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!

Christmas 2010

Had a great Christmas this year!  We went over to Paul and Linda's on the 23rd and had a slumber party complete with matching jammies for all the girls. lol ;) Woke up the next morning and had our Christmas with them, then enjoyed a nice breakfast around noon. ha. Met my parents, Keith, and Amber at church Christmas Eve and then  when we got home, had a movie night and watched Toy Story 3. Not gonna lie, I got a little teary. I love the TS movies! We woke up to a beautiful white Christmas and enjoyed our morning with just the 3 of us. Bella played with all her new toys while I cooked some food, and then we headed over to my parents' later in the afternoon to celebrate with them. Paul, Linda, and Joyce were all able to join us and we were SOOOO glad they could all share the day with us! I heart all of them! Hope everyone had as wonderful of a holiday as we did. Merry Christmas!

Do you lllllove it????

Not quite awake just yet.

Bellz in her Christmas dress and new headband

 I had the package turned the wrong way in this pic and you can't really see it, but Carty got me a hair highlighting kit for Xmas. Bwuah ha ha! Have I mentioned I LOVE this kid?!?! How flippin cute is that?

P.S. This whole blog post was typed using my new laptop! Fave Christmas gift this yr. Thanks Leo!!!  :)



New family tradition?!

Awesome day today! Lenny, Bellz, and I went out to Pea Ridge this morning to cut down our own Christmas tree. Although it was a tad chilly, it was so much fun! Think this will be a new family tradition for us. We decided we would buy an ornament from there every year, too. We found the perfect one for this year that was a bride and a groom :) When we got home, we decorated the tree and then we put together a gingerbread house with Bellz after dinner. Here are some pics from the day.

We actually have two trees up this year. I have my pretty tree up in the living room and then we put our family tree downstairs in our family room. We get the best of both worlds!

StLouisBags 4 life

Not too much to report lately, so you get a StLouisBags update. :) We had another tourney this past weekend at Overland Community Center and it was our 2nd largest turnout so far. We had a total of 21 teams that played. Woot woot! Thank you to everyone who participated.

Tomorrow we start promoting our league nights at 6th and Lucas in downtown St. Louis. Every Wednesday in December, we will host a free round robin style tournament beginning at 6pm with a prize for the winning team each week. We hope to spark some interest from the patrons there so that they will join the bags league that officially starts up the first week in January. Come on out tomorrow and play! What have you got to lose?

Old skool recreation

We took Bellzers roller skating last weekend when she was here. She talks about skating quite a bit, so we figured she must do it with her mom a lot, and that proved to be true because she was actually pretty good at it! It was fun for me to visit my old stomping grounds - Great Skate - because we used to frequent that place all the time back when I was a young whippersnapper. I tried to get Lenny to couple skate with me but he wasn't havin it. I even offered to be the backwards skater. Whatevs.

Sorry these pics aren't that great. Need a new camera.

They had these cool little walker type things that help kids learn how to skate, so of course when Bella saw all the other kids with theirs, she wanted one too, even though she was doing fine without it.