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Frankie turned three this weekend, but you know it seemed like she
was already three!! She really wanted a "slide cake" for her
birthday, with chocolate and pink frosting. When we asked her what a
slide cake was she said it was a cake shaped like a slide. Well, all
I can say is that we tried our hardest. It's been so hot and humid,
I couldnt get the icing to keep from sliding off, but trying to catch it with your fingers is half the fun i guess! We've also had a lot of severe thunderstorms these past few days. Yesterday we were sitting on the porch cooling off as the clouds rolled in and the next thing we knew the tornado sirens had sounded. We we went down to the basement and turned on the computer which showed that the tornado was heading to east lansing then haslett. While I dont think the tornado is what actually came overhead, we did have 75 mph winds and when we emerged from the basement not even 10 minutes later we found we lost our tree in the front yard.

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There is a local establishment – the tasty twist – that is a little beatin’ down shack on the edge of the grand river strip. It sells soft serve icecream and the girls love to go there! There is one little picnic table but most people stand to eat their ice cream or sit on parking blocks like the sweet girls in this picture. Its a fun, fairly short bike ride from our place, and its always packed with the locals. We were
still surprised when the prez of MSU (Lou Anna Simon) was in line
just a few people ahead of us! Anybody care to guess what she ordered?

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Hope you all had a wonderful memorial day weekend. It was beautiful and warm here! We went for lots of walks, played in the kiddie pool in the backyard, and planted some more flowers! If Frankie had her way she would have stripped down completely on the way home from this walk, but I made her keep her shorts on!!

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The high here in Michigan was 53 yesterday. While it was beautiful,
it was brisk! I only mention this because scott is on the big bird on
the way to phoenix for a meeting, and the high there today is
supposed to be a record-breaking 106. That is exactly DOUBLE our high
yesterday! Im not sure what that means, but I hope he enjoys the heat!

In other news we all had fun at the races in marshall last weekend.
Here is scott finishing the 10k strong!

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Just a few cute pics from the children's garden at MSU on friday!

>Yesterday was a big day for Bee. It was the kindergarten round up day. She, along with lots of other 5 year olds around town, got to go visit kindergarten (with their parents) for a whole hour in the afternoon.

Bee picked our her favorite dress and “running” sandals for the event. We visited the three kindergarten classrooms, and played with the rice table, tried to do some sign language from a poster she saw, used one of the computers, and looked at all of the student art hanging up. We also visited the music room, the art room, the gym, and the library.

Several of her friends from K-club were there too and so she played with them during the scavenger hunt around the school, which was the last activity. Bee was hoping that today’s visit meant she was finally a kindergartener and was a little disappointed when I told her that today she needed to back to k-club!

Oh and during the scavenger hunt Bee found the little soft red seats by the office which she really liked. She also asked for an extra “Marble Muskrats” bracelet so that she could give one to Frankie. Thats our girl! We’re so proud of you bee!

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its warm and the leaves are all out! And, we even broke out the pool!!

Bee wanted to write the blog. I typed but she dictated:

We love to swim! Water is great! The water was cold but then the sun warmed it up! Frankie kept running in circles in the water, but then she fell down and laughed. Here I am with the Lansing Lugnut Dinosaur. He is so cute. He is my friend. Love Bee

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I think I mentioned before that we planted several tulip bulbs last
fall. Well, they have finally bloomed! It was a fun surprise to see
what color they would be. Most were yellow, then red, then
yellow/red, then pink. Maybe we will make an exact count later today!
And, we learned something new about tulips. The closed flowers are
first green, then the tips turn colors, then the whole closed flower
turns colors, then it finally blooms. I had no idea! Im sure Im not
using the right terminology. No bias here, but I think we have the
prettiest front yard! We must have close to 40 tulips! Next up this
year is going to be a lilac tree. Once the tulips are done, I would
love to see lilacs coming in. Anyhow, the girls did most of the
planting last fall, so they are quite proud of their efforts.

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So Bee helped me make supper tonight and since scott and i were
splurging on sushi take out, we let the girls pick what they wanted
to eat. Bee wanted toast with jelly and asked if she could make it
herself. Since she usually helps me make breakfast I thought that
would be fine. We got out the jelly and the bread together, and then
I turned my attention to making some mac n cheese for frankie. Then
the next thing I knew I smelled a sweet burning smell. Bee had put
the jelly on her bread first, then put it all in the toaster to
toast! But she liked how it tasted!