When 30 Somethings Have a Slumber Party

Friday night Suzette begged me to come help her decorate 150 cookies for Bella's Spring Carnival. Stupid me, I agreed despite only having slept 4 hours the night before due to a Philly School District bid. Needless to say, when I arrived instead of cookies I was greeted by my dear sweet friends, jello shots, margaritas, yummy food, and divine cupcakes.
We got crazy mommy style in celebration of my upcoming 33rd. We had wild times, which are forever recorded as quarter marks on Suzette's kitchen table (oops!). When we did get up from the kitchen table, we opted to get a little crazy with the camera and Bella's transportation project for school. The sad part is that Karen (see the gal in the orange sweatshirt) had no idea we (and when I say we I mean Karen since she took most of the photos) took photos! After much prodding, she finally discovered there were photos on her camera. Good thing she got them before the dad's did at the park!
A BIG thanks to the gals. It was a fabulous party. It was our first slumber party and I think we proved that both dads and kids can survive without us for one night. We are now in planning mode for our April Ode to the 80's Prom Party (aka Karen's birthday party). Turns out that our English friends don't have slumber parties or proms.

And yes, these are the most presentable photos of the bunch.

Thomas the Train Hair Band

Zach and Rick will be touring soon with their Thomas the Train band. Zach has mastered only oneline (Down by the dockside). They haven't finalized their schedule yet but we will be sure to post it.

Zach really is obsessed with trains. He is sitting next to me now saying "Train mommy, train mommy." That is code for "I have a small addiction to trains." I wish it wasn't Thomas but the only place we know that still carries Brio is in Portland. Maybe that should be the reason we finally move.

We are still here...

Sorry, I have not kicked off 2008 with the best blogs. I wish I had a fabulous reason but the best I can come up with is that we have nothing going on.
The boys are doing great. Our main task right now is avoiding the flu that is slowly making the rounds at our friend's houses.

I do want to send a little love out to Eli (http://thenorthernnguyens.blogspot.com/). Eli had surgery today to correct his skull. Like his big brother, he decided to skip the whole soft spot in the skull. The doctors took care of everything and Eli is doing well. Michelle also mentioned it is
-36 degrees or some crazy temperature like that. I don't know what better reason they need to move back to Austin.

Belated Birthday Wishes

We forgot to wish Happy Birthday to two of our favorite friends. We wish you both a year full of laughter and happiness.

Iron Man

Here is Zachy making sure he grabbed his favorite CD before going to school. Not a day goes by that we don't get a request for "Iron Man."

Little Chef

Zach trys out one of his Christmas gifts and does his Ratatouille impression.

A Year in Review

Well, here it is, my official year in review:

After two very long and enjoyable weeks on the road, we are finally back in Texas.
We ended 2007 with a nice long vacation in North Carolina and then spent the start of 2008 in Arkansas.
We spent the Christmas break with Nana Juju and Grandpa Pete. I think the whole Flisakowski-Lucas clan agrees that 422 Claymont gets a 5 star rating. Grandpa Pete and Nana Juju spoiled us rotten and we ate like kings.
Of course just as the new year rolled around and Rick and I agreed that we would get back to running (knock on wood we have no more knee injuries) and start eating better we were greeted at Sue’s house with a coconut cream pie, the largest German chocolate cake ever made, and a chocolate cream pie.
2007 seems like a blur but here are a few our memories (both good and bad).
It was the year that JT started riding his bike without training wheels; Zach finally decided to start talking; Rick mourned the loss of his mentor and close friend Richard; I was heartbroken when my closest friend Michelle packed up and moved to Minnesota; JT started his t-ball career; Rick started his middle-aged man softball career; Elliot Ogden arrived; the Hailey family came for a visit; Gavin and Reah eloped; Nana Juju turned…well let’s just say she celebrated a milestone birthday with us at Lake Buchanan; after 12 years, rick gets his ACL repaired; Nana Juju learns to walk again after one nasty broken ankle; Gavin and Reah announced that baby Flisakowski is on the way; after mocking Rick’s “old age” knee injury, Meg’s ½ marathon plans get benched with knee injury; Elijah Nguyen arrived;

We are looking forward to 2008. We have started off with Zach expanding his speaking to include such fabulous phrases like: “All Aboard!” every time he gets in the car, “cut it out” every time he decides he doesn’t like what we are talking about and the phrase from some odd commercial “My money and I need it now!”
With Zach’s talking picking up, JT no longer gets to monopolize conversation but he does get credit for the best “we are parents and we can’t laugh at that” moment. We were somewhere between Arkansas and Texas (I guess it could have been Oklahoma), Rick was joking around with JT and said something along the lines of “What are you going to do to me?” JT replied with “I am going to kick your ass!”
I am sure 2008 is going to be fun.

The Train Museum

In Zach's opinion, the train museum in Spencer, NC was actually the best part the vacation. Not only did he get to ride a train, see lots of trains, but the conductor punched his ticket. He has not stopped talking about getting his ticket punched. I think he watched Polar Express at least 5 times while at Nana's and Grandpa's.

The Lazy 5 Ranch

JT says that this was his favorite part of his vacation. We were at the Lazy 5 Ranch outside Charlotte, which is a drive through safari of rescued animals. We saw a range of animals from zebras to pigs. We bought food at the gate so the animals were more than happy to put their heads in our windows. The ostriches were crazy agressive and Zach now shouts "No food for you!" whenever he sees a bird.



Note that Nana Juju is ready to save Zach should this deer decide to get crazy.