Kate's last day of school and Ballet Recital

So today is the last day of school!! Kate gets out at noon and we are going to have a picnic lunch in the Square with some of her classmates!

She also has her ballet recital tonight. I will be happy when this day is done!!!

Kate is a Kindergarten graduate!!!

Talk about a teary eye moment. What a wonderful year Kate has had. She has made great friends and has really grown into a wonderful girl. I am very proud of her.

One of the most touching moments was when her 4th grade buddy stood up and said some really nice things about Kate. That really brought on the waterworks!

WE HAVE A WINNER!!!

Yay for little Noah!! He won the race yesterday in the Indy pool! He had Scott Dixon. Lil Noah was so funny. I told him that his car was winning half way through the race. Noah's response was with great excitement...."he is the line leader". Noah definitely knows who Scott Dixon is. Lil Noah won $99. That is a lot of money for a little kid. I think we will only let him spend $15-$20 of the money. We will see. Most of it will go in his bank account!

Took the kids to the pool for the first time this year. They really had a great time. We weren't up there long, but Mags really loved the water!!! I put her in the float and when we got out she sat on her float out of the water. I think she was ready to get back in.

INDY 500 IS TODAY!!

I grew up in Indianapolis, IN and this is a BIG day for us Hoosiers. The Indy 500 is a great tradition in my family. My grandfather use to time the cars way back in the beginning of it all. Well every year we have a pool to see who will win the $99 ($3 a car). Here is who we have....

Noah...................Tomas Schekter Car # 12
Melissa (me)......Will Power Car #8
Kate.....................Oriol Servia car # 5
Lil Noah...............Scott Dixon Car # 9
Maggie ................Bruno Junqueira Car # 18

In the 37 years I have been playing in this pool I have NEVER won. Doesn't look like this year I will be the winner either. Oh well.

Pork pork and more pork!

So I pulled 31 pork butts this morning in 4 hours. Noah helped for the first hour and a half. Then he was off to finish the ribs and the chickens. The cook went really well. I made the beans for the first time and they turned out really good (so I have heard). This was such a great experience for Noah and I. I really am the behind the scenes person and he is the one out front. I like it this way. Noah passed out a lot of business cards and we are hopeful to get some new clients.

The kids had a great time. Lil Noah loves to help daddy cook. All morning he was running little errands that Big Noah would send him on. He really felt like he was helping. It was really cute. He also REALLY likes the cooking gloves (globes). He practically wore them the whole time we were at the event. He wore them in the car on the way and on the way home. He is so funny!

1st BIG catering tomorrow!

Tomorrow is our first big catering job. We are going to a car dealership and setting up the smoker and the tents. We are making it a family affair. The kids love to help cook!! They get excited when the tents go up. I think the whole neighborhood gets excited.

So I have run a gazillion errands to get ready for this HUGE cook. We are cooking 90 lbs of pork butt (for pulled pork) and 8 spatchcock chickens (the best chicken ever) and 9 racks of ribs. I also made a big pan of smoked beans. I am not really looking forward to pulling all that pork in the morning. Here is a picture of the smoker loaded down. The smoker has a name it is Marie Laveau (Another pig done gone).

UNBELIVABLY PROUD

Kate has won the Faith in Action award at her school. It is so amazing what a change she has made this year. She has really grown into such a beautiful child inside and out. We are really proud of her. Her teacher said she won the award because "she makes good choices and lives her faith". Kate said yesterday was her best day ever and it ended with a rainbow.