It's not easy being green

I was making dinner the other day while Lenny and Bellz went for a short bike ride. Apparently during their ride, Bellz was eating a piece of candy and asked if she could throw the wrapper on the ground with all the other trash she saw. Lenny said, "No, that's littering. You have to throw stuff away in the garbage can, not on the ground." Then she of course asked why all the other trash was laying around, so they had a little talk about how people shouldn't litter and they just get lazy and throw stuff out the window sometimes. She ended the conversation by saying the next time we went for a walk, she wanted to bring a trash bag and pick up all the trash she saw. Quite the little environmentalist, eh?

Umm, she wasn't lyin about pickin up the trash. She wouldn't let it go. So....the South side of Horstmeier Rd in St Peters has now been adopted by Bella Shea Ulanoski. Shouldn't she get like a good samaritan award for this or something?

Savin the world...one piece of trash at a time.

Flying Nun Run

Realized the other day how much I've been slacking on the the good ol' blog. I guess I never feel like I have anything too important to say, so I haven't been writing anything. I decided I really need to make more of an effort there. So now you will be subjected to lot of boring posts. Lucky you!!! :)

On Saturday, I did the Flying Nun Run at Tower Grove Park with Janine, Val, Angela, and Cheri. It's pretty cool running with people you know as opposed to running all by your lonesome like I'm used to. Wish I could convince Lenny to go running with me, but so far, I haven't had any luck with that. This was J9's first 5K and she did great! I'm so proud of her, she finished in under 34 min which is awesome for her first time!  Way to go, J9!!! After the race, J9, Ang, and I went to Rooster for some breakfast and post-race bloody marys. Good times, good times! Think we are all going to sign up for another 5K in May. Wish us luck!

J9, Val, and Ang gearing up for the race.

 

Val likes to sport her bib on the back of her jacket so it doesn't get in her way when she's running.

 Rooster's House Bloody Mary with bleu cheese-stuffed olives. Delish!



The Princess and the Frog(s)

Lately we've been working with Bella on her nighttime potty training. She still wears pull ups at night and the last couple times she's been here, we've been trying our luck with letting her wear panties to bed. First 3 nights she wet the bed of course, but we still praised her because she was doing such a good job of getting up and going to the potty afterwards. Apparently, when she's at her mom's, she sleeps right through all this. Anyway, this time when she was here, we told her that if she woke up dry she would get a whole dollar and she could go to the dollar store and pick out annnnything her little heart desired. Worked like a charm! The very next night, she was dry. Maybe it was just a fluke. But whatever, she was SOOOO excited to pick out her "prize" last night. And oh, what a prize it was. See for yourself!

Packers baby!

This post is a lil late, but better late than never, right? We went over to Jim and Val's last week for the superbowl, and I just wanted to post a few pics of the pupcakes that Bellzers and I did for the lil superbowl party we had over at their house. The Packers won btw. WOOT WOOT!

15 minutes (rather, 2 minutes) of fame

Got an awesome chance to go on Fox 2 with Tim Ezell this morning to plug the MS Charity Tournament we're hosting down at St Louis Sports Center at the end of Feb. Check out Lenny's tv debut!

There is a big storm a'brewin

Just got back from the most intense grocery run I think we've ever been on. The meteorologists are forecasting another big ice and snow storm that we are supposed to be getting starting tomorrow morning, and I think everyone and their mom was at the grocery store stocking up. Holy smokes! It was insane. The lines were way worse than Christmas! We attempted to go to Sam's first, but as soon as we saw the mile-long checkout lines, we turned around and headed right back out. Crazy. Seems like we've had a ton of snow this year - way more than the average. I don't mind though, I think it's rather pretty. I am, however, so very ready for spring. Want to get outside and start running again so I'll be able to keep up with Janine when she does her first 5K in March! :D

Here are a couple pics from one of the several big snowfalls we've had so far this year:

Lemke Family Cruise 2011

We just got back from our family cruise on Thursday. We had an absolutely wonderful time together! I am soooo glad my parents are still in good health and were to take our fam on this awesome trip. We had so much fun!

Here are some of my fave memories from the trip:

• My dad getting held back by security because he tried to bring a jacknife on board the ship.
• "Oh my Gouud! She is sho shy!" - our head waiter Nilesh talking about Bella
• The farewell show with comedian Rick Novell. Dude was hilarious!
• "This is the worst cruise I've ever been on!" - Carson, while pouting b/c he didn't want to leave the Adventure Ocean kid's club before getting a chance to play silent dodgeball. Bwuah ha ha!
• The Stingray and snorkeling excursion we all did together. The water in Grand Cayman was stunning, and even MORE beautiful in Cozumel. Something everyone should experience for sure.
• Bellz being so excited to go back to the room each night after dinner to see where her Curious George doll was going to be. (our stateroom attendant would move CG each time he cleaned the room)
• The hula hoop girl in the ice dancing show was amazing.
• "Gretch, why aren't the wings flapping up and down?" - Bella, while looking out the airplane window
• Keith getting a touch of the salmonellies on the flight back home
• Looking at the wake from the stern of the ship - nothin but big, blue ocean behind us. That was cool.
• Most of all, I loved doing dinner with all 10 of us each night. It's not often that we are ALL together at the same time, and definitely not for 5 nights in a row, so that was a real treat. I love my fam! Every stinkin one of them :)

Our ship - The Navigator of the Seas

View from the stern -one of my favorite spots on the ship

Curious George on a swan towel

Look at that water!!!

Thanks to these fine folks for the memories. Love you both!