful dad!!

Daddy & Daughter!

Our beautiful Girl!I love that smile!
What a magical Evening!

Chris Buckley Memorial

We were so sad to not be at our our dear brother in law's funeral in Colorado, but they had a wonderful memorial in St Louis. We were blessed to be able to make the trip and go and spend a few days with family. They had a nice memorial with wonderful music and spoken word. Chris was asked to speak and he did a great job. It was a nice memorial but such a great loss! I took a picture of this picture at the luncheon following the service. I love it! We will miss Chris Buckley very much!

Chris' family - Mark, Megan, Jackie, Chris and Dianne

The girls - Megan, Jackie and DianneTiana outside at the luncheon

Ryan Readers Finale!!

We had our final night of the Ryan Readers competition!!! We came into it in the lead, but fell behind, but had a really fun evening!! I think that students had a great time reading and were surprised at how much they could each recall!! It took a lot of time and there were moments that I wondered why I said yes, but I really enjoyed my time with Tiana and the other students! My favorite time was reading the book "Peppermints in the Parlor" with Tiana. WE had fun snuggling on the couch and trying to solve the mystery!! So will I coach again next year?? Probably!

My cute little team brought me in flowers, cards and gifts!! So thoughtful!

Pistons Basketball

Tiana had a great year of basketball this year!! She has really learned to love it It is so fun to watch her grow in her understanding of the sport! Their team was the first team to have every girl on the team make a basket and they received a special award for it! Tia made 24 points this season, which is really great because she missed 2 games and played defense! She had a great coach and she made new friends. Basketball is my favorite sport to watch and I am always sad when the season is over. I loved watching her make a basket and see the joy on her face!!! I love watching her snatch the ball, getting the tip off and watching her learn that her long arms are a huge advantage in the sport!!! One of the funniest moments for me was when a player was trying to steal the ball from her and Tiana yanked the ball and with the ball came the player attached and about a foot off the ground!! I am already looking forward to next year!!!

Tiana was so excited to find out that her friend Brielle was on her team!!

Tiana and her coach Brett Wild! He did a great job and we loved getting to know their family!

The line up before the game - Can you spot Tiana????

Yea Tiana!!

I can hardly wait for next year!!!

Even Girls Play War!!!

The girls had a day off from school and they each had a friend over. They had a lot of fun playing and then decided that they wanted to play war. I decided to go ahead and let them and hope that there were no emergency trips to ER! I found it hilarious that I had to say or heard things like, "You can't bite people on their face" or "No throwing me down on my face - I don't want my tooth to break again! " They worked in pairs and declared victory when they could pin one girl down for 5 seconds! They actually had a blast and there was lots of giggling and only one minor injury!! Ahh, my delicate little flowers!!

Ahhh, the joy of Victory!!