Bethany's 30th Birthday

This is the year that we all turn the big three-oh. Well, some of us. I've already 3 months into my thirties, so it was time to share the love. This time, it was Bethany's turn. To begin the evening, eight of us went to dinner at Teller's to celebrate. There, her friend from high school, Abby, surprised Bethany by flying in from Florida to help celebrate. Bethany was really shocked and surprised! And while we didn't have the quickest or the best server at Teller's, we still had a good time.

We continued the party downtown, where Blake had rented a room and the rest of Bethany's friends and family were gathered. Too bad it wasn't warmer outside, otherwise we would've taken advantage of the patio!
Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Dear Bethany, Happy Birthday to you! These are the men of Bethany's life. The guy with his finger in his mouth is Andy. Then going clockwise from Andy is Chad, Jason, Craig, Tom, Brent, Ryan and Blake. These lovely ladies are...me, Abby, Bethany, Kristin, Stephanie and Melissa. We are missing Heather and Kim from this picture. We should photoshop them in. Anyone know how to do that? I don't. Later that weekend, the girls had our traditional birthday dinner. Bethany chose Teak Thai. Now, for those that know Bethany, we were all shocked. She doesn't like Aisan food, but for some reason in her old age, she has acquired a taste for it. We all loved it since the rest of us love it. Yeah!

The Final Dinner

It's sad. So sad. Our good friends, Lisa and Andy, are moving. Grab your tissues, folks. Andy will graduate from med school next month and has been accepted for his residency in emergency medicine at Northwestern in Chicago. So on Saturday night, we had a "special dinner". Andy made a beef tenderloin with vegetables and new potatoes. Delish!

Lisa had set the table with some boxes at each place setting. Each box inside had memories that Lisa will remember us by. It was really sweet. We each took a turn opening our box and remembering.

They have shockingly sold their house already. They were up in Chicago over Easter looking for apartments. Word is that they found one. I tell ya, they are really lucking out on this whole moving thing.

We also did a little egg dying...while drinking wine of course!

Easter Weekend

On Easter, we traveled up to Dayton to have dinner with the Millers, Greg and Yak. Megan and I coordinated the meal and I'm pretty sure no one was hungry when we left the table. After dinner, the boys watched the end of the Masters (snore!), so we ladies went into a different room to chit chat and play.

Natalie is 10 months old is jabbering up a storm. So far her repertoire of words include: duck, thank you, a-choo, uh oh and ouch. I've got a couple of clips that have some of those words. We think she's just the smartest and cutest babies around...but we might be just a little biased. :)

My New Friend Again

Since the world of facebook has opened their doors per se, I've been able to get in touch with so many people from my past that I hadn't talked to in years! Most recently, I've been in touch with Lydia (Krause) Crandall who went to high school with me. She just moved to the Queen City about 6 months ago and seriously, she lives minutes away. Facebook got us in touch and finally, after 6 months we met up. It was her birthday on Saturday and she invited us over for a grill out. Brent was still a little buzzed from our morning St. Paddy's Day Breakfast, but after a nap, he was good to go! We had a lot of fun and laughed a lot! I think my abs got their workout for a while. This is Lydia and her birthday cake. Strawberry Cake with Rainbow Icing. She has it every year. It was very good!

She licked every single one of those candles as she pulled them out. And I'm pretty sure we all ate some melted wax with our cake that night.

Demonstrating the seventh grade dance style. I think they're trying to look away, because of course, that'd be more true to seventh grade fashion!

And this is Shawn Chris-Pat. This darn chicken became the focal point of many of our laughs for the night. I would try to explain it to you, but I'd just get looks. So, let's just say that we laughed. A lot.

St. Paddy's Breakfast

Our friend hosts a St. Paddy's Day Breakfast. This year there was a potato bar, waffles, pancakes and all the toppings one could ever think of. I revisted the pancake table often.

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Fun night out

Annemarie, Jon, Alysha, Brett, myself and Brent. We're out enjoying a beer as you can see. Jon is playing in a band (well, not at that moment, they were taking a break!) and we went to listen to them. Annemarie is Brent's cousin. Brett is Annemarie's husband and he is the one that turned Brent onto tennis. Jon is Brett's brother and also played tennis with Brent in high school. Alysha had a baby 10 weeks ago...doesn't she look fabulous?!
I remember laughing a lot that night. Never a dull moment with those folks!
aww...the cute newlyweds!

Rock Band Obsession Continuation

this is a video from rock band. so intent. so serious. so...sucking the life out of my husband! Seriously, it's not THAT bad. and everyone has gotten substantially better since this video. Megan and Kevin are now also the proud owners of Rock Band, so they can practice their skills too. Greg, on the other hand, has given up on his vocal skills to actually play in a real band. Traitor. just kidding!

Rock Band Obsession

So Brent is now the proud owner of Rock Band. He was able to purchase it thanks to a gift card to Best Buy from my parents (thanks?!). We hauled the loot up to Lima this past weekend for a fun family evening activity. There were some grudges heard in the crowd initially, but after a few songs, everyone was into it! I was on baby duty, so I didn't get into the mix until after Natalie went to bed. Kevin rocked it on the bass guitar.

You might notice that Brent is playing with a wooden spoon and a plastic spoon. You see, Brent forgot to pack the drumsticks that went with the set and so we had to improvise once we got to Lima. The next morning, I was playing the drums and I was rocking it out so hard that I broke the plastic spoon head right off. I yelped, but then kept right on playing without skipping a beat.

7th Annual Wine Party

So for seven years now, Lauren and I have hosted a "wine and cheese" party. The party has evolved as the years have passed, but we still have a good time each and every year. This year, the party just happened to fall on my (30th!) birthday. So it turned out to be a wine party/birthday party.

Happy Birthday to Me! :)

All the speechie girls together again!

Jen and Bryan Bueter joined us from Columbus. We were so glad that they were able to make arrangements and come down. We enjoy seeing them any chance we get!

Of course, I had to add a picture of Natalie (...and Megan and Kevin)! She's 7 months now and is cute as ever. She is such a delightful child to be around.

Missy, myself and Crystal. Both co-workers, well, sorta. Missy doesn't work for MRDD anymore, but she does work in our building, so we still see her often!

Surprise Christmas

This past Christmas, Brent and I got a little devious and decided to surprise my mom in KC for Christmas. Dad was in on the plan to help smooth things over. I had to make the phone call to mom saying that we were unable to come to KC this year because we couldn't get enough time off. I hung up the phone and I snickered. Little did she know that Brent and I were planning on driving to KC and then staying for 3 days.

We arrived on a Saturday evening. Dad answered the door and called Mom to come too. As she grumbled up the stairs from the basement, she rounded the corner and was completely shocked to see Brent and I standing in the entryway. She shreiked and cried and clapped her hands with glee knowing that she could spend a Christmas with us.