GO VOTE TODAY!!!

Ok, so I made it as one of the "Super Bowl Snack Throw Down: Take Two." foodie challenge contenders. There are 5 ladies in the running, and only 2 will get chosen. PLEASE GO VOTE FOR ME!

Go to www.highlowaha.com click on the red dot that says BLOG to enter the blog, and read all about the contest. Then please send an email to highlowaha218@gmail.com saying you would like to place a vote for KATE DANKO. Be sure to type my first and last name since there is also a "KATIE" in the running. Vote, get your friends to vote, your family, your coworkers.

For my Florence readers, this is a blog put on by Heather McDaniel Snow...so show some support for a fellow BCHS graduate and Rebel Brigade Alum.

You have to vote by midnight tonight, central time. PLEASE VOTE!

NEED YOUR HELP

Hey everyone! I'm trying to compete in a super bowl snack foodie "blog-off" through a website run by a high school friend of mine. I need everyone to go to

www.highlowaha.com tomorrow (Wednesday) and vote for ME! When you go to the site, click on the red spot to enter the actual blog. I'm not sure how their blog will have you vote, but look for my name...DANKO FAMILY. I would love to be one of the competitors, and I think they are only choosing two!

New Blog

Hello dedicated readers. I decided to set up a second blog to showcase my goodies. Visit it, and tell all of your friends about it!

www.goodiesbykate.blogspot.com

Elmo and Friends

A friend asked me to make an Elmo cake for her daughter's first birthday along with cupcakes that look like other Sesame Street characters. Here's the end result. This was just a practice cake, so I've put it up for sale on Craigslit. I'm not sure if it will sell, but I'd rather try to sell it than either eat it ourself or throw it away! If you want it...let me know...I need to sell it by the weekend...$30!

Busy Weekend

The boys and I drove to Charlotte to see my old neighbor, Bettina. She lives in a beautiful community with ducks, a pool, and beautiful grass!!!! The boys loved playing with Beine, her dog! I was planning on driving home around 2 on Sunday, but was woken up by Brandon getting sick in his bed. He got sick 2 more times so I just packed up and left. He's fine now, so maybe it was a freak thing.










I realized that this was the last trip Connor will be able to sleep in the pack n play. HE'S TOO LONG! So, I went ahead and set up their toddler beds. I really wanted to wait until they were 3, but I need to get them used to sleeping in beds for when I travel to KY in August. Here's the end result of the swap!







They did great during their nap and we'll see how tonight goes. All I know is that I'm super tired and exhausted from lack of sleep. They haven't been sleeping through the night for the last month and it's starting to get to me. Keep your fingers crossed that tonight goes well.

On the potty front, they are doing AMAZING! Connor will be sporting Elmo big boy underwear tomorrow while we're at the house. They are staying dry through the night and at naps. I only used 1 diaper on Connor all day today because every time he went to the potty, his diaper was still dry. On top of that, he's pooping in the potty...and not in his diaper. He likes to flush the potty after I dump from "contents" from the baby potty and say "bye bye poopie, see ya later"

Grandpa Yibby

My Grandpa Yibby passed away last night around 840pm. I was driving back from Greensboro last night and thought I would try to call him...I just looked at my phone and I tried to call him 6 minutes after he passed away. I knew there was a reason I picked up the phone to call him, but it went straight to voice mail. He was surrounded by Uncle Jim, Aunt Sue and his lady friend Betty. His breathing started to change while he was sitting in his favorite chair, and then took his last breath. He's been fighting a very hard fight with cancer since January and he won the fight. I say won because he's back with his wife and out of pain. I will miss him very much...his laugh, his humor, and him singing the "sow song" at the family weddings in his red linen blazer. Here are a few pictures of Grandpa and the boys including a video of them saying "Bibby" which is what they called him. No arrangements have been made just yet, but will be within the next few days. We love you Grandpa and are glad you are out of pain and back with Grandma Jeanne....tell her we love her and miss her too!!!

Grandpa with Connor in the NICU
Grandpa with itty bitty Brandon
Grandpa and Brandon in August 07
Grandpa and Connor in August 07
The boys with Yibby in January 09

7 Years

Eric and I celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary on Sunday. We went to a really nice restaurant up in the Pinehurst area called Elliotts on Linden. It was probably the nicest restaurant I've ever been to. The waitress addressed us by Mr and Mrs Danko before we even knew her name! The food was delicious and the restaurant itself was calming and beautiful inside.

We started out with some fried calamari with lemon and ginger sauce and napa cabbage slaw, but didn't take a picture!

Eric had the cedar plank salmon over wilted spinach salad. I snagged a taste and it was very good.




I had the ranch pork chop with grilled peaches topped with sweet corn relish and adobo chili sauce. I saw truffel macaroni and cheese on the menu and had to have a side of that too. They were both amazing!


The restaurant offered us a complimentary dessert for our anniversary. It was a chocolate torte! Neither of us had room for dessert, but we don't get to go out like this very often, so we said, what the heck!


After the nice meal, we came home to a house of sleeping babies. What a wonderful night!


This is our "annual anniversary shot" We have taken a picture together on every anniversary and have them displayed in the family room. We hope that one day, when the boys are older, they will look back at those pictures the way Eric and I like to look at family photos of our parents and grandparents.