What???? It's May, already?????

Okay, I admit it....I'm a Loser - yes, with a capital L!!

I let the entire month of April slip by without a single post. If nothing else I should have made a birthday post. There were lots of people I love who had birthdays in April. Shame on ME!!!!!

I did get cards sent out (not all of them on time, but at least they did get in the mail!), but I didn't get to post individually, so here are the birthdays I celebrated for the month of April:

6 - Keri Hennenfent - My SpeedyRewards hotdog and soda buddy!!! (I still have your card since I don't have your address! LOL)

16 - Thomas Helmer - My great nephew turned 1 and had an awesome birthday party at Jump N Play in Avon...what a cool place! Thanks for inviting us, we had a blast!!

17 - Emma Crowe - My little tiny princess great neice! She turned 6 and is the cutest little thing! Well on her way to achieving the title of DIVA!!!!

20 - Alberto Moreno - My favorite guy from Spain! I miss you!!!

22 - Cheryl Cannon - My SB buddy in PA! Sorry I missed you when you were in town. :(

24 - Brandon Knight - Roger's nephew - and all-around good guy! I just love him!!!

26 - Judit Cortes-Cavanillas - My favorite gal from Spain and one of my dearest friends!! and also Rorie Boss - My SB buddy in Nevada who I hope to meet someday!!!

27 - Stephanie Cooper - My SB buddy in Owensboro! Sorry I missed your party! :(

I hope you all know you are special to me and I hope each and every one of you had a WONDERFUL birthday...and many more!!!!!

Hugs&Smiles!
Kim

Spring Break Recap

I can't actually believe it's over, but it really is. We had a wonderful spring break trip to Branson, Missouri. I didn't take very many pictures, but here are a few to show that we really were there!

First...big, big KUDOS to the Hilton Promanade. Talk about a wonderful place to stay. Our room was absolutely awesome (can't believe I forgot to take any pics of the inside...oops!). Everyone who worked there was so nice. The beds were very comfortable and the shower was wonderful...actually, the whole bathroom was great because it was huge! These first two pictures are the view from our balcony. Branson Landing is such a beautiful area. I can't imagine that we'll ever stay anywhere except there when we go back...we might even have to request the same room! LOL It was cool to watch the fire/water show. It went off every hour from about 9 in the morning until 11pm. Music would blare and the fountain would shoot off water and flames. I meant to take a video of the last show at night when they did the Star Spangled Banner...it was so cool.

We went to Silver Dollar City twice. We went on Sunday and it turned out to be a beautiful day and we had a great time. Sammie went to be measured to ride Wildfire and was about 1/8 of an inch too short. She was disappointed, but she didn't let it get her down. They gave her a token to go to the front of the line when she was tall enough, so that made her smile. Well, that plus the fact that she knew if she wore different tennis shoes, she'd be tall enough! LOL When we went back on Thursday...in new Nike Shox, she was tall enough and she asked to sit in the FRONT!! Roger and Syd have loved this ride for years and Sammie loved it just as much...she said it's her new favorite ride. The bad news was, when she and Syd went back to ride in the afternoon, the lady measured her and said she wasn't tall enough. Didn't make her too happy, but she got over it! LOL We also had fun riding Powder Keg and The Giant Barn Swing...as well as a few other rides. And the food is always awesome at SDC!

We bought the picture from the ride Wildfire so I'll have to scan that and get it posted. Actually, it's a pretty horrible quality picture, but we couldn't resist buying it since it was Sammie's first time on it and her she looked like she was having a total blast!

Here are the pictures I took of Syd and Sammie riding Powder Keg...this ride is awesome. It takes off from zero to 53mph in 2.8 seconds..and what a thrill that is! The first picture is when the ride starts and takes you to where the real take-off is! The second picture is waiting for the green light and I actually managed to snap the third picture right at take-off! It's hard to see on here since it's somewhat small, but the girl's faces are priceless!!!

Another ride we really like is the Giant Barn Swing. It's like a huge double pendulum that holds 32 riders. Hold on tight as you launch through the barn doors at 45 mph, bursting over 7 stories into the sky and nearly upside down! You'll fly a full 230 degrees from one side of the barn to the other! Again, these pictures are kind of small to see the smiles on their faces, but be assured, they love this ride, too!

Another fun thing we like to do at SDC is go to Geyser Gulch. We avoided the water part this time...but there were still lots of people playing in it (and I was AMAZED at the number of people who were riding the water rides...Brrrrrrr!!!!). We did have fun, though, blasting foam balls at each other at the Foam Fort! Syd also decided to pose for a couple of pictures for me!!

Syd and I got pedicures on Wednesday and Sammie got a manicure and pedicure (okay, so they really just polished her fingers and toes, but she was thrilled!). It was fun to have a little 'girl time' with them and get pampered. Syd and I spent time texting back and forth even though we were sitting right beside each other...but the ladies doing our pedicures were speaking amongst themselves in their own language and didn't say a word to us. Not sure if they didn't speak English well or if they just didn't like us! LOL

WE TOOK A SPECIAL PICTURE, JUST FOR KATIEJ!!!!!!!

There were also some other fun times, but we didn't manage to get pictures of any of it! We had a lot of fun shopping at Branson Landing and at the Tanger Outlets. The girls both had money they had been saving plus money that Roger gave them, and they bought lots of fun stuff. We decided it saves us a lot of money if we give them money to spend rather than just randomly buy them things! LOL They think a lot longer and harder about how bad they want stuff when they are spending "their own" money!

Another favorite pastime while there was playing Missouri Lottery Keno at Garfield's. OMG, this was a blast! Roger played one night when the girls and I went to bed early and he actually won $300!! Obviously, we should have just let him keep going back by himself because we weren't as lucky when we were all there! We won a few small prizes, but nothing big...but it was still fun. They draw it every 4 minutes all day long. Sammie also found the "MegaTouch" machine and loved playing the games on there...I'll have to agree, it was a lot of fun, too!

Roger and Syd met up with friends of ours, Neil and Sam, and played a round of golf. Syd was a little frustrated with her game, but I think she still had fun playing at a really nice course. Diana and Beka came and met Sam and I at the hotel and the girls swam in the indoor pool and then we walked around Branson Landing for a while. We also met them for dinner one night at Shorty Small's and had fun...Sammie was quite the little entertainer that evening. I wish I had a video of that!

So, there you have it. The Shrum Familiy 2009 Spring Break Adventure! It was a lot of fun that went WAAAAYYYYY too fast. Time to start planning another fun getaway!!!

Hugs&Smiles!

Kim

Well...it's over....

8th Grade Girl's Basketball , that is. The girls played a really good first half then followed that up with a TERRIBLE second half. Honestly, they got "down" and then they just couldn't snap out of it. I'm still VERY proud of them and look forward to watching all of them play basketball again in high school!!

Hope everyone had a great St. Patrick's Day! Unfortunately, ours turned out a little blue!

Hugs&Smiles!
Kim

COUNTY TOURNEY!!!!

So, here we go! Tonight is the first game of county tourney for middle school girls basketball! I'm really hoping we can win tonight...I know we are better than the team we are playing. Our girls have had a rough year and they have worked really hard, so I hope they can pull off a win tonight and play in the final game on Thursday! If not, this will be their very last middle school basketball game. It doesn't really seem possible.

Since it's St. Patrick's Day, I think it's kind of an omen! LOL We are, after all, the CLOVERS. Yeah, I know, we're not the SHAMROCKS, but still...it's KIND OF a coincidence, isn't it???? And this got me to thinking...what IS the difference between a shamrock and a clover? Does one have three leaves and one have four? Nope...that's not it! LOL So, I decided to check out ask.com and see what they had to say....here's what I found.....

Short
answer: a shamrock is smaller than a clover.

Long
answer: shamrock and clover are both used to refer to species of
trefoil (genus Trifolium, from the Latin meaning "having three leaves"). Clover
is used for large species and shamrock for small species. Shamrock, like clover,
is common in Europe, not just in Ireland.

To the 8th Grade Lady Clovers....good luck, girls! I know you can win!! You DESERVE this after all you've been through the last 4 years! Go get what is yours!!

Hugs&Smiles!

Kim

MARCH birthdays!!!

Okay, this is ridiculous! No pictures to post...again! My sister-in-law, Margi, celebrated her birthday on March 5th. I can't remember how old she is, isn't that just terrible?!?! I'm going to guess that *maybe* she is 43, but I was thinking we were closer in age than that. Who knows! LOL And my great-nephew, Evan, turned 9 yesterday, March 14th! I hope he had a great birthday! He's quite the athlete and is always busy, so I don't get to see him too much! That's all of the family birthdays for March, but I've got a couple of friends who have birthdays coming up and an anniversary to mention, too...so I'll be posting again real soon!!

Hugs&Smiles!
Kim

Still MORE February Birthdays!!!!

Once again, I don't have pictures to post for these birthdays, but hopefully I will get them soon and can update!

Let's see, my brother-in-law, Gary, turned 55 and my nephew, Topher (short for Christopher), turned 16 on Thursday (February 12th). Hope both of you gentlemen had a wonderful birthday!!

Then, today....Valentine's Day, my Father-in-Law, Homer is celebrating his 82nd birthday!!! (at least i think that's right!) WooHoo, Homie!!! LOL And, also, Roger's nephew's girlfriend, Michelle, is celebrating her birthday. Talk about a couple of Super Duper Valentine's!! Hope you are both having a great day, too!

Hugs&Smiles!

Kim

More Birthdays!!!! Three to be exact!!!

Well, in our family, February 8th appears to be a pretty birthday-ish day! LOL Well, okay, two of the people celebrating married into this crazy family of ours. My sister-in-law, Michelle (married to my oldest brother, Lance) was born on this day, and so was Brian, my niece Lacey's husband. I don't have pictures of either of them to post here...again, must take more pictures when the family gets together! I hope both of you had a wonderful day today!

And, this day 14 years ago, was when Roger and I became parents! Sydney was born at 12:51am (we're still trying to verify if that is the right time, but I'm just too lazy to dig out the baby book to confirm!). That 10 pound "bulldog" has sure evolved into a beautiful, smart, talented and very funny young woman. (And yes, she really weighed 10 pounds and really looked quite a bit like a bulldog! LOL). I remember holding our "little" bundle of joy and thinking to myself...there is NO WAY we are qualified to be parents! We learn something new every day and still question if we are doing things right!

We spent yesterday celebrating Sydney's birthday. We slept in until almost 10am, which is generally unheard of around here. That was a nice treat. We all got up and got ourselves ready and headed off to Castleton. We had to make a quick stop at Golfsmith for Roger to pick up something that his Dad needed, then we headed to Maggiano's for a late lunch. It was DELICIOUS. After eating we decided to check out The Fashion Mall...how appropriate! Hehe. We bought Syd a pretty necklace that she picked out at Tiffany's. Sam got a few things at Gap Kids and we just kinda checked out all the stores there. It was a fun trip. After that we went to Castleton Square Mall and did a little more shopping...we actually closed down the Mall and couldn't get out the way we went in! LOL

Syd wanted to head to BW3's in Plainfield for a late dinner. We ate entirely too much food that was all really bad for us, but, man, it tasted good! We had quite a bit of fun playing the electronic trivia game there, also. Finally we headed home and arrived here just shortly before 12:51, so Syd made us stay up to welcome in her real birthday!

Today I made Syd a banana cake with cream cheese frosting (her FAVORITE!) and she and Roger actually got to play golf! Gotta love Indiana weather! Roger made fabulous steaks and potatoes on the grill for her birthday dinner. I hope it was a birthday she will always remember fondly.

This picture is Sydney and Sam at Maggiano's yesterday. We are so blessed!


Happy 14th Birthday, Sydney Lynn!! We love you very much!

Hugs&Smiles!
Mom