181/365

I finally started my "family" album...I've had the cover done for ages but never just dug in and started. Of course, my first page had to be Alice!

180/365

These little guys were made from Jordan's pattern that was left behind when they went back to Virginia. I'm thinking of selling these in my Etsy shop and donating a portion of the proceeds to her Juvenile Diabetes Walk. Jordan will have to name them as soon as I get all the different colors made.

179/365

As part of our "explore Minnesota" adventure we went to Cold Spring, MN (near St. Cloud) to see Assumption Chapel. There's quite a store behind this adorable and very very tiny Catholic Chapel. It was originally built during the grasshopper plague in 1877 (hence the nickname Grasshopper Chapel). Father Leo Winter believe the plague was punishment sent by God so he built the chapel for the town to gather and repent their wrongs hoping in return that God would end the plague of grasshoppers...miraculously it worked. In 1894 a tornado lifted the Chapel and dropped it a few feet away onto two oak trees. The original Chapel was destroyed but the two crippled oak trees still stand (badly disfigured) to give testimony to what the tornado had wrought. The chapel was rebuilt in 1952 and is absolutely beautiful. The Virgin Mary is etched in the stone above the doors with two grasshoppers at her feet. They've also got all the stations of the cross around the courtyard in little houses as well as tributes to St. Joseph and St. Francis Assisi (under which Tom and Sebastian are seated). I easily could have spent hours here, we were the only visitors and it was very peaceful and calming there. (do you think the light colored transparent blob in the lower right-hand corner of the top picture could be a ghost?)

178/365

This weekend we started a new summer adventure project sightseeing around Minnesota. I've lived here for 41 years but I haven't really seen any of the "sights" around the state so we headed to Darwin, MN which is about 1 3/4 hours northwest of Woodbury. This little city is famous because it houses the World's Largest Twine Ball created by one man. It weighs 17,400 pounds and has a 40 foot circumference. If you look closely you can see it through the glass.

177/365

Pokemon, nintendo DS...everyday, every chance he gets.

176/365

Shelby finally got her thank you notes addressed. Now she just needs to find an "on-campus" job!

175/365

Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen. Shelby went to the midnight showing this morning (or should I say Tuesday night?) and Tom, Sebastian and I went to the 5:00 showing this afternoon. ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!!! I guess we'll just have to go again this weekend so Matt can see it as well...as Sam Witwicky once said "no sacrifice, no victory"; I'm sure everyone will be willing to make that sacrifice!

174.365

The daisies from Shelby's grad party are still looking good...I can't believe how long they've lasted.

173/365

Well hello Mr. Denton...I was lucky enough to meet the oh-so-handsome James Denton (aka Mike Delfino) when he came in to do our 3:00 show. I usually don't make a big deal out of the "famous" guests we've had on the show but when I heard James was coming in I was definitely going to go down to see him in person...and damn is he hot! Notice his grip on my arm... (in case you were wondering he and his wife own a home here in MN where they spend every May and June while Desperate Housewives is on hiatus)

172/365

For Father's Day Sebastian made tom breakfast...wasn't that nice? Happy Father's Day!

171/365

Aha! I finally got her, my elusive 'morning dove'...seems as though she's getting pretty comfortable with us...she finally let me take her picture without flying off.

170/365

Double Bubble.

169/365

My peonies are in bloom...and wow, do they smell wonderful!

168/365

Last day with the cousins...tomorrow they head back to Virginia. Boo hoo...

167/365

UNO!

166/365

STRIKE! Way to go Matt!

165/365

Trixie's exhausted!

164/365

All the cousins at Shelby's graduation party. How cute are they?

163/365

The cousins are here! Matty and Maddie are playing Wii Active.

162/365

I got my twinkle lights up on the patio and Tom got the lawn mowed...now it's time for a little So You Think You Can Dance...

161/365

Today was Shelby's college orientation. We had to leave the house at 6:15 to get there for check-in at 7:15. We literally were there all day, in and out of various information sessions (i.e. student housing, campus activities, studying abroad, financial aid, etc.), registered for classes, toured a dorm...on and on and on...it was very informational and I'm really glad we took advantage of all the information sessions but Good Lord am I exhausted! We got home around 4:45 this afternoon. I'll be going to bed at about 9:00...wow...she's registered for her first semester of college!

160/365

Ahhh...just relaxing with the Ipod.

159/365

Shelby survived her all-night senior party and slept until 3:00 PM today...Tom and I gave her an Ipod classic for graduation, it holds 30,000 songs. Who in the world would (could) listen to 30,000 songs?

158/365

Graduation Day...Woodbury High School Class of 2009! The end of one journey and the beginning of another. I'm too emotionally exhausted to write anything gushy...Shelby's napping before the big senior overnight party so she's not here to write anything herself. If you know me at all you know what this day meant to me...I get her for only three more months and I plan to take advantage of every second!

157/365

We're finally getting some much needed rain...it started raining at about 9:00 this morning and is still going strong. We haven't had rain for literally months and it was impossible to keep the front lawn from drying and turning brown...now it should be lush and green for Shelby's grad party next Saturday!

156/365

Last day of school...I guess now I have a 3rd grader and an 11th grader...oh, and a college freshman. Her last day of school was Tuesday so she was still in bed sleeping while the boys were posing.

155/365

The best thing since Twilight. Even Tom is hooked on this series...we'll be ordering HBO for the season premier on June 14th.

154/365

The crows have descended...hope they don't take up residency!

153/365

uuugggghhhh....Eat at Nacho Mama's in beautiful downtown stillwater, come in for the food...leave with gut rot! I guess the Mexican food doesn''t agree with Sebastian (too bad the picture doesn't have sound...you'd actually hear him moaning)

Picture courtesy of "Uncle" Joe, nice photo considering it was taken with his cell phone!

152/365

"Uncle" Joe is in town...the boys played a few rounds of H-O-R-S-E.